Wah "u.u There is so much to star wars that i don't know.. its such a vast world they have entire encyclopedia's designated for the star wars world. how crazy is that?

"Lord Vader, I should have known." Leia surmised coolly, hands folded. They shook, however, perhaps in rage, or fear. "Only you could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not sit for this, when they hear you've attacked a diplomat…"

"Don't play games with me, Your Highness." Vader interrupted, voice laced with sardonic irony at the very word. "You weren't on any mercy mission this time. You passed directly through a restricted system—

"And when was that a cause for an unwarranted search and seizure?" She rebuked. "I don't recall this system being restricted, at any rate."

Vader said nothing, though clearly he had a few choice words to say with her.

"Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent to you."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Leia sniffed. "Lord Vader, are accusing me of being part of the Rebel Alliance?"

"Part of the Alliance?" Vader echoed. "No, you're too much of a political figurehead to do something as clearly secretive as.. spearhead the rebels." Leia stiffened. "But there are other ways." He added, mysteriously.

Leia narrowed her eyes, not liking where this was going. "I haven't the slightest idea what you're referring to, my lord." She lifted her chin defiantly.

"… I have my suspicions about you, Princess." He mused darkly before turning o the troops. "Search this ship! No one leaves!"

Vader waltzed out of the door with a flurry of movement, voice loud and no doubt cowing all the troops on board. Leia rubbed her temples, cursing herself for her stupidity.

Clearly this was a bad idea.

SESSION IV

.

WHAT PLANET IS THIS?

Luke didn't like anything about travelling this far down the Corellian trade line. Nothing at all.

He'd yet to voice his opinion out loud, however, as he hadn't quite found the words to properly articulate how much he loathed the very thought of Tatooine. Anywhere, anywhere but there. It almost felt as if this deep seeded hatred for the twin-sun planet had been engraved into his very bones, circulated through his veins, like some sort of hereditary curse to always end up in the confines of sand. He certainly didn't remember loathing the planet so deeply, in fact, he had a sort of distant apathy towards the two-sunned desert, but the thought of coming back there… almost frightened him. Being trapped back there frightened him.

Although, in the defense of the outer rim planet, it certainly had the best parts this side of Perlemian trade route. And while Luke valued his airship like it was a second part of himself, he wasn't about to travel cross-galaxy to Telos, completely on the opposite side of Coruscant. And if there was one place he'd never be caught ten light years from, it was there.

But its black market paled in comparison to the thought of visiting that backwater planet once more.

"This is a bad idea." Luke spoke up, after a hesitant pause of deliberation.

Captain Ferrell leaned over his chair, which was turned backwards and propped his elbows. Ru made a move to grab the glitter stick from his lips, but he pulled it out before she could manage it. "Why's that, squirt? We're far enough past the inner rim that I doubt anyone'll give us trouble." Noted Ferrell, as he peered into the interactive map that spread out among the room, stars spinning through them as the map replicated the orbit of the galaxy.

The system pinpointed them some distance away from the expansion region, and Zeba, heading down the Corellian trade route. They'd passed Ando some ways ago—and were heading crash course towards Tatooine.

Luke could have kicked the map, had he thought it would do any good.

If Luke was annoyed at the nickname—though Ferrell always had one for everyone, some… less positive then others—he made no move on it. "Going any farther down the Correlian trade line would be useless. We've already made it this far into the outer rim—there's nothing left out there. We should make our way towards Naboo and head up the Hydian line."

"But why?" Wes spoke up, eying the enormous hologram that encased the room. It spun in slow circles, planets and trade lines passing through his limbs. "It's only a couple clicks from the Ryloth system."

"What's so good about the Ryloth mission?" Leia hazarded.

"Well, the beer, mostly."

"The women." Han added.

"And it's got the cheapest fuel in the galaxy!" Wedge added, possibly the only intelligent and actual reason listed.

"So does Ando." Ru pointed out, waving towards the general direction of the enormous blue planet. "And if you ask for my opinion—

"But no one did." Said Wedge under his breath.

"I think it would just be better to go back up the Correlian line—and cut off before we get too close to the inner rim."

"We'll have to make the decision fast." Leia began, looking irritated at the clearly incompetent decision-making group settled before her. "We're approaching Tatooine, and after that there's only a few more systems before wild space. And little else, no doubt."

