Saga The Calm Before - repost of SW Ep2 (Insert Pretentious Title Here) updated 3/6

*points at Jade* It's her fault!

See of you can sweet-talk her into finishing my beta, Lothi...

 

Don't everybody pass out... I know it's been a long time. But I think I'm finally getting back ino the swing of things. I just hope someone's still hanging around.


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Chapter 6



Obi-Wan took Sabé?s hand and assisted her into the VIP shuttle, then climbed in behind her and signaled the driver to proceed. He sat down across from Sabé as the shuttle lifted away from the Alderaan Legation and settled back against the plush upholstery, watching her carefully. The handmaiden?s expression betrayed only a hint of the anger and disappointment that he sensed from her through the Force.

?I apologize for my Padawan?s poor manners, Sabé,? Obi-Wan said. ?I can assure you that he knows better.?

?I?m sure he had his reasons,? Sabé replied, staring out the window at the passing traffic.

Obi-Wan cocked an eyebrow at the uncharacteristically mild response. Just the fact that Anakin had left the reception early was a serious breach of propriety, but abandoning his escort with no prior word was unspeakably rude. Obi-Wan had been sure that Sabé would have some choice words on the matter. But she said nothing else, continuing to stare out the window in silence.

The shuttle set down on the landing platform in front of the building housing the Naboo delegation?s apartments, and Obi-Wan offered Sabé his arm as they walked into the building. When they reached the main doors of the Naboo apartments, the guard on duty gave them a slight bow and keyed the doors. Before Sabé could go inside, Obi-Wan touched her arm and asked, ?Sabé, did Anakin give you any indication at all as to why he was leaving??

?Anakin is hardly accountable to me, Obi-Wan,? Sabé answered with an edge to her voice. She obviously did not want to be questioned about the matter.

?These days, he hardly seems accountable to me,? Obi-Wan murmured, more to himself than to Sabé.

Sabé gave him a puzzled look, then said, ?I wouldn?t have known he was gone if I hadn?t seen him leave. He said nothing to me beforehand.?

Obi-Wan studied her for a moment. Anakin may not have spoken with her, but Obi-Wan had a feeling that Sabé knew why his Padawan had left so suddenly. However, given her current mood, he was not inclined to push the issue. It was Anakin?s question to answer, at any rate. He bid Sabé farewell with a slight bow.

He spent his return trip to the Temple mulling over his Padawan?s behavior and trying to control his rising anger. By the time he stalked into his quarters, he was ready to treat Anakin to a Force-enhanced tongue-lashing.

In truth, he didn?t really care why Anakin had behaved as he did. The fact of the matter was that Anakin was old enough to understand his responsibilities and carry them out, without letting his personal concerns get in the way. Sometimes his immaturity is astounding.

Obi-Wan sighed and pushed his hand through his hair, debating whether to wake Anakin now or wait to punish him in the morning. Then he spotted the empty bottle on the kitchen counter. He picked it up and looked at the label, a mischievous grin spreading across his face. Corellian brandy. He would definitely wait until the morning. That bottle had been nearly full. He?s going to feel like poodoo.

Obi-Wan tossed the bottle in the trash, feeling a bit mollified. He was going to have to explain his Padawan?s behavior to the Council, but making Anakin train with a hangover would almost make up for it.

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The armored soldiers marched through the rubble. Behind them, smoke billowed over the city?s graceful white skyline. Anakin looked behind him at the gathered defenders, a ragtag band of local police and militia. He activated his lightsaber and prepared to fight the invaders.

"Anakin!" a woman?s voice came. He lowered his saber and looked around, oblivious to the flying energy bolts. "Ani, help me!" No one else seemed to hear it. He left the battle and ran through a maze of buildings and debris, searching for the voice. "Hurry

 

Wohoo!!! An update!!!

-Tim

 

Yeah, the story gets more interesting!

 

Great to see you back, Jae! Did you finally kick Jade in the butt?

However, given her current mood, he was not inclined to push the issue.

No one ever accused Obi-Wan of being stupid.

 

Hey, Tim, a-p, and Lothi! Glad to see some people still hanging around.

Guess that will teach me to go so long between posts.

 

*waves*

I'm here too, Jae--good to see you updating again.

Yikes...poor Anakin...

 

Great post Jae! Poor Anakin, why do jedi always have to make important choices with family at stake? *sighs* Oh well. Looks like we're in for quite an adventure!

 

Hey you posted! And Padme's going after Anakin... dust I smell love in the air?

I also loved how making Anakin train with a hangover would make up for his behavior

 

Thanks for stopping by, Tracy! Are you saying "poor Anakin" because of the dream or the hangover?

