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Galactic Vigilante.

Anakin cursed to himself as his ship jumped again, wincing as he felt the inertial dampeners trying to compensate for the lack of stability as his recently purchased secondhand ship shot out of hyperspace.

Why had he bought this ramshackle piece of junk when he could have taken a ship that was at least thirty years old? Yes, he had left in a hurry, and he had thought all the work he had pushed into the ship's engines and its navigational systems would do for a trip to Jedha and then a return trip back. Now he wasn't too sure. This thing was pushing at least sixty years old at least and there had been extensive damage to the hyperdrive and to the spaceframe when he'd bought it, and it had been through more meteorite storms and damage than he would have liked, but he had taken it because he had thought the old thing deserved some respect.

In any case, he had been in something of a hurry to find a ship so he could fix up for the future. His colleagues at the CEC had known he had a nice, small, but growing collection of old ships that he wanted to restore and to keep, and they also knew of his habit of taking them out on test drives through different systems to test their hyperdrives to see if they needed replacing.

That was the best cover for a trip to Jedha. But now he was regretting it. Why hadn't he taken one of those newer ships of his collection instead of this old thing?

All right, he had thought this ship would be good enough for his self-appointed mission so he could satisfy his own curiosity, and he had assumed that he had made enough repairs, fixing up the space frame, the hyperdrive, and the navigation systems would be strong enough to work for a distance like this.

But so many of the systems of the ship were shoddy; Anakin was now really tempted to shoot the used-spaceship dealer who'd given him this thing.

Yes, he was aware he had needed to get to this system quickly, and this ship had been the first thing he'd had access to even if he had quite a few other ships in his collection. He just hadn't had the time to inspect the ship to make sure it was truly flight-capable for this little trip.

That had been his fault. But now he was here, he was worried the bloody thing was not going to get him back home to Corellia.

"Damn it," he cursed, holding on tightly to the control yokes. After the recently acquired, and heavily patched up starship exited the hyperspace vortex, Anakin took a moment to look around the star system he'd just appeared from.

At least he'd made it.

He had arrived at Jedha. His arrival had already been noticed; he spotted the Imperial Star-Destroyers and dozens of TIE fighters orbiting Jedha, the fighters reminding him of plagues of insects with terrible venomous stingers in their tails.

He closed his eyes with a sigh of relief this dilapidated piece of junk might be falling apart at the seams and it was shaking from the chassis, but at least the nav computer functioned as well as it could, but that was only because he had serviced the ship. The nav screen flickered, and he sighed in irritation before he gently thumped it.

"Honestly," he muttered to himself, pleased this ship had only a one-man crew so no-one bore witness to him swearing at this thing. "How many times do I need to fix this thing before it works? Oh come on, be more cooperative."

The pain went right through his body as his ship hit the atmosphere. Damn, that hurt! Anakin cursed the inertial dampeners again; they had been awful when the trip through hyperspace had taken place, and his stomach had twisted into knots and then had been thrown around inside his chest until he was nearly sick. Space sickness had never affected him in the past, but this time was likely an exception. Maybe he should call Shanna and get picked up by her, he was really beginning to wonder if this thing would even last the trip through the atmosphere of another world after being blasted through hyperspace. He was starting to think this thing should be scrapped completely and then forgotten.

Anakin sighed, a nasty thought entering his mind. Would this thing even last the landing? With that in his mind, he carefully checked the instruments - he normally rushed through this procedure, not out of confidence, but mostly because he knew the ships would take it. But not this one. He was worried if he pushed it too hard, it would fall apart.

"Easy does it," he whispered to himself as he valiantly tried to keep the ship from crashing. "Easy…"

He had never felt this nervous about landing a ship before, but he needn't have worried. Barring a nasty jolt which was barely suppressed by the landing gear, the ship actually landed very well right in the spaceport of the Holy City of Jedha. Anakin smiled optimistically while he checked the controls after giving himself a moment or two to assess that he was alright and the flight hadn't been as jarring as he'd thought. Still hoping that now the landing was done everything would be alright, Anakin checked the ships' systems. And then he groaned in frustration. Instantly, his expression turned dark and sullen.

"Bantha Shit!" he growled. The ship's sub-light engines had given out on him, but he felt it wasn't that surprising considering the recent strain the flight had put them under. Anakin cursed as he read the read-outs on the status of the faster-than-light systems; again he doubted he should be that surprised, the drive had been under a tremendous amount of strain, and he had been worried since the vortex had almost collapsed while he was trapped inside.

