Chapter 1 Episode 1

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

Two galactic protectors of balance and peace known as Jedi spirited away the Queen of the planet Naboo in order to plead for help from the Galactic Republic's Senate to liberate her planet from a strangling blockade from the greedy Trade Federation. But their ship suffered damage to its hyperdrive during their escape, limiting their faster than light travel. Left with little choice, they landed on the outskirts of the planet Tatooine in hopes to repair their ship so that they will be able to continue on to the capital of the Republic, Coruscant.

After realizing that current payment of republic credits was next to useless on such an outlying system, Master Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and his companions were invited to the humble home of the young slave Anakin Skywalker, who reached out to them in their obvious time of need. As they entered, the Jedi was quick to engage in conversation with the boy's mother, while the boy himself whisked the queen's handmaiden, Padmé, away to his workshop.

"Come on, I'll show you the droids I've been working on!"

Anakin called excitedly as he disappeared deeper into the house, a giggling Padmé in tow, leaving the Jedi with the matriarch.

Upon entering the rather spacious workshop/bedroom of young Anakin Skywalker, Padmé noticed two large forms covered by blankets. One seemed to be a humanoid lying down on a work table that seemed to also double as a bed . The other was significantly larger and bulkier, having seemingly been propped up in a chair of sorts in one corner. But Padmé had a hard time discerning what kind of droid the sitting form could possibly be. There were many that deviated from the standard human size and from, but none that she had heard about besides perhaps the rumored 'Super Battle Droid', the B-2s of the Trade Federation, could fit the imposing form.

"This is a protocol droid that I've been building to help out mom, his name is C-3PO."

The boy pulled the blanket off the first form to indeed reveal a nearly completed protocol droid, the only obvious missing pieces would be its exterior coverings, all its insides were visible to the universe through the gaps in its exoframe. Anakin reached out and pressed a button on the droid's collar, causing its inner workings to whirr to life as it sat up and looked around, revealing that it lacked its right eye.

"Oh my, w-where is everybody?" Said a light but nervous male voice.

"Oops!"

The young mechanic whisked across the room as Padmee giggled at the mishap. Anakin returned with the matching mechanical eye moments later.

"Ok, hold still."

The boy commanded, the droid dutifully doing so as its eye was put in, which immediately brightened once connected to match the other.

"Oh, there we go. Hello, I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations, at your service."

Padmé greeted the newborn droid as Anakin walked over to the second covered from.

"I built him myself, used what parts I could find and made the rest. But this guy, I found him after I crashed Watto's podracer, he's really cool!" He said a he yanked off the blanket

"Wait what?! You crashed a.."

Padmé's exclamation died on her lip as the blanket was pulled away and the figure was revealed. At a glance, it looked like the silvery skeletal remains of some strange being. But one could easily see that it was in fact a machine of some kind, although it was unlike anything Padmé had ever heard of, let alone see. Its gaunt face was bone white with a single large dark green sphere of some kind for an eye, while its brow was a brilliant gold. It had a long greenish black chin with strange symbols inscribed in it, the head being framed by a silver hood. The beings body could be described as an armored silver skeleton, with a crest of some kind in the center of its chest. The symbols dotting its from were completely foreign to Padmé, who prided herself in her formidable knowledge of the galaxies great space faring races. This droid, if it could even be called that, would stand taller than some Wookies, being close to, if not more than 8 feet tall!

"He's really cool, I just wish he would wake up. He's been charging for a few months now." Anakin lamented.

Padmé blinked at the long charge time, but couldn't bear to tear her gaze from the machine's empty gaze. It wasn't unheard of for partifullarly free willed droids to purposely refuse to activate for years at a time.

"What have you been using to charge it?"

Anakin smirked and pulled the handmaiden to the side. After he had put her in a satisfying spot, he pulled a hanging cord and a magnificent staff descended from the ceiling, its massive tip pointed at the dormant droid.

"I found this with him, I'm pretty sure it's his." Anakin said.

The grip of the formidable weapon was a dark grey, but the bladed ends were colored in a way that bore an incredible resemblance to a sun on a planet's horizon. The rich orange blades complimented the beautiful yellow jewel sitting with the center of the staff's head. The weapon bore such striking beauty, it left Padmé speechless, the very thing seemed to shimmer in the glow of the sunlight.

