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A Shift in the Force: Chapter Five: Stranded

AN: Sorry I haven't updated in a little bit, I've been a bit obsessed with Looking Beyond and Daughter of Rome and A Girl Named Hope! Please enjoy! And don't forget to vote for your favorite fanfic on my profile!


The number one most aggravating thing about Sabé Amidala, was that she wouldn't stay put. Obi-Wan had almost given himself a heart-attack when he went have a look at the hyperdrive, only to find his friend tinkering away underneath it.

"Sabé!" he said in dismay, crouching down so that he could see under the contraption. "Sabé, you're supposed to be resting!" He pulled her by the leg out from under the hyperdrive. Sabé had a smear of grease on her cheek.

Sabé scoffed lightly, rolling her eyes at the Stewjonan. "Come on, Obi-Wan," she wheedled, "you know I can't stand staying in hospital wards! They're so boring!"

"Your injuries-"

"All wounds heal," Sabé said patiently, "besides, we might be here for a while, come look at this."

Obi-Wan gave a forlorn sigh as she rolled under the hyperdrive again, but he followed her, lying shoulder to shoulder with her. Sabé pointed her vibro-screwdriver at an area that had been blackened, contrasting with the silver of the rest of the engine.

She tapped the tip of the screwdriver against the center of the blackened area. "See that? That's where it shorted out. The circuits are completely fried. It'll need to be replaced."

"None of it can be salvaged?" Obi-Wan asked, inspecting it closely.

"None of what I can see," Sabé admitted as he helped rolled out from under and helped he into a standing position. She couldn't help but stumble, her knees buckling slightly from the sudden shift of focus.

"Alright, Sabé?" Obi-Wan asked in concern, his arms winding securely around her like when they were kids, but this time it felt much different. His face was very close to her own and she could feel her cheeks heating up at the closeness.

"F-fine," she managed to say, extracting herself from him (what was really sad was that he hadn't even noticed how flustered she would get if they suddenly were too close to each other; Sabé was trying to minimize it, but it was a work in progress), and wincing when the movement jarred her arm. "Kriff," she muttered.

"Your arm!" Obi-Wan pulled the injured appendage towards him, his touch making her skin warm.

"Obi-Wan, its fine," Sabé said with a dismissive air. "Trust me, I was in worse shape with Talik on Ryloth."

He winced slightly, recalling the nature of her injuries from not two weeks prior. "True, but-"

"What did I tell you about worrying?" she chided. "Who's the older one here?"

Obi-Wan opened his mouth to speak, as he was her elder by a year at least, but thought better of it. It wasn't really a good idea to argue with Sabé when she was injured; the last time he had tried, he had gotten a bash of a lightsaber hilt to his right temple. It hadn't been pleasant, and Sabé had had to have a serious talk with Grandmaster Yoda about using aggression.

"You're projecting," she added dryly.

Obi-Wan's cheeks flushed a deep, dark red. Embarrassment flooded.

"You're still doing it," Sabé sang, tossing him an open grin as she made her way slowly out of the room and into the medical ward at the precise second that her comlink buzzed. "Amidala."

"Master."

"Any luck?" Sabé asked her padawan.

"They have only one hyperdrive, Master, its Nubian class, but they don't take Republic credits," Talik explained in a hushed voice.

"Well, they wouldn't," Sabé said, rolling her eyes slightly. "Tatooine is one the outer rim and not under the control of the Republic; they have their own monetary system."

"I'll report back when we have something," Talik said mournfully before switching off the comlink and tucking it into her belt.

Today was a really interesting day for Anakin Skywalker. Padmé was beautiful, but he couldn't help but be embarrassed that he'd asked if she was an angel, but he couldn't stop himself. She looked so much like that other girl, the one with the comforting smile and dozens of brown braids swinging around her face.

He had been dreaming about her for as long as he could remember, but she had never spoken to his in his dreams. She only took his hand and led him away from the nightmares. His mother had always thought that he just didn't have them, until he'd mentioned her.

Padmé and the other girl were probably the most interesting creatures to date; hardly anyone wanted to talk to a servant boy.

The other girl wasn't human, she was a twi'lek. Twi'leks weren't so rare in Mos Espa, and he knew Jabba the Hutt had a few of them employed as dancers, but he was sure that he'd never seen a twi'lek like her. First of all, she was purple, a really light purple, and one of her lekku had a strap of leather bound to it, on which a string a beads hung. But the strange thing was that she was dressed very modestly, not at all like the Twi'leks that Anakin had seen. When she moved, Anakin could see her laser sword clipped to her waist. Was she a Jedi?

Talik came to stand beside Padmé, irritation flickering in her light eyes.

"How is your master?" Padmé asked.

