As always thanks for the reviews, favorites, and follows. Instead of having another record breaking longest chapter (over 12,000 words is just too much even if you like longer chapters), I split this one up, so it's on the shorter side.

Interlude IX - Percy

Percy leaned against the bar of the cantina sipping his blue milk as he watched their chosen guests trickle in. They were all handpicked by Shmi either because they were unofficial leaders of the slave community, or they had prior combat experience. If Shmi didn't know them herself then someone she trusted had vouched for them. As they sat down, some of the hired cantina staff, who were all friends of Shmi, served them their choice of Clendor ale or Alderaanian wine, probably much nicer drinks than those served in most cantinas on this planet. And they were giving the drinks away for free to hopefully put everyone in a better mood and make them a little more open minded. Even though he didn't drink the stuff himself, Percy had realized that after a little bit of alcohol most people seemed to relax and be generally happy. When they had too much though, that was when things got messy which was why there wasn't any stronger liquor being served.

Annabeth paced anxiously in front of him. After what seemed like her thousandth turn Percy sighed, "If you keep doing that, you're going to ruin this lovely sandstone floor, and as co-owner of this very classy joint, I really don't want to have to replace it." Annabeth made a noise somewhere between a snort and a laugh, but she did stop pacing long enough to roll her eyes at Percy, so he counted it as a win and smirked at her.

The cantina was a complete dump and looked like it might have been new when Master Yoda was born. The whole thing needed to be replaced, and as of three days ago, Percy and Annabeth were the proud owners of it. They'd needed a safe place for slaves to gather, so instead of hiding in cramped slave quarters or hoping no one would overhear them in a more public space, Percy and Annabeth had simply bought their own cantina. Having lots of money definitely made some things easier though they hadn't even needed much for this place. In fact, Percy was pretty sure they'd spent more on the ale and wine they were currently serving.

They'd wanted a cantina near Slave Quarters Row, and one preferably so rundown that even the shady smugglers and bounty hunters of Mos Espa would avoid it. To discourage more unwanted business, they had kept it closed the past few days and were only letting in their new friends now. Shmi kept watch by the door along with Gaarchit to make sure no one else entered. Wookies were very good at scaring away any party crashers.

"This is not the time for sarcasm," Annabeth complained.

"It's always time for sarcasm," Percy replied. "It lightens the mood."

"We're about to try and convince these complete strangers to do one of the most difficult things in history. Do you know what's the percentage of successful slave revolts?"

"Didn't that Spartacus guy have a pretty good one going?" Percy brought up. He kind of remembered that one because it was about gladiators, and his history teacher had let them watch part of an old movie.

"You mean the one that ended with 36,000 slaves dying in the final battle, and another 11,000 were captured and crucified," Annabeth answered grimily. Percy winced. That one was probably not the best example. "Even the most successful one I know about from back home," Annabeth continued, "lasted over twelve years, and more than double the population of this planet died on all sides. It wasn't pretty."

Now, usually Annabeth was one of the most confident people Percy knew, but every once in a while, she would start over thinking things and freak out. Hades, everyone had anxiety at some point. Percy put down his blue milk and grabbed her shoulders, so that she had to face him. "Hey, I stopped caring about odds a long time ago because you and I have been beating them since we were twelve, probably even before then. We have a good plan. We can do this."

Annabeth took a deep breath and seemed to calm down. "You're right. Besides we have a few pretty big advantages." Just like that the familiar determination settled on her like a cloak. "Thanks, Seaweed Brain. Now, let's go convince these people that they won't be committing suicide if they listen to us."

By the time they were ready to start, over fifty people were sitting in the rundown cantina. All but a dozen of them were human since about 90% of the slaves on Tatooine were human. Even though they'd only been serving beer and wine things were starting to get loud and rowdy.

