Chapter 2: Calm Before the Storm

Hello everyone! I'm sorry not sorry for the amount of space between updates. I do have a life, and other stories. Though, I should be able to write more considering that we, my family and I, have decided to isolate ourselves as much as possible, and avoid the amount of people coming onto our LARGE property. *Inert thoughtful looking emoji.* I hope all my readers are staying safe, and if your sick, get well soon!

I have had a bit of a cough the last couple of days, and I feel it's gotten a bit worse. No temp though, and I am pretty sure I have not been around anyone with Coronavirus. And I got a bit of a scar because I sprayed some natural disinfectant spray onto a chuck, near my drink. I am not even sure I was that closest to it. Even if it was, the amount that would get into my drink would be minuscule.

Anyway, with this story, suggestions are fine, and if I like one or think I can fit it in, I will. Other than that, I will go with what I feel. With stories, I regret promising certain things and certain pairings, because if I don't feel it will work and I don't want to disappoint people. So no promises on anything.

Convincing Watto to allow Ana to enter the race wasn't too hard: Qui-Gon had to sweet-talk him a bit, though and pointed out all the benefits. Sweet-talking was something Jedi were allowed to do, and they are trained for when they are needed to negotiate things, such as planetary disputes.

Qui-Gon pointed out the cash prize for winning was great, the largest for any competitive sport in the galaxy, second only to a race that had never been completed. Even second and third place in the classic would pay back the entry fee, and more even. Ana's pod had been destroyed in the previous race as far as Watto knew, but Qui-Gon said he had one he brought when he had visited Malastar. Watto had been a little suspicious about him happening to have one but didn't question it.

Watto did not need to know Ana had rebuilt the pod. In fact, it was better for all involved he remained in the dark, so to speak. Qui-Gon didn't think it would end well for Ana, and Watto might not agree then, either.

With all of that pointed out and shown in the best way possible, bending the truth slightly, Watto agreed after they had talked about the conditions. If Ana won, Watto would keep the most winnings except for a small percentage, and give Qui-Gon the

part for free. Watto was a bit reluctant to agree to give the Skywalkers a small amount, but he agreed, having the idea he could save money on cutting back their rations for a few weeks.

Currently, Ana, Padmè and Jar-Jar were working on the pod, with only a few minor things needing fixing. Ana was doing most the work, and the other two did a lot of standing around, but they did help. There was another part they needed to complete the pod, a power converter, but Watto was not likely to give it to them, and you could not build them from spare parts.

Ana did not mention that, but she was worried about not having it. Without it, she would not be able to go as fast, and would not be able to keep up with Sebulba and the other pods. She prayed that they would find a way: Qui-Gon was fond of saying with the force there was always a way, and she hoped he was right.

Qui-Gon was supposed to be helping them out, but he had gotten distracted when his Padawan (Jedi apprentice, Ana found they were called,) had contacted him. While Padmè was standing a long way away, meaning she could not hear what was spoken, she watched the Jedi's body language. It seemed the other Jedi, -Kenobi she thought he was called- was not liking or wanting Qui-Gon to go through with what he had planned to get the part. Not that Padmè agreed with the idea, but without revealing herself, the Jedi would not listen. Even then, she doubted he would listen even if she threatened to get him executed, not that she would.

There was no way this would go smoothly: the child had never won a race, and she was only nine-years-old, even if her tenth birthday was a bit over a month away. Even with having the same powers as a Jedi, Padmè didn't see how it was possible. From what Shmi had told them, she knew the races were not for humans, so the girl would be at a disadvantage. Not to mention she didn't approve, as it seemed like they were exploiting the child, meaning they were not that much better than the slavers. This brought Padmè back to earlier, back to the conversation she had with the elder Jedi on their way to see Watto.

"This is a bad idea. There is no guarantee she'll be able to win the race! She is only a child! What if she dies?! It will be our fault!" Padmè cried, trying to convince Qui-Gon. "There has to be another way."