Jalen: Thanks! Yeah, the pace should start picking up some - I have to preserve my reputation as an action writer...

Luney: Yes, finally, a post. I've been looking around for someone to blame for my tardiness, but can't find anyone. You might smell love...but it might be Obi-Wan's cooking too..

 

pushing this up...

 

and up again...

new post soon?

 

Are you saying "poor Anakin" because of the dream or the hangover?

Both. Whiskey hangover...*cringe*... And with a dream like that on top of it...poor thing.

 

Hey, look, it didn't take me 6 months to post this time...

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The grizzled freighter captain glanced back over his shoulder, and Anakin smiled grimly beneath the hood of his cloak, his arms crossed over his chest. This was Anakin?s first appearance in the cockpit - in fact, it was his first foray out of the small cargo hold he had been using as a cabin, and he sensed the old spacer?s uneasiness. Anakin had used the Force to keep the old man on edge for the entire trip. He didn?t want any interaction with anyone; he just wanted to get to Tatooine. The only reason he was up here now was because they were getting ready to drop out of hyperspace.

"Comin? up on Tatooine," said the captain, reaching for the hyperdrive controls.

"Take us down to the Mos Espa spaceport," ordered Anakin. These were the first words he had exchanged with the pilot since Coruscant, when he had pressed all of his money into the man?s fist and demanded passage. He had only enough credits to get him to Tatooine. He wasn?t worried about getting back.

There?s nothing to go back to.

He felt a strange tingling in the Force. Something was wrong. "Drop us to sublight now!" he shouted.

"But--" protested the other man.

"Just do it!" yelled Anakin, taking a threatening step toward him.

The captain pulled back on the hyperdrive lever, dropping them back into normal space. The Force-tingling grew stronger. Anakin peered through the cockpit viewport. "I have a bad feeling about this," he murmured.

"I don?t see nothin?," protested the captain.

"There," said Anakin, pointing. A large dark cruiser, barely visible against the starry backdrop of space, hung over the dirty brown orb of Tatooine.

"What kinda ship is that?" the captain asked.

Anakin?s reply was cut off by two small triangular craft flashing by the cockpit. A moment later, the ship rocked from the concussion of several near misses. Fighters, Anakin thought as he regained his balance. Then the realization struck him: the Mandalorians were here! He tried to squelch the dread forming inside him.

The captain swore viciously and clutched the controls. He punched new coordinates into the navicomputer and started to bring the freighter about.

"What are you doing?" Anakin demanded.

"What?s it look like I?m doin?, kid? I?m gettin? the hell outta here!" The old pilot continued to turn the ship as a wave of fighters burst from the cruiser and headed their way.

"Turn this bucket around," Anakin ordered coldly. "I paid you to take me to Tatooine and that?s what you?re going to do."

"Are you nuts?" exclaimed the captain. "I don?t got no weapons! We could get killed goin? up against them fighters!"

Anakin pushed his hood back and pinned the captain with an icy blue stare. "If we face those fighters, you only might be killed." He ignited his lightsaber and held it inches from the old man?s face. The shimmering green blade cast a sickly glow across his features. "If you don?t turn around, you will be killed. Now turn this ship around."

The captain stared at him in mute disbelief. Anakin gripped his saber tighter, hanging on to his temper by a bare thread. The situation seemed to be spiraling out of his control, and his panic was pushing aside everything else in his mind. ?Now!? he yelled through clenched teeth, pushing the lightsaber so close to the man?s face that pink burn marks began to form on his skin.

Quailing in the face of Anakin?s fury, the captain turned back to the controls and swung the ship back toward Tatooine. He muttered under his breath as his hands danced across the panel, adjusting the engine and shields.

Anakin shut off his saber and straightened up in satisfaction. The feeling was only momentary; as the fighters swarmed toward them, he realized that the captain was not a skilled enough pilot to outmaneuver them, and the lack of weapons only made things worse. The ship bucked under the withering fire. Lights flashed and alarms blared a

 

Yeah, Padme...Clue Phone, hon. It's for you.

That poor spacer...talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time...and daring to mess with Anakin when he's on his way to his mother.

Good post, Jae.

 

woo-hoo, only a week this time!

Nothing like a red-hot lightsaber to make you re-think your position on running the gauntlet. Anakin's getting a little hair-trigger, isn't he?

LOL, Tracy - Padmé does need to wake up and smell the kaf. Or is she being deliberately obtuse, the way women are wont to be sometimes?

