Master
Apprentice  Archive
Tales from the Creche: The tale of the Hitchiking
Jedi
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Series: Maybe
Archive: If anyone wants it, let me know.
Rating: G
Keywords: Silly
Pairing: Q/O implied
Notes: This story is silly. It was meant as my Halloween fic, and it's the first Star Wars fic I ever wrote. It's not really slash and I debated not posting it at all for that reason. But I figured the list really needed a fic right now, no matter how silly.
And there he is, sitting calmly on a log, his old and gnarled gaze a bit frightening to look at. You kneel next to him and ask him to speak.
"Creche Keeper I had been for many hundreds of years. Know many secrets do I. Come for secrets, do you? Mmmmm.
"Story I will tell you. Scary story. What, you not frightened? You will be...you will be..."
Some days it really didn't pay to be an intergalactic smuggler, Han Solo thought, grousing as he and his furry co-pilot, Chewbacca, worked to load their ship, the Millenium Falcon.
The cargo this time was actually legit, he couldn't afford to gather any more suspicision from the empire. He still shuddered whenever he thought of his near miss when Imperial forces boarded the Falcon.. He had lost all of his cargo that time, thousands of credits worth of Spice. Spice that wasn't even his.
He wondered who he should fear more, the Empire, or Jabba once the acrimonious old Hutt found out that all of his pre-paid-for goods were gone.
The pittance they were making on this load of vegetables barely covered the fuel needed to get back to Tatooine. It was however, the only cargo they could transport from the mostly agricultural planet of Naboo.
A roar from his co-pilot caught his attention and Han looked up to greet the stranger who had entered the cargo bay.
The first thing he noted was how pale the older man seemed. The pallor of his face seemed to match the crisp bleached hull of the ships in the bay. Then he noticed the odd clothes he wore, an earth colored robe fitted loosely over tunics of pale cream. Finally he took in the gentle blue eyes caught in that pale face framed by a mane of silvering brown hair.
"I need transport to Tatooine." The man said softly and his voice, a deep raspy baritone caused the hairs to rise on the back of Han's neck. He had a bad feeling about this.
"I don't transport passengers." he stated coolly. People were difficult cargo to manage. Not usually worth the effort.
Chewy roared his agreement from behind him.
Those eerie blue eyes flashed and the man spoke again, "You WILL take me to Tatooine."
"I will take you to Tatooine," Han told him.
"You'll make an exception this time."
"I can make an exception this time." Han agreed. Why not? They were only transporting these lousy vegetables anyway. Perhaps this guy was rich, he might have plenty of credits to pay for this sudden voyage.
"I do not need to pay you at this time."
"You can pay us when we get to Tatooine." Han told him. After all, once the guy was on his ship there was no place else for him to go.
"You know." Han turned in his seat, in the middle of adjusting the controls for the ship. "You never did tell us your name."
The man nodded his head, "Qui-Gon Jinn." He finally stated.
"Han Solo." Han replied, turning back to the control panel. The pre- flight check showed all systems go. "Ready to lift off, Chewy?" he asked his co-pilot. At the answering bellow he radioed control and prepared for take off.
Their passenger was strangely silent for most of the trip. He only spoke once, just before they were to make orbit about Tatooine, to answer Han's question about why he wanted to go to such a hellhole of a planet.
"I've been searching for someone for a long time." he said softly.
"Someone you love?" Han guessed, no other reason for this guy to be so melancholy. He, himself, would never be so taken by love, Han had his eyes on one thing only right now, and that was getting enough money to pay off his debts.
"Yes, actually." Jinn replied.
Chewy growled at Han. The traffic controllers wanted their designation.
Han turned back to his panel, and prepared to land the ship.
It was a standard landing, requiring all of his attention to carefully guide the Falcon into its designated holding area. He had to fire the thrusters just so or the ship would tilt off balance. And he really didn't need to deal with a damaged ship just now.
Finally, they hit the ground with a slight thump. Han powered down the systems and turned to inform their impromtu passenger that they had arrived.
He was gone. All that was left of Qui-Gon Jinn was a brown robe, neatly folded on the seat.
The Wookie growled at the approaching stranger. He didn't need another weirdo stowing aboard and then leaving without paying.
The stranger didn't seem to be put off and merely murmured a greeting. He too, needed transport and was willing to pay cash up front.
Chewy thought this sounded much better than the last passenger they ferried and said so.
"Oh?" asked the stranger, "what happened?"
Briefly, he described the odd stranger and how he had mysteriously vanished, leaving only this robe. Now that he thought about it, the robe was awefully similar to the one the client before him now wore.
The old man opened his mouth and did not speak. He gulped in a breath of arid air and then spoke. "May I see the robe?"
Chewy handed it over, puzzling over the stranger's odd behaivior.
"Did he, did he say anything?"
The wookie thought for a moment, then relayed the conversation between Jinn and Han.
Startled green eyes looked up away from the robe for a moment. "Did you say his name was Jinn? Qui-Gon Jinn?" At Chewey's answering nod, he added, "Qui-Gon Jinn's been dead for over 30 years."
"Finally went home, he did, the ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn.
"Lesson there is. Remember this, always you should.
"Pick up not hitch-hiking Jedi.
"heheheheh."
End