Sorry to be getting this out so late. My Dad has been shutting off my internet in the morning so I'll do my AP work for school. One more month for me before Junior Year. Scary stuff.
Anyways, I just got home and edited this chapter for you, and as a special bonus, this is twice as long as normal at 4 thousand words and 10 pages in Open Office. Anyways...
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Star Wars, or any other war, land, sea, or space.
Chapter Twenty-Five
"Ben's home was not far from here," Luke said, scanning the horizons. "I think it was just up this canyon."
"Let's look in the ships," Leia proposed. "This heat is really getting to me."
"Seriously, Luke," Mara added, fanning herself dramatically. "How did you survive this place?"
He shrugged. "I just always lived here. I don't know."
"Okay, well, let's get going," Leia said, walking back up the ramp and into the Falcon. Luke climbed back up the ladder into his X-Wing and pulled it up into the ship. Mara followed suit and Luke was the first to lift up and head out. They flew for a minute or so before Luke came back over the comm.
"I see it, you guys!" Luke announced. "Just over the ridge. Let's land next to it so we don't have to carry the water as far."
"Roger that," Leia said back. They lowered their ships to the ground and exited, examining Ben's home.
"Looks untouched," Luke surveyed happily. He stepped forward and through the door, surveying inside. "It is. No one's been here."
"Well that's good for us," Leia said gruffly. "Let's get these water jugs unloaded."
They all nodded and with a combined effort had the smuggling holds unloaded within an hour. Leia leaned against the last crate and sighed.
"Let's make a pact to drink all this so we don't have to reload it," she suggested and Chewie woofed out a laugh.
"We probably will," Luke said. He made his way around the secluded home, looking for any details that Ben might have left. He came to the small box that Ben had pulled out his father's lightsaber all those years ago and stopped. He fingered the latched and lifted the old lid, revealing nothing but dried rations, spare canteens, and a woven blanket.
"What'd you find?" Mara asked walking over and looking over his shoulder.
"Nothing," he sighed. "I thought there would be more, since this is where Ben kept my father's lightsaber, but there's nothing here!"
"Maybe he hid things underneath it?" she suggested, smiling deviously. She lifted the packs of rations out and then the various Canteens. As she lifted the blanket up, she heard Luke gasp. Hidden under it was a plethora of various cylinders and power cells. A small metal box lied in the corner, and upon further inspection revealed to be a case with nearly twenty lightsaber crystals.
"He must have been stock piling these since the Empire put a tight lock down on the crystals," Luke summed up.
"Really," Mara said. She lifted the various cylinders and held them in her hands, weighing them.
"Those are the casings," He said.
"I figured that out, Farmboy," she rolled her eyes.
"What'd you find?" Leia asked, walking over to them.
"Everything we need to assemble a lightsaber," Luke replied.
"This is the final test," Mara realized and looked up at Luke. "This is the final trial to becoming a Jedi Knight."
Luke's eyes widened in realization. "I... I don't know what to say."
"Neither do I," she nodded.
"Construct new lightsabers," Leia commanded and the two Jedi learners looked up at her. "Construct them. Luke, you need a new blade anyway, and Mara, you need to declare your final independence from Palpatine."
Mara grinned as she examined the casings she held once more. "I like this one," she said, holding up a thinner metal case that fit her hand better. There were thin indents along it, with black rings towards the top.
Luke reached into the box once more and grabbed one of the cylinders for himself. It looked an awful lot like Ben's old blade.
"I'll use this one," Luke nodded. He tossed it up in his hands a few times, testing the weight before smiling.
"We'll start tomorrow," Mara grinned. "For now, I'm hungry. Let's eat!"
Mara leaned against the side of Ben Kenobi's home and stared up at the stars. She could see Coruscant glowing brightly up in its system, and just a few systems over she could spot Sullust, where the Rebel Fleet currently resided. They looked so close, but she knew that looks were deceiving. They were in reality parsecs away.
"What are you doing out here?" Luke asked, coming out of the Hovel.
She wrapped her arms around herself and smiled at him. "Just looking at the stars."
He stood next to her and looked up, a small smile playing at his lips. "I don't know how often I looked at these and dreamed of becoming an ace pilot in the Academy."
"You probably would've knocked the socks off the commanders," she teased. He smiled at her and blushed slightly in the bright moonlight. Two of the moons were out tonight, the third being in rotation on the other side of the planet. Sometimes Luke found it hard to live on a planet where there weren't nearly as many moons, if any at all. There were dozens of planets out there that had no moons at all, painting the night in total darkness. Other planets had so many moons that it was hard to maneuver down to the surface because of the conflict in gravity.
