Notes: Sorry for the long wait for this to be updated!  Every time I get on the computer, I can't help leaping to oekakicentral.com to draw.  I've got itchy fingers (the drawing kind, not the thieving kind).  Incidentally, look me up!  I'm Blade Malfoy there too!  So… it's taken me a while to get my lazy butt in gear to write this.  I think the preview for Down with Love might have something to do with my typing this next chapter XD  Enjoy!

SM 1/21/32 BBY

            Someone remind me never to visit this hellhole again.  Tatooine has got to be the most god-awful planet in the galaxy.  It's far worse than anything I'd ever imagined.  We're on the outskirts of a little spaceport called Mos Espa, and I don't think there's a more wretched hive of scum and villainy anywhere… though I could be wrong.  Maybe it was beyond propriety to warn master to be cautious, but I couldn't help it.  I have a bad feeling about all of this.  Oh well, at least Jar-Jar is gone.  He left with Master to look for parts in town.  Sadly, Padme went with them.  Captain Panaka (the really bland captain of the Naboo royal guard) said something about the Queen wanting Padme to experience the city.  I have a sneaking suspicion that she sent her to keep Master from doing anything stupid.

            I'm stuck on the ship to keep everyone from making calls home.  If we send a transmission they can track us,l and if they find us they'll kidnap the queen and kill everyone else.  I'm a good fighter and all, but I can't possibly fend off hundreds of battle droids, not even with my Master's help.  And without a hyperdrive core, we'd be dead in the water up there in open space.  So for now we're sitting tight, biding out time, and ignoring the supplicating transmissions from Naboo.  They're contrived, I know it.  It's hard to be around the Queen when she sees them, though.  Her sorrow is overpowering, even when I have my mind shields up.  It's really putting everyone in a foul mood.  Lucky Padme, to be off this craft.

            I wonder if Master knows about the sandstorm brewing?  I hope they find shelter.  It'll get nasty out here before very long.

            Did I mention I have a bad feeling about this?

SM 1/21/32 BBY, 21:00 Tatooine Standard Time

            I need a cookie.

            No, really.  I need a cookie.  Or a hug.  Is it normal for a Jedi to go around requesting hugs from strangers?  My life was shattered today.  It all started with a boy, a slave who belongs to the junk-dealer we're getting the parts from.  He offered Master shelter from the sandstorm, as well as a place for the night.

            And the boy is a Force-sensitive.

            He has a midi-chlorian count of over twenty-thousand, higher than even Master Yoda.  I didn't know it was possible to have a midi-chlorian count that high.  Where did they all come from?  I remember Master's last experiment with extremely talented pupils, and Xanatos failed in a big way.  Granted, it wasn't entirely Master's fault, but the risk is there.

            And what about me?  I know already that no other sane master will take a 9-year-old boy as their padawan, so Master will have to step in.  But he can't take more than one student.  He'll have to cut me loose. 

            But we've been through so much!  And I may seem confidant on the outside, but inside I honestly don't know if I'm ready to face the trials.  What if I fail?

            This boy has brought more implications of evil down on us than I've seen in a long while.

            I think the storm is coming.

SM 2/1/32 BBY

            My Master is clinically insane.  He's actually putting all of his faith in this little boy and threatening our mission in the process.  Apparently this boy can pod race, which is downright weird because most humans lack the mental capability to race.  My Master's gambling this ship in return for the hyperdrive components and – get this – the boy's freedom.  What does this have to do with the kid?  My Master's betting he can win the race.  Against the most formidable racers in the galaxy, including the notorious Dug Sebulba.  I'm an optimistic man, but even I know this is ludicrous.

            So what am I doing about it?  I can't do anything at the moment.  We got another transmission today.  The Queen wanted to respond… but I firmly said no.  I heard the handmaidens whisper something about 'Jedi PMS'.  I hate this mission.  I know hate is bad for a Jedi, but I can't help it.  This is the worst situation I've ever been in.  If I ever take on a Padawan, I'll not put them through any of this.  I refuse to be a nutball like my Master.

            Padme shares my sentiments.  I spoke with her briefly on Master's comlink because she wanted to know first-hand how the Queen was.  I told her almost everything, but left out the fact that the transmission said that the Naboo people were dying.  Padme doesn't need the added stress.  At the moment she's enraged over my Master's actions, and I can't say I blame her.  It's totally irrational.  How can he trust this strange little boy?  It's madness.

            Looks like we're going to be here for a while.