Witch's thoughts: okay, as I promised, here is another chapter^^ however, this one is unbetaed, from various reasons, so forgive me for that^^' also, I don't know when the next will be posted, let's say again in two weeks time, okay? I'm currently working on a story for a friend and want to end it as soon as possible to clear my head and focus solely on LFO.

I'd like to thank FelesMagica and FlowerChild13 for their reviews! thanks so much for following this story^^ and also for rowen_raven who reviewed the last chapter of "Troubles" - thanks a lot!

now, enjoy! comments are much appreciated!

EDIT (1.03.2011): chapter betaed^^

Anakin stared through the window in his room, sitting on a windowsill. Observing the outside seemed to totally occupy him, so when the boy spoke, Qui-Gon twitched in his armchair in surprise,

"It's not fair, Master."

"What is, Padawan?"

Anakin sighed and then pouted, turning to the man, "Shakti and Master Alberona are out for a mission, Bant is busy in her ward. Why do they have to have so much to do?"

"First, it's Knight Aumeros and Knight Eerin" Qui-Gon smiled, when the boy grimaced. He knew that both girls fancied Anakin greatly, but that wasn't a reason for them to spoil him.

"Besides, they are not the only one to be busy, Padawan."

The boy became interested so much that he jumped from his place and trotted to his Master, excited.

"Are we leaving for a mission?" Anakin's eyes were bright with joy, when the man before him nodded with small, fond smile.

The boy was ten this year and so, was allowed to be taken on safe, no-risk, diplomatic missions, like the one they were assigned now. Qui-Gon took out a report with their assignment and looked through it once more with his Padawan. Anakin was so happy to be going out of the Temple that he even ignored the fact he was surely going to be extremely bored during negotiations. The man smiled, seeing the data: Crasjania, a planet famous for its beautiful, tropical landscapes and colourful birds. He was there once, even before he met Quella and it had left him a lot of pleasant memories.

The Master looked forward to the mission, thinking about how to steal some moments alone in the forests between Trade Summit negotiations…

/

The soft humming of engines woke him up.

Well, not literarily. He didn't see well, vision blurry and mixed, his head was spinning and his pulse was drumming painfully in his ears. Feeling numb, he tried to lift his hand to his face, but he discovered that he couldn't.

"Qui-Gon Jinn." A woman spoke, from somewhere to his right. Unconsciously, Qui-Gon tried to look there, his warrior instincts reacting before his clouded mind noticed a need to. Shaking his head to get rid of fog present before his eyes, he focused on the one speaking to him.

"Jedi Master and universe-wide famous diplomat…well, that makes an impression."

The woman was sitting on a chair, supporting her arms on the head rest, as the furniture was turned to face the man with its back. The first thing that drew his attention was her smile, broad, toothy smile of a predator. She wore a blood-red lipstick…

The woman cocked her head to the side and Qui-Gon gasped, having seen her face clearly. Unnaturally big, amethystine eyes; short, dark hair, shorter at the nape of her neck only to get longer towards her face; two black ears, peeking from her strands…

A Shairaani!

She smiled, her eyes narrowing into thin lines. One could say she looked like a sweet little girl, if only it was not for a murderous aura surrounding her like another layer of skin.

"Hello, Master. Who I am? Kusj Blackstone, at your service" she observed him, waiting for meaning to sink in. When the man didn't say anything, she continued, well-aware of dilation of his pupils "Just to fill you in on what is going on: you have been kidnapped. Most likely to be a slave. It's not my business, so I won't reveal for whom."

The man remained silent. Seeing that her words didn't make him react as she wanted him to, Kusj stood up slowly. Without blinking she observed the man, who was sitting on the floor, his hands bound and his body still paralysed with the after-effects of the drug beginning to wear off. She cocked her head to the side again.

Qui-Gon remembered a small, black waitress, who'd brought him his water and groaned inwardly. Everything made sense now; he felt that in his veins ran karantyr, a poison especially made to immobilize Force-sensitives, invented by and for Jedi hunters. He had seen its effects too many times before, when JAFs and his fellow Jedi managed to retrieve some of the missing ones. Hunters used the poison recklessly, not caring if it was too much or too little, not minding if the substance damaged muscles and veins. The Jedi who had been under the influence of karantyr for more that few weeks were sometimes not able to walk on their own and healers were more than sure that they wouldn't be able to again. Remembering the remorse and misery of the victims, Qui-Gon felt his fist clench.

Kusj smiled again, "Ya know, it's not good to be so silent. The customer wanted you safe and sound, otherwise Master would be angry~!" she said, prolonging any hissing sound in this sentence, with high-pitched, annoying voice. "And I may even think of playing with someone else instead of you, ya know."

