User:Katana Geldar/Trash compactor

The Star Wars wiki of fan invention.

Trash compactor

This is where my deleted scenes, re-written scenes and deleted concepts are for study and comment. I don't throw anything out.

[edit] Jedi Padmé Trilogy

[edit] The Phantom Menace (AU)

[edit] Abandoned concepts

[edit] Attack of the Clones (AU)

[edit] Abandoned concepts

[edit] Revenge of the Sith (AU)

[edit] Abandoned concepts

[edit] Deleted scenes

[edit] Padmé at the play with Danta Pela

This scene was meant to be incorporated when Anakin and Padmé went to the theatre, but then I realised this scene really served no purpose as it detracted from Anakin’s vision and the political aspects of the story needed to be added later.

At interval Padmé excused herself for a moment to answer her comlink. When the bell rang for them to go back in a moment later, Padmé waved Anakin on, following the directions she was given upstairs to one of the few boxes in the theatre.

She knocked at the door and Danta Pela answered it but it was no surprise, it had been his voice on his comlink.

“This is somewhat unexpected, Senator,” Padmé said, sitting in the seat that he indicated.

“Mesa surprised as yousa are to see yousa here,” Danta replied.

Padmé merely nodded, the theatre they were at was not really among the places one went to Coruscant for the purposes of being seen. The Galaxies Opera House was more the venue for that.

“Mesa feel bombad bout approaching you like thees,” Danta murmured, lowering his voice so they could not be heard. “But mesa knows yousa can be trusted.”

”As a Jedi there can be some limits to my discretion, Senator,” Padmé confessed. “But I hardly think I need to exercise those in your case.”

“Yousa seen thesa new security measures Palpatine passed?” Danta asked.

“The ones about the Jedi?” Padmé asked, and Danta nodded. “I have heard of them but haven’t had the chance to glance over them yet. I don’t like it.” Padmé started, surprised she had spoken so bluntly in front of him.

Yet Danta was not surprised at this. “Wesa fear what hesa do next,” Danta told her. “If thesa war ends, will hesa back down yousa think?”

Why was Danta asking her these questions? She hardly seemed the person, and this hardly seemed the place, to broach on such a subject. But something in what he said caught her attention.

“We?” Padmé asked. “Who are the ‘we’? you are talking about?” The Gungan started to answer but Padmé dismissed her question. “Don’t answer that, there are some things that are better left unsaid. But why have you approached me?”

Danta didn’t answer for a moment. “Wesa need to know where the Jedi stand,” he told her finally.

“In relation to where?”

Danta didn’t answer, but Padmé knew.

“I…I don’t know…” she stammered, getting to her feet quickly. “I can’t even ask, but I can get an idea.”

She left the box then, her thoughts whirling and none of them on the performance she was returning to.

[edit] Anakin talks to Dooku, unfinished

This unfinished scene was going to be after Padmé’s conversation with Obi-Wan but it didn’t really go anywhere so I took it out where I left it. Later when I went back to it I added what the scene was really for, the part about stopping Padmé’s death, to the conversation between Padmé and Anakin and the scene wasn’t needed.

Anakin had been turning the idea over in his mind ever since he had left Palpatine’s office yesterday evening. The secret knowledge that only the Sith knew of, knowledge that could stop his vision coming true. Knowledge to save Padmé’s life. Yet there was something disturbing, something that made Anakin hesitate as he walked down to the lower levels of the Temple where Dooku was being held prisoner, the unspoken question: how could a Sith save Padmé’s life if a Sith was meant to kill her?

He quickly dismissed it, somehow anything was worth the effort of saving Padmé even if it went against what the Jedi saw as right.

The Jedi Master monitoring the cells where the prisoners were kept eyed Anakin carefully when he heard the young man’s request. Yet he saw no reason as to deny Anakin access to speak to Dooku. After all, it was Anakin who had managed to best Dooku on board the Invisible Hand.

Dooku was sitting on the low bunk when Anakin entered the cell, the room dim but for the light overhead protected by a thick layer of transparasteel. When he heard the heavy door shut behind him Anakin stepped into the light so he could see Dooku properly.

As Obi-Wan and Nju had described in the Council session, Dooku’s was thinner and paler since his capture—a fact that continued to be unaccounted for as Dooku had not been held very long.

Yet there was no weakness in Dooku’s voice when he spoke to Anakin.

“Well, this is a bit of a surprise.” Dooku surveyed Anakin as an entomologist might study a bug he had pinned on a card to examine closer. “I hope you have explained to Mace and Yoda how you almost killed me in cold blood,” he continued. “Murder is quite unbecoming in a Jedi, Skywalker.”

“And you would know,” Anakin said, his blue eyes boring into Dooku’s face. “Obi-Wan told me about Sifo-Dyas, how he was your friend and you killed him.”

Dooku shrugged as if the matter was of no consequence. “A necessary sacrifice,” he said, smiling slightly, “Sifo-Dyas knew death would come for him some time or another, he just did not know it would come by my hand.” Dooku examined Anakin for a moment longer. “So what is it? I assume you didn’t wander in her because you got lost. Is there something you wanted to say that wasn’t said before?”

Anakin was silent for a moment, how could he approach this?

[edit] Padmé and Anakin's argument, old version

This is not a ‘deleted scene’, rather a re-written one as I saw that it needed to be reworked to have the intention that I meant. This scene originally was after Obi-Wan talked to Cody.

Padmé had been looking for Anakin, yet he found her first. Yet ‘found’ was a rather passive word for the way he approached her. It was more like a confrontation.

“What did you speak to Obi-Wan about?” he demanded.

Padmé gave him an arch look which brought his anger down several degrees. “You don’t have to talk to me like that, Anakin,” she reminded him. “And if you must know he’s worried about you.”

“He is?” Suddenly Anakin felt very stupid for approaching her in this way.

“Yes, he says you’ve been moody lately,” Padmé said.

They walked together out into the gardens, forlornly empty like it always had been since the war began.

“And?”

Padmé sighed, even though Anakin had the tendency to go off the deep end with an issue he could be surprisingly astute at times.

“Anakin, he’s your best friend and he’s concerned,” Padmé explained. “He’s worried that you might be…making wrong choices.”

“Are not those choices mine to make anyway?” Anakin glowered at her, surveyed the garden but seeing it not. “He doesn’t trust me, neither does the Council.”

“Obi-Wan trusts you with his life,” Padmé reminded him. “He loves you like a son, you can’t say such things.”

“But why didn’t they make me a Master?” Anakin asked her.

“Didn’t I once tell you that things normally happen when you don’t ask for them?” Padmé reminded him. “That they normally just happen anyway, like when you passed the trials?”

Anakin had to admit she had a point. It had been about four years ago when he had been angry at the Council and Obi-Wan for holding him back, then he got a call to go before the Council and he was made a Jedi Knight then and there. No prior notice, not even a hint from Obi-Wan or Master Yoda.

Yet something about that reminded him what Palpatine had told him. Of that Sith legend that may be the only way for Padmé to survive.

“I have found a way to save you,” he told her.

“Save me?” Padmé stared at him.

“From my nightmares,” he said, trying to keep as calm as possible.

“Is that what’s bothering you?” she asked him.

“I think of nothing else.” He turned away for a moment, remembering what Palpatine had said over and over again. “I won’t lose you Padmé, I won’t let it happen.”

“You don’t have to worry about that, Anakin,” she told him, stepping around so he could see her. “I’ve encountered a Sith and survived two…no three times and the third was thanks to you.” She touched his hand. “There’s nothing to be afraid of, I promise you.”

“No.” He turned away from her touch. “That’s not good enough for me.”

[edit] Padmé's confrontation with Sidious, first version unfinished

This is not really a scene, more like half a scene as I could see it really wasn’t working. This scene occurred after the Jedi circle on Dooku and Nju and the conflict within Anakin was apparent rather earlier than I would liked. What Padmé needed to do was stall for time to try and get Anakin on her side before she realises there’s nothing she could do.

“Padmé can’t you see he wants to help us?” Anakin said. “The Jedi told us how to view the Sith, can’t you see him who he is?”

Padmé stared at Anakin as if he were a complete stranger. “You’re the one that’s blind Anakin.” She turned to see Palpatine…or Sidious as she thought she should think of him, waiting expectantly for…what?

Anakin would make the right choice and ignore Sidious was saying, wouldn’t he? Wouldn’t he?

The problem was that Padmé knew she could get through to Anakin, she knew his vulnerabilities as well as Sidious did. For she knew above else, Anakin was loyal to her, even to a certain extent above his loyalty to Obi-Wan. Yet she wasn't as willing to utilise these, as Sidious was. The only way Padmé could try and convince him was simple persuasion, and Anakin was not to be persuaded easily if at all.

“Anakin…” She tried to find something familiar in his face, some part of the young man she had known on Naboo…on Tatooine… Yet what looked back at her what a shadow of the Anakin had known, a darker and colder version of what he had been. Yet his face was not the same closed mask of Renust Nju, and neither was it the cool elegance of Dooku. There was hope here, however small, but what could she do?

Padmé had never felt so helpless.

Sidious seemed to sense this.

[edit] Padmé confronts Sidious, first version

This scene was meant to be a replacement for the one above, but it wasn't as strong as I liked. I felt I needed to have Sidious leading the conversation rather than Padmé.

As much as she wanted to be honest with Anakin, Padmé knew she couldn’t do this in front of the Chancellor.

No, she corrected herself harshly, he’s not the Chancellor, he’s a Sith Lord. She couldn’t get anywhere unless she saw Sidious as he was and not who he had claimed to be for more than seventeen years.

Suddenly a thought occurred to her, Palpatine might be Sidious but the character of the politician was not there. Padmé had never particularly liked him, not since he had orchestrated the election then won Chancellorship.

There was a certain cool arrogance, a certain pompousness and…satisfaction around him while he quietly pulled strings and moved circumstances to his own advantage. Asking him for details would firstly, stall for time until someone else arrived and would perhaps get Anakin on her side when he saw the dissembler he truly was.

“So you planned this all along, did you?” Padmé asked. “First with Maxah and the Trade Federation, and then with Dooku and the Separatists?”

“Of course not!” Sidious said as if insulted. “Maxah was intended to be the beginning of the end for the Jedi,” he glared at her for a moment, “an end that you ruined.”

“How?” Padmé gave an acid smile, this could get interesting.

“By getting Nalanda offworld, that’s how,” Sidious snapped. “I did everything I could, I even gave her specific orders to eliminate you but she failed. Failed miserably.”

“Perhaps you overestimate yourself,” Padmé suggested dryly.

Sidious gave her such a black look that Padmé was taken aback. “Let me tell you one thing, little Jedi,” he said in a low voice that chilled Padmé to the core. “The only obstacle in my plans so far has been you, more than once I tried to rectify this but it came to nothing.”

Padmé smiled quietly, this ranting speech had more or less confirmed her previous remark. His overconfidence in believing that his plans could not fail had blinded him to the many pitfalls in his path, and the Force usually had a way of interfering.

“And the war, that was your intention all along wasn't it?” Padmé flashed. “You meant for Imbroglio to fail, you meant for Nalanda and all the others to be killed.”

“Nalanda was becoming a….a liability,” Sidious informed her. “Unfortunate, but necessary.”

“What about Dooku?” Padmé asked him. “Was he meant to be a distraction for your spy Nju?”

“Neither of them were never meant to be anything more than temporary,” Sidious replied. “In fact, I would very much doubt if they lived much longer even though Dooku was meant to be killed on the Invisible Hand.” At this he glared at Anakin. “I would have seen to it that he would be dead, yet it matters little now.”

“And Nju?” Padmé had to know this. “How did you manage to get him on your side?”

Sidious smiled quietly. “That you will have to ask him,” the Sith Lord said. “I am sure what he tells you will be quite…illuminating.”

Padmé closed her eyes, she couldn’t stand this any longer. The Sith was sitting there and smirking at her! Yet it was not this that enraged Padmé, not his calm confidence at the success of his plans, but his callousness, his complete disregard for the millions upon millions of deaths.

She glared at Anakin, why was he just standing there? Why didn’t he say something? Could she even trust him?

Her anger continued to build, what was stopping her from killing him then and there. She was armed, he was not. Sidious just continued to sit there.

“Good,” he murmured, closing his eyes and smiling indulgently. “I can feel your anger, it gives you focus.” He opened his eyes and stared at her. “Yet it was never you that I wanted.”

“I’m still standing in your way,” Padmé said through clenched teeth.

“An anomaly easily rectified,” Sidious remarked.

“You underestimate me,” Padmé declared, “you still think that I can’t be trusted to do what is right.”

“I know you can,” the Sith replied. “The question is, will it happen.”

“Count on it,” Padmé said, igniting her lightsaber and bringing it down over Palpatine.

She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the green blade sear through him as she knew it would. Yet her weapon struck something, blocked by…She opened her eyes.

“Anakin!”

[edit] Varicean Saga

[edit] The Chosen Apprentice

[edit] Deleted scenes

[edit] Yoda and C-3PO at Republic Intelligence

This was an early scene, placed just after Anakin and Obi-Wan’s first conversation in the Temple. In a lot of ways I was unsatisfied with it and much later on when I was re-editing for a final draft I saw it wasn't needed. There was far too much stuff about Gunray when the story was really all about Anakin. There’s also far too many continuity errors in this part for me to be comfortable with it.

“Are you sure this is safe, Master Yoda?” C-3PO asked as he followed the Jedi Master from the airspeeder. “I mean, he’s not going to attack us is he?”

“Seeing Viceroy Gunray we will not be,” Yoda told the protocol droid. “Active role we cannot take in his interrogation, need only to see the results we do.”

“Well that’s a relief,” Threepio said. “I was beginning to be worried.”

While Yoda did not like droids as a rule as they often could be far too literal in following instructions, he had to admit that C-3PO did have uses. The protocol droid had been built by Anakin Skywalker, yet the Jedi Master suspected that it was rare the two ever came in contact. Partly he couldn’t blame young Anakin; the droid did tend to go on a little too much.

Since the end of the war Threepio had remained in the Jedi Temple, not really the property of anyone it was just that he continued to find himself useful there. Sometimes he served as a translator; he also worked with the Temple computer systems and communication. Yet some of the other purposes were like why he accompanied Yoda now, all the Jedi Master needed was a way of recording documents so they could later hook Threepio up to a computer terminal for retrieval. It was precarious enough that the Jedi were involved in the trial of Nute Gunray, even indirectly. Active involvement would attract opposition in several already volatile quarters, this was best to be avoided at all costs.

At his approach to Republic Intelligence the soldiers on duty snapped to attention and saluted. He waved them off, the Jedi no longer held any military rank, this had ceased several months after the war had ended.

“Ah, Master Yoda, we have been expecting you.” Yrats B’Dun, a ranking commander and intelligence operative greeted him. He was not a clone, there were clones left in the Grand Army of the Republic but the ranks had also swelled with the series of recruitment drives. B’Dun had been a recruit in the last years of the war and since then had risen through the ranks. He was a Duros and the grey uniform was somewhat strained over his skeletal frame.

“Gunray is now under interrogation as we speak,” B’Dun informed him. “If you would care to observe the—”

Yoda waved this suggestion away. “Interested I am in what you have found, Commander,” he said decisively, his hands perched on his gimer stick.

“Of course, of course,” B’Dun said, walking up to a doorway and keying in a code. “Please,” he offered a hand to let the Jedi Master pass yet held up an arm as C-3PO approached. “I am sorry Master Yoda but this droid must remain outside,” he said. “We can only allow those with certain clearance into the parts of the building I am to take you.”

“Master Yoda,” said Threepio, “perhaps Commander B’Dun is—”

“With me the droid is,” Yoda asserted, giving the protocol droid a hard look “clearance I have applies to the droid as well. Understand this you do?”

B’Dun made an effort to protest, then decided against it. “My apologies,” he said, letting the droid pass and closing the door behind them.

