Here is an update for Cadia Stands. I'll definitely be updating this more regularly. Up until now it had sadly fallen through the cracks due to the realities of my schedule. Anyway we can get back into this now. I had lots of great reviews for the chapter but simply due to trying to keep this header a bit smaller I am only responding to one here. Peanutbutter6996 said: Keep up the good work, if you could answer this will there be all the lovely weapons that come from the 40k universe Chain swords, plasma, melta? Yes we will see a lot of the weapons from 40k in this, including chains swords, plasma, and melta. Those latter two will be awfully rare in comparison though. Afterall when comparing the humble lasgun to most blasters more commonly used in the galaxy the lasgun is already a very powerful weapon.
Anyway if you want to try and chat with me you can catch me on discord more than likely. You can follow this invite here → /eWv8rAUaz5
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Let's get into the story.
Cadia Stands
Chapter Two
The Locus
Mos Espa, Tatooine
8 NC
As much as Ulrich found humor in the annoyance of the Jedi master, he did silently agree that Padme should have stayed on the Nubian. Even if he hadn't known that she was the actual Queen and the woman back on the ship was truly just her body double and handmaiden, he would have preferred she stay behind.
This was a Hutt controlled world after all and Ulrich was more than willing to admit that Padme was beautiful. Slavers would love to get their hands on her. That was unacceptable, so it meant he would be focused more on acting like a bodyguard for her than anything else.
At the least he could enjoy the surly looks the Jedi Master kept shooting her way. The fact that the man had no issue with him tagging along was nice as well. Some had a hard time accepting that even at his age he was trained far more extensively than even most members of the Republic Judicial Forces. Such was Cadia's way.
Thankfully the Gungan that the Jedi had brought with them had been convinced to stay. Let him bother the younger Jedi and the ship crew.
"Master Jedi, you seem familiar with my people to an extent." Ulrich commented giving Padme a slight respite from the affronted looks the man was sending her way as they trekked the short distance of desert into the city of Mos Espa.
"Ah, yes. I participated in the evacuation process. The order sent a hundred Jedi to help as much as we could. We brought ships and crews to try and take as many people as we could, but Cadia was very densely populated even with its environment so badly damaged by the wars." Qui-Gon explained a bit sadly.
"You helped many people to survive and Cadia exists as long as its people do." Ulrich replied.
Qui-Gon turned to face him fully then. His eyes were searching but the gaze quickly softened. It seemed that Qui-Gon came to realize that Ulrich had not been born on New Cadia as many expected. He was a refugee, to an extent.
"You were there?" Qui-Gon asked as he turned forward once more and continued toward the city.
"I was. My father was leading men in the trenches while my mother was working to organize the evacuation under the direction of my grandfather, the former Lord Castellan. He had to order my mother drugged and loaded onto a ship with those we could get out."
Ulich ignored the stare from Padme. This was more than he had revealed to her, but then again it was different here for some reason. This Jedi had been there. He had saved, who knew how many of Ulrich's people. Perhaps even friends and family members. It felt easier to talk about, like it needed to come out.
"I've met your mother. Ursula Creed is…an intriguing woman."
"More like terrifying." Ulrich joked, getting a soft chuckle from the jedi.
"Perhaps, but she is a committed leader and while I don't exactly agree with the militant view of your people, I can appreciate the work she has done to improve the lives of her people." Qui-Gon said.
Ulrich expected that was as close as he was going to get to the Jedi Master outright saying she was a great leader. It filled him with pride to know his mother's work was recognized even outside of their own little corner of the galaxy.
It was time they turned their attention to the task at hand though, finding a parts dealer that they could haggle with. Unfortunately there was a serious issue with their hopes to barter for a starship, one that Ulrich wondered if Qui-Gon had realized yet.
"How exactly will we pay for the parts we need?" He asked.
"We have a large sum of credits that we can use." Padme answered him.
"That might be a problem." Qui-Gon admitted.
Padme turned her eyes from one of them to the other and back again. Both of their expressions darkened considerably as thoughts on how to best approach the problem slipped through their minds.
"Why would that be a problem?" Padme finally asked when she realized neither of the two men were about to say anything.
