What if... Anakin was never trained as a Jedi?

"I made a promise to Qui-Gon, but... if the Council thinks he was wrong, I will... respect their decision."

"The right thing to do, it is. Too old, Skywalker is, to become one of us. Only to bad outcomes, could it lead."

And that was that. A young Jedi Knight had been too inexperience to hold true to his convictions, his master's convictions, and Anakin Skywalker's proximity to events of galactic importance had come to a rather abrupt end.

Told there was no place for him in the Jedi Order, the course of Anakin's life had been completely diverted for the second time in as many weeks. Ultimately, the boy had returned to Tatooine, with only the relatively meagre stipend the people of Naboo could spare him for his services in the dogfight above their world.

-

A decade later

Anakin throttled the pod's speed lower as he came around the bend, approaching the sizeable garage. All in all, he'd been satisfied with the stress test of the new quad-engine design. The speeds he'd been levelling out at in the badlands made the race on Boonta Eve all those years ago seem trivial, and the engines had been holding together well.

Entering the garage, the blonde-haired human parked the pod up, removed his helmet and climbed out.

"Most encouraging results, Master. Have you decided whether or not to use this configuration for the race on Malastare? I feel I should remind you, it's less than two cycles-"

"Thanks Threepio, I'm still deciding on that." Anakin said, holding up a hand to silence the droid.

The homebuilt protocol droid had come on a long way since the primitive creation he had been a decade ago. Anakin had continued to tinker on him, a part of his podracing winnings here buying a processor here, a repair job buying a software upgrade there. A less-than-legal cargo run to Corellia two years ago had been profitable enough that Anakin had finally been able to splash out on some blackened durasteel plating to cover his sensitive components.

"Boss, I caught a little of that run on the vid screen. Not bad!" A feminine voice, rather than an effeminate one, came from off behind Threepio.

Diyanah Ota, one of about half a dozen grease monkeys Anakin employed on an ad-hoc basis, swung out from under a malfunctioning landspeeder.

The twi'lek had her lekku tucked safely behind her head, engine grease besmirching her emerald skin. Diyanah was young, about Anakin's age. The rest of the guys (Diyanah was the only female among them) were more seasoned. Anakin liked to have people around he could learn from, and at this point, that required quite a breadth of knowledge. Still, Diy was a virtuoso with a hydrospanner and multi-tool. Anakin hadn't seen anything like it since, well, him.

"I thought I said to get that speeder humming by the time I got back?" Anakin said, as Diy hopped up, and leant against the vehicle.

Leaning into the open-top cabin, Diyanah punched the activator, and the engine roared to life, purring just like it had sped out of SoroSuub's factory. The twi'lek raised an eyebrow, smirked at him. He genuinely did hate her sometimes.

"I had the time for a little extracurricular. I'd call this speeder child's play, but it's not like we both weren't working on bigger and badder when we were children."

Anakin had to give her that. He had his pods, to hear her tell it, Diyanah's father had gotten her started on ship mechaneering early. Like, Watto early.

"Sides, I only stopped working on the speeder because Schmi called you on the comm unit." the young twi'lek protested.

"I think Lady Skywalker wanted to know if you were coming to dinner at her's tonight, and if Zefir cutlets were an acceptable form of repast." Threepio chimed in.

"And she totally invited me. See ya there!" Diyanah said, sticking out her tongue at Anakin.

A lot in Anakin's life hadn't gone how he'd wanted. From never being able to join the Jedi, to never winning another podracing cup, to a couple flamed out relationships. But he had to think he'd done right by his mother. Taking most of his reward from the Naboo (which he'd asked to be paid out in *anything* but Republic credits) Anakin had returned to Mos Espa and freed his mother.

It had been a difficult life at first, so little money was left that they hadn't been able to make a clean break from Watto, even as they'd won their freedom from him. Anakin had worked in a freelancer capacity, until his teens began, odd jobs here and there, until they had enough to get off planet.

They'd settled on Feurgun Crioch, an outer-rim world with a more hospitable climate than Tatooine. The world was sparsely populated, and mostly consisted of endless grassy plains, but to the child of a desert world, it had been a pleasure trip. And the plains were plenty decent for podracing.

And podrace Anakin did. Establishing a workshop, he'd taken every repair gig he could get his hands on, supporting himself and his mother, and deciding to put his "Jedi reflexes" to work continuing to race. He'd built a second pod, then a third, and begun competing. Things hadn't exactly panned out like he'd hoped. When he resumed his podracing career, he had visions of endless victories, of fast becoming a podracing celebrity, the human Sebulba.

