“Ani! How’s your work been going? Still having fun?”

  “Yes, Mom. It’s been good. Relira and the others had a… birthday party… for me. It was fun. It was according to the traditions on her world, so I had to drink from a hollowed out horn and try some special food that she made. I’m sure you would have loved it.”

  “That sounds wonderful. I’m glad you’re fitting in there…” Shmi’s face fell slightly as she trailed off.

  “I’m sorry about all of this,” Anakin said as he shifted in his hovering chair, “I know you two were enjoying being traders in the galaxy. But the Republic would be after you if you were out in public. Just like me…”

  “No, no it’s fine,” she insisted, “It’s not that. Well, sitting here in this isolated safehouse most of the time isn’t the most fun but I don’t mind it all too much. I just wish that we didn’t have to be separate all the time. Are you sure we can’t go live there at that secret base with you?”

  “Count Dooku said no when I asked,” Anakin said, “I can come visit more often though if you want? I’m sure no one will mind if I take a month or something off to come stay with you. I haven’t stayed more than a few days at a time over the last year, so it should be longer.”

  “Are you sure that would be alright? I don’t want to interrupt your important work. Or keep you from your friends. I know how much you’ve been enjoying it even with… Everything. Will you get the right care if you stay with us too long?”

  “No, it’s fine,” Anakin said, “You have the med droid here so I’ll be fine. The skin grafts have set now, so no more bandages to change anymore. The doctors said that in only a week or two more I should be able to walk around normally without risking any of them bursting open again. Are you sure that you don’t want them to look at you again?”

  Shmi raised a hand to the burned side of her face, the slightly warped and scarred skin moving down her neck and onto her shoulder where it disappeared beneath her breezy shirt.

  “I’m fine, Ani,” she said, “It’s only cosmetic. I’ve gotten used to it by now. The basic graft Slarena and I bought after what happened restored everything back to perfect function. No real reason to change it out now.”

  “But don’t you want to get rid of it? Even if it doesn’t hurt or feel tight anymore? It’s my fault it happened...”

  A short pause as Shmi looked thoughtful, “No. I’m sorry, Ani. It’s not your fault. But I do like it. I feel like… A new me. People won’t be able to ignore me and let me fade into the background like I always used to. Does that make sense? It sounds so selfish when I say it out loud like that.”

  “No… If it’s what you want I guess it makes sense,” Anakin said reluctantly, “But if you want it the doctors can work on you too. It wouldn’t be any trouble. How’s Slarena doing by the way? Is she around?”

  “Well… She’s feeling a little cooped up,” Shmi said, “You know how much of a wanderer she is. But the two of us have gone hunting, so that’s helped a little. Slarena really likes it, even if it is a little… Well, if it makes her happy. And gives us something to eat besides those standard rations.”

  Anakin sat up in his chair before he felt the long skin graft running along his chest tighten at the sudden motion. He slowly sat back, worried that he’d damage it at the last moment and have to have it replaced again.

  “Is that safe?” he asked, “What about the beasts? What if something ambushed you out there?”

  “Calm down there, Annniii,” Slarena said from the door, letting the last word come out in a drawl.

  “Slarena!” Shmi said, “I thought you’d never come up. What took you so long?”

  “Somebody forgot to give me a warning,” Slarena said and mock glared at Shmi before Slarena reached up and ran her hands along her lekku on her head.

  “I was just freshening up. My lekku were a bit dirty. So, Ani. Worried about us hunting? Your mother and me, we’re real tough. You should have seen her fighting at that bar on Trelan Six…”

  Anakin turned to his mom to see her blushing slightly.

  “Well, that was… That man hit you first! And was being a pervert! He deserved it!”

  “Hey, not saying he didn’t,” Slarena said with a satisfied tone, “Still satisfied to watch you humble him like that. She just stepped up and BAM! One hit on the nose and he fell right to the floor, out cold. His buddies came after us, and your mother held her own as we beat them up together.”

