AN: okay, we've reached the end of the "done" chapters, so we will see next week if i can keep pace. thank you to everyone for the reviews both positive and constructive, please continue to do so. yes i know the info dump last chapter wasn't fun, hopefully you like this one more. that will be the last time we have that much system stuff dumped at once, promise.

I own nothing, i am not Lucas nor Disney and i do not own Star Wars

P34644563: sorry you felt it was too long, i wanted to give a reason for what was happening, admittedly i probably could have condensed it

Wight: thank you, i put a lot of thought into it now so we don't have to be bogged down in numbers later, because i'm on the fence about them personally in stories. also grievous would be cool, i have some changes from canon you'll be seein pretty quickly and going forward so hopefully you enjoy

Arrowman: thanks for the review, look for hopefully good stuff below

Lazymanjones96: thank you, hope you continue to enjoy

Mastersgtjames: fucking autocorrect did that lol. personally always been an eliza dushku fan

akilles347: appreciate your review, i know the recurring constructive comment is that i need to "get on with it", lol, message received. i have no plans to have James get ID or anything like insta dungeons ever. if anything i've nerfed him compared to other gamer stories a lot because i don't want him to be too op before the real story stuff happens. he is definitely a grey hero at best, not evil but not good. also his problem solving will be more geared towards the "class" of character i imagine he is in DnD terms

tgfofp: my goal is to be a semi humorous adult story. it's not gonna be the mc getting graphic and torturing people but more about mature themes and maybe boobs. i want it to be classic sci fi feel of adventure for a more adult audience i suppose. like we know that the twi-lek "dancers" are actually strippers or slaves or both, i wanna pull the disney/ lucas family friendly filter back a little bit but not get crazy with it. again i am also in agreement that the last chapters dump of info was not great, sorry, i thought maybe it would be better to knock it out quick. the silent interface thing is me nerfing the mc to try to prevent him from being too op, just like the age and level lock i don't want him to be a ten year old 360 no scoping sith. story wise i also want some stuff to happen in his character arc so that's why i did that, hopefully this chapter tips the scales in my favor

Chapter 4:Crash Chorus

Again, another incredibly unpleasant experience precedes my entry into another plane of existence. I think there is a theme here somewhere, some thing along the lines of existence is pain.

Do not pout, it is unbecoming. Are you not excited to get up and test your new body?

Aite's light and musical voice whispering in my ear pulls my focus back to the present. I feel cushioning beneath my head and back but my feet feel elevated, my body feels sore for some reason, opening my eyes is a huge mistake as stabbing pain hit's my eyes as I'm blinded by how bright it is. After immediately snapping my eyes closed I try and roll over and find my movements are being restricted by something. Panic hits me and I begin to thrash before Aite whispers soothingly into my ear.

It is just your safety restraint, you are currently strapped into the seat of an escape pod. Wait a few moments as you become accustomed to having a body again, allow yourself to sync fully and access your bodies past memories.

Settling back into the seat I try and focus on my new body, it feels slightly uncomfortable for an odd reason. I feel too big for my skin, as if I'm stretching out just underneath the surface and the slightest tear will have me bursting at the seam. Memories of Vincent D'Onofrio in Men in Black start to worry me before I consider it's more likely something I just have to get used to. The last time I was in a body I was much bigger overall, maybe a kind of phantom limbs syndrome since I'm used to being larger in relative size to my surroundings. From the little I had picked up from when my eye's were briefly open I had shrunk quite a bit. Hopefully half-Sephi don't have a very long adolescence and I can get back to a height I'm more accustomed to. With my eye's closed I start to take deep breaths which is a surprisingly pleasant sensation now that I finally have a body back. Trying to calm my heart rate, another pleasant and missed sensation, I try to focus and see if there are any useful memories of where I am or how I got here.

Power Discovered: Meditation (Active)

A mental technique practiced by Force-sensitives and non alike, in which one attempts to get beyond the reflexive thinking mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness.

Regens HP 5%/min (non-critical injuries)

Increases FP Regen modifier +2

As I'm brought deeper into a meditative state I'm seeing flashes of memories. I see a young female humanoid, with light purplish skin and pointed ears, she has beautiful flowing white hair that's braided loosely down her back. Her bright brown eyes are always smiling down at me as I reach up to her. I can see my tiny arms grasping as she bends down to scoop me up laughing and speaking to me but the words are blurred either by age or something else. I am more and more sure as I see memories of our time spent together that in spite of how young she looks, this is my mother, at least in this universe. I have memories of an older man as well, his long white beard is matched by his equally long white hair braided up in a top knot. I do not have as many memories of him being around but he was always kind and patient with me walking slowly while stooping over to hold my tiny hand in his. He would sit in a garden with me some times and tell me tales of legendary heroes and monsters, some of the stories even seem somewhat familiar. What early life I can remember are filled with happiness and childish glee as I run around the halls of the Summer Palace. That is nearly the extent of my knowledge of Thustra and the Royal Family. I know I had an Uncle as well, but I don't recall ever meeting him. As far as formal education it hadn't yet begun for me since I was so young and my day's were mostly spent playing with my mother or other maids around the palace until it was inevitably nap or bed time.

