Star Wars - Kenobi

you’ve seen why I’ve taken them. I hope you don’t judge me too harshly, because of it.
    “There’s still good in him.” That’s just what Padmé said to me about Anakin. I don’t know whether I believed that about him. Maybe if I had been more aware of his smaller transgressions, I might have seen what they were leading toward. I don’t know. I do know that Orrin Gault hasn’t fallen as the result of a single act; he’s had a lifetime of small crimes. He smiles, and lies, and people like him. But the bill has come due. And his fear has driven him to ever-worse acts.
    I think there’s a chance for Jabe Calwell, if he can get away from Orrin. I know, I know—it wasn’t Palpatine alone who corrupted Anakin. Anakin had flaws of his own. Flaws I failed to see, that I didn’t prepare him to deal with. But the Emperor played a role. I don’t know if it would have been possible to isolate Anakin from his influence. I tried—but too late. Jabe is another story, I think.
    Another chance to get it right.
    I understand. I am not here to find redemption, saving random youngsters from destruction. I’m not even here to atone, as Annileen suggested earlier. I know I’m here for one reason.
    To protect Luke Skywalker.
    And to be ready when he—and Bail Organa, or whoever supports hope in the galaxy—needs me. If I achieve absolution in that act, fine. But it’s secondary.
    And so, I fear, is everything else around me. Annileen. The oasis. These people. It’s all got to be secondary. The only way I can act on a galactic scale is by doing nothing locally. Nothing at all.
    No matter what my mind or my heart tells me.
    You’ve heard me these last few weeks. At least I hope you have. You haven’t talked to me, but I hope you’ve heard me. You know I’m failing again—this time, at being a hermit. Obi-Wan keeps taking charge of Ben Kenobi’s life. We’re one and the same, of course. But the Obi-Wan part of me wants to help someone, to do something right. To be a Jedi! Only then will I feel that I am able to live in peace while others are suffering.
    I’ve had such trouble, reconciling it all. How can Ben exist if Obi-Wan won’t let him?
    But the Force is showing me the way.
    It will be difficult, but there is a path I can walk among all these influences. One that will provide some justice, while giving me the privacy I need to do my job. It depends on many things going right, and making use of that message drop I mentioned a few weeks back.
    And then there are my “allies.” I can never assume what the Tuskens will do. They are capable of unforgivable things. I know what a group did to Anakin’s mother, a few years ago: Padmé told me that much. I always felt there was something more that she wasn’t telling me—maybe something that had to do with Anakin’s fate. I don’t know that I’ll find those secrets here. But A’Yark, at least, seems to feel responsible for her people. I will hope that Orrin admits his guilt and turns back—but if he does not, I must try to prevent further harm all around.
    So many things to consider.
    But when the suns rise, I think I can make it all work out. I think.
    Well … there is one more potential wrinkle.
    Annileen. She cares for me—and rightly or wrongly, I’ve drawn upon that. Just this hour, I’ve set my plans for her in motion. But what if she doesn’t want to go along with them?
    What then?

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
    MORNINGS ON TATOOINE HAD never failed Orrin Gault. And this one was better than his wildest dreams.
    He hadn’t had much time to dream—or sleep—after leaving the Claim the night before. He’d gone home to find an empty house, quiet but for the usual soft thumping in the office—a sand-mouse behind the shelves. Mullen and Veeka were out back, burning their Tusken outfits. That had always been the plan, in case of discovery.
    Veeka had bandaged her shoulder where Ben had caught her with the gaderffii; Mullen had a bruised tailbone from his fall. Orrin had stood in the cold with them, working out their next moves.
    Those moves started at the Claim. The second sun had scarcely been up when Orrin activated the Settlers’ Call. After minutes of the screeching siren, the workers of the oasis appeared in front of the garages, waiting to be directed. It hadn’t taken long. Many were headed to the Claim for breakfast and were hungry, which was just how he wanted them.
    Today they’d be fighting for Orrin’s benefit. And someone new.
    “You