Disclaimer: All characters except for Meagan, Sasha and a few minor other characters, belong to George Lucas, and we are not receiving any profit off this work of fiction.

This is written in first person point of view of Meagan unless otherwise noted.

From Earth to Star Wars

Part One: Pre-TPM

Meagan travels from Earth to Star Wars and becomes friends with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Chapter 4

After our debriefing with the King and other staff, we were shown our quarters. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had one room, while I had the one next door that was connected by a small hallway.

"Are you going to be okay?" Qui-Gon asked me as I came into their room from mine.

I nodded. "I'll just scream if something happens."

Obi-Wan grinned while Qui-Gon just nodded. "Luckily they have given us free reign as guests, verses being investigators."

"So, we're under cover?" I wondered how much I actually missed, especially since I was foreign to everything.

"In a way. They know we are Jedi, but only a few know the real reason we are here." The Jedi Master turned to Obi-Wan. "I want us to divide up, just to explore the palace and the grounds. It will be a few days before we start to find anything that will help us figure this out. Meagan will be with me."

"Yes Master." With that, he turned and left the room.

"Ready?"

I nodded and we headed in the other direction.

As we walked casually through the palace and the grounds, we met more of the staff and began to learn our way around. As we strolled, he further explained things, and I felt much better about the whole situation.

Of course, we didn't find anything startling or a major clue, but learning our way around was very vital. That night we joined the King and others in a formal dinner and later went back to our rooms.

Before turning in, we sat in the bigger room, discussing our plans.

"Now, I'll be with the King all day, but I want both of you to spend most of tomorrow wandering around, seeing what you can find. Take nothing for granted or assume anything. Most things in life can be the least obvious and the one we don't expect." Qui-Gon stated as we began discussing things.

Both of us nodded. Spending a day snooping around somewhere with a good-looking guy I didn't have a problem with at all. However, I was glad he later told us to stick together. This species was a lot like humans, the Rufians, but on the other hand, they were completely different. Physically we were very similar, and inter mating on a few planets was quite common, but their culture and lifestyle, was so different than what I was used to. Of course, this entire world was still quite foreign to me.

The welfare of the planet was centered on the fishing industry, so to speak. The palace was only several miles from the coastline and what they actually had in their sea I couldn't even begin to pronounce. Of course, in the interior, there were mines and other industries. What the King and other staff suspected was that they were losing some of the planet's income through the fishing industry. In other words, someone was stealing either the fish, (they seemed to be a novelty everywhere else and very popular) or the profits off the fish.

As of that first night, I hadn't seen a live "fish," but they were stuffed everywhere. Looking at one, I nearly lost my dinner. I had no clue why the different species here found them so valuable, but they were a way of life for people and kept the children fed and clothed, so I wasn't going to protest too much about the mission

So, Obi-Wan's and I first chore the next morning was to take a little jog down the beach and the docks, where the fisherman often worked. The sea was a bright blue and was complimented by white sands and staggering cliffs. Because of the natural beauty of the area, it was a high tourist area and one of the most well known and popular spots of the entire system. I had no fear of getting caught out of place.

"Wow, this is really pretty." Obi-Wan and I stopped for a second or two and I turned and gazed at the glistering sun over the sea. I could see why it was a draw for so many.

"Alderaan has several like this." Now that was a name I could actually relate to. "But this one is a lot deeper and the fishing is better."

I nodded. "Where do we want to go first?"

Obi-Wan scanned the area down below us. I could feel him stretch out with the Force, I guess picking up what he could with his extended senses. A few minutes later, he pointed. "There, that's where we are going."

I followed to where he pointed his finger at the bustling market. "Let's go then."

He nodded and easily led the way down to the docks or what could also be described as a boardwalk. Shops lined the sea line and we pretended to be tourists, going in and out of shops and looking around. Acting like tourists was something I had no problem with either, especially since I'd never seen anything like it before in my life. Of course, trying to pick up anything out of the ordinary was much harder.

