HiddenHero220: Oh, he will. And she will be very surprised.

SpartanPrime101: Thanks. I'm glad you approve.

Kyuubi-Titan: Um, who's the Fallen One?

Dark demon619: I'm glad it was. I enjoyed it too.

Neo-Devil: Eventually.

Guest: Get ready to feel that way a lot, my friend.

NOTE: Anakin and Ahsoka got back to Coruscant a day before Mace Windu and Arcee did, so Mace and Arcee haven't arrived yet in this timeline.

NOTE: This isn't my best chapters. You have been warned. If you critique, please tell me how I can improve and I will. Enjoy


Chapter 10: A Slight Delay

(Coruscant; Republic Executive Building)

After soaking in a bacta tank for a few hours, Jack decided to take it easy for a while per doctor's orders. One of wounds reopened and it was strongly advised that he didn't do anything stupid for a while.

This gave him the chance to build his lightsaber in peace and without stress. It took him two hours, but he assembled it very well. When the green blade shot out of the lightsaber, Jack understood what it meant for the weapon to be his life. He felt a distinct connection to the weapon and could summon it easier than other objects. He still intended to make spares when he had the chance, but that could wait.

He was given permission to take a look around the Republic Executive Building as long as he didn't provoke anyone no matter who it was and to not make any deals with any of the politicians. Right now, politicians couldn't be trusted during this time.

Of course, when Jack bumped into someone by mistake, it just happened to be the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.

"Chancellor!" the teen exclaimed, stumbling back. "I am so sorry! I should've watched where I was going."

The old man smiled warmly, waving off the security guards that approached them. "No trouble at all, son. I take it this is your first time in the Executive Building?"

Jack nodded. "Yes, Chancellor. I haven't been on Coruscant long and I wanted to get acclimated with my surroundings." I need to reach out with the Force more to avoid these embarrassing situations. "My name is Jackson Darby. I'm a new Padawan in the Jedi Order."

"Are you now?" the chancellor asked surprised. "I've been hearing rumors about a newcomer from a different galaxy. Are perhaps this newcomer?"

"Yes, sir," he answered. "I'm from a rather primitive galaxy, but I can't exactly explain as to how I got here."

Palpatine nodded, understanding. "Mystery has been a rather large part of the Jedi Order. Usually, reasons that are unexplained tend to lead right back to the Force."

Jack cleared his throat nervously. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Chancellor."

"Jackson, could you perhaps do me a favor?" the chancellor questioned holding out a datapad. "I meant to give this to Senator Padmé Amidala, but I've been caught up in a few matters. Would be so kind as to deliver it for me?"

After a beat, Jack took that datapad. "I can do that for you, Chancellor."

That seemed to brighten his day. "Thank you, Jackson. Her office is directly above the landing platform. It's difficult to miss."

"Thanks, Chancellor." Jack gave a curt bow before attending to the task. However, once the Chancellor was out of earshot and eyesight, he said to himself, "There's something about him that doesn't seem right."

He decided to shrug it off for a moment before attempting to locate the senator's office. He realized that it was difficult to find anything in this building, but after a few people were kind enough to give him directions, he finally found the office. He chalked up the "didn't feel right" feeling he had about Palpatine to the man starting to show his age mentally.

When he approached the door, he started hearing voices in the room. Curiosity got the better of him and he decided to eavesdrop. It was unbecoming for anyone, but he was starting to be a fan of top secret stuff.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be on a meditative retreat," the voice he recognized as Anakin's. "We should go away together. I know a place far from here where no one would recognize us. Yeah, it would be like we're actually husband and wife instead of Senator and Jedi."

HUSBAND!? WIFE!? Jack mouthed completely shocked while bringing up his mental shields. Arrogant Anakin Skywalker married? I've gotta hear this!

"I-I can't, Ani," a woman who Jack assumed was Padmé replied.

"What do you mean, you can't?" Anakin protested. "Oh, it's only two weeks. We'll be back before anyone even notices we're gone."

