Hi! Thanks for taking time to read this. If you have any comments, please
leave a review or email me at angelamarie@neo.tamu.edu. I hope you enjoy
the story!
Star Wars is the property of George Lucas. I'm just borrowing the characters, I promise I'll give them back.... a little mangled, maybe, but he will get them back. This story is my own. If you want to post it somewhere else, please email me for permission.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
It is a time of turmoil in the Jedi Council. A group of dissidents on a backwater world are beginning to make life very difficult for the local government. The Council does not need this problem, especially with the rise of the Empire threatening them. Princess Leia Organa, a member of the Council, is racing on her flagship to halt the small rebellion before it brings chaos and disorder to the galaxy…
"Now look, your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight. I take orders from just one person - me."
The small girl looked at him incredulously. "It's a wonder you're still alive."
The smuggler sneered down at her. "Listen. You hired me for a guide and as an expert on evading … shall we say attention. Now, if you don't want to take my advice, that's fine… but there's no way I'm risking my neck in there because you want to save a few parsecs on your trip!"
Han's furry copilot roared his agreement. The princess shrugged. "If you're so scared of the Dagobah system, then that's fine. It was just a suggestion. I am curious, however, on what exactly it is that's got you both so jittery…"
"Now listen here, you Highness, Chewie and me aren't scared of anything that system's got to throw at us. However, you and your pampered, sheltered crew of bureaucrats might get shook. So I say we should just steer clear."
"Fine." Leia said. "If you aren't scared, neither am I. Captain, set course through the Dagobah system."
À À À À À À
"Uncle Owen!" The young man over the top of the sand dune yelling. "Uncle OWEN!!!"
"What is it, boy?" A grizzled old man turned from his work to confront the blur racing towards him. "This harvester went out, and I'm trying to get it fixed before everyone comes back for another meeting. It won't do us any good to get out from under the Council's thumb if we all die from lack of water."
"That's just it!" The boy finally reached his uncle, and leaned for a moment on the vaporator to catch his breath. "They're here! The transports just started pulling up out front of the house."
Owen grabbed a greasy rag and started to wipe his hands on it. "Go back to the house, and tell Beru that I'll be there in a few minutes. Then go over to Taashi Station, get Biggs, and swing by here to finish fixing this."
He threw the rag down and turned to pick up the tools. "Well, Luke? What are you doing? Take the landspeeder, give Beru my message, and go get your friend to help you with the work!"
"I can't," Luke answered. "Biggs left yesterday to join the Academy."
"Oh." Owen took one look at Luke's downcast face and immediately felt sorry for another year of broken promises. "Luke, you know I need you to be here this year. If this harvest goes well, I'll have enough to hire more help, and maybe next year you can go to the Academy…" Owen could see that this wasn't helping. "Why don't you just stay here and fix this. I'll go to the house and see what these people want now…"
With that, Owen jumped into the landspeeder and headed for his house. Luke was left to kick dejectedly at the malfunctioning vaporator, feeling no better when it immediately sputtered into life.
À À À À À À
"Well, here you are, Your Royalness, just like you wanted. The Dagobah system. Hope you enjoy the ride!" Han Solo turned away from the viewscreen to see Princess Leia staring past him. "What… what in the world is that?"
"That?" Han gestured to the giant tree floating out in the middle of the viewscreen. It was dark, rotting, and completely repulsive. "That is the main reason most people like to avoid this area. Strange things happen to ships that encounter that tree…"
The tone in Han's voice told Leia he wasn't just trying to scare her. "Like what?" she asked, trying to contain the waver in her throat.
"Like visions," he said matter-of-factly. "Like seeing themselves decapitated, or exploding, stuff like that."
Leia gulped. "Maybe… maybe this wasn't such a good idea."
Han would have laughed at the stricken look on her face, except he was too busy suddenly seeing himself explode.
À À À À À À
Jabba the Hutt glared at Owen Lars and spoke in his own slimy language. "The great Jabba the Hutt has refused to assist your venture in any way, financially or otherwise, without some sort of compensation." Translated the protocol droid at Jabba's side. "He asks what you are offering to him for his help."
Owen glanced at Ben Kenobi, who had come along to ask for Jabba's assistance in their rebellion against the Jedi Council. "We have not brought gifts with us, Jabba…"
At that, the Hutt became amazingly angry and knocked his protocol droid off the dias and, unfortunately, into a rather irritated Gamorrean. The Gamorrean took it as a personal affront and proceeded to systematically demolish the hapless droid.
