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1. Geonosis
As they had worked together before the war, so Obi-Wan and Quinlan did during the war. Their padawans had their own battalions. Anakin did well with the 501st and his Padawan (who he took on willingly after spending years watching her). Aayla was content to spend some time not training a padawan and instead just figuring out what kind of Knight she was.
Quinlan and Obi-Wan had joint custody of the 212th, and therefore, Commander Cody. Cody did not know what to do with the pair. There was always one of them, even when Obi-Wan was called away for Council duties. Even when Quinlan had to do some rather important things as well, as one of the top masters of the Order. And when they got together... they were an unstoppable force.
Cody felt lucky to have them as his generals, though he was a bit overwhelmed by how they handled things at times. Very high energy, and chaotic, though their plans always came together.
Eventually, he came to realize that there was a pattern. What looked chaotic to everyone else was just plans they put together on the fly very quickly as they were far too used to working together.
It took him an embarrassingly long time to put together that they were a couple. That they shared a room because they were a couple. He might have had to walk in on them sparring and found Obi-Wan pinning Quinlan to the floor kissing him.
But once he got over the embarrassment of not figuring it out until it smacked him in the face, he got to enjoy watching everyone else be oblivious, especially his brothers, his fellow commanders. And Rex as well. They wondered why Quinlan was around all the time. He sometimes came off as not as smart or competent as Obi-wan, but he was. They just didn't see it.
Cody did though. Which was why when Obi-Wan was injured when they first landed on Geonosis, he was not surprised that Quinlan spent the briefing on how to accomplish their objective fussing over Obi-Wan, making sure he was taken care of, and setting the injuries to their healing.
Then he turned on General Mundi and started fussing over him and his visible injuries, being a master healer, though he often kept that quiet. No one believed him, until they saw him in action. but he was a welcome addition to the 212th, especially since he was good at doing surgeries in the field and that was often, unfortunately necessary.
Obi-Wan watched with amusement at the bewildered looks on Bacara and Rex's faces. Rex had yet to see the healer side of Quinlan. He had yet to see how good Quinlan was at healing. not to mention, how caring Quinlan was over all.
Anakin accepted Quinlan's check over with a sigh and a huff. He and Ahsoka were uninjured, just a little bruised. he was well used to Quinlan's fussy tendencies, having been raised by both Obi-Wan and Quinlan alongside Aayla.
The mission was accomplished. Cody was alarmed when they got back to find that Obi-Wan was bleeding through his bandages, though he was supposed to be fine. Though he was supposed to resting. He hadn't participated in the battle, so why was he bleeding through.
His alarm had nothing on Quinlan's though.
Quinlan pulled the robe to the side, cutting it off, exposing some scars Cody hadn't even known Obi-Wan had. Then he pulled off the bandages and frowned at the wound.
"What did you do Obes? It wasn't this bad before the fight."
Obi-Wan shrugged, then winced. "Sorry, Quin. I think there's a bit of shrapnel in there? I moved and I felt like something was digging into my side and it was on fire and I didn't dare look and now... it's bleeding through."
Quinlan cursed and pulled out his medkit. He pulled out the tools he needed and between the use of the Force and the tools, he found the shrapnel, ignoring all else around him. Ignoring the audience he had gained.
He was just focused on his husband, on making sure he was able to heal Obi-Wan. He finally pulled it out.
"Ha!" He dropped it off to the side and looked back at the wound, cursing. It was bleeding heavily.
Cody watched with fascination when Quinlan pulled the wound together with his fingers and closed his eyes, concentrating. His hands seemed to glow the slightest bit... and then the bleeding slowed, then stopped. He had sealed the wound almost completely, leaving a few gaps in, but it was mostly healed on the surface.
Quinlan leaned back, breathing a little harder. "You'll have to be careful Obes, that's not gonna hold."