"Calm now, Padmè, it will be fine: have trust in the force. I know the dangers, and while I don't like putting the child in danger, Jedi go through things like this all the time, and both child and parent agreed," Qui-Gon said, trying to calm her. If he was honest, he wasn't convinced this was going to work out, but he trusted the force, and looking worried or showing doubt was not the Jedi way.

"No human has ever won a podrace! You and I - hell, even Jar-Jar, could testify that Shmi Skywalker said that! The queen would never approve!" Padmè said, feeling anger start to rise. How could someone be so calm about putting a life, not even a life they had any claim or control over, at risk?

"The queen doesn't need to know: it will be fine, trust the force," the Jedi said, stopping and putting his arm on Padmè's shoulder, also repeating some of the things he said earlier. Then he quickly ran off to stop the native Nabooen creature from getting into trouble.

"Well, I don't approve," Padmè grumbled. "May the force be with us all. Let's hope the force can find a way out of this."

Artoo let out a couple of noises, and Padmè said, "At least someone agrees with me." She then patted the droid on the head.

Then she followed Qui-Gon, resigning herself to the fact she could do nothing if she wanted to continue to pretend she was just a handmaiden that is. Even if she did reveal herself, she would put herself in more danger then she was already in, and Qui-Gon might even send her back to the ship! She wanted to see more of this world and the lives of the slaves, plus waiting back there would be boring at best.

Padmè was then broken out of her musings when Ana asked for her to hand her a tool. Padmè then noticed some children (some around her age, some younger and some older,) of varies species approaching them: there was a mix of a few different races. They were looking curiously at what she, Ana and Jar-jar were doing for a few seconds, but then they waved to catch Ana's attention.

"Hello, Ana! What are you up to?" they all chorused.

"Hello, guys. I'm getting this old thing ready for the podrace tomorrow," Ana replied, not looking up.

"You got permission after what happened the last couple of times?" a human boy said, looking surprised.

"Well, that man over there helped, but yeah," Anna nodded, pointing to Qui-Gon, who still looked like he was arguing with the person he was talking to.

"Padmè, Jar-Jar," Anna said, catching both their attention. "These are my friends. And that's R2-D2: the droid they brought with them."

"It's for real?! How are you so lucky?" one said, looking at Artoo, who just whistled in response.

"But seriously, Ana, are you out of your mind?!" An older girl asked. She was slightly older than Padmè. "You were so lucky to survive the last few two times, you shouldn't push it."

"Yeah, besides, this old thing won't get around the course!" The rodian sneered, then he said something in huttesse, so Padmè and co couldn't understand. He had said, "You won't win, scrawny. You will only set yourself up to be sold as a pleasure slave if you're lucky. Even if you did win, you would have to have cheated."

"I'll win, you'll see," Ana said, glaring at them all. "Why don't you guys have any faith in me? If I die, so what? It's not like life is that great here! Getting free or dying is the only way to improve our lives!"

Ana looked very mad, so mad that everyone felt scared by the look she gave them. The younger ones shivered and have a small whimper, terrified of her. There was a small shift in Ana, albeit, only for a second. No one knew what it was: if Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan had been attentive, they would have seen it and known what it was. Untrained force-users when they got really mad, could sometimes call upon the dark side of the force for a second, and sometimes use it to kill or attack someone.

However, it was not normally this powerful, and normally it was unnoticeable. Considering that, it showed how dangerous leaving Ana here or not training her would be. After a second, the dark-side went away, and Ana slowly calmed down. While Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan didn't notice it, a certain Sith Apprentice did and resolved to investigate the source once his mission was complete.

Perhaps it was a rival sith or dark-side user, he thought. Perhaps it was someone worthy of his or his masters' teaching? Whoever, whatever it was, was powerful, and Darth Maul knew he needed to find out if their friend or foe, and act accordingly.

"Come on, Ana! Come and play!" one of the older ones' said, getting braver now Ana had returned to normal.