“Cooperated the Viceroy has with the interrogation?” Yoda asked as they walked through the building to the more secure areas in the middle.

B’Dun smiled. “He has increasingly demanded his lawyer, special food which we do not need to supply and a change to a more comfortable cell in the complex.” Yoda smiled, B’Dun noted this. “Needless to say that I have refused every one of these demands and my men have done the same. As for the interrogation he continually makes himself out to be the victim.” “Understandable this is,” noted Yoda, “only line of defence he has.”

They arrived at another door, this time with no numeric pad to open it. B’Dun pressed his thumb to the metallic plate and it opened, he ushered Yoda and C-3PO through before closing the door behind him.

B’Dun then led them around a corner and through another door, as they walked Yoda could hear shouts echoing from a room they passed.

“I had no choice!” screamed the voice of Nute Gunray. “If I did not go along I could have lost everything.” “Convincing is this victim role?” Yoda inquired as they continued, B’Dun shook his head.

“I am well aware how devious Neimoidians can be,” the Duros replied. “Yet we cannot hold him here much longer, before the end of the week he will be charged.”

“So soon?” Yoda asked, this seemed unusual.

“There’s a push from the top of the chain to get this done quickly,” B’Dun explained. “The sooner he’s out of here, the better, I say.”

Yoda murmured in agreement as B’Dun, opened another door that led to an office, his own.

B’Dun office was piled high with datasheets and the desk was so crowded that only a clear space of five centimetres square remained.

“If you’ll excuse the mess,” B’Dun said with a shrug, moving several piles of documents aside.

B’Dun waved Yoda into the chair, which he had had to foresight to equip with an adjustable height lever. Consequently, Yoda was able to get into the chair with ease as well as raise it so he was a comfortable height in contrast to B’Dun B’Dun shuffled through several datasheets before taking out a bound stack of documents that was wearing away the clasps that held him together. Yoda stared at it for a moment.

“All this you have in several days?”

B’Dun smiled. “No, we’ve been collecting information him for…” He leaned back and licked his lips. “I’d say about twenty years at least. Some of the stuff we can’t use as it was brought in as evidence for his trials for the Naboo blockade, but it’s quite extensive.”

There came a sharp rap on the door.

“Who is it?” B’Dun asked.

The door opened, in came a tall female with long red hair poked her head through the door. B’Dun waved her in and she gave him a datasheet.

“Sick of him already, huh Lieutenant?” B’Dun asked her.

“There’s nothing more we can get from him, boss,” she said. “It’ll be only a matter of time before he refuses to talk.”

“I see, thank you,” he said, nodding her away. As she left the room she noticed Yoda sitting in the chair, eyes running over Gunray’s file intently. She frowned slightly, what was he doing here?

Threepio stood somewhat dejectedly behind Master Yoda, his photoreceptors registering the documents as Yoda glanced at them all in turn. What was he supposed to do? Yoda had never mentioned the purpose of Threepio accompanying him. And could even a Jedi Master read as quickly as Yoda seemed to be? Even B’Dun was astonished at how quickly Yoda got through the file.

“Is there anything you would suggest, Master Yoda?” he asked the Jedi Master. “Perhaps you could suggest how my operatives could better handle the interrogations.”

Yoda shook his head. “My help you do not require, Commander,” he told the Duros, closing the file with a satisfied air. “Correct you were, extensive you information is. Needed I did to view this information so prepared the Jedi would be when begin Gunray’s trial does.”

B’Dun smiled. “I am glad that this has met with your approval, Master Yoda,” he said. “I will pass on what you have said to my team. May there be any other service I can perform for you?”

“Thank you no,” Yoda replied, levering the chair down and getting to his feet. “Taken up too much of your time already I have.”

“It was no trouble,” B’Dun said, coming to stand near the Jedi Master. “Will you permit me to accompany you to your speeder?”

When they were outside again, Threepio thought he would ask Yoda why he had come along. After all, the Jedi Master had not spoken with him once when they were inside and neither had he been expected to comment.

Yoda declined an answer. “Necessary it was for you to accompany me,” he told the droid, relating no more information than that.

[edit] Bail Organa, Mon Mothma and Danta on the Jedi Mission

This scene was really nothing more than a ‘filler’ between the scenes when Obi-Wan finds Anakin on the floor in the Temple and when Obi-Wan is speaking to Bant. There was far too much polit6ics in the story anyway.

Bail, Mon Mothma and Danta walked together on a platform outside the Senate building, after a particularly turbulent morning session.

Stokra had blatantly attacked the Alderaanian senator by asking him why he had sent his Jedi friends to force him to detract his statements. Bail had amiably replied that he had not known that a Jedi had called on Stokra, and this was true though he had suspected it would happen anyway.

The green humanoid refused to retract his allegations, even at the request of Chancellor Amedda, and would have stirred the Senate into a frenzy again if the Vice-Chair Dekau had not intervened.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Bail,” the Chandrillan senator said tersely.

So do I, Organa added in thought. Aloud he said, “Gunray will be indicted in a matter of days, his trial will take a lot of publicity away from what’s happening here.”

“Theysa can only be good thing,” Danta remarked.

They stopped for a moment a small recess and Bail spoke in a low voice. “Did you manage to get those security records?” Danta nodded. “Stokra may knows about thees, wesa need to be careful.”

“The important thing is that they exist,” Bail told him. “I’ll see if I can convince Amedda that this is important enough to send a Jedi.”

“Yousa think that’s wise?” Danta asked.

Organa shrugged. “It can only help.”

[edit] Obi-Wan and Amedda

:Some more ‘filler’ scenes that didn’t have to be there. The story was too long and I could tell instead of show.

He found out the full details when he saw Amedda later that afternoon.

“There’s a diplomatic packet that will be vital to Gunray’s trial,” the Chancellor explained. “It seems routine yet with what’s going on I’d estimate it would be far from easy.”

“I understand,” Obi-Wan accepted with a nod. “And no doubt if we’re seen to assist in the process of justice this polarisation over the constitution will be over.”

Amedda smiled quietly. “I only wish I could be sure,” he murmured. “I’m sorry this is short notice, but we need it as soon as possible.”

“Of course,” Obi-Wan replied, “I’ll set out as soon as I can.”

Still incensed by what Artoo had shown him, Anakin wandered through the Temple and found himself in the gardens. His anger was no surprise, yet why he had he not spoken of it to Obi-Wan? He knew that his former Master knew something was wrong, and perhaps even sensed what it was about. Even though he was no longer his Padawan learner, Obi-Wan still managed to see through Anakin like transparasteel.

At times it could get infuriating.

His comlink buzzed on his belt, at first he was annoyed but he answered it. Perhaps it would be Anakin telling him that the Council had a mission for him.

“Anakin?” It was Obi-Wan. “I need to see you right now, I’m in the hangar.”

“The hangar?” This was surprising.

“Yes, the hangar,” Obi-Wan repeated. “I’m leaving shortly for Naboo.”

[edit] Danta in bed

This is another filler scene, but it was taken out after the next one. I realised that with the scene discussing Obi-Wan’s journey was not there, this scene really had no place.

Early in the morning, Danta was awakened by his aide tapping on the door. After he murmured for him to come in and threw on a robe his aide handed him a comlink.

“It’s bad,” he told the Gungan Senator. “I wouldn’t have come in like this if it wasn’t.”

Still not completely awake, Danta took the comlink.

“Yes?” he asked absently.

“Stokra has learned about the security holograms,” said a voice on the other end, “he plans to intercept Kenobi’s ship.” Danta blinked, the information slowly dawning on him.

He swore.

[edit] Senators on Obi-Wan and trial

Yet another ‘filler’ scene and far too much politics. It seemed somewhat absurd that the senators were worried about Obi-Wan.

“He’s a Jedi, Bail,” Mon Mothma reminded him, “there’s no need to worry, he can take care of himself.”

“But if the ship is intercepted…” Bail did not need to finish the sentence.

They were in Danta’s apartment, having been there ever since the Gungan had related the news. While Danta and Mothma were quietly confident that things would work out for the best, Bail wasn’t so sure.

Organa shook his head. “This is really all we had to play against Stokra,” he reminded them. “If this gets into his hands we can lose all.”

No one said anything.

As if on cue Bail’s aide chose this moment to announce Senator Eekway.

“Gunray has been indicted,” she told them, her eyes shining underneath the immense crimson mantle that covered her head and shoulders.

They turned to look at her.

“What charges are thesa?” Danta asked.

“There are a lot,” Eekway told them, sitting down and Bail took a seat next to her. “But the sum of them are war crimes, several unlawful occupation charges, treason and murder.”

“Murder?” Mon Mothma asked.

“Senator Nalanda,” Eekway replied, “it’s a very long story yet Gunray was behind it all.”

Bail had known this for a long time, ever since the assassination attempts had begun he had long suspected it. He stroked his beard thoughtfully. “And now,” he said meditatively, “he faces trial.”

“Well not right now,” Mon Mothma interjected. “Gunray will want delay, you can count on that.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Eekway suggested, “by all reports the tribunal pushed for a speedy trial date and all indications show that is what will happen.”

“So a matter of months?” Mothma asked.

“No,” Eekway replied. “Weeks.”

[edit] Obi-Wan and Anakin

This scene was hard to drop, but it shows a significant development in Anakin’s character that takes place far too early in the story given what happens afterwards. This scene was right after Anakin saw the Council after getting arrested.

“So what’s going on?” Obi-Wan asked Anakin as they walked back after the session was over.

Anakin paused for a moment. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Obi-Wan observed dryly, “I only happened to notice that before I left you were ready to strangle me and now you’re not. Do I need to thank anyone for this change?”

Anakin flushed, evading Obi-Wan’s eye yet the Jedi Master noticed this. “Oh, I see,” Obi-Wan chuckled, “something has happened hasn’t it? Perhaps I should leave you with something constructive to do more often.”

Anakin narrowed his eyes. “You call teaching a class of children constructive?”

“Is it what the teacher teaches or what the student learns?” Obi-Wan asked repeating a time-worn Jedi maxim. “I hope you haven’t passed on any bad habits.”

“Not as many as you have,” Anakin returned, smiling for a moment then realising what he was doing.

Obi-Wan noticed this yet chose not to comment on it, he knew if he pressed Anakin further on what had happened in his absence he would get no answers at all. Perhaps this is what we needed, Obi-Wan thought as they walked on in silence for a few minutes, perhaps this is what makes the Anakin I know come back.

“So are you going to tell me what kept you on Naboo for so long?” Anakin asked him. “Or did you suddenly take a liking to space travel?”

Grinning, Obi-Wan shook his head. “No, it wasn’t like that,” he admitted.

“So what was it like?”

“I actually ran into one of your friends,” he said.

“Who?”

“Han Solo,” Obi-Wan replied, “that boy you got off Etti IV.”

“Oh him,” Anakin said dismissively.

“You were right, he’s not bad in a fight,” Obi-Wan remarked. “It was actually Solo who saved our skins.”

“So what happened?” Anakin asked.

Obi-Wan related the story of the space pirates, and surprisingly Anakin found himself enjoying it. As they walked through the Temple together, Obi-Wan could not help but feel that he had finally got his best friend back.

[edit] Senator Perenine

This scene was a last minute removal, though it had been bothering me for quite some time. I finally took it out when I realised that it wasn't really part of Anakin’s character to talk to politicians willing, evidenced by the scene with him, Obi-Wan and Stokra. Instead, I expanded The Seventh Star scenes as Anakin’s source of information.

Larell Perenine, Senator for Avingnon disembarked her speeder with a sigh. It had been a long session, longer still due to Stokra’s antics. Perenine still wasn't completely sure what Stokra’s plans were, but for all that she didn’t like them. She was met by her aide, a silver-haired man named Nares.

“There’s a Jedi waiting to see you, Senator,” Nares told her, “I told him to wait, but if you like I can make your excuses to him.”

Perenine sat on the contoured wooden chair and brought up a security screen of the apartment’s antechamber. Normally used for monitoring intruders, yet she found it immensely useful for screening her visitors.

The Jedi waiting for her was Anakin Skywalker, and she was not likely to forget him in a hurry after what had happened five years ago.

“Show him in, Nares,” Perenine said, wondering what he had come about.

Nares left then came back with Skywalker, the Jedi bowed slightly as he was announced and refused refreshments when they were offered to him.

“I am much surprised that you have come to see me, Jedi Skywalker,” said Perenine diplomatically, “given your current activities, it would be understandable if you kept politicians at arms length.”

Anakin shrugged. “That’s why I have come, Senator,” he told her. “What I want is to get to the bottom of it.” “And no doubt you will,” remarked Perenine.

The Jedi looked away uncomfortably. “I’m not used to flattery, Senator,” he told her.

“It’s not flattery,” Perenine explained, “the Republic is indebted to both you and Master Naberrie, I consider myself honoured to have known you personally.”

Anakin looked even more uncomfortable, yet how could the senator have known that Padmé was a sore issue with him. He cleared his throat. “I was hoping you’d be able to help, Senator,” he said, his blue eyes avoiding her gaze. “Do you remember Jedi Shinai Stel-Ardak?”

Perenine nodded. “I believe that was the Jedi you and Master Naberrie faced on Avingnon five years ago.” She raised an eyebrow. “Was he not killed?”

“I don’t think he was,” Anakin told her. “There was a Jedi inquiry into his death but—”

“His body was not recovered,” Perenine finished, “I remember it well.” She paused for a moment, folding her hands in her lap. “So you say the body was never recovered because he was…alive?”

Anakin nodded. “That’s what it looks like, but he would have been badly hurt,” he replied, “perhaps he got offplanet. But I believe he didn’t, as the wound he suffered meant he couldn’t go far.”

“So you want me to ask if he was treated on Avingnon?” Perenine asked. “Forgive me for asking, but would it not be better to find out first-hand what happened? I could even help you there.”

“I have to remain on Coruscant for Nute Gunray’s trial,” Anakin admitted, “That’s why I was hoping you could help me out here.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Perenine promised, “though I must warn you that it may not be much, it has been five years you understand.”

“Whatever you can do,” Anakin said with a nod.

Perenine smiled and then got to her feet. “I’m sorry but I’m going to have to let you go, Jedi Skywalker. I’ll let you know how my contacts respond in a few days.”

“Thank you for your assistance,” Anakin said, smiling as he inclined his head respectfully and then left her.

Perenine frowned after he had gone, Skywalker’s request had troubled her. There was every chance that what was uncovered through this search could reflect badly against her. And if that was the case, could she release the information freely?

[edit] Bail on Gunray's trial

Still another *yawn* filler scene. The information in this scene could be conveyed another way.

“The end of the week?” Organa asked Danta. “But isn’t that a bit too soon?”

Danta shrugged. “With theysa evidence now theysa pushing for a speedy trial,” the Gungan said.

They were in a speeder on the way to the Senate building, Danta’s aide had revealed the information just before they had lifted off: Gunray’s trial date had been set.

“As we’ve already heard,” pointed out Mon Mothma dryly, “none of the other trials were this quick, Po Nudo’s was delayed for months with adjournments and supposed ‘lack of evidence’.”

“And not to mention the fact that he changed lawyers about six times,” Organa reminded her.

Mothma nodded. “But I was wondering,” she continued, her voice low and thoughtful, “that there’s a push because of the new constitution.”

“Unlikely,” Bail disagreed, “Gunray’s likely to be tried, convicted, sentenced and probably dead before it’s anywhere near finished.”

“But yousa said that Gunray’s trial coulda rush forwards thees,” Danta pointed out.

“I did, I did,” Organa said with a nod, “but this was before the attack, and how can we account for that now?”

She shook her head, she would make that decision when it came.

[edit] Anakin and Obi-Wan on dreams

This scene was meant to take place directly after Anakin saw Senator Perenine. I then realised that Anakin needed to be talking about his visions earlier so inserted the scene with him and Master Yoda.

I had to take it out, even though I like Obi-Wan’s ‘real estate’ line. And I was not 100% happy with this scene as towards the end it does ramble on a bit and there was also information that needed to be in there, but wasn’t.