He was just relieved his luck had remained with him and his ship hadn't collapsed, although he was uncertain if that was because he had worked and modified the hyperdrive, although it was possible the same modifications had the reverse effect and made the system more unstable.

It might have left him a few years back when he had still been a Jedi, only for that bitch and the puppets of the Jedi Council who sucked the cocks of the Senate to take what had made him who he was, but he had always known he was lucky at times.

Anakin sighed, pushing the past out of his head. He opened the cockpit and he got out of the ship, ignoring the workers and the starship crews and stormtroopers going about their business without bothering him, and he examined the ship. When he had bought this ship, Anakin had been impressed with the design, which was essentially an augmented star-fighter more than anything else, and the hyperdrive had been of vintage albeit obsolete design. He had fallen in love with her, even if he loved the Shmi the most.

Anakin grabbed a heavy pair of work gloves from the cockpit and his trusty toolbox, and he unlocked the panels which protected the delicate hyperdrive, taking note of the burn marks on the hull, and he speculated the burns were from the friction as the ship had ridden through the atmosphere. He ignored the burns and carried on examining the ship, automatically wincing from the heat, but he pressed on.

It took Anakin over half an hour to examine the hyperdrive and he was pleased no-one was coming over to speak to him about this ship. The hyperdrive was still workable, but Anakin doubted it would get him back to Corellia.

He then examined the sub-light engines, and he saw the computer hadn't been exaggerating when he had received that damage report, the engines were in no shape to lift-off and get him out of Jedha's atmosphere. Anakin groaned, knowing that he would need to go through a lot of red-tape to get rid of this old ship, and he would need to call Shanna for help getting back since it was better since they always looked out for each other.

XXX

The Spaceport managerial staff were understandably put out by the fact he had littered their dock with a ship which was no longer fully operational, but when he had told them the model number and type of ship, they had instantly seen the profits of fixing the ship up or scrapping it. Anakin wasn't really surprised by how easy it was done, nor how quickly.

It was an occupational hazard for spaceports throughout the galaxy to suddenly find themselves lumbered with a piece of scrap which could barely fly through the air, never mind the vacuum of space, but they were always looking for good deals.

There was always a collector who dealt in rare designs of starship, or a scrap merchant. Considering the state of the economy on Jedha, Anakin honestly had no idea what would happen to the ship he had used to get here, and truthfully while it broke his heart a little bit, he doubted the spaceport people would go too far.

Anakin headed for a nearby cantina and after getting himself something to drink, he pulled out his comlink and called Shanna's code.

"Anakin, what's wrong? Where are you?"

"I'm on Jedha, Shanna," Anakin replied, momentarily wondering what time it was on Corellia before he put it out of his mind, but it must be quite early since she sounded tired but since he had devoted a whole night to work on his collection of space ships, he hadn't noticed the time. "I had to leave quickly."

"Oh? You mean you've got what you wanted to know?"

"No, not yet. I've only just arrived, but I'm already in trouble. I had to leave in a hurry, and the hyperdrive of the ship I was using is just too heavily damaged," Anakin said.

"Oh, Anakin! You weren't using that old ship you've been working on for the last few weeks, were you?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I told you, I needed to leave quickly."

"And now you need me to pick you up?"

"Not right at this moment, but get ready anyway. I'm likely to be here for a few hours but come as soon as you can. I'll set up a homing beacon outside of the Holy City, and you can pick me up from there."

Shanna sighed on the other end. "Okay, I'll pick you up. But you'd better owe me one for this, Skywalker."

Anakin chuckled, knowing that although she had said it in a jesting way Shanna was quite serious. "I'll see you then."

After he had switched off and pocketed the comlink, and he rubbed his face before he drank some of the drink and walked out of the cantina without leaving a tip.

What he didn't notice was a woman was watching him go, a Togrutan woman. She had been sitting in the cantina idly, but as soon as she noticed him, she was stunned. As soon as he walked out of the cantina, she stood up and followed him.

XXX

It had been a long time since Anakin had walked through the streets of Jedha, but as he walked through the city today he was surprised - and horrified - by the changes which had taken place on the once peaceful world. He had to fight down the disgust as he saw the looks of oppression on the faces of the locals who lived here, while the Imperials walked through confidently as if they owned the planet, and believed they had the right to do what they were doing to the people here.

