Disclaimer: George Lucas owns Star Wars

A Shift in the Force: Chapter Twelve: Into Hyperspace

AN: Haha, look, another update, aren't you all lucky? I still blame Obi-Wan for this obsession…I need more Star Wars books, because I'm starting to quote the movies word for word… and I did buy the novelization for the first three movies, because I'm still completely obsessed *cackles*

I feel that the next few chapters will focus more on Sabé and Talik, as they're more central to the plot right now than Obi-Wan and Anakin, though Anakin will be popping up quite a bit, being Talik's best friend. You'll probably see more Aayla and Kit when the group finally gets back to Coruscant.

And Merry Christmas! I had planned to update this yesterday, so it's a little late for Christmas, but not too late, so I hope you're all having a great holiday!


Padmé came to see Sabé right before they were due to leave, still dressed in the white and pink gown that she had worn to the parade.

Her younger sister smiled and it made the painted Scar of Remembrance on her lips more obvious. "I can't even compare to you," the young queen joked.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sabé responded. "You look radiant." And she did, with very light face paint that couldn't hide her face as opposed to the usual.

Padmé smiled broadly before her lips thinned into a line. "Do you really have to leave so soon? You must be exhausted from all that's happened."

Sabé seemed remarkably unconcerned. "I can rest when we're back on Coruscant again…It's likely that the Council won't give us another mission for a short while, or, they won't give me one with Talik for awhile."

There were several things she wanted her Padawan to work on before their next mission.

"I'll miss you," Padmé said, her eyes sad.

Sabé said nothing to that. What could she? She knew she would, even though attachment was forbidden by the Jedi Code.

Padmé tried to memorize her sister as she was standing before her. Her dark braids pinned back, her cheeks rosy and her eyes bright, her lightsabers hanging on each side of her waist. Sabé nearly seemed to be drowning in darkly colored materials, but that, Padmé rather thought, suited her.

Her elder sister raised a hand to cup her cheek and Padmé leaned into the touch.

"Mother and Father would have been glad to see you at the celebration," she told her softly, but Sabé shook her head.

"Your world and mine are very separate, little sister," Sabé said, a line appearing between her eyebrows that told Padmé she didn't necessarily agree with that reasoning behind the thought. "I don't think Sola would have appreciated my presence."

Padmé grimaced, but she couldn't deny the truth of that. "She'll come around."

"Doubtful," Sabé muttered. "But it matters not." Well, it stung her a little, but she didn't have the power to alter one's opinion of her, and it certainly wasn't a power she had ever wanted.

"I'm proud," Padmé told her anyways.

"Of what?" The Jedi asked, flummoxed.

"I'm proud to be the sister of a great Jedi," Padmé said and Sabé's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "No matter what Sola thinks…I think you make a wonderful Jedi."

Sabé's words caught in her throat. Whatever she had been expecting from Padmé, it was not that. And she leaned down to press a kiss to Padmé's lightly painted brow.

Padmé blinked furiously when Sabé stepped back. "Thank you," Sabé said simply, but her smile and the shine in her eyes made it anything but simple.

"I also have something for you," Padmé told her, drawing her hands up to hold out a small wooden box to her sister and Sabé eyed it suspiciously, which only made her laugh. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad."

Sabé took the box, opening it to see what was within and then she lifted it out in confusion. "What's this?"

It was a bead that was crimson and carved into the likeness of a rose.

"The Naboo's Red Rose," Padmé replied. "For what you have done for us."

"I don't suppose you've got one for the others, do you? Because I happen to know that Obi-Wan looks gorgeous with a bead in his hair."

And laughter filled the air at that as Padmé tried to imagine Obi-Wan Kenobi, with his short hair and no braid (it had been cut off shortly after the High Council's arrival on Naboo and Padmé remembered Sabé mentioning that the thin braid was something a Padawan learner wore up until they became Knights) with a rose-bead twisted into his auburn strands.

"Well, the color does suit him," Padmé managed to finally get past her lips.

"You aren't wrong," Sabé had to agree, still smiling as she replaced the bead into the box, shutting it and tucking it into her leather jerkin. "Thank you…we will see each other again, I'm sure," she said and Padmé couldn't help but admire the certainty her elder sister's voice held.