  Anakin looked at his mom with a surprised look and she looked away embarrassed, “Slarena was taking on four of them at the same time while I struggled to take out just one…”

  “Hey, but you still took him out, as well as that first guy in the beginning,” Slarena said, “I was so proud, all my training toughened you up girl! She did great at her first real barroom brawl!”

  Shmi looked up and Anakin could see that while she was embarrassed, she was also a little proud of what she’d done.

  “See? Your mom’s pretty tough herself,” Slarena said, “We’ve been fine hunting. Not even a scratch on us. Better than sitting around here doing nothing. Plus we took those fancy droids of yours with us. Those things are freaky…”

  Anakin relaxed, “Oh, why didn’t you just say that? I got some help from the whole work team designing those five. Dooku himself funded them even though they were so expensive as a test for the more advanced designs. They’d keep you safe from anything out there.”

  “I know,” Slarena grumbled, “Kriffing droids, always so competent, sneaking around the forest and then scaring away our prey at the worst moment by talking at just the wrong moment…”

  “I can fix that if you’d like?” Anakin said hopefully, “I could work on their programming and figure out something to make them keep quieter on the hunts?”

  “Oh. That would be nice I guess. Aren’t you only here for two or three days though? Will you have enough time? I remember last time one of them was scattered into little bits when you had to leave halfway through working on him.”

  “No, I’m going to call it in soon. But I’m going to stay a whole month this time I think. Spend some more time with you two.”

  “Great!” Slarena said, “I’ll have to tell you some more embarrassing stories about Shmi. I’ve been saving them up.”

  “Slarena, don’t you dare,” Mom said in a joking tone.

  “Bwa ha ha! Watch me!”

  The next month was relaxing, and Anakin realized that he should have done this earlier. He hadn’t thought about how much he’d been throwing himself into the droid work recently. He just didn’t like being treated like an invalid all the time.

  He was relieved after the second week when he could officially be done with the hover chair on his own. His mom still scolded him when he walked around too fast or made any sudden motions. But he could do everything for himself again and didn’t have to be so helpless anymore. Slarena and Mom told him some more stories of their time as traders, more than they’d ever told him before.

  Anakin was glad that the two of them had become such great friends. Slarena seemed less bitter and depressed than when Anakin had first met her over two years ago. Her taunts and teasing were genuine and more relaxed versus having the sharper edge that they’d used to have. And Mom seemed more confident and sure of herself than she used to be. Slarena seemed proud of her ‘pupil’ getting in fights and standing up to herself when somebody tried scamming them.

  He fixed the chattiness of their droid guards. It seems that certain priority orders had been ignoring the volume restrictions, which Anakin fixed. Now the droids should whisper to Slarena and mom on the hunts unless it was something truly dangerous like an active attack or something at the highest priority level in their systems.

  Anakin hugged mom as he stood at the door to the safehouse, and she wrapped her arms gingerly around him, careful to not touch his skin grafts.

  “Have fun designing some more droids, Ani,” she said before kissing him on the forehead and releasing him.

  Slarena reached over and carefully hugged him too before mussing up his hair. Anakin went to grab her dangling lekku to tug them in retaliation, but she twitched it out of the way of his reached hand and laughed as she stepped back.

  “Nice try, Ani. Maybe next time.”

  Anakin grumbled and reached up and smoothed down his hair again.

  “It’s been fun having you here, kid,” Slarena said, “Hopefully next time we see you you’ll be back to 100%.”

  “Hopefully,” Anakin agreed, “I don’t think it’ll be much longer now.”

  He reached to his belt and took a puff of his bacta inhaler as he felt a slight scratchiness in his throat.

  “I’m just happy I didn’t have to get any cybernetics,” Anakin said, “Just some time and bacta now and I’ll be back to normal eventually.”

  “Well make sure to listen to your doctors, Ani. They know best,” Mom said.

  “I will mom. Bye now.”