Anakin arrived back at the Temple in time to see Obi-Wan leaving his saber-training class. Several of the younglings smiled and said hello as they left, Anakin handled this the best he could though he deliberately ignored the gaze of Sona Cantari.

Obi-Wan noticed this. “She asks about you, you know,” he said.

“And what did you tell her?” Anakin asked. “A blow-by-blow account of my fight with Dooku?”

Obi-Wan laughed. “No, that’s what all of the rest ask about you,” he replied. “She asked me why you were always upset.”

“And what did you say?” Anakin probed.

“I told her that some wounds are harder to heal than others,” Obi-Wan said.

Anakin glowered at him. “I’m working on it, okay?”

“No, you’re not,” Obi-Wan murmured.

They walked on in silence for a few minutes, and suddenly Anakin realised why the conversation between him and Sona had seemed so familiar. That question, Why are you so sad?, was more or less what he had said to Padmé on Queen Nalanda’s starship when they had left Tatooine.

You seem sad, he had said to Padmé, and she had replied in the same way that he had to Sona, I lost someone very close to me.

“Anakin, are you all right?” Obi-Wan asked him.

“Yes,” Anakin replied, the automatic response.

“Then why is that column suddenly so interesting?” inquired Obi-Wan.

Anakin started, he hadn't realised he had almost walked into a tall column and was staring right at it. Had he been concentrating that much?

“Come on, what’s on your mind?” Obi-Wan asked him. “I’ve asked you before but you still haven’t answered me.”

“It…doesn’t matter,” Anakin replied, falling into step beside him again.

“Anakin, if it’s constantly taking up real estate in your brain it does matter,” Obi-Wan pointed out.

Anakin sighed, they had reached another of the outside balconies. “I was going to talk to you anyway,” he admitted, “but I got sidetracked.”

This wasn’t surprising to Obi-Wan, but he waited for Anakin to speak again.

“I’ve been having…dreams again,” he said finally, gripping the rail of the balcony to tight that his knuckles turned white.

“Do you think they are of the future?” Obi-Wan asked him, Anakin had had such visions before and knew that it was best to be cautious with them.

“No, I mean I don’t think so.” He looked up at Obi-Wan. “I mean, how can you have a vision about something that can’t happen?”

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. “I don’t understand,” he said.

“Neither do I,” admitted Anakin, “they seem to real, and when I wake up I think that…I’ve done it…really.”

“Done what?”

“Killed her.” Anakin still refused to say her name out loud, yet Obi-Wan knew it was a step getting Anakin to even refer to Padmé.

“That's impossible, Anakin,” Obi-Wan reassured, “you told me what happened with Sidious and even you agreed that it’s not your fault—”

“This is not about Sidious!” Anakin interrupted angrily. “He was only in one of my dreams, and he told me that I killed her.” Anakin paused for a moment. “At least, I think it was him,” he continued doubtfully, “he looked as attractive as a Hutt’s breakfast.”

Obi-Wan made a face. “Nice.” He put his hand on top of Anakin’s. “Anakin, you know that blaming yourself for something you didn’t do is not going to get you anywhere.”

Anakin screwed his eyes shut. “I know that,” he murmured, looking away from Obi-Wan. “Yet that’s kinda hard to forget when it was me in a dream that closed her wind-pipe and watched her die.”

Obi-Wan shivered noticeably, this was something he had not prepared to confront. But what could he say? He had his own suspicions about the dreams, he figured they were some metaphor telling Anakin to let go of his pain, yet how could he explain that to him.

I know he best way to get Anakin to see another point of view is to get him to fall over it, Obi-Wan said to himself, He’s already doing that with investigating Shinai’s death, and Gunray’s trial is going to do that in a big way. Yet how to tell him that he’s already doing something…

“What did I tell you when we arrived at Avingnon for the peace talks?” Obi-Wan asked him. “Can you remember?”

Anakin thought for a moment. “Something about how your interpretation can depend on the point of view you hold?”

“Exactly,” Obi-Wan said with a nod. “And what is your point of view on these dreams, Anakin?”

Anakin considered this. “You know,” he admitted after a while, “I’m not even sure I have one, other than the fact that I want them to be over.”

“And I think I said something else,” Obi-Wan continued, “something about how to approach an unknown situation?”

“I remember,” Anakin replied, “we ask the situation three questions.”

“And those are?”

“First we ask ‘What?’ ” Anakin said, his eyes downcast with the recollection. “As once we ask this question it no longer is the situation unknown.”

“And then?”

“And then we ask ‘Why?’ ” Anakin continued. “For even if there isn’t a ‘Why?’ by asking the question we can get to the reasons behind it, the third question.”

“Which is?”

“ ‘How?’ ” Anakin told him. “Because here we can understand what’s going on, and what we need to do if we have to interfere.” He looked at Obi-Wan. “Did I pass?”

“Barely,” Obi-Wan said. “Now tell me, how’s your investigation going?”

They walked inside, Anakin relating the details of the meeting with Senator Perenine.

[edit] Anakin with Nares

As Anakin doesn’t go to see Perenine, he doesn’t come into contact with Nares. These scene were replaced by the one of Miarka contacting Anakin and then Anakin returning to The Seventh Star to talk to Papanoida.

Anakin knew he was at a dead end with the data from Stokra’s apartment, so he knew he had to start with what he had, and that was what he knew about Shinai Stel-Ardak. As Obi-Wan had said in that roundabout way of his, he needed proof. And that meant he had to probe deeper into the Jedi’s supposed death, even if it meant facing memories he would rather not.

When he arrived at the Avingnon Consulate he was advised that Senator Perenine was currently at a Senate session and if he would be so kind to wait he would be advised when Perenine was available.

Reluctantly, Anakin took a seat on the white leather couch, frowning at the elaborate tapestries and costly artworks. If the senator was as he remembered her, he would either get no help at all or she would do all she could to assist him. And as much as he disliked talking to politicians, he knew he had to do something to further the investigation.

Five years ago, during the war, her system had been the location of the truce between the Separatist and Republic forces. Consequently Bail Organa and several others had made the offer of peace talks on the planet that was between the two armies. Surprisingly, Derida Sarsur, the leader of the Droid Army at the time, had accepted but the talks had gone as well as the summit on Imbroglio three years previously. The politicians had barely escaped with their lives and this had led to Palpatine announcing that the Confederacy would be given no mercy or quarter, the war would continue until the Separatists were defeated.

What he and Padmé had discovered that the peace talks were in fact sabotaged by the Jedi Knight Shinai Stel-Ardak. They had managed to track Shinai and stop him from killing Senator Organa, but it was Padmé who finished him off, chasing him through Angevin City and stabbing him with her lightsaber on the top of a moving speeder. Anakin hadn't been with her, he had been piloting their speeder some distance back after Padmé had jumped out to get to Shinai, yet he had seen him fall into the bowels of the city.

Padmé had presumed him dead, both the fall and the wound attributed to that, yet for some reason they had never been able to find his body. Anakin now wanted to know why, though it was unlikely that he would get any answers given it had been so long ago.

The second day of Gunray’s trial opened very much like the first. There was a large crowd outside the courtroom that watched the armoured speeder enter the Palace of Justice—but this time no camera droids—were sent as well as a made scramble for seats inside the courtroom.

And just like the previous day, Anakin went in the back door and leaned against the wall in the empty foyer. The clonetroopers stationed at the door took barely any notice of him as he stood there. Yet he wasn't there for long, his comlink buzzed and Anakin took it off his belt to answer it, hoping it wasn't Obi-Wan checking up on him.

“Skywalker here,” he said into it.

“Jedi Skywalker, this is Nares Lethe, Senator Perenine’s aide,” said the voice on the other end. “I believe I have some information for you that might be of use.”

“Is this about Shinai Stel-Ardak?’ Anakin asked.

“Well…not exactly,” Nares replied somewhat hesitantly.

Anakin raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“I think it would be better if I explained this to you in person,” Nares told him. “Can I set a time when you will be free?”

“My time is not my own at the moment,” Anakin said.

“Of course, Gunray’s trial,” acknowledged Nares. “Perhaps in the middle of the day? I heard they recess for a few hours.”

“Yes, that would be fine,” Anakin said. “I’ll be there.”

“Of course,” Nares assented, ending the communication.

Anakin replaced the comlink back on his belt and returned to staring at the ceiling.

“Flimone has called for a recess and it is of my opinion within two hours Master Anakin Skywalker will take the stand,” said the Twi’lek reporter to the broadcaster.

“Thank you, we’ll get back to you then, Celune,” said the broadcaster, starting to speak on something else before the projector was switched off.

“This trial’s got so much publicity and the vote had hardly any,” complained Senator Perenine as she left the room for her inner office.

“Perhaps that is a good thing, Senator,” Nares suggested, he glanced frantically at the chrono on the wall. Skywalker was due to arrive soon and the senator had yet to leave for a reception she was attending.

Fortunately she changed quickly, leaving the apartment with her female aide in tow.

“Remember to tell no one where I am, Nares,” Perenine warned as she walked off.

“Of course, Senator,” Nares replied, breathing a sigh of relief after she left.

At the request of the senator Nares had searched the Avingnon records for traces of the Jedi Shinai Stel-Ardak. Perenine’s instructions had been for a cursory search, not giving the Jedi too much information. When this had revealed nothing Nares had gone beyond the call of duty to continue the search and he had come across something rather curious. A little left-of-field, but it was none the less information that he could give to Skywalker.

Anakin arrived then, bowing slightly but Nares waved this off.

“I'm no one important, there’s no need,” he said, waving for Anakin to follow him to his office at the back of the apartment. “Senator Perenine doesn’t know about this, right?”

“About what?” Anakin asked, playing along perfectly.

When the door was closed Nares brought out a stack of datacards. “It’s not much,” he said, frowning slightly. “But I managed to find her, I even got you an address.”

Anakin stared. “Her?”

Nares sat down. “I’ll have to tell you the whole story,” he explained. “For starters, I found nothing in the medical records on Avingnon on the details you gave me to look for. But.” He raised a finger as he spoke. “I did find some rather…strange details.”

Anakin leaned closer. “How strange?”

“Well…large quantities of medical supplies going missing,” Nares told him. “Bacta bandages, bota, skin poppers, that kinda thing.”

Anakin let out a low whistle. That kind of theft was serious during wartime. “Did they find who did it?”

“Naturally,” Nares replied. “A lowly orderly named Martreyea Kittern, a young woman. She was summarily dismissed and nine months later she comes into the records again.”

Anakin’s eyes widened. “You mean?”

Nares nodded. “A son named Arrin Kittern was born, with no sign of a father around.”

In shock, Anakin leaned back in his chair, letting his breath out in a slow exhale. He hadn’t anticipated this. To him Shinai was as much the assassin that he had been on Avingnon five years later. To discover that he had perhaps married and was a father…Was this why Shinai was no longer a Jedi?

“Are they still on Avingnon?” Anakin asked.

“No, they left a short time ago, at least according to the records I have,” he said. “And I did a bit of a follow-up for you, they were recorded arriving on Coruscant about a standard week ago.”

A week…Anakin thought for a moment, that fit right in with the attack on Stokra. Had Shinai hoped to set up shop on the Capital world? It appeared to be the case.

“You said you had an address?” Anakin asked.

Nares pushed the pile of datacards towards him. “Everything you need to know is in here, just don’t ask me how I got some of it.”

Anakin pocketed the datacards. “Thanks,” he said. “What made you decide to help?”

“Unlike Senator Perenine I don’t side with the Jedi for purely political reasons,” Nares said. “The first sign of trouble she’ll join Stokra’s camp, you watch.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Anakin said, he stood up and they shook hands. “Thanks again.”

“Hey, it’s my pleasure,” Nares said with a smile. “Always glad to help out a Jedi.”

He smiled and chatted amiably as he saw Anakin out, still beaming when he went back to his office

[edit] Anakin and Threepio

This scene I hated to leave out but had to in the end as I changed my mind about Anakin tracking Shinai. My original story did not have Anakin finding him until just before they fight, but it was more dramatic if they had met earlier. I’ll try and use the Anakin and Threepio humour in a later story.

As simple as it seemed, Anakin was having a hard time tracing Shinai’s comlink frequency. And for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why.

He had given R2-D2 the code and told the little droid to run a trace and pinpoint the location. Yet when he had finished processing the information, Artoo had given a little plaintive wail.

“What’s wrong?” Anakin asked Threepio.

“I’m afraid I’m not quite sure, Master Anakin,” C-3PO replied. “He says that he cannot trace the frequency, or it does not exist.”

Anakin stared from one droid to the other. “But that doesn’t make sense,” he muttered, “he either can or he can’t, there’s no in-between.”

Artoo trilled softly.

“He says that each time he tries to trace the frequency all evidence of it disappears,” Threepio translated. “Yet while the frequency is programmed into him he is still aware of its existence. I must say, sir, that I find this dubious in the extreme and it is quite possible that Artoo is making it up.”

R2-D2 snorted at this, revolving his dome and rounding on Threepio quickly.

“There’s no need to say that,” C-3PO reproached, “I am perfectly correct in saying that this may be simply a flutter you’ve developed just to waste Master Anakin’s time.”

Anakin ignored them as the droids continued to bicker. He knew he could more or less count on what Artoo said—despite Threepio’s pretensions—yet that did not make the problem go away. Suddenly he had a thought.

“Artoo?” The little droid stopped in his rebuke to Threepio and whirled his dome around. “Is there any way to get the same signal of a different frequency?”

The droid chirped affirmatively, Anakin didn’t need a translation. He had something else in mind for Threepio.

“Threepio, would you be able to get something for me?” Anakin asked, a mischievous grin creeping slowly over his face.

“Certainly Master Anakin,” the protocol droid affirmed.

Anakin then proceeded to give Threepio such a complicated set of instructions that it would ensure that the protocol droid was gone for at least the remainder of the afternoon.

“Now,” Anakin said when he had finished. “Are you sure you remember, everything?”

“Yes, Master Anakin,” Threepio answered brightly.

“And you understand all of the steps?” Anakin pressed.

“Of course, Master Anakin,” said the droid.

“Good,” Anakin approved with a nod. “Now go and do exactly as I told you and not leave one part out.”

“Yes, Master Anakin,” replied C-3PO. “At once.” He trotted off.

When Threepio had gone Anakin gave Artoo a conspiratorial grin. “Now, maybe we will have some peace.”

[edit] Exhibiton day and council scene

These two scenes, very important right at the end of the story, did not turn out exactly the way I thought they would so I changed the first one and removed the second one.

Exhibition Day was almost over when Anakin joined the Masters one the balcony above the initiates. He was given several curious glances, yet there was only one face he was looking for and that was on the level below.

As he watched Anakin wondered if he could be thinking clearly at all. I’m an idiot even considering this, he told himself, especially after what Obi-Wan went through training me.

Yet when the demonstration was over Anakin was with the group of Jedi who went down to the lower levels to talk with the youngsters. Sona was examining the training lightsaber when he found her, her expression slightly nervous but hopeful. But before he said anything Anakin made sure Obi-Wan was looking the other way. Obi-Wan’s back was turned so Anakin dropped to one knee so they were at eyelevel.

“Sona Cantari,” he said, the sound of her name a kind of music as he said it, “I would be honoured if you became my Padawan learner.”

Sona looked at him, a smile breaking over her face. “Yes…Master.”

At that simple word, those two syllables the bond between them in the Force that had been rather rudimentary blossomed and opened like a flower on a spring day. As Anakin looked into her eyes, and saw himself reflected there in her pupils, he could see the years and missions that they would face together, the bond and knowledge strengthening both of them in Force. And even though Anakin was still surprised he had made this move without even talking to Sona remotely on the subject it was right. He knew it was right.

He got to his feet and put his hand on Sona’s shoulder, they still had to go to the Council but he could handle that. He felt he could handle anything now. Anakin then caught a glimpse of Obi-Wan looking at him, but now he didn’t mind.