And then Padmé enveloped Sabé in a hug that Sabé couldn't help but return.

"Goodbye," the younger of the two said with eyes sparkling when she relinquished her grip on Sabé to permit her to enter into the starship, the ramp ascending once she'd mounted it.

Sabé pulled off her cloak before she made her way into the cockpit, finding it a bit cumbersome in flight, and she arched an eyebrow to the one sitting in the co-pilot's seat.

"I suppose you're to be my co-pilot?" she asked Anakin who grinned widely.

"Yup!" he said cheerfully as Sabé pulled out a comm. unit, fixing it on her head with the small mic resting near her mouth and she handed him one to put on.

"Obi-Wan, Talik, you both situated?" Sabé's voice came over the comm. system.

"Fine," Obi-Wan's voice came.

"Ready for takeoff," Talik chirped.

"It might be a little bumpy, but hang on to something…and make sure Arthree doesn't roll around too much."

And angry beep followed her words and Anakin giggled.

"Pipe down, Arthree, you know it's true!" Sabé admonished before flipping the button that had turned the comm. system on, so that it was off again. "Here we go…grab that clutch, you're going to help me keep her steady."

He was a bit too eager in his task, but Sabé had to remind herself that this was a boy that had podraced back on Tatooine.

The engines fired and within moments they were soaring up into the open sky before leaving Naboo's atmosphere entirely.

"Then we input the coordinates for Coruscant," Sabé said, more to Anakin that to anyone else as she pressed a few buttons near the controls. "And then we make the jump to Hyperspace."

"Can I do it?" Anakin asked eagerly, his blue eyes lighting up.

"All right," Sabé said, her lips curling in amusement. "Here's the lever, just push it forward and it'll take us into Hyperspace."

"Fast?"

"I'm not sure the ship could handle that," Sabé remarked dryly. She may have liked the class of the ship that Silon had been kind enough to lend her, but she was sure the ship was in need of a bit more repairs that the Nabooans had given it. "Slowly, so we don't lose any parts of the ship, all right?"

He bobbed his head in agreement before grasping the lever and pushing it forward until it could go no further and the ship surged forward into Hyperspace, but once it was inside, the craft stabilized.

Though Hyperspace made traveling between planets and differing systems shorter, it was still hours at the least between two, sometimes days if the distance was greater, and Sabé and those in the ship had another eight hours ahead of them before they could reach Coruscant.

"What kind of ship is this?" Anakin asked.

"A Corellian class YT-1300f light freighter," Sabé said with an air of reciting information.

"What's it called?"

"The Millennium Falcon."

"Cool!" Anakin said in awe, gazing around the cockpit in awe. "Did the Jedi give you this?"

Sabé coughed in discreetly. "Ah, no, this is a loan from a friend."

Anakin opened his mouth to ask another probing question, no doubt, but he was stalled the sound of a body colliding with something metallic, followed by a rather undignified yelp of pain.

"And that'll be Obi-Wan falling into one of the smuggler holds," Sabé muttered with an exasperated sigh as Anakin stared at her before she flipped the comm. system back on. "Are you all right, Obi-Wan?"

"Smuggler holds? Really?" came the Jedi's grumbling reply. "What kind of ship is this?"

"One that occasionally smuggles," Sabé replied, unperturbed by the level of illegal activities that occurred on the ship, which was probably why Silon had leant it to her in the first place; if it was seen flying for something legitimate, such as a Jedi mission, then it would be less suspect for illegal activity.

And Sabé couldn't really fault the logic at that; Silon, after all, was first and foremost a businessman.


Obi-Wan pulled himself out of the smuggler hold without much difficulty, shaking his head in exasperation at the thought of his friend borrowing a smuggling ship. But sometimes it wasn't best to apply logic to the situation; Sabé was known for taking what she was given and offering no complaints.

A mission with no escape plan? No problem.

Need a ship fixed under a time limit? No problem. (Though, it would be a little on the shoddy side.)

He replaced the plating over the floor, making his way towards the cockpit, pausing before he got too close.

"Something's bothering you," Sabé mentioned lightly, flicking the autopilot switch on her left side. "You're practically radiating it."