"I plan on going back to the ship now that our first mission is complete," Obi-Wan promised, reaching with one hand to Quinlan. "I want you to make sure you rest, I know why you don't usually outright heal wounds like that. And yes, I am fully aware it's not fully healed, just healed enough I'm only in danger of infection." He was seemingly oblivious to their audience as well.
Quinlan leaned into his touch and kissed his cheek. "I know, love. I just don't want to lose you. And I hate seeing you in pain."
"I know, Quin. I'll be fine. You made sure of it." Obi-Wan turned his head and kissed him full on. "Thank you, sweetheart. You're the best."
Quinlan smiled softly. "Okay, let's get you and Ki-Adi onto the transports so you can heal up."
Obi-Wan leaned on Quinlan heavily, barely walking under his own power. He was wincing every other step. Just all in all not doing the best. And Quinlan continued being the soft general who was helping him as best he could.
To the astonished eyes of those who had never seen General Vos that way.
Anakin, Ki-Adi, and Ahsoka didn't seem to understand why others were so shocked, then they realized. Ki-Adi was the faintest bit amused, while Anakin and Ahsoka stopped their bickering about how many droids they had fought. Just so they could laugh at those who were unaware that Quinlan was a healer, that Quinlan and Obi-Wan were together.
"Are they-" Rex hissed.
"Yes, they are," Cody responded, amused.
"And you said nothing?"
"Well, want to watch Wolffe and Ponds have a fit the next meeting General Vos is at?"
"...that actually sounds entertaining. Will General Kenobi be alright?"
"Yes. General Vos does good work. It looks bad and he'll probably be on the mend longer than usual but he'll be fine, no matter how much General Vos was fussing over him."
2. Commander Fox meets Dominic and Ben
Commander Fox was having another annoying day of paperwork and dealing with idiots. He hated his job sometimes. He wasn't certain he'd like being out in space much either, but that did mean less idiots to deal with, so long as he had a Jedi who wasn't an idiot, and few of them seemed to be anywhere near dumb.
He groaned when there as an emergency call out. He was on that rota this time. His paperwork would have to wait.
Something about a museum being attacked by terrorists and Jedi were there with their younglings doing some protecting?
Fox groaned. The day couldn't get any worse. The Jedi hardly ever worked with the Guard, so he never knew what he was going to get from anyone. Aside from General Vos who dropped by like a whirlwind, taking time in the medbay to heal everyone up, and just in general being nice to people and bringing food and other supplies before disappearing as quickly as he appeared.
Maybe the Jedi were all decent.... or maybe General Vos was an outlier.
Fox arrived to absolute chaos. The thirty younglings were using the Force to help out where possible, terrified, but determined and pushing aside their fear. And the two Jedi masters were in front of them, faces set in determination as they fought the terrorists. it was an alarmingly large group. Fox made a mental note to ask the people who were supposed to be keeping track of possible terror threats how they missed this.
The two Jedi fell back to protecting the younglings. It looked like all others had fled the scene. That was good. Then why did the younglings... Fox overheard the two master thank the younglings for not listening and staying and helping. They had chosen to do what was right.
Okay then. Jedi were weird.
Fox took care of the remaining terrorists, listened to the reports as he ordered a clean up. The Jedi were hanging around. That was good. He'd need a statement from all of them at some point. This was better than tracking them down.
He glanced their way at one point and realized that they were both bandaged. Makeshift bandages, they didn't actually take care of wounds properly.
(Later, when looking at security, Fox would see that they got their wounds protecting others. Not just their charges, but the other museum visitors. Those they saved that weren't Jedi didn't thank them or anything. And they were not surprised. Almost killed for ungrateful strangers)
"Down!" the Jedi who reminded him of a much older General Vos yelled.
He dropped down instinctively. The Jedi did not drop. Instead they caught the bomb that was thrown in a broken window and tossed it back out. Just in time. It had barely cleared the window when it exploded.
Fox braced himself. The floor shook.
But there was no impact. Instead there was the two Jedi, holding back the debris from the wall, moving to stand in front of everyone else. They would get the brunt of the impact if they let go.
