Ahsoka found Anakin in the training gym with the auto turret on maximum. She watched as he flicked blasts into the laser proof canopy designed to catch the discharges. With an economy of moves, he flung blasts back, careful not to hit the machine or sidestep one of the predictable charges. It was almost as though he was dancing through them.

"What do you want?" Anakin asked through gritted teeth, flicking bolts back without a single second of hesitation.

With a single flick of the Force, Ahsoka turned off the turret and Anakin lowered his lightsaber, breathing heavily. "We need to talk about this."

Anakin was quiet as he regained his breath and sat down on one of the benches.

"We need to be open with each other. You heard what Rex said on the transport." She crossed her legs at the ankles. Sitting next to him used to bring her some ounce of comfort, but now, all she felt was anxiety. He was mad and she felt as though she was tiptoeing around mines.

"I heard you and Rex cracking jokes, yeah." He huffed softly.

"We weren't cracking jokes. I was teasing you and Rex told me to knock it off." She nudged his leg with her own.

Anakin gave her a slight nod meaning, 'Yeah, sure.' He stretched his legs out in front of him and leaned back against the back of the bench. "What do we need to talk about?"

She tried to keep herself calm, "Anakin. We need to talk about how you're angry at me because I want to keep my memories."

He sighed, "Let's just act like nothing happened," He suggested, glancing at her, then the floor.

Ahsoka stood, exasperated. "Can you act like nothing's happened, Anakin? How? All they had to do was mention the Hutts and you looked like you were about ready to destroy the bridge!" She took a few steps back from the bench, clenching her hands into fists.

She could feel his anger as he stood. "It's not your place to tell me what to do, Snips." He said sternly.

"And it's your place to tell me that I shouldn't be able to keep my memories?"

"I never said that. And they aren't your memories. They're mine." He didn't raise his voice, but the venomous tone was enough to make her take a step back. Anakin had mastered the art of anger—his words didn't need to be hurtful, his tone was enough to make the sweetest words painful.

Anakin's wrist com twittered, then Ahsoka's. Anakin answered his.

"Skywalker,"

"General, the Senate has decided to send Kenobi to negotiate with the Hutts. We'll be on standby for another few hours." Admiral Yularen tried to hide his slight annoyance with the Republic's amount of bureaucracy, it made Ahsoka happy that something other than a risky Jedi was annoying him for once.

"Thanks, Admiral."

The Admiral ended the transmission and their fight resumed.

"I'll leave you our quarters." Anakin said simply. He turned his back on her, walking towards the auto turret that she had turned off. "In case you want to cool down."

Ahsoka was quiet for a moment, her mind going a mile a minute. "I think you need our quarters to cool down more than I do." She said softly, just so he could hear her.

He turned quickly, glaring at her. "If that's how you feel, I'm sure Obi-Wan would be more than happy to reassign you to his mission." Anakin turned and walked out of the training room past her and disappearing down the hall.


Anakin didn't come to retrieve her, and he didn't send anyone to retrieve her. Obi-Wan was the one to come down to the mess hall, the one to sit opposite her at the table.

"Why is there a request for you to be reassigned to my mission?" Obi-Wan asked. He wasn't too happy, but he wasn't mad.

Ahsoka shrugged, staring at her datapad. She didn't want to think about how she had acted, how Anakin had acted. He had his reasons, she had hers.

"The Council hasn't received word yet for your transfer. I stopped it from going through. It looks like you're the one requesting the change." Obi-Wan slid his datapad over to her so she could view the report. He knew that Anakin had logged into the computers under Ahsoka's name and put in the request. She couldn't blame him.

Ahsoka looked up and sighed, it was better to face Obi-Wan than her master. "We got into a disagreement about… the memories." She had to stop herself from saying 'my memories' or 'his memories'. They were more like shared memories now whether he liked it or not.

Obi-Wan was quiet, waiting for her to continue.

"I went to check on him after the incident on the bridge, and we ended up fighting, and I got…" She was about to say 'snippy', but that was Anakin's word. She bit her tongue. She hadn't realized that she was also picking up his vocabulary.