"I have to bring this bill before the Senate," she replied firmly. "It's important."

"Uh-huh." Anakin had a skeptical tone in his tone. "More important than the way you feel about me?"

Oh, you did not just play that card, Skywalker. Jack thought. Even I wouldn't be dumb enough to do that.

Padmé sighed in frustration. "Not more important, but important. The work I do-the work we both do is in service to the Republic, to protect those who would otherwise be powerless to protect themselves."

Please come to Earth, Senator! We could use someone like you.

"Of course," he agreed, "but those are ideals. Isn't our love more important to you?"

"But I-"

"No. No 'but.' To me, there's nothing more important than the way I feel about you. Nothing."

Why didn't you say that first?

"Anakin, don't be so-"

"Oh, you don't believe me," Anakin interrupted, insulted.

That riled the woman up. "I didn't say I-"

"I'll prove it. Just watch. When I finished constructing my lightsaber, Obi-Wan said to me, 'Anakin, this weapon is your life.' This weapon is my life."

Wait, is he giving her his lightsaber? Jack wondered. Okay, maybe he's not such an amateur at this.

"No, Anakin. I can't," Padmé protested. "A Jedi lightsaber is-" There was a pause. "Wow, it's heavier than I thought."

"It's yours," the Jedi assured. "Believe me now?"

Padmé scoffed. "If all you want to do is make fun of me, then you should just go."

"That's not what I want. Not at all."

By the couple minutes of silence after that, Jack guessed what they were doing and decided he heard enough. Listening in to their conversation was interesting. Listening in to their love in motion was perverted.

As expected, when he knocked on the door, he heard Padmé whisper, "You're not supposed to be here," before she shouted, "Come in!"

Jack entered inside and came face-to-face with a brunette in an exquisite purple and gold robe. For a senator, she dressed nice.

"Senator Amidala?" he asked, giving a curt bow.

"Can I help you?" she replied.

"My name is Jackson Darby, ma'am, and the chancellor wanted me to give you this datapad." He handed it to her. "Here you go."

Padmé took it with a warm smile. "Thank you, Padawan Darby."

Jack saw a shadow behind the desk and grinned before turning his expression into convincing horror. "Someone's behind your desk! Get back, Senator!" Oh, he was going to have fun with this.

"Jackson, wait!" Padmé urged.

"Fear not, Milady," he replied, igniting his lightsaber. "Show yourself, you filthy mongrel!"

"What did you call me?" Anakin asked, coming out of his hiding spot and giving Jack the evil eye.

"Horror" turned into "Surprise" as he deactivated his lightsaber. "Why, Master? What in the world are you doing hiding behind the Senator's desk?"

"Senator Amidala dropped something and I was picking it up for her," Anakin lied until he noticed the corners of Jack's mouth twitching upward. "Wait a minute. Is there something you want to say?"

Jack burst out laughing. "I heard everything. You should pick a better hiding spot next time, Master."

Anakin's eyes widened in horror. "You what!?"

"You heard us!?" Padmé exclaimed, terrified.

The teen held up his hand. "Relax. I won't tell a soul. Just know that if I decide to fall in love and get married, I don't want you to tell me that it's not okay, because you and I both know that love is just fine."

Anakin relaxed a little, but he stared intently at the teen, trying to sense if he was lying or not. "You swear you won't breathe a word of this to the Council?"

Jack nodded all kidding aside. "You have my word as a Jedi and a gentleman. By the way, congratulations."

"Um, thank you, Jackson," Padmé said, a little uncomfortable.

"Call me Jack," he requested.

Suddenly, the three of them heard voices approaching the office. Once again, Anakin hid behind the desk as Padmé hid the lightsaber behind her back.

"Follow my lead," Jack suggested as he took back the datapad. "Chancellor Palpatine wanted me to deliver this to you, Senator Amidala!"

