Chapter 4
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters.
Chapter 3
That night as the three kids slept Qui-Gon regarded the children fondly; Andrew’s force sensitivity was a bit of a mystery to him after all he was from Naboo, he should’ve been located and sent to the temple while Faith and Anakin were from the Outer Rim but no system was perfect, Andrew probably slipped through the cracks. He saw Andrew begin to toss and turn, he walked over and attempted to calm him with the Force.
As Andrew dozed he was dreaming of an old building and he was walking through it, his excitement was building but so was his nervousness as there were three men waiting for him.
“So, you’ve come before us Exile?” one of the men said a bit crossly.
Andrew looked behind him when he heard one of the other say, “You have traveled a great deal distance and you have some questions.”
They started speaking of things to him; about Force Bonds and of Echoes in the Force, it was really confusing.
“You were deafened,” the cross one said.
*At last you could hear,* the old woman’s voice whispered.
“You were broken,” one of the others said.
*You were made whole.*
“And finally, you were blinded,” the cross man said.
*And at last you saw,* the woman’s voice whispered.
Andrew started to panic as the dream began to grow dark, the other Jedi said something about cutting him off from the force and he started babble, “No, please, don’t cut me off!!”
*Enough!! Step away from her,* an old woman said as she walked in to the place, blasting one of the Jedi. *She has brought truth and you condemn it? The arrogance!!*
The old woman took her hood down and said darkly, *You shall not harm her, you shall never harm her again.*
One of them seemed to recognize her and said, “You? I thought you died in the Mandalorian wars?”
*Die?* She said, *No, become stronger? Yes.*
Suddenly Andrew woke up, his eyes wide with fear and he shuddered, ‘What kind of dream was that?’ He looked at the Jedi and he looked shaken.
Qui-Gon looked at Andrew and gestured towards him and said, “Andrew, come sit by me.”
Andrew walked over to him and Qui-Gon sighed, “You’ve been given a very special gift, it may not seem like that right now but it’s a gift.”
“What gift?” Andrew muttered, “That was a nightmare, I have them all the time.”
“Really?” Qui-Gon asked, “Are you alright? I mean nightmares all the time?”
“Umm, not all the time,” Andrew said, “Sometimes I have happy dreams too,” and he smiled.
As Andrew went back to sleep Qui-Gon wondered vaguely if any of the others had dreams that were similar, he would have to ask them in detail as the report that Obi-Wan sent to him said that all of three of them were deeply in tune with the Force.
The next morning Qui-Gon watched them get ready for the Pod Race, he looked at Faith and said, “May I ask you if you had interesting dreams?”
Faith looked at him oddly and said, “Yeah, sometimes; like I’m standing on a starship looking down at a planet, there’s a guy with me but that’s about it, sometimes it’s hard to remember and it doesn’t seem happy to me.”
Qui-Gon sighed, he wished he wasn’t on such an important mission right now, that way he could investigate further both Andrew and Faith’s abilities.
As they rode to the racing track Anakin was talking about how important Boonta Eve was to the Hutts and how big the race was here, Andrew looked at Shmi and realized that she was upset about Anakin riding in the race.
“Do you ride in the pod races Faith?” Padmé asked curious.
“Yeah, I’m the reason why Watto doesn’t have another racer,” Faith smirked, “and I would have been here riding with Ani. Trust me, some of these racers are mean, especially Selbulba. I would be there to give him backup but since I crashed the other pod Watto wouldn’t let us, let me drive again.”
Qui-Gon looked at Anakin as he got his Pod Racer ready, he saw Watto come in and said, “I’d like to make you a deal: if we win you keep the winnings, minus the parts I need, you keep the pod and I also get the Skywalker’s.”
“No Pod is worth three slaves,” Watto snarled, “Not by a long shot.”
But suddenly Watto got a devious look on his face and said, “Let’s let fate decide, yes? I happen to have a chance cube: red, the mother and blue, the two children?”
Qui-Gon sighed, this was probably the best he could do and nodded, as Watto threw the chance cube he manipulated the force to cause it to roll on blue.
