Hi there!
This authors note is also going to serve as my apology. At midnight last night I was scrolling through FF.N looking for something to read and it seemed every other story was an AU. I started thinking about all the AU's I've never seen and wondered why. I don't know why I suddenly thought about Owen and Beru Lars, but I did and I realized one of two thing would have happened if they hadn't died. Either Luke never would have left Tatooine (his family's death is what convinced him to leave with Obi Wan), or everything else would have occured prettly much exactly the same. My very next thought was, "It wouldn't have made a lot of difference to the plot, but I sure would have liked to be there for that conversation!"
I wasn't there, so I had to make it up.
My apology is for what I did to Beru. I don't know where that came from except I read a story the other day that mentioned she was a sort of a freedom fighter when she and Owen were young and it just stuck with me, Sorry. I refuse to apologise for anything else, you knew when you started this that I wrote it at midnight, it was just one of those things that had to be written.
Sorry about the spacing, I don't know why, but it won't hold my carriage returns.
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"Isn't anyone going to say anything?"
By: Pokey1984
I refuse to write a disclaimer on principle. George knows I don't mean anything by it.
PB: What if Owen and Beru Lars didn't die in ANH?
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"If they tracked the droids to the jawas then the might have learned who they sold them to and that would lead them back... Home!"
"No, wait.." Obi Wan Kenobi started but Luke Skywalker had already turned to leave. He jumped into the speeder and started the engine just as Obi Wan climbed in.
"If we are going to accomplish anything, you will need my assistance." The old man said firmly. Luke took off at speeds that would have most beings frozen in terror. Obi Wan almost chuckled at that, remembering another blue eyed youth who drove too fast.
Luke barraled across the desert, not slowing even when a group of sand people started firing on the speeder. Instead, he swung the craft back and forth, making it a harder target. It didn't take much for they were soon out of range. Shortly, they came upon the Lars homestead.
The first thing Luke saw was the imperial shuttle taking off, the second was the column of thick black smoke rising from his home. He drove the shuttle right up to the door and jumped out before it had stopped completely. He heard Aunt Beru crying for help and his uncle was pounding on the door, which had been melted to it's frame by blaster fire. Luke didn't hesitate. He grabbed the lightsabre from his belt, his fathers sabre, and yelled for his family to "Stand Back" and he started cutting at the door. In seconds he was inside pulling his injured family to safety.
Obi Wan had seen he couldn't help Luke with the door and had run to the workshop to find an extigusher. He came back with three of them just as Luke pulled Owen from the building. He rushed inside, hoping the closed door had slowed down the fire. Luke followed quickly and together they put out the blaze. They opened up the house, not to clear the air, but to make any hot spots flare up and be seen. They put out two more small fires and finally declared the building safe.
Out in the courtyard, Owen and Beru were alternating between fits of coughing and crying with relief. When Obi Wan and Luke came out it was to one of the crying fits.
"It's okay, Aunt Beru, I'm here, we're safe, it's okay!" Luke assured her when she grabbed him in a fierce hug. She was putting terrible pressure on the ribs he had bruised in his earlier scuffle with the sand people, but he didn't tell her that. She would only worry and fuss and make him explain what he was doing where the sand people could get him. Luke was rescued from his aunts embrace when Owen shouted.
"Kenobi! What the hell are you doing here? I told you not to come here!"
"Saving your life, apparently." Obi Wan answered at the same time Beru said,
"Is that any way to talk to the man who just saved our farm and our lives?"
Owen knew when he was out numbered. He wasn't happy about Kenobi being here, but he knew better than to argue with Beru. Ordinarily she didn't like to argue and would defer to him even if she didn't agree, but she had obviously had more than her share today and wasn't ready to give in to anyone. Owen didn't speak, he just glared at the old Jedi.
Luke, in the wisdom of a teenager, had stayed out of it. Now, though he remembered the reason for this entire problem. "The droids! We left them by the sand crawler!"
"Relax, young Luke, the imperials will not return there. They will likely be combing the desert, though so we should retrieve them soon." Obi Wan laid one hand on Luke's shoulder. "Making sure your family is safe is much more important at the moment." Those words were spoken from experience.
"Ben, why are you here?" Beru asked in a polite tone that she knew her husband couldn't manage at the moment, even for their rescuer.
"Luke here ran across a group of Tusken Raiders while looking for those droids of yours. I happened to be in the same location for other reasons." He shrugged as if that explained everything.
"But why did you..." Luke didn't wait for her to finish the question.
"I was hurt, Aunt Beru. Ben rescued me. He helped me figure out what that R2 unit was going on about yesterday."
Obi Wan broke in there, knowing that this was going to be a long discussion. "Speaking of, perhaps be should retrieve the droids, before little Artoo does anything else rash..."
"Oh, yeah. I'll be right back Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru." He kissed his aunt's forhead and ran for the speeder. He jumped in and took off, only slightly slower than he had when his family was in danger. Obi Wan actually chuckled then, shaking his head.
