Anakin Skywalker liked flying a lot. Today, however, everything went wrong. All the warning lights of the little spaceship which he, Bruck Chun and Obi-Wan Kenobi navigated were blinking non-stop. The alarm was going mad, signalling every possible state of emergency at once.
"Switch over to complete manual navigation!" Anakin shouted above the noise. "We need to do everything manually if we want to survive. Bruck!" he snapped at his friend, "You need to brake too - we're getting out of flight path! We're flying full force into that asteroid!"
"What? What? What?" Bruck asked confusedly.
"Stars End!" Anakin cursed. "How can you be so dumb! Obi-Wan, stop braking, turn to the left or else we're gonna -"
At that moment, every light in the cockpit flickered out, the alarm stopped, the on-board computer shut itself down and everything went dark.
"Too late," Anakin could hear Obi-Wan's voice next to him in the dark. "We're dead again," Obi-Wan commented dryly. "That's the fourth time today we're dead and the third time we crashed into an asteroid."
"Great!" Anakin slumped back in his seat. "That was even worse than last time! What, in the name of the Force, is wrong with you, Bruck? It's obvious we need to brake when we're flying full speed towards an asteroid, right?"
"I thought you wanted to dodge it," Bruck defended himself but he did not even sound convinced himself.
"Yes, of course I wanted to dodge it, what did you think? That I just wanted to stop in space and make a little picnic? Man, you can't dodge an asteroid at full speed if you're already so close. Honestly, you know that! Just what is wrong with you?"
"Have you ever wondered where you come from?" Bruck asked unexpectedly.
"Huh?" Anakin unstrapped. "What's that got to do with it?"
"I found out. My father is treasurer on Telos," Bruck stated proudly. Both Anakin and Obi-Wan gasped. "It's unbelievable, isn't it? I mean, he's the mightiest man on Telos. And, just imagine, if I hadn't become a Jedi and if I had stayed with him, one day, I would have become treasurer too."
"I don't think so," Obi-Wan said matter-of-factly. "Usually a president, a governor or a chancellor or a king elects their treasurer. You don't become a treasurer just because you're the treasurer's son. Such a system where you get your status just because of your heritage is pretty outdated today. Besides, a treasurer is certainly not the mightiest man of a planet."
Anakin rolled his eyes. Of course - Obi-Wan was always the best in intergalactic politics studies. To Anakin (and most of the other Jedi students shared his opinion) it was the most boring subject ever. "Even if you didn't become treasurer yourself, you'd still live a great life," Anakin said. "Treasurers are rich, normally, aren't they? I bet you could get all you ever asked for. Maybe even your own space shuttle."
"How did you find out about your parents, anyway?" Obi-Wan asked curiously. "I mean, they don't want us to find out about where we come from..."
"It was pretty simple, actually," Bruck showed off. "I got an insider-tip. I checked it in the archives and everything is just listed there. Every Jedi has their account where everything about his origin is listed."
"Did you, by any chance, check my account too?" Anakin asked interestedly.
"Um...no, I didn't think of that," Bruck admitted. "But I can show you! I know how to open the data with the list."
"Cool!" Anakin said enthusiastically. "Let's do it this evening. You're coming too?" he asked Obi-Wan.
"Um... dunno..." Obi-Wan said hesitantly.
"Afraid to do something which is forbidden?" Anakin challenged him.
"It's not because it's forbidden," Obi-Wan said crossly.
"No? Why then?" Anakin teased him.
"I have something else to do this evening but I guess... it can wait. I guess it's interesting to find out where you come from."
"Great, then let's do it this evening." Anakin jumped out of the training spaceship and the other two followed him.
Master Plo Koon, teacher for space navigation, approached them. "You crashed into the asteroid again," he said sternly. "What happened? Anakin?"
Anakin kept his face blank. He hated that. No matter what happened, Master Plo Koon would always ask him. Whether they had done well or had failed - it was always Anakin who was responsible for it and who had to explain himself. As if the others could not speak for themselves. Navigating a spaceship was teamwork. Okay, it was Anakin who gave the orders most of the time but that was because he was the best space pilot of them. And besides, if the others did not agree with that, they could have said something against it. Morosely, Anakin started to retell the events. "Well, first time, Bruck tried to operate as if we were in hyperspace modus and so his efforts to navigate around the asteroids did not help us much. I realised too late what he was doing and then it was, well, too late. Next time, Bruck interpreted the numbers on the control panel wrongly. I think he displaced point one place to the left. That's why he did kind of wrong things and the engines overheated completely. Third time..." Anakin really hated it. It felt as if he squealed on his classmates again and again. Anakin rarely did something wrong - so he always had to place the blame on the others. He often tried to make it sound funny or unimportant or tried to point out his tiny mistakes too. But there was not much he could do because, most of the times, a Jedi Master could tell when you were lying. Sometimes Anakin wished there was someone who was better than him. Not many - only one student who was better than him would be great. Then the teachers could ask the other student, and Anakin could lean back, relax and enjoy the fact that he was second-best.
This evening, Anakin, Bruck and Obi-Wan sneaked into the archives. Bruck led them to a computer in a quiet corner, tipped in a code and soon they had a long list of Jedi names on the display. Bruck scrolled down to his own name and clicked on it. Immediately, his account opened and displayed the information on him. Birth date, birth planet, his father's and mother's name and profession, other family members, the Jedi who had found him and the date he had been brought to the Temple, and some extra information.
"You see?" Bruck said proudly and pointed to the name of his father. "He's treasurer. I've searched the holonet a bit for him and there is loads of information about him. He's really famous. And he's a good treasurer. Since his reign, the planet's economy has so much improved. The people adore him."