Anakin related to the Council his interview with Stokra, Obi-Wan was pleasantly surprised that Anakin had handled it so well, but then again so many things about Anakin were surprising of late.

“Made waves in the Senate, this move has,” Yoda remarked when Anakin had finished. “Announced his resignation, Amedda has, electing a new Chancellor the Senate are.”

Anakin didn’t ask for particulars, as long as it wasn’t Stokra he could handle it.

“What did you do with the datacard?” Shaak Ti asked.

“Sent it back to Stokra in very small pieces,” Anakin replied.

“That was a very calculated risk you took, Anakin,” Obi-Wan pointed out. “If Stokra found out the card was blank—”

“Find out he will not,” asserted Yoda. “Corrupt he may be but trust when forced to Stokra does. Yet fear I do seen the last of him we have not.”

“I agree,” murmured Nat Sem.

“Now.” Yoda looked at Anakin carefully. “Understand, we do that wish to take a Padawan learner you do?”

“That is correct,” Anakin said, “with the Council’s approval of course.”

Obi-Wan almost fell off his chair with shock. That sounds like something that I would say! he realised, where is Anakin and what has this replacement done with him?

The shock was perceptible on his face, Anakin noticed this. If the moment had not been so formal, he would have laughed out loud.

“Understand, you do, responsibilities for taking such a step?” Yoda said seriously, his ears twitching slowly.

“I understand that I will be responsible for another teaching and growth in the Force,” Anakin replied, “and this is something that is not to be taken at all lightly.”

“Lead by example you will,” Yoda urged, “learn that, you must, and quickly!”

Anakin smiled but did not say anything.

“That is not the only thing that will change,” Bant Eerin said. “You will have to take different missions with you Padawan.”

“Especially not those dangerous ones that you seem to be so fond of,” Obi-Wan added, yet for all his enthusiasm there was a slight lilt of hesitation in his voice.

“Speak to her now, we must,” Yoda said, nodding to the door.

Anakin opened it and Sona came in. They stood together, Obi-Wan studied the pair for a long moment as Yoda continued to speak.

In many ways she’s a perfect foil for him, he mused, Anakin’s still so impulsive, yet Sona’s so quiet you hardly notice she’s there sometimes. And there certainly is something between them, something that even I missed, but why am I so reluctant to accept this change?

In a flash Obi-Wan realised what this was, it was the same problem Anakin had dealt with in Palpatine’s office, he was afraid of letting go.

“Approve this pairing, the Council does,” Yoda concluded, peering around the chamber and seeing that there were no objections. “May the Force be with you both.”

Anakin and Sona gave the customary return and then left the chamber. When they left Anakin was taking large strides and Sona had to almost run to keep up. He then stopped, looked her then and then shortened his pace so they could walk together.

[edit] Prelude of Fear

[edit] Deleted scenes

[edit] Ossus Sequence

This was an early omission witten to establish Anakin and Sona's relationship as Master and Padawan, but it was far too long and wasn't really going anywhere.

She had seen a good many planets over her five years as a Padawan learner. Well, more than she could name in a decent timeframe anyway. So Sona Cantari gave the brown and gold dusty orb nothing more than a second glance as it loomed large in the viewport. Yet, given the planet’s long history, she had initially thought that finally seeing it would have given her more of a reaction.

Ossus, while not the original home of the Jedi Order, it was definitely better known than Tython from which the Jedi emigrated twenty five thousand years ago. The planet had been a centre for Jedi learning and philosophy until about four thousand years ago when the Sith Lord Exar Kun unleashed a series of supernovas leaving the planet uninhabitable.

Jedi archaeologists had been back since, yet it was always assumed that there had been no survivors among the Jedi who had not been able to escape. Over time, the radiation had died down and to some extent life had returned to the now wasted planet, but no intelligent lifeforms.

But those assumptions had been wrong, apparently there had been survivors among the Jedi from the radiation and electrical storms that had devastated the planet. And apparently, the descendents of these Jedi still lived. How they had survived was not known, but the fact was that they had and that was important in its own right.

Jedi extractions normally involved identifying Force-sensitive infants at birth and taking them to the Temple with the consent of the parents. Sona had been involved with these sorts of missions before, yet this was different. Very different and probably would not have been even considered prior to the Clone Wars.

After all, Sona reflected as she studied the planet for a moment longer, the main problem with the Jedi today is numbers. She glanced at the readouts.

“Master?”

“Yes?” Anakin Skywalker poked his head out of the rear cabin.

“We’re making our final approach,” she told him.

“Take her in,” he instructed, moving out of the cockpit as he spoke. “I just need to fix something with Artoo and I’ll be right out.”

Sona smiled as she turned back to the controls. She kept half an eye on the readouts as she brought their ship closer to the planet, millennia ago or not, she was not about to take her chances flying through any debris of the supernovae that might remain. Yet the way appeared clear and by the time her Master was in the pilot’s seat next to her it was almost time to switch to the repulsor engines.

She glanced at him, expecting him to take over the controls but he shook his head.

“No, you’re going fine,” Anakin told her, he brought up a topographical display, “I’ll tell you what looks good.”

Sona could feel her mouth broaden into a smile. Praise from Anakin Skywalker, reputed to be the best pilot in the Jedi Order, was praise indeed.

They were almost through the atmosphere now, the ship was picking up more readings. Air content and quality, relative temperature and most importantly the radiation level. Fortunately it was only slightly above what was normal for most carbon-based species, even so they had both been inoculated against radiation poisoning before leaving the Temple.

Something occurred to her.

“Would these people have adapted to the radiation, Master?” she asked, the atmosphere getting nearer.

“Probably,” Anakin agreed, “give people enough time and they get used to anything, a few thousand years is more than enough time. Okay,” he referred to the readout, speaking with half a smile in his face, “we have our full pick of landing spaces. There’s the abandoned city, there’s the abandoned spaceport and a droid factory.”

Sona raised her eyebrows. “Droid factory? I didn’t know the Jedi built droids on here.”

“They didn’t,” Anakin replied, “this was done by the Seps early in the war, while they still had us locked down in the Outer Rim.”

For a moment Sona was silent, even though the Clone Wars had been over for almost ten years they were still feeling the effects. Sona could even remember what it was like in the Temple during the conflict even though she had been too young to contribute as her Master had done. Helping with tactical issues, running errands for Masters about to go on campaigns…Sona shook her head. At least it was over, and she hoped that those in the Senate would have more sense than to plunge the galaxy into another war.

They were through the atmosphere now, the dense clouds gave way to clear skies and the vast arid landscape beneath came into view. Sandy plains, large boulders, large dunes that could shift with the whim of the wind…Why do we always end up going to desert planets? Sona asked herself.

“We’ll try the spaceport,” Anakin said, “it’s just ahead, those hatches won’t be working but we can set it down outside.”

Sona shifted their course slightly so that the mountains that sheltered then ancient city of Knossa were dead ahead. When they neared the city Sona could see the ‘hatches’ that Anakin has spoken of. They were dotted along the roof like small pinpricks as they came closer, designed to admit small craft—like the one they were flying—with the lower levels meant for larger ships. And Sona knew that they had had a lot of large ships back when the spaceport was running as shield generators were still in their infancy.

After guiding the ship through the middle of the abandoned spaceport, Sona looked precariously at the spaces meant to house the starships that hadn’t seen a moving one in many centuries. Parts of the complex had collapsed, elsewhere she could see the skeletal forms of the ships that had not made it offplanet in time. Blackened carcasses of craft due to the energy storm that had followed the supernovae.

“Do you think they’ll hold?” she asked Anakin.

Anakin shook his head. “No, I don’t,” he said. “Just set her down here, it’s not as if someone’s going to impound the ship for an illegal landing.”

Grinning, Sona obeyed, flipping the necessary switches for their landing and relaxing back into her seat. Anakin left the cockpit to open the hatch and eventually she followed him, walking down the ramp and outside into the blazing heat from the binary glare of Ossus’s twin suns.

Anakin looked around, letting his senses do the work. In some ways it was like being back on Tatooine, the heat, the sand, the glare…everything was there. But there was clearly something different about this planet and it was a difference that didn’t surprise him.

He turned to Sona. “What can you sense?”

Sona closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, arching her shoulders and turning her head slightly. Then she opened her eyes and looked at him.

“It’s…strange,” she said, her eyes darting between Anakin and the surroundings. “There’s a strong presence in the Force here, some kind of intrinsic energy that I haven’t felt anywhere else. But…” She paused again. “There’s also pain, suffering…”

“Death,” Anakin finished, frowning slightly. “The Sith tried to destroy everything here, but they couldn’t, they never can.”

They stood there silently for a few moments before the moment was interrupted by the arrival of R2-D2. He rolled down the ramp and began chirping and clicking to Anakin, rotating his blue dome as he did.

Sona looked from the droid to her Master. “What’s he saying?” she asked.

“I don’t think he’s got any bad news,” Anakin said, looking down at the droid. “Is that right, Artoo?”

The little droid chirped affirmatively, then chattered something else.

Anakin shook his head and then went back inside the ship, Sona and Artoo followed. “You know I can’t really understand you unless Threepio is here,” he said as he walked, heading back into the cockpit and jacking Artoo into the control panel.

The ship translated Artoo’s jabbers. He had said that his scanners showed lifeforms in the area. Sona looked at it sceptically. “Master, if there were any people out there wouldn’t we have seen them on our way down?”

“Not necessarily,” Anakin replied. “There’s at least three ways to conceal yourself on a desert planet that I can think of right now, and give me time and I’ll give you five more.”

Artoo chirped something else, a suggestion that hadn't occurred to either Anakin or Sona.

“Caves? In the mountains?” Sona considered this and started to nod. “That’s how they survived then, they won’t be hard to find.”

Anakin shook his head. “You still have much to learn, Padawan.” Then remembering with a pang how often he had heard those words before, and how often they had been addressed to him.

Their survival equipment was quite extensive. They had wallet-tents, enough food and water for several days and their comlinks with backup power cells just in case the main ones failed. There was also a homing beacon which would relay their coordinates back to the ship—and just in case Artoo couldn’t pilot it there was a slave-circuit transmitter which meant they could manually direct the ship to pick them up.

Once the gear was ready there was nothing left to do but to get going. Sona raised the hatch and was just about to walk out when a squalling R2-D2 rolled up to her in protest. Apparently the little droid did not take kindly to being left alone.

Anakin looked at him sternly. “Artoo, you have to stay here with the ship in case something happens.”

Artoo protested quite loudly on this but Anakin’s expression was unmovable.

“I know there isn’t much chance of anyone making off with the ship,” he said, “but who’s going to pilot the ship if we get in trouble?”

Artoo considered this. Anakin then added something else to the argument to further convince the droid.

“What would Threepio say if he heard you didn’t want to be left by yourself?”

Sona smiled, this was a rather low move on her Master’s part, but given Artoo’s relationship with his taller and more talkative counterpart it was bound to work.

It worked, without further objection the astromech droid retracted the ramp and closed the hatch after Anakin had stepped down from the ship. For a moment Anakin stood there looking at it, saying nothing.

“Too bad we can’t take him,” Anakin said. “We could have used his scanners.”

“But we have the Force, Master,” Sona reminded him as they started to walk out of the ancient spaceport.

“Yes, we do, Padawan,” Anakin agreed, scanning the horizon, “but so do they.”

To walk through the vast abandoned city of Knossa was somewhat eerie. Though millennia old and crumbling in most places, the city clearly had the marks of remarked beauty. The large paved plazas, the long and wide staircases, the buildings in smooth geometric shapes.

Yet it was the two tall towers in the central plaza of the city that caused Sona to stop and stare. At the top she could see fragments of crystal, large shards that reflected the light with strange patterns. They looked like…Son shook her head, she couldn’t be as sure she had never seen ones so big before.

She looked at her Master. “Ilum crystals?” Her expression was sceptical and questioning. “Out here? How far are we from Ilum?”

Anakin shook his head. “Adgean crystals,” he corrected, “but their the same kind.” He looked up towards the set of stairs before them. “Come on,” he urged, “we need to get to a good vantage point.”

But before Sona moved on she took a look at the towers again, unconsciously touching her lightsaber as she did so. The small crystals within were akin to the ones atop those towers yet the fact seemed too incredible to be believed.

From the top of the stairs they had a clear view of the mountains. Anakin and Sona viewed them through electro-binoculars, trying to find any evidence of the cave from where they stood. For a moment Sona dropped the electro-binoculars letting them catch on the strap around her neck. She closed her eyes, trying to sense if there was anyone in the mountains just ahead. According to Artoo that was where the lifeforms were located, but still…

Sona opened her eyes, running a hand along her forehead.

Anakin turned to look at her, lowering his electro-binoculars. “Well?”

Sona shook her head. “If there’s anything in there, I can’t sense it,” she said. “It’s too much with all this energy, like trying to find a single leaf in the middle of a forest.”

Anakin turned back to look at the mountains, stretching out with the Force to enhance his senses. For a moment he could detect nothing, but then…a subtle stirring caught his attention and he turned quickly.

Sona sensed this. “What is it?” she asked.

“I’m not completely sure if it’s what we’re looking for,” he said, dropping the electro-binoculars and frowning slightly. “But there’s something, I think we should check it out.” They started to descend the stairs and Sona chose this moment to ask why she hadn’t sensed anything yet he had.

“It has nothing to do with ability, Sona,” he told her as they headed out of the city. “Sometimes its only knowing what to look for.”

Despite what Anakin had sensed the entrance to the caves was harder to find than anticipated. Through the Force, Anakin could feel the hollowness beneath their feet, large tunnels and vast caverns. Yet every opening they found as they ascended into the mountains was a false alarm. The caves went hardly back at all.

The heat of the day was reaching its highest levels when Anakin called a halt to their search and they sheltered from the suns in the shade of one of the caves, taking in a little water and food while trading a few theories.

Sona suggested something that had been at the back of Anakin’s mind for the past hour, a theory he had summarily dismissed.

“Perhaps the radiation has interfered with Artoo’s sensors, Master,” she said. “Even after what you said was here we’ve found nothing.”

“Just because we haven’t seen anything, Sona, doesn’t mean that no one’s out there,” he countered gently. “For all we know they may have already detected our presence and just kept moving so we can’t find them.”

“Is that possible?” Sona asked.

Anakin looked at her incredulously. “If they were in the area when we landed then they would have seen us coming,” he pointed out. “We made enough noise coming down to attract plenty of attention.”

“What makes you think they weren’t frightened off by all the noise?” Sona countered.

Anakin had considered this and fortunately he had an answer. “If that’s true, it only means that they won’t go near the ship,” he said.

Sona didn’t say anything more, drinking a bit of water and sitting there silently before Anakin said that they should continue.

In fact, Anakin’s assumption was quite incorrect in saying that the people he and Sona were looking for would stay away from their ship. A party of sun-browned humans riding on large beasts went through the old city of Knossa and towards the abandoned spaceport where they had seen the ship land from their vantage point in the mountains. Yet as they neared the ship they had no idea what they were looking at.

These were the descendants of the Jedi who had sheltered in the caves millennia ago and escaped the effects of the supernovae and energy storms. Yet these origins were so old that they had the semblance of legends told around the communal fires at night. Stories that were the collective identify of the Ysanna, shared by the various other clans all over the planet with the expected variations and exaggerations that came naturally to tales that were handed down in this way. Other parts of their origins had long been since forgotten, including things like lightsabers and the technology of space travel.

Yet the Clone Wars had changed all of this somewhat, the Ysanna had learned that the metal objects that descended from the sky were loathe to give destruction and violence than anything else. Chief Okko, Shaman of the Merak clan, knew this when scouts had seen and heard the ship arrive and had set out with his warriors. He had also seen Anakin and Sona come out of the ship, yet his group had given them a wide berth, the women and children were hidden too well in the mountains for them to be found easily.

