I don't own Star Wars or any of the characters.
The twin suns of Tatooine were setting. Leia looked out over the setting suns, wishing to be somewhere far away. Sighing, Leia headed for the garage. Uncle Owen would not be pleased with her if she didn't have those droids ready for tomorrow.
Walking into the garage, Leia grabbed a remote from one of the tables. She pressed a few of the buttons on the remote. Suddenly, someone screamed. Leia turned and saw C-3PO hiding in a corner. Leia realised the droid had obviously made the scream, but why was he hiding.
"What are you doing in that corner?" demandingly asked Leia.
"It wasn't my fault, madam. Please don't deactivate me. I told him not to go, but he's faulty, malfunctioning. Kept babbling on about his mission." panicked C-3PO.
This was a problem. Grabbing a pair of binoculars, Leia ran outside of the garage. C-3PO quickly followed after his young new mistress. As Leia scanned over the endless seas of sand looking for R2, C-3Po kept going on and on about how troublesome the R2 unit was.
"That R2 unit is always causing trouble. These astro droids are getting quite out of hand. Even I can't understand their logic at times." told C-3PO.
Leia ignored the gold protocol droid's senseless rambling. She was more concerned about how her uncle would react once he discovered that one of the droids he bought was missing.
"How could I have been so stupid? That droid's nowhere is sight. Uncle Owen's going to kill me. He'll never let me buy a ship now." muttered Leia.
"Pardon me, madam, but couldn't we just go after him?" assumed C-3PO.
"It's too dangerous with all the Sandpeople around. We'll have to go after him in the morning and bring him back before Uncle Owen realises he's gone." sighed Leia.
"Leia' we're shutting the power down." called Owen.
"I'll be there in a few minutes." called back Leia.
Leia walked back to the house, C-3PO following after her. That night Leia had a hard time falling asleep. Eventually sleep did overtake her, but it was anything but restful.
The first thing Leia did when she woke up was prepare for the search for R2. She threw on a pair of old but comfortable pants (skirts wouldn't work for where she was going) and one of her work tunics. Slipping on a pair of old leather boots, Leia tied back her hair as she left her room.
After telling Aunt Beru that she had something to do before she started her chores, Leia got C-3PO from the garage and hoped into her uncle's old red hovercar. After what felt like hours of driving Leia began to lose hope of ever finding R2. How could one little droid cross so much desert in one night anyway? It was impossible, and yet Leia was in just that sort of a situation.
Suddenly, the hovercar's scanner began to pick up the presence of a droid. A small smile tugged at the edge of her lips. There were no towns or settlements for miles around. That meant there would be little chance of running into any form of civilization and its technologies, including droids. So for the scanner to be picking up the presence of a nearby droid, it had to be R2. At least, that was how Leia saw it.
Leia turned on the accelerator. She wanted to find that R2 unit and get back to the house as soon as possible. The last thing she needed was her uncle reminding her not to be late for chores, again.
Sure enough, the signal was coming from R2. Leia stopped the hovercar. She jumped out of the hovercar, running towards the droid that had caused her so much trouble. C-3PO was soon beside his mistress, glancing down at his fellow droid with might have been discontentment if he had been an organic been.
"Where do you think you're going, little guy? You've caused me enough trouble as it is. Now come on, where going home." stated Leia.
R2 beeped his protests.
"Mistress Leia is your rightful owner now. We'll have no more of this Obi-Wan Kenobi gibberish. And don't talk to me of your mission either. You're fortunate that Mistress Leia doesn't blast you into a million pieces right here." lectured C-3PO.
"It's fine 3PO. Let's just go home. Uncle Owen is probably already getting worried, and I don't feel like getting punished with extra chores for the thirds time this month." reasoned Leia.
R2 started beeping like crazy. Leia didn't have a good feeling about this. She turned to C-3Po, hoping he could shed some light on R2's rather unsettling behavior.
"What's he saying?" asked Leia.
