Chapter Text
"Have fun!"
Ahsoka waved back at Obi-Wan. He and Anakin stood on one end of the hanger, watching her and Plo cross to a shuttle waiting on the other side.
"How long is she going to be gone?" Anakin asked.
Obi-Wan shook his head in amusement. "A week. You should learn to keep better track of your padawan, my friend."
"Right. And how long are you going to be gone?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "Mace has only said that he has an assignment for me. I don't have any other details, but when I find out I will let you know."
Minutes later, a padawan delivered a message to Obi-Wan, asking him to meet Mace Windu.
"See you then," Anakin said passively and walked away.
Obi-Wan knew secrets bothered him almost as much as not being asked to every meeting that Obi-Wan was. He couldn't worry about Anakin right now, though, not when he had an upcoming assignment to stress over.
"Come in," Mace invited when Obi-Wan met him in the designated meditation room. "Have a seat."
Obi-Wan did. "So, what will I be doing next?"
Mace used the Force to close the blinds. "Undercover work."
"That's... really not my speed." It would mean leaving Anakin for possibly quite some time.
"A bounty hunter named Fennec Shand is gathering a group for a big job. We caught her tracking the Negotiator's movements."
"Interesting. Why would she be tracking my cruiser?"
"I don't know, and I don't like it. All we know is that she put out a hiring call yesterday. Go get the job and figure out her goals."
Obi-Wan sighed. This was going to be a long trip.
Obi-Wan's costume was itchy. He'd chosen a matching set of pants and a tunic, along with a vest and some gear, that he thought would be similar enough to robes to be comfy. He was wrong. At least he had chosen to leave his face uncovered. Part of him hoped they recognized him and his cover was blown so he could go home sooner.
His outfit wasn't what made him so uncomfortable, though. It was the idea of what he might have to do to fit into his new crowd.
The tryouts were to take place on a moon called Nar Shadda. Obi-Wan had been there a few times as a padawan, and never to find anyone respectable. As the shuttle he was on landed, he looked out over the city. From the surface, it looked like Coruscant's short, evil twin.
Once in the streets, Obi-Wan found the meeting place easily enough. He hesitated before he went in, subconsciously reaching for his lightsaber for reassurance. It wasn't there, of course; it was safely back at the Temple. In its place was a blaster, which Obi-Wan would prefer not to need this entire time. An entire mission without fighting was unlikely, but he could dream.
The address from Shand's ad was a training arena. Once inside, Obi-Wan was instructed to pick an activity and get some practice in. The bounty hunter herself would come and pick candidates for tryouts soon.
Obi-Wan thought about trying out the close combat arena until he saw it. The fighting was brutal. He closed his eyes as the Twi'lek in the ring snapped her opponent's neck. He had no doubt he could win, but doing so would draw attention prematurely.
He settled on a solo activity: the blaster range. It was an area he needed more practice anyway. As he fired, the Force guided his hand and each shot hit precisely where he wanted it to land. He stopped to fiddle with the blaster. Reloading and ammo were the parts of this he wasn't used to and frankly didn't understand.
A small group of bounty hunters sauntered up to him just as he took aim for his next round of practice.
"Hey," said the man in front. He was a human with shaggy teal hair and a mean snarl.
Obi-Wan ignored him and fired. He hit the target, a perfect bullseye again.
"What's your name?" the man tried again.
Obi-Wan realized he hadn't thought of a fake name. He concentrated on shooting as he tried to think of one.
"Wow," one of the others, a Nautolan woman, breathed, as he hit each bullseye again.
"Alright, Bullseye, keep your secrets," the man grumbled. He shoved past his friends and walked away.
"That's Mashed Potatoes," the woman explained. "He's kinda a grouch."
Obi-Wan finished his round and lowered his blaster. "His name is what?"
"Mashed Potatoes. I'm Clyde, and this is Terrence." She nodded to her friend, a human with short brown hair and a tattoo of a snake curling up their neck.
Terrence nodded.
"Pleasure," Obi-Wan said, still wondering whether he had picked the name for himself or if a family with the last name Potatoes had really chosen to call their son Mashed.
Clyde looked back at the shooting range he had just destroyed and gave a low whistle. "You should stick with us," she encouraged. "We've worked jobs for Fennec before. With a blasting record like that, I know she'll want you on our team."
Obi-Wan considered it. Some temporary allies might help, especially if they could help him land the job. "I'll consider it," he decided.
Clyde nodded. "See you later then, Bullseye." She and Terrence wandered off.
An announcement sounded soon after. Obi-Wan followed the crowd into the main arena. There were around twenty bounty hunters gathered there, watching the balcony expectantly. Obi-Wan looked and saw Fennec Shand herself watching down. Sure enough, Mashed Potatoes, Clyde, and Terrence were all up there with her. Clyde was pointing down into the crowd and whispering something to Fennec. Then she pointed directly at Obi-Wan.
"Alright, quiet!" Mashed Potatoes shouted when everyone was there.
The crowd settled down. Fennec stepped to the edge of the balcony. Obi-Wan didn't know much about her other than that she was a rising star among bounty hunters. He hoped that whatever she said would lend him some insight.
"My employer has a difficult task laid out for us," she began. "Most of you who know me know I work alone. Those of you who have worked for me before know that my colleagues work for me, not with me. This time is different. I can't afford any mess ups on this one. So, this is your chance to prove to me that I want you on my team. This is your chance to make a name for yourself, to say 'I work with Fennec Shand, not for her.' Only the best will be chosen for this mission. So I guess the question is: who here is the best?"
