I am a procrastinator and easily distracted. I will admit it but now you have a new chapter. :)
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Mara bit her lip as she pondered on the wisdom of bringing strangers to her home but she reasoned that they were just farmers not Imperial Agents.
Besides, she had a crush on Luke.
"Dad, I'm home." She called as she led the older teenagers into her family's home.
Rayvon looked at her in shock from where he was sitting on a crate.
Mara knew what her brother was thinking; she had brought people to their home and possibly endangered all of them.
"Mara," her father began, "who are your friends?"
"They are Luke, Leia and Aryaih father." Mara said. "They live on a Moisture Farm with their families.
"They were looking for a droid that they had recently bought and Raiders attacked them." Mara went on to explain.
"He claims to belong to a General Kenobi." Aryaih stated.
Mara could tell that her father was shocked but she felt some hope.
Soon it would be time to fight against the Empire that had murdered her mother and the woman that she had known as a mother.
"Can I see the droid?" Her father asked after few moments.
Luke nodded.
"Sure, I'll go get him." He told them as he headed for the door.
A few minutes later Luke returned with a very battered looking Q3 unit. Mara felt her heart sink. She hadn't seen the droid much when it had been loaded into the speeder. She doubted that the information the droid had for them would be undamaged.
Mara covertly looked at her father and noted that he didn't seem to recognize the droid; but then her father was fond of saying that some droids were a decicred a dozen.
The droid whistled when it saw her father.
"We have to fix our speeder a bit." Leia said after a moment. "Our parents will not be pleased when they see the damage to it.
"Rayvon, why don't you help our guests with their speeder.
Rayvon sighed but he stood and headed for the door.
"I'll show you where the tool box is." Rayvon told them.
Mara looked hopefully at her father as the small dwelling was soon empty of everyone except for her, her father and the Q3 unit.
"Let's see what this is all about." Her father said as he gently tapped the droid.
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Rayvon sighed as he watched the three cousins and their droid work on the speeder. It was a good sized speeder. It could transport about six beings and had a decent sized cargo hold.
Rayvon wished that his father had let him stay and see what the droid wanted but his father had told him that someone needed to keep an eye on their guests on the off chance that they were Imperial Agents.
Rayvon found himself envying them on several levels as they talked about school and family.
Rayvon always had wondered what it would be like to have a mother and a larger family. School even sounded like fun.
Rayvon learned from all the chatter between the cousins that they couldn't wait to go to this academy on Naboo. How they would have a chance to make a difference in the lives of others.
Rayvon wondered if they would be adverse to joining the Rebellion against the Empire.
Finally his father and sister emerged from the hut like structure that they had called home for two years.
"We must ask a favor of you." His father said.
"Depends on what it is." Leia informed him.
"We need a ride to Anchorhead." His father said.
"Of course," Aryaih responded. "We are headed there anyway."
"Rayvon, go and get what you need; we won't be coming back any time soon." Mara whispered to him.
Rayvon smiled and hurried into the hut and quickly packed his few belongings and came back out.
He hopped into the speeder and took a seat by his sister and Aryaih.
"We better hurry if we want to get back to the farm before supper" Luke commented.
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As Leia piloted the speeder across the sandy wastes she found herself wondering exactly she, Luke and Aryaih were going to say to the adults back home when they returned.
"Leia, is that smoke on the horizon?" Luke suddenly asked.
Leia slowed a bit and looked. Sure enough there was some smoke on the horizon.
Without a second thought she directed the speeder for it.
Within minutes a stationary and damaged Sandcrawler appeared.
Leia knew that something was wrong the moment she saw no activity around it. Jawas didn't just stop their Sandcrawlers for no good reason and they took care of them.
As they got closer the smell of rotting flesh assaulted her senses.
Her eyes widened when she saw that the Jawas were dead on the ground.
She stopped the speeder and everyone got out.
Leia felt her blood boil at the thought that someone could have killed some harmless scavengers.
"Raiders?" Aryaih asked softly.
"It has many of their markers down to their Gaffi Sticks and Bantha tracks but it just doesn't make sense. They have never done something this big before; at least not to Jawas." Luke said
"Raiders ride in single file so you never know for such how many of them are in a group." Leia said.
"Those shots are a too accurate for them. They aren't used to using blasters so they miss often." Aryaih suddenly said.
"Someone else did this and placed the blame on the Raiders." Luke stated.
"But who?" Leia asked.
Luke suddenly gasped.
