Chapter Text
“Obi-Wan!” Anakin called, but his mentor was rather preoccupied across the way. Anakin flipped away from the two battle droids and narrowly missed being scorched by the laser canon of a ship flying overhead.
He could just see Rex and a few others, striving to get to the Separatist commanders further up the field.
This had turned into a far greater battle than they had been expecting out here. The Outer Rim was not key territory yet, but Anakin was realizing that it would rapidly become that as both sides sought alternative shipping lanes and transport for troops and battleships.
Their small force would have been overrun badly had Obi-Wan not swiftly called to the local forces for back up.
The Axxilan ships were nothing fancy but they had arrived in time and were rather effective in strategy.
They had just managed to land some men to give them back up on the ground and Anakin could glimpse them out of his peripheral vision as he fought. He threw out his hand and managed to make the two battle droids collide with one another in a fairly impressive fireball.
Are you showing off, Anakin?
No master! I’m trying to win a battle. Didn’t realize you wanted some time for a chat.
Just checking. I see an explosion and think of you.
Hilarious, Obi-Wan.
But the explosion had resulted in the attention of numerous other droids who were converging on his position, and he realized he would be surrounded swiftly, when he felt a warm presence at his back.
“My men are almost here, sir!” shouted the voice of the man behind him, and he was firing rapidly as Anakin deflected shots back at the droids on his side.
“I appreciate that!” Anakin called back. “But we’re going to be overwhelmed by sheer numbers here unless you happened to bring an ion cannon with you.”
“Well, two actually sir. They’re assembling them and….ah, there.”
A red blast hit one of the droids in front of the Jedi and suddenly half of them went down, twitching in electrical death.
Anakin and the officer paused and in that moment a shot from one of the passing gun ships lanced down to hit them both.
“Force damn it!” Anakin snarled as his prosthetic sparked and he switched his blade to his left hand. “Are you all right?” he called to the man behind him whom he had felt stagger slightly at the hit.
“Just a graze, sir,” he said. Then, into a commlink “Fire up at that set of gunships next, Jankis!”
His men obeyed and suddenly, the advantage was switched. Anakin pressed on, sweeping his blade through droid after droid, vaguely aware of the man near him, covering his back very effectively indeed.
"Rex!” Anakin called into his commlink as fighting died down.
“Sir, we’ve secured the leaders. Two killed, but we capture the other three.”
“Great work. I’ll meet up with you shortly.”
And he turned at last to the man who had been such an effective ally.
He raised his eyebrows slightly. In the heat of battle he hadn’t realized quite how short his helper had been. And calling him a man may have been premature--he looked to be several years younger than Anakin himself. But the rank on his brown uniform marked him a lieutenant and there was something far more mature in his demeanor than his years showed.
Anakin placed his lightsaber on his belt and held out a hand.
“Anakin Skywalker, General for the Republic,” he said.
The other man shook his hand firmly. “Lieutenant Firmus Piett. Axxilan Antipirate fleet.”
“You’re rather handy with a blaster rifle, Lieutenant.”
The other man grinned. “I ought to be, sir. Rather rough out here in the Outer Rim. And it’s an honor to meet you. I’ve heard lots of stories. But should we get your arm looked at? We have a decent repair team on board my ship.”
Anakin snorted. “All due respect, Lieutenant, but my arm is a prosthetic where yours is not. I thought you said it was a graze.”
His sleeve was soaked in blood and there were lines of strain around his mouth, but Piett raised an eyebrow at him.
“As I said, sir, out here, this is a graze. Trust me, I’ve had worse.” And his hazel eyes dared him to challenge that.
Anakin shrugged. “All right, I’ll take your word for it. I need to check in with my men. Shall we meet up by your ion cannon over there?”
“Yes sir, that would suit. I need to make my report as well.”
*****
Anakin sat impatiently while the droid worked on his arm. He was reasonably sure he could do a better job---certainly a quicker one---but it was in a tricky spot and he didn’t have the time to remove it completely and tinker with one arm.
