"Anakin?" Obi-Wan said. "Do you have a minute?"

"I have a lot, Master," Anakin replied. "Especially because, 'do you have a minute' translates to 'come over here now'."

"If you were busy, I would respect that, Anakin," Obi-Wan protested. "But… in fact, I wished to introduce you to a friend of Qui-Gon's."

The eleven-year-old Padawan looked interested.

"A friend?" he asked. "I… huh, I guess it should be okay for Jedi to have friends, right?"

"Close friends are perfectly fine," Obi-Wan replied. "He's available, if you wish to speak to him, or I can tell him to come back later."

"I… yeah, sure," Anakin decided, and the door opened.

A fairly elderly man walked in, and bowed.

"Anakin," he said, with a smile. "My name is Eno Cordova, and I would like to ask for your help on a project."

"...uh," Anakin began. "What kind of project? And why me?"

"I have a plan," Master Cordova explained. "Purely a matter of intellectual curiosity, but it has occurred to me that as you are the Chosen One it gives us a unique opportunity to understand the Force."

Anakin blinked.

"...what?" he said. "I… don't get it."

"I have to admit, I'm curious as well," Obi-Wan admitted. "Qui-Gon always believed that the Force was something to be experienced in the moment, not studied, Master Cordova."

"I know," Cordova agreed. "And I've had long discussions with him about that very thing. But in this case, I think we have an opportunity that may as well be… outright unique."

He indicated Anakin. "You are the Chosen One, and that means that, genetically speaking, you are half-Shmi Skywalker and half-Force."

"Is that why you wanted me here?" a voice asked, from outside the room.

Anakin felt like he'd just jumped a foot in the air.

"Mom!?" he asked, incredulously, then ran outside.

"...uh," Obi-Wan said, as the sound of a Skywalker reunion began. "You brought his mother? I… actually didn't think that was possible."

"To my surprise, when I investigated, she was a slave," Master Cordova replied. "Emphasis on was, of course… I brought along a droid Anakin built as well. I know the Jedi Order doesn't really have the resources to start a war with Hutt space, but we should always be asking ourselves if we could be doing more."

"What happened to her master, then?" Obi-Wan asked, feeling a little off-kilter. "And you were talking about genetics?"

"She spoke in favour of her master, so I paid for her," Cordova told him. "The alternative would have been to not do so… and as for the genetics, yes."

He shrugged. "As I say. Anakin Skywalker is half-Shmi Skywalker and half-Force. The fact he's male, not female, indicates that the other half of his genome came from somewhere… I believe it may be possible to examine the resultant information. We can only recover half of the other genome, but once there's been some correction for possible genetic abnormalities it should be possible to come up with a conjectured genetic sequence which is at least ninety-four percent Force."

Obi-Wan blinked, several times.

"...why?" he asked.

"Curiosity," Cordova replied. "The fact that it makes an unhappy young man happier is a welcome side benefit."

He smiled, slightly. "Is what I will say if anyone asks."

AN:

Mad Genetics.