However, we were able to pick up on people's conversations and they all were discussing the current problems. Now, to both of us it seemed like just a bunch of gossip and complaining, nothing really to base an investigation on.

Finally, we stepped into one "fish store" and began to look around. About a twelve-year-old boy or I should say Rufian, came up to us. "Can I help you with anything?"

Obi-Wan shook his head, heading toward something else, pretending to be interested.

I knelt down to the little one's level. "No thanks, we're just looking around." I paused for a second. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

He shook his head, sadly. "My mom died earlier this year and I have to help mind the store and take care of my little sisters while Dad fishes."

I sighed, touched by his sacrifices. "I'm sure he really appreciates your help. How old are your sisters?"

"One's nearly two and the other is five." Now that he was talking about them, I could see how much he loved them.

"Are they here with you?" I asked, gently touching his arm. Something told me this little family needed some help.

He pulled away at my touch and his features hardened protectively. "They're napping and I don't want to wake them."

I had to fight laughing at that, despite the grime situation. "Of course you don't. They need their rest. What's your name?"

"Shad." He said, smiling again. "My mom picked it out."

"It's a nice name. Your mother has good taste." I smiled back, as I quickly glanced around, and found Obi-Wan watching us. "My name is Meagan."

Shad tilted his head slightly. "That's different, but pretty."

"Thanks." I was about to say something else, when a tall, dark man entered the room from the back. My hair nearly stood on end. There was something about him that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"Shad, I need your help in the back." He glanced to me. "Unless you're tied up with customers."

The little boy glanced questionable at me. I just shook my head. "Go on, Shad." I turned to his father. "It's all right, we were just talking."

He nodded, turned and left.

"Bye Meagan. Nice to meet you." Shad grinned.

I smiled back easily. "Nice to meet you too."

He glanced back to me. "Maybe you can stop by later and meet my sisters."

"I'd love too." With that the boy went into the back at his father's call.

I watched him leave, and then in unison, both of us left the shop. "Poor thing. He's so young."

Obi-Wan nodded. "That sometimes happens around here, especially with manual labor. The parent just makes enough to keep the young ones clothed, fed with a roof over their heads. Education sometimes gets pushed aside."

We continued to stroll back down the street, slowly heading back to the palace. "Single parenting can be hard. Most of the children I worked with came from a household with just one parent. There must be something we can do for them."

"I don't think it will happen. His father didn't look to happy to see you two talking." Obi-Wan paused and looked back to that shop, deep in thought.

"So, you noticed it too?" Maybe my keen intuition would also work in this galaxy.

Obi-Wan nodded. "It's nothing we can base anything on, but there was something about him that made me feel funny."

"That's exactly it. I hope he's good to the children."

"There's nothing we can do about that Meagan." He warned me as we started up the hill, back toward the palace grounds.

I turned to him, and on a slight slant, we stood eye to eye. "Aren't we supposed to help people like that?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "Sometimes we wish we could make everything right, but there is no evidence that the man is anything but a good father, trying to take care of his motherless children. Leave it at that."

I could tell by the stubborn look in his eyes that nothing I could say would change his mind. I knew, deep down, that he was right.

"However, if the Force wants us to help those kids, we will."

I couldn't argue with that as we continued to head up the hill. For the rest of the day, we explored the rest of the area. We even rented a speeder, the ones that Luke and Leia rode on in Return of the Jedi. I had strapped on a helmet and climbed up behind Obi-Wan. I briefly wondered what his driving skills were like as we peeled out.

It was almost like riding a motorcycle, except your flying. And we did fly, awfully fast too. Luckily, it was mostly through open fields to get to a small settlement a little north a ways. I liked the feel of the wind through my hair and the way it tickled on my arms. However, when those trees started coming towards me, I nearly screamed. I hope I didn't leave bruises across Obi-Wan's midsection, where I was gripping him like my life depended on it, which it actually might have been. The good part was, no one was following or shooting at us.

