A/N: Star Wars is owned by Disney.

Chapter 3

I found the med-bay after trying door number four as I explored through the cramped crew confines of the Rigger freighter - any paint or labeling on the floors and doors had long since faded into illegibility.

The medbay only had one bed, recessed into the bulkhead and was practically a closet. I carefully put JJ down onto the biobed and with a bit of experimentation found the right button to activate the auto-doc. A hologram of a medical droid blossomed into existence next to me, while a scanner arm popped out of a slot above the bed and began a scan of JJ.

"Gre...gre...greetings, I am D4-S1, medical… med… med…"

"Yes, yes, you're a medical droid, or a disembodied medical droid built into a ship… anyway, I've got a sick huttlet here."

"Hmmm, yes, yes, scanning, high fever due to bacterial infection of the lungs, or at least the Hutt equivalent of lungs…" a panel popped open on the side of the bed. "Administer the booster labeled R394, once every four hours, over the course of a standard day." The panel concealed a full rack of various pen-like devices with similar labelings on the ends, there were a few empty slots, but thankfully I found the prescribed booster. The booster was not an injection or even a 'hypospray', but quite simply a oral spray that I could just jam one end into JJ's mouth and press the button. "That should stabilize the patient, if there are any further problems or complications I recommend you consult an actual Doctor native to the species as soon as possible." The holo vanished abruptly.

"Not much of a bedside manner, that one."

The booster also had the handy side effect of making JJ quite sleepy and barely half an hour later the little slug was fast asleep.

We spent the next six hours doing as many in-flight repairs as we could. I was nowhere near the mechanic or starship tinkerer that Anakin Skywalker was - who at eight could build a pod racer out of junk that made the Thrust SSC supersonic vehicle back on old Earth look amateurish - but I could do the basics of starship maintenance.

Finally Anakin called it an end to our day and set R2 to keep watch in the cockpit while we headed off to the two tiny crew cabins that would allow us to get some rest. It took nearly a further half hour to clean up my selected cabin to the point where I could feel comfortable enough stripping down to my underwear and sleep on the very deeply dented old bed.

The next 'morning' according to my body clock at least, was decidedly uncomfortable. Both Anakin and I had taken one look at the ship's 'Refresher' - which was Star Wars euphemism for a WC - a shower-toilet combo - and decided to wait until we could get back to the Resolute for a shower, and made do with a bucket for nature's other call. The place was absolutely disgusting, practically a bio-hazard zone.

JJ had thankfully survived as well with no further complications, the medicine having completely broken the fever and subsequent scans showed that the infection was subsiding.

We emerged from hyperspace at an amazingly close range to Tatooine - R2 had clearly done some navigational magic and explained that he had plotted a grav neutral zone close to Tatooine that was caused by the twin binary stars of the system during this time of year, which let us emerge well into the traditional mass shadow limit that forced a conventional emergence well over a hundred and twenty thousand kilometers from the planet itself.

The desert planet itself from space was utterly surreal to me. In so many media had I seen versions of this world, as Revan as a Knight of the Old Republic, in the films, in the MMO, but actually seeing it in Real World definition so to speak - so much history here for a world seemingly so barren and small.

"I was hoping I'd never have to lay eyes on this dustball again," Anakin commented as he settled behind the pilot's yoke and stared at the approaching planet with narrowed eyes.

I remained silent. Really, what could one say about the fact that you were born into slavery on a Hutt cartel controlled world, got your freedom at age eight, but had to leave your mother behind, then the Jedi essentially railroad you away from 'saving' her, due to that idiotic 'no attachments' rule, then when you finally manage to get out there, find that while she was released from slavery by your new stepfather barely a year after you left… she was taken and then killed by Tusken raiders barely a week before your arrival and later died in your arms when you tracked her down.

If there was one thing about Anakin's actions that I fully understood and supported - it was killing the Tusken raiders after they had killed his mother. That specific Tusken clan had been responsible for a dozen deaths among the Moisture Farmers Co-operative by luring them into a trap. By wiping out that Tusken clan - I wonder how many people of Tatooine owed their lives to Anakin, just because he had prevented those Tuskens from killing and pillaging anymore.

