Power of the Star Forge
The subject over dinner quickly turned from slavery to podracing. I found Padme's outrage at the existance of slavery amusing, especially since the chances of the Republic doing anything about such activities, even within it's borders, was almost non existant. Perhaps things had changed since my time, but the continued existance of slavery indicated otherwise.
I quickly forgot about such matters when Anakin claimed to be the only human who could Podrace. Qui-Gon said that Anakin must have jedi reflexes if he could do such dangerous activities, which he proceeded to show off when Jar-Jar attempted to grab some fruit with his toungue. "Don't do that." The old man reprimanded. "How wude." The gun-gun muttered. I asked if this was at all similar to the Swoop racing I had competed in. It turned out that Podracing and Swoop racing were very similar, except the later was safer and only one competitor raced on the track at a time.
"You're a jedi knight." Anakin told Qui-Gon, who asked how he knew this. According to the young boy, only Jedi carried laser swords and were completely invincible. Which led me to thinking about the numerous Jedi that I had both directly and indirectly corrupted or killed. And judging by the look on Qui-Gon's face, I wasn't the only one.
Soon talk turned to escape. Anakin boasted that he could easily fix our ship. The only problem was that we had no parts to fix the ship with. However there was a Podrace the following moring, with a large enough reward to buy all the parts necessary. I volunteered to race, since I had more experience than any one in the room. And unlike Anakin, I usually finished my races.
We went back to Watto's shop once the storm died down. The toydarian glared at me when we entered and his hand flew to his throat. Qui-Gon began negotiating the use of our ship as an entry fee and the use of a podracer we had aquired in a game of chance. For a Jedi, he seemed to be an expert on manipulating people. My subtle force chokes may have helped slightly.
We went back to the Skywalker and left Qui-Gon to contact the ship while I asked Padme if there were any spare materials on the ship to make the actual flag. I used the comm to ask the handmaiden's to make the flag and gave them an outline to work with. Then I sent a message to Canderous, telling him to bring it on the Ebon Hawk's speeder when it was finished.
It didn't take long to finish the Podracer, even with Jar-Jar "helping". I then added some extra precautions, in case someone attempted to sabatoge it. Qui-Gon gave Anakin a power source and the boy started the racer. It worked perfectly.
Canderous arrived several hours later with the finished flag and left just before it got dark. I noticed Qui-Gon asking Obi-wan to take a midi-chlorian count for Anakin. The results turned out to be off the chart. Qui-Gon put away the commlink. "What is your count, if you don't mind me asking?" the jedi turned to me. "About 22,000." I replied. The old man gaped. "Even Anakin's was only 20,000!" He exclaimed.
Suddenly I was hit by a vision. A house. A balding man staring at a book. A pale woman with black hair walking in on him. Running away. Having her neck snapped. The man drowning a young boy and a cat. People entering the house, sometimes alone, sometimes as a group. All being killed by the woman or the boy. Some simply disappearing. Others having their jaw torn off. A woman covered in paint, both eyes and her jaw missing. Some falling from balconies or being pulled off. Several people being drowned.
Eventually the scenes ended. I found myself tightly gripping the edge of the homestead, while Qui-Gon was staring with concern. Bastilla had also joined us. She seemed to have caught glimpses of what I had seen through our bond. I sent a brief pulse of reassurance before explaining what had happened. "Do you know why you received the vision?" Qui-Gon asked. I shook my head. "Perhaps you're supposed to stop this from happening. After all, the future is always in motion" Bastilla offered. "I don't think so. There seemed to be an inevitability to this. Like it will happen soon, before I can get to wherever this place is. Even if we could get off this planet in time I didn't recognise any of the places. I wouldn't know where to look. Or it has already happened. And even if I knew where the places are and the events haven't occured yet, there would the problem of dealing with a dead person who can possess and control people." I argued. I then apolagized before going to bed.