"And space monsters!" Spoke up Wes with a glinting smile. "Isn't anyone excited about that?"

Obviously not.

"Well I vote Ryloth." Wes spoke up after awkwardly rubbing his hair in silence, lounging in one of the vacated crew chairs. At the looks he received, he shrugged. "It just seems logical. From Ryloth we'll just head back the Corellian line back where we came."

"Isn't it easier to track that way?" Luke pointed out.

"Does it matter?" Rebuked Wes. "No ones tracking us."

"That we know of."

"Luke has a point." Leia interrupted, and the blonde could have sighed in relief. "I don't like the thought of being so close to the imperials rummaging around here—it worries me. Or their bounty hunter scum."

"Not to be the devil's advocate here," John Branon, a lanky man with skewed jet black hair began nervously. "But… don't we work with the empire, anyway? Is there any clear reason we've been avoiding them so far other then the fact that the majority of us don't like them?"

"Isn't that all that really matters?" Biggs cut in, noting the pinched look to Leia's face—like she'd swallowed a sour Plavonian starfish. Regardless of what she'd said before, this was obviously still a contrary point with her.

John shrugged, like he'd only brought up the point to bring it up.

"Well…" Cap scratched his head, Ru seated beside him looking just as nervous with the turn of conversation as everyone else did. "Why don't we just stay on course? No point in changing now, anyway. We'll take a couple orbits around Ryloth and then we'll head back up the route and make for Corellia."

They disbanded warily after that, the bands of starpilots and smugglers looking a bit uneasy with the turn in conversation—though clearly it was no one's fault. But it surely was a sore point that had been in the back of everyone's minds. Technically, a bounty hunter's only priority was money. Technically, that was the only thing the squad cared about. Though each and every one of them individually had their own personal opinions, and considering that a good majority of them came from the Alliance, the Empire would always be a very tense revelation.

For everyone, that is, but Luke.

The blonde haired pilot was a bit more worried about how the course of the meeting had swerved directly to where he hadn't wanted it to.

It was only for a couple of days, he told himself, though it made no difference. A couple day may as well have been a lifetime, when Tatooine was concerned.

The cruiser was undeniably quiet, the mess hall completely deserted of its usually rowdy patrons. Luke nimbly made his way through the service droids putting around the halls, maundering over towards the suites. Both Wedge and Wes weren't in—most likely flying their crafts around the ship. Han was passed out in his room, and Leia, well…

"Of course." Came Leia's hushed voice.

Luke immediately swung the corner, keeping out of Leia's sight as he heard her pace down the hallway in her heels.

"I know—and yes. I'll be sure to pass the message along. You don't have to worry." A pause, and then. "Just consider it a favor, I suppose."

Luke didn't want to intrude, most likely she was talking to someone personal, and while he and Leia were close… he wasn't sure what the definition clearly meant. She had followed him to the squad, and they certainly had a connection that he didn't have with anyone else, something indescribable that even he couldn't quite put into words. But he hardly knew her, aside from that.

Surely she'd want some privacy.

"Hey, Luke!"

The blonde snapped to attention, pulled out of his musings.

Wes was jogging up to him, helmet in hand. Huh. He didn't go out on the flight after all, then. "What do you think about a joy ride around the system?"

"Are we even in orbit, yet?" Luke asked weakly, chuckling. He glanced surreptitiously down the hallway—Leia was gone.

Wes shook his head. "Not yet. But we're already in the Tatooine System. Might as well get a couple hours of flight in, ya know?"

"Sure, I guess." Luke nodded hesitantly, not quite sure how he felt about flying around Tatooine.

At the very least, he wouldn't be prowling the hallways of the ship in anxious waiting.

"When do we leave?"

.

.

.

Luke checked his radar, a bit confused as to why it wasn't showing the asteroid field some clicks away from where he and Wes were flying. He clearly remembered it being there, like a final barrier out of the cloying heat of the desert planet, a final test to assert how desperately he wanted to leave—to even circumnavigate an asteroid field. Tatooine loomed on the horizon, like a giant, insurmountable crest in his peripheral vision. In front of him, were two identical twin suns, one before the other that near burned his retina, UV protected goggles or not.

