I don't own Star Wars or any of it's character. I only borrow the characters for this story.

This story contains mention of slavery so read with cation

40 BBY

A lone Jedi flies through hyperspace when the fuel alarm of his transport sounds informing him that he soon will have to land to refuel as the fuel levels are becoming dangerously low. Checking his coordinates he sees that the nearest system is Zygerria a system not friendly to Jedi. The Jedi is relieved that he is wearing civilian clothes so that he will not stand out of the travelers arriving and leaving. Putting the coordinates of Zygerria into the navicomoputer he waits for the computer to tell him when to pull out of hyperspace. In the meantime he decides to to meditate a bit.

Thirty minutes later he is pulled out of his meditation as he hears the navicomoputer informing him that he has to pull out of hyperspace. He sits down in the pilots chair and plus the lever. As the ship pulls out of hyperspace the planet Zygerria starts to show. As he nears Zygerria he feels a pull from the living force pulling him towards the planet.

"So the low fuel level is the will of the force. I will have to be patient to find what the force wants me to find or do" he thinks.

He directs his ship to the planet and lands in an empty docking bay. After shutting the ships system down he checks his credit stack to make sure he has the money to pay the docking fee, fuel costs and possible other expenses. He sees that he has nine hundred correlian credits and then checks the location of his lightsaber to make sure it is hidden. When he is sure that his lightsaber is hidden under his clothing, he disembarks his ship.

After he disembarked he walks to the side where the docking bay crew waits to see how they can help him. He knows he has to pay the docking fee and fuel costs there also.

"How much does a refuel costs in correlian credits?" He asks a crew member, a zygerrian male.

"That will cost you four hundred and one day docking fee will cost you two hundred correlian credits" a zygerrian supervisor answers. The Jedi takes the request money out of his pocket and hands it over.

"Thank you. Your ship will be refueled within two hours" the zygerrian says while stocking the money away and gesturing for the slaves, two human males around twenty years old, to start on refueling of the ship. The Jedi sees the slaves hurrying to complete their master's orders and turns to leave the docking bay to enter the city and see why the force wants him here.

As he walks in the city he can feel the desperation of the slaves all around him, but he also can feel a strong presence in the force which appears to be untrained and young.

"So there is a strong force sensitive among the slaves, let's check that out. I wonder if he is eligible for temple training as he appears to be young" he thinks.

He walks in the direction the presence comes from and he notices that he is entering a slave auction. Around him stand slaves of multiple species. There are multiple Twi-leki women and a few men standing at the side for inspections. There are also around twenty human woman around. He makes sure to look at the slaves around him for young children and sees that in the area he is in there are only adults visible. He sees a zygerrian male in rich clothing walking up to him, the man appears to him to be one of the auctioneers or sellers.

"Can I help you? You seem to be looking for something specific from what I can see" the zygerrian asks.

"Yes, I'm looking for a young slave and I will know it when I found the right one" the Jedi replies and sees the zygerrian consider his request before he smirks.

"No use in spending your money unless you get the right slave, right? They young slaves are always cheaper than the adults, but take time before they give a good profit" the zygerrian says before pointing in a direction and explains him the direction he has to go.

"You need take the next turn to the left and then the third turn to the right. At the end of the road you find the marketplace where the females with young and the young between six and sixteen are being sold. I hope you find what you seek and get a good deal"

"Thank you for the information and I hope your business goes well" the Jedi answers politely with a bad taste in his mouth at the thought of all the beings being sold as nothing more than goods. The zygerrian nods and leaves to talk to someone else who he can see has interest in one of the Twi-leki women. The Jedi decides to follow the directions the zygerrian gave him as he was being sincere when he gave him the information.

Ten minutes later the Jedi enters a marketplace where he can see many younglings, with their mother and some alone being put up for sale. As he walks around looking at the younglings and feeling their presence in the force he sees many mothers and younglings looking at him with dread in their eyes, but not the presence he felt when entering the city. It saddens him to see that there are infants being sold with their mother and those who are six or older being sold alone. Most of the younglings appear resigned to their fate. He knows that he can't help them because he doesn't have the means necessary.

