"It's a dangerous business, going out your door. If you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you'll be swept off to." -Bilbo Baggins
Chapter 1 It's a Dangerous Business, Going out Your Door
Tatooine hadn't sounded like a bad idea when he'd first mentioned it. It was nearby, isolated, and there was no Trade Federation presence on the planet. It was also a hot spot for spacers, so they were sure to find the part that they needed.
The perfect solution.
But now, Obi-Wan had a feeling that Tatooine was a bad idea. It was too late to tell anyone that, of course. After all, he was standing near the ship's entry ramp, waiting for a crewman to lower it. Turning back now would look ridiculous. Besides that, he was the one who had pointed the planet out. Pride and stubbornness prevented him from voicing his hesitancy without any rational reason for it.
But, he just had that itchy, twitchy feeling at the base of his spine again, the one that always warned him of impending doom. The feeling that Qui-Gon always brushed aside and Yoda frowned over but never explained. The one that was always followed by some kind of dreadfully unpleasant experience for either himself or a close friend.
The one he'd had since the beginning of this blasted mission.
The crewman finished punching in the code and the ramp began its descent. A hot blast of heat barreled in through the slowly lowering ramp, threatening to dry out the young man's eyeballs.
He took a deep relaxing breath, hoping to rid himself of his bad feeling. As a Senior Padawan fast approaching his Trials he had gone on a number of dangerous solo missions before; there was no reason for him to be so anxious about a routine supply run.
Of course, a lot of things on this mission were supposed to be routine, he thought. A routine negotiation. A routine escape. A routine return to Coruscant. Obi-Wan shook his head.
The pattern was not looking very good for this routine trip for a hyperdrive generator.
Especially while babysitting a fearless R2 unit and an inquisitive Gungan.
Obi-Wan grudgingly admitted that the little droid would probably be very helpful in their search for a functional hyperdrive generator. But the Gungan? He would not be helpful, no matter how much Qui-Gon had argued that the being would "help him blend in." Obi-Wan scoffed at the thought. The creature was going to be such a nuisance that he'd attract the attention of everyone within the settlement's radius. Hearing the being in question make some odd noise behind him, Obi-Wan just shook his head with a mental scowl. It was likely that his master had just wanted to get rid of Jar Jar while he had a bum knee and couldn't hide from the clingy and inquisitive being.
Obi-Wan frowned, realizing that he was being particularly uncharitable. He tried to relax and let go of his tension, knowing he was just being immature.
The ramp landed on the rocky ground below with a dull clang. The tension crept back.
The dry sandy wind that billowed inside sent the crewman standing behind Obi-Wan into a dry coughing fit. Obi-Wan felt the thin sheen of sweat on his palms dry instantly. Steeling himself for the heat, he walked down the ramp and out into the suns where he was physically staggered by the force of their rays. The young man cringed as he felt his fair skin sizzle and begin to burn. He turned towards the town set low on the horizon. Jar Jar shuffled along behind him and the astromech droid whistled merrily, the chirps bouncing off the nearby rocks. Obi-Wan tried not to breathe too deeply; the coarse air grated his lungs worse than the pollution on Coruscant.
Less than fifty meters from the ship, he heard thudding footsteps on the rocky ground and a loud "Wait! Wait!"
Turning around, Obi-Wan found himself facing the Queen's head of security and one of the Queen's youngest handmaidens. They quickly hopped over rocks and made their way towards the small group. Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow as the two approached.
The Captain responded to the silent prompting. "Her Majesty commands you to take her handmaiden with you." The man's eyes rested somewhere just to the left of Obi-Wan's shoulder; he was uncomfortable about something, though Obi-Wan couldn't pinpoint what was wrong.
So, Obi-Wan turned his attention to the girl, carefully surveying the person the Queen wished to send in to a potentially dangerous situation. Although the handmaiden kept her eyes down, through the Force he could feel her eagerness and curiosity. She was dressed practically and unobtrusively. She had a small blaster hidden under one arm and her weird bun-thing was held up by a thin, antique dagger. He was already lugging an incompetent Gungan into a dangerous and cutthroat town—a girl who was trained to keep her head down and to protect herself and others was liable to be an asset. Obi-Wan saw no reason not to acquiesce to the Queen's request. He gave a short bow to the young handmaiden, who grinned widely and bobbed a quick curtsey in response. Obi-Wan let a small smile dance across his own face in response.