The door opened to reveal a golden droid and another senator that Jack recognized as Bail Organa, the senator of Alderaan.

"I apologize for abruptness, Senator," Bail apologized as he stepped inside.

"Senator Organa," Padmé replied, "how good to see you."

Bail turned to face Jack. "Master Jedi."

"Padawan," Jack corrected giving a polite bow and placing the datapad on the desk. "Don't mind me, Senator. I was making a delivery for the chancellor."

The senator nodded before shifting his gaze towards Padmé. "Senator Philo has called a meeting in the lobby before we vote on the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill. We must hurry if we are to stop the vote. Coming, Senator Amidala?"

"Of course!" she answered, hiding the lightsaber in her shirt sleeves.

"I believe this is my cue to leave as well," Jack stated, following the senators out. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Senators."

"And you as well, Padawan Jackson," Padmé replied with a grateful smile.

As Jack moved along sighing with relief that they didn't get caught, his head started to hurt. In order to not make a scene, he rushed to the bathroom, relieved to find it vacant. He slumped to the ground, holding his head as the pain increased.

Images started flashing through Jack's mind, but they moved too quick. One scene, however, slowed down for him to examine. It was that burning house again, but this time, it showed himself crawling out of it, burns covering his body. Someone was chasing him, holding a gun. Before he could figure out what happened next, the pain receded and the images went away.

"What's happening to me?" Jack asked himself, panting.


Inside the lobby, Bail Organa was speaking to the senators that gathered there today.

"We cannot allow the chancellor to move this Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill forward."

"We're all in agreement then," Senator Philo said.

Blaster shots were fired in the lobby, evicting screams from the senators.

A blue-skinned Duros wearing a good-looking hat entered the room with an IG-86 sentinel droid.

"Morning, Senators," the Duros said. "You should all consider yourselves to be in my power."

Behind the senators, another door opened to reveal a Weequay and another IG-86 sentinel droid both armed and dangerous.

"As long as everybody behaves, this will be quick and painless," the Duros assured.

The door to the left opened for a near-human female with a blaster pointed directly at the senators. The hostages were surrounded.

"Do nothing," the Duros warned, stepping towards them, "and it will all be over soon."

Philo marched up to the bounty hunter furiously. "I don't know who you think you are, but I, for one, have no intention of listening to this kind of insolence."

Rolling his eyes, the Duros shot Philo in the back without even looking at him.

"Anyone who wants to join him, please step up," the Duros stated. When no one followed Philo's attempt, the bounty hunter said, "All right then. If you'll all gather at the center of this lovely atrium my coworkers and I will relieve you of any communication devices."

"I see five of them here in the room," Padmé whispered. "If we-"

"What are you going to do?" Bail asked. "It's not like we carry weapons."

The Duros shot another laser into the air. "No talking!" He turned to the Weequay. "Patch me through to the Chancellor, Alama."


Once Jack stepped out of the bathroom after his episode, the lights flickered off and were replaced by red, emergency lights.

"What's going on?" he asked no one in particular.

He closed his eyes, stretching out with the Force to see if he could find the danger. After a minute, he felt a lot of emotions coming from one room: terror, anger, glee, caution, cockiness, and hatred. Something bad was happening. Jack's eyes widened in horror when he remembered that there was a meeting currently going on at the lobby.

Wasting no time, he rushed to the lobby, lightsaber in his hand. Jack opened his senses to check if there was anyone in the hallways, but he was fortunate to find no one. He used the emotions of whoever was in trouble as a map towards the lobby since he still didn't know his way around the Executive Building.

"When this is over," he muttered. "I'm buying a map of this place."

He stopped in the middle of his run and facepalmed. The comlink!

He took it out and said, "This is Jackson Darby. Does anyone copy?"

Static.

"This is Jackson Darby! Do you copy!"

Static.

Mentally cursing, he moved on. He guessed that something or someone was jamming the communications.

Once he reached the lobby, or wherever the emotions were the strongest, he crouched down and looked over the ledge.

