Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. All the characters are the property of George Lucas and LucasFilm Ltd.
Feedback: Is most welcome.
Author's notes: Hi everyone! I am back with another chapter. I am afraid to say that perhaps the subsequent chapters will be a little late to upload as my writing time has been reduced considerably…
But as of now, enjoy this chapter.
Chapter VI
"What if the plan fails, Master? We could be stuck here for a long time."
"A ship without a power supply will get us nowhere. Besides, you were the one who suggested that we gamble, so why do I hear you complaining now?"
"Ugh… you are never going to let me live that down, are you? Besides, it is not complaining Master. I am just voicing my concerns." Obi-Wan interrupts. If the mirth and amusement prevalent in the bond was anything to go by, then Qui-Gon probably would not.
"If that is what you want to call it Padawan mine. I will contact you later tonight to check on things. There is something about this boy…"
"Sure, Master."
Qui-Gon disconnects and Obi-Wan decides to go the cockpit.
So Anakin is taking part in the Boonta Eve tomorrow. He knows Qui-Gon made the bet to free Anakin sometime between tonight and before the race.
So he will have to suggest Qui-Gon to free Shmi tonight. Maybe Qui-Gon would not even need to be given the hint. He is a Jedi Master.
He will probably work it out on his own. Qui-Gon's ghost had told him once that he had wanted to free Shmi along with Anakin by selling the Pod but Watto hadn't agreed. Perhaps if history repeats itself, Qui-Gon will offer the extra money with which he will be able to free both.
That will be really nice.
-x—x—
She hated it.
Well, hate was a strong word. Disliked it was more like it. Her day was going pretty well when suddenly an odd group of people came home invited by her son.
And then it all went downhill.
As she later discovered, one of them was a Jedi and they were apparently on an important mission. Their ship had landed here in want of a hyperdrive.
When her son had offered to take part in the Boonta Eve Classic, she was filled with a sense of dread and overprotection. Pod races were dangerous. They were fatal. She was not going to let her son take part in it as long as it was possible. As a slave, she had very little decision in matters such as this.
But this proposition was not an order from her master, Watto. It was just that- a proposition. That, as well, from a complete group of strangers.
She was not bound to say yes though her heart shattered in million pieces when she saw him sit in the Pod and get ready for the race and got overwhelmed with pride and happiness that her Ani had made it out alive in one piece.
But she did say yes no matter how much she hated it. Because she might not be Force Sensitive as the Jedi but she was a mother. And she knew that his son was destined to be with them. He deserved a better future than what she could provide.
So, with the heaviest heart and yet one full of resigned acceptance she allowed Anakin to take part in the race.
She probably wouldn't have had that memory not come forth.
Anakin returns home crying and sad. He is just five years old. He enters the porch where she was standing.
She hugs him and holds him close. "What is it, Ani?"
"Lu—Lucy di—die today…" He whimpers. "Oh, Ani…" Lucy was one of his best friends. She was older than him but was very kind and helpful.
"I—I was coming bac—k to the shop to give Watto his sup—lies. On my way, I saw Lucy lying on the street." He cries in her hair for a while until he continues. She does not stop him. It will be good for him to get it out.
"There was blo—blood everywhere. Someone whispered that she got hit by a…a speeder a while back."
"No one helped her mom. No one! I ran to help her but she was already…already…"
"Shh, Ani. It's okay. I understand."
They stay that way for a while. Anakin burying his face in his mother's hair while she rubbed soothing circles on his back while gazing at the stars.
After what seems like an eternity, Anakin whispers, "Why didn't anyone help her Mom?"
She sighs. "You see Anakin, the biggest problem in this universe is that no one helps each other. If they did, there would be no wars, no treachery, no slavery…"
"I will Mom." His voice spoken with such conviction seems to startle her for a moment, "I will help everyone Mom. Even if they are strangers and are good people I will help then all I can."
She just hugs him close for the rest of the night.
