Welcome Back! I'll be getting through story slowly I admit as I get all the detail on the following chapters together.

~o0o~

The Force felt like a stranger.

For all of his many centuries living, Master Yoda had never heard the Force sing a different song. All his long life and for every Jedi, it sang the same song but changed its tempo and pitch in accordance to its message. For every Jedi, the song's sound was unique. According to the works of great philosophers in the Archives, it sounded like a choir ringing in a large hall. For some it was a flute's whistle in a gentle breeze, and for Master Yoda it was a small child humming with great enthusiasm. The child's voice had once been his own but no matter the wrinkles or the wisps of white hair, his child remained and forever reminded Yoda of his duty to the younglings.

Now though, the Force was singing a different song entirely.

Confronting, Mace Windu had described it. A challenge, Yoda had corrected. He sat alone in his apartment all night contemplating the best means of understanding. Never mind the why and how just yet. That would come later. A message was to be received and it never did any good to ignore the messenger for more trivial pursuits. Yoda listened.

The song of the Unifying Force.

And the landscapes of the Living Force.

Yoda, the Grandmaster of the Jedi Order for a reason, sunk into both. He sat amongst the bamboo forest. He listened as the Force's new song whispered through the wind breathing between the leaves and the tapping of trunks. Uncertainty crawled through Yoda like an old illness and a small part of him longed for his long dead master. Although the body was gone, the spirit still remained and guided the old once padawan as he learned the new song.

It ached of misery.

It wished for redemption.

It hated its very being.

It wanted so much.

Passion drove it.

Yet so did guilt.

Both born from each other.

It felt like a lost lonely child.

Master Yoda reached out but it shrank and ran away from his touch.

His meditation dissolved away.

The door to his apartment was knocked precisely three times. Only one person did that and had been strictly following that pattern from the moment he was taken on as a padawan. "Come in, Mace," Yoda called. "Always welcome, you are."

Mace Windu entered the room stiffly. Usually, the man would offer his former master a smile in return to Yoda's comment. A routine established when Mace was barely eleven every time he arrived home from a hard day of study. Even without the Force to inform Yoda of Mace's mood, the old master would always know when something was bothering him by the deviations to this routine.

"We have a problem," Mace said. He sat down onto a soft pillow, careful to avoid bumping his knees against the low table. Yoda poured him a pot of tea and slid the cup over. Mace accepted it and blew the liquid gently. He continued gravely, "Tahl just reported that their ship was attacked by slavers. Padawan Du'Crion and Initiate Kenobi were taken, along with many other civilians."

Yoda's ears dropped. Although wise in the ways of the Force and the Order's teachings, Mace could see the sadness and worry in the old master's eyes. Many were unable to see it but after years of training under Yoda, Mace have come to recognise these emotions whenever he had put himself in danger. Subtle and reigned in but still genuine regardless of what some Jedi thought. Mace threaded his fingers together as he said, "With your permission, I request leading a team of Jedi to support Tahl and Qui-Gon in their rescue mission."

A small smile emerged on Yoda's face, "Certain you are, a rescue mission there will be?"

Mace nodded, "Yes. Their mission was to bring back Kenobi."

"Wait, they won't."

"I know," Mace agreed. "That is why I must leave immediately."

Yoda frowned, "Surprised I am, captured the padawan was. Never leaves his master's side."

Mace took another sip of tea, "Tahl explained that …he was trying to protect a civilian. Left his master's side to help someone."

A long contemplative silence followed. Mace watched for Yoda's response. The old grandmaster stared at his swirling tea, listening again to the soft new tune of the Force. He firmly nodded once and said, "Good. A true Jedi protects."

"You don't call that attachment?" Mace wondered. "From Tahl's reports it sounded as though he had established a friendship with this civilian."

