Title: Always
Author: XVIII
Rating: PG13
Setting: A/U
Pairing: Obi/Ami
Summary: Amidala looks for a way to escape…
Archive: Ask me first!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to Mr. Lucas.
Always Four: Escape from the Desert Planet
The hutt mumbled something to the translator droid. The droid's golden plating was smothered in some sort of green slime; the gold itself seemed worn and had many scratches. His optical sensors were dull, unlike the shiny yellowish sensors a new droid would have. His wiring was exposed in several places.
All in all, the droid looked like it was picked up from the junkyard.
"Greetings. I am C3P0. I am fluent in over three m-"
The hutt bellowed at the droid.
"Yes, I am dreadfully sorry."
He turned to Obi-Wan and the princess.
"Jabba the Hutt demands that you surrender immediately. Otherwise…"
Two rather large pig-like guards grabbed the princess and several blasters were pointed at her.
"Otherwise, she will die."
Obi-Wan sighed in defeat as he de-ignited his lightsaber. There was no way he could take on at least fifty men without at least one of them getting a shot at the princess. He had rescued her, and now it was his job to protect her. The best way to do that right now was to surrender.
The hutt laughed triumphantly. He gestured and spoke again to the translator droid, who then said,
"Take the Jedi away and strip him of his weapon, but leave the girl here. She will be my new slave."
~ - ~ - ~
Amidala watched helplessly as the Jedi was chained up and led away from her. She started to cry out in protest, but the two guards restraining her pulled her hard and she fell to the floor. She looked at the Jedi one more time and shot him a look of desperation as he met her gaze. His eyes were filled with sorrow, regret, and guilt. He broke the gaze when the guards shoved him roughly, with only the force preventing him from falling.
She saw the Jedi give her one last look before a guard pushed him down the stairs. She heard him yelp in pain, and her eyes filled with concern for herself and her companion. She was taken away herself into another room.
"You become slave of Jabba. Must wear this."
One of the guards pointed to a rather revealing outfit and a collar with a large chain attached to it. The brown leather was decorated with golden patterns. The outfit would only cover up her private areas, leaving the rest of her body bare. She was horrified.
*Milady, can you hear me?*She gasped. The Jedi was communicating to her through their bond!
*I should have thought of that earlier!* She admonished herself.
*Pardon?* The Jedi was genuinely puzzled.
*Never mind. Yes, I can hear you.*
*Good*, the Jedi said. *Listen, do whatever they tell you to do. We need to lay low for a few more minutes and then I'm getting us out of here.*
Amidala was scandalized.
*You want me to put on THIS?!* She pictured the outfit in her head.
*Gah! Um… well, just do it for now. Don't worry, I'll get us out soon. I promise. I'm just gonna get my lightsaber back and we'll improvise from there.*
*Improvise?!* The princess reluctantly took the suit from its hanger. She found it difficult to have a conversation in her head while changing and walking. She glared at the guards, who turned around, giving her some privacy.
*Wait, where are you now?* Amidala asked.
*I'm in the dungeon. With a wookie. His name is Chewbacca, and I think he can help us get off of this planet once we escape.*
*Good*, said the princess, thinking that the conversation was over.
The Jedi's voice popped into her head again.
*Where are you?*
The princess looked around. There was nothing on the brown walls and a wooden door separated the tiny room from the rest of the rooms.
*I don't really know. Some small room. Not the main room, though.*
*OK, good*, the Jedi said. *Stay there until I come for you.*
And just like that, the link was broken.
~ - ~ - ~
Obi-Wan sighed. After explaining the plan to the princess, all he had to do was execute it. Of course, that was the hard part. He had to use his mind tricks to retrieve his lightsaber, and once he burst into the main room, all hell would probably break loose. Luckily, he had a wookie on his side.
He had been put in the same cell as a wookie named Chewbacca. It was fairly difficult to communicate with him because Obi-Wan couldn't understand wookie language so he needed to stick to "yes" or "no" questions. He had only found out the wookie's name when a guard mentioned it.
"Hey, Chewie!" Obi-Wan called the wookie over using the nickname he just thought up and decided he liked. "Once I get the door open, do you think you can take out the two guards down here?"
Chewie snorted and nodded yes. Obi-Wan smiled.
"Alright, here we go!"
As the first guard made his hourly patrol, Obi-Wan beckoned to him. The pig-like guard trotted over to their cell, wondering what the prisoners wanted this time.
