Ben watched Jango Fett approach him with both WESTAR-34 blaster pistols out.
"I suppose you're not willing to talk this out?" Ben guessed. He of course knew the answer.
"No." Jango said casually before shooting Ben.
Fortunately, Ben got his lightsaber out and reflected the shot with it.
"Right then." Ben said.
Jango fired a couple of shots at Ben that he blocked with his lightsaber. Unfortunately, Jango activated his jet pack and began to fly around Ben shooting at him. His legs were still not at a hundred percent though as he moved a little clumsily. Not helping was the wet platform from all of the rain. Jango fired the rocket attached to his jetpack at Ben. He managed to dodge it, but tripped. After a couple of shots, Ben managed to reflect a shot at Jango Fett's chest causing the Mandalorian to fall. His armor kept him from dying because of that of course. Fett was a little far from where Ben was. When he tried to run he had difficulty keeping balance and tripped. For a moment, he was actually glad Anakin wasn't here or else he'd never let Obi-Wan live it down.
Ben got back up, as did Jango. His knees were still wobbly, causing him to crouch for a bit. Jango extended out his arm and a wire shot out, wrapping it around Ben's wrists. Ben dropped his lightsaber.
"Oh not good!" Ben said as he remembered something similar happened during his fight with Jango in the previous timeline.
"Boba! Get on board!" Fett called to his son protectively. Though Ben couldn't hear it because of the thunder and Fett's jetpack charging up.
Immediately, Jango's jetpack ignited and the Mandalorian began to fly dragging the Jedi with him. Ben remembered how painful being skid on a metal floor was by a flying man in a jetpack. Fortunately, Ben knew what to do. As Fett began to fly around the landing area, Ben got behind a power terminal and wrapped the wire around it. He pulled and Jango's Jet pack disconnected and flew off of the Bounty Hunter. Quickly he used the force to retrieve his lightsaber. He used the lightsaber to cut the wire wrapped around his wrists. He still kept some of it remembering how useful it was in the last timeline. His legs started to feel much better too and he began to charge towards Jango, but was stopped when the ship fired at him causing the Jedi to fly back behind the guardrail. He used the wire and wrapped it around the rail with the force.
"Boba..." Ben muttered. He was too focused on Jango to worry about the boy.
Ben began to climb back up the landing bay and saw Slave I about to fly. Like last time, he grabbed his tracker and threw it onto Jango's ship. Ben watched it fly away, but he knew where it was going to go: Geonosis.
Anakin was glad Obi-Wan was not here he thought as he rode through the desert. The sun was starting to set. To see him so wound up tight and uneased. Though, considering Obi-Wan's complete personality flip maybe he would appreciate some help. He had just finished talking to some Jawas who said they knew where the village was. He was close, he could feel it.
After an hour or so, he had reached the village. He decided now was not the time to just rush in and save his mother. He needed to be stealthy and not raise attention. He tapped into the force and felt a presence. It took him a second to recognize whom it belonged to.
"Mom..." Anakin thought to himself. She was still alive!
Anakin stealth fully, snuck around the village towards the hut where he sensed his mother was. He reached the back of the tent and looked around.
"No one in sight." He said.
He ignited his lightsaber and began to cut a hole into the tent. There he saw her.
Even from the other side of the room he could see cuts on her face, and that she was dehydrated. A brief flash of anger began to build in Anakin as he thought of what those animals did to her for the past week. A much more darker side began to speak to him telling him to pay them back. He rushed towards her and began to feel her pulse. It was steady.
Suddenly, her eyes opened up. Anakin was speechless, but he was too concerned to speak.
"Anakin." She said recognizing him. Her voice was hoarse she probably hadn't been drinking some or if any water in a while.
Anakin hugged his mother in an instant and loosened her bonds.
"Mom… I missed you." He said. She returned the hug.
"I knew you'd come." She said it sounded like she was about to cry.
He gave her his canteen that she gladly took and began to drink out of.
"I'm taking you home." He told her. "Can you walk?" He asked.
Shmi tried to stand up, but lost her footing. So Anakin picked her up in a bridal carry and began to leave as quietly possible out of the hole he made.
"I forgot how much I hated flying." Ben said to himself.
He was in his ship tracking down Jango Fett. It took him a couple of minutes, but he managed to get the hang of it again, but he managed.
