I came back to the shop just in time to see Qui-Gon leave as he talked to Padme, probably about me.
I came behind him as he said.
"Where did that Count go?" He asked.
"To the Bounty Hunter Guild." Padme said and she then looked at me, prompting Qui-Gon to do the same.
They expected me and my guards, but what shocked them was the big-ass Wookie about the size of a trandoshian following us. The Trandoshian also had a lot of blood on his hand, Robb and Jon too did due to their proximity to their opponent. But since I used a whip I didn't get any blood on me.
"And who's this large fellow with you? And why are 3 of your men covered in blood?" Qui-Gon asked, being a bit amused.
"This is Krrsantan, he's a Wookie. And I saved him from a pair of gladiator trainers so now he owes me a life debt. The 2 guys on his shoulders are the gladiator trainers." I said as they noticed the 2 men on his shoulder being full of blood. Well, one of them as he was shot, and the other was just half-dead due to electricity.
"They shouldn't be alive if they're responsible for the blood on your men." Qui-Gon said.
"Nah, well the bounty hunters got a bit greedy when I attempted to hire a few bounty hunters for more money, so they tried to rob me. Those I attempted to hire were off-world so we had to deal with them ourselves." I said and Qui-Gon nodded. It was well known that bounty hunters don't take kindly to people hiring other bounty hunters instead of them. Unless it's people like Cad Bane and Jango Fett, they're too dangerous.
"Well, as long as you got it handled. Is he coming aboard?" Qui-Gon asked.
"Yeah, he's a heck of a fighter. But another is coming as well tomorrow." I said and Qui-Gon nodded. He probably worked with bounty hunters before, most Jedi do.
"All right, well, let's contact the ship." He said as we followed him into an alleyway, he took out his commlink and contacted Obi-Wan.
"And you're sure there's nothing left on board?" He asked after a bit of small talk.
"A few containers of supplies. The Queen's wardrobe maybe, but not enough for you to barter with, not in the amount you're talking about." Obi-Wan responded. I wonder how he got permission to check her wardrobe.
"Alright, I'm sure another opportunity will present itself. I'll check back later." He said as he cut the comms.
"Noah gain! Noah gain!" Jar-jar exclaimed.
"Da beings hereabouts, cawazy! Wesa be wobbed un crunched." Jar-Jar said, I had ordered Robb and Jon to take Santo with them to the ship, but first they would torture the brothers a bit.
"Not likely. We have nothing of value. That's our problem." Qui-Gon said. Which was a smart and correct deduction. But the truth is we do, Padme.
As he was about to leave I said.
"We do." And he turned to me, hoping for a solution to our money problem.
"You know of any way to get money." He said and I chuckled.
"I do, but that is not why I am concerned." I said and he narrowed his eyes.
I then pointed to Jar-jar, R2, and Padme.
"Exquisite race, Jabba would love him as his clown, R2 is an astromech, who is certainly looked out for. And lastly Padme. She's young and beautiful. If you and I weren't here she would have been attacked, captured, and possibly raped by now." I said as she gasped.
Qui-Gon widened his eyes as he understood.
"Shoot. I've been too naïve. I've thought this was just like Coruscant." He said and I shook my head.
"This is Tatooine," I said as I put my hands up into the air. Like Domonic did when he said, "This is Brazil!" But nobody turned around and aimed their guns at Qui-Gon.
"There are very few young and maiden women, most are slaves or about to become slaves. And there are a lot of criminals, especially men." I said and he sighed.
"You're a great fighter, Count Thalron. Protect Padme, as if she gets captured the Queen will be at my ear." Qui-Gon said and I chuckled, the Queen wouldn't be at your ears, she would be after your head as Padme is the queen.
Padme also obviously got spooked as she realized the mistake she made by coming here.
And with that, we walked out and continued. I walked right behind Padme. However, it didn't take more than 10 seconds before Jar-jar forgot the serious conversation we just had.
I saw him grabbing food and I facepalmed.
"Qui-Gon! Wait." I said while I forcefully stopped Padme by taking my hands on her shoulders.
I turned around to see Jar-jar struggle to eat a grilled animal. The owner then came to demand pay, and Jar-jar spit it out.
