Fugitives on the run! Disguised as Jedi killer Rako Hardeen, Obi-Wan Kenobi works undercover to solve a Separatist plot against Chancellor Palpatine. Obi-Wan meets the plot's mastermind, Moralo Eval, breaking him out of jail to win his trust. But now Kenobi face another obstacle, bounty hunter Cad Bane, who is suspicious of the disguised Jedi.

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Obi-Wan steered the ship he and the two escapees with him to another planet. But, he was going awfully fast

"You're coming in too fasr, Hardeen. Are you trying to kill us?" Bane said, looking at "Hardeen" like he was nuts.

"They'll be waiting for us in every spaceport." Obi-Wan pointed out. "We have to ditch the ship."

"You mean you're going to intentionally crash us into the swamp?"

"Yeah, that is exactly what I'm gonna do."

"He's right. We have no choice." said Eval.

"Get ready for a fast exit." said Obi-Wan. That would come easy for Obi-Wan, given how many times he survived Anakin crashing a ship.

Obi-Wan crashed the ship into a tree, enough to send the ship flipping a couple times and into some water. Fortunately, he and the others survived, but they wouldn't much longer if they remained on board, what with the swamp marsh down below.

"Nobody can trace us here." said Obi-Wan. "The swamp will swallow up the ship."

"So we leave no trace of our crash." said Eval. "Moralo Eval likes a man who plans ahead."

The three criminals began walking then. But Eval wasn't sure how ready "Hardeen" really was.

"You do have a plan?"

"Yeah, I know Nal Hutta." said Obi-Wan. "We can get a new ship at the Bilbousa Bazaar, but this time, we buy one. Otherwise, we'll have the authorities back on our tail."

"Not so fast." said Bane. "We need to ditch these prison fatigues. We'll have a bounty on our heads for escaping and I don't like to stand out."

Bane did have a point there; orange jumpsuits had a tendency to stand out, whether it was from prison or just a unique color choice for exercise attire.

___________________________________

The three escapees soon came across a town with a bunch of strange people who seemed questionable, including some folks who were beating others against a wall.

"That's local security." Eval explained. "Keep moving.

The three soon came upon a shop Bane was sure would have all the necessities for this mission.

"We'll get some new gear and equipment." Bane said. "Pablo's pawn shop has everything a bounty hunter needs and more."

The three escapees soon entered the shop and began to find some new, more bounty hunting appropriate attire.

"Now all I need's a new hat." Bane said, looking at a brown fedora. And then he found a big black one, which he tried on and liked.

"For trying to blend in, your hat sure makes you stand out." said Obi-Wan.

"I don't like to hide under a helmet." said Bane.

"Is there anything else you desire, huh?" asked a rodian, who was Pablo. "A new ship?"

"Your choice of weapons is lousy, Pablo." Bane huffed. "Where can I get some quality blasters?"

"I wouldn't be too picky being on the run, like you obviously are."

Bane grabbed Pablo and held him against the wall with what looked like a toothpick to his chin.

"I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you, Pablo." Bane growled. "We'll get our weapons elsewhere."

A Twi-lek woman, presumably Pablo's girlfriend, begged in Huttese for Bane to spare Pablo's life

"Thanks for the hat."

Bane left, but Obi-Wan offered some credits to the couple.

"For your trouble."

But the girl just slapped his hand away. Obi-Wan said nothing else and left with the others. Once this was over, Bane was going to get a serious lesson in manners. For now, Obi-Wan had to meet the others outside.

"That trader's heard worse threats than yours, Bane." said Obi-Wan. "Probably calling the Hutts right now, seeing what kind of bounty there is on us."

Eval looked around, and sure enough there were a few suspicious figures who looked like they would sell their own mothers for a bounty. But Bane was far from worried.

"Relax." he said. "On this slime-pool, everybody's an outlaw. Besides, they'll be looking for three of us. So we're splitting up. You find a ship, we'll get weapons."

But before Bane could leave....

"Not so fast." Obi-Wan stopped Bane with his hand. "If it's all the same to you, I'll get the weapons."

"It's not the same to me. You crashed the ship, you get us a new one."

"It does seem fair." Eval shrugged, and off he went with Bane.

Once "Hardeen" was out of hearing range, Bane said to Eval, "Soon as we have a ship, we ditch Hardeen."

"Really?"

"We'll throw him to the Hutts. While they interrogate him, we'll be long gone."

"Tell me, is this business or personal?"

"Both."

________________________________

While Bane and Eval went to get the weapons, Obi-Wan tried to make a deal for a ship.

