The Desert
Tatooine
45 minutes later
"Your wife and Padme were quite extraordinary back there," Obi-Wan stated loudly to overcome the sound of the wind rushing by the speeder. "It is obvious that Governor Minchel was completely taken in by their fluttering and sobbing."
"I wasn't surprised by Padme," Lars replied, his eyes fixed on the smoke in the distant horizon. The destroyed Tusken camp, presumably. "I was impressed with Beru, though. Unlike Padme, she's not a politician who has to display a different persona at times. Beru is a very genuine person so her performance was amazing, though she was in a supporting role."
"Beru is an incredible woman," Obi-Wan replied genuinely. "They had the governor totally confused."
"Obi-Wan?"
"Yes, Owen?"
Lars shot a quick look at Kenobi before focusing back on piloting the speeder, "Why was Padme so determined that Anakin not accompany us to the camp?"
Kenobi hesitated for a long moment, then decided that honesty was the best policy, "When his mother, Shmi, was taken by the Tuskens, Anakin tracked her down and found her still alive, but in terrible condition from being brutalized by the Tuskens. She died in his arms."
"Yes, I am aware," Owen replied, his Force sense roiling with grief.
"Anakin destroyed every living being in the Tusken camp for the murder of his mother," Ben continued, his eyes fixed on the approaching smoke. "Men, women, and children. Even the banthas."
Lars bit his lip and nodded slowly, "Beru suspected as much. I didn't believe that any man, even a Jedi, could be so powerful."
Kenobi jerked in surprise and when he spoke, he was censorious, "So you don't have a ... a moral problem with his decision?"
Lars shrugged, "Yes, I suppose I do. I mean, murdering innocent children of any species is wrong. But given Anakin's background as a slave and the trauma of his parting from his mother both as a child and as a young adult, I guess I'm not surprised he went crazy and massacred the entire settlement."
Obi-Wan gazed at the younger man and shook his head slightly. It had never occurred to him that Anakin was so ... so unstable, that his early years of slavery had damaged him so much, that the young man's heart was broken from losing his mother.
He and the Jedi Council obviously had approached the challenge of Anakin Skywalker in a foolishly narrow minded way. Yoda had been deeply concerned about Anakin's fear, but his solution was to refuse to train the boy. How would that have solved the problems of a 9 year old boy with the highest midichlorian level ever seen? Palpatine had already met young Skywalker when the Council had passed judgement; surely the Sith had realized Anakin's power. If the young man had been tossed into an orphanage, or shipped back to Tatooine, Palpatine would no doubt have sunk his clutches into young Skywalker even earlier than he had.
They had been complete and utter fools in their treatment of Anakin Skywalker.
"Kenobi?" Owen asked in a puzzled tone.
Obi-Wan lifted his gaze and realized they had stopped in the smoking camp. His breath caught, both from the stench and from the horror before his eyes. Bodies littered the landscape as far as the eye could see, and the dwelling places were razed and destroyed by fire.
The two men sat staring for several minutes with a mixture of sorrow and distaste, even as Imperial stormtroopers roamed the camp with blasters drawn, presumably in case additional Raiders were lurking somewhere.
"Kenobi," Owen murmured softly.
"Yes?"
"I see no children among the dead."
/-
Imperial Airship
20 minutes later
Obi-Wan groaned softly and pressed himself farther into the air duct, suppressing the urge to sneeze as a puff of dust entered his nostrils. Really, how did he manage to get himself into these crazy situations?
/
Skywalker Farm
Tatooine
3 hours later
"Obi-Wan did what?" Anakin demanded in disbelief.
"Stowed away in the governor's transport," Owen replied wearily even as he lifted his son into his arms. The little boy should have gone to sleep long ago, but excitement and alarm had kept him awake and cranky. "It's all right, Andor. I'm here. Go to sleep."
Andor stared gravely into his father's beloved face and then obediently closed his eyes and curled up in Owen's embrace.
"Stowed away?" Beru demanded in distress, though she kept her voice low. The twins, at least, had gone to bed and were sleeping peacefully. "Is he insane? He'll be caught and arrested and probably executed!"
Anakin and Padme exchanged wry glances and Padme shook her head, "He'll be fine. Obi-Wan quite excels at stowing away successfully in ships."
"But why did he stow away," Anakin demanded. "What did he say?"
Owen sighed and ran a loving hand along his little boy's back – the child was nearly asleep now, "I pointed out that there were no signs of children among the Tusken dead."
He shot a worried glance at his brother-in-law and was relieved when Skywalker looked interested as opposed to outraged at the mention of the raiders who had killed his mother.
"So ... what does that mean?" Padme asked in a puzzled tone.