She then realized that the staff was in fact glowing, as well as emitting a faint beam of energy that was settling over the slump figure before it.

"That beam is completely harmless, at least when it's using sunlight."

Anakin explained, waving his hand through the light in demonstration before grinning impishly.

"Course, I did hook up a speeder power cell to it once. It absorbed all the energy in a matter of seconds and released it as a bolt of lightning."

He chuckled as he rubbed that back of his head in embarrassment.

"After that, I wasn't allowed to hook it up to anything else beside this gimbal, so that I could get it out of the way but it still gets some sunlight."

The boy sat on a stool and stared at the machine in wonder.

"Just wish I could find out more about him, there's no ports or anything on him, and nobody has any idea what those symbols mean."

Padmé sighed and shifted her gaze from the beautiful staff to the grim form of its supposed owner.

"Well if he woke up and was able to somehow help us, I'm pretty sure the Queen would be more than happy to submit an inquiry to the Republic Archives for any information on him, and the people who made him."

"So you would take him with you if he could help?" The boy looked up.

"Well, if he decided to help us, and was even interested in going with us, it would be the least we could do."

"I'm helping you guys, could you take me along?"

The handmaiden chuckled.

"You're helping us yes, but with you and your mother being slaves, it would cost a huge amount of money we don't have to free you. I'm sorry Anakin."

The boy looked down dejectedly, but nodded.

"You're right. I just got carried away is all."

To the side, the pair could hear Threepio's conversation with the astromech R2-D2.

"I beg your pardon, but what do you mean, 'naked'?"

A series of beeps and whistles was his reply, which led the protocol droid to look down at himself.

"Oh, all my parts are showing!" The droid cried in dismay.

The pair giggled along with . Anakin looked back at the still figure, his smile fading a bit.

"It's a shame for this guy though, being offered a ticket off this dust ball and he can't even wake up."

]X[

The group had dinner at the Skywalker house as the sandstorm howled outside, the reason for their arrival and their identities being revealed by Anakin's inquisitive nature. The boy selflessly proposed entering himself in the upcoming podrace and using the winner's prize to pay for the parts that they need. The resulting debate results in Anakin's mom reluctantly allowing the boy to help his new friends, for there was no one else that she could think of that would even be willing to help them.

But just as the words left her mouth, there was the sound of crackling electricity from Anakin's room, accompanied by the frightened chattering of the droids still in there. Anakin bolted from his seat, quickly followed by everyone else.

Qui-Gon reached the doorway shortly after Padmé , hand reaching within the folds of his cloak at the sight of the slumped figure and the staff above it that had arcs of electricity dancing across it.

"Anakin, what's going on? What is that?" He called, the boy's mother running up behind him.

"I thought I told you not to hook up any more power cells to that thing!"

"I didn't do anything mom, it's just doing it on its own!" Came the indignant reply. "I think he's waking up!"

While Padmé would have liked to have been as fearless as Anakin in regards to the droid, but something about it made her instincts instantly wary of it. She had to pull an indignant Anakin to the protective side of the Jedi, the other two droids smartly backing up to the other side of the room as the thing awoke.

Its large dark eye suddenly filled with an eerie green light, a similar light flowed along lines throughout its form as well as the gem at its waist. The group watched in stunned silence as the machine stood with soundless grace, its height indeed taller than some wookies. It reached out a hand, and the gimbal holding the staff fell to pieces on the floor, the weapon floating into the waiting grasp of its now obvious master and immediately went silent. There was a long moment of silence, the humans speechless under the machines alien gaze, which examined them with a cold air.

"Greetings, I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations."

The newborn android enthusiastically proclaimed, causing everyone else in the room to flinch at the sudden noise.

"I," The machine spoke in a low metallic tone. "Am Transmuter Ferdeden the Steadfast, Cryptek of the Sautekh Dynasty, the mightiest of all the Necron Dynasties."

"I beg your pardon, but I possess zero informationon any 'Necrons' or any of the other names that you just mentioned. Where in the galaxy do you and your people hail from?" Inquired C-3PO.

"Your pardon is granted, for such a lack of information is to be expected, for I am a member of an ancient people that hail from another galaxy entirely."

Qui-Gon suddenly spoke.

"While I would like to know how your people achieve intergalactic travel, why did you awaken just now?"