After five minutes of looking at the younglings he comes upon a woman with fair skin, brown eyes and brown hair. In her arms is a fair skinned younglings with blue eyes and blond hair. The youngling appears to be between one and two years old. From a distance he can see that the youngling is sucking his thumb and nervously looking around. Feeling the younglings' presence in the Force he is surprised to discover that he found the youngling that he felt as he entered the city. He can also feel how the force rejoices now that he found the youngling.

"So this youngling that the Force wants me to find. I will unfortunately have to buy him so I can bring him to the temple for training" the Jedi thinks and feels the Force agree with his planned course of action.

Walking up to the youngling and his mother he can see that a zygerrian looks up as he approaches. He locks eyes with the youngling and can see that he is interested in him.

"Interested in this slave and her youngling. She is hard working but also caring towards her youngling which" the zygerrian begins his pitch but the Jedi cuts him of with a raised hand.

"I'm not interested in the woman, only the youngling. What can you tell me about him?" he asks and feels the surprise of the zygerrian at his question. He knows he has to do as the Force wants and he is aware that he doesn't has the means to also buy the mother and free her. He can only buy the youngling and he will do so.

"Most customers are not interested in buying a slave so young without the mother. But for a good price I will sell him to you" the zygerrian says with money in his eyes. He knows that he can get more profit if he sells them separate as together they will have a lower price. He considers the question from the potential buyer before replying.

"The youngling is male and one and a half years old. He is in perfect health for a slave, well developed and appears to be smart. His worth grows with time and training. You can train him for any job you want, as he is still young, though you might want to wait to train him for the labor heavy ones until he is a bit older. Until now he has only been in slave quarters or with his mother so he is not used to do work but I'm sure you understand that. All in all he is young and needs work but with time and effort he will be worth a fortune"

The Jedi sees the fear in the mother's eyes increasing throughout the pitch and feels pity for her that he will have to separate them so harshly. At ten end of the sale pitch he nods in acknowledgement before asking.

"What price do you have in mind for him?"

"Five hundred correlian credits is my opening offer" the zygerrian replies with a smirk aimed at the mother. He knows that if he starts high he will get the most out of it or scare away the man. This will show how determined the man is. Also he chose to ask for correlian credits as the man is from off world so he will have more than likely have correlian credits on him.

"Two hundred, you ask to much for the boy. He is young and we both know that I will have to spend money to train and raise him before he will be useful or sellable" the Jedi counters and ads the last part to keep the impression up of him wanting to buy a young slave. He is not surprised that the zygerrian is not concerned with what he wants the boy for, he is only interested in the profit he will make of the sale.

"Three and a half and I will deliver him where you want" the zygerrian counters hoping to get a good price for the boy as he can tell that the man is serious.

"Three and I only need the data you have in him. Also I will take him of your hands here" the Jedi attempts to get the zygerrian to agree as he can see that the mother is near to tears and the youngling starts to get afraid. He wants this to end soon so he doesn't scare the youngling of and he wants to get to the temple as soon as possible.

The zygerrian considers the offer and realizes that he already got more than he expected so he answers

"Agreed"

The Jedi reaches in his pocket to give the zygerrian the agreed sum of credits. After the zygerrian finishes counting the credits to make sure he got the agreed amount he reaches over to the youngling and rips him out of his mother's arms before giving him to his new owner. The mother starts screaming

"No! Ani!"

She only stops screaming when the zygerrian hits her in the face and she continues to cry silently while the youngling screams at the sudden loss of his mother and reaches for his mother while calling for her.

The Jedi calmly takes the boy in his arms and sends calming waves through the Force to the youngling who then stops screaming only to continue to sob. He waits for the zygerrian to hand him the data card with the younglings' information which the council will need for his file. After he receives the data card and puts it in his pocket he turn to leave the market as calmly and as fast as he can. He knows he will have to stock his provisions to last the trip to Coruscant before he can leave the planet and wants to be on his way to republican space.

I know, I know I was cruel to poor Shmi and Anakin but they will meet again when Anakin is older I promise.