"There are several creatures approaching from the southeast." told C-3PO.
"Sandpeople. Or worse. Come on. Let's check this out." said Leia.
Leia grabbed the rifle from the hovercar. Owen might not have been pleased of the idea of his niece knowing how to shoot, but with all the dangers on Tatooine Beru had convinced her husband to teach Leia the basics of handling a rifle. On her own time Leia had taught herself how to shoot more actually. She had soon become one of the best shots in her age group. Hopefully those skills would be enough for when they faced whatever was tracking them.
Through the binoculars, Leia saw the large, harry forms of the horned animals the Sandpeople used as their mounts. There were two f the animals. That meant there were at least Sandpeople, but Leia suspected there were a lot more than just two.
"There are two Banthas down there, but I don't see any—Wait a minute." quietly spoke Leia.
A humanoid like figure walked up to the Banthas. From the ugly face and tattered robes, Leia could tell it was a Sandperson.
"There are Sandpeople down there, all right. I see one of them now." observed Leia.
Suddenly a Sandperson sprang up in front of Leia. The young woman was sent flying backwards, narrowly avoiding the massive blow from the Sandperson's club. The Sandperson kept swinging its club at Leia, calling out in loud shrieks and bellows. Leia guessed that the Sandperson was calling for reinforcements, and if that was true, Leia knew that she and the droids were doomed.
Three of the Sandpeople roughly got a hold of Leia. They tossed the young girl to the ground. Leia faked being unconscious to try and fool her captors, and it seemed to work. The Sandpeople left Leia alone, turning their attention to the hovercar. The Sandpeople poked and prodded at the hovercar, examining whatever they could get their hands on.
A high picked yelling erupted through the canyon. The sound wasn't coming from a Sandperson that was for sure. Leia guessed it was a man, but she was unable to move to tell for sure. The yelling seemed to scare the Sandpeople, making them abandon the hovercar and run away in the opposite direction.
Leia felt someone touch her face. She still continued to be unconscious. The young woman decided to see if this man or whoever meant her any harm, before revealing herself to be awake.
"Hello there." said a man's voice.
Leia recognised that voice. It was the voice of old Ben Kenobi. Old Ben had saved her from the Sandpeople. Just as she was about to open her eyes, Leia stopped herself. She realised this might be the only opportunity she ever got to see what Ben Kenobi knew about that message R2 was carrying.
"Come here, my little friend. There's no need to be afraid." assured Ben.
Leia heard R2 make a few high beeping sounds.
"Don't worry. She'll be alright." insisted Ben.
Ben put a hand on Leia's shoulder. Now felt like the time to finally wake up, Leia decided. Slowly, Leia opened her eyes and sat up.
"Rest easy, little one. You've had a busy day. You're fortunate to still be in one piece." spoke Ben.
As Leia sat up, she found herself face to face with Ben Kenobi. The fifty-seven-standard-year-old man was dressed in the robes that he always seemed to wear. His grayed hair and beard, as well as his hardened blue-gray eyes, gave old Ben the impression that he had lived a hard life. But for all that Leia knew Ben Kenobi had never been of Tatooine.
"Ben? Ben Kenobi? Man I'm glad to see you." gasped Leia.
"The Jundland Wastes are not to be travelled lightly." reminded Ben.
Ben helped Leia to her feet. R2 came out of hiding. The little droid rolled up to Ben and Leia.
"Tell me, young Leia, what brings you out this far?" wondered Ben.
"That little droid. He's searching for his former master. I've never seen such devotion from a droid before. R2 says he belong to someone named Obi-Wan Kenobi. I was wondering if you knew of him." explained Leia.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi? Obi-Wan. Now, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time." said Ben.
"I think my uncle knew him. My uncle, told me that Obi-Wan was dead." told Leia.
"He's not dead. Not yet." insisted Ben.
"So you know this Obi-Wan?" hopefully asked Leia.
"Of course I know him. He's me. I haven't gone by the name of Obi-Wan since, oh, before you were born." confessed Ben.