"My security systems deemed it necessary that I be awakened lest I miss a moment of opportunity, along with that my systems have finally regenerated enough for operation."

"Security systems? Does that mean you were aware of everything around you this whole time?" Anakin said.

"Indeed." The machine said, its eye seemed to twinkle for a moment in amusement.

"And what would this moment of opportunity be?" Qui-Gon interjected.

Seemingly ignoring the jedi, Ferdeden remained facing Anakin.

"Anakin Skywalker, the kindness and service you have given to me, I shall return in kind. I offer you my service in bringing your pod racer online and to peak efficiency."

Turning to the handmaiden, he then addressed her.

"Padmé, handmaiden to Queen Amidala of Naboo, I wish to extend an offer of my services to her Majesty: Should the need for battle arise, I will be more than happy to offer my talent in exchange for a percentage of the soils of war. In addition, I will offer you my protection for the remainder of your travels in exchange for the broken parts to your ship."

He then finally turned to Qui-Gon.

"That opportunity."

The man was speechless at the machines promising offer. Such a declaration, both to the queen and the Anakin implied vast skills in regards to machinery and in combat. If it were any other droid, Qui-Gon would have thought it was malfunctioning, but his instincts were screaming at him that anything this machine said was to be believed.

Padmé was the first to regain her voice, but had to keep from flinching when the Necron looked down at her.

"What would 'spoils of war' entail for you?"

"Any and all remains of the enemy. I will gladly take whatever is offered to by my possible 'allies', but I won't demand they drain their resources further, galactic war being a rather straining endeavour in the resource department and all."

"But there aren't any wars, in fact we're trying to stop one from breaking out." Padmé said, a frown forming on her face.

"Is that so? My apologies, I do not wish to appear as a warmonger, although both my offers still stand. I am merely extending the hand of friendship to the companions of the one who helped me."

The handmaiden mulled over the Cryptek's words for a few moments.

"The Queen will need a detailed explanation of the extent of your services and possibly a demonstration before any decision could be made."

"That is to be expected. Rest assured, I plan to exceed her expectations in such."

"I am sure she will be looking forward to it, but I believe that the matter of Anakin's podracer takes precedent." Qui-Gon said, having regained his voice.

"Of course, what do you say Anakin Skywalker?"

The boy in question merely stood there, his mouth soundlessly opening and closing. Fortunately, his mother inserted herself into the conversation at her son's muteness.

"I am sure he is very excited to have any help with that pod of his, but I am afraid that it is time to this little hero to get some sleep, he's going to need all the sleep he can get for the next few days if he's going to be racing."

Anakin began protesting, but fell silent at the Necron's agreement.

"Your mother is right, for one so young, sleep is an underappreciated gift. I am sure your friends have many questions for me now, so I'll be seeing you in the morning."

The boy pouted, but submitted to the wisdom of his elders and dutifully went to bed as the others regathered in the dining area.

"Now," Qui-Gon began as he sat down at one end of the table, the Necron at the other. "I do believe some explanation is in order?"

"Correct. As I said before, I am a Cryptek, a skilled artisan in all orders of the mechanical arts. We are a necessity to our people, even if we rarely get any sort of thanks short of threatening our benefactors when they slight us. I belong to a race called the Necron, and as you can see, we are a race of androids, as hard as that is to believe."

"Well if you and your people are androids, who built you?" asked the Jedi

"We did. We were once organic beings like you, but our bodies were cursed with a degenerating genetic structure, forced to live disease and mutation wracked lives until we were able to create a way to transfer one's consciousness into a powerful mechanical form."

Ferdeden's audience balked in horror at this revelation.

"Surely there was someone that was willing to help you?" Padme asked

"I'm afraid not. The other spacefaring racing of our galaxy spurned us, exploiting our technological power for their own agendas or rejected us on the grounds that our race was too violent and destructive to be saved."

The machine looked down at his metal hands for a moment.

"Perhaps we were, but surely you understand that it was not without reason."

The Jedi ran a weather hand over his face, nodding in agreement.

"You mentioned that your people used a dynastic system, that rarely stays peaceful under straining times. It is also very easy for a race denied the comforts of life to be prone to violence. But what became of those races who slighted you?"

There was a tense moment before the machine spoke in a grave tone.