Fortunately I didn't have to suffer through all of this and my formal education was set to begin soon. In fact that brings me to my most recent memories, and where I am and why I am strapped into this seat. My mother and I were on a trip to visit a friend of hers before going to Coruscant. Once at the capital we were to visit my Uncle and I would learn more about and visit the Senate. Unfortunately that is the vast majority of the useful information I've gleaned from the five years of implanted memories. It seems that much like my home universe, adults in Star Wars don't feel the need to explain anything to a five year old, grandson of the King or not. Also Sephi as a language sounds nothing like French, though it doesn't really sound like Tolkien's elvish either, it's more like a softer sounding Russian.

Noises in the distance pull me out of my meditation and I slowly open my eyes to look around me. I'm in what looks like a metallic sphere sitting off kilter so I'm leaning back into my chair with straps securing me down. Looking around in front of me I see rudimentary controls for what I'm assuming is an escape pod. Looking to my right and left all I see are an empty seat to both of my sides as well as a hatch and controls for it. It might be too soon to panic but hell, I'm in a new universe and I might die in an escape pod never to be found ever in the cold depths of space.

I admit that this is not the best situation to find yourself in, but, if you were paying better attention you would notice why one of your fear's is unlikely. You need to calm yourself

'I'll panic if I want to!' I thought at her sullenly, hearing the noises get closer outside.

Something you also might want to be aware of is the influences biology might have on your personality and decision making abilities

'Wait, go back to why I shouldn't be worried, between you dropping all this new info on me and the soun-' I abruptly cut off my current thought/rant when I realized how stupid I had been about where I currently am.

Sound cannot travel through a vacuum

Speaking of, those sounds are now definitely outside and they are almost certainly people talking. Now I have a new set of possible fears, slavery is still semi-legal in Star Wars and my luck is either amazing or awful. I look down and start to try removing the safety harness for my chair. I keep fumbling with it, unable to have the combination of strength and hand dexterity necessary to unlock the what I am now assuming is some kind of child lock.

I will refrain from pointing out the irony

"Why aren't you helping me?!" I shouted, using my voice for the first time since inheriting my new body. I was not expecting the high pitched almost girlish squealing sound that came out of my mouth, and it was nearly enough of a surprise to derail me from my current problems.

I am trying to, realize the situation you are in, and plan your way forward. You have obviously been the victim of piracy or some other form of attack while en route to Coruscant. You are in an escape pod from the ship you were on and, have since incorporating into your new body made planet fall. You are currently alone and the chances are that your Mother or any other crew that was with you on the ship, are not the ones currently moving closer to the pod outside. In all likelihood given the fact you are the only one in this escape pod they are all dead or captured

I have nothing to say to that and simply sit in my chair looking at my smaller and younger legs in light gray pants. I'll probably have to get used to walking with such short legs again I thought laughing morosely as I see drops of water begin to fall on to my legs and lap. My vision started to blur and I stifled another bitter laugh before it could escape.

'I don't even know why I'm upset,' I thought to Aite, 'I don't even know her, not really.'

Of course you did, those memories are real, you spent those times with her and the love she has for you is real. It was not a simple fiction that was crafted upon your insertion into this universe. We altered the very nature of this reality in order to give you a real background. In the "canon" universe your parents never met and you were never born

'That doesn't make me feel any better,' though it did actually make me feel better knowing at least some one in this universe cared about me. Though where was my father at in my memories. I remember asking my mother once and her smiling at me which in retrospect was one that didn't reach her eyes. Her eye's which always used to dance with light and happiness turned dark and sad and her response was always that he loved us both and would come home some day.

Unfortunately we'll have to answer any possible dead beat dad issues later, as we have run out of time

Before I can even ask or guess at what she's talking about, I remember, moments before I hear a voice just outside the pod.

"See? See? See? I told you that it was something out here, looks like an escape pod," a female voice says in a sing song, playful tone.

"Yeah, I can see it, I said that ten minutes ago," a second female voice responded in an especially flat monotone with a sigh at the end.

