I reiterate the fact that I do not own Star Wars.

Conception

The story of how Anakin Skywalker came to be. There will be some connections to my other story Unexpected Savior but not a lot.

Shmi Skywalker sat in one of the cargo areas on the slaver ship the dancing twilik and sighed heavily. She had been sold once again, this was the third time in her life and she was only 21. Shmi remembered the first time she'd been sold she was 16 years old and had cried for three days straight after wards having to leave behind her parents and the only world she'd ever known, ever since then she'd never really stayed in one place longer than a year and here she was being moved once more. Her former 'owner a Rodian named Crell had sold Shmi to Gardola the Hutt on the planet Tatooine. Shmi didn't no much about Tatooine other than it was a small desert planet on the outer rim of the galaxy that people rarely traveled to unless they were involved in illegal activities of some kind or another.

Shmi sighed heavily as she turned to look out the small view port at the star field that always came with light speed travel; she remembered when she had first been sold away from her family. At the time Shmi had planned to escape, but three failed attempts and the severe punishment that went along with them had been enough to dissuade her. At the time Shmi had only been a teenager and didn't realize the tracker in her body not only allowed her 'owner' to find her, but also to cause her pain and even kill her if he wanted to. Furthermore, Shmi's first owner a human named Lex had been particularly ruthless and every time Shmi had tried to escape he'd beaten her for it. Shmi still had the scars on her back from the punishment he'd given her.

Not long after her third failed attempt Shmi had resigned herself to living the life of a slave, a loud sigh next to her cause Shmi to turn, the ship was full of about 300 slaves all being sent to Tatooine, some had all ready been bought and others were going to be sold in auctions or the market. Shmi shivered in a way that had nothing to do with the cold as she remembered the auctions she'd seen as a child. If nothing else Shmi was grateful for the fact that she herself had never been sold like that, it was bad enough having to live your life as the property of someone else, but to be reminded of that fact in such a brutal way was even worse. Shmi sifted slightly trying to get comfortable enough to fall asleep, but just as she was dozing off an alarm rang through the cargo hold as the ship jerked out of warp causing several people to be jostled or even thrown forward from where they had been sitting.

The captains voice came over the ships Comm, "Brace for impact, I repeat brace for impact we are going down. Brace for impact!" Several people nearby screamed mothers held their children close while the people crowded into that cargo hold like sardines attempted to get into the brace position. Shmi was pretty slim and managed to maneuver herself so that her head was between her knees and her arms were wrapped over her neck. Shmi sucked in a breath as the ship began to go down.

The Dancing Twilik fell quickly towards the surface of the small jungle planet below, Shmi felt her heart fly into her throat as the ship began to go down she was so frightened that it didn't even register to her that the ship wasn't going down nearly as fast as it should be. The next few minutes seemed to go on forever and Shmi's felt certain she was going to throw up as the ship jerked and bounced through the planets atmosphere and then they hit.

The landing was much smoother than any of them had thought it would be, fortunately they didn't hit anything as they landed, but the ship still gave a violent jerk when it finally set down causing everyone in the Cargo hold, including Shmi to be lurched forward. Shmi groaned as someone kicked her in the ear she was on the bottom of huge pile of people there were people around her they were all groaning and trying to get out. Shmi could hear children and babies crying and hoped none of them had been seriously injured.

Shmi tried to look around her and only saw a see of clothing and various appendages attached to people who she didn't know. Then just out of the corner of her eye she saw it, there was glint of light behind. Shmi wiggled a little and with some pushing and a few shouts of knock it off! Or watch it! She managed to get out; many of the people who'd landed on the top of the pile had gotten out and were helping others. Shmi walked over to an elderly man who was sprawled in the pile and helped him to stand and walk over to an empty area to sit down he gave her a quiet, "Thank you." And as she went back the door of the cargo hold opened and member of the ships crew came in.

He was about thirty with short brown hair and dark eyes he gasped when he saw al the people jumbled together and called back into the ship, "There's a major pile up here we're going to need some help!" in a few minutes the crew of the ship entered the cargo hold and began to help moving people and treating injuries. Shmi worked along side not really noticing who were members of the crew and who were slaves it took about an hour to get everyone untangled and taken care. Fortunately there had been no deaths and Shmi only suffered a few scraps and bruises, once the others were all right Shmi sat down and took a glass of water from someone who was handing out food and water to everyone.

As Shmi drank she saw two crew members standing near her talking, "Well it could've been a lot worse I told captain Jerlot the hyper drive needed to be fixed, we're lucky we didn't blow up and get killed. Thank goodness we got out of light speed safely and managed to land without any permanent damage to the ship or anything else. You know man? This planet is in the middle of nowhere even if we could have sent a message it's not likely anyone would've been around to receive it."

