@hedgiwithapen requested I write her a bit of 'Shmi Skywalker gets Khaji Da' AU. So here it is!
The days had tended to blend in, back then. Perhaps there would be some news- an escaped slave was blown up, someone had a baby, there was a tournament- but hard work always was there along with the bone deep tiredness and shifting sands. Still, she would always smile at her son and continue onwards with her day to the best of her ability.
She did the repairs on small devices and broke down those that were only good for parts. Wattoo had brought in new material. Whether it was from the Jawas, scrap yards, or black market dealers did not matter. The fact stood that it all required attending and that Wattoo could easily choose to withhold some food allowance as punishment for slow work.
Normally the work was not to dangerous. Shmi counted herself lucky that she had been bought away from serving Gardulla. A misbehaving machine was far easier to handle than a drunken bounty hunter or a capricious Hutt. Still, as she told Anakin, it was best to be careful and move through things slowly.
“What about that blue thing, mom?” Anakin gestured. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It seems important.”
Shmi glanced over at what her son was talking about. It was shaped like a scarab, but certainly was not Tattooine technology. “I don’t know. Let us find out.” She reached out and carefully picked it up to examine it.
At first, it was perfectly inert. Then without prompting, it began to flail its legs and move, rapidly crawling up her arms before going down the back of her dress and pinching her spine.
“Mom? Mom!”
Shmi wanted to tell Anakin not to yell, and that everything would be alright. She was unable too, though, as her body was covered in blue metal.
<Systems initializing. Error. Data missing. Reconfiguring. Host analysis. Protocol M_++,,- error. Data missing. Priority one: host health>
“Hello?” Shmi whispered when she caught her breath. “Anakin, I am fine, do not worry. I believe this is a specialized droid.”
Anakin nodded at that, worry still shining in his eyes but curiosity coming after it. “A droid? Is it talking to you?”
<This unit is a scarab. This unit has fused to the host. This unit can provide armor and weapons in defense. This unit requires system testing and initializing. Scans indicate potential hostiles in immediate area.>
“Sort of. Scarab, please respond to my queries. My master may come back soon, and I do not want him to see you.”
<Request: reasonable. Host can control armor and weapons.>
At that, Shmi closed her eyes and imagined the blue armor flowing back to where it came from.
“That is so wizard,” Anakin whispered.
“Very wizard. It also must be kept secret, you understand?”
Anakin nodded once. He had been born a slave. He knew the importance of secrets.
<Explosive device detected in host. This violates host protection protocol. Explosive device is being removed.>
Shmi straightened up. “You can do that?”
<Easily.>
“Can you remove my son’s?”
“Mom?”
The scarab showed a display, making the world into muted blues with the various electronics shining. A spot on Anakin shone as well. <Said device is underneath muscle and would require careful extraction.>
“I will not leave my son with the chip if I can help it.”
<Recommendation: Let [scarab] control movements to extract the chip.>
Shmi crouched down. “Ani, we’re going to be free soon.”
Anakin looked up at her and smiled. “Really?”
“It might be a bit painful.”
“So?”
With that, it was not long before Shmi had found a quiet space and removed the chip. It was barely a heartbeat more when she had begun removing the chips of other slaves.
By the time the Queen of Naboo arrived, there were no more slaves nor Hutts on Tattoine. Instead, there was the Blue Beetle.