"Pirates prob'ly hit them when they dropped out of hyper space outside the system to recalculate," the first voice continued seemingly ignoring the second female entirely. Which most likely explains the under tones of annoyance I heard in the second one's voice. I, more calmly this time, had been looking down and unlatching myself while they were having this discussion. I was still keeping an ear out to their conversation trying to see if I could catch any ideas as to where I was. The fact they were speaking Basic certainly hadn't narrowed it down all that much. After I had unlatched myself I looked around trying to see if maybe there was a weapon in here of some kind I could use should things turn ugly with my possible rescuers/kidnappers outside.

"Let's at least get it rolled so we can stand up straight inside in case there's anything worth salvaging," the second voice said before I felt the pod being rolled up right. My search started to turn more frantic as I began to realize that no one would stock their escape pods with blasters.

'Aite,' I began to think at her before she cut me off.

Yes, in case we ever get a ship I will remind you to stock the escape pods with a blaster. You should also know you have been unlocking a few different Force Powers, it's actually impressive given how short of a time we've "been" here

'Right,' I had set up the interface to log such things but not have any annoying pop ups or noises distract me just in case I was in the middle of something and could not afford the distraction. 'Deal with that later we have to hopefully charm whoever opens that door into helping us. It's unlikely a five year old is gonna have much luck without a weapon.'

That really should not be a problem

There was a strange kind of mirth to her voice which seemed odd but the door of the pod suddenly opening became far more important. Standing there peering in with nearly matching surprised expressions on their faces were the owners of the voices I had heard earlier. Though their faces wore a matching expression of bafflement as they looked down at me they couldn't physically be any different looking. The woman on the left was tall and should have been painted on the side of a a World War 2 bomber, she could give hour glasses envy, but what was truly alluring and eye catching about her was her light pink skin. While most of her skin was covered in a dark tan jump suit with a tool belt around her waist with big black work boots. The parts showing contrasted brightly against her grease stained clothes and the vast desert I could see in the background behind her. Her dark blue hair was pulled back into a tight pony tail and judging by her face and assuming she was similar to humans I would say she was in her mid to late thirties at most. Still strikingly beautiful but she had faint smile and worry lines that I could see around her face while not prominent also did nothing to detract from her lovely features and soft button nose.

A sudden high pitched squealing pulled my attention away from the beautiful alien woman and I barely saw the shorter and younger brown haired human female standing next to her before she had rushed at me. At first I thought she was attacking me and had started to panic only to find out differently when she had scooped me up into her arms and carried me outside the pod. The bright sun momentarily blinds me forcing me to close my eyes, when I open them it's to look up straight into big brown eye and a wide smiling grin that was slightly worrying with how big it was, especially given what she said next.

"You are THE absolute CUTEST little girl ever!" the human female began to squeal in unabashed glee. "Do you believe this Jaina? First we have my miracle baby and THEN we have this perfect little bride for him falling from the sky! Can you BELIEVE it?!" She babbled nearly incoherently into my face with an almost manic grin. She had a younger looking face than her alien companion, barely in her twenties if I had to guess with healthy tan skin underneath her own work jumper.

"As much as I hate to agree with you, she is a kriffing cute lil' thing," the pink alien-

Zeltron

Thank you, yes, the Zeltron annoyingly agrees with the human woman about my appearance. I shoot them both the angriest glare I can manage before scrambling out of her arms and backing away from them until I was against the outside of the pod. I kept them both in my eyesight because their intentions still weren't clear aside from supposedly becoming engaged to the human woman's son. Aite's giggling in the background about my non existent betrothal is not helping at all.

"I'm not a girl! And even if I was I'm not gonna marry somebody I haven't met." I yelled, or tried to with my higher pitched voice it was more of a squeak. Their reaction of starting to swoon at how cute I was acting also wasn't helping my dignity at all.

Maybe he's cute, keep your options open

'Not funny, Aite' I thought at her before they responded.

"Then, why are you wearing such a cute dress?" the Zeltron, Jaina, asked me in a softer voice then she had used with her companion. A more kinder and soothing, even tone like what you would use with a skittish animal. I was confused at what she meant and my glance over at the human female, whose name I still hadn't learned, only showed her staring at me as if I was a puppy abandoned in the rain.

Your reflection, in the outside of the pod

Turning slowly around I look at the outside of the escape pod which still retains a lot of it's near mirror sheen with some slight scuffing. What really draws my attention is my small five year old body, specifically my long hair up in a braid that I hadn't really noticed with everything else going on. Expanding my view only brings a tiny cute groan to my lips as I see now that I'm standing my long flowing tunic which didn't look as long sitting down is nearly down to my shoes, though the slit in the sides shows my pants underneath.

