"It's really illogical." Jacen, after pouring his heart out to Mrs. Degrasimo, had relapsed into a sulk. "I mean, there's still so much evil in this universe, and we, as the Jedi, are unable to do anything but sit around."

"So, would you rather that more Jedi were on the offensive, trying to seek out these evils?"

"No!" Jacen was taken aback. "I mean, yes, but not actively. It's not a good idea to use the force to incite wars. Personally, I think it'd be better used as a form of defense. Though there should be more Jedi in case of attack." Jacen rubbed his forehead with two fingers. "I don't know…I just want to help out."

Mrs. Degrasimo put an arm around Jacen in an alarming manner. "You're taking a lot of burdens onto your shoulders," she said. "Are you sure you can handle them?

Jacen shrugged her off. 'I'm fine. Thanks for listening to me." Slowly, he went back to his room. Maybe Mrs. Degrasimo was right, but who could tell?

Mrs. Degrasimo followed him with her eyes as he left. Throughout the conversation, she had kept her emotions well hidden. The boy was still young and rather inexperienced, but he already had strong feelings towards the force and his life.

Feelings that, if not well hidden, might lead to his destruction.

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"Oh. My. God!" Jaina squealed. She knew that her brother was already sleeping, but the information she had just discovered was truly interesting. She hurried over to his room.

"Jacen! I've found Anakin!" Her twin muttered something in his sleep and turned away from her. Jaina impatiently pounded his back with her fists. It didn't seem to help.

"Would you shut up? Why is everything you do so important, that you have to wake people up in the middle of the night?"

"Just come and look." Jaina force-lifted her brother out of bed. "It's your fault anyways, for staying up all night crying your heart out to the old woman."

"I did not cry!"

"But you sulked and ranted really loudly. You could have talked to me, you know. What's so special about her?"

Jacen blushed at what his sister was leaning towards. "I don't know, okay? There's something that makes it really easy for you to listen to her. It was kind of creepy."

"Tell me about it," Jaina agreed. "Anyway. You may not know this, but I was not only researching but meditating. After a while, I picked something up, which felt like Anakin. He was feeling very cold."

"You mean-something bad has happened to him?"

"No. You see, from what we know, nobody can find Anakin, probably because he's very far away. After I felt his coldness, I realized that it had nothing to do with how Anakin was feeling mentally, but physically. From that, I ran up a list of planets that he could have possibly gone to. According to Uncle Luke, he didn't bring that much clothing, so it couldn't have been a frozen planet."

"That won't help much. There are a lot of cold planets out there."

"Hold on, I'm not finished yet." Jaina opened a text document. "There are thirty possible planets here. It would have been impossible. But then, I felt some more disturbances."

Jacen gritted his teeth. Jaina wasn't the only one receiving all these visions; he had felt something through the force, too. But he wasn't going to tell Jaina that. Particularly not when she was in her 'I'm-such-a-smart-ass' mode.

"Anyway, I'm pretty sure that Anakin was being pursued."

"Via what, speeder or ship?"

"Neither. He was in an underwater craft. I couldn't tell what it was, but he's definitely in a large body of water. From there, I could find only four planets that matched my search. Since grandma Padme used to rule there, I figured that Naboo was the place that he had to be."

"God, you're so smart. But there's one problem. Nobody has proven that life forms actually exist in Naboo's lakes."

"How do you know?" Jaina asked. "It's possible, anyway. Just because nobody has recorded it in any history books doesn't mean a thing."

"Well…fine. But we have to stay put here, don't we?"

'Who says?" Jaina pouted. "Mom is way overprotective of us, and if you ask me, I don't think it's a good idea to develop roots over here. Come on, we have a lot of planning to do."

Jacen racked his brains for a smart comment, but nothing came up. As Jaina entered some information in her log, though, he remembered what he had felt.

He leaned over her shoulder. "Hey Jaina, I think Ben's missing."

"Oh, come on. He's on Yavin 4, at the Jedi Academy."

"He is not. I felt him quite keenly, while you were busy receiving Anakin and his cold."

Jaina frowned. "Enlighten me, then. What did you feel?"

"Remember two days ago, when mom came back home? I felt Ben's presence around, but I didn't want to say anything in case it was just a mistake. Recently, though, it became stronger. Two hours ago, I finally realized that he was with the spirits of the Jedi Masters."

"Sorry, Jacen, but Ben isn't dead. If it were, we would all have felt it, not just you, his special older cousin."

"I never said he was dead. I just said that the spirits of the old Jedi Masters were nearby. Know what that means?" Jacen grinned as he executed his final blow. "He's on Coruscant. Being his special older cousin, I realized that he was trying to play a game of hide-and-seek with his mom. Poor kid probably feels left out of the fun."

"It's a lame way of having fun. Aunt Mara will freak."

"I think she already has."

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"Hey! Yousa dere!"

Mansa Musa jerked and tripped over his feet. He had to turn around to get a glimpse of the person talking to him. It was one of the higher-ups, and from the look of his face, he was not pleased.

"Dere's another human runnin' around! The boss wants all Gungans to be on da alert, and that includes you!"

So Anakin had been spotted. Mansa Musa chewed his lip. He couldn't let him be caught by the Boss. After he had made the mistake of ratting on the girl, he realized that there was no longer anyone to help him free his father. Anakin was his last hope.

"Ehh..." Mansa Musa pretended to think. "Haven't seen him. But if he starts pokin' his nose 'round, I'll holler."

"Jah, just keep yousa eyes open." The higher-up snapped the servant's eyelids and stumbled after two of his passing friends.

Mansa Musa looked on sadly, and then flopped away to find Anakin. As he looked at all the Gungans, who seemed to be one in their search for the human, he wondered why he never had any friends.