Annabeth tried to get everyone's attention. She banged a metal goblet on the bar, but only those closest to her stopped to look. Percy finished his blue milk and then did his best New York taxicab whistle. Instantly, everyone stopped talking and looked to him. "Thanks," Annabeth muttered quietly to him before walking to the middle of the room. "I'm glad everyone could make it," she said in a loud voice. "We have a lot to discuss."

A man in one of the booths called out, "Like how you can get me another drink, sweetheart!" The rest of his buddies laughed as he grinned at Annabeth. Percy glared at the man. He was big and maybe in his mid-thirties. Other than his size, he kind of reminded Percy of his old seventh grade bully Matt Sloan.

"I'm not a waitress," Annabeth replied annoyed.

She turned her back on the man and his friends and tried to start again, but the same man called out with a laugh, "Well then, if you're not serving us drinks, you can come and sit on my lap."

Percy stiffened, but Annabeth's eyes immediately found his, and with just a look Percy knew that she wanted to handle this herself. "Jrome," Shmi scolded, but Annabeth waved her off.

Annabeth turned back around and walked back towards the man purposely swaying her hips. The man grinned expectantly, and Percy wondered exactly how thick that guy was if he didn't realize the danger he was in. "What's your name?" Annabeth asked in a voice that Percy could only describe as sultry.

"Jrome Scoros," he replied with a confident smile. "What's yours, sweetheart?"

Annabeth perched delicately on Jrome's knee, but before the man could wrap his arm around her waist, she flipped him over her shoulder. He landed hard on his back staring up at her from the floor as she pointed his own blaster at a part of his body that most men would do almost anything to not get blasted off. Percy didn't even bother trying to hide his laughter.

The man's buddies just sat there with their mouths open, too shocked to help their friend. One of them finally made a move, but Annabeth stopped him with a quick glare. "Don't you dare." The rest of the room watched in captivated silence. Annabeth turned her attention back to Jrome. Now, he had the good sense to look scared. "I'm the woman who gave you these blasters, and I can just as easily take them away," she announced. "But perhaps it was a mistake to give you one since you're just carrying it around, so anyone can see it."

"It was hidden in my jacket," the man muttered weakly.

"Please," Annabeth snapped, "wearing a bulky jacket like that on a desert planet is like saying, 'Please search me, I'm hiding illegal weapons.' What if it had been your master or one of Jabba's thugs who had seen it. You could have single handedly lost this rebellion before it even started."

Annabeth lowered the weapon and offered Jrome a hand to help him up. He meekly grabbed it and slunk back to his seat. Annabeth looked at the rest of the crowd, "Now, does anyone else think I should be serving drinks or sitting on their laps?" No one dared answer. "Good, then. You can call me Atalanta. And as Jrome was kind enough to provide an example, the first order of business is to reinforce the importance of keeping the blasters we've managed to smuggle to you hidden. There is absolutely no reason for you to carry them on your person until it is time to act. If even one of these is found, you can bet Jabba's people will want to know where you got it from and may even start searching your homes. Is that understood?"

There were lots of, "Yes, mams," and nodding. Percy noticed several shifted their jackets and cloaks, probably to better hide their own blasters that they had foolishly brought with them.

"When is the time to act?" a female Rodian asked. "When do we finally get to start this rebellion?"

"What you call a rebellion, I call suicide," declared an old woman that looked vaguely familiar to Percy. "I'm only here because Shmi seems to believe that you can actually help us. But what makes what you're proposing different from instant slaughter? As soon as one of us even fires a blaster, the Hutt's men will be on us quicker than you can say Kriff, not to mention the slave implants."

Mummers of agreement filled the room as everyone turned expectantly back to Annabeth. "Look, I know what I'm suggesting, a slave rebellion, is dangerous, but I promise you it won't be instant slaughter. Firstly, Jabba's not expecting anything here, yet. My companion and I," she paused and gestured in Percy's direction. He was still casually leaning on the bar, but he offered a small wave as he felt the crowd's gaze on him. Annabeth continued, "We have managed to misdirect Jabba. He thinks we're going to start trouble in Mos Eisley."