  “See you soon, Ani.”

  — — —

  Anakin stared at himself in the mirror of the bathroom, having just stepped out of the shower. He put his hand on his hip and slowly ran a finger up his body where the lightsaber had left the burning slash into his skin. Each slash of the blade by the Jedi master after each leaving their mark, even if it was shallower each time.

  Radiation from floating in deep space for minutes completely unprotected after the ship had self destructed. Several broken bones and other bruises from the pressure wave from the blast. Choking nearly to death before his body adapted… Channeling the dark side in his cell, something that made all the other damage that he took even worse and more dangerous.

  Anakin’s finger finished up as his shoulder as he thought about all of his injuries that he’d arrived with. He’d been in critical condition for nearly a month before recovering. Only two months for him to heal enough that he wasn’t in any danger anymore. All that had been left behind were the scars and burns that had been left behind and allowed to heal while they focused on saving his life.

  Now, nearly six months after he’d arrived here on death’s door, it was like nothing had ever happened. Or close to it.

  Morbidly curious, Anakin leaned into the mirror and inspected the tip of his nose that had been a burned and disfigured mess in the beginning. He prodded it and moved it slightly in his inspection. He could see the faint line of fractionally lighter colored skin, the edges of where the skin graft had been placed on him. A border so subtle and well disguised that most people would have difficulty in spotting or even noticing it even if they tried.

  Anakin looked back down at his chest and the faint network of lines on his body that he could still see no matter how good his doctors’ work was. They told him that in a few more months that even those would fade away as his skin fully regrew itself now that the cells underneath were fully repaired.

  He took a deep breath and reached for his towel, and put it out of his mind. Relira was almost done with her latest improvements on the spider droid, and Anakin couldn’t wait to see it in action finally after working with her on it for so long along with the other projects.

  — — —

  Anakin sat in his personal ship, GR-32 standing behind him.

  “Hey, GR-32. Ship all maintained properly?” Anakin asked as he started flicking some switches and turning on the engines.

  “Yes, Anakin,” the droid said and its arm with all of the tools whirred as they calibrated softly, “This ship is maintained and kept in pristine condition ever since your last departure.”

  “Thanks, GR-32. Let’s go.”

  Anakin’s ship was small, only enough capacity for five or ten people inside of it in the cargo hold in addition to the basic supplies it carried. But it was hyperdrive capable, and it was his. He’d bought it, and after getting Count Dooku’s approval had parked it inside of this natural cave on the surface of the planet. One of the pilots from the base had come with him on a shuttle and dropped him off near his ship so he could fly it for his next visit to Mom and Slarena.

  GR-32 and two of the newly named commando droids had been here repairing the ship respectively. The commando droid project had been coming along well, and Count Dooku seemed satisfied with their project, enough that they’d even been given some extra funding to build more to test their ideas. It was an actual project with a dedicated team of engineers rather than something Anakin was doing on his own to protect his mom and Slarena like it had been with the original five droids.

  The two newest more refined commando droids had a large vibro blade that they had sheathed on their back as well as nimble movement. They were far stealthier than one would think they would be, and while heavier than Anakin would like them to be, they still moved fairly lightly on their feet as they crept around.

  Anakin’s focus on making sure that they wouldn’t disturb Slarena’s hunts seemed to be useful in combat too, given Dooku’s interest in their capabilities.

  They were smart… For a droid. Still not the best without clear orders. But Anakin was able to tell them to hide and guard the ship and they figured out themselves to lie flat on top of the ship and face the cave entrance to guard it. That way they wouldn’t be seen if someone came inside and have good firing angles if it came to combat.

  Anakin had been very impressed by it, somebody else had worked on their droid brains so it was the first time he’d seen it all in action for real when he’d first taken the two of them out here.

  Speaking of…

  The two commando droids walked in the back ramp and with the press of a button closed the back hatch again. The two droids stepped so their backs were pressed against the walls of the ship and were holding their heavy blaster rifles at ease in front of them, their barrels pointed towards the floor.