"R2, how are those shields coming?" Anakin suddenly asked.

The astromech blurted tones in reply.

I shook my head, "Those rear shield emitters still doesn't want to energize beyond twenty percent?"

R2 bleeped an affirmative.

"We've tried everything, those emitters need a full replacement," Anakin explained.

The proximity alarm drew my attention to the scanners. "Master, we've got two inbound heavy fighters."

"Is JJ secure?"

I nodded, "I anticipated a hostile reception, Master. He's strapped in secure on the biobed."

"Good," he abruptly twisted on the yoke and slammed the throttles forward. Streams of red blaster shots missed us as the fighters closed into range. He threw the ship ever wilder maneuvers to evade, but the two fighters managed to score a hit with their converging fields of fire.

Sparks flashed through the cockpit, alarms and damage warnings flashed on my screen, I dismissed the warnings, and brought up the gun controls again. We had managed to fix the refire rate issue and slightly improved the turret traversal, but anything more would require external access and repairs.

"Master, keep our transversal as high as possible."

"Little difficult considering we're a slow bucket of bolts, snips."

At the Force's prompt I sent a stream of red plasma bolts in an arc. The bolts one after the other chewed away at the enemy fighter before one breached an engine and it exploded into pieces that flew away with their initial momentum.

Then a blast managed to hit our rear shields again, which promptly failed, and allowed the next bolt to completely shear off the lower ventral wing. Now given this was space, the wing didn't have anything to do with aerodynamics, but it did house a number of important repulsor vector controls, and our maneuverability instantly became way less.

Anakin was straining now to throw the ship into the evasives that was required to stay alive, while I was scrambling with the gun controls to bring them over to kill the remaining fighter.

I gritted my teeth as I sent blasts from both dorsal and wing cannons towards the enemy fighter.

It blew up satisfyingly but managed one last direct hit on us, that had me nearly braining myself on the forward console from the lateral impact waves.

"Main stabilizer is down and engine… I'm setting our approach vector as close to Jabba's palace as possible… but we're going down. Strap in, Ahsoka."

"Sithspit," I grabbed the crash webbing and secured it around me as the planet now totally filled the forward viewport.

He let his cybernetic arm do the work of trying to keep our vector stable, while he keyed the hypercom. "Obi-wan, come in. Do you copy?"

The light beige robed and lightly armored figure of the Jedi Master appeared on the cockpit dash. "Kenobi here. Have you reached Tatooine yet?"

"Almost, but we ran into a small problem."

Obi-wan sighed, "Anakin, did you get shot down again?"

"Yes he did, and he can't blame it on my gunnery."

Anakin gave me a disgruntled look, "This ship is too slow, and there hasn't been enough time to modify it to my usual standards."

"Well, I'm about an hour behind you. Obi-wan out."

The viewports suddenly lit up with ionization and flame as we entered Tatooine's atmosphere, thankfully our forward shields were strong enough that the ship could easily handle the event.

"Hang on, this landing could get a little rough," he warned as he fought with the controls.

"I think this will count more as a crash landing, Master."

The vector was initially too steep and we were looking at a nose dive straight into the planet spanning deserts, but Anakin managed to coax power from auxiliary to the remaining repulsorlifts to even the ship's descent out.

It was now to the point where I could make out individual dunes in the ocean of sand fast approaching.

"Crap, crap, dune! Pull up!"

"I see it," Anakin grunted with gritted teeth, but despite his efforts the ship's underbelly smashed and deformed the top of a dune and bounced off, continuing its momentum. The impact was bad enough to knock the breath out of me even through the crash webbing.

Then another rapid series of impacts before a deep rumbling echoed through the hull as the carved a long trench through the loose sand before finally coming to a stop and I breathed a sigh of relief as the crash webbing painfully unyielding hold let go.

"You okay over there, snips?"

I removed the belts and winced, "Bruised but otherwise fine, Master. I'll go check on JJ."

In the medbay I found that it had weathered the crash well, though all the medicines were strewn about the place, and the hutlett had weathered the crash with no problems after I conducted a quick scan, though he was screaming and whining like the true infant he was.

We had to open the rear cargo doors to exit the ship and the first thing that hit me like an invisible Force push, was the heat.

