Chapter 55 - Calling

"Luke, carry this into your father's garage for me. That's a boy." Luke's Uncle smiled and messed up his hair playfully.

"Yes, Uncle Owen." Luke responded. The man treated him like a kid still sometimes, but really Luke couldn't get too upset over it.

"Have you heard any more news from your sister? I was meaning to ask, but…" The old man left the sentence to hang.

"No, not in several months. She's with the Rebellion. Ahsoka assures us she's in a safe unit, but my dad still worries," Luke answered.

Uncle Owen nodded. "As a parent, he's going to worry. If my boy ever spoke about joining the Rebel Army, my wife would have a heart attack. Mace-Ti's only just learning about the politics of the wider galaxy now though."

"Yes, Fourteen is a little young to enlist." Luke joked.

Uncle Owen laughed. "Yes it is. Now take this to your father's garage. He'll be home soon, I hear."

"Yes, Thank you Uncle Owen."

"No problem, my boy,"

As his Uncle got back into his speeder, Luke focused on the large box of outdated farm equipment. Anakin had always been a fan of reusing what others considered junk. Luke didn't know what use any of this stuff could be put to, but he'd do as his Uncle had said and leave it in the garage for his father.

As Luke entered the garage, R2-D2, his father's favorite droid beeped a greeting to him.

"Hey R2. No, I don't know where dad left the socket wrench..." Luke stopped to clutch his head.

R2 beeped with concern.

"Ugh, no I'm okay." As he recovered he marveled at the difference. Ever since that night a little more than a year ago, it had felt like a part of his world was empty. But now his mind rushed from overstimulation.

"Luke!" There was no way that he wouldn't recognize that voice. But yet, he knew it with the Force that she wasn't really behind him. Still this was a stronger connection than their head-talks as children had ever been.

"Leia?" He turned around and saw his sister, just standing there. Yet, if he needed proof this wasn't his imagination, she had red hair. And Instead of a uniform that he'd expect her to wear, she wore a white outfit.

They both stood there amazed at the sight of each other. "I like the hair." Luke broke the silence.

"Oh this. It's a long story." His sister blushed. "Listen, we are on our way to Tatooine, but I fear we won't make it in time." The seriousness in his sister's eyes sent chills up his spine. "My brother, you're our only hope. Juno Eclipse is on Scarif on the Rogue Shadow. She has a very important transmission that the Rebellion needs. Countless lives are at stake here!"

Luke remembered meeting Juno Eclipse two years ago. He didn't want to see any harm come to her, but his priorities would always be to his sister first.

"I don't know how we're doing this after so long apart, but this couldn't be more fortunate," Leia went on.

Just then Luke remembered some of the Grandmaster's old teachings regarding their bond. "Actually, it might be because we were so far apart that we can do this now. Yoda said once that bonds like ours either grow or die when separated. I never thought our bond would die."

"Neither did I."

Luke knew his sister was saying that she wanted him to leave her again, but he couldn't let that happen without trying first. "I can feel you on the edge of the system now. Do you need help?"

"No," Leia said, and Luke winced. "Just go to Scarif. Find Juno. She's out of fuel. Bring her to Alderaan. And remember, Brother, I love you."

Luke looked up at his sister with pleading eyes, as he formed an argument in his mind. 'I can do that too. I'll just pick you up, then we can go to Scarif together. No…' But before he could form his reply, Leia cut their connection and she vanished from in front of him.

"Leia. Leia, no!" Luke called out in vain.

Beside him R2 beeped in concern, inquiring about Leia. Luke summarized the exchange for the droid, who beeped in concern for him.

"Yeah, I know. I want to do both too, but how can I?"

R2 beeped again.

"Two pilots?" A lightbulb went off for Luke, and he ran out of the room, stopping comedically before he got to the door to turn back around. "Just don't tell my parents about this. I don't want them to worry. You know how stressed dad gets when he gets news of Leia."

R2 beeped in disappointment, confirming the request.

