[UPDATE. Warning: Includes M/M relationship. I didn't know clearly how these work in , until some guest reviewed that I should have put warning considering this. I didn't know some might feel distaste in this! My bad.]
The golden haired boy got out from his uncle's hut, built at probably the most vast desert ever existed. Tatooine was nothing but a big, wide sand pile; making you feel effortless, pointless. He felt like that at the moment, all the crops were done by yesterday afternoon, his uncle let him free. If his uncle had let him go to the Academy, the nearest one to their neighbourhood, he would have had somewhere that he was needed. Well, he was needed, at their farm back home. That was why he had to drop out the Academy, therefore letting go of his dreams as being a pilot. The life of a farmer was boring for the young man. He wanted to be involved in a greater mission.
He kept watching frigates, personal ships, starfighters flying away from this dusty rock everyday. Sometimes when he was on his uncle's Skyhopper, he didn't not think about leaving there for good. But something inside him didn't let him do that. It was like his necessity to keep helping his only family, his uncle and his aunt. He didn't want this life, but he kept drowning in it because of his compassion for all of his remaining connections. He couldn't abandon them for his peculiar fantasies.
Nowhere to go, he decided to see his friends hanging out at the Tosche Station, but first, stopping on somewhere else. His old speeder let out steams coming from its thrusters, giving no life sign to its owner. Luke hit the engines with a few heavy fists, and finally it responded with its engines flashing. Even the speeder didn't want to work anymore.
His friends usually went to the Tosche Station to socialize in the daily life of utter boredom on Tatooine, but his first stop was the Mos Eisley Cantina. The cantina was nothing like he could ever get used to - lots of aliens from a thousand worlds, their noises as they communicate with whole other senses of theirs, and the smell of heavy ales and wines all over the place. It was just the cantina alright. He scanned the room quickly until his eyes met with him. Him, his boyfriend, Han. He looked incredibly attractive to Luke's eyes with his worn-out yellow shirt, collars open, revealing his tanned chest, and his shirt covered with a black vest above it. Sweat causing from the humid air inside the cantina, wetting his neck. He got closer to him and sat next to the chair he was sitting, set around the main bar.
"Hello there," Luke started, looking at the man's eyes. Han usually preferred to sit on the more hidden tables spread around the room but this time he decided to be seen. For who, the boy wondered. "How've you been?"
After sipping his glass, Han replied with his Corellian ale smelling mouth. "Just waiting. The academy is not the same without you, kid." His face showed a broken smile, and Luke felt a need of apologizing, but as if Han read his thoughts, he continued. "Don't ever start to apologize, Luke. I know it's not your fault." Luke had to leave the academy immediately after his uncle told to get back to work on the fields. He couldn't even say goodbye to his friends, all he could do was to leave messages - without Uncle's permisson, of course - to them.
"After this harvest season I'll come back," Luke replied, putting his hand around Han's neck, pulling him closer. "I swear."
There was the smuggy smirk Luke missed on Han's face, and the witty response followed the smirk. "Would you like to prove it?" Luke chuckled and got even more closer until they could feel each other's breath on their face, and then-
The Ithorian interrupted them with bringing a datapad screen in front of their heads, she seemed really old in age and her voice was cracking while she was shouting with the top of her lungs. "Save the Republic! Save your freedom!" Luke was afraid that there could be Imperial spies around, and this woman was putting both herself and them in great danger. He swiftly pulled the woman closer, placing his hand over her mouth on her neck and spoke to her, softly and as silent as possible.
"What are you doing?!" Luke whispered, and the woman looked offended while answering. She got away from his hold and answered with high confidence.
"In three days, it will be the anniversary of the reorganization of the Old Republic, to its most tyrannic version - the Galactic Empire. Those who try to bring back the days when we were living in relief, and comfort, are being titled as terrorists. We must help them! Fight with them!" As Luke noticed her voice was becoming louder, he put his hand to lower down her temper. "Don't forget to join us as we meet at where the last Jedi fell."
She got closer to them by pulling both Han's and Luke's neck into a triangle, and it was noticable that Han was not really comfortable with the situation. "And I mean it, where the legendary Jedi fell to his death. There were witnesses, flying above their speeders, seeing a man in Jedi robes falling from the chancellor's office. Some say he committed suicide as to not get caught by the Empire's army, but I believe them the witnesses say that because they are afraid of the Empire." She stepped away a few inches, and told her last sentences. "In any way, you are invited. The meeting is at twelve thousand." And with it she finally left, and Luke left a huge breath.