Owen glanced around at the various creatures in Jabba's throne room, none of which seemed too interested in acknowledging either of the humans.
Ben made a tiny gesture toward Owen, who quickly regained himself. "We could not think of anything that the great Jabba would need from such as ourselves," he explained. "Our purpose in visiting was merely to determine what a suitable present would be. May I suggest a new droid, to replace the one that seems to have broken?"
Jabba considered this, while both Owen and Ben held their breaths. Finally he nodded twice, slowly.
"Come on," said Ben quietly. "It would be wise to leave now."
"You're right," replied Owen as they backed away. "Just don't think this makes up for what you did before - not by a long shot."
"I know," Ben said quietly. "I know."
À À À À À À
Luke stomped through the door to his uncle's house. "Well," he yelled down the hall, "What'd all of you decide?"
His Aunt Beru came down the hallway, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "They're going to try and get Jabba's help. Owen went with the others to pick out a couple of droids… I think for a present or something. He wanted you to catch up at the Jawa camp as soon as you got in."
"Fine." Luke dropped his bag of repair tools and left again. Beru looked after him and sadly shook her head.
"That boy..... What am I supposed to do with him?"
À À À À À À
Owen was busy bickering with the Jawa leader when Luke finally arrived. "It's about time you got here," was all he said. "We need to pick out two of these."
Luke scanned the row of droids lined up in a sort of sales display. They were silver, white, blue, brown, black, and red. One was even golden. Curious about this last one, Luke wandered over to look more closely at it. It had eyes that lit up, and was shaped like a humanoid. Owen came to see what had caught Luke's attention.
"You!" he said, addressing the droid. "I suppose you're programmed for etiquette and protocol."
"Protocol! Why it's one of my main functions, sir." Luke winced at the droid's prissy, whiny voice. Owen interrupted.
"I have no use for a protocol droid."
"Of course you don't!" The droid quickly answered. Luke spoke up. "Well, Jabba entertains a lot of different species. He might like it."
"There is that…" Owen considered. "All right." He turned to the Jawa that had followed them, anxious to keep an eye on the proceedings. "We'll take this one and that one there. Luke, get them back to the house and start cleaning them."
Luke called to the droid his uncle had indicated. "Well, Red, come on!" He didn't see the little blue-and-white droid that whistled and beeped after them. "Come on, Red!" The red droid started to follow Luke, shuddered, and finally stopped. Luke walked over to it and jumped back as bits of machinery started to fly off. "Uncle Owen!" he yelled. "I think this one's got a bad motivator! This doesn't look right!"
Uncle Owen glared at the Jawa. "Hey, what're you trying to push on us?" Luke watched them argue for a moment, and then realized the gold droid was trying to get his attention. "If you don't mind my saying, sir, that R-2 unit is in prime condition." He indicated the little blue one. "I've worked with him before."
"Uncle Owen!" Luke yelled again. "What about that one?"
"All right, we'll take that one." The selected droid wheeled out to join the gold one in following Luke back to the house.
À À À À À À
Princess Leia Organa woke up, trying not to wince at the enormous headache she had. She looked around to find herself lying on the floor. Han Solo was sprawled leisurely across the captain's seat, snoring. "Wake up!" she bellowed, then winced again at the sound of her own voice and fell back onto the floor.
Han slowly sat up, then looked at Leia. "So, Princess, you enjoy your little jaunt through the Dagobah system?"
Leia tried not to think about the nightmares she'd experienced after running into that horrid tree. "What in the world was that thing?"
"No one really knows." Han answered. "There's a little green man on the fourth planet who claims to be responsible for creating it, but no one's even talked to him for years. The planet's a swamp and the atmosphere knocks out your guidance systems half the time when you try to land."
"So how come you know so much about it?" Leia asked.
"It makes a great hideout when the Council's breathing down a body's neck…Your Worshipfulness."
Leia glared at him, suddenly angry. "Yeah, I bet you'd feel real at home in a swamp. So, how many lost relatives did you find down there, anyway?"
Han stalked out of the room, pausing only to inform Chewie, "That's some girl. Either I'm beginning to like her or I'm going to kill her!"
À À À À À À
Luke sat playing with a model of a T-14 shuttle while the new droids began cleaning themselves. "Thank the maker, this oil bath is going to feel so good!" C-3PO said. "By the way, Sir, just where are we?"
"Well, if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that's farthest from." Luke muttered, half to himself.
"I see. Is this the sort of planet you would be likely to find a famous war hero on?"
"I really doubt it," Luke answered. "About all you've got here are moisture farmers and bartenders… and Jabba's crew. Not too many war heroes spend their retirement on Tatooine."
