Chapter Nine – Part Two
Almost three months after signing away his soul, Jim found himself in a familiar place he didn't want to be. General Basic Training had been completed and the lucky survivors were doomed to fourteen days on some unknown world to survive – if they could. As soon as Jim set foot on the hard-packed sand, he looked up. Two suns. No planetary system in the Federation had a binary star. Looking around, he felt a deep dread in his gut.
"We're not on a Federation world." He said, mostly to himself. The nineteen other "survivors" gathered around him as Captain Pike waved cheerfully from the shuttle's hatch.
"Good luck, Cadet Skywalker! Welcome home!"
"Fuck."
"Jim? What's he talking about?" Leonard McCoy, a friend of his from the beginning of this crazy adventure, tapped him on the shoulder.
"See that double-primary?"
"Yeah?"
"We're not on a Federation world. If something happens to us, it could take a long time for anyone to find out." He hoisted the survival-pack onto his shoulders, "We have two weeks to get from where we are now to Mos Eisley Spaceport."
"Where are we?"
"Smack in the middle of the Dune Sea. Not the friendliest place."
"What's out here, Jim?" Nyota Uhura asked faintly.
"Jawas and Tusken Raiders. Beggar's Canyon is six miles in that direction, I want to get there before nightfall." Jim pulled the reflective goggles down over his eyes, wrapped the scarf around his nose and mouth, pulled up the hood of his long off-white duster, and turned west. Under the duster, Jim wore a gold jumpsuit with the badge of the Command-Helm division on the left breast. Everyone in his group wore a division-color jumpsuit under their jackets with proper badges according to their study-tracks. They wore badges on their jacket and on their jumpsuits. Once everyone had appropriate protection, Jim led them across the desert to Beggar's Canyon. There was static-electricity in the air, and the sky to the east was hazy. A sandstorm was coming, and the way the wind was picking up, it was coming fast. Jim really didn't want to get caught out in the open desert during one of Tatooine's sandstorms. When someone lagged behind, he went back and told them to keep moving.
"A sandstorm's coming! Tatooine's storms are fierce, you don't want to get caught out in the open during one of them! Keep moving!" He yelled over the howling wind. The storm overtook them, but one sharp-eyed Cadet had spotted a structure in the near distance. They headed for the small house, Jim was just praying whoever lived there wouldn't mind twenty exhausted Starfleet Cadets invading for shelter. The house was empty, but they got inside and shut out the storm. As his Cadets dropped their packs and collapsed, Jim pushed up his goggles and pushed back his hood.
"Well, it's better than nothing." Nyota coughed, "Where are we?"
"I don't know. Let me look around, I don't think anyone's home." He padded through a dark, quiet house. There was room in the back of the house, and he sent his Cadets back there to lay out their ground-pads and bedrolls.
"Jim, someone lives here, we can't stay." McCoy came up as he explored the house, "We're trespassing."
"I don't think whoever lives here is going to mind too much, Bones."
"Why not? I'd be pretty damn pissed if I came home to twenty punk kids sleeping on my floor!"
"Because whoever lives here is a Jedi."
"Oh, that's comforting."
"It should be, old man." Jim smiled, "I actually know the people who live here."
"You do?"
"Yep. This is old Ben Kenobi's place. He always used to tell me if I needed a place to stay, I could stay with him."
"Well, that's nice, but something tells me he didn't mean to extend that invitation to nineteen other strangers."
"Stop it, Bones, we're safe here." Jim snapped, fed up with his friend's moaning, "If you were going to be such a moaner, you should have dropped out of Starfleet a long time ago."
"Jim…"
"No. You might think your life's pretty sad right now, and maybe it is, but you're crying to the wrong person, man." Jim brushed past his friend, "I grew up here, Bones, this place was home for a long time. I never went to sleep a night in my life without worrying about if I'd wake up to find a rifle in my face because the Empire had found the Skywalkers at last."
"Is that why you lived in Iowa for so long?" Nyota had come to try and diffuse the situation. Jim looked at her and nodded.
"Yeah, that's why I lived on Earth for so long. The Empire's not about to fuck with the Federation. They're not that desperate."
"You never told me that." Bones looked puzzled.
"You never cared." Jim left the kitchen, "We're safe here for tonight. Wherever Master Kenobi is right now, I doubt we'll see him until tomorrow." Jim laid out his bedding and sat down, back against the wall. Despite their argument just now, Bones settled down to his right and Nyota to his left. The house got quiet really quick as people started falling asleep, the only sound really was the howling wind as the sandstorm lashed at the house in vain. Jim finally fell asleep around midnight, safe and exhausted.