It was insane. Just from feeling alone I estimated that I had walked into a planetary wide oven, it was easily over forty degrees, and given the local time and positions of the suns… it was mid morning. I settled JJ into his travelling backpack, also stuffing extra water bottles from the ship's stores along the sides. I stared into the far off distance, seeing just sand, sand, and more sand.

"If you can walk away from a landing…"

"Snips?"

I was startled at Anakin's appearance at my side, I'd been so absentmindedly contemplating the journey ahead.

"Oh, just an old adage I heard somewhere, if you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you can use the ship the next day, it's an outstanding landing."

Anakin chuckled ruefully and looked behind him at the smoking freighter, "It's salvageable but I doubt I can get it running by tomorrow. So good landing it is then." He pointed a few degrees from the direction of the morning sun. "Jabba's palace is on the far side of the Dune Sea, our position is roughly thirty two clicks from it."

"That's amazingly good precision for a crash landing, Master."

"Yes, well, thanks for the compliment, snips…but I would be much happier if I'd brought us crashing in on Jabba's front door. We'd better hurry if we're going to make it by the deadline - I'd estimate we have less than ninety minutes. How did you fare in Jedi endurance training?"

"I can make it, Master. The Force is with me."

"Let's see then."

Anakin took the backpack, leaped off the edge of the ship and his legs started to furiously pump in a blur as he sped off. I mirrored his movements and embraced the Force, buffing my legs and cardio vascular system before settling into the rhythm of the sprint. R2 followed on his leg jets, but had to use them in jumps to both prevent excessive energy usage and to keep the prickly, abrasive sand from clogging the wheels in his feet too much.

This was going to be a long, long run.

Time was strange to your perceptions when you were doing something that strained your body excessively, it could either seem like it was taking forever just to run a kilometer or the terrain would just blast by in a blur and the next thing you knew over an hour had passed. Anakin called a halt at this point to allow us re-hydrate when…

"I guess it was too much to hope for that Dooku wouldn't take a personal hand in this scheme," I gulped a full bottle down and went through stretch exercises to aid the Force in working away the lactic acid buildup.

"I sense it too," Anakin nodded. "The Dark side…he's gathering strength...time to split up."

"I'd be a liability in a fight of that level," I nodded. "Only problem is he'd definitely sense what we're doing, if I take JJ ahead he'd just ambush me instead."

"I've got enough of a sense of JJ's presence in the Force, that I'm confident I can sell an illusion to the Count's senses. I'll take the backpack and seal it, to carry the bluff further. You on the other hand have to radiate your presence in the Force enough to drown out JJ's true location, since you're using Force Endurance it should be easy enough, and also convince Dooku that you're sloppy in your use of the Force."

"Master, can you handle splitting your concentration like that?" I bit my lip with worry. As much as I knew Anakin should survive - the butterfly effect was a gnawing and steadily growing issue, and at no point as far I knew, did Palpatine ever directly order Darth Tyrannus to keep Anakin alive.

"Trust me, snips," he placed a hand on my shoulder. "You've got the most important part of this mission, take R2 with you."

"Very well, Master."

I used one of the two blankets we'd brought along for the cold nights of the desert and tied JJ to my back with it. Then once I was sure he was secure, began a Force assisted run that carried me nearly two kilometers west before I turned back onto course for Jabba's palace. I kept my Force presence flared, efficiently pulling in but radiating the Force out - imagining a floodlight.

The palace rose into blurry view as the light was twisted by the hotter air, creating a mirage that mirrored it on the ground. I was so focused on maintaining my bloated Force presence that I totally missed sensing the damn insurance policy Count Dooku left behind.

Three IG-100 Magnaguard droids burst into life from the sand like some demented jack-in-the-boxes. They unslung their Electrostaffs and activated them, their ends radiating violet electricity. There was no point in slowing down my momentum as that would just end up with me on the defensive, so I went on the attack. With the amount of Force I was juggling at the moment it was quite easy to gather and Iaunch a Force Push that I rated easily as the strongest I had yet managed.