A group of senators including Padmé and Bail were surrounded by an assortment of bounty hunters, all of which were armed and looked dangerous. Two of the bounty hunters were IG-86 droids, but it was the others that gave him chills.

The Duros he recognized as Cad Bane, one of the most feared bounty hunters throughout the galaxy. He remembered hearing about his reputation as a ruthless criminal. If anybody crossed him, they ended up dead, except the ones who were barely left alive so that they could spread his stories throughout the galaxy before they died.

He spotted Aurra Sing, the near-human that was once a Jedi. Now, she was a bounty hunter and would not hesitate to shoot a child if she wanted to. Her ruthlessness rivaled that of Bane's.

The Weequay he did not recognize, but he made a mental note not to underestimate him.

Currently, the bounty hunters were collecting various communication devices that the Senators had so that they couldn't call for help. Jack noticed that Padmé was looking the most nervous, given that she had Anakin's lightsaber. He hoped that the bounty hunters wouldn't find it, or she might get killed for possessing a weapon.

A felt a familiar presence nearby and turned to see Anakin watching the lobby as well. When both of them stared at each other, the started talking telepathically.

"Five bounty hunters, three of which are heavy hitters," Jack observed. "This isn't going to be easy."

"We have to drive them away from the hostages," Anakin stated. "I'll try to lead to bounty hunters away and you get the senators out of here."

"You don't have a lightsaber!" Jack shot back. "You'll be putting yourself in a lot of risk."

"Well, hello there, little lady," Bane said to Padmé. "And who might you be?"

"I am Padmé Amidala," she answered, "Senator from Naboo, and I demand that you release us immediately. The Galactic Senate will not treat with terrorists."

"Ain't you awful young and pretty to be a senator?" he asked, getting closer. "Perhaps I might take you with me when this is over. I could use the entertainment."

"Anakin, don't!" Jack warned when he sensed the Jedi Knight about to jump down and break the bounty hunter's neck.

Unfortunately, Bane had a feeling someone was watching and opened fire on Anakin's position. The Knight ran out of the lobby, barely dodging the lasers.

"Skywalker!? After him!" Bane ordered.

Alama and the IG-86 droid charged after the fleeing Jedi.

"Hello? Come in," Anakin said to the comlink. "Anyone there?"

Like Jack, he got nothing but static.

He rounded the corner and came face-to-face with Alama and the droid. He reached for his lightsaber only to remember he didn't have it. Swearing, he dodged a few blaster bolts before running off in the opposite direction. With his Force Speed, Anakin was able to take cover in one of the vacant rooms on the far end of the corridor.

As the two hunters checked the rooms, Anakin hot-wired a terminal and connected it to his comlink, bypassing the communications jammer.

"This is General Skywalker!" he announced. "Chancellor Palpatine, can you hear me?"

To his relief, the old man's voice came through. "My dear boy, I'm glad to know you're there and all right."

"What is going on down there?" Anakin asked urgently.

"A group of bounty hunters have taken control of the East Wing and have a group of senators hostage. They sealed the entire building. Nobody can get in, and we cannot get out. It's up to you. You have to get to the power control room and turn off the security seal."

Hearing footsteps approach the room, Anakin disconnected the transmission and hid behind the terminal just in the nick of time. Alama and IG-86 scanned the room looking for the Jedi, but Anakin used a mind trick on the Weequay.

"You have two more floors to check," Anakin stated, manipulating his mind.

"Come on," Alama stated. "We've got two more floors to check."

The two bounty hunters left the room as Anakin followed them, preparing his strategy. He noticed the Weequay go up the stairs and the droid go down. Picking his target, Anakin followed the droid as quietly as he could. Once they were out of earshot, Anakin attacked.