Talik huffed slightly, crossing her arms in annoyance. "I can tell that she'd much rather be out here than cooped up in the ship," she amended, "but she'll never admit it."

"Too proud?" Padmé guessed, but she received a steely stare that told her she had said something wrong.

"J-" Talik caught herself, glancing to Anakin who eyed her curiously. "We are not proud. Master just doesn't like to complain about such things, she believes in embracing ones pain, and learning from it."

Talik still hadn't quite learned that lesson, and she didn't think she would any time soon, but Master said that that was alright; she hadn't mastered her own pain until she was sixteen or seventeen, when she had to let go of all the emotions that warred inside her after her attack.

She turned her head, her lekku swinging behind her as she did so to smile at the young mechanic. "Hi, I'm Talik Shala."

Anakin grinned brightly, waving his vibro-screwdriver happily. "'Lo, I'm Anakin Skywalker. Are you stranded?"

Talik gave him a tight smile that she had replicated from her master, quite perfectly, she had to admit. "Right now, yes."

"Where you from?" he asked her, fiddling with the small item in his hands.

"Ryloth, and Padmé here and Master Sabé are from Naboo," Talik explained, but one name caught his attention.

"You know someone named Sabé?" he asked in complete surprise. "I thought I'd made her up!"

This time it was he that earned the incredulous stare. "What are you talking about?" Talik demanded defensively. "Of course Master Sabé Amidala is real!"

"Anakin," Padmé said in a far more patient voice than Talik, "why didn't you think Sabé was real? How do you even know who she is?"

Anakin shrugged, a faint blush rising in his cheeks, though he was sure the engine grease his it well. "I used to get these really bad nightmares when I was younger," he said, speaking quietly in the hope that Talik wouldn't be set off a second time, "and there was always this girl who would show up and lead me back."

"And her name was Sabé?" Talik asked dubiously.

"Pretty sure," Anakin said, screwing his face up as he tried to remember. Talik shut her eyes and opened her connection to the Force further than she had ever done before. She wasn't that great at sensing the Force that surrounded all things (as shameful as it was, she sometimes couldn't even sense her master when she was standing right next to her), but she could sense that this boy was…something. She reeled back slightly, making Padmé touch her arm in concern.

"Talik?" Talik could hear her name, but at the moment, she was far too focused to care. Anakin was bright. The Force was so tightly woven around him it was almost a shield. His presence was much stronger than anything she had ever felt from Master.

"You are strong in the Force," she said in surprise, her eyes fluttering open as she did so.

"The Force?" Anakin asked in confusion as Padmé stared at Talik.

"That's very strange," Talik muttered to herself. "If you were so strong in the Force, then your presence should have been picked up by the Holocrons…" A frown marred her lavender face, and she absentmindedly tapped her fingers in a rhythm against the hilt of her saber. The intense look of concentration reminded Padmé of her sister before the crash, when she had been telling her about all that the Trade Federation had done.

"Unless…" Talik muttered to herself, too low to be discerned by either humanoid. If Anakin Skywalker and Sabé Amidala were two of the most powerful Force-users to be recorded, and Sabé was known to be the prophesied Guide, then it could be assumed that Anakin was the prophesied Chosen One.

This mission had just gotten a little bit interesting.

Sabé's dream was dark, very dark. Shadows danced and blast residue covered the entirety of the Jedi Temple. She could feel all of the bad emotions filling inside of her like her calm resolve had sprung a leak. She felt the rage, the sorrow, the fear, the loneliness, and it threatened to consume her, body and soul. The corpses littered the floor, of master, padawan, and youngling.

Sabé could feel the bile rising in her throat. What dark corner of her mind could conjure this? She felt ashamed, but by the time she reached the Council Meeting room, that feeling had abated slightly.

Because of who –or should she say what? - she saw within the chamber, standing amidst the bodies, hooded and cloaked with their face hidden from view.

Sabé had her lightsabers in her hands in seconds, activating them as she slipped into a defensive crouch. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"I," the voice spoke from within the folds, dark and filled with hatred, "am Darth Carina, but my name matters little." She shrugged the hood from her brow and Sabé's eyes widened at the face beneath. "Because," she continued, "you will be dead before you can even speak it." Her double red lightsabers flared to life and Sabé didn't have enough time to move before she struck her through, making her awaken in a sweat.

She gulped greedily at the air as if she had been starved of it, her heart beating frantically in her chest, faster than it had perhaps ever beaten in her life (including that run-in she had had with that Zabrak when she was sixteen). She sat up suddenly in her bed, grunting in pain at how the movement jarred her stomach. Sabé had to take a moment to get used to the pain before swinging her legs over the side of the bed and dropping gingerly to the ground. Luckily, this time around, doing so did not make her legs collapse under her, only buckle slightly, which was a big step up in her opinion.