They were close to Geonosis, his hyperdrive-docking ring disengaged. He saw Slave I and began to follow it from behind. A couple of seconds later, the ship began to deploy seismic charges. He began to shoot at it, but it was too late. The Charge exploded destroying the nearby asteroid. Ben barely managed to avoid the debris.
"Would you prefer I step in?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Yes, I'd like that very much." Ben said. "But let me talk to Dooku." He said.
"Very well." Obi-Wan said.
Obi-Wan was now in control. Jango deployed another charge. The charge destroyed another nearby asteroid. Obi-Wan managed to carefully avoid the debris.
"He doesn't seem to take a hint, this guy." Jango Fett said annoyed while piloting Slave I into an asteroid cave.
Obi-Wan followed him into the cave avoiding all of the rock formations inside of it.
"He's going to ambush you from behind once you get out." Ben told him.
"I supposed that you might have an idea." Obi-Wan said.
"Once you get out of the cave, turn the ship as quickly as possible to get it to face the other way." Ben said.
Once Obi-Wan got out of the cave he turned it the other way as Ben said. He didn't see the Bounty Hunter until he noticed he was being fired at. Apparently, Jango was hiding on an asteroid.
"I thought you knew what he was planning?" Obi-Wan asked annoyed.
"I only have my experiences, not Jango's." Ben snapped back.
Obi-Wan noticed a latch opening on Slave I: a missile launcher. It launched and it began to track Obi-Wan.
"Tell R4 to deploy the spare parts canister." Ben said recalling what happened to him.
"R4 deploy the spare parts canisters." Obi-Wan told his astromech.
The droid obeyed and began to get rid of any of the spare parts the ship had. The missile hit one of the parts and detonated.
The explosion was big, but Obi-Wan managed to get out of its range and latch on an asteroid like Jango did.
Jango began to head towards Geonosis. Once he got through the planets atmosphere he headed towards a landing bay on the ground.
Meanwhile in space, R4 was beginning to make repairs on the ship. Once R4 finished repairs, Ben took control of the body and began to head towards Geonosis. He landed where he did in the previous timeline. He took in a deep breath and walked away from his ship. He tapped into the force and felt Dooku's presence. It was just as he remembered it: deathly cold.
Anakin was carrying his mother back to the speeder. He managed to do so without arousing suspicion. He acknowledged that probably any other Jedi who knew him would be proud of him. He placed his mother behind the driver's seat and got on the bike. He activated it and the bike began to hover. They rode the speederbike away from the camp.
"How are you?" Anakin asked concerned.
"I'm alright." Shmi answered. "How are Cliegg, Owen, and Beru?" She asked.
Anakin hesitated a bit. He remembered how his stepfather lost a leg trying to find his mother. It was at that moment his opinion regarding his stepfamily had risen.
"Anakin?" Shmi asked nervously.
"Sorry, they're alright. Cliegg, however, lost his leg trying to find you. He's still alive though and he misses you sorely. They all do." Anakin said as gently as he could.
Shmi gasped in horror, but could sense something was upsetting his son. She briefly put aside her concerns for her husband in favor of her son.
"How are you Anakin?" Shmi asked in a motherly tone.
"I'm fine." Anakin said not looking at her. It was clear even to him that he was lying.
"Ani, what have I told you about lying?" Shmi said unconvinced.
Anakin sighed as he stopped the bike in the middle of nowhere and got off the bike. He rubbed his face as he paced.
"Are you proud of me?" Anakin asked.
"What?" Shmi asked confused.
"Are you proud of me?!" He repeated facing her. His face was full of shame and worry.
"I am proud of you. You're a Jedi. Why wouldn't I be proud of you?" She said.
"I don't think I'm the Jedi, I should be." Anakin confessed looking down.
"What do you mean?" She asked beckoning him to come towards her. She still wasn't in any condition to stand.
"If you asked any of the other Jedi about me they would say I'm reckless, disobedient, and I always start fights." Anakin said ashamedly. "And… I still have attachments to people." He said.
"What's wrong with that?" Shmi asked.
"A Jedi shouldn't have emotions. They're not supposed to let them take control of themselves. They shouldn't also have attachments to other people." Anakin explained. He was taken aback with that last sentence.
"It's not just me you're attached too isn't it?" Shmi asked encouragingly
Anakin sighed.
"No." Anakin said.
"Who is it?" She asked.
"It's… I can't say." Anakin said looking away.