Qui-Gon shivered. He didn't remember much, but he knew quite well what being alone, meant.

"Where..!"

"Hey babe, having fun?" another voice could be heard and Qui-Gon saw a man entering the room. He was tall, tanned and handsome in a way that most women would find attractive. Long, thin braids were constantly falling on his face, so he had to adjust them over and over, with nonchalant move of his muscular arm. However, the eyes hidden behind that hairdo were as sharp as bare laser blades. And equally terrifying.

"Where is the boy?" Qui-Gon asked his voice calm and strictly firm, as if he was reprimanding a nasty Padawan. The man eyed him, impressed.

"For real? No side-effects? That idiot who sold me the karantyr must have swindled me." The man sounded impressed, watching Qui-Gon with bewilderment. The Shairaani hugged him in the middle and snuggled into his clothes.

"He is a Master, after all" she purred, touching gently his sides and feeling his muscles "it's a good change, once in a while. No cheeky Knights this time."

Feeling ignored, but knowing they had done it on purpose, Qui-Gon remained silent again. His mind started to work faster, overcoming the mental effect of the poison, once it managed to grasp of whatever it was that circulated in his organism. He let them babble meaninglessly, as they seemed to have forgotten about him being there. No matter how much he was worried about Anakin, he needn't let them know that.

"Ah!" the woman stopped stroking her man's body and twitched, as if getting an idea, suddenly. "ya think it's okay to bring kid here?"

"You mean that troublemaker?" the man smiled broadly and Qui-Gon felt crawling sensation of panic about what had happened to his Padawan. "Sure. Should I?"

"No." Kusj let go of him, only to walk to the door in two long strides and palm the lock that clicked softly. "I'll go. Ya stay here and watch out for the old man."

The green-haired man just laughed with the melodious voice of a ladies man. He sat down on the chair that his woman had left behind and locked his eyes with the Jedi Master's. Qui-Gon promised himself he wouldn't react and he didn't, surprised at how hard it was.

"Jinn, huh?" the man observed his prisoner carefully, slowly, somehow lazily. "I'm Talik Samos, nice to meetcha." When he didn't receive any answer, he just sighed, as if resigned. "You know, it's better that Kusj was the one to bring kid here. We need him alive too and she doesn't like to see children suffer. She kills them right away. Unlike me."

The Master's mask didn't falter, but he knew he'd paled, upon seeing how the young man's face changed. In one minute he was an exotic, naughty, good-looking charmer, in the next turning into blood-thirsty, insane murderer. He didn't move from his chair, but his aura became heavy, pushing oxygen out of Jedi's lungs with terrifying force, his face twisted into an ugly form: teeth bared, eyes wide open, with dilated pupils. Talik Samos, infamous killer of males, females and children alike, insane sniper no one could recruit. How come he was found on such borderline place in the outer space? Why he was paired up with Kusj Blackstone, the most dangerous and vicious Jedi hunter in this sector? But, more importantly, what had he done to Anakin?

Feeling cold sweat appearing at his temple, the Master forced himself to stay still. A rule not to let him see how shaken the Jedi was, still stood. And it had to be effective, as Samos lost his murderous aura in an instant, instead laughing again cheerfully and totally defencelessly.

"Oh yeah, Kusj is nice, isn't she? I try to do something about it, but still, I haven't succeeded so far." He supported his elbows on the armrests and went back to observing his prisoner, once again calm and a little ironic. "In those training grounds of yours, you teach people strange things. She can't overcome it even now."

"Strange things?" Qui-Gon couldn't help himself. His mind was better, even if still clouded by heavy, grey fog of the drug. But that didn't mean he could think with his usual sharpness and wit.

"Oh, so you don't know? No way!" Talik tossed his head backwards with laughter, his braids scattering over his shoulders. "My babe is closer to you than you think. You and those geezers from Coruscant should check more often what is happening with kids in AgriCorps, old man."

He finished talking when again; a click of the lock could be heard. Talik quickly drew his hand forward, this way protecting his head from being hit with blanket, thrown with much force into his direction.

"You talk too much."

Kusj stepped forward, dragging behind her an unmoving, small figure. Her partner just laughed cheerfully, standing to his feet with swift movement of his whole body.

"Aww, don't say that, Blackie." He said, with one hand lifting the body of unconscious boy and taking him to the wall, near where his Master was sitting. The man serenely watched as his Padawan was dumped on the floor, limp and unnaturally pale, with a strange, metallic collar around his neck. And Qui-Gon was painfully aware what it was.