"Good. I have to call Galen now." Luke ran out of the garage.

Recruiting Galen to go help Juno Eclipse, the hot, young rebel officer they'd met while rescuing Huyang, was easy. Galen still had a crush on her, though they hadn't spoken since that mission ended. Luke and Galen were preparing their ships to fly that evening outside of the Skywalker's place.

"Leia says she's on Scarif, and that she's out of fuel. You have your second tank?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, though why she can't get some on Scarif beats me. I know it's an empire world, but, unless they impose heavy trade restrictions, there should be a few dealers willing to fill her tank off the books," Galen wondered.

"Yeah, well maybe she's out of credits to trade," Luke suggested. "All I know is Leia was insistent."

"Hey, I don't mind. That rebel needs me to be her knight in shining armor. I'll gladly go across the galaxy to pick up her mail. You just focus on saving Leia."

"Yeah, that'll be a full time job," Luke joked. "Hey, why isn't this working?" He pulled something on his engine and tried again.

"Your dad buys you your own ship, and the moment you need to go offworld, it won't start." Galen helpfully summarized.

"Oh no. It's the Carbo Belt. That'll take hours to replace, if I had a replacement here, which I don't." Luke kicked himself. Since he was a youngling he was taught to better handle maintenance, but he'd been busy lately. And he never goes offworld. How was he to expect this?

"No problem. We can both take mine," Galen offered.

"No. The plan is for us to go separately to rescue Leia and Juno at the same time." Luke thought. "I know! I'll go ask Han for a ride. You go to Scarif, but can you drop me off at central station along the way?" Luke asked while jumping into Galen's craft.

"No problem."

R2-D2 was at home with Anakin and Padme while Luke and Galen were outside trying to get their ships running. R2 looked out a window and sighed dramatically with his ventral exhaust valve. Whatever was taking them so long. R2 didn't understand flesh mental mechanics. Young Luke should've just allowed R2 to pilot one of the ships. They'd be there already!

"What are you doing here?" C3-PO annoyingly asked him. "Master is looking for you. I made up an excuse for you and you're in here just lollygagging along."

R2 beeped a thank you to his fellow droid. A lot of people don't understand C3-PO. They think he has a couple screws loose, but really his programming is remarkably human, for a droid. Especially with his anxiety emotive response. R2 never did learn why. Master Anakin was very young when he wrote much of '3PO's programming. Of course the loose screw theory is still on the table too. Just don't approach his cranium with a screwdriver when he's down on low power mode. R2 learned the hard way, '3PO startles easily when you do that. And claiming to only be trying to help doesn't settle the startled protocol droid.

R2 sped along to Master Anakin's study.

"R2, there you are. I want to comm Ahsoka again. I need you to scramble the signal," Anakin ordered. 'Scramble the signal' was a security precaution to prevent the Empire from tracing a call, or listening in.

R2 remembered his orders from Mistress Padme, and while he was normally happy to assist Anakin in breaking any said rules, he remembered why these rules were in place to begin with. Nothing was more frightening than his Master in a panic attack! R2 beeped, questioning the Knight's plans.

"Yes R2, Obi-Wan is right here with me." Anakin rolled his eyes. "I'm allowed to call when I have him here."

True, Anakin was correct. That was one of the exceptions programmed into his subroutines. R2 beeped in confirmation, and he connected to the comlink in Anakin's computer.

"Skywalker here. Hello Ahsoka. How's Leia?" Anakin got right to business.

Ahsoka was not unused to this hyperfocused conversation with her former Master. She responded with what she could tell him, which wasn't much since the assignment Leia was on was highly classified. "She's well. Out on a mission right now, I'm afraid. We're not expecting to hear back from her unit for another week yet."

This confirmed what R2 had assumed to be the case. Whatever trouble young mistress Leia had gotten into, her commanders were not aware of it yet.

"I heard about a battle in Scarif. Leia wasn't posted anywhere near there? Was she?" Anakin asked.

"No Anakin. Leia is not in Scarif," Ahsoka answered with a roll of her eyes.