Owen shook his head, "We're not sure. But Tusken camps always have the men, women, and children together. It is part of their culture. We walked around and are confident that the children were taken. Also, while Minchel claimed the attack was recent, we could tell the camp was destroyed before the raids on the local farms. Probably as early as two days ago based on the ... the smell. And all the banthas were missing as well."
Anakin rose to his feet and paced, "Something stinks about this whole situation, literally and figuratively."
Padme's com rang imperatively and she grabbed it.
"It's Obi-Wan!"
/-
House
Mos Espa
Tatooine
14 hours later
The door to the ochre dwelling slid open and Anakin Skywalker stepped in cautiously. Padme, her arms full of twins, followed him, eager to escape the heat and dust of the street.
"Stop right there!"
The voice was male and Anakin halted obediently, his eyes on the short, dark haired male who stood a few meters away, a blaster clutched in his hand. The Jedi stared intently, even as he used the Force to push the hood from his head.
The man's brow furrowed in bewilderment.
"Kitster," Ani continued, lifting his hand and twirling two fingers carefully in an old slave sign, "it's me, Ani."
Kitster Banai's eyes widened and he shook his head slowly, "That's ... that's impossible."
Skywalker gestured and the blaster wrenched itself out of his old friend's hand and flew across the room into his own. He threw it on the floor and smiled a little, "No, it's not."
Banai's jaw dropped at this display of the Force and he took a step closer, peering into Anakin's eyes.
"It ... it is you, isn't it?" he breathed. "By the suns of Tatooine, it is Anakin Skywalker."
"Ani Cloudseeker, please," Padme said softly, stepping forward. "I don't know if you are aware, but being a Jedi is quite dangerous and ..."
"Yes, I know," Kitster interrupted, even as he turned. "It's Ok, Tamora. Come on out."
The woman who stepped into view was short and blond. The bulge in her midsection showed that she, too, was with child. She also carried a blaster, though it was pointed towards the floor.
"This is my wife, Tamora. Tamora, I know I've told you about my old friend Ani?" Kittster asked. "Ani was freed many years ago, and the tech he gave me before he departed eventually helped me earn my own freedom."
"I do remember," the woman replied solemnly. Her eyes were watchful. "I confess to being surprised to see a Jedi Knight here on this dustball of a planet."
Anakin grimaced, "It wasn't my first choice, or even my second, but events were such that it was necessary for us to hide here from the Empire."
"How long have you been here?" Kitster asked, gesturing toward an open living area with a few chairs sprinkled here and there. The furniture was neither new nor old, neither excessively cheap nor expensive. It seemed that Banai had successfully purchased his freedom and carved out a reasonably comfortable life, but he was not wealthy.
But then, neither were the Skywalkers.
"My wife Padme and I have been here more than two years, living on a moisture farm over by Anchorhead," Ani explained, sinking onto a couch and taking Luke into his arms. The twins were uncharacteristically quiet, perhaps affected by their parents' solemnity.
"To be honest," Padme continued, giving Leia a kiss on the forehead, "we discovered your whereabouts a few months after we arrived through the efforts of a friend of mine from Naboo. But we felt it was unwise to talk to you because of the bounty on Ani's head. The fewer people who know of our location, the better."
Tomara frowned, "So what has changed? Why are you seeking us out now?"
"Because we know that you work to help the slaves of Tatooine," Anakin explained seriously, "and it turns out that the current Governor is involved in the slave trade. We have proof positive that he is a major player in a series of recent raids on moisture farms near Anchorhead and Tosche Station. A number of people were killed, but many more were abducted, supposedly by Tusken Raiders. But it wasn't the Tuskens."
Banai sat up intently, "There were raids outside Mon Espa as well, supposedly by Raiders. How do you know it wasn't them?"
"We managed to fight the so called sandpeople off," Padme explained softly, rubbing her daughter's back. The little girl was leaning against her and her eyes were half closed. Given that the twins were usually whirlwinds during the day, she treasured these quiet moments. "The marauders were dressed as Tuskens, but when we removed their head coverings, they were humans. Two of them were clone troopers."
Tomara sucked in a startled breath, "Clones?"
"Yes," Anakin continued gravely. "A friend of ours, another Jedi, managed to stow away on an Imperial airship and he contacted us last night. The abducted settlers, all women and children, are being held in a warehouse here in Mos Espa in the industrial district. Based on what ... what our friend says, the slaves have already been sold to buyers and will be shipped off world starting in 6 hours. So we don't have much time."
"Time to do what?" Tomara demanded. "Yes, Kit and I are part of the Underground Sandstorm and we help escaped slaves. Indeed, our network has grown and matured since Jabba choked on a frog. But we can't infiltrate an Imperial facility in six hours! That would be suicide."
"We don't need you to do the infiltration," Anakin explained firmly. "We need you to cover up our infiltration. My friend and I can free the slaves, kill the slavers, and destroy the building while we're at it. But we can't afford to let the Emperor and his minions know that two Jedi are at work here in Mos Espa. We need to come up with some story for how the captives were freed which involves ..."
He trailed away, his forehead creased with bewilderment.
"A rival slave gang would be best," Padme speculated. "Other slave traders have to exist, correct? Maybe we can create the narrative that a rival gang attacked the warehouse and in the chaos, the abducted settlers snuck out a back door ...?"
Kitster Banai exchanged a glance with his wife and smiled rather unpleasantly, "Yes, I think we can arrange that."
/-
Semi Dilapidated Building
Warehouse District
Mos Espa
Tatooine
6 hours later
"Any news from the first transport ship?" growled Captain Ishaki, pacing up and down the front lobby of what had once been an office building and was now a derelict but architecturally stable base for this operation.
The captain was a Weequay, which meant he was tough, leathery, and devious. He had served Jabba the Hutt for many years and had earned a fine living as a mercenary and slave trader. It had been most inconvenient when the Hutt had choked on a frog and been eaten by a rancor. Ishaki had briefly returned to his homeworld of Sriluur but had been unsuccessful in making enough credits to keep body and soul fed. This job had come just in time.
"Yes, sir," one of his underlings replied. Ishaki neither knew nor cared what the Trandoshan male's name was. All his subordinates were sentients without loyalty, and once this job was finished they would scatter to the far corners of the galaxy with their credit chips clutched in their hot – or cold blooded – hands.
"The transport will set down on the roof in 13 minutes, sir," another individual stated, this one a scruffy human of indeterminate age and a long, scraggly, slovenly beard.
"Very well," Ishaki replied. He turned toward the front door just as it blew open.
/
Basement of Dilapidated Building
There was screaming and crying as Anakin used the Force to unlock the door to the first slave pen. It was filled with women and children, all human. The room was dark and moist, the smell rank. It brought back horrible memories of his own time in slavery ...
"It's all right, Ani," Padme murmured, placing a loving hand on his shoulder. "We'll get them out of here and to safety."
"Listen, everyone," she said in a loud, clear voice. "We're here to get you out. Everyone needs to listen and not panic, Ok? You're safe now."
"The slavers! They said they'd kill us all if we try to escape!" a hysterical woman cried out. Padme could see, in the dim light of her glow rod, that the woman carried a small child in her arms. The former queen winced at the sight. Luke and Leia were safely asleep in bed in the Banais' home. If the dragons hadn't come while the farm was under attack, she and her twins could have been imprisoned here.
"Trust me," Anakin said aloud as he moved to the next slave pen, "the slavers have enough to do without worrying about you."
/
Main floor of Dilapidated Building
Captain Ishaki stepped from behind a pillar and shot a Togruta male who was attempting to make his way along the side of the room.
"You two," he ordered two Mandalorian confederates. "Hold them off for three minutes and then retreat to the back room. I'll set off the charges in this room and destroy these infiltrators."
"Yes, sir."
Ishaki threw a smoke grenade into the middle of the lobby. It hissed and spewed, providing sufficient fog that he was able to slip to the back entrance and the stairs. He would indeed destroy those who sought to take his living cargo, but he had to make sure the slaves were safely under control while his men beat back their attackers.
He ducked down a stairwell, used his hand print to open the door, stepped in, and blinked (very briefly) in astonishment as a blazing blue light appeared above his head.
A moment later, said head fell to the ground and bounced a meter before coming to rest by the boot of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
/-
Governor's Private Office
Governor's Mansion
Mos Espa
45 minutes later
"Sir?"
Governor Minchel turned and glared at his aide. It had been a stressful and exhausting day and all he wanted to do was sip Alderaanian wine and watch Galactic Total Wipeout, a delightful show where beings of various species attempted to navigate an obstacle course. Those who failed fell into vats of gumbah-pudding.
It was hilarious.
"This had better be very, very important," Minchel said in his most threatening voice.
His aide paled noticeably, glanced briefly at the ground, then looked up again, "Sir. Yes. It's important. I just received word that a warehouse ... the warehouse on Jabba Street has ... has ..."
Minchel lurched to his feet and took an alarmed step forward. The fake Tusken raids had netted him numerous slaves who would bring a fine price and fill his own personal coffers. What had Captain Ishaki done?
"What about the warehouse?" he demanded.
"It just blew up, sir."
/
Our current guilty pleasure is Total Wipeout on Amazon Prime. So funny! Thanks to my wonderful husband for editing this fanfic and thanks to all of you who are patient about updates. Real life has been busy lately!