Author's Note: In this story, Anakin was rejected by the Jedi Order. He returned home to Tatooine and made a nice life for himself working for Jabba the Hutt. I won't go much into detail, I'll just say he's a bounty hunter, as the title implies.

This story will eventually be rated M for some sex scenes, gory scenes, and such as is the life of a bounty hunter.

I sadly don't own Star Wars, so needless to say, I'm just playing in George Lucas' and Disney's sandbox.

Updated: 8/21/2022

The Bounty Hunter: Ch. 1

All of my quarries lead me here.

I push the door of the cantina open and quickly scan the room full of scum of villainy, and quickly set eyes on my target.

He's a former smuggler of Jabba's, one who disappeared with a spice shipment. He never paid up, so Jabba's gonna make him pay.

It's no bother to me. Everyone knows the price of doing business with the Hutts. And the consequences of failing them.

This smuggler is no different. I finger my blaster holstered to my thigh and cut the distance between us. He's sitting at a table along the wall with a female Twi'lek that's scantily clad on his lap. I hope he enjoyed his entertainment because he's about to become the entertainment himself, just not in a pleasurable fashion. At least not for him.

He's going to become a show piece for Jabba to show around to those who work for him, or that want to do business with him, what happens when you fail him. You'll only wish you were dead.

Again, it's no bother to me.

The smuggler's eyes widen as he sets eyes on me only a few meters away. The pair of us know one another, we've seen each other many times in Jabba's palace over the years. He knows who I am and what I do. And, no doubt, what I'm doing here.

"You know why I'm here, Malak, so you have two choices." I hold up a finger. "You can come in the easy way," I stick up my second. "Or the hard way." I move to unholster my blaster and hold it at my side. Though I may not be a Jedi, I'm still strong in the Force and I've learned much in the past decade since they rejected me. Enough to know when I'm in danger and when I'm not. I'm not in any danger. Least not yet.

Not ever, least not from him.

He pats the Twi'lek on her ass. "I guess we'll have to continue this another time," he tells her. She gets up and scurries away out of the line of fire and I can feel all the eyes in the room watching us. "Sorry, Anak-"

Before he could reach for his blaster and fire at me, I rush forward and smash my beskar armored forearm right into his face. Bones crack in his face and I think I broke his nose. Then I blast him with my blaster set on stun and throw him over my shoulder and make my way to the ship.

I could've just stunned him and been done with it. But he dared to insult me by thinking he could draw his blaster and blast me before I could just raise mine and stun him? He needed to learn a lesson. Don't mess with me. I didn't earn my reputation by being soft.

As we close in on my ship, I tap a button on my left forearm and the landing ramp lowers to the sandy ground. Artoo beeps a greeting from inside and he leads the way to the carbonite chamber. He's the one who turns it on after I set Malak inside and he becomes encased in the carbonite that'll keep him alive and in pain for as long as he's in there.

I don't feel anything for him. No remorse or sadness. He's just another bounty.

He isn't my first and he won't be my last.

A few hours later, I land near Jabba's Palace on Tatooine and walk inside. Jabba's henchmen go and take the smuggler frozen in carbonite from my ship and I go to collect my reward.

Jabba laughs as he sets eyes on his former smuggler as he's carried into Jabba's throne room fully encased in carbonite. His eyes are still closed, since he was still stunned when I threw him in the chamber and his nose is visibly broken. "Good work, my boy," Jabba says in Huttese.

"He was easy prey, didn't even make me break a sweat," I say, also in Huttese. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll collect my reward and be on my way."

Jabba waves his big grubby hand to his second, Bib Fortuna, a pale male Twi'lek who's incredibly weak minded. Jabba, on the other hand, is completely immune to mind tricks. As is the Hutt species, interestingly enough. Bib gives me my reward and I walk back to my ship, feeling the eyes of the slave girls, bounty hunters, smugglers and mercenaries watching me as I go. I'm in my full armor made of pure beskar, it's blue and silver and the helmet isn't with a T visor like the Mandalorians, instead it's just a horizontal slit that's big enough for me to see through without obstructing my view. And even without it, my face is still well known. Especially around here.

Here, where I'm known and feared. Nobody knows what I can do, or what I'm capable of more than those in this room.

Yet, even if there were any new faces here that weren't aware of who I was, you don't always see a man encased in pure beskar, that's worth hundreds of thousands of Republic credits alone.

It makes me prey but I'm a predator and the Force is with me. Always.

After leaving Jabba's Palace, I fly a short way to my mother's. She married a moisture farmer named Cliegg Lars a few years back and she lives with him on his moisture farm. I have my own place out here, I like living in solitude and yet, still close to my mother. I don't need to moisture farm though, I make enough credits to do as I please and I mostly just buy new parts for my ship to repair her like new and to give her some upgrades.

