Ben was busily setting up his 'camp'. Basically, it was a crude shelter, constructed out of pieces of scrap. At least it kept his head dry.
While he crouched in his tent and chewed his fingernails, Ben's thoughts kept wandering back to Yavin 4. He didn't miss his mother, but after all, it had been almost two days since he had left. Didn't she worry at all?
The sneaky part of his mind took over. If Mara Jade didn't take easily to his absence, he would have to make her. Craftily, he rubbed his hands together.
In his Biblical figures class at the Jedi academy, they were learning about Joseph and how his father thought he had been eaten by a beast. Well, why not? It wasn't like he was really going to be sold to a bunch of slave dealers. All he needed to do was to shake his mother up a bit. That would show her!
The main problem, though, was how to get the blood. After searching a bit through the rubble of the old Jedi academy, he found some red liquid. It smelled terrible, but it would have to do. He smeared it onto one of his dirty tunics. After rubbing some dirt on it, to make it look more genuine, Ben ripped it up a bit and carefully placed it in his belt.
It took a while to find another speeder and convince the pilot to let him on, but finally, he was flying towards the hangar bay. Quietly, he left his shredded tunic next to Aunt Leia's craft. She would find it in the morning and recognize it as his. The rest was history. Now all he needed to do was disappear quietly into the night.
Instead, he bumped headlong into somebody standing in his path. Ben shuddered, but it was the other person who actually yelped. When he turned to look, Ben realized that it was a teenager around Jacen's age, looking nervously around. Involuntarily, Ben giggled.
The teenage boy obviously didn't take well to being laughed at, because he muttered something under his breath and reached towards Ben. Within two seconds, the ten-year-old's wrists were clamped together behind his back.
"Let go, you big bully!" cried Ben, kicking uselessly.
"Who's that?" A familiar female voice called. Ben froze in mid-kick. He knew that voice.
"Hey," the boy said nastily, "It's-"
"Jacen and Jaina," Ben said weakly, and let himself slide to the floor.
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After several attempts at calming Ben down, Jaina managed to package her cousin onto the ship which the twins had taken to Coruscant. Jacen, meanwhile, woke up Mrs. Degrasimo and tried to explain what had happened.
"So," he concluded, "We really have to go rescue our brother. Mom and dad don't really know where he is, but since we do, it's our duty to find him."
"I could tell your parents if you wanted me to."
"No…don't. Really, it would be better if we kept it a secret. My mom is still steamed about it."
"All right, I trust you." Mrs. Degrasimo smiled. "Feel free to come back and talk. My door is always open."
Jacen had a sudden urge to get out of the apartment. "Um, yeah. Thanks for everything." Quickly, he slung his bag over his shoulder and joined Jaina at the Hangar bay.
'What took you so long?" She asked, preparing the ship for take off. "Chatting with your new friend?"
"She is not my new friend!" Jacen almost shouted. "She is a creepy old lady who, for some reason, I can identify with! Is that so bad?"
His sister kept quiet. After a while, she added, "Ben was trying to scare his mother by pretending that he had been eaten by a wild animal. I took it away and left a note in its place.
"Notes, notes, notes. Do you think Mom will realize we're gone?"
"Of course. Our ship will be gone from the Hangar bay. By the time she realizes that, though, we'll be long gone."
"Right," Jacen replied. He felt distracted, as though something were not right, but instead of telling his sister, he decided to think it out instead.
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In a deserted farm in the middle of the desert, Han lovingly polished his new T-16 Sky Hopper. They had all piled into it, just as the dealer came out of the house. Thankfully, Han's crash course in using the vehicle had turned out to be a success. Before the twin suns could rise in the sky, Pierkan's business had become the victim of a hit-and-run.
To escape from the wrath of the Tatooine natives, Luke had brought them back to his old childhood home. The rubble had long since been salvaged by various beings, but the shell of the farm was still standing.
As his brother-in-law came into the room, he stood up and brushed off. "I told you it would be easy," he said, grinning up at Luke triumphantly. "There's really nothing to a mountain; you just have to find the right tools."
