"That was some good flying there Jack." Anakin spoke to the pilot, who was leaning into hi chair as they flew through hyperspace.

"I would've preferred a smaller ship, but this junker worked great with maneuvering." Jack responded as he looked at the window, watching the light go bye as they traveled. "The propulsion systems worked almost instantly every time I made a move, it's like I could read it inside out."

"It's a good thing someone could." Ahsoka said.

"Eh, it isn't as hard flying this thing as you think." Looking to the Huttlet, Jack sighed as he rested back. "There's a small med section in this ship. Why not see if there's something in there that can treat Stinky long enough to get him home."

"Sure thing." Ahsoka responded, standing up and carrying the Huttlet out of the door and to the medical station.

"I hate dealing with Hutts."

"Done it before?" Anakin asked.

"Several times." Jack answered. "During my early training, I was often sent on my own to do trial runs. I was sent to a planet and would integrate myself with the local power. The planet I was sent to was Nal Hutta. Not the worst sleaze-ball of a planet but far from the best."

Jack then sighed as his chair spun to face the Jedi Knight. "I did work for them, learn the ropes on how to be good at what I do now. Not as grand of a scale as setting explosives in the middle of a battle field, but enough to get me to do that. In fact, I'd say I have quite a few favors I can call in to any Hutt if I get caught in too bad of a spot."

"And they'll honor it?"

"I mean, just knowing the favor code will at least buy me a few minutes." Jack chuckled. "I'd have done a bad job if I was caught by the authorities, so I don't focus on getting stuck in that bad of a spot."

"What made you leave? And not the make up story you told Hawke and me. The truth." Anakin asked.

"It's that obvious?"

"That scar on the back of your head isn't from the removal or implantation of control chip." Anakin responded. "Even then, removing it would make you unstable, with it being connected to your brain. So what is it?"

"A cut." Jack answered. "From a knife that my instructor gave me to specialize in close quarters. I had to do a move to flip it behind me, dodge an attack, and catch it without missing a beat."

"It's horizontal."

"My people have a very unique way of fighting. And I had to find ways to be even a cut above them to survive as long as I had." Jack chuckled. "Wanna know something funny?" The boy asked as he pointed up to his hair. "This isn't even my real hair color."

"Really? And how did it change?"

"Started dying it halfway through my escape. I figured I'd start having them looking for the wrong kid as I was getting out of dodge." Jack explained. "I didn't realize how potent the stuff I grabbed was. The stuff lasts four months on a single coat."

"Interesting, and why you left?"

"Who would fight for a group that takes kids who are six and brutally train them to become elite soldiers?" Jack questioned back. "They nearly wiped all of our memories of our life before. No parents, no idea of home, I don't even remember my name."

"I see… and yet you chose to fight for the Republic?"

"I told you before, I have nothing else to go to but a dangerous job. I can't go back to a normal life, not when I don't fully understand what my life before was." Jack then looked up to the roof, sighing as he crossed his arms behind his head. "I had a few choices to choose. Fight for the Republic, go to the Separatists, become a bounty hunter or go to some security crew for something. The Republic just felt like the right one was all."

"Well, at least you chose the right side." Anakin responded as Ahsoka walked in with Stinky. "How is he?"

"Not sure, the medicine hasn't kicked in yet." The Togruta responded.

"Well, we got time to kill so I'm gonna finish up my checkup." Jack said, stepping up on his chair and reaching for one of the overhead panels. "Artoo, got a torch I can borrow?" The astromech beeped in response and shot out a thin cylinder, to which the boy caught and spun in his hand. "Thanks little guy."

"What are you doing?"

"Attempting to fix a little problem we have right now." Jack responded as he began to cut through the metal, removing the rectangular panel he cut open to expose the wiring. "This ship has an old power source, which means it's starting to limit how much we can really use this ship. So I want to try and fix the current flow around this freighter, that way we can use at least three systems instead of one with the engines drawing a good amount of power."

"And before you ask, I have done this before." Jack interrupted Ahsoka's potential question, placing the torch in his mouth as he started to work on the wires, taking some out and placing them in different imports. "Hopefully this thing has a bit more juice in it then I think."

