Hidden in plain sight Chapter 1: Part 1 - part 3, a star wars fanfic

Hidden in plain sight: part 1 – part 3

-Part 1 -

In a galaxy far, far away on an Outer Rim planet with an abundance of sand...

"Leave us alone".

"When the time comes, he must be trained", Ben said.

Owen looked at him skeptically: "Like you trained his father."
(Obi-Wan Kenobi, S1, ep. 1, 28:24-28:28. Directed by Deborah Chow. Performance by Ewan McGregor, Moses Ingram, Haiden Christansen, et al. USA: Lucas Film Production and Walt Disney Pictures. Disney+.

Thoughts buzzed in Ben's mind. There was so much to say about it that he did not know where to start. Furthermore, now and here was not the time and the place for such a discussion with busy people in their vicinity of the Eopie's stall. Though Ben remained silent, he knew this topic was only postponed, not avoided.

"More likely, you should go somewhere else", Owen whispered. "The inquisitors are searching for you and this puts him in danger, too."

"I promised…"

"I know", Owen interrupted him in a hushed voice. "But the situation has changed. Distract them with a break of your duty here, give us, and the people here, our lives back. This is not the safest place in the galaxy, but we don't need their terrorizing search here. At least, the boy does for his safety! If you hide out here any longer, the fight will also be here."

Ben hesitated and brought himself time for the grabbed toy to be stuck into his saddlebag. As he looked up, Owen's face had grown dark and he slowly stepped outside. Turning his head, Ben saw the reason in the gathering of people being interrogated by the Inquisitors. He withdrew even more into the shady darkness of the stall and just watched with growing fear.

As the treating situation was gone, Ben thanked the boy's uncle. "I didn't do it for you" (ibid, 33:10-33-19), Owen returned. Ben nodded: "I see. But if they find him and come for the boy, call me …" He reached for the bridle of Rooh, his female Eopie, to loosen the reins.

"The boy is hiding in plain sight, as long as they don't know his real name. So please", he paused, "go. I beg you for all of us, for the boy."

Ben nodded. "You've got a point there …" He tugged the reins and took a quick, controlling glance around, then he thoughtfully turned to guide the Eopie outside into the blazing two Tattoo-suns.

Owen took two steps after him: "So what will you do? Will you even think about it?" he murmured at Ben's back.

Ben half turned around to look at him and nodded twice. "Stay sharp and keep him safe," he answered in a lowered voice.

It was Owen's turn to nod. "May the f…".

Now it was Ben's turn to interrupt: "I know, or what is even left of it." He turned again and mounted after a few steps.

Owen watched him aiming at the edge of town towards the sand dunes and pondered how far he could trust that he got through to the former Jedi knight. Ben might not be the man he had been before, but he was still nearly as stubborn as usually.

-Part 2 -

'Next time, Owen,' Reva had threatened him. (Obi-Wan Kenobi, S1, ep. 1, 31:57)

Meanwhile the boy in question had finished his evening meal of dried Dantooine cereals with also dried Jogan and star fruits in blue Bantha milk. He liked the taste of it and how the fruits added a colorful arrangement to the milk. As he was the last to finish, he helped his aunt to clear the table. He was also due to wash the dishes, but his sourness about it was all gone as his uncle spoke.

"Beru and Luke, I would like to ask you that we pack some things for any emergency case. There is growing trouble in town, just in case."

"What's going on?" he asked. Only a split of a second latter, Beru said: "Where shall we go?"

"Maybe one of the bigger towns", Owen mused, "I haven't decided, yet." He looked at Luke: "Leave it be." Firstly, Owen looked at the sink and secondly at his wife, who nodded. Then he continued: "I guess it's time for younger ones to go to bed after packing and we'll see what another day will bring tomorrow."

Reva Sevander detested being interrupted of executing her power. Even more she burned with anger that the other inquisitor, the Fifth Brother, had accused her of having failed to do her job and given her a lecture. She would pay him back. Furthermore, she would fulfill her promise to the farmer. After all these years her instincts where at the top of restlessness and nervousness of being on the right path. The first moment on her own again she would try to get her hands on more detailed files about recent local incidents on this planet, and about a moisture farmer named Owen Lars.

Ben's gaze fell on the eye of his buried-in periscope and circuit plate of an astro-mech at the entrance of his cave and he busied himself by digging it out. Once again having the droid parts in the shades of his hide out, he set about work. It took some time until he unplugged the adapter connected with his ComLink and finished the re-programming. Stowing away the adapter, Kenobi slowly took a look around of his narrow, rocky home. He hesitated to pack. "Why?", he thought. Then he dimmed it to be reluctant to break out of his constructed routine, the former impression of having built-up an area of safety. Now the safety glass is cracking fast with the appearance of the inquisitors. Ben had to act, Owen was right. Yet, Ben had still been considering his options. On the one hand, his duty lay with the boy. On the other hand, he had to go.

Well after midnight, he was ready. Except for some scrap metal for the Jawas to find, his few belongings where packed on his Eopie and the reprogrammed periscope of the astro-mech securely strapped to it. As he left into the cold and starlit desert night, he did not even look back once.