"These are the same Jawas that sold us Q3." Luke told them; fear in his blue eyes.
"Imperial Stormtroopers did this." Mara Hachi whispered.
"But why would Imperial Troops kill a bunch of harmless Jawas and blame the Raiders?" Aryaih asked.
Leia felt sick.
The Imperial Troop had come looking for something; something that at one point the Jawas had had and the Imperils were willing to kill over.
"They were looking for something." Luke said; voicing Leia's thoughts. "Something that they didn't want others to know about."
Leia glanced behind her and saw the pity in the eyes of the Hachi Family.
Leia raced to the speeder with her twin and cousin hot on her heels.
"No, it's too dangerous!" Mara called out.
Leia gunned the speeder the moment her cousin and twin were in seats.
Leia prayed to whatever higher beings existed that her family was safe. That she had been wrong about the whole or that they would arrive in time to alert them.
Leia could smell smoke as they got closer to the farm.
She stopped the the speeder and all of them jumped out of the speeder.
Black smoke billowed out of different buildings.
"Mom, Dad?" Leia called out feeling panic gripping her.
"Grandma, Grandpa?" Aryaih called.
"Uncle Owen, Aunt Beru?" Luke called.
"Anyone?" Leia called out; trying to keep calm.
It was as if the place was abandoned.
Leia started calling out the names of her cousins and siblings. She had never in her life wanted just one of them to answer her more than at that moment.
A whimpering noise suddenly reached Leia's ears.
She turned and headed for the noise and tears raced down her cheeks when she saw Saia nuzzling Xing-Xing's still form.
When Saia saw her she trotted up to her.
Leia couldn't stop her tears.
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Obi-Wan watched as the speeder returned with the children of Moisture Farmers. He could see that they must have not arrived in time since they had been crying and the Force rippled with their pain.
He watched as they got out of the speeder and headed towards them with a Anooba pup trailing behind.
Obi-Wan wasn't surprised when Leia leveled a blaster at him.
"Our farm was attacked. All signs point to a Raider attack but we all know better." Leia snapped. "The Imperials attacked and everyone is gone. We want answers since you seem to have them!"
Obi-Wan nodded.
"Q3 belongs to a member of the Rebellion. He has Intel that will deal a crushing blow to the Empire; Intel that the Empire is willing to kill to keep quiet." Obi-Wan told them.
He watched with relief as Leia lowered the blaster.
"What do you suggest we do?" she asked.
"We can't go to the academy on Naboo." Aryaih said. "They will find us if we do."
"We have nowhere to go." Luke whispered.
"You could come with us." Mara suddenly said. "We are going to help the Rebellion; they could use good shots like the three of you."
Slowly the three teens nodded their heads.
They all headed for the speeder.
"Q3 isn't doing too well." Rayvon informed them.
"We can transfer anything we need to into R2; he's a dependable droid.
Obi-Wan nodded.
"I am going to guess that you are the mysterious General Kenobi that Q3 was talking about." Aryaih said.
"Yes I am; my true name is Obi-Wan Kenobi." Obi-Wan informed them.
"You are the Jedi Knight that fought in the Clone Wars?" Luke asked.
"Yes, I was once a Jedi Knight; before the Dark Times and the Empire." Obi-Wan mused out loud.
"So, where are we headed?" Leia asked after they transferred the information from Q3 into R2.
"Mos Eisley, we will be able to find a pilot that will take us to Alderaan there." Obi-Wan answered her.
"I don't believe I got your last names." Obi-Wan said as they positioned themselves in the speeder.
"I'm Aryaih Lars." Aryaih said as she patted her lap for the Anooba pup.
Obi-Wan nodded. Anakin had told him that his foster bother was getting married.
"I'm Luke Skywalker and Leia is my twin." Luke told him.
Obi-Wan paused when he heard the name 'Skywalker'.
Was it possible that they were Anakin's children?
"Your father's name wouldn't happen to be Anakin would it?" He asked.
"Yes it is, and our mother's name is Padme." Leia answered.
Obi-Wan was silent; unsure how to handle this revelation.
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Han Solo watched as the group came into the Cantina: an old man with three of young adults and a pair of teenagers.
They were interesting and something told him that they weren't here for a drink or an illegal substance.
"Chewie, go stand by the bar and see if the old man wants a pilot." Han said.
Chewie ruffed that he would before standing and headed for the bar.
He did silently admit to himself that the brown haired and brown eyed female was pretty.
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Yes, I had said that Han would be in this chapter and he is! :)