  “Area secure sir,” the droid on the right said, “Ready for takeoff.”

  “Thanks, you two,” Anakin replied, “Here I go.”

  He flipped the last switch and with a loud rumble the ship lifted off of the ground slightly and Anakin started carefully maneuvering it out of the cave. Once he was in open air, he flew up and quickly out of the atmosphere. He’d only be visiting Shmi and Slarena for a week this time, but he was looking forward to showing them how much he’d healed since he’d last seen them. He’d actually be able to spend time with them without Mom treating him like brittle glass whenever she hugged him.

  He left the planet’s atmosphere and once he was far enough, activated the hyperdrive after setting the course. The ship rumbled before the stars streaked around them and they were surrounded in the bright blue of hyperspace.

  Now he just had roughly three hours to kill before he arrived. He sat cross legged in the pilot’s chair, and started meditating and drawing on the Force.

  He hadn’t been doing that as much as he probably should have been. But he still made an effort to practice using the Force and meditating whenever he was free. It helped him calm down and he knew every bit that he channeled would give him another potentially game changing ability from Draeth just that bit sooner.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  — — —

  Anakin had a sinking feeling in his gut as he landed his ship on the landing pad. The door to the safehouse was hanging off of its hinges, and there were scorch marks from blasters ringing the concrete floor outside.

  The large communications dish that should have been on top of the building looked intact, oddly undamaged unlike the rest of the building.

  Anakin landed and suddenly realized that he didn’t have a blaster on himself. He turned to the two commando droids standing still behind him with their military grade blasters and large blades on their backs.

  “You, give me your blade,” Anakin said, and the droid unsheathed the large blade and handed it to Anakin. It had a button on the handle that would make it vibrate at high speed and increase it’s cutting power. Not quite a lightsaber, but good enough…

  The back ramp to the ship came fully down onto the landing platform.

  “Commando droids, go search that building,” Anakin said, “Possible enemy contact. Look for clues on what might have happened.”

  “Roger roger,” the two droids said as they raised their rifles and moved out and went into the building with Anakin close behind them.

  “See if there’s anyone else here,” Anakin said after they walked inside, his heart in his throat as he saw the trashed room inside, chairs knocked over and the furniture smashed to splinters.

  “Roger roger.”

  The two droids split off and turned to the side to sweep the building as Anakin hesitated to where he knew Slarena and Mom’s rooms were on the second floor.

  He slowed down and activated his vibro-blade, making it hum in his hand as he reached the top of the stairs and slowly walked forward carefully.

  The doors to the rooms were kicked in, and the things inside were in a mess and smashed to pieces. There was no one there. The second floor was empty. Anakin let out a long breath, before a rising panic started rising in him.

  He went back downstairs only to see on of the commando droids standing there at the base of the stairs and turn its head when he came into view.

  “This unit has found a device, sir. It is playing a prerecorded holographic message. The inhabitants have been kidnapped by the forces of Jabba the Hutt and are inside of his Tatooine palace. The message is demanding your appearance before them within one day on Tatooine or the hostages will be killed. It activated some sort of signal when disturbed that connected to the main communications disk and sent a signal out of atmosphere. The other unit under your command is attempting to discover any other communications to and from this facility that occurred since it was attacked. We have also found the destroyed remains of the units stationed for the defense of this site.”

  Anakin clenched his hand tightly around the vibro blade as the droid delivered the information in a matter of a face tone. Jabba… Tatooine was too far away. If he left right now he’d arrive there with only two or three hours to spare.

  Should he go back to base and alert the CIS and Dooku? Anakin was sure that they could help him, with their resources. But what if they moved too slowly? And if he went to the base then he wouldn’t be able to make it to Tatooine in time. He wouldn’t be there in time if the CIS and Dooku didn’t stop it.