Obi-Wan nodded, understandingly. "Anakin can be that way, especially when it has to do with the Hutts. I'm going to cancel your request for a transfer. I'll contact the Council and inform them that Anakin is… unfit for teaching at the moment. I'll tell them that he's taken the time to meditate during this halt and you will accompany me to Tatooine."

Ahsoka looked up, tears caught in the corners of her eyes. She nodded, wordlessly. She felt so helpless and so… lost. Had she done the right thing, telling Anakin about their memories?

"It's okay, young one." Obi-Wan comforted. "Sometimes we forget how young you are, Ahsoka. You're so mature for your age." He smiled a little, hoping to boost her spirits.

She gave a small smile and rubbed at her eyes.

"That's why Anakin gets so angry. He forgets that you're his student, that you're learning, that you aren't equals." Obi-Wan explained.

Ahsoka smiled a little brighter. Anakin considered her an equal, not a student, not a lesser, but an equal. He saw her as a Jedi Knight and had to remind himself that she was a padawan learner.

"There's that smile." Obi-Wan smiled back, "I'll be on the bridge waiting for you. Take your time to get ready." He slid out from the table and bench and made his way down the walk before disappearing up to the bridge and leaving her to herself.


Jabba's Palace was nothing truly special. Ahsoka had seen Coruscant night clubs with more dancing girls and better music, and none of them were owned by a gigantic space slug. He had girls dancing in front of him, girls lounging beside him, girls coming and going as they served him.

He said something in Huttese and Ahsoka looked to Obi-Wan. Maybe they should've brought Anakin to translate for them because they didn't have Threepio.

"Honorable Jabba, I am simply here to talk business." Obi-Wan told him, taking a few steps forward and bowing, Ahsoka followed suit and bowed as well.

The dancing girls stopped dancing and walked off to the sides of the dancefloor to catch their breath. One of them looked to Ahsoka and smiled, the others avoided eye contact with the Jedi pair, as though just looking at them could get them killed.

Jabba said something again that Ahsoka didn't understand, but she stood attentive like she could understand every word. She looked to Obi-Wan who was tracing his fingers down his beard.

"This is slightly concerning, Great Jabba. We have no record of any Jedi intercepting your shipments and setting them free. Are you sure they were Jedi?"

Jabba said something angrily, probably "Jabba doesn't make mistakes," or "Jabba knows what Jabba talks about." One of the girls lounging beside him squirmed slightly as he repositioned himself closer to them.

"I'm sorry, Great Jabba. It sounds to me like they could've been imposters." Obi-Wan lied. "It will be our job to catch these criminals. We will turn them in to you."

Jabba said something, Ahsoka couldn't tell if he was happy with that or insulted by it.

Obi-Wan bowed again and he took Ahsoka by the hand, leading her out of Jabba's palace through the back.

"Master, what did he say?" Ahsoka asked.

"If we round up the shipment and return them to Jabba, he'll let us pass through his regions of space." Obi-Wan said softly, he wasn't satisfied.

Ahsoka wasn't satisfied either. She was worried. She had no idea how many slaves were in one shipment, but it seemed like a lot, and where had the Jedi released them? Would they be able to do it by themselves? Ahsoka felt sick just thinking about telling Anakin what they had to do in order to pass through Hutt Space.

"We have to contact the Council." Obi-Wan pulled her outside of the club and they walked back to their ship.

Ahsoka fired up the engines, but didn't raise them off the ground. She contacted the Council and Obi-Wan slipped into his seat so he could speak with them.

"How did it go?" Mace asked.

Obi-Wan stroked his beard again, a sign of nervousness. "Jabba requests that we round up the shipment of slaves that the Jedi freed. Then we will be able to pass through Hutt Space."

The Council was silent and for a moment Ahsoka was afraid that a sandstorm was on the way, wiping out their communications.

"Think about this, we must. Slavers, the Jedi are not." Yoda said simply.