He could feel it too, like Anakin was vibrating.

"Is it Obi-Wan?" she asked and the young man in question froze.

"He's…intense," Anakin said after a few moments of silence to gather his thoughts.

Humor bubbled off Sabé and he could imagine her brown eyes glinting as she smiled. "Yes, he can be sometimes...I think his master thought that about him sometimes, too."

"Mister Qui-Gon did?" Anakin asked in surprise.

Obi-Wan peered around the corner to look to where the two were sitting and Sabé glanced to the boy in contemplation, considering what she should tell him.

"Obi-Wan didn't exactly have an easy time as a Padawan or even before that," she said finally, "but he worked hard and his efforts were not in vain."

Anakin was confused, so Sabé elaborated.

"Master Jinn didn't originally choose Obi-Wan as his student…I think he thought Obi-Wan dueled with too much aggression, or maybe it was that Obi-Wan was too like his old apprentice…but Obi-Wan ended up as his apprentice one way or another when he was halfway to AgriCorps, no less…and then Obi-Wan left the Order for a time."

"He left?" Anakin asked stunned.

"There were kids he wanted to help, and he couldn't do so as the Jedi Padawan to Qui-Gon Jinn," Sabé said with a small shrug. "And when he returned it wasn't to open arms. Obi-Wan had to be very careful about what he did; the Jedi Order was watching him to make sure he didn't up and leave again. He worked hard to prove his loyalty to the Jedi Code."

Obi-Wan could practically hear Anakin's thoughts through their fledging bond.

Someone like Obi-Wan Kenobi breaking rules? But he seemed so uptight…

Obi-Wan shifted the weight from one foot to the next.

"The boy is dangerous, Master, the others sense it, why can't you?"

With the lack of mental shields, Sabé heard Anakin's recollection of Obi-Wan's words spoken to his master before their return to Naboo.

"He thinks I'm dangerous," Anakin said sullenly.

"Most Jedi will," Sabé replied, "they did with me."

Sabé stood before them, anxiety coursing through her veins, no matter how the Force tried to soothe her nerves. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes were bright, braids tumbling over her shoulders as she stood resolutely before the Council.

She lost count how many times one of them watched her during the parts of her lessons that could be observed. The expression those Masters seemed to wear included knotted brows and downward twisted lips.

"Initiate Amidala has shown nothing but adequate performance."

"She is still a danger."

The Force vibrated and Sabé breathed in sharply. Force, give me strength, she silently prayed when Yoda jolted her out of her thoughts.

"Knew watching her, we were," he spoke, aged eyes flitting towards Sabé, "kept her abilities hidden, she did."

Sabé swallowed.

"Strong in the force, she is. Dangerous only to some. A great Jedi, I sense she will be."

"They did?" Anakin asked, jerking her attention back to the present.

"You and I have the highest midi-chlorian counts that the Jedi had seen, higher than those on the High Council, and…" Sabé's lips thinned into a line. "We are the only two that are part of prophecies. For that, we are set apart, we are dangerous to some, and that is fine."

"It's fine?" Anakin spluttered. "How is it fine?"

"Because being a part of a prophecy, having as many midi-chlorians that we do, it doesn't change anything," Sabé said, her eyes steely as they rested on Anakin's. "In the end we are still Sabé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, and that's all that matters."

Her words washed over him and Anakin felt his anxiety lessen to be replaced with calm.

"And, if it counts for anything," Sabé said, "I think Obi-Wan will be a wonderful master to you."

"You think so?" Anakin tried not to make his voice so small, but he wasn't sure it came out right.

"Obi-Wan sacrificed a lot in order to take you as his student, a request his master gave him with his dying breath." Anakin could practically feel the rebuke. "Jedi Knights aren't expected to take on students immediately after making Knighthood, but he knew that you would be returned to Tatooine where your potential would be wasted. So he took you on, even when he was still grieving for the master he lost."

Sabé did not sense Obi-Wan's thoughts from around the corner as he exhaled a sharp breath of his own.

"Obi-Wan is clever and strong…he's the first Jedi in a long time to take down a Sith, especially on his own…less skilled Jedi have lost limbs to that Zebrak."