"It's not a dress," I said more calmly to prevent my voice from squeaking again though my cheeks began to feel warm in embarrassment, stupid fiver year old body. They share a dubious look at that before the human female squats down to my eye level and responds in a softer voice from her earlier excited one.

"Okay cutie, we're sorry, my name is Shmi, you can call me Aunty Shmi okay?, a lot of the other kids your age I know do, what's your name?" It takes most of my self control to prevent myself from visibly reacting. Great, just fucking fantastic, a teen-aged girl name Shmi on a dessert planet, what are the fucking chances. Also did she not just mention a son?

We were going to come here eventually anyways

"I, I'm Jay-um, Ja'mesic Ordo of Thustra" I stuttered out in response ignoring Aite, even if she was right I would have preferred to have been better prepared. For Force sakes I don't even have a blaster on the planet famous for slavery and sand.

"Well, hey there Jay, this is another girl named Jay, Jaina is her full name," Shmi says while giggling and glancing over to Jaina who rolls her eyes at her companions childishness. "Do you know if any one else made it to an escape pod?"

I shake my head negatively and can feel my braid swishing back and forth behind my head, how did I not notice that back there before?

There was quite a bit going on at the time, wait until you have to use the fresher for the first time

"Shmi," Jaina starts saying to Shmi while giving her a significant look.

"No," Shmi replies simply without turning around or acknowledging she had spoken in any other way.

"Shmi, you know we have to," Jaina says in a long suffering tone.

"I don't care, it's wrong and you know it, she can't be any older than four cycles," Shmi snaps back at her turning her head to glare at Jaina.

"I'm still not a girl," I said with a sigh looking between them trying to forestall whatever their confrontation is about. I have a sinking feeling I'm the subject they're skirting around and it can't be anything good. "Also I'm five, about to be six. My species just has a longer adolescence than other near humanoids, that's why I'm smaller." Everyone loves cute kids so I'm trying to lean into the precocious little Sephi child bit. I make a small pout on my face before looking up at them through my eyelashes, suffer my maximum cuteness gaze.

The result is pretty devastating as both women have a faint blush, Shmi more than Jaina, though the Zeltron bites her lower lip briefly. Which is not at all the response I was trying to achieve but whatever, it might be useful still.

Shmi shakes her head slightly before saying "you're right Jay, sorry, it's just you're probably the prettiest little boy ever, what species are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

I glance over at Jaina who also has shaken off her momentary bedazzlement at my amazingly cute face. She's giving another glare at the back of Shmi's head that she definitely must be feeling based on its intensity. I turn back to face Shmi and answer, "my Mother is Sephi and she said my father was Mandalorian."

After saying that I'm struck by a memory that I hadn't seen earlier, I'm much younger, maybe barely even walking. Perhaps that's why this one seems so hazy? We're standing on a landing pad and my mother is carrying me on her hip and we're facing a man in Mandalorian armor. I don't recall anything that they may have said, but he turns to me before putting his hand on top of my head. He leaves it there for a moment before turning away and boarding the ship. Turning up to look at my mother's face I see tears in her eyes watching the ship break atmosphere.

Jaina whistling breaks me from my memories as she raises her eyebrows in surprise, "only 5 cycles and he's already the best looking Mando in the whole system," she says with a dry chuckle.

"Pfft," Shmi dismisses with a sound "that's not exactly a high bar in this corner of the galaxy."

"It really is a shame, but you know what we have to do Shmi." Jaina stands up straighter and reaches to pull something from her tool belt strapped around her waist.

Shmi spins around quickly but not before I see her face twist in anger, "No!" she shouts at her, "he's way too young and he has a family, we can't just treat him like scrap to be salvaged, I don't care about that piece of poodoo Bib." The last part has less heat unfortunately and I hear a small underlying fear in her voice when she mentions the name.

"We don't do this and there's no one around to raise little Ani," Jaina venomously snaps back at her. "Cause I guarantee that no one else is gonna watch out for him if you ain't around."

This clears up what planet I'm on, and who the brunette is, fuck my life of course I'd crash here and she'd be the first one I run into. Shmi doesn't seem to have anything to say to this, but I can see her tightening her hands into white knuckled fists from how hard she's squeezing. Jaina sighs before grabbing Shmi at her elbow and dragging her a little ways away.

"Just wait right there kid, we to got have an adult talk and then we'll get ya back to your family, kay?" Jaina says this over her shoulder to me with a smile. I smile weakly back at her but before they can get too far or decide anything without me I stop them both cold.

