I decided to update a bit earlier because of timing issues. Also, I've noticed that not many people are reading anymore. If this is due to the odd plot, I apologize, but I don't have time to change it. I am leaving for school term, starting in March and ending in around August.

As for the millions of technical errors…I have no excuse for that. Right now, I am revising former chapters to make it read more logically. Thanks for having patience with me.

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Anakin dove under and doubled back to the air pocket as fast as he could. When he leapt up into the tunnel, though, he didn't see anyone waiting for him.

'Strange,' he thought. 'Mansa Musa had better not be tricking me, otherwise I'll never trust his race again.'

There were quite a lot of Gungans in the bay, preparing for departure or maintaining the Bongos. On the furthest edge, a small craft was half-submerged in the water. It would be perfect for a getaway. However, how could he distract at least thirty Gungans while he crept up and stole one of their vehicles? From what he had seen from Mansa Musa, the Gungans were rather silly and clumsy, so it just might be possible…

He crept behind a pile of crates, and at just the right moment, he rounded the corner and flattened his body against a large container. Two mechanics came in front of it, joking and talking about the newest human captive. From what he could make out, they were discussing Tahiri.

There was a good chance of his making it from here. When he sensed that their backs were turned, he ran out of his hiding place. It was a bit too soon. In his haste, the sleeve of his tunic brushed against the back of the shorter. Its long head shot up and craned to see what had happened. Naturally, it spotted Anakin.

"Itsa Human!"

"What's he doin' here?"

"Catch him quick!"

Anakin picked up a faster pace. Obviously, he had been wrong in thinking that everyone was the same. A sticky hand almost touched his face; he stripped it off and ran harder. If he didn't hurry, he would be put into a deeper pit than Tahiri was in, and that wouldn't be very nice.

He managed to open the Bongo and lock himself in just as the Gungans crowded around it, attempting to force open the hatch. Some others ran to start the other Bongos. Anakin briefly studied the control panel. The layout was simple, but everything was written in a language he did not understand. Sadly, there was no big green button that symbolized the word "Go".

Was there a way to somehow sense the right choice using the force? Anakin shut out the Gungan's screams and tried to concentrate on finding the right combination to start the craft. Maybe he should try it this way...

Anakin strapped in, ignited the engine and pulled a lever. It was the throttle, all right. The Bongo began to sink into the water. Pulling back more firmly, Anakin veered the craft out of the bay and into the open, where he quickly headed further down. They would be chasing him; maybe there was a crevice he could duck into.

Four Bongos were on his tail as he veered into the depths. Inexperienced as he was with vehicles like this, he managed to lose several of them when he sped through an underwater cliff. There could be no cheering yet, though. Another two followed closely behind him.

It was getting too dark to see. Though the logical thing was to turn on his lights, Anakin refrained from doing so. To his left, he could make out an underwater cavern. Biting his lip, he made a dive towards it.

Where had he gone? In the first bongo, a Gungan with a stringy moustache scratched his head. Something crackled over his loudspeaker. "Hey! Yousa seeing him?"

"No! His lights must be off. Come on, letsa go back to Ota-Gunga and tell da Boss!" The bongos lingered for a while, and then returned to the surface. In the cavern, Anakin held his breath.

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Ben stood quietly at the site of the old Jedi temple. This place, then, was where so many of the Jedi had trained, where so many of them had lived and died. No wonder his father had never told him anything about it. It was deserted. Forgotten.

Right now, his spirit felt as empty as the ruins. During the speeder trip, he had wondered why he was going after his cousin, even though he knew that the grown-ups, as well as Anakin himself, could probably manage well enough. There was no need for him to go off and worry his mother about it. They could be sending a whole troop of people after him. Despite his conscience, he giggled.

His eyes took on another light. What if that were the whole point why he had run off? That would be fun, he had always liked playing hide and seek. Maybe he would even get Jacen and Jaina in on the fun, and then they could find Anakin together.