It was impressive. Until Fox noticed that they were bleeding through their bandages. They were not going to last much longer.
He jumped up and started ordering his troopers to get in there and start clearing out the debris so that the Jedi didn't have to hold it back as much. So that they could let it fall. Then he called for medics.
When they let go of the debris, Fox was right behind them. They both staggered. He caught them and lowered them down to the ground.
"Hello, Generals, I am Commander Fox. Medics are on the way, and I believe someone should be by to collect the younglings."
"Oh, good," the one that reminded him of General Vos, same tattoos on the face, even said, "thanks for the help Fox. I'm Master Dominic Vos, most call me Nic, and this is my husband Master Ben Kenobi. We don't usually fight, we're doing the little things that need doing, like keeping the little ones entertained," he explained. "Which means we're not really Generals."
Fox stared between him and Kenobi. Ben Kenobi who did look like an older version of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Ben chuckled weakly. "Quinlan is his cousin, and Obi-Wan is my nephew," he explained. Then he looked down at the bleeding wound and winced. "Yes, calling for medics was a good call."
"You don't say," Dominic shot back with a bit of a grumble. He pressed a shaking hand to his own wound. "Ow." He moved over to his husband anyways, wrapping his arms around Ben, leaning in.
Ben wrapped his arm around Dominic, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "Careful, love. Don't want to make it worse."
"Don't tell me what to do." Dominic grumbled, cuddling.
"You can cuddle without making it worse, we both know that."
"Uh... should you be cuddling?" Fox asked tentatively. He shot glares at some of the others, leaving him to keep an eye on the Jedi. He knew he could have ordered anyone to do that. But he liked being responsible. And he had been there when they collapsed.
"Yes," Dominics eyes flashed and he clung to Ben.
Ben winced and adjusted where he was gripping. "Nic is a Kiffar. Kiffar have far higher needs for touch and it helps in healing," he explained. "So better to cuddle."
That explained a lot about the General Vos he knew. No wonder he didn't seem to understand personal space unless asked to step away.
"Where are the medics?" he muttered, glaring at the door way. Seeing that the two Jedi looked drowsy and progressively more out of it, Fox started applying his knowledge of first aid to help them.
"I didn't know Jedi get married."
"Oh, we don't, technically. It's really a bonding, a partnership. The closest word to what we have is marriage. But it's not marriage the way the galaxy sees it."
Dominic snorted. "You mean they'd just tell us to get divorced because we don't put each other as a priority over our jobs?"
Fox listened to them bicker, and occasionally kiss while he did his best to hold them together until the medics arrived. He was going to have a word with those medics about promptness.
It was interesting listening to the two Jedi bicker. They were affectionate and fond, not really serious. Oh. It was a distraction from the pain they were in, wasn't it?
He glanced at the younglings, many of whom were watching. And maybe an act to keep the younglings from panicking. Smart.
By the time the medics arrived, Vos and Kenobi were passed out and running out of blood. Fox was ready to strangle the medic team. He was going to lecture them so severely for nearly killing two Jedi masters with their dawdling.
3. Quinlan injured in mission gone wrong; Fox has to call for help
Quinlan was doing an undercover mission on Coruscant. Obi-Wan had been off planet when he started it, but Quinlan trusted the other members of the Council to keep an eye on the situation. And it was working out just fine.
He was doing undercover as a stripper, as a prostitute under the table. A lot of important people liked to talk to the prostitutes they hired. He wasn't super comfortable with this mission, but it was necessary. And unfortunately, it was the Chancellor who requested that they send someone undercover. Apparently he was 'concerned' about the other Senators using such resources and being corrupt. And he requested one of their best be sent. Quinlan was on that short list.
He agreed, knowing the risks. Knowing it was far more outside his comfort zone than he'd normally agree to. After all, he had a partner. After all, he didn't usually do undercover work.