The other man he was talking to nodded, "Yeah I know, still it could be worse I mean this planet ain't as bad as some places we could've landed like one of those volcanic planet's covered in lava or ice planet full of snow at least it's nice here. By the way where is hear?"

The first crew member took a small data pad out of his pocket and began looking it over, he punched a few buttons and said, "Well from what I can tell were on one of the moons of the gas giant Yavin this one's called Yavin 4 it doesn't have any known inhabitance, but there's a lot of ruins around here from a long time ago."

Something about the name of the planet caught Shmi's interest it sounded familiar to her, but she didn't know where from. She'd certainly never heard of it before today, all though that didn't really surprise her. It was common knowledge that people who transported slaves usually stayed away from inhabited systems to avoid being detected by either Republic security forces or worse the Jedi. Slavery had been declared illegal in the republic over a century ago so slave ships would often go out of the way to avoid areas they might be found even if that meant going out of the way and taking longer to get where ever they were going.

Shmi still couldn't get the sense of familiarity out of her mind, but she had never heard of this place as far as she knew still maybe someone had said something to her. Shmi shook her head and decided to forget it for now. Whatever this feeling was she would worry about it later, the captain had just walked into the hold. He was short and squat with a large nose and oily salt and pepper hair, Shmi grimaced at the sight of him as he stood on top of the stairs and said, "All right listen up all of you! Now obviously the ship has gone down, it needs repairs and to be dug out of the mud it's in my crew can't do everything so you slaves are going to help us. Anyone too weak or injured to work will be left here and the others will be split into three groups one group will help with repairs, one will help dig the ship out, and the third will be split into smaller groups and sent out into some of the buildings around here to look for any parts or tools we can use."

Many people gasped to hear this, but captain Jerlot shouted, "Quiet! Now don't get any ideas we've got the I.D. numbers for your tracking devices and if you try to escape we will not hesitate to use it. Now we are going to pair you off no complaining and no going off into another group all right." The last part wasn't meant to be a question so no one gave an answer one of the crew came up to Shmi and said, "All right get up you're in the third group that's going into the nearest structure now move it!"

Shmi stood quickly, she had learned early on that if a slave didn't move the second they were barked at things could get ugly fast Shmi stood and followed the small group of slaves who were going out. There were only about 50 of them the crew probably figured it would be easier to keep control of things if the group going the farthest away was also the smallest. Shmi sighed as she stepped out into the humid jungle air the sun was shinning and she could hear a river running close by.

Shmi had been inside the ship for nearly two straight days and had been starting to go slightly stir crazy this was wonderful, but she didn't have time to enjoy it one of the crew pushed hard against the small of her back, "Move it!" Shmi jerked forward and walked towards the nearest building it was a large pyramid shaped structure built out of stone and covered with plants. Shmi shook her head as the slave next to her snorted, "Yeah like we're going to find anything in there that place looks like nobody's been in it since the big bang." Shmi could help nodding her agreement as she turned to get a good look at the man traveling with her (the third group had been split into teams of two). He was about the same age and height as Shmi was with black hair so short he was practically bald, he had deep set green eyes and a thin stubble on his chin.

Shmi smiled as they entered the temple, "My name's Shmi Skywalker." He held out a hand, "Michael Connor." Shmi shook his hand as they went in, the temple was very dark there were no lighting fixtures or anything technological inside it looked like Michael was right this place was empty they were standing in a large open area that may have once been an entrance hall of some kind. Shmi pulled a small glow rod the crew had given her from her pocket and turned it on, the glow rod gave off a small green light that shown eerily in the empty space. Shmi sniffed and gave a loud sneeze the room smelt old and stale inside like a mixture of mold and decay.

Michael shook his head, "I don't know why we're bothering there's nothing here." Shmi turned and gave him a piercing look, "well if you want to go back and tell them that feel free." Michael winced he knew as well as Shmi the kind of trouble they'd be in for not searching the place properly. Finally he shrugged and they headed to the end of the room checking the corners of the room as they went. After a while they came to stair case and headed up.

As they walked up Shmi couldn't help feeling like she belonged here, like somehow this was were she was meant to be she tried to shake it off, but it just wouldn't go away finally Michael asked, "So where are you from?" Shmi shook her head at the over used line and answered, "I was born and raised on Ord Mantell, my parent and my brother James and I had a pretty quiet life than when I was 8 and James was 16 he was sold away from us I cried for a week." Shmi's voice trailed off at the end the sadness was evident Michael grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze, "I'm sorry." Shmi nodded too closed up to speak after a few moments Michael said, "I was born a free man, I never cared much for slaves until five years ago when I became one. I was a navigator on a spice freighter that was attacked by pirates the crew was enslaved I specifically was sent to the spice mines of Kessel."

