Ficlet
To quote a Jedi, Size matters not...
Serianas Adria was at the back of the line to leave the ship. The other refugees were climbing out of their cabins almost the moment they left hyperspace; the entire ship was just glowing with excited energy. The feeling that nearly choked the air was pure, unadulterated hope.
When Naboo was glassed, millions fled her surface in anything that could leave the ground. The Sith attacking hadn’t seemed to care in the least about the ships escaping; the planet was being burned to send a message, not to commit genocide. The mass murder was a side effect of machinations being carried out on a galactic scale between very powerful people.
Serianas had little interest in the hope onboard the Valiant. Her husband had died of a bad heart years before Naboo was murdered. She had escaped the planet with her fifteen year old daughter on board a rickety ship with twelve other families. The year was unkind to them, and by the time the word went out that there was salvation beyond the stars for the survivors of Naboo, she no longer cared. Their escape vessel had landed on Tatooine. Her daughter, Jaelyn, had been taken by the hutts to serve as a slave in their palace. Her life has lost meaning.
She followed behind the crowd, a shell of a woman, barely noticing the huge grass field they landed in, or the scent of summer air on a planet that had never known pollution. She barely noticed the huge lights set up to illuminate the tables where young men who all looked the same were kindly checking people in, handing out packages, reassuring families.
Then someone walked onto the elevated platform at the far end of the field, and Serianas noticed HER. She was tiny beside the troopers, but something about her presence seemed to fill the field, and a hush fell over it. Even from the back of the lines it was easy to see how blue her eyes were, and long hair fell about her shoulders like liquid white fire. She looked too perfect to be a real creature. A man followed her up on the platform, and Serianas stared in wonder. He was taller even then the troopers, with black hair that curled about his face and back into a ponytail. A streak of white fell from the center of his forehead, and his sapphire eyes glowed. The crowd stared at them, they stared at each other. There was a magnetism between them that was palpable.
“Naboo fell.” The woman spoke, and she needed no microphone to carry her voice. It was lower then Serianas expected for her stature; it filled the air and hung there. “Her people stumbled.” She spoke softly, the crowd stirred, and Serianas frowned. Wondered what the woman was on about. “There is no shame in sadness for what you lost, we all have the right to mourn her. This planet,” she paused and looked at the man, who nodded gently. “This planet is not Naboo. We are not here to replace the world you lost.” She stepped forward, hands upward, outward, as if holding up a precious gift. “In honor of your lost world, we are building Novus Astrum in her image, in her honor.” Her eyes glistened, and in the dead place where Serianas’ heard had been, something stirred as if called by a primal force. The crowd was silent, hanging on every word.
“Novus Astrum.” She said it softly like a proud mother, lips lifted in a gentle, loving smile. “She is not Naboo, but she is our home. And now, if you will have her, she will be your home too.” The crowd stirred. “Oh, lost children of Naboo, will you have us?” The crowd roared assent. She smiled, and unashamed tears rolled down her face; passion poured over the crowd. “Welcome home.” The cheers rolled to a cacophony, and Serianas was startled to realize she was cheering too, carried in the wave of homecoming. Only that dead place inside pulled her back, and she watched the man slide his arms around the woman. He smirked softly and whispered something into her hair. She grinned in response and gazed up at him. He reached out to brush the tears from her cheeks, forehead pressed to hers, and the crowd fell in love with their new King and Queen.
“Nice trick.” Anakin smirked softly and slid his arms around Halley, nuzzled in close. “I haven’t seen vocal force amplification on that scale since the last time I watched HIM address the senate.” She grinned up at him, and he chuckled. “And don’t think I didn’t feel you pulling on the crowd's heartstrings there, little miss.” He lifted his hands and wiped the tears gently off her cheeks.
“They need hope, they need a direction. Most force powers aren’t good or evil, it’s how you apply them.” She grinned, and nuzzled in close, high on the adoration of the crowd. Anakin leaned down again and kissed her hair.
“Just be careful.” He looked out over the crowd and watched as the troopers stepped up and started directing the assembled people to sign ins.
Halley frowned, and drew away from Anakin, scanning the crowd. He blinked down at her, and raised a brow. She looked up at him, looking through him like listening to a far away sound. “You feel that?”
“Feel what?”
“Guess that’s a no.” She turned, jumped down, and headed into the crowd like a hound on a scent. Hands reached out gently to touch her as she passed, inquiring almost, and she took the time to offer quiet reassurances as she walked. Anakin followed close, one hand on his saber. They didn’t touch him, he received a quiet respect, deference due a King. Halley stopped at the far end of the crowd, and her eyes fell on a sad, middle aged woman in the back. “Hello.”
Serianas blinked, astonished. The enchanting woman and her dark, dangerous mate were standing there, attention fully on her. She gulped and moved to kneel, but the woman reached out to catch her with a little shake of her head.
“There’s no need for such things.” She smiled softly, and offered her arm. “Will you come with me?”
“Why me?” Serianas squirmed under the woman’s kindness and the man’s unfathomable gaze.