Wes double rolled before pitching forward with more torque then necessary, laughing as he panned out a couple more aerial tricks in front of Luke's stationary X Wing.

"I've gotta come up with a name for this thing!" Wes laughed, as he maneuvered his starcraft into another complex procedure. "Like, the Wes triple-threat trick."

"You sound like a goober." Luke chuckled. "Don't."

"I'll come up with something, then!" With that, Wes kicked his X-wing up a few gears, jetting off into silent space before Luke could protest.

"That moron—" He shifted gears as well, making to follow the other pilot. "He's gonna crash!"

Wes was going so fast he may or may not have already hit light speed, but Luke went faster and sped past him in an attempt to level next to him. Tatooine was no longer in the vague distance but so close it was tangible; as were the asteroids. Luke hit the breaks so hard he thought he may have broken them, swerving out of the path of a destructive rock right before he slammed right into it.

"Wes! Wes it's an asteroid field!" Luke shouted over the comm.

"What? !" Wes tumbled in after him, near missing a lethal spinning hulk. "Wh—but it didn't come up in my radar!"

"I know…" Luke hissed, distracted by his own piloting. "It wasn't in mine either. Just be really careful—"

"I've never piloted through an asteroid field before!" Came Wes' panicked voice.

"Keep your speed down, but don't slow down entirely." Luke hastily pushed a few buttons, changing the flight mode from cruising to manual. "You're gonna want to control the gears yourself—aim for smaller bursts of speed."

"My X wing doesn't have a lot of horse power…" Wes trailed off. "I'm not sure how fast it can accelerate."

"Then just keep your eyes pealed." Luke dipped under a floating rock. "The ones to look out for are the ones that are moving. And generally, they're moving fast."

Wes made a strangled cry. "Dammit! No wonder people never go into these death traps." He eyed Luke some feet to his left, who didn't seem at all perturbed by the fact they were flying in one of the most dangerous areas of space. Krith, even the most experienced of smugglers wouldn't dare go through one f these—asteroids were entirely unpredictable, though generally they showed up on one's radar to alert the pilot of an upcoming field.

Speaking of radars…

"Why didn't this come up?" Wes cried, more to himself then to Luke.

"Hmm… dunno. It wasn't big enough, I guess." Said Luke noncommittally, swerving to the left with a grace most pilots didn't have, dodging clear of a flying asteroid that sped past them seconds later.

Though perhaps the better question was…

"How did you know it was here, Luke?" Wes blinked, suddenly aware that his blonde friend wasn't even surprised by its location, regardless of faulty radars or not.

"Uh. Well they generally linger around the moons." Luke answered after a beat of silence. "Tatooine has five, though their very small and could probably pass for asteroids themselves—and the suns generally block them from view."

It didn't even cross Wes' mind how strange it was for Luke to know so much about a backwater planet like Tatooine—Luke just generally knew everything. And if not, then could make a well educated guess.

"So it's pretty small, then?"

"We should be clearing the end fairly soon." Luke affirmed.

Wes was just about to comment on what a stupid idea it had been to fly around in uncharted space, or at least, space no one cared to chart, when an asteroid he hadn't seen came flying from his left. He heard Luke cry out in alarm, but the rock had already crushed half of his left wing, sending him spiraling.

"Wes! Wes! Can you hear me?" Luke's voice was like static.

Lights were flashing in his cockpit, and he couldn't keep up with them. He switched on the emergency AI system, and pulled the wheel as far back as he could.

"K—Kinda… Luke?" There was so much noise. Everything was beeping, screaming for attention and the AI system's mechanical voice was attempting to talk over it, and Wes couldn't even understand all of it as he hit the breaks hard.

"Turn off the engine," Came Luke's voice, though it seemed to be coming from inside his head. "Put your oxygen mask on and turn off the engine."

Wes nodded, hearing nothing but the muted ringing of the aircraft before it all went silent as he shut it off—turning into a the screaming quiet of space.

Luke watched the lights on Wes' gray X Wing shut off as the boy killed the engine, nimbly moving around asteroids to catch up to the still spiraling craft. Without anything to stabilize it, Wes wouldn't be able to stop the craft from spinning.

