Obi-wan stepped onto the coarse sand listening for the sound again. A high growl split the quiet air. He stood straighter and reached out with the force and sensed them a few hundred kilometers from where he sat. He came up and walked up the dune. His house sat at the far side of the waste lands. He looked back toward Mos Espa.

"I guess I'm staying in a hotel tonight," he thought. He walked to a long building with a termite eaten sign above the door. Some alien creatures walked in and out talking in languages that even Obi-wan didn't fully understand. He checked in a small room with a sink and a hydro cooker. He checked the mirror and saw himself for the first time in a while. His hair was taking a shade of gray and his beard had grown bushier.

"Luke, Luke, where did you go."

Someone was shouting outside his door. Someone familiar. He opened the door and saw the back of a woman walking down the stairs. So it is Beru. That means… something shifted in the force under the cooler. Obi-wan crouched down under the cooler and into a hollow space, and in the corner a small boy was crouched in a ball.

"Hello there," He said softly. The boy jumped.

"How did you find me?" He asked scanning Obi-wan.

"Chance, I guess."

"What's your name?"

"You can call me Ben. Ben Kenobi. Can I ask yours?"

The boy looked at him and cleared his throat, "Luke," he whispered.

"Luke Skywalker?" Ben asked suddenly. He had to make sure it was him.

"How did you…"

"LUKE, COME HERE," it was Luke's Uncle Owen this time.

"I have to go…" said Luke looking annoyed, "I promise not to tell."

And with that he took off. Ben closed his eyes and felt with the force. He just needed a few more minuets, that was it. He slowly crawled out of the hollow space and pushed into his room. Out his window he saw the Sand people rummaging through the desert, hitting each other and growling. They were the sound he heard. He could have easily fought them off but decided not to. Instead of going home he had met one of the future hopes of the new republic. But only if he cooperated. What if he learned about his father, Anakin, and wanted to join him. His father was trained as a Jedi at only 9 years old and he turned to evil. Luke would be about 8 in a few months, so what if he did the same. Ben shrugged his shoulders, nothing could be worse than it was already. He still had to try. The force brought them together once, it would probably keep doing so until Luke was trained.

"…or dead," Ben thought. There was still his sister too. He got up and headed to a diner across the street. As he walked in he saw a huge alien creature with four big arms…

"Dexter?" Ben asked the guy. He looked over.

"Obi-W--…"

"Shh not here, we'll talk inside."

Together they walked to the back of the diner.

"What happened to your place, Dexter?" Ben asked.

"I got evicted. Everyone did. I came here for work in mining. Hoping to go over to Bandomeer in the future."

Ben raised his attention. Bandomeer was a very small world in the far reaches of the Outer Rim. It was practically a mining wasteland until slavery was abolished there and very precious metals were found in the planet core. Now it was the fifth wealthiest planet in the galaxy and had a booming economy. People from all over the galaxy came to work there for a chance at some of the profits.

"Why get evicted though?" asked Ben.

"Didn't you hear, Coruscant is being destroyed," Dex announced, "They're knocking out the atmosphere and blowing up the city."

"What…"

"It's true. They came in the middle of the night and told us to get out or we would have our diner burned."

"Whose they?"

"The imperial troopers," said Dex shuddering, "I don't know how they got so many guys to sign up. There're all humans too."

"Dex, you know the time when I showed you the toxic dart from Kamino?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I found the Cloners. They made a huge army for the Republic. They were given an order to go against us Jedi and…"

"The Empire was unleashed."

"Yeah…"

Ben sat down at a round table and Dex followed him, Ben reached out his feelings and felt Luke in his Inn room. He was safe for now. Maybe he could go to Bandomeer with Dex. He hadn't been in a long time…

"I'm in Dex."

"Wha…"

"I'm coming with you to Bandomeer."