  No, he had to go. But…

  Anakin turned to the commando droid.

  “Show me to the communications room. I need to see if we can send a message.”

  “Roger roger.”

  Anakin walked into the communications room and saw that the other commando droid was tapping at the screens and investigating.

  “Communications history is wiped after the latest message was sent sir,” the droid inside said, “Working on recovering any remaining logs.”

  “Leave that alone for now,” Anakin said, “Both of you, you have a new mission. You are both to work on sending a secure message to either Count Dooku personally or someone else who’s a high ranking member of the CIS. Include Jabba’s message, and tell them that ‘Anakin’s gone to Tatooine’. After that return to the investigation and send what you learn along to the CIS as well. Do you understand? Repeat it back to me. ”

  The two droids repeated back and understood their orders.

  “I’ll be leaving with the ship,” Anakin said, “Get to work.”

  “Roger roger.”

  Both droids leaned over the console and started working as the commando droid that Anakin had arrived with handed the device holding the message to the other one as they started transferring the message and encrypting it.

  Anakin still held the vibro blade as he rushed back and ran into his ship. He paused as he saw GR-32 still standing inside.

  “GR-32, go inside that building and help those two commando droids with whatever they need,” Anakin said, “I’ll be taking off soon and you’ll be better use here than with me.”

  “Yes, sir. Right on it.”

  The droid left the ship and started walking into the building as Anakin jumped into the pilot’s chair in a sudden sense of urgency.

  The ship lifted off of the ground even before the back hatch finished closing. Anakin set the course to Tatooine, and as soon as he could jumped to hyperspace. Based on his calculations, he should have two hours to spare when he arrived at the planet. Practically nothing. But what else could he do?

  Halfway through the journey, Anakin’s stress grew to such a point that he felt the temptation of the dark side just for something to vent his frustrations with. But with a decisive flex of his mind shield, he cut down on that train of thought. What if they were hurt? Or worse? He shouldn’t have left them alone again, even if he’d thought that they were safe.

  There was only an hour left in the journey through hyperspace and Anakin felt wound up like a tightly compressed spring. Ready to burst at the slightest trigger.

  “Hey-”

  Anakin screamed and jumped as a voice sounded behind him and slashed out with his vibroblade in his hand that slashed through the sudden intruder. The intruder that only rose to Anakin’s knees…

  “Thanks for that,” Draeth said drily as his blue tentacles waved around him and his singular large eye focused on Anakin, “Nice to see you again too.”

  “Kriff, Draeth! Don’t do that. You’re… much bigger than before.”

  “Whatever. I’m a construct of mind. Hallucination, you choose. I can be as big as I want to be. Why are you drawing on the dark side again? Are we in trouble? I had to wake myself up early from my nap for this. I’ll have to sleep for at least a year now because I interrupted my original rest. So this better be good.”

  Anakin quickly explained the situation, hopeful that Draeth had anything that could help.

  “Okay. Cool. Look, I don’t have much time here before I fall back asleep. Do you consent for me to give you a new ability? It should help you.”

  “Yes. I consent.”

  “Okay, here I go. You have just barely enough energy for it, best of luck on saving those hostages that you care about.”

  Anakin stumbled to the side and dropped the vibroblade that he luckily hadn’t activated as a wave of pain washed through him as Draeth gave him another ability.

  He managed to curl up on the ground before the pain grew so intense that he passed out.

  When Anakin woke up, something was different that he couldn’t put his finger on. It was like he could feel something new, a new sense, but that it was returning nothing to his brain.

  The ship rumbled after a few minutes and exited hyperspace as Anakin puzzled over what this new ability could be. Had it not worked properly? Draeth had something about him exiting his sleep early to help Anakin, but he hoped that he wasn’t stuck with a dud of an ability when he needed it most.

  But there was no more time. Anakin was waiting up in orbit, but he had to get to Jabba’s palace before time was up. He had roughly an hour and a half before he had to land to reach the deadline.