"While Tatooine is within the Republic's space, like most of the outer rim, it isn't technically under Republic jurisdiction. This particular planet is controlled by the Hutt Cartels." Qui-Gon explained.
"So…" She said as her mind began piecing the problem together.
"So, Republic credits are only worth slightly more than the credstick they are loaded on. Maybe less actually." Ulrich replied.
"Which leaves bartering." Qui-Gon stated.
"Except we have nothing to actually barter with." Padme pointed out.
"Therein lies our problem. Maybe we can work out a deal though." Ulrich said, turning his eyes to the Jedi.
"We must have faith in the force. There is a part dealer there, we'll see if they have the parts we need before we become too invested in haggling." The Jedi stated leading the way toward one of the first buildings along the edge of the city.
If Padme was one that was prone to petty jabs at another person, she might make a comment asking when the force was going to step in and lead them to the parts that they needed. She wasn't, thankfully as the Jedi Master appeared as though he was actually becoming quite frustrated with their lack of luck so far.
Evidently even conditioning to control one's emotions didn't stop one from being human.
He wasn't the only one becoming quite stressed out by their time here in Mos Espa. She had never experienced people treating her so rudely in her life. Even when masquerading as a simple handmaiden back on Naboo she had been treated respectfully. Here the people either wanted her gone as soon as they could manage or they looked like they had other intentions for her.
She was not as versed in language as Qui-Gon appeared to be but she got the idea that on three separate occasions someone had offered to buy her off of him. The jedi seemed unperturbed by such a thing but it frightened Padme to realize just how easily someone could find themself sold off to whatever horrible end awaited them.
Ulrich also seemed on edge. He'd been reaching for the weapon along his waist almost every time they encountered a new person, to the point that now he simply walked with his hand resting on the grip of the pistol holstered there.
"Master Jinn, there is another dealer there." Ulrich pointed out a somewhat more rundown but decently sized dealer.
"At least we can be thankful that Mos Espa has more junk and parts dealers than some planets do across their entire surface." The Jedi grumbled in annoyance.
"Not exactly reassuring that our ship is sitting on the outskirts of that city unable to leave at the moment then." Ulrich responded.
The jedi grunted but said nothing more as he led the way to the door of the shop and stepped inside.
The interior was refreshingly cooler than the outdoors, little in the way of cooling machines were even needed. Simply a dark cool interior of an adobe style building. Not to say it didn't have plenty of machinery inside. If anything there were more piles of junk mechanical parts and equipment than Padme had ever seen in one place.
R2-D2 let loose a low whistle as he circled a disassembled astromech on the floor. A much older and even somewhat rusted model than R2. Padme gently patted the droid on the top of it's dome as Qui-Gon approached the business owner, a small alien she thought might be a Toydarian.
"Good day to you. What do you want?" The businessman asked in huttese.
"I need parts for a J-type 327 Nubian." Qui-Gon responded as Ulrich slowly began to circle around the small shop and Padme tried to keep up with the conversation. Her huttese wasn't the best though. Thankfully Qui-Gon was speaking basic which the merchant at least understood.
"Ah yes, Nubian. We have lots of that." The alien said in heavily accented basic before calling out to someone in the back.
"My droid has a readout of what I need." The Jedi continued.
The toydarian let out a thoughtful grunting sound as a young human girl with dark blonde hair came rushing into the room dressed in somewhat dirty and simple clothing. Both Ulrich and Padme took notice of her. She looked only a few years younger than either of them were.
"What took you so long?" The merchant barked at the girl in huttese.
"I was cleaning the fan switches." She responded in a bit of a whine.
"Watch the store, I got some selling to do." The alien commanded as the girl climbed up the counter top to sit on it. He turned his attention back to Qui-Gon with a smile missing far too many teeth.
"So… let me take you out back, huh? You'll find what you need." He chuckled as he led the way out toward the back courtyard filled with parts from a multitude of wrecked ships and speeders.
The pair of teens stayed behind as Qui-Gon followed the Toydarian, both quite aware of the young girl staring up at them from her spot on the countertop. Ulrich smirked slightly as he recognized the look in the girl's eyes. He'd seen it in many of the younglings in training back on New Cadia. She was curious alright, and why shouldn't she be. Ulrich and Padme were strange offworlders to her, and at most a handful of years older than her. They might have been the most interesting thing she had encountered in months.