Han laughed, obviously not caring a bit. "What was that crazy old woman talkin' about?" He shrugged off, and continued on his drink.
"I don't know," Luke said, carefully looking around. "But I'm only relieved that no Stormtrooper is pulling our arms and handcuffing us." He glanced outside, and noticed he was late. The suns were almost setting down. "Dammit, I have to go."
As he was about to get up, Han took his hand, and kissed his lips passionately. "I'll be waiting," He whispered as Luke took a break to breathe. "Don't take too much time."
While he was on his way to the Tosche Station, his eyes crossed with the old man's hut. Other villagers saw him as a weird, living-alone crazy wizard, but he knew better than that. And with that, he decided to stop by. Uncle Owen would probably be displeased with his late arrival tonight, but what would a few clicks do any hurt to anybody? He will be home by midnight in the worst case. As he slowed down the speeder, he jumped out from it quickly. He should cut this short, for he didn't want to miss his friends, and especially for today, Biggs was going to be there too. He didn't see him in a long time ─ actually, not since Biggs decided to leave his job at his uncle's farm.
Beigish white boots sweeped the dust on the stairs and as he passed, it was really hard to breathe for a few seconds. He flew his arms on his front to avoid the dust making its way to his nose. His hand knocked the door, he waited patiently.
It was the old man, Obi-Wan Kenobi who opened the door. He seemed extremely happy to see him visit, as one would guess. No wonder he wasted his days being alone all day as well as the young boy. "Luke! Great Force!" He hugged the young boy with a warming embrace. "It's so good to see you! Come, come. I gotta show you this." He pulled Luke, taking him from his arm.
The first thing Luke did was experiencing the room, and he noticed a few differences made from his last visit. Probably two or three days ago, he came here to see Ben's ─ he called him that, all the neighbourhood knew him as Ben - process with the "secret science experiment". He didn't say anything about what it was, how it worked, and why he was spending his weeks with it. Without talking to anyone, except the trader Jawas at Mos Eisley, he definetely acted like a crazy scientist.
He heard Ben's actions outside the hut, cracking noises, durasteel pieces hitting each other, so Luke decided to look out from the window and check him, but he was surprised by what he has seen. And he has seen a lot of strange stuff in there.
Ben had a really big thing outside his little hut. And Luke could just guess what it was.
"Is this the day finally you'll tell me what have you been up to for months?" Luke asked, laughing. Ben gestured him to sit down and wait for him. Luke listened, and comforted on the big sofa, while still not turning his head away from him. Besides, he was not really far away from the window.
"Now," Ben's eyes were glowing, and his smile revealed his white teeth. "Prepare to be amazed!" He pulled the gray cover on the vehicle and revealed the G9 Rigger freighter in all its glory, and while the ramp lowered down, a few steams rose from it.
Luke's eyes widened at the sight of the vehicle, he quickly jumped out of the window and stepped near it, and his fingers traced the ship's surface. "This is awesome!" He said in excitement, but his face looked puzzled. "But I don't understand. This is just a normal ship." The ship was covered in red paint while Luke could easy notice a few modifications from the original model that was manifactured by Sienar ─ and as Luke knew, the ship was popular from the very days when the Republic was in power. Even though those times had passed, it shouldn't be very easy to buy such a ship, especially if it looks in very good condition and you are a broke person. Well, Ben was not really poor, his work with the Jawas gave the money he needed for his experiments, but he mentally noted himself to ask him later.
Ben grinned, obviously knowing something Luke did not. "As you can see, I've made some modifications," He put his hand on the young boy's shoulder, and walked with him a few steps away to get in a position, where you can see the ship fully. "Do you know what hyperspace is, my boy?" He asked joyfully.
However Luke looked offended, as if Ben intended on implying he was naive, he replied whining. "Of course I do," he continued: "When travelling through long distance routes, it gives you the chance to reach your destination quicker. So you can go wherever you want in space."
"Exactly!" Ben smiled, his eyes flashing with spark. "Now, imagine another dimension where you can travel through space..." He lifted his arm in the air and with his hand, he drew an imaginary line. "And time."
Luke got out of his embrace with shock. "You mean..." This time he shared Ben's excitement. "You mean you can go anywhere in time and space?!" He was shaking, and he laughed as Ben nodded. He pulled Luke inside the ship, and they went to the cockpit room. The old man pointed at the possibly newly attached wires, and some power cells around it.
"This is what does the job," He said proudly. "I had to make some deals with some people for it, though, it needs rhydonium." He clicked at the tube placed next to the main control panel. "You're not going anywhere unless one of them is full. Each trip needs one section." Luke glanced at it and saw it was divided into three parts, and all of it was full already. There was a screen showing some numbers, when Luke gave more attention to it, he noticed there were three dates: Today's date, destination date, last date you've departed to. The destination date showed 30 years before that day, and last date was - as predictable - blank.
"Why did you build this, anyway?" The young boy asked curiously, as he rose his head away from the screen to face Ben. There had to be a reason for him to spend almost a year working on this.
"I wanted to see the future if we made any process, if we learned any lessons from our history. To see if we defeated the darkness." Ben's words carried hope with it. "That reminds me," He rose up, and looked in the dusty chest placed under the control panel. Putting it over the panel, he picked an item inside it. "Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough. Unfortunately, you know... Your uncle wouldn't allow it." Luke knew his uncle didn't like him when he visited the old man. He said whatever happened to his father was because of Obi-Wan, and that he feared the same could happen to Luke. He took the item out of his hand.
"What is it?" Luke asked, examining the seemingly weapon on his palm. It had shiny plate, with black lines covering the bottom part of the item. Just as he pressed the button on its hilt, revealing the blue plasma beam, Ben answered.
"It is a weapon of a Jedi Knight. A lightsaber is an elegant weapon for a more civilized age, not as clumsy or random as a blaster. I just wish he was here to see this." Ben held his tears, but it was very clear that he was really sorrowed with Luke's father's turn to the dark side. Anakin was really close to him, but the so known chancellor ─ the Sith Lord they've been looking for twisted his mind, and he became his slave, a slave of the darkness.
"I just wish I met him." Luke said, closing the lightsaber while sitting down. He had grown up without a mother or a father, but at least he got his aunt and uncle. He was loved by them but of course, nothing could replace the love a mother would have for her child. All he knew is that Anakin, his father, was decieved by a lie and stood by the wrong side. He thought all his friends betrayed him, and most importantly, the Jedi.
Luke pushed away those thoughts, and tried focusing on what was made in front of him, he smiled. Ben was really a genius actually, he was not an ordinary Jedi Knight, but a mastered student. He had diplomas, certifications of medical and mechanical majority from his Jedi past. Sadly, the temple where he learned all those things was destroyed when the Empire took over, but he talked with pride anytime he mentioned his school. So it was not a surprise to Luke that he would build up a machine like this. He was satisfied that all Ben's work came to a great end. They both got out from the ship and moved away some to admire the beautiful view of the vehicle.
"Now," Ben said, "We should test it." The old man went inside the hut while Luke was counting the ship's fire lasers, he came back with holding a caged womp rat on his right hand.
"What the- !?" Luke yelled, and his hand was searching his blaster attached to his holster.
Ben moved his hand over the air, trying to tell that it's okay. "I tamed him with the Force. He won't cause us any trouble." His actions were sharp and quick, he went inside the ship once again. Ben shouted over from the ship to let Luke hear his words. "Are you seeing the holorecorder? It's standing next to the equipment pack on the ground!" Luke bent down and rummaged the bag to find it.
"Yeah, I found it." Luke shouted back, putting his blaster inside the bag to hold the holorecorder with both of his hands. "You want me to record you?"
Instead of replying, Ben showed his face from the corner of the ramp and made a hand gesture that told Luke to come inside. The young boy's steps hurried to the ramp as he started recording. He saw the caged womp rat was tied to the captain's chair. Luke didn't know if he should laugh or not. He turned the camera to Ben's face while he started talking.
"I'm Doctor Obi-Wan Kenobi. After months of researchs, experiments, I think I finally reached my goal. This is the test subject, a tamed womp rat. I put a clock on its cage. Make sure you record the clock Luke, and as you all can see it is synchronized with my wristwatch." Luke rotated the camera, and it was the rat's face fulled the screen, then the clock. Ben pointed at the time setting panel, and Luke turned the lens over there, recording his fingers changing the destination time. "I set the destination time for two minutes early we will be setting off. Okay. We should get going."
The old man was the first one to leave the ship, while Luke took a little time to admire the vehicle. He was near the restroom when he noticed a droid with blue and white coverings comminucating with the ship. The droid tweeted happy beeps as he put his hand to welcome him, but he reminded himself he was wasting time. Ben closed the ramp with his controller after Luke got out from the ship. "Artoo," Ben said into his comlink while holding the controller pad, the young boy noticed the droid took its place above the ship's modified part for dogfights. "Begin your process." A few tweets came to Ben's comlink, and the ship began to take off. Luke tried to cover his face as the more and more the ship accelarated on its place, the more wind it caused under its heavy body.
The droid turned its face to Ben, making noises that Luke guessed that meant it was not amused with this experiment. "It needs to get over 800, Artoo! Continue!" Ben shouted. Luke looked at the screen of the controller on Ben's hands. It said 785, and the number kept growing. Just as he was wondering how much it would take the ship to go into hyperspace, his thoughts were interrupted.
Ben shouted when it got to 790. "Artoo! Make your preparations to hyperspace, immediately!" Artoo tweeted with excitement, and then the huge hum of the upcoming hyperspace filled Luke's ears. The ship was flying too high right now, and Luke lost the ability to see it clearly but a silhoutte a few seconds later. He checked the controller again, and noticed it said 799. The camera was facing the sky above them, and he wondered if it would be visible later.
The ship disappeared as the number hit 801, and Ben jumped with satisfaction as if he was still a young boy. Luke hugged the old man in joy, and he recorded the heavy smoke, with sparks of fire coming later as lines of the ship's route to hyperspace. "I can't believe it!" He laughed.
Ben checked his wrist watch in concern. "Artoo should have begun his journey back home." He sighed, scratching his hair. "I hope this works." Just as he was getting hopeless, a loud crashy noise came from the sky and this time seeing the ship made Luke jump in excitement.
They were screaming with pleasure, Luke's hands applauded the scene in awe. Heavy steams came around the ship, making it hard to see its body. As the ship was landing, the young boy started talking. "Are you going to check the creature?" Ben simply nodded. Luke made sure the camera saw the landing was successfully completed.
He watched as Ben's fingers pressed a button combination which caused the ramp to lower down to let them inside. Surprisingly, the air inside was as normal as before the ship took off. They quickly paced down to the control panel and met with the caged womprat, which was sleeping in comfort like nothing happened. Ben was tearing up.
Luke put his hand over his friend's shoulder. "You did it!" He shouted, smiling. Ben wiped his tears away from his eyes, nodding his face. "Now what?" The old man turned to the time panel, facing its screen.
"Now to change the time!" He grinned, entering a specific date. "Would you want to see your childhood?" Luke shook his head with embarresment. "Well, how about the old Jedi?" He pressed a different combination.
"That would actually be great," Luke stated. "But you're not taking me with you. I can't go. I have to be at home by midnight."
Ben simply laughed. "You're missing the point, young Luke," he said as he entered nearly 20 years before today. "We could go anywhere in time and space, and be just back after a minute from now." Luke realised then the truth. He could literally meet his father, his mother. He could see the galaxy, every era of it, every culture that ever existed; and be just back for dinner.
"Congratulations, Ben, that's ama-" His sentence was interrupted by a loud noise, probably moving towards them. "What's going on?!" Luke shouted, frightened, his statement went from happy to nervous in seconds.
"Remember about the fuel?" Ben said impatiently, he was obviously panicked. "I made the deal with the Sand People." Luke's heart was about to blow up. Tusken Raiders were the deadliest association one might ever encounter. "They hired me to make them a detonator. But I used it for the greater good of the galaxy." He slapped his forehead for the next minute.
He held Luke's shoulder, making him face him. "Luke, we don't have much time. You must go," But Luke didn't respond him. He didn't want to leave Ben in danger. "Luke!" Ben shook him, and pushed him out of the ramp with him.
As the Raiders got closer, Luke ran away and hid behind the hut. Ben pulled Luke's blaster out of his equipment bag, stood at the ground. He shot a few blasts around, but the Raiders easily resisted the crossfire. He swore inside his mind, he hated using blasters. His options were running out.
Meanwhile, Luke realised he carried no weapon with him, and his only defense was this hut. And no wonder the Tuskens would search the area and probably... End his life. This could happen to both of them. Ben finally gave up trying to shoot the Sand People as they rose their gaffi sticks in the air, while shouting war cries in their own language. He ignited his blue lightsaber, and slayed one of them, but the other one hit him hard with his stick behind Ben's back, and the old guy resisted for a while - probably with the help of the Force. But it didn't take long before the one standing away from them suddenly decided to use a rifle.
Luke watched in horror as the blast hit Ben's chest, and he slowly lowered to the floor. He was gone. Obi-Wan Kenobi, the legendary Jedi Master, his father's closest friend, was dead, and there was nothing he could do right now. He died before he could even use his machine for once. And Luke lost another friend without a farewell.
The young boy found his conciousness again, and shook his body when he overheard the Raiders' muttering between each other. He reviewed his options: He could either get out from his hiding and try to pick up the blaster and shoot the Tuskens. Or he could try to hide there and play dead - Tuskens were not known for their intelligence. But they could shoot him just to be sure he was dead. Or even worse maybe, they could make their Banthas eat his meat, but that way he would have time for sure to escape.
He glanced from the corner of the hut. There were a lot of them, 7 or 8, not less enough for him to handle them with the blaster. He could shoot down 2-3 of them maybe, if he could pick up the blaster anyway. Luke eliminated that option in his mind, and continued his observation.
Their leader kept throwing blast fire around, and finally his ammo finished. While he was trying to reload, Luke threw himself out of where he was hiding, drifted on the ground, leaning to his side as he tried to grab his blaster. But the Raider's feet touched the blaster and it moved away from Luke's reach. He had his right to panic now. His eyes glared at the ship on his front. He ran to it just like his life depended on it ─ which it literally did.
Quickly clicking the buttons to close the ramp, he went to the control room. He swept his tears away from his eyes, and tried to focus on the control panel in front of him. He could hear blast shots hitting the shields, causing noticable shakes on the ship. His fingers pressed on few buttons, and he calculated the hyperspace route in several seconds, with the help of the little droid that stayed inside the time machine while hell happened outside. After that, he pulled the lever down.
The lights inside the vehicle turned to red after a couple of more hits, Luke thought their shield generators could have been damaged, and if they don't disappear from here as soon as possible, they were going to share the same fate with Ben. Although he didn't want to leave his body with the Tuskens, he would be killed in the exact second he gets out of the ship. He leaned his face over his shoulder to mourn his friend's death as the vehicle began to take off. His back placed over the co-pilot's chair, he noticed the womprat was still there. "Oh, great." He let out a sigh. The creature did nothing but sleep at the moment, and as he was about to check the watch which showed when they would arrive, the ship entered the hyperspace. That was normal, but what wasn't was the ship shook like it was hit by a powerful laser, which was impossible as they were in hyperspace. That must be the effect of... The built-in time machine. How could he have forgotten? He turned his chair to face the time panel. The numbers showed 20 years before that moment.
Luke's body shivered on his chair, he got up, his face showing the great shock he was having. The familiar hum of the hyperspace filled his ears with some noise of the built-in time machine, he leaned his back on the chair. What was he going to do right now? He was going to go back before his birth... He had to go back, immediately. Well, he could go back before Ben's death and warn them both. He didn't know if that would do any good or cause anything worse but it was worth a try anyway. The ship shuffled a bit on the sides and got out of hyperspace, revealing the sand planet under them.
He held his breath for a minute. This could mean he was the first Human ever to time travel. Shaking his head from these thoughts, he entered the time he needed to go back to but there seemed to be a problem. He looked at the flashing fuel sign he noted to check later, and gasped. It was empty. Three trips has been made: One time going back in time with the womprat, one time with coming back to his time, and the last time with Luke. He was sure he wasn't going anywhere unless he found the rhydonium somewhere over here or... in this time of the galaxy. He sighed, holding his head between his hands, decided to land the ship on a planet with good fuel resources, or perhaps somewhere he could reach to all kind of things, probably the Core Worlds...
Standing up from the chair, he made his way to the galaxy map to gather up the coordinates for Coruscant. The planet had three types of worlds inside itself: The upper levels for the richer people, the dark surfaces for the poor and the criminals, and the industrial side. He could try his luck over any of them. Sighing, he entered the coordinates, and watched as the blue swirl of hyperspace appeared in front of him against the wide windows.