"How much time do you think this would take?" Anakin asked.

"With my current amount of awareness and limited use of one arm?" Jack started as he fumbled around the wires, wincing as several sparks blew, burning his already injured arm. "Probably a little after we get out of hyperspace. Thing needs a lot of replacement parts as well. Probably gonna need to completely rework the whole thing when we get it back to Republic space."

"You plan on keeping this pile of junk?" Ahsoka questioned, staring at the boy in mild confusion.

"Of course, I always loved these kinds of ships." Jack responded as he grabbed the torch and brought it up to the wires, cutting through a few and mixing them. "Experienced, calibrated, and doesn't have that awful new-ship smell."

"Yeah, instead it has an old-ship smell that rivals Stinky."

"Hey, that's experience you smell. It's different." Jack then sighed as he began sparking across the panel, trying to fix whatever he could. "And even then, this ship could be pretty useful for stealth missions. It doesn't have Republic recognition and is better fit for carrying supplies. There's even enough space for a small ship or even escape pods. I may use this when sent on rescue or relief missions."

"You didn't seem to like the first one you were on." Anakin brought up, reminding Jack of their espionage attack on Admiral Trench.

"That was because we were in a ship that required an entire crew to properly preform all tasks." Jack said as he recoiled from a decent amount of sparks. "Plus it was too big for my taste, this ship is at least mobile unlike that stealth ship we took. I prefer being able to do most actions by myself when flying and being able to go freely."

"Not much of a team player huh?" Ahsoka asked.

"No, Shorty, I just like knowing exactly what's going on." Jack said back, smirking as he felt the glare aimed at the back of his head. She really doesn't like the nickname. Or him. Probably both. "Saves the error of mistakes and shows if I did everything right or messed up bad."

A larger surge in the panel then went off and caused a small blast. The surge actually went off enough to send Jack back and down to the floor. "Blast!"

"Jack? Are you okay?" Anakin asked as he and Ahsoka went over and helped him up, watching as the boy kept swearing under his breath.

"I'm-I'm fine." Jack stuttered, his hands shaking from the recent shock. "Just the circuits were more unstable then I predicted. N-nothing I can't… can't correct myself on."

"Oh no, Artoo and I will handle the repairs from here." Anakin said, turning the boy around. "You should get some rest, last time I checked you only got an hour or two before the attacks earlier today. I think you're starting to slow down."

"I-I'm fine."

"And that shock certainly didn't help." Anakin said, picking up the torch from the ground. "Try and get some rest, you'll push yourself too far if you keep up like this."

Artoo then beeped after, getting Jack to sigh. "F-f-f-fine." Walking out, Jack carefully made his way down to the cargo hold and situated himself down against the wall, trying to steady himself from the recent shock. "B-breath Jack, it was j-just a shock."

Feeling his body keeping up the movement, he knew there was only one thing that would work. Forcing his breathing to lower, Jack could feel his body cool down and his heart slow rapidly. One of the perks of being able to actively control your heartbeat was that it was significantly easier to calm your body and fall asleep.

With his body slowing to halt, Jack let his eyes close and drift into slumber. It was the most relaxed he's been in a week. From playing cat and mouse against one of the best tactical minds in history, fighting grand scale battles, confronting a traitor and now rescuing a Hutt's child, Jack could say that it's been a very eventful week. And that's not including being blown up and dealing with an annoying Padawan on top of it all.

It was the first in a long time that Jack embraced sleep, but of course it wasn't a peaceful slumber. Voices plaguing his dream, one of him standing in a misty void, as he attempted to make sense of them.

"It's getting ready to fire, pull up! Pull up!"

"How does this feel Clanker!?"

"General Grievous, you're much shorter than I was expecting."

"Why did I think that would work? Why?"

"Senator get down!"

"Hey, hey, hey. You're not allowed to sleep Ahsoka. Keep your eyes open and focus on me. I know we don't like each other but I'd rather not have to lose another commanding officer."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You made a mistake, it happens to all of us. You survived, so that means you have a duty to Ace and the others to learn from it and get better. My squadron will be under your command in the next wave, so get better at following and giving order, alright?"