Mara shivered slightly and Luke wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. She leaned into his embrace, letting the solid sound of his heart calm her. They stood like that for a few minutes before Luke spoke again.
"Let's go into town tomorrow, just you and me," he said.
"I thought you didn't want to because of Imperial Entanglement?"
"Yeah, but Anchorhead isn't all that known for being the worst of Tatooine," he shrugged. "And we'll take extra precautions."
She smiled and looked up at Luke.
"What d'ya say?" he grinned.
"Alright," she smiled. "Maybe you can show me some of your old hang outs."
"There weren't many," he admitted. "Uncle Owen mostly kept me at the Farm. But sometimes I went to Tosche Station or Beggar's Canyon."
"Well, then we should definitely go there," she announced. They looked back up at the sky and saw a bright streak fly across it before disappearing. "Did you see that?"
"Yeah," Luke laughed at Mara's excitement. "There are a lot of asteroids in this quadrant."
"Still," she said, "doesn't it make you feel like a kid again?"
"Yeah," he admitted. "But if I were a kid, I couldn't do this," he said as he kissed her on the lips. Mara fell into the kiss and pressed herself closer to him.
"Hey! You guys out here?" Leia called, exiting the hovel. Luke and Mara jumped apart like two caught teenagers and blushed. Leia smirked at the pair. "We're turning the sensors on, you guys coming in?"
"Yeah," Luke nodded, and grabbed Mara's hand. He pulled her along and into the hovel behind Leia. A small encampment was set up in the living room with several blankets strewn on the floor and any cushions placed around to resemble pillows. "We're sleeping in the living room?"
"Yeah," Leia said. "The bed is falling apart, I didn't want to risk it. These are all the blankets I could find."
"Alright," Luke shrugged. He glanced over in the corner where an already softly snoring Wookiee lay with his hands behind his head. He cracked a grin at the sight and glanced down at the floor. Mara was rifling through her bag for her sleep shorts and tank and Leia was just heading off to one of the other rooms to change. He shrugged and grabbed his sleep pants out of his bag and as Leia disappeared around the corner he quickly began changing.
"Luke!" Mara hissed, trying not to wake Chewie.
"What?"
"You're changing in here?" she asked, a tone of disbelief in her voice.
"Yeah..." he drew out, wondering what her problem was.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to sleep in my day clothes?" he asked, and began tugging on his sleep pants.
"But Leia could come back at any moment!"
"Which is why I'm changing now," he shrugged and pulled off his tunic. He tossed the article of clothes over towards his bag and laid down on the ground. Mara rolled her eyes and threw her hands up, before grabbing her clothes and stalked off towards where Leia had gone to change. A few moments later, Leia came around the corner and stopped as she saw Luke sitting there in his sleep clothes.
"Did you change out here?"
"Yeah, why?" he asked.
She hesitated before shrugging and mumbling out a "no reason" and sitting down. Luke gave up trying to figure out what their aversion to him changing in the main area was and sat down. Mara joined them a second later, lying down next to Luke. He waved his hand and shut off the light before wrapping an arm around Mara and pulling her close. She moved closer into the embrace. The soft sounds of Chewie's snores filled the room and soon they were all asleep.
The next morning, Mara woke up with Luke's arm around her waist, holding her to him firmly. She relaxed against him and sighed before opening her eyes again and looking around.
"Morning," Leia whispered from across the room, startling Mara.
"Morning," she replied once she'd calmed down. "What time is it?"
"Just after 0700," Leia said. "You looked comfortable, I didn't feel like disturbing you."
"I appreciate that," Mara grinned, leaning her head back on Luke's chest. She noted the forlorn look in Leia's eyes and mentally kicked herself. "We'll get him back, Leia."
Leia snapped her eyes to attention, the mask falling back in place. "I know," she said, almost unconvincingly.
"Leia," Mara insisted. "You gotta believe we will."
"I know," Leia sighed. She sat down on the ground not to far from Mara and leaned against the wall. "It's just the Empire has taken so much away... Sometimes it just seems simpler to resound myself to failure."
"We'll never win with that attitude," Luke said, catching both women by surprise.
"Sorry for waking you up," Leia said ashamedly.
"I've been up for awhile," he shrugged.
"You're incorrigible," Mara teased and turned and kissed him good morning. She paused and made a sour face. "You need to brush."
Leia laughed and shook her head.
Chewie rounded the corner with a tray of food laughing. He growled out something and Luke looked offended.
"Hey, seriously," he cried out. "My breath is not that bad! I don't care how sensitive your nose is, you can't smell it from the kitchen."
Chewie shrugged and Leia and Mara laughed. Luke threw his hands in the air and walked off towards the fresher, muttering how he can't trust anyone.
"That lying Bantha!" Luke cried out and Mara walked over to where he stood. They were in the Garage Port of Ben's home, seeing if there was anything they could use.
"What?" Mara asked looking over Luke's shoulder.
"He told me he needed transport to Mos Eisely to go to Alderaan," Luke explained. "That lying Bantha had a speeder all along!"
Mara reached in and pressed the engine start-up switch and the speeder coughed out a cloud of dust before lifting up off the blocks that held it up.
"Well, it still works," she shrugged. "We can use it when we go to Anchorhead."
"Yeah," Luke pouted, still miffed about Ben Kenobi's white lie.
"I'll go tell Leia where we're going," she said before walking out of the garage and back towards the main house. Luke found the extra fuel cells and placed them in the back compartment in case they ran low. You didn't exactly want to get caught in the middle of the desert a few klicks out from your destination. And you never knew until an hour or so before a Sandstorm would hit. He'd seen the results of travelers that had gotten caught in those. The only thing left to identify them was jewelry.
Artoo rolled into the garage area and twittered out a question. Luke reached for his pocket translator for the droid and nodded.
"Yeah, Artoo, we'll be heading into Anchorhead."
Artoo beeped out another response.
"Thanks, Buddy," Luke grinned and patted the droid on his dome. "You look out for me more than I deserve."
Artoo blew out an electronic raspberry and turned to the speeder. He let out a low whistle.
"Yeah, this thing probably dates back to the clone wars," Luke nodded. "Ben must have bought it just after the instatement of the Empire." He paused for a moment before glancing back at the little astromech. "Artoo, you were around before the Empire, right?"
Artoo beeped out an affirmative.
"Just how old are you?"
Artoo paused and glanced at the speeder, clearly avoiding the question.
"Artoo..." Luke warned. The droid let out an electronic sigh and turned to him. He beeped out a long winded stream of binary and then turned and rolled out of the garage. Luke glanced at the translator and shook his head at the droid's antics.
That is classified information. I have not received permission to reveal this.
Permission? Luke sighed. As far as he knew, all the droid's previous owners were dead. Leia mentioned Captain Antilles being his last Master, and before that her father was a primary user. She didn't know who came before that, but the droid never gave an inclination to still be serving someone else.
"Credit for your thoughts?"
Luke glanced up and saw Mara standing in her old black jumpsuit with a covering laying back on her shoulders, ready to act as a hood. She even had goggles draped around her neck.
"Hey," he smiled, his eyes roaming appreciatively over her body. "I was just thinking about how much Artoo with holds information from us. I wonder if I could bypass it..."
"Beats me," she shrugged. "I know nothing when it comes to droid maintenance."
"It doesn't matter," he waved dismissively. "Are you ready to go?"
"Ready when you are," she smiled. Luke nodded and headed towards the driver door of the speeder and jumped in, Mara following. He pulled out of the little garage quickly and into the desert, immediately pressing on the thrusters to pick up the speed.
"I missed going this fast," he commented over the sound of the wind. She grinned.
"It's very freeing," she laughed, leaning her head back and catching the warm breeze.
"I used to always go this fast through Beggar's canyon with Biggs and race him. I only lost two races: The first one, and the one where I ran out of fuel."
"Impressive," she nodded. "You'll have to show me this elusive Canyon."
Luke flashed her a grin. "Maybe we could check out my old home, see if my old Skyhopper is still there."
"We should make sure we do," she nodded and grabbed Luke's hand holding it between them as he continued to steer. They lapsed into silence and within ten minutes they saw the outlines of Anchorhead. It wasn't much, just a small settlement, not nearly as large as Mos Espa, and only the size of one of Mos Eisely's ports, but it was home to Luke in some ways still. He'd had good memories there.
Luke pulled into town and parked his speeder next to a sandstone structure.
"Where are we?" Mara asked, looking around and absorbing all the details.
"Tosche station," he answered. "It supplies the power to almost all the settlements around here. People really only came here to buy parts for Vaporators, but my friend Fixer used to work here. We used it as a hangout."
"Wow," she said and they went inside. The cooler air was a welcome indoors, and the place wasn't very well lit, casting an eery shadow among everything.
"Can I help you?" a gruff voice asked from behind one of the counters. They looked over and saw a well weathered man watching them and still focusing on the smashball game on the wall.
