Just a quick FYI: James Tiberius Kirk is the name Anakin Skywalker gave his eldest son when the family was forced to scatter, so when Obi-Wan calls him Tiberius, that's not a coincidence. His given name is Tiberius Skywalker, as Captain Pike mentioned in Part 1 of Chapter 9.

Chapter Ten

When Obi-Wan Kenobi returned to his small house on the Dune Sea, he was surprised to find it full of people. The suns were just rising, and the house was very quiet. But not empty. There were several Jedi in the house, two at least, and he went around the house to see what the situation was. In all, he counted twenty young people between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two. They were scattered all over the house, wherever there was floor-space to lay down a ground-pad, they were in it. In the small master room, his room, three of the twenty slept against the far wall. Pulling back the hood of the one in the middle, Obi-Wan smiled.

"Tiberius. I was wondering what had become of you, son." He chuckled softly, "It seems I had no reason to worry at all." Tiberius Skywalker, eldest of three, slept soundly but always aware. Like any good Jedi, he slept with his lightsaber at hand. The girl to his left did the same. He shook his head and went to the kitchen. As the suns rose, he fixed breakfast not for himself but for the twenty exhausted, hungry Cadets sleeping on his floor. He wondered briefly if Anakin knew about this and quickly decided against it. Roused by the smell of food, the tired Cadets came in, took their share, and retreated to their ground-pads to eat. Tiberius and his two companions came in almost dead last, and he just smiled.

"Sorry we used your house for a crash-pad, Ben." Tiberius apologized as he tucked into breakfast.

"I would have insisted, Tiberius. Where did you all come from?"

"You see twenty of the "lucky survivors" of Starfleet Academy's last round of Basic Training. We're on the front-end of the Fourteen Days of Hell."

"I wonder if your commanding officers would consider this surviving."

"They'd better. Of course, how would they know we spent a night in your house unless you told them?" Tiberius gave him a look that reminded him so much of Anakin at that age. Obi-Wan just smiled and shook his head.

"Your secret will remain safe with me, Tiberius. Who are your friends?" he smiled at the silent, pensive pair who flanked Tiberius. Tiberius smiled.

"Nyota Uhura, Leonard McCoy, Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Thank you for not kicking us out, Master." The girl, Nyota, smiled shyly.

"I wouldn't have kicked anyone out. I always told Tiberius, and Luke for that matter, if they ever needed a place to stay my house was open to them."

"I told you." Tiberius hissed, shooting his friend McCoy a dirty look. Ah, a dispute over lodging. Obi-Wan chuckled but held his peace. After breakfast, Tiberius and his nineteen Cadets helped clean up, packed up their gear, and Obi-Wan saw them off into the desert for another long day's trek. Tiberius had plans to reach Beggar's Canyon by high noon, rest out the hottest part of the day there, and continue on his way when it was safe. But when he watched them set off, he knew they wouldn't reach Beggar's Canyon until much later. They were heading straight for the Skywalker farmstead, and Obi-Wan considered warning Anakin and Padme and then decided against it. He instead visited his step-brother, where he found Luke Skywalker itching for adventure. Not that Owen was very happy to see him, of course, but he hadn't come to stay.

"Luke, you may want to go home."

"Why? Are Mom and Dad okay?"

"Oh, yes, they're fine. I suspect you may find a visitor has come. You might want to be there to say hello." Obi-Wan just smiled suggestively. In no time at all, Luke was on his way home. Obi-Wan watched until the speeder was out of sight and took a few minutes to be with his only real family. Owen wasn't so upset about him stopping by when he mentioned Tiberius and the Cadets, so he caught them up on that bit of news.

When Jim saw the domes of his family's farmstead, he smiled.

"Are we there yet?"

"Yep, we're here." He broke into a jog, "We're home!" He skidded at the rim of the housing pit and looked down. His parents were probably inside right now, avoiding the high-noon suns that were beginning to take their revenge on Jim's Cadets, but the courtyard wasn't empty. They all joined him, lining the rim, and he smiled at the girl dancing around in the courtyard.

"She's pretty." Bones breathed, "Who's that?"

"That is my sister Annika. She was a year old when I left Tatooine." He smiled, pushing back his hood and googles, "Watch this." He whistled softly, the dog who pranced along with his sister stopped playing and his ears went up. Jim whistled again and Annika looked up. When she saw him there, she shaded her eyes, recognized him, and vanished into the house with a shriek.

"That was interesting." Bones folded his arms across his chest, "And loud."

"Knock it off, Bones." He turned around as Annika came tearing out of the garage-dome, hair flying.

"Tibs! Tibs, you're home!" she shrieked, tackling him in her excitement.

"Hey, Annika. Wow, hi." He staggered a little, "Guess you're happy to see me, huh?"

"Tibs?" Bones looked at him funny, that was new. Jim rolled his eyes and paid attention to his sister.

"You don't come home anymore! Why not?"

"It's not exactly a short trip from Earth to Tatooine, kiddo." He pushed her backwards, "Stop growing up on me. How old are you now?"

"Thirteen."

"Hmm. Like I said." He rolled his eyes.

"Tiberius?" Jim heard his mother's voice and let go of Annika. Drawn out by all the noise Annika had made, his parents stood by the garage-dome. Jim pulled away from his sister and his Cadets.

"Mom!"

"What are you doing home, son?"

"Starfleet Academy's Fourteen Days of Hell." He hugged his mother tightly, "They dumped twenty of us on Tatooine and said "have fun!""

"They don't pick Rim Worlds or Imperial Worlds very often." His father mused.

"I think they got bored, actually."

"Well, no matter! You all look exhausted! Come inside!" His mother waved off any explanation and they were all hustled inside. Jim shrugged and they went inside, where it was much cooler. Annika seemed utterly smitten with Pavel Chekov, the youngest of Jim's Cadets, and he watched the two flirt the way children will.

"You're okay with this?" he asked his father.

"How old is he?"

"Chekov? He's fourteen."

"Oh, that's fine. They're too young to get into much trouble."

"You'd sure like to think so." Jim studied the pair in question, "But Annika is a Skywalker."

"Hmm. True, that." Anakin chuckled. They rested out the hottest part of the day at the Skywalker farmstead. Jim was working on one of the homestead's courtyard vaporators when he heard a land-speeder. He looked up and shaded his eyes.

"Bones!"

"Jim, I think we've got company!" Bones called from the garage. Jim wiped his forehead and straightened. A moment later, his brother appeared at the rim of the housing pit. He just smiled and waved.

"Hey, little brother!"

"Jim!"

"Stay there!" he tossed the tools into the case at his feet and ran up to the garage-dome. Luke was thrilled to see him and wanted to know what he was doing home. Jim introduced him to the Cadets and asked how it was with Luke. They talked for hours until it was time to move on. Anakin gave them transponders and warned them to be wary of Sand People.

When it grew late and the suns began to set, Jim found a good place to camp on a canyon ledge, high enough it would take some effort for the Raiders to find them and reach them, laid a watch-roster, and rolled out his ground-pad and sleeping-bag. When his turn on watch came up, he sat at the edge of camp and stared out into the darkness with his phase-rifle across his knees. On the half-hour, he patrolled the perimeter before reclaiming his post. Bones joined him, apologized for the scuffle last night, and said nothing more. The moons were high when they were relieved and Jim lay down to sleep.