See first chap for disclaimers
Remnants-2011:Thanks!
FireSenshi: Sure thing!
Greatjedi: Thanks
ShortySC22: Hey thanks for the review! It's kind of a treat to get two chapters sometimes ;)
LadyRogue: Well, I do plan to use Tahiri a little later on, but it might take me a while to get her character right. I haven't really found a good source of info on her yet, and I'd like to keep her in somewhat of the context that fans see her in.
Cammy: I've made an impact on the World!!! Seriously, if your Baby Boy is first and Anakin is fourth who is in between? There you go being sleepy again (shakes head) you should be like Obi-Wan and strive to achieve a level of no sleep. ;)
Heidi M: Glad you liked it. Sleep, sleep you say? There must be an epidemic—tsk, tsk next you people will want to breathe.
Ahem, well then getting off my rather strange humor bent—On with the show
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Lando had his best 'Who me?' look on his face. The kid sitting at the other end of the table had to be the most challenging individual he'd run across in ages. Perfect manners, perfect conversation, perfect pilot, perfect humility—just plain perfect. And perfect people always have something to hide.
Think Lando Think! Okay, he eats a lot. Not too surprising, he's not that old. Has a funny hairstyle? Again, not too surprising for his age. The tattoo on his neck is different. It's in an odd place and is an odd shape. NOTE: Check out tattoo design with local scum.
"So, kid, what do you plan to do now that you're unemployed?"
Anakin answered right away. "I'm going to go to Yavin IV to see the Jedi Academy, after that I don't know."
It was the truth for a certain point of view, he was going to see the academy, and he didn't really know what would happen afterwards. He just made it sound like he was a tourist.
Lando knew there was something not quite right with that statement. He didn't know how he knew. He just did. The chrono on the wall chimed.
Anakin glanced up. "It's getting late Mr. Calrissian. I believe I should retire for the evening, with your permission."
Lando absently nodded and watched the boy go. He was definitely too perfect.
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Lando growled when he looked up at the same chrono a few hours later. The kid was way too much of a puzzle. Or maybe he was a combination lock, and something inside Lando said he had the key—somewhere. Lando was desperate. He'd even done all of his paper work for the coming day.
He'd gone to the lower levels of his station earlier to talk to some less, sociable members of society. He found one person that knew the symbol on the boy's neck. The short Bothan said he'd been a part of a gang in a sector of Hutt space. His group had decided to lift a data pad off of a delivery person for another group. Big mistake. That delivery person had five grown Bothans pinned to the ground in one minute. No blaster, just him.
Lando had shown him the kid's face then. The Bothan shook his head. He'd only seen one member of that group, and he was taller, older, and had a beard. The Bothan (after a few generous drinks) told him the group was called the Silent. Very feared, very picky about their jobs, extremely exclusive. No-one really ever bothered to get more information on the group. They were too afraid of them; apparently, they were that good.
This was just peachy. The information Lando gathered had just made the boy more confusing. Why would a kid who was a member of such an exclusive group in Hutt space suddenly decide to barely survive in Republic space?
Trying to clear his head Lando grabbed his planner. Planner, sith, he must be getting old. What ever happened to the old carefree Lando? Scanning through the entries, he ran across the only one that excited him. One week from today, he was going to have lunch with Han and Chewie. Just the three of them on some backwater planet in an old hotel they used to visit back in the day. The three of them, seedy rooms, cheap liquor, even cheaper stories: those were the times Lando missed the most.
Now they would be reliving part of the past. Only they had to buy expensive rooms and pay enough to keep their presence a secret.
Lando shook his head. It was worth it at least for Han's sake. His whole family hadn't been the same since Anakin disappeared. Lando could only imagine the pain Han and Leia went through every day. Wondering where their boy was, what he looked like, peering into strangers' faces for a glimpse of a missing child.
Chewie had taken it hard too. He owed a life debt to Han. That Anakin had never been found was a deep wound on his family honor, not to mention the emotional attachment the Wookie had.
Lando gazed out the window. "Ah, Anakin where are you?"
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It was eleven hundred hours on Anakin Solo's birthday. He'd woken up early, meditated, and exercised. Then he had taken a walk around the station trying to find passage to Yavin IV or somewhere close. No Dice. Everyone was either heading the wrong way or wanted more money than he had in his possession.
Frustrated, he went to a cafeteria and bought the most sugar laden delicacy they had. Dessert, it made him want to be at home with his master. He'd never been alone on his birthday, and it was the pits. Attempting to release his feelings into the force, he focused on a pleasant memory.
He had a tendency to buy things when he was stressed or blue. Ani had laughed so hard when he found out. He said that Padme had done the same thing. Always shopping to relieve some sort of stress or another. Anakin smiled, he supposed that was why he bought dessert. He was just trying to relieve his symptoms of loneliness.
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At eleven hundred hours Lando was rousing himself from the nap he had settled into. He was tired, his brain felt tired, and something was bugging him so he couldn't sleep. Strolling around his office he stopped and looked at the holos on his wall. A faint smile crossed his lips when he viewed the group shot taken on the moon of Endor right after the destruction of the Death Star II.
They were all grinning, well except Han, he was sort of smirking. Lando started to turn away then glanced back at the picture. There was something about that smirk. Of course, he'd seen it thousands of times, but it seemed so familiar, like he'd just seen it.
His brain flashed back to the night before.
"You have quite the colorful wardrobe."
"Yeah, actually my grandfather sort of started a trend in the family."
Nah, No, Nope, absolutely not. That kid was nothing like Han or Leia. Sure he was tall, it's a common attribute. Brown hair—same as his height. Blue eyes? Their common enough. Being able to perfectly dock a ship that should have taken out a chunk of the space station?
SITH! It couldn't be, but it made sense. The shock on the kid's face wasn't because he was meeting a hero, it was because he was seeing a man who used to play starships with him when Leia wasn't looking.
The only problem was, he couldn't prove anything. Asking the kid outright would be suicide. He didn't need the kid running off at lightspeed. He could do a blood test, but he would need to get the DNA information from Leia or Han. He couldn't stand to get their hopes up if the kid wasn't Anakin.
A grin spread across his face. He could still plot with the best. He knew just what to do.
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Anakin sat staring at his empty plate. He needed to do something. He had the feeling that depression was of the darkside.
"Hey, kid!"
Anakin glanced up. Oh, joy Lando.
"I hear you're trying to book passage to Yavin, how bout you n' me strike a deal? I've got this trip I need to take. You're a reasonably good pilot, I could hire you. It wouldn't take you to Yavin IV, but it'll get you a whole lot closer. Besides, instead of paying for a ticket, I would be paying you."
Anakin was amazed, the man talked so fast, he couldn't get a word in edgewise. Before he knew it, he had signed up to pilot Calrissian's ship. They would be departing tomorrow.
