Author's Note:Pretty graphic first page describing Mara's beating, if this offends you go to the next page. Thanks for the reviews and for reading.—Darth Gladiator45.
The beating was intense, Mara arduously tried not to give in to the pain and to remain silent as the lashing continued. But as it continued to intensify, she screamed, "Master Skywalker, please make them stop!"
Anakin felt the jolt and even felt a whip lash across his back, he yelled. He sent a message to Mara, "We are on our way, just hold on."
"Obi-Wan we must go to Tatooine; that's where Mara and Luke are being held! We must hurry!"
Mara felt the chains retract and collapsed to the floor in heap, she was sobbing as she was taken to the slave corral. She lay on the ground crying as the stripes in her back kept gushing out blood. She slept in that dark corner and felt the bully come over to her; he said he was sorry and that he would never do anything to hurt her again. She smiled weakly but couldn't lift up her head as it was pounding from being thrown into the cell.
Luke awoke the next morning he found Mr. Banai looking at an old hologram; it was a young boy who appeared to have won some kind of race.
"Mr. Banai, who's that, he looks just like me!"
"He's your father, Luke. This was taken the day he won the Boonta Eve Classic."
"What's that?"
"Your father used to race pods for Watto; he was the only human that could it."
Luke sat next Kitster and listened intently as he told him about that fateful day where Anakin Skywalker would leave Tatooine as a freed slave. Luke was shocked he never knew that his father was a slave, wow. No wonder he would yell at the news when it talked about slavery in the outer rim territories. "So did my father have a temper then too?"
"Yes, sometimes he would get into fights with some of the local kids, especially when they teased him about being a slave. He always did have a temper, sometimes even his mom would have a hard time reining his emotions. But if you were Anakin's friend, you were his friend for life." Kitster smiled at the memory of him and Anakin sneaking out after midnight to sit under the stars and talk about their futures.
"More than anything, Anakin wanted to be pilot, he always longed to be amongst the stars. When he heard about the Jedi, he somehow knew that he would grow up to be one. Another talent that Watto took advantage of was his ability to fix speeders to make them like new. Anakin loved anything with an engine and a seat, and the faster it flew the more he loved it. He used to scare his mom to death with his death-defying stunts. He even managed to frighten Watto; which I don't know if you are familiar with Toydarians, they don't frighten easily. When he came home that evening late, he was in serious trouble; Shmi didn't have the heart to punish him further after Watto beat him. It was strange though, he never cried in front of Watto, which only infuriated him even more. I remember the next day; Anakin was sullen and incredibly moody. But the odd thing was that I remember the sand was spinning around him like a tornado, even rocks were flying around. It scared me, I never seen anything like it. When Shmi came out of the hut and saw what Anakin was doing; she gently kept calling out to him, and eventually he ran to her and cried. He must have cried for twenty minutes straight, it was weird, he very rarely cried."
Luke sighed, "I've seen father cry, and he didn't know I was watching though."
"Why was he crying?"
"I don't know; I think he was crying because grandma had died, he only does it once a year. Most of the time he's very happy, except now he is really angry and scared."
"How do you know?" Tamora asked.
"I can feel it; he's worried about Mara."
"Who's that?"
"Mara is my friend, but also my father's padawan learner; he's very protective of his family."
"That's the Anakin we all know and love." Kitster replied.
After receiving some food and water, Mara attempted to heal herself to at least ease the pain of the previous day's lashing. The other children watched her and she felt their curiosity.
"Are you a Jedi?" one little girl whispered afraid to be overheard.
"Not quite; I'm still in training."
"Where's your lightsaber?" the young boy asked.
"It was taken from me. It's never a good idea to allow slaves to have weapons, you know? We might try to overthrow our slavers." Mara sarcastically added.
"Who's training you?" the bully asked.
"Master Anakin Skywalker."
"The Hero with No Fear? Wow, I've heard he's the best Jedi out there; he can take down any opponent. He's even one of the best pilots in the entire galaxy!"
"What's he like in person? Is he really as reckless as they say?" Mara was bombarded with so many questions at once, she knew of course that her Master was famous, but she didn't realize that so many children really looked up to him. Of course most people did as he was well over six foot tall. Mara had started developing a plan for escape in her mind and with the number of children in this chamber it might be possible, but they would have to be cautious. She might get into trouble later with Anakin, but hell it would almost be worth it, especially if they could all escape. After Mara told them a story about her Master and what he was really like, they calmed down.