"Excuse me, but what are you talking about? You're not going to kidnap me right?" I ask in my most innocent voice while adding in a slight tremor to it at the end. It makes the most sense to play the role of an adorable innocent child, it will hopefully add a layer of protection if people don't think they have to guard their words and meanings around me.

Both of them immediately stiffen up at my words, before sharing a meaningful glance/glare because of Shmi and Jaina strides back over to me before taking some kind of device in her hand and kneeling in front of me. The device looked vaguely like a gun but had a large needle at the end of where the barrel would normally be.

"We just need you to come with us okay? We'll see if we can maybe find your family, or if someone has heard word about your ship okay? Who knows maybe someone else found another one of your escape pods." While Jaina was saying of all this she was quietly moving the device closer to me, attempting to not startle me with her slow steady movements. It's unlikely I will enjoy whatever the fuck that thing is so it might be time to drop the act.

For now at least

"You both are slaves aren't you?" I ask dropping the childish tones I used earlier. They both react violently, to either the change or my words.

"Smart lil osik, but-" Jaina starts to say before I cute her off.

"You both have been told about what you have to do if you find anybody out here while you're searching for scrap to salvage right?" Shmi is making a sickly face behind Jaina while her own starts to drop any emotion and her eyes start to go hollow at my words. "Sorry though, I have no intention of being any one's property."

Jaina's eyes snap back to my face and her expression begins to darken, "look, kid, none of us have a choice in this. So just let me stick ya, since you've already figured out the score and we can get going. Good looking boy like you, it probably won't be that bad."

I scoff loudly while stepping back out of her reach, "yes I'm sure all the pretty young slave boys are treated well, let's ask Aunty Shmi, hmm?" I counter sarcastically. Shmi flinches visibly at this but says nothing and instead starts inspecting the ground in shame. Jaina loses some of the anger in her face and instead turns sympathetic but it isn't enough because she still stands up and begins to move closer to me. I've confirmed in my head at least that the device she's holding is gonna inject me with some kind of slave tracker that explodes like Anakin described as a child.

"Like I said we don't have a choice, I'm just gonna give you a little jab and then we'll get going okay?" Jaina has quickly closed the distance between us and is about to reach for my arm when several other things happen at once. Shmi apparently made her moral decision because she had opened her mouth to say something, however I missed it as I was also in the middle of responding.

"You've already tagged me with the device, make sure to fake the records so no one knows" I say calmly before waving my hand in a wise and mysterious manner in front of me. This will definitely work, right?

They both stop what they were doing and stare at me in disbelief. Several awkward moments pass until they look at each other before they start giggling uncontrollably, Jaina even let's go of my arm that she had gotten a hold of to clutch her other side she's laughing at me so hard.

"I don't see what's so funny," I say indignantly, though I can't help the blush I feel spreading on my cheeks.

"Look, little one," Jaina begins to say after she finishes laughing, "you can wave your hand all you want, no one is gonna believe you're a Jedi."

"Still," Shmi says, "we coooooould do like he says and just spoof the tracker ID, give him a dummy chip in case anyone scans his neck, it's not like anyone is ever gonna check the records that closely." She moved closer while saying this and had placed her hand on Jaina's shoulder. Jaina turns her head to stare at Shmi. What follows is an angry conversation in a language I can't even guess.

It's Huttese

I'm slowly sliding away from both of them and back to the open pods door. Their angry argument has now involved shouting as well as them both wildly gesticulating, Jaina with the pointy hand held device. Shmi finally says something with an air of finality and just glares at Jaina with her arms crossed. Everyone seems to be holding their breath until Jaina slumps her shoulders in defeat, "fiiiiinnnnneeee, karking hell, you're gonna be the death of me Shmi. I swear if we get caught I'm blaming all of this on you! Let you explain it to Jabba." She finishes just before Shmi has glomped onto her in a hug so strong that it nearly knocks them both to the sand, all the while squealing in joy.

They separate after a moment as Jaina pushes her off. Shmi skips over and picks me up again much to my chagrin and begins to spin me around happily while babbling in her happy sing song voice. "Seeeeeeee? Jaina is a big old softy. Now you can be my little Ani's big brother, you can watch out for him when I'm not around and be best friends forever. He's special ya know, just like you."

"How do you figure they're anything alike?" Jaina says with a disbelieving scoff. "This little girly boy is prettier than freighter full of Twi-Lek dancers and he's only five. Though the age and gender are still really in question…"

"Hey!" I cried indignantly, the giggling from Aite again, was not helpful.