"Oh!" Kusj stopped in the doorway, already leaving, but suddenly hit with an idea "you may want to cover him, otherwise he will die from shock." She threw the blanket at him, narrowing her eyes. "Seems like he isn't used to the inhibitor. Too bad then, because you two will not be walking around without them anymore."

With those words, she stepped out of the room, with Talik following her closely. After the door closed, Qui-Gon waited for a minute to make sure they were not coming back anytime soon, then he jumped forward to the boy, ignoring white flames of pain exploding before his eyes.

Anakin's heartbeat was erratic, he was sweating a lot and his breath was uneven, all signs of a state of withdrawal. His condition was quite dangerous, as strong a Force sensitive as the boy was, if he wasn't connected to the Force anytime soon, he would die from withdrawal shock. Qui-Gon felt his muscles tense; he was aware that hunters used inhibitors and all kinds of gadgets to prevent Jedi from connecting with Force, but he didn't even expect them to use such things on children. In their training, Padawans were taught how to cope without the Force, but in Anakin's case, he was still addicted to it, and needed it to survive.

As suggested by the female hunter, Qui-Gon covered the boy with the blanket, gathering his shivering body into his arms. Forcing his tired mind to put some effort, he tried to analyze all ways of escaping. There had to be something he could do, he wasn't Master for nothing. He had encountered a lot of similar situations with his previous Padawans and somehow, they always were able to break free…

However, the unwelcomed image of all the retrieved victims he had seen filled his mind. Those who couldn't walk, couldn't sleep because of nightmares, couldn't fight anymore… Force, what had been done to them? Was that what awaited him? What was that shivering? Was he… afraid?

With trembling hands, he felt around his own neck. That's right, the inhibitor was there. Well, that at least would explain his uneasiness, the heavy weight in his mind and the inability to let go of his worries. Besides, who knew what that Shairaani woman was able to do? Had she gotten inside his shields and messed with his bonds? Who knew?

And what should he do? How to escape? Anakin whimpered weakly on his arm, not waking up even for a moment. He was hot; his fever must have risen again. Something must be done and quickly…

If only he wasn't so tired…

Qui-Gon smelt something change in the air filling the room, but before he could react in any way, he felt his hands fall onto his knees, too heavy to move. His vision blurred once again, mind rioted against him, refusing to take any coherent thought in and what was left for him, was only his eyesight, but even that just half-way, as his eyelids fell nearly closed. He saw that the door opened with soft hiss, revealing small, black figure.

Kusj Blackstone again, huh? He thought, unable to draw any further conclusions from what he was seeing. She had a breathing mask on and something in her hand, like a needle…

Everything ceased to matter at all, disappearing in crazy whirlpool of Technicolor and mind-breaking whistling.

/

Kusj stepped confidently into the warehouse that was supposed to be deserted. It wasn't.

A group of seedy looking people awaited her. One of them, a tall Corellian, went to greet her, but she stopped right away, taking a defensive stance.

"You're not the one I agreed to meet here." She hissed angrily, touching the handle of the Sudanese sabre attached to her belt. She didn't react at Corellian's hands, up in the air to show he didn't have any bad intentions, but neither did she back off. Seeing that she was waiting for their move, the man decided to speak.

"Unfortunately, Mister Stafador couldn't make it today. The JAF are getting bolder and he had to take the longer route here. I'm his right hand."

"This is not what we agreed to." The woman barked angrily, taking a step back. But no more.

"It can't be helped." The Corellian shrugged. He seemed indifferent and calmly interested. "Now, if you would show me the Jedi?"

Kusj frowned, not letting go of her sabre, but the observation must have been positive, as she nodded and reached to the comm. at her belt. After some time, the door behind her opened, to reveal a man and a boy, with their hands tied and heads hanging low. They looked subdued somehow, moved forward like lunatics and only when they passed the doorway, another person behind them was made visible.

Talik, with two guns drawn out and pointed at the hostages' backs, made the Jedi move forward. At his belt and on special straps over his back, the young man had many more guns that one would even consider possible for a sniper to wear, but he moved, unusually, lightly and swiftly with them. He manoeuvred to reach Kusj's side, stopping the rapt ones abruptly by tugging at their clothes.

"Two hundred thousand credits for kid and million credits for old man." Talik said, swinging his gun and aiming it again, but this time on Master's head. The Corellian guy remained smiling and started to bargain with Samos who seemed to have a lot of fun in that, but the usually noisy Kusj stayed silent beside him. She was standing quietly, her arms crossed on her chest.