Once upon a time, this ancient world had been home to the first scholars in the galaxy who had explored the marvels of the Force, and many outside of the Jedi Order believed the first temple of the Order had been built here. Once this planet had been visited by pilgrims, travellers, explorers, and adventurers before hyperspace routes were discovered and made the planet obsolete.

Except to the Jedi, of course.

Anakin smiled privately to himself as he remembered how he had visited the planet to collect his first kyber crystal for his lightsaber. Back then, he had visited the temples, and although he was an impatient boy at the time, Anakin had felt the Force calling to him….

Not anymore. Ever since the Jedi had virtually amputated his ability to perceive the Force, Anakin had been left with nothing, but he had always admired the planet. Every time the Jedi had visited the planet, they were expected to tour the Holy City and the other sacred locations on the moon in order to bask in the history of the Force. Not anymore. Now, with there likely being few Jedi left in the galaxy, the only things you were likely to see were Imperial Officers and stormtroopers.

One thing of note was when Anakin came to one of the central streets of the city, there he was forced to stop and wait with the crowd as the convoy of Imperial speeders of the heavy-duty industrial kind moved slowly through the streets. Anakin's eyes crinkled a little as he watched the proceedings, taking note of the number of stormtroopers and Imperial walkers who were escorting the convoy through the streets which were too tight for any resistance activity, which would be extremely foolish and short-lived, and he took notice of the crates on the speeders. They were large, but Anakin had no idea if the kyber crystals inside them were large themselves, or there was an enormous collection of them. It was impossible for him to tell at this point.

No matter. He had an appointment to keep.

Anakin turned and walked away from the convoy, and he walked into one of the temples. As he entered the temple, he instantly spotted his contact who was standing next to the entrance casually. A tall man with a hard face worn down with wrinkles which told a story in themselves and a hardness that told Anakin this man would have no trouble killing him with iron-grey hair, wearing thick and voluminous robes with a cowl.

"Saw Gerrerra?" Anakin said; he knew this man's face and his reputation, but he just wanted to make sure.

"That's me. They say you wanted to talk to me, and that you've come all the way from Corellia."

"Yes," Anakin replied, looking around. "Is there somewhere more peaceful we can speak."

"This is it."

Anakin looked around himself in surprise. "But this is the doorway-."

"And I want to make this quick," Saw replied in a harsh whisper. "I have already spent two hours here, sitting in contemplation waiting for you. But I want to leave as soon as possible. In any case, my men are nearby to keep watch."

Anakin sighed internally, wishing he hadn't said a word. Saw was a combat veteran with years of experience and judgement, and he would know of the dangers of discovery. In any case, at the entrance of the temple, he could keep watch of who was outside and who was about to come in. "Alright."

He should have expected Saw's harshness, really. When he had first contacted the man - which had been a feat in itself, but even with the Rebel Alliance had connections between every single planet in the Empire, Saw had been hard to get in touch with - Anakin had recently heard about the Empire's exploitation of Jedha, and he had heard rumours of the mining surveyors who were being sent to the planet. Anakin, despite no longer being a Jedi, knew enough of Sith history to know the significance of what Palpatine was doing.

Palpatine had a superweapon out there somewhere - Anakin had no way of knowing how long it would be until it was finished, or even just how potent it was, but he knew enough of the Sith to know it would be enough to spread fear and terror through the galaxy, and even with his depleted resources - aka, his lack of Force powers, he didn't want the galaxy to suffer because of the Sith plans.

"Alright, Saw, you've made your point. I got your message," Anakin said, at last, wanting to just get on with it.

Saw nodded. "Obviously, but I don't see why you're here."

Anakin took a deep breath. He was tempted not to tell this trigger happy maniac anything too dangerous in case he went on a rampage, but at the same time, he needed to offer Saw something vital about the project the Imperials were conducting here. And then he realised it was a lost cause since everyone in the galaxy knew Palpatine was a Sith Lord. "Palpatine is interested in the kyber crystals and I think he's building a superweapon out there in the galaxy somewhere, but I want to track them down so it won't be used. Just for starters, what do you know of the mining operation here?"

Saw stiffened at the mention of Palpatine's name, and Anakin caught a look in the man's eye that reminded him of the pirates he had encountered on a regular basis in Mos Espa a long time ago. "A superweapon?" Saw rubbed his chin thoughtfully with what Anakin saw was a bionic hand. "Yes, it makes sense. Oh, and answering your question, the operations here are extremely intensive. The Imperials have mining zones everywhere, and they're kept under tight guard."