“I feel something from you. A darkness, a hole inside. Something darker then just a lost world.” She frowned, and Serianas closed her eyes. Tears made their way down her face.
“It’s nothing you could help with.”
“Seri.” The woman purred, and Serianas froze. The woman knew her name. Pale blue eyes shifted to liquid gold and her hair seemed to stir as though immersed in wind, though there wasn’t a breeze to be felt. “Never underestimate what we can help with.”
The older woman gaped, and slowly nodded. “Okay.”
“They just… took her. She’s only fifteen, she was so scared.” Seri closed her eyes, grip tight on the mug of caf that had been offered. The man, Anakin, stood by the doorway of the tent and ground his teeth loudly enough to be heard. The little woman, Halley, sat across from Serianas. She stared into space, one hand over her mouth.
“Do you know the hutt’s name?” She asked after a lengthy pause.
“Jabba. They said his name was Jabba.”
Halley looked at Anakin, eyes still gold. “This has to stop.”
“There’s always going to be slavery, Hals, you said it yourself.” He frowned, and fumed internally. “I’m as sick of this nonsense as you are.”
“Fifteen. Even I know that’s unconscionable, and I’m a force damned sociopath.” Halley stood, and paced, arms crossed. Seri watched her, uneasy.
“We could take the Gale.” Anakin shrugged slowly. “And give them a demonstration.”
“The fleet-”
“Hals, lets be realistic.” He walked over, nuzzling close, an almost predatory look on his face. “Do we need a fleet to rescue a little girl and leave some collateral damage?”
She looked up and sighed gently. His smile was contagious. “This is going to piss Obi off.”
“Shit, Halley, what doesn’t piss him off?”
“Granted. Just don’t say I never warned you.”
“Deal.” He drew back, and glanced at the women. “We’re going to need you to come with us in our personal ship. When we get your daughter out, we’ve got to make sure we have the right girl.”
Serianas nodded quietly, and looked into her mug. “I’ll come with you, but,” she glanced at the Sith, and sighed. “No one takes on the hutts and lives.”
Halley quietly chuckled, and leaned against Anakin. “We have a history of beating the odds.”
The Gale was a pretty ship to behold, small beside the other ships in the fleet but with a grace that put her larger sisters to shame. Seri had been deep in the shuttle carrying the refugees to Novus Astrum; she hadn’t seen the massive fleet hanging in space around the planet on arrival. Knowing it was there put a deep sense of security in her; but they left it behind quickly and the sense of safety it provided vanished too. The Gale made the two week trip in a matter of days, and Seri did her best to stay out from under the Sith’s feet as they quietly planned and plotted their strategy between bouts of adolescent behavior and passion that left her unnerved. The troopers onboard were a quiet constant to the Sith’s mood swings, and Seri spent much of her time speaking with them.
To the troopers, the Sith’s antic were the norm. From the angry arguments to them running about the ship like five year olds playing chase, the troopers didn’t bat an eye. To mealtimes interrupted by the larger Sith simply hoisting the smaller one over his shoulder and carrying her, cackling madly, right out of the galley; the troopers only smirked quietly and shook their heads.
By the time the Gale exited over Tatooine, Seri was honestly enamored by the idea of living on a planet primarily inhabited by the clones. Even with the passionate Sith as their leaders, there was a rightness to it all. Seri felt as though she was part of something much bigger then herself, keeping company with souls who could affect the outcomes of star systems. Kill planets.
Birth new ones.
It was like keeping company with young, fickle gods.
Tatooine looked like a tumor from space, a sickly tan baking under the fire of angry twin suns. The space around it was filled with debris from generations of failed expeditions trying to glean some kind of wealth from the planet, and ruined ships from failed smuggling runs and successful pirate attacks. Anakin frowned, and piloted carefully around a huge ship and what looked like the bones of a space station in construction over the sand ball. “This is new.”
Halley nodded, reading a data pad. “Looks like with the war over, Jabba is expanding. Seriously, who the hell bothers building a space station over Tatooine?”
“Guess he’s trying to remake Nar Shadaa? I don’t know, he’s a giant slug, Hals. His motivations make no sense to me, unless he’s trying to make a shell.”
“That’s snails, not slugs.”
“And yet it would still make more sense then him building a space station over this shit ball.” Anakin sighed, and looked down. “Have I mentioned lately that I hate sand?”
“Sixteen times since we left Astrum.”
“Really?”
“I’ve been counting, it’s a new record for you. Last time it was thirteen.” Halley stood and brushed a kiss on his forehead. “I’ve already sent word to the troopers and my contacts, I’m going to send Jabba the request to buy Seri’s daughter back, and give him our conditions.”
Serianas looked over at the Sith; she’d requested their permission to be in the cockpit when they left hyperspace. “How much are you willing to pay to get my child back?” She hated asking it, but she feared Jabba would ask more then the Sith were willing to part with.
Anakin smirked; Halley burned bright, he smoldered darkly. “Whatever he asks for. You’ll see. This will be the last day your daughter spends on Tatooine.” He looked at Seri, dark promises in his eyes. “And you will have vengeance for what she’s already suffered.”