"No. If you don't want to help, leave me alone," Anna said coldly. Padmè and Jar-Jar shivered. That was scary: the way she spoke sent shivers down their spines. It was almost as if she was about ready to kill someone, and would at the wrong movement.

She then looked over at Jar-Jar, who was close to the energy couplings. One wrong touch and this thing would be set back hours before completion. "Jar-Jar, getaway! You'll damage it or hit yourself!" Ana cried, rushing over to stop him. She didn't notice all the children except Kitster had left, most laughing or sneering at her as they left: some didn't, but quite a few did.

Ana was too late to stop him: Jar-Jar stuck his hands in the wrong spot, so he got zapped. Ana thought he was lucky to not get electrocuted, as the power surging through the couplings was strong, strong enough to kill a full-grown adult of just about any none-electric resistant species. Fortunately, he didn't damage anything.

"Jar-Jar! You idiot!" Padmè shrieked. She then went on to scold the Gargan.

"You don't even know if it will start," Kitster pointed out while Padmè did so. Ana nodded, but her demeanour did not change, she was just acknowledging Kitster was right.

"it will," Ana said certainly, wishing she had a power generator.

Watto had supplied them with a few things, mainly tools, and he had offered to give her a few cheaper things, but that was not one of them, unsurprisingly. Not that they needed any, and she was sure he probably knew they wouldn't need them.

"It is time to make sure. Here, use this power generator I got off Watto," Qui-Gon's voice said, announcing his approach.

Ana had to try to not stare at the object he had. She wasn't even going to ask how he managed to get Watto to agree to hand one over, considering the stern no she had received at an earlier date. Ana favoured the option of Qui-Gon stealing it while the slave master's back was turned because if nothing else, that was a cool trick and probably would piss Watto off.

It didn't matter to her, though, she just took it and put it in its spot. Then she looked at Qui-Gon who nodded, so Ana pressed the on button. Nothing happened. She pressed it a couple more times, then she decided something was wrong with the connection, so Anna got behind the button and fixed it up.

"Ow!" Ana cried, grazing her arm on a bit of metal, then she cursed seeing how much blood was coming out. She held a hand over where she had hurt herself. "Does anyone have something for me to cover this with?" All the cloths Ana had were dirty or covered in oil, and there were no plasters out here.

"Here," Padmè said, pulling out a clean cloth she had been going to get someone to cut up for her. She admitted it was a bit big for a handkerchief, and she was yet to get around to asking, so she thought to give it to Ana who needed it the size it already was.

"Thanks," Ana said, taking it. She tried to put it on but failed. She was good with droids and other mechanical things, but more practical things such as one-handed bandage-tying were not one of them.

"Here," Qui-Gon said, reaching up and doing it for her. He was forming a plan: he wanted to take a blood sample of the girl, and this would give him the perfect excuse. He could clean the wound up later and take a blood sample saying he was checking for infections, and he would do that but also take a midichlorian count at the same time.

"Thanks," Ana said, giving an appreciative smile. When he was done, she continued to work on the pod, indentured from the temporary set back.

A few minutes later, Ana tried again. This time it started. "It's working!" Ana roared, throwing her arms into the air. Then she sent a smug look at Kitster, who was looking in awe. He was impressed, and feeling a bit bad he doubted Anna's abilities to build the device. He just hoped it was enough to win.

Ana put on her helmet, to take the device machine out for a test run, then she glanced around to see her mother had come over. Shmi Skywalker had a smile, though a forced smile, but only Padmè and Qui-Gon realised and saw this. Ana was a bit young to pick up on the subtle things, and Jar-Jar was not that intelligent, so he was not smart enough to notice. Kitster was looking at the pod and Ana in awe.

After beaming at her mother, Anna took off and gave the thing a test ride. When she came back she told everyone it was working better than ever, and thanked them all for helping. Ana was high: not on drugs, but from happiness, something was finally looking good.