The flashing lights and whirring noises told her that Arthree had activated his movement sensors. She tried not to roll her eyes, but really, the astromech made it too easy…

"I'm fine, Arthree," she said calmly, moving sluggishly towards the door, pressing on the button that slid it up and open.

Arthree beeped a question.

"I'll be quite fine on my own," Sabé said, "there aren't many places I can go; don't worry so much, you'll ruin your wiring."

Arthree gave her an indignant beep and tottered so that his back was facing her as the door slid shut with her on the opposite side.

The artificial lights on the space craft were darkened so as to give off the illusion of night. To Sabé, it seemed dead depressing; it was one of the reasons she really hated traveling in spacecrafts. She preferred to see the night as it was, and it was the reason why the balcony of her apartment was probably the most likely place one could find her, if they wished.

She traced a hand along the wall, using it as both a guide of sorts and a way to support herself (curse her weakness!) as she blinked her eyes harshly, trying to get them used to the level of darkness the ship had provided her with.

The silence didn't calm her as it usually did, much to her disappointment, but she chalked that up to a combination of her dream and her injuries. She could hear her palpitating heartbeat as if it was a drum beating constantly in her ears, and it was making her dizzy.

The droid hold was empty except for the single R2 unit that remained. It beeped a cheerful greeting to her, making her smile. Arthree's 'voice' was a fraction lower than Artoo-Detoo's.

"Hello," she said, sweeping her cloak around her as she bent down to sit beside him, taking in the bit of debris and smudges of oil that covered his plating, having not been removed before. "I'm Sabé Amidala…you're…" She ran a finger along his name, "Artoo-Detoo?"

He beeped in agreement as she inspected the damage to his 'body' closely.

"Looks like you could use a good scrubbing," she said, glancing at him. Most astromechs weren't anything like Arthree, or even how Artoo seemed to be, they lacked the humanistic traits and had more robotic responses than human. This was rather common, but Sabé found that she liked it better when she could relate more to them.

She ripped a bit off of her already torn cloak and used it to soak up the blotches of oil. Regrettably, it didn't do much but cause light grey smears across the plating, but it was better than the black.

"You've got an awful lot of debris jammed up in here," she noticed, pulling her vibro-screwdriver from her utility belt and attempting to pry a bit loose, but it was difficult work. Sabé was sure it would work better if she had a larger screwdriver, but she was both too lazy to move and she wouldn't know where to find one, so she had to settle for using the miniature one she usually only used for small repairs and resolved to get one that was a bit larger in size as soon as they were back on Coruscant.

She sighed forlornly. She missed Coruscant, and it had only been a few days since they'd left. And she missed her apartment.

Though it was rare to accept such lavish gifts, Sabé had an apartment in 500 Republica. It was a well known fact that its occupants were a number of famous, wealthy, and important people to the Galactic Republic, and Sabé herself fit none of those, unless one was spreading word of her exploits.

Sabé had tried to refuse it when she first heard that her father had bought the apartment for her use, it had embarrassed her a bit and annoyed her at the same time (it was like he thought that she could be bought). However, it wasn't like she could give him back the apartment, he had no use for it, so she had reluctantly accepted it, though having a lot of the more extravagant items removed from it so that only the barest minimum of furniture remained, and making sure that everyone knew that it was open for their use. Some people considered it an extension of the Jedi Temple, if one was in need for a place away from the table to quiet their mind, or even a different perspective on a certain view.

Many did not believe she should accepted such a gift 'so easily' (she had tried to give it back, but many seemed to ignore that tiny bit), and many believed her views to be flawed, and the Ongree Jedi Master Pablo-Jill was one of her biggest critics. He believed in giving oneself entirely over to the Order, and while Sabé was faithful to the Code (for the most part), that didn't stop her from questioning it at every turn.

She sighed again, using Artoo's domed head to stand up, biding the astrodroid adieu and following the Force signature of Obi-Wan until she found herself climbing up into the cockpit.

"I need an analysis of this blood sample I'm sending you." She could hear Qui-Gon's voice as she hovered back and away, listening intently but keeping far enough back that Obi-Wan wouldn't see or sense her.

"Wait a minute…" Obi-Wan said as his comlink beeped that the transfer of info had taken place, allowing him to plug it into one of the many screens on the ship.

"I need a midi-chlorian count."

Sabé peered curiously at the screen and goggled slightly. Her midi-chlorian count was nothing compared to that!

"This can't be right," Obi-Wan said, a bit stunned, "the reading's off the charts, it's over twenty thousand! Even Sabé doesn't have a count that high!"

"No Jedi has," Qui-Gon's voice uttered from the opposite end of the comlink, confusing Obi-Wan and making Sabé frown slightly.