“You won the small bet outlander,” Watto snarled, “But not the big bet.”
He came out and got on to the stand and Andrew looked at the odd look on his face and wondered what happened in the hanger.
As they saw the racers get ready Faith glared at Selbulba and Andrew whispered, “What’s wrong Faith?”
She pointed, “Whenever Selbulba races the other Pod racers suffer from ‘accidents’ and last time Ani nearly died.”
Andrew looked pale, “Sabotage? How the hell did he get away with that?”
Faith nodded and they began to listen to the announcer. Andrew muttered, “Two heads? This galaxy never ceases to surprise me,”
The race started and Andrew joined them in watching the race on the video feeds and he prayed that Anakin would be alright.
Padmé whispered, “These Jedi are far too reckless, trusting our fate to a child who’s your age and he told me that the queen trusts his judgment.”
Andrew giggled a bit and whispered, “You should tell him when we get home and he might understand why you’re so upset.”
She gave him a look and shook her head.
Andrew smiled, “I bet Anakin can do it, I have a feeling that he won’t let us down.”
She frowned, she trusted Andrew’s opinion but still they were trusting things to a child and she didn’t think that this was a good idea.
Anakin grinned as his Pod Racer finally started and he sped off after the others at near breakneck speeds and he wished that Faith was here, that would’ve been beyond awesome as he steered his Pod past the rocks.
Andrew noticed that Padmé had gotten worried when Anakin’s Pod didn’t start at first and even he was a bit uneasy when it didn’t start, the future of their world was riding with Anakin.
The race was eventful as Tusken Raiders started to shoot at the Racers, Andrew and Padmé looked at Faith and Shmi who both told them that the Sand people often shot at the racers.
“Yeah,” Faith muttered, “They got me once when I was racing with Ani, nearly killed me.”
Padmé gasped, first there was the slavery and now this, she supposed this was a sort of freedom for them but still she wasn’t going to stop until they found a way to end the slave trade once and for all.
Andrew frowned as the final lap came up, something was really suspicious about this as Selbulba’s racer didn’t suffer from the same troubles that the other racers were and he swore that there was a flame thrower in it.
“That bastard son of a Hutt!!” Faith growled, “He still has that flame thrower in his Racer!!”
“Why hasn’t he been caught?” Andrew demanded to know.
“Because he’s popular and the people who make all that money off him refuses to charge him for what’s doing,”
Andrew frowned, “Not nice anyways,” as they watched Selbulba’s Racer come out in front, he was starting to see why these races were so exciting but it would better if there wasn’t so much riding on it.
The race suddenly came to head when one of Selbulba’s engines suddenly exploded, Andrew took a bit of pleasure from that, ‘It was probably the flame thrower overheating and destroyed the engine.’ He just hoped the Dug wasn’t too hurt, even if he was cheating he didn’t want him dead.
Anakin passed through the finish line and stopped, he looked dazed, ‘I won? I won?’ He jumped and yelled, “I won!!” as the crowd erupted with cheering while Watto and several people looked really angry.
Qui-Gon walked away from the cheering crowds with a slight smile on his face, ’I have to go collect on a bet,’ he thought as he walked towards Watto who still looked angry. The Toydrian turned around and yell, “You cheated me!! You knew he was going to win somehow, I don’t know how but you knew.”
“Remember our deal,” Qui-Gon said, “The boy and his sister are coming with me.”
“It wasn’t a fair bet,” Watto snarled, “You can’t have them.”
“If you’d rather we take this up with the Hutts?” Qui-Gon said, “Then we can.”
Watto froze, he didn’t want to talk to the Hutts particularly because he hated the Hutts more than he hated the Jedi and as he looked out at Anakin who was smiling and his sister who was hugging him, he realized that he couldn’t deny them the right to leave and find a new place for themselves. He nodded, “Take them.”
Qui-Gon nodded and recognized the look in Watto’s eyes, he said, “They’ll be well taken care of.”
“See that they are,” Watto snarled and flew off.
