Chapter 9 - Perils of Night Duty

Qui-Gon didn't know what the big deal was. Tonight was the first night shift he'd be serving in the Temple Creche. He'd served several day shifts and was starting to get the hang of this whole 'youngling care' thingie. He'd learned, for instance, that younglings under one year of age need help to eat. And younglings between the ages of two and three years old are particularly apt at throwing food. Learned that last one the hard way. Yikes! Pea Puree doesn't make a good fashion choice.

Anyway, Qui-Gon was not expecting the looks of abject horror when he told his friends in the Refectory where he'd be that night.

"Did you take a nap earlier?" Rael Aveross asked.

"Why of course he took a nap. He wouldn't be going to serve a night shift unless he was well rested," Master Tholme answered.

"But did he rest enough?" Clee Rhara asked.

Qui-Gon almost laughed at his friends. None of them must have ever served in the Temple Creche. If they had, they'd know there is a bed provided for him in the Two and under's sleeping room, and a whole team of droids to take care of the younglings at night. All he'd be doing is supervising to make sure all is well. He could do that in his sleep, surely.

"Of course I'm well rested. Well enough anyway. I've got to go now. The little ones are waiting, and I've got the perfect bedtime story in mind," Qui-Gon said. As he got up, his friends all eyed each other nervously. It was clear they were worried for their friend.

How something so small could make such a loud noise, would forever stump Qui-Gon. It was late, so late… and the droids just weren't scrambling fast enough.

He considered stepping in to help, but then he sniffed the reason one of the infants in question was crying and he chickened out.

'Wait!' a lightsaber lit up in Qui-Gon's brain. 'Turning the power crystals gives most astromech droids a boost. If I do that to the Nanny Droids, they'll be able to take care of the younglings faster. Then I can get some sleep. Brilliant!'

Qui-Gon stopped the nearest droid and pulled open it's system access panel behind it's back.

In the Kenobi sleeping quarters, all was peaceful. Then the commlink started to ring!

Obi-Wan groaned as he was pulled from his unconscious world and into the waking one. 'Whoever could that be? At this time it must be an emergency. It better be an emergency!'

"Oh I'm coming." He said to the ring that wouldn't quit.

'Why do I keep the comlink so far from the bed? Maybe I should let Anakin build a droid to answer it for me.'

Finally he reached it. "Kenobi, here."

"Obi-Wan… It's Qui-Gon."

"Master, do you know what time it is?" Obi-Wan let his annoyance ring in his voice.

"This is an emergency. I need you to bring Anakin down to the Creche now. Something's wrong with the Nanny Droids," Qui-Gon explained.

"What! He's in bed now. Can't it wait until morning?"

"No. I have a nursery full of screaming infants and not a single Nanny Droid to nurse them. I need your help too…" Qui-Gon waited for him to answer. "Please Obi-Wan. If Creche Master Don comes in tomorrow and they're still down, I'm going to be blamed for it."

Obi-Wan was about to agree, when he opened his mouth again, and a question slipped out. "If there's a problem with the system, why would you get blamed?"

"I, maybe, pulled out one of their power crystals to try to boost their energy. Only it seems they must all be connected or something, because then they all shut down."

"Did you try reinserting the power crystal?"

"No, I didn't think of that… Yes, Padawan, that was one of the first things I tried. It didn't make a bit of difference." Qui-Gon's irritation was clear in his voice. Infants were screaming in the background.

"Alright! We're on our way," Obi-Wan assured.

He walked down to Anakin's bedroom. He felt almost regretful as he nudged the boy awake. There were some nights that just getting him to sleep so soundly was an achievement.

"Anakin," Obi-Wan whispered. "Anakin, you've gotta get up now. Qui-Gon needs help."

Those words roused Anakin. He was immensely loyal. "What's wrong with Qui-Gon?"

"Well, he broke a whole bunch of droids, and if he can't fix them, the council's going to be mad at him."

"You're mad at him," Anakin interpreted.

"No, I'm not. I'm tired and annoyed, but that's different," Obi-Wan sighed as he explained.

Ever since Anakin had moved on to the second tier Force studies, they'd had this issue. He was learning how to open up and sense things with the Force. And he was proving to be naturally adept at it. Obi-Wan supposed, it made sense for the physical senses, with Anakin's history flying in those death races for his Master. Sensing something coming up would be beneficial for a pilot. But that didn't explain his sensitivity to emotions as well.

Master Allie, with the healing circle, had suggested their best theory. "Sudden emotional shifts, especially to negative emotions, in his authority figures, likely precipitated danger for him. He is no longer a slave, but his mind is still programmed for survival under that system," she had said. Which made sense to Obi-Wan.

Anakin accepted his divulgence, and began to get dressed. "What kind of droids?"

"Uh…" Robotics was a subject Obi-Wan only had a basic understanding of. Anakin's droid repair kit was a gift from the Technical Division Jedi. "Nanny Droids, third class, I think."

"Cool, I've never worked with them before. What's wrong with them?" And thus, the boy began to pepper his Master with questions. How he could be so alert this late, and just after getting up would forever stump Obi-Wan.