"Are you an angel?" The girl finally asked Padme, causing Ulrich to snort in laughter and surprise. That in turn earned him a small glare from Padme.
Ulrich lifted his hands up in surrender causing the hidden queen to roll her eyes at him and turn her attention to the girl. Padme smiled at her, she was a small thing but after looking at her face properly she realized that the girl was actually probably closer to two or three years younger than herself. Not the five or six she had expected.
"So are you?" The girl asked again.
"An angel?" Padme asked still caught off guard by the girl's question.
"I heard some of the deep space pilots talk about them." The girl insisted.
"I've heard that a few times too. I can see why little miss…" Ulrich trailed off asking for the girl's name.
"Anissa." She happily offered up.
"Miss Anissa might think you were one. They are supposed to be very beautiful, Padme." Ulrich commented, causing Padme to shoot him a glance, a bit surprised at him essentially complimenting her in such a roundabout way.
"They're supposed to be the most beautiful creatures ever, and they live on the moons of Iego, I think." Anissa said.
"Ah, no I'm just a girl from Naboo I'm afraid." Padme said humbly.
"Is that close to Iego?" She asked.
"No, not that I know of. I've never been to Iego at all. What about you, Ulrich?" Padme said.
"Never been there either. I have been to a few moons though. My homeworld has three." He said as he stepped over and leaned against the counter beside Anissa to better chat with her.
Padme smiled at the friendly way Ulrich was treating the girl. He normally could be so strict and tense. Very military style. In his dusty cloak and borrowed clothing, he almost seemed like a normal boy. She had hoped the same would be true for her, but evidently she came off as more of an angel to the local in the room.
"Where is New Cadia?" Anissa asked.
"Hmm, not far from her home of Naboo, they're even in the same sector. It used to be a world called Chaeros, it's mostly rugged wilderness, but it was settled once a long time ago so my people are doing it again." Ulrich said.
Anissa seemed to absorb the information like a sponge causing Padme to smile. It was cute seeing the girl so invested in learning about space and far off places. It made Padme curious herself, what was Anissa's life like here on Tatooine. It was clearly a harsh planet filled with even harsher people.
"You like learning about the galaxy?" She asked.
"Its better than Tatooine." Anissa shrugged.
That matched about what Padme expected. The girl grew up on a dustball that wasn't exactly pleasant to live on. Anywhere else probably seemed fascinating and wonderful. Padme would take her own homeworld over this any day truly.
"Tatooine reminds me a lot of my first homeworld, Old Cadia…although it wasn't really a desert just sick." Ulrich awkwardly changed what he was going to say. It probably wasn't all that easy for him to talk about, after all he had evidently been there as the world was destroyed.
"Sick?" Anissa asked.
"A story for another time. Why don't you tell us a little about yourself, Anissa. Why did you come work here for your boss?" Padme asked, causing Ulrich to wince though she wasn't sure why.
"I didn't choose to come work here. I just have to." Anissa bit out hotly causing Padme to step back a little in surprise at the heat in the girl's voice.
"She didn't realize Anissa. Slavery isn't allowed where we are from. Your master would have to free you if you were on either Naboo or New Cadia." Ulrich stepped in placing a hand on the girl's arm to calm her down.
"What? Really?"
"Yes, I'm sorry I didn't realize that…" Padme stopped unsure of how to proceed, so she simply followed Ulrich's response and placed a hand on the younger girl's arm. It comforted her and seemed to bring a smile back to Anissa's face at the friendly action.
"It's alright, I guess that's just how it is around here." Anissa said with a brittle smile. It tore at Padme's heart to see it on the girl's face. A girl that could have just as easily been born on Naboo and raised far away from the life of a slave. Fate seemed unfair at times.
Anissa clearly wanted to talk about something else and shook off the older teens hands to pick up a rag and an object and begin wiping it clean.
"So are you two star pilots or something? Traders?" Anissa asked.
"Not exactly." Ulrich shrugged.
"Oh, I'm a pilot you know, and some day I'm going to be free and fly away from here." She insisted.