'Nu sua tu'iea ateitis!'

As the dreams became clearer, Jack was shocked out of his sleep during the last one, waking up as the ship rocked back and forth. "Oh what now!?" Jack shouted as the ship rocked again. Making his way up the stairs, he was stopped as a sudden force sent him forward, crashing his face into the door.

Before he could straighten his vision, the ship jerked again and he was sent to the right, hitting into the hull with a loud thud. "Anakin if you're flying this recklessly I will not be happy!"

Soon after the ship began to speed up but most of the crazy flying was over with, giving Jack the time he needed to get up and steady himself. "Ah… my head." Walking to the door, Jack opened it just as a hologram of Hawke came up.

"Hawke are you there?" Anakin spoke.

"I'm here, have you made it to Tatooine yet?" The Knight asked.

"Almost, we-"

"You were shot down again weren't you?" It was unsettling how Hawke knew just from hearing Anakin say almost, but fair given the two's history.

"Yes." Ahsoka and Jack both said, appearing in the hologram for Hawke.

"The ship is too slow." Anakin responded. "There hasn't been enough time to properly modify it before we were ambushed."

"I probably could have handled things without getting shot down. But I just had to sleep huh?"

"You made Jack sleep?" Hawke asked. "But isn't he the one best at flying old ships like the one you're in?"

"He got shocked!" Anakin countered to Hawke. "He wouldn't have been much help focusing with him jittering all over the place."

"I just had to stop my heart for a second, but you didn't give me time to say that." All three Jedi looked at Jack, as if he was growing a second head. "What, I know at least you two know I can do that from when you first found me."

"Look, I haven't finished up the fight you left me with yet." Hawke said, getting back on topic. "I'll try and see if Shyira can make it but I can't promise anything. Good luck." Hawke's hologram then cut off, leaving the three to crash.

"So much for reinforcements."

"How long was I even out before you got us shot?" Jack asked.

"It took awhile."

"Three hours."

"You chose to set up an offense instead of defense didn't you?" Getting no response, Jack just sighed as flames formed around the ship, signaling they've entered Tatooine's atmosphere. "So this is what Obi-Wan meant when he said he hoped I wouldn't get your behavior."

"Would you just stop!"

The ship then soon hit sand, sliding across a short hill before going further, grinding down into the desert plains as it started to slow. The force took Jack off his feet, sending him back with his helmet denting into the wall next to him, getting a recoil from him.

'Too close for comfort.' Jack mentally sighed in relief as they slowed down. Had his helmet actually hit him, it would have likely crushed his skull on impact. And he'd rather not lose his head just from forgetting to put his helmet back on.

"Everyone okay?" Anakin asked as he groaned from standing up.

"I'm alive and so is Stinky, so we're fine." Ahsoka answered.

"Artoo and I didn't get hit by my helmet, so we're good too." Jack spoke, looking at his now misshaped helmet in the wall. "I don't think I'll be getting that helmet back any time soon though."

"Alright, let's get moving." Making their way to the cargo hold, Jack hit the switch to open it to reveal the endless sea of sand.

"I hate deserts." Jack mumbled as he was the first to jump onto the hot sand, already feeling it enter through his boots.

"Jabba's palace is on the far side of the Dune Sea." Anakin informed as Ahsoka placed Stinky into the backpack on him. "We'd better hurry if we're going to make it by morning."

The two Jedi then jumped down next to Jack, with R2 being the most reluctant to going down. "Oh don't worry Artoo, it's nothing but sand here for the most part. I promise to volunteer Ahsoka to clean your servos once we're done here." Jack said, getting the droid to jet it's way down.

"Hey."

"He's down, that's what's important." Jack simply responded when the Togruta tried to argue, following Anakin as they began to traverse the desert. The droid blaster was destroyed in the crash, meaning the only weapons Jack had now was Rex's pistol and his knife. It left little for him to work with, but he could handle himself as long as he kept himself on his toes.