Grinning evilly, Ben ventured further into the depths of the Jedi temple.

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Jaina pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she rearranged the information disks in a metal crate. 'Log from Battle of Yavin'… 'Transcript from messages transmitted from Bespin'…History freak could hardly portray Mrs. Degrasimo's obsession. The information was quite interesting, though. The only fishy thing was on how Mrs. Degrasimo had managed to get her hands on it…

Cramming the last bits and pieces into the box, she heaved it up and dragged it to Mrs. Degrasimo's bedroom. She knocked on the door, but nobody answered. After a while, Jaina returned to her room. The old woman would be able to find it easily-unless, of course, her eyesight wasn't as sharp as her nose.

The elder of the Solo twins skipped back to her room, where she settled back at her desk. Now that everything was taken care of, she could work on finding Anakin. Everything she needed was in her bag; even a portable wireless router. When your mother had relations to big, highly influential senates, it was easy to get your hands on such necessities.

Jaina flipped her laptop screen open and connected to the spaceport database. On another window, she tracked the Millennium Falcon, which was apparently staying in Tatooine for a while. Finally, she calculated Anakin's path. If he had indeed crash landed on one of the outer rim planets, she needed to know wen and where.

In a small room overlooking Coruscant, Jaina continued her search.

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Jacen was polishing his lightsaber for the fifth time in a row. Seeing as Jaina had her computer hogging the cynet, there was virtually nothing else to do. Sighing heavily, he swung his legs up onto the bed. One of his feet caught in the night table, toppling it over and spilling a container of limp flowers. Nothing broke, thankfully, but the water spilled all over the floor.

Rolling his eyes, Jacen used the floor rug to mop up the water. He might as well throw the flowers away. They were nearly dead and deserved to be disposed of properly. He brought everything to the kitchen and threw them into the waste dispenser. Mrs. Degrasimo was so old that she probably wouldn't remember anyway…

"Looking for something?"

Jacen could have jumped a foot into the air. How had she known he was there? In the dim light, you could barely see anything but for the glow of the kitchen appliances. And talk about dim-had she been the one to make it so dark? He suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Your brother's disappearance is troubling you, isn't it?" Mrs. Degrasimo asked gently. Jacen remained silent, mainly because he didn't want to admit that she was wrong. His brother's disappearance wasn't the only thing that was troubling him, it also had to do with being cooped up with her, and having nothing to do but sit around and polish his lightsaber.

"Does it have to do with feeling…useless?"

It was as though she could read his mind! "Uh, not really. I have to get some sleep, see you tomorrow," Jacen said hurriedly. The old woman stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You can tell me about it," she continued. "I understand."

Jacen was torn into two; half of him wanted to run away, the other half wanted to bring his true feelings to the surface. His mental struggle was obviously apparent on the outside, as well, because Mrs. Degrasimo continued to remain concerned.

Finally, he gave in. Leaning against the counter, he began.

"Well…fine. It all started between my uncle Luke and I..."

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"You want one of those?" Pierkan, the sky hopper dealer, pointed to a small model at the far end of his yard. Luke made no sign of interest. Anxious to make a profit from the newcomer, Pierkan tried harder to convince him. "It is still quite new," he offered. "I could give you a bargain."

Luke's forehead wrinkled. He would have liked to say that he knew that the engine was filled with water and that it was an outdated model, but his discrepancy took over. "No, please. Do you have any T-16 sky hoppers available?"

The dealer's eyes shifted. "Yeah…there is one." He gestured to an acceptable looking model sitting behind a large piece of scrap metal. I could give it to you for say…five thousand credits."

"I'm only renting for a week." Luke replied coolly. It was no use to argue with the dealer; mind tricks were of no avail. His best chance of securing a fair deal was by remaining calm and using his insight of the future to his advantage.

"All right, then…I will accept three hundred per day."

"Three hundred is unreasonable. There are other places where I can rent the same craft for only a hundred and fifty a day."