"Attachments, a danger, they can be," Yoda's replied wisely. "When uncontrolled, when unguided, a danger they will be. An attachment, Qui-Gon has to his padawan. Needed this, he did. Needed this, Xanatos did too. Strong their bond is. Stronger it will become, when independent they can both be."

Mace absorbed what his former master told him. Careful to understand every word and message with deep clarity. After another long gulp of tea Mace said, "Do you think this will help our … problem with Padawan Du'Crion?"

"All padawans, grow up they do," Yoda answered. "Every path is different."

A newly minted padawan Windu would have rolled his eyes behind his master's back but a wise and well respected Master Windu nodded, understanding the message laying beneath. Patience.

"What say you?" Yoda asked. "No trust in your Jedi brother and sister to complete the mission?"

Master and Padawan Windu shared their knowledge of Yoda's unique form of questioning. Most would be tempted to aggravation or offence, but for those who knew the sneaky gremlin well, it was simply a challenge. A challenge to ensure they were confident in what they were doing. "I do trust them," Mace answered with firm conviction. "However, us Jedi protect each other. We look out for one another. I cannot stand back when two of our own are in danger. Regardless of one's opinions on the padawan, Du'Crion is one of us and Kenobi will become one of us. Even if we arrive and the younglings are already saved, our duty as fellow Jedi still stands."

Yoda rested one hand on top of the other and gazed at his former padawan with an expression Mace knew all too well. Whenever Mace had performed a kata perfectly, made a valiant effort in his studies or followed the Force's will, Master Yoda would give him a look that expressed his pride. "Go," Master Yoda blessed him. "May the Force be with you."

"And with you."

~o0o~

"Captain! Wait," Tahl called out. Her boots skidded as she struggled to catch up whilst also appear calm and civilised. When Iris Calrissian only increased her pace Tahl gave up the pretence and simply raced up to her. "Captain, please, I understand you're not in …the best of moods but I insist – "

" –I told you, your presence is unnecessary," Calrissian grumbled back.

She turned a corner sharply and Tahl joined her, flinching when this strained her injured hip. Tahl repeated the Code's teachings under her breath. It felt as though she and Calrissian had been repeating the same lines of dialogue for the past three hours like two apathetic actors. The set pieces differed depending on where the conversations took place but all tied under a constant theme of desperation and misery in the aftermath of the slavers attack. Family members were stolen away, crewmembers felt useless in their failure and all were wondering why such fate had befallen on them. The Republic supply ship that had answered the distress beacon not too long ago shared their aid and heard the stories. Their captain expressed his condolences but did not intrude on Calrissian's space. The woman's mind was trying to focus on too many things in one go and the last thing she needed were unnecessary conversation. So she had been avoiding the Jedi like a plague and stubbornly refusing to adhere to their request.

Too bad Tahl was just as stubborn. "Captain, as a Jedi I –"

Calrissian whirled to her and cut in, " –As a Jedi? As a Jedi, this should never have happened. Our ship should have arrived safely on Alderaan by now."

Tahl admitted that the Captain, with her large frame and toned features, had a natural talent for intimidation. Most would crumble at the woman's hard stare. However Tahl was a Jedi and her own master's intense lectures had toughened her skin. Straightening her back, Tahl answered firmly, "May I remind you Captain, that without us far more civilians would have been captured. I understand you're upset but I won't allow you to demean our efforts."

Anger flashed in Calrissian's eyes, "How dare you –"

" –And besides," Tahl continued softly. "You and I both know where your anger really lies, Iris."

Calrissian blinked. "Who …?" she sighed roughly then grabbed Tahl's forearm and dragged her into a separate room away from any bystanders. There was a single window, a table and a few chairs shrouded in dim lighting. "Who said you could call me by my name? Calrissian is just fine."

"Apologies," Tahl submitted. So much for that tactic. "…my point still stands."

The Captain raked her fingers through dry curly hair as her breaths came out fast and rugged. The Jedi had been chasing after her for hours now and wasn't letting go, like a carnivore's jaws on its prey. Tahl took pity on the woman and said, "I'm not asking too much from you. Us Jedi are involved in this as much as you. It is our duty to save these civilians and our responsibility."

"So you've come to grovel?" Calrissian answered gruffly.

"No, I'm asking for cooperation," Tahl retorted. She unfolded her arms, aware of the way body language sent subtle messages of either aggression or compliance. "It isn't fair to us or yourself to throw blame. We need to focus on what to do next."

"And the only way we'll know that is by figuring out where we went wrong and how we can fix that," Calrissian said shortly.

Tahl stayed where she was as Calrissian paced back and forth on the other side of the room. Tahl nodded, "You're correct, but in a situation like ours, we were unprepared. That is hardly something worthy of inflicting blame upon. Making mistakes isn't a grievous act. It's only a grievous act when you commit the same mistake again, knowing it won't work."

A loud thump sounded when Calrissian's fist smacked the wall, followed by a long tired sigh. The woman faced the Jedi, grim and exhaustion lining her face, and shaking her head. "Look, Jedi, I don't …do well when …things go wrong. I have to blame something otherwise I …"

"…Yes?"

"…I know how I function," Calrissian muttered miserably to herself. "I know what I'll do if I don't find an outlet. I turn to the gambling table. I turn to the dice, the chips and to the adrenaline, and I lose it. I lose it all. Every. Time and then I find myself in need of blaming something again. And I go right on back like a child to sweets. It's turns into a karking cycle." Calrissian pulled up a chair and crashed onto it, resting her elbows on the table and her head in her hands.

There was a silence that simultaneously felt heavy with the weight of admittance yet light as a feather upon it too, as though casting off thick coat. Calrissian felt pinpricks of heat travel along her limbs and eventually her eyes. She clenched her jaw when footsteps approached her. Glancing up she saw the Jedi at the other end of the table. Not Tahl but the Jedi Master Tahl Uvain. A Jedi in all its glory. Looking upon the majesty that seem to radiate from this individual as though something powerful in the galaxy favoured her, Calrissian found amusement in her disbelief of their existence as a young woman. Yet she couldn't bring herself to look down upon her once sceptical self, for the enlightenment born from gazing at the Jedi only appeared that much greater in light of her cynicism.

The Jedi said, "I won't pretend I understand your problems, but I can sympathise. You talk about a cycle, but have you considered that the search for blame begins it in the first place?"

Calrissian threaded her fingers together and replied bitterly, "Of course I have. I know how it all works. But …it's like walking down a narrow pathway. You can't turn left, you can't turn right. Only forward. You know what's come, you know what's coming, but you just keep on walking. Cause standing still isn't an option."

Tahl considered the woman's words and softly answered, "Almost… sounds like the Force."

"Then the Force sounds terrifying," Calrissian said thickly.

"It can be," Tahl admitted. "But that is only one part of the Force, for it can be many things. Just as, someone like yourself can be caught and trapped in a cycle. But that doesn't define everything. It does not mean you have only one direction to follow."

Calrissian sighed in disbelief, "With all due respect, Jedi, where else can I turn?"

Tahl licked her dry lips as she considered her answer. Her role as the Jedi meant being a protector even when one wasn't entirely sure what they were protecting against, or even if the role as that protector was to back off and let the individual save themselves. "You said there was a pathway, correct? Walls and a way forward. But I didn't hear you mention a ceiling… it will be difficult, I know, to climb those very walls but it can be done. And who says you have to do it on your own? Or you can't slip on the way?"

Calrissian didn't answer. She barely moved. Only stared at her hands and the memories infused in the lines and scars amongst the skin. That is until the door to the room opened. Tahl and Calrissian turned to the newcomer. The second-in-command green Twi'lek looked relieved when her eyes landed on Calrissian, "Oh, Captain! There you are. The prisoner is ready."

"Good," Calrissian said. Her chair scrapped against the floor as she got up. She brushed past the Jedi and murmured, "Come on."

Feeling satisfied Tahl followed after her. Outside Tahl briefly caught a glimpse of Qui-Gon before he escaped her sight. A mixture of sympathy for the capture of his padawan, and frustration for his nativity in strangers settled in her stomach. It didn't surprise her that neither were keen on each other's company at the moment, yet both felt the ache for the other across the bond. A part of Tahl almost wished for a clear path for her and Qui-Gon. For at the moment, all they had was a labyrinth.

~o0o~

You don't show fear because you have no fear.

Kida remembered her father's words well. Not long after tracking him down, with nothing but a torn map and the blessings of her dead mother, Kida's father had cautiously allowed her into his realm of significance. Nuro Narrin was seconds away from ordering his men to riddle Kida with lasers when she reached out to him with the Force. And he felt their blood connection. Kida hadn't missed the look of disgust on his face when she reminded him of her mother but it was the same face her so-called grandparents and uncle had shown her too. At least his expressions eventually changed.

He had invited her into his office after a fight had broken out.

A human male had taken great interest in her, pleased with her features and Force abilities. And didn't know when to stop. He was black and blue by the time Kida was done with him. Kida was then dragged into her father's office where he promptly congratulated her and told her: "You don't show fear because you have no fear."

Kida returned the glare Captain Calrissian sent her way. She did not fear this woman or the Jedi behind her. The four crewmembers stationed to guard her were sent away. Calrissian pulled out a chair opposite of Kida and motioned the Jedi to sit. The Jedi thanked her but said she'd stand instead.

"Sit."

"…Alright," the Jedi allowed.

As Calrissian grabbed another chair and moved it towards the table she muttered to the Jedi, "Don't bother asking to be involved if you're only going to hang round like a bad smell."

The Jedi shook her head and verbally agreed. Making eye contact with Kida, the Jedi gave an amused smile and shrugged. Kida hissed at her, sneering at the pathetic attempts to lower her guard. Jedi were all the same, according to her father. Liars who pretended they were the angels of Iego in their acts of innocence. Narrin acknowledged that he was a liar too but was honest about it. Kida momentarily wished for his guidance than dashed that fearful thought away. She held no fear.

"Alright," Calrissian started. Kida's eyes narrowed at the Captain's tired tone. "I'm not here for any drama or sob stories. I just want to know where your so-called father has taken our people."

"He is my father," Kida snapped.

Calrissian's eyebrows rose, "Really? Well, he certainly had no problem leaving without his own flesh and blood."

Kida sneered at the implication, "He didn't know."

"Funny," the Captain commented. "Because from where I was looking, all of you kept in close contact with each other at all times. I would have thought Narrin would be paying attention to his daughter's location."

Kida collected a number of names to call the Captain and was about to spill them when the Jedi's calm voice interrupted, "If Narrin is your father, as you claim, then surely he wants you back."

"…Yes," Kida answered stiffly. "But he's not stupid. He won't fall for any of your tricks."

"Not tricks," the Jedi dismissed. "Just a trade."

Kida processed what the two women were offering. A part of her was overjoyed at the thought of being back where she belongs again, especially for such a small cost. However, for her father, a loss will still a loss regardless of its size. And he was never happy with a loss. She knows he would agree to the terms but she feared the punishment on the horizon –

No. She did not have any fear.

"Look, princess, do you want to go home or not?" Calrissian asked sharply. "Cause I can list approximately fifteen people, the oldest being nineteen and the youngest 5 months, that want to go home." The Zygerrian girl glowered at her but the Captain added, "Just tell us where your base is located. You can contact your father once there under our surveillance and a trade will be organised. Deal?"

Kida looked to the Captain and then the Jedi. Sighing in frustration she replied, "We're in the Pilga System. We have a base on each of the five planets but we only use one at a time to ensure we aren't trapped by enforcers. I can't tell you which planet my father is headed to. I'm not privy to that information."

Calrissian absorbed this and then turned to the Jedi. "Is she telling the truth?"

Kida flinched at the Jedi's hard stare. The woman's striped gold and green eyes looked as though they could peel away every physical and spiritual layer of Kida. "Yes," the Jedi answered.

The Captain nodded then got up off her chair. "Enjoy your cell," she said before moving towards the exit, ordering the guards to renter.

As the shuffling of feet surrounded Kida, the Zygerrian made a point to avoid the Jedi's gaze. Her father had once said that if you looked too closely into the eyes of the Jedi, they would hijack your own Force abilities and steal it for themselves.

~o0o~

They really thought they could escape.

Vader ignited his lightsabre, its red glow poisoning the hallway. The cluster of rebellion soldiers shivered before him. Instead of accepting their fate, they thought to challenge. Vader clutched one soldier by the throat with the Force and threw him aside. He sent a Force wave and knocked men away. At the far end Vader could see one man denting the door with his fists desperate to get through. Vader marched towards him, tossing aside and cutting down any fools who still believed they could match the powers of the Dark Side.

And then Vader saw it. The datafile containing valuable information on the Death Star.

He was so close. Vader barely heard the cries and pleas as he destroyed the rebels. All he could see was that datafile, getting closer and closer –

– No! Vader watched the ship carrying the datafile escape.

So they really could –

No. This small lucky shot Vader could hardly call an achievement meant nothing. It meant as little as the lives lost to defend it.

Anakin fell out of bed.

With the blanket tangled in his limbs and tightly around his waist, Anakin remained where he was. His haggard and shuddering breaths eventually slowed down into long desperate gulps of air. Anakin took comfort at the ease oxygen flowed through his nostrils and mouth, down the windpipe and into his lungs, filling them up and loosening the tension throughout his body. He can breathe, he can breathe… but not much else, apparently.

A knock on the cabin door startled Anakin up from his position. When Qui-Gon stepped into the room, Anakin was seating cross legged with the blanket curled around him and his curly hair a mess that would have made his Obi-Wan grimace and then joke about the state of behaviour on Tatooine.

Obi-Wan.

Anakin felt sick again. He couldn't bring himself to look at Qui-Gon in the eye.

"…Luke," Qui-Gon's voice soothed. "If you don't mind –"

" –Don't call me Luke."

Qui-Gon blinked, "Pardon?"

Anakin tucked his hands into the sleeves and fiddled with the material. He swallowed thickly before mumbling, "I don't deserve that name." When Qui-Gon's eyes widened in concern, Anakin's stomach felt worse. His voice sounded dry and exhausted as he explained, "I don't… 'Luke'… it means hope. He brought me hope. I …don't know how to do that. Not anymore." And the darkest thought that sounded an awful lot like Sidious questioned if he ever had.

In the silence that followed Qui-Gon conversed with the Force asking for aid. He considered answering with his well-known adage, 'focus on the here and now' but the Force said no. Qui-Gon wondered if requesting further clarification on the past instead was needed. But the Force said no. Would pretending the young man had done nothing wrong help soften the blow? Absolutely not, the Force deemed. A last suggestion brought forward the Jedi Code to which the Force vibrated the strongest in its answering of no. Qui-Gon sat there on his knees looking at the nameless miserable individual.

Now that's a thought. "Then may I have your real name?" Qui-Gon asked quietly. "Your name stays with you no matter where you go and if you won't take Luke due to your …mistakes, then perhaps take the name that truly owns these mistakes."

Anakin stared at the floor for a few moments. "…I could say Vader," he whispered, Qui-Gon barely catching the words. "But then I'd just be lying. I've always been there…

"…my name is Anakin Skywalker."

The Force felt warm as the claim rang true. Qui-Gon felt as though he had reached a landmark. Only for the Force to grab him by the shoulder, like a watchful adult, and then gesture to the road ahead. A line of rocks in a pool in which discovering Anakin's true name had only been the first jump. Qui-Gon toyed with an idea, admitting his typical behaviour, before asking, "Anakin, would you meditate with me?"

Anakin frowned at the request. "What? Why?"

"Because meditation …" Qui-Gon carefully chose his words. "It's like looking at the world with a third eye, that third eye being the Force. We've all made mistakes, especially with each other. I'm a firm believer in the necessity of mediation." The master's lips shook slightly as he tried to lighten the mood, "You can ask my padawan next time we see him. He can tell you all about it."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Anakin complied. "Fine." When Qui-Gon beamed, Anakin begrudgingly wiped away his frown.

As the two closed their eyes and reached out into the Force, Anakin felt guilt gnawing in his chest. He never dived deeply into meditation for a multitude of reasons despite his master's teachings. One of them was the difficulty in sitting down and clearing his mind. There were always so much many things to think about. And secondly, most importantly, the landscape his connection to the Force conjured was a place he never wanted to return to.

Soaked in the Force, Anakin could see Tatooine's desert through the thick fog.

When he was a fresh padawan, Anakin had wondered if the Force was playing a nasty joke. To transform into the desert of his childhood in slavery, to the desert he abandoned his mother to, to the ugly foul lifeless desert that offered nothing to the people of Tatooine and anyone else beyond the planet. The most useless decrepit place in the galaxy was his Force landscape? As he grew older and accepted the role of Vader, it made far more sense than he was willing to accept. But Anakin's refusal to be anywhere near the dry spiteful desert didn't change.

He turned around in disgust and froze. In the distance he could see a white sandy beach. Anakin could feel the crisp cool water rolling onto the sand, taste the salt in the air, smell it too and the fragrance of flowers from the neighbouring jungle. Anakin jumped into the beach scenery and felt the spray from the Force ocean sink into his bones and clear the nausea away. Anakin glanced down and spotted footprints. He followed after them. Around him, the sun was setting on the horizon. Pinks and purples dashed across the sky and their blend reminded Anakin of the hazy colours of speeding Pod-racers.

The sunset had his complete attention until he came across something new. Or rather a series of new things. Boats. One after the other. All of different colours and marked with unique etchings. Anakin shuddered at the blackened burnt boat but admired the maroon one in front of it. Then he noticed that he wasn't alone. Standing before another boat was Qui-Gon Jinn.

Anakin gaped.

He was about to call out to him when Qui-Gon's hand pressed against the wood. Anakin watched the Jedi brush away the white sand stuck to the side of the boat to reveal a latch. Qui-Gon hesitated and then pulled it open. Inside was a bundle of rope but it was frail and tattered. Qui-Gon picked it up and caressed the damaged rope, looking between it and its end that climbed up the mast, barely holding onto the sail. This part of the rope looked to be healthy but…

"What is that?" Anakin asked.

Qui-Gon gasped audibly and turned around. His skin paled and the large man stumbled. Anakin would have been amused by the display if Qui-Gon didn't look so frightened and shocked.

"A-Anakin! What are you doing here?!" Qui-Gon spluttered. "How are you here?"

"What are you…?" Anakin's voice trailed away as his worry for the Jedi grew. "I don't know. I just …came here. I walked on in."

Qui-Gon closed the boat's latch and moved closer, "No, Anakin, you don't understand. You can't just walk in. This is…me and my bond to the Force. No one is capable of doing this."

"…Oh," was all Anakin managed.

Qui-Gon almost lost his composure again at the absurdity and impossibility of what was happening before him. "Anakin, I don't – who are you?" Anakin only stared at him, as though waiting for another question. The Force rolled into a small wave and soaked Qui-Gon's feet, prompting another question. "…and who is Obi-Wan?"

The beach responded. The waves pushed against the sand. Anakin withdrew from its reach but the waves stretched closer. It maneuvered Anakin to the black boat. The young man only realised what the Force was doing once his knee bumped the boat. Anakin considered a million ways to avoid blurting out another truth but Qui-Gon was looking at him strangely and that just made Anakin's heart beat faster in anticipation. Despite this Qui-Gon having yet to meet the small nine-year-old human being on Tatooine, to Anakin, this was still the same man that saved him from slavery's clutches. The man he wished he'd had the chance to grow closer to. No longer as his master, like young Anakin had once wanted, but his grandmaster.

Taking the dive, Anakin confessed, "I'm not from here. This time period, I mean. I was thrown back to the past and I'm just… trying to fix things."

"…Oh," fell off Qui-Gon's tongue. There wasn't room for denial. The Force hummed in agreement and the water lapped around Anakin and the black boat in contentment. "Oh…Force. I didn't expect that," he admitted. Anakin chewed his bottom lip. Qui-Gon rubbed his face as his mind picked itself up again as though it had been interrupted by a hurdle in the road.

The maroon and black boat, Qui-Gon noticed, was behaving oddly. They rocked to and fro to the tugging of the ocean waves like usual except… the black boat was knocking against the tide, while the maroon moved with it. The boats were out of sync. And despite Qui-Gon's acknowledged lack of understanding of their significance, even he could the feel the wrongness being revealed.

This maroon boat that brought up images of a young red-head boy, desperate for approval, captured Qui-Gon attention again. And it finally hit him. He addressed Anakin, "Obi-Wan. He's to become my padawan, isn't he?"

"He is your padawan," Anakin corrected, stepping away from the black boat and towards Qui-Gon.

The Force is eternal, the very first lesson Jedi younglings are taught, echoed in their minds.

Qui-Gon took a deep breath, establishing stability in the jumble of information piled onto him, and went to place a hand on Anakin's shoulder. "...Anakin –"

The beach disappeared.

And all Qui-Gon felt was a powerful blast of the Force. It dragged his bones apart as though pulling them from their sockets, dried the liquid from his body, stole the years of his lifespan and clawed at his face and denting it with signs of aging. Qui-Gon simultaneously felt like he was experiencing the most powerful connection to the Force in the galaxy whilst also losing it as well.

It all ended when Anakin wrenched away from his grasp.

And the two landed back in the cabin room, gasping and gawking.

Qui-Gon patted his body, touched his face and inspected his Force signature. He was alright.

Sweat sliding down his forehead and cheeks, Anakin leaned against his bed frames and released a long sigh. "W-w-what? What?"

"Anakin," Qui-Gon said. Anakin stilled, recalling a time when Qui-Gon had spoken to him in that same amazed and astounded tone. "Anakin, your connection to the Force …it's the most powerful I have ever felt. More so than the Order's Grandmaster's. What is your midi–?"

" –None of your business," Anakin cut him off.

Anakin fled the room.

~o0o~

Darth Sidious ended his commlink call.

The Force shuddered at his crooked grin.

The Dark Side of the Force granted its users the pieces to complete a puzzle. While the Light side wasted its puppets' time by having them chase after those very pieces.

The Sith considered the news from his underground communication network on Coruscant and the information provided to Senator Palpatine. His side project dedicated to stealing potential Jedi and other Force users useless to the Sith, and selling them off as slaves had picked up a noteworthy addition. With the goal of dwindling the Jedi population slowly and carefully, like a predator taking a bite from its unwitting prey over time, until they were too weak to defend themselves, Sidious was always pleased to hear his projects succeeding. The stolen Jedi baby was now in the hands of Sidious' contractors.

Sidious hardly imagined the baby's powerful thief was going to keep it that way for long.

~o0o~

It feels so strange to have certain characters out of the picture.

The Pilga system is completely made up. I feel like in the Star Wars galaxy you can kind of get away with that. Using actual planets for completely fictional things can get messy when considering how it might mix with canon.