The conditions were simple, an exchange out on the sands of Tatooine, several miles from Jabba’s palace. As his sail barge slowly moved out towards the meeting place, the palace sat quiet in the midafternoon heat. A guard posted by the slave pens yawned, bored by the menial duty. His life ended with little fuss as the butt of a blaster rifle caved his scull in.
Specialized covert troopers moved through the palace, quietly removing the helpless slaves and killing anyone who could raise an alarm, and by the time the sail barge reached its destination, they were gone, the palace seemingly undisturbed.
Jabba chortled at the sight of the Sith waiting for him; they had landed their ship and stood side by side on a wing. They were dressed entirely in white, both of them, and their only company was in the form of a middle aged woman in brown and troopers standing in the sand beside the parked ship. Each of them stood behind an open metal case filled to overflowing with credits.
The hutt licked his lips and waved a pudgy hand. Two guards dragged the scantily clad slave girl out in front of him, and the woman in brown on the Sith’s ship cried out her name. The girl’s head snapped up, and she pulled against their hold. “Momma!”
The hutt slid his hoversled to the front edge of the barge so he could addess the Sith directly. “I trust it’s all there?” He spoke in huttese, half expecting them to need translation. His men exited under the barge, and set up positions opposite the troopers, in an uneasy standoff.
The taller Sith snorted. “Of course. Send the girl across and you can have your money.”
“Ah, Skywalker. Surely you aren’t so foolish as that.” Jabba looked to the girl, and she made a disgusted face. “Maybe I want to rethink the deal, keep the girl and the money.”
The dark-haired boy nodded at the white-haired girl, and she vanished. Jabba blinked. Anakin smirked. “Bad choice of words, Jabba. Though we expected as much.”
Beside him, the guards made terrible noises, and the girl yelped. The captors on either side of her had brightly colored lightsaber blades jutting from their chests. They crumpled, and the girl vanished in a blur of white. She reappeared on the Sith’s ship beside the woman in brown, and they clung to one another, sobbing, as the little Sith rejoined her companion. He held out his hands and she took them.
The sand behind Jabba’s men erupted and troopers started firing like trap-door spiders on the attack; the holographic decoys on the far side of the cases vanished. Nothing remained of Jabba’s ransom money apart from silver holographic projectors in the shape of metal cases. He shouted in rage and ordered the attack, but troopers already swarmed over his barge like ants at a picnic. The few shots fired at the Sith proved useless, and Jabba felt fear boiling over. The dark haired Sith simply deflected the shots with an outstretched hand.
When the sand settled, Jabba glared at the troopers standing around his hoversled, guns pointed at his head. “So what do you want? To kill me? The hutts will never allow-”
“Shut up, you disgusting, smelly, pompous slug.” Anakin growled it, eyes bright gold. “If we killed you, some other hutt would simply step into your shoes. None of you care about one another unless there’s profit in it.” He spat, and the girl snickered. “But no, you ridiculous bloated bag of offal, we’re not going to kill you. You want our demands? Here they are.” He narrowed his eyes. Beside him, the woman quietly concentrated. The sands shivered ominously. “The refugees of Naboo. If you find them, ANY of them, put them on a ship and send them to the starbase we’re building over Naboo. We’ll take care of them from there. Anyone in any way associated with Astrum you will treat with quiet respect. You will warn the other hutts to do the same.”
Jabba laughed, hard. When he caught his breath, he tipped his head. “What makes you think I’ll agree to your terms?”
Anakin ignored him, turning to the little woman in white. Her eyes were shut tightly, hands balled into fists. He gently lifted them, unclenched them, and laced his fingers with hers. “You have it?”
“Mmhm.” She nodded, tightlipped. “I have a hold on it, need you now.”
He lowered his forehead to hers, eyes gold and rimmed in red. “Open your eyes.” She did, hers just as gold. They locked with his, and he followed her thoughts, her power. Their bodies were nothing, simple specks of dust in the winds of the Force. Anakin left it behind with ease. He tugged their new toy experimentally, and felt it shift. Her power waned; he needed her to hold the shape of it so he could do the heavy lifting.
Jabba frowned as his barge listed. The Sith’s ship rocked a little, and the sand rushed away from the two vessels in a radius centered on the two Sith.
“Halley.” Anakin pulled himself back, saw with his eyes again. Halley was at the absolute limit of what she could handle on sheer willpower; she needed something else. He pulled her up flush, growled against her lips. Felt the surge in her passion and power. “I need you.” Vader’s voice.
Her power snapped into clear focus, and the sand blasted away from them, lifting and whirling as though they stood in the center of a hurricane. She wasn’t struggling anymore. Anakin laughed like a boy half his age; threw himself loose of his mortal frame and chased her power up, up, up like a targeting beam. It was so easy when he let go.
He grabbed the interdictor she’d outlined so prettily in orbit by it’s tip.
He dragged it through space effortlessly; there was no air resistance in orbit, everything was in freefall anyway. He ripped it towards the planet, through the center of the half-built station.