There was no fear in him at all as Okko approached the ship, leaving his mount with his slug-thrower—a crude weapon by most standards with projectiles that he aimed with the Force—in an attack-ready position. His armour clanked against his body as he moved, the mask on his head raised so he could see.

He stopped before the ship’s closed catch. Like the other Ysanna he only had a rudimentary mastery of the Force, limited only to how he used his weapon as well as a narrow degree of sensorary awareness. This was why he was totally surprised when the hatch opened and out came R2-D2. The droid made a rude noise, whirling his top dome quickly and casting out a few bolts of electricity from one of his projecting arms.

At this Okko balked, backing up to get a good shot and then firing, shouting for all of his warriors to do the same. Artoo screamed, shutting down the hatch just they fired, some of the darts embedding in the metal, others bouncing off without any effect.

Up in the mountains the flickers of the conflict were starting to register in the Force. Yet it was Sona and not Anakin who caught the first sensations of it. She looked at Anakin with an incredulous expression on her face.

“I sense it too,” he said, jumping down from the rock where he stood and running back down the mountain pass.

With her lightsaber out Sona followed, hoping they would reach the ship in time as it was their only way offplanet.

Fortunately Anakin and Sona’s route through the mountains had been more meandering rather than gaining any real distance from the city. Yet it was still quite a way to the foot of the mountains, and then back into the old city. Anakin was ahead as he leapt from the top of the stairs and sprinted across the plaza, Sona was just behind him using the Force to enhance her speed and she arrived back at the spaceport a moment after her Master.

Anakin has his lightsaber out and lit it, moving the blue blade as he turned in a circle. He intended to create a sensation, he got it. The Ysanna warriors turned their mounts around and started to circle, when Sona arrived at his side, her own blue lightsaber out, they were fully enclosed within the ring.

“We do not tolerate, outlanders in here!” bellowed a voice, the mounted warriors parted slightly to admit a bare-chested warrior wearing a black mask over his face and carrying a slug-thrower in one hand.

He signalled to the others gathered, they shouldered their weapons and trained them on the Jedi. Sona moved to an aggressive position, but Anakin motioned her to be still. He could sense that though these warriors were primitive, they had a command of the Force that was enough to guide their missiles to the target. And even though this was nowhere near the control Anakin or even Sona possessed, they had the Jedi outnumbered.

Ten, even five years ago, Anakin would have rush headlong into the fight ignoring any consequences that might occur from a conflict at such close quarters, yet he was wiser now. That, and the fact that they came in peace and any violence would only hamper their mission.

So Anakin stood his ground, staring down the leader and though he could not see his face, he was in no way intimidated.

“Who are you?” he asked, a firm but not an angry voice. “Why have you damaged my ship?”

There was a moment of silence. “I am Okko, chief of the Merak clan of the Ysanna tribe,” the leader said, but he did not raise his mask to look at Anakin. “Your metal bird from the sky brings destruction, and if you will not leave you will be made to.” He spoke in a stilted form of Basic, an accent that Anakin didn’t recognise, yet the tone and intent that was clear and obvious.

“We mean no violence,” Anakin said.

“Then why do you both bear weapons?” Okko challenged.

“You attacked us first,” Sona pointed out, “we need that thing you call a metal bird to leave here. If you have damaged it we may have to stay.”

Still the silence, and still the weapons were trained on them. Anakin decided to be perfectly honest with them.

“We came here to find you,” he said. “We heard that your people possess great powers and we… need your help.” He decided at the last minute not to tell the whole story, yet. The actual ‘help’ that was needed could be defined later.

Okko snorted and if his face could be seen, Anakin imagined it would have a sceptical expression.

“You lie,” retorted Okko. “Your kind only come to desecrate and steal from our sacred places.”

Anakin knew what the ‘sacred places’ were that Okko was referring to, the ancient Jedi library and cemetery. Yet he refused to rise to Okko’s bait.

“No, I’m not lying.” He made his voice as pleasant as possible, which was quite difficult given the number of weapons trained on them. “I…we know of this power that your people possess.” He paused, giving the shaman time to interrupt. “I don’t know what you call it but we Jedi call it the Force.”

Anakin fully expected for the Ysanna to have another name for the Force, other peoples that were aware of its power did such as the Korunai and the witches of Dathomir.

What he had not expected was Okko’s reaction. The shaman screamed at the top of his lungs and jabbered something in Ysanna tongue at his warriors. Anakin felt a small pulse in the Force and the warriors fired, all the while Okko was screaming. “Blasphemy! Blasphemy! You dare speak the sacred words of our ancestors!”

Quickly Sona moved her blue lightsaber blade up, but Anakin had another idea. He held up his right hand in the air, feeling for the missiles that were nearing them, feeling the Force surrounding them as the Ysanna propelled them forward.

Yet Anakin’s connection was stronger, his control much more developed. He sent out a sudden surge in the Force and the missiles stopped, stationary mid-air in a ring around the Jedi. For a moment they hung there, motionless; then slowly Anakin let them down to the ground so they implanted themselves in the ground. Even Sona was surprised, she had been ready to fend off the missiles with her lightsaber and what her Master had just done was quite unnerving.

The Ysanna thought so too, staring speechless at Anakin, and muttered to each other unintelligibly. Okko shifted uncomfortably on his mount, conferring to several of his warriors. He then turned back to Anakin. “You know of the Force?” he asked, his voice both sceptical and fearful.

“I am a Jedi,” Anakin said, these words making another reaction from the Ysanna. “I'm Anakin Skywalker.”

“Jedi?” Okko repeated, then he looked down at the weapons the Jedi were holding. “But who is that?” he nodded to Sona.

“My apprentice, Sona Cantari,” Anakin answered. “We have come for your help, will you put down your weapons and listen to us?”

Another pause, another consultation and then Okko raised his mask. For a moment Anakin stared, he had been expecting an old man but Okko could be no older than he was! Okko then gave a signal to his warriors and they lowered his weapons and dispersed. The shaman then dismounted and as he approached, flanked by two younger warriors, Anakin managed to get a first real look at him.

He wore a necklace of grey beads over his bare, suntanned chest and gauntlets made of black, hardened metal on each wrist. Okko was about as tall as Anakin, with a broad sun-bronzed face and dark hair that fell to his shoulders that was liberally bleached blond from the suns.

Yet even as he approached he looked at Anakin as Sona sceptically, as if he did not entirely trust the Jedi. For some reason Anakin did not blame him.

Anakin turned of his lightsaber and replaced it on his belt, Sona followed suit. She stood behind her Master and to the side, watching the Ysanna stop just before them.

“Sona, go see to the ship,” Anakin murmured.

Sona started, why was he sending her away? “But Master—”

“Padawan.” The voice had a warning tone that Sona was well-used to.

“Yes Master,” she said, walking back to the ship and glowering as soon as her face was beyond Anakin’s line of vision.

When she was gone Anakin spoke. “What do you know of the Jedi?” he asked Okko, ignoring the reactions the Ysanna made.

“The Jedi are our ancestors,” Okko replied, his dark eyes still watching Anakin suspiciously. “They are tales well-known to all Ysanna all over our world.”

“How many Ysanna are there?” Anakin asked.

“How many stars are in the sky?” returned Okko. “How many grains of sand are beneath your feet?”

Anakin took that as an ‘I don’t know’ but made no comment on this.

The damage to the ship was only cursory so it didn’t take Sona long to patch the hull. Consoling the distressed R2-D2 was another matter entirely. The droid nattered and bleeped to her, chattering and moving about rapidly and he would not be silenced.

Not until Sona asked him what Threepio would think if the protocol droid saw him carrying on like that. Artoo made one loud, high-pitched shriek that rattled Sona’s eardrums and then sat silently, his light blinking on and off.

This finished, Sona went to the cockpit where she ran several diagnostics. Through the viewport she could see Anakin and Okko talking.

“Why did he send me back here?” Sona asked, she was thinking aloud but Artoo trundled forward and chirped an answer. Sona looked down at the droid. “I don’t think Master Anakin trusts me,” she said, yet Artoo did not agree with this. With a sigh Sona turned back to look out the viewport and Artoo went away to the back of the ship, humming to himself. What she did not know it was not her that Anakin did not trust, but rather Okko given than he had two warriors with him.

“If you be Jedi,” Okko said, his eyes narrowing as he sized up Anakin, “why do you need our help?”

Fortunately Anakin had an explanation ready for a question like this, but he was not prepared to give it, at least not yet.

“It is a rather delicate matter,” the Jedi said, “I would prefer to tell it to your entire clan.” He was assuming that there were others concealed near by, his assumptions proved to be correct. Okko considered this. “Very well then, Jedi,” he agreed reluctantly. “You and your female will be my guests tonight and we will hear your story.”

“She’s not my female,” Anakin told him, narrowing his eyes. “But we accept.”

Okko then gave Anakin precise directions as to where they would be encamped that evening, making sure that the Jedi understood. Then Okko gathered his warriors in formation and then bid him farewell.

Sona received this news when Anakin returned with some scepticism.

“It could be a trap, Master,” she pointed out. “How do you know they’re not going to ambush us on the way over?”

“It’s just a feeling I have,” Anakin replied.

“The Force?” Sona asked but Anakin just shook his head.

“Nothing to do with it,” he said. “I just don’t think that Okko is the kind to lay a trap as elaborate as that.”

“I still don’t think we should trust him,” Sona said sceptically.

“They haven’t given us a reason not to,” Anakin reminded her.

Detailed or not, the Merak camp proved to be hard to find and it was bordering on darkness when Anakin and Sona found it. The animal hide tents formed a ring around the orange glow of camp fires.

For a moment Anakin paused, it made him remember…Tatooine…the Tusken camp…the screams and shouts as he had killed them…the shouts in his ears imploring him to stop…

Sensing his distress, Sona touched his arm. “Master?”

Anakin jumped yet it was Sona’s concerned eyes that brought him back to the present.

“Is something wrong?” she asked him.

“No, nothing,” he said, shaking his head, “I was just…remembering.” He had never told her everything about the Tusken camp, not even when they had been on their first mission on Tatooine. He still was not sure if he knew how to. “Come on,” he urged, starting to walk again towards the circle of tents.

The Merak were gathering around the fires as Anakin as Sona entered, yet they detected their approach before they entered the encampment. Mothers called children over to them, warriors stood vigilant holding their weapons. In the centre, near the largest fire, stood Okko flanked by his warriors, his face ablaze in the firelight.

“So you have come,” the Ysanna chief said, staring at Anakin and then at Sona.

There was a long silence in which Sona considered making a run for it then and there, mission or no mission. Then Okko clapped his hands.

“Lira, Charen! Come, we have guests!” At Okko’s call two Ysanna women came, they wore the long loose garments typical of desert people and the second had a baby strapped to her back.

The women walked towards the Jedi and as they neared Sona noticed they were carrying folded rugs in their arms. They spread the rugs on the hard sand and Anakin and Sona sat down, the fire between them and Okko.

Somehow the Merak clan decided that the Jedi were no threat and usual activated commenced. The warriors sat down, talking to each other in the chattering Ysanna tongue, the young children returned to their games and the women busied themselves preparing the meal, the older children assisting.

Sona watched this with some interest, noticing that there were few female warriors, and even those women who did have weapons were helping with the others. Banking the fire, bringing out a large carcass as well as bowls, gourds and a few dried plants and fruits. Yet in each and every one she felt a tiny pulse of the Force, more so than would be sensed in beings not sensitive to its flow. How would they take what she and her Master had come to say?

Okko wives came forward to bank the fire with sand, when the smoke had cleared and the hot coals glowed in the circular pit, the Merak chief turned to regard his guests.

“What do you call those things?” he asked.

Anakin stared at him. “I’m sorry?”

“Those weapons you have that make noise and light,” Okko explained. “What are they called?”

It seemed very strange to Anakin that a society descended from Jedi and with tales of the Jedi strongly in their culture should not know was a lightsaber was. They went together, a Jedi and his or her lightsaber, as much a symbol as a weapon. Anakin tried to explain this to Okko, adding a few details on how lightsabers worked—something hard to understand for anyone not acquainted with the Force.

But Okko understood, or at the least pretended to, asking questions now and again and directing them all Anakin’s way. He hardly gave Sona a second glance.

This annoyed her.

Is it because he doesn’t think females are good at fighting? she asked herself, viewing the chief sceptically as one of his wives asked his opinion of the soup. Okko nodded approvingly and then dismissed her, picking up his conversation with Anakin exactly where he had left it.

When the meal was done Okko got to his feet and led them to an area where cushions and rugs had been set up. He sat in the middle and was served first, Anakin sat at his right but Sona was put somewhere else along the line next to one of Okko’s wives. She hardly noticed the meal that they consumed and deliberately avoided any questions directed to her.

The meal over, Okko signalled to an older male in a long robe carrying a tall staff. This was Olmow, the bard of the Merak clan. He held up a hand for silence then struck his staff against the hard ground.

“I tell you the story of our ancestors,” he said, his voice as loud and clear as a bell in the silent night air. “And this I do in the old language and not the common tongue, as it is in this way that these stories were first told.”

Olmow then spoke in a low melodious tone that charmed all without trying. Even Sona was affected by the sound of his voice and the smooth movements he made to emphasise his tale.

He told the story of the Sith War and when the Sith Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma had come to Ossus. He used slightly different names, Sona recognised it. Anakin had told her several of the details on their way over. But she had never heard it told with such…vitality. Of course there were inaccuracies for the actual history as would be the cast with an oft told tale, exaggerations, superlatives and not to mention the abundance of epithets that Olmow seemed to possess for the heroes and villains.

His voice rising and the audience holding their collective breaths, Olmow finished his story coming to the climax with a flourish and then swinging around his long staff when he came to the conclusion. There were cheers and applause but Olmow seemed oblivious to them, he simply stood with his hand on his staff looking straight ahead. After a reasonable interval he held up his hand again.

“I tell you this story for those who are our guests tonight call themselves Jedi,” he said, his words spoken slowly and carefully. “Jedi of the same mettle of the tale that I told over you. The clan chief has accepted them at their word, yet as we Ysanna know there is no knowledge without it being tested.”

There were murmurs of agreement through the crowd and Sona looked around questioningly, what could he be talking about?

“It is also customary,” continued the bard, “for guests of the clan to prove themselves to be worthy of trust.”

Sona turned her head, trying to catch her Master’s eye, she wasn't sure if she liked this.

“Therefore,” Olmow declared, “let this be so now.” He held out his other hand and one of the warriors threw another staff into it, the twin of the one he already carried. He then took a step towards Anakin, but went no further near. “You Skywalker Jedi,” he said, staring at Anakin. “Will you accept this challenge?”

From where she sat, Sona couldn’t see him but heard him say, “Yes, I accept.”

With the strength of an athlete Olmow threw the staff, it turned end over end through the air and Anakin stood up to catch it. He held it in his hands and then walked over to Sona, taking something off his belt.

“Hold these for me,” he said, handing over his lightsaber and tossing her his cloak.

“But…what are you doing?” Sona asked him. “You’re not going to fight him, are you?”

“I don’t have a choice,” he said, turning his back on Sona and then walking up to Olmow.

“You’re wrong,” Sona whispered, bringing her knees forward and hugging them. “You always have a choice.”

Anakin didn’t hear her.

With the staff in one hand Anakin approached Olmow. The bard was older than he was and though thin and lithe Anakin could not form any opinion of what sort of opponent he would be—at least not at first glance anyway. But appearances often proved nothing in relation to combat ability, Yoda was a living example of this.

Anakin placed his staff on the ground and looked at Olmow squarely in the eyes. “I thought you were the storyteller,” he said in a low voice, “not a warrior.”

“It is traditional in the Ysanna for the bard to be second in combat ability to the chief himself,” replied Olmow. “The hand, the heart and the mind must all be in harmony. Do you not agree, Jedi?”

“Of course,” said Anakin. “So how does this begin?”

“Take a step back,” Olmow instructed, “then bow as it is fitting.”

Anakin stepped back so he was a body length from Olmow then inclined his head slightly. In a strange way it was like the duels between one’s fellow Jedi at the Temple, though they weren't often done with such an audience.

