First Chap = Disclaimers

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Obi-Wan hid his anxiety as he ate the meal provided to him by the strangers. As far as he could tell, they had to be some type of outcast Jedi cult. Probably initiates who had never been chosen. They all carried lightsabers and had strong control over the Force. If the feeling he got from Luke was any indication, he was very strong in the Force. That could only mean that he had a bad temper that a Master could not break him of. It was not a comforting thought.

The others, Obi-Wan was uncertain about. Judging from their reaction and ages, the three youngest were Luke's followers. Luke could have possibly recruited them before they were found by the Jedi, or they could have been looked over or not given and trained later. The older woman was a mystery. Her scrutinizing airs did not go with a groupie mentality. The fact that she had a blaster strapped to her arm also spoke that she was not the dedicated "Jedi" that she appeared.

His information gathering had been disturbing. Their story was that Obi-Wan was the only child of Luke and Mara. What sort of mind games they would play to get him to believe that lie, he did not want to know. The only hopeful information was that Mara was Luke's wife. It explained why she seemed to be the one to question the leader.

The other discouraging information was that he was on Tattooine. A non-Republic planet ruled by Hutts that was a planet wide desert that allowed slavery was not a planet one wanted to be stuck on. Obi-Wan supposed he could always subdue one of the younger captors and sell him or her for a trip off the dust ball, but he was very sure his trials would be postponed at least four years if he did that.

Hence, he sat and played nice waiting for his chance to escape.

"So, Ben, I take it you weren't on Tattooine when we pulled you here," Mara stated.

"What makes you say that?"

"You're wearing clothes from Aldoric IV. You don't find a whole lot of people stalking around Tattooine in expensive gang threads like those."

"I had a job there. I needed to blend in."

"What kind of jobs?" Luke's voice sounded strangled.

"This, that," Obi-Wan kept his face blank and his tone slightly defiant. After his initial fiasco of showing manners, he had carefully kept up his rebellious youth act.

All of the members shifted uncomfortably except for Mara. Apparently, 'this and that' activities did not scrape against her sensibilities.

Anakin cleared his throat. "Do you work with machinery?"

"Sometimes. It isn't exactly my favorite subject, but it is necessary to life. Sort of like flying, it's a pain but you've gotta do it if you want to go from point A to point B."

More uncomfortable shifting coupled with incredulity.

"You don't like to fly?" Jaina's voice held disbelief.

"Not particularly. Although, I am proficient enough at it."

Quietness resumed at the table. Eventually, Luke cleared his throat.

"I suppose that we should get Ben an extra set of clothes. Mara, why don't you and Tahiri go with Ben tomorrow and get him a couple of outfits? Anakin, Jaina, and I will prep the ship for takeoff. There isn't much more we can do here without the right supplies. We'll head to Coruscant and decided what to do there."

Obi-Wan couldn't believe his luck. If they went to Coruscant, he could easily escape and eventually get to the Jedi temple. He hid his grin by spooning another glump of food into his mouth.

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"He is lying. You have got to know that, Luke," Mara said as she watched her husband ready himself for bed.

"Of course he's lying. Mara, he seems to be a grown somewhat embittered man. I don't see why a member of a gang would be honest with people like us."

"See, that's it. He's too cultured to be common street scum. Granted, the outfit he was wearing was of an upper class hood, but he's too polished. He's lying and he knows that I know."

"And how do you know? I didn't feel anything in the Force."

"Looks, Skywalker. I had to do a lot of work by reading body language when I worked for the Empire and as a smuggler. The boy looks like I do when he is shading the truth. He looks like you do when he out and out lies."

"Give me an example."

"When he said that he had a job to do on Aldoric IV he was shading the truth. He was telling the truth, but he was being misleading. When Jaina was talking about Leia and asked him if he'd ever met a Senator before, and he said 'no.' That was a lie."

"Mara, are you sure you aren't reading something into this? Not that I doubt you, but…"

"But, you do doubt me. Luke could it possibly be bothering you that I'm being objective about this?"

"Now that you mention it, yes, it does bother me. Mara, he is our son, and he has been living on the streets like that."

"And if you'd been listening to me, you'd know that that kid is nowhere near the street scum he's pretending to be."

"Well what is he then that he'd be masquerading as one? A higher ranking member of a crime syndicate? A rebellious adopted son of a diplomat?"

"Now that you mention it, the second theory is plausible. I mean, he obviously got time warped or something, why couldn't he have been adopted by one of the Senatorial families?"

Luke shook his head, "Senators would have advertised the fact that they adopted."

"True. What about a well-off family that has political ties? That would still explain his evasion of certain questions."

"Mara, as much as I would like to think he was raised in a loving family, we just can't use a few gathered facts to assume that. He wasn't a baby when he was whisked away. Children his age are not exactly high on the adoption lists, especially not to affluent families. Until Ben decides to give us more information, we don't even know where or when he was."

Mara nodded. "I agree with you on that one Skywalker. The kid has inherited my tight-lipped persona."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning, Farmboy, that you can't hide a needle in a haystack for very long."

"Very funny."

"Better funny than sad, and that is the only other option at this point."

Luke sighed and hugged his wife, "You're too right on that one. Too right for my own taste."

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Qui-Gon Jinn sat in one of the worst bars on Coruscant. In front of him was the previous days paper. He hadn't read much past the date. He was in the future, and the Jedi Temple was no longer on Coruscant. What could have caused its removal was something he did not want to dwell on. Nor, he supposed, should he dwell on it. He did not belong in this time and attempting to change the past was a dubious venture at best. At least, that was what philosophers said.

He sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He needed to find his Padawan. They had been sucked through the same portal, but Obi-Wan had obviously been taken elsewhere. The boy was alive and in this time. That much Qui-Gon could feel through the Force. He could also tell that Obi-Wan was not on Coruscant. His apprentice would have already contacted him through their bond if he was. That meant that Obi-Wan had to be out of range for a telepathic summons.

Qui-Gon took another sip of the swill that the bartender had given him. Being able to toss out ruffians had its perks. The owner had been so grateful that Qui-Gon had tossed out a drunken Wookie that he'd given Qui-Gon a cot in the back for the night and a free drink. Granted, the cot was moth eaten and the drink was terrible, but it was better than some places he had slept.

Finding his apprentice was going to be the first priority. Given the fact that Obi-Wan could be anywhere, that might not be an easy task. After he found Obi-Wan, he was going to have to figure out how to get back to their own time.

He had a feeling that it was not going to be easy.