14 Chapter 2.4: Desert Hell

(Skywalker Home)

*Rattle* The door slammed shut behind them as the group piled into the home. The sand storm outside whistled in the air and drowned out any noise outside. A few sighs of relief escaped from the group as they moved in.

A woman walked into the room shocked as she stared at the group of strangers. With black hair tied up in a bun, wrinkles caused by years of stress and calluses oh her hands from hard work, Shim Skywalker was shocked to see the group in front of her.

Jin stepped forwards as the group leader as Anakin walked off into another room, pulling Padme with him. "Hello, your son was kind enough to offer us shelter from the storm outside. My name is Qui-Gon Jinn, this is Padme, R2 and Ayillh."

As those two began to talk to each other and Jar Jr was distracted by something else Ayillh slowly walked to a quiet area of the house. Finding an unoccupied room, that wasn't one of the bedrooms. Making sure that no one was around she reached for her belt and pulled out the small holocomm she kept tucked inside.

There was a small scrambler on the side which she activated before sending the signal. *Beep Beep* *Beep Beep* After a few seconds the other side connected and a small image of Mace appeared before her. Decked out in his full gear, with his mask on, he said nothing as he waited for her report.

In the next few minutes Ayillh spoke of everything that happened, also giving her personal opinion on each of the Jedi, handmaidens, Padme and Anakin. Taking a slight interest in the mention of the boy, Anakin, Mace thought over the information before he replied.

"I will be sending out Blizz, Ashara and Vette 2 days from now on a different mission, there are two more Jedi close by." Ayillh cocked her eyebrow at the information. "Do you want me to do anything?" Mace shook his head. "No continue the mission to protect the queen. Add the boy as a second priority target, something about him was drawn to your group. If any opportunities arise in our favor utilize them" Ayillh gave a slow bow as the Holocomm turned itself off. Not wasting any more time Ayillh moved back to the group before they got suspicious.

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"…Any attempt to escape and they blow you up! Boom!" Anakin spoke with a surprisingly chipper tone as he described what would happen to him as a slave. Padme was shocked once again hearing his words. "I can't believe there is still slavery in the galaxy. The republics anti-slavery laws..."

Just as Shmi was about to interrupt her; Ayillh stepped in first. "The republic can't enforce law to the whole galaxy, why do you think that places like Tatooine exists? It's because there are powerful people, clans, organizations, worlds, all that can cause trouble for the republic whenever they want."

Padme turned towards Ayillh her eyes widening. "They don't have any rights out here; the hutts control this space, and trust me they would sell their own grandmother if it made them a profit." Shmi looked at Ayillh who was sitting at the table. She hadn't taken her mask off, wasn't eating anything and was talking in a synthesized voice that slightly disturbed her.

Though Shmi was experienced, she had lived on tatooine for a long time; she had met all kinds of people before Anakin was born. She knew a bounty hunter when she saw one; of course she would know the truth of the planet they were on.

Padme was still trying to process Ayillh words as Shmi turned to her. "Your friend is right. The republic doesn't exist out here." Padme looked as if she couldn't believe the words as she looked at Jar Jar and Jinn. They didn't say a word acknowledging the hard truth.

An awkward silence filled the room for a while before Anakin spoke up, distracting Padme's thoughts. "Has anyone ever seen a pod race?" Jinn looked at the boy, praising his tact as he replied. "There is pod racing on Malastare. Very fast, very dangerous."

Anakin looked excited as he got another chance to brag in front of Padme. "I'm the only human that can do it." A small knowing smile came to Jinn's face as he looked at the boy. "You must have Jedi reflexes if you race pods." And as if to prove a point he caught the tongue of Jar Jar that had been annoying everyone at the table. "Don't do that again."

Jar Jar gave a weak nod at the forceful words. Ayillh ears picked up as she stared at the Jedi master. A small idea of what he was implying. "You're a Jedi knight, aren't you?" Ayillh had to give the kid credit, he wasn't the usually type of stupid, he recognized that Jinn was a Jedi, most likely the only time he could have confirmed this was when Jinn paid an old woman for some fruit. His lightsaber had been shown for a few seconds.

Jinn gave another smile. "What makes you think that?" Anakin had a small smug look. "I saw your laser sword. Only Jedi carry that kind of weapon." Ayillh snorted a bit at the terminology, finding the new name hilarious. 'I'll have to remember that one.'