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The day before Boonta Eve Classic always had anticipation in the air. The night before, had excitement and anticipation on tap. Everyone for miles in the area around was preparing to come to the great event, and the punters were making the bets.

What had gotten people talking, was the whisper of a late entrant. Not just any sort, a basic newbie-pod-racer human slave, owned by Watto. Everyone had heard of Watto, and a few knew this human, (the name slipped people's minds,) had entered a few races, but not even cross the finish line.

Many wondered why he had decided to enter her in this one. Was he hoping to make history by owning the first human to win a podrace? Had he continued to train her and she took an unexpectedly good turn? No one knew, and many were curious to find out in tomorrow's race. No one could have guessed the results and edge of seat excitement the race would bring.

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Later that day, just before dinner, Anna came back looking furious, scared and upset all at the same time. Qui-Gon, Shmi and Padme were alarmed by this, particularly Qui-Gon, as she was close to being angry enough for the dark side to surround her like it did when someone like her got into such a state. He was honestly surprised she hadn't already, unknowing of the incident earlier.

She had fixed the droid for that shop owner it was only a small quick repair: she had been returning it, with there being enough time before dinner time, and she'd only just gotten back. Artoo gave Ana a small whistle as she came back.

"I'll live," Ana replied sourly to Artoo, flopping down onto a chair and kicking it.

"Ana, what's the matter?" Qui-Gon asked. Ana gave him a similar reply to what she gave Artoo, then Padmè asked and got the same answer.

"Ana, darling, what's the matter?" Shmi asked, looking concerned.

"Nothing," The young girl replied.

"Don't lie: I can see something is bothering you," Shmi said gently but firmly, bending down to be at eye level.

"Well, you know that racer, the one who has won the race the last seven years, Sebulba: I met him on my way back, and, and he taunted me about how there was no chance I'd win, and then, and then," Ana said, breaking into hysterical tears. She said something else, but it was in Huttesse so the others couldn't hear.

Whatever it was, it greatly upset the girl's mother, more than the girl. Both Qui-Gon and Padmè would like to have known what he had said: Qui-Gon had a feeling about what it is, but it seemed a bit odd, what he thought, but no way unlikely.

If it was that, was just disgusting, and horrible. Being a Jedi he couldn't do anything about it, but Qui-Gon decided to try and get a movement to deal with the slavery started.

Shmi's face turned red, and she looked ready to kill Sebulba, or at least scream the house down. The woman took a few deep breaths, then threw her arms around Ana and said some reassuring things. The others stood around watching, unsure of what to do. In the end, Padmè had the idea to go and start preparing dinner, while Shmi continued to soothe her daughter.

Not having any idea what to do, Padmè and Qui-Gon tried to work out what to cook. While they both had had cooking experience, neither were very experienced and Padmè was downright terrible at cooking. Luckily Shmi came rescued them before they wasted too much food and only had a small mess. Ana had crept off to go and work on C-3PO, Shmi saying she needed to do something she enjoyed to cheer up.

Dinner was quite tense; they were all nervous and worried about the race the next day, and there was something else which they were yet to mention, something Sebulba had said which had upset both Skywalkers' greatly and made Mrs Skywalker furious.

After dinner, Qui-Gon went outside with Padmè and Ana, and they all sat on a low wall/fence, marking the edge of the property. Ana liked looking at stars, and was pointing out her favourites, and asking her what they were called. Padmè complied for a while, though she started to tire after a while. Qui-Gon couldn't help but smile at the friendship the two girls' had quickly developed, and he wondered where it would go and if it would last.

When Padmè decided she wanted to bed, Ana looked a 1little disappointed but didn't make any comment except for a goodnight. Qui-Gon then talked to her, deciding to go about asking her for the blood sample.

"Ana, can I clean your wound from earlier up?" he asked. "We don't want you to develop a blood infection."