“Hold your staff as I hold mine,” Olmow said, taking his staff in both hands and holding it near the middle.

Anakin followed, spreading his feet to form a fighting stance.

“We have three bouts,” Olmow told him, “the fight is over when you are knocked out or cry for mercy, which must be given when asked.”

Anakin nodded, tightening his grip on the staff.

Okko then gave a loud cry and the fight began. The crowd started to shout, cheering for the bard as Sona watched with some apprehension. She had no doubt that her Master would win, but if he injured the bard…

Olmow attacked first, spinning towards Anakin and rapping him in the ribs with the staff. Anakin only caught part of the blow, he turned outwards and kept turning until he was behind his opponent. Then he attacked, spinning the staff fast, hand over hand and then attacking to the left and right, moving the staff quickly and with precision. Olmow responded in kind, moving his own staff so the blows fell upon the wood, not affecting him at all. The bard then moved for a counterattack, pushing the Jedi back and then sliding the staff down his hands to strike low at the feet.

Anakin rolled to the ground, moving his staff with him as he did and turning back onto his feet to give the bard such a blow that he was knocked off his feet. Anakin then pressed the attack, running up towards Olmow and moving the staff so it was across his body, the bard could not get up without Anakin knocking him down again.

Olmow then held out a hand—the same gesture that a Jedi used when defeated—and spoke a single word. “Solah!”

Stunned Anakin retreated, still staring into space as Olmow got to his feet. The crowd as shocked as he was by the result.

“Is there something wrong, Jedi?” Olmow asked.

Anakin looked at him. “That word…”

“Used by our ancestors in combat such as we are doing now,” explained Olmow, he gestured that they move back to the centre of a circle. “There is honour in accepting defeat, you comprehend?”

“Yes, yes of course,” Anakin said, he dismissed his questions for now and cleared his mind.

This time when the call had come to begin it was Anakin who first took the initiative, attacking Olmow with several well-placed blows that forced him to retreat. Yet the next moment Anakin was on the defensive, giving ground he had just gained, reacting rather than acting.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to be, Anakin said to himself as he fended off another of Olmow’s blows. He could feel the anger, the frustration rising within him—always easy crutches to lean upon during a fight. But he did not give in, he let the emotion flow out of him and let the Force direct his actions.

Which was why he it was such a surprise when Anakin found himself lying on the ground. With his staff at an angle, Olmow had him trapped.

Anakin conceded defeat and then got back onto his feet, brushing the sand from his back. This time he did not speak as he walked back to the middle of the circle, holding his staff at the ready.

The two attacked at the same time, the staffs clashing and pushing against each other in the same way that lightsaber combatants clash when neither has the advantage. But Anakin had been a Jedi far too long to let this go on, he knew exactly what to do.

First he retreated, giving Olmow a false sense of confidence as he gave ground. Then, when the bard was turning to give his attack speed, Anakin met him with an attack of his own. Knocking Olmow off-balance and continuing the offensive.

Anakin had only been nine years old when he had seen Darth Maxah on Naboo and he had been more concerned with the Sith’s rather fearsome appearance rather than her style of combat. Had Obi-Wan been with them he would have noticed the similarity in the way Anakin fought now, yet there was none of the ferocity. Anakin attacked with purpose, with a clear mind and an even clearer perspective and when Olmow was on the ground for the second time and declared the Jedi the winner the sound of the crowd cheering and clapping became only gradually perceptible to him. He went back to his place in the circle after giving the staff back to Olmow, not really paying attention to anyone.

“I am satisfied,” said Olmow, giving a bow and then moving back into the crowd, leaning on the staffs as he walked.

“And now,” said Okko when the noise had died down to a reasonable level, “will you tell us, your story?”

Anakin stared at him for a moment. Hadn't they seen enough of him already? But he did not argue, he got to his feet and walked back into the middle of the circle, motioning for Sona to join him.

“I thought for a moment you were going to leave me out,” she accused in a whisper.

Anakin raised an eyebrow. “Since when?” For a moment Anakin was silent, he had never been one for giving speeches. That was Obi-Wan’s department. Anakin preferred to prove himself by his actions, but given he had just done that…He raised his voice at a level that could be heard by all.

“Members of the Merak clan,” he began, turning his gaze around so he could be sure he had their attention. “We have come to you as we are in need of your help. The stories that you have told, and that your parents have told before that are true for the Jedi do exist, even though they have long since left here. This power, this magic, you know of we know of as the Force, and it is because of this that we have come. For once the Jedi were many thousands, helping others in many worlds at great distances and in many ways. But this is no longer, some years ago many Jedi were killed in a devastating war and we have come to you to ask if you will help us.” He stopped, meeting their gaze again then continued. “What I have come to ask you is that we would like some of your clan, or more if you can contact others, to come with us and help us keep the peace an justice that is necessary for survival. “He gestured to the sky above, some stars could be seen though the view was somewhat obscured by the debris of the long ago supernovae. “Among those stars is where we have come from, it is a planet called Coruscant and is unlike what any of you have seen here.” He paused, allowing the words to sink in. “I know it is difficult to believe someone who you have never seen for more than a day, and you don’t entirely trust coming to you with what seems like false promises. But what we are offering you is a chance, a chance to become Jedi yourselves. And you know what that means in the past even though not what it means right now.”

That done he now stopped; looked around for the reaction that was sure to come. There were mutterings and whispers, Okko talked with the warrior on his left, his wives murmured to each other.

“Do you think you’ve convinced them, Master?” Sona asked.

“Convinced them what?” Anakin looked at her critically. “If you mean convinced them to come with us, the answer is no. These things take time to get used to.”

“Of course,” Sona agreed, not saying anything else.

The mutterings and whispers continued and then Okko cleared his throat.

“You realise that what you say may not be well received,” the chief told him. “We have no real conception of what you offer us beyond our stories. And,” he added darkly, “even though you are my guests, I have the right as chief of the clan to refuse this.”

“I understand,” Anakin said with a nod. “We came here knowing that none of you might want to come with us. Yet, even if only one Ysanna was to come we would be satisfied.”

Okko took this in, chewing on his lower lip. Everyone spoke in low whispers, some looked at the Jedi standing in the middle, Sona noticed several hostile glances.

“I don’t think they’re convinced,” Sona murmured.

“You can’t make up someone else’s mind for them,” Anakin told her. “And I did say we may have an empty ship on the way back.”

There were several more uncomfortable minutes of muttering.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Okko spoke again. “Such a proposition demands time and deliberation,” he said. “An answer cannot be given tonight, but I will speak to you, Jedi Skywalker, in the morning.” He then clapped his hands and the crowd dispersed, Anakin only just realised they had been given an order.

“Well?” Sona gave a piercing glance that reminded Anakin so much of Padmé that he wanted to laugh.

“Well…” Anakin repeated, deliberately withholding his answer so as to continue Sona’s impatience. “I don’t think they’re going to kick us out tonight.” Sona still wasn’t placated. “This isn’t even like diplomatic disputes, Sona, sometimes you know where you stand with those.”

“But—” Sona started to protest but Anakin made a gesture that silenced her. He indicated behind her so she saw the young Ysanna female walking towards them. She looked about Sona’s age and appeared slightly nervous, but there was a determined look in her eyes.

“Yes?” Anakin asked as if his time was extremely pressing to spend in idle chatter.

Completely without introduction or preamble she said, “I want to go with you.”

Her name was Zakiya, she was an orphan and taken into Okko’s family since her parents had been killed by a rival clan not long after she was born. Most of this Sona told Anakin later the next morning after he had emerged from Okko’s rather smoky tent.

“That's why she decided so quickly, Master,” Sona explained to him. “There’s no real ties keeping her here.”

“Except the planet itself,” Anakin pointed out. “Does she really understand what we’re asking of her? That’s she’s probably never going to come back?” Anakin took a long look at Sona. “Not even I understood that completely when I left my home, not even when the ship had left the ground.”

“But not everyone can understand that,” Sona countered, “not even until you’re faced with that situation.”

“Yes, but it’s something to think about,” he reminded her.

They walked towards their tents silently for a few minutes. Suddenly, Anakin quickened his pace.

“Come on,” he said, “we’re late for the training session.”

Sona stared at him. “What? Now?”

Anakin stared right back at her. “Can you give a reason not to?”

Sona could think of at least ten reasons, but she knew that none of them would stand up on presentation. So she didn’t protest, just simply tried to match her Master’s gait to her own.

With the food away and Okko’s wives occupied with the children, Zakiya decided to slip away before any of them noticed. She went to the edge of the camp where the Jedi had set up their strange tents, but stopped when she noticed them.

The weapons of light that she had heard whispers about among the women of the clan, they were real. The older Jedi was showing the younger female something, some movement that she couldn’t completely perceive due to the rapid way their weapons kept on moving.

It looks…so effortless… she thought, walking slowly forward, mesmerised by the fluidity of the action. If I go with them, she wondered, is that something that I will learn?

“You’re still leaving your left side open,” Anakin chided gently as he drew his lightsaber back, lowering the blade slightly to block off Sona’s attack.

“Sorry Master.” Sona

The Jedi then turned to look at her, for a moment Zakiya wanted to run away but the younger one beckoned her closer. She said something about this being a bad idea but the older one merely laughed, said something that Zakiya couldn’t understand and walked away.

Secretly, Zakiya was glad that he was gone. There was something slightly uncomfortable about being around him.

Sona replaced the lightsaber on her belt, examining Zakiya curiously. They had talked a little the previous night before Zakiya had had to go.

“Will I…get one of those?” Zakiya asked, pointing at Sona’s belt.

Sona wanted to laugh, it was one of the first questions asked about becoming a Jedi. Everyone had some strange idea that lightsabers were handed out like glowrods at the door of the Jedi Temple.

Even on out-of-the-way planets that haven’t seen them for thousands of years, Sona reflected.

“Not straight away,” Sona explained. “Each Jedi makes their own, and that takes years of training.”

Zakiya looked at her. “Years?”

Sona smiled. “Perhaps I should tell you a few things.” She outlined a few details on Jedi training, on how one became a Padawan learner, using herself as an example. “But with you, they’ll be doing things a little differently,” she explained. “We’ll be taking you and anyone else who wants to come to Dantooine, it’s very nice there, very green.”

Zakiya cast an eye on the weather-swept plains of Ossus skeptically. “What’ll happen then?”

“You’ll be with some older new Jedi students, they’re coming from all over,” Sona told her. “It’s the first time they have accepted older potentials, most Jedi are chosen from birth, I was.”

“Was…he?” Zakiya asked, they both knew she was referring to Anakin.

“No,” Sona said, with a shake of her head, “but there are exceptions. I didn’t ask you this,” Sona added, “but what made you volunteer?”

“I’m not sure,” Zakiya said, she didn’t look at Sona but off into the distance. “It’s something… I… I… I can’t really describe it.” She looked suddenly at Sona, her voice excited. “Have you ever looked at the horizon and wondered what’s behind it? And then wanted to go there and see it for yourself?”

“Yes,” Sona agreed, “and when you get there, there’s another horizon, and another one beyond that.”

“I know,” Zakiya asked, their eyes meeting exactly. “That’s how I felt last night, that’s how I felt when I was watching you before.”

“And it doesn’t worry you,” Sona asked carefully, gesturing her hand to the tribe and the mountains beyond, “that you’ll never see all this again?”

“Yes,” Zakiya admitted, “but I know there’s something more, isn’t there?”

“Yes,” Sona agreed. “That's the best part.”

[edit] Han Solo with Tulo

I didn't really like this scene and it delayed Han's scenes far too much having it in. His story relaly starts when he meets Commander Ender. Also, Han would be an Ensign, not a Lieutenant

Two days out of the academy, Han Solo was alighting from a troop carrier that had carried from Cardia to Coruscant. He nodded to the pilot and the shouldered his carryall that held the few possessions he had been allowed to keep in his quarters on the academy grounds. That and his dress uniform, his ceremonial saber…and his lieutenant’s commission.

It was still been somewhat unnerving to be called ‘sir’ by the enlisted men and non-coms, but he intended to get used to it as his final grades at the academy ensured he would get a good posting.

Which was why he was slightly confused when the directions he was given in the Special Ops office led him to a corridor at the back of the building with clerks and other staff doing ordinal work and dreaming of a better life.

He knocked at the door of Lieutenant-Commander Tulo, the officer who was to give him the details of his posting as his written orders had been rather vague.

“Come in,” said a gruff voice.

Han pushed the door and then stood at attention in the middle of Tulo’s office, the stance came as almost natural due to the constant drills on Cardia.

“Lieutenant Solo reporting for duty, sir,” Han said as he saluted.

Tulo waved off these preliminaries. “At ease.” He then gestured to the chair and Han sat down. With his pale hands folded beneath his chin Tulo studied Han for a minute and then drummed his fingers on the metal surface of his desk in approval.

“I suppose you were intrigued by the lack of details in your orders?” Tulo inquired.

“Sort of,” Han replied, still wondering what the hell he was here for at all.

“That was necessary,” he continued, “security measures and its decided for me who to reveal this to. But the truth is, they need pilots.”

Han chose not to comment, he didn’t think Tulo would appreciate small talk. Tulo continued.

“You are to report to Commander Sai Ender in the Horuz system,” he said. “That’s in the Atrivis Sector,” he added in case Han had not understood. “Not many are allowed inside the Horuz system and one of your tasks will be to keep people out.”

“But sir, is not Horuz a penal colony?” Han asked.

“Officially the only inhabitable planet was damaged during the last stages of the war and is completely unable to support sentient life,” Tulo replied.

“And unofficially?” Han probed.

Tulo shook his head. “I am not at liberty to reveal that information to you, Lieutenant,” he explained. “All I can say is that when you arrive there you will understand why.” He put a hand under his desk, bringing out a sealed envelope. “Here are your travel orders,” he said, sliding it across the table. “There is also a flimsy with the coordinates of your rendezvous point, destroy it as soon as you memorise it.”

“Yes sir.” Han took the envelope and pocketed it.

“Tomorrow at 0900 there is a transport leaving for Generis, the details are in your orders,” Tulo told him. “At Generis a ship is waiting for you to complete your journey.” He then rose to his feet, Han followed and Tulo shook his hand. “Don’t think bad all this secrecy, Lieutenant,” he urged. “This posting is what I suppose you could call a shot in the arm. Perform well and expect a rewarding career.”

“I will sir.” Han returned Tulo’s salute. “And thank you.”

[edit] Taruk the Hutt

As Stokra had a lot of scenes in The Chosen Apprentice, I wanted to minimize them here. Also, plotting with Hutts sounds fishy even for him.

“I must say, Senator, that I am surprised that you speak of sedition so openly,” Taruk the Hutt said in Huttese, his corpulent body reclining in a way that reminded Stokra of tenderised meat.

“I do not call it ‘sedition’, Lord Taruk,” replied Stokra smoothly. “How can one be treasonous if one if following one’s own ideals which would benefit oneself?”

Taruk considered this, the large lids of his enormous yellow eyes lowering slightly. Stokra smiled, but only to look pleasant as he loathed Hutts and all the disgusting things that went with their entourage and criminal activities. Yet he was here for a reason and was willing to put aside his prejudice.

It was now five years since Skywalker had entered his office on Coruscant with the revelation that had lost him the office of Chancellor. And one year since the last election which Organa had won with a large majority. Stokra had lost more and more support in the months following the bitter defeat though his supporters Jetrivian of Kuat and Tulil’ya of Bothawui. Yet they were among the few survivors of what once was the formidable coalition called the Varicean Committee.

That was why he had had to cultivate allies elsewhere, some of quite questionable reputation. That was why he had approached Taruk the Hutt, head of the Keradii Hutt clan that controlled Ord Mantell and several other systems in the Bright Jewel Cluster.