Someone let out an appreciative whistle, "That's why that spaceport is locked up tighter than a Banking Clan vault."

Annabeth nodded, "By the time, we're ready to take Mos Eisley, I suspect those unruly denizens in that city will be so annoyed with Jabba's heavy handedness that they will be rioting themselves and be happy to join with us."

Several in the crowd laughed and nodded their heads in agreement. Everyone knew that the people in Mos Eisley were a rough group and barely tolerated authority on a good day. "As for the transmitter chips, I've developed a device that will prevent all of your chips from exploding even if your masters try to set them off with their controllers. It is well hidden in a place no one will think to look for it."

"That's impossible," someone shouted from a booth to Percy's right.

"No more impossible than a lake worth of salt water appearing overnight," Annabeth replied.

"You did that?" A woman asked sounding impressed.

Annabeth pointed to Percy, "I didn't, but my partner did."

"How?" someone asked.

"Easy, they just dumped a ship load of water," a man replied sounding smug.

"Must have been a hell of a big ship then," replied the woman, impressing even Percy with her level of sarcasm. "You'd think someone as nosy as you would have noticed it, Shane, even if they did it at night."

Before the man could come up with something somewhat intelligent to fire back, Percy pushed himself off the bar to stand next to Annabeth. They had gone over it beforehand and figured a demonstration would be necessary. He felt the gaze of everyone in the room on him as he closed his eyes and extended his hand. He reached out with that sixth sense and focused it on the moisture in the air. It was a lot easier than it had been all those years ago, probably a combination of all his practicing and the new saltwater lake a few miles away. There still wasn't enough water in the atmosphere for rain, but he had a feeling that the local moisture vaporators were straining a lot less these days to get water out of the air. Percy felt a familiar tug in his gut as all those water molecules streamed towards him, like a river feeding a sea. He stopped a few seconds later once he had a good size sphere of water floating over his hand.

His audience gasped, and Percy opened his eyes to find them all staring at him in shock, wonder, and a little fear. This had always been a part of the plan he hadn't been crazy. Sure, he accepted that he wasn't normal over ten years ago, but there was a big difference between accepting something and flaunting it. Using his powers at Camp Half-Blood surrounded by mostly supportive half-bloods was one thing or even escaping from a giant slug's palace in style, but showing off and putting his powers on display for a mortal audience just felt unsettling. He'd spent years trying to blend in even with the Mist. Normally when he was around a crowd of normal mortals, no matter what universe he was in, he pretended to be normal too, at least as much as he was able to. But right now, he had to go for shock and awe. Which was why at the moment over 50 people were looking at him like he was some kind of circus freak. It was like being the weird kid in first grade all over again.

Well, Percy figured, got to hoist those freak colors high. He pushed the water to Shane, the sceptic. "Thirsty?" Percy asked with a smirk. Shane practically jumped into his friend's lap trying to get away from Percy's sphere of water. "Here, I'll show you." Percy grabbed his cup from the bar and willed the water into it. Slowly he took a sip. It felt like everyone in the cantina was holding their breath. Percy laughed, "It's just water."

"Are you . . . a Jedi?" a woman asked.

Percy groaned. He was getting really tired of people asking him that. Did he look like he wore bathrobes and was too serious for his own good? It was like anything strange or mysterious in this galaxy, and everyone would point to the Jedi. "No, I'm definitely not a Jedi. I can control, manipulate, and produce water, particularly salt water. You can call me Da Soocha."

"The Waking Planet," the old woman translated. "It's an ancient Hutt legend of an intelligent, living, ocean planet in a far-off system."

"Exactly," Annabeth agreed.

"You expect us to believe that he's some . . . spirit of a planet?" Shane scoffed.

