"I can help, some, even if I'm not as skilled," Shmi says. "It's easier if people follow you. It'll be hard safely getting word to the elders in Gardulla's compound about the new rescue plans far enough in advance for them to prepare, but - I'm known to them. They'll trust me, even if things are suddenly changing."

Kelié nods.  "We'd be extremely grateful for your help."

"We should work out some of the specifics," Qui-Gon says.  "Anakin says you and she have information on the internal Hutt politics on this planet?"

Shmi nods. "I have more of the - longer term patterns, Anakin has more of the recent details."

Anakin perks up some.

She has a really thorough idea of all the Hutt families with interest in Tatooine. Most of them, Tatooine's basically an after thought. They have their fingers in the pie, but don't own many slaves here, so they should go along with the ship bet. The Desilijic clan (led by Jabba) and the Besadii clan (led by Gardulla, who Anakin clearly loathes) are the two biggest players on Tatooine - they're both based here, and they hate each other. Gardulla's big weakness is her fondness for gambling, but the slave trade's her biggest fortune, so even she'd be hesitant to put up every slave on any bet. Jabba mostly owns personal slaves, with most of his fortune in other areas - he's not based in Mos Espa (though he'll be coming in for the celebration) and is a lot more paranoid than Gardulla, too.

She doesn't think either Jabba or Gardulla would go in for a ship... They have lots.

But... They hate each other.

Gardulla wants Jabba assassinated. Flat out. A bounty hunter looking to move up in the world - that could be a good lie, offer services as your side of the bet...

Jabba wants Gardulla and her clan destroyed. He's more cunning, a bit older. He'd want information...

Jabba might be convinced to put up all his slaves in offer for enough information, especially since wild bets on the Boonta Eve Classic race are traditional. Gardulla - probably not even for Jabba's head... She might put up a significant fraction, but Anakin thinks 'all' is unlikely...

If they're getting slaves out, though, Anakin isn't willing to leave a single one with Gardulla - Gardulla's horrible.

"Gardulla sounds like the most problematic target," Qui-Gon says.  "But we can come back to her.  Do you think we have enough information to give Jabba that he'd ante all of his slaves in exchange?"

"I know how to break into her compound and networks. He doesn't, not yet."

"And that's worth that much to him?" Qui-Gon asks, undeterred.

"He's getting really annoyed she keeps dodging his bounty hunters and assassins, and they're having trouble getting at her in her compound."

He nods.  "Maybe he'd make the bet," he says, "but if his fortune is in slaves, would he honor it if he lost?"

She hums, thoughtful. "His fortune's in weapons and drugs, mostly... The slaves are just - status things for him. But he cheats, and he doesn't always honor bets - he'd have to if it was made in front of someone not in his group, though, who could say 'Jabba reneges on deals' and get heard."

"Is there a context you know of in which such a bet could be publicly made?  Could we insert an agent into Jabba's sabacc game, for example?"

"Approaching him during Boonta Eve could work - before the race starts. It'd be easy to time it so you were making the bet in front of someone from a different clan, one who wouldn't snitch to Gardulla for what she'll pay. There's a couple of those, and Jabba keeps them around him."

"That sounds like a good plan to me," Qui-Gon says.  He sighs a little and leans back in his chair.  "But you're right about Gardulla.  She's a problem."

She frowns, deep, a flicker of rage and remembered helplessness stirring in her. "She's the worst."

"I don't want her to get anything, I don't want to leave her with money or status or the ability to get more slaves - she has us hunted down in her gardens because it's funny, and she won't even go and kill people herself, she just watches."

A very dark look crosses Qui-Gon's face.  He strokes his goatee.

"How impaired would she be by the loss of all her slaves?  Assume we free them somehow, even if she isn't willing to gamble all of them.  Would she have enough left to rebuild?"

"She has other fortunes - and bounty hunters on her payroll, and clan members, and ships with weapons - but she wouldn't be able to buy or capture a whole bunch of new slaves in a hurry, and she might get killed by other Hutts before she can get her footing again. She'd have more trouble if we also messed with her computers and stuff."

Or just killed her outright. And Jabba. And every other crime lord on this forsaken rock.

"Queen Amidala," Qui-Gon says, "would you and Miss Skywalker mind discussing what she knows of the situation on Tatooine alone for a time?  I'd like to speak to my new friend in private, if that's all right with her."

Shmi nods, firmly. 

Anakin eyes Qui-Gon. "Okay."

He stands.  "After you."

She leads him out after a moment, into the winding alleyways used by the slaves, into a little side place - it'd be a garden somewhere else, maybe, a little lot turned over to nature. Here, there's carefully smooth stones in a soothing pattern, and a broom for sweeping sand (that Anakin ignores), and odd little statues about the edge, larger ones in the corners, and shade from the thick walls around it, and privacy - it's barely visible from the alley, only if you really look - and two stone benches facing each other, their edges worn smooth. Anakin sits on one.

Qui-Gon sits opposite her.

"I want to make clear," he says somberly, "that regardless of our wager, I don't intend to leave this planet while Gardulla retains the ability to ever acquire slaves again.  Not after what you've told me today, certainly."

She curls into herself a bit.

"Why change what you're saying you'll do?"

"I believe that killing every slaver in this city will make it more difficult to end slavery on Tatooine in the long run," Qui-Gon says gently.  "Often, even if it is worth doing something violently, it is still advantageous to do it peacefully, and that is why I prefer to act without violence when I can.  But what Gardulla did to you, and to everyone else who this planet's laws considered her property, was horrific even by the standards of slavers.  Taking a life is not an act without cost, even the life of a deeply evil person.  But if that's what it takes to stop Gardulla, I am willing to pay that cost."

"I worry," he continues slowly, "that I have done wrong by you today, by not making it sufficiently clear that I am appalled by what the criminals on this planet are doing.  If I believed killing them were the best way to stop them, I would not hesitate to do so."