Anakin woke up with a start when the alarm went off.
Last night was the scariest night of his life. He had woken up last night to Kenobi's voice, muttering words, like he was talking to someone. Anakin had gotten up and went to his Master's room to comfort him.
For some unknown reason, the door was open.
Anakin went next to Obi-Wan and was about to comfort him when he sensed something very powerful in the Force, coming from his Master's mind.
Fear. Anger. Hate. Suffering.
Lightsaber.
Anakin realized what was going to happen. He quickly dodged his Master's lightsaber and ran for his room. He heard a curtain cut in half. He closed his Master's door. But even that couldn't shield Anakin from Obi-Wan's wail.
Anakin forgot to close his own door, but he didn't care. He stumbled for his bed, tripping, sweating, panicking. He jumped in, pulled the sheets over him, and began to calm himself and think happy thoughts.
He began to think of his mother.
Shmi Skywalker.
He felt his Master's presence. Kenobi might have been calm, but his mind was still wailing. Until he made sure Anakin was in bed. Obi-Wan left and closed the door.
Anakin was lucky his Master hadn't seen the sweat on his face. For the rest of that night, and for the rest of the trip, decided Anakin, he would sleep with his Padawan lightsaber on the highest setting.
Anakin quickly got dressed and met up with his Master. Cautiously, of course.
"Hello, Ani. How are you?" asked Obi-Wan.
"Fine, Master. You?" responded Ani.
"Fine, thanks," was the response.
Cue awkward silence.
Normally they had something to talk about, but both were very shaky. Obi-Wan was still worried, and Anakin was still scared, of last night.
There was nothing left to say. Except…
"Um, we should probably head to the auditorium," said a nervous Obi-Wan, breaking the silence, "I think the Chancellor, the governor, Noíl, and Ornell had some things to say. We did too."
"Yeah," agreed Anakin.
Nothing more. They just walked.
"Ladies and gentlemen," began Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, "We are aboard the Freedom, the most exclusive Republican carrier in the galaxy. It is armored with over ten thousand hulls, so there is no need to fear in case there is an attack. It is also armed with over a hundred weapons, from lasers to missiles to torpedoes. They are located all around the outside of the ship, from top to bottom, side to side," the Chancellor brought up a holographic 3-D map, which was highlighting all the weapons around the outside of the ship. He pointed at a room. The picture enlarged the room. He continued, "This is the weapons locker. Here is stored all the weapons for all of you. I do believe Captain Noíl and Captain Ornell had something to say for this."
The Chancellor stepped off the podium. A very awkward moment passed as the begrudged co-Captains got on the podium. Noíl started it off.
"Alright, soldiers. We've got blaster rifles, sporting blasters, thermal detonators, fusioncutters, electrobinoculars, ascension guns, shields, grenades, sporintg lightsabers, E-60R missile launchers and HH-15 projectile launchers. However, the blaster rifles, sporting blasters, thermal detonators, fusioncutters, electrobinoculars, and ascension guns are extras. You should already have one of each on your person already."
Ornell interrupted him and said in the microphone, "Don't worry. If you lose one, feel free to get whatever you're missing from the locker. The code is 0123. Simple to remember-"
"-Mr. Hésch, I am trying to enact discipline into these crew members, and all that is going in their heads is your silly antics. I will not-"
"-Well, ex-cuse me, for trying to make this boring trip more friendly fun-"
"-FUN? Mr. Hésch, this is a military operation! For goodness sake, if you don't want to be a Captain, at least act like one-"
Ornell pulled down on his lower eyelids, made a frown, and, amazingly, wiggled his ears and nose. He said in a droopy voice, "My name is Noíl Ganakesh. I'm so serious all the time. I can't take a joke. I'm so not funny that I shot a comedian. Mememe."
Everyone burst out laughing. Noíl was so confused and outraged that the only thing that came out of his mouth was, "WHAT?!" His face was scarlet red. He tried to stop the laughter, but failed miserably. Instead, he grabbed one of Ornell's wiggling ears and dragged him off stage. This made everyone laugh harder. Ornell kept on pleading, "Ow. Ow. Ow." He was in trouble, but no one, not even Ornell, cared.
Finally, the Governor of Theed managed to control himself. He stepped up to the podium, his face pink from laughing. He cleared his throat and spoke into the mike.
"I-"
Then he burst out laughing. Nobody could help themselves. Tears were rolling down their faces. It took a full three minutes for everyone to regain themselves.
"Ah. Haha," he chuckled. He cleared his throat. He tried again, "As you all know, we are headed for Naboo, specifically Theed. There we will meet up with Queen Amidala," Anakin stiffened, "Boss Nass, Captain Tarpals, Captain Panaka, Captain Typho, and Senator Jar-Jar Binks. Our mission there is, actually, our Jedi friends' mission. They'll explain."
The Governor stepped down. Obi-Wan and Anakin got up and went to the podium. Obi-Wan began.
"Ahem. The Jedi High Council and I, and Anakin here, have reason to believe that there might be a Sith Lord alive in the mining pit in Theed, Naboo," he brought up a holographic image of Darth Maul, "You all remember the Battle for Naboo? Well, that was the real attack, but there was a diversion as well. This Sith sneaked into the mining area and fought myself and my former Master, the late Qui-Gon Jinn. I managed to slice him in half and send him down the mining pit. But, lately, we've had visions of him being alive. We are not sure how, or why, but we wish to finish it. I, most of all."
Obi-Wan and Anakin were walking back to their room when they came upon the training room. It consisted of a shooting range, a playground-like, boot camp-like training course, and lifting weights. They watched it all. They'd do the course and the weights later. They were about to leave when Ornell came up to them and said, "Hello, sirs."
"Hello, Ornell! How are you? Are you fine?" inquired Kenobi. Anakin smiled up at the funny Captain.
"Eh. Not too bad. I've had worse," He had noticed them looking at the training room apparently, because he asked, "Hey! You guys wanna target practice with me?"
"No thank you," politely declined Obi-Wan.
"What about you, sir?" asked Ornell to Anakin.
Anakin looked up at his Master with pleading eyes.
"Oh, alright."
"YES!" whooped Anakin and Ornell.
They ran for the door, almost getting stuck.
"Have you ever fired a blaster, kid?" asked Ornell, positioning the mounted-blaster rifle.
"No."
"Well, then, here. Take a crack at it."
Anakin held the rifle. It was heavy, but Anakin felt it and lifted it with minimum ease. He closed one eye, stuck out his tongue, steadied himself, aimed, and fired.
The laser blast pushed Ani back a bit. There was a hole in the target board, just inches from the bull's-eye.
He's a natural at this, thought Ornell.
"Okay, kid. Next time, crouch, hold your breath, and don't move anything but the gun, and only that when necessary. Try again."
Anakin did as he was told. He crouched, steadied the gun, closed one eye, to a long breath, held it, stuck out his tongue, and became rigid, motionless. Sweat pored down his face, nearly stinging his eyes. He aimed, slightly pulling the trigger. Nothing moved, except the gun slightly for a better position. He found the target: the bull's-eye. He nearly ran out of breath when he pulled the trigger.
The shot went true.
"Good job kid. Remember, patience," said Ornell.
He gave him and Kenobi sporting blasters.
"Just in case, y'know?"
It was meant to be a friendly gesture, but Obi-Wan stiffened at the gift.
He would put away the gift in his bag and never use it or look at it again.
Never ever.