"There, you see, Artoo?" Threepio said. "No war heroes here… wait, did you say we're on Tatooine?"
"Well, yeah. You didn't know?"
Luke was ignored as R2-D2 and C-3PO began chattering to each other in a series of whistles and chirps.
"Master Luke, I thank you very much for the oil bath. But I'm afraid we have to be going now." Threepio got up out of the oil vat and began walking toward the door of the maintenance shed. The little Artoo followed.
"Now wait!" Luke jumped up, tripped over his dropped model, and stumbled after them. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I suppose we do owe you an explanation… Artoo, run your message for Master Luke."
Artoo leaned slightly forward - reluctantly, it seemed to Luke - and a projector on his front began shining. On the floor in the middle of the maintenance shed appeared a beautiful girl, all dressed in white. Her hair was done up in cinnamon buns on the sides of her head, and her hands were clenched tightly in front of her.
"General Kenobi - Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars. Of course, I was just a little girl then… about four, I think. I remember you would give me those little chocolatey candies that my mom hated, because they always stuck in my teeth…" She took a deep breath. "Anyways, I need your help now. The Empire has begun attacking outlying planets, and now threatens to move against Coruscant itself. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi - you're my only hope."
The girl suddenly turned sideways, pulled out a blaster, and began shooting. "Go, Artoo!" She yelled. "Get to the escape pods!" Then she was hit by a red bolt and fell twisted to the floor as Artoo's display flickered and faded out.
Luke stared at the patch of ground where she'd been. "Who was that?
"Huh? Oh, that was Princess Leia Organa. She was on our last voyage. Artoo, you played the wrong message!" Threepio reached over and whacked the little droid on his dome. "Come on, you know which one I meant!"
Artoo whistled impertinently at his counterpart and began to broadcast a picture of a young man, identifying himself as "Captain Antilles" and thanking "Old Ben" for the loan of his two droids.
Luke was angry. "Don't you two try to run a snow job on me … although there isn't any snow on Tatooine… I still recognize a snow job when I see one. What's really going on?"
The two droids were both uncharacteristically silent. "Jabba's not going to like his servants keeping secrets from him…." Luke threatened. Still they kept quiet. "Fine," Luke said. "Be that way. Maybe I'll just take you both down to Anchorhead and have your memories erased…"
Star Wars is the property of George Lucas. I'm just borrowing the characters, I promise I'll give them back.... a little mangled, maybe, but he will get them back. This story is my own. If you want to post it somewhere else, please email me for permission.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…
It is a time of turmoil in the Jedi Council. A group of dissidents on a backwater world are beginning to make life very difficult for the local government. The Council does not need this problem, especially with the rise of the Empire threatening them. Princess Leia Organa, a member of the Council, is racing on her flagship to halt the small rebellion before it brings chaos and disorder to the galaxy…
"Now look, your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight. I take orders from just one person - me."
The small girl looked at him incredulously. "It's a wonder you're still alive."
The smuggler sneered down at her. "Listen. You hired me for a guide and as an expert on evading … shall we say attention. Now, if you don't want to take my advice, that's fine… but there's no way I'm risking my neck in there because you want to save a few parsecs on your trip!"
Han's furry copilot roared his agreement. The princess shrugged. "If you're so scared of the Dagobah system, then that's fine. It was just a suggestion. I am curious, however, on what exactly it is that's got you both so jittery…"
"Now listen here, you Highness, Chewie and me aren't scared of anything that system's got to throw at us. However, you and your pampered, sheltered crew of bureaucrats might get shook. So I say we should just steer clear."
"Fine." Leia said. "If you aren't scared, neither am I. Captain, set course through the Dagobah system."
À À À À À À
"Uncle Owen!" The young man over the top of the sand dune yelling. "Uncle OWEN!!!"
"What is it, boy?" A grizzled old man turned from his work to confront the blur racing towards him. "This harvester went out, and I'm trying to get it fixed before everyone comes back for another meeting. It won't do us any good to get out from under the Council's thumb if we all die from lack of water."
"That's just it!" The boy finally reached his uncle, and leaned for a moment on the vaporator to catch his breath. "They're here! The transports just started pulling up out front of the house."
Owen grabbed a greasy rag and started to wipe his hands on it. "Go back to the house, and tell Beru that I'll be there in a few minutes. Then go over to Taashi Station, get Biggs, and swing by here to finish fixing this."
He threw the rag down and turned to pick up the tools. "Well, Luke? What are you doing? Take the landspeeder, give Beru my message, and go get your friend to help you with the work!"