"Yeah, do you know if Fixer Loneozner still lives around here?" Luke asked and the man raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yeah, he's actually in town today," the man shrugged. "You just missed him. I think he's heading out to meet his girl at one of the shops around here. I don't know..."
"Does he still work here?" Luke asked and the man shook his head.
"Works for Tagge, of TaggeCo," the man gruffed. "They came in here and started buying up farms. Plan to make a huge business running Vaporators."
"I think I heard he was working there," Luke sighed. "I guess I thought I might still be able to catch him."
"Yeah, well if he stops by, who do I say was looking for him?"
"Luke," he answered simply. The man raised an eyebrow when he received no last name but just shrugged it off.
"Fine, good luck," the man waved dismissively. Luke and Mara turned and walked back out into the sun, squinting at the sudden brightness.
"Where are we going to look for them?" Mara asked as they climbed back into the speeder.
"Well, if we drive down this main stretch of road here," Luke pointed towards a row of shops and buildings, "Then our chances are fairly good that we'll see them."
He started the speeder up and sure enough, within two minutes of driving he spotted them.
"There they are!" he grinned as they walked into a small cantina. Luke parked the speeder out front and they exited, walking into the smoke filled building. Luke thought back to four years ago, when he and Kenobi had entered a cantina much like this one and met Han. It was almost like deja vu. Or a dream. He couldn't decide. He half expected to hear Han off in one corner boasting about his ship...
"You never heard of the Millennium Falcon? She's the ship that made the Kessel Run in under twelve parsecs."
"There they are," Mara's voice drew him out of his thoughts. He glanced over and saw her gesturing to a table in the back where the two were sitting with someone.
"Wow, that's Deak they're sitting with," Luke grinned. He shook his head and started walking forward, Mara following closely. They walked closer as the group burst out laughing at a joke. Luke smiled as he remembered all the jokes they'd made in the past together.
"You ever finish that pod, Fixer?" he called out and the group silenced and looked up at him.
"Wormie? That you?" Fixer asked as Luke walked closer.
"The one and only," Luke laughed. Fixer stood and got out of the booth before walking straight over and hugging Luke quickly.
"Wow, I haven't seen you since your Aunt and Uncle died," he shook his head in disbelief. "Where've you been this whole time?"
"Around," Luke shrugged, careful not to reveal his status in the Rebellion.
"Kriff, you ain't kidding," Fixer laughed. He glanced over Luke's shoulder and noticed Mara standing there with a small smile on her face. "Kriff, Luke, who's that?"
"Watch it, Fixer," Camie teased, feigning jealousy.
Luke laughed. "This is Mara, Mara, Fixer, Camie and Deak."
"Hey," Deak nodded.
"C'mon," Fixer nodded, "Sit with us, have a drink!"
Luke laughed and took his seat, Mara sliding in next to him.
"So where's Windy?" Luke asked, and a sad smile crossed their faces.
"He got caught up with some Smugglers awhile back," Deak said sadly. "Imps got him on Spice smuggling. He's either dead or in Kessel."
"Wow," Luke shook his head. "That's harsh."
"Anyway," Fixer waved an arm. "Have you been back at the Lars' yet?"
"No, we were heading there later," Luke answered. "Why?"
"Just curious," Fixer shrugged. "The Darklighters found your relatives and buried them in the family plot, next to your grandparents."
"Oh, I'll have to thank them," he nodded.
"I wouldn't head over there," Camie warned, leaning back in the booth. "Ms. Darklighter isn't exactly your biggest fan."
"Why? What did I do?" Luke asked.
"Luke," Fixer said quietly, glancing around the mostly empty cantina. "Pretty much everyone out here has heard about the bounty on your head."
"Oh," Luke said quietly, leaning back. "I see..."
"Yeah," Fixer nodded. "Listen, we don't care so much, but pretty much after news of the battle station that blew up Alderaan hit the Holo, not too much later Bounty Hunters started asking questions about you."
"We all know about how you and Biggs joined the Rebellion," Deak said meekly, always having been the quieter friend.
"Yeah, but Biggs' death wasn't my fault," Luke defended.
"But Ms. Darklighter still blames the Rebellion, and everything associated with it, including you."
"That's not fair," Mara protested. "I read the report as soon as it hit the Empire."
"Frankly, nobody cares what went down," Camie said coolly.
"Watch it, Camie," Luke warned and the girl turned her stare to Luke.
"Or what, Wormie?" she asked. "You'll sic Vader on us?"
"Watch your tone," Mara hissed, her fingers itching to pull a blaster on Camie.
"Listen, Red," Camie shot back. "You guys can play Rebels all you want. I could care less, but you guys are making things a lot worse on backwater worlds. The Empire is cracking down hard everywhere looking for you. We have regulations on everything now. Even the water is going to those troopers first."
"Camie," Fixer said, placing a hand on her arm but she shook it off.
"No! Fixer, don't you see what kind of danger we could be in here?" she asked. "We have Bounty Hunters first looking for him dead or alive, now he has a live bounty. The Empire wants him bad right now."
"The Empire wants everyone," Luke said. "Not just me."
"You're top of the list," she said.
"Camie, that's enough," Fixer said harshly.
"Look, Luke, I'm sorry," he sighed. "I don't know why you're back on Tatooine, and I don't pretend to want to know, but as soon as you're done here, please don't come back unless you defeat the Empire."
Luke nodded once. "It was nice seeing you again."
"You too," Fixer nodded. "It was nice meeting you, Mara."
"Likewise," she smiled politely, but turned her harsh gaze back to Camie.
"Keep a leash on her," Camie warned and Mara snapped. She lunged and tried to dive across the table before Luke caught her arms and pulled her back while Fixer hopped in front of Camie to protect her.
"Let me go!" Mara cried, pulling against Luke's grip. "Skywalker, I swear you better let me go!"
"Not gonna do that," he shook his head and pulled her out of the cantina and into the mid-morning suns. Once they were out Mara finally yanked free and stepped away to stare at him.
"You're really gonna take that Bantha Poodoo from her?" she asked, gesturing to the door of the cantina where Camie remained.
"It doesn't matter," Luke said. "I don't care about that."
"And what was with 'Wormie'? Wormie this! Wormie that!" she cried out. "What the hell kind of nickname is that?"
"They used to tease me when I was younger with that, I hated it," Luke said.
"Some friends!" Mara huffed and crossed her arms. "Why give a name like that to someone?"
"It was because I used to have a crush on Camie," he admitted and Mara snapped her attention back to Luke.
"What?"
"When I was younger," Luke waved. "I'd pretty much resounded myself to never getting a chance with her a long time before I left this rock."
Mara stared at him before Luke felt the sudden probe at his thoughts before he could put his shields up.
"You slept with her," she said, slightly astounded.
"Mara, I was 17," he said. "It was a long time ago, and she only used me to get over a fight with Fixer."
Mara turned back to look at the cantina and shook her head.
"Mara," Luke sighed and reached for her. She flinched and pulled away.
"Just... give me a minute," she put her hands up. "I just need to absorb this info."
"She was a long time before I met you," Luke sighed.
"Luke, just..." she trailed off. "Just take me away from here. Let's go to your Uncle's farm. Okay?"
Luke swallowed heavily and nodded and the two of them got in the speeder. They sat in silence as they headed off into the distance. Anchorhead became a small blimp behind them before disappearing behind the sandy hills. Mara scanned the horizon and didn't speak, her back to Luke, so he couldn't see the lone tear that drifted down her face.
Don't freak out! Wedge warned him, and that was foreboding my folks. I learned about this in the fourth grade. Haha!
I doubt the next chapter will be nearly as long as this, but I kinda owe you guys for the less than stellar previous chapters. Those were pretty much just a bridge to Tatooine. I just have to get us up to Jabba's Palace. Oh, which, is fun since I actually don't like RotJ that much. Did I ever mention that? Yeah... least favorite in the OT. In my opinion, it's also the weakest, but I know my sister will defend it for her love of Ewoks.
In other, fan fiction news, remember how I pushed you guys reading Alliance of Heros? Well, the sequel was put up just a day or two ago. If you didn't see it on the feed, then you need to go and read it. I seriously love this story. Haha!
Also, I encourage you to look up 'Troopers' on YouTube. The one by CollegeHumor. So funny... Total Star Wars parody, and I love it to death. Make sure you watch the eleventh one on their website. That one isn't on YouTube I don't think.
This note just keeps going on and on...
Okay, in my news, I am totally going to geek out the next week. I just got the book on the making of the original Star Wars (ANH) and I can't wait to read it. I've read the one on the making of ESB, and it was really well written. If you have the time or money, you really should look into getting or borrowing them. The have some really neat pictures and it touches on the little technical things they did to make the movies, including original scripts. Such as Minch Yoda. And Anakin's ghost telling Luke that he had a brother/sister/twin also studying to be a Jedi. The things that almost were...
Oh, and the 'I am your father' scene? Filmed ten feet above a pile of mattresses. Just thought I'd let you know. LMAO
NEXT CHAPTER: The visit to the Lars' homestead.