The holo faded and Obi-Wan lifted their ship off of the sandy grounds of Tatooine and they headed back through Hutt Space to meet up with the Resolute, stuck just a few parsecs away from the edge of Jabba's control.

They docked in the hangar and Commander Rex was there to meet them and escort them to the bridge to share their insight.

Obi-Wan looked to Ahsoka. "I don't think we should tell Anakin until we hear back from the Council."

Ahsoka nodded.

"How did it go, sirs?" Rex asked, walking with them out of the mostly empty hangar.

"Where did Anakin go?" Obi-Wan asked, stopping where Anakin's starfighter was usually parked, now empty.

"He's out drilling some shinies. Teaching them maneuvers."

Obi-Wan continued on his walk with Rex, he looked to Ahsoka. They both had a feeling that Anakin knew what was going on, but kept silent. Obi-Wan remembered that Rex had asked him a question, "Things on Tatooine didn't go as planned. Jabba will only let us in if we round up slaves that some Jedi had freed."

"Where?" Rex asked.

Obi-Wan shrugged. "I don't know, Commander. I'm sure the Council will tell us when they make up their minds."

Rex nodded and split from the group, letting Obi-Wan and Ahsoka walk the last bit of the way to the bridge. They sat down up front with the Admiral and watched as Anakin's yellow starfighter zipped across the dark sky followed by a few Y-wings.

"General Kenobi has returned," Admiral Yularen informed him through their com channel.

"Are we back on?"

Admiral was just about to inform Anakin of what Obi-Wan had told him when Obi-Wan stepped in. "No. Jabba has put us on a special mission and the Council is deciding whether we take it or not."

"What kind of mission?"

Obi-Wan looked to Ahsoka for help, his eyes wide. What lie could they tell him? "Uh, securing trade routes." Obi-Wan blurted. "Nothing too hard."

"I'll be back in a few." Anakin closed their communication and they watched as the yellow starfighter zipped back the other way, the Y-Wings following in tight V-formation.

The holoprojector flickered to life behind them and they all turned to face the Council.

"There has been a decision to let you follow through with Jabba's command."

Ahsoka's heart fell from her chest. How could the Jedi propagate slavery? Was compassion not the Jedi way?

"You can't do that." Ahsoka blurted. "We're supposed to be protectors, we pride ourselves on compassion, but where is our compassion?" She asked.

Mace frowned, not out of anger, but out of understanding. It was becoming obvious that the Council hadn't voted on this measure. "The Chancellor has decided that it is more important for the Republic to control Teth. We cannot afford to send you any help, but from our understanding—the shipment seems pretty small. Contact us when you are ready to enter Hutt Space."

The holo flickered and Ahsoka tried to contain herself. The last thing they needed was for Anakin to learn of their front to protect him, for him to discover it because his padawan couldn't control herself.

"We need to come up with a secondary mission to keep Anakin occupied." Obi-Wan said simply.

Ahsoka was quiet for a moment, trying to think of a task they could send her master to do. "Well, we told him we're securing trade routes. We could send him to actually secure the routes on his own."

"That won't take very long, he'll be done before we are." Obi-Wan stroked his beard and brought up a holo of Tatooine. "According to the reports, the shipment was released on Tatooine."

"Do the slaves still have their trackers and transmitters?"

Obi-Wan nodded. "I sent a few clones to retrieve the transmitter data and they're pulling coordinates now."

"We shouldn't do this as Jedi." Ahsoka mumbled. "We can't spread an image of the Jedi as slavers. Especially through Hutt Space."

Obi-Wan nodded. "We'll need civilian clothing. No lightsabers."

Ahsoka nodded in agreement. "We should send him somewhere. A different sector."

Obi-Wan brought up a galaxy map of nearby sectors. "I don't recall any of these sectors asking for assistance."

The sound of the troopers gathering themselves to attention brought Ahsoka and Obi-Wan to realize that Anakin was back. He motioned for them to relax and joined at Obi-Wan's side.

"Do we have a plan?"

Obi-Wan was quiet, looking through the map of the nearby. "Not yet."

"What exactly is our mandate?" Anakin asked, staring at the holomap that Obi-Wan had brought up.

"We've been given clearance to Hutt Space by the Chancellor, but not by Jabba. Ahsoka and I have to run a diplomatic mission, you're being sent on reconnaissance of Teth. Do not land. For any reason." Obi-Wan looked at Anakin and Anakin nodded, slightly afraid of Obi-Wan's sudden seriousness. "Take a civilian cruiser."

Anakin nodded. "Should I take any men with me?"

Obi-Wan thought about it for a moment, then realized that if he sent Anakin alone, it would take him longer. "No. Just make sure that the Twilight is nearby in case you need assistance." He looked at Anakin with the same seriousness in his eyes and Anakin nodded.

Ahsoka could feel the confusion between them—mostly Anakin's confusion and Obi-Wan's bluffing. Anakin turned and walked out, his confusion lingering in his Force signature. Obi-Wan felt strange in the Force… apprehensive and guarded. Ahsoka would've called his bluff, and she knew that Anakin would have as well if Obi-Wan hadn't looked so stern.

His attitude quickly disappeared and he sighed, tapping his fingers against the comm station. He turned to her. "I hope you realize that you're also not taking a huge role in this mission,"

Ahsoka looked at him, surprised. What did he mean she was taking a large role in the mission? Was he putting her on the sidelines too?

"You're emotionally involved. Just as much, possibly more so than Anakin." He closed his eyes. "You'll have to guard our ship."

Ahsoka gasped. "What?"

He nodded and turned away from the comm station. The image of nearby sectors flickered away and Obi-Wan commed Cody and Rex, telling them to meet at the hangar.

Ahsoka crossed her arms and followed her master's master.


Tatooine was the same way it was in her visions. Two bleak colors—a light blue, empty sky and sand. Endless amounts of sand.

If Anakin had had a normal childhood on Tatooine, she wouldn't blame him if he still hated it. Even if Tatooine had fun attractions or had any element of kid-friendliness, she would still understand his hatred. It was nothing but sand and sky.

To be surrounded by so much sand and sky was torture. The heat was unbearable even in their civilian disguises. They had contacted a few senators for help and they had been given clearance to a section of the Resolute only available for senators—filled with their emergency clothes and disguises in case they needed protective exile, asylum, or security.

Ahsoka had been given a blue peasant outfit from Senator Amidala. It fit her perfectly—she looked like the perfect little servant in an ensemble of a bleak gray tunic fastened at the waist and wrists with dark blue cloth and black pants. Even with her cloak, it was impossible to hide her lightsabers, however she managed to hide a pair of cuffs under the back of the band around her waist.

Obi-Wan was wearing one of Bail Organa's disguises from his protective exile—black slacks with a silver seam down the side, a dark basic shirt, and a slightly long gray jacket swathed in pockets that fell to his mid-thigh. She had asked him how he felt in it and all he said was, "Why does a senator need so many small pockets?" None of them were big enough to hold his lightsaber.

"Here, try my shoto." She handed him the small lightsaber that/ she had been practicing with whenever she could. She hadn't really used it in the field and she was slightly hoping that this would be a perfect field test.

"Sir, I could fit them in my bag." Cody offered, opening his satchel which he had filled with a few droid poppers (just in case) as well as a medkit and a half.

Obi-Wan tossed his inside and Ahsoka tossed hers in as well, but Obi-Wan smuggled her shoto into one of his larger pockets with a smile. "Can you see it?" He asked, turning around slowly.

Ahsoka shook her head with a smile. "Nope."

The clones wore dark clothing as well—black pants, dark gray tunic-like tops. Rex wore a simple gray cap on his head, Cody had their bag. They looked like twins.

Obi-Wan turned to Ahsoka, "I need you to stay here with the ship."

Ahsoka frowned. "I can do this mission, master."

He shook his head. "I'm not questioning your abilities. I believe that you're too emotionally compromised. Please stay with the ship."

She huffed, crossing her arms. "Keep the com channel open." She said simply, walking back up the ramp and sitting down so the sandy wind couldn't whip against her skin.

Obi-Wan gave a nod and walked out to the civilian transport with Rex and Cody. It would pick them up from the outpost where they had landed and would take them to Mos Espa, one of Tatooine's biggest settlements.

Would Anakin have left her out like this? He probably would've left her on the Resolute, but at least with him she would be able to see the last of the action. There was also some flaw in his plan that brought her into the last play. She had a feeling that if he had been assigned to this mission that he would've already left to tail them.

Although, he wouldn't be tailing them to help them. He would be tailing them to free the slaves as they went.

She felt sick just by being on Tatooine. The land of her nightmares.

"Ahsoka, come in." Obi-Wan's voice crackled through the comlink that was hidden under the billowing blue-gray clothing.

She clicked where she thought the button was. "I'm here. With the ship. As promised."

"Move in to the city terminal, where the civilian transport drops off. Secure it." He said simply.

She smiled. "Sure thing, master." She ended the transmission and ran down the rest of the ramp, closing the entrance securely and entering in the security pin code.

She raced off to the pickup and in no time she was standing in the middle of the busiest city terminal she had ever seen. Coruscant boasted about its population of one trillion, but Ahsoka swore there was more than that at this one city terminal on a planet that only claimed 200,000 as its population.

"Master, there are too many people. I can't secure it." She said to her wrist com while attempting to walk through the crowd.

"Get up somewhere high. Just observe." He instructed.

She slid around a large, broken freighter and climbed up the side of it, sitting down on the roof. She was taller than most of the buildings around her except for one that she assumed was a bar. The crowd below her continued to push on through either to the market, or towards the in-city homes and bars. "I can see about… three fourths of the crowd." She reported.

"That'll have to do. Keep your position. Do not deviate."

Ahsoka hated being split from the group, especially in such numbers. If they needed her help, she'd have to launch herself into the crowd, run to wherever they were if she could find them, and fight without a lightsaber. She sighed, bit her lip and slid off the side of the freighter. "How many have you found so far?" She was going to help the best she could.

"We've split up. Cody and Rex have one, I have another." Kenobi informed.

Ahsoka sighed. They had four more until they carried on like nothing had happened. Four more until they could stop lying to Anakin. Four more until the Jedi could go on like Jedi instead of slavers. She wanted to know what the Chancellor was thinking, letting the Jedi go out and perform such vile acts.

"Sir, come in, sir."

Ahsoka clicked her comlink again. "What's up, boys?"

"One of them escaped us. She's headed your way. Secure the exit."

Ahsoka clicked her comlink off and squeezed her way out into the crowd, feeling out from the woman's anxiety and fear. She was like a beacon of fear. She could feel her enter the crowd, constantly looking over her shoulder to see if the two men had found her and followed her into the crowd. She found her way to the woman and signaled for her to come near. "Shh, it's okay!" She said, knowing the woman couldn't hear her over the crowd.

The woman locked eyes with her. She clutched the doll in her arms as tightly as she could and when Ahsoka signaled that she was safe the woman made her way through the swarm to Ahsoka. They walked off to the side and Ahsoka dug the cuffs out from underneath the band of fabric around her waist. She kept them concealed, but suddenly the woman's eyes widened and she backed up, nearly falling over her feet.

She screamed something in Huttese and suddenly something in Ahsoka's mind clicked like the last piece into a puzzle.

"No, wait!" Ahsoka yelled, running after the woman. Anakin's mother. They were wrong. She wasn't dead. She was right there. Ahsoka had touched her. She pushed through the crowd, following the woman's fear. She could hear the boys behind her, she could hear her comlink twittering at her wrist, and her heartbeat flooding her ears.

The woman stumbled into a man and stopped, wrestled his blaster from his side. She put the blaster to her head and said a phrase in Huttese, probably something along the lines of 'leave me alone' or 'don't take another step'.

Ahsoka stopped, putting her hands so the woman could see them. The cuffs dropped to the ground. "It's okay." She said softly, taking a slow step forward.

The woman shook her head and said the same phrase.

Ahsoka tried to use the Force to take the gun from her hand, but she broke her focus when the woman screamed and pulled the blaster back, tighter in her hand. She pulled the trigger and fell to the ground as though someone had cut the strings on a puppet.

Ahsoka ran to her, pushing the blaster far out of the way with the Force. The sleemo that owned the gun scrambled after it, cursing in Huttese. She knelt down at the woman's side, her hands flittering over the woman's body to her neck where with shaking hands she checked for a pulse.

Suddenly, things became clearer. This woman. She wasn't Anakin's mother. Anakin's mother had died years before her. They had both died. They had died trying to be free from the endless dunes of sand. A terrifying thought came across Ahsoka's mind—at least in death they were finally free.

Obi-Wan placed a hand on her shoulder, then offered his other hand to help her to her feet. He pulled her into him, feeling her shake in fear. She let herself cry, sobbing that only made her shake all the more.

Obi-Wan signaled for Cody and Rex to continue the mission as though nothing had happened. Obi-Wan took the slave that they had captured and the one that he had captured, together they took the civilian transport back to their ship. They rode in absolute silence except for the sobs from Ahsoka and the two captured slaves.

Cody and Rex managed to catch the remaining three slaves. They secured them to the back of the ship, giving them food, water, and blankets. They looked at them skeptically when they were offered blankets, but Obi-Wan swore that they would need them for when they started up the ship. The cool air currents would be enough to have them shivering.

Ahsoka curled up in the co-pilot seat, pulling her legs in close to her chest. She looked out to the empty horizon and swore to herself that she would never return to such a harsh planet.

She tried to prepare herself for the scolding. She knew that she had disobeyed orders running after the slave when Cody and Rex were already in pursuit. She had been instructed to secure the exit, the transit, and instead she had entered the mission. He was right, she was emotionally compromised.

Obi-Wan slid into the pilot's chair next to her. "I would've done the same thing," he said simply, turning to her with sad eyes. "It's what we do as Jedi." He turned his chair to her. "Ahsoka, it's alright. Rest." She could feel his gentle sleep suggestion through the Force. She tried to shrug it off, but her sight became dimmer, the corners of her vision fading to black. She closed her eyes, his peaceful, sorrowful smile the last thing she saw.

Obi-Wan turned from Ahsoka to face the clones as they boarded the ship. He pulled a blanket up and over her without looking.

"Sir, how are we going to explain the lost slave to Jabba?"

Obi-Wan stroked his beard. "We don't have any other options than to tell him the truth." He sighed, "Hopefully Jabba's in a good mood today."

Rex nodded and Cody walked back towards where they had held the slaves.

Obi-Wan fired up the engines. He had only been on Tatooine for a few hours and space already felt freezing. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep his teeth from chattering as he pulled the ship towards the Resolute.

"Sir?" Cody asked, confused as to why they were docking into the hangar.

"I'm going to let Ahsoka stay here, she's had enough for today." He said, picking her up in his arms. He walked down the ramp, past the slaves and into the hangar.

Ahsoka stirred slightly in his arms. "Master,"

He stopped. "Yes?"

"Put me down."

Obi-Wan helped Ahsoka to her feet. "Take care of yourself." He said to her, pulling the blanket back over her shoulders.

She gave a slight nod. "May the Force be with you," she said softly, her tone dead.

He nodded and left to return to the Twilight. He still had to meet with Jabba before Anakin returned. He was sure Ahsoka and Anakin would be fine as long as Anakin didn't find out about their mission to re-capture slaves.


Anakin knew that something was wrong with his padawan when he entered the hangar. He took his time stepping out of his civilian cruiser—double checking, no, triple checking the landing gear and making sure all systems were turned off. He closed his eyes, breathed in, opened his eyes, and stepped out down the ramp to meet her.

She sat on the floor next to his golden starfighter, her knees pulled up to her chest with a blanket around her shoulders. She wore a blue peasant outfit that looked oddly familiar, but he couldn't place it. She didn't meet his eyes when he walked up to her, or when R2 chirped, asking what was wrong.