"Believe what you want," Percy answered. "The only thing that matters is what the Hutts believe because I intend to put so much fear in them, that when we're done here, they won't dare take another slave again."

The whole cantina erupted into cheers. Annabeth gave him a look he couldn't quite decipher, some mix of amused annoyance, amazement, and admiration. It took a while, but once everyone had quieted down again, she announced, "As for when we're going to act, in three days the Sand People will make a move to claim the saltwater lake for themselves. Most of Jabba's enforcers will leave Mos Espa to fight them. That will be when we make our move, and those goons will have a nasty surprise when they try to get back in the spaceport." More cheering met her statement.

Suddenly the old lady stood up, and a hushed silence fell over the crowd. Percy held his breath. Based on the way everyone was looking at her, Percy knew he and Annabeth needed her blessing. Despite the cheering, he knew if this old lady didn't approve most of the slaves wouldn't join them. "A day will come when the ground will shake, and the masters will fear," she recited. "The skies will weep, and the water will flow, and the children of Tatooine will know they are free once more." She nodded her head respectfully to Percy. "I didn't think these old eyes of mine would ever see water on the surface of this wretched planet, yet there it is. I say the time is now."

The slaves' response to this, made the walls of the cantina shake. Finally, Jremo stood up and raised his glass, "To freedom!"

"To freedom!" Everyone else echoed.

Later that night, Percy lay next to Annabeth on her tiny, uncomfortable bed on the ship. They pretty much had the ship to themselves because Shmi, Gaarchit, and Blue were staying at the cantina. "You really did great today, Seaweed Brain. I know showing off your powers like that made you uncomfortable, but it worked out. You got their respect and inspired them."

Percy snorted, "I don't know about respect. I got their fear and curiosity. Most of them think I'm some kind of freak."

Annabeth shrugged, "Maybe, but they'll listen to you, and I'm sure respect will come. You've always had a way of gaining others' loyalty. Besides, at least no one mistook you for a server."

"Jrome's face though after you flipped him," Percy laughed.

Annabeth smiled at the memory, but it quickly melted away, "I forgot what it's like out here and to some extent, back home. I've gotten too used to how things are on Naboo, and with the SASS crews."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously to prove I'm more than another pretty blonde. I shouldn't have to flip every obnoxious jerk on his podex just to get people to listen to me. You don't."

Percy hugged her tight, "Only a fool would think you're just a pretty face. I think it's your eyes they're just so intense. It's intimidating."

Annabeth playfully shoved him. "What?" Percy complained, but she only huffed.

"Well, there seems to be a lot of fools in this galaxy and back home then. At least I can beat up most of the fools here. At home, I just had to keep proving them wrong until they finally realized. Sophomore year physics was a nightmare. The teacher didn't believe girls should be in his honors physics class."

"Sound like a monster in disguise," Percy joked.

"I actually thought of that," Annabeth admitted. "I slipped a Celestial Bronze tack on his chair. He didn't feel a thing. Sometimes, mortals really are just as bad as monsters."

Percy just nodded his head. That was a lesson he'd learned long ago thanks to Smelly Gabe. One that several beings on this planet were reinforcing. Hopefully, things would be better once the slaves were free.

The battle to free Mos Espa was probably the quickest and easiest battle Percy had ever taken part in. Of course, it started with an explosion. Percy had helped plan this battle after all, but after setting the charges and pressing the detonator to blow up Jabba's townhouse, he didn't have much to do. He handled the guard droids at the communications building for Annabeth, but they were so dumb they made the Trade Federation droids look like geniuses. Annabeth did all the fancy stuff like blocking all outgoing communications and then playing her prerecorded hologram in every house and business in the spaceport declaring that all slaves in Mos Espa were now free.

You might think that announcing a slave revolt would be bad, but Annabeth had it all figured out. Anyone who agreed that slaves should be free would either stay safe in their homes or help them in the fight. As for the people who didn't agree, they were quickly shot down by the army of freedom fighters Percy and Annabeth had mustered from slaves and their allies. It turned out that a lot of the space pilots and smugglers hated slavery as much as Percy did.