"Thank you, Captain," she said to the security chief. He nodded to her before rapidly retreating to the shade and cooling units of the yacht. Obi-Wan turned back towards the town in the distance. The handmaiden followed his lead, positioning herself on his left side. R2-D2 beeped along at her other side and Jar Jar stumbled along behind them.
"My name is Padme," she said, before they had gone very far. She stuck out her hand.
"Obi-Wan." He grasped hers in a firm handshake.
"Nice to officially meet you, Obi-Wan."
Anakin loved it when Watto left early. It didn't happen much, but when it did, Anakin had the run of the shop until closing time, and he reveled in the sense of freedom that it brought. After waiting a few minutes to make sure that the Toydarian hadn't forgotten anything, Anakin jumped off the stool behind the counter and bounced to the back of the shop. It was especially dark back there and filled with especially useless junk.
And, more importantly, Watto never went back there.
Navigating carefully, Anakin dug around until he uncovered a box that he'd stashed back there for events like this. He unwedged it and carried it back to the counter, where the light was better and there was enough space to work. He opened it. Inside was a half built scanner, the one he'd been working on for ages. When it was finished, it would let him scan for his and his mom's slave implants. They'd be able to cut the implants out and find a ship with the money Anakin knew his mother was saving and they could escape to somewhere—anywhere—else. They'd go somewhere far away from the heat and the sand and the loneliness of Tatooine and they would be happy.
Anakin had it all worked out.
The problem was that Anakin had to keep it stashed at work where it was easily hidden. Unlike the slave quarters, the shop wasn't subject to random searches by the gangs and the slave owners. But that meant that he could only build the scanner when Watto went home early. The other difficulty was the fact that he didn't know very much about programming. Mechanics were instinctual—he could wire, meld, construct, fine tune, and build better than most starship mechanics five or six times his age. But programming was different, and although he could build the scanner, he was having problems telling it to look for what he needed it to look for. And unlike C-3PO's programming, it wasn't something he could just download and ask for help on.
Frowning in thought, Anakin bent his head down to begin work on the machine. He tweaked a few wires experimentally and reached for the miniature welder, letting his brain sink into the place where be did his best mechanical work.
And then the door chimed.
The boy's head snapped up, eyes wide with alarm. He thrust down his panic and forced himself not to shove the scanner out of sight because an action like that would only make him look guilty.
The door slid open. Anakin held his breath. He couldn't see who was on the other side of the entry; the glare of the suns was too bright. For a long moment, he feared it was Wattoo.
But then his eyes cleared and it wasn't. He breathed a sigh of relief. They were outlanders.
Locals knew who he was; they'd ask questions about his project and Anakin knew he wasn't a very good liar. Outlanders tended to be nervous and sweat drenched, too scared and confused to do more than buy the necessary parts and scurry out. Or they were blustery pirates, who demanded their parts and then stomped out.
Either way, outlanders didn't ask questions and they didn't linger.
Anakin carefully sized up the newcomers, wanting to know what to expect.
An R2 unit rolled in first. Anakin eyed it with envy. It was a beautiful, beautiful droid, in near perfect condition, its dome polished to a sheen and its sensors fully functional and-
Bang!
Anakin jumped at the unexpected the loud crash and almost knocked a piece of casing off the counter and onto the floor. The pile of parts that Anakin had so carefully positioned near the doorway at his master's request were now scattered across the floor in a sprawling mess. His eyes flashed to the cause of the disaster, a weird, nervous looking alien. Tall and floppy looking, he kept bopping up and down like the bounce-ball Anakin had when he was a kid. He kept bouncing around the mess, denting a few things and scattering the rest even further. The creature was stammering in weird Basic about how sorry he was.
Anakin's anger sparked—that thing didn't know the first thing about being sorry! Anakin thought. I'll have to clean all of that up before Watto comes in tomorrow and now I won't have time to work on the scanner because Mom doesn't like it when I stay too late and—
A soft, earnest voice cut through Anakin's stormy thoughts. "We apologize for that!"
He turned his attention to the girl who had spoken and his anger disappeared even faster than it had appeared. She was on the ground, already stacking the scattered parts out of the way. She must have come in behind the tall alien, so Anakin hadn't seen her at first. Now that he had though, Anakin felt like his 'racer had just exploded in his stomach. She looked just like how Anakin always imagined an angel to look: all sharp lines and soft serenity and blazing light.