I nodded to Qui-Gon signalling for him to watch over Padme. I walked slowly towards Jar-jar as I saw his food hit Zelbulba's drink and he jumped back.
"Ah! Chubaa-!" He said angrily.
"Ooops." Jar-jar said trying to casually walk away while whistling.
I facepalmed again. And I took my hand away just to see Selbulba jump at Jar-jar and push him to the ground.
"Chuba naina. ( Is this yours.)" He said holding the animal in front of Jar-jar. I was a few steps behind Selbulba.
"Who, mesa?" Jar-jar said trying to play it off as someone else.
But Selbulba grabbed his throat.
I saw Anakin approaching. But it was my time to become the rizzler of Oz buddy. ( sorry, idk what's going on with me )
"Gor-cha pam pam." Selbulba said continuing to choke him.
"Ouch! Ouch," Jar Jar said as Anakin approached.
"Gor-cha my dick." I said as I grabbed his long ass throat and lifted him off the ground.
I spun him around in the air to face me as I said.
"That Gungan is with me, so if you don't want me to rip your dick out and put it in your mouth I suggest you get your ass away." I said as I threw him head-first into the ground.
He stood up and growled. He then looked at his 3 friends and they stood up as well.
"So you're too afraid to fight me yourself?" I said smiling and he got angry. He looked at his friends again signalling for them to stand back.
He then gathered momentum and rushed at me.
He attempted to kick me in my stomach but I grabbed his feet-hands and threw him into the stone pillar of the restaurant.
He fell, but he didn't stand up. He tried to, but I guess I broke his back or something.
I looked at his 3 friends and they sat down. And with that, I continued as Anakin joined us.
"That was quite the strength, how did you learn to fight like that`?" Anakin asked excitedly. Qui-Gon and Padme obviously listened in.
"I was taught by the commander of my guards and a few bounty hunters." I said and Anakin continued to ask me questions as we continued on.
We eventually reached the topic of starfighter pilots where he got even more engaged. Anakin then led us to a pally shop where we got some pallies from his connections.
Didn't even pay, what a nice man. The Pallies were quite the good meatballs, they tasted like meatballs together with honey, which was unique.
"Oh, my bones are aching. Storm's coming up, Ani. You better get home quick." The lady said.
He turned to us.
"Do you have shelter?" And Qui Gon responded.
"We'll head back to our ship."
"Is it far?" He continued on, what an MC thing to do.
"It's on the outskirts," Padme said.
Just as he was about to continue I turned around and took 50 credits out of my pockets, which was noticed by both Padme and Qui-Gon.
I then threw it at the shop owner.
"Thanks' for looking after Anakin and giving us advice." I said and she almost began crying but nodded, out of words to speak.
I returned just in time for Anakin to say.
"Come on. I'll take you to my place." He said and we followed. Sandstorms were truly annoying. I hated those small ones in the sand on Earth. Well, this one was just annoying, it wasn't dangerous inside the city but it was annoying due to the never-ending attack of sand particles.
We entered a small rundown House, it was situated under a lot of other Houses, like a basement.
"Mom, I'm home!" Anakin said as he swiped his hand onto a device on the door. I never understood how the doors could just be opened, but it required your DNA basically, either fingerprint, eyes, head shape, or blood.
"Ahh, dissent cozy." Jar Jar said as we entered.
"There are my friends, Mom." Anakin said and R2-D2 beeped.
"I'm Qui-Gon Jinn." Qui Gon said to the mom, and with that, they started their conversation.
"I'm building a droid. You wanna see?" Anakin asked Padme and they split up to go to his room.
I stood by Qui-Gon as he talked.
"Your son was kind enough to offer us shelter." Qui-Gon said.
Then time flew as we talked to Shmi, Anakin's Mother. I also spent some time going over my work as the Count of Thyferra. And looked at the progress of the Valiant. My flagship.
I had yet to decide the name of my flagship. But it would either be ( vote for the one you want )
Zenith – meaning peak or highest point, symbolizing the flagship as the peak of my fleet.
Resolute – Will always be determined and stand fast even if the odds are bad
Guardian – As the protector of Thyferra and Veridian
Vanguard – due to the flagship being at the forefront of the fleet
Dauntless – shows bravery and fearlessness.
