I had finally run out of prepared equipment and was forced to end today’s repairs.
I cast one last glance at my skill levels.
General Mechanics – Level 16 (440/2400 XP)
→ Level 16 (1800/2400 XP)
Vehicle Repair – Level 15 (1000/2250 XP)
→ Level 15 (2000/2250 XP)
One more day like this and both skills would reach the next level.
The thought alone was surprisingly motivating.
But that would have to wait.
I had used up every spare part currently prepared for repairs.
To gather another pile of damaged equipment like this, I would have to wait a few more days until new deliveries arrived and more customers showed up.
Even so, judging by today’s progress, another two days of work at a normal pace would be enough to level up both skills.
I leaned back in my chair and let out a long breath.
Not bad.
In my previous life, ten hours of work usually meant exhaustion, stress, and another pile of responsibilities.
Here, every repaired part meant progress.
I couldn’t even imagine how motivating something like this could be.
For the first time in a very long while, hard work felt genuinely satisfying.
Of course, there was one small problem.
I was still a nine-year-old slave working in Watto’s workshop.
So perhaps celebrating my impressive professional growth was a little premature.
But what exactly was I supposed to do?
Curl up in a corner and cry?
I knew that two major challenges stood before me.
The first was removing the slave chips from both me and my mother.
Fortunately, thanks to canon knowledge, I knew mine was located somewhere around my chest, dramatically narrowing the search area.
The second was ensuring my mother had a decent life before I was taken away from Tatooine.
Theoretically, I could simply wait for Qui-Gon Jinn and Padmé to arrive, allowing events to unfold according to the original story.
But I had no intention of leaving my mother in slavery the way Anakin had in canon.
Perhaps I was still just a nine-year-old slave without money, influence, or real power.
But I wasn’t helpless.
I had time and knowledge from my previous life.
And an advantage no one else possessed.
The System.
I still didn’t know exactly how I would free us from slavery.
But I knew one thing.
This time, Shmi Skywalker would not be left behind.
I owed Anakin that much after taking over his body and receiving a second chance at life.
I sighed and stood up from my workstation.
After spending so many hours repairing equipment, I could feel an unpleasant stiffness in my arms and legs.
I stretched lightly before picking up the lunch container Shmi had brought me earlier that day.
Then I walked out of the workshop.
The first thing that caught my eye was Watto.
The Toydarian sat behind the counter, stroking a pile of peggats with the tenderness one would reserve for the galaxy’s greatest treasure.
He looked like Gollum guarding his Ring.
“My precious…” I muttered under my breath.
Unfortunately, unlike the Ring, those credits would probably disappear into one of the local casinos before long.
Watto might have been a talented merchant and a fairly decent mechanic, but when it came to gambling…
Well.
Let’s just say his ability to make rational decisions dropped dramatically.
For a moment, I watched him counting the same coins for what was probably the third time.
It was genuinely difficult to believe that the future of the Chosen One currently depended on the financial decisions of a flying blue gambling addict.
The galaxy had a truly bizarre sense of humor sometimes.
“See you tomorrow, Mister Watto,” I said in the most childlike voice I could manage.
“I’ve finished all the repairs scheduled for this week.”
“What?!” Watto jerked his head upward as though he had only just noticed my presence.
For several seconds, he stared at me in disbelief before shifting his gaze toward the neatly organized piles of repaired parts.
“All of them?” he asked suspiciously.
“Yes.”
The Toydarian narrowed his eyes.
“You’re not trying to cheat me, are you, Ani?”
“No.”
Watto muttered something under his breath and reluctantly pulled himself away from his precious pile of peggats.
He slowly floated over the counter and headed toward the workshop.
A few minutes later, he returned wearing a distinctly confused expression.
“Hmph…” he grunted.
“Looks like you really did finish everything.”
For a moment, he studied me carefully.
“What happened to you?
A few days ago, someone had to remind you about half your responsibilities.”
I shrugged as well as a nine-year-old could.
“I just wanted to help Mom.”
For a brief moment, Watto looked as if he were trying to uncover some hidden trick.
Fortunately, he was much better at gambling than understanding human emotions.
“Hmph.
Whatever.” He waved his hand dismissively.
“Don’t think I’ll pay you more just because you’re working faster!”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Mister Watto,” I replied with the most innocent smile I could manage.
The Toydarian snorted.
“Go home already.
And be here tomorrow morning!
I don’t want to hear any excuses!”
“Yes, Mister Watto.”
I turned and started walking toward the exit.
“Ani!” he called out.
I glanced back over my shoulder.
Watto remained silent for a moment before grimacing in annoyance.
“Good work.”
I blinked in surprise.
“Thank you.”