As well as my Naboo N-1 Starfighter that Padmé gifted me as thanks for helping to destroy the Droid Control ship, it's the same one I flew too. Along with R2-D2 who's my companion when I'm tinkering or whenever I leave this sandy rock behind. Or just in general.

I guess you could say that the astromech is my best friend. He's not just a droid to me. And as if he knows I'm thinking about him, he beeps and chirps to me in inquiry, though I'm sure he knows where we're going regardless. R2 doesn't much like silence.

"We're going to see mom," I tell him.

He beeps and chirps happily, his dome shaking side to side. The droid has more personality than many others I've known. Like the Jedi.

Shoving them far from my mind, the farm comes into view on the bright, sandy horizon. I live in the adjacent property, about an eighth of a kilometer away and I own over three hundred acres with a state of the art security system to keep the Sand People and any unauthorized people away. Which is mostly everyone. I modified and upgraded the system myself. I did it for my mother too, so I know she'll be safe when I'm away and can't be there to protect her.

Her safety means everything to me, she deserves to live the rest of her long life in peace after all that she endured. After all that she endured for me.

She meets me at the top of the steps when I disembark from my ship, the gold plated C-3PO is waiting too and he and R2 go right to chatting like the old buddies they are.

"Oh Ani," Mom says, wrapping her arms tightly around me in a hug. I sent a message ahead to let her know I was coming, she made sure to save me some dinner.

I wrap her up in a bigger hug and kiss her on the cheek. "I'm fine, Mom," I say, trying to ease her worries. She doesn't much like what I do, or who I work for. But it meant freeing her, and if I had to do it again, I gladly would. I'd do it a thousand times over.

She means everything to me. Everything.

After dinner and talking for a while, catching up, we say our goodbyes and I fly the short distance to my house. It's been some time since I've last been here. The hangar door slides open and I lower my ship down into the underground hangar and seal the hatch back up. You can never be too safe on Tatooine.

The second you let your guard down, you might as well be dead. And I have no intention of dying any time soon.

R2 wheels along beside me, he beeps a little good night and goes to the recharging station to recharge himself as we make it down the hall and down some stairs into our homestead. I begin to undress, take a nice warm shower with water- not a sonic shower like most have here on Tatooine due to the lack of water here, and when I'm done, I dry off and head to bed.

I'll rest tonight and be back at it in the morning to decide what I'll do next. I like having the freedom to decide, whether to be lazy, to tinker or to go hunt down my next target. I aim to be unpredictable. It's kept me alive thus far and will for many years to come.

The next day, I did some tinkering and then found myself flying to Jabba's palace for a new job. It's there that I run into bounty hunters, Jango Fett and Zam Wessel, a clawdite sidekick of his that's relatively new to the bounty hunting world.

"Anakin," Jango slaps my arm in greeting, his helmet firmly in place on his head. "Wish I could stay and chat, but we're off on a mission."

I nod in understanding. He's a man of few words anyway, though he does have a lot of interesting stories to tell. He even looked out for me over the years, just as he's doing for the clawdite changeling. "Anything good?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Just a senator that the Viceroy of the Trade Federation wants dead."

Something stirs inside me. The Force. "A senator, you say? What's the Trade Federation want with the senator?"

"Don't know," Jango says, shrugging without a care in the world. He only cares about the credits. And the challenge. The fight. Like most Mandalorians. "Don't care either, they paid me a lot of money to capture her alive or to bring her head to him, if I had no other choice. Makes no difference to me what their business is."

My gut twists, the Force is swirling inside me. "Would I know her?" I ask, even though I already know who's he talking about.

"From what I heard from you, you would." He squeezes my shoulder. "Senator Padmé Amidala."

Padmé! "I see," I eventually say, when I can say the words without a primal emotion.

Emotions I thought I squashed long ago, return to the surface. I tried to push her from my mind, saying that a beautiful Queen turned Senator would want nothing to do with a former slave turned bounty hunter. Why would she want me when she can have any man she desires? One who's just as noble as she.

But even if she'll never be with me, I can't just let Jango and Zam go and abduct or assassinate her for that slimy coward. I won't be able to live with myself if I just stand by and do nothing. I don't care what the cost is, I won't let anyone harm her.

Even if it costs me my life.

A/N: All roads lead back to Padmé, the star crossed lovers, it seems.

I was debating whether to make this an Anidala story or not. I want to make it gritty. Like The Mandalorian (what a badass show that is!). And I plan on this story still being like that. He's not the same man he was in AOTC, he's killed in his profession as a bounty hunter and he doesn't feel remorse for the lives he took. He'll stop at nothing to protect those he loves. He's also not trained as a Jedi, but he's strong in the Force and the Force is always with him.

I'll also say now that I have no intention of Shmi dying, she's had a tough life and deserves to live happily ever after.

This story will be rated M soon enough. And sparks will fly between the two, and remember, he isn't a Jedi. He isn't bound by the Jedi Code of no attachments.

Until next time…

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