"And your kid," Jaina continued ignoring my plight, "while he is admittedly cute is just another human baby."

Shmi gave a really impressive insulted gasp while clutching me and sliding away from Jaina in disgust. Jaina rolls her eyes at her before continuing "let's get this started if we're actually doing it, if we come back too late then they will definitely be suspicious." She starts walking towards us while messing with the controls on the side of the "slave stabber", which is what I'm calling it until someone tells me it's actual name. Perhaps even after.

It stabs you, and then makes you a slave, it makes an odd kind of sense

'Thank you Aite' I think at her while trying to pull away from Jaina. I'm still not fully convinced of her change of mind.

"It's okay lil Jay, big Jay," Jaina interrupts with an indignant squawk at being referred to as "big", but Shmi continues on ignoring her. "-is totally gonna help us fake your tag, just like we will for my little Ani when he's your age." I stop tensing in her arms but look at Jaina all the same dubiously.

"How will it work exactly?" I ask reverting to my "cute" childish voice, hoping it's still effective. Apparently it is as they both start to sprout matching soft smiles as Shmi explains their impromptu plan.

"Well, first we're gonna shoot two tags simultaneously. The first one will be your official tag with it's id locater and, uh other stuff." She stumbles at the end because I'm guessing she means explosives or other torturing options embedded into the tag's programming. "The second one we'll actually have to inject you with, but it will be deactivated and on record officially as blank so it can't be triggered remotely." I flinch at this part since I'm not a fan of anything explosive being injected into me, deactivated or otherwise. Shmi can probably tell my thoughts from my body tensing up or my face souring so she hurries to explain the rest. "You have to have a slave tag or it will be picked up by all the door and hallway scanners. You see we'll fake the tag in your skin's signature to match the other one, so just in case something bad happens it won't hurt you, okay?" Shmi has begun to hold me closer to her body, which on the one hand is actually really nice. She smells surprisingly well for a slave, and just generally has a very calming demeanor about her from what I've noticed of my short time with her. She had also begun to sway back and forth gently rocking me and calming me, which was annoyingly effective, stupid five year olds body that wants a mother's hug.

"So, cutie, ya ready? We gotta move quick back to the speeder with your pod's flight controller and wiring before it gets too late." Jaina had approached us in the interim of Shmi's explanation which I had noticed but hadn't reacted to. "Just turn your neck to the side a little." I sighed since I really couldn't see another way and I'd much prefer to be a fake slave rather than a real one. I tilted my head and leaned out towards her. She smiled gratefully at me before pointing the slave stabber at the sand and pulling the trigger and then putting it against my neck and pulling the trigger for a second time. Shooting pain accompanies it for a moment before it fades to a slightly dull ache. I rub my neck at the spot and it doesn't feel any differently at least.

I shoot her a cute glare that has them both blushing again while Shmi giggles. "There we go," Jaina says before pulling out a pad and typing into it quickly. I look at her as she types away and then back at Shmi who is still holding onto me but she is watching Jaina work with a loving smile for a reason I can probably guess.

"You both had already planned to do this for some one else?" Jaina stops typing after I drop that question on them and they are both giving me the same odd looks again. Need to remember children my age aren't normally this perceptive, have to do a better job of hiding that. Shmi glances at Jaina before answering slowly while giving me another gentle smile.

"We have trying to figure out a way for a while now to protect my son, Ani, once he's old enough and they try to tag him. He shouldn't have to spend his life scrapping for someone like Jabba," she continued angrily spitting out the familiar name. This is the second time they have mentioned something that doesn't add up in my mind. My thoughts are interrupted however by Jaina finishing up on the datapad and announcing in a triumphant voice her success.

"Annnnnnnd that's that," she types the last bit with a flourish, "no one should be able to tell the difference between your tag and a normal slave one. Just make sure to never give anyone a reason to activate it and they'll never know." I nod at her slightly thinking that it was a bit obvious of advice to give but grateful for it all the same.

"Alrighty, now that's all done we can get to work on your pod. You just hang out here until we finish okay lil Jay?" Shmi asks me as she puts me down outside the pods door. I nod up at her and am a rewarded with a smile and head pat from both of them as they move into the pod with their tools and start stripping pieces and packing it away in the packs on their backs. I sit down cross legged and close my eyes and think to Aite 'We need to talk about some things while they're busy in there.'

Agreed

'Shmi was never owned by Jabba' I thought, genuinely confused by what was happening.