"No, no, no. That's my final offer." said Obi-Wan stubbornly

The Bith sales guy said he needed to think about it, and while he wasn't looking, Obi-Wan placed a tracking device on the ship. And then, a deal was set.

"All right then, it's a deal." And at that very moment, Bane and Eval arrived. "Good timing.Soon as you pay for the ship, we can get moving.

"With pleasure." Eval said, and he went to pay the guy.

However, Obi-Wan was quick to notice that there were only two weapons in sight.

"Hey, where's my weapon?" He asked.

"Won't need it. You're not coming." Bane said.

"Says who?"

"He doesn't want to split his fee for breaking me out of prison." Eval said, starting to step onto the ship. "And also, he despises you."

"All I know is I'm not going anywhere without my reward."

Eval turned to the two and said, "I'm sorry. This is between you two." And he went onto the ship.

"What's it gonna be, Bane?" Obi-Wan said.

Just then, the two men heard a woman shouting in Huttese, apparently the same woman from Pablo's shop, and she'd alerted the authorities on the men who attacked her love.

"Here's your reward," said Bane. "I'm not killing you."

Bane then sprayed some kind of green gas into Obi-Wan's eyes and literally kicked him off the ship, taking off and leaving him to be captured and knocked out cold.

______________________________________

Obi-Wan panted as he felt his head pounding. By the time he finally came to, he realized he was hanging upside down

"Where am I?" asked Obi-Wan.

"You're a guest of the Hutts. If you do not answer my questions about your two partners," Obi-Wan got electrically shocked. "we will not be so hospitable."

"You call this hospitable?"

"Wait. torture won't be necessary. My partners double-crossed me, but I put a tracking device on their ship. Let me down and I'll tell you the frequency."

And so, the interrogators let Obi-Wan down, threatening to hurt him if he didn't spill the beans immediately.

"Now tell us the tracking frequency."

__________________________________________

Meanwhile, Eval was making a call to Count Dooku, who was waiting on Serenno, and for a progress report.

"Yes, Count Dooku. I'm sorry I was delayed. I'm free now. I'll try to reach Serenno as soon as possible."

"No more excuses, Eval." Dooku warned. "Time is running short."

"Yes, Count Dooku, no more excuses."

Eval hung up and went to sit down.

"You said it yourself, Eval." Bane said "You're free now. I want my money."

But, Eval told Bane he couldn't pay him just yet.

"After the weapons and the ship, I have very few credits left. You'll be paid when we reach Serenno."

Suddenly, the ship started to rumble and shake, an alarm going off as they were being attacked by several ships behind them.

"What is this? Who is attacking us?" Eval asked.

"The Hutts!" Bane said.

"How did they find us so quickly?"

"Hardeen, trying to even the score."

Bane tried to steer the ship away so they could escape, but the Hutts ships were too fast, and their own ship was having some problems too.

"The engines are fried, we'll have to turn back."

____________________________

As for Obi-Wan, he was once again upside down.

"Their ship will crash soon on Na! Hutta." said a man over the comm. "Be there to capture the fugitives."

"You found the ship like I said." Obi-Wan said. "Our deal was you'd let me go now."

"The deal has changed." said Obi-Wan's captor with a chuckle.

Luckily, Obi-Wan still had his Jedi powers. Looking up at the restraints around his ankles, he concentrated the Force on them until he was freed, then he grabbed a metal pole, knocked out his captor, grabbed his helmet, and made a run for it.

Obi-Wan layed low and found a quiet space where he could activate his communicator and contact the Temple again.

"This is Ben. I apologize for being out of communication, but the situation was rather tenuous. Although, it now appears things may be on track soon. Here's what I need, have the bounty on us removed. If I can win over Cad Bane, I can learn more about Eval's plot. But there can be no more complications. So no matter what reports you hear, do not contact me or send help. And one more thing, I shall need enough credits to buy a new ship."

____________________________

Anakin was summoned to the Chancellor's office.

A beautiful woman with fair skin, hair as black as night and eyes of crimson color, dressed in a gown as red as blood stood by the chancellor's side as he was contacted by Jedi Master Mace Windu.

"Why are you removing the bounty on the three fugitives?" Chancellor Palpatine asked.

"If they're free to move," said Mace. "they could lead us back to Eval's operation."

"Very well," said Silvaria. "Keep us apprised."

And she hung up the call. Since their marriage, Silvaria seemed to take over most of Palpatine's life from speaking over him to criticizing his fashion choices.

