The creature continued to charge into the Seppie army, it’s massive tail flung droids into trees and rocks. Many of the droids dropped their weapons, broke ranks and fled as fast as they could, only to get stomped on, thrown into the air, or melted.
“Is that the General?” Boil asked as he stepped next to his Commander, his tone held the same confusion and awe that Cody was feeling.
“I … ” He stared at the carnage, not sure what to say.
“Well it is red,” Waxer added. “When it spit that plasma flame, I swore I saw a beard or something similar.”
“It’s moving through the forest fast, and will hit the front lines of the 501st.” Longshot warned, realizing their vodes wouldn’t know what it was, hell he didn’t know what it was.
That snapped Cody out of his shock, he motioned for his men to follow the destruction. Their General was going to need them, once he finished reeking havoc all over the battlefield. As they made their way forward, he clicked his private com. ‘Rex! Rex, listen to me. There’s a large red creature heading in your direction.’
‘Like we need another …’
‘It’s friendly, don’t shoot it. It’s the General!’ He could almost see Rex’s incredulous expression. ‘I’m not making this up, he just destroyed the Seppies here, and is moving towards you.’
‘Cody?’ Rex hesitated, as the sound of crashing trees and a roar that was heard across the communication lines. ‘Kriff! What the hell is that?’
‘It’s Kenobi I swear, we saw him shift. Whatever you do, don’t kill my General. I won’t be happy.’ He clicked off his com, not able to keep up the conversation as they ran along the path the General carved out of the forest.
The 212th found themselves heading straight into what was left of the retreating Seppi army. They easily took out the last stragglers, before breaking through the foliage into the clearing.
The 501st was staring at the large red creature who was calmly sitting on his haunches, front two paws tucked close to his body, in the midst of dead droids, it’s tail curled around its front feet, head held high with a contented look at all destruction.
“Don’t shoot!!” General Skywalker yelled as he ran in between his men and the creature. “Weapons down, it’s alright he won’t hurt us.”
“What the kriff is it?!” Fives yelled, hand gesturing at it.
“It’s General Kenobi.”
“Well no offense sir, last time we saw him he was much shorter and had less scales.” Echo stood next to Fives, staring at the creature.
“Is it a Dragon? I mean a True Dragon?” Mythic asked, as he stepped past the Commander, staring at the General in awe. “I read about them. The ones that are sentient, not the common ones like the Kyat Dragon that are more animal. They were supposed to be hunted down and destroyed, some of the text state it was because they destroyed worlds, and stole precious items for their hoard. But the more recent scholars state that they went underground, because they were valuable on the blackmarket, well their parts were.”
“I’ve seen some of those holovids. Don’t you have to sacrifice a virgin to appease it?” Fives glanced over to General Skywalker, who was facepalming and trying not to laugh.
The Dragon itself looked amused.
“I’m pretty sure I know one virgin who wouldn’t mind…”
‘You finish that statement I will drop you where you stand.’ Cody threatened over the comms, realizing it was an open channel when his men snickered. He was thankful the buckets didn’t translate their emotions, or his white helmet would be sporting a very deep blush.
“It’s not quite like that.” Skywalker tried to explain, through his laughter. He glanced up at his Master, giving him a look. “I take it you were pissed?”
There was a huff, and a dead droid was kicked, landing against a tree in a thud as it slid to the ground. One of the hard shell fruits fell out of the tree and landed on the droid with a clunk. “The Intelligence Committee is lucky I’m not looking for a snack.”
Cody startled, it sounded like his General.
And now that he really looked at the creature, he could see many of Kenobi’s characteristics. In his seated position he looked to be about eighteen feet tall, he couldn’t tell the length as he was sitting on his haunches. He was dark red in color, his underbelly a shade or two lighter. The tail was thicker at the base, and thinned out to a pointy tip at the end, much like a spear, which at the moment had a piece of droid stuck to it. The body was bulkier with scales that looked soft, but earlier they seemed to gleam in the sunlight. He wondered if they were armoured, it figured his General would have armour but never use it!
“Do we need to feed it?” Echo asked.