After finding nothing to help us solve these crimes, but meeting some very interesting characters, we headed back to the palace for dinner that night.

"So, how was your day?" Qui-Gon asked me, coming into my room as I finished writing in my journal after we returned to the rooms for the night.

I smiled and told him.

His face scowled when I got to the part where Obi-Wan and I rented one of the palace's speeders. "Obi-Wan." He called out and I got the feeling he was in trouble.

"What is it Master?" He stepped in through the hallway that connected our rooms.

"You drove a speeder with Meagan on it?"

Obi-Wan shrugged slightly. "I thought we should go to one of the nearby villages and it's entirely to far to walk. They're big enough for both of us."

"Padawan." He warned him and Obi-Wan just shrugged.

Watching the exchange, I wondered what they were really talking about. "It's all right, I'm just fine."

They both turned to me as Obi-Wan sat down on the floor, but before he could say a word, Qui-Gon broke in.

"You still drive entirely too fast on those things. One of these days, you are going to hurt yourself or worse, someone else."

The room grew silent. Obi-Wan just shrugged again and gave a quiet yes master and I got the feeling that from now on I would be riding with Qui-Gon.

*******

Now getting to know other lifestyles was something I was preparing myself to do when I agreed to go to Eastern Europe to work in an orphanage, but at least I knew my home was only a very long plane ride away and not a different galaxy all together. At least on Earth, we were all human. Learning a new species was entirely different. However, I wasn't going to let that stop me from doing what I could. (By now I had figured out in order to keep myself sane in this new world I had to learn as much as I could, to accept and to adjust to things as much as I could.) I was still glad for the much-needed help of the two Jedi, especially since I had no one else to really trust.

Over the next few days, Obi-Wan and I continued to scope out what we could while Qui-Gon mostly stayed with the royal staff and tried to decipher things on that side and at night, both of them studied financial records and such. We were no closer to solving this than we were when we got here, but I was sure learning a lot.

During free time, we still mediated and I got to watch Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan spar a bit, which was totally cool. (Even though it looked like ones I'd seen in the Star Wars movies.) I even got to spend some more time with Shad and his two adorable sisters, Corral and Daphnia. They obviously missed their mother very much and it almost seemed, though Obi-Wan thought I was making too much out of this, were scared of their father. Though personal opinions were not something I could base an entire theory and crime to, I decided to keep an eye on them.

*******

I slowly awoke in the morning as I heard the rising of the Jedi next door. I lazily stretched out, wondering what this day would hold. We had been talking to people, going places, and tracking the trails of the fishing industry. Overall, I learned a lot more than I ever thought I would about these sea creatures, but it was almost like a puzzle to be solved. So far we only had the end pieces together and were dividing up the middle pieces into different categories.

After dressing and making sure all was clear next-door, we walked down and ate breakfast.

"Hello, pretty lady." Gonnoer Flinierg greeted me. He was a high-ranking official in the government, mainly over the different industries, including the fishing one.

"Good morning sir." I greeted him coolly, hoping he would get the idea. He had been hitting on me since we got here. It was beginning to rate on my last nerve, but there was something else about him that unnerved me. However, there was nothing that linked the man to the crimes.

It was after breakfast, Obi-Wan and I headed out of the palace to a number of nearby villages, talking to the different people to see what they thought about all of this. Hardly any of them talked to us.

"They're scared." I said to Obi-Wan as we headed back for dinner that night.

"About what?" He asked me. "They're not guilty. We've picked that much up from them."

"This is their way of life, the clothes they wear, the food they eat and the roofs over their heads. They tell us anything they knew, it gets around and they loose their jobs. Most have good-sized families that need food and clothing. They can't afford to do that."

Obi-Wan turned and faced me. "I think you hit it with that. There must be some way to get past that and to the truth."

I pushed back the slight curls that fell loose from my ponytail, but they wouldn't obey me. "We'll come up with something, the Force will show us."