"Do you know where my lightsaber is?" Obi-Wan asked the guard. When the guard nodded, Obi-Wan grinned.
"Good. Now you will go get my lightsaber and bring it back to me," Obi-Wan commanded with a wave of his hand.
"I will go get your lightsaber and bring it back to you," the guard repeated in grunts that sounded close enough to what Obi-Wan had said. He trotted off and returned with Obi-Wan's lightsaber a few minutes later. He handed it to Obi-Wan and trotted away again, still dazed and unaware what happened.
Obi-Wan grinned as a blade as electric blue as his eyes rose from the handle of his sword.
~ - ~ - ~
A few minutes later, the two guards on the dungeon level were unconscious and Obi-Wan and Chewbacca were headed for the upper level and the main room. Unfortunately, the hatch was about fifteen feet above Chewbacca's head. Chewbacca could make the jump easily, but Obi-Wan needed to get up there first to deflect laser blasts.
"Whoa! Steady!" Obi-Wan teetered on Chewbacca's shoulders. He could probably make the jump from where he was with a little help from the Force, but he needed to be safe.
"Just a little higher!"
Chewbacca looked up. The boy was high enough! He bellowed in protest and Obi-Wan looked down.
"Fine, I'll jump from here. Just keep it down!"
Obi-Wan barely caught the ledge and he dangled there for a few seconds. Then, using the Force, he jumped again, landing safely on the floor. He ignited his lightsaber quickly and deflected the oncoming laser blasts back at his attackers. He used the Force to push three guards into a wall, knocking them unconscious, and stole a few blasters, tossing two back to Chewie, who started taking out guards of his own.
They battled their way into the main room slashing and shooting. Obi-Wan sent more guards into a wall. Jabba was yelling at his guards to get up when Chewie silenced the last of them. Obi-Wan then reestablished his link with the princess.
~ - ~ - ~
*Princess!*
Amidala's head shot up. She was waiting in the small room until Jabba the Hutt called for her. The two guards were sleeping and snoring. Loudly. She was cold and tired, but she couldn't fall asleep because of said snoring and coldness. Her back ached and her cuts stung. She was dirty too. The ground that she was sitting on was muddy and she had been thrown down there several times already. She felt like crying. Who knew how much longer she would be stuck in that place?
*Princess!* The Jedi interrupted her self-pity marathon.
*Princess, I need you to go outside to the main room. I'm a little busy at the moment, so you'll need to get out by yourself.*
*I can't!* The princess replied. *I'm chained up to these guards, and they're asleep right now!*
*Okay,* the Jedi sighed. *Just wait right there; I'll come and get y-*
Suddenly, the Jedi flew through her door and slammed into the wall right next to her. His laser sword landed dangerously close to Amidala's right foot. She watched as the Jedi shook himself to regain his bearings, and then dusted himself off. He picked up his weapon and said
"Ow. Okay, don't move, you'll be out in just a second."
He used his blade to slice through the chains that held her captive and together the two ran outside to where Chewbacca stood alone. Jabba the Hutt was eerily still and slumped over and the room was quiet.
Her attention turned to the seven-foot-tall furball next to the Jedi.
"Who's the walking carpet?"
The Jedi chuckled at the beast, which seemed to glare at the Jedi.
"Princess, this is Chewbacca. He helped get us out of the dungeon."
Amidala grimaced. She really needed to learn how to control her mouth.
"Oh, sorry! Nice to meet you, Chewbacca."
She stuck out her hand and was slightly concerned that she had offended him when he was hesitant to shake it. When he did, she realized why. He had a gaping wound in his side. It was bleeding and it looked bad.
"Oh no! You're hurt!" She inspected the wound and the Jedi walked over to her.
"It's not that bad, but it'll need some medical attention. Let's get out of here first, though."
The trio headed out, led by Chewbacca with the Jedi guarding the rear, Amidala at his side.
"Wait!"
~ - ~ - ~
Obi-Wan looked around. The tinny voice didn't belong to the princess, and he knew that Chewie couldn't speak. He sensed no other life forms in the area.
*Who could it be, then?* He wondered.
"Oh my! Please help me! I seem to be buried underneath all these dreadful stones."