"Well, this isn't another place! If you go to other dealers in Tatooine, they will be more expensive than me, or will demand that you take permanent ownership. If you want your vehicle, I will go down to two hundred and seventy-five. But that is it!"

"Then I will find my sky hopper somewhere else." Luke thanked him politely and went off before Pierkan could put in another word. The man's eyes narrowed. The nerve of that tourist! Acting as if he knew all the best places to find good equipment. Well, he would soon find that he was wrong. 'Find it somewhere else,' he mimicked. Oh, the gullibility.

Luke returned to his friends with a weight on his mind. Pierkan had been telling the truth when he said that nobody else was renting out, but the price he put up was impossible. How could he find anything at this rate?

After mailing Mara about his situation, he went to check on Han. The former smuggler was still recovering from the scrapes he had on his shoulder and chest, but other than that, he appeared to be doing well. "How was your search?" he asked as Luke eased onto a chair.

"Not too well. As usual, the only dealer who'll give a loan is too expensive."

"Want me to go talk to him?"

"Thanks, but I don't think so. You've got to rest." Han never was good at communicating, particularly not picky dealers. Next thing you knew, the two of them would be betting their life savings on a pod race.

"Do you have any other ideas?"

"No."

"Well, then, how about the illegal way?"

Luke jerked his head up. "As in steal?" He faced Han angrily. "Why does everything you do have to go against the law?"

"Well, illegal is always faster."

Luke snorted. "Excuse me? Illegal is what got you into this mess in the first place."

"And maybe it can get us out." Han stretched and swung himself over the side of the bed. He winced when his shoulder hit the bedpost, but he held Luke off with one hand. "I feel better, really," he said. "It's night now; we have a better chance of taking it in the dark. Let's get the show on the road."

Luke's eyes narrowed. "You don't really mean-"

"Sorry, Lukie," Han said, "But I have no other choice. My son is out there, with a stolen ship, and if something has happened to it, I need to have extra money in the reserves. Anyway, I'll be off at that dealer's place if you need me."

"What about Leia? She knows you're in Tatooine; I have no idea how she figured out, but she knows! And if you get yourself into any more trouble…" Luke trailed off, waiting for Han's response.

He had played his trump card. Han froze in his steps and turned. His face had suddenly shifted to uncertainty. "She knows Lando's with me?"

Luke shrugged. "Yup. If you take my advice, you had better tell her what's up. I think there's a place where you can receive a connection. It's over at the west end-"

"Uh…no thanks." Han's face was flushed. He quickly backed up his action with an excuse. "She'd probably get into her high-and-mighty mode; verbally abusing my 'path of action' and such. If I'm talking to her, it'll be after I've found Anakin and have the money. Lando!" He shouted abruptly. "Are you done with the tools yet?"

"Right at ya," Lando replied, coming out of the rented room. He had with him an entire box full of complicated devices. "We've got security debuggers, mini Artoo units, and your good old-fashioned laser saw to hack through steel."

"Try my lightsaber," Luke replied sarcastically. "It does the job without the old-fashioned ness to bog you down."

"If you're going to be the wet blanket of this party, I suggest you don't come." Han and Lando were already out the door. "Stay here and be a good kid while we're gone."

Luke's hand curled into a fist. "Not while I'm here," he shot back. "Seeing as you two are doing something so immature, I had better keep an eye out, just in case." He grabbed his lightsaber and cloak. This would be the last time he followed Han, no exceptions. He was getting too old for this sort of thing, anyway.

"Yeah, yeah, now come on." Han and Lando turned towards a back alleyway. They had obviously been planning this since Luke told them that Sky hoppers were great for targeting Womp Rats. If there was ever a better time to regret his words, it was right then.

Quietly, Luke trailed them into the night.

Sigh…if you thought this chapter was good or bad in any way, let me know. And no, Jacen is NOT turning into a weak-hearted wimp. Just wait a couple more chapters and see…

-Hollie