"Are you an angel?" Anakin asked the girl, feeling his insides go all wiggly. Then Anakin jumped realizing what he just said, his mom always told him to think before he said anything and she said that he wasn't supposed to just ask people things like that.
But the embarrassment was quickly chased out by indignation when he heard a snort.
It was a young man, whose eyes were bouncing back and forth between the girl and Anakin. Anakin could feel the man's amusement. It irked Anakin to think that someone was making fun of him, but he didn't say anything—an amused customer was much better than an angry customer.
It did make Anakin feel better to know that the guy's hair looked silly. Anakin decided with a comforting sneer that at least he didn't have a little wimpy pony tail and a girly braid. Even better, the new guy was getting a nasty sunburn.
But despite how funny the guy looked, there was something else about the man that held Anakin's attention. He couldn't tell what it was though, and Anakin always got uncomfortable when he didn't know things. He shifted on his stool and shot a glare at him.
The stranger ignored the glare with a half-smile, and spoke.
"We need a hyperdrive generator for a J-Type 327 Nubian starship."
Anakin frowned, mentally flicking through the yard's inventory, trying to remember if they had that kind of hyperdrive in stock.
"There is one," he paused, eyes skimming over the group's clothing, knowing that quality was an indicator of their ability to pay. "But it's going to cost you. A lot."
The man raised his eyebrow, silently asking how much.
Anakin sighed, knowing the group would not be able to afford the part, even if he did give them a deal. Their clothing said they didn't have the gold.
"Well, first, it's going to hafta be either in gold or in spice. My master won't accept rep creds. He says that they're no good out here." He paused, preparing to give an initial number.
The girl interrupted, stepping forward, "You don't take Republican credits?"
Anakin shook his head, but he thought the confused frown on her face was pretty.
"That puts a bit of a spanner into our proceedings," the man muttered, though whether the man was talking to himself, to Anakin, or to the girl, Anakin couldn't tell. "Well then," the man turned to Anakin with a nod. This guy is weird! Anakin thought. "Thank you for your help, young one. But, now we need to go find that part. Padme?" he turned to the door. The girl smiled and nodded at Anakin before picking her way across the shop to the exit. The man waited for the alien to begin to leave as well, before following the other two to the door.
They all reached the doorway. It slid open, Anakin blinked at the sudden sunlight, and then it happened.
The world slowed to an almost stop. The girl's arm froze as it reached up to block the sun from her eyes, the alien stopped mid-stumble, and the young man paused half way through a step. Dust motes stilled in the sunlight. The world slowed kind of like it sometimes did during a race or like when he helped Kitster fight off The Bully, only it seemed bigger this time, more Important. Everything froze and two choices flowed out in front of him, like wires in a droid, twisted and different.
Two Choices. Two possibilities.
On the one hand, he could stay quiet and not mention the idea that was slowly taking shape in his head. The group would leave and Anakin would not. He'd stay on Tatooine, with his mom. And they'd be freed someday 'cause he'd have to win a podrace eventually, right? And they'd be mostly happy. But, Anakin suddenly knew, he'd be stuck on Tatooine forever. And it would be boring and lonely and horrible, in its own special way. He wouldn't meet anyone or go anywhere. He'd just stay here and dry away into nothing. That's what would happen if he didn't help the strangers. The outcome was so not wizard.
But then, neither was the other option, really. If he told them that he might be able to help, that he had an idea, then the group would be able to leave the planet. And Anakin knew that he and his mom would get to go with them. But, unlike the first option where everything stretched out straight and clear, this one was all tangled and twisted before it just disappeared off into nothing. And that was terrifying. As unpleasant as a forever on Tatooine was, at least he knew what would happen. Not knowing like that was scary. Even worse, it would mean change. And Anakin didn't like change.
But, he and his mom would get to leave Tatooine. And that was a lot.
For Anakin, it was just enough.
Decision made, the world sped back up. The door chimed an exit, the girl cringed away from the blinding light, and the man just stopped himself from running into the back of his alien and droid counterparts.
"Wait!" Anakin called out. The outlanders froze again, but time kept flowing.
"What?" the girl asked, turning back around.
"No one around here takes Rep creds."
No one responded. The silence made Anakin uncomfortable, so he kept talking.
"I could build the part you need." He licked his lips, waiting for a response. It still didn't come. The girl just looked at him like he was crazy, but the young man was frowning like he was thinking really hard.