And that was why he was sitting in Taruk’s reception chamber now, a small chair that looked miniscule next to the large couch and dais upon which Taruk lay surrounded by his fan-bearers, Kalek his Quarren major-domo and several female dancers of varying hues and species wearing the typical scanty clothing. One of them, a human with dark hair, looked at Stokra curiously yet the senator ignored her.

He knew all of this was the show the power and wealth the Hutt possessed as well as to inspire fear and awe into his minions and adversaries. Stokra disliked this as he despised ostentation of any kind. He preferred subtler methods of persuasion, much more austere tastes were more to his palate.

“I don’t suppose ideals are what you trade in, senator,” remarked Taruk.

“Yet they seem to be the currency of late,” said Stokra. “Self-interest, which you and I both know is instrumental to survival, is a bit passé these days. Altruism, rectitude and integrity are in vogue now—at least of course those are the words of those who practise them.”

“Those that say that have no idea how business is really done,” replied Taruk, his booming laugh echoing through his audience chamber. “It’s not about how many ears you can bend or how many hands you can shake, it’s about how many palms you can grease and who you can get to do this.”

“Quite,” Stokra agreed. “That is why I wanted to speak to you as something has reached my ears recently that, if I can count on your assistance, can benefit both of us.”

“Let me know what it is and then I’ll decide,” declared the Hutt.

Stokra smiled, while as shrewd as he appeared to be Stokra knew that the only answer Taruk could give to what he would propose would be in the affirmative.

“The Chancellor,” began Stokra, “in lieu of his success of securing the safety of trade networks in the Mid and Outer Rim, is going to policing sectors around here due to the uprising of smuggling, piracy and other illegal activities.”

“It’s only words, that Organa of yours is a weakling,” spat Taruk. “He’s from Alderaan, isn’t he? All that lot do is talk and never back up what they say with action or mettle.”

“I suppose you have heard about the new Republic flagship that is to be named this week?” Stokra asked casually. “A rather auspicious name, I believe, the Redemption.”

“I make it my business to know what goes on, as do you,” retorted Taruk. “What about it?”

“This ship is the prototype in a new superior and larger class of star destroyers, fifteen others are near completion with more well on the way,” continued the senator. “It makes one think if Organa is as the pacifist he once said he was.”

“And these ships are going to be interrupting my operations?” Taruk asked.

“Those are my suspicions,” answered Stokra. “And my suspicions normally turn out to be correct.”

Taruk opened and closed his large mouth as if physically chewing on this information that Stokra had just supplied. He knew he could still run his operations even with the Republic navy poking about where it shouldn’t, but not without considerably more risk and expense. And there was always the chance that some of those pesky Jedi Knights would be sent to ‘restore the peace’, Jedi intervention could range from a minor disagreement to shutting his business down forever.

Against his better judgement he asked Stokra what he had in mind.

“I was only waiting for you to ask,” said the senator, leaning forward and outlining his plan to the Hutt.

[edit] Kuat Reception

Another scene that didn't need to be there, I have Anakin and Obi-Wan talk about it in a later scene.

While he had been loathe to leave his students in the hands of another Jedi, Obi-Wan agreed to Chancellor Organa’s request to accompany him on the trip to Kuat. His presence did not go unnoticed among Organa’s entourage, even though Obi-Wan deliberately kept himself at the back. And with the presence of the blue senate guards—the red guards had been done away with in Amedda’s term—as well as the various security personnel, Obi-Wan being there at all may have seemed somewhat spurious if one was not considering the politics of the situation.

Organa wanted to show his continuing friendship with the Jedi Order, and what better way to have to have one of its most respected Masters at this important visit?

There was another reason he was there, the same reason that Organa was: the naming of the first of a new class of star destroyers, this one named the Redemption. Yoda had wanted specifics on the ship itself and who was there to see it and while Obi-Wan was not the only Jedi there—three others were travelling incognito—in the rather visible position he was in he would have unwarranted access if something happened.

Senator Jetrivian hosted the event making his speeches as lilting and superfluous as possible as he showed the Chancellor and the others that were with him around the newly completed ship. His family were prominent investors in Kuat Drive Yards and in addition to this the senator was a Kuati Viscount.

Organa took in everything, asking questions here and there and probing for details on this or that during Jetrivian’s tour. His clear-cut attire seemed to make Jetrivian rather overdressed in comparison, his red and gold ornamented robes as opposed to Organa’s dark blue tunic and mantle which had only a faint shimmer of embroidery.

He had grown easily into his role as Chancellor and unlike Palpatine and Amedda before him who always had seemed to have the weight of the Galaxy on their shoulders, Organa treated every matter with the attention that it was due whether it be something rather minor or important as the ship that he was now on.

Yet even in the ten years of relative peace and prosperity, the Jedi—and Obi-Wan in particular—found the larger picture to be somewhat unnerving, and more so by the fact that Organa was at the helm. Rather than a gradual stepping down of the role of the Republic military, things were moving in the opposite direction and often at the request of the Chancellor—or so appearances might seem. This was quite surprising given the views of his homeworld of Alderaan—as well as Organa’s own views—were quite pacific in nature.

There were reasons for this of course, reasons that Obi-Wan was well acquainted with such as the constant problem of space piracy and not to mention the howls of mercantile planets and the senators who represented them. They needed to rely on the Republic for security, something that they claimed Organa had promised in his election to chancellorship.

It was, Obi-Wan knew, a very strange way for things to have turned out and perhaps what would have happened if Palpatine’s plans had worked though on a much less brutal scale.

Necessity, Obi-Wan concluded, it often creates the worst conditions by its very nature.

They were on the bridge now and for a moment Obi-Wan wished Anakin was with him and not on Ossus with Sona. Starships, whatever their size or nature, enthralled Anakin as they bored Obi-Wan and it was something Obi-Wan had never been able to work out. What did it matter getting their faster if you had plenty of time and were willing to risk getting killed on the way there? Yet he took in all the details as he was required to, even inspecting some of the controls and asking a few questions.

When it was all done and the group left the starship Obi-Wan stood at the back of the crowd with some of the dignitaries as the formalities took place.

“Kind of strange, isn’t it?” asked Bultar Swan, she was disguised of course and had come because Kuat was her homeworld. “Anyone would think we are marching off to war again.”

Obi-Wan gave her a grim smile. “Some wars are started by armies doing nothing,” he replied, watching Jetrivian’s speech and wishing the senator would get on with it.

“They’re not exactly doing nothing,” Swan observed nodding to some of the troopers standing on parade nearby. “All this to ‘protect the Republic’s interests’?”

“Perhaps it’s not meant to do anything other than look very convincing,” Obi-Wan said. “You know how sometimes it’s better to look like you’re doing something even if you’re doing nothing at all.”

Swan didn’t agree. “I still say there’s something else.” She scanned the crowd then turned back to Obi-Wan. “Notice who’s not here?”

For a moment Obi-Wan didn’t understand what she was talking about. And then, as he inspected the faces of those gathered, he understood.

“Stokra,” he murmured.

“And Jetrivian’s one of his toadies,” Swan concluded, melting back into the crowd leaving Obi-Wan to contemplate this.

After the naming there was a small reception upstairs, from the long line of windows along one wall Obi-Wan surveyed the ship below, still in what they called ‘dry dock’ until the launch the next morning. It was certainly big, about half a length bigger than the Victory-class star destroyers they had started rolling out in the last years of the Clone Wars, and the crew required to man one was quite extensive not to mention all the fighters, turbolaser batteries and tractor beam projectors—fifteen in total—that the ship also had.

Yet he could not help thinking that such a vessel was designed for one purpose and one purpose only: war. And that was not a comforting thought.

“Looking at her?” Obi-Wan turned to see Organa had escaped the throng of favour-seekers and was walking towards him. “It’s an unpleasant reminder of what we’ve been reduced to.”

Obi-Wan looked at him quizzically. “Reduced to?” he repeated. “I'm still torn between deciding if this is about appearances or answering the requests for greater security.”

“It’s a compromise,” Organa told him.

Obi-Wan raised his eyebrows. “Some compromise,” he said with a shrug. “I can only remember the last time I saw the military muscle that had been developed for the Republic—and then what happened afterwards.”

“It’s not like that,” the Chancellor reassured him. “Back then we had little choice—or thought we didn’t.”

Obi-Wan nodded in agreement then turned away from the Redemption. As Jetrivian emerged to assail Organa again Obi-Wan could not help but murmur, “I have a very bad feeling about this.”

[edit] Dantooine Arrival

The first version of the arrival scene, with the conversation with Obi-Wan later. In the beginning this scene was just to get Anakin back to Coruscant but Obi-Wan was moved to later in the story.

Upon landing, Anakin was greeted by a Padawan who was on duty in the docking bay.

“Master Skywalker,” said the boy rather nervously, making a bow, “Master Kenobi has asked you to communicate with him as soon as you landed.”

Anakin sighed, it was just like Obi-Wan to check up on him like this.

“How long ago did he call?” he asked.

“Several times,” answered the boy, “the last was two standard days ago.”

At this moment the Ysanna had disembarked and were standing in a ring around Sona. She and Anakin were supposed to take them to Master Trov Lorn so they could be given quarters. But this seemed urgent.

“It’s okay, Master,” Sona said, jumping in before he could say anything. “I can take the Ysanna to Master Lorn, I know where he is.”

After Anakin gave an approving nod, Sona led the Ysanna away. They murmured goodbyes to Anakin as they left and little Ria seemed to want to come forward and say something until Zakiya restrained her.

Anakin went to the communications suite, wondering why Obi-Wan had not tried to contact him while they were on the ship.

It had been five years since Anakin had taken Sona as his Padawan learner, a major step that he never thought he would have taken three years before that. And shortly after that was Anakin’s own elevation to the rank of Jedi Master, an honour that did not mean as much to Anakin as it once might have had. What was more important was the long and seemingly impossible task of seeing Sona through to her Knighthood that was ahead of him. Was this how Obi-Wan had felt after Qui-Gon Jinn had died, with his dying words making Obi-Wan pledge to his own training?

But even though Anakin was Sona’s Master, Obi-Wan had helped, when they were able to see each other which was not that often lately. While Anakin and Sona had been roaming around the Galaxy on missions, Obi-Wan had stayed on Coruscant. And this urgent call, probably something to do with the political situation in the Senate that was changing in a way that even Anakin thought disturbing. He thought even politicians would have enough sense not to plunge the galaxy into another war. Yet what was happening could be summed up in a single word: fear. And Anakin knew well the Jedi axiom on the path that fear led, Yoda had repeated it enough times.

Finally Obi-Wan’s hologram flickered into view.

“This better be important,” Anakin said as a may of greeting.

“Hello to you too, Anakin,” Obi-Wan replied with a hint of a smile behind his beard, there was slightly more grey there than there had been since the war. It was barely perceptible but Anakin knew it was there as this was one of the main ways he talked to Obi-Wan these days, more often than not with half the galaxy between them. “I was starting to wonder if you were ignoring me and just taking your time at getting back.”

“Not with a ship with a hyperdrive that made us do everything but get out and push,” Anakin replied dryly, “I only just got back. How was the party?”

Obi-Wan rolled his eyes and Anakin knew what it was about. The Council of Opeth had invited Chancellor Organa to the naming of the Republic’s newest class of star destroyer. This one, said to be the pride of the Republic fleet, as named the Redemption. Ordinarily, Organa would not have chosen to attend such an event. Yet the political climate had dictated it. The Senate was fearful of the threat posed by Stokra’s Variceans, now an autonomous confederation in the Republic that was secretly arming itself.

Anakin wondered why he just didn’t march into Stokra’s office on Coruscant and settle the problem there, but he knew that wasn’t the answer.

“Stokra wasn’t there,” Obi-Wan replied knowing this was the news that Anakin wanted to hear, “neither were Jetrivian or Tulil’ya, and they were invited as a sign of solidarity.”

“Since when is it the Jedi’s policy to keep up with the social schedules of senators?” Anakin asked sulkily, remembering well a remark of Stokra’s last year on the HoloNet that the Jedi Order were little more than the Chancellor’s secret police.

“Since when the Senate seems to want to do everything to prevent a war that Stokra seems intent on having,” Obi-Wan replied. “The Council knows that the Variceans are arming themselves, but we can do nothing with all the concessions the Senate have given them. Particularly,” he added, “when we can’t go there to see for ourselves.”

Anakin frowned, that had been a bitter blow when Stokra had refused to let Jedi within Varicean the borders of Varicean systems which now numbered in the thousands.

“But Obi-Wan,” Anakin objected, “there aren’t you can hide a very large army, not for very long anyway.”

“And that’s what we need you and Sona to find out, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said. “Daleth Tarona is on Ord Mantel and she needs a secure way to pass on information. Stokra’s been seen there recently.”

Anakin swallowed hard, he wasn’t seeing Obi-Wan at all. Images of the war floated before his eyes, the devastation on Jabiim, the fiasco that had been Avingnon and Vjun…Imbroglio and Cato Neimoidia…a saga that had only ended with himself and Padmé confronting Sidious leaving behind a fractured Senate and devastated Galaxy.

It can happen again, Anakin said to himself, are people still too stupid to realise that war doesn’t solve anything?

“Why do I feel,” Anakin said at last, “that I know where this is going?”

Obi-Wan sighed. “Because I know as well, Anakin,” he said sadly. “We all do.”

Anakin took a deep breath, he think this over later. “I better tell Sona we’re leaving,” he said resignedly. “I’ll let you know what I find.”

“Come back here and tell me,” Obi-Wan said. “May the Force be with you.”

[edit] Death of Serra Kito

I had a lot of problems with this scene and it was written several times following this version before being scrapped entirely.

Why Stokra was doing deals with Hutts she had no idea, but that was a long line of things that Serra Keto couldn’t account for in the months she had been in the field.

Since leaving her Master Cin Drallig’s tutelage some years ago, Serra had been more or less following the will of the Force with occasional contact with the Council and her old Master. She had been on the verge of returning to Coruscant with some rather disturbing revelations when she had spotted Senator Stokra on Ord Mantell and seeking an audience with Taruk the Hutt. Whatever the reasons for this Serra didn’t know, but she intended to find out.

She dressed in the costume of a dancer, her lightsabers concealed in the lower part of the rather revealing garments, and more or less fitted in with Taruk’s retinue. The conversation between them, though it had been in Huttese, was very enlightening.

Yet as Serra sought to leave Taruk’s palace as discreetly as possible, she caught the attention of someone. An armoured figure wearing a helmet of a distinctive design, he also had a blaster rifle in his hands, ready to fire but not aimed. He knew by the way she moved she was a Jedi, just like the Jedi he had killed during the war, just like the Jedi that had killed his father.

So intent on her escape, Serra did not detect that she was being followed until it was almost too late.

With her Master attending something at the back of the ship, Sona was again on watch in the cockpit though she would have rather have been in the back cabin talking to the Ysanna.

No, not Ysanna, she corrected, they had made the choice to go with them and begin Jedi training, a choice that was still somewhat overwhelming and unbelievable to them. Sona sincerely hoped that Anakin was talking to them, answering questions, perhaps even relating details of the Temple, but she didn’t think it was likely.

“Can I come in?”

Sona turned to see Zakiya standing in the door way, what ever she was feeling she was not nervous as she had seen the others to have been.

“Sure.” Sona straightened herself up in the seat. “There’s nothing to see though,” she added, nodding to the viewport.

Zakiya sat and looked out with some interest. To Sona the fluorescent blue shapes and lines that lay beyond the transparasteel were normal to her, they were passing through hyperspace and it was nothing new.

But this was not the case with Zakiya. “Where are we?” she asked.

“Neither here nor there,” Sona answered, wondering how to explain hyperspace to someone who had no inkling of logistics of space travel. “We’re still quite a few hours out of Coruscant, that’s where we’re headed.”

Zakiya gave an involuntary shiver. “It’s all so strange,” she said, looking around with some bewilderment. “I know I wanted to go places, to see things but I never really thought about what it would be like.”