But he also knew that the Chancellor was the Sith, and the Chancellor was probably fishing for information, fishing to see if anyone was spilling. Quinlan being in place would allow him to make sure the Chancellor heard nothing that implicated him, nothing that could work against him. Well, maybe a few things.
But if Quinlan heard anything that could get the Chancellor in trouble, he was keeping track of that and reporting it so that they could add it to their pile of evidence. So that they could attempt to get the Chancellor arrested eventually.
The mission was going well, even with all the BDSM. Even with the slowly accumulating injuries. Quinlan was getting a lot of information he was storing away. Not just from Senators, but those in crime rings, even some CEOs ranting about how their business was going or not going. All of that could be useful some day.
Then came the day it went wrong. He was supposed to just be available at night, for a few hours. He was not a long term prostitute or anything.
And then a Senator rented a room, and 'bought' him for three days.
The positive was that this was a Senator that brought a lot of information that could be traced back to the Chancellor. A lot of information about how their faction even worked. Something that many were struggling with.
The negative was... everything else. BDSM and at the mercy of someone who liked to be in control at all times was... difficult.
He was already bleeding through his bandages, the ones he was allowed to put on so he didn't bleed everywhere between sessions, when alarms went through the building.
...That was the raid alarm. That meant some law enforcement team was doing a raid. Could be the Coruscant Guard, could be some other group.
Either way, the Senator panicked and stabbed him, more than once. Quinlan fought back and knocked the Senator out. He applied some field healing to the wound, more patches than anything. It wouldn't last. He grabbed his clothes and pulled them on, as skimpy as they were, and rushed to his actual room in this hotel.
Where his ids and other important things that showed he was a Jedi were stored. Including a mission briefing. He technically wasn't supposed to keep it on him, but he had his ways of keeping others out of his business, and no one had found them yet.
He made it to his room and pulled out the documents. He then waited. Technically he wasn't supposed to do anything anyways, since it was a raid. He just wanted to make it easier on himself. Besides. There was no way he was going to stay in the room with the Senator.
He checked on his wounds and winced when he saw them bleeding through the bandages again. He changed them out. It should be fine.
There was a knock at the door. Quinlan sensed one of the managers of the establishment. So he tossed on a robe and stuffed everything he needs in the inside pocket.
Then he shuffled over to the door. The manager was incensed.
"We are in the middle of a raid and you left your client after knocking him out!"
"He stabbed me!" Quinlan protested, shrinking back. He was supposed to be a cowed prostitute, here because he couldn't say no and didn't have anything else.
"You were supposed to stay there. You're lucky no one saw you!"
"He. Stabbed. Me." Quinlan opened the robes to show the bandages around the three different stab wounds. The first one had stunned him, the second saw him fighting back, the third was snuck in during the chaos of fighting after that.
The manager punched him. Quinlan bent over from the force, crying out with pain.
"You had an obligation to the client. There is a raid, and you needed to stay put until we told you what to do. you're lucky they swept the area before you got here."
He grabbed Quinlan's hair and yanked until Quinlan was on his knees. "And you know the consequences of these things."
Quinlan knew what was expected. He whimpered. "I'm sorry, I panicked, please..."
The manager punched him again.
Quinlan cried out again. It really hurt. He was not feeling so lucky that the raid had already passed them by.
Thankfully, it seemed that the Coruscant Guard were the ones doing the raid. And they had different procedures than any other group. Which included backtracking and sweeping places already checked with different teams after they went through the building once. So it wouldn't be long before Quinlan was saved, though he did not know it yet.
Quinlan was enduring his punishment. Curled up on the floor as the manager added pain after pain. He had mostly avoided such punishments over the two weeks on this assignment, but he had seen it before. Had known it was a possibility, had even braced himself for it.
But he still had not been prepared.
He screamed at searing pain down his back. He wasn't sure what the manager was doing, but it hurt.
There was a noise of running. The door was knocked down. The manager froze and started yelling at the Guard. They were undeterred as they arrested him.