Anakin reached a critical decision. "Can you get me out there?"

"No," Saw shook his head, looking at Anakin as if he were insane. "The are Star Destroyers right above the mining areas, at all times. There are regular fighter patrols. The Destroyers and the fighters have turned the mines into strict no-fly zones, and if anyone goes near they are instantly driven off. The fighter pilots have been given orders not to hold back from opening fire, while the stormtroopers work with the Walkers to keep watch."

The quick reply made Anakin nod internally. He had done his homework before he had come to Jedha, and he knew what Saw had said was the truth, although the intel about the Destroyers was unexpected. What annoyed Anakin the most was he knew a few years ago he would have had little trouble using the Force to get into the mine and find out for himself what was going on despite the basics. Indeed he knew he could have learnt a lot more about the scale of what Palpatine was doing even if he knew now, for certain, whatever this weapon was it was big otherwise Palpatine wouldn't have had the mining areas so heavily watched and guarded.

And Anakin knew Palpatine even though the discovery the bastard was a Sith Lord and he had never been his friend, not really, had been a terrible surprise, but even with that revelation there were some parts of his personality which Palpatine had never hidden. Ever. Anakin knew Palpatine had been extremely thorough before the Clone Wars, and it did not surprise him he would take precautions now. Palpatine knew there would be resistance on Jedha, and he wouldn't want anything to compromise his project.

"Alright, fair enough," Anakin said, realising he wasn't going to get Saw's help in getting out to the mines. It surprised him, really; he would have expected someone of Saw's reputation and skill to jump at the chance, but when he saw the look of settled anger and pain in Saws' face, Anakin guessed Saw had tried to attack the mines, and judging from the way the resistance fighter was shaking the retaliation had made even this veteran realise it was a bad idea. Anakin looked at him curiously before he decided that he was better off not knowing what had happened.

"How much do you know about the superweapon?" Saw asked.

Anakin sighed. "Nothing. All I've heard is what the Empire are doing here on Jedha. I know they're interested in the kyber crystals, but I know how powerful they are. That's why I'm here; I know the Sith regularly made use of them to force the galaxy into doing what they wanted in the past, so it would make sense for Palpatine to make use of one since there is still enough of the Old Republic to cause him problems, so he'd need something to force the rest of the galaxy to obey him long term."

The two men paused as they noticed someone walking towards them. It was one of the priests, and aside from a brief glance from him, he was content to leave Saw and Anakin alone. The two men waited for a few minutes until they were certain he was out of earshot before they resumed their conversation.

"Yes," Saw said thoughtfully. "That would make sense. The Senate is losing power every month. It's not what it used to be."

"The Senate was always useless, Saw," Anakin pointed out, not really caring how his viewpoint about the Imperial Senate which was now a toothless Sarlaac. "You and every member of the Rebel Alliance can say whatever you want about it, but take it from me; they were useless, and it was no wonder Palpatine came to power the way he did."

"Mm, I didn't realise anyone fighting the Empire would think that Skywalker," Saw commented, looking at Anakin dangerously.

"Palpatine is an opportunist. He spent years manoeuvring himself into a position of power. The only reason he became Chancellor was that he had manipulated Queen Amidala into calling a vote of no confidence in Valorum. Once he was in that position, he manipulated events so the Clone Wars took place. During that time, he took more and more power away from the Senate until everything he said was law," Anakin pointed out, pleased he had managed to refer to Padme's rank during those days without any interest this moron could detect. In any case, Anakin knew he was right, and even Saw couldn't deny it.

Anakin had made a reputation for himself in the Resistance on Corellia with his lack of interest in restoring the Senate in the galaxy. He still believed that the galaxy was better off without that bunch of arguing politicians who did nothing at the end of the day, and that only a single leader should be in charge. Padme had been horrified when he had told her this on Naboo, but he hadn't meant the type of leadership Palpatine was exhibiting. Yes, okay, he believed there should be people helping the leader in charge, but there shouldn't be weeks and weeks of debate.

It was nothing more than an inefficient waste of time, really. Democracy. All that talking, all those debates….and while it was going on they were forgetting the emergency on hand. They were more interested in arguing, and the Jedi were right about the politicians; they were too busy lining their own pockets to really care about what was really going on.