Anakin followed Obi-Wan into a room in the Creche that he hadn't been to yet. He looked around, puzzled at the room of toys and stuffies. When he was younger he had one toy, and he was never allowed to leave it out.

"This is where the youngest initiates play," Obi-Wan explained without prompting.

"They're here!" Qui-Gon announced from behind another door. He appeared before they could say anything, and ushered them into the room he came from.

"This is the sleeping room for the babies," Obi-Wan explained.

Indeed, the room was filled with cribs. It was a large room, with several doors to other smaller bedrooms in it. One such door opened and a youngling Togruta girl stuck her head out.

"Ahsoka, go back to bed," Qui-Gon said to her. She then closed the door and disappeared.

"Hello, Master Tholme," Obi-Wan greeted another Jedi in the room. "Did Qui-Gon wake you up, too?" The Master Tholme was standing next to one of the cribs with a spit rag over his shoulder. There were two other Jedi in the room, looking equally put out. "Where can I help?"

"Where are the droids?" Anakin asked.

"Over here," Qui-Gon pointed with his open hand. "I don't know what went wrong. This is the one who's Power Crystal I removed."

"Why, ever, would you do that!?" Anakin asked.

"Well, I was going to turn the crystal, like we do on Astromechs, to boost their power. Only... Then they all shut down."

"Of course they did. These aren't Astromechs. They're networked to save harddrive space," Anakin gave the obvious answer.

"Ohhh. Do you think you'll be able to fix them?" Qui-Gon asked."

Anakin opened his bag of tools and pulled out a pair of goggles, throwing them over his head. "Sure. I'll get started right now."

Anakin pulled open the closest droid, and blinked in surprise. 'When was the last time these were updated? Tricopper wiring, and V-1 transistors. We had better stuff on Tatooine!' He thought. 'Hmm, this means my Diatium wire won't work on it, unless I rewire everything.' As Anakin examined the internal workings, he confirmed that this wouldn't be a problem. The droid should be functional.

He got up next and went to examine the computer they were networked to. Reading Basic was still new to him, but he sounded out the letters. "U-P-D-A-T-E P-E-R-M-I-S-S-I-O-N" 'Oh, It's asking to download the update from the servers. Must be programmed to do that upon a restart.' Anakin looked back down at the droids. 'With their wiring, they won't tolerate any massive updates.' His hand hovered over the "C-A-N-C-E-L" button, which would allow the system to finish it's restart, and he hesitated.

'I'll have to rewire the whole system, but if I start right now, I'll probably be able to finish by morning. I can install a new X-L transistor too, and rework the C-Banks, while the update is downloading.' Anakin pulled out a few tools and got right to work.

Across the room, Obi-Wan had finished watching his Master demonstrate how to diaper change a Youngling. "And now I just carry him back to his crib," Qui-Gon explained.

"Whaaaaaa Waaaaaaaaaah," another youngling started to cry.

Obi-Wan moved to her crib. When Qui-Gon looked up and saw this he gasped.

Across the room, Anakin felt his Grandmaster become very anxious underneath strong shields.

"No. Wait. I'll get her," Qui-Gon begged.

"Nonsense. Your hands are already full. And I've watched your lesson. The next step is to try for myself. Right little one." Obi-Wan was filled with a cute emotion that was almost suffocating to Anakin. "First step is to read the youngling's name, so you get her back to the right crib." Obi-Wan bent over to read the nametag on the crib. "Abigail... Hmm… Is she related to…Do you think?"

Anakin didn't hear the whole conversation. He was across the room, and had his own work to focus on.

Obi-Wan felt a few tangs of loss as he said this. Then Qui-Gon's nervousness spiked again. His shields were so thick now, likely none of the other Jedi were even aware of his emotions, but Anakin was no ordinary Jedi.

"Oh...Um…" Qui-Gon stuttered.

"I suppose she is, with a last name like that. She looks a little like her too. Come'on little Abigail. Let's get you changed," Obi-Wan said, again filled with that cute emotion.

Several minutes later, Obi-Wan held the changed Abigail next to her crib. "Hey, Master, I did exactly as you said, but she's still not settling. Did I wrap her too tight?"

Qui-Gon didn't have a chance to answer, because another Jedi answered for him. "Sometimes they take a little longer. You can try rocking her. It might help."

"Oh thanks, Clee," Obi-Wan responded.

Qui-Gon was not feeling thankful. As he watched Anakin's Master with a close eye, some of Qui-Gon's worry faded and was replaced by regret, and self doubt. Then that cute feeling overwhelmed him too.

Anakin rolled his eyes. He picked up his bag of supplies. It was clear he'd never be able to get any work done here, so he moved out to the youngling playroom.

Several hours later, Anakin had finished upgrading and updating the Nanny Droids, to the best of his abilities. He made a list of parts he'd need to acquire to finish the upgrades, and left it on the computer in the form of a Holo Recording for whoever was in charge.

Anakin pushed the button on the main computer to activate the Droids.

"Nanny-bot four point oh team A ready and waiting." They spoke as one.