 

Loved how Anakin pulled a lightsaber on the guy (I'm bad with names), and the Padme\Sache scene was great. Oh and I love the headline in the tabloid... tiz only so true

 

*would like to take this opportunity to say... "Ouch!"*

Awesome post Jae! You can feel Anakin's intensity and barely restrained (or not so restrained) anger! That and the Padme/Sabe interaction was pricelessly amusing

 

Tracy: You know, somehow I think that she still doesn't get it...

Lothi: Temper control has never been one of his strong suits. And if you're a good boy, I might even post again in a week.

Luney: Don't worry about it - I didn't give him a name. And I think Anakin probably gets a lot of his information from gossip rags - they're a heck of a lot more entertaining than the regular newspaper.

Jalen: Thanks! Glad you liked it. And one should never underestimate Sabé.

 

Oh, I'm a very good boy...

 

*doesn't believe Lothi-Baby*

 

That's 'cause you haven't tried me, Luney-baby...

 

*debates whether or not to smack Lothi*

You may be right about not believing him, Luney - then again, that might depend on what he's talking about...


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Anakin clutched the freighter?s controls as it fell toward the planet, wondering if his ruse would hold up. When he had shot by the big cruiser?s bridge, he had shut off the engines and fired the freighter?s repulsors, sending the old ship careening toward Tatooine in what he had hoped would appear to be a powerless dive. If the cruiser?s captain thought they were dead, then hopefully he wouldn?t feel the need to send his fighters to double-check. Surely he had more important things on his mind than a rusting hulk of a freighter that posed no threat to him anyway.

So far, so good. They hadn?t been fired upon again, and Anakin hadn?t seen any fighters swooping by to take a closer look. He slowly angled the ship into a steeper dive. The freighter bucked wildly as Tatooine?s gravity dragged it along the edge of the atmosphere, throwing Anakin hard against his safety harness. The straps bit painfully into his shoulders and neck as the g-forces of the tumbling ship asserted themselves, jerking him left, right, up, down. Black space, blue sky, and desert brown all rushed by the viewport in a disorienting swirl of color, and Anakin gripped the flight controls tighter, wondering if his stomach would ever catch back up with the rest of his body.

Beads of sweat popped out on his forehead as he wrestled with the controls, finally stabilizing the ship?s fall. With the engines shut down, it took most of his concentration to hold the ship at the proper descent angle. The shields were gone, and if he didn?t control the ship precisely, it would burn up in the atmosphere. Anakin half-closed his eyes, sinking further into the Force. His hands, slick with sweat, slipped as he made minute adjustments to the flight controls. He rubbed them on his pants, then swiped his forehead with his sleeve. The cockpit seemed to be getting warmer every second.

The Dune Sea grew larger in the viewport as the ship plummeted toward the surface. Anakin watched his altitude indicator carefully. A little closer?now! He fired the engines and leveled the freighter out fifty meters above the desert plain. He sagged back in the seat with a sigh of relief, then quickly got his bearings and banked towards Mos Espa, skimming the ship low over the hot sands.

"Hey, I?m going to set it down on the outskirts,? he called out to the captain. ?You can leave whenever you?." Anakin trailed off as he looked over his shoulder. The captain lay on the floor in the corner of the cockpit with his head tilted at an impossible angle.

Shavit! he swore to himself. He hadn?t given the old spacer a chance to strap in before throwing the freighter into its wild gyrations. Now the man was dead, his neck broken from being hurled around the cockpit. Anakin had been so intent on their escape that he hadn?t even noticed.

At least now I have a ship to take Mom away. Anakin tried to stifle the thought, but it was there, fully formed, before he could stop it. He felt shame ? a Jedi should not be so cavalier about the death of another. But it?s not like he?s ever going to need the ship again?.

Hurry, Ani, hurry! The voice from his vision was back, urgent, driving him on, causing the dry taste of panic to rise in his throat again. He caught his breath as he crested a large dune and Mos Espa came into view. Smoke rolled up from the city in great black clouds, almost obscuring the distinctive triangular shapes of the fighters zipping away toward space. Anakin punched the engines to full power, not caring if he incinerated every life-form within ten kilometers.

Oh Force, oh Force, oh Force... The words tumbled around in his head over and over. His hands shook against the controls. Please, please don?t let her be hurt!

His worst fears seemed to be confirmed as he flew over the city. Fires burned every

 

ACK!!! Jae!!! You can't stop there!!! Great post, very descriptive. Poor old captain guy... *is sick and under the influence of many drugs, please disregard any anomolies in posting*

More soon?

 

Thanks, Jalen! And who knows, maybe being under the influence of many drugs enhances the reading and posting experience.

I hope to start posting more often - work and kids are tough to juggle around sometimes, but I'm getting back into this now.