And they'd progressed to the later half of the conversation. Where Anakin would ask about any bit of news he'd managed to hear about the rebellion and ask Ahsoka to confirm his daughter was nowhere near those systems.

R2 tuned out most of this conversation. Instead he used his connection to Anakin's computer to access the household network. There he scanned the household data until something struck him. Luke's ship hadn't had a maintenance log for months. As Anakin was finishing his call, R2 whistled lowly in alarm.

Without the proper maintenance, Luke's craft would need extra help to pilot it out of the system. He rolled out towards the garage, where he intended to pack a few supplies to make Luke take with him. Or with them both, if R2 had any say in it.

Only before he got through the mudroom, C3-PO stood in his way. "Where do you think you're going? The Masters have guests, with Masters Kenobi and Yoda staying for dinner. I won't have you shirking your duties while I'm hard at work!"

Call it an impulsive plan if you want, but the way R2 saw it, it all made sense. C3-PO Was right. R2 had duties to perform at home, and Anakin was likely to notice if he ran off with young master Luke. Not to mention, young Luke's absence would be noticed sooner or later, as the excuse 'I'm just going out with Galen,' would not last very long, by all estimates. He needed an aide if he was to follow the protocol his impulsive programming set for him. And that was why R2 beeped the explanation to C3-PO.

"Wha-at! Mistress Leia's in Danger!" the protocol droid could not have shouted that louder if he'd tried.

R2's beeps to silence him came too late.

"What about Leia?" Anakin came in questioning. Obi-Wan and Yoda followed him into the room with worried eyes.

"Well, tell them," C3-PO ordered.

R2 had few strategies for these situations. He ended up pulling one that only had a small chance of success.

"What do you mean you don't remember?" C3-PO whacked his fist on R2's cranium shell. "You bucket of bolts, you just said to me, 'Master Luke had a Force-Bond induced connection with Mistress Leia. Luke is convinced she's in danger and he's going after her. Can you run interference with the Masters so I can join him.' That's what you said, at least. Master's perhaps my young friend needs maintenance again."

R2 could've rolled his indicator lights at him. Anakin and the Master Jedi wouldn't listen after that anyways.

"Why didn't Ahsoka say anything about this?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Ahsoka doesn't know everything. Leia's on Mission and they hadn't heard back yet. That's what she said," Anakin responded.

Everyone's voices all conglomerated together into a worried mess. R2 beeped in vain as he followed along after them.

"Where is Luke?" Obi-Wan asked.

"He's outside, getting ready to leave with Galen for that thing they were going to," answered Padme. Her worried eyes trailed the room, seeking answers.

"Outside he is not," Yoda said. R2 whistled with worry as he followed the grandmaster to the window.

"I'll track his comlink," Anakin suggested.

"You can do that?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Yes. After Leia ran away, I programmed it into everyone's comlinks. It'll only take me a minute." Anakin set to work on his computer.

"Wait. You reprogrammed my own comlink several months ago." Obi-Wan realized.

"Uh-hum" Anakin hummed.

R2 beeped that his Master did literally say 'everyone,' but none of the sentients paid him any heed.

Obi-Wan gave his former Padawan a stern look. "We'll talk about boundaries later."

"Good. I found Luke. I can track him on this. He's on his way to Anchorhead, I believe." Anakin picked up a small datapad from the table.

"Good, hurry we can. Leave us behind, he will not!" Yoda exclaimed.

"Wait! You mean to stop him right," Padme called out to the leaving group. When no one responded she turned to the two droids. "You better follow them. The both of you."

And that was all R2 needed before he was trailing along behind them, pushing a very reluctant protocol droid ahead of him.

I hope you like this chapter. The scene with R2 kinda wrote itself. I am very proud of it. I figured they had to have a part in this, even if they don't carry the death star plans.

Next chapter I have a feeling a bunch of you will say "poor Han." The guy's just trying to have a normal work week. And...well… That's next week, probably.