CHAPTER TWO
It was midday when Leia pulled into the service station out in Anchorhead. Anchorhead was the nearby town, small enough that none of the crime rings that ran Mos Eisley bothered with it, but big enough that Beru could go to a store and buy clothes and not have to order them through a service like other farmers.
Leia raced in, waking Camie, a friend of hers. Camie was naturally attractive and probably could have gotten off planet based on her looks, had she not fallen for Fixer. Fixer was one of the few mechanics on the planet that didn't attempt to cheat his customers; having taken over the service station after his father, also a honest man, had passed.
"Did something blast through here?" coughed Fixer.
"Only Wormie." Camie smirked at Leia. "Raging in here because youknowwho is back in town."
Leia hated that nickname. Fixer had given that nickname to her when they were starting school together, for no reason at all.
"What do you mean, you know-" Leia stopped. In the small room behind the office, her two other friends, Deak and Windy, two burly young men, were clustered around a computer, deep into a video game. A different, almost strapping young man stood next to them. He turned and looked at Leia.
"Biggs…" is all Leia could muster.
"Hello Leia." He nodded, a smile crawling across his face faster than a Jawa sandcrawler.
Leia ran up to him and he pulled her into a tight hug, both of them laughing and smiling. Biggs and Leia had been best friends since they were younger, both spending their free times shooting annoying Womprats up in Beggars Canyon.
"I thought you weren't suppose to have facial hair at the academy." Leia teased, wiping a finger across his mustache. "Didn't you hear? I got my commission!"
Leia gasped and hugged him again. "You nerfherder! When!'
"Just last week." Biggs adjusted his jacket. He wore the standard Academy training uniform, blue shirt, white leather jacket and a black cape that covered his shoulders. "You're looking at first mate Biggs Darklighter of the Rand Ecliptic! Goodbye landlocked simpletons! Hello space sick mates!"
He saluted in a almost sarcastic way, causing everyone to laugh. Leia hugged Biggs hard, forgetting almost why she came in the first place.
"Wait! I almost forgot! There was a battle going on! An actual battle!"
With that, a loud groan came over the room. "Give it up Wormie! It was probably just a refueling!" laughed Fixer.
"But, there were lasers!" Leia protested. "I saw them!"
Camie grabbed Leia's binoculars away, holding them up to her face. "Oh look everyone! I'm Wormie! I'm so desperate for action I'll claim a refueling is battle!"
"We get it Leia, you want to go to the academy." Windy rolled his eyes. "You know they don't allow girls near the action. You'll just be wasting your uncle's money on assistant duty. Hell, being a bookie for a Pod Race, you'll make more than double that money, and you don't even need to read good!" Deak said, not even looking up from his game. Camie laughed as Leia grabbed back her binoculars. Fixer looked at her and sighed, walking up and patting Leia on the shoulder. "this planet is nothing Leia. If the rebellion came here, I doubt the Empire would even fight for this."
Leia sighed, silently agreeing with everyone. As everyone went back to their station, leia felt a hand on her shoulder. "Come on Leia." Biggs smiled, "I'll buy you a malt brew."
"I thought I was going to fry the damn thing." Leia said, taking a sip of her malt brew, "you should have been there Biggs, it was awesome."
Biggs laughed. "and Owen didn't ground you?"
Back when they were in school, this is how Leia and Biggs would spend their free afternoons, walking around the Power station, drinking malt brews and altogether enjoying their youths.
Leia shrugged. "no, but I worked hard for the rest of the season. I figured he's the closet I'll ever get to a dad, so I better not piss him off too bad."
Biggs took a sip before looking over at Leia. "Sometimes I worry for you Leia. I know you're the best pilot this side of Mos Eisley, but I think one day you're not going to be careful and next thing you know, your Uncle is having to pay the Hutts to clean whatever's left of you off the side of a canyon wall."
"Look who's talking." Leia smirked at him. "You've been around those starships for what, two years? You're starting to sound like Uncle Owen."
Biggs said nothing, only putting his free arm around Leia's shoulder. "I've missed you."
Biggs always said that when he came back on leave. But now something was different about the way he said it. Almost like he was saying it for the last time.
"Biggs, you wanna tell me something?"
Biggs looked around and pulled Leia into a dark alley. "Geez Biggs, we could have used the supply closet back at the service station. Fixer and Camie use it all the time!"
"Leia, can you…can you be serious for a moment?" Biggs snapped at Leia, looking over his shoulder. "You know you're like my sister to me, right? I'll do anything for you."
"Save for taking me with you off planet."
Biggs rolled his eyes. "Please, your uncle Owen wouldn't give his approval. He knows about me…you'd be back here before the harvest would be up."
"Biggs, what's going on." Leia's voice took on a nervous tone. Biggs sighed. "You're the only person I can trust."
Leia's eyes went wide, realizing what he was hinting at. "Oh no. Biggs are you…" Leia's voice went to a whisper. "Jumping ship?"
Jumping ship was something Leia had only heard whispered about when the adults talked. It was a traitorous act, attempting to join the Rebellion. For a kid like Biggs, if he got caught, his parents didn't have the money to have him transferred to a jail or a royal pardon. It meant a blaster to the back of his head, his dead body dumped out in space via a trash shoot.
"I know a kid. He has a buddy back home in the rebellion. We're gonna meet him on-"
"Biggs, you're crazy!" Leia backed away from Biggs, keeping her voice no louder than a whisper. "Best case scenario, they don't find you but you wander around the damn galaxy looking for them!"
The Rebellion didn't have a standard home base, jumping from planet to planet, yet never near the Outer Rim. you had a better chance of catching a ghost than joining up with the Rebellion. Most Jumpers met their end this way, their so called source selling them out to the Empire for a nice profit.
"Look, I know it's a long shot but…things are changing. The Rebellion is getting stronger every day and honestly, I don't believe in the Empire message. Not anymore. I don't want to be another Stormtrooper. I wanna make a difference."
Leia nodded, sadly.
"You could come with me. Save your uncle a fortune from sending you the Academy. I hear they put women on the front lines!"
Leia kicked a rock, looking down at the ground. "yeh…I cant."
"But didn't you turn in a application." Biggs looked over, confused.
"Had to cancel it last week. My family needs me Biggs."
Biggs sighed. "Guess he's worried about the harvest, right?"
Of course Owen was worried about the harvest, but he also needed her against the sandpeople. Sure, he could hold off an entire colony with a simple blaster, but they've been growing. Back in the day, before the drought, the Hutts would send protection during harvest season, but now, something had happened in the last year. Enough that Owen, on his free days, would take her off nearby in the desert and teach her how to shoot. Even Beru, when she went into town, carried a small gun with her. She figured if she went off to the academy, Owen and Beru would sell the farm, move into the city. It was for their own good.
The two of them walked back to the service station, both quiet. "When you leaving?" Leia asked after a moment.
"Morning. First shuttle off." Biggs looked at her.
"I wont be able to see you then. Chores."
Biggs nodded. "I'll keep a eye out though." He smirked. "Wouldn't that be great, the two of us, fighting against the Empire?"
This brought a smile to Leia's face. "Naturally." The two reached the front of the service station and hugged. "You're my best friend, you know that, right?" Leia said as they broke away the hug.
"of course." Biggs smiled. "See you around Leia." Leia began to walk back to her speeder, not looking back. He couldn't see her tears.
