Ch: 7.2

Meanwhile, Cass forced himself to focus on the weapon in his hands. The trigger mechanism was intuitive enough, and the targeting system seemed to respond to where he pointed the barrel. When a stray blaster bolt came uncomfortably close to their position, he squeezed off a return shot without really thinking about it.

The bolt went wide, but the recoil and the brilliant flash of energy left him momentarily stunned. The weapon was more powerful than he'd expected, and the kick nearly knocked him off balance. But there was no time to practice, they had work to do.

"That's everything we can carry," Anakin announced, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Now what?"

Cass looked at the loaded transport droid, then at the ongoing battle. The Jawas were still holding their ground, but Jabba's crew was beginning to flank around the sandcrawlers. Soon, the scavengers would be overwhelmed, and then both hostile forces would remember the outsiders who'd been caught in the middle.

"Now we run," he said. "Get that transport moving toward the far side of the encampment. We'll use the battle as cover and slip away into the desert."

They activated the transport droid and began their careful retreat, staying low and moving from cover to cover. The machine's repulsors allowed it to glide silently over the sand, its cargo secure in magnetic clamps and protective containers.

They were almost clear of the encampment when disaster struck. One of Jabba's enforcers, a Weequay with a scarred face, spotted them moving in the shadows.

"Hey! Republic scum trying to escape!" the alien shouted in accented Basic.

Suddenly, three speeder bikes roared to life, their engines screaming as they broke away from the main battle. The riders were armed with heavy blasters and clearly intended to run down the fleeing trio.

"Move!" Cass shouted, pushing Anakin and C-3PO ahead of him as the first speeder opened fire.

The transport droid could only move so fast, and the speeders were gaining rapidly. Cass turned and fired his unfamiliar weapon, the bolt going wide but forcing one of the pursuers to swerve. The second shot was better, striking the engine cowling of the lead speeder and sending up a shower of sparks.

But his inexperience with the weapon showed. The third shot discharged into the sand, and the pursuing enforcers were closing fast.

That's when the Jawas proved once again that they were far from helpless. A coordinated volley of plasma fire from their defensive positions struck two of the pursuing speeders, sending them tumbling across the desert in balls of flame. The third speeder, realizing it was now alone and outgunned, veered away and retreated toward the main battle.

"Thank you!" Anakin called back toward the Jawa positions, though it was unlikely they could hear him over the continuing firefight.

They pushed deeper into the desert, the sounds of battle gradually fading behind them. The twin suns had set completely now, leaving them in the pale light of Tatooine's moons. The transport droid's running lights provided just enough illumination to navigate the rocky terrain.

After what felt like hours but was probably only thirty minutes, they finally stopped to catch their breath behind a large rock formation. In the distance, the glow of the continuing battle was still visible, but they were far enough away to feel relatively safe.

What he saw took his breath away.

The transport, nearly ten feet in length, was packed to capacity with some of the most valuable technology he'd seen since arriving on Tatooine. Advanced technical droids worth thousands of credits each, multiple hyperdrive components that could power starships, rare power converters, sophisticated sensor arrays, and crystalline matrices that gleamed like precious gems in the artificial light. And nestled among all of this were the original parts they had legitimately purchased from the Jawas earlier.

"By the Force," Cass whispered, running his hands over a particularly sophisticated astromech unit. "Anakin, we really struck gold here. Watto wouldn't be able to reject my offer now."

Anakin looked up from where he'd been sitting quietly in the sand, still processing everything that had happened. "What offer?" he asked, genuine surprise in his voice.

Cass paused, realizing this was the moment of truth. He turned to face the boy directly, his expression serious in the pale light. "Securing freedom, Anakin. For both you and your mother."

The words hit Anakin really hard. His eyes went wide with disbelief, and for a moment he couldn't speak at all. When he finally found his voice, it came out as barely a whisper.

"Freedom? You mean... you're going to try to buy us from Watto?"

"Not try," Cass said firmly, placing a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm going to do it. The talent you possess, my mechanical genius, your instincts, your potential, it all deserves a better future than slavery on this desert world."

Anakin stared at him, his young mind struggling to process the possibility. "But... but that would cost..."

"A fortune, yes. But look around us." Cass gestured to the treasure trove they'd acquired. "We now have the means. We'll reach Watto's shop in an hour or two, and we don't have much time, which is why I'm telling you this now." He squeezed the boy's shoulder gently. "After buying your freedom, I will give you my ship to travel far far away from this planet. You can start fresh anywhere in the galaxy, or..." He paused. "Or you can stay here and continue to waste your incredible talents as a slave."

The weight of the offer settled over them like the desert silence. C-3PO, for once, seemed to understand the gravity of the moment and remained quiet.

Anakin's eyes filled with tears, not of sadness, but of overwhelming hope mixed with disbelief. "You... you would really do that? For us? But why?"

"Because everyone deserves a chance at freedom," Cass said simply. "And because I've seen what you can do, Anakin. You're special in ways you don't even understand yet."

Cass didn't told him anything about the Force or his destiny as the Chosen One, because what Cass was planning would one day shatter the balance between Jedi and Sith. For that, he needed Anakin not as a savior, but as a disciple. But all of that belonged to the future. Right now, only one thing mattered: Anakin's freedom.

They climbed back onto the transport droid, setting it on course for Mos Espa. As the machine glided silently across the moonlit desert, Anakin remained lost in thought, his mind racing with possibilities he'd never dared to imagine.

For the first time in his young life, the future held something other than endless servitude. But the magnitude of what Cass was offering, and what it might mean, was almost too much to comprehend.

Whatever the outcome of the battle between the Jawas and Jabba's crew, Cass, Anakin, and C-3PO were no longer part of it. They were heading toward something far more significant: the chance to change a young slave's destiny forever.

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