Anakin addressed his proposal to the man, "It's perfect! I'm a real good mechanic and I don't think anyone else has the part you want—Nubians are rare out here." Anakin paused. "Though, I might not be able to do the programming part. I'm not very good at that and I know there's a lot of programming in Nubian generators. But I know I can build it and Watto never minds if I use the junk parts to make something. I do it all the time!" Anakin held the man's eyes, trying to look confident. He worked hard not to fidget at the weird look in the man's eye and at the weird feeling that the stranger gave him.
"But you're only a boy!" the girl exclaimed, jerking his attention back to her.
Anakin was deeply offended by this outburst, doubly so because he really liked the girl. He opened his mouth to defend himself, but the man interrupted his righteous indignation.
"If you are that skilled a mechanic," the young man said carefully, "then I may be able to help you with the programming. Though, again, we would still only have Republican credits to pay you with."
Anakin bit his lip. He was scared, asking for something so daring. But…but…he somehow just knew that he could trust these people, at least in this. And it was too good an opportunity to pass up—these people were desperate.
He could only hope that they were desperate enough to accept his price.
"What if…whatifyoutookmeandmymomwithy ouwhenyouleft?"
Anakin tried to look confident so they wouldn't notice how funny his voice came out.
Immediately, the girl and the alien jumped into motion, both speaking over each other, partially talking to Anakin and partially to the man who had come in with them, the one that seemed to be in charge.
"Our mission is far too dangerous for—"
"Meesa isa thinkin' that's notta good idea—"
"—you don't even know where we are going—"
The man just stood, staring thoughtfully at Anakin, arms crossed over his chest. His head was tilted to the side and the look on his face was a lot like the one Anakin's mom got when she was trying to decide if he was lying or not. Anakin tried not to fidget. Although he was used to objections, he wasn't used to the scrutiny. It made him nervous and silent where he would usually try to defend himself.
"Deal."
The man said it in a quiet but stern voice. It somehow sliced through the girl and the alien's objections. Without taking his eye off Anakin, he waved away his companions' concerns.
"They are correct," the man began. "The mission we are on is a very dangerous one. But, if you and your mother want, we will bring you with us." He paused. "Assuming there is no one who has cause to chase after you."
"Of course not!" Anakin cried. It was only kind of a lie. Watto would have cause to chase after them, but he wouldn't be able to afford the bounty hunters to do the chasing. Anyway, he wasn't going to give this man any reason to say no.
"Then, yes. You and your mother may accompany us to Coruscant. Though, I warn you, it will be cramped quarters. Our ship is already rather full."
The child shrugged away the warnings—he dealt with danger and small spaces every day. But the idea of traveling to Courscant had him bouncing on his stool. Even though he was planning on visiting every planet in the galaxy, Anakin still never thought he'd get that far.
The man struck out his hand to shake on the agreement. Anakin slowly stretched out his own hand to grasp the stranger's, studying the man's face. There, he found an open honesty that Anakin had only ever seen in his mom. Anakin accepted the man's sincerity and grasped the man's hand tightly and shook on the deal.
He and his mother were going to Coruscant.
Everyone in the room kind of paused for a moment, like something important had just happened and they were trying to figure out what they were supposed to do next. Anakin was the first to speak, his natural dislike of silence enough for him to overcome the growing awkwardness.
"So! What are your guys's names?" Anakin asked, determined to break the silence. He kicked his feet back and forth in the air.
"My name is Padme," the girl offered. She sent him a soft smile that made his knees shiver, just a little. He smiled back.
"Meesa Jar Jar!" the creature exclaimed. "Meesa muy happy to be meetin' you—"
The creature continued talking. The man stepped forward and introduced himself over Jar Jar's chatter. "And I am Obi-Wan," he added with that same formality that was at odds with the derelict shop. The man, Obi-Wan, stuck his hand out for another handshake.
Anakin grasped the man's hand—Obi-Wan was just a weird name and why did he want another handshake?—and shook it (again) with all the manners his mom had ever tried to teach him.
"My name's Anakin." He kicked his feet back and forth a few times before he suddenly slid off the stool and began to head towards the junk yard out back. "I'm gonna go find the generator that we've got. It'll make a good model," he called out before stepping out into the suns. Might as well get to work, after all.
A/N Just a quick note: this is my first multi-fic story and I want to make it the best story it can possibly be. But I need ya'll pushing me in order to improve. Constructive criticism is welcome!
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