It didn't take long for Luke to connect their crafts through one of the emergency cables, the problem was maneuvering the both of them back through the asteroid field and to the cruiser. It would be a nearly impossible feat, considering that Luke hadn't fueled before he left, and he'd be having to use twice as much to pull both him and Wes. Not to mention that Wes' X Wing was floating around lifelessly, tethered to Luke's and hindering his piloting.

The only thing, Luke supposed, that he could do now was set course to the planet below them and hope for the best.

A crash landing.

Dammit, his X Wing was fucked.

.

.

.

"Luke?" Leia called down the empty hallway. "Luke? Hello?"

No answer.

The girl frowned, hands on her hips. It was completely like the mysterious blonde to disappear when she needed him the most. She wavered a moment, contemplating if she should enter his locked room. It wasn't like he was there, anyway. Or was he? Maybe he was just sleeping…

A pause, before she pushed the button and the metal doors slip open to reveal Luke's sparse room.

There was very little that actually pronounced that the young blonde even lived there. She paused. Was Luke even young? He looked young. Though she didn't know his age, and for that matter, his birthday. She swallowed the awful feeling she got at the thought—she had considered them very close, perhaps closer then anyone else on the squad. Yet she didn't even know the simplest things about him.

"He's not here…" She frowned in evident disappointment, taking another sweep of the suite.

There was that picture, again. Of Luke and that smiling old man. He had to be maybe twelve or thirteen years old in this holograph, and he looked tan—more then usual, anyway—with a harsh sun beating down on him, wearing completely white.

"May your journey take you to the stars and beyond." Leia read aloud, fingering the side of the holograph. What could that mean?

Leia put the photo down, pulling out her comm and dialing Luke's number.

It rang four times, before she sighed an disconnected.

No answer.

Typical.

Leia's first choice for this mission had been Luke. He was trustworthy, he was the best, and to be quite honest, Luke was the only one Leia actually trusted out of all the other guys. Captain Ferrell was an even guy, and Han, while aggravating and money-loving, had his heart in the right place. But she wasn't sure what they'd feel about doing something so obviously life threatening. And that was the crux of it—Leia knew that out of any of them, Luke would be able to pull this off. The guy had a luck streak a mile wide, not to mention an uncanny ability to get himself out of stick situations.

Though the same could be said about Han, also a first rate pilot who definitely would've been on scary imp had he the patience, or the morals to do so. That, and Leia wasn't quite sure how she felt about him. He was certainly loyal, when he wanted to be… but for some reason, she wasn't sure if she wanted to place this on his shoulders.

Hiding the stolen death star plans for the alliance was definitely a sticky situation.

But Mon Mothma had pleaded with her, practically in tears, and if Leia was really honest with herself, the thought of the Death Star frightened her too.

What could the Empire do with such a monstrosity? The ability to kill entire planets—billions of lives in one shot. A destructive weapon that was almost twenty years in the making.

Leia shivered.

No, it was something greater then her.

This mission went above the Alliance, went above the squad.

This was fate.

And if she had to, she'd do it herself.

.

.

.

"Ugh…" Wes rubbed his head, where it felt like he'd been run over by a tauntaun.

He first became aware of how undeniably hot he was, and after that, he wondered why his skin felt like it was burning. And then realized it was. He leapt up with a yelp, regretting opening his eyes as he was faced with not one, but two burning suns, searing at his retinas.

"Oh hell…" The pilot moaned, scooting until he fell under the slight reprieve of shade.

When he was feeling less disoriented and more curious, he finally had the hindsight to shield his eyes with his arm before opening them. Not that there was much to see, aside from the broken terrain of dusty sand, rocks jutting out like reddish thumbs dotting the barren dustbowl of landscape. How depressing. He eventually found out the shade he had been using was his now, officially broken X Wing, and before he could full bemoan the loss of his beautiful craft, he was more preoccupied with the question, where was Luke?

"Luke?" The dark haired pilot stumbled onto his weak legs, squinting into the harsh light. "Luke!"

From this angle, he could clearly see the damage his X Wing had taken.

Wes could have cried, had he not thought better of saving his precious hydration in this burning desert.

And more importantly, Luke was nowhere in sight.

"Oh, krith." He swore, looking around. And then, the million dollar question; "What planet is this?"