For a second Ayillh also wanted to interject that Sith also use the weapon, but thought better of it. She still wasn't sure what stories about sith were circulating, if she provided too much personal knowledge about Sith Jinn would get suspicious.

"Perhaps I killed a Jedi and took it from him." Anakin shook his head at the words as if they were outlandish. "I don't think so; no one can kill a Jedi." This time Ayillh had to laugh out loud, causing everyone to stare at her.

But she really couldn't help it. 'No one can kill a Jedi?' How stupid was that, she herself had taken down many in her time. Seeing everyone staring at her, who still had her mask on. She waved her hand as her distorted voice came out.

"Sorry I was thinking of a joke that someone told me in a bar last week. It just got it now and I couldn't resist laughing." Jinn starred at her with a penetrating stare completely not trusting her words. The way that she laughed had sent a shiver down his spine. The presence of Ayillh had changed in that one second and he didn't like what he felt.

Jin turned away from Ayillh to answer Anakin. "I wish that were so" The conversation continued as the reason for why they came to the planet somehow slipped out. Ayillh couldn't believe that he was just telling a random mother and son what their mission was.

If something like that had happened in imperial intelligence the person who let the information slip would be taken care of, and the mother and son would have an accident in the next few hours as all their communications would be tracked and catalogued.

'Damn even the Jedi back in the day didn't give information out so freely.' Though it did work out in the end. For some reason it was decided that Anakin would race in the 'Boonta Eve' classic that was being held in 2 days.

He had a pod racer that would help win enough money to buy the parts they needed. Ayillh was skeptical about the whole plan. For one why was the young boy racing was a good question, she was sure that Qui-Gon with his own Jedi reflexes should be able to race in his steed, even though Anakin would have the home ground knowledge.

For now Ayillh would go along with her plan, but she was thinking of a few other options should the plan fall through. She always got her mission done, no matter the cost.

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(Skywalker House.)

(Night)

Ayillh kept her breath quiet as she stayed flat against the wall. She minimized her presence as she listened to the conversation happening outside.

Jinn sat on a small out cove looking out into the desert as he spoke to his Padawan. He had just taken a blood sample from young Anakin when Ayillh had walked in to the scene. "He has more than 20 thousand midi-chlorians" Jinn became shocked at the news as he started to describe how the current grand master of the order, Yoda, didn't even have that many.

Filing the new information away, Ayillh correlated the knowledge of midi-chlorians and the presence of the force as bullshit. She had never heard of a midi-chlorian. She was trained by sith intelligence, if they knew about a way to measure force powers they would have found it.

Other than that fact she had been around Mace and other sith and Jedi for a very long time, she would have heard if they had a scientific way to test if a person had the force and their potential. Instead they used rituals and premonitions to tell them how powerful someone was.

And the biggest factor telling her that midi-chlorians didn't matter was the fact she had seen multiple Jedi go from nothing to some of the most powerful beings in the galaxy. If Mace had been restricted from birth he would have never been able to overcome the odds and increase his powers in the force.

Coming to that logical conclusion Ayillh once again labeled the Jedi of this new era as idiots. 'Though this information will be useful to him.' Sending one last glance at the Jedi outside Ayillh moved back into the house. Jinn didn't realize he had an audience, or that he was labeled as an idiot.

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(Tatooine, Desert)

Darth Maul stepped down the landing ramp as he stepped out into the humid temperature of the desert. Even though it was night the temperature didn't drop to a freezing degree. Not minding his surroundings he moved away from the ship and began to scan the area.

He had narrowed down the planet that the Queen had escaped to and he could feel the presence of Jedi nearby, but there were 3 spaceports nearby. Giving each of them a once over he reached down to the small pad on his hand and ordered the probe droids to go and do some reconnaissance.

Watching them as they flew off in to the distance Maul began to think to himself. It wasn't just the presence of Jedi that he could feel on the planet, there was also that dark feeling. The feeling that had appeared a day ago.

He had never felt something like it before in his life; it eclipsed his master, darker than anything he had ever felt. It had even knocked him out while he was training. He had gotten in contact with his master after waking up but even he hadn't given him proper answers.