"I can't," Luke answered. "Biggs left yesterday to join the Academy."
"Oh." Owen took one look at Luke's downcast face and immediately felt sorry for another year of broken promises. "Luke, you know I need you to be here this year. If this harvest goes well, I'll have enough to hire more help, and maybe next year you can go to the Academy…" Owen could see that this wasn't helping. "Why don't you just stay here and fix this. I'll go to the house and see what these people want now…"
With that, Owen jumped into the landspeeder and headed for his house. Luke was left to kick dejectedly at the malfunctioning vaporator, feeling no better when it immediately sputtered into life.
À À À À À À
"Well, here you are, Your Royalness, just like you wanted. The Dagobah system. Hope you enjoy the ride!" Han Solo turned away from the viewscreen to see Princess Leia staring past him. "What… what in the world is that?"
"That?" Han gestured to the giant tree floating out in the middle of the viewscreen. It was dark, rotting, and completely repulsive. "That is the main reason most people like to avoid this area. Strange things happen to ships that encounter that tree…"
The tone in Han's voice told Leia he wasn't just trying to scare her. "Like what?" she asked, trying to contain the waver in her throat.
"Like visions," he said matter-of-factly. "Like seeing themselves decapitated, or exploding, stuff like that."
Leia gulped. "Maybe… maybe this wasn't such a good idea."
Han would have laughed at the stricken look on her face, except he was too busy suddenly seeing himself explode.
À À À À À À
Jabba the Hutt glared at Owen Lars and spoke in his own slimy language. "The great Jabba the Hutt has refused to assist your venture in any way, financially or otherwise, without some sort of compensation." Translated the protocol droid at Jabba's side. "He asks what you are offering to him for his help."
Owen glanced at Ben Kenobi, who had come along to ask for Jabba's assistance in their rebellion against the Jedi Council. "We have not brought gifts with us, Jabba…"
At that, the Hutt became amazingly angry and knocked his protocol droid off the dias and, unfortunately, into a rather irritated Gamorrean. The Gamorrean took it as a personal affront and proceeded to systematically demolish the hapless droid.
Owen glanced around at the various creatures in Jabba's throne room, none of which seemed too interested in acknowledging either of the humans.
Ben made a tiny gesture toward Owen, who quickly regained himself. "We could not think of anything that the great Jabba would need from such as ourselves," he explained. "Our purpose in visiting was merely to determine what a suitable present would be. May I suggest a new droid, to replace the one that seems to have broken?"
Jabba considered this, while both Owen and Ben held their breaths. Finally he nodded twice, slowly.
"Come on," said Ben quietly. "It would be wise to leave now."
"You're right," replied Owen as they backed away. "Just don't think this makes up for what you did before - not by a long shot."
"I know," Ben said quietly. "I know."
À À À À À À
Luke stomped through the door to his uncle's house. "Well," he yelled down the hall, "What'd all of you decide?"
His Aunt Beru came down the hallway, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. "They're going to try and get Jabba's help. Owen went with the others to pick out a couple of droids… I think for a present or something. He wanted you to catch up at the Jawa camp as soon as you got in."
"Fine." Luke dropped his bag of repair tools and left again. Beru looked after him and sadly shook her head.
"That boy..... What am I supposed to do with him?"
À À À À À À
Owen was busy bickering with the Jawa leader when Luke finally arrived. "It's about time you got here," was all he said. "We need to pick out two of these."
Luke scanned the row of droids lined up in a sort of sales display. They were silver, white, blue, brown, black, and red. One was even golden. Curious about this last one, Luke wandered over to look more closely at it. It had eyes that lit up, and was shaped like a humanoid. Owen came to see what had caught Luke's attention.
"You!" he said, addressing the droid. "I suppose you're programmed for etiquette and protocol."
"Protocol! Why it's one of my main functions, sir." Luke winced at the droid's prissy, whiny voice. Owen interrupted.
"I have no use for a protocol droid."
"Of course you don't!" The droid quickly answered. Luke spoke up. "Well, Jabba entertains a lot of different species. He might like it."
"There is that…" Owen considered. "All right." He turned to the Jawa that had followed them, anxious to keep an eye on the proceedings. "We'll take this one and that one there. Luke, get them back to the house and start cleaning them."
Luke called to the droid his uncle had indicated. "Well, Red, come on!" He didn't see the little blue-and-white droid that whistled and beeped after them. "Come on, Red!" The red droid started to follow Luke, shuddered, and finally stopped. Luke walked over to it and jumped back as bits of machinery started to fly off. "Uncle Owen!" he yelled. "I think this one's got a bad motivator! This doesn't look right!"
