DISCLAIMER: Star Wars and all publicly recognisable characters, names and references, etc are the sole property of George Lucas, Lucasfilm Ltd, Lucasarts Inc and 20th Century Fox. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author.
Shmi ran down the darkened streets of Mos Espa in a blind panic. The normally reserved woman was almost completely out of her wits, not knowing what to do. She couldn't very well go to Watto, not that he would do anything anyhow. Callisto was a competition of a kind, and the two were enemies. Callisto's whole scheme to frame Watto for her own murder and disappearance proved that much. No one else would be much of help, people that could do anything at least. The only person who might consider lifting a finger was Jabba, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. His orders to the younger woman were to collect Shmi and bring him over. Once there he would no doubt have the transmitter checked...
But that wasn't important. That man had tried to kill her, murdered Odome, and was probably killing Callisto as she ran panting through the streets. Maybe she should go to Jabba, her freedom wasn't worth the cost of a life! But probably by the time she got there, Callisto would be dead.
What was she going to do!
Out of breath and wild-eyed, Shmi leaned against a wall to get her head together. She had to think of something and fast.
Someone put a hand on her shoulder.
Things were not going the way she had wanted them to.
Callisto was at the point where she was gasping, and reflexively struggling. Of course she had been fighting before, but survival was kicking in. It was not going well. Whoever that bastard was, he was beating her badly and she probably wouldn't be around to pick up her own pieces. There wasn't much she could do in her own defense. She was pinned to the wall with his body and one VERY strong hand applying a lot of pressure. The most she could really do was swipe at his arm and even that wasn't a very good option. One arm was shot and bleeding, the other was broken. The only other thing she could do was glare angrily, and was she ever angry. Angry that her well laid plans had been shot to hell and angry that she was being beaten. To make things worse, he could feel how angry she was and that just seemed to fuel him more.
He smiled.
Despite the burning pain, she managed to grasp his wrist and pull it off some. Quickly she drew in a deep breath.
"Who the hell are you?" Callisto practically rasped.
"You'll know soon enough," he said in a soft, low voice...
He punched her hard in the stomach with his free hand, knocking the wind out of her. Then he redoubled his efforts, locking her neck in a vice like grip. That was it. The world quickly turned black...
She heard a sudden hum and was suddenly thrown to the ground. Callisto reeled from the impact and the lack of oxygen. She lay there for several moments, just gasping. The world was still fuzzy, she could barely focus on what was in front of her.
Just barely, she could make out a black moving shape, locked in deadly combat with that red lightsaber with a newcomer. Still, she could barely make out a brown and white shape, another man, wielding a similar blade, this one a stunning blue. They all moved so quickly, she could barely see it, but she would be damned if she was just going to lay there and let her own fate be decided. With much effort, she pulled herself up, and reached for her blaster which the robed man had disregarded earlier. A rather large mistake on his part.
*Not smart to fire when you can't focus,* she thought. But she had to try, but carefully. It would not be a good thing if she accidentally killed her savior. she felt out, trying to ascertain where to aim...
She lifted up the weapon and quickly fired before the man in black had a chance to realize what was going on. His lightsaber flew out of his hand and rolled in her direction. He moved quickly to avoid a blow from the other man and jumped after the weapon. As he picked it up, he kicked her sharply in the head.
Callisto fell back, her vision diminished and her head spinning and aching at the same time. She shot again, blindly. There was a sharp but low toned cry of pain. She heard feet pounding away quickly. She hoped she had hit the right man.
Soft footsteps approached. Unintentionally, she felt her body tense.
"It's alright," a soft voice said. "He's gone.
A few seconds of silence followed. "Your friend..." the voice said with some sympathy.
"I know," she said, quietly.
"You're fine now, don't worry. We have a doctor on our ship."
Callisto felt herself being lifted up in strong arms, a lock of most certainly braided hair falling across her face.
Then she lost consciousness.
Qui-Gon couldn't remember a time in his life when he had run faster. Damn it, he had felt the disturbance in the Force, but he had ignored it thinking it unimportant. Why had he done that, ignored his instincts when they had never failed to warn him before?
Shmi was having a tough time keeping up with him. He had told her to wait where she was, but she wasn't having it. She wanted to see for her own eyes that he got to this woman in time. Far behind them both was Anakin, struggling to keep up. It would have been pointless to tell him to wait behind. He wanted to protect his mother, even though in the face of a Sith Lord, that would be next to impossible. He honestly wished they would listen to him and wait. If something were to happen, he would not be able to protect them all.
He rounded the corner where Shmi had said the building was located...
... and saw Obi-Wan walking out the door with an unconscious woman in his arms. He had a cut across his cheek and his cloak had been seared. Even from where Qui-Gon stood, he could smell the burning.
"Was it?" Qui-Gon asked.
Obi-Wan nodded grimly, knowing what he meant. "Yes."
The Jedi master drew his lips into a thin line. He was still here, he could feel it. He could feel the hate ebbing from the Sith where ever he was like a ripple.
"We should leave, now. We can't risk an encounter, not with the Queen in our company.
"Callisto," Anakin said, his voice thick with worry. He ran over to Obi-Wan.
"You know her?" Obi-Wan asked.
Anakin nodded, solemnly. "Yeah. She's my friend." He paused. "What happened?"
"She was attacked," he said quietly. "She's hurt pretty bad Ani, we need to get her to the ship, and we need to get away from here quickly."
"Is he going to come back?" Anakin asked.
Qui-Gon jumped in. "We're not going to take that chance, Ani."
Quickly, they made their way back to the ship, with Shmi looking behind her every chance she got.