1.
Anakin scanned the drinks in the tubes behind the counter. He had to be cautious of what intoxicant he chose to drink; what one human may think is a refreshing drink may be a poison as fatal as the nasty bite of a parasite-like kouhun. But, fortunately for Anakin, Jedi senses helped him know what to look out for.
"I'll have some of that," Anakin said, pointing to a tube of green liquid. The menu of intoxicants resting on the counter beside him was in Huttese, so he couldn't read it to find out the intoxicant's name. But he knew the liquid wasn't a toxin to him.
The female bartender poured him his intoxicant. She was wearing a long, black dress and had an olive green eye shadow. Before she handed a patient Anakin his drink, she asked, "would you like our 'starshine special' added to your intoxicant?"
"No, thank you," Anakin replied. The bartender placed his intoxicant on the counter and said, "enjoy," with little enthusiasm.
Anakin took a small sip of the green intoxicant. The tangy taste caught his attention, so he asked the bartender, "what is this stuff called?"
"It's just guri juice. Didn't you read the menu in front of you?" the bartender replied.
"Sorry I don't speak Huttese. Well, I used to when I lived on Tattoine, but…"
"You don't remember much, do you?" the bartender replied. After beginning his story (and being interrupted), Anakin figured the bartender guessed he didn't remember much. "You're right, I don't," he said.
A trait that the bartender had that caught Anakin's attention was that she wasn't a human. She was a Bith, a native of the planet Clak'dor VII, who was somehow able to speak English and apply an eye shadow that was common among the female humans who hung out in the nightclubs on Coruscant. Presently, Anakin was in the Coruscant Outlander Club, where he once pursued the Clawdite bounty hunter Zam Wessel with his master Obi-Wan Kenobi on an attempt to bring her to justice and to extract information about who hired her. However, they were unsuccessful on discovering who her boss was, for she was killed by a toxic Kamino saberdart to her neck before she could say who hired her (although they did eventually find out).
Due to its tangy but savory taste, Anakin finished the drink quickly. Suddenly, a small ringing hit his ears. He soon realized the ringing was only his comlink. Removing the comlink from his belt, he whispered into it, "yes?"
His caller was Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Not a surprise: he always has some urgent information to tell me about, Anakin thought to himself.
"Anakin, where are you? The Jedi Council says you are to come immediately. They claim they must discuss with you whether you are officially a member of the Council or not," Obi-Wan said into the comlink.
"Right now I'm at the Outlander Club, but I'll leave as soon as possible," Anakin replied.
"Anakin, this is no time for intoxicant. If you want to know whether you're on the Council or not, then you have to come now!"
"Alright! Alright!"
Anakin turned the comlink off. Placing about five Republic credits on the bar, Anakin said to the bartender, "this should pay for the juice. I really have to go." Retreating from the Outlander Club, he ran to a lot of parked Coruscant airspeeders. Having no time to look and see which speeder he wanted, he chose the first one that caught his attention – a red Mari-7 class hot rod with (unfortunately for Anakin's own desires) a closed cockpit.
Fortunately, the Jedi Temple was only about a half a mile away from the Outlander Club. Anakin jumped into the airspeeder and activated the engine, elevating the speeder into the air. I'm the best star pilot in the galaxy: getting to the temple should be a breeze, he thought.
But little did he know that a vile assassin in disguise as a common humanoid tourist was on his tail. Any bounty hunter would delight in killing Anakin Skywalker – not just for the money they could be rewarded depending on who was their boss, but for the pleasure.
After a five minute flight, Anakin reached the Jedi Temple. He was realy and very eager to find out if he was eligible to join the Jedi Council – like his Master before him.
But he was too distracted to sense the presence of the bounty hunter. Although disguised as a humanoid tourist (as mentioned), he wore a black hood to creep through a secret opening without being detected.
Anakin suddenly got a strange feeling. "We're being spied," he said, running back to the hanger he landed at.
After he reached the hanger, he noticed that the black figure (bounty hunter) was setting a gray sphere onto the roof of a Republic transport.
A thermal detonator!
"No!" Anakin yelled. Using the Force, he forced the detonator off of the ship and deactivated it. Turning to the black figure, he announced, "you're under arrest under the Jedi Order."
White clone troopers suddenly filled he hanger, the one in command being Captain Fordo, the commander who helped conquer the planet Muunilinst.
But this didn't convince the black figure that he was done for. Fast as lightning, he pulled another thermal detonator from his hood. Next, he threw it into the crowd of clone troopers.
The detonator exploded, sending many clone troopers flying into the air and making Anakin flinch.
The black figure ran through the smoke. Blaster fire rapidly went after him, but failed in killing him. Anakin chased him through the snoke as he jumped onboard an empty Republic gunship. He then hopped into the cockpit and quickly elevated into the air.
He won't be getting away THAT easily, Anakin thought. With the Force at his side, Anakin leaped on top of the gunship as it exited the hanger.
Blaster fire rocketed after the ship, but had not effect. Anakin drew his lightsaber and began to slice a hole through the top of the ship. The figure piloting the ship pressed a button on the control panel. The ship began to accelerate through the air faster. This was an attempt to make Anakin tumble off of the gunship's roof and fall into the city's nadir.
And that meant death.
DéjàVu, Anakin thought. He remembered chasing Zam Wessel through the air during his days as a Padawan learner. She had unsuccessfully tried to make Anakin slide off of her Koro-2 airspeeder by accelerating through the air faster.
But the gunship was too immense to accelerate very fast, so Anakin was unaffected.
The black figure pressed one of the other controls. The gunship's cannons went off, but missed Anakin. Anakin used the Force to pull the bullets back to the ship. The bullets were now affectless, but had a strong impact on the ship, making the hole Anakin was slicing automatically fall in.
Anakin jumped into the hole, landing where troops stand during flight. He moved to the cockpit, only to see that the black figure had vanished.
"Impossible!" he exclaimed. He then suddenly felt a rough THUD as the ship suddenly hit the ground.
Anakin then looked out the cockpit windows and saw the ship had crash landed onto the land.
- To be continued