Quinlan remained curled up until a hand on his shoulder made him flinch. Through the haze of pain he heard them ask for his idents. He fumbled with the robe and pulled everything out before curling back up and trying to breathe through the pain.
The manager had not removed the bandages, so it was hard to tell just by looking if the blood showing on the bandages was from other wounds, or if he had been bleeding through the bandages.
It didn't really matter. Without help, he was dying. He was in a haze of pain, unable to think. So he didn't really hear any of the exchange going on above him as the Guard read over his idents, cursed, and called Fox over.
Fox looked them over, looked at Quinlan, cursed, then sat down next to Quinlan. He gave some orders before pulling off some of his armor and pulling Quinlan into his lap, careful of the wounds. The medics would be there in just a few minutes.
"General Vos, it's Commander Fox. The idiots have been taken care of."
Quinlan opened his eyes to smile weakly at Fox. "Good." He curled into Fox, clinging to his arm. "Everything hurts."
"Yes, I can see that. The medics will be here soon. Do you need anything?"
"Obi. Want Obi."
"Okay, I'll make sure to call General Kenobi. He's supposed to be off planet, though, is there any one else?"
"Mm... Tholme... Nic, Ben, Aayla, or Ani. Mace. Plo." He listed the rest of the Council, "That order."
"Okay. I'll make that call." Fox wasn't sure who Tholme was. He had not known that General Vos knew General Secura, let alone that he knew her enough to trust her with this. Wait, Ani was General Skywalker, he was certain, he had heard Senator Amidala call him that once. Skywalker was Kenobi's Palawan. Did that mean General Vos had trained General Secura? Oh, Bly was going to freak out if that was true.
"Want Obi though." Quinlan complained.
"I know. We'll take care of you, General. You get some rest."
The medics arrived just as Quinlan passed out from blood loss. Fox refused to move from his side.
"General Dominic Vos said that Kiffar have higher needs of touch and it aids in healing," he explained. "I'm not going to let him suffer after being undercover here for so long."
.
Obi-Wan rushed home from his mission. Quinlan was hurt and he wasn't there to help him. This was why he was worried about Quinlan doing undercover missions on his own. this had always been a huge risk. One that Quinlan rarely had to take because he didn't actually do shadow work much at all.
From what Mace said, Fox refused to budge from Quinlan's side until he had assurances that someone would be making sure to at least hold his hand. Apparently he had taken something Nic had said to heart.
Obi-Wan was grateful. Having some touch did help Quinlan over all. Facilitated better healing and helped him overcome just about everything.
Quinlan still looked miserable when he arrived. Obi-Wan smiled at Fox, thanked him profusely, made a note to make sure to help Quinlan with his next round of gifts to the Coruscant Guard, and then he climbed into bed with his husband.
Quinlan immediately latched on, as drugged up as he was to help with the pain. Obi-Wan soothed him and helped him fall asleep. Finding out what information Quinlan had could wait. It wasn't urgent, the Chancellor had even agreed that it could wait.
So they would wait.
4. Ben the trouble magnet
Ben was on a mission on his own. It was supposed to be simple. He was with the Coruscant Guard supervising the transfer of supplies. Only there because a Jedi was required.
He could still fight if he needed to, long since healed up from that mess at the museum. But it wasn't supposed to be necessary.
Thire didn't seem to know what to make of him. Ben was amused; he lived to confuse people these days. And he knew that Obi-Wan had grown up to be similar to him. Just as Quinlan was similar to Dominic. They were the same people with different lived experiences after all.
Naturally, things went wrong. Again. As they always seemed to around Ben.
He did his thing, and soon he was returning home. He bandaged up all the new injuries he had gotten and moved on. He didn't think they were that bad.
When Dominic greeted him upon their return to Coruscant, he winced at the hug. Dominic was immediately worried.
"To the healers."
"Of course," Ben agreed. "I was injured. Nothing too bad, but it hurt. I think I might still have a piece of glass lodged in my back."