Ulrich nodded, seeming confident in that while Padme felt a bit of guilty doubt in her mind even as she smiled happily toward the younger girl. Maybe she could find her freedom and make it. Padme truly hoped so.
"How old are you anyway, Anissa?" Padme asked.
"Eleven. I might be small but I really am eleven." She said with an adorable pout.
"Get teased about it sometimes?" Ulrich asked.
The girl shrugged causing him to chuckle faintly.
"Don't worry about it, you have plenty of time to grow, you'll probably end up pretty as can be like Padme here, then folks will be mistaking you for an angel." Ulrich said either not noticing or sparing the girl the thought of him noticing her immediate blush across her tanned cheeks. Padme snickered lightly but tried to keep it down so as not to embarrass the poor girl more, besides that was the second time Ulrich had complimented her in his backhanded way during this conversation. She wouldn't be able to avoid thinking about it now.
A moment later a rather disgruntled looking Qui-Gon passed through the room making straight for the exit.
"We're leaving." He said gruffly before turning the corner.
"Oh, I guess that is that then. Nice meeting you." Ulrich said a bit sadly. He seemed like he was enjoying the break from the heat and a chance to simply chat.
"I'm glad to have met you Anissa." Padme said to the girl.
"I was glad to meet you too!" She called after them as they left.
Qui-Gon grimaced as he ended the communications with Obi-wan. Ulrich knew the look for what it was. They were in a very tough spot now. They had nothing to barter with, even the small amount of property the Queen kept on her ship wouldn't come close to covering the cost for the parts that they needed.
"At least we have found the part, we just have to find a way to pay for it." Ulrich pointed out trying to lift their spirits.
"We can't stay here long enough to try and earn the price of a hyperdrive." Padme said sharply.
"No one said anything about doing that. Just identifying our next objective. Break our situation down and attack it in pieces so we don't get overwhelmed." Ulrich soothed her ruffled feathers causing the girl to sigh and nod, sending him an apologetic look.
He just smiled back. Between the time spent looking for the part, the heat, and the fact that they had practically no money…it was understandable that they would all be on edge.
"So what now, though? We just wander the market until a solution jumps out for us?" Padme asked.
Qui-Gon sighed before pausing for a moment and chuckling. Both of the teens looked up at him in confusion. The man just grinned down at them before motioning for them to follow him into some shade. Once there the teens seemed more intent on getting an answer from the man, a silent unifying agreement passing between them.
"I have a feeling, the force wants us right here in the market." Qui-Gon said.
Ulrich and Padme shared another look.
"That's it?" Ulrich asked getting a sound of agreement from R2 of all things.
"That's it." Qui-Gon said with a chuckle.
Ulrich stared for a moment before turning to look at Padme. She seemed to be near to bursting at the thought of standing by and doing nothing. Her people were suffering as they spoke and the Master Jedi wanted to simply stand here and let the force handle things.
He didn't doubt the man, but the idea of standing around and doing nothing at all was anathema to him. If the force was real, which he was inclined to believe it was having seen the feats that jedi could manage, Ulrich imagined it would be even more effective if you tried to actively achieve things rather than simply act passively.
"Padme, stay with the Master Jedi, I am going to go try my own method of getting results." UIrich said.
Qui-Gon tilted his head while staring at the young Cadian before smiling even more broadly.
"An excellent idea, Lieutenant Creed." He said simply.
Ulrich frowned at those parting words but headed off toward the seediest looking cantina in the market area. He wasn't even halfway there when someone stumbled into him and both of them pitched to the side spilling across the sand in a tangle of limbs.
The stranger was covered head to toe in armor and armed to the teeth, and seemed to have several friends. Thankfully those friends were just staring down at the strange sight before them with their blank T-visored helmets hiding any expression that they might have.
"You sniveling desert rat!" The person he had wound up tangled with growled attempting to clock him across the forehead.
Ulrich managed to bring his own arm up in between the blow and his head, before retaliating in his own way and jabbing his free hand into their stomach. A dull thunk was the only sound he got in return as he let out a cry of pain from cracking his knuckles across a piece of armor.
The stranger moved to draw a knife from a sheathe on their chest, but the pain in his left hand hadn't slowed Ulrich in the slightest and in a moment his laspistol was free from it's holster and pressed up under the jaw of his opponent's helmet.
Slowly they relaxed and lifted their hands realizing the little scuffle was over. Until a chorus of laughter from their companions could be heard.
"Damn Cale, he handled you." A younger sounding female called down to him.
"Oh shut up Akima, shoot this guy already." The young man under Ulrich's gun growled back.
The girl seemed content to do just that until the largest of the group of obvious Mandalorians snagged a hold of her hand and kept it from drawing her blaster pistol. The others looked to the apparent leader for explanation as he did so. Ulrich did the same, a bit confused on why he wasn't dead right now.
"Where did you get your hands on that little doozy?" The man asked as he motioned toward Ulrich's weapon.
Ulrich stared up at him. Someone had an eye for quality if he recognized a Cadian style weapon.
"It was issued to me." He said simply.
"You expect us to believe you're a Cadian…out here?" The girl from earlier, Akima, asked.
"The eyes tell the truth well enough." The leader cut her off once more. He reached down and helped both Ulrich and Cale off of the ground.
"Who are you?" The man asked.
"Ulrich, you?" He responded, keeping his weapon ready, though letting the aim fall to point at the sand around their feet.
"Korso, was paid to work with your people back before your homeworld fell. Fought during the collapse and evacuation and everything." Korso said, extending a hand to shake.
Ulrich slowly holstered his pistol before shaking Korso's hand. It was a strong grip and as they shook, he saw the cloak over Korso's armor part enough to show a pair of las pistols at his own waist.
"What's got Cadian's out this far into the Outer Rim? You lot tend to keep to your little sector last I heard." Korso asked.
Ulrich turned to glance back toward Qui-Gon and Padme. Padme looked confused, relieved, and frightened all at once, while Qui-Gon simply looked amused.
"Oh shit is that who I think it is?" Korso asked pushing past Ulrich to approach the Jedi.
"Korso, still alive." Qui-Gon tilted his head in a greeting.
"You are too. Running around with kids now?" He shot back.
"You are too." The jedi replied causing both Akima and Cale to seem angry while the other pair of mandalorians with Korso chuckled.
"Hah, gotta teach the next generation. So they baby jedi or something? Didn't know Cadians became Jedi." Korso asked.
"No, we're here just looking for parts for our ship." Qui-Gon said before stepping past Korso and Ulrich to make himself more visible, for some reason.
The answer came a moment later as Anissa came running up with a smile on her face. She looked like she had run all the way from her master's shop to try and catch up with them.
"They keep getting younger, Jedi." Korso joked.
"Hello there again my young friend." Qui-Gon said as he looked down at the girl.
She seemed to freeze for a moment as he stared at her before regaining her nerve. She smiled up at him before pointing at distant clouds of dust heading toward the city from the outskirts.
"I knew you weren't from here so I wanted to warn you. There's a sandstorm coming. A big one. Ulrich and Padme said you were from another planet so I thought you might need a place to stay out of the storm." She explained.
"That is mighty kind of you, how did you find us though?" Qui-Gon asked, getting Ulrich and Padme to share a look a bit confused by the question.
"I don't know, I just felt like you would be here I guess. Anyway, do you need somewhere to stay?" Anissa asked, shooting a glance toward Padme and Ulrich herself, one with a small blush and a smile.
Qui-Gon nodded before turning back to his companions. It was clear that they had better take her up on her offer, it seemed that Master Jinn's method was working wonders.
"Korso, will you be around? I think I may have a business proposition for you. One that might pay you quite well."
Korso laughed and nodded before inputting the address of his inn on the dataslate Qui-Gon had tucked beneath his robes. It was an incredibly odd encounter for Ulrich, and he was happy to see Padme appeared just as confused by the chain of events as he was.
"Let's follow our young friend here, we wouldn't want to be caught in the storm." Qui-Gon said, ushering Anissa to lead the way as they headed off toward the slaver quarter of the city.
That is all. Really short chapter I know, but I promise that the next chapter will resolve our Tatooine section with some changes along the way.
Also I did age up Anissa. Always felt the age gap between Anakin and Padme felt weird. Not as weird as the Naboo selecting a fourteen year old as their leader but hey weird shit is weird shit.
Anyway
Till Next Time