Owen couldn't take it any longer. "And what, exactly, is so funny?" He demanded, looking for all the world like he would deck the old Jedi.
"Luke is very, enthusiastic." He said as diplomatically as possible. If Beru's answering grin was a bit strained, no one was willing to notice.
"He flies just like his father." She dared to say. She had met Anakin only once, but had seen holos of him flying on numerous occasions. That famous podrace being the most frequent.
Obi Wan looked a little green at the memory. "Yes, he most certainly does. I am definitely not goining to allow him to fly anywhere on Alderaan. Out here in the dessert is one thing, flying in traffic is very different and I am far too old for motion sickness."
Owen looked up, his face a mask of fury and confusion. "What in blazes makes you think he is going to Alderaan?"
"You mean to tell me that you didn't recognize those droids?"
"Why would I recognize the droids, I've never..." Owen trailed off, not sure why he was suddenly thinking of Shmi.
Beru went pale. "Oh my, Owen, they must have changed his outer coverings, I'm sure he was grey before..."
Owen stayed silent until Luke returned a few minutes later. He looked very closely at the two droids as he helped Luke unload them. Still not convince, he turned to the protocol droid. "What is your call number again?"
"I am C3-PO human cyborg relations..."
So familiar... "And where were you manufatured?" That part of the droids memory couldn't be erased, even if everything else was. It ensured that the owner would always be able to find replacement parts.
"Why I am a product of Skywalker Manufacturing. It is based right here on Tatooine."
Owen waved his hand for silence and Luke just stared. He had never met another person named Skywalker and certainly would have heard about it if there was a company by that name here on Tatooine.
"Uncle Owen," He began, only to be cut off.
"I thing we need to get out of the suns." Beru said, clearly not wanting to have this conversation yet. "I don't think the garage was damaged and it has it's own cooling system. I'll get some water and some cups from the house and I'll meet you there. Go on now." She shooed the men toward the correct door and headed into the house.
The damage really isn't that bad. She surmised upon entering. The common room was in ruins, but they had hardly used it anyway, only for entertaining which they hardly ever did. The house would smell bad for a few days and there was some smoke damage, but it could have been worse. Much worse, she thought, remembering that they had still been inside when the fire was set.
She hurried into the kitchen, remembering her self-appointed task. Thankfully, it was undamaged. She found a stack of glasses and a pitcher of water and started out the door, but then thought better and returned. In a storage closet she found several folding chairs on a repulser cart and took those too, remembering that there was no seating in the garage.
She walked in on a very strange sight indeed.
Luke had pulled the speeder into it's regular space and was sitting crosslegged on the front. Owen was leaning on a nearby wall, and Obi Wan was sitting on an old crate he had found. The three of them seemed to be talking.
"No, I had to completely rebuild the repulsors," Luke was saying. "The ones that came with it didn't have a fast enough recovery time, the speeder would have hit the ground everytime I hit the breaks.
"Surely the factory installed repulsors would have worked, this is a very nice model, after all." Obi Wan said, curious.
Luke looked a bit sheepish, but wouldn't lie. "I kinda tweaked the engines a bit. This baby will go more than three times faster than normal speed, almost four times on the straight streatches."
Owen gave him a stern look. "And how, exactly, would you know that, Luke Skywalker?"
Beru decided that was her cue and cleared her throat. She pushed the repulsor cart toward the group and Luke jumped up just in time to catch it. She set the pitcher and cups out on the workbench, pushing some parts out of the way to do so, and poured.
Luke set up some chairs and everyone sat. Now that the conversation had been disrupted, none of the men were sure of how to begin. Beru looked from her husband, to her nephew, to her old friend. "Do I have to do everything?" She asked and was met with questioning stares. "Isn't anyone going to say anything?" More stares. "Well, then, I guess I will talk because I certainly have better things to do than sit here and stare at you three all day. Luke, you had a question, outside, what was it?"
"Oh, I was just gonna say that there was no such thing as 'Skywalker Manufacturing,' At least, not on this planet."
Beru smiled at him. "Dear, I'm pretty sure that's because your father made it up. Of course, I didn't know him then, but Shmi was always saying how imaginitive he was."
"Beru!" Owen cried, recovering from his initial shock at her words.
"It's too late, Owen. If you wanted to do the talking, you should have said something earlier. I gave you plenty of opportunity, now it's my turn. Luke, I'm pretty sure your father is the one who built C3-PO. He built a protocol droid before he left home, to help his mother around the house. That droid had the same call letters. He took C3-PO with him after her funeral. He had an astromech following him around then, I'm pretty sure now that was Artoo."
"My father built a droid?"
"Yes, if you can believe it, he was nine at the time. He was something of a genius with mechanical things. Of course, I didn't know him well. I only met him once, when he was about your age. That was for Shmi's funeral and he didn't stay long. He left with that pretty girl. She was someone very important, I think she was a senator or something. Obi Wan could probably tell you more, if he's willing to talk. All I know are the stories Shmi told me." Beru looked pointedly at Obi Wan who looked down at the floor. He answered without looking up.