Anakin's eyes drifted to the glove that hid her metallic limb.

Sabé turned the comm. system on once more. "Talik, how do you feel about taking the wheel for awhile?"

"Coming!" came the short call before Sabé switched it off and Talik's footsteps thudded until she reached the cockpit, rushing past Obi-Wan, not bothering to question why he was hovering there in the first place.

"I'm just going to sit about, aren't I?" Talik asked with a sigh as Sabé left the pilot seat.

"That is a great deal that is done when the ship is on autopilot, yes," Sabé replied, faintly amused. "Send word if anything out of the ordinary happens."

"What're the chances of that?" Talik muttered, quailing at the firm stare her master gave her in return, for which she amended meekly, "Yes, Master."

Sabé nodded approvingly as she stepped out of the cockpit, rounding the corner, startled to find Obi-Wan standing there, leaning against the ship's rough wall.

Heat flooded to her face and Obi-Wan wasn't quite sure he had even seen the Nabooan female quite so flustered.

"Heard that, did you?" she asked as they walked through the ship towards the commons area.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop."

"Sometimes it can't be helped," Sabé said with a small smile. "It's fine, really."

"I didn't know that you thought all that about me," Obi-Wan mentioned lightly, the thought making him feel a little warm. Flattered didn't feel like the right word, but he wasn't sure what else would fit.

Sabé tugged on the end of one of her braids. "I always think highly of my friends," she said, meeting his eyes with ease and Obi-Wan tried to read the emotion within the depths of her brown orbs to little avail. "And I'm not wrong…very few Jedi can say they've gone against a Sith and won."

That was true, but Obi-Wan was sure that he had had a bit of luck on his side as well. The Sith had fought Qui-Gon first and Obi-Wan had taken him by surprise when he'd leapt up from the input nozzle he'd been clinging to, summoning his master's 'saber to his hand in a single movement.

"But you did fight against him once."

Sabé's eyes drifted and her exposed hand moved to smooth over the leather glove. "That was years ago," she murmured, more to herself than to Obi-Wan, before her eyes cleared and she released her arm. "My skill in Jar'Kai wasn't that great back then."

She wouldn't go so far as to call herself a master in the art, but she had come a long way from where she first began. And she was forever grateful to Jedi Knight Keelyvine Reus for seeing her aptitude towards Jar'Kai and giving up her time to train her with the permission of Yoda.

There were so few in the Order that actually utilized the style that Keelyvine had made it her personal duty to teach Sabé, who was only a few years younger than her. Keelyvine was very stern and focused on the art, and Sabé had sought to emulate her in that aspect, but she wasn't nearly like her in the slightest; she was far too easygoing.

"Besides…he didn't want to kill me," Sabé continued, frowning thoughtfully. "I think all he wanted was that arm."

"Why?" Obi-Wan asked flummoxed.

At that time, Sabé had been a simple Padawan, even if she was a part of a prophecy and the Padawan to the Grandmaster.

"I have no idea," Sabé said, pinching the bridge of her nose as she did so. The events around her investigation at the Works had always seemed a bit odd and the fact that the Sith had known her true name, left her alive, and took her arm were far too many confusing circumstances.

There was a loud echoing beep as Talik switched the comm. system on. "Master, you might want to get back up here, we're getting a transmission."

Both Jedi were moving towards the cockpit in time for Talik to climb out of her seat so that Sabé could take it once more.

"A transmission?" she asked, pressing a few buttons near the clutch. "What kind?"

"We're not sure," Talik said, glancing to Anakin who gave his own shrug. "It seems a bit jumbled."

"Arthree, get up here," Sabé called through the comm. system and the R3 unit gave a whirring beep before making his way towards where they were all gathered. "Plug in and see if you can decipher this for us."

Arthree beeped again and Sabé rolled her eyes as he extended his computer interface arm, sorting the data in a manner that had both Jedi Knights leaning forward.

"That can't be right," Obi-Wan said, "that's the frequency that Jedi use!"

"And it's coming from the Hoth system," Sabé said in equal surprise. "Arthree, can you narrow it down to which planet?"

Arthree gave a succinct reply.