Shmi winced in sympathy like all slaves she knew how harsh the infamous spice mines could be Michael continued, "I was actually kind of relieved to learn I'd been sold away from there. You know maybe we could escape even with the I.D. numbers that 's a lot of remotes to monitor if we time it right…."

Shmi cut him off, "No! It's not worth the risk!" they had just arrived at the next floor it was full of rooms, but when Michael saw them he just growled in anger, "Screw this! Look you want to stay here and play the good little slave girl go ahead, but I'm going to take the chance and make a run for it now are you coming?" Shmi shook her head, "no you won't make it." Michael snorted, "Yeah well at least I'll have tried." He turned to go and she shouted, "Wait!" He stopped Shmi pulled out the small survival pack the crew had given them and handed it to Michael, there wasn't much in it just food, water, some extra glow rods and a few basic medical supplies, but she knew he would need much more than she would. Michael took it with a muttered, "Thanks" and headed back down the stairs and out of sight Shmi felt a feeling of unease seep into her at being alone in here and just as she was about to turn and forget about checking the rest of the space she saw something strange.

Underneath the crack of one of the doors at the end of the hall there was a light! It pulsed on and off like a strobe light, but it was a darker color a greenish pick kind of shade. Shmi couldn't help going towards it, perhaps it was a power source of some kind that could repair the ship and even though she couldn't explain it some unseen force seemed to be drawing her towards the door on top of her own curiosity. Shmi walked towards door hearing her boots echo loudly on the concrete floors and hearing small animals running around looking for food. Shmi shuddered hoping not to see any rats she'd been scared to death of them ever since she was child and her best friend Julie had been bitten by a rat and had needed to get rabies shouts because of it. Shmi shook her head as she opened the door the pulling feeling getting even stronger and as the door opened she found the strangest sight she'd ever seen.

The second the door opened the pulsing light stopped Shmi waved the glow rod around and something on the floor of the small room glinted in the light Shmi bent down and saw two broken metal cylinders they seemed to have been cracked right in half and sitting one each one was a broken crystal. Shmi moved the glow rod closer and saw that one of them was green and the other was red Shmi had no idea what these things could be or what could've caused the pulsing she'd seen.

Shmi couldn't help it she reached out and touched the two stones with the tips of her fingers. Shmi gasped there was a rush of two energy forces going through her it was as if they were fighting over her they were both strong and powerful one felt dark and sinister while the other felt cool and safe. Shmi felt the energy swirling around her and then everything went black. Shmi was floating and for a moment she thought she was dead, but then she realized she was still in the temple only it was different there were lights there and it was clean full of people.

Shmi was standing in the main entry way she and Michael had originally come into only now it was full of ships. Shmi had never seen any ships like this before and turned as she heard a man's voice say, "Well take care of yourself Han I guess it's what you're best at.1" Shmi gasped as she saw the man who'd spoken he looked just like her brother James the same blonde hair and blue eyes the only difference was shorter than James had been and wearing and orange jumpsuit. He was talking to a slightly older guy with a scar on his chin and a Wookie. As the first man turned the second spoke, "Hey Luke," He turned back, "May the force be with you.2"

Luke nodded and Shmi gasped as she saw a young woman who looked a lot like her walk towards Luke just before she began to speak everything changed. Shmi was still in the temple, but now it was clean she was in a smaller room and Luke was there only he was older about 30 and there seemed to be something strange about his face. There was a woman standing next to Luke with red hair and green eyes she was holding a cup in her hands and said, "Thanks for the cocoa Skywalker." Luke smiled, "You're welcome Mara."

Things changed again the temple was now full of children, two of them came running towards her a boy and a girl with brown hair and eyes there was something familiar about them, but she couldn't pinpoint what it was as they ran the boy shouted, "Jaina wait up!" The girl just laughed, "No way Jacen ya snooze ya loose." The scene shifted once more and she saw two more children standing together another boy and girl the boy had dark hair and blue eyes while the girl had blonde hair and blue eyes the boy spoke, "Come on Tahiri we'll be late for lunch." The girl turned, "All right Anakin I'm coming."

The scene shifted again and Shmi was in a different room it was a sitting room of some kind a young boy of about eight was sitting on a blue rug he had red hair and blue eyes, the woman from the first vision was there only now she looked older the boy turned to her, "aunt Leia when are Mom and Dad going to be home?" Leia shrugged, "I don't know Ben."