"Get over it." Luke snapped. He had his commlink open in his hand. "Leia wants to talk to you."
Leia? Han groaned inwardly. Why was she always after his back? He paused to finish up a small corner on the side of the vehicle, and then stretched.
"Is she on?"
"Of course." Luke handed him the commlink and lifted up the sheet that covered the exit. Han was alone.
Nervously, he wiped his hands on his shirt and picked up the commlink. "Leia?"
He had to pull the device away from his ear, because the words that followed were so loud that they would have burst his eardrums otherwise.
"Han! What are you doing? Luke said you were stealing something…and that Lando was in it with you. Didn't you learn anything after you settled down? Also, why couldn't you tell me? Jaina and Jacen were even trying to track you, you know!"
"Leia, everything's all right. I just-"
"Placed a Sabacc bet! And lost, thus selling your services to the winners. What were you thinking?"
Han was about to utter a snarky comment when he heard something in the background. Every now and then, there was a sucking sound in the background, as though something had gone horribly wrong with the vaccum droid. He could make out little R2-whimpers, too.
"Uh…is everything okay over there? Because I just heard,"
"It's nothing," Leia replied shakily. "Everything's okay."
Suddenly, it hit him. Leia was crying. He must have given her a really bad scare. Inwardly, he groaned. Why did it take so long for him to figure out women's emotions?
"I'm sorry. Really," he said in a more gentle tone. "I wouldn't have done it, but I was worried, too."
There was another sniff at the end of the line. "Tell me about it when you get home," she replied. "How long will you be gone?"
"No more than seven days. Trust me on this. I'll find Anakin, too." There was a beep on his commlink. Mara Jade was trying to call him up. Apologizing to Leia, he put her on hold and reconnected to Mara.
"Han," she asked when she had gotten through, "I really need to know where Ben is. He's not with Leia and he's not here. Could he have lost himself in Coruscant?"
Han froze. Another kid missing? What was with them and all their acts of bravado? He took a deep breath.
"I'll find him too. He's not typically a bad kid; so he should turn up somewhere."
"Thanks for the reassurance, but remember that he's only ten. If it weren't for all my responsibilities here, I'd go out to look, but that's not exactly in my range right now."
"I've said the words 'don't worry' so many times recently, and I'm not going to say it again. Good luck with everything, Jade. By the way, I have a question."
"Fire away."
"This is kind of embarrassing, but…when you're feeling worried about Luke, how does he comfort you?"
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At last, the palace lights dimmed, and the Gungan population mostly fell asleep. , Anakin and Mansa Musa met behind the palace at their designated meeting place.
The Gungan spilled a bag of equipment onto the shelf next to him. "Where's da bongo?"
"It's nearby that coral tree. After we get Tahiri and your man, it'll be easy to get back there."
"Good. Yousa hafta put on your fake nose again, but mesa guessin that itsa small price to pay for your friend's life."
Anakin quickly donned the disguise and followed his guide down to the slime pits. On the way, he was given a briefing of how to dig and what to do. They managed to go most of the way in secrecy, but when they arrived at their destination, there were two guards stationed on duty.
"Hey! What is yousan doin around at this time of night?"
"We're on cleanin' duty." Mansa musa answered with a straight face. "There was rumor that someone was slimed today."
The guard relaxed. "Yah, very messy, too. Okay, go on, but don't take too much time. Da prisoners might get rowdy." Anakin mumbled his thanks as they passed.
The door closed behind them with a dull thud. The various snores and groans of the prisoners drowned out their footsteps and words. "There's no windows," Mansa Musa hissed, "but theysa will come if we're not quick. Hurry."
He had already memorized the location of Tahiri's pit, so Anakin found it easy to make his way there. Silently, he tapped her on the back. "Hey," he said softly. "Didn't I say I'd be here?"
She turned and grinned at him. "It's about time, too. One of the other creatures went mad earlier today and tried to pull out the bars. From what I saw, he didn't exactly die a peaceful death."
"Thanks for waiting, though." He used the Force to untangle the intricate mass of ropes that held the slime above her head, then carefully poured it out through the bars. "And now, let's dig you out."
"Dig? The floor is as solid as rock."
"Not so." Anakin took his shovel and pried a slab of rock off the floor. Just as Mansa Musa had predicted, it came off easily, revealing a dull orange colored surface.
"Underneath the floor is a type of sponge," he explained. "It's used as a drainage system so that the entire thing won't flood. Mostly, it can take care of itself, but every now and then, it dies in places and goes soggy. Lucky for us, the Gungan's don't replace it often." He pried a large glob of sponge out of the ground. An odd smell arose from the ground.
"It doesn't look like it's been changed for a while,"
"Good thing, huh? It's easier to dig. Now, you sit tight, and I'll get you out of there."
"I'm not planning to 'sit tight'," Tahiri shot back. She pulled out Anakin's lightsaber. "Could this be any help?"
At that point, Mansa Musa beckoned to him. "Anakin!" he hissed. "My sponge isn't as soft; can yousa help?"
Anakin changed his mind. "Save it," he mouthed.
"Who was that?" she asked, tucking the lightsaber back into her belt.
"A Gungan friend. We're in league; he's helping me with you, and I'm going to get his father out."
"Does he have a name?"
'Yes. Mansa Musa."
"What?" Tahiri's eyes widened. "But that's the person who got me in here in the first place! He's a traitor."
Anakin thought back to the first time he had met the Gungan, and his odd, random ways. However, from his naïve and absentminded personality, he seemed to be a trustworthy fellow. Maybe Tahiri was mistaken.
Still, there was no harm in staying cautious. He leaned towards Tahiri casually. "I'll keep on my guard." Dragging his shovel towards the two Gungans, he began to pour the slime out in the same way. "That your father?" he asked, gesturing at Jar-jar. Mansa Musa nodded. "After we do him I'll help you."
The sponge was indeed hard. It took a while to pry it out, but at last, they made a hole big enough for Jar-jar to slip through. "Now for Tahiri," Anakin whispered as soon as he had come out.
"Hey! What's takin' yousan so long?" The guards opened the door. "Hurry and get-" At that moment, he spotted Jar-jar standing outside his pit.
"Call the others!" he shouted to his colleague. "Theysa runnin away!" He rushed down the corridor at the escaped convict. Jar-jar tried to run, but tripped on a slab of rock and fell. The guard, in turn, stumbled over him and tumbled down into the opposite pit. What happened next didn't sound very nice.
Mansa Musa, mean while, had removed another rock, revealing yet another tunnel. It was the one that the Gungans used to replace the sponge, and it led deep down into the water. He pushed his father in and was about to follow through.
"Hey! What about Tahiri; we can't leave her!"
"Yousa on your own dere. Mesa's not willing to turn myself to da Big Boss!" The Gungan fled, leaving Anakin alone.
"I told you he was a traitor," Tahiri hissed. She ignited his lightsaber and ran it through the bars, creating a hole. She motioned for him to get in. "We'll go through this way, and sneak out through some place."
"We can't. There will be Gungans searching that passage, we have to go down the other way."
"And follow him? No way. He'll put us in here again-"
"Tahiri, would you just get out? Forget him, okay? They're coming back-"
Anakin felt a cold hand grab his wrists. Next thing he knew, he was being forced into Jar-jar's old cell. "Keep him dere, till da Boss can see him," ordered the leader. The sponge was packed back into place, and the slime was rigged up above his head.
'So much for a rescue.'
'I hope they're not cannibals.'
'Nah, it okay. They mainly eat fish. I'm not sure why they dislike humans, though. Mansa Musa said something about-"
"Please don't mention him. We'll wait till they bring us before the Boss, as they call him. Then we can probably ask questions.
'sigh…I hope that comes soon. I hate feeling wet.'
Any comments, whether good or bad, would be nice.