A primal side of his brain wanted to find the darkness, to prove that he was the stronger of the two but he had to follow his masters' wishes. Though he was starting to believe that his master was hiding something from him.

He had always been told that there were no more sith in the galaxy, that it was only him and his master. But this new presence, it was sith that he was sure of. And with the way Sidious had dodged his questions, he was starting to doubt.

Starting to truly wonder if his master was the most powerful being in the galaxy, maybe he wasn't, maybe he was weak like the rest.

Maul started to smile to himself as he considered the possibility of there being someone stronger. He couldn't wait to meet them in battle. But for now, he had a queen to capture and Jedi to kill.

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(Tatooine, Pod racer Pit area.)

(2 Days Later.)

Ayillh followed Jinn down to the area as he left earlier than the rest. He wanted to talk to the Toydarian before the race began. Ayillh was sure that he was up to something, but she couldn't tell what. Jar Jar was going to follow them as well, but after Ayillh joined he quietly waited with the others.

Walking into the area Ayillh surveyed the racers and guards that littered the area. Pod racing was a popular sport, they didn't want anything happening before the race started. Shooting a small look at the Dug, Sebulba, that was to be the biggest competition, she thought about quietly getting rid of him.

Before she set that plan in motion though they ran across Watto, watching intently as they got into a small betting deal, her eyes darted to the master as he accepted only freeing Anakin Skywalker. Watto may have said it was up to chance, but as she watched Ayillh easily noticed the small amount of force that was used to rig the odds.

Jinn wanted the boy and he wanted him bad. Mace showed an interest in just the mention of the boy and finally there was something that always drew her attention towards him. It was something that had never happened to her before.

As Watto scurried off after seeing the outcome a new plan started to form in Ayillh mind. She didn't care that Anakin was getting separated from his mother; she had seen it happen multiple times, hell the Jedi were the most prolific organization to ever take children from their parents.

At least in the sith empire children were allowed to visits and stay with their families if they wanted. Most of the families that bred sith were of the aristocrat class and amassed fortunes if their child became a lord of the sith.

But even if she didn't care, there was one person that would care and she could use that to her advantage. A small plan started to form in Ayillh's mind as they walked up to their arriving group. Ayillh's eyes shifted to Shmi for a second before they started to get ready.

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(Tatooine, Mos Eisley, Hanger Bay 4)

Quinlan Vos and Aayla Secura rushed forwards as they made their way to a specific spaceport. They cloaked their legs in the force making their journey faster. Quinlan grit his teeth in annoyance as they made their way closer.

There had been a tip off to the slaver ring they were going after. They had found out just an hours ago that 2 Jedi had been asking questions about them and the fact that they were also on Tatooine. Vos knew after their presence was leaked it wouldn't take the group long to ship every slave they had off planet.

They had narrowed down where everything was happening, they had even hired some bounty hunters to make sure no one got away. And now the whole plan had gone to shit. The streets were relatively empty as the Boonta eve classic was about to start.

The perfect time for a big trade and dump of slaves. Something which they were going to interrupt, but everything had been accelerated. Aayla kept up with her master as they finally made it to the right hanger bay.

Hired thugs and bounty hunters stood guard as they rushed towards the locked door. Not wasting any words they pulled out their blasters and started shooting. Both Jedi spent no time in activating their lightsabers and headed forwards. *Snap* *Hiss*

Blue and Green flashed to life as fire was reflected back. Their progress was stalled and they didn't have the time. Vos felt his rage spike as he calmed himself down. They had spent too long on this mission for it to end like this.

Gritting his teeth the duo moved ahead.

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(Tatooine, Mos Eisley, Close to Hanger Bay 4)

(Ashara PoV)

I walked steadily down the main road, Vette walking with me. The streets were empty as some type of Pod race, a popular sport, was currently taking place. I didn't mind the quiet; it was nice knowing that we weren't being starred at by everyone we passed.

I had been to Tatooine before, it wasn't a good experience. "I told you the sand would get everywhere I can already feel it in my shoes! How is that possible?!?!" Vette moaned in pain next to me as she shifted her feet in annoyance.

I had my hands behind my head relaxing as I heard her words. Giving out a small snicker of amusement I turned to her. "I don't know, I'm doing just fine. Maybe you're cursed?" Vette shot me an agonized look before huffing and stomping forwards. Just as she made it a few meters ahead though I spoke up.