"Tatooine." Came Luke's grim voice.

Wes near jumped.

The blonde scooted out from beneath his own X Wing, the once sleek profile of the dark black plane was no damaged profusely by what seemed to be one shitty landing. Not as bad as his own, tough, which looked like it had taken a couple beatings on the dirt before eventually admitting defeat to this god forsaken planet.

"Water stick?" Luke held out what looked to be a small tube of water.

Wes took it gratefully.

"We crashed." Said Luke by way of explanation, blonde hair tousled with sand and grease and dirt smudging his face. "Around two hours ago. I've been trying to get the comm working—looks like it crapped out on the way down."

"Great." Wes sighed, but it was without its usual cynical heat. This was turning out to be one bad day… "What are we gonna do?"

"I'm trying to fix what I can, but the engine's broken." Luke's face turned contrary. "We'll have to go into town and fix it there."

Wes could guess how long that would take.

"Will they even have what we're looking for?" He asked warily, sitting himself on what was left of his X Wing, wiping at his sweating brow and taking generous gulps of water.

Luke's smile was grim and ironic. "Shitty desert planet it may be, but Tatooine has the best parts this side of Coruscant."

Wes smiled. "I think my day just got better."

"Don't get your hopes up. We're also broke."

"And there they go." The dark haired pilot groaned. The heat beat down on him in relentless, dry waves. Every time he sipped from the stick his mouth only lost moisture faster. "Fuck. How do people live here? It's so goddamn hot…"

"It's midday." Came Luke's bemused response. He was once again completely shielded by the belly of his ship. "Generally people are indoors by now. It's the hottest part of the day."

"Smart people." Wes intoned. "I guess all we can do is try to get the comm working and hope someone can pick us up soon."

"Doubtful." Luke's head came up again. If possible, his face was even more smudged with soot. "There's a sandstorm a couple miles east. It'll be blocking all radio transmissions in the area. We could try to hail them, but the cruiser's on the other side of the planet."

Wes looked east. And, truth be told, there was a faint orange coloring to the sky, like an enormous wall of desert. Sand, actually. He blinked dazedly at it, before staring at Luke. He hadn't even looked up from his work.

Now that was just plain frightening.

"How did you…?—

"The air changes when there's a storm. It gets sucked over there." Was Luke's explanation. "Can't you feel the wind? If there wasn't a storm, there wouldn't be any at all."

Sometimes Wes was just plain amazed by the blonde. Where the hell did he learn all this from?

"At any rate…" The blonde grunted, pushing himself out from underneath his ship. "I don't think I can do anything else for this thing. We've gonna have to go into town."

Wes looked at him curiously. "And do what? We have no money."

"There's other ways." Said Luke with a smirk on his face.

Wes blinked. And then blinked again. "Oh no. Han's been such a bad influence on you."

Luke only smiled suggestively before beckoning the other pilot to follow him into the red distance. "There's a pretty big port town a mile or two away. I'm sure we can find a couple unsuspecting fools to pickpocket over there."

.

.

.

It was almost absurdly easy to slip out of the Venetus cruiser and out into space in one of the Y Wings in the hanger bay. Leia piloted the ship uneasily, feeling more anxious the farther she descended into space. Beneath her, Tatooine was a glowing orange ball, blinding and brightly furious with the double suns of this particular system. The squad had started orbit some time ago, though she'd yet to find Luke. While this had troubled her—there was nothing to be said.

She'd have to do it herself.

There was an Alderaan cruiser only a few minutes away from the Tatooine system, she was to rendezvous with the rebels on the ship and safely escort the plans to a safe destination. What destination that would be, however, was still lost upon her. Taking it back to the squad would only draw attention to them—and she doubted that any of Venetus would be happy about that. She supposed there had to be some planet she could hide them on for the time being. Surely a sand bowl like Tatooine would be good for something like that. At least until she could contact Mon Mothma and relay to the location of the plans.

This was serious, Leia swallowed thickly. This was the fate of the galaxy depending on her.

It wasn't long that Leia had to wait before the Alderaan cruiser exited hyperspace into the Tatooine orbit. The ship dwarfed her small one, and she immediately hailed communications with the enormous ship.

"This is the 187X Alderaan Cruiser. Please state identification codes."