Right after they left communications, a familiar looking angry Chinese dragon monkey stormed out of a fancy townhouse holding a slave transmitter controller, "Slave revolt, I'll show you slave revolt," he said in Huttese. He pressed the button that would have at the very least caused his slave to lose a limb if not her life. The shock on his face when nothing happened made Percy laugh. Unfortunately for Sebulba, his two blue Twi'lek slaves saw what he had tried to do.

"He tried to kill us, Tann!" One of them shouted.

The other one hefted her blaster, "I think we should return the gesture."

Sebulba attempted to run back to the safety of his home, but Percy blocked his path. "You?" Sebulba slid to a stop clearly remembering Percy from all those years ago despite the armor and beard.

"Me," Percy smirked. Sebulba glanced at the angry Twi'leks armed with blasters and then back at Percy who only had a trident strapped to his back and hadn't made a move to grab it (while the trident had never been his favorite weapon, this one crafted by their blacksmith friend could actually stab someone and helped sell his identity as Da Soocha). Sebulba must have figured he could take Percy by surprise and quickly get a blaster-proof door between him and his ex-slaves because he tried to jump up and kick Percy to the ground with his strong legs. Percy just sidestepped and grabbed his legs and flung him at the feet of his former slaves. "I think you should have a word with the ladies."

Sebulba looked up pleadingly, "Ann, Tann, haven't I been a good master? I fed you, cared for you."

Ann or Tann (Percy never did manage to tell them apart even after they had introduced themselves during the pre-revolt meetings) wrinkled her face in disgust, "You made us do the most revolting and degrading things, and then made us do them for anyone else who paid you enough money. If we didn't, you sold tickets so people could watch our punishment."

"But you enjoyed those things," Sebulba reasoned subtly shifting into a crouch, "You're Twi'leks that's what you like."

"No, we don't," the other Twi'lek replied and fired her blaster just as Sebulba tried to pounce. The Dug slumped, dead before he even hit the ground. Both sisters dropped their blasters and hugged each other. Percy saw tears in their eyes, but a battlefield was no place for touching moments.

"Move," Annabeth shouted at them as an angry potbelly man aimed a blaster at the sisters. Percy jumped into action and pulled out Riptide blocking two blaster bolts as easily as he would with his lightsaber before the Twi'leks realized what happened. By the time they had grabbed their blasters Annabeth had already shot the man.

"Fight now, hug later," Percy recommended.

"Yes, Da Soocha, and thank you, Atalanta," they bowed to him and Annabeth, before joining the fight again.

The battle though seemed to be quickly winding down at least in this part of the spaceport. "Anyone need extra support?" Annabeth asked. They had given ear comms to all the group leaders.

"Alpha group should have it wrapped up in a few minutes. I think we've dealt with the worst of the resistance," the first one replied. To Percy's surprise, Beta, Gamma, and Delta groups didn't seem to need any help either. "Shmi?" Annabeth finally asked.

Percy held his breath and prayed that Shmi was okay. He would have been much happier if she'd agreed to stay on the ship safe from both the fighting in Mos Espa and the battle on the other side of the lake, but she had wanted to help as much as she could from the cantina by making sure Blue stayed safe and out of trouble and in range of all of the slave transmitter chips, since the little droid had Annabeth's device in one of his storage compartments. "We're all good here," Shmi reported. "Our defenses are too strong for them to breach, and R2 has been a good little droid and not done anything reckless or heroic."

"Well," Annabeth huffed as she leaned against a building, her gray armor shining in the sun. "I guess this is what happens when you have almost six years to plan an attack and more than three days to prepare for it." They had managed to organize all their freedom fighters into four attack groups to target strategic areas, and their plan seemed to be working. The slaveowners relied too much on the transmitting chips, and with their most effective weapon suddenly gone, they weren't prepared to stop the slaves. It also helped that most of the best fighters in the city were out fighting an army of 200 plus Sand People.

