Thanks to all for the feedback. I'm really flattered that you like the tale so much. This is a little interlude before the next full chapter. I hope that you will enjoy. ;)

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Some Other Future's Past

A Tattooine Interlude

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Spring was coming, such as it was on Tattooine.

Shmi Skywalker guided the Incom S10 Skyhopper onto the small pad in back of Watto's shop. The winter had brought changes that just scant months ago, she never would have believed possible.

Watto had given up gambling, that was miracle enough, but the other changes

The shop was still plugging along, but her specialty in coding had brought in more money than all the sales combined. While still a slave, she had more freedom that she could remember since her long-ago childhood. Watto had taken the small suite of rooms adjoining the shop – long used as storage - and renovated them. The new quarters were large; two bedrooms, a kitchen with eating area separate from the main room, and her very own work area.

One bedroom was Ani's. Every sense she had told her that she would see her son again, so she moved all of his things into it.

Watto's extravagance did not stop there. Any manual or new codex she asked for was quick to appear, new equipment – once argued over with deep acrimony – materialized as soon as the new trade journals reached the shop. Even her 'Hopper, her license to fly it and the upkeep came at her owner's insistence. He claimed that it was cheaper to have her fly to her clients than to hire a captain to take her.

Popping the canopy, she was greeted by Threepio, who came bustling out in a cloud of chatter and pushing a gravsled to take her equipment. A small smile lifted her lips, at times she was certain that the reason Threepio had been in pieces on a scrap heap was that someone had shot him just to get some peace and quiet.

"Thank you, Threepio."

"You are most welcome, Mistress Shmi! Master Watto asked that I tell you there is a new set of Nordicon codices for you in your office, and that the Captain Gurrauura requires your expertise in debugging his new navigation programs. " From there, the droid went into the vagaries of dealing with Wookies and the various dialects of Wookie-speak that made translation such a risky proposition.

Shmi tuned him out after some polite nodding and he trundled off, still declaiming to the heating air as he took her gear to her quarters.

~

Jango Fett watched from the shadows of the shop as the woman walked across the pad and down a staircase that led to her quarters.

"So, you gonna take da job, or not?"

Jango Fett considered. In all his time as a bounty hunter, he had never had one like it. He had to admit that on the face of it, it was a good deal. Not many of his guild would take on such an assignment. It was too nebulous, not to mention the fact that it required something that most bounty hunters found to be a handicap.

Honor.

"Why not just have me remove the people who are threatening you? That way you keep your life and your slave." Not that the Toyardian had spared any expense in beefing up security on his property. Jango knew that he had five high-powered lasers trained on him from the moment he had come in.

"I dunno who's who. I got a buncha Republic busies mincin' around like they're afraid of steppin' in somethin'." The creature's wings beat in agitation as he counted the factions. "I got iffy characters offerin' to buy her. I got some roof hoppin' refugee from a screechie watchin' the shop. I gotta bad feelin' 'bout all dis."

It was not much money, but it wasn't much of a job. However, it did allow him some flexibility that would permit him to tend to an approaching long-term commitment. Even if the whole thing was a botch, he would end up with a net profit.

The junk dealer was studying him, trying to read some hint of the man behind the visor of the Mandalorian armor.

"I'll take the job, but understand me – I have other priorities."

~