"Sure," Ana nodded. She knew if she got one, it would be bye-bye Ana: she was not keen to die.

Qui-Gon stood up and went inside to go and get his kit for this kind of things. Then he came back and sat in front of Ana. "Can I have your arm please," he requested. Ana complied, but she was looking up and the sky. She didn't speak for a few minutes, and she didn't notice what he was doing.

"There are so many! As anyone been to all of them?" She asked, referring to the stars and their planetary systems.

"Not that I know of," Qui-Gon responded, continuing to work.

"I am going to be the first to see 'em all!" Anna declared, Qui-Gon just smiled amusedly.

"Now, this will sting a bit: hold still," he said, taking a blood sample.

"What are you doing?" the girl questioned, wincing.

"Checking for infections," Qui-Gon responded as he put a bacta plaster on her arm.

"Ana! It's time for bed!" Shmi called.

"Coming mum!" Ana called after sighing. She didn't jump up, though, not wanting to go to bed.

"Ana! I'm not going to call you again!" Shmi called a couple of minutes later.

"Going on, Ana: I'll see you tomorrow," Qui-Gon said smiling at her. "You need to go and get your rest."

"Okay. 'Night," Ana nodded. She stood up and run inside, giving just one glance back.

Qui-Gon took the opportunity of being alone to call Obi-Wan Kenobi, his Padawan. The boy answered his comm fairly quickly, suggesting he had just been sitting there, doing nothing.

"Obi-Wan, I need you to check this blood sample for me," Qui-Gon said, putting it through.

"Master, there must be some mistake: the count reads as over twenty thousand! Not even Master Yoda has a midichlorian count that high!" Obi-Wan exclaimed, barely believing what he was seeing.

"No Jedi does. I took the sample straight from the girl, there is no way something could have happened to tamper with it. That has to be the true result: there can not be any mistake," Qui-Gon responded thoughtfully.

"What does it mean?" Obi-Wan asked.

"I"m not sure," Qui-Gon said. Something about it was troubling him, but he had no doubt now: Anabelle Skywalker was the one foretold to bring balance to the force, he believed.

"The viceroy from Naboo has contacted us. I told the queen to not respond because it could be a trap to find our location: he said they are dying, people are suffering and in some sort of camp. But what if people are dying?" Obi-Wan asked, then giving a summary of the message.

"Either way, we're stuck here until we can get the part, and were running out of time," Qui-Gon sighed, not knowing what to say.

"I hope you know what your doing though: if that child doesn't win, we're going to be stuck here for a very long time," Obi-Wan said, still not liking this.

"We will be stuck here if I hadn't decided to do this: but have faith in the force, my apprentice. Goodnight," Qui-Gon said. He ended the call a few minutes later. He then looked up to see Shmi standing a few metres away.

"She's special, isn't she?" Shmi asked, having heard a most the conversation.

"Yes: she has a high midichlorian count. I must ask, who's the father?" Qui-Gion asked. That had been bugging him, and it could answer most of his questions.

Shmi, much to his surprise, just shrugged: out of all the reactions, he had not expected that one. "There wasn't one. I carried her, birthed her, raised her: I can't explain it, it just happened," Shmi said, shrugging. "One day I was normal, the next day, I was pregnant. I have never been considered pretty enough to be used as a slave in that way, which is partly how I am so sure."

"Ah," Qui-Gon responded, not sure what to say. Then he said, "If she had been born closer to Coruscant, she would have been found by the Jedi and taken in: after the girl had been trained, she would be very powerful," Qui-Gon said.

"She deserves to be free: she deserves so much more than this life," Shmi sighed, sounding frustrated. "She has so much talent, which could be used for good in the world, not just for preparing and fixing things for Watto." There was silence for a good five minutes.

"I'll see what I can do," Qui-Gon said finally, deciding to help both of them, but he particularly was thinking about the girl.

"If you could free her, would you take her back to the Jedi?" Shmi asked.

