Entry 8

I have been to just about every cantina in the area and so far I haven't spotted Skywalker. I have met a lot of men claiming to be Skywalker in order to impress me. It is so pathetic that it's almost humorous. Some of these imposters aren't even human. In fact, a Quarren tried to pass himself off as Luke Skywalker. When I told him Skywalker was reportedly human he quickly responded with an ingenious lie, "That is what the Empire wants people to think. Their human-centric speciesism doesn't allow them to believe a nonhuman could have possibly destroyed their battle station." When I asked him how an aquatic species survived growing up on Tatooine he didn't have an answer for that. Some Rebels weren't bold enough to claim to be the fabled pilot (and the most wanted man on the Empire's hit list), instead they proclaimed to be Skywalker's wingman or best friend. These men assured me Skywalker was on the planet somewhere. I just have to continue my search.

Entry 9

I had left the hotel where I rented a room and had planned on checking out a few more taverns when I walked past a grassy recreational field where a group of men, mostly human, were playing a game of flingball. It is a game where teams toss a ball to each other and attempting to get the ball in the other team's net without getting tackled. It is a game popular on many worlds. I didn't give the players much notice until I heard one man yell, "Get it, Luke!" I turned to see the ball thrown to a blond man who immediately passed the ball to a teammate.

I watched the men play, wondering if I was observing Luke Skywalker. The man in question was blond and average stature—not some giant that New Republic propaganda would want me to believe. I considered calling out, "Skywalker!" to see if he would turn around, but then that would draw attention to me. Since I was convinced he was merely a pathetic Jedi wannabe, I decided to reach out with the Force and see if I could sense any nascent and faint Force abilities hidden within the man.

As soon as I stretched out with the Force his head snapped up, his eyes immediately focusing on me. I took a step back in shock. What I felt was not a man with minimal Force abilities—he was a beacon of the light side of the Force. The presence I felt was just as strong as Palpatine or Vader, minus the darkside malevolence.

When I noticed him walking toward me I broke eye contact and quickly walked toward my hotel. I couldn't confront him on the street in front of his comrades. My plan was to find him drunk in a bar and invite him back to my place where I would stun his rimworld butt and then place him in special-made stun cuffs the Inquisitorius once used to contain any Jedi captured after the purge. I couldn't do that in the open on a public street.

I could hear him calling to me. "Miss!"

I didn't turn around. I don't know if he sensed I was an Imperial or not, but I wasn't prepared to find out.

When I heard his footsteps go from a quick pace to a sprint I knew a confrontation was inevitable. I reached into my side jacket pocket and made sure my holdout blaster was set on stun.

"Miss," Skywalker said as he lightly touched my shoulder. "Can I talk to you?"

I stopped and clamped down on my emotions before I turned and feigned a startled expression. "What?" I asked with a contrived worried tone in my voice.

The young man stood in front of me, wide-eyed for a long moment apparently at a loss for words before I felt him gently probing through the Force. He was trying to figure out if I was a Force adept. I don't care how strong he is in the Force, he wasn't going to get through my mental shields.

"What do you want?" I asked pointedly while scrutinizing his face. He was definitely the Skywalker from the wanted posters except he was better looking than the composite drawings indicated. He had a clean-shaven baby face, dark blond hair, mesmerizing blue eyes, and cleft chin. When he noticed me looking at him he smiled revealing straight white teeth. Stang! He looked like he could be on a NR recruiting poster. "Well?" I asked impatiently.

"I uh…." The rebel hero cleared his throat while looking at the ground and scuffing at black boot over the dusty road. "Hi…ahh…my name is Luke."

I continued to stare at him wondering where he was going with this conversation. I don't even think he knew what he wanted to say. He looked up and down the road nervously before he said, "Is there somewhere private we can talk?"

I knew he wanted to talk about the Force, but if I agreed to his request easily that might raise suspicion. I folded my arms across my chest and scowled. "I've seen you Rebel pilots in town recently. I hope you don't think I'm one of the local tramps that will sleep with any pilot to get off this dump of a planet." I considered slapping him for emphasis, but then thought better of it when he blushed profusely and averted his eyes. "Oh no…no…never….I just…I just." He stopped talking to reign in his composure. "Have you ever heard of the Force?"

My eyes narrowed. "It is some sort of religion outlawed on some worlds. Why?"

He drew in a deep breath. "It was the power the Jedi of the Old Republic utilized. Very few people can access its power. I think you are one of those people."

"And how would you know that?"

He once again looked around nervously. "Because I'm a Jedi."

It took every milligram of willpower not to laugh in his face. "That is the worst come-on line I have ever heard."

He looked so flustered at that point that I almost felt sorry for the man. "No really," he insisted.

I looked him up and down and smirked. "What next? Are you going to offer to show me your lightsaber?"

His eyes widened innocently. He opened his mouth to talk but quickly closed it. I was fairly sure he was about to run away. I decided it was time to stop playing hard-to-get. "You have peaked my curiosity…Jedi." I nodded toward the hotel a half block away. "I have a room where we can talk if you promise not to kill me."

"I promise," he said with a grin as he followed me down the road, into the hotel lobby, and down the hall to my room. Before I inserted the door keycard into the locking mechanism I looked at him sternly. "No funny business."

He shook his head. "No. I'm not that kind of guy."

Although I was trying to clamp down on the Force I couldn't help but sense the truthfulness behind his words. I realized that for the first time ever, I have been completely wrong when it came to coming up with a criminal personality profile. Skywalker wasn't the drunken womanizer I imagined he would become after a taste of celebrity. He somehow managed to maintain his sense of decency and a strong moral compass. I nodded as I unlocked the door and gestured for him to enter. "I believe you."

A wide boyish grin blossomed across his face and the delighted gleam in his blue eyes was full of such hope and promise… that I almost regretted pulling out my blaster and stunning him as soon as he crossed the threshold.

He managed to turn toward me before he collapsed. His look of surprise was comical. I wish I had a holovid imager to capture the moment. I could have made a humorous animated graphic and become a holonet sensation.

He might not be a Jedi, but he was strong in the Force, so I wasn't going to take any chances with him. I closed the door and then grabbed my tote, opened a hidden, ray shielded, compartment on the bottom of the bag and pulled out two sets of stuncuffs. I put a pair on his hands and one on his ankles before gagging him. That should hold him long enough for an undercover extraction team to get here.

Once he's delivered I will have proven my worth to the Empire.