A few people actually raised their hand. Obi-Wan snorted.
"For the next hour, I will be observing all of you," Shand continued. "Everything in the arena is at your disposal. I suggest you show off what you're best at. Show any weakness, and I have no use for you."
She disappeared from the balcony.
"Back to practicing," Mashed Potatoes shouted, and everyone dispersed.
Obi-Wan looked around. What was he best at? Not blasting, that was for certain. He looked back to the hand-to-hand combat ring. The fights were starting again, and he wondered if he should join in.
Then he spotted a corner for training in what he really was best at.
A set of vibrostaffs hung on the wall beside a deactivated training droid. No one else was over there, so Obi-Wan helped himself to a staff and turned the droid on. He activated the staff and took a basic beginning stance. If he was too good, the bounty hunters would figure out who he was, so he stuck to simpler moves. He even tried some non-Jedi styles he'd studied, which were intended for a vibrostaff or a metal sword rather than a lightsaber.
It was about ten minutes before Clyde and Terrence wandered over. "There you are! Wow, you're good at that too," Clyde commented. "Fennec'll definitely want you. Hey Terrence, go find her."
Terrence dipped their head and jogged off.
"Where'd you learn to fight like that? Most people just wave the vibrostaff around and hope to hit something. You look like you had some fancy training."
Obi-Wan dodged a blow, then parried another. "Ah, yes, um, my father was a swordsman. He taught me."
"Cool." She stuck her hands in her pockets. "He teach you to shoot too?"
"I'm afraid I picked that up on my own."
Terrence returned with Fennec Shand in town. When Obi-Wan made his three final strikes and disarmed the droid, she looked impressed.
"You're in."
Obi-Wan blinked, surprised. Was it really that easy? "I— thank you."
"Don't mention it. What's your name?"
He nodded to Terrence and Clyde. "They call me Bullseye." Might as well go with it.
Fennec nodded slowly. "Good with the blaster too then. Keep that staff. You're gonna need it."
With that, she walked away.
Obi-Wan gulped. Vibrostaffs were impractical weapons for almost every job. The exception, of course, was when one was expecting to fight a Jedi.
Fennec Shand chose a very small team. There was her original crew: Mashed Potatoes, her main assistant, and Clyde and Terrence, who flew the ship. Besides Obi-Wan, two other hunters had been chosen. One was the Twi'lek who had snapped someone's neck in the fighting arena, aptly named Skull Crusher. The other was an Ugnaught named Max Mackson, who looked like he wouldn't hesitate to push you out the airlock if you got in his way.
"We leave in the morning," Fennec announced as soon as the rest of the bounty hunters had gone.
"Excuse me," Obi-Wan began, "may I ask a question?"
She nodded her permission.
"What exactly are we doing?"
"That is a good question." She smirked. "It won't be easy, I can assure you of that, but that what makes it rewarding. We're going to kidnap a Jedi."
"And kill him?" Skull Crusher asked.
"No. And deliver him to my employer."
She and Max looked genuinely disappointed.
"Who's your employer?" Obi-Wan dared to ask. He hoped that wasn't overly suspicious.
"You'll see when we deliver. Until then, go get some rest. Meet back here in the morning, 0700 sharp."
The others started to disperse, but Obi-Wan still had one last question. "Wait. Which Jedi are we kidnapping?"
Fennec cast him a long look before turning and walking away. "Obi-Wan Kenobi," she called back. "Hope that helps you sleep better."
Obi-Wan practically sprinted back to his ship. He pounded on his long-range communicator, begging it to come online just a little bit faster. As soon as it did, he called Mace Windu directly.
"Where's Anakin?"
Mace's hologram shimmered into view. "What's the problem?"
"I need Anakin's help, where is he?"
He sighed and pushed a button on his wrist comm, then asked Anakin to come and meet him. A few minutes later, Anakin's hologram also appeared.
"Master! What's going on?"
"What are you doing tomorrow?"
Anakin frowned, clearly confused. "Nothing. Why?"
"Good. Take the Negotiator out to the front lines, some position the Separatists already know or that we can give up. And tell everyone that only I'm there."
Mace seemed to catch on. "We can say you're on call for reinforcements for Felucia."
"I don't get it," Anakin said. "Why?"
"Fennec Shand's big job is to kidnap and deliver me to her employer. I want to know who it is. So, Anakin, you are going to stand in for me, since I'm here."
Anakin's eyes lit up. "So I pretend to be you, they kidnap me, and then you let me go when we figure out who hired them."
"That's what he just said," Mace grumbled.
"I like this plan," Anakin decided. "It's gonna be fun. I can get a fake beard and—"
"No, no, no. That won't be necessary. They obviously don't know what I look like or they would have noticed that the kidnapping job had gotten a lot easier." Obi-Wan didn't really want Anakin dressing up and making fun of him, though he somehow felt that was inevitable.
"Fine, take the fun out of it," Anakin teased.
"You better get going, Skywalker," Mace said. "I'll add the Negotiator's movements to the official logs. You think they have a spy in here?"
"Someone has a spy or a tracker somewhere. That's how they tracked my movements before. Hopefully we'll figure out how to stop it."
"And who wants to kidnap you so badly," Mace added.
"Yes. Until then, you'll have to excuse me. I have a kidnapping to prepare for."
"Get some rest," Mace advised.
Anakin waved. "See you soon!"
Obi-Wan ended the call. He climbed into bed, but didn't sleep. All he could think about was what a terrible master he was for putting Anakin in the path of people like Fennec Shand, Mashed Potatoes, Skull Crusher, and Max.