Same old, same old.
Chapter 12
Obi-Wan ran as fast as he could toward the retreating ship, thought it seemed to him like he wasn't moving at all. He pulled out a tracking device and, using the force, threw it at the ship. It hit its mark, but blue electric lightning flashed where it hit and rocketed it back toward the Jedi, hitting him in the forehead and knocked him to the ground. 'Ouch! Bloody bounty hunters!' he thought. Slowly he stood up, wobbled a bit, leaned on a tree for support, then watched as the bounty hunter's ship soared up through the atmosphere, away to who knows where, with his Padawan and Senator Amidala. Jar Jar stumbled up behind him, at awe.
"What wesa gonna do now, eh? Mesa helpie, of course. Wesa gonna find dat bounty hunter and crunch him!" He waited for a reply, but received none. "Obi?" Jar Jar turned to look, and found that Obi-Wan was no longer leaning on the tree, but he had fallen to the ground. That knock on the head must have hurt. "Obi! Yousa okay?" He rushed over to his fallen friend.
"Yeah, I'm fine Jar Jar. At least, I think I am.now." The Jedi got to his feet, clutching Jar Jar's hand for support with one hand, and his forehead with the other.
"Mesa no tink so. Yousa rest, I'llsa call Jedi Temple for you, eh?"
"Yes Jar Jar, you do that please." Obi-Wan reached into his belt and pulled out the com-unit. The Gungan took it in his clumsy hands, and listened to Obi-Wan tell him how to work it, nodding like he understood. (*snort then lunatic laughter in the background *)
Before Jar Jar could do anything, however, the com was alive in his hands, some lights coming on and a small buzz followed by a voice. Startled, Jar Jar dropped it. right into a deep, water-filled ditch.
"Jar Jar!" Obi groaned. "You're such a klutz sometimes! It could have been something important!" He glared at the Gungan for a second or two, before sighing in defeat. "Oh well. If we want to catch that bounty hunter, we'd better leave now." With Jar Jar helping for a while, the two made there way back to Theed.
Padme woke on a cold, metal floor, and had no idea where she was. She sat up, but her head screamed at her, and she lay back down again. That was when she noticed she had a pillow under her head, but that seemed to be the only luxury in her cell. She noticed, from her lying down position that she was surrounded by metal bars. Where was she? Where were Anakin and Obi-Wan? The last thing she remembered is the two Jedi having a conversation with a bounty hunter who held her firmly in place from behind. Then what? Franticly, she tried to sit up again.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Padme froze, but then lowered herself to her pillow again for the pain. "Why not?" she asked bitterly.
"You hit your head pretty hard." It was that same voice that had commanded her to not move or make a sound. How long ago was that?
"How? I don't remember anything." She heard the ring of boot soles on the metal floor grow louder, then walk past her and stop a ways away.
"I guess I shouldn't say 'you' hit your head pretty hard. It's more like, when I dropped you, your head hit the floor hard."
"Dropped me?"
"I was in a hurry."
"From whom?"
There was no reply, only the boots ringing on the floor, coming nearer. There was a quiet whoosh as a cage door was opened, and Padme felt the presence of someone else in the cage near her. A heavy hand, because of a glove and weaponry, was placed on her shoulder and something thin and sharp was stuck into her neck: a needle. She winced in pain, but held back a cry, determined not to give the man pleasure in her pain, if that's what amused him. The liquid entered her blood system, but did nothing for a while. Then, the a buzz in her head she had never known was there ended, and the dull smarting from trying to sit up dissolved and she felt that she could sit up now.
The quick thinking senator thought up a quick plan, and before she could even start to think about everything that could go wrong, she began putting it to action. She slowly began to raise herself from the floor, but was suddenly pushed down again by the hand on her shoulder. She could hear the bounty hunter shifted his weight, crouching, ready to spring. Then the hand was gone, and Padme moved instantly; launching herself at the retreating Boba Fett, her hand grazed his boot, but then he turned and shut the barred door and locked it. Padme gave the bounty hunter a fierce glare before actually looking at what he looked like. She shivered, remembering the last person she had seen in similar attire: one Jango Fett. The armor was a different color, and a little older and more beat-up, but it still looked the same. The boy had taken his father's armor: that was obvious, but had modified it and added on. He was looking at her, the cold T visor staring into her, but she didn't look away, as much as she wanted to. It felt as though he was looking into her very thoughts. 'But that's impossible, he'd have to be a Jedi. which, of course, he's not..' She glared at him again, then broke away from his gaze, and looked around. The first thing she was.
"Anakin!"
He was slumped against a wall, his hands and legs bound tightly, unconscious. Boba Fett walked over to him, putting some liquid in a syringe and sticking a needle in the Jedi's neck.
"What is that?" Padme demanded. "What will it do?"
Boba Fett finished putting the substance in Anakin, and faced her. "It won't harm him."
"What is it?" Padme glared fiercely at the bounty hunter, who went about his business without looking at her.
"It will just keep him unconscious." Boba Fett thought about telling her the other part of the drug, but decided against it; she didn't need to know THAT much, and what he told her wasn't a lie, but not the full truth. "I don't want Jedi scum running around my ship."
Padme stared at the bounty hunter. Jedi _scum_? _How_ could anyone think that Jedi were scum? Her shock on her face must have shown.
"What? Never heard anyone call a Jedi scum before?"
Padme was about to shake her head, but stopped herself. "If you don't want scum walking around this ship, then I suggest you get off!"
The bounty hunter shrugged and replied in his usual monotone voice. "I don't think so. No one kicks me off my ship."
There was more silence; would it ever end? Boba Fett sat and looked at her, occasionally picking some dirt or grit out of the nook and crannies of his armor and equipment with a sharp, fine tool. Padme watched him, wondering what the bounty hunter was thinking. Finally, she got up enough nerve to ask the question that had been bugging her for what seemed like the eternity of silence.
"How could you, or anyone, think that Jedi are bad?"
Boba looked at her with the visor gaze ,that would soon be infamous, for several seconds, as if pondering on the question, flipping it over in his mind, searching for the best answer. "Simple. Sometimes the Jedi are not what you think they are."
"But they're so noble, so intent on doing good!"
"That's exactly what makes them bad. You see, Senator, you've only seen one side of the Jedi, and that's all. Many have only seen one side of the Jedi. But many more have seen, or heard about the other side, the bad side."
"What are you getting at?" Padme asked suspiciously. "I don't see what this has to do with them being "to good", as you put it."
"You see, since they are so sure that they are doing good, they often ruin others lives, making them miserable, just because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time, trying to do something, if not for themselves, for someone who's paying them."
Padme didn't believe the bounty hunter. "Give me an example of these people."
Boba stood up. "Me. People in this galaxy need to make a living, and not all people have it as good as you. You grew up on a peaceful planet with everything living in harmony, and your job doesn't involve half as many hardships as others. Well, it's not like that in the galaxy, as I hope you know. I bounty hunt; making my living off people who make themselves hated by powerful enemies, offering my services to the highest bidder, and so do many others; if not in bounty hunting, then something else. The Jedi stop them from earning their credits, killing them off because they're just trying to do something for themselves, to survive. The Jedi are hated and feared for that Senator. Your senate and chancellor fail to see the people struggling against the Jedi, who think they're always right and stronger. Some of them, and not just the Jedi, even think that they're better than us; better than the commoners, that they can lord over us in that mighty temple or senate of theirs." Was that anger in his usual monotone? Yes, it was. Boba Fett and Padme both were stunned by his speech. Boba had not let out his anger in so long he fought it off, now standing silently only three feet away.
Padme stared up into the gaze of the bounty hunter. She knew these things, about the lowlifes running around, running their own little dirty world of double crossing- wait, this was exactly what the bounty hunter had said. The people in the upper world thought of the lower level people on Corasuant and elsewhere dirty, scum, evil, and.well, like he said, scavengers. As Padme looked up into his visor, she felt the truth of the words, it shivering down her spine.or was that his gaze?
Boba turned on his heel, retreating up to the cockpit, and taking off his helmet when the door slid shut behind him. What had happened back there? Boba Fett, the master of calmness, had lost it and spoke with a hint of anger in his voice. I'll have to check that in the future, he thought. That would be true, very true. In fact, his calmness would get him out of several messes any normal person would panic and make a fatal mistake in. In the future, when he becomes the best bounty hunter the galaxy ever saw or will see (of course!), that anger would hardly be heard by anyone. But that was the future, and this was the present, and he didn't know that. Hey, give him a little break, he's only seventeen.
Padme glared at the cock pit door, but was powerless to do more.at the moment. Padme waited until the door was shut before softly calling to Anakin. She lost track of the time, but continued calling her husband's name.
"Anakin," pause, "Anakin," pause, pause, "Aaaanaakiiinn," longer pause. Was that movement? Yes! Padme smiled triumphantly. His leg had moved(yay.)! Finally she was getting somewhere! The senator picked up her gentle calling, unaware that she was being watched.
Boba Fett watched Padme softly call her love, and saw the twitch in his leg. It could be a reaction to the calling, but it might just be a muscle spasm. No, he moved his head now, and his eyelids flickered. Boba leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand, watching the Jedi revive.
Padme was now convinced the bounty hunter new nothing of what was going on in his cargo hold. She smiled as Anakin's eyelids flickered again, and went on calling his name.
"Anakin, are you okay?"
"Mommy?" was the weak reply. "Is that you? But I don' wanna clean the droids again!"
"No Anakin, wake up, it's me: Padme. We're in trouble. Wake up, Ani, wake up."
Slowly, but surely, Anakin awoke. He was over by Padme in a flash, holding her hand through the bars. They kissed (mushy romance, ick) through the bars for a moment, before Anakin worked on the locked with his free hand.
"Where are we?"
"On the bounty hunter Boba Fett's ship. He put some stuff in your neck; he said it was to keep you asleep."
"It didn't work well either. Do you still have that lock pick you had on Geonosis?"
Padme's eyes lit up. "I hadn't thought of that!" She reached down to her waist pockets, only to find them empty. "It's gone, every thing I have is gone."
Anakin smile reassuringly, thinking in his overly confident little brain that everything would be okay, that he would kill the bounty hunter, and they would go to Naboo, or Corasuant or something like that. Padme held his gaze for a moment, believing him, then her gaze shifted to a movement behind him, and her eyes went wide.
Anakin spun around, reaching for the lightsaber that wasn't there. The bounty hunter stood above them, in the doorway to the cockpit with his helmet on once again. Behind him, they could see the lights of the control panel, and Anakin's lightsaber. Anakin reached out with the Force, calling his lightsaber to his hand.
Nothing happened. The lightsaber didn't even wiggle, and the bounty hunter didn't visibly flinch. Anakin didn't feel the buzz of the Force around him, nor could he feel Padme or Boba Fett. For the first time in his life, Anakin couldn't feel the galaxy span around him endlessly. He felt empty, hollow, and he crumpled to the floor. So this was what it was like, to be non-Force sensitive. He felt Padme's arms slide around his neck, not knowing what was wrong. How could she know, she never new what the Force felt like, so how could she miss it?
"What's wrong Anakin?"
"It's gone!"
"What?"
"The Force."
"What! H-How could it be gone? I mean." Padme glared up at Boba Fett. "Fett." she whispered.
Fett nodded, seeing the Jedi's defeat and felt.nothing. No pity, no triumph, no feelings. Wait, yes, there was one, deep down there somewhere. Relief. The drug had worked, even though Anakin had fought off the sleeping part of it, the other part kicked in. It was something like a virus that only really affected Jedi because it capped mediclorians, dulling and, if given enough, stopping all connection with The Force for a time.
Boba Fett had triumphed. again. Anakin slumped helpless and lost next to the cage that held Padme safely in it.
Heh heh, he wins. It looks like Padme and Anakin are gonna have to wait until they get to where ever Boba Fett is taking them. Coruasuant will be included in the next chap, I promise. I haven't worked on this chapter much when FanFic is down, but it is a long one! Please review!
Chapter 12
Obi-Wan ran as fast as he could toward the retreating ship, thought it seemed to him like he wasn't moving at all. He pulled out a tracking device and, using the force, threw it at the ship. It hit its mark, but blue electric lightning flashed where it hit and rocketed it back toward the Jedi, hitting him in the forehead and knocked him to the ground. 'Ouch! Bloody bounty hunters!' he thought. Slowly he stood up, wobbled a bit, leaned on a tree for support, then watched as the bounty hunter's ship soared up through the atmosphere, away to who knows where, with his Padawan and Senator Amidala. Jar Jar stumbled up behind him, at awe.
"What wesa gonna do now, eh? Mesa helpie, of course. Wesa gonna find dat bounty hunter and crunch him!" He waited for a reply, but received none. "Obi?" Jar Jar turned to look, and found that Obi-Wan was no longer leaning on the tree, but he had fallen to the ground. That knock on the head must have hurt. "Obi! Yousa okay?" He rushed over to his fallen friend.
"Yeah, I'm fine Jar Jar. At least, I think I am.now." The Jedi got to his feet, clutching Jar Jar's hand for support with one hand, and his forehead with the other.
"Mesa no tink so. Yousa rest, I'llsa call Jedi Temple for you, eh?"
"Yes Jar Jar, you do that please." Obi-Wan reached into his belt and pulled out the com-unit. The Gungan took it in his clumsy hands, and listened to Obi-Wan tell him how to work it, nodding like he understood. (*snort then lunatic laughter in the background *)
Before Jar Jar could do anything, however, the com was alive in his hands, some lights coming on and a small buzz followed by a voice. Startled, Jar Jar dropped it. right into a deep, water-filled ditch.
"Jar Jar!" Obi groaned. "You're such a klutz sometimes! It could have been something important!" He glared at the Gungan for a second or two, before sighing in defeat. "Oh well. If we want to catch that bounty hunter, we'd better leave now." With Jar Jar helping for a while, the two made there way back to Theed.
Padme woke on a cold, metal floor, and had no idea where she was. She sat up, but her head screamed at her, and she lay back down again. That was when she noticed she had a pillow under her head, but that seemed to be the only luxury in her cell. She noticed, from her lying down position that she was surrounded by metal bars. Where was she? Where were Anakin and Obi-Wan? The last thing she remembered is the two Jedi having a conversation with a bounty hunter who held her firmly in place from behind. Then what? Franticly, she tried to sit up again.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Padme froze, but then lowered herself to her pillow again for the pain. "Why not?" she asked bitterly.
"You hit your head pretty hard." It was that same voice that had commanded her to not move or make a sound. How long ago was that?
"How? I don't remember anything." She heard the ring of boot soles on the metal floor grow louder, then walk past her and stop a ways away.
"I guess I shouldn't say 'you' hit your head pretty hard. It's more like, when I dropped you, your head hit the floor hard."
"Dropped me?"
"I was in a hurry."
"From whom?"
There was no reply, only the boots ringing on the floor, coming nearer. There was a quiet whoosh as a cage door was opened, and Padme felt the presence of someone else in the cage near her. A heavy hand, because of a glove and weaponry, was placed on her shoulder and something thin and sharp was stuck into her neck: a needle. She winced in pain, but held back a cry, determined not to give the man pleasure in her pain, if that's what amused him. The liquid entered her blood system, but did nothing for a while. Then, the a buzz in her head she had never known was there ended, and the dull smarting from trying to sit up dissolved and she felt that she could sit up now.
The quick thinking senator thought up a quick plan, and before she could even start to think about everything that could go wrong, she began putting it to action. She slowly began to raise herself from the floor, but was suddenly pushed down again by the hand on her shoulder. She could hear the bounty hunter shifted his weight, crouching, ready to spring. Then the hand was gone, and Padme moved instantly; launching herself at the retreating Boba Fett, her hand grazed his boot, but then he turned and shut the barred door and locked it. Padme gave the bounty hunter a fierce glare before actually looking at what he looked like. She shivered, remembering the last person she had seen in similar attire: one Jango Fett. The armor was a different color, and a little older and more beat-up, but it still looked the same. The boy had taken his father's armor: that was obvious, but had modified it and added on. He was looking at her, the cold T visor staring into her, but she didn't look away, as much as she wanted to. It felt as though he was looking into her very thoughts. 'But that's impossible, he'd have to be a Jedi. which, of course, he's not..' She glared at him again, then broke away from his gaze, and looked around. The first thing she was.
"Anakin!"
He was slumped against a wall, his hands and legs bound tightly, unconscious. Boba Fett walked over to him, putting some liquid in a syringe and sticking a needle in the Jedi's neck.
"What is that?" Padme demanded. "What will it do?"
Boba Fett finished putting the substance in Anakin, and faced her. "It won't harm him."
"What is it?" Padme glared fiercely at the bounty hunter, who went about his business without looking at her.
"It will just keep him unconscious." Boba Fett thought about telling her the other part of the drug, but decided against it; she didn't need to know THAT much, and what he told her wasn't a lie, but not the full truth. "I don't want Jedi scum running around my ship."
Padme stared at the bounty hunter. Jedi _scum_? _How_ could anyone think that Jedi were scum? Her shock on her face must have shown.
"What? Never heard anyone call a Jedi scum before?"
Padme was about to shake her head, but stopped herself. "If you don't want scum walking around this ship, then I suggest you get off!"
The bounty hunter shrugged and replied in his usual monotone voice. "I don't think so. No one kicks me off my ship."
There was more silence; would it ever end? Boba Fett sat and looked at her, occasionally picking some dirt or grit out of the nook and crannies of his armor and equipment with a sharp, fine tool. Padme watched him, wondering what the bounty hunter was thinking. Finally, she got up enough nerve to ask the question that had been bugging her for what seemed like the eternity of silence.
"How could you, or anyone, think that Jedi are bad?"
Boba looked at her with the visor gaze ,that would soon be infamous, for several seconds, as if pondering on the question, flipping it over in his mind, searching for the best answer. "Simple. Sometimes the Jedi are not what you think they are."
"But they're so noble, so intent on doing good!"
"That's exactly what makes them bad. You see, Senator, you've only seen one side of the Jedi, and that's all. Many have only seen one side of the Jedi. But many more have seen, or heard about the other side, the bad side."
"What are you getting at?" Padme asked suspiciously. "I don't see what this has to do with them being "to good", as you put it."
"You see, since they are so sure that they are doing good, they often ruin others lives, making them miserable, just because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time, trying to do something, if not for themselves, for someone who's paying them."
Padme didn't believe the bounty hunter. "Give me an example of these people."
Boba stood up. "Me. People in this galaxy need to make a living, and not all people have it as good as you. You grew up on a peaceful planet with everything living in harmony, and your job doesn't involve half as many hardships as others. Well, it's not like that in the galaxy, as I hope you know. I bounty hunt; making my living off people who make themselves hated by powerful enemies, offering my services to the highest bidder, and so do many others; if not in bounty hunting, then something else. The Jedi stop them from earning their credits, killing them off because they're just trying to do something for themselves, to survive. The Jedi are hated and feared for that Senator. Your senate and chancellor fail to see the people struggling against the Jedi, who think they're always right and stronger. Some of them, and not just the Jedi, even think that they're better than us; better than the commoners, that they can lord over us in that mighty temple or senate of theirs." Was that anger in his usual monotone? Yes, it was. Boba Fett and Padme both were stunned by his speech. Boba had not let out his anger in so long he fought it off, now standing silently only three feet away.
Padme stared up into the gaze of the bounty hunter. She knew these things, about the lowlifes running around, running their own little dirty world of double crossing- wait, this was exactly what the bounty hunter had said. The people in the upper world thought of the lower level people on Corasuant and elsewhere dirty, scum, evil, and.well, like he said, scavengers. As Padme looked up into his visor, she felt the truth of the words, it shivering down her spine.or was that his gaze?
Boba turned on his heel, retreating up to the cockpit, and taking off his helmet when the door slid shut behind him. What had happened back there? Boba Fett, the master of calmness, had lost it and spoke with a hint of anger in his voice. I'll have to check that in the future, he thought. That would be true, very true. In fact, his calmness would get him out of several messes any normal person would panic and make a fatal mistake in. In the future, when he becomes the best bounty hunter the galaxy ever saw or will see (of course!), that anger would hardly be heard by anyone. But that was the future, and this was the present, and he didn't know that. Hey, give him a little break, he's only seventeen.
Padme glared at the cock pit door, but was powerless to do more.at the moment. Padme waited until the door was shut before softly calling to Anakin. She lost track of the time, but continued calling her husband's name.
"Anakin," pause, "Anakin," pause, pause, "Aaaanaakiiinn," longer pause. Was that movement? Yes! Padme smiled triumphantly. His leg had moved(yay.)! Finally she was getting somewhere! The senator picked up her gentle calling, unaware that she was being watched.
Boba Fett watched Padme softly call her love, and saw the twitch in his leg. It could be a reaction to the calling, but it might just be a muscle spasm. No, he moved his head now, and his eyelids flickered. Boba leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand, watching the Jedi revive.
Padme was now convinced the bounty hunter new nothing of what was going on in his cargo hold. She smiled as Anakin's eyelids flickered again, and went on calling his name.
"Anakin, are you okay?"
"Mommy?" was the weak reply. "Is that you? But I don' wanna clean the droids again!"
"No Anakin, wake up, it's me: Padme. We're in trouble. Wake up, Ani, wake up."
Slowly, but surely, Anakin awoke. He was over by Padme in a flash, holding her hand through the bars. They kissed (mushy romance, ick) through the bars for a moment, before Anakin worked on the locked with his free hand.
"Where are we?"
"On the bounty hunter Boba Fett's ship. He put some stuff in your neck; he said it was to keep you asleep."
"It didn't work well either. Do you still have that lock pick you had on Geonosis?"
Padme's eyes lit up. "I hadn't thought of that!" She reached down to her waist pockets, only to find them empty. "It's gone, every thing I have is gone."
Anakin smile reassuringly, thinking in his overly confident little brain that everything would be okay, that he would kill the bounty hunter, and they would go to Naboo, or Corasuant or something like that. Padme held his gaze for a moment, believing him, then her gaze shifted to a movement behind him, and her eyes went wide.
Anakin spun around, reaching for the lightsaber that wasn't there. The bounty hunter stood above them, in the doorway to the cockpit with his helmet on once again. Behind him, they could see the lights of the control panel, and Anakin's lightsaber. Anakin reached out with the Force, calling his lightsaber to his hand.
Nothing happened. The lightsaber didn't even wiggle, and the bounty hunter didn't visibly flinch. Anakin didn't feel the buzz of the Force around him, nor could he feel Padme or Boba Fett. For the first time in his life, Anakin couldn't feel the galaxy span around him endlessly. He felt empty, hollow, and he crumpled to the floor. So this was what it was like, to be non-Force sensitive. He felt Padme's arms slide around his neck, not knowing what was wrong. How could she know, she never new what the Force felt like, so how could she miss it?
"What's wrong Anakin?"
"It's gone!"
"What?"
"The Force."
"What! H-How could it be gone? I mean." Padme glared up at Boba Fett. "Fett." she whispered.
Fett nodded, seeing the Jedi's defeat and felt.nothing. No pity, no triumph, no feelings. Wait, yes, there was one, deep down there somewhere. Relief. The drug had worked, even though Anakin had fought off the sleeping part of it, the other part kicked in. It was something like a virus that only really affected Jedi because it capped mediclorians, dulling and, if given enough, stopping all connection with The Force for a time.
Boba Fett had triumphed. again. Anakin slumped helpless and lost next to the cage that held Padme safely in it.
Heh heh, he wins. It looks like Padme and Anakin are gonna have to wait until they get to where ever Boba Fett is taking them. Coruasuant will be included in the next chap, I promise. I haven't worked on this chapter much when FanFic is down, but it is a long one! Please review!