Your memories of her, had her originally owned by the Hutt, Gerdulla, who then lost both Shmi and Anakin in a wager to Watto the Toydarian

I start to go through in my mind everything I can remember being said in the movies, shows, books or anything else I might have read online dealing with Shmi and how she came to be a slave originally. 'Yes, and it's Watto's shop that Qui-Gonn first meets Anakin at when they land here with Padme. Apparently that's already fucked.'

Is this a good or a bad thing though

'There's less of a chance of him ever meeting the Jedi now, and then by proxy Palpatine. Soooooooo, maybe that's a good thing?'

There is no change to the relevant quest so it is still likely that Anakin will become Vader

'Can you bring it up for me please?'

Maybe Vader Someday Never (MQ)

Difficulty: F-SSS

Anakin Skywalker might be the chosen one, he might also be the worse thing to ever happen to Younglings if canon persists. How you go about stopping the young slave from Tattooine is irrelevant. Darth Vader must not be allowed to rise to terrorize the Galaxy as the Empire's Fist.

Rewards:

? Levels

? StPo's

+20% Canon Meter

Penalties:

Death and Dismemberment

'Yeah you're right, no change at all. I mean if Anakin stays out here on Tattooine because he never meets Qui-Gonn, it's unlikely that Palp's will ever come out here either so maybe he can fly under the radar?'

Do you really believe that is likely?

'No, but you could at least indulge me in my delusions, what kind of voice in my head are you?'

Hilarious

'I'm just saying, shouldn't we be trying to avoid Anakin meeting any Jedi. He won't really have a great track record of interacting with them in the future.'

An understatement to be sure. My thoughts are that it would be best to try and keep that meeting

'Why would we want that?'

Was your little hand waving earlier not clear enough? Utilizing the Force is not nearly as simple as you were hoping it would be, not to mention meeting several key figures while they are still somewhat young is invaluable in other ways

'That was just a first attempt. Though you are correct meeting Padme as soon as possible is a necessity.'

I am telling you, you will eventually hit a wall, all the more reason to join Anakin when he goes to the temple as well. Nothing says you have to stay their permanently or even become a full fledged Jedi Knight. Learn what they can teach and leave if you truly wish to be free from their precepts. Also your reasons for wanting to meet the future Senator are anything but necessary

I start before considering the idea more while also ignoring her thoughts on Padme. It's actually a really great plan, though I can think of at least one possible hindrance. 'They might not take me because of my age though. They certainly gave Anakin shit for it.' Aite's musical laughter fills my ears again.

Recall your reflection in the outside of the pod? Who can truly say how old you are? Also remember that species age differently, too old for human might not be for Sephi

'That, actually makes a lot of sense. Yoda is like nine hundred, who knows how long his teenage years lasted.'

As humorous as that is to consider it looks like we have run out of time

The sound of Shmi and Jaina exiting the pod with their packs looking more filled than previously pulls me out of my meditation.

"Ready to go lil Jay?" Shmi asks while smiling down at me. I scramble to my feet and dust the sand off the seat of my pants. I can already feel the sand in my shoes, they really were not made for long distance walking on sand I can already tell. I look around and try and see any kind of transport or speeder they might have come out here in.

Jaina laughs at my inquisitive stare looking around, "our speeder is over that dune, we had to walk in because this terrain around here is unstable. Sinkholes and maybe unmapped sarlaacs, if you're not careful you'll get swallowed up."

Shmi giggles at the face I make, though I don't see anything funny about those weird desert tentacle nightmares. "Don't you worry lil Jay, we know the way. Plus we both have been out here so much we know what to watch out for, any signs of them on the sand ya know?"

"My mother always called me James," I said seeing a good opportunity to make this name thing simpler for me.

Shmi and Jaina share another significant glance before looking back at me with warm smiles. "Okay," Jaina says and they both hold their hands out to me, "let's get going James."

I give them my smile at 60% maximum cuteness and am pleased with their resulting blushes. I can see what Aite was saying about my charm not being an issue in my current adorable body. As we're walking around I get a chance to look and see the iconic planet that it all started on for me. Seeing Tattooine in the original Star Wars movie, an alien planet, it was familiar and yet so different from Earth. Not just the beings that lived there but all their fantastical vehicles that they used to traverse the harsh desert terrain. It really felt like an alien world to me through the screen and it was definitely top on my list of planets that I absolutely needed to visit. For nothing else than to at least see the sunsets and feel the sand beneath my feet.

After less than five minutes of walking in this seemingly endless, hot as hell desert, I had decided I had seen more than enough of this dust ball. Sand to my left, and some more sand to my right. Guess what's that over there in front of us? It's yet more sand, Anakin was really understating it to be honest. Suffice to say this also knocked Hoth off of my list of planets to visit, though I do wanna visit the space Vegas planet at some point.