“That’s why the Jedi teach to have a much wider perspective of things,” Sona said. “And we have to, the Force is everything. Don’t worry,” she added. “We all get used to new experiences eventually, it won’t be long before you’ll be flying a starship.”

“I find that very hard to believe,” Zakiya laughed.

“So did I,” Sona confessed.

Their conversation was interrupted by the alarm of the hyperspace counter starting to sound. Sona turned back to the controls and contacted Anakin on the ship’s comm as the counter neared zero.

Zakiya shifted from the co-pilot’s to the navigator’s chair as Anakin entered the cockpit.

“What’s this course you’ve set us on, Master?” Sona asked, readying the ship for the revert back to realspace. “We can’t be back at Coruscant now, surely?”

“Of course not.” Anakin flipped a few switches. “I set us a course of shorter jumps, gets us back there quicker. We’re coming up on Ord Mantell.”

Sona blinked. “Right.”

Anakin glanced at her. “What did you say, Padawan?”

“Nothing Master,” Sona replied, suppressing a frown. Sometimes Anakin still did thing she couldn’t find a reason for. “Reverting in ten,” she said.

“What’s going on?’ Zakiya asked, they had both forgotten she was there.

“We’re passing by a planet,” Sona told her, keeping an eye on the counter, it reached zero and they started to emerge.

“Cut the sublights,” Anakin ordered, Sona compiled and the ship gave a screech and shudder as they left hyperspace. They were all thrown back and forward in their seats as they did.

“I don’t think I like this,” Zakiya said, she looked out the viewport. “Where’s the planet?”

“Out there,” Anakin replied. “But we won’t be paying a visit.”

Then Sona heard something disturbing over her headset. “Master, I’m getting something on a Jedi channel,” she said, looking at him with surprise. She pressed a key and diverted the transmission to the main comm unit.

“…aring a nine-thirteen, please respond,” came a rather garbled transmission, coupled with static. Whoever sent it sounded like they were running. “Repeat, this is Serra Keto declaring a nine-thirteen.” Her tone sounded urgent, almost desperate. “Please respond of there’s anyone around.”

Nine-thirteen was the code that Jedi used to locate each other in times of trouble, such as if a mission was greatly jeopardised or another Jedi had died.

Instantly Anakin activated the comm. “Responding, nine-thirteen, what is you location?”

“Thank the Force,” Serra said, “I'm—” The rest of the transmission was cut off by an explosion, then there was silence.”

“Nine-thirteen, respond,” Anakin said, but still nothing. He turned to Sona. “Did you get a location?”

Sona nodded. “Its planetside and I got rough coordinates of where the transmission was made.”

“It’ll do, take us in.” He then activated the comm unit so as to speak to their other passengers. “We’re making an unscheduled stop, if you’re not strapped in you might like to do that now.” He then deactivated it.

“What’s going on?” Zakiya asked, she had not understood one bit of what had went on between them.

“Nine-thirteen is a distress call,” Anakin explained, “and the Force is with us as we’re already here.”

Serra had had little choice but to send out the call, and even though her comlink was fried by the blaster fire of her pursuer there was someone coming for her.

“I just hope they get here in time,” she murmured, repelling another volley of blaster bolts with her lightsabers and scanning the skies frantically.

It was not just her own life that mattered, Serra had no problem that this suited aggressor—she assumed he was some kind of bounty hunter—chose to attack her. But it was the information she possessed, the least of which concerned Senator Stokra. It was in a small datachip, concealed inside her mouth so as not to lose it and it had information that was somewhat startling.

That alone had justified the nine-thirteen.

The bounty hunter closed in on her, she could start to see him now, his helmet a type reminiscent of the ancient Mandalorian warriors. But there was something else familiar about him, not just appearance but in the way he moved as he attacked her.

With relief she felt the pulse through the Force as a ship started to descend towards her. She responded with a call of her own, guiding the pilot—whoever the Jedi happened to be—to where she was.

Yet the bounty hunter did not seem to like this, he fired in rapid succession as Serra raced towards the ship. She moved quickly, the green blades of her lightsabers flashing as she did, deflecting the bolts fired her way. The ramp lowered and she jumped aboard while it was still airborne. Relieved, she relaxed as she ship ascended.

But nothing could prepare her for the blaster bolt that exploded into her back.

Another Jedi, a girl came towards her and helped her inside the ship as the ramp retracted and the hatch lowered. She was saying something, her voice soft and slow but Serra couldn’t make out the words. But that didn’t matter, Serra could feel the Force ebb out of her, there was nothing she could do to stop it.

The girl laid her on a couch and was still speaking to her. Others crowded around and stared as the girl talked. But Serra knew there was nothing that could be done, every Jedi accepted death when it came—she had just never anticipated that hers would come so soon.

But there was still something she had to say, the knowledge that may have caused her death.

“You have to…stop them,” she said in a hoarse whisper, opening her mouth wider so the datachip could fall on her tongue.

“What is this?” the girl asked, taking it from her.

“You have…to go there,” Serra gasped, blood starting to pour out of her mouth. “Destroy…it,” gathering her strength with the effort to speak. “Despair!” Her face relaxed and she was gone.

Sona closed her eyes and covered the body with her own cloak. They had come to save her, and all they could bring back to the Temple was a body. How was Cin Drallig going to react to this?

“What happened to her?” piped up a small voice. It was Ria, Zakiya’s cousin.

“She was shot,” Sona said in a flat voice, not for the first time wondering if things were meant to end this way.

[edit] Ord Mantell, revised

The main problem with the bounty hunter sequence is that, due to necessity, the bounty hunter has to disappear after this point. The information still had to be conveyed so the Dio scenesw was put in it's place.

Ord Mantell was just as Anakin had remembered it. Like Coruscant but dirtier, nastier, rougher around the edges. This wasn’t Sona’s first visit either, they had been here about a year ago to get information, but the area that Anakin guided them to on the speeder bikes wasn’t where they had been.

They had changed their clothing so they wouldn’t be noticed, yet as she followed her Master deeper into this district people couldn’t help noticing her. Particularly compared to the amount of clothing she wore compared to the females on the sidewalk, leaning out upstairs windows and striding along the rooves of buildings.

“Is this we we’re meeting her, Master?” Sona asked in a low voice once Anakin had gotten rid of the green Twi’lek who had tried to proposition him the moment they stopped. She stood at a distance scowling at them, wearing a short skirt and a few strategically placed sequins on her top half.

“No,” Anakin said, he nodded to a building about three metres away, “there.” The club had a holographic dancing girl outside that changed species in time with the music. Anakin slipped off the bike. “You stay here, Sona,” he told her when she tried to follow.

She tried to protest. “But Master…”

“Think about it,” Anakin interrupted. “How strange is it going to look if you go in there?”

Given the services that the club advertised, he had a fair point. “I’m still noticed as it is, Master,” she said.

“Then let’s not make it more,” Anakin replied, walking away. “I won’t be long,” he promised.

Frowning, Sona crossed her aims, checking up and down the street as she waited.

Anakin was directed to a long corridor with small rooms either side, each with a slit panel on the door as well as a red light above it. He went to the door second from the end on the left side and went in. Seconds later, the door opened again. At the sound, Anakin turned quickly but relaxed when he saw it was Daleth Tarona. She had changed since he had last seen her taken prisoner on Nibeena. Was she taller, or was it the spike-heeled boots she was wearing to go with the scanty costume she wore. When she saw Anakin she was immediately relieved.

“Thank the Force,” she said with a smile, “it was starting to get a little nervous on my way here.”

“Were you followed?” Anakin asked.

She nodded. “I lost him, I should have enough time.”

Anakin was confused. “Time for what?”

She looked at him strangely. “For you to get me out, of course,” she said. “Things have changed a bit, I’m no longer safe here. I have to get out.” Anakin took this all in. “How far is your ship?”

“Not far,” Anakin said, “do we have go now, or do you want to tell me what’s going on first? What have you found out about him?”

“Stokra?” asked Daleth.

Anakin shrugged. “Who else?”

Daleth considered. “The whole story is hard to explain, but I’ll shorten it,” she said. “Apparently he’s about to make a move, and by that I mean military.”

“A move?” Anakin asked her. “You mean an attack?”

She nodded, touching the jewel on the elaborate necklace she wore absentmindedly. “As for where, there’s several possibilities, which doesn’t help,” she continued. “And as you can expect he’s hiding something—a lot of things.”

This didn’t surprise Anakin. “Like an army?”

“It’s not that simple,” Daleth explained. “It’ll be a lot easier if I can show you what I have, but not here, not now.” She looked around nervously. “We have to move.”

From her position near the speeder bikes, Sona had a good view of the street. She didn’t particularly mind waiting, but what made this task all the more distasteful was the company she seemed to attract just by standing where she was.

Such as the burly, dark-skinned human who walked up to her with what he seemed to think was a lascivious smile. His hand moved dangerously close to her left arm.

“Taking joyrides, tonight?” He asked, ignoring Sona’s hostile stare. He leaned close so Sona could smell the stale sweat on him. “Know any tricks on that thing?”

Sona prised his hand from her wrist, squeezed it until the pain showed in his face, then pushed him away. “No tricks, nothing,” she said in a low voice. “Go away!”

But this one seemed too dense even for hints of that magnitude. His roving hand found its way to Sona’s left shoulder. Sona turned quickly and reached into the Force to give him such a blow that he reeled back as if he had been punched in the stomach. Mumbling half-sentences how he hadn’t meant anyone any harm, he went on his way clutching his belly.

Moments later, the green Twi’lek Sona had seen earlier crossed the street. But as Sona watched her departing form, a flicker of movement above made her look up. Someone was following at roof level, someone that didn’t want to be seen.

So intent on watching this that Sona didn’t see Anakin was walking towards her until he touched her on the arm.

“Great lookout you make,” he said half-jokingly as he noticed her start. He nodded to Daleth. “She says there’s a few people we need to lose.”

“Are those it?” Sona asked, gesturing to the figure she had been watching.

Anakin and Daleth followed her gaze, Daleth nodded slowly. “That’s him,” she said, her voice tense. “I hope your ship is as near as you said it was.”

“Artoo can fly it round,” Sona suggested as they got on the speeder bikes, Daleth climbing on behind her. Anakin shook his head. “Too much trouble,” he said, gunning his engine and taking off at a pace too frantic to be believed. Behind them on the rooftops, the figure got into an airspeeder and followed.

Anakin led them on a crazy course though the city that had even Sona wondering. Over and through traffic lanes, causing loud complaints from drivers, very close to buildings that the side of Sona’s bike would catch against the wall, and the wrong way through hovertrain tunnels.

Where did he learn to do this? Sona asked herself as she followed her Master through yet another devastatingly steep dive that made Sona’s stomach shift into her mouth.

“Is he crazy?” Daleth shouted over the din.

Sona shook her head and didn’t answer. From a quick glance over her shoulder she knew they were being followed. But that wasn’t the only reason behind Anakin's antics.

The ship wasn’t far from where they were, but Anakin knew their pursuer was gaining on them. Cursing, Anakin wished he had had upgraded the speeder bikes as he had promised himself he would.

[edit] Deatyh of Daleth Tarona

As Daleth doesn't appear in the story, her death scene wasn't needed. It also seemed a shame to introduce her only to have her die.

Daleth’s face as tense as the poison started to set in, Anakin removed the dart from her neck but she shook her head.

“No, too…too late,” she said, her face pale and her voice wavering.

Anakin pulled her up into a sitting position and supported her back. “We need to get you treated.” He turned to his apprentice. “Sona, I need the Medpac.”

Sona’s face fell. “It’s on the ship, Master,” she said.

“Call it in then!” Anakin barked, wishing he had listened to her earlier.

But in his heart of hearts, Anakin knew that it couldn’t possibly get there in time. Daleth knew this too, she pressed a datachip into his hands that she had removed from where she had concealed it—in the centre of the necklace she wore. “Everything you need…it’s there,” she told him, gasping for breath as the poison did its work. “But there’s…something else…I found out…that’s why…”

“What is it?” he asked her, feeling into the Force for her flickering life-force.

“Des…despair,” she said, her voice very faint. “You need to…go there…need to stop…death…” Her face slackened and she collapsed in Anakin’s arms. Anakin closed her eyes and looked up at Sona, not saying anything, not knowing what to say. Sona was white.

As if on cue, the Satyr arrived at that moment.

[edit] Boba Fett?

Originally, Serra was going to be killed by Boba Fett, then some random bounty hunter until this was taken out of thee story.

On their final approach to Coruscant the cockpit was full as the Ysanna marvelled at the sight of the city planet. Anakin smiled at this, remembering what his own first reaction had been.

Obi-Wan and Yoda as well as a few other Jedi. met him on the Temple landing pad, Yoda’s first words being directed at the Ysanna as well as introductions to two other Jedi who would see them settle in to the Temple. When they had gone—and there were a few depreciating glances as they left—Anakin brought out Serra Keto’s body on a stretcher. It was then he noticed that Cin Drallig was among those gathered.

Anakin looked at the tall, long-faced Jedi Master. Was there anything he could say? Padmé’s death excepted, Anakin had not been in a situation like this so as to sympathise. If that happened to Sona… He dismissed the thought, preferring not to think about it.

When Drallig had gone and only Yoda and Obi-Wan were left, Anakin handed over the datachip.

“I don’t know what’s on it,” he confessed, “but whatever it is it probably caused her death, just her having it.”

“What makes you think so?” Obi-Wan asked sceptically.

“It was in her mouth, Master Kenobi,” Sona told him. “It must have been important.”

“Hear your report the Council will later,” Yoda said, directing his floating chair off the landing pad. Alone with Obi-Wan and Sona, Anakin voiced a question that had been plaguing him since then. “I saw who killed her,” he said. “He was wearing Mandalorian armour.”

Obi-Wan stared. “Are you sure?”

“I think I know it when I see it,” Anakin replied. “What I don’t know is if Jango has any pretenders, or maybe it’s one of the clone’s gone rogue.”

“Not really,” Obi-Wan said. “Jango had a son.”

“What?”

“Well not really a son,” Obi-Wan admitted. “He’s an unaltered clone that was done for Jango by the Kaminoans as part of payment. I saw him when I was first on Kamino, he was about ten years old.”

“So he’d be…what…about twenty by now?’ Anakin was still trying to comprehend this. “Does he have a name?”

“Boba Fett,” Obi-Wan said.

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Katana Geldar 1,208 edits since May 11, 2007

User:Katana Geldar/Trash compactor

The Star Wars wiki of fan invention.

Contents

[edit] Jedi Padmé Trilogy

[edit] The Phantom Menace (AU)

[edit] Abandoned concepts

[edit] Attack of the Clones (AU)

[edit] Abandoned concepts

[edit] Revenge of the Sith (AU)

[edit] Abandoned concepts

[edit] Deleted scenes

[edit] Padmé at the play with Danta Pela

[edit] Anakin talks to Dooku, unfinished

[edit] Padmé and Anakin's argument, old version

[edit] Padmé's confrontation with Sidious, first version unfinished

[edit] Padmé confronts Sidious, first version

[edit] Varicean Saga

[edit] The Chosen Apprentice

[edit] Deleted scenes

[edit] Yoda and C-3PO at Republic Intelligence

[edit] Bail Organa, Mon Mothma and Danta on the Jedi Mission

[edit] Obi-Wan and Amedda

[edit] Danta in bed

[edit] Senators on Obi-Wan and trial

[edit] Obi-Wan and Anakin

[edit] Senator Perenine

[edit] Bail on Gunray's trial

[edit] Anakin and Obi-Wan on dreams

[edit] Anakin with Nares

[edit] Anakin and Threepio

[edit] Exhibiton day and council scene

[edit] Prelude of Fear

[edit] Deleted scenes

[edit] Ossus Sequence

[edit] Han Solo with Tulo

[edit] Taruk the Hutt

[edit] Kuat Reception

[edit] Dantooine Arrival

[edit] Death of Serra Kito

[edit] Ord Mantell, revised

[edit] Deatyh of Daleth Tarona

[edit] Boba Fett?