He pulled the whole mess of it into the atmosphere.
Anakin opened his eyes and laughed, even though it was almost painful to force that much passion and power back into a little tiny human frame. He looked about, and laughed harder. “Halley.” Almost sing-song. He hated to do it, she was gorgeous unrestrained. She was a force of nature; the hurricane around them. She was the sunbeams pouring through the eye of the storm, the radiating heat of the planet he was born on. She was a goddess unchained and she belonged to him.
She opened her eyes, and pulled herself back at his behest. Blinked mortal sanity back into gold eyes. “Yes?”
“I want him to see.”
She nodded and held out her hands. The sandstorm ended, and the sand fell like heavy rain around them. When it finally stilled, she smirked. He chuckled, and turned to the sail barge. “Your incentive to agree to our terms.” Anakin pointed in the direction of Jabba’s palace. The Hutt turned.
Turned to watch a ball of fire and metal fall from the sky. The explosion was massive, a tidal wave of sand a mile high rushed down on them in moments. The Sith lifted their hands in unison to shield the barge and the ship from harm as the wall of sand passed around them and left silky white sand in it‘s wake that hadn‘t seen sunlight in thousands of years. As vast and extraordinary the feat of strength was, it lasted mere minutes. Even a space station dropped from the sky could only do so much damage to a planet already ravaged to sand. In the stillness that followed the explosion, Anakin watched genuine horror imprint on Jabba’s face. He gave it time to settle before he jumped through space to stand before the hutt.
Jabba cringed away from him, more afraid then he’d ever been in his entire life. He was traumatized beyond the ability to speak. Anakin leaned forward, a demented grin on his face. “This? This was nothing. This was child’s play. If you don’t agree to my terms, I’ll drop Nar Shadda on Nal Hutta, and then throw the entire mess into your fucking sun. Are we clear?”
Jabba trembled, and slowly nodded.
“I never want to hear a peep out of your disgusting slug race again as long as I live.“ The Sith drew back, and made a face. “Force you reek. Come on, boys.” He vanished back to his ship, and the troopers withdrew. The terrified hutt was left alone, on a barge covered in corpses.
The flight back to Astrum was a quiet one. Seri wanted to thank the Sith for what they’d done, but only once did she see either of them; it was in the galley, and it was late at night. She was almost afraid to approach the boy, who swayed on his feet. “Master Skywalker?”
“Hnn? Oh, Anakin, call me Anakin, I hate titles.” He stumbled back into a seated position on the table, and Seri winced.
“Are you all right?”
“Mmm? Will be. In time. It’s always like this after we cut loose.” He yawned, waving at the caf press. “Was gonna make Halley a drink.”
“Here, let me.“ Seri moved up and took over. “That was amazing, what you did on Tatooine. I didn’t know anything like that was possible. I saw it with my own eyes and I still can’t believe it.”
Anakin chuckled, and bowed his head. “Yeah, we can do some crazy stuff when we push it.”
“The exhaustion?”
“Normal.” Anakin shrugged, and yawned widely again. “It’s hard to come back. It’s like… trying to take a star and squish it into a coffee bean. If you can even wrap your mind around the concept, and actually get enough willpower to do it, you gotta make sure the bean doesn’t burn from the inside out.”
“The bean in this case being your bodies?”
He nodded and smirked crookedly. “Funny, the one thing I do well is restrain myself. I can handle it. Most of my power goes to keeping Halley from burning out.” He bit his lower lip, looking absurdly young. “It’s kinda scary knowing the only person in the universe who truly understands you is only hanging on by a thread.”
“I’m sorry.” Seri bit back tears. “I’m so sorry I caused this.”
“Whaaaa? No, wasn’t you. The hutts have been pushing a long time, this was going to happen sooner or later. This big power blow out, the exhaustion after, it happens a couple times a year like a neutron star erupting. Little burps of power to keep it from building up to a point where we go nova.”
Seri blinked. Hard. “You consider making a crater in the sand the size of a small country to be a little burp?”
Anakin blinked, started to laugh, and scrubbed his face with his hands. “Crazy, innit? But that’s what it is. That was bigger then usual, but it serves the same purpose.”
“If you say so.” Seri smirked, and poured the caf into little sealable containers. Anakin wandered over and carefully mixed sugar and cream into one.
“Gotta make hers just right, she loves me for it.” He grinned like a little boy in love, and capped the drinks.
Seri put a hand on his arm, and bit her lip. “Thank you so much for saving my daughter.”
“Oh, how is she?” Anakin blinked, wobbling a bit.
“She’s fine, actually. Scared a bit, but relieved to be free and excited about going home.”
Anakin grinned and tipped his head while in thought; Seri hovered to make sure he didn’t tilt so far as to fall over. “Astrum is home.”
Seri nodded. The Sith grinned, and his beautiful face lit up.
“Halley’ll love hearing that.” He whispered conspiratorially, almost like a drunken confession, and stumbled back out into the hall towards their room.
Seri smiled softly, left alone. Powerful children in danger of going nova; children who could throw moons into planets and planets into stars.