"Yeah, it's definitely better than our usual show up at the last minute to fight an impossibly larger army," Percy agreed. "I'm actually kind of bored."

He must have said the magic words because over the comms Kelsi, the leader of Gamma group said, "The Mayor managed to escape after we hemmed him in by throwing a thermo-detonator. He barricaded himself and his strongest fighters in his fortress of a house. They're shooting down anyone who approaches from the windows. Any suggestions?" Now officially, Mos Espa didn't have a mayor, but the Mayor was what everyone called the man that took care of the day to day business of Mos Espa for Jabba.

He glanced at Annabeth and she nodded, "No worries, we're on it." He ran with Annabeth down the street avoiding bodies as best he could. "Any ideas?" he asked.

Annabeth slid to a stop after a few blocks and pulled out her liquid-cable launcher. "The roof. No one ever thinks to guard the roof, especially in a case like this."

They had to jump over two alleys to get there. The last jump Percy was pretty sure no mortal would've been able to make, but just as Annabeth had predicted, the roof was completely unguarded. She pulled out her Yankee's hat, "I'll go in first and knock the guard with the riffle at the window down and grab the blaster. That should buy you enough time to get in while they're trying to figure out what happened."

"Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena," Percy replied.

He assumed Annabeth slipped over the edge and through the open window, but since he couldn't see her, he had to imagine. He waited until he heard, "What the kriff!" before following.

As soon as Percy landed, he pulled out Riptide in his left hand, and unslung the trident in his right. By some strange luck, it looked like he and Annabeth had landed in the Mayor's office itself though it did seem to take up most of the top floor of the tall sandstone building. A female Zabrak with a red tattoo along her jaw looked up at him from the floor in a daze as she groped for her mysteriously vanished riffle. Two other guards were in the room by the door, and the Mayor stood at his desk in front of his holoprojector. Clearly, he must have been trying to send a message before Annabeth had busted in. The man's beady eyes locked onto Percy.

"It's you!" He exclaimed. "You're the one who's behind all of this, but you're supposed to be in Mos Eisley."

"Sorry to disappoint," Percy felt the guards shift their blasters to him, and the Zabrak scrambled back.

The Mayor held up his hand stopping them from firing. "Wait, Jabba wants him alive. He may even forgive this debacle if we can capture him. I hear he has the most interesting plans for you, Da Soocha, is it?"

The guards at the door charged, but Percy didn't even bother turning around. He knew Annabeth would take care of them. Instead, he watched the mayor's face as the bodies of the two guards hit the ground. "Impossible!"

The Zabrak finally gave up on trying to find her blaster because she suddenly sprung at Percy with a wicked looking vibroblade. Instinctively, Percy parried with Riptide and stabbed her with the trident. He really hated the squelching sound the trident made as he pulled it back out of the body. He had to admit that lightsabers were a much cleaner weapon since they instantly cauterized the wounds. No weird noises or fluids.

Percy turned back to the mayor, bloody trident dripping in his hand. "Now, Mr. Da Soocha, I'm not an unreasonable man," the mayor desperately pleaded, slumping in his chair. "I have money, lots and lots of gold."

"I don't want money. Agree to free the slaves of Mos Espa and protect their freedom, and you can waltz out of here," Percy stated.

"Of course, I'll do that right away. I'll draft an official statement." He fumbled for something in his desk. Percy didn't need a Jedi's Force-sense to know what was going on. Before the Mayor could pull out his hidden blaster, Percy threw his trident the same time a blaster went off though instead of streaking towards Percy, it went straight for the Mayor. Percy's trident struck the mayor's chest, pinning him to the chair, just as Annabeth's blaster bolt hit him in the head. The Mayor's blaster fell out of his hand.