He was keen to return to Padme’ and find out how she was. His Force vision was troubling him more and more, as was his conversation with Palpatine.
Was he telling the truth? Could they perhaps rediscover how to use the midichlorians to save Padme’?
It had been a strain on his mind and soul for weeks now. He could not tell Obi-Wan and that hurt most.
“Are you all right, sir?” came measured tenor tones and he looked over to where Lieutenant Piett sat on a medical bed while the doctor finished bandaging his arm.
“And stay put, Lieutenant. You lost a good bit of blood---I want to wait for your numbers to even out.”
Piett sighed and shifted to lean back against the wall.
“I’m…..well, I’m all right in most ways, Lieutenant. I thought everyone agreed that was a graze out here?” he continued, giving him a slight smirk.
“They should ,” grumbled the younger man. “Now I’m cold---they keep sickbay at a low temperature.”
His uniform jacket was a loss and he was in his under-shirt.
“It’s not
that
cold, Piett.
You
lost enough blood to notice.”
“You haven’t answered my question, General. You looked troubled. Does the arm still transmit pain?”
“It’s not the arm, Lieutenant. I…..am troubled for my wife.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, sir. Is she ill?”
“No,” Anakin said. “But she is expecting and I am worried.”
Piett nodded. “Understandable.”
Anakin studied him. He was so young, but perhaps he had a girl back home…?
“Do you have a family, Lieutenant?”
And Piett’s face dropped suddenly into deep sadness.
Kriff, I always walk into these things head on.
“I….have a mother, sir, but I’m sorry to say we’re not particularly close.”
“No other…?”
“I had three sisters, General. But….Axxila is not a kind planet for children.” He shifted and the sleeve that had been cut away to bandage his arm shifted to reveal some thin white scars over his shoulder.
Force, what had happened to this boy?
“I’m very sorry, Piett. May I ask how they…?”
“My baby sister died from illness, sir. We ah, didn’t have much so….”
And Anakin could relate to that…..
“My middle sister died about two years ago from fever. And my older sister….” he stopped and looked down at his hands.
“I joined the fleet because of her. She…..she was shot by accident in a firefight between spicers when she was 17. I wanted to eradicate that scum.”
His voice was hard and his eyes bright.
“Why join the fleet and not just go after them?” Anakin asked, curious. He did know much of how the Outer Rim worked after all. He knew what he had done to avenge his mother.….
Piett looked up sharply at that, almost offended.
“Because there’s a line there. Because that would make me no better than they are. There are more effective and right ways to get these bastards. That’s why.”
Well. If only Anakin had someone telling him that. And maybe he still could. He would never see this boy again. His life had sounded easily as difficult as Anakin’s to date….
“I see. Well, what if you needed to do something….something bad to help someone you loved? What if it was the only way to save them?”
“How bad?” Piett asked suspiciously. “Are we talking about stealing food so they don’t starve? Or are we thinking about selling spice to get money? Because I’d do the first in a heartbeat. The second is not worth the brief respite in circumstances, no matter how dire.”
That mostly answered it, but…..
“But if you knew that the person you loved most in the world could live, if only you…... compromised on your morals….”
“Rilla would not have wanted me to save her if it meant that I was lost to the darkness that killed her. I don’t ever want to become what I’m fighting. Not even to save others. Because really, then I haven’t saved them---I’ve become more of the problem.”
Well nine hells.
Anakin was receiving some hard core moral advice from a battered young lieutenant in the Outer Rim.
Would Padme’ want him if he were to join the Dark Side to save her? Would she recognize him then? He knew in his soul that he ought not to. And talking with this boy confirmed that.
“Is…..is your wife in danger, General?”
Such knowing eyes in such a young face.
“I hope not, Lieutenant. I have been troubled by visions. Jedi get them sometimes. But they do not necessarily mean certainties.”