Of course, reality, as Anakin had learned already, didn't usually turn out so pleasantly. Technical faults, interplanetary shipping fees, corruption within the podracing leagues had ensured he'd never risen higher than mid-card.

It hadn't been all bad. The winnings the odd chance he made it to the podium were another income stream, which, when combined with the others, meant the Skywalkers weren't doing too badly for themselves.

They'd settled down in Balespur, a town of around 50,000 inhabitants. Taking over the local repair shop from an aging mechanic, Anakin had worked hard to become the pre-eminent source for repairs, speeders, farm equipment, smaller ships, droids. Both in Balespur and for nearby settlements.

His mother had taken to their new world. Not long after their arrival, she had kindled a romance with Ugar Conmal, the chief of Balespur's militia. Now, she lived comfortably with the chief, they'd even had their first child together, a girl named Sostra. Anakin had a place nearby, though most nights he crashed in the workshop.

"Tell her I'll see her there, Threepio. Kitster message me back about those Q3 connectors?" the mechanic asked his droid.

"...No, Master. Though there is one more matter-" Threepio began.

"Ani's got a client!" Diy interjected. "A real hoity-toity one, too!"

"A client, here?" Anakin asked.

"Yes, Master." Threepio continued. "I know you have in the past wanted to conduct such business in a more... private locale, but the Madame arrived on her own and seemed quite insistent on staying. I'm really not programmed to refuse her."

"We'll work on that, Threepio." Anakin said, clanking the droid on the shoulder. Grabbing a cloth, he wiped the pod-grease from his fingers "Take me to her."

Threepio nodded, and began clanking towards the office/bedroom Anakin kept in a room in the corner of the workshop.

"Finish up for the day." Anakin said to Diyanah. If he had to discuss non-repair business at the shop, he'd do it with no one else around.

"See you tonight, Skywalker." the twi'lek smiled.

"Sostra'll be glad to see you, she needs people her mental age around." Anakin sniped, as he set off after the droid.

-

"Master Skywalker, please meet Mistress Aeva Fontayn." the protocol droid said, as he entered the office. Anakin took the woman perched at his desk in.

Fontayn was Human, attractive, and well-dressed. The brunette's abundantly curvaceous form was wrapped up in a flattering blue satin dress, a masterwork that shaped, flattered, and tantalised in equal measure. Such an outfit would've stood out on Feurgun Crioch, hell, it would've stood out anywhere except certain glitzy and liberated bars in the Core Systems, but something about the woman before him told him she could move without notice, should she require to.

"Anakin Skywalker. Your reputation precedes you." She offered him a soft hand, which he eagerly accepted.

"Which reputation would that be? Once-promising podracer, just-about-reliable mechanic?" Anakin asked. Dabbling smuggler, he left unsaid.

"Neither. I've read up on you, the Battle of Naboo." Aeva said, fixing him with an enigmatic smile. She didn't sound as "hoity-toity" as Diy had inferred. No, her Basic was accented more of the Outer Rim, though with an altogether different twang than you heard on Tatooine, Jakku.

"So, you want to hire the guy who maybe could've been a Jedi?"

"In a word, yes. My employer is willing to authorise a payment of 500,000 Republic Credits upon safe receipt of the package on Coruscant."

"500,000? You're joking, right." Anakin said. For that much, he could buy a second workshop, fill it with pods, and ensure his mother and sister never went hungry.

"My employer is not the joking sort, Mr. Skywalker." Aeva informed him. "This is a high-risk job, taking a hot commodity to the most strictly controlled planet in the galaxy. The pay is quite commensurate. As well, my employer wishes to discuss further, more lucrative opportunities, should you be successful with this one."

"This sounds too good to be true. I need details. What would I be transporting? What's the payload, here" Anakin asked.

"If you'd close your eyes?" Aeva asked. Since the situation was already strange enough, Anakin thought he might as well oblige her.

Once he had, the mystery woman took his hands and brought them forwards. The mechanic's hands met soft satin, on the curve of Aeva's hips. Anakin opened his eyes.

"You're looking at it." Aeva told him. Right now, Anakin could only look into his prospective client's arresting blue eyes.

The softness of her satin, the warmth of the flesh beneath, threatened to unleash something in the young man. He half-swore he could feel the waistband of something small and delicate between the dress and her skin.

His world was one of droids, ships, machines. He hadn't felt something so soft and womanly since that last tryst with Diyanah.

"Well, Anakin Skywalker. Would you like to know more?" Aeva asked, pulling him back to the moment.