Then just as quickly they were gone and Shmi felt herself pass out again. Shmi groaned her head was pounding and there was bright light everywhere where was she? Was she dead? Suddenly a voice spoke, "She's coming to." Shmi blinked several times and realized she was lying on a bed Captain Jerlot was standing next to her along with the ships doctor. Jerlot sneered when she opened her eyes, "Well you and your little boyfriend tried to escape did you?" Shmi couldn't really understand what was going on and realized he was talking about Michael, "Michael's not my boyfriend and I wasn't trying to escape." Jerlot snorted, "Oh please what kind of idiot do you take me for? I know what happened you and him met on the ship you fell in love and he convinced you to run off, but at the last minutes he turned on, you knocked you out, took the supplies, and split leaving you behind. He probably figured it would be easier to escape on his own than with you following along."

Shmi shook her head, "I swear I'd never seen him before today." Jerlot shook his head, "if that's true how come you're pregnant with his child?" Shmi jerked her head up, "what I'm not pregnant!" it had been well over a year since the last time she'd had sex, Jerlot held up a data pad, "Yes you are, every instrument we have says you are. We've ran them on you constantly for the last three days." Shmi gasped in shock, "Three days." The doctor nodded, "Yes that's how long you've been unconscious and the Captain is right you are pregnant." Shmi shook her head there must be some mistake before she could speak again Jerlot said, "Look I don't care you're boyfriend is dead and you are going to be delivered to your new master soon so if you want to live in denial go for it it's no skin off my nose."

Shmi's mouth dropped, "Dddddead?" Jerlot nodded, "oh yeah dead you're lucky your knocked up or I'd really punish you." Jerlot left and Shmi sat there is shock not able to handle all the information that had been thrown at her all at once. The next day she went back to the cargo hold Shmi was sure there had been some kind of mistake, but it soon became obvious to her that they weren't wrong and she was in fact pregnant. Shmi just couldn't understand how, did this have something to do with what happened in the temple? She couldn't understand how, but there was no other way to explain it.

When they arrived on Tatooine Shmi was overwhelmed by the sheer heat and humidity of the place it was very confusing. When she finally arrived at the home of Gardola the hutt she was sent straight to the kitchens Gardola hadn't been angry to find out Shmi was pregnant in fact she was happy her exact words had been, "Two slaves for the price of one what a steal." Shmi couldn't help the feeling of anger that overcame her as she walked to the kitchen she could live with being a slave, but she wanted something better for her child. Shmi rubbed her stomach and said, "I promise one day you will have a better life than that of a slave."

Shmi arrived at the kitchens there was a flush of steam and activity people were running around shouting things, cutting vegetables, frying meat, and anything else you could imagine. Hutts ate almost constantly so the kitchen was equally busy Shmi wasn't really sure what she was supposed to be doing so she just stood there for a few minutes before another slave caught sight of her, "Oh, hey you must be the new one I'm Patty." She was a short woman with red hair and gray eyes Shmi answered, "I Shmi Skywalker." Patty nodded and grabbed her hand, "all right let me show you around." Shmi jerked, "Wait I'm pregnant is there anything in here dangerous for me to be near?" Patty's eyes widened and after a minutes she said, "Oh well congratulations, and no nothing's dangerous come on we've got plenty of dishes to do.

Patty lead Shmi over to a large sink filled to the brim with dishes and winced at the smell her stomach reeled and Shmi just managed to hit the garbage can as she threw up, Shmi definitely hated morning sickness. Shmi threw on a pair of gloves and spent the rest of the day cleaning foul smelling dishes, before placing them in the dishwasher and putting them away before going back to the beginning.

Patty stopped by as often as she could and explained the inner workings of the kitchen to Shmi pointing out people and helping Shmi as best she could. By the end of the day Shmi was exhausted the combination of the work and her pregnancy made her so tired she could barely get to her room. Like all slaves in the Hutts control her room was about the size of a jail cell and only had one small cot Shmi's cot was old, bent, and it stank, but she didn't care she was so tired she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the very flat pillow.

The next nine months were very hard on Shmi, Patty helped Shmi as much as she could, but it wasn't easy. Shmi's pregnancy continued to progress and thankfully the morning sickness eventually subsided, but the mood swings and craving didn't help Shmi still couldn't believe she actually eaten fried rancor meat topped with apple sauce! Still Shmi was happier than she'd felt before her brother had been sold away her baby was healthy and the pregnancy was progressing nicely. Shmi had decided to name the baby Julie if it was a girl and Anakin if it was a boy. Shmi didn't know why, but the strange dream she'd had in the temple kept coming back to her and for some reason the boy Anakin stuck out strongest of all.