"I would have to ask the council: they might not accept her due to her age," Qui-Gon explained.

"That's not fair," Shmi grumbled. There was more silence before she said, "I am going to turn in: big day tomorrow."

"Yes. Goodnight," Qui-Gon nodded. Both adults went inside and to bed.

Meanwhile, a creature dressed in black clothing was looking around through night-vision gear. He then got to work with releasing small probe droids. By the end of the big race all the desert people were talking about, he would have the location of the queen, and maybe even the source of that spark in the dark side before.

From there, it would be easy to capture her and bring her back to Naboo, which would please his master greatly. Darth Maul smiled: he knew there would be bloodshed, which he enjoyed, especially as he would have to go through two Jedi to get to the queen.

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Everyone rose early the next day. After having breakfast, they rode Eeopies from the slave district to the racing arena. There was still quite a bit of time before the race started, but they wanted to be there early to do final preparations, as sometimes the pods didn't travel well.

Padmè enjoyed riding the desert creatures, despite all the tension and nervousness about the outcome. She was wearing a big smile, which must have said what she thought, because Ana asked, "Do you enjoy riding them?"

"Yes, I enjoy it very much," Padmè nodded.

"I still prefer machines, but there is something serene about riding an animal," Ana remarked. Padmè just nodded, agreeing with the last part.

When they arrived, they got off and thanked the animals, then they went where the pod was. Watto was nowhere in sight. Unsurprisingly, as he was probably still in bed like he normally was at this time of day. But Kitster was waiting for them, along with his mother.

"You'll get to the end this time, Ana!" Kitster exclaimed. Qui-Gon went off to see if Watto was around, having something to ask. He also wanted to go for a walk, having the feeling of being watched. There were a lot of droids and people around, so without seeing them or it, it would take a while to file through everything and everyone.

"What do you mean?" Padme asked as she along with everyone else watched Ana work.

"She hasn't finished a race before," Shmi explained begrudgingly.

"Not even got to the end?" Padmè asked, starting to feel very concerned, (impressive considering she was already concerned,) not to mention the bad feeling that had started seeping into her bones.

"Nope!" Ana said brightly.

"Not even o-" Padme said, but Kitster interrupted her.

"Not even once!" he said. Then he was called off by his mother, to go and find somewhere to stand near the fence where they could see the big screen.

"I'll win, don't worry," Ana said, trying to assure Padmè. She didn't look convinced. She then went after Jar-Jar to stop him from getting into trouble with an oil drum.

"Yes, you'll get there," Qui-Gon said, giving Ana a reassuring smiled as he returned.

Ana continued to finish it off when Watto came over. He spoke to the girl in huttesse, then went off. All Ana replied with was, "Yes sir."

Artoo gave a small whistle then, and Ana replied, "He just told me I better not make him regret letting me race," She said. Then she declared, "It's ready!"

"Great," Shmi said, smiling weakly as Ana made sure the pod started.

Padmè, meanwhile, had been trying to work out the sense on staking everything on a nine-year-old racer, who had never finished a race before let alone won one. If she lost, they would be out of transport for who knows how long, and it was highly likely. She made a note to take the Jedi aside and give him a piece of her mind: this was risky, stupid, and almost deemed to fail.

She then was brought to the thought that people were suffering and dying on her planet, and if she was stuck here, they wouldn't get help for a very long time. She supposed they would get to know the Skywalkers well in that time.

Padmè shook her head. This was not what she wanted, and she was beginning to wonder if it wouldn't be better to regroup and sort the Naboo Crisis on their own. After all, it would affect the Gungans, and they helped the Jedi get into the city, so maybe they would help save the planet?

What Sebubla said is up to your imagination, that's why I haven't said it. And because I don't want to be responsible for deciding. See ya all! Check for updates, they will be added to the end of this note if there are any things I have dreamt up. Also, I probably won't have Qui-Gon as Ana's master, because I have decided I don't like him. We will see though.