"This way. I can feel them this way." Vette sent a peek over her shoulder as I moved to the left. Letting out an irritated sigh she corrected course to match me. Just as she stood next to me though, I moved back towards our original path. "Sorry I must have sensed wrong."

Vette stopped dead in her tracks as her mouth gaped open. Seeing the small smile I sent her way as I moved past, she threw her hands up in defeat. "Of for the love of…!!! Hey get back here!"

Catching up with me once again Vette punch my shoulder lightheartedly. "Meanie." Giving me her best pouting face I could only laugh louder. These type of antics happened many times as we closed in on a specific hanger Bay.

As we got closer I felt the need to ask. "Where do you think Blizz is going?" Vette looked at me before looking into the distance. Letting out a sigh she gave me her thoughts. "He's going to calm down. To be with his people, something familiar, we all need something like that right now."

I sent Vette a worried look; she looked so downtrodden it prickled my heart seeing one of my closest friends, family even, like this. Placing a hand on her shoulder as I moved closer I spoke gently. "You know I'm always here for you. Your big beautiful sister." Vette muttered under her breath. "Ohh you're big alright."

My hand gripped a bit tighter onto her shoulder and the slight groan of metal rang out. "What was that?" I think my voice had dropped a few degrees. Vette gave me a strained smile as she looked up. "N-nothing." I nodded in acceptance. "That what I thought."

My grip weakened on her shoulder after a few seconds though, she still looked a bit down. "I mean it Vette, I'm here for you." Vette looked back at me and I wanted the love I felt for her to be conveyed. We had been close for so many years, she was my sister, I knew that. She let out a soft sign and nodded her head weakly after a while. "I-I-I'll talk to you when I'm ready." I nodded my head. "That's all I ask for."

Moving my hand off Vette's shoulder we both began walking forwards again, changing the subject as we went. "You should have just joined us on the trip to Tatooine. It blows off steam and relaxes you at the same time. I'm feeling so refreshed right now. And I was lonely without you~"

Vette just rolled her eyes at me. There was only one person that could out banter her, me. "Yeah, Yeah. I'll join you next time." Turning around on a dime, I walked up and clasped both of Vette's hands in front of her.

With a bright smile on my face I leaned in and hugged her, like a giddy child. "It's a promise then!" Vette was used to this by now and said nothing else as we went forwards, though I did get a good chuckle in my mind. We had arrived at their destination anyway.

Before us was an entrance to the hanger. On the ground the dead bodies of thugs and bounty hunters littered the ground. In front a door had been sliced open and was laying flat on the ground.

Stepping forwards I looked at the cut marks on the door. "Do you feel them?" I asked without turning around, Vette closed her eyes for a second and began to feel around. This was all new to her, but it was now part of her training.

After a while she finally replied to me "Yes I can." I gave a nod as we walked into the dark corridor. "Your training has been paying off. We will have to move on to the more advanced stuff soon." Vette gave a nod as we waltz in.

Blaster marks scarred the corridor, bodies littered the ground. Every now and then there was an indent in the wall from where a lightsaber had passed. Looking at most of the thugs on the ground both of us felt nothing.

Continuing our journey into the space port, going from one area to the next, at some point Vette had moved to the front. It would have been faster for me to find them, but I let her do as she pleased.

We only took two wrong turns before finally finding what we were looking for. I could feel them on the other side of the door and now so could Vette. Just beyond them I could also feel a different group of people, whatever the Jedi were here for involved them. But I didn't have to care about that I only had one thing to do.

I gave Vette an appreciative nod as we stood before the door for a few seconds. We had talked on the way over Vette didn't really care if she got to fight or not. She was more of the relaxation and fun loving type. Mace wanted us to test the Jedi on the other side, so it was decided that unless I wanted or needed help Vette would leave everything to me. Not that they would likely pay attention to Vette either way.

I gave a small smile as I pressed the button at the side of the door. This one hadn't been sliced apart meaning it worked perfectly. My senses were honed, ready for the fight that was coming. I could tell the Jedi had already felt my presence they were prepared on the other side of the door.

It would be a fun battle, I hoped. *Beep* *Hiss*