The Corellian stepped closer with a suitcase containing money in hand. Talik pushed the kid forward, sending the man after him, still aiming at their heads with his guns and waited for them to meet in the middle of the way with the "right hand man". Grinning like a gambler who won a prize of his life, Talik relaxed.

And that was a mistake.

When Kusj pushed him into relatively safe zone behind a pillar, the place when the two of them were standing had been pierced by countless shots from the Corellian's group. The two Jedi were taken quickly away from the battlefield, when some other figures appeared in the field of vision. Kusj cursed.

"We were busted! It's JAF!"

She grabbed fiercely at her sabre, with one hand hitting its hilt with much force. The soft clicking died in the common noise, but in a second, the Shairaani was holding two Sudanese sabres, thinner but equally deadly in combat. Two handed cutler!

"Fall back, babe!"

Talik threw something into the group of the commandos, making them immediately scatter all over the hall before he shot the thrown ball. It exploded, engulfing all of the JAF squad in thick fog, preventing them from any attempt at controlling the situation. Various orders crossed in the air, soldiers charging in different directions, but soon, hearing a noise of the of a ship's engine, they had to admit the seemingly impossible.

They had escaped!

/

"…and, and then they simply disappeared! You can't imagine that Shakti, but she was like a monster! They shot her in the face and she avoided it only a little! It was….!" Anakin was bouncing on his bed like a ball from excitement, not caring about all his dressings and drips attached to his arms.

"Wizard?" Shakti laughed, at the same time trying to coax the boy into calming down. She adjusted on the healers' ward's chair, her tail creating a line of question marks in the air.

"Yeah! Just wizard!" Anakin agreed enthusiastically, but before he managed to say anything more, the girl was called to go out.

"Sorry Ani." She said, standing up. "I have a mission to attend and won't be coming for a while, okay?"

"Aww, again?" the boy pouted, sticking plasters deforming on his face from wrinkles. "You are busy, aren't you?"

Shakti laughed melodiously. "I guess. But don't worry, it's a short one this time."

She kissed him on the forehead as a good-bye and shut the door after herself, coming out. Sighing, she greeted the man waiting for her with a nod of her fair head.

"Sorry Bruck, I didn't have heart to leave him alone."

"It's alright." The man said, eyeing her with a frown. "You sure you okay, kitty?"

Shakti looked up at him. "No, I'm not. My head hurts." She complained weakly, but took her bag and followed her partner through the corridors.

"When are you planning to tell the kid?" Bruck asked, with nonchalant movement of his hand combing through short, white strands of his hair, at the same time observing the girl walking beside him. She looked as tired as he felt. Her face was tensed with mental stress; white hair making her look even older than she already seemed due to her abnormal maturity. Because Shakti had no longer shining, fair hair resembling optic fibres twisted together. Her hair was still curly, but now, after the infamous Naboo incident, had gone completely white. Entirely, senile, terrifyingly white.

In some way, they matched each other.

"What are you saying?" she stopped abruptly, turning to face him. He calmly returned the stare.

"When will you tell him the truth, kitty?" Bruck asked and his indifferent tone made her twitch nervously.

"I hope I'll never have to." Shakti whispered, resuming walking forward, but not looking back. Hearing that Bruck snickered and followed her, she sped up. They still had to get to the landing platform in order to board on the ship to their new destination.

They somehow managed to make their way through crowd in the space port, looking for the right transporter to get on. Bruck was jostling forward, with Shakti tailing after him in the cleared path. She was too small and too weak to make her own way and she had to rely on her partner in this situation. Suddenly, her ears pricked up.

"…ght Chun! Knight Aume…!"

She turned around, only to see Bant waving to her from a different platform. The Calamarian was beckoning on them to come closer, but Shakti signalized her that they can't, as they are not welcoming anyone, being passengers instead. Bant shouted something then, but again, a crowd noise prevented Shakti from hearing what it was, even with her supplementary hearing. The healer seemed to wait for some ship to arrive, was it that someone important was coming back? And what was Bant so excited about? She was nearly bouncing in place, nearly as Anakin was. Did something good happen? Shakti smiled tiredly. That's good then…

"Kitty, we are late! Come on!"

Shakti waved goodbye to Bant, starting to run after Bruck. With her face turned away, she didn't notice that the space transporter Knight Eerin was waiting for, along with much more Jedi than she would ever think to be there, had landed already. After they went through the passport check, having made it just on time, Bruck took Shakti's bag with his own, only to put them into luggage basket with others, when a loud cheer from nearby platform nearly deafened them.

"They sure sound like they're having fun, don't they?" the girl asked, with relieved sigh falling onto her place in the passengers area. "I hope we will get to know what is this all about when we come back."

And how right she was…