"Wizard! This is great." Anakin clapped and cheered his accomplishment. "Come this way." He went to open the door back to the sleeping room. What was on the other side left him speechless.

On the Crechemaster's bed, on the side of the room, sat two Jedi, with the four year old Togrutta girl, Ahsoka, snuggled between them. All three were fast asleep.

On the rocking chair in the middle of the room, Obi-Wan nodded off while holding an infant in his arms. The baby's red hair made her look very similar to the Knight that was holding her.

On the other side of the room, Master Qui-Gon and Master Tholme stood, half falling asleep, half holding on to consciousness for dear life. Each was beside a crib and rocking an infant.

Anakin turned right away to the droids. "Go. Priority C." Anakin had found a manual for the droids with a text to speak conversion on the computer. He knew all of their command codes.

The droids quickly moved in and took over for the sleeping Jedi. Qui-Gon collapsed into sleep, sitting on the floor, as one took over for him. Another passing droid came by and slipped a pacifier into his mouth.

"Oops, I guess that setting could be adjusted." Anakin took a mental note, but left the Jedi on the floor.

Another droid tried to take the sleeping infant from Obi-Wan, waking him in the process. "Huh-... Wha? No." He clutched harder at the infant. "Oh, Anakin, you've got the droids working," he realized upon waking up.

Seeing that the infant was with a wake caretaker, the droid moved on.

Obi-Wan looked down at his former Master, with a pacifier in his mouth. He pulled out a device from his pocket and took a holo-image. "That is priceless," the man's former Padawan chuckled.

Qui-Gon and the others slowly woke, and shook off their sleepiness. Qui-Gon spat out the pacifier and looked accusingly at Obi-Wan, who lifted both his hands and shook his head innocently.

The doors to the Creche opened unexpectedly and everyone turned. "Master Don…" Qui-Gon greeted anxiously.

"Hello, I rushed back because my datapad alerted me to a problem with the nanny droids," said Master Don. "But I can see you've got it all handled. Why didn't you just dial nine and alert the council to an emergency in the Creche?"

"Uh…" Qui-Gon obviously didn't want to tell him why the droids malfunctioned.

"Is that one singing?" Don walked past the speechless Jedi to one of the Nanny Droids, who had begun to sing a lullaby to a baby.

The Jedi all looked at eachother dumbfounded.

Anakin ran to them and spoke up. "I only had the Mark three voice boxes in my kit, so they're only able to sing in the Basic compliant languages. But if we acquire the newer Mark four voice boxes, the latest update I downloaded includes songs in over forty other languages."

"Updates! The system can't tolerate an update. Their model is outdated." Don looked worried.

"It was. I upgraded them with Diatium wire and X-L Transistors. So they should tolerate the update. Though if I were to acquire a few extra parts, they could use more of the new programming and function better too. I left a list on your computer."

"They didn't even have voice boxes before. I remember every youngling that comes through my Creche. But I don't recognize you. What's your name, young man?" Don asked, turning back to study the boy.

"This is Anakin, and he is new here." Obi-Wan said behind him."

"Thank you, Anakin. You're going to make a fine addition to the Temple." Don looked up. "I've been requesting new droids for years. The council keeps saying there are no funds available for it. I had a feeling the whole system would need to break down first."

Anakin smiled proudly as he and his Master bowed politely. Then they were free to go back to their quarters. He didn't remember any more after that, because he'd fallen asleep before he and Obi-Wan got home. His Master must have carried him to bed, and cancelled his lessons for the next day, because they slept until noon.

Hello,

To write this I had to name some Jedi friends of Qui-Gon, and I am not that experienced with the lore, outside of the movies, to know this. I did some research, and skimmed a lot of the story on Wookieepedia, to find the three I used here. Master Tholme (Another character who lacks a first name), I understood Qui-Gon Padawan-sat for him at one point and figured they must be friends. Rael Aveross, Dooku's other former Padawan. I understand he and Qui-Gon were friendly, from what I could skim through. And Clee Rhara, she was supposed to be a childhood friend, and there was no death date for her, so... If I got any facts wrong, please correct me. I probably won't be expanding much on their characters here. But then you never know.

I stated in one of my other fics, that I thought the Jedi had an old fashioned idea that if it wasn't broken, it didn't need fixing, in regards to droids and other mechanics. I am going with this again. That is why the nanny droids were so out of date. Naturally Anakin never did share that point of view, and he will be upgrading the tech as he sees fit.

I made up a lot of technical stuff for this. I did try to research how droids are powered, but I couldn't find an answer, and decided power crystals sounded sci-fi-ish. The names of the metals did come from Wookieepedia. Most of the rest came from my own imagination.

I do have ideas and plans for things that were hinted at here… I won't say more, because I don't do spoilers… But some of those story lines may take some time to be fully laid out. They will be picked up again, even if it doesn't look like it for a few chapters.

Next chapter I have another cute idea for the Anakin and Obi-Wan characters, with some interaction from Qui-Gon and Yoda too. Maybe a few others. All depends on how it comes together.