Obi-Wan used his Jedi super-hearing to locate the source of the sound. He ran over to a corner of the room, the princess and Chewie close behind. There, a tarnished golden hand was sticking out of the rubble. Obi-Wan and Chewie quickly lifted the larger stones and tossed them away, and the princess lifted up the translator droid up.
"Ah, thank you. Greetings. I am C3PO, fluent in over three million languages."
Obi-Wan nodded a greeting, while the princess said,
"Nice to meet you… Threepio." And Chewie bellowed a greeting.
"Ah, yes. It is nice to meet you all as well. Now may we leave? I've never liked this place."
Obi-Wan nodded.
"Alright, let's go."
~ - ~ - ~
They had found Chewie a healer in Mos Eisley. She was an old woman and appeared nice, but Obi-Wan was wary all the same. He heard it was hard to trust anyone on Tatooine, and he wasn't giving the healer an exception. Now he was faced with a difficult choice: he could either stay and get in trouble and get stripped of the Jedi title, or he could leave his friend alone with a strange old lady.
He turned to look at Threepio.
*Perfect!*
He would use option number three: find someone that he trusted enough to care for his friend so he wouldn't be alone with a strange old lady, and Obi-Wan would be able to go home and continue his training.
*Yes,* he admitted to himself. *I guess I am a genius!*
"Hey, Threepio. Do you think you will be able to watch over Chewie while we go?"
"Oh, most undoubtedly! Did I mention to you that I know over three hundred meditation and healing techniques?"
Chewie groaned, causing Threepio to stop mid-rant.
"Er… he said 'Why are you doing this to me?'"
Obi-Wan laughed.
"Don't worry, Chewie. I'm sure Threepio will take excellent care of you."
Chewie then let out a series of barks and grunts and Threepio translated.
"As a debt of gratitude, Chewbacca has offered to lend you a ship so you will be able to leave Tatooine. He says to go to dock four at the Mos Eisley cantina and you will find the ship. They will let you take it if you say that 'Solo' has sent you. You will be able to use the ship as long as you want until you see him again, for master Chewbacca is certain that you and he will meet again."
"Thanks, Chewie. I'm gonna miss you…" The princess trailed off as Chewie wrapped both Obi-Wan and the princess into a mammoth bear hug. They hugged back.
"Well," Obi-Wan started. "I guess this is it for now. Thanks again, Chewie, and I know we'll meet again. And Threepio, thanks for taking care of Chewie. I know we'll meet again too!"
And with one last goodbye, Obi-Wan and the princess walked off, not looking back.
~ - ~ - ~
"What a piece of JUNK!" The Jedi exclaimed as he looked at the vessel they were going to travel in. Amidala couldn't help but laugh. She had been told that the vessel was called the Millennium Falcon and that it was the fastest ship in the galaxy. That was good enough for her, although it did look like it came straight from the junkyard.
The Jedi sighed.
"Oh, well, I guess it'll do."
He began climbing up the stairs when a thought struck Amidala.
"Wait a minute! Isn't it weird that we've been with each other for about a week and we still don't know each other's names yet?"
"Hmm… that's right! We don't even know each others' name!" He stuck out his hand.
"My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Padawan."
Amidala took his hand and shook it.
"I am Amidala, princess of Naboo."
Obi-Wan took her hand and gently kissed it, causing Amidala to blush furiously. A new feeling also erupted inside her – one she never felt before. It scared her, the way she chilled at first when he kissed her, but it was also reassuring, comforting in ways she couldn't explain. She knew that she wanted more of where that came from, though.
The politician inside of her wanted to shut it out and think about it later. The young woman inside of her wanted to find out why she felt the way she did and make those feelings grow. She chose the politician. She didn't want to think about what happened, she wanted to go home first.
"Jed- Obi-Wan, where is our destination?" She called to him.
Obi-Wan stuck his head out from inside the ship.
"Milady, I was-"
Amidala cut him off.
"Amidala, please. It's bad enough that other politicians call me 'queen' or 'milady' and not by my real name, and I don't want to have the my only friend treating me formally too!"
Obi-Wan nodded while biting his lip.
"My apologies. Amidala, I was thinking that we should head to Yavin 4 first. As you know, there is a Jedi base located there and you should be able to get a safe transport back to Naboo and I should be able to get a safe transport back to Coruscant. We can receive food and shelter while we wait."
Amidala nodded. That sounded like a good plan. She boarded the ship and within minutes, the Millennium Falcon headed toward Yavin 4.