Saga Random Chance - a 'what if' vignette - Obi/Qui/Ani

TITLE: Random Chance


A one-post vignette, concerning a ?What if? situation

Disclaimer: George is the man; it all belongs to him, and he is endlessly loverly to let us play here.

Rating: G

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **



I sat there in the cockpit of my beat-up little freighter - the one that belongs more to the Bankers' Union than to me - and behaved as if it were just another day - just another job - just another run, and one part of my brain, running on automatic pilot (which is pretty funny when you think about it) plotted the course to Bilbringi with practiced ease. Given the current anomalous gravitic fluctuations around the Cullé Cluster - and the political unrest in the Scherik Colonies - I figured it would take just over four days to reach the primary docking station at the high altitude port.

I was aware of a tiny itch behind my left ear - a nuisance which generally only occurs when something happens to make me re-examine my current lifestyle - but I ignored it. I had excellent reasons, after all, more excellent than usual, to keep the helmet firmly in place.

It took a bit of creativity to convince the nav-computer to accept the series of co-ordinates I fed into it - as usual. Some day - probably sooner than later - I'd have to come up with the funds to upgrade the software - but, for the moment, it would have to do. Funds had been in rather shorter supply than usual since I'd lost my partner. It wasn't a large ship, by any means - but running it alone had proven to be a greater challenge than I'd expected.

I paused for a minute - trying NOT to remember Jébo's characteristic grin - and suppressed a sigh. There was no point in going over it again.

Dead was dead - and not likely to be rejuvenated simply because I wished it. I had given up on wishes a long, long time ago.

Almost eight years ago, as a matter of fact - on a day when everything in my life - every single thing - had just . . . imploded - and ceased to exist.

Or so I had believed.

For almost eight years, I thought I had learned the bitterest lesson a person could learn; I thought I had faced the ultimate tragedy - the ultimate betrayal.

I was wrong.

And now I could only think of one thing for which I was grateful. If I'd remembered her name, I'd have sent flowers and a message to that cocky little exotic dancer in that tacky little nightclub on the mining moon of Naboo; the one who had plopped herself down in my lap, snaked her arms around my neck, and then - very abruptly - leaped to her feet, proclaiming to anyone who would listen that I had "spooky eyes - eyes that made a person feel exposed - and alone - the eyes of a serial killer."

The message would simply have said, "Thank you."

The day after that little encounter, I had started wearing dark glasses - but soon, that wasn't enough. I found that I didn't want anyone to actually look into my eyes; nor did I particularly want to look into anyone else's.

And that was the beginning of an experiment that developed into something quite extraordinary - and unexpected.

In a matter of days, the dark glasses had become a helmet, and customized adjustments of my flight suits had resulted in a costume that completely obliterated the identity I had once worn. At the same time, I reached back into memory and retrieved a skill long abandoned.

Strangely, it came back easily, as if I'd never locked it away - but it came back different in one way. It came back much stronger than I remembered.

I found that I had not lost the ability to erect mental shielding around my thoughts and my mental aura, and, to my astonishment, I also found that the more I withdrew my own personality from the fabric of reality around me, the more skilled I became in identifying and reading the personalities and mental auras of others.

It would have made a cute parlor game - if I'd had anyone to play it with.

But I didn't. Jébo had been my only companion through all those years, and he'd been dead and gone by the time I discovered and perfected

 

Wow. That was very powerful! Was the pilot Obi-Wan? It seemed like it! This is great! I bet you could turn it into a chapter story! Great job!

 

Damn, another wonderful post. I don't know how you do it but, if you ever find out, please let me know.

I must say one thing though.
I?m sorry, my Obi-Wan ? and I never knew how much I loved you, until it was too late to say it. It's never too late to say it!!!

 

It seems as though everything you write is exceptional and beautifully worded. This, of course, is no exception.

 

*bows* Your eloquence leaves me speechless.

 

I love the "what if" aspect of this vignette. Beautifully written of course and so terribly sad.

 

Congratulations--you've managed to create an absolutely original AU, and that's saying something in the boundaries of a five-movie canon situation where it seems that almost every avenue has been explored. You had me guessing from the beginning who the narrator was, until the "Ben" emerged--and I was delighted with his style--the somewhat drier, more sarcastic Obi-Wan that you've presented, who lost his chance at a beautiful future years ago and has to contend with second (or third) best. Life- or something like it- goes on. That line touched me the most, it seems to close the story exceptionally well, with its "encounter" style, showing a brief meeting that is really something more--the middle of a much longer story.

An excellent vignette. And I liked your pun off Murphy's Law.

 

Uh..wh....whoa.

[face_shocked]

If there was any doubt that you are the best writer around here, it was laid to rest with this vignette. Such a dark, original spin on the three characers. I don't think anyone can write Anakin with the right balance of arrogance and needy emotion the way that you do.

