: FLASHBACK:
"Hey, Anakin!"
Anakin pulled his head out of the engine he was working on to face his best friend, Skye. Her full name was Keely Skye Cloudstryker, but she hated her last name, and refused to answer to her first. So everyone called her Skye. She was pretty, with long red and black hair normally pulled into a ponytail. She had two different colored eyes, one red and the other gold. They sparked when she was angry....which was often. She had a hot temper, but her skin was so dark that she never blushed...or at least, it never showed up. She was thin but tall and strong for her age, which was 8 at the time. He was 9, and his blond hair and blue eyes often made people underestimate him. They shouldn't. He was pale, and shorter than Skye. He was equally as strong, and just as thin. They were both slaves working for Karta, a Muun mechanic.
"Uh-huh?"
She held up a multitool with his initials on it, and tossed it to him when he opened his hands. "Thanks. I found out what was messing up the engine on that pod racer, by the way." She held up a few truguts. "These were in the fuel tank! I wonder what braniac let them fall in there... whoever worked on the engine must have bantha slime as brains, they didn't even fully connect the engine controls!" she sighed and shook her head, muttering about idiotic pod racing pit crews. When she looked back at him, a piece of hair was floating in front of her face. She didn't notice, so he brushed it out of her face for her. She smiled at him gratefully, and tied a clean strip of cloth across her head to hold her hair back, renegade style.
He smiled back at her, and went back to work at the engine of the Naboo N-1 star fighter in front of him.
"Hey, Annie? Whats wrong with this one?"
"Hnn..." he replied in concentration. He was welding two wires together with his multitool. "Which two wires should create rapid release, then internal combustion of the inner matrix of the starter plug?"
Skye shook her head fondly at him, "N-1's don't have plugs, A. they use heat sensors. Then they fire nan-"
"This one has a plug. Do you think its one of... his?"
"'his' as in sebulba? Probably. Or some other illegal parts dealer we haven't heard of."
They both looked at each other, and then smiled. "Nah!"
They both knew all the illegal traders on Tattooine, and both "fixed" the star crafts of all of them. They helped cripple the trading routes to and from their planet, and tried to protect it somewhat from the hazards of over trader-ization... but they both knew they couldn't do much.
A mischievous twinkle danced in Skye's eyes, and Anakin knew she had an idea.
"I wonder just how mad he'd be if his plug mysteriously went...missing?"
Anakin grinned and pocketed the plug. The idea of making sebulba mad was frightening, but indirectly like this...
Voices echoed from the front area, and Anakin and Skye glanced at each other. From what they could hear, the voices were speaking Huttenese... and it sounded as if one wanted to buy Anakin!
Skye whipped her head wildly around to look worriedly at Anakin.
"He can't buy you! You're....you're... you're my best friend! We're supposed to work together! We....."
Anakin looked worried too, and Skye ran her fingers through her hair. This was the first time he had ever seen her as upset as this, and it scared him. She looked like she was going to kill someone. On impulse, he hugged her. She pulled away, still looking angry. She shook her head, wiped her hands on her pants, and started toward the door.
"Skye! What are you doing?!?!?! You're going to get us both killed!"
"We can't be killed; Karta has too much use for us. Im finding out exactly who thinks they can take you away from me." She marched determinedly into the front room, and a few seconds later, Skye re-appeared. She was sprinting away from the door as fast as her thin legs could carry her. A pudgy blue-gray alien flew up to Anakin, accompanied by a tall human. He had shocking blue eyes, and short black hair. He looked to be about 14, and he looked strangely concerned. "Skye! Come back! Wait a minute, please!" he spoke in basic, and as he gazed after, Anakin glared at him. He had no idea who this newcomer was, or how he knew Skye, but he had scared her, and that was all Anakin needed to know.
"Who are you two?" he asked, perhaps more rudely than needed.
"My name," said the human, "is Tarn. This is Watto, your new master. Karta has decided to sell you to us."
Tarn had a nasty nasal voice, and contempt dripped from his every word. Anakin glared, and Watto passed Tarn a strange looking necklace. Tarn took a step forward, and without asking for permission, fastened the collar around Anakin's neck.
"Hey, what are you..." he was cut off as Skye finally came back. She stood behind Anakin, putting him directly in between her and Tarn.
"You..." she started speaking angrily in Huttenese that even Anakin couldn't understand...and he wasn't sure he wanted to. "Take it off! Anakin isn't just some property, he's a human! Besides, I doubt that anyone would like to have something marking them as 'yours.' And he-"
"This one... outspoken, yes?" asked Watto.
"Mmmmm," Karta allowed, barely raising his head from the ledger he was bent over. "I'll take care of her later."
Anakin and Skye exchanged frightened looks. Being "taken care of" by Karta usually meant you couldn't come back to work for at least 2 weeks...and not by choice, either.
"I'll just be taking the one...this time, Karta. You be ready next time, oi? Or I'll have to drag ok'll-ia in to this...and we both know how he deals with late fees, hmm?"
Karta nodded and glared with hatred and contempt at Skye. She shivered and sadly waved goodbye to Anakin as he was led away by Watto.
: END FLASHBACK:
