I passed the 50 review mark! Thank you guys so, so much.
Also- small question. This is a shorter one than usual. Would ya'll prefer shorter chapters and the daily pace for as long as possible, or would the daily pace (as I run through what I've already written faster than I can write) ending sooner be all right in exhange for longer chapters?
Or am I worrying too much about a fanfic schedule?
Smiles!
Lou.Obi-Wan yawned. This. This was peaceful. He was one with the force, and while he didn't stop to check, he was sure that Anakin's ship continued to speed through hyperspace on its mission.
"Obi-Wan!"
"Qui Gon!"
He hadn't seen his former master in quite some time. "Anakin- the past- time travel-"
Qui Gon merely gave the Jedi one of his rather enigmatic smiles. "I'd be a bit more concerned about the here and now, Obi-Wan."
His face obviously registered confusion.
"Seriously, Obi-Wan. I'd wake up."
Mumbling to himself about disturbances in both sleep and the Force, and waving a tired good bye to Qui Gon, Obi-Wan shimmered into being in the corporeal world once more. And he could tell immediately that he was just in time.
"What are you talking about?!"
Captain Solo was pointing one index finger at Anakin with a decidedly hostile expression on his face. "Who are you, and what are you talking about?!"
"I thought we went over this," interrupted Obi-Wan smoothly. They both stared at him. "As I said before, I am a force-ghost visible to you for some reason, and he is a time traveler from the Clone Wars who happens to be the father of-"
"He's too old for her!" bellowed Anakin.
Oh, this was just lovely. "Anakin, may I remind you of two things?"
The younger Jedi glared at him sullenly.
"One, you've never actually met your daughter. And secondly, may I possibly remind you that you are not one to be lecturing others about romantic relationships?"
"That's different," muttered Anakin.
"Yes, it is. It was the most irresponsible thing you've ever done in your life. It led to your turn to the Dark Side, Anakin. It destroyed the galaxy. You put yourself ahead of everyone else, and you have no right to any of this argument."
"I wouldn't change it," muttered Anakin.
"What?"
"I don't mean I wouldn't- won't- change other things, Obi-Wan. But I wouldn't change that. I don't- I know I wasn't there- but falling in love didn't destroy me. It was listening to Palpatine, from what you've said. I understand that the names sound somewhat alike, but, see, Padmé has two syllables and she's the good-looking one."
Anakin fixed Obi-Wan with his all-too familiar scornful scowl.
"It was all our faults." Obi-Wan bowed his head.
The small hologram on the receiver in front of them suddenly spoke up. "Um, Captain Solo? Your guest is speaking to thin air. You do realize this, don't you? Is someone else in there out of sight range?"
-
Aboard the Executor, Luke continued his meditation, expanding his vision of the ship yet further.
Son.
Luke mentally ran though his vocabulary of Huttese swear words and then hoped Vader could neither hear nor understand them.
Let me go.
Join me.
Well, this conversation appeared to be going nowhere they hadn't been before.
No. And don't take me to Imperial Center.
I'm not.
Sure. Could his mental tone convey sarcasm correctly? Was he seriously being sarcastic to a Dark Lord of the Sith? Who was his father?
The Emperor does not need to be involved in your training.
You will never train me. This sort of conversation thing was surprisingly easy. Pity there wasn't anyone better to talk to. I am a Jedi, thought Luke as defiantly as he could.
I once thought as you did.
-
Vader snapped out of meditation in sudden alarm. Had he really said that? Had he possibly drawn any connection between his life and that of a long-dead fool?
There were no crushable items left in his hyperbaric chamber, which was rather a pity.
What is wrong with me?
-
What is wrong with me?
"All I'm sayin'," said the Rodian on the communicator, "is this. Is he… all right?"
If there was ever a correct time for Anakin to yell at Obi-Wan that there were voices in his head, this was not it.
-
"After you, your Highness."
Leia glanced around the communications room. A few techs were still at their desks, engrossed in things that were probably not official Alliance business, but the majority of the population of the large room was gathered around a single communications console.
Janson cleared his throat. "Hey, computer-faces! Make way for her Highness!" The man made a singularly obnoxious trumpet noise.
No. Not singularly obnoxious. One man in her life got the label of singularly obnoxious, and he was gone.
Everyone but a single giggling Rodian cleared rapidly away from the console. Leia was fairly sure that noise was giggling, at least.
"Yes sir, we'll get him to the medbay." The Rodian woman backed away from the hologram console with a sweeping gesture. "So, wait, they were-"
Behind Leia, she heard the sound of a man shaking his head rapidly and a muttered "I said to keep it a surprise!"
The Rodian treated him to a glare. "Whatever, pilot."
Leia was growing impatient rapidly. "Where exactly is this emergency?"
Janson came around in front of her and gestured towards the communications receiver. "Voila, milady!"
-
If the screamed "WRONG!" through the Force had been the most startling thing to happen to multiple force-sensitives that week, the sudden sense of "JOY" was probably the best.
In most cases.
In his cell, not quite daring to continue meditation, Luke was mildly encouraged by the feeling and confused by its familiarity.
The familiarity was even more confusing to Darth Vader, whose immediately crushed the joyous emotion into small pieces and threw them at the sides of his mind. It was ineffective.
The Emperor was not actually startled, or at least would not admit to it, and all witnesses to the fact that he jumped in horrified surprise when the emotion hit his mind died quick but very painful deaths.
And, of course, on Dagobah, Master Yoda interrupted his late-mid-morning meditation to once again "hrmph." This time the noise was followed with a mildly irritated sigh.
-
"I have no noticeable psychological problems."
"You have no noticeable psychological problems."
"I am the picture of health and worthy of trust."
"You are the picture of health and worthy of trust."
"You will let me out of medbay now."
"I will let you out of medbay now."
"Have a chocolate."
"Have a chocolate."
Well, thought Anakin, munching on the candy, that was accomplished rather smoothly.
Now, to continue the interrupted mission. He just had to make it back to his fighter, or possibly to a better, futuristic one, and rescue his son. He could leave his annoying potential son-in-law behind, and while it pained him to not even speak with the woman who was apparently his daughter, she was not about to be turned to the Dark Side by a future version of himself.
His son was, and while Anakin had been accused of not having his priorities straight, he considered his accusers very wrong.
"Obi-Wan!"
The force-ghost did not answer, and Anakin decided not to call again. He didn't want to be dragged back into the medbay to stare at static patterns again.
Um, Obi-Wan? He attempted a mental call, unsure if it worked on dead people.
Anakin. You got out, I presume?
Yes.
Good job. Go down those stairs and to the left, and there's a hangar bay.
My ship's there?
It won't hold five.
