Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars. I just created my own little AU corner to play in.
AN: Here's chapter 4! Sorry for the delay. I've unfortunately had less time to write lately. Thanks for all the great reviews and amazing response to this new story. I'm glad everyone seems to be as excited about it as I am. And just a reminder, 3 years have passed since the events in chapter 3. Enjoy this new installment and let me know what you think!
Force Jumper
Chapter 4: Freedom Fighter
The human man snarled, as he snapped his electro whip, prodding the young female Twi'leks and small Twi'lek children up the ramp of his ship.
"Keep moving you filthy mongrels," he hissed, snarling his dirty, crooked teeth at them. Most were crying, for they knew the dire predicament they were in and what awaited them in a life of slavery. He and his two partners were well known traffickers. He was known simply as Vic Gregory, a very portly man whose personal hygiene left much to be desired. He lived for his profession and in his profession, flesh was his payday. His two partners, both human and considerably leaner than their boss, were his muscle and kept their captures in line. Those in their captivity had simply heard them referred to as Trevin and Gil.
"The sooner we get them to Tatoonie, the sooner we make a killing. The brothels are about to get some fresh meat to tear apart," the man called Trevin leered, as he stroked a young girl's lekku, causing her to whimper in fear.
"Yeah and we get to sample the merchandise on the way," the one known as Gil chuckled, as he grabbed the arm of one of the oldest girls, who wasn't probably any older than seventeen. She struggled and tried to pull away, which made him angry. He yanked her down and she screamed, as he backhanded her. She fell hard to the ground.
"Little whore," he spat, as he grabbed her lekku and yanked her up. She screamed in pain.
"I'm going to teach you your place," he hissed, as he raised his hand to her. She winced and shied away, waiting for the pain that would come with the beating.
"The only one that's going to learn any lesson today is you," a young voice hissed. The man looked around.
"Who said that?" Vic demanded to know. He heard his partners gasp in surprise suddenly.
"Behind you!" Trevin cried. The obese, dirty leader of the group whirled around, but relaxed and huffed in annoyance when he saw it was only a boy.
"You must have a death with, brat," Vic snarled, as he balled his fist.
"Vic, he just appeared out of thin air!" Trevin claimed.
"Where did you come from, you little freak?" Gil spat, as he and Trevin closed in.
"Looks like we'll get an extra chunk of money, boys. One more to add to our payroll," Vic chortled, as he snapped his electro whip. But the blonde, shaggy haired preteen with piercing sapphire eyes only smirked. The man growled, unnerved by the teen's unfazed attitude and pulled his arm back, preparing to bring the brutal weapon down on his new prey. But thirteen-year-old Anakin Skywalker still remained unfazed by the apparent trouble he was in. The man brought the whip down and just as it appeared that it would strike the young man, he disappeared. The obese man stumbled forward, as Anakin appeared behind him and shoved him face down in the dirt.
"Shoot him!" Trevin called, as he and Gil drew their blasters. Anakin's sapphire blade blazed to life and before Gil could blink, the hand that held his weapon was in was lopped off. He screamed in pain and fell to his knees, clutching his severed limb with agony marring his face. The tubby leader had managed to pull himself to his feet by then.
"He's a Jedi! Shoot him!" he called to Trevin, who leveled his blaster, but Anakin disappeared just as he shot and to his horror, his blaster bolt struck Gil in the forehead, killing one of his partners instantly. The shocked men looked around in disbelief, trying to locate the youth.
"SHOW YOURSELF, YOU KRIFFIN' BRAT!" Vic screamed.
"Careful what you ask for," Anakin said, as he appeared just inches from Vic's face. He cried out and backed away so he could shoot, but Anakin was faster, as he elbowed him in the face and used the Force to pull the weapon from his hand. He cried out and held his face, as blood gushed from his broken nose. As fast as lightning, Anakin grabbed the leader and disappeared with him. Trevin's eyes darted around wildly, as he looked for the boy who had freakish powers like none he had ever witnessed. Suddenly, the young man appeared again and Trevin fired his blaster wildly, but it would be the last thing he would do. Anakin ignited his light saber and blocked all the blaster bolts, sending three right back at the man, killing him. He exhaled a heavy breath, knowing he would have to return to Tatooine to make sure the leader was receiving ultimate justice. He knew it was likely that Jabba himself was disposing of Vic Gregory right now. Anakin had done his research on this group of traffickers, as he always did. Vic Gregory had a gambling problem and he owed Jabba money. That was why this slave operation had been so crucial to him. He owed Jabba a lot of money and he was supposed to have returned to Tatooine with new slaves for the Hutt Empire. But now that he was back in Jabba's palace, with no inventory or money to offer the Hutts to pay his debt, he would likely become food for the Rancor. A fitting end for such evil in Anakin's mind. His first priority though was getting the young Twi'leks back to their villages.