"But what does that mean?" Obi-Wan pressed of his master, but Qui-Gon could offer the young man no answer.

"I'm not sure."

Obi-Wan turned off his comlink a fraction of a second after his master, swiveling his seat around and jumping violently at the sight of Sabé within the shadows. "Sabé! Don't do that!"

A smile graced her lips as she moved forward, leaning around him to bring up the last image that the screen had displayed by pressing a number of the buttons. Obi-Wan was surprised by the intensity that her eyes held as she looked over the count.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her. "Are you upset that your record got beaten?"

She couldn't help but give him a light laugh. "Do you really think I'm that shallow, Obi-Wan?"

A pink flush rose in his cheeks.

"I feel like I've missed a lot, how long was I asleep?" she asked as she switched the monitor off and leaned against the wall.

"Just about a day," he assured her, "how are your wounds?"

Sabé dropped a hand to her stomach, despite the throbbing ache, it was much better than the day before and her arm was practically back to normal. "Better," she admitted, "I should be completely healed by tomorrow if I do a bit of Force healing tonight."

"Let me."

"Hm?" she asked, arching an eyebrow at him in slight confusion. "Let you what?"

"Let me work on your stomach wound," Obi-Wan said calmly, "I haven't been of use much, please."

Sabé watched him for a second. She was uncomfortable about having Obi-Wan so close to her bare skin, but she didn't show that; she was a Jedi first and foremost. "Alright," she acquiesced, "as long as you tell me what I missed."

She didn't wait for his answer, turning on her heel to move slowly towards the medical ward. That was another problem of Sabé's, Obi-Wan thought to himself as he followed her, she wasn't one for really asking any help.

And he knew it was going to cause trouble, he just knew it.


Qui-Gon Jinn rarely heard of such Force-sensitive children such as Sabé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker. Children with that many midi-chlorians were unheard of. He wasn't surprised to discover that Anakin had been conceived by the midi-chlorians themselves, just as the Prophecy of the Chosen One had claimed. It reminded him a great deal of Sabé's (for it was assumed to be a prophecy about her despite the number of disbelievers) Prophecy of the Great Guide, which spoke of a girl born under the waning crescent moon, a girl who walked the fine line of Light and Dark. Sabé, he knew, shouldn't have been born. Master Plo Koon had said that her parents called her a miracle, saying that her mother shouldn't have been able to carry her to term, but she did, as she did with her other two children.

Sabé Amidala was an oddity of the Jedi Order all by herself, and he couldn't help but be glad that she already had a padawan. If Anakin was indeed chosen to become a Jedi, it wouldn't be such a good idea to have two powerhouses so close to each other; the damage they could cause would be…impressive.

But he was forgetting that Sabé wasn't a very explosive person. She could be an excellent teacher, as she was to young Talik, and even to her friends.

"Brooding isn't very Jedi."

Qui-Gon looked up to Talik Shala who was standing before him, her arms closed and a blanket in her arms which she held out to the older man. "From Shmi," she explained before sitting down beside him. "Did you tell her about Sabé?" she asked him.

Shmi had been a bit surprised to discover that her son's nightmare guide was in fact a real person, though Qui-Gon very much doubted that Sabé had any knowledge of the dreams that Anakin Skywalker had.

"Yes," he said, "I don't think she quite understood what I was talking about."

Talik rolled her eyes at him as if to say: "No one ever understands what you say, Master Jinn."

"Do you think this is a good idea?" she asked him instead. "So much is riding on that pod race tomorrow…what if Anakin loses?"

"Do you think he will?" Qui-Gon asked.

"I think that you have too much trust in him and we've only just met him," Talik said in a mutinous mutter, "and Master would agree with me."

"But your master is not here," Qui-Gon felt the need to remind her.

Talik scowled at him, sensing his thoughts of her master. "I can think on my own, thanks," she snapped, "just because I have a habit of repeating Master's words doesn't mean I am her. Just because you don't approve of her views doesn't mean that she's a bad person."

And with that, she stood up and stormed back into the little hovel that belonged to the Skywalkers.

Her anger would have worried him, if it hadn't been justified.

Still, he would have to speak with Sabé about Talik's meditations.

AN: And I give you Anakin Skywalker! Sorry I haven't done much with this chapter, but most of the action happens outside of the spaceship, and since Sabé is on the spaceship…well, you get what you get.

Next chapter the gang will be heading back to Coruscant, Qui-Gon has a small duel with the Zabrak that cut off Sabé's arm seven years ago, and Anakin meets the girl of his dreams (no, not like that, this is Sobiwan, remember?). I'm not quite sure when I'll update next, but, on the plus side, I am on spring break, so I have more time on my hands than usual.

PLEASE REVIEW! :D