Leia was surprised. She did not expect old Ben to be the Obi-Wan she had been looking for. Although, she never expected to run into Sandpeople while out looking for a droid or wonder about some hidden message either.
"So R2 belongs to you?" assumed Leia.
"I don't seem to remember ever owning a droid. Very interesting." spoke Ben.
The Sandpeople's shrieks echoed off the canyon walls.
"I think we better go inside. The Sandpeople are easily startled but they will soon be back—and in greater numbers." suggested Ben.
R2 beeped. Leia remembered the other droid.
"3PO." remembered Leia.
Leia found the golden protocol droid. One of C-3PO's arms had been ripped off when the Sandpeople attacked. Ben helped Leia sit the droid up.
"Where am I? I must have taken a bad step." said C-3PO.
"Can you stand? We have to get out of here before the Sandpeople come back." concernedly asked Leia.
"I don't think I can make it. Go on without me, Mistress Leia. There's no sense in you risking yourself on my account. I'm done for." dramatically said C-3PO.
Leia rolled her eyes. She was in no mood for dealing with difficult droids. After being attacked by Sandpeople, this was the last thing that she needed.
"We don't have time to talk like this, 3PO. Now come on. We have to get going." snapped Leia.
Ben and Leia got the golden protocol droid to his feet. The two humans and two droids made their way to the hovercar. Once they were in the hovercar, Ben drove the group to the place he had called home since he first came to Tatooine.
At Ben's home, Leia got down to repairing C-3PO. There were a lot of spare parts lying around Ben's hovel, meaning there as more than enough material for Leia to repair C-3PO with. After reattaching C-3PO's arm, Leia felt like it was safe to ask Ben a few questions. But before the young girl could ask her first question, Ben beat her to it.
"I haven't seen anyone with that skill of droid repair since the Clone Wars. Your father was just as good a fighter as he was a mechanic. If only he could follow orders. Then he would have been the perfect commander for when we fought in the Clone Wars." observed Ben.
"I think your mistaken, Ben. My father never fought in the Clone Wars. He was a navigator on a spice freighter." corrected Leia.
"That's what your uncle told you. He didn't hold with your father's ideals. Thought you should stay here and not get involved." stated Ben.
That did sound like something her uncle would do. Leia knew her uncle was reluctant to let her leave, but she never thought he would outright lie to her about her parents to keep her from leaving the planet. The lie she had been told made Leia feel as though her uncle and aunt had betrayed her. Well, if her relatives were going to lie about her about her parents, then Leia felt she could only get some honest answers about her parents from Ben.
"So you and my father really fought together in the Clone Wars?" curiously asked Leia.
"I was once a Jedi knight, the as your father." answered Ben.
Leia was shocked. Never had she suspected that her father could be a Jedi. She had heard countless stories about the Jedi, how they had been slaughtered before the Empire rose to power and that they had been traitors to the entire galaxy. Leia had never believed those stories about the Jedi being traitors, but she never voiced that opinion aloud.
Stormtroopers, the pawns of the Empire, were everywhere and would have arrested anyone who spoke out against the Emperor. But it was not the Stormtroopers that had kept Leia quiet. A far more threatening factor had made the young girl stay quiet about her opinions on the Jedi, and that threatening factor was her Uncle Owen. Now Leia knew why her uncle had forbidden even the mention of the Jedi in their home, because her father had been one of them.
"I wish I had known my father." sighed Leia.
"He was the best starpilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior. I understand you've become quite a good pilot yourself. And he was a good friend." fondly remembered Ben.
Ben seemed to remember something. The old man got up from his chair. He rummaged around in an old trunk until he found what he was looking for. Leia was what Ben had taken from the trunk. It was a strange cylinder like object, much like the one Leia had seen hanging from the belt of the boy from the holographic message.
"That reminds me. I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damn-fool idealistic crusade, just like your father did." explained Ben.
Leia finished with the last of C-3PO's repairs.