"Sit up straight," Silvaria scolded her husband. "Do you want to be the hunchback of the Republic? I did not agree to marry you for having terrible posture."

Glad my wife doesn't talk to me like that. Anakin thought. He knew better than to interfere in another man's marriage unless absolutely necessary.

"You seem surprisingly calm, Master Skywalker." Silvaria said.

"Hmm. I would have thought losing your master would be... difficult." Palpatine said.

Anakin looked at the chancellor and his wife. He told them it was at first, but he was starting to recover steadily.

"Let's just say I got some big help in a small package." Anakin said.

"Your daughter is quite the emotional support child, isn't she?" Silvaria asked. "Is it perhaps a power granted to her like magic?"

"Well, there is something truly magical about her, but she doesn't need powers to have the big heart she does."

"Does it not upset you that the Council is having you sit and do nothing?" Palpatine asked, sounding concerned.

"It does," said Anakin. "But I've got other things to worry about here. Like my children."

"Noble words from the stepfather of a princess." Silvaria said.

Anakin glared a bit; it really bugged him that people referred to him as the stepparent, even though he knew no one could know he was Gabby's biological father.

"I prefer the term 'father,'" he said. "They don't need to be biologically mine to be my kids. And right now, with Obi-Wan's killer, Moralo Eval, and Cad Bane on the loose... I best get back to them and my wife to ensure their safety. You'd understand if you had children."

"I have it from a reliable source that the fugitives were last spotted-." Palpatine said, but was interrupted.

"Near Nal Hutta." Silvaria said, Palpatine looking a bit frustrated by her. "You cannot deny your feelings, Anakin, as they are-"

"What make you special." Palpatine said quickly. "I trust you if you can stop this plot against my... bride, and I."

"Trouble in paradise?" Anakin crossed his arms.

"If that is how you would put it." Palpatine said.

"Okay... I'll just leave you two... lovebirds to figure it out."

And Anakin left a bit uncomfortably. Now he was starting to see why Gabby seemed to want to avoid the Chancellor more than usual.

"Must you talk over me every time I speak with Anakin?!" Palpatine said angrily.

"When you agreed to marry me, I didn't realize you were such a baby." Silvaria said, painting her nails.

"Agh! You know I can't stand when you do that in here!" Palpatine whined, holding his nose from the stench of the polish.

"I freed Grievous for you after we made the agreement. If you want to back down, I could always use my powers against you, or expose your secret."

"Blackmail..." Palpatine said. "How is that I am cross with you, yet attracted to you?"

"It's a gift," smirked Silvaria, getting back to her manicure. "Meanwhile, it appears that Princess Gabriella is the main obstacle in all of this. If you wish to seduce Anakin Skywalker to the dark side, you need to get at his worst fears, and I know exactly how that can be done. It just so happens I have just enough power for the single attack it will require."

______________________________

Back on Nal Hutta, Obi-Wan sat at a table outside a pub with a drink.

"Oh, back so soon?" Obi-Wan smirked when he spotted his two partners, and they came at him. "Let me guess? You missed me?"

Bane wasn't there to play nice, however, as he grabbed Obi-Wan and held him against the wall, causing a waiter to drop his tray in the process.

"Watch it!" cried the waiter.

Bane started to choke Obi-Wan in anger.

"Kill me and you won't get off Nal Hutta." Obi-Wan managed to get out.

"Moralo Eval is running out of time and patience." said Eval, getting Bane off the human. "Let the man talk."

Obi-Wan coughed and managed to catch his breath before making a deal with the other escapees.

"Look, I've got a ship. You've got the Hutts on your tail, so you make me a partner in everything."

With a sigh, Eval accepted the deal, but Bane wasn't so willing.

"No." Bane glared at Obi-Wan. "First I wanna know where you got the credits to buy a ship?"

"You thought you left me for dead, but the Hutts owed me a favor." Obi-Wan said simply.

"So you had them shoot us down?"

"You would've done the same thing, Bane. The way I see it, we're even now."

Eval was really beginning to lose his patience from these two fighting like children.

"Now that we're all friends, get me off this festering stink-hole."

"Wait, who's going to pay for this mess?" asked the same waiter from before.

"So about your fee from Eval, a 50/50 split sounds fair to me."

"Over my dead corpse."

"Don't tempt me."

____________________________________

Back at the Temple....

Anakin couldn't help feeling worried when he thought about Obi-Wan. Sure, his old master was a terrific warrior, and he'd survived many dangerous battles, but usually Anakin was there to help him out. But, Anakin knew he needed to let him do this. Besides, he had other people he needed to protect now: his children.