“It’s the General, stop calling him an it, show some respect.” Cody sighed heavily, not sure who he wanted to yell at: The General, Skywalker, Mythic, Rex or just everyone.
“So you don’t have to sacrifice a virgin?” Mythic asked with a curiosity that wasn’t healthy as far as the Commander was concerned.
Kenobi tilted his large head, bending slightly down towards the 212th. Cody took a deep breath, trying to stay calm, only to realize all of his men – every single one of them – stepped backwards, leaving him to be sacrificed to the Dragon.
Not sure what to do, he went by instinct and held out his hand palm forward, only to freeze when the large snout settled into it. He looked upwards into the same blue eyes, filled with humor and determination. Instinctively he scratched the nose, the Dragon shook his head and rumbled, like a very big tooka. Up close he could see the soft whiskers that formed a beard around the snout. He wished he could take his gloves off to feel if the scales were as soft as they looked.
“I apologize ner cyar’ika, for not warning you.”
He reached up and took off his bucket, glaring at his general. “This is something I needed to know.”
The head softly slid against Cody’s side. “We don’t normally show ourselves, but I just couldn’t see the verde slaughtered, when I knew I could do something.”
“Ni survarir.” And he did. The chances of survival had been slim to none. He wasn’t surprised that the Obi-Wan would showcase something so precious to himself to save the men, it’s what made him their General.
He was also sure that the 212th was going to be even more loyal – if that was even possible.
“What in … kriffing hells?” Kix’s voice echoed across the battlefield. He glanced left as Echo gave him a quick run down, he then turned back to the Dragon, eyes narrowing. “GENERAL this is something your medic needs to know! I don’t even know how to deal with Dragon physiology.”
“Kix it’s not like …” Kenobi tried to defend himself. It wasn’t as if he purposely hid himself, okay maybe he did, but Dragons hide for many reasons. He wasn’t sure what would happen if the Republic found out he was a Dragon, let alone the very idea of a Dragon Jedi.
“Not like what, sir!?”
Kenobi glanced at Anakin who was enjoying this way too much. He will deal with his former Padawan later, at the moment his main concern was his Commander, so he did something out of the ordinary for the famed Negotiator. He slunk down onto his belly, turned his head slightly, as one eye looked at Cody. “Get on.” The Commander hesitated for a moment, then slammed on his bucket, and slid onto where the shoulders met the neck. In a flash, Kenobi stood, turned, and fled into the woods, leaving behind gaping troopers.
“So I guess he got his virgin.” Rex deadpanned, ignoring the stares and snickers. He instead looked at his General. “Sir, would you care to explain?”
Kix had yanked out his datapad and started researching, only to have Mythic steal it from him, much to the shock of the vode around them. He typed a few things in, then handed it back. “These are the sources I’ve read about Dragons. There isn’t much information about the physiology, more of …” he paused tone saddened “… more of what parts of a Dragon are good for medicines, rituals, and their value on the black markets. Supposedly on one outer rim world Dragon soup is a delicacy.”
“Oh hell no, if anyone thinks they are turning our Dragon General into soup, they’ll deal with the wrath of the 212th!” Boil was not having it, and if one sleemo bounty hunter even thought about it, he was just going to shoot him, and then let the Commander loose.
“No one is eating Obi-Wan.” Anakin growled low in his throat. There was one time he had to deal with Dragon Hunters, and well, they didn’t live long enough to contemplate the errors of their ways. “And for your information, Dragons don’t eat virgins, they actually don’t eat sentient beings, unless in self defense, and we’re not going to talk about that – as it was traumatizing for all those involved.”
“Do the Jedi know?” Ahsoka asked quietly, staring at the empty spot her Grandmaster stood. She had walked into the situation, not sure what was going on, and had taken a deep breath, pulled the Force around her, only finding confusion and humor, but no malice. Though she had a lot of questions.
“Not all of them.” Anakin sighed realizing there was no way he was getting out of explaining at least some of this nightmare. He cursed Obi-Wan for running off, but also knew why he did. He needed to have a private conversation with Commander Cody. Which meant he was stuck with 501st storytime. “First things first, get the wounded to medical, clean up the battlefield, and after remembrance I’ll tell you a story.”
Just gets better and better.