The travel was long, it wasn't for three hours till the suns began to go down, but even then the heat was still up. And even then, once they were down it would get much colder, meaning that it would be a risk for the two Jedi to stay out long without any water or protection. Luckily Jack could handle both the heat and cold well, his body capable of adapting to the environment quickly. However his armor made it increasingly uncomfortable to move, and the hardened vomit on his chest plate was pulling in heat.

Ahsoka attempted to start a conversation with Anakin, but it ended up with him dodging the obvious attempt at trying to learn his past. Surprisingly though, Jack never once said anything, favoring to keep quite as he kept even with the pace the Jedis made.

After another hour, Jack's ear twitched at the same time as Ahsoka and Anakin stopped. All three of them felt as if something bad was going to happen, as it usually does. "We're not alone." Ahsoka spoke.

"I sense it too." Anakin responded, narrowing his eyes. "It's the dark side of the Force."

"So, I can't sense the Force but I can still feel it. What does that mean?" Jack asked, looking to the Jedi Knight.

"Someone strong enough to be sensed from a large distance. Dooku." Anakin answered. "And he must be coming for the Hutt. It's time we split up."

"We'll face it together, Master." Ahsoka said back.

"Not this time Snips." Anakin responded. "I have a far more important mission for you."

"More important than keeping you alive?"

"Ahsoka, I need you to trust me on this one."

"Dooku's going to be going after you, isn't he?" Jack asked, figuring what was going to happen.

"He'll sense me more than anyone else. And he'll likely think I'll have Stinky with me." Anakin nodded as he reached around and took the Huttlet out of his backpack. "I'm trusting you three to get Stinky back to his dad."

"You can count on us." Ahsoka responded, taking the Huttlet from her master.

"Good luck. And may the Force be with you." Once done, the Knight began to walk straight forward, taking the direct route to Jabba's palace.

Seeing it, Jack would then begin to walk at an angle from the Knight, following the direction but making sure they're separate enough to keep away from any potential risk of encountering the Sith Dooku.

"Hey, any way to help with carrying this little guy?" Ahsoka asked after another hour of walking. "If anything happens I'll need my arms free."

"Sure, I might have something." Jack said as he took his arm gear, freeing both of them. Knowing the importance of moving, he kept walking as he then ripped both his sleeves several times while leaving his armor behind. "Here, go in front of me."

"Okay." Ahsoka responded, now walking ahead of Jack as he began to work. Wrapping the ripped clothing, Jack would do his best to create a makeshift pouch on Ahsoka's back, using his remaining cloth to make a sleeve across her chest to give stability.

Once done, he took the Huttlet and placed it in the pouch, being careful as he checked the stability. When he was sure it would hold, he let the Huttlet go, and sighed in relief as the cloth held him firmly. "Alright, pouch successfully made."

"Thanks, you're pretty useful when you aren't running your mouth." Ahsoka said back, getting an eye roll from Jack.

"Just keeping it kid friendly for Stinky here before I get serious on the insults with you." Jack responded. "Besides, it's already night and you need your strength to keep warm. I'll mock you once we're off this sand ball planet."

"Gee, I can't wait."

"That's good to know." Jack chuckled as he looked over the horizon, seeing a B'omar monastery in the distance. "If there's anything I remember about the Hutts, most like to stay in the B'omar structures in the Outer Rim. So if I were betting, I'd put all my credits on Jabba's palace being just a little over a mile away."

"Finally, we're almost done with this mission."

"You know, I really wish you'd stop jinxing us like that and stay quiet." Jack groaned as they continued to walk. For almost the whole time after, it seemed as if they really were in the clear. However just when there was a hill between them and the palace, the two stopped.

Sensing the danger, Ahsoka ignited her lightsaber while Jack drew his pistol from his belt as three IG-100 droids rose from underneath the sand. "Magnaguards." Jack clicked his tongue as the droids' staffs all activated, the electricity running across the edges boding poor signs for the duo.

The leader of the pack then spun its staff at high speeds, swinging at Ahsoka as she dodged back. Jack would attempt to fire at the droid, only for one of the others to swing down on his arm and knock the pistol to the ground. He would then duck down to avoid the next attack.