Anakin went to his apartment in the Temple, where he took a look in Gabby's room, where Gabby, Lamenta, Carousella, and Peppermint were for a girls' hangout. Gabby and Lamenta looked like they were having lots of fun coloring a bunch of beautiful pictures. Meanwhile, Boba was sitting on hit cot reading a book, while Remix was listening to music on his headphones.

Seeing the children looking so peaceful, Anakin sighed. Silvaria was right when she said earlier that Gabby proved to be quite an emotional supporter for him. But Gabby wasn't alone anymore in that respect; Anakin had Boba too, and even the horses provided a little comfort too. Peppermint needed the comfort too. Despite learning her rider was alive, she became quite agitated when she learned she couldn't see him before he left for the mission. This wasn't the first time she'd lost someone close to her. According to her, when Anakin was trying to calm her down, she'd once had a close friend when she was a filly who felt like a brother to her. But then one day, a terrible sickness spread in the area he lived in, and he didn't make it. Little Peppermint was devastated by the loss, and she blamed herself a lot of times for not being able to help save him because she'd volunteered to get the medicine he needed, but the path she usually took was blocked, so she had to go the long way around, and it took over an hour for her to get the medicine there. Only days after that did she learn her best friend was gone. She swore to herself that day that she would never let anyone she loved be lost that way again.

"Hi, girls." Anakin said. "What'cha got there?"

"Just some pictures we drew." Gabby said. "I'm drawing a griffin, and Lamenta's drawing swans."

Lamenta showed her picture to Anakin. It looked amazing! A lovely picture of swans at a lake. And it looked like a more advanced level of drawing he'd only ever seen in Gabby, at least among five-year-old artists anyway.

"Wow. Where'd you learn to draw like that, Lamenta?" Anakin said.

"Well, one day when my parents took me out when we were on a tour with Count Crescendo, we stopped at this art museum and they had a free class for kids of all ages." Lamenta said rather quietly, looking at him for a moment, but then started looking down again. "Then my daddy got me a book about drawing, and I just kept practicing between travels when I got bored. I'm home-schooled, so I go to museums and stuff like that a lot."

Anakin could see clearly that Lamenta was still very shy around a lot of the grownups in the Temple. Besides her mother, Lamenta hadn't looked at anyone aside from Gabby, Boba, Carousella, and/or Peppermint. Any time a Jedi Master, guard, or worker looked at her or talked to her, she always seemed to hide and get shaky like she was afraid.

"Sounds like you get to see a lot of great places too." Anakin couldn't help thinking back to when he was that small. "You know, when I was your age, I would always dream of being the first to see all the different places in the galaxy, and I mean all of them."

But Lamenta still didn't really look at Anakin much.

"Lamenta, is something wrong?" Anakin said gently He knelt down a little closer to her level. "You don't seem to like eye contact much."

Lamenta just blinked and didn't look up.

"I can tell you have beautiful eyes, though. Not a lot of people I know have purple eyes. You ever thought people might like getting a better look at them?"

Again, Lamenta said nothing and just hugged her legs closer to her.

"Daddy! I think you're scaring her." Gabby whispered through her teeth.

"Let me handle this, Gabby." Anakin said.

Anakin grabbed a spare paper and a crayon. Laments seemed to like drawings.

"You know, when I was little, I didn't get to do a lot of things." Anakin said. "You could say I lived a pretty sheltered life. I had to face a lot of scary things, but I found a way through because I always had my mother by my side. When I did finally get off Tatooine, I was able to really open my eyes to a lot of beautiful things."

Anakin picked up another crayon to do some more coloring and talked more about things he'd been in awe of the first time he ever saw them as a child. One of those things being flowers. On Tatooine it was way to hot for most plants to grow, and unfortunately a lot of flowers were on that list. But when he did finally get to see flowers, he came to see so many things he liked about them. They didn't need to do much to light up someone's day. Even a single flower had the power to make someone smile. Roses, they were often associated with romance, orchids made beautiful houseplants to brighten up a room, and daisies were so simple yet even they could light up a room.

"My mother never got to see flowers, but one I think she would've loved would be one of these."

Anakin showed his finished drawing to show he'd drawn three sunflowers. What he liked about them was that they were such simple flowers, yet they served so many purposes. Their seeds not only grew more flowers, but were good to eat; bees loved them, which helped with pollination, they could also be used for healing, and a very special thing about them is that they follow the sun's light. In a way, you could say sunflowers always know how to look for the light, and that was something Anakin liked about them, and why he like to refer to Gabby sometimes as his little sunflower because she always looked for a bright side.