"Ben! That's kind of bad!" Dominic threw his hands in the air. "You are insufferable. Always thinking things are better than they are."
"As if you're much better, Nic," Ben shot back, then he sighed. "You know I am not trying to downplay things, right?"
Dominic wrapped an arm around him. "Of course," he assured his partner. "You genuinely do think things are not a problem when they are. It's frustrating that you are seventy years old, and still haven't figured it out!"
"Ugh, don't remind me of my age while we're in the middle of the war. It's been doing weird things to my head."
"Fine. But seriously, Ben. I worry about you sometimes."
"I'll live. I'm still walking, I didn't hide the injuries."
"I know."
Ben stripped for the healers and they discovered he had been bleeding through the bandages.
Dominic could only sigh at Ben's astonished face. "Not that bad?"
"I... huh. I guess it is that bad."
Dominic kissed Ben to distract him from what the healers were doing.
5. Umbara
Obi-Wan had been warned about Umbara,. About the possibility of Jedi Falling. About the possibility of things just Going Wrong. Dominic and Ben remained quiet on the matter, not wanting to give any details.
For good reason: They didn't want to have Obi-Wan preemptively try to save the situation, only to be wrong because things had happened different enough for the facts of the first timeline to now be incorrect. That could kill someone or get an innocent person in trouble. They also didn't want to
Which was why when Umbara came up, Obi-Wan absolutely refused to deal with it without Quinlan's help. Since Quinlan was his usual partner in the field, even with the war, he got his way.
They planned things out carefully, discussing ways to keep communications open, discussing ways to ensure that the commanders and captains would be able to get through to everyone.
Anakin had some good ideas too on how to mix things up.
When Pong Krell showed up to replace Anakin because for some reason the Chancellor wanted to see him and not one of the Council members... They knew.
Obi-Wan kept his cool, wishing that Quinlan was with him. But they had to split up Jedi, and without details, they hadn't known why or how.
At least they had paired someone with Anakin. Obi-Wan was quickly fed up with Krell's attitude towards the 501st. Fed up with Krell's insistence that his plan was faulty.
Obi-Wan was one of the best strategists in the Order. Krell had a history, even before the war, of not coming up with the greatest plans. Listening to him go on, Obi-Wan realized it was because Krell had an inflated sense of self importance.
It took some prodding but Obi-Wan was pretty convinced that Krell had Fallen.
(part of him breathed a sigh of relief. It was bad enough knowing that Anakin had Fallen the first time around, bad enough watching Anakin still struggle despite being raised a Jedi; although now it seemed his struggles were due to the Chancellor not so much his past, at least. At least it wasn't a 'good' Jedi, but one that people could easily see Falling)
So, Obi-Wan acted accordingly, with caution. He kept the troopers as safe as possible, constantly stepping between them and Krell. Especially Rex, who didn't seem to know what to do with Krell and his orders. Who wanted to save as many of the troopers as possible but could not risk his own life or more would die. It was driving a rift between him and the other troopers.
Eventually, it was one stepping in too many, and Krell blew up at him. Obi-Wan didn't care, and a fight broke out. With much use of the Force, Light and Dark clashing.
In the end, Obi-Wan stood over Krell's body, battered, but still, standing. He issued orders on how to take care of Krell, waved away the medics (he'd check in later; he knew better than to avoid altogether), and stumbled to the comms center to make a report.
Once there he bandaged up his wounds, once again thinking they were more minor than they were. He knew he'd be seeing the medics later anyways. It would be fine.
He got the call setup for reporting to the Council. He was pleased to find that Quinlan was giving his own report. Quinlan smiled at him then returned to his report, finishing quickly.
Then Obi-Wan explained what happened with Krell, the sabotages he had stopped, and how Krell had finally snapped. The fight that ensued.
"And now he's dead." Obi-Wan finished.