"Snips?" He sat down next to her, "Everything okay?"

She shook her head, still refusing to meet his eyes.

"Look, I took some time to think about earlier, and I realized I'm being selfish. It's your mind and you make the decisions. I'm sorry." He looked to see if his apology had any effect on her.

She looked up at him, tears in her big blue eyes. "I messed up." She said, her voice cracking just before the tears began to flow.

"What happened?" He put an arm around her, pulling her closer to him. His genuine concern for her only made her feel worse… if only he knew what she had done.

"A woman died because of me," she blubbered. "She…" Ahsoka couldn't continue through her sobs. She hugged herself tighter while he continued to rub her back.

Anakin shushed her, "You can't save everyone, Snips." He wiped away her tears with his soft, leather gloves. "What can we do?"

She blinked, unsure of what he meant. Her crying quieted and she thought for a moment. "Do we have time to go get food?" Food always helped—especially when there was someone to eat with.

Anakin smiled. "Yeah. Do you want to go somewhere else, or just the Mess?" He helped her to her feet and R2 twirped happily.

She stroked R2's dome. "Do we have clearance and time to go somewhere else?"

Anakin nodded, leading her to the cruiser he had just stepped off of. "What are they going to do? Send my army?" He smirked and let her playfully hit him in the arm for his awful play on a phrase.

"Yes, Skyguy."

"So, why did you have to wear this for a diplomatic mission to see Jabba?" He asked, gesturing to her blue outfit.

Ahsoka was quiet. He didn't know that she hadn't even gone to see Jabba, that Obi-Wan had dropped her off early. Then she realized her opening. "We weren't allowed to come as Jedi." Not a total lie.

Anakin nodded understandingly. He must've assumed that it was all another way for Jabba to gain power from his rivals or victims.

"Are you paying?" She walked up the ramp of the cruiser and sat down in the co-pilot chair.

"I guess." Anakin sighed.

She smiled. A real smile. One that Anakin hadn't seen in a long time. He should've known—the way to a girl's heart was always food.


Teaser for the next chapter!


The dim blue of the holoprojector flickered with the image of his wife and he almost couldn't contain his happiness. After a tiring day of boring recon, he hadn't even been able to give a full report because the planet was so cloudy.

To make things better she wore his favorite gown—a deep blue with cuts to reveal her shoulders that hid her arms in long sleeves, the bodice was tight and the gown had a slight gradient to a darker blue towards the end. It was the easiest one to take off of her.

She smiled at him, happy to see that he was alive and well.

"Ani," she breathed. She took a second to collect her thoughts and it brought her out of her stupor into the real galaxy. "The Senate just had an emergency meeting about your mission, the Chancellor shut down the vote and used emergency powers to grant you access." Her tone stern, her happiness fading into grave seriousness.

"So we're free to take Teth?"

"You're free to fulfill Jabba's horrific mandate. Only he can give you clearance to Teth." She crossed her arms, worried.

"What's Jabba's mandate?" Anakin asked, leaning in on the comm station. How could securing trade routes be horrific? Was it just horrific to Padme because the Chancellor had used his emergency powers again?

Padme looked at him, or rather the image of him, completely surprised. "You haven't been told?"

Anakin shrugged slightly, "I was told we were just securing trade routes."

Padme shook her head furiously, "No, Ani. You're being sent to collect the slaves that he lost."

Anakin took a step back, his heart pounding in his head. He couldn't think and for a moment he was sure he was going to pass out. He found it in him to form a word, he took his a breath and breathed out, "What?"


Thank you so much for reading! Please review! It was so hard to write this chapter because I kept thinking about things to include while I was at work and I'm not supposed to do anything but work... so I started writing bits and pieces on post it notes and hiding them in my pockets. Hopefully I'll be able to update again soon because things have started to cool down a little. I figured I'd upload this before work because tonight I'm just going to want to cry- inventory is going through, which basically means they're going to keep me extra hours so we can put the store back together after inventory leaves.

Thank you for sticking it through this story! You guys are the greatest.

May the Force be with you.