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When everything was quiet, Anakin flipped on a light above him and settled back. Somehow, he would have to get back up to finish his tasks. The first priority, of course, was Tahiri. Who knew how much longer she was going to be kept in there? They could either drown her or let her go the next morning, so there wasn't much time.

Of course, there was also the matter of Mansa Musa. Why hadn't he been there when Anakin was in the tunnel? Also, if he wasn't there, then where was he?

The bongo was close to an air pocket, so Anakin hid the Bongo there and quietly doubled back to Ota-Gunga. On the way, he bumped into Mansa Musa.

"Anakin, I hope you have da Bongo, cause deysa lookin for you! All 'round the city, guards are bein' put up. I told you, Gungans no likin' unexpected visitors."

"I know, I know. But the plan has changed. While I was looking for the Bongo Bay, I met a friend of mine. Her name's Tahiri, and she was caught by your people several days ago. I have to rescue her, too."

"After all Isa do for you, den yousa want to attempt a hero attack?" the Gungan groaned. "Dere isn't much yousa can do about it. She's in da slime pits."

"So? Can't we cut her out through the bars?"

"If you wanta risk it. The slime pits got da name from the big, slimy security system! Right above her head is a motion sensor. If she tries to get out, a big bucket of slime dumps into her pit, drowning her in slime." Mansa Musa shook his head in disgust. "Not a nice way to die."

Anakin grabbed his collar. 'Why didn't you tell me? She's going to try to escape tonight! I need you to help me with this one, please!"

Mansa Musa seized his opportunity. "Hmm…I may, if you do mesa a favor." The grip on his collar tightened, choking him.

"Tell me." Anakin said firmly. "I'll do anything you ask."

"My father," Mansa Musa replied with the little air coming through his throat, "Is also in the slime pits. Help me dig him out and I help you."

Slowly, Anakin loosened his grasp. "Dig?"

"Its one of the only two ways to get the prisoners out."

Anakin bit his lip. Digging sounded like the kind of job that would take ages to complete. "What's the other one?"

"Standing trial before da Boss."

"I have no idea what your dad did, but Tahiri is innocent; I can tell. Why is she in the pits anyway, do you know?"

Mansa Musa avoided Anakin's gaze. "Trespassing," he muttered. "I'm not sure, but I think…someone caught her trying to steal a food sacrifice to one of our Gods."

"She has no idea what kind of Gods you have, and she wouldn't do it on purpose. I'll help you if you help me, deal?"

"Okay," the Gungan replied, relieved that Anakin had not seen through his lie. "I'll get you in dere. Do you still have your Gungan disguise?"

Anakin wrinkled his nose. No, he most certainly hadn't carried it all the way through. The nose had been too heavy. "I think I left it at the beginning of the tunnel. Could you get it?"

"Sure. Go back and bring da Bongo round; nobody ever comes here. I'll come with the equipment. We'll meet back here when you see the palace lights dim."

"Got it." Anakin turned and swam back to his hiding spot. Mansa Musa quickly went to look for the Gungan disguise. So it had been settled. Tonight, his father was getting out.

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"Hand me the pliers, buddy."

"These?" Lando held up a small one with a green handle. "That should do," Han replied, taking the tool and carefully twisting three wires apart. The connection that activated the invisible security boundaries was now officially down. All around the yard, the energy fields between the posts flickered and died.

Lando replaced the pliers. "You disabled the sound and alert system, right?"

"Everything should be down. Try something small first, though."

Lando cautiously poked a finger through. Nothing happened. "We're clear," he whispered. Han grinned and slipped through.

Luke had turned his back to them, trying to ignore their actions. He wasn't going to have any part in this heist; he was simply standing ready to counter any attacks.

The former smugglers carefully picked through the ship yard. Lando stopped mid-way. "It's bound to be somewhere around here. I don't know what security he uses, or if there is any, but we'd better be careful."

"Lead the way. I'm too scared to use lights."

"Too bad Luke isn't in with us; we could use his force-seeing talents."

"Luke has always been a conservative-type guy; you know that, Lando." Han glanced back at his brother-in-law. "

Luke hid his commlink under his shirt and called his sister. Han was going to pay for this.

"Yes?" came a groggy voice. Luke cringed. Leia was probably sleeping. "This is Luke," he said uncertainly. "I thought you were going to be busy at Alderaan."

"I stayed back to track Han. He's more important to me than a bunch of debates." his sister replied. "From what Jaina dredged up while I was gone, he hasn't budged from Mos Eisley for several days."

There was a shout behind him. One of the two must have tripped over something in the dark.

"Luke? What was that noise?" Leia heard a faint string of curses in the background. "Where exactly are you?"

"Um...I'm fine." Luke replied. He glanced behind him at the darkened shop. Hopefully, Pierkan hadn't heard the disturbance. "Anyway, I just thought you might want to know that I know why Han is in Tatooine. I'm not sure if you already know this, but Anakin also stole the neighbor's ship. Han was worried that he might damage it, so he teamed up with Lando and placed a Sabaac bet, hoping that he could have a backup fund in case. Unfortunately..."

"Don't tell me. He lost the bet, and now he has to do something utterly insane."

"Yeah."

"Tell him to give me a buzz when he's finished; we need to talk. And-did you say something about Lando Calrissian?"

"I'm sure they have a good plan," Luke said hurriedly. In the background, there was the faint buzz of another electric field being brought down.

"You're with them, aren't you?" his sister accused. "You had better spill what you're doing right now, or I'll-"

"They're stealing a Sky Hopper," Luke cut in, and slammed his commlink shut.