The ship had already been allocated enough naval resources. We had taken all our naval crewmen under service and transferred them to the Valiant. This was because it needed 15,000 and we didn't have 15,000 available ones. So a few won't be useable but most will, but they'll get new and shiny troops. I had focused on the 2 Gladiators and 3 Munificents, which would be our fleet. 1 Valiant, 2 Gladiators, 3 Munificents, 30 DP20's, 4 CR90's and 20 Carracks.
Soon enough time passed and while Shmi was making food with Jar jar, Qui Gon signaled for me to follow him, Obi-Wan called.
We had gotten a transmission for Sio Bibble. But it didn't make sense that they could send it to us, but not track us? Star Wars logic.
"It sounds like a bait to establish a connection trace." Qui Gon said.
"What if it is true, and people are dying?" Obi-Wan said.
"Either way, we're running out of time." Qui-Gon said as he cut the transmission.
Soon enough time passed and we were eating.
"I can't believe there are still slavery in the world. The Republic's antislavery laws-" Padme said before Shmi cut her off.
"The Republic doesn't exist out here. We must survive on our own." She said.
"Even if they did, it doesn't matter. The Hutts are too powerful and the Republic is too corrupt." I said and Padme looked at me, asking me to explain further.
"The Republic has been dealing with slavery themselves for a long time. Most Senators own slaves or servants. Especially Twi'Lek and Togruta. If you see any of them outside their homeworld, the chances are large they're slaves. And it's even more dangerous if there's Zygerrians around." I said as I took out my whip and activated it.
"I took this from a Zygerrian I killed today. They use this to fight even Jedi, there's currently Jedi that has been captured by them. They work as slaves from Wookies, to humans, to animals. Everything. And they're not like the Hutts with their own system. No, they just have a world in the middle of the Republic, they even have a Republic Fleet close to it." I said and Padme got extremely angry. While Qui-Gon kept his calm, but inwardly he was probably a mess, he's already been getting disillusioned with the Republic.
Anakin, sensing the bad mood, he tried to lighten it.
"Has anybody ever seen a Podrace?" He asked.
"They had Podracing on Malastare. Very fast, very dangerous." Qui Gon said and I nodded.
"I place bets on it now and then, so I've seen it a few times." I said, Shmi gave me an ugly look.
"I'm the only human who can do it." Anakin said.
"Well, no. Jedi can do it as well. Such as Qui-Gon." I said
"Yeah, you must have Jedi reflexes if you race pods." Qui Gon said. And Jar Jar decided this was the time to sexually attack the food with his mouth and Qui Gon grabbed that shit. What a show of reflexes.
"So you are a Jedi after all." Anakin said.
"How did you deduce that?" Qui Gon said.
"I saw your laser sword. And only Jedis carry that kind of weapon." He said.
"I had a dream once, that I was a Jedi. I came back here and freed all the slaves." He said. "Have you come to free us?" he continued.
"No, I'm afraid not." Qui Gon said.
"I think you are, why else would you be here." He said trying to be a smarty pants. Buddy if someone says they aren't here to free you, why would they free you later? Unless you have potential. But one single guy isn't all slaves.
Then the conversation leading up to the podracing began, starting with the mission to Coruscant.
"I built a racer. It's the fastest ever. There's a big race tomorrow on Boonta Eve. You could enter my pod!" Anakin excitedly said.
"Anakin! Watto won't let you." Shmi said.
"Watto doesn't know I've built it. You could make him think it was yours and get him to let me pilot it for you." Anakin said.
"I don't want you to race. It's awful. I die every time Watto makes you do it." Shmi said.
"But, Mom, I love it! And the prize money would more than pay for the parts they need." Anakin said.
"Anakin." She responded.
"Your mother's right. Is there anyone friendly to the Republic who can help us?" Qui Gon said.
"There isn't." I said.
"And I for one suggest we do what Anakin said. He's obviously raced before. And we could always rig the game if required." I said and Anakin looked at me gratefully.
They then began fussing over it again until Shmi said.
"No. There is no other way. I may not like it, but he can help you. He was meant to help you." And with that, it was officialized and we went to sleep.
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