There was some discussion of the signs, but ultimately, due to Krell mostly doing missions where they weren't expected to succeed so a success and a large loss was acceptable, there wasn't enough they could have acted on beyond maybe keeping a closer eye and checking in with his troopers.
Quinlan interrupted the chat, eyes narrowed. "Obi-Wan, are you bleeding?"
"I bandaged everything up!" Obi-Wan protested, then looked down. "Oh come on." He groaned. "The medics are going to be furious."
"You don't say." Quinlan crossed his arms. "Your pain tolerance needs to calm down so you can tell when you're actually seriously hurt!"
"Yeah, yeah. I know. I just wish the medics could be convinced that I'm not doing this on purpose. I know full well how to take care of myself, because you and our older selves wouldn't let me get by without learning!" Obi-Wan crossed his arms and subsided into grumbling after poking at the bandage.
Quinlan softened. "Things are wrapped up well here. Cody will be fine in charge, I'll go be interference as soon as I can get there, okay?"
Obi-Wan nodded. "That works for me. Thanks, Quin."
"Anything for you." Quinlan gave him a loving smile.
The Council decided to wrap things up quickly so Obi-Wan did not have to face too much wrath from the medics, and Quinlan could get to him faster.
Obi-Wan turned off the comms and sat down to think about things a little before he got up and turned himself in to the medics. He hadn't thought the wound was that bad, but of course it was.
...actually, he was starting to feel light headed. Oh no. Too much blood loss... probably was bleeding in places aside from that wound.
Obi-Wan breathed, trying to get it under control. He had to get up and walk to the medley and the medics would take care of him. He'd have to face their lectures because it was that bad this time. How did he not realize?
He passed out before he even reached the door.
Obi-Wan opened his eyes to find Quinlan at his side, working on paperwork. Quinlan smiled at him.
"How are you feeling now, Obi?"
"Ugh." Obi-Wan groaned. "How did I not notice that it was that bad?"
"I don't know. We really need to have some way for you to know when you need to go to the medics and when you don't need to."
Obi-Wan grumbled. "It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't insist on practically tying me to the bed with not even a book to read."
Quinlan winced. "Okay. That's a problem. I'll talk to them. Maybe one medic you can check in with briefly at the end of a battle to do the basic first aid things, that medic can make the call?"
Obi-Wan considered that. "As long as they only hold me back if it would put me in danger of dying, or it's something like I'm about to walk on a broken leg and make it worse. And if it's just broken bones, I can still order people around from a chair. Broken bones require some rest but not to the extent I can't still help."
"That works for me, Obes." Quinlan leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Obi-Wan's. "You kind of scared me."
"Sorry. I didn't mean to."
"I know. I'm just tired of us getting injured and there really being nothing the other finds wrong with what led to the injuries, which means there's nothing we can do about it. Aside from realizing when they're actually that bad."
"I know... I'm still sorry, Quin." Obi-Wan squeezed his hand. "It's not fair to you."
"It's really not." Quinlan kissed his forehead. "But it's not fair to you either when it's me. We'll figure something out eventually."
+1 Everyone is getting injured.
It was supposed to be a simple resupply mission. Dominic and Ben had volunteered for it, because it was so simple. And it was to the 212th, which meant Quinlan and Obi-Wan.
Naturally, they arrived, it went well. Everyone was thrilled to meet Quinlan and Obi-Wan's relatives, and many were surprised to learn it was Dominic who trained Obi-Wan. It was great. Smooth even.
Until Grievous attacked.
Dominic leaned over to Ben. "The Force hates us."
Ben shoved him lightly. "Shut up."
"What? you know I'm right. There's no reason for this attack!"
"That doesn't mean that the Force hates us."
"You have a better explanation that doesn't involve luck?"
"Well this attack did happen the first time. Ahsoka with the younglings, remember?"
Obi-Wan and Quinlan ignored them, used to their bickering, and busy trying to sort out everything. Trying to take control.
But Grievous had surprised them. In the middle of a resupply. All those fresh resources were about to be wasted.