"I didn't know if you'd actually hit him," Annabeth admitted. "Good throw."

Percy shrugged, "I was always better at throwing than shooting."

About fifteen other guards were in the house, but they hadn't been expecting an attack from the inside, so Percy and Annabeth were able to quickly clear the house. Only one of them surrendered. Percy glanced at Annabeth as she reached for the Outside Force to check his intentions.

She was still better at that kind of stuff than he was. Based on his description of how he visualized reaching the Outside Force, Annabeth thought it might be a combination of his own personal Force power being so different from the Outside Force, and also he probably just had more of it since his father was a Big Three. That was why whenever he reached for the Outside Force, he imagined walking across a sea. He literally had to wade through his own power before he could reach the Outside Force.

"He's good," Annabeth announced, "seems like he felt bad but got stuck with the wrong crowd, and then was a little too good at his job."

"That sounds right," the horned alien admitted. Percy thought the species was called Nike-two or something like that. "How'd you know that?" he asked in awe and a little fear.

"Benefit of being a priestess of Da Soocha," Annabeth lied. Percy didn't think the guy really believed her, but he nodded his head anyway. "Make yourself useful, and don't make us regret sparing your life. You won't get a second chance."

"Of course, I swear I won't attack anyone or do anything to hurt your cause. Never liked slavery anyways."

By the time they'd opened the front door, the rest of the battle was pretty much over. The whole thing had taken about 30ish minutes. Everyone was celebrating in the streets. Those who hadn't been able to fight came out from their shelters to enjoy their freedom.

"I hate to be a killjoy, but we need to start making this place defensible," Annabeth muttered. "Good job everyone. Blue watch what's the status of the other battle?"

"The Mos Espa thugs are chasing down the Sand People, I don't think they're going to let them retreat this time," someone reported through the comms. Percy couldn't remember everyone's name.

Annabeth grimaced. "At least it should buy us some time. Group leaders get your freedom fighters together and start barricading the entrances. Jira get the Helpers going and make sure they find their three guards before they start going door to door. I want anyone who may not support our cause out of here before they can cause trouble. The first shuttle will arrive in two hours, but I suspect we'll have less pleasant company sooner. It's not over yet, but let everyone know that when the suns go down and we're still alive, the cantina's got Corellian whiskey on the house for everyone."

"It's a good thing then those slaving scum didn't set off a detonator over there," Jrome said over the comms. "The whole neighborhood would have exploded from all that alcohol."

"Why do you think that area was so heavily guarded?" Annabeth shot back with a smile though Percy was sad to see it quickly slip off her face. She switched off her comm, and Percy took the hint and did the same. "I just hope Jabba doesn't respond too quickly. We need to get those shields in as soon as the goons out there are dealt with. You're still good to handle them?"

"Should be once they get in range."

"That's not what I meant," Annabeth stressed. She grabbed his hand to force him to stop and look at her. "You've never done something like this, not with people."

He shrugged, "We're warning them and giving them a choice. I have a feeling that's a lot more than they're giving the Sand People right now."

"Fair point," Annabeth admitted. "It's just, look at this." She waved her hand at the bodies that littered the street. "Even when we fought Luke's army in Manhattan there weren't so many bodies. It's different, and this was a small, contained, successful battle."

Percy knew what she meant. It was a whole lot easier to decapitate a dracaena that instantly vaporized into dust than to do the same thing to another man or Zabrak or other sentient alien. Somehow a dead body staring up at you in accusation made the whole thing a lot more real. Sure, he killed several slavers, assassins, and bounty hunters over the years, but he still hadn't quite gotten used to how messy killing non-monsters were. "Who'd have thought we'd missed the good old days when we used to have to kill hundreds of monsters." He wrapped his arm around her.

She wrinkled her nose, and in a great imitation of Drew Tanaka said, "You're getting green blood on my armor."

I'll post the next chapter in a week.