Leia bit her lip, and took a breath. "I don't have any." She began, closing her eyes. "Mon Mothma sent me—I… I'm here too—

"It will be just one moment." Came the quick interruption, and Leia could hear the burst of relief in the man's voice that had been masked with calm deceptiveness.

Her ship was being hailed.

She switched it onto automatic and allowed the Y Wing to be pulled into the cruiser's hangar bay. She gave a last look to the silent galaxy behind her, where the Venetus cruiser was orbiting on the other side of the planet.

Hopefully they wouldn't think too badly of her.

The cruiser was spacious, but in complete disarray.

The worst part was—the crew looked to her like some sort of godsend. As if she had the answers to all their problems. Leia felt like someone had punched her in the gut.

"Princess!" A man ran up to her, looking so relieved she felt guilty. "Thank goodness you're here. Mon Mothma was unsure if you would be able to help."

"I'm still unsure." Leia rebuked with a wan smile. "But I'll try, at any rate. Where are the plans?"

The man, presumably the captain of the ship, handed her a nondescript looking disc. Something so important, on something so little? It shook in her hands, as she stared down at it in wonderment. This little thing, controlling the fate of the galaxy, the innumerable amount of sentient beings that called it home, and their destinies.

She took a breath. "Alright. Anything else I should be made aware of?"

There was a moment of hesitation as the man looked quite stricken, but he only shook his head quickly.

"Captain…?"

"N—No!" He answered hastily, steering her down the hall away from the hangar bay. "Though I have something for you…"

Leia looked up, and the two of them stopped walking.

Her eyes widened.

But that couldn't be—

"R2?" She choked "3PO?"

The two droids looked at her, R2 happily beeping as he sped over to her legs. 3PO trailed awkwardly behind, mouth faster then his limbs.

"Princess Leia! Oh, how pleasant it is to see you…" The droid, given its lack of facial expression, certainly did seem happy to see her. "Why, I was beginning to think you had abandoned us."

"Unintentionally." She chided. "I was just so caught up in all sorts of things and I completely forgot where I'd put you two!"

"Your father had us hold them on the ship." Said the captain awkwardly. "I guess he, uh, had faith that you would come back one day."

Leia's eyes softened at the thought of Bail Organa, her adopted father. The rebel alliance had been his life's work, and for a long time, Leia was sure it would be hers as well. She believed whole heartedly that the empire, and what it stood for, was nothing but evil. At the same time, she also believed that the alliance was getting just as little done as the empire. The majority of the higher ups spent more time arguing with each other then fighting the empire—and now they were in the most disastrous situation they'd every faced.

"I suppose…" Leia trialed off thoughtfully.

The man brightened. "Does this mean you'll be joining us again?"

"No, nothing like that." And immediately deflated. "I'm quite content with where I am now, thank you. Now, onto these plans…"

They walked further down the hallway, Leia curiously noticing that the farther they walked, the less people they saw. It wasn't long until the entire hallways was empty, and eerily silent, aside from 3PO's ungainly footsteps and the low drone of the captains voice as he explained. The death star plans were their only hope to defeat the monstrous space ship, which, he assured, was the size of a moon. Leia shivered at the thought.

"So you're positive that there's a weakness?" She asked in a daze. This was becoming a lot harder then she thought.

He nodded. "Of course. There has to be."

"But where? I can't think of any—

Leia didn't have any time to finish, as she was cut off by a shrill alarm and the sudden flashing of red lights down the hallway. R2 squeaked, and 3PO gasped. Beside her, the captain had went stiff.

But there was no frantic shouts of men or the mad dash of feet. The enter hall was silent. The entire hsip was silent… waiting… Leia felt the blood drain from her face. Suddenly… it all clicked to her.

"You knew." She hissed, furiously. "You knew they were after you—and you lead them straight to me!"

"I'm—I'm sorry!" The man gasped out, obviously afraid of a woman half his size. "I—we didn't know what else to do!"

"The alliance is part of this sham too?" Her eyes widened, before she frowned in disgust.

The man only floundered, sputtering for some sort of apology that wouldn't please her in the slightest. There was nothing she could do about it now—she was already here, already trapped, and the empire was already closing in. There was little else she could do but finish what she had started.