Uncle Owen glared at the Jawa. "Hey, what're you trying to push on us?" Luke watched them argue for a moment, and then realized the gold droid was trying to get his attention. "If you don't mind my saying, sir, that R-2 unit is in prime condition." He indicated the little blue one. "I've worked with him before."
"Uncle Owen!" Luke yelled again. "What about that one?"
"All right, we'll take that one." The selected droid wheeled out to join the gold one in following Luke back to the house.
À À À À À À
Princess Leia Organa woke up, trying not to wince at the enormous headache she had. She looked around to find herself lying on the floor. Han Solo was sprawled leisurely across the captain's seat, snoring. "Wake up!" she bellowed, then winced again at the sound of her own voice and fell back onto the floor.
Han slowly sat up, then looked at Leia. "So, Princess, you enjoy your little jaunt through the Dagobah system?"
Leia tried not to think about the nightmares she'd experienced after running into that horrid tree. "What in the world was that thing?"
"No one really knows." Han answered. "There's a little green man on the fourth planet who claims to be responsible for creating it, but no one's even talked to him for years. The planet's a swamp and the atmosphere knocks out your guidance systems half the time when you try to land."
"So how come you know so much about it?" Leia asked.
"It makes a great hideout when the Council's breathing down a body's neck…Your Worshipfulness."
Leia glared at him, suddenly angry. "Yeah, I bet you'd feel real at home in a swamp. So, how many lost relatives did you find down there, anyway?"
Han stalked out of the room, pausing only to inform Chewie, "That's some girl. Either I'm beginning to like her or I'm going to kill her!"
À À À À À À
Luke sat playing with a model of a T-14 shuttle while the new droids began cleaning themselves. "Thank the maker, this oil bath is going to feel so good!" C-3PO said. "By the way, Sir, just where are we?"
"Well, if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that's farthest from." Luke muttered, half to himself.
"I see. Is this the sort of planet you would be likely to find a famous war hero on?"
"I really doubt it," Luke answered. "About all you've got here are moisture farmers and bartenders… and Jabba's crew. Not too many war heroes spend their retirement on Tatooine."
"There, you see, Artoo?" Threepio said. "No war heroes here… wait, did you say we're on Tatooine?"
"Well, yeah. You didn't know?"
Luke was ignored as R2-D2 and C-3PO began chattering to each other in a series of whistles and chirps.
"Master Luke, I thank you very much for the oil bath. But I'm afraid we have to be going now." Threepio got up out of the oil vat and began walking toward the door of the maintenance shed. The little Artoo followed.
"Now wait!" Luke jumped up, tripped over his dropped model, and stumbled after them. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I suppose we do owe you an explanation… Artoo, run your message for Master Luke."
Artoo leaned slightly forward - reluctantly, it seemed to Luke - and a projector on his front began shining. On the floor in the middle of the maintenance shed appeared a beautiful girl, all dressed in white. Her hair was done up in cinnamon buns on the sides of her head, and her hands were clenched tightly in front of her.
"General Kenobi - Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars. Of course, I was just a little girl then… about four, I think. I remember you would give me those little chocolatey candies that my mom hated, because they always stuck in my teeth…" She took a deep breath. "Anyways, I need your help now. The Empire has begun attacking outlying planets, and now threatens to move against Coruscant itself. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi - you're my only hope."
The girl suddenly turned sideways, pulled out a blaster, and began shooting. "Go, Artoo!" She yelled. "Get to the escape pods!" Then she was hit by a red bolt and fell twisted to the floor as Artoo's display flickered and faded out.
Luke stared at the patch of ground where she'd been. "Who was that?
"Huh? Oh, that was Princess Leia Organa. She was on our last voyage. Artoo, you played the wrong message!" Threepio reached over and whacked the little droid on his dome. "Come on, you know which one I meant!"
Artoo whistled impertinently at his counterpart and began to broadcast a picture of a young man, identifying himself as "Captain Antilles" and thanking "Old Ben" for the loan of his two droids.
Luke was angry. "Don't you two try to run a snow job on me … although there isn't any snow on Tatooine… I still recognize a snow job when I see one. What's really going on?"
The two droids were both uncharacteristically silent. "Jabba's not going to like his servants keeping secrets from him…." Luke threatened. Still they kept quiet. "Fine," Luke said. "Be that way. Maybe I'll just take you both down to Anchorhead and have your memories erased…"