"You don't speak of reign if he's a treasurer," Obi-Wan corrected him. "It's his term in office."
"Well, then let's see what your father does, Oafy-Wan," Bruck said sourly. "I bet he's not a treasurer." He opened Obi-Wan's profile and the three boys bent eagerly over the computer in order to read the information.
Anakin started laughing when he read Obi-Wan's father's profession. "Well, Bruck, he definitely is not a treasurer." He gave Bruck a friendly punch. "Oafy-Wan's Dad is a king."
Bruck and Obi-Wan stared equally dumbfounded at the display. "He probably only reigns above a little region on some backwater planet," Bruck said enviously.
"No," Obi-Wan said softly and pointed towards the label birth planet. It read Maleevis.
Anakin let out little whistle. "I think I've heard the name before," Bruck said thoughtfully. If even Bruck had heard the name before, it had to be a very famous or very important planet. Bruck was horrible at memorising names.
"It's that big planet in the Majara system, isn't it?" Anakin asked. Obi-Wan, who was still staring disbelievingly at the screen, simply nodded. "Wow, that's crazy", Anakin stated.
"Here, look at this," Bruck said excitedly. "Your parents did not want to give you to the Jedi at first because you were... the only male heir to the throne," he read the extra information aloud. He gaped. "You could have been the king of Maleevis." he said in utter shock.
Anakin could not believe it. Obi-Wan, clumsy Oafy-Wan Kenobi, was king of Maleevis, rich and politically influential system? Obi-Wan, who was so often impatient or angry and who did not behave king-like at all... "Hey, come on, I want to see who my parents are," Anakin told Bruck excitedly. He was very curious now and hopped up and down while Bruck opened the data file right below Obi-Wan's name. Anakin nervously bent forward and read his file. He skipped name and birth date and went right to birth planet. "Tatooine..." Anakin frowned. "Has anyone of you ever heard of that planet?"
Both shook their heads. "I'm going to check," Obi-Wan said, who had meanwhile recovered from his shock, and opened a star chart on a computer nearby. "Here, Tatooine. It's a little planet in the Outer Rim. It looks like it's mostly desert... It's not in the Republic... and it doesn't have a legal government. It's very poor. Some little towns where smugglers and space pirates go underground... there are also slaveholders... oh, the Hutts rule the planet..." Obi-Wan looked up. "Doesn't sound like a nice planet to spend your holidays."
Anakin bit his lip. He was a bit disappointed that he, Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, had been born on such an unimportant planet. "No, certainly not," he agreed and then he read on. He halted when the place where his father's name should be was blank. "What does it mean?" he asked anxiously. "Is he dead?"
"I don't think so," Obi-Wan said. "They would have written that, wouldn't they? Maybe he's just unknown."
"But how..." Anakin read on. His mother's name was Shmi Skywalker. He smiled to himself. So he had at least a mother. Her profession was... His heart skipped a beat. Suddenly he felt very sick and miserable. "What - what does that mean?" he asked weakly.
"Well, Obi-Wan just read there are slaveholders on Tatooine," Bruck said. "A slave belongs to -"
"I know what a slave is!" Anakin said angrily. Trying very hard to stay calm, he checked the next information. He had neither brothers nor sisters, Master Yaddle had found him some eleven years ago and then came the long extra information part.
Master Yaddle bought Anakin Skywalker from Gardula the Hutt for 6.750 Tatooine Rafoons ( 45, 7113 Republican Credits). The implant marking him as a slave was removed from his left upper arm by surgery on Tatooine. Shmi Skywalker claims there was no father. Anakin stopped here again. "No father?" he asked in a trembling voice. "But how's that possible?"
"Anakin, just think realistically," Obi-Wan said, slightly annoyed.
"What?" Anakin fiercely demanded to know.
"Well, she's a slave," Obi-Wan said evasively.
"So?" Anakin furiously glared at Obi-Wan.
"Maybe she was a, well... whore."
Choking back his tears, Anakin stared at the screen again but he did not continue reading it. "My mother was not a whore," he said defiantly.
"Maybe someone, um, raped her," Bruck said cautiously. "That planet sounds pretty rough and backward. I wouldn't be surprised if... And maybe she was just ashamed of what happened and so she just told everyone there was no father at all."
Angry and desperate at the same time, Anakin closed his data file. The next paragraph was very long. It was about the prophecy, him being presumably the Chosen One and his midi-chlorians count. He did not feel like reading it now. He knew all about it anyway. Sometimes he overheard Masters discussing him. Sometimes other apprentices heard rumours about him and knew things about him earlier than he did. Soon everyone was going to know about his mother who was a whore. Anakin was sure Obi-Wan and Bruck were going to spread the word to everyone immediately. Anakin considered Bruck his friend but he knew Bruck was jealous of him and he probably would show off that his father was a rich and influential man whereas the Chosen One's father was perhaps a rapist. Obi-Wan certainly was not his friend. Spending time with him could be fun sometimes but there was too much rivalry between them to ever become closer. Because Obi-Wan was jealous too.
Sighing inwardly, Anakin turned to leave. They did not realise that they were the ones to be envied. They were born on respectable planets, they were a prince, or a treasurer's son. Anakin was a slave. He had been bought by the Jedi. Bought. He laughed bitterly. 45,7113 Republican Credits. That was how much he was worth. 45,7113 Republican Credits. With that money you could eat in a nice middle class Coruscanti restaurant and get home in an air taxi. Maybe then there was still something left for a packet of cigarettes. But only very cheap cigarettes. That was how much Anakin Skywalker was worth. Anakin palpated the scar on his left upper arm. He had always wondered how he had got it. It had been there as long as he could remember. Now he knew. And he wished he did not.