Jack was then put on the defensive, weaving left and right to avoid the Magnaguard's staff at all costs. A shock from that could damage him immensely, and since he was a soldier and not an important figure like a Jedi, he knew that the staff was set to kill. He would have to wait for an opening, one that would likely not come as long as the droid had its high speed.

"Come on." Jack whispered as he rolled behind the droid, kicking at its leg in an attempt to off-balance it. However all it accomplished was angering the droid and stinging his foot. "Blast!" Leaning to the left, he avoided the next swing from the droid before ducking and throwing a punch to the droid's chest. And while in the heat of the moment, Jack made the damaging decision to use his injured arm. "Ahh!"

"Jack!" Ahsoka shouted in worry before having to jump away from the two Magnaguards she had to deal with. As she landed, she lost her footing and tumbled down the hill, causing the two to lose sight of each other.

Jack had no time to recover as the Magnaguard then kicked Jack in the chest, sending him sliding back to the same hill side Ahsoka fell, making him roll and land on the evened ground on the bottom chest first. Groaning, he spat out sand as he tried to pick himself up, flinching as he felt a sharp pain in his left arm. "Ah… that's broken. Definitely... definitely broken."

The three droids then slide down the hill, approaching Jack as he managed to get to his feet. "Great, where's Ahsoka when you actually need her." Just as the head droid was about to swing at him, a lightsaber ignited and the droid was vertically cut in half, having been pounced by Ahsoka.

"You rang?"

"Oh look, a Padawan who can actually listen." Jack countered as the two dodged back to avoid the remaining Magnaguards. "Where were you for the whole day?"

"Funny way of saying thanks." Ahsoka countered as she blocked one of the Magnaguard's staffs, being aided as Jack kicked its chest and knocked it back a bit.

"Oh yeah, I never knew you're supposed to be grateful for being bait." Jack said as he went back behind Ahsoka, the Padawan blocking the two droids. "How well could you do against one?"

"I could easily beat it if I had the opening. Why?"

"Cause I just thought of something reckless!' Jack shouted as he ran past Ahsoka and jumped, planting both his feet on the back of one of the Magnaguards. Pushing off it, he then rolled and quickly rose to his feet, pulling out his knife in a swift motion and blocking the second droid's staff just before it struck his face. "That all you got Clanker?"

Taking the added heat off Ahsoka put Jack in a dangerous spot. He could only use one arm and against a droid with speeds equal to his fastest, he had to avoid making a single mistake. Not to mention he had to stay mobile, with nothing but his knife to avoid getting lobotomized from a pressuring shock.

When the droid pushed him away, he instantly ducked to the side and kicked at its side, getting little result as he turned his shoulders to dodge. The droid was forgoing the swings it used and began to jab at the soldier, using a direct and quick attack pattern to keep him off guard.

He was able to stay just out of its reach for a while until his heel hit against a rock in the sand, tripping him over and landing on his back. The droid took this opportunity and spun its spear before jabbing down at Jack, striking him on his chest.

"Jack!" Ahsoka shouted as she cut her droid in half, turning just in time to see the guard's staff strike and send it's voltage right into his chest. A Magnaguard's staff on kill hitting there would shut down every organ. And with the pain of electricity running across the whole body, it wouldn't be a pretty way to go.

But surprisingly, Jack didn't scream in agony. In fact, he didn't even let out more than a small grunt as he laid there with the droid's staff against his chest. The boy stared up at the droid for several seconds before his eyes widened in realization. The droid had aimed for his chest because it was the easiest and guarantied a kill if the heart was hit. But what it didn't account for was the hardened Hutt vomit covering his thin armor.

"Stinky, I take back every single thing I ever said about you!" Collecting himself, Jack threw his knife as hard as he could, impaling the droid's head and causing it to stumble back from the force. Knowing that wouldn't end it, he then got up and tackled the droid, using its misbalance to knock it over with him on top. Then, he grabbed the knife and began to repeatedly stab it into its chest sensor, stopping on the fourth stab as the droid completely shut down.