He tackled the droid down and punched it in the face, but it kicked him back. Anakin grabbed for the weapon, yet the droid pinned him against the wall. IG-86 knocked him across a table of vases, evicting a scratch on his head. Anakin punched the droid back and prepared to fire, only for the droid to twist the nozzle backwards, rendering the weapon useless. Realizing that time was running out, Anakin Force-Pushed IG-86 back and beat it to death with the broken weapon. Once the droid was destroyed, Anakin made a run for it as Alama came to investigate the commotion.

Alama studied to dead droid carefully and realized something. "No lightsaber cuts. Interesting."


Jack continued to watch, making sure that the bounty hunters weren't planning on killing any more of the hostages. He brought his mental shields up, so that Aurra couldn't detect him. Still, it was a bit boring watching the three hunters making sure that the senators wouldn't attempt to escape.

Finally, Alama returned with some news.

"What happened?" Bane demanded. "Where's the droid?"

"The droid's gone," the Weequay answered, "but there's good news: the Jedi is unarmed."

"What?"

"It doesn't look like he has his lightsaber."

Bane turned to Aurra. "Go. Bring him back to me."

I need to help him. Jack thought as he followed Alama and the near-human.


Anakin ran towards the control room just as a small, pink-skinned creature walked out, humming to himself. When he spotted the Jedi, he dashed back into the room, locking the door.

"Come on, open the door!" Anakin demanded. "I won't hurt you." Much.

"Well, well. What have we here?" a voice asked.

Alama pointed the blaster at Anakin, but he ripped it out of his hands with the Force. The Weequay raised his hands in the air, but he smiled before ducking down. Aurra, who was right behind him, shot the blaster out of his hand with her rifle. Anakin prepared to fight for his life, but the door opened behind him and the small creature tasered him, knocking the Jedi out.

"Tie your little pet up," Aurra ordered. "We'll bring him to Bane."

Suddenly, a Force-Push sent her and the pink-skinned creature into the control room. With a wave of his hand, Jack shut at locked the door behind them.

"What's up?" he asked, pointing his lightsaber at Alama's neck.

Foolishly, the Weequay tried to make a grab for his fallen blaster, but Jack banged his head with the hilt of his lightsaber, knocking him out and just in time. Judging from the blaster bolts coming from inside the control room, Jack could tell that Aurra Sing was extremely pissed off. He ran in the opposite direction as the crazy woman gave chase, opening fire at him. He rounded the corner and waited for her to come around.

Once she did, he sliced the rifle in half only for her to knee him in the gut. She, then, twisted his arm back and knocked the lightsaber out of his hand.

"For a Jedi," Aurra said, slamming him against the wall, "you're not that bright."

Jack responded by elbowing her in the face. While she staggered back, the Padawan did a spin-kick that sent Aurra crashing against a table, breaking. However, she jumped back up and grabbed him by the neck. Lifting him up, she pinned him against the window.

"Say goodbye, Jedi," she sneered, ready to throw him out.

Jack grabbed her long hair and pulled it back. Aurra cried in pain as he Force-Pushed her back.

"I just can't keep the ladies from me," he gasped, massaging his neck.

To his surprise, Aurra launched a Force-Push that sent him flying out the window. He screams vanished in a couple of seconds.

"Stupid kid," she muttered, reaching for his lightsaber.

The ground was coming towards him quickly as he continued to fall. Jack had one chance to save his life and he took. He stretched out with the Force and called his lightsaber to his hand. At first, he didn't see anything, but then he saw a metal object coming towards him faster than he was falling. Grabbing the lightsaber, he ignited it and stabbed it directly into the wall of the Republic Executive Building...seven feet above the landing pad!

Jack chuckled, terrified as he dropped to the ground. It was thanks to his abilities that kept him from fainting. Now, he had a problem: how was he going to help them now?

His answer came when he spotted Senator Free Taa walking with an IG-86 droid ushering him towards a speeder. Jack wanted to save the senator, but the logical part of him held him back. If the bounty hunters went through all this trouble to do this, they must have a fatal back-up plan if things went wrong. He noticed two commandos that were patrolling the area not doing a single thing to stop the two from leaving, giving Jack the notion that they were paid off.