  Anakin winced as he took out two particular devices from a compartment beneath his feet under the chair. This was going to hurt…

  He took out the shock prod and holding it on one hand put it on the lowest setting. He placed the contacts against his other arm and grit his teeth as he activated it.

  His body spasmed slightly and he struggled to stay still as the electricity pulsed through him painfully. But after a few seconds the pain faded and left him only slightly sore. Anakin stopped and adjusted the voltage to be more intense before shocking himself again.

  Over and over he shocked himself again until he could take the full force of the high powered shock prod with only a slight tingling running over his body. He was now practically immune to electric shocks using his adaptation ability.

  Next Anakin took out the blowtorch and pulled up his shirt to expose his bare stomach. Any burns had to be a place where Jabba wouldn’t see and get suspicious… Anakin turned on the blowtorch and carefully tilted it until the hot flame was right above his skin as he held his shirt up and out of the way with his free hand. His skin reddened slightly and grew uncomfortably hot as Anakin held the roaring flame several centimeters away from it. The slight pain slowly faded and Anakin brought the flame closer until the discomfort returned again. Like this he slowly brought the flame closer until it was pressed right up against his skin and splashing off of him without causing any more damage.

  That should be good enough. Paired with his dispersion ability, he should be able to tank blaster fire from Jabba’s men as well as immune to any stun cuffs or collars they tried to put him in.

  That was all that he could do for now without anything hotter available to increase his resistance with. The whole process had barely taken thirty minutes in total to finish. The only evidence that it’d happened was a large reddish patch of what looked like sunburned skin on his stomach. Anakin let his shirt fall back into place and the patch was covered up again.

  He took a few minutes to use his sensors to get a visual of the palace on the edges of Mos Espa, and hesitated for a moment before charting a landing course to land at one of the landing pads around the castle. What was he doing? He was being an idiot, he should just wait for Dooku and CIS to come help him…

  But he also couldn’t take the chance that Jabba carried out his threat. Mom and Slarena were the two people he probably cared for most in the whole galaxy. He couldn’t live with himself if they died. He’d fall to the dark side and become a monster without them.

  Anakin confirmed the course and started flying his ship down towards the large circular building and towers placed amidst the sand dunes.

  “Unknown ship, you are approaching the palace of the great and regal Jabba the Hutt,” a voice said over the comms after Anakin accepted the request, “State your purpose.”

  “Anakin Skywalker, here for the hostages,” Anakin said shortly.

  There was a short pause, “Very good. Do not resist our commands or the hostages will suffer for it.”

  Anakin landed in front of Jabba’s palace and there was a team of eight men standing outside, looking extremely nervous as they stood in front of Anakin’s ship. Anakin went outside, leaving his vibroblade inside. He had to play along now to make sure that Slarena and Mom were okay. He wasn’t worried about himself, now that his resistance was built up. But Mom and Slarena didn’t have the same protections. All he had to do was make sure that they stayed safe until Dooku and the CIS came and saved them…

  Anakin stopped a few meters away from the mercenaries who had beads of sweat on their brows. One in particular looked like he was shaking in his boots. Anakin looked at him and squinted as the man looked like he only barely preventing himself from fleeing into the open desert by sheer force of will.

  He finally recognized the man vaguely, “You were one of the mercenaries who ran away. When I… In Mos Espa two years ago.”

  “I… Yes, sir,” the mercenary squeaked, “I don’t got nothing to do with this, I swear… They don’t tell me nothing…”

  “Shut up, slime!” one of the other man shouted, even if his hands were trembling too on his blaster, “You- Uh, put these on. Sky-skywalker.”

  He reached behind himself and took out a pair of shock cuffs like what Anakin had worn on the Republic ship. Anakin just held out his arms and let himself be cuffed by the man silently.

  The whole group relaxed, even if they still shot Anakin glances and all looked rather fearful as they led him away and into the palace itself.