Seeing Jack survive, Ahsoka fell to her knees in exhaustion, the events of today catching up to her. "Being a Padawan is harder than I thought."

"Yeah, well… keeping up with one isn't too easy either." Jack said as he sheathed his knife and walked up to her. He then held his hand out, offering to help the Padawan up. Once she was to her feet, jack sighed lightly as he turned to one of the fallen droids. "Come on, let's get Stinky home."

"Alright." As they began to walk, Jack grabbed one of the Magnaguard's staffs, using it to help climb up the steep hill along with Ahsoka. R2 was quickly following them, using his jets to fly up easily while they had to force themselves to keep moving. Once they were up, they seemed to have forgone their exhaustion and ran for the monastery, entering and running to where they began to hear a loud commotion.

"Any bet that's Skyguy?" Ahsoka asked.

"I don't make bets with obvious answers." Jack chuckled as they reached the stairway that lead to the throne room, seeing Anakin surrounded by bounty hunters that were aiming at him.

"Stop!" Ahsoka shouted, getting the whole rooms attention. She and Jack were lightly panting, but walked up to Jabba next to Anakin, the Hutt acting and sounding relieved and happy to see his living child. She handed Stinky over to Jabba, who smiled as he held his Huttlet.

The sight had actually brought a smile to the three, as it actually seemed like a loving reunion. Jabba then pointed to them, and Jack's ears perked in shock as he heard it. "Execute the three of them, at once."

"You are to be executed, immediately." The protocol droid translated.

"What!?" Turning their backs to each other, Anakin and Ahsoka activated their lightsabers while Jack turned on the salvaged staff. It looks like the day isn't quite over yet.

"Does this always happen to you?" Ahsoka asked.

"Everywhere I go." Anakin responded.

"This is why I hate dealing with Hutts." Jack muttered as he held the staff with one hand, tucking it under his shoulder to keep it from leaning too far from one or another side.

Just as the fight was going to start, Jabba's communicator began to beep, getting the protocol droid to walk over and see who it was. "Your uncle Ziro is contacting us." Pressing it, a holo-projection of Padme Amidala, Senator of Naboo, appeared.

"Greetings, honorable Jabba." Padme spoke. "I am Senator Amidala of the Galactic Congress. I've discovered a plot against you by one of your own. Your uncle will admit that he conspired with Count Dooku to kidnap your son and frame the Jedi for the crime."

After she finished, Ziro's imaged appeared, getting Jack to groan. 'Of course it was Ziro.'

The two Hutts then began to speak with each other, Jack not bothering to keep a translation as he preferred not listening to Hutts very much. It wasn't until Ziro admitted that it was all Dooku's plot that Jabba reacted in anger, and the image turned back to Padme.

"Ziro will be dealt with by the Hutt family, most severely." The droid translated.

"Perhaps now, you will allow the Republic to use your trade routes and hostilities can come to an end." Padme said, getting a light laugh from Jabba.

"For the return of my son, you have earned your treaty."

"Jabba agrees." The droid spoke. "A treaty is in order."

"You will not regret this, Jabba."

"The clone armies may through Jabba's territories." The droid finished speaking.

"Senator." Anakin spoke up as the three deactivated their weapons. "You have my undying… gratitude."

"No, Master Skywalker, it is I and the Republic who owes you thanks." And with that final word, the communication cut and left the room in silence.

"Jabba would be most appreciative if you brought Dooku to Justice." The droid said.

"You can count on it Jabba." Anakin responded, finding a similar goal with the Hutt for once in his life.

"So are we done?" Jack asked.

"I believe so." Ahsoka sighed in relief.

"Good, because I can't feel my legs and my arm is definitely broken at this point." Jack said weakly as he fell to his knees, using the staff to keep himself from falling down on his face. "Can we go home now?"

"I think it's about time, yes." Anakin chuckled as he helped the boy up. "And what's this about a broken arm."

"I don't want to talk about."

"He punched a Magnaguard with his injured arm."

"I said, I don't want to talk about."