Chapter 4

The harsh desert winds of Geonosis whipped and swirled through the shadows of the rock-hewn canyon pass. Anakin pitched their shuttle craft lower, allowing the ionic repulsor engines to cut through pockets of obscuring dust.

Galen peered out from the co-pilot's station, willing the macrobinoculars to pierce through the murky amber haze surrounding them. There - unmistakable outlines of heavily fortified defenses and anti-aircraft emplacements jutting from the very canyon walls.

"They've turned this entire ravine into a killzone," he muttered, unconsciously tightening his safety restraints. "We'll never slip through those defenses unnoticed in this lumbering garbage scow."

"Hey, watch your mouth!" Anakin bristled, yanking the controls in a hard starboard bank that leveled them out parallel to the serpentine rock walls, engines straining. "This 'garbage scow' has gotten me out of tighter spots than you can imagine,"

Muted laughter filtered up from the rear cabin where Padmé sat. "Suns, the two of you bicker like absolute children! Find us a way inside before we're detected, Anakin."

"As alluring as your scathing wit might be, Padme" Galen deadpanned back over his shoulder, "evasion and infiltration were hardly on the lesson plan under my... prior, let's just say tutelage."

The subtle reminder of his ominous past seemed to pacify the young Jedi slightly, and Anakin refocused on studying the high cliffs and outcroppings flanking their path. After several tense moments, a harsh intake of breath signaled his discovery.

"There!" He toggled a control routing power to the forward scanner array, bathing the cockpit in an eerie crimson glow. Fresh topographical contours highlighted a narrow crevasse branching off the main gorge several kilometers ahead. "That's our insertion point."

Anakin wrestled the bulky shuttle into a tight spiral, riding its repulsors on a screaming vertical descent that had even Galen's stomach knotting. But the young Jedi's piloting skills were unflinching - in the span of mere heartbeats their roaring plummet leveled out into a bone-jarring impact inside the crevice's shadowy throat.

The transparisteel viewports polarized to dull the blinding backwash of the landing thrusters as they cycled down with an anti-climactic wheeze. A tense silence fell as exterior sensors swept for any sign their intrusion had been detected. When the all-clear indicators flashed, Anakin finally sagged back in the pilot's couch with an explosive exhale.

"Well, I'll say this much for you two..." he muttered, raking a hand through his disheveled hair with a wry look back at Padmé and Galen. "You sure do keep things interesting."

With a few terse commands into the navicomputer, the outer hull extended its atmospheric cycling vents as Anakin triggered the boarding ramp. Stale, re-circulated air gave way to the hot, metallic-tainted winds of Geonosis whipping through the cramped shuttle interior.

Padmé was the first to strap on a respiration mask, settling a blaster pistol into the small of her back and adjusting her goggles with a look of grim determination. She moved to Anakin's shoulder, laying a light hand there.

"You know you don't have to do this," she said, tone almost imploring behind the mask's dull vocoder crackle. "Getting captured like Obi-Wan - we could still reach out to the Council. Bring real reinforcements to bear."

Anakin held her gaze for a beat too long, the electric blue of his eyes softening as his gloved hand found hers. "And risk losing him while bureaucrats sit on their hands? Not a chance, Padmé. Obi-Wan would do the same for me."

He turned towards Galen where the exiled warrior stood silently observing their farewell. "And you heard the man - he doesn't need an entire battle group. Just point him in the right direction and let 'em have it."

The young Jedi's bravado slipped for the briefest microfraction at those last words, the whites of his knuckles showing as his hand settled on Padmé's waist. "Force be with you both."

With that, Padmé turned towards the extended boarding ramp and Anakin followed close behind. Galen fell into step next to them as they moved out into the superheated winds kicking up grit with every step.

"Any idea where they might be holding Kenobi?" Galen rumbled over the howl of particle shear, scanning their maze-like surroundings through his armored mask's lenses.

"I picked up a strange energy signature moving underground just before you two hot-dropped in on me," Anakin replied obliquely, adjusting the lightsaber on his belt. "Let's just say it wasn't any mining 'droids giving off that kind of vibe."

Galen felt the slightest tingle of dark side energies in the Force around them as if in confirmation. Of course the Separatists would construct their factories and holding cells beneath the harsh surface. Radiation shielding, easy access to raw materials, and defensive strength all rolled into one.

He tried not to linger too long on the undercurrent memories of similar subterranean Imperial facilities where atrocities would often take place behind thick durasteel ray-shielded bulkheads...

By unspoken agreement, their small team abandoned the shuttle and moved out in a tight three-point stack formation. Anakin took point, Padmé held the rear guard while Galen hugged the shadows of the jagged rock walls in the middle cup. Their path soon angled downwards into an open service trench, sheltered slightly from the oppressive winds scouring across the canyon's heights above.

The rebreather masks filtered out the harsh particulates but couldn't hide the cloying stench of unrefined oils, hot metal and weapons discharge tainting the thin atmosphere. It only grew thicker and more unpleasant the deeper they descended, following Anakin's suit telemetry towards the anomalous energy signature's core.

Without warning, the trench ended in an abrupt fissure opening up into a vast cavern that took Galen's breath away. Catwalks and access corridors splayed outward in an Escher-esque maze towards a behemoth central spire disappearing into the distant shadows. Industrial storage bays and smelter facilities ringed the space as far as the eye could see.

And everywhere, a ceaseless column of droid transports and hovering cargo sleds moved raw materials or trundled along with newly assembled mechanical infantry, creating a whirring, grinding cacophony that set Galen's teeth on edge.

"Suns above..." Anakin muttered into their com-channel, snapping off a compressed visual datalog of the panorama. " Droid factories spanning kilometers..."

"An army this size could topple a hundred star systems and grind them underfoot," Galen replied flatly, gauging the logistics behind this sprawling beast of a facility. "Whoever these Separatists are, they've clearly prepared for outright war against the Republic's territories."

"No, it can't be!" Padmé stepped forward beside them, one delicate hand pressed against the steaming plasti-pane of her goggles. "War on such an unimaginable scale - it has to be some elaborate ruse. A convoluted bluff against the Core worlds, but no one would actually-"

She cut off abruptly at the molten look Galen threw her way through his mask's lenses. Her gaze fell as realization dawned.

Whatever debate she might have held died on Padmé's tongue as Anakin hoisted his rifle higher, unslinging the particle grenade launcher mounted beneath the barrel in one swift motion.

"Stay on overwatch and keep those lovely eyes peeled," he spoke gruffly into their comm-link, gesturing towards a nearby lookout position overlooking the colossal central spire. "Galen and I are going to go find Obi-Wan the fun way."

Without another word, the two Force-users moved out in eerie unison across a series of shadowed catwalks ringing the chamber. Galen spared one glance back to where the elegant young woman stood holding her vigil, blaster rifle and armored mask cutting a lonely silhouette against the hellish backdrop. Then he turned his focus to the task at hand and surrendered his