"The ones who sought to snare us to their will were themselves shattered and enslaved for their crimes. Those who claimed we weren't worthy to take our place among the stars and stood in our way were crushed and tossed aside. The few that were willing to put aside petty bigotry, and look past our exteriors, were nurtured and cared for, for none of them possessed interstellar power, and the arrogance that seemed to come with it."

The silence was deafening when Ferdeden finished speaking.

"So, why are you here?" Padme said in a small voice.

"I am a scientist, not a warrior and I had grown tired of our races constant violence and conquest. Better were the days when we actually bettered ourselves, then believing that we were advanced to perfection and didn't need to waste resources on something they believe was already theirs."

The machine chuckled slightly as he shook his head.

"So, through my prowess as Cryptek, I was able to 'acquire' a starship and set out to find some peaceful system where I didn't have to listen to ancient squabbles or deal with any of our many enemies, where I could work in peace and quiet. Unfortunately my journey ultimately found me at the galactic border, for there was no place in our galaxy where peace truly existed. Even if one was able to find an uninhabited world, there would always be something that would fight you for it regardless of whatever you plea, even if they didn't need the world themselves.

So I left my home galaxy, in the hopes that I could reach another and be able to complete my research, and perhaps return home with gifts for my people. I had compacted as much supplies as I could into my ship, and was content with spending however many millennia the trip took working away, but it seemed fate had something else in mind. I encountered something out there in the endless void, what it was I can not say. It produced no light, so I couldn't see it, and my sensors just returned static when I tried to scan it. Whatever it was, it tore my ship apart like it was nothing. In desperation, I ejected myself in a stasis pod, and it appears that I somehow ended up buried beneath the sands of this planet. How long I was in stasis is lost to me, but I am grateful for young Anakin's kindness where many would have torn me apart for selfish reasons."

"What about your research?" Qui-Gon asked.

The Necron merely tapped the side of his head.

"All safe in here."

"Well I can certainly say that was quite the story."

"Do you not believe me?"

"Oh, I believe you, it's just a lot to take in is all."

Padme suddenly spoke up.

"You said you left your home to find peace, yet you are fully willing to wade into a war."

"You are correct. I mostly left so my own people would leave me alone, but there is also the bonus of no other races already possessing a grudge against me. There were quite a few times where I was attacked simply because of what I am rather than who I am or what I was doing. In regards to helping you fight this Trade Federation, it seems that they have alienated most of the peace loving people of this Republic, so I don't think anyone of importance to you would mind if I fought them, yes?"

"I am sure they would rather you didn't provoke the Trade Federation and cause them to openly attack unprepared systems."

"But have they not already done that to Naboo?"

"They-" Padme looked lost for a moment. "Didn't attack, they simply took control."

"But had you resisted, do you think that they would have conquered you by force?"

"They wouldn't dare..." Padme began, but fell silent with a grief stricken face as she looked away.

"I am afraid that innocent people will suffer either way. I personally believe in the philosophy of 'living with honor, and dying with glory'."

Qui-Gon nodded at his words, and stood up after a moment and bowed slightly to the Necron.

"Well, I believe that will be enough for tonight. Thank you for your time Cryptek Ferdeden."

"Likewise Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn."

Ferdeden said, duplicating the jedi's moments and shaking his offered hand. The machine then excused itself and went outside, saying it needed to perform maintenance.

"He did that just so that we can talk." Padme said.

"It seems he is at least considerate to others." The Jedi replied

"I'm not sure if we can trust him." The girl replied, watching the doorway the strange droid had passed through.

"I would reserve judgment until we actually get to know him. I sense that we can trust his words, and the deals he makes with them. You don't get the title of 'Steadfast' without being able to mean what you say, no?"

"It's what he could decide to say that worries me."

"There's more I'm afraid," Anakin's mother said suddenly. "When Anny found him, his body was broken and in pieces. But when my son set up that staff like he had it, the droid's body just, put itself back together."

"He can regenerate?" The jedi said in an intrigued tone.

"What basically counts as it, yes. Though he seems to need a considerable amount of power to do it quickly. When it was just sunlight, you could barely see it move, but it just snapped itself back together when Anakin used that power cell."

"Self repairing droids." Qui-Gon mused. "If all of them can do that, it would be quite a bargaining chip."

"And a powerful trait in general." Padme said before sighing. "I guess tomorrow we'll see if he is as good with machines as he says he is."