"Madam, if you'll not be needing me, I'll shut down for a while." told C-3PO.
"Go ahead, 3PO. I'm not going to stop you." brushed off Leia.
C-3PO shut himself down. Leia rose from the droid's side, slowly approaching Ben. She stared curiously at the cylindrical object Ben held in his hand.
"What is it?" curiously wondered Leia.
"You're father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi knight." began Ben.
Ben handed Leia the lightsaber. Carefully grasping the lightsaber in her hand, Leia activated it. The lightsaber came alive as a blue blade shot out of the hilt.
"Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age." continued Ben.
Leia moved the blade about, getting a feel for the weapon. Her father had held this very blade, just as she was now. All her life Leia had wanted something to connect her to her father, and now she had it. She was so intrigued by her father's weapon that Leia barely noticed as Ben sat down and continued to tell of the Jedi.
"For over a thousand generations, the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic, before the dark times, before the Empire." bitterly remembered Ben.
The coldness in Ben's voice was as obvious as the sand seas of Tatooine. Leia deactivated the lightsaber and sat down beside the old man. There was one thing Leia knew she needed to know about her father more than anything else; and she knew Ben was the only one who would honest answer her questions.
"Ben, how did my father really die? My uncle has told me that my father died in an accident, but with all that he's told seems to be lies I need to know the truth. And it seems that you're the only one in this entire galaxy who can give me an honest answer to how my father died. So please Ben, tell me." half-pleadingly asked Leia.
Ben let out a long sigh. It seemed like the old man was trying to suppress some horrid memories. After what she had just learned, Leia suspected her father's death might have been one of those memories.
"A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine before he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force." explained Ben.
"The Force?" questioned Leia.
"The Force is what gives a Jedi their power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together." continued explaining Ben.
R2 beeped, getting everyone's attention. That's when Leia remembered the message. Now that they had found this Obi-Wan Kenobi, perhaps Leia could finally see the entire message with her own eyes.
Ben rose from his seat. The old man walked over to the droid, pushing aside his memories for the moment.
"Let's see if we can't figure out what you are, my little friend, and where you come from." muttered Ben.
Ben activated the message. The holographic image of the young man Leia had seen before once again came alive. Leia paid close attention to the message, wanting to discover what it was about and who had sent it.
"General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he asks of you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to represent my father's request in person. But my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour, General Kenobi." explained the boy.
The sound of footsteps, were heard from off-screen of the hologram.
"Hurry Luke. They are coming." warned a female voice.
"I'm coming, Master. Help us Obi-Wan Kenobi. You are our only hope." concluded the boy.
The image of the boy showed him grabbing for his blaster and what Leia knew now was a lightsaber before the image flickered off.
Ben sat back in his chair. This was a difficult decision he was faced with. Making up his mind, Ben turned his gaze towards Leia.
"You must learn the ways of the Force if you are to come with me to Alderaan." announced Ben.
"Alderaan? Ben, isn't this a bit sudden? I mean I just found out about this whole Force thing and my father being a Jedi." slightly panicked Leia.
"I need your help, Leia. He needs your help. I'm getting to old for this sort of thing." responded Ben.
"Can I have some time to think about it? I need time to think about how to explain this to my uncle. But I can get you as far as Anchorhead. You can get a transporter there to Mos Eisley or wherever you're going. I'll try to have an answer for you by then." promised Leia.
"You must do what you feel is right, of course." responded Ben.
Ben rose from his seat. The old man told Leia he would take her home. Leia gathered her things, when she remembered the lightsaber. She was about to hand it back to Ben, when the old man stopped her.
"The lightsaber is now yours, Leia. I know that Anakin would have been proud to see his only daughter wielding his weapon." assured Ben.
Hearing her father's name brought a smile to Leia's face. Securing the lightsaber to her belt, Leia gathered the droids and left with Ben back to her uncle's moisture farm.
So how is the story going so far? Comment if you like the story.