  Anakin smiled slightly as he realized what the new ability from Draeth was. All around him he could sense little pricks of life. Only a small radius around him right now, but upon focusing on the sensation he felt it billow out of him and increase in size so he felt people moving through the doors of the Palace just inside. Detecting life for dozens of meters in every direction around him all at once. With this he’d be able to find Mom and Slarena, if he could find somewhere where he thought the prisoners might be being kept…

  After a moment of pushing himself, he started breathing heavier from exertion and let his sensing range fall back to the immediate area around him. He shouldn’t exhaust himself until he had a better sense of an actual plan to get them out first.

  Once they were inside the building itself, the small group practically threw Anakin over to another group of much healthier and well groomed looking mercenaries. Anakin eyed their military style blaster rifles as they surrounded Anakin and brought him deeper into the palace.

  Along the walls stood green Gamorreans with their jutting teeth like tusks and flat noses. Instead of being armed with blasters, they were all armed with medieval weapons like hand axes and swords. A contrast with the high powered weaponry of the assorted mercenaries around Anakin and escorting him deeper into the palace without another word.

  Anakin finally arrived in the room where Jabba sat there eying him as he entered. His massive slug like body sat there lounging along a raised platform as a frightened and nervous looking Twi’lek woman who was barely dressed in revealing clothes with manacles around her wrists and a collar around her neck. She was feeding Jabba expensive looking fruits from a large silver tray with her hands as the Hutt sat there with his mouth open, only stopping to chew.

  Surrounding Jabba on the platform was a muttering crowd of observers of various species, inspecting Anakin warily as he was led inside by the mercenaries. The mercenaries led Anakin on top of what looked like a large metal grate with holes in it that led down into a dark pit that dropped into what looked like a sandy pit of some kind below.

  The rest of the mercenaries retreated to surround the metal grate, flanking it on all sides as Anakin stood there with his shock cuffs around his wrists. Anakin squinted at Jabba, and was surprised to see a barely visible force field separating him from the Hutt who sat there watching him even as he grotesquely chewed on another fruit that was fed to him. After nearly a full minute of the staring contest, Jabba waved his hand dismissively and the Twi’lek slave hurriedly bowed to him and walked away, her chains clinking as she walked away as fast as she could without running.

  Anakin tried to hold back his anger, but based on Jabba’s change in expression he wasn’t completely successful.

  Jabba waved his hand again as his sharp gaze returned to Anakin and a protocol droid puttered forward and stood next to the massive Hutt. The rest of Jabba’s muttering court went silent as Jabba said something to it in Huttesse before turning back to Anakin expectantly to watch his reaction.

  “The great and noble Jabba,” the droid translated with a gesture to the Hutt with its stiff and barely mobile arm, “Bodes you welcome to his palace, Skywalker. He assures you that your loved ones have not been harmed and have been treated as honored guests.”

  Anakin’s anger slackened slightly as he became slightly confused. Huh? Jabba wasn’t going to threaten him some more…?

  Jabba laughed at Anakin’s reaction before saying something lazily to the droid in Huttesse again.

  “Lord Jabba is amused by your inexperience, Skywalker,” the droid said, “He will not mistreat them until you force him to do so.”

  Anakin clenched his fists as he understood Jabba’s meaning. So it was threats… But they weren’t harmed yet.

  “I want to see them,” he demanded, “Make sure that you’re telling the truth.”

  Jabba said something sharp to the droid and the droid nodded.

  “Lord Jabba demands respect in his own palace. You are already captured, you have no leverage to make any kinds of demands. Jabba told you this for his own amusement, nothing more.”

  Anakin’s thoughts raced as he felt his anger rise again, and this time the Force responded. The dark side reached out to him, asking a question as he stood there. Anakin let a little of it seep into him even as he tugged on his mind shield to keep himself under control. It was only a little amount of the dark, not at the critical mass where he couldn’t control it yet.

