CHAPTER TWO

"We're going to crash!" Obi-Wan yelled out as he noticed the disabled ship was falling too fast.

"It's going to be all right, the force will guide us."

"I hope so!"

Qui-Gon glanced back at him, then back at the view window. "Aaahh!" He grunted, as the ship flipped and went end over end in the sand. It came to a rest on its side. Qui-Gon got up and tried to steady himself. "Obi-Wan? Where are you?"

"Over here." He moaned, under some broken machinery. Qui-Gon lifted it off of him. "Are you all right?"

"I think yu just saved my life."

"Oh, come now, padawan..."

"I'm' not your padawan anymore, remember, I made knight several years ago, we're partners now."

"Yes, it is easy to slip up sometimes, you've been with me so long, you're like my son."

Obi-Wan had gained his Jedi Knighthood by killing the Sith Lord Darth Maul, just as he appeared about to kill Qui-Gon. The old master never forgot this. "Save your life, heh. This is nothing compared to what you did for me against Maul. Perhaps there will come a time when I can truly pay you back."

"I hope that time never comes, master, that such a situation would occur to make it necessary."

They both got up and shook off the dust and sand, ran their hands through their long hair and beards, and looked around.

"Most uncivilized." Obi-Wan said, shaking his head. "Of all the..."

"Yes, I know, but at least we were not lost in deep space. We must make the best of things until we can have our ship repaired."

They walked all around their ship, not holding out much hope for being able to fix it themselves. They heard a noise coming over the next dune. Their Jedi instincts warned them, and they both turned quickly with lightsabers in hand.

"Hey, get those things out of my face!" said the voice, the young golden haired boy who had been walking from his homestead. Both Jedi realized he was no danger and put their weapons away.

"You're Jedi, aren't you?" Anakin asked.

"Why, yes, we are." Qui-Gon told him.

Anakin smiled. "I have always been fascinated by the Jedi, I've always wanted to be one. I feel so close to you all somehow, much closer than to my own..brother." He rolled his eyes and the thought of his wicked half brother Owen and how he treated him.

"You want to be a Jedi, do you? What do you know of the force?"

"The force? That must be what I feel all the time."

The two Jedi looked interested. They were both beginning to sense his strong force presence. "Tell us what you feel."

"I feel like, there's this power in me, waiting to get out, so I could do great things! I can sense what people are feeling, and sometimes get into their minds even if I don't want to. I can make things move.."

"You can?"

"Yes, my brother calls me a freak for it."

Qui-Gon put his arm on the young man's shoulder. "You are no freak. You are someone very special." He stared intensely into Anakin's eyes. This made him feel uncomfortable. Qui-Gon had begun to sense he was the Chosen One, but wasn't ready to say it yet.

"What are you talking about?"

"You need to find out more about the force. It's dangerous a young man such as yourself being so strong with the force and not being trained."

"How can I get training?"

"You would have to come with us back to the temple, on Coruscant." Obi-Wan told him. "You must go before the council to see if they approve of your training."

"But I thought you just said, I had to be trained...?"

"You WILL be trained, if I have to buck the council myself!" Qui-Gon said boldly.

Obi-Wan was used to his master's ways, rebellious by the standards of the stoic Jedi council. "They're not going to take him, he's too old. And he came from, ouit of nowhere!"

Qui-Gon turned to Obi-Wan and stared at him. "Then we must convince them there is special purpose, because, there is."

"Huh?" Anakin didn't understand.

"Would you be able to leave this place, with only the clothes on your back, and never return, to devote your life to the order and its ways?" Obi-Wan asked him.

Anakin looked down and shuffled his feet in the sand. "I don't know. There's nothing I want more than to get off this dustball, and get away from that farm and Owen- but I could never just leave my Mom and not care if I ever saw her again. Who could do that to someone they love?"

Obi-Wan looked at Qui-Gon. Attachment. He had this for his mother. It was against the code, Jedi could not let their personal feelings get in the way of their purposes and missions. Qui-Gon had never understood how it would hurt for a person to have a visit with their family, or have friends outside the order, but this was forbidden by the council no matter how much he tried to change it. Obi-Wan knew nothing of this, he'd been a Jedi since he was a toddler, and barely even remembered his family, who were dead now. Qui-Gon was like his father, and he did not deny he felt close to him and worried for him when he was in danger the way a child would their father. So he understood how Anakin must feel about his mother. Still, they knew this was going to be a problem in trying to get him trained. They didn't know what to say to him, and were relieved when he changed the subject.

"Looks like your ship is wasted, and you're stranded here. What are you going to do? Mind if I have a look at it, I'm pretty good with gadgets and fixing stuff."

"Okay!" the old master took him up on the offer. Anakin crawled up underneath the ship and came out with a soot stained, grim face.

"It doesn't look good, guys, This is nothing I can just rig up with a whippadiddle pole. You're going to need parts that have to be paid for. Got any money?"

"We have no money, Jedi are not allowed to have money, or any personal possessions."

"No kidding?" Anakin looked shocked. "No money, no possessions, can't have contact with people you care about? I don't think I want to be one after all."

This saddened Qui-Gon. "Don't make up your mind so easily. There is much advantage to being a Jedi."

"Like being able to use the force, so nobody can mess with you and you can kick anybody's butt who gives you trouble?"

Obi-Wan laughed at this teenager's raw enthusiasm, and knew once again it wasn't what the council would approve of. "Not exactly, like that, but.."

"So if you're stuck here and you got no credits, what are you going to do?"

"If we can contact our temple, perhaps the order will send a new ship for us, or advance us credits to have this one repaired. Do you have a holovid, ours died in the crash.' Obi-Wan told him.

"You could find one at a cantina or hologram cafe in town, but again it ain't free. We have one at home." He looked very apprehensive about taking two strange Jedi home,

yet it seemed there was no other option, for now. "Come on, start walking. Let's go back to my mom's, she'll let you use it."

"You said your brother thinks force users are freaks?"

Anakin grinned. "He's just jealous he don't have it. If he gives you any trouble let him have it! Follow me." He turned his back to them and started walking, waving his hand in the direction of the farm. Having no other recourse at the moment, they headed back to the Skywalker homestead.