"Not without taking us out of hyperspace…" Sabé grimaced. "All right, here's what we should do…"


"Master Windu?"

Mace Windu opened his eyes to look to one of the co-pilots of the cruiser he and the other members of the Jedi Council had boarded with the new Chancellor.

"Yes?" he said smoothly.

"There's a transmission for you from Knight Amidala on the bridge."

Surprise lifted the Master's eyebrows high on his forehead. He knew Grandmaster Yoda's Padawan had few allies on the Council, but she was a forward thinker who questioned as much as she complied and did her missions to the best of her abilities, so she had his trust. But he was surprised that she hadn't asked for Master Yoda…though she had probably known, rightly, that he'd be deep in meditation.

So he stood and followed the co-pilot up to the bridge where the seat image of Sabé Amidala in a wavering blue hologram could be found.

"Master Windu," she said with a polite inclination of her head, "I wouldn't have sent this transmission if I didn't think it was urgent."

"What is it, Knight Amidala?" he asked directly and Sabé glanced out of the frame, to Obi-Wan Kenobi, no doubt.

"We are currently traveling at Hyperspace and have picked up a transmission from the Hoth System."

Mace made a gesture with his hand as if to say 'and this is a matter of importance, why?'

"It was transmitted via the frequency that the Jedi use," Sabé continued.

Now that was something Mace could consider to be something of high importance.

"Are there any Jedi currently located in the Hoth System?" Sabé pressed, her holographic image wavering again.

"I couldn't say," Mace said, cupping his chin thoughtfully. "There are just too many Jedi to consider…do you know which planet the frequency is originating from?"

"Not without dropping out of Hyperspace, Master," Sabé said. "Do you want us to investigate the origination of the frequency?"

He knew they would have been happier to simply return to the Temple first; the mission to Naboo had taken longer than they had originally thought and he was sure they would all be happy to sleep in their own beds for a change.

But…

"Yes, Knight Amidala," he said and Sabé didn't even blink, having expected that response to start with. "If someone is using that frequency outside the Order, we need to know."

"We'll report back when we've found something," Sabé promised before cutting the feed.


"All right, looks like we're going to have to take a detour," Sabé said. "Hang on, forcibly dropping out of Hyperspace is a bit jolting."

And that was all the warning she gave as she dragged the throttle down.

Jolting wasn't the word that Obi-Wan would have used. Talik flew back to tumble against the floor's plating, nearly following Obi-Wan's previous example by falling into a smuggler hold, but Obi-Wan had the sense enough to grasp the back of Sabé's seat. The only ones who jolted were Sabé and Anakin safe in their seats.

"I hate flying with you," Obi-Wan decided as his head spun and dull throbbing making itself known.

Sabé gave him a small smirk before turning her attention towards Arthree (who had been saved from Talik's fate by magnetizing himself to the cockpit wall). "Arthree, can you tell which planet in the Hoth System that frequency is originating from?"

Arthree cancelled his magnetization in order to connect to the computer once more after a few tense moments he beeped a reply as Talik finally returned to their sides.

"Hoth," Sabé translated for the others.

"But Hoth is uninhabited," Obi-Wan said once his ears had stopped ringing, "who could be transmitting from there?"

"Maybe someone crash-landed?" Sabé suggested. "It could be one of ours."

"It could be an enemy," Obi-Wan countered.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to find out, then, won't we?"

Anakin and Talik looked from master to master. Talik didn't like the daring look in her master's eye and she could tell the Obi-Wan didn't either.

"Are we going?" Anakin piped up.

Sabé arched an eyebrow at Obi-Wan and he sighed. "It is what Master Windu asked of us…but I still have a bad feeling about this."

Talik rolled her eyes for good measure. "Jedi Knights and their bad feelings," she muttered in exasperation.

"Setting coordinates for Hoth," Sabé said, ignoring her, nodding to Anakin. "Punch it."

And into Hyperspace they entered once more, though going in a completely opposite direction than before and with uncertainty ahead of them.

AN: What lies in store on Hoth? Who is transmitting on the Jedi frequency? All will be revealed soon! Hopefully there's another update before 2016, but I make no promises other than I will try my hardest to get at least one chapter out before I go back to school on January 17.

As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!