It's the Zeltron home world called Zeltros. Perhaps ask Jaina about it later. Also you're rambling because you are hot and bored, when you should be paying better attention to your surroundings

I looked around us seeing that we had entered a narrow rocky canyon. I could see tiny wamp rats jumping around in the shade of the rocks.

"Just a little bit farther, okay?" Shmi said and smiled while looking down to check on me. Her smile started to slip though while staring at my face and I could feel my face was flushed and sweating in the heat. It was starting to worry me though until she suddenly stopped short. Unfortunately I was still holding both Jaina and her own hand's, and Jaina hadn't stopped walking. One comedic moment of me being stretched between the two women later and Jaina stops when she realizes Shmi had stopped walking.

"What the hell Shmi?" Jaina said annoyed, "we have to keep moving. Can't be late on top of bringing in the lil one."

"Jaina, look at James," Shmi says calmly before looking at the Zeltron with a solemn look on her face. Jaina looks at her friend with an exasperated look for a moment and sighs before looking at me. She gives me a brief appraisal before turning back to Shmi with an eyebrow cocked.

"Okay, he's a kid, so what?" Jaina questions. Shmi sighs even harder than Jaina before responding in an exasperated tone.

"No, actually look at his face and tell me what you see." Jaina turns back towards me and starts to scrutinize my face intently. It starts to get embarrassing and I can feel myself blushing before looking down at my feet. I peek back up at her when I hear a small sigh and see Jaina blushing with a glossy and semi-dangerous look in her eye. Wow, my face is really a hazard, gotta learn how to control this thing.

"Exactly," Shmi says, snapping Jaina out of her hopefully not disturbing fantasies. "How do you think other's are gonna react to this face?" She asks while grabbing my chin and smooshing my cheeks while moving my head back and forth. "Imagine what would happen if those dancing sluts got a hold of him?!" She's almost shrieking at this point and is pinching my face at an almost painful amount. I slap her hand away but she doesn't seem to notice and continues her tirade. "Those tentacle headed tramps will never let him go, we gotta disguise him a little. You know to protect him from their slutty ways, they'll be a bad influence on him and then he'll be a bad influence on Anakin and then what will WE DO JAINA?!" Shmi really demonstrates her lung capacity at the end there because my ear on her side is ringing by the time she's done and gasping for breath from her tirade.

Jaina just stares at her for a moment with her eyebrow cocked and waiting for her to apparently run out of steam. "Fine, we'll disguise him to protect both of your sons from horrible slutty dancers, ANYTHING ELSE?!" Now it's Jaina's turn to start shouting apparently because my ear on the other side is also ringing now. Stupid sensitive Sephi ears, I would have covered them with my hands if both women didn't currently have them clutched in death grips.

"No, that's it, thank you so much Jaina!" Shmi declares happily and loudly before skipping over to wrap her in a tight hug. Unfortunately or not I'm caught in between their hug and Shmi is surprisingly strong. I can tell by how violently I can feel my face being smashed into Jaina's chest after getting caught in the wake of her skipping. My weak struggles against my pillowy doom are futile before I hear a familiar noise that makes us all freeze in place.

"Kriff, hide," Jaina whispers before they both burst into motion. Shmi scoops me up quickly and carries me as they both race over towards the boulders near the rocky wall of the ravine. Only one thing is on my mind as I bounce along in Shmi's arms. I have definitely heard that sound before, and it can not mean anything good. A few feet away from them we have to stop as shots ring out and ricochet off the ground in front of us. Slowly we turn towards the direction we had come from. A group of three figures in long robes, their faces completely covered were moving towards us. One had his long barreled rifle pointed at us and was screeching in a unpleasant sounding and guttural tongue. The other two looked like they had clubs of some kind that were pointed or studded on the ends.

Shmi puts me down and pushes me behind her while raising her arms at the the same time as Jaina. Jaina starts grunting at them in something that sounds like their language.

"Shmi," I start to whisper.

"Shh," she hissed without looking down at me. The negotiations or perhaps maybe they were pleas for our lives don't seem to be going well based on how agitated our assailants are acting. Jaina has taken her pack off at this point and is holding it out to the one with a rifle and is motioning Shmi to do the same. Our would be attackers don't deem this offering good enough though, as they all start hooting at us and the two with clubs start to lift them at us in a decidedly unfriendly manner.

The leader fires his gun at our feet again and we flinch back collectively as they begin to close the distance between us. Great, only two indigenous sentients I know of on this fucking sand ball and I had to run into the ones who aren't vertically challenged and don't want to sell me something.