"Don't be afraid, I'm going to help you get home," Anakin told them. Instantly seeing him as their rescuer, the oldest girl took the lead and approached him.
"Thank you," she said. Anakin smiled.
"What they were doing was wrong and it's time someone started stopping men like them," Anakin said, as he looked around at the traumatized children.
"Let's take their ship and I can drop everyone off at their homes with your help in telling me where to go," Anakin instructed, as they boarded the ship and moments later, it ascended into the air, headed toward Ryloth's capital city where he would begin delivering freed Twi'leks.
Vic looked around in alarm, as he found himself in Jabba the Hutt's throne room. He was dizzy and sick to his stomach. How he had got there was a complete mystery to him, though he knew it had something to do with that brat. But how had that kid done this? How had he gone from Ryloth to Tatooine in a blink of an eye? How was such a thing even possible? What kind of freakish powers had that brat used on him? He had no more time to think about it, for he heard Jabba's sinister laugh fill the chamber.
"Back so soon I see, Vic?" Jabba's voice boomed. Unfortunately, Vic understood Huttese all too well.
"Do you have payment for you'd debt to me? " Jabba questioned.
"I was in the process of getting it for you, Lord Jabba, but my men and I were attacked by…a gang of vicious thieves and the inventory I had collected for you was stolen. Then they forced me to come here empty handed. I plead with you for another chance to go after the thieves and recover what belongs to you, My Lord," Vic groveled. He wasn't about to admit to anyone that he and his partners had been bested by a little kid. But Jabba's laughter was not encouraging.
"I have given you many chances, yet your debts still remain unpaid. I'm afraid I must…terminate your services with me," Jabba responded. Vic knew what that meant and he began to back away in search of a way out. Jabba's pet, Salacious B. Crumb cackled his irritating laugh.
"Please Lord Jabba, just one more chance! I had a new batch of attractive Twi'lek slaves for the next auction, but my men were killed and they stole what belonged to me! Please, give me a chance! I'll have the money for you in two days!" Vic promised, pleading for his life.
"No more chances, smuggler. You bring me no money and only cost me. It is the Rancor for you," Jabba ordered, as the pit was opened up.
"No…NO PLEASE!" Vic cried, as two of Jabba's guards shoved him in.
Secretly watching from an unseen crevice, Anakin made sure the dangerous smuggler would never be able to enslave people again. Satisfied with the man's screams of terror, which were quickly silenced by the snapping jaws of the Rancor, he jumped out of there and back home to Yavin IV.
"What do you have?" Mace asked, as he stormed into the base. He was currently on his home planet of Haruun Kal on a meditative retreat, or so was his story to the Council. Not that it mattered. He was Mace Windu, the Order's most powerful and promising student since Yoda himself. He was the youngest Master in the Order's history and he was virtually untouchable. He knew it and any critics or adversaries he had knew it too. Such an attitude would be seen as arrogant for a Jedi, but to Mace it wasn't arrogance and simply the truth. He followed the Jedi Code as a Jedi was expected to. It just so happened that hunting and eliminating Force Jumpers was a part of his personal Code.
"Our faction picked up a brief signal on Ryloth and sent out a detachment. But he was long gone before that. We found the bodies of two known slave traders, so we definitely think it's him," Depa stated. Mace's frown deepened.
"He freed more would be slaves. He was probably there longer than you expect. He's just getting good or he transported them back to the city with traditional transportation," Mace concluded.
"Did you find the ship belonging to the slavers?" Mace questioned his top operatives on Ryloth.
"No Master, we haven't located the ship yet," the man replied.
"Keep searching. I want the crime scene wrapped up today and the report sent by morning," Mace ordered.
"Yes Master," he replied, as the transmission ended.
"He's growing powerful and he's getting good," Mace stated.
"Master, I know all Force Jumpers eventually go bad, but this one is actually doing good. Perhaps he should have sought to apprehend these slavers alive, but he has been conducting these operations for some time now and the result has freed many would be slaves, many children in fact. This one does not seem evil," Depa reasoned.
"I know it seems that way and he may be doing something very noble, albeit in the all the wrong ways, but he will go bad. It's only a matter of time and if we don't stop him soon, he'll grow even stronger. And then stopping him will be that much more difficult. He may be using these powers for good right now, but the fact remains that no one should be allowed to have the power to be any place at any time in a blink of an eye," Mace told her. Depa nodded in understanding.