Shmi grabbed him by his head and made him look at her. She had a very kind look in her eyes. The same she used to give when he was upset as a kid.
"Ani, I'm your mother. I'm not one of your Jedi Masters." She said gently rubbing his hand.
"Alright… It's Padmé. I keep developing these feelings for her that I don't understand. Thoughts I'm sure a Jedi shouldn't feel especially when I've been tasked by Obi-Wan and the Jedi Council to protect her." Anakin explained.
"The handmaiden? What for?" Shmi asked curiously.
Anakin remembered that while his mother did talk to Padmé ten years ago, she was disguised as one of her own handmaidens. Padmé most likely never disclosed her real identity with his mother at the time.
"Actually, Padmé wasn't a handmaiden. She was the actual queen of Naboo in disguise. Though, nowadays she's a senator in the Galactic Republic. Someone has been trying to kill her recently, so the Council tasked me with watching her." Anakin explained.
"Why are you back here?" Shmi asked.
Anakin sighed.
"I've been having nightmares about you recently." Anakin explained. "Every night they would get worse and worse. I never brought them up to Obi-Wan and the council because I figured they would write them off. Until, Obi-Wan suggested that I'd take Padmé to Tatooine to keep her safe and find you." He explained.
"I thought you said the Jedi would let you do this?" Shmi asked.
"I'm not sure. I mean Obi-Wan's been acting different lately." Anakin said.
"What do you mean by different? What about Qui-Gon Jinn? I thought he was going to teach you?" Shmi asked again. She knew Obi-Wan as Master Qui-Gon Jinn's apprentice.
"Master Qui-Gon died saving Naboo. He was slain by a Sith Lord who tried to kill me while trying to leave Tatooine." Anakin explained with a sad look in his eyes remembering Qui-Gon Jinn and his death. Anakin decided to omit his part during the Battle of Naboo not wanting to taint his mother's positive thoughts of the late Jedi Master.
Shmi saddened upon hearing that bit of news. She respected Qui-Gon for saving her son from a life of slavery and having just learned saving him from death at the hands of a Sith.
"I'm sorry to hear about this." She said.
"It's okay." Anakin reassured her. "Following Qui-Gon's death, Obi-Wan was knighted by the council for slaying Maul shortly after Qui-Gon died." Anakin explained.
"Obi-Wan's a great Jedi and a good teacher, but he was more of a follower of the Jedi Code than his master was. He was pretty strict in the past as well. Though, recently, Obi-Wan's been acting more like Qui-Gon. I don't know why, though." Anakin said.
"What it sounds like to me is that Obi-Wan is beginning to understand you more. I'd very much like to thank him if I ever get the chance." Shmi said. "Also, I have a confession to make too." Shmi said suddenly looking ashamed.
"What do you mean?" Anakin asked.
"I fear I haven't been that great of a stepmother towards Owen, I fear." Shmi said looking down.
"You're a great mother." Anakin said trying to reassure his mother. "Why would you feel you're not one towards Owen?" Anakin asked completely shocked as to why his mother felt she was doing a poor job regarding his stepbrother.
"Ever since I married Cliegg, I've been comparing Owen to you." She said.
Anakin remembered when he met Owen he felt a twinge of jealousy in his stepbrother. It was obvious to Anakin whom Owen was jealous of. Anakin grabbed his mother's head and made her look into his eyes. He had a reassuring look on his face.
"Mom, don't feel bad. You've raised me for nine years since I was born, and Owen was probably attached to his other mother. It's understandable. I'm sure Owen is a great man who appreciates you regardless of me. I know you'll come to an understanding once you get back." Anakin said.
"Thank you, Ani." Shmi said looking up with a proud smile on her face. "And I want you to know that no matter what you think of yourself as a Jedi, I will always be proud of you." Shmi said kissing his cheek. Anakin blushed feeling a little embarrassed.
The mother and son hugged each other.
"Now let's go home. I'm sure I've kept Cliegg, Owen, and Beru worrying enough as is. Shmi said.
Anakin chuckled. "Yeah, I should probably check up on Padmé." He said.
"Oh that reminds me, I'd like to meet Padmé again." Shmi said.
Anakin's eyes widened and he gulped. "Sure…" He said.
Well here's chapter 8, tell me what you think. Also, please tell me how that last part went. Did you think it was in character for both Anakin and Shmi? Thank you for your love and support and I'll try to make as much chapters as I can once I return to school in a couple of days. May the force be with you.