Shmi didn't know why this was, but somehow it felt right her due date was fast approaching unfortunately Gardola didn't see that as a reason to lighten Shmi's load any and today they were headed onto Jabba's personal barge and Shmi had to come along despite the fact that her pregnancy was full term. Shmi wince as she carried a box of supplies up the ramp to the barge when suddenly a familiar voice rang from behind, "Shmi here let me help!" Shmi turned and smiled to see Patty climbing the ramp, "Oh Patty thank you this thing weighs at least 50 kilo's."

Patty rushed up the ramp and helped Shmi carry the box into the barge were they set it down on the table and began to unpack as soon as all of the vegetables were unloaded the barge began to move and Shmi began to slice them up (there were no dishes to clean because nothing had been cooked or eaten yet). Shmi went slowly so she wouldn't accidentally cut herself and once the vegetables were ready she threw them into the nearby stew pot. As she bent over to grab some more food from under the table Shmi felt a sharp pain in her back she winced slightly, "Probably just the extra weight."

Shmi winced as another pain went through her, "What's going on today?" Shmi went back to work and for the next few hours she kept feeling the same strange pain and had no idea what it was. Shmi had just finished putting away a load of dishes when Patty came up behind her again, "So long day huh?" Shmi nodded, "Yes my back had been killing me." Patty gestured to a stool off to her right, "Sit down honey you need to rest." Shmi smiled, "Yes I think I will." Just as she went to sit a strange sensation went through her this pain was much sharper and more intense than before, "Ah ah," There was strange feeling in her body and then suddenly the floor was wet, "Oh my goodness your water just broke. Somebody get a doctor down here!" Patty grabbed Shmi's arm and put her other hand under Shmi's shoulder and helped the other woman sit down, "it's all right dear just breath."

Shmi slowly breathed in and out as Patty helped her undress while still preserving her dignity. Shmi felt a strong contraction go through her, "OH! This hurts!" Patty went behind and grabbed her hand helping Shmi stay sitting up as the doctor came in, "Where is she?" Patty shouted, "Over hear!" Shmi screamed as another contraction ripped through her, "Isn't this going too fast?!" The doctor an older grey haired man with kind eyes bent down to check her progress, "You've probably been contracting all day and didn't realize it. Oh boy, you're basically fully dilated o.k. on the next contraction I want you to bare down and push hard all right." Shmi winced and squeezed Patty's had harder as the pain ripped through her she pushed, oh dear goodness was it supposed to hurt this much?! The entire kitchen staff was crowded around staring strangely at the scene as the doctor told her, "Push harder." Shmi shouted, "What in the Hell do you think I'm doing you quack!" another contraction ripped through Shmi as she squeezed Patty harder the other woman shouted in pain as the doctor said, "o.k. there's the head one more push." A huge contraction went through Shmi and she pushed hard screaming the pain was intense Shmi thought she was going to faint, she wanted to pass out, but she couldn't. The doctor gently guided the small baby out and shouted, "It's a boy!" He cut the umbilical cord and cleaned the boy up handing him to Shmi, "congratulations you have a beautiful healthy son what's his name?" Shmi held the baby close and undid his wrappings counting out ten fingers and ten toes, "He's beautiful his name is Anakin, Anakin James Skywalker."

The doctor smiled, "Very nice all right let me have a look." He ran a scan on Anakin and took care of the other after birth necessities for mother and child, "You have a healthy baby boy congratulations." Shmi nodded, "Thank you Patty I'd like you to be his Godmother." Patty gasped, "Really oh Shmi thank you it's an honor hello little Ani." Shmi looked up, "Ani?" Patty nodded, "Well yeah I mean Anakin is kind of a mouthful." Shmi smiled as Anakin began to fuss, "Yes I like that Ani." Shmi rocked Anakin gently and held him close so he could feed, "He's going to great things Patty I know he is, Ani is destined for a life greater than anything any of us could believe."

Patty smiled as Anakin began to suckle suddenly someone shouted, "Get back to work all of you!" The doctor placed Shmi on a portable gurney and levitated her down to the hospital were he could properly monitor things. As Shmi settled herself and Anakin down onto the bed she smiled in happiness her son was beautiful and she the only way she could be happier were if he was born free. As Anakin finished eating and settled down to sleep Shmi whispered to him, "Someday you will be free Anni Someday I promise you that." Anakin yawned and fell asleep dreaming of his mothers voice saying the word 'freedom.'

The end.

A/n I may be inclined to make this story longer, but I kind of like it the way it is what do you guys think?

1 This line is from a New Hope

2 Ibid.