"And if we allow such beings to operate above the laws, then we will eventually be living in a state of chaos," Depa reasoned. Mace nodded.
"Exactly. Come, we'll meditate on this together," Mace said, as they left the control room.
Anakin arrived at the place that had been his home for the last three years. Master Quinlan and Master Sifo-Dyas had taught him much. At the same time he had been learning the ways of the Force from Master Sifo, Master Quinlan had instructed him in his jumping abilities and he had harnessed and honed the skills of a Force Jumper. From the moment he had effectively learned to control his skills in not only jumping from place to place, but planet to planet as well, he knew that his personal mission was clear. He would use his unique ability to free slaves. So far he had only been able to free captured beings that had yet to be chipped. Unfortunately rescuing people and children that has already been chipped was much more challenging. First he had to subdue the beings that owned the slaves he wanted to free. Taking on smaller networks of independent owners or traffickers wasn't as difficult, for his Force jumping capabilities gave him the edge and element of surprise. The true challenge was relocating the freed beings, which wasn't possible with the chips inside them. That was why he has also been working on a device that he could first use to hone in on a chip's frequency in a person and then use the device to scramble the chip, effectively deactivating it and then allowing him to relocate them to their home planets or safe places where there was no slavery. He was almost done with the device too and then things would really start to change. He knew that taking down larger slave rings like the Hutt's would require help from Master Quin at the very least, bur he could start chipping away at the smaller operations bit by bit. He was determined to free as many as he could and see that the perpetrators paid for their crimes.
"Well, you look like you had a productive day," Quinlan mused. Anakin shrugged, but his smile told the whole story.
"Where today?" Quinlan asked.
"Ryloth. Three thugs had over twenty Twi'lek women and children. They were getting ready to take them to the Hutt's on Tatooine and probably the Hutt home world too," Anakin replied, as he frowned slightly.
"Kid, you're doing all that you can. Think about all the ones you've saved," Quinlan told him, knowing where his thoughts were going.
"But there's so many more that I haven't saved yet. There's so many still suffering and being abused," Anakin lamented.
"But you knew that this mission would be a life long exploit when you chose this path, young one," Sifo-Dyas said, as he entered the living area.
"I know Master and I don't regret it. I guess I'm just anxious to finish my device so I can make even more of a difference," Anakin replied.
"And you will. You said yourself that you are very close. But for now, the three of us are going on a little trip," Sifo-Dyas said.
"Where?" Anakin asked.
"Mandalore," he answered.
"The Mandalorian home world?" Anakin asked in surprise. The old Master nodded, pleased that Anakin's vigilance in his studies was obviously paying off. Sifo-Dyas was strict about Anakin's academic studies and saw to it that the young man studied history, mathematics, which Anakin was a prodigy in, sciences, and language, among various other topics. He was very insistent that Anakin was very well educated in addition to his physical training.
"Yes, we are meeting an acquaintance of mine there," Sifo answered.
"Go get packed. You can bring your device and your tools with us on the ship," Quinlan told him.
"We're not jumping?" Anakin asked.
"Master Sifo's the only one that's actually been there, so we'll have to travel the slow way. We can scout out some jump sites when we get there," Quinlan replied, with a smirk.
"Can I fly the ship?" Anakin quickly asked. Quinlan sighed, knowing that he should have anticipated that question.
"Your flying style isn't the easiest on the stomach, you know, but they'll be no living with you if I don't let you. Get your stuff and get to the hanger," Quinlan relented. Sifo-Dyas chuckled, as they watched their young charge rush upstairs.
"He just can't sit still," Quinlan chuckled.
"Oh how we long for the days where our energy was like a limitless power cell," Sifo quipped.
"So, is this the acquaintance you told me that you met four years ago on Kamino?" Quinlan questioned.
"Indeed. Mr. Fett has an update on the project for me," Sifo replied.
"And you're sure taking Ani is a good idea?" Quinlan continued.
"Fett may be a bounty hunter, but you and I both know he never has had ties to the Xal'Kaar. He doesn't even know they exist," Sifo-Dyas replied.
"I realize that Master, but he's still a bounty hunter and while he may seem thankful to you for getting him the lucrative position he has, he is anything but loyal. He'll turn on you the moment a better deal comes along," Quinlan warned.
"I am not naïve about Mr. Fett's ways, but I have foreseen that crossing his path with Ani may be beneficial. He could teach him a lot," Sifo replied.
"Whoa, wait just a minute. You're going to have that bounty hunter train him?" Quinlan asked, wondering if he had lost his mind.
"Relax, we won't be leaving Ani with him. But if he continues along the path he seeks in liberating slaves, then he must learn hand to hand combat. You're teachings are excellent, but Fett's are a different, yet very effective too. I was unnerved at first too, but my premonitions are clear that their paths should merge. Trust me," Sifo requested. Quinlan sighed.
"You know I do Master…I I guess I'm just a little protective," Quinlan replied, almost surprised by this. Sifo-Dyas.
"As am I. In the short time that he has been with us, I have come to see him as the son I thought I would never have and I know that you love him like you would if he were your own kid brother. I will never do anything to bring him harm, but I have foreseen many things concerning Ani and he will play a very big role in the future of the galaxy. He must know of the army that is being constructed," Sifo said. Quinlan nodded.
"Then you're still convinced that a time will come when the Republic will need an army to defend itself?" Quinlan questioned. Sifo-Dyas nodded.
"The dark side still clouds those visions, but with the dark times I have foreseen ahead, war is nearly inevitable. How it will come about or who will wage it against the Republic still remains a mystery, but of one thing I know for certain, and that is that Anakin will have a crucial role in it all…whether he wants to or not," Sifo-Dyas said.
"Then you really are convinced that he's the Chosen One that is spoken about in prophecy," Quinlan stated. Sifo-Dyas looked at him.
"There is no doubt," Sifo assured him, as Anakin jumped down the stairs with his satchel slung over his shoulder and his tool box in hand.
"I'm ready," Anakin called.
"Then let's be on our way," Sifo-Dyas said, as they ventured to the ship hanger.
The Works. Once a thriving center of industrial manufacturing centuries ago, it had decayed into an unused and avoided section of Coruscant. Of course it had become a hotbed for criminal hideouts. Smugglers, death stick runners, and gangsters thrived there, operating virtually unseen in the abandoned network of self powered buildings that, despite being decayed, operated perfectly fine. The emissions were also toxic and another reason that most of Coruscant's population avoided the place, including law enforcement, not to mention Jedi. That was why the LiMerge Power building was perfect for the secret operations of Darth Sidious and his new apprentice.
As was the way of the Sith, upon Darth Maul's death, Sidious chose an new apprentice. Anyone who knew the identity of this new Sith may have been inclined to question Sidious' judgment, for this man was past his prime and relatively close in years to the aging Sith Master himself. But anyone who knew the true Darth Sidious would know that the choosing of such an apprentice was all part of his intricate master plan; a plan that would take years to culminate and an unspeakable amount of patience. But the end result, a galaxy ruled and owned by him, would be worth the labor and wait.
Sidious heard the steady sound of his apprentice's boots on the floor, as he strode into the main control room of the building they operated in. The other aging man knelt down in servitude to his Master.
"Rise my apprentice," Sidious hissed. The gray haired, bearded gentlemen that came to stand beside the Sith Master was none other than the illustrious Count Dooku of Serenno, former Jedi, and now secret Sith apprentice.
"What do you have to report?" Sidious asked.
"The Force is with us, my Master. The Kaminoans are making extraordinary progress and estimate that our army will be ready in no more than seven years," Dooku reported.
"Excellent news, Lord Tyrannus. You have done well," Sidious responded.
"Your old master has served his purpose. Manipulating the prophetic visions of that feeble minded fool has advanced my plans years ahead. What he simply thinks will be an army for the Jedi to lead and use to help the Republic will come back to haunt him when I eventually take control of it and use it to eliminate the Jedi. But I am afraid he won't even live to see it, for has outlived his usefulness.
"But Master, I thought you still had use for his visions," Dooku said.
"I would have, but I haven't been able to manipulate or see his visions for some time now, three years to be exact. Something has changed and he knows too much. I sense a presence around him that is blocking me and I can't determine what it is. Your new mission is track down your old friend and kill him and whoever else you find with him, Sidious ordered.
"It will be done, my Master," Dooku responded with a deep bow.
"Oh and unfortunately you will have to use normal means of transportation in your search. I don't want Mace Windu and his band of crusaders finding out that you also have the ability they so desperately want to rid from the galaxy.
"Master, if Mace Windu wants to try and come after me, then we should let him. It is time I deal with him and self righteous followers," Dooku said, angered that he had to hide from the likes of the Xal'Kaar.
"Too many questions will jeopardize all that I have worked for. You will do as I command and you would be wise not to question me," Sidious hissed. Dooku clearly remembered the last time his master has not been pleased with him. He had thought the Force lightning was going to kill him. He bowed deeply to his master.
"Forgive me, my Master. I will begin my search immediately," Dooku relented, as he left the control room for the ship hanger nearby…