As the speeder left, the teen pulled out the comlink only to find it destroyed.

It must have been destroyed during the fight. He thought as he tossed it aside. Now what?


Aurra Sing was not a happy camper. She was dragging Anakin Skywalker's unconscious form to the lobby alone since Robonino, the pink-skinned alien couldn't lift up more than his head. When she found that Alama was knocked out by a Padawan, she shot the Weequay, feeling that he had no reason to live if he was going to be knocked around by a kid. The Republic was going to get a nasty surprise in the control room once everything settled down.

"Where's Alama?" Bane demanded.

"Dead," she answered, dropping Anakin's body. "Another Jedi. I threw him out the window, but there's a chance he survived."

"No matter," Bane replied, kneeling down to Anakin's form. "Young Skywalker. Not so impressive without your lightsaber, are you, Jedi?" He grabbed his body and tossed it into the middle of the room before opening up a comm channel. "3D, are we on schedule?"

"Arriving at the prison now," the droid answered.

"Good," he replied, turning off the channel. "Go and get the...parting gifts."

Opening the sack on Robonino's back, Aurra took out a few control panels and placed them on the wall. Robonino did the same until every column was covered in them. Bane decided to give the chancellor another call to deliver the "good news."

"Well, Mr. Chancellor, thanks to your calm leadership, the crisis is passed. I got what I want, so I'll return your Senate and your senators. Enjoy them, but don't try anything until the sun has set. Understand?"

"Clearly," the old man replied in an icy tone.

Bane turned to his fellow bounty hunters. "We need to get to the landing platform. Is everything ready?"

"Yep," Robonino answered.

"Turn on the field," he ordered. "If you so much as breathe on one of these lasers, the whole room will blow up."

The control panels activated into crisscrossing lasers that surrounded the Senators and Anakin.

"Senators, Jedi, I bid you all the most respectful farewell," Bane announced. "Let's go."

Once the group of bounty hunters exited the building, two gunships landed in front of them. Clone troopers piled out, led by Commander Fox, aiming their blasters at the three of them. His two droids that were disguised as commandos were lying dead on the landing pad.

Now, Palpatine contacted Bane. "You were foolish to think you could get away with this, bounty hunter. Now lay down your arms and come quietly."

Bane shook his head, annoyed. "No, Chancellor. I'm afraid it is you who have been foolish with your Senators' lives. One false move and the East Wing of the Senate Building goes up in smoke."

After a pause, the chancellor gave a defeated sigh. "You win, bounty hunter."

Bane ended the transmission and turned to the clones. "Holster them!"

"Stand down," Fox ordered.

To show how serious he was, Bane kept his finger near the button where he could detonate the bombs. His ride showed up in the form of an airspeeder. Attached to it was a Comfort Ride Passenger Airspeeder that held what Cad Bane wanted: Ziro the Hutt.

The bounty hunters piled into the speeder and took off from the Executive Building, finally free from the Republic troops.

"Well, Hutt, it doesn't look like prison had too adverse an effect on you," Bane observed.

"Oh, you can't imagine the unspeakable things I've suffered, the horror," the Hutt complained in his nasally voice. "I doubt I'll ever really recover."

"How about some dead Senators as payback?" Bane suggested, activating the detonators.

"Congratulations on a job well done, bounty hunter," Ziro complemented with glee.

The Duros gave him a glare. "Time to pay up, Hutt. I don't work for free."

That wiped the smile off the Hutt's face.

Bane was about to join the other two in the airspeeder when he spotted a speeder zooming directly at them.

"They don't give up, do they?" he muttered, opening fire at the speeder.

To his shock, the lasers were deflected by a green lightsaber.

"Get us out of here now!" he ordered the IG-86 droid that was driving the speeder.

"Are we being chased?" Ziro asked. "I'm not overly fond of high-speed chases."