Piett raised his eyebrows. “Is that because of the…..Force?”
“You’ve heard of that then.”
“Well, I’ve been rather fascinated by the Jedi. And here you are in my part of the galaxy, fighting to help restore order.” He smiled almost shyly.
“Well you seem to be doing a very commendable job there as well, Lieutenant. Now, can I ask you something?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You have some impressive scars there. What happened to you?”
Piett looked sharply to his shoulder, and realized what was visible for the first time. He flushed darkly.
“I…..I’d rather…”
But Anakin sensed that they could help each other out. Something in the Force was urging him to talk to this young lieutenant. He didn’t know why, but he knew that he should.
“I have a rather unpleasant scar myself. Well, not counting my arm being cut off.” He grinned and Piett smiled uncertainly back.
“How is a scar worse than….?”
“It’s from a tracker chip,” Anakin said bluntly. “Back of my neck.”
Understanding washed over Piett’s face.
“I’ve not told that to anyone before,” Anakin said “and I’m not sure why I am now, but…..well, it’s a feeling. I should talk to you apparently.”
“A um, Force feeling, sir?”
“Yes actually. Perhaps I was supposed to meet you.”
Piett smiled hesitantly. “I’m not sure why, sir. But all right. I was rather…..badly beaten when I was seven.”
Anakin felt cold. Scars like that on a seven year old.
“I….wasn’t a slave technically. But….for all intents and purposes our treatment was….”
“And here you are, fighting for justice in a uniform. Firmus Piett, do you know how remarkable you are? I grew up on Tatooine. Kids like you became the next generation of criminals. Not the ones who caught them.”
The boy smiled at him. “She wouldn’t have wanted that. And I just….. couldn’t .”
Anakin didn’t need to know who ‘she’ was.
“Here you are! I was looking for you in droid storage.”
Obi-Wan was at his most annoying then.
“Lieutenant, this is General Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master, and nuisance extraordinaire.”
Piett laughed and held out a hand. “General, it’s an honor to meet you. Lieutenant Piett.”
Kenobi shook his hand and gestured to the bandaged arm. “Was this his fault, Lieutenant?”
“In some ways, sir, since we were standing back to back.”
Anakin raised an eyebrow at him. So the kid had some stones then, willing to tease him gently.
“He was invaluable, actually, since I was abandoned on my own.”
“I thought you liked charging off on your own. I did you a favor. Oh, and you’re welcome for destroying at least fifty-seven battle droids by the way.”
Piett was looking between them with a growing smile.
“I always wondered what it might have been like to have a brother,” he commented and both of them paused to look at him.
“We are not related,” Anakin told him.
“I know,” said the lieutenant with a grin, “but you could fool others.”
“Oh Force ,” groaned Obi-Wan, “don’t tell me you think we look alike because that would be frankly, appalling. I’m much more handsome.”
“Are you always like this?” Piett asked curiously and Anakin laughed.
“Yes, Lieutenant, I’m afraid so. Blowing all your preconceived notions of Jedi out of the sand dunes then?”
“Illusions are shattered, sir,” said Piett shaking his head as Anakin rose and flexed the prosthetic fingers. It would do for now.
“Well, it was a pleasure, Lieutenant Piett. I hope we may meet again someday.”
“I’d like that sir,” the Axxilan replied, and Anakin and Obi-Wan left the room side by side.
*****
And things that had seemed inevitable changed. The Force rippled almost imperceptibly and small moments had massive implications. Few felt it, with the exception of some of the most powerful.
Master Yoda, meditating on the roof of the Jedi Temple, opened wide eyes and smiled, one of his great fears easing.
Master Windu was sparring, but for some reason Anakin came to his thoughts. He shook his head and focused on schooling three of his padawans.
And in his office, Chancellor Palpatine snarled, five ornamental vases shattering into fragments around him. He would have to begin anew---find and shape a new apprentice. Skywalker would pay for his betrayal.