Because of how different things really where in this timeline, though, Grievous boarded the ship before Obi-Wan and Quinlan (and Cody) decided it was hopeless and they needed to evacuate.
He found Dominic and Ben first. They were older. Ben was missing an eye, and Dominic had an injured arm, but they still could put up a fight. After all, both had fought Grievous before, though of course, Ben had the far greater experience.
They were getting overwhelmed, nearly defeated when Obi-Wan and Quinlan found them, along with a squad of troopers.
"We're evacuating," Obi-Wan said grimly. "Get them out of here."
Both time travelers accepted the help, wincing and limping. Dominic glanced back at Obi-Wan worriedly.
Obi-Wan smiled at him reassuringly before focusing on the fight.
With the ship falling apart around them, Obi-Wan and Quinlan had a much harder time keeping their footing than Grievous did. They were doing a good job of beating him back, of finding space to keep fighting.
Obi-Wan let out a yell of pain then stared in astonishment at his left arm, now missing just above his elbow. The shock was hard to shake, but it allowed him to think and resume fighting, just a bit off balance.
Quinlan was close to panicking but he grit his teeth and kept up the fight. They had gotten one of Grievous' arms. Now he got one of the legs.
Obi-Wan used Grievous' shock to get the other one.
Quinlan then swung up to remove one of the arms. He succeeded but was reward with a missing hand and then a stab. His eyes widened as he fell back.
Obi-Wan gasped. "Quin!" He closed his eyes briefly, then focused back on Grievous. Grievous only had two arms. He didn't have much room to fight and... A blaster. perfect. He attacked Grievous with his lightsaber, still off balance from losing most of his arm.
Grievous fled, like the coward he was. Obi-wan picked up a blaster and shot him several times, smirking victoriously when Grievous fell to the ground and did not get up.
Obi-Wan hurried over to Quinlan and pulled Quinlan over his shoulders to carry him.
Quinlan just groaned in hazy pain, not all there.
Obi-Wan made sure that Grievous was dead by severing his head before fleeing the ship, barely making it to the last escape pod in time.
Well... Grievous was dead, at least... But at a cost. He wasn't even sure how injured Dominic and Ben were, but the way they had been clinging to each other had shown that they had accepted death, known that Grievous was about to kill them. They were passed out in the escape pod as well, having been among the last group to make it to the escape pods.
Obi-Wan held Quinlan tightly with his one arm, wishing a medic was in the pod with them. He hoped that someone would find them soon. He thought he would live; losing a limb wouldn't kill him. But Quinlan? Dominic and Ben? They didn't have much of a chance.
He pressed a kiss to Quinlan's forehead and sent him into a full sleep with a simple Force suggestion. That was all he could do to help Quinlan right now. He didn't have the ability to heal like Quinlan did. He wasn't sure it was even a good idea to spend that much of the Force with his arm gone. Quinlan wouldn't appreciate it, so it was going to have to be a last resort only.
Obi-Wan breathed, thinking about how he had left the younglings without help because of the ill timed attack. Thinking about his poor grandpadawan left in the hands of pirates, though of all the pirates, at least it was Hondo who at the strangest of times found some sort of honor to use.
He hoped it would all work out. And he knew that Dominic and Ben were both getting desperate to figure out how to dig out the Chancellor from his perch, but he had covered his tracks well. He had so many people he bribed. There was just no good way to arrest him or kill him without dragging the Jedi through the mud.
They were going to have to draw him out somehow. Obi-Wan had a feeling he and Quinlan weren't going to like it.
For now, all that mattered was recovering from these injuries. Learning how to live with prosthetics in place of missing arm for Obi-Wan, and missing hand for Quinlan. At least Grievous was dead, ahead of schedule. At least they had prevented so many deaths, had saved so many. It was war, so it was never enough but from what Dominic and Ben said... they had done quite a bit towards ensuring better outcomes.
That would have to be enough.