The Magna droids were relatively close together so I managed to let the Push encapsulate all three. They were flung off their feet and bowled over completely. My lightsabers leapt into my hands lit and I dragged them through a collapsed Manga droid as I passed it, before finally hitting the brakes and turning to face the remaining two, who rather agilely vaulted to their feet.

Their staffs began twirling and they charged to attack.

I intercepted both staffs in the outer ring of defense, high and low, pushing into the guards of both droids. They pulled away, swinging in the next instant for my legs. I jumped into a Force assisted somersault over their heads, and my lightsabers neatly severed both droid's heads. I landed behind the headless droids, twirled the blades down into reverse grips and stabbed them through the main central chassis, before yanking them down and out.

Both collapsed to the ground with their primary and secondary computer cores destroyed, and just to be on the safe side, I brought the lightsabers around in slashes that filleted them further.

"You okay back there, JJ?"

The hutlett made a few rather annoying gurgles that I sensed… he was radiating enjoyment, he had clearly liked the impromptu speed ride and roller coaster while wrapped on my back.

I walked forward with weary sigh, spotted the discarded electrostaffs of the Magna droids and was hit with an idea. I grabbed a staff and immediately knew I wouldn't ever be wielding one in an emergency, the damn things were way too heavy.

"Alright, JJ, time to get you home."

My senses were cast out and felt for how Anakin was doing against Dooku. Good news was that he was still alive, and I could also feel the angry presence of the Count, but beyond that I couldn't tell much more… the Force was a mess in that direction due to the fighting.

"Kill that old fart, Skywalker." I couldn't wait any further, Jabba's deadline was close.

I approached the massive front door of Jabba's Palace when it began to rise up with a screech of metallic servos. Four armed aliens and an elaborately painted protocol droid emerged.

"Greetings, I am Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, I have come to reunite Jabba with his son." I untied the blanket's knot and brought JJ forward for inspection. The protocol droid stepped closer.

"Scanning, verified identity, Rotta Desilijic Tiure. Please, follow me."

Inside my escort was increased to three more aliens with ready blasters and two gamorreans armed with vibro-axes. R2 gave worried tones but I patted his dome to calm him down. My appropriated electrostaff tapped with each step, echoing off the cavernous entry hall, where we were further led through another door, then a bunch of twisting hallways and turns, that were clearly designed to confuse intruders, but wouldn't really do much to stop a Jedi from finding his way.

We finally emerged into the infamous 'throne room' of Jabba, where the giant slug himself was perched on a dais overlooking everyone. The place was a practical menagerie of nonhuman species - who were all armed to varying degrees or sitting around tables and sharing drinks. The ones casually standing along the walls and various nooks and crannies were bounty hunters, and smugglers of every caliber you could imagine. If there was ever a den of scum and villainy as Obi-wan would say, this place was it.

I walked rather nervously onto the patterned floor that was actually a trap that would deliver you to a rather messy death below if Jabba so wanted… I didn't sense a rancor, but there was some form of nasty beasty down there, something not as big but more flat, longer and sinuous.

"Mighty Jabba," I bowed, "as negotiated between you and Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, your son, Rotta, I present."

"Whoooo, Rotta!" the big slug declared, his eyes widening before glancing at his protocol droid, where after a rapid exchange in Huttese occurred. Jabba held out his arms to me but I didn't move to hand over the huttlet.

"Mighty Jabba, before I hand over your son, you must be made aware of certain facts. The presence of Count Dooku nearby indicates to me that he must have been here after Master Kenobi left, and more than likely sowed distrust and outright lied to you."

Jabba began speaking and the protocol droid translated, "That is correct. He indicated that the Jedi Skywalker had killed Rotta as his droid forces was attempting to rescue my pookie on Teth. He also said your arrival on Tatooine was in an effort to kill me, but you bring my son before me safe and healthy as Jedi Kenobi stated."

"I will also say to you, Mighty Jabba, that when my Master and I rescued your son on Teth, he was in fact, being held by the Separatists, and we had to fight our way through. They continued to attack even as we retreated hoping to kill your son while in our custody. And here on Tatooine, the Count's Magna droids attacked me while carrying your son, not twenty minutes ago," I explained.

Jabba growled in anger and his large eyes narrowed in thought, but before he could continue speaking, an insistent beeping from a holoprojector near the protocol droid position caught everyone's attention.