Obi-Wan smiled as he reached out, carefully tucking the curls behind my ears. "You're starting to sound like one of us."

"But I'm not." I said quietly, not pulling away from his gentle touch. "I've just learned to adjust."

"Maybe that's why the Force choose you to come to us."

"But why did I come directly to you?"

Obi-Wan still had his hand on my cheek and gently rubbed it with his thumb. "Maybe because somehow you knew us and that we needed you here to help us solve this puzzle. Those kids certainly needed a female touch."

"Maybe." I smiled, enjoying the gentle touch, but pulled away. "We'd better get back."

Obi-Wan nodded and we walked the rest of the way back to the palace in a silence that did not need any words.

*******

"Well, what did you two find today?" Qui-Gon asked us as we spread out with records that evening in the bigger room. Well, I worked on my Basic, while the other two studied the records.

Obi-Wan and I glanced at each other. "Straight fear. They are afraid of losing their jobs and homes. If any of them know anything, they don't want to talk and get into more trouble."

Qui-Gon considered this for a moment before asking. "Did you find any evidence or get the feeling that any of them were involved?"

We shook our heads, but I spoke up a minute or so later. "I still don't like Langston."

"And what gives you that idea?"

"The girls are scared of him. Children that young are not naturally afraid of their fathers unless he gives them a good reason. I've worked with children hurt by their families before. They may not be abused, but there is something besides them trying to get along without their mother."

"And until we get enough evidence, there is nothing we can do Meagan." Qui-Gon stated and moved back to the forms, satisfied with our reports.

Sighing, I turned back to my notes as they went through theirs.

"Anything Padawan?" Qui-Gon was beginning to sound frustrated.

Obi-Wan sighed. "I don't see anything unusual here. If they have notes about something illegal it's not here."

"Oh, I wish Tahl was here. She could figure this out faster than anyone."

Obi-Wan looked up and smiled slightly at the mention of Jedi Knight Tahl. "Yes she could."

Now was my chance. I often wondered if the JA books were right about the relationship between Qui-Gon and Tahl. "Who's Tahl?"

Obi-Wan gave me a look while Qui-Gon smiled slightly. "She died a couple years ago. We grew up in the Temple and we….."

I got up and sat next to him, putting a hand on his arm. "It's all right if you don't want to talk about it."

He shook his head. "Talking about it helps some." He paused as Obi-Wan watched him protectively. "She and I worked on several cases together and after she was blinded in a mission she worked in the Temple library and was a tremendous help in finding and uncovering data. That was her forte."

I waited as he continued. "It wasn't until a month before she died on a mission that we realized that our relationship was more than friendship. We began talking about getting married and spending the rest of our lives together, but we both had Padawans to consider."

Obi-Wan looked up from his notes. "Like Bant, she was Tahl's Padawan, and I would have minded much."

The two Jedi shared a special brief look. "Anyway, it just never worked out, but I still cherish her memory even though there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her."

I nodded my head. "She would have wanted you to continue to live on, despite what happened. She's sounds extremely courageous, learning to live and be a Jedi Knight after losing her sight."

Both Jedi smiled. "Tahl was something else."

'Married?' I thought, as the conversation began sinking in. This world was different from the one George Lucas created. Then what in the world would happen to Anakin after he and Padme marry in the end of Episode II? I had to ask. "Jedi are allowed to marry?"

"Attachment and marriage are forbidden until knighthood." Qui-Gon started to explain. "We believe that the frivolities of young love interfere with the studies of the Padawans. The youngsters need to be fully dedicated to becoming a Jedi and following the will of the Force. After they show they are dedicated and mature enough, they are allowed to have a spouse and family, if they want. However, the relationship must be approved by the Council and most of the couples are both Jedi Knights."

I nodded and suddenly I wished that I could stay in this world just to see how different it was from the one George Lucas created. Maybe, just maybe, things would turn out differently. As I pondered this and much more, the conversation waned and we continued to study.