An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Story Summary: During ROTS, when Anakin is about to tell Windu about Palpatine, his Comm starts to ring, and it's Padme. She's gone into labor. Windu has some experience delivering babies in the field, so he knows what to do. Anyways, this means when Anakin tells him the news, there is an experienced politician nearby to tell them how stupid their idea of arresting him is. This changes things.
I've published a new chapter to my story, Default Aegis, today. As usual, below is a small selection. Please use one of the links above to read more.
Chapter 4: The Untriggered One
“How many of those AAT droids did the men terminate again,” Obi-Wan asked.
“In the room, three. But on the base, thirty four.” Cody patiently replied.
Obi-Wan couldn’t be more thankful to have Cody with him for this mission. This simple mission with prerogatives to, “Kill Grievous,” which had seemingly become "Notarize All Seized Assets,” thanks to orders which came in last night. It involved hours of paperwork, done in triplicate.
“I think we’re almost done here. You can go rest, if you want to,” Cody said.
“Thanks, but I don’t think I’ll be able to find any rest here,” Obi-Wan replied.
A buzzer went off on Cody’s vambrace. The man started to stand up. “Still, the paperwork can be finished in a few hours. Surely, no one expects us on Coruscant for another two days. If you want, we can stop by Eriadu and get a little shore leave.”
Obi-Wan thought about that suggestion. He certainly would enjoy a bit of fun. Though, Eriadu isn't his choice destination. Any port in the storm, or so they say.
Still, he’d have that nagging feeling called responsibility niggling at him the whole time, and that was never fun.
“I am more eager to get home and tell everyone that this war can finally end. But you go answer that comm. I’ll finish these forms while you’re gone.”
“I’ll send Boil to help you, Sir,” Cody promised, before he left.
Mace was unceremoniously dropped by a trooper, one of the Coruscant Guard, when they entered the Temple. Master Kolar ran to help him up.
Skywalker attempted to turn around and tackle the guy, but his wrists were still in the cuffs. “Hey, talk to me. Someone please! Guys!” He was breathing heavily. It looked like the knight was in the middle of a waking nightmare.
Mace whispered to the Jedi Master, “We should do this away from prying eyes.” There were too many younglings around the temple these days, or too few knights to watch them. And the conversation they were going to have would not be good for impressionable ears. Kolar nodded and pushed them all into a private meeting room on the main floor.
“Did anyone hear what the Chancellor said to Fox, up on that Podium?” Mace asked. They were going to have to compare notes to figure this out. Might as well start while the memory was fresh.
“Initiate something, I don't know what he said.” Master Fisto confessed.
“Stop struggling,” Mace said. Skywalker relaxed his arms, and Mace set to work on the cuffs he still wore.
“Initiate order... I wasn't going to let him finish.” Skywalker shrugged. Mace pulled the cuffs off, and the knight rubbed his wrists. “But it wasn’t until after the lightning hit me that he said that.”
“Before he started throwing lightning I don't think he even acknowledged the trooper was there,” added Master Tiin.
“I've heard of Sith manipulating weak minds, but the interference is usually limited to a short distance,” Said Master Shaak Ti, who hadn't been there during the Senate meeting, but she had been listening silently to their accounts. ...
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 20/?
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Summary:
Qui-gon was the only one who knew about Anakin’s slave chip, and unfortunately, the secret died with him. Anakin doesn’t realize that none of the other Jedi aren’t aware, and while they think he’s just like them, he’s kind of still under the impression that he’s... their slave...?
((AND IF THE SLAVE MINDSET WASN’T ENOUGH ANGST Y’ALL GAVE HIM CHRONIC HEIGHTENED PAIN PERCEPTION FROM THE CHIP BECAUSE TUMBLR IS FULL OF SADISTS I GUESS))
Just realized I never posted the link to Blazed so here you go
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
***
Bentu goes back to her routine: Jabba's dancer by day, the slaves singer by night. But not every night. Some nights, she goes to see Quinlan Vos, who didn't go by Quinlan Vos anywhere except with her. She talks to him, and learns from him.
Though the desert tells her to trust him, she keeps her distance. She doesn't tell him the slave stories, doesn't breath a word of slave secrets. Eventually, she tells him her full name: she is Bentu, yes. She is Bentu Skywalker. Her brother left with the Jedi.
"Would you like to talk to him?" Asks Quinlan Vos.
"It does not matter what I want," she tells him. "He was sold on, twice over. It is unlikely that I will ever see him again."
"More likely than you think."
The next time they spoke, Quinlan Vos tells her a Truth. He is a Jedi, he tells her. He talked with his friend, who is Anakin's Teacher. He has a com, if she wanted to speak to him. He puts the com in front of her, and leaves the area.
She takes the com. Anakin's blue figure flickers in the air in front of her. "Upanda," she whispers.
"Ikkali," he says, his voice thick.
They share a whispered conversation. She tells him that their mother is still with Watto, who, though angry that he lost Anakin, has not sold her off yet. She told him that they finished the designs for Anakin's scanner, that they are freeing the people.
"Ekkreth," he laughs, cries, whispers. "My trickster sister."
She tells him of Jabba's cruelty. Tells him that there are days she wishes she had left when she had the chance. Tells him that she hates herself for thinking that.
"You shouldn't," he tells her. "They could do this without you. If you left, there is nothing you need to feel guilty for."
She shakes her head. "I need to stay," she says. "I need to see this through."
"I'm here for you," he tells her. "Say the word, and I will be there."
She shakes her head. "Not yet."
Now when Quinlan Vos comes back, she tells him a story. A story about a slave who told an outsider slave secrets, and how the slaves regretted it greatly. And Quinlan Vos listens, and promises to remember.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
***
Bentu spends her days as a dancer on Jabba’s chain. Nights she spends among Jabba’s slaves, listening to stories of Ekkreth, of trickery, of freedom and slavery. Her mother still can’t visit her, but the other slaves make sure that the Skywalkers hear from each other. And one day, not long after she becomes Jabba’s her mother sends her a half-built scanner – Anakin’s design, from before he had to leave with the Jedi.
Bentu works on it night after night, understanding Anakin’s designs and trying to finish it. And one day, she scans her body, and finds the chip. I imagine that it is near her collarbone. Detonation would be lethal.
Another slave offers to perform the surgery on her, let her escape Jabba’s clutches. For a long moment, she is tempted to take the offer. But she has an idea, and the desert whispers to her, do it. Take the chance. So she explains her idea.
We start with the quieter slaves, she says; the ones who are least likely to be blown up by the depurs. We take out the chip, and we sow a small pocket in their clothes, near where the chip used to be. If the chip is detonated, the masters won’t suspect that their slaves were trying to all escape. We will need to heal the scar, so the depur will not suspect anything if they spot the scar. And we do this for everyone, one by one. The dancers and those slaves whose skin is usually exposed, for those for whom making a pocket would be difficult, these slaves we save for last.
We save me for last, she says.
A quiet revolution. A game the Trickster would approve of.
Word spreads among the slaves. The depur never hear about it; the amatakka know how to keep secrets. Soon, they manage to make a healing device - micro sutures, something that would heal without visible scars.
And they got to it. One by one, they crept to a singers hut, where Bentu waited with the scanner and the medkit. The surgeries went smoothly, until one night, when the desert screamed d a n g e r and she took the scalpel from the singer, and let the desert guide her hand to do the surgery herself.
Later, they asked her why she did it. Later, she told them of the desert’s voice. And now, she does all the surgeries. The singers heal, still; there aren’t nearly enough healers on Tatooine. But now, every surgery is successful. The desert protects her children.