"Can it, Hutt, or I'll dump your body so that the authorities can have you," the Duros threatened, losing his patience. All right, little Jedi. You want to play games? Let's play.


Jack swerved the speeder around to dodge some more blaster bolts as the bounty hunters attempted to get away. He knew that now that their leverage was gone, nothing would stop the Republic forces from going after them. The teen decided to increase that chance by being a nuisance to these guys. All he had to do was stall for time and hope that they didn't decided to swerve into traffic.

"Dammit!" he swore when he realized the driver did just that.

Jack followed them, dodging speeders and pedestrians who were cursing at him with languages he never even heard before.

Thanks to Arcee, Jack knew how to operate a motorcycle well. It turned out the speeder had relatively the same principles save for the fact that he was flying through the air and the risks were increasing by every moment he spent using the speeder. Well, at least he could dodge bullets and vehicles well.

Jack swerved out of traffic and zoomed up next to the bounty hunters. Given that they had rather large luggage, catching up to them wouldn't be that hard.

"Wanna give up?" the teen asked. "Just say the word."

"Go kriff yourself!" Bane shouted, shooting the engines.

Making a split-second decision, Jack leaped out of his fallen speeder and landed directly into the vehicle's vacant passenger seat.

Catching the bounty hunters off-guard, Jack punched Bane in the face and kicked Aurra back before she could fire a shot off from his blaster pistols. Robonino attempted to taser him, but he knocked the weapon out of the vehicle. Recovering, Bane put Jack in a headlock, choking him.

"You're getting on my nerves, boy," the Duros stated.

"Good!" Jack shot back, launching a small Force Push that sent Bane against the side of the vehicle.

Aurra fired her pistols, but Jack moved out of the way. A stray shot hit the cowering Robonino, killing him. The teen reached for his lightsaber to end this, but Bane punched him in the jaw, rattling his teeth. The Duros threw him out of the speeder, yet Jack managed to grab onto the side of the vehicle.

"Scrape him off!" Bane ordered, firing at the teen.

The droid drove towards the side of a building, but Jack Force-Pushed the speeder back, avoiding the windows. He crawled under the speeder and ignited his lightsaber, slashing wildly at the engines. Losing control, the speeder plummeted towards the ground with smoke coming out from the underside. Once they were close to the bottom, Jack let go, hitting the pavement a little harder than he wanted. The speeder however crashed directly into a wall! The force of the head-on collision destroyed the driver, but managed to knock out both Bane and Aurra, albeit with wounds that would need to be treated.

"I need to get out of here!" Ziro exclaimed, trying to get away.

Jack aimed his lightsaber at the Hutt's neck. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I can make a deal with you," the Hutt offered. "2 million credits if you let me go."

He shook his head. "Nah! You're going to prison where you belong, slug."

Ziro's eyes widened in fury. "Slug!? How dare you call me, Ziro the Hutt, a slug!?"

Miraculously, the police force showed up, surrounding the wreck and lit the two of them with spotlights.

"Get those lights out of my face!" Ziro ordered, shielding his eyes. "You know how much it hurts my eyes!"

"Do you ever shut up?" Jack asked, contemplating killing the slug.

"Jack!" a familiar voice shouted.

He looked to see Aayla running towards him with worry and a I'm-going-to-give-you-the-lecture-of-a-lifetime expression.

"What happened?" she asked, crossing her arms. She was not happy.

Jack gulped. "I can explain."

Okay, the reunion doesn't happen in this chapter. Sorry. Couldn't figure out how to do it right. Next chapter for sure there will be one.

Review, vote, etc, and go see Winter Soldier! It's epic!

I'm not entirely thrilled with this chapter, but I wanted to show just how reckless Jack could be if he wanted to.

Oh, and the reason why Jack discovered the marriage between Anakin and Padmé was because Skywalker chose the complete worst time to drop in on his wife. In the future, Anakin should be more careful.

Next chapter: The actual reunion.