  “Jabba,” Anakin said, “You saw what I did before. If they are dead, then I will do it again. I will draw on the dark side like I did before, and when I do…”

  Anakin took a half step forward and everyone in the court except for Jabba flinched, “No shield will stop me from killing everybody in this palace guilty or innocent, starting with you. Without them… It might be worth going insane forever for the chance to destroy you and this kriffing palace.”

  Jabba eyed Anakin warily for a moment before Anakin flexed on his mind shield harder and suppressed the Dark side flowing through him. It struggled to grow, to balloon into a well of infinite rage and madness, but Anakin easily crushed it under the weight of his mind shield. With one final flex, Anakin crushed it once and for all and his mind was completely clear once again.

  Jabba huffed and barked something at the droid and waved to the side while not letting his eyes leave as Anakin stood there unmoving, meeting the Hutt’s gaze.

  “Lord Jabba graciously concedes the point,” the protocol droid said, “Bring out the hostages!”

  A side door opened and both Slarena and Mom were led out with bulky collars around their necks. Slarena looked like she might have a panic attack as she stood there trying to prevent herself from hyperventilating while Mom was holding her hand and whispering to her softly. Both women stiffened and looked shocked when they saw Anakin standing there in shock cuffs in front of Jabba.

  “Ani! Ani, just go!” Mom called out and took a step forward, but a mercenary stepped in her way and lightly pushed her back. Slarena snarled and went to step up in front of Mom, but the protocol droid spoke first.

  “Enough! Lord Jabba does not tolerate such squabbling in his own chambers!”

  Slarena hesitated, looking like she almost still might punch the offending mercenary before stepping back again and looking around suspiciously like she’d claw at anyone who drew close to them.

  The mercenary stoically stood to the side where he had been before.

  Jabba spoke to the protocol droid again.

  “As you can see, Skywalker, the two of them are undamaged and as spirited as ever. And they will remain that way if you cooperate.”

  Jabba waved his hand again and Slarena and Mom were led back out through the side door, both of the women shooting Anakin long looks and lingering at the doorway to look at him before they were grabbed by the arms and pushed forward when they stopped by the mercenaries escorting them.

  Anakin turned back, “Fine. As long as they’re safe. What do you want? I have powerful people that know that I’m here. They won’t stand for this.”

  Jabba spoke to the droid.

  “Is that so?” the droid said, “The mighty Jabba is eager to meet this mysterious backer for himself, then. We will see if they have deeper pockets than the Republic does.”

  Anakin didn’t answer. After a moment of studying him, Jabba waved his hand dismissively and said something else in Huttesse.

  “Take him away,” the droid translated, “To the dungeons.”

  Anakin was led away and downwards by the mercenaries and he didn’t resist as they did so. He spread what he had been mentally calling his life sense as wide as he could as he walked until he started growing exhausted by the effort. But he could feel a few places in the palace that had lots of relatively still forms. That’s where Jabba must keep his slaves or other prisoners.

  Anakin was brought down a stairwell leading down past plenty of dingy cells that looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in years and filled with the occasional squalid prisoner. Past them all was a heavy door at the end that was opened as Anakin went forward. This room was completely spotless and much larger than the others.

  He was led to the center of the room as the stun cuffs remained around his wrists. The mercenaries stepped back and Anakin felt himself lifting off the ground and heard a loud hum from all around of him. He floated a meter or two off of the ground before stopping and feeling the force field lifting and keeping him locked in place in the air.

  Next a physical purplish shield flickered into place in a large cylinder going to the ceiling, isolating him from the rest of the room. Anakin considered escaping. He probably could just using the light side of the Force. He was practically immune to blaster shots and the electricity both right now, but he might not be if he waited too long.

  But Mom and Slarena had to stay safe. And his escape might risk that. He’d just have to hope that the CIS and Dooku thought he was valuable enough to rescue him and his family from Jabba.

  He really hoped that they came for him.

  He was sure that they would.

  Probably.