Skywalker Residence Part 1

Dinner at the Skywalker residence is a humble affair, mainly some fruits and some bread. It does appear that the galaxy has discovered a new kind of fruit though, something called an 'apple'.

It's crunchy, with a smooth skin. The flavor is sweet, and the juice is sticky. When she thinks nobody is watching, I notice Mission sucking the juice off her fingers and I can't help but smile. Then I have to suppress a laugh when I notice Bastilla doing the same.

'Despite all they've been through, they still have the same excitement for discovering something new. Heh, and Bastila still tries to uphold the image of a Jedi. Cute.'

Suddenly they look up and meet my eyes, resulting in a blush from the two of them. Probably sensed a bit of my feelings through the Force. My original bond with Bastila has long grown to encompass the other women of the crew, even Mission, despite not being Force Sensitive. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the Jedi, who had introduced himself as Qui-Gon Jinn, also smiling at the girls' antics.

While Shmi is gathering the dishes, she tells us all about a nasty device that slaves are injected with. "All slaves have a transmitter placed inside their bodies somewhere."

Anakin, her son, interjects. "I've been working on a scanner to try and locate mine. Shmi sends her son a smile while I raise an eyebrow.

'This boy is quite intelligent for a child slave. Not to mention that the half-built droid in the shop was his doing as well. Impressive.'

Shmi continues. "Any attempt to escape-"

"And it blows you up. BOOM!" Anakin smacks the table to make his point clear

"How rude." The 'gungan', Jar-Jar, comments. For all the emotion in his voice you would think that someone ignored him when he waved at them. Which I think people do quite often, the more time I spend with him.

The girl, Padme, speaks up. "I can't believe that there's still slavery in the galaxy." The disappointment in her voice is so pronounced that I can't help but snort.

She gives me glare but I wave it off. "Why WOULDN'T there be slavery in the galaxy?" I'm honestly curious about this, what would give her enough confidence that she can say that with a straight face.

With anger clear on her face, she states with full confidence, "The Republic's anti-slavery laws prevent it."

I wait, but that's all she says. Shmi looks like she wants to say something, but after a quick glance at me she simply looks down. After waiting another moment, I can't help but sigh.

"Do you think the Republic's reach stretches across the galaxy? Completely uncontested. Pirates, bounty hunters, gangs, crime lords. There are at least a few of these groups on each world, with some of them even having control of whatever world they reside on.

That's not even mentioning corrupt organizations that will do whatever it takes to turn a profit. I remember one business corporation that decided to try to enslave an entire species on their home planet. Did the Republic try and do anything about it? No, since the corporation was there legally, they didn't lift a finger.

It wasn't until my crew and I went there that the species decided to rebel and fight against them. Luckily the corporation didn't use the transmitters these two seem to have."

She looks shocked. "But certainly word would have gotten out about something like that!"

I shake my head. "No, the corporation excelled in covering their tracks, not to mention that the leader of the species was working with them to sell his own people. We put a stop to that though."

She looks a bit green at the thought of a ruler deciding to sell their own people into slavery, but I can also see some awe in her eyes at the fact that my crew and I rescued a planet.

After another few moments of awkward silence, Anakin speaks about a sport called pod-racing. According to his back and forth with Master Jinn, it seems to be similar to swoop racing. But humans don't have good enough reflexes to participate?

"You must have Jedi reflexes if race pods." After his words, he grabs the gungan's extended tongue that it was using to grab fruit from the bowl on the table. "Don't do that again."

"Sowwy." He releases the tongue. Nasty

Anakin looks down before making a bold claim. "You're a Jedi Knight, aren't you."

Qui Gon pauses before speaking cautiously. "What makes you think that?"

You can practically see the question marks appear over my crew's heads.

'Was he trying to hide it?' I mean, it's pretty obvious at a glance due to his robes and the lightsaber poking out of his cloak.

Anakin explains. "I saw your laser sword. Only Jedis carry around that kind of weapon."

Next to me, Bastila chokes, Mission laughs, and I just barely manage to hold back a smile. Everyone looks at us, but I just shake my head and they go back to their conversation.

"Perhaps I killed a Jedi and took it from him." Qui Gon looks distinctly uncomfortable now. Seriously, was he honestly trying to hide it? If he was he should have at least changed out of the Jedi robes.

"I don't think so, no one can kill a Jedi." I can't help it anymore and burst out laughing at this ridiculous assertion.

Everyone stares, and Qui Gon has a frown on his face as he detects something... DARK in my laugh.

Padme is the one who speaks first though. "Do you find something funny about this, mister Revan?"

My laughter falls down to some chuckling, but rather than answer I decide to have a bit of fun. Reaching under my cloak I pull out the two lightsabers I brought along to sell if I needed to.

They all stare in shocked silence as I place them on the table. Qui Gon's mouth hangs open. I smile at the kid.

"So kid, since I have a pair of laser swords, does that make me a Jedi?" My amusement is clear to all.

He looks uncertainly between the lightsabers and me, then back again. "Yes?"

I chuckle again, and under the rolling eyes of my companions, pull out my own. "And now?"

If the silence earlier was prominent, now it looks like they've stopped breathing. As for the gungan, well, a bit of the Force in the right spot and he was out like a light. Don't even think that anyone noticed.

Qui Gon is now looking worried, along with shocked. Padme is staring like she can't understand what's happening. Shmi is just blinking. As for the boy, there's fear in his eyes now.

"H-h-h-a-a-a-v-v-v," he gulps, swallowing his fear, "have you killed Jedi before mister?"

I sigh, reminiscing on all the battles I've fought. One on one, me against many, fighting with my companions, fighting alone. Fighting with my ship, fighting with my blade.

"Yes boy, I have." I meet his eyes, and the conviction he sees there freezes him in place. "But I do not kill without reason. Those I've killed had either turned their blade upon myself, or done something that I felt justified in my actions."

I return the two trophies to the bag on my waist, while also clipping my own lightsabers back to my belt. "These two though, these are mine."

His voice is quiet, uncertain, fearful. Curious. "Are YOU a Jedi mister?"

I sigh, and to the others it seems as if I've suddenly become an old man, reminiscing about his childhood. "No Anakin, I'm not. Haven't been one in a long, long time."