After digging in the periscope and its operating parts again and his single evaporator out hidden in a rift of the cave's small rock massif, he had to dig a fourth time within a short period. As deep as before, but his targeted object was much smaller now. He had to admit it to himself that without defense, he could not stand a chance against the inquisitors on the long term. Witnessing the partitioning off the citizen's hand from his hidden view place of the Eopie's stall had been nearly too much for him. 'Stay hidden' (ibid, 22:40), he had said to the young man in the desert. He should adhere to his own advice. "An avoided fight is a good one. Just stay hidden", he thought, as he hit something hard. Kenobi let go of the small spade to reach for it with both hands. A simple wooden chest was brought to the surface and its changing light of dawn. The thought also dawned to him that he had the unique chance of deciding and preparing the location of the battleground as long as he kept being a step ahead of them. He slightly shook his head, realizing his own thought's procedure. 'The fight is done' (ibid, 22:50) as he had said to the young man, dismissing the old tactics of his past as a general. There was no reason for battling now. He smiled slightly while he closed the hole with the pile of sand with one foot. He came down to one knee to reluctantly open the chest for one moment checking its content. On the one hand, he could not stand a chance against the inquisitors unarmed, on the other hand Jedi-weaponry detected on him alone made him more than suspicious. To silence his musings, he closed the lid and chest in one hand, he grabbed for the folding spade. Then he wrapped both things away within the pile of package. "Step by step and first things first", he thought.

Reva could not help it but shook her head in frustration, lying aside the data pad. The track of a former Jedi Padawan ended on Tatooine, something she already knew and handled. Some occurrences of a smuggling net, nothing new, but always on the brink of missing the big fish. Concerning the man named Owen Lars, living a simple life with his wife Beru Whitesun Lars and their adopted son Luke Lars. The latter they had claimed to be given to by a young female itinerant worker. Reva let out a long breath. Nothing out of the ordinary. But she knew Obi-Wan Kenobi had ties left of his past and she was more than ready to grab them. Reva was determined to find Kenobi, to present her new master's long time rival, to prove her abilities and capabilities. It could not be that hard to find a single person on a desert planet, even if that person had been a former Jedi. So she checked the mapped routes for the five probot-droids on the control screen of her pad at last. With a single "Go"-order and a nonchalant wave of her hand, she sent them away to their scrutiny.

-Part 3-

Having ridden his Eopie Rooh all day through, Kenobi felt the urgent need to prepare a location to rest. He started to look up more often, adjusting his cloth scarf on his head to shade his eyes and to use its end to cover his mouth. Luckily, his ComLink had not vibrated, yet, to signal an intruding message from the buried device of the astro-mech. It took a while longer until small pebbles of rock occurred between the sand. Shortly after, he detected some boulders not so far away and tugged on the bridle to turn left. Without being able to make a fire for safety reasons, the sudden change to night in the desert also meant a sudden decrease of temperature. The heat of the day, collected in the sand as well as in the boulders, could provide them with some warmth, slowly radiating the energy free into its surroundings. As he reached the L-arranged boulders, Kenobi let out a long breath. Sometimes to know such small circles of life made him only barely resist to dip into the force again. After the halt, he concentrated on caring for Rooh, filling a small amount of water from his water skin into the animal's bowl. Now one of Tatooine's suns could only be seen as a half-circle and the other one was due to tip the horizon. For the coming of night, Kenobi might have found a place to be, but not for a longer term of period. His pressing and basic task was where to get supplies, most importantly, water. His single evaporator in pieces in the package could stretch the problem a bit, yet it had not provided a sufficient solution.

After the dazzling light of the day, his eyes relaxed in the dim of the second setting sun. He put on his hooded cloak for the coming chill of the night and quickly made his camp. In no time the evaporator was up again beside them, too. Unfortunately, its pole tip jutted out a bit of the adjoining cover of the boulder. As soon as he laid his head down, he fell asleep.

First he thought the tension of the stone cracking had awakened him in the middle of a star clear night. Or was it his slightly shivering body? Then he realized the deeper rumbling muffled by the wind. He only had seconds to pull up his sleeping blankets over the Eopie's head and his own, sitting on one edge of it, his feet on an other. Despite all his efforts, the sensation of thousands needles piercing his bent back hit him all at once. He fought the tiring powers of the wind. Breathing became an effort, because of gaps of their cover let intrude small swirls of sand. Of course, this was not their first sandstorm. His female animal companion stayed relatively calm, being used to the extremes of its natural surroundings. As short and intensive as the storm had been, it was over soon, leaving behind grains spread on every dot of surface or skin. The sand grains presence could be felt with every friction of a move hereafter, regardless the efforts to shake them out. His next thought contemplated if the evaporator even could have made it. He dared not to check it before the first rays of sunlight. Sleep did not return to him, so he tried to meditate. Starting by closing his eyes again and leaning into a comfortable position against the Eopie. He tried to control his breathing without touching habits long past. Kenobi could not help feeling like being pursued all the time by his responsibility to stay on this planet and at this place for watching over the boy. At the same time, he still has been persecuted for he had belonged to the Jedi Council once. He thought of all the Jedi faces he had known once. Who had made it? The last Jedi face was the young man he had met in the desert after having placed the T16-skyhopper toy at the entrance of Owen's and Beru's farm at night. Then the one face appeared he expected the least in the course of his visions. The only face speaking to him from the past: "Please try not to cause problems where none yet exist." (The Clone Wars, S2: 2009, S2Ep12, 10:23-10:27) Satine. Trying as he might, with the memory came the pain and his hard breathing returned. He concentrated on his thoughts to let them go.

Before the heat of the desert rose with the first sunrise already starting, Kenobi ate a nutrition bar with two gulps of water. Yet, it was just the same amount of water left for his journey. He packed his sleeping blanket, which had an added tear in the fabric, and his light brown cloak away. Then he stepped to the evaporator, which was crooked now. The outer pad was gone, leaving the filter open and its fleece congested.

The collection bin summed up some water and added one third to the water skin. At last he dismantled the evaporator into its portable parts and tried to re-straighten its tip as best as he could with his bare hands. The need for a new fleece and a cover pad only added weight to pause his wandering. It was either returning to Anchorhead or this time him calling on a visit to the Jawas.