Sorry for taking so long! I got a bit depressed about the quality my writing and lost inspiration for this story for a bit, but never fear, for I am here!

Enjoy!

Luke had been meditating in his cell for lack of anything else to do, after finishing his escape plan.

Now all he had to do was wait for his opportunity to execute it. He was ready and waiting to leave this stupid cell, and sick of meditating.

"Just because it's necessary doesn't mean you have to enjoy it, Young Luke." Ben had told him one day, after he had been particularly stubborn about not wanting to meditate. Despite everything the Jedi Master was good at, he was horrible at making Meditation appeal to his apprentice.

Luke smiled at that thought, and then stood up.

His opportunity had finally come.

He had heard something happening outside of his cell and the guards outside of his cell moving towards the noise, probably to see what was going on.

Now.

During his time in the cell, Luke had used the Force to find the button that opened the door through the wall. Now, he used that knowledge to his advantage.

The door opened with a hiss, and Luke stepped out of his cell and back into freedom.

As soon as he was over the cell's threshold, he ran to the nearest supply closet, opening it and looking for his bag. The Imperials would have either put it in there or in an office, from what Luke could guess.

For a government he was supposed to be fighting, he really didn't know too much about them.

He would have to fix that, but it could wait until he got his lightsaber back.

No, not here...

Luke ran to the next closet, opened the door to it, and checked the inside.

Ergh! Where could they have they put it? It can't be too far from here!

"Hey!"

Luke made the mistake of looking towards the person, or rather Stormtrooper, who had just shouted.

And then he was being shot at by white-armored troops that couldn't hit a womp rat even if they tried, from what Luke could see. If there were so many Stormtroopers on Lothal, why weren't they better trained?

Ben had told him everything about his old troops, in case Luke had to face some of them in the near future. And these guys? They were seriously underwhelming. He had thought Stormtroopers to be better than these guys.

Quantity over quality, Luke supposed.

Their mistake.

He probably wouldn't even need his Lightsaber to ward them off.

If he got it back.

Luke swerved and dodged, running down the corridor as fast as he could. He kept an eye out for supply closets and office doors, in hopes of finding his bag.

He had just outrun his pursuers when he spotted another door, well camouflaged into the wall.

There!

Luke opened the door, and saw his bag sitting innocently on one of the shelves. He called his bag to him with the Force, knowing that he had no time to go in and retrieve it, and ran just as he heard the sound of boots on a tiled floor.

More shots were fired in his direction.

Luke looked inside of his bag, making sure that nothing was missing.

Thank the force, they didn't find it!

Luke smiled, relieved, and then realized just how much he had run.

He needed a break.

The stormtroopers weren't even close to him now, due to the random turns he had taken in the hallways. A familiar tactic that Ben and his father had used against Battle Droids during the Clone Wars, which Ben had passed on to him.

And since they weren't close to him, he could take a couple of seconds to rest.

Luke slowed, panting, and took his lightsaber out of his bag, finding comfort in the familiar grip in his hand. He sagged against the wall, winded from his run.

He turned the lightsaber around in his hand, surveying the familiar dents in it.

It was good to hold his father's lightsaber once again.

It was all he had left of the man, after all.

Free, at last!

Luke calmly stepped out of the base, smiling, and then strolling away as if he had no care in the world. He pulled off the miniature helmet he had found, revelling in the sensation of fresh air across his face.

He had waited in a closet for the commotion to die down, bored out of his wits and impatient to leave. There was only so much of sitting in a small space alone one could take.

But he didn't have to wait long to leave, at least.

He had learnt a lot about the Empire through the contents of that closet.

Thank goodness for spare uniforms, and the comlink channels in spare helmets. By sitting in that closet and listening in, he was now able to understand most of jargon the officers used.

Without that understanding, his escape would've been much harder than it was.

When the time was right, Luke changed into the smallest uniform he could find, and got out of there as fast as he could.

And now, to steal a speeder, leave this base behind, and find a job. I'm still freezing, even in this uniform!

Luke put his helmet back on, and resumed walking.

A few hours later, Luke found himself in front of the seediest looking bar he could find, which wasn't even the seediest place he had seen. Lothal had nothing on Tatooine.

Well, except for the fact that if he were on Tatooine, he would have at least been considered for a job already.

He would know. He'd been job-hunting both places.

Luke had been told at just about every place he had gone to that day in hope for some quick work that he "shouldn't be working at such a young age, why didn't he apply for the Imperial Academy instead?"

Which had really, really started to to annoy him.

At one place, he had gone in to ask and the owner had just told him "No," before telling him to get out of his store and never come back again. It was rude of the shopkeeper, but it was better than being told to go home and apply for the academy for the millionth time.

Luke applauded the fact that the shopkeeper was honest with him, despite being put off by his rudeness.

Is everyone here so rude? At least on Tatooine, people pretend to be polite! And everyone there's a criminal of some sort!

He looked up at the bar's dilapidated sign, which blinked on and off again, broken.

Old Jho's pit stop.

He hoped he had some luck here.

An automated chime sounded as he went through the bar's door, signaling his entrance.

He was expecting something a lot more dilapidated, not the seemingly pristine interior he saw. It was relatively quiet, with the only noises around being the quiet drone of the radio and the soft chatter of the bar's customers.

Luke walked up to the counter, and waved for a bartender.

An Ithorian bartender with a respirator responded to his signal, walking up while pouring a drink for another customer. He nodded, waiting for Luke to speak.

"Hello! Can I speak with the manager? I saw a sign on your door saying you had a job opening…" Luke said, trailing off.

"I'm the manager and owner, kid. Jho. Nice to meet you. " The Ithorian replied, "Always good to see a new face around. You want the job, then?"

"Yes, sir! I already have some experience with pouring drinks and cleaning, if you need someone for that…"

"You don't have to convince me to give you the job, kid. You're the first person that's come up to me asking for the job, and that sign's been up a few weeks now. Take it."

"Really?" Luke said, aghast. That had been the fastest he had ever received a job, even compared to some of the ones he had done on Tatooine.

And he had gotten it on the first try, too!

Luke smiled. He was right, he did have some luck here.

"Thank you so much, sir! I'll do my best!"

"You're welcome, kid. But if I don't see you here at 0800 tomorrow, you're fired immediately, got it?"

Luke nodded.

The bartender gave him the Ithorian version of a smile, and the shooed him off.

The young Jedi wondered how in the galaxy he was going to tell the bartender that he only needed to work there for a couple of days, and then was probably never going to go back to this cold, dismal planet again.

He turned away from the bar, stepping past a few tables crowded with patrons, and walked out of the shop.

Next up: Actually getting to the plot of this story and finally quitting with the filler! Sorry about all of that, lovely viewers...

I'm permanently uninspired to write anything on track :(

Cheers!

~Extra