"The Mighty Jabba's Uncle, Ziro the Hutt is contacting us."

The projector resolved not into an blue tinted image of a hutt, though, but rather a woman wearing a figure hugging white outfit that I recognized instantly.

"Greetings honorable Jabba, I am Senator Amidala of the Galactic Congress. I have discovered a plot against you by one of your own. Your Uncle will admit he conspired with Count Dooku to kidnap your son and frame the Jedi for the crime."

Her image was abruptly replaced by a large purplish hutt with rather elaborate tattoo markings all over his body, and judging from the body language, the hutt was feeling rather miserable.

"Ziro! Tadgaa woojieeska!?" Jabba growled.

"Onitja, wajango Jabba."

"Wooto wa ki wa!" he pointed menacingly at the holo.

"No bata Jabba, it was Count Dooku!"

"Waaa, ji naga Ziro gee!"

Ziro vanished and was replaced with Amidala.

"Ziro will be dealt with by the Hutt families, most severely," the protocol droid spoke up.

"Perhaps now you will allow the Republic to use your trade routes and hostilities between us can come to an end."

Jabba laughed and spoke.

"Jabba agrees and a treaty is in order," the protocol droid translated.

"You will not regret this Jabba," Amidala smiled.

"The clone armies may move through Jabba's territories and hyperspace lanes."

"Senator, while I'm sure all these politics are very important and all," I spoke up, "I think it is time to reunite a father and his son."

I took a step forward and held up Rotta who gurgled and smiled in happiness as he recognized his father immediately. Jabba eagerly grabbed the little tyke and settled the huttlet on his thick rubbery arm.

Amidala's holo turned to face me, "Padawan Tano, the Republic thanks you for your service. I understand you're General Skywalker's new student. Is he nearby perhaps?"

"One moment, Senator." I reached out through the Force and smiled at the results. Dooku was still alive unfortunately and heading rapidly away from Tatooine, before he abruptly vanished. The brilliant concentration of the Force that represented Anakin Skywalker was rapidly approaching the palace at a pace that meant he had to have picked up a land speeder. "He was fighting Count Dooku when I left him, but I sense he is alright and on his way."

I could see the minute tenseness in her shoulders relax, "Thank you, Padawan Tano, give the General my regards."

"I will, Senator." Her holo vanished as the connection was cut.

Jabba promptly ordered for a table of honour to be brought forward to seat me near his dais and insistently offered me any selection of drinks on the house. The sheer selection his protocol droid offered on the holomenu it brought was staggering considering that some of them were quite rare and to find them out here in the Outer Rim clearly showed the reach of Jabba's smuggling rings. So since I had quite a bit of a sweet tooth I ordered two Quin-Berry Juices.

When Anakin arrived he offered formal greetings and received Jabba's thanks for returning his son, then took a seat at the table with a tired huff. I handed his juice over and after a brief smell, he sipped it carefully.

"Damn, that's sweet."

My own taste buds were in heaven, "So Master, how did you fare against Dooku?"

"Considering the last time we crossed lightsabers I lost an arm, it was a huge improvement, even managed to wound him." He took a sip and gave me a huge smile, "When he tried to play mindgames with me by showing a portable holo of you getting 'defeated' by those electrostaff droids. He was so surprised at how quickly you defeated them that I got past his guard, stabbed his left forearm."

Oh how I wish I could've been there with a camera to immortalize that moment. The Master of Makashi stabbed by a young Djem So user. I in turn related the events I experienced, Ziro's betrayal of Jabba and Senator Amidala's involvement.

"Always getting into trouble," he shook his head with a wry smile.

There was a vibrating sound from Anakin's belt, and he pulled out his holocom.

"Anakin, the Resolute and Justicar has just arrived in orbit. Given your relaxed surroundings I trust everything has gone smoothly?" Obi-wan questioned mildly.

"Yes, Master. Jabba is ready to sign a treaty with the Republic."

"Excellent, I'll be down shortly with the formalized documentation. Kenobi out."

Anakin raised his glass to me, and I tapped my own against it, "Here's to friendly relations with the Hutts. Never thought I'd see the day."