After saying those words, the Toydarian immediately returned to counting his beloved peggats as if nothing had happened.
I couldn’t stop a small smile from appearing on my face.
Watto was a stingy, greedy gambler and a slave owner.
But even he could occasionally behave like…
a fairly normal employer.
If only he paid more than the absolute minimum required for us to survive.
Unfortunately, there was still one more problem.
If Watto had belonged to almost any other species, I could have tried influencing him through the Force and persuading him to free me and my mother.
Toydarians, however, were resistant to Jedi mind tricks.
One of the many incredibly irritating traits of their species.
Which meant I couldn’t simply wave my hand and say,
“You will free us and sign the necessary documents.”
Then walk off into the Tatooine sunset.
No.
Instead, I would have to solve this problem in a much more complicated way.
I let out a quiet sigh.
The walk back to our small shack was far more ordinary than the journey to work.
This time, I didn’t encounter any scenes of pain and suffering reminding me of Tatooine’s brutal reality.
Shmi had gone home earlier to prepare dinner, so I was walking alone.
In a way, it showed just how much she trusted me.
After all, I was only nine years old, yet she had no major concerns about letting me make my way through Mos Espa on my own.
Eventually, I spotted our tiny rundown home and stepped inside.
Anakin’s mother stood by the small stove, following her usual routine as she prepared dinner.
Some kind of green sludge bubbled inside the pot, destined to become our evening meal.
I wasn’t about to complain.
After all, it was everything we had.
And despite that, Shmi always did everything in her power to prepare something warm to eat, even from the humblest ingredients.
“Alright, time to get to work,” I muttered to myself.
After greeting Mom, I quickly slipped into my room.
Thanks to today’s repair frenzy, Watto hadn’t even noticed that I had pocketed several small components.
Under normal circumstances, I probably never would have done something like that.
But my priorities had shifted.
Especially when it came to regaining our freedom.
I took out the components I had hidden earlier and spread them across my makeshift workbench.
Everything I needed to complete the scanner Anakin had been secretly building was there.
A device capable of locating the slave chips inside both me and my mother.
The first step on the road toward freedom.
I looked at the scattered parts and felt a faint smile form on my lips.
Maybe I was a nine-year-old slave living in a crumbling shack on one of the most inhospitable planets in the galaxy.
But it wouldn’t always be that way.
A broad grin spread across my face as I mounted the final components before connecting the terminal and uploading the program I had prepared earlier.
For the next several minutes, I watched lines of code scroll across the screen, occasionally correcting individual commands.
Eventually, the process finished.
I disconnected the cable and carefully assembled the device’s casing.
For a moment, I stared at the small scanner resting on the table.
It looked unimpressive.
A few wires and a makeshift shell.
But to me, it represented something far greater.
Hope.
I pressed the activation button.
The device emitted a quiet startup tone as its internal systems came to life.
For a brief moment, nothing happened.
Then a small blue indicator light illuminated on top of the casing.
Ready for scanning.
I swallowed.
Suddenly, I realized that within the next few minutes, I might learn something that would determine our entire future.
If the scanner worked…
Then the first stage of my plan to escape slavery could be considered complete.
Slowly, I reached toward the device.
“Alright…
show me what we’re dealing with.”
Carefully, I aimed the scanner at my chest and activated scanning mode.
Then I began moving it over the area where
if I remembered correctly from my previous life
Anakin’s slave chip had been implanted.
Lines of data began appearing on the small screen.
Heart rate.
Temperature.
Basic biological readings.
“Come on…” I muttered under my breath as my heartbeat accelerated.
I moved the scanner slightly higher.
Nothing.
A little farther to the left.
Suddenly, the scanner emitted a short warning signal.
Beep.
A new message flashed across the display.
HIGH-DENSITY OBJECT DETECTED.
I held my breath.
Slowly, I moved the device back over the same spot.
Beep.
READING CONFIRMED.
A small, irregular shape appeared on the holographic display, buried deep beneath my sternum.
For several seconds, I simply stared at the image.
This was no longer some distant piece of history I had once watched on television.
It wasn’t a scene from a movie or a chapter from a book.
I had a bomb in my chest.
A device capable of ending my life within seconds if Watto decided I had become too troublesome…
or if I wandered too far from the city.
Without realizing it, I clenched my free hand into a fist.
“Alright…” I said quietly, trying to steady my breathing.
“At least now we know where you are.”
I looked at the scanner.
Then toward the doorway leading to the kitchen, where Shmi was finishing dinner.
Finally, my gaze returned to the display.
From this moment onward, our freedom had stopped being merely a dream.
I’m a bit exhausted today writing so much but I had inspiration and it’s the weekend and I have a lot of free time.
I don’t know if I’ll post something tomorrow, we’ll see.