Obi-Wan discovering that Qui-Gon was aware of his Padawan's darkness was breathtaking and so, so tragic. It seems that both Master and former apprentice are shackled by wrong decisions.

But at least in this world, Obi-Wan cannot have the blame placed upon him...though his heartbreak remains.

Oh gosh...Just beautiful!




And I hope things improve for you.

 

It's hard to sputter with the keyboard. I also agree that the sadest part for me was when he realized that Qui-Gon knew the future and couldn't do anything to stop it.

 

Good morning, All. I have a few minutes before the grind begins, and thought I'd try to respond to your lovely comments.

diamond_pony - Thanks for the kind words - and yes, it was Obi-Wan. Very AU, I know.

dianethx - I agree, it's never too late to say it, but it probably IS too late forObi to believe it. I mean, think about it; given what was done to him, and what he suffered, if you were in his shoes - could you?

Clark - What a lovely compliment - and welcome to my world.

oe - You? Speechless? Hold on now; I think the Apocalypse must surely be upon us.

Sheila - Yes - the old "What might have been" always grabs me, and refuses to let go until I write it.

Lady_Moonbeam - Thanks. One never knows where one will come across inspiration. In this case, it struck me as I was watching the very end of Stephen King's Storm of the Century - when the grief stricken father is musing about how much some things cost us - and how a sometimes, the cost of something - is everything we have. If I could have found a copy of the script, I would have quoted those closing lines as the basis for this little vignette. Powerful stuff. (I adore Stephen King.)

LE - I am truly touched to have such a gifted writer describe me in such a way.

Anakin, I find, grows more complex, in my mind, each time I try to write him - and he also changes from one story to the next, as I try out various personas on him. In this one, I tried to factor in a bit of one of the villains in the Superman movies (don't remember exactly which one) but the remark I remember from it is, "It's not enough that I win; everyone else must lose."

I can see that kind of need in Anakin - as a means to dispel his lack of self-assurance.

PK - Yes, I believe Qui-Gon would be completely torn up when he reached the ultimate realization - the one that made him face the truth about the innocence he and the Council had betrayed, only to face the ultimate betrayal themselves. Even if there is a certain poetic justice in it.

OK - gotta run. Thanks for all the lovely responses, People. You made my day.

CYN

 

Wow.

What an interesting twist on things.

Reading this, I felt as though GL finally turned over the directorial reins to Oliver Stone and let him run wild. I mean that as a compliment, in case it's not clear -- what a monstrously diabolical conspiracy this is!

I loved all the nuances and little details in here, as well as the ending (of course).

Personally, I would never really be able to buy into the premise that Anakin has a dark, rotten core that will inevitably lead to Vader. (I guess I'm too big a believer in free will and choice, even in the face of prophecy and destiny -- and for all characters in SW, not just Anakin.) But for purposes of this vignette -- for what you're trying to do with it -- it's immensely powerful and incredibly disturbing. And utterly believable.

Considering I'm something of a conspiracy theorist as it is, now you're going to have me looking over my shoulder all day...

 

Thanks for the kudos, Lex - and, like you, I am NOT a believer in pre-destination - but I do believe that currents in time sometimes sweep us toward destinations that are difficult to resist. And, in this case, you have Palps stirring the brew.

As I remark in another fic I'm writing, Anakin came to the Jedi with a lot of baggage - and it would have been almost impossible for him to unlearn the very skills that had been necessary for him to develop in his life as a slave.

So that 'dark core' is not necessarily meant to be something that he was born with; but something that festered and grew within him along the way.

CYN

 

Here's an up for ya. This doesn't belong on the second page!

 

You never cease to amaze me, Cynical. One of the things that I absolutely adore about your writing (and sadly, finding a little lacking in some of the other authors around) is that every one of your characters has a back story. Not just the main ones, even though you don't really have anything but those in this story, but every character has a history, a childhood, ambitions, and shattered dreams. I like how you give Anakin he's complexities; those tendrils left over from before the Jedi found him, those innate desires that just won't die, like everyone having to lose. I like how you give Qui-Gon his hesitations, that great desire to love Obi-Wan, his confusion at how much and the discoveries of those. I like your Obi-Wan, with his insecurities and his passions. He always seemes to want to just be left alone.

Well done. As if those two words could convey what your writing really does.

 

Wow! What a neat idea CYN. Your poor Obi always suffers in some of the worst ways imaginable! I don't know how you do it. I like though.

-Rogue

 

Damn...


Amazing Cyn

 

OK, Tru. In response to your PM, here it is; it's easier just to boost it UP, than to post links.

I'm assuming this is the one you're talking about, as I don't think I've written anything else that qualifies as a 'trilogy'.

I'll UP the other two later today.

Thanks for your interest.

CYN