As Anakin explained all these things to her, Lamenta started to look at him little by little until her full face was finally visible to him, and Lamenta's eyes made contact with the lovely blue ones that were Anakin's. Anakin smiled at Lamenta as she finally got the courage to look at him face-to-face. However, Anakin noticed Lamenta seemed to look at him a little oddly now that she was really looking at his face.

"What is it?" Anakin said. "Do I have something on my face?"

"Uh.... no." Lamenta said simply. "But.... you do look kinda familiar."

"He is on the news a lot." Carousella said. "Maybe that's where you recognize him from."

"It's true." Anakin chuckled.

"No, that's not it." Lamenta said quietly, but her thoughts were interrupted by Gabby's stomach growling.

Anakin chuckled.

"Sounds like someone's hungry."

It seemed fitting, it being around dinnertime, so Anakin got the children to go and wash up for dinner.

_________________________________

Caroline joined Anakin's family for dinner that night.

"Have you been having a good time with the other kids, Sweetie?" Caroline asked her daughter.

"Yes, Mommy. Gabby's been super nice and showed me lots of fun things to do." Lamenta said. "This place kinda reminds me of one of those castles we visited on that tour we took last winter."

"Ah, yes, I remember that tour. You and your father had a little too much fun trying to make the guards laugh."

Lamenta looked around, but looked disappointed when she didn't see anyone besides her mom and Gabby's family.

"Daddy isn't joining us?" Lamenta said sadly.

"I'm afraid not, Sweetie." Caroline said. "Your father's really tired and decided to go to sleep early."

"What does your husband do? Have I met him?" Anakin said, and then he noticed Caroline looking at him oddly.

"You.... you might have, or maybe not. Hard to say."

Anakin was confused. Why had Lamenta and Caroline both looked at Anakin so oddly? But Caroline just regained her composure.

"My husband is the choreographer for Count Crescendo. I am a dancer myself, you know. Top of my class at Melody Academy."

"I never heard of that school." Anakin said.

"It's an elite academy for gifted performers and artists in the music industry. Many of the best music producers, composers, and performers went there. In fact, it's where my husband and I met."

"So, you really danced your way to happily ever after?" Anakin joked.

"You could say that. We've worked together ever since we graduated." Caroline said. "And our little girl has been part of the adventure too. Some might say it's a long family vacation, but it is hard work, all of it. Raising a child, managing musical tours, giving interviews, rehearsing show after show.... it's a wonder how I can even stand now."

"To be fair, ballerinas do have really strong legs." Gabby said.

"Good point."

"What's your husband like?" Anakin said.

"Well, I think you'd really him. He's very sweet and creative too. Very resourceful, a talented dancer and musician, great with children, and intelligent too. Although, he is also very shy. He doesn't like to talk about it, but he does have anxiety."

"So that's where Lamenta gets her shyness from." Anakin shrugged.

"Daddy is actually a lot of fun once you get to know him." Lamenta said. "The staff loves him. And he's a lot of fun too. We always have so much fun whenever we do things outside of working."

"Well, your dad sounds like a very lucky man to get to travel so many places with the two ladies he loves the most."

"What about your wife? Senator Amidala, I believe. What is she like?" Caroline asked.

"How to describe Padme...." Anakin sighed happily. "How I got to be the lucky man to marry her, I may never truly know. She's more than I ever could've dreamed on my own. Perfect in every way from her beautiful face, her unbreakable spirit, and the way she refuses to take no for an answer when she's fighting for what she believes. And I have her to thank for this little one here."

Anakin messed up Gabby's hair.

"Hey!" Gabby whined.

"Eventually, we adopted Boba too."

"I never had a mom before," said Boba. "And somehow, I was lucky enough to get her as my mom."

"Then I'm sure she feels very lucky to have two beautiful children like you. I myself wouldn't mind having another child or two. But, we're still looking into places to live."

"Have you always been on the move?" Boba asked.

"No, actually. We used to live in an apartment in the lower levels here on Coruscant, and we struggled for a while before Lamenta was born, and little afterward too. But then, we got a miracle, and the next thing we know, we're touring around the world."

"I can't wait for the show at Festival of Light!" Gabby said. "It's gonna be so amazing!"

"Let's hope it will be." Anakin said.

With all that was happening aside from party planning, it was going to take more than a team of party planner to ensure the festival proceeded without a hitch.