"Her name was Padmè Amidala Naberrie. She was Senator of Naboo and Anakin was assigned to protect her. He left in a hurry because he wanted to rescue me." Obi Wan stopped and looked at Beru miserably.
Beru was tired of all this secrecy. She knew how much Luke longed to know the truth. The only question now was, how much time did they have to tell him. She knew that Luke had to leave with Obi Wan. That became clear as soon as the storm troopers had shown up. Right now, she needed to convince Owen and Luke of that.
"But that is a very long story best saved for another day." She said, much to the old Jedi's relief. "Right now Luke only needs to know the parts that will help him on Alderaan. You will have plenty of time to tell him the rest later." Obi Wan's face fell but Beru's tone left no room for argument.
"But Aunt Beru, I'm not going to Alderaan. You and Uncle Owen need me here for the harvest..."
"Right now there are people who need you more. Obi Wan told you your father was a Jedi?" She gesture toward the lightsabre he was still wearing and he nodded. "Good, I can't say that I know a lot about that sort of thing, but I know you will do more good training to be a Jedi with Obi Wan than you will sitting around here."
Owen got as far as opening his mouth before Beru said, "Owen, drink your water and stay quiet unless you have something constructive to say. I don't know what those droids are carrying and I don't want to know. I'm getting far too old to go running aroung waving a blaster and I wouldn't be any help to a group of freedom fighters but I know that there wouldn't be a Star Destroyer hovering about up there if it wasn't very important."
All three looked at her now, clearly startled. "Mrs, Darklighter told me her daughter saw it in their telescope when I spoke to her on the comm this morning. What, you think all we women talk about is recipes and kitchen cleaners?" She looked at them indignantly.
This time Beru allowed the silence. She'd had her say and was going to make one of the men speak next. True to fashion, the only trained diplomat spoke first.
"Luke, I have to take these droids to Bail Organa, on Alderaan. If you came with me you could begin training. You could be a Jedi."
Owen started to speak again and paused at his wife's stern glare. He thought a moment and sighed. His next words startled everyone. "Luke, you should go. Beru is right, we don't need you here as much as they need you out there and much as I hate to say it," He stopped and took a deep breath, "you will probably make a good Jedi."
Speechless is not the correct word to describe the people in the room at that moment, it is a terrible understatement. Obi Wan was in such disbelief he nearly protested out of shock. Beru had known he would come around, but had expected it to take longer. Luke wasn't even sure he had ever heard his uncle say that many words in a row, let alone the ones he had just uttered.
"Do you really think I could be a Jedi?" Luke hardly dared breath for fear that this was a dream and would change if he said the wrong thing.
Beru smiled again. Her little boy was growing up. "Yes, dear, I think you can. That is, if Obi Wan is agreeable."
"Yes, of course. But I warn you now, it won't be easy."
Luke stood, determined to do this. "I understand. I will do my best."
"Good, now that that is setlted, Luke, you go pack a bag, I'll get you something to eat that you can take with you. Owen, you and Obi Wan get the speeder ready to take them to Mos Eisely." Beru turned to leave, draging Luke behind her.
They said their goodbye's out front. Beru hugged Luke first, then a surprised Obi Wan. "You take care of my little boy, you hear me?" She scolded him, smiling to soften the blow. "And I am very much aware that it takes almost four days to reach Alderaan from here, so you make sure you tell him some stories about Anakin, maybe tell him about his mother? I would have already, but I don't even know the poor woman's name."
Obi Wan raised an eyebrow, "Yes, you do. Her name was Padmè Amidala Naberrie."
Beru squinted at him and nodded sharpely. "I should have guessed, he looks just like her when he argues with Owen."
Owen stepped up beside his wife. "Son, I don't know if I ever told you this, but I'm proud of you." He hugged his nephew, who was too shocked to even breath. Luke grinned suddenly and held on to the man as if his life depended on it. All his life he had wanted to do one thing, make this man proud of him, now it turned out that he had. Beru's eyes teared suddenly and she turned her face to the wind to dry it.
When Luke broke the hug, she turned to him and grabbed his hand. "It's not much, I was planning to give it to you when you left for the academy. It should help on your trip."
She had pressed into his palm a pouch of credit chips. He opened the top and gaped at the contents. "Aunt Beru, where did you..."
"One credit here, one there over the course of eighteen years. Just take it, I have the feeling that it will help." She hugged him again and gave him a little push toward the speeder. "Now go on, before you set me crying again. Owen will drive so he can bring the speeder back. I'll start cleaning up."
The three took off in the crowded speeder and Beru smiled sadly wondering when she would see the boy again. She watched as the speeder disappeared from view. Look out galaxy, there's a Skywalker coming!
End.