But how? She hadn't even figured it out on the way here, and now, to find she only had a few minutes to come up with some sort of plan…

"R2!" She barked, in a moment of miraculous epiphany. The droid came to attention. "Follow me."

And with that, she took off down the hallway, the rolling droid at her heels. "Oh no! Princess! Wait, don't leave me again, please!" 3PO pleaded in growing horror, attempting to catch up to them.

.

.

.

By the time they had successfully fished enough money out of people's pockets, not to mention a few rounds of judicious gambling—who would have thought Luke was so lucky— and gotten a tow speeder to pick up their broken crafts and get them to the shop, one of the twin suns was about to touch the ground. Wes was still a bit in awe at how every single one of Luke's bets was right to be seriously worried on how that was possible.

The blonde, for all intent purposes, was just getting lucky.

Mos Eisley was just as Luke had said. Big. Big and barren and covered in dust, just like the rest of the planet. In fact, it was almost sorry to look at. People maundered wherever the alcohol went, and seemed content to spend their lives gazing out into the never ending orange sand, never to leave this ugly, scarred planet.

Wes almost shivered at the thought.

The ships would take another thirty minutes before they were even operable, so he and Luke had taken the rest of their 'burrowed' cash and gotten a table on a veranda at a nearby restaurant. The entire building was made out of this pasty white sand, and the balcony, which was reserved for the most esteemed guests, was just the same. Luke didn't seem particularly bothered by the fact that their extra cash was considered wealthy enough to warrant a seat in the best section. He seemed more interested in watching the sunset and drinking hefty gulps of water.

Though in this heat, Wes couldn't blame him.

"Whew…" Wes downed his third glass. Water never tasted so sweet. "D'you think this stuff is free?" It certainly was on every other planet.

Luke chuckled. "Absolutely not."

Wes grinned, leaning back in his chair. "Well no wonder they love us, even though we haven't ordered any food." After all this, their total would probably be monstrous. Not that either minded.

"Hey… Wes…" Look trailed off, his eyes trailing towards the sky.

Wes followed suit, before recoiling from the still burning rays of Tatooine's last lingering sun. He shielded his eyes with his arm. "What?"

"Do you see that?"

No. All he saw was a giant burning ball of gas. "… I don't think so."

"That." Luke pointed directly into it.

"Uh—

"That black dot." A couple inches away from the rim of the fiery gas giant, was an almost imperceptible black smudge. It could have been anything, from a blurry spot in his vision to a plane in the sky.

"It's a dot, Luke." Wes sighed, leaning back. "It's probably just a cruiser landing, or something."

The blonde frowned, unconvinced. He fished out a pair of scouting goggles hanging from one of his belts, squinting into them to peer into the stratosphere. It didn't look like much—probably just a giant ship parked out in orbit. But it must've been quite large to show up through the naked eye.

Luke's eyes narrowed. "That can't be a regular cruiser…"

He had felt something… something ominous through the force. There was a tinge of Leia to it, a familiar presence that lingered of her, and it was wrapped in edgy fear. And another, just as familiar presence that he couldn't quite reason with…

Wes, who seemed to have sapped all his energy with just looking around in the blistering heat, hadn't heard him. Instead, he fanned himself, downing water. He gave a lingering look past his thoughtful friend and to the indoors. Undoubtedly it was just as hot, if not hotter, in there. Tatooine had obviously never heard of air conditioning.

And he most likely wouldn't have thought anything of Luke's unwillingness to let the subject go—Luke was just strange, generally all the weird stuff he did Wes just chalked it up to that. He got those weird 'feelings' he called them, and always seemed a step ahead of everyone else. And at other times, he was a slow and dense as a drunken Corellian fool.

But then his comm beeped furiously.

"Oh?" His brows raised. "So they actually fixed it?" He had half a mind to think the guy who fixed it up had just schemed them.

"Whatsup, Han?"

A pause, and then. "What? Y—You've got to be kidding me…"

Luke lowered his binoculars, curious.

Wes looked like he was having a heart attack. "Where? The other side of the planet? Oh, krith…"

"Wes?" Luke called, worriedly. "What's going on?"

Wes looked at him, stricken. "The Executor is in the atmosphere. …Darth Vader's here."

My favorite part has come (: