A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I feel somewhat inadequate now - as if I can't live up to expectations (I've already completed writing this story). Hopefully, you will all like it! Here are some individual shout-outs.

Countess Jackman: Thank you! And yes, there will be drama. No, Vader does not NEED the mask to live, but he wears it to cover his OWN face (remember -Vader thinks he killed Padmè himself, because of what Palps told him). As for Anakin redemption - you'll just have to wait and see!
purpletangerine and Hopeless4life: Glad you're liking it! After this chapter, I will be updating every Friday afternoon (according to Australian time, anyway). Hope that's soon enough!
Chou hime: I'm glad you think this is a little different - I hope it is, anyway! Hope you like this chapter.
Laura-chan: Glad you like it! Thank you!
vadersGrl: Thank you for your review, and I'm glad you're enjoying this story!

Anyway, this chapter is extremely similar to ANH, but bear with me. Luke and Leia are twenty now, refer to the prologue for the other ages and disclaimers and such. Don't forget to leave a review!

Chapter One

"Luke, take these two over to the garage, will you? I want you to have both of them cleaned up before dinner."

Young Luke Skywalker sighed and turned to his uncle Owen. "But I was going into Toshi Station to pick up some power converters…" he protested, a hint of whining in his tone.

"You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done," Owen replied gruffly. "Now come on, get to it!"

"All right, all right," Luke said. He looked over at the two droids as his uncle paid the Jawa. "Come on, let's go."

The little Artoo unit whistled and followed him across to the Lars homestead entrance. Luke turned back and waved the golden protocol droid, See-Threepio, over.

"Come on!" he called. He turned back and paused a moment to stare out at the bleak sands.

Am I ever going to get out of here? he wondered. There must be something more for me than this desert.

He heard a beep and a whistle behind him, and turned to see Artoo-Detoo dancing about on the spot. He moved into the garage. The sooner he finished his chores, the sooner he could escape.

"Thank the maker! This oil bath is going to feel so good. I've got such a bad case of dust contamination, I can barely move!" See-Threepio exclaimed as he lowered himself into the tub in the garage.

Luke gave a faint smile, but was deep in thought. He slammed a wrench across the workbench, frustrated.

"It's not fair! I'll never get out of here!"

Threepio turned his head. "Is there anything I might do to help?" he asked politely.

Luke lifted a corner of his mouth in a wry half-smile. "Not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest or teleport me off this rock!"

"I don't think so, sir," the droid replied. "I'm only a droid and not very knowledgeable about such things. Not on this planet, anyways. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure which planet I'm on."

"Well, if there's a bright centre to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from," Luke informed him, somewhat bitterly. Tatooine was definitely not a homey planet to live on.

"I see, sir," Threepio said.

"Uh, you can call me Luke."

"I see, Sir Luke."

Luke laughed. This droid was strange, but he liked it. Very polite. "Just Luke."

"And I am See-Threepio, human-cyborg relations, and this is my counterpart, Artoo-Detoo," Threepio introduced.

Polite, but talkative, Luke thought as he greeted Artoo. He unplugged the astromech droid and examined it. There was a small fragment of metal stuck in a joint, and it did not budge when he tugged on it.

"Well, my little friend, you've got something jammed in here real good," he said as he used a pick to pry it loose. "Were you on a starcruiser or…"

The metal snapped and broke loose, and Luke was sent over backwards. When he sat up, the droid was projecting a little hologram of a beautiful young woman.

"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope," she said. The hologram continued to repeat the fragment over and over again.

"Who is she? She's beautiful," Luke murmured, entranced. Somehow he felt…connected to her, though he didn't even know who she was.

Artoo emitted a series of beeps and whistles, and Threepio translated.

"He says the whole message is for someone called Obi-Wan Kenobi, his owner. He says that it is a confidential message, and he needs to deliver it to this Obi-Wan Kenobi as soon as possible. Do you know anyone by that name?"

Luke's eyes widened. "Obi-Wan Kenobi? He's my uncle! Well, sort of." He stared again at the hologram. "I'll take you to him as soon as I've cleaned you up. I want to see him anyway."

He knew that his uncle Obi-Wan and Uncle Owen disagreed on many points – perhaps Obi-Wan could help him fly away from this desolate desert planet.

Princess Leia Organa winced as the stormtroopers shoved her forward. The bodies of her fallen comrades littered the corridors, and she allowed herself to grieve for them briefly. She had a faint sensation of foreboding as they marched her along the halls of the Rebel ship, but she pushed it away. All she felt now was relief that she had managed to get the plans off the ship, anxiety for the welfare of said plans, and anger at the Empire.

They stopped and then she saw a figure emerge from the smoke and shadows. It was him – Darth Vader. She immediately shoved her emotions aside. He fixed her with his sinister gaze, but she did not flinch. The Dark Lord did not frighten her.

"Lord Vader, I should have known," she said with a wry expression on her face. "Only you could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this. When they hear you've attacked a diplomatic –"

"Don't play games with me, Your Highness," Vader interrupted coldly. "You weren't on any mercy mission this time. You passed directly through a restricted system. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you."

Damn, Leia thought briefly, though her face remained composed and impassive. "I don't know what you're talking about," she maintained. "I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan."

"You're a part of the Rebel Alliance – and a traitor. Take her away!" he ordered.

As the stormtroopers pushed her down the hall, Leia dimly heard the commander tell Vader, "She'll die before she'll tell you anything."

Princess Leia gave a tiny ironic smile. For once, the Empire's minions had gotten something right.

"Uncle Obi-Wan!" Luke called as he and the two droids approached his uncle's hovel.

Obi-Wan looked up and smiled. "Hello, Luke." He stood up and waited for the boy to walk over to him. "What brings you here?"

"This little droid," Luke replied, gesturing to Artoo-Detoo. "He says he's got a message for you."

Obi-Wan peered at the astromech droid, which whistled and beeped at him. He blinked and his eyes returned to Luke. "I think you'd better come inside."

Luke followed him into the hovel, the droids ambling along behind. He could tell that Obi-Wan wanted to talk to him about something important – but what it was, he had no way of knowing.

He took a seat and watched as Obi-Wan fiddled with Artoo's controls. Suddenly, he asked, "Obi-Wan, what was my father like?" Thinking about the galaxy outside of Tatooine made him think about his father. He had stopped asking his uncle Owen years ago, as he was only given the most vague of answers. And he had never been alone with Obi-Wan long enough to ask before.

Obi-Wan paused for a moment before saying, "I'd have thought your uncle Owen would have told you."

"All I got out of uncle Owen was that he was a pilot," Luke told him.

"Yes, he was the best star-pilot in the galaxy. His skill saved me more than once during the wars."

"You fought in the Clone Wars?" Luke was surprised. He had never heard him mention the wars before. Then again, Uncle Owen never liked him going to visit Obi-Wan.

"Yes, I was once a Jedi Knight, the same as your father," Obi-Wan answered.

"A Jedi? My father was a Jedi?" Luke asked incredulously. He had heard stories about the Jedi from some of the old pilots.

"Oh, yes. He was a cunning warrior, and a very powerful Jedi. And he was a good friend. Which reminds me…" Obi-Wan trailed off and got up. He began rummaging through a chest and pulled out a shiny hilt, which he turned over in his hands slowly.

"I have something here for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damned-fool idealistic crusade like your father did."

"Sir, if you'll not be needing me, I'll close down for a while," Threepio interjected.

"Sure, go ahead," Luke said distractedly. Obi-Wan handed him the hilt. "What is it?" the boy asked, examining it. It was fairly light and felt oddly comforting in his hand.