Star Wars One-Shots

Ruin of Sands

Author's Note: This is our first one-shot for the Anakin Rarepair Week. :) Day 1 is "Accidental Kidnapping". I'm pretty excited about everything we've written, so I hope that y'all enjoy this one-shot as well as the others! :D

~ Amina Gila

As part of a diplomatic mission to Tatooine, to deal with the increasing Hutt threat to Mandalore, Bo-Katan Kryze notices Jabba's racer, a young man only slightly older than herself. He's a slave. Of course, he's a slave. And if there's one thing that Bo-Katan cannot stand, that is slavery. She will give Anakin Skywalker his freedom... even if it ruins the mission.

Obi-Wan told her already that this is a dangerous place, not somewhere to wander, but she's not a little girl anymore. Yes, Tatooine is a rough place, but her sister and brother-in-law raised her well. They trained her well. Bo-Katan is a Mandalorian warrior, and there's nothing on this planet she can't handle. She's not bragging, either. It's just a fact. She's eighteen-years-old now, old enough to have been sworn into the path that her ancestors have walked.

They're here on a diplomatic mission – Obi-Wan, as the Mand'alor, is working to stop the Hutt encroachment onto Mandalorian territory. Ever since he ended the Mandalorian Civil Wars, left the Jedi Order, and settled down with his new wife, Satine, Bo-Katan's sister, Obi-Wan has been dedicated to establishing security and cementing Mandalore's hold on its many systems.

And Bo-Katan has been a part of it, ever since she was a young child. She was only two when the war finally ended, and she's been raised by Obi-Wan and Satine ever since. When she was only four, Obi-Wan fought and killed the leader of Death Watch, one of the factions which started the Mandalorian Civil War. With Pre Vizsla's death, Obi-Wan won the Darksaber... and the title of Mand'alor. It was a hard-won victory for him though, knowing that he killed his blood brother.

It's been something of a secret for them. Obi-Wan was born Ben Vizsla from the records that they've obtained. He was taken by the Jedi, by force according to the members of Death Watch, and given a new name and identity. All of that came crashing down when he turned to the planet of his origins.

Bo-Katan hasn't been off-planet to a place such as this before, and she's admittedly curious to know what this society is like. She knows, on principle, and always has, that there are some societies out there that are complete backwards and lack the advancement and civility of Mandalore. Tatooine is a desert, a mostly deserted planet. So yes, she is curious to know what life is like for people here, and why the Hutts are having conflict with Mandalore. She can't imagine what purpose it would serve, short of ensuring advancements on Tatooine slow even more.

And that's what she's doing now, watching a podrace from afar, keeping her eyes out for anyone that looks particularly dangerous, someone who might seek to threaten the lives of her family and fellow Mandalorians.

She hasn't seen podraces either, of course, and they're not particularly intriguing, though she supposes for someone who lived in this society, it probably would be.

"Do you have eyes on the crowd?" she asks into her comm. So far, she's seen nothing suspicious.

"Affirmative," her best friend, Ursa Wren, replies. "Check out the racers. One of them is human."

"Yeah," Korkie Kenobi, her nephew, chimes in. "I looked him up. Anakin Skywalker. He's one of Jabba's. Reports say he's always won a race ever since he turned twelve. He has a record of a winning streak."

Bo-Katan changes the setting on her helmet, zooming in on the figure in question. He's sitting in his pod racer, checking over the controls with quick, deft movements that betray his familiarity with them. And – wait. "You said he won a race when he was twelve?" she demands, askance.