“At least they’re on our side.”
Serianas Adria was at the back of the line to leave the ship. The other refugees were climbing out of their cabins almost the moment they left hyperspace; the entire ship was just glowing with excited energy. The feeling that nearly choked the air was pure, unadulterated hope.
When Naboo was glassed, millions fled her surface in anything that could leave the ground. The Sith attacking hadn’t seemed to care in the least about the ships escaping; the planet was being burned to send a message, not to commit genocide. The mass murder was a side effect of machinations being carried out on a galactic scale between very powerful people.
Serianas had little interest in the hope onboard the Valiant. Her husband had died of a bad heart years before Naboo was murdered. She had escaped the planet with her fifteen year old daughter on board a rickety ship with twelve other families. The year was unkind to them, and by the time the word went out that there was salvation beyond the stars for the survivors of Naboo, she no longer cared. Their escape vessel had landed on Tatooine. Her daughter, Jaelyn, had been taken by the hutts to serve as a slave in their palace. Her life has lost meaning.
She followed behind the crowd, a shell of a woman, barely noticing the huge grass field they landed in, or the scent of summer air on a planet that had never known pollution. She barely noticed the huge lights set up to illuminate the tables where young men who all looked the same were kindly checking people in, handing out packages, reassuring families.
Then someone walked onto the elevated platform at the far end of the field, and Serianas noticed HER. She was tiny beside the troopers, but something about her presence seemed to fill the field, and a hush fell over it. Even from the back of the lines it was easy to see how blue her eyes were, and long hair fell about her shoulders like liquid white fire. She looked too perfect to be a real creature. A man followed her up on the platform, and Serianas stared in wonder. He was taller even then the troopers, with black hair that curled about his face and back into a ponytail. A streak of white fell from the center of his forehead, and his sapphire eyes glowed. The crowd stared at them, they stared at each other. There was a magnetism between them that was palpable.
“Naboo fell.” The woman spoke, and she needed no microphone to carry her voice. It was lower then Serianas expected for her stature; it filled the air and hung there. “Her people stumbled.” She spoke softly, the crowd stirred, and Serianas frowned. Wondered what the woman was on about. “There is no shame in sadness for what you lost, we all have the right to mourn her. This planet,” she paused and looked at the man, who nodded gently. “This planet is not Naboo. We are not here to replace the world you lost.” She stepped forward, hands upward, outward, as if holding up a precious gift. “In honor of your lost world, we are building Novus Astrum in her image, in her honor.” Her eyes glistened, and in the dead place where Serianas’ heard had been, something stirred as if called by a primal force. The crowd was silent, hanging on every word.
“Novus Astrum.” She said it softly like a proud mother, lips lifted in a gentle, loving smile. “She is not Naboo, but she is our home. And now, if you will have her, she will be your home too.” The crowd stirred. “Oh, lost children of Naboo, will you have us?” The crowd roared assent. She smiled, and unashamed tears rolled down her face; passion poured over the crowd. “Welcome home.” The cheers rolled to a cacophony, and Serianas was startled to realize she was cheering too, carried in the wave of homecoming. Only that dead place inside pulled her back, and she watched the man slide his arms around the woman. He smirked softly and whispered something into her hair. She grinned in response and gazed up at him. He reached out to brush the tears from her cheeks, forehead pressed to hers, and the crowd fell in love with their new King and Queen.
“Nice trick.” Anakin smirked softly and slid his arms around Halley, nuzzled in close. “I haven’t seen vocal force amplification on that scale since the last time I watched HIM address the senate.” She grinned up at him, and he chuckled. “And don’t think I didn’t feel you pulling on the crowd's heartstrings there, little miss.” He lifted his hands and wiped the tears gently off her cheeks.
“They need hope, they need a direction. Most force powers aren’t good or evil, it’s how you apply them.” She grinned, and nuzzled in close, high on the adoration of the crowd. Anakin leaned down again and kissed her hair.
“Just be careful.” He looked out over the crowd and watched as the troopers stepped up and started directing the assembled people to sign ins.
Halley frowned, and drew away from Anakin, scanning the crowd. He blinked down at her, and raised a brow. She looked up at him, looking through him like listening to a far away sound. “You feel that?”
“Feel what?”
“Guess that’s a no.” She turned, jumped down, and headed into the crowd like a hound on a scent. Hands reached out gently to touch her as she passed, inquiring almost, and she took the time to offer quiet reassurances as she walked. Anakin followed close, one hand on his saber. They didn’t touch him, he received a quiet respect, deference due a King. Halley stopped at the far end of the crowd, and her eyes fell on a sad, middle aged woman in the back. “Hello.”
Serianas blinked, astonished. The enchanting woman and her dark, dangerous mate were standing there, attention fully on her. She gulped and moved to kneel, but the woman reached out to catch her with a little shake of her head.
“There’s no need for such things.” She smiled softly, and offered her arm. “Will you come with me?”
“Why me?” Serianas squirmed under the woman’s kindness and the man’s unfathomable gaze.
“I feel something from you. A darkness, a hole inside. Something darker then just a lost world.” She frowned, and Serianas closed her eyes. Tears made their way down her face.
“It’s nothing you could help with.”
“Seri.” The woman purred, and Serianas froze. The woman knew her name. Pale blue eyes shifted to liquid gold and her hair seemed to stir as though immersed in wind, though there wasn’t a breeze to be felt. “Never underestimate what we can help with.”
The older woman gaped, and slowly nodded. “Okay.”
“They just… took her. She’s only fifteen, she was so scared.” Seri closed her eyes, grip tight on the mug of caf that had been offered. The man, Anakin, stood by the doorway of the tent and ground his teeth loudly enough to be heard. The little woman, Halley, sat across from Serianas. She stared into space, one hand over her mouth.
“Do you know the hutt’s name?” She asked after a lengthy pause.
“Jabba. They said his name was Jabba.”
Halley looked at Anakin, eyes still gold. “This has to stop.”
“There’s always going to be slavery, Hals, you said it yourself.” He frowned, and fumed internally. “I’m as sick of this nonsense as you are.”
“Fifteen. Even I know that’s unconscionable, and I’m a force damned sociopath.” Halley stood, and paced, arms crossed. Seri watched her, uneasy.
“We could take the Gale.” Anakin shrugged slowly. “And give them a demonstration.”
“The fleet-”
“Hals, lets be realistic.” He walked over, nuzzling close, an almost predatory look on his face. “Do we need a fleet to rescue a little girl and leave some collateral damage?”
She looked up and sighed gently. His smile was contagious. “This is going to piss Obi off.”
“Shit, Halley, what doesn’t piss him off?”
“Granted. Just don’t say I never warned you.”
“Deal.” He drew back, and glanced at the women. “We’re going to need you to come with us in our personal ship. When we get your daughter out, we’ve got to make sure we have the right girl.”
Serianas nodded quietly, and looked into her mug. “I’ll come with you, but,” she glanced at the Sith, and sighed. “No one takes on the hutts and lives.”
Halley quietly chuckled, and leaned against Anakin. “We have a history of beating the odds.”
The Gale was a pretty ship to behold, small beside the other ships in the fleet but with a grace that put her larger sisters to shame. Seri had been deep in the shuttle carrying the refugees to Novus Astrum; she hadn’t seen the massive fleet hanging in space around the planet on arrival. Knowing it was there put a deep sense of security in her; but they left it behind quickly and the sense of safety it provided vanished too. The Gale made the two week trip in a matter of days, and Seri did her best to stay out from under the Sith’s feet as they quietly planned and plotted their strategy between bouts of adolescent behavior and passion that left her unnerved. The troopers onboard were a quiet constant to the Sith’s mood swings, and Seri spent much of her time speaking with them.
To the troopers, the Sith’s antic were the norm. From the angry arguments to them running about the ship like five year olds playing chase, the troopers didn’t bat an eye. To mealtimes interrupted by the larger Sith simply hoisting the smaller one over his shoulder and carrying her, cackling madly, right out of the galley; the troopers only smirked quietly and shook their heads.
By the time the Gale exited over Tatooine, Seri was honestly enamored by the idea of living on a planet primarily inhabited by the clones. Even with the passionate Sith as their leaders, there was a rightness to it all. Seri felt as though she was part of something much bigger then herself, keeping company with souls who could affect the outcomes of star systems. Kill planets.
Birth new ones.
It was like keeping company with young, fickle gods.
Tatooine looked like a tumor from space, a sickly tan baking under the fire of angry twin suns. The space around it was filled with debris from generations of failed expeditions trying to glean some kind of wealth from the planet, and ruined ships from failed smuggling runs and successful pirate attacks. Anakin frowned, and piloted carefully around a huge ship and what looked like the bones of a space station in construction over the sand ball. “This is new.”
Halley nodded, reading a data pad. “Looks like with the war over, Jabba is expanding. Seriously, who the hell bothers building a space station over Tatooine?”
“Guess he’s trying to remake Nar Shadaa? I don’t know, he’s a giant slug, Hals. His motivations make no sense to me, unless he’s trying to make a shell.”
“That’s snails, not slugs.”
“And yet it would still make more sense then him building a space station over this shit ball.” Anakin sighed, and looked down. “Have I mentioned lately that I hate sand?”
“Sixteen times since we left Astrum.”
“Really?”
“I’ve been counting, it’s a new record for you. Last time it was thirteen.” Halley stood and brushed a kiss on his forehead. “I’ve already sent word to the troopers and my contacts, I’m going to send Jabba the request to buy Seri’s daughter back, and give him our conditions.”
Serianas looked over at the Sith; she’d requested their permission to be in the cockpit when they left hyperspace. “How much are you willing to pay to get my child back?” She hated asking it, but she feared Jabba would ask more then the Sith were willing to part with.
Anakin smirked; Halley burned bright, he smoldered darkly. “Whatever he asks for. You’ll see. This will be the last day your daughter spends on Tatooine.” He looked at Seri, dark promises in his eyes. “And you will have vengeance for what she’s already suffered.”
The conditions were simple, an exchange out on the sands of Tatooine, several miles from Jabba’s palace. As his sail barge slowly moved out towards the meeting place, the palace sat quiet in the midafternoon heat. A guard posted by the slave pens yawned, bored by the menial duty. His life ended with little fuss as the butt of a blaster rifle caved his scull in.
Specialized covert troopers moved through the palace, quietly removing the helpless slaves and killing anyone who could raise an alarm, and by the time the sail barge reached its destination, they were gone, the palace seemingly undisturbed.
Jabba chortled at the sight of the Sith waiting for him; they had landed their ship and stood side by side on a wing. They were dressed entirely in white, both of them, and their only company was in the form of a middle aged woman in brown and troopers standing in the sand beside the parked ship. Each of them stood behind an open metal case filled to overflowing with credits.
The hutt licked his lips and waved a pudgy hand. Two guards dragged the scantily clad slave girl out in front of him, and the woman in brown on the Sith’s ship cried out her name. The girl’s head snapped up, and she pulled against their hold. “Momma!”
The hutt slid his hoversled to the front edge of the barge so he could addess the Sith directly. “I trust it’s all there?” He spoke in huttese, half expecting them to need translation. His men exited under the barge, and set up positions opposite the troopers, in an uneasy standoff.
The taller Sith snorted. “Of course. Send the girl across and you can have your money.”
“Ah, Skywalker. Surely you aren’t so foolish as that.” Jabba looked to the girl, and she made a disgusted face. “Maybe I want to rethink the deal, keep the girl and the money.”
The dark-haired boy nodded at the white-haired girl, and she vanished. Jabba blinked. Anakin smirked. “Bad choice of words, Jabba. Though we expected as much.”
Beside him, the guards made terrible noises, and the girl yelped. The captors on either side of her had brightly colored lightsaber blades jutting from their chests. They crumpled, and the girl vanished in a blur of white. She reappeared on the Sith’s ship beside the woman in brown, and they clung to one another, sobbing, as the little Sith rejoined her companion. He held out his hands and she took them.
The sand behind Jabba’s men erupted and troopers started firing like trap-door spiders on the attack; the holographic decoys on the far side of the cases vanished. Nothing remained of Jabba’s ransom money apart from silver holographic projectors in the shape of metal cases. He shouted in rage and ordered the attack, but troopers already swarmed over his barge like ants at a picnic. The few shots fired at the Sith proved useless, and Jabba felt fear boiling over. The dark haired Sith simply deflected the shots with an outstretched hand.
When the sand settled, Jabba glared at the troopers standing around his hoversled, guns pointed at his head. “So what do you want? To kill me? The hutts will never allow-”
“Shut up, you disgusting, smelly, pompous slug.” Anakin growled it, eyes bright gold. “If we killed you, some other hutt would simply step into your shoes. None of you care about one another unless there’s profit in it.” He spat, and the girl snickered. “But no, you ridiculous bloated bag of offal, we’re not going to kill you. You want our demands? Here they are.” He narrowed his eyes. Beside him, the woman quietly concentrated. The sands shivered ominously. “The refugees of Naboo. If you find them, ANY of them, put them on a ship and send them to the starbase we’re building over Naboo. We’ll take care of them from there. Anyone in any way associated with Astrum you will treat with quiet respect. You will warn the other hutts to do the same.”
Jabba laughed, hard. When he caught his breath, he tipped his head. “What makes you think I’ll agree to your terms?”
Anakin ignored him, turning to the little woman in white. Her eyes were shut tightly, hands balled into fists. He gently lifted them, unclenched them, and laced his fingers with hers. “You have it?”
“Mmhm.” She nodded, tightlipped. “I have a hold on it, need you now.”
He lowered his forehead to hers, eyes gold and rimmed in red. “Open your eyes.” She did, hers just as gold. They locked with his, and he followed her thoughts, her power. Their bodies were nothing, simple specks of dust in the winds of the Force. Anakin left it behind with ease. He tugged their new toy experimentally, and felt it shift. Her power waned; he needed her to hold the shape of it so he could do the heavy lifting.
Jabba frowned as his barge listed. The Sith’s ship rocked a little, and the sand rushed away from the two vessels in a radius centered on the two Sith.
“Halley.” Anakin pulled himself back, saw with his eyes again. Halley was at the absolute limit of what she could handle on sheer willpower; she needed something else. He pulled her up flush, growled against her lips. Felt the surge in her passion and power. “I need you.” Vader’s voice.
Her power snapped into clear focus, and the sand blasted away from them, lifting and whirling as though they stood in the center of a hurricane. She wasn’t struggling anymore. Anakin laughed like a boy half his age; threw himself loose of his mortal frame and chased her power up, up, up like a targeting beam. It was so easy when he let go.
He grabbed the interdictor she’d outlined so prettily in orbit by it’s tip.
He dragged it through space effortlessly; there was no air resistance in orbit, everything was in freefall anyway. He ripped it towards the planet, through the center of the half-built station.
He pulled the whole mess of it into the atmosphere.
Anakin opened his eyes and laughed, even though it was almost painful to force that much passion and power back into a little tiny human frame. He looked about, and laughed harder. “Halley.” Almost sing-song. He hated to do it, she was gorgeous unrestrained. She was a force of nature; the hurricane around them. She was the sunbeams pouring through the eye of the storm, the radiating heat of the planet he was born on. She was a goddess unchained and she belonged to him.
She opened her eyes, and pulled herself back at his behest. Blinked mortal sanity back into gold eyes. “Yes?”
“I want him to see.”
She nodded and held out her hands. The sandstorm ended, and the sand fell like heavy rain around them. When it finally stilled, she smirked. He chuckled, and turned to the sail barge. “Your incentive to agree to our terms.” Anakin pointed in the direction of Jabba’s palace. The Hutt turned.
Turned to watch a ball of fire and metal fall from the sky. The explosion was massive, a tidal wave of sand a mile high rushed down on them in moments. The Sith lifted their hands in unison to shield the barge and the ship from harm as the wall of sand passed around them and left silky white sand in it‘s wake that hadn‘t seen sunlight in thousands of years. As vast and extraordinary the feat of strength was, it lasted mere minutes. Even a space station dropped from the sky could only do so much damage to a planet already ravaged to sand. In the stillness that followed the explosion, Anakin watched genuine horror imprint on Jabba’s face. He gave it time to settle before he jumped through space to stand before the hutt.
Jabba cringed away from him, more afraid then he’d ever been in his entire life. He was traumatized beyond the ability to speak. Anakin leaned forward, a demented grin on his face. “This? This was nothing. This was child’s play. If you don’t agree to my terms, I’ll drop Nar Shadda on Nal Hutta, and then throw the entire mess into your fucking sun. Are we clear?”
Jabba trembled, and slowly nodded.
“I never want to hear a peep out of your disgusting slug race again as long as I live.“ The Sith drew back, and made a face. “Force you reek. Come on, boys.” He vanished back to his ship, and the troopers withdrew. The terrified hutt was left alone, on a barge covered in corpses.
The flight back to Astrum was a quiet one. Seri wanted to thank the Sith for what they’d done, but only once did she see either of them; it was in the galley, and it was late at night. She was almost afraid to approach the boy, who swayed on his feet. “Master Skywalker?”
“Hnn? Oh, Anakin, call me Anakin, I hate titles.” He stumbled back into a seated position on the table, and Seri winced.
“Are you all right?”
“Mmm? Will be. In time. It’s always like this after we cut loose.” He yawned, waving at the caf press. “Was gonna make Halley a drink.”
“Here, let me.“ Seri moved up and took over. “That was amazing, what you did on Tatooine. I didn’t know anything like that was possible. I saw it with my own eyes and I still can’t believe it.”
Anakin chuckled, and bowed his head. “Yeah, we can do some crazy stuff when we push it.”
“The exhaustion?”
“Normal.” Anakin shrugged, and yawned widely again. “It’s hard to come back. It’s like… trying to take a star and squish it into a coffee bean. If you can even wrap your mind around the concept, and actually get enough willpower to do it, you gotta make sure the bean doesn’t burn from the inside out.”
“The bean in this case being your bodies?”
He nodded and smirked crookedly. “Funny, the one thing I do well is restrain myself. I can handle it. Most of my power goes to keeping Halley from burning out.” He bit his lower lip, looking absurdly young. “It’s kinda scary knowing the only person in the universe who truly understands you is only hanging on by a thread.”
“I’m sorry.” Seri bit back tears. “I’m so sorry I caused this.”
“Whaaaa? No, wasn’t you. The hutts have been pushing a long time, this was going to happen sooner or later. This big power blow out, the exhaustion after, it happens a couple times a year like a neutron star erupting. Little burps of power to keep it from building up to a point where we go nova.”
Seri blinked. Hard. “You consider making a crater in the sand the size of a small country to be a little burp?”
Anakin blinked, started to laugh, and scrubbed his face with his hands. “Crazy, innit? But that’s what it is. That was bigger then usual, but it serves the same purpose.”
“If you say so.” Seri smirked, and poured the caf into little sealable containers. Anakin wandered over and carefully mixed sugar and cream into one.
“Gotta make hers just right, she loves me for it.” He grinned like a little boy in love, and capped the drinks.
Seri put a hand on his arm, and bit her lip. “Thank you so much for saving my daughter.”
“Oh, how is she?” Anakin blinked, wobbling a bit.
“She’s fine, actually. Scared a bit, but relieved to be free and excited about going home.”
Anakin grinned and tipped his head while in thought; Seri hovered to make sure he didn’t tilt so far as to fall over. “Astrum is home.”
Seri nodded. The Sith grinned, and his beautiful face lit up.
“Halley’ll love hearing that.” He whispered conspiratorially, almost like a drunken confession, and stumbled back out into the hall towards their room.
Seri smiled softly, left alone. Powerful children in danger of going nova; children who could throw moons into planets and planets into stars.
“At least they’re on our side.”