Shmi shakes herself off the memory as she approaches the Jedi standing at the porch overlooking the courtyard where her son and his friends are working on the pod.
He starts the conversation, "You should be proud of your son. He gives without any thought of reward."
"He knows nothing of greed. He has…"
"He has special powers."
Well, I was going to say 'a kind heart.' But 'special powers' is something we can go with. Besides it is the truth.
How many times had Anakin forewarned them while they were still Gardulla's possession about her foul mood. What to do in a certain situation or what to say to escape punishment.
"Yes…"
"He can see things before they happen. That's why he appears to have such quick reflexes."
Must be a Jedi thing reading minds.
"It is a Jedi trait."
Thought so. Oh, he is talking about Anakin. Speaking of which…
"He deserves better than a slave's life."
"The Force is unusually strong with him, that much is clear. Who was his father?"
Maybe he will shed some light on the mystery.
"There was no father, that I know of…I carried him, I gave him birth…I cannot explain what happened. Can you help him?"
"I am afraid not." No…please you have to help him!
"Had he be born in the Republic, we would have identified him early, and he would have become Jedi, no doubt…he has the way. But is too late for him now, he's too old."
Crestfallen, she looks at her son who was surrounded with his friends asking whether the pod will work or not. At that, Qui-Gon takes her leave and proceeds towards the courtyard picking up the power pack from the table.
She watches from the porch smiling sadly as the engine ignites. She could only pray now that her son came back home safely.
-x—x-
There is too much noise. Jar Jar, Padme, Artoo, and C3PO cannot be that loud, can they?
Over the years of his apprenticeship and then even further, fixing things or working with machines had become his own personal type of meditation. Even if the surrounding people used to be loud, he could work just fine tuning them out like one was supposed to tune out all external thoughts while in the traditional meditation. That was until the sound reached intolerable levels.
Snapping out of his meditation of sorts, it takes him a while to figure out that the group of children calling out his name in his ear repeatedly are actually his so called 'friends.'
This is going to be awkward considering I do not remember their names…
Hmm. When in doubt follow your Master. Obi-Wan had employed this trick once.
"Padme, Jar-Jar these are my friends…" he leaves the sentence hanging hoping his friends would pick it up. They do not disappoint.
"I am Kitster." Ah, his best friend. Before Obi-Wan of course.
"I am Amee, that's Seek and Wald."
Before his future friends can say anything in response, Kitster exclaims, "Wow, a real Astro Droid…how'd you get so lucky?"
The first automatic response that comes into his head is what he has heard Jedi Masters and then Sidious speak a lot of time whenever he mentioned something as luck: There is no such thing as luck. Before he can formulate another response however, Kitster speaks again.
"What are you doing with this pod anyways?" He questions.
"I have entered into the Boonta Race tomorrow!"
"What? With this?"
"Ani, jesko na joka."
"You have been working on that thing for years. It's never going to run."
"Come on, let's go play ball. Keep it up, Ani, and you are gonna be bug squash."
As every Tatooine kid except Kitster leave, he admits he feels a little disappointed with the little amount of faith they had in him.
But he opts to ignore them in favour of worrying over far greater things…
…like stopping Jar Jar's hand from going numb for hours.
"Hey! Jar Jar! Stay away from those energy binders…"
"Who, mesa?"
"If your hand gets caught in that beam, it will go numb for hours. You wouldn't want that…"
Apparently, his advice fell on deaf ears.
Jar Jar peeks at the energy plate which makes an electronic pop. Startled, Jar Jar jumps a little back but his mouth gets zapped.
"Ouch-dats muy bigo Oucho." Jar Jar responds with something that is more or less gibberish.
So, he decides to ignore him.
Apparently everyone has the same idea. "But you do not even know if this thing will run."
Seriously, all this lack of faith in his abilities, his abilities to fix something nonetheless, is getting on his nerves.
"It will." And for a moment he is tempted to use mind tricks to convince everyone of his mechanical prowess.
He even would have if he wouldn't have felt the approach of the Jedi Master.
"I think it's time we found out. Use this power charge."
"Okay."
Anakin jumps into the little capsule behind the two giant engines. He puts the power pack back into the dashboard. He waits until Padme frees Jar Jar who had gotten his hand caught in the afterburner.
Then he fires up the engines which ignite with a roar. Everyone cheers and Anakin cannot but help feel a thrill of anticipation for the upcoming race.
-x—x—
Anakin sits on the balcony rail gazing up at the stars. He has a race tomorrow and even though he knows with his abilities he should not feel any anxiety, he is a little bit nervous.
He rationalizes soon enough that the real cause of his nervousness is not the race being held tomorrow, it is the fact that after the race he will be soon enough whisked off to Coruscant and he is not sure if he is ready to go there.
If only I could analyse my fears rationally before and work on them perhaps most of the bad things would not have happened.
Not to mention the companions he will have on board the entire time.
And the one person he had to leave behind. He glances at the scanner kept on a table nearby. It works, he knows that. He had tried it on himself and it had pinpointed where his transmitter was imbedded. After that he had verified it with the Force.
He had realized he does not need the transmitter actually. He can use the Force to determine the position of his mother's slave chip.
The part where he was required to remove it was a little tricky. A little lapse in concentration could lead to… well he doesn't want to think about that. His grasp on the Force is well enough to prevent such accidents. Maybe he can even free Kitster.
The problem with using the Force, however, is that Qui-Gon will sense his deep concentration in the Force and that will no doubt raise several questions. Moreover his mother will have her own questions on how he knows to use it.
The safest bet: use the scanner.
He moves onto the next question, when should he do it? It was near his bed time. He remembers with amusement that the first time after coming to the past when his mom had said that it was his bed time, he had openly stared at her dumbfounded.
After all, since the war started the concept of 'bed time' had been lost. As Darth Vader, well, he tries not to laugh when he considers Sidious telling him that it is his 'bed time.'
Besides, Sidious can never be compared with his mother. They are two polar opposites. Obi-Wan, on the other hand, is much more like his mother. Oh, Obi-Wan…
He comes back to reality with the said person's Master's force presence coming nearer. He thinks to follow that person's advice of living in the here and now.
"Hello Anakin."
"Hi, Master Qui-Gon."
"What are you doing?"
"Just gazing up at the star that's all."
"Oh."
Qui-Gon sits next to him on the balcony. Anakin notices that he has a small box with him which he recognizes to be first aid kit.
"What's that?"
"It's a first aid kit. I have come to see whether you are hurt anywhere or not."
"I am not hurt. Not that I know of anyways."
Anakin waits as he feels Qui-Gon probe him with the Force for injuries. "Your leg is scraped a little."
He does not say anything but simply rolls up his trousers a little to really see there a small cut.
"It is nothing."
"Yet, it should be treated."
Anakin agrees without further resistance. There is after all no harm in this.
"Now, sit still. Let me clean this cut."
They sit in companionable silence as Qui-Gon tends to his cut.
He hardly winces as Qui-Gon wipes a patch of blood off his leg.
"There, good as new…"
"Ani, bedtime!"
And there was this concept again.
Qui-Gon scrapes his blood onto a comlink chip.
Curious, Anakin asks, "What are you doing?"
"Checking your blood for infections."
Anakin narrows his eyes at the obvious lie.
"Ani, I am not going to tell you again!" The tone tells him that he better comply. A former Sith Lord being intimidated. What has the world gone to?
"Go on, you have a big day tomorrow. Good night."
"G'night." He mumbles still looking at the comlink chip in confusion.
However, instead of asking Qui-Gon about it, he runs into the hovel.
-x—x—
The comlink was already in his hand when the call arrives.
"Obi-Wan…"
"Yes, Master."
"Make an analysis of this blood sample I am sending you."
"Wait a minute…" He says it just for the sake of it. The computers of the ship are already ready.
After a moment or so he says, "Okay."
"I need a midichlorian count."
Obi-Wan waits as the computers calculate and show their readings. It is the same as before- over twenty thousand.
Let us see how good my acting is now.
"Something must be wrong with the transmission."
"Why? What are your readings?"
"Uh…Master, could you give me a signal check?"
"Here it is."
"Strange. The transmission seems to be in good order, but the reading's off the chart…over twenty thousand."
I hope I pulled it off.
"That's it then." It comes out like a whisper as if his Master was saying it mostly to himself.
"I do not think any Jedi has a midichlorian count that high…not even Master Yoda!"
"You are right, Padawan."
"What does it mean?"
"I am not sure."
There is silence for a few moments and before Obi-Wan can brace the subject or somewhat suggest Qui-Gon to free Shmi, the transmission gets cut.
Great.
-x—x—
Anakin was not really able to sleep the entire night. After he had left Qui-Gon, he had waited right around the corner and expertly enhanced his hearing to listen in to the conversation because it was really odd for Qui-Gon to lie to him.
So, that is when he had for the first time thought that I am the Chosen One.
That was, however, not the thing that had chased his sleep away. It was hearing the cultivated Coruscanti accent from the other side of the comlink.
Obi-Wan Kenobi.
He had not been able to think about him deeply yet again as his mother found him and took him to sleep. Not that he was able to anyways but he knew if he lingered too much on Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon will feel it. But still, just hearing that voice over the comlink made him remember about all the countless missions they had been together, their years as Master and Padawan and then as fellow Knights…
Anakin had to will himself very hard not to cry. And the rest of the night he had just spent feeling angry at himself though trying his best to cover it so that Qui-Gon does not feel it.
Why not? Will it not be good if he sees how I truly am?
He has had that doubt for the entire night when he grew slightly tired of having to manipulate the Force when all he wanted was to cuddle up in a corner and cry.
It was quelled every time by thinking that if Qui-Gon suspects him of using the Dark Side, he may not allow Anakin to take part in the race tomorrow and therefore he will not be able to help Padme.
Speaking of which…that is Padme's face looking down at him, is it not?
"Ani, wake up!"
"Huh?"
When had he fallen asleep?
"Come on, wake up! Your mother wants you to come in and clean up. We have to leave soon."
"Hey Kitster." Anakin nods to Padme and waves a hand over to his friend who arrives along with two eopies.
"Where is Qui-Gon by the way?"
"He and Jar Jar left already. They are with Watto at the arena."
Oh, right. Today was his race.
Tbc…
RyuuShadow: Thank You. I do not really mean to make you suffer…or wait a minute…don't I? Just kidding : ) Thanks, you don't know how much that remark uplifted my spirits!
NinjaGirl1117: If it made your day, it made mine as well! :D As of Sebulba, I don't think Ani's going to pay him much attention. Because, as a matter of fact, Ani has dealt with far notorious people to be concerned about an ordinary Dug. What do you think?
yiggdrasill: Thanks a lot for your concern : ) It means a lot. Wow…looks like I missed on a lot. : ( It sounds wonderful and I will be sure to check it out once I actually have free time on my hands. Perhaps, Ahsoka can feature as you said like an infant. I will be sure to add her reference somewhere later as I said earlier.
Nightshade's sydneylover150: I hope the chapter was good? I agree, it was not action based but it did set the base for future events.
MMM73181: :D Too bad they did not show it… I have planned that part out and I hope it is good. I thought about it too and I have figured that one out too. Thanks for pointing it out though! Your comments help me know if I have not left an important detail. Hope you liked the chapter.
Talentz: I cannot wait for it too! Thanks a lot! I hope you liked the chapter.
Read and Review as always! Did you like the chapter? Let me know… : )