Anakin saw Qui-Gon walk towards him and said, “Congratulations my young friend, your victory helped us and I might mention that you and your sister are free now.”
Faith and Anakin both looked at each other and nearly collapsed, they were free?
‘Free?’ Anakin thought when he went over Qui-Gon’s words and said, “What about mom?”
“I’m sorry Anakin,” Qui-Gon said, “I tried to free her too but it didn’t work.”
They looked at each other and Faith muttered, “Don’t want to leave mom alone here.”
Anakin nodded.
Andrew and Padmé looked at each other and Andrew whispered something into Padmé’s ear and she nodded, they would be back after the crisis ended.
Shmi looked at her children and said, “Please don’t worry about me, you’d have to leave me sooner or later.” She looked at Qui-Gon, “Are they to be Jedi?”
He nodded, “Our meeting was no coincidence, this was the will of the Force.”
They got things ready and Anakin looked at C-3PO and said, “I’m going to be a Jedi C-3PO, I wish I could’ve finished building you.”
“I wish you well Master Anakin but I wish you could’ve you finished me as well,” C-3PO lamented and looked down
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure mom doesn’t sell you or something like that,” Anakin said, “And besides, Faith and I should be back someday and then maybe I can fix you.”
C-3P0 watched them leave and as they left Anakin and Faith both looked at their mother and rushed back and hugged her tightly and they left
As they headed to the outskirts Andrew, who was already on the ship, sensed that there was something wrong. He heard a voice whispered, *Be mindful Exile, now look out.*
Andrew looked out and saw Anakin and Faith riding with Qui-Gon and felt relieved until he saw someone on a speeder behind them, he was wearing black robes. Qui-Gon noticed him too and urged the children into the ship as he suddenly ducked to avoid a slash of a lightsaber.
Qui-Gon suddenly activated his own lightsaber and stopped the mystery man’s lightsaber from slicing through him, Faith wanted to help Qui-Gon when she heard a voice whisper, *Revan run, you cannot aid yet, in time yes but not now.*
Faith grabbed Anakin who said, “We gotta help Qui-Gon.”
“Yeah but we’d get our asses kicked first because that other guy has one of those laser swords and we don’t, maybe they can help them,” Faith said as she held her little brother close to her and leapt into onto the ramp.
The ship lifted up and Qui-Gon leapt up after Faith and Anakin and had to catch his breath, he looked at Anakin and Faith and said, “Are you two alright?”
They both nodded and Andrew asked, “Who was that guy?”
“I do not know but he was well skilled in the Jedi arts, my belief is that he was after the queen,” Qui-Gon said as he looked at his Padawan who rushed over to see if he was alright.
Qui-Gon smiled slightly and said, “Anakin and Faith Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi.”
They both smiled and shook his hand and Andrew sat down and began relax as that guy with the red lightsaber made him nervous, Padmé walked up to him and whispered, “Regret staying at the palace with me now?”
Andrew nodded and she sat down and said, “We got a message from home; they’re saying that quite a few people have died in those camps that the Trade Federation put them in.”
“Mom,” Andrew whispered, “And dad, are they alright?”
“Yeah, they’re fine for now. The armies haven’t left Theed, I think and mom and dad know to stay in the Lake Country,” Padmé said, “And besides, they’re safe as its isolated there.”
Andrew nodded as R2 wheeled over and bumped against him, beeping worriedly for them both and Andrew patted R2’s dome, causing the little droid to beep happily.
Padmé sighed, “I might just have to give you R2 because he likes you, I think.”
“He likes the fact that I can understand him,” Andrew said as R2 let out a bunch of beeps and whistles.
The ship leapt into hyperspace going towards Coruscant and Andrew smiled slightly, he was going to the center of the Republic and he couldn’t wait, he hoped it would be better than Tatoonine.
TBC
If Andrew does become a Padawan then who should be his Master? How should Andrew’s first trip to Coruscant go? How should Andrew’s and Faith’s tests with the Jedi go?
Please rate and review.