"I've heard that he has a bad temper." One little girl sighed.
"He can be very intimidating that's true; you know how you can tell he's about to get really angry?"
"No."
Mara stood as tall as she could, pulled her hood over her head and stalked around.
"He then glares at you, making you feel about three inches tall. Like this." Mara did her best Skywalker imitation by crossing her arms and her eyebrows were furrowed.
"Does he do that often?"
"No; I've only seen him like that maybe a total of three times in my training. The last time was when I pulled the ultimate prank on him."
"Tell us!" the young girl exclaimed.
"Okay, but we got to do something first." She looked around and found a crumbling wall in the back, it might be possible.
"Help me gather up rocks, we need expert rock throwers." Mara whispered to the group, five of the ten children volunteered and they were quite good at hitting the targets she outlined on the wall.
Anakin meditated sensing Luke was safe with Kitster Banai and family. Mara seemed to be busy planning some kind of an escape. Once they landed, Han Solo was admonished to remain where he was and to work.
"Why can't I come with you guys? I can take care of myself, I do have a blaster."
"No, Solo. You will remain here, if you leave this ship for any reason the consequences will be most dire, understand?"
Solo sighed deeply and sat in the pilot's chair, seemingly to brood.
Mara and the slave children had removed most of the rocks from the crumbling wall and she managed to squeeze through the hole. She called out to her lightsaber it was in Jabba's chambers, he was currently occupied in his throne room. Using the Force as a shield she managed to sneak into his chambers and take the lightsaber when she returned she told the children to try to shield the light so she could make a bigger hole. Mara also deactivated the slave implants and all the children came pouring through the hole.
"Do you think your master will be angry with us?"
"Nah." But in reality, Mara wasn't sure, she was not only recklessly putting her life at risk but that of these children. But in her mind the ends justified the means, besides patience was not one of her stronger points. Sometimes she felt she was already half Skywalker but like Master Kenobi and Yoda had told her, Master Skywalker was her equal in not only in personality but in pulling extreme stunts and somehow making it work.
The excess rocks were placed in children's pockets and the rock throwers had plenty of ammunition. They carefully and silently made their way to the where the speeders were located along with two skiffs.
"Bully, do you know how to fly one of these?"
"Yea, don't you?" he scoffed.
"Yes, I'm glad you do; now I'll take half of the children and you take the other and we head out in separate directions. I'll meet you in Mos Espa, be careful.
"You too, Jedi." Bully hugged Mara and they separated the slave children and sped away.
Anakin sensed Mara entering Mos Espa, "Padawan?"
"Yes, master you came! We are just now entering the city; I have freed the slave children from Jabba."
"You could not wait; Master Kenobi is here too."
"Yes. I'm sorry; I felt it was necessary to go when we did. Jabba was planning something horrible."
Mara jumped from her skiff along with five of the children and she ran to Master Skywalker. He looked at her sternly but was so happy to see her that he didn't have the heart to reprimand her. He hugged her and spun her around as she cried out in glee.
"Master?" a little girl of about four approached him.
"Yes, young one?"
"Mara told us stories about you."
"She did?"
The four year old nodded and Anakin lowered himself to the young child who immediately hugged him and all the slave children approached him, thanking him for having a padawan like Mara.
"Let's go get Luke, Mara."
"He's safe, Master."
"Yes I know."
Meanwhile, Han Solo hated being stuck on this ship, he wanted to get a drink and have some fun. He locked up the ship and went to the local cantina, he ordered a Corellian whisky. The bartender raised an eyebrow, but gave him the drink anyway. Han decided to go see about getting a spare part for one of the speeders he was working on at home. He found a shop the door bell chimed and a small blue bug approached the customer.
"May I take a look around? I'm looking for a specific engine component that I need."
"Yes, come out back." Watto stated in Huttese.
Han found the part it would work perfectly.
"How much?"
"Three hundred credits." Watto stated.
"No, seriously that's too much, its not even functioning I'm going to have to spend some time working on it to get it to work."
"Two hundred fifty." Watto replied.
"This part brand new is one hundred credits; I'll offer you fifty."
"No parts, no deal. Get out."
"You really are a piece of work, you big flying blue bug. How about I just take the part and you get nothing."
"The republic has laws against theft, my young friend." Watto stated.
Han sighed. "Okay final offer seventy-five credits."
"Deal." Han handed over the credits and took the part with him. As he turned he saw Anakin Skywalker approaching the shop, he looked incredibly angry. "Shit." Han Solo ducked into the garage and soon a confrontation was evident between former slave and master.
"How much are you getting per slave you sell to Jabba the Hutt and don't you dare lie to me, Watto!" Anakin yelled in perfect Huttese.
"Ani? Is that you? A Jedi Master, I never would have thought. Little Ani grow up to be so strong. Old Watto is weak and needs money to get by; didn't mean to harm the children."
Anakin felt anger just about overwhelm him, he took one step forward and overshadowed the mean bitter slave master, Watto tried so hard to flap backwards to get out of the man's shadow, but was being held there.
"Please Ani, don't hurt old Watto."
"You are under arrest; your fate will be decided by the courts. Your shop will be confiscated as will all your property and given to new owners."
"Pray Watto that you never see me again." Anakin warned.
"Solo let's go!" Anakin yelled.
Han shook with fear, how the hell did he know he was in here? Damn that Force thing that Anakin had, he knew he could run but never, ever hide. Solo took his part with him and followed Anakin out in the hot afternoon.
Watto was arrested by the local republic guard and led away after giving Anakin the keys to the shop.
Han slowly followed Anakin, he didn't want to get within striking distance. "Solo, do you not know how to follow orders? I told you to remain on the ship, not go shopping and get a whisky."
"Oh, come on, a guy has to have a little fun, don't try to tell me that you were always perfectly behaved and obeyed Kenobi all the time."
Anakin turned around and glared at Solo, "Do not use my previous actions as an excuse, Solo. I may have been reckless, but I often paid for it one way or another; just like you will, my friend." Anakin added with a clear threat intended.
Solo swallowed hard, regretting that whisky that threatened to come up, he should know better than to drink on an empty stomach.
Luke was playing with Shmi when he felt his father's approach,
"Mr. Banai, my father is on his way." Luke announced.
"How do you know?"
"I can feel his presence and Mara's with him!" Luke exclaimed, he gave Shmi back to Tamora and ran outside. The slave row was overwhelming Anakin with memories, some bad memories and but mostly good ones as he slowly walked. Luke ran to his father and leapt into his arms, hugging his neck tightly. Mara laughed and she saw her fellow escapee, Bully approach her.
"Jedi, so good to see you again."
"Hey, Bully."
"Is that your Master?" Bully asked.
"Yes."
"Remind me not to get on your bad side okay?" Bully replied clearly intimidated.
"It's okay Bully."
"Mr. Banai told me stories all about you, father." Luke stated.
"He did?"
"Anakin, your son is very brave and well behaved. You should be proud." Kitster stated.
"Listen, Watto was behind the children getting sold and he gave me his shop keys. You can take it over." Anakin tossed the keys to Kitster.
"What you don't want to take it over, and work on pods?" Kitster laughed.
"No. I hate sand its course, rough . . ."
"And it gets everywhere." Luke laughed as he finished his father's sentence.
"Very funny, Luke."
Kitster introduced Tamora and their daughter, "Shmi."
"You named her after my mother?"
"Yes, Shmi was a mother to us all, Anakin. We loved her, she wasn't bitter or mean."
Anakin lowered Luke to his feet and hugged his childhood friend and Tamora. Shmi looked up and laughed.
"Take care you guys and if you ever need anything please let me know. Thank you for watching Luke for me."
"Like you always say, Anakin once you are my friend you are my friend for life." Kitster reminded him.
"Thanks, Kit, Tam."
Luke hugged Mara, "I'm glad you are okay."
Once the family was reunited, they boarded the ship and took off for home.
Luke proceeded to tell Mara about the stories that Kitster had told him while she spent the trip lying on a bunk. Han Solo was not happy, he was going to be forced to detail clean the filthiest parts as his punishment and lose two weeks of pay. Of course Han wasn't aware that Anakin had set up a savings account and put the money in the account, but it would only mean that Han wouldn't have any spending cash. When the time came and Han was an adult and his apprenticeship had ended, he would get ownership of Millennium Falcon and the nest egg. Anakin and Obi-Wan was speaking to Padmé and told her that they would be home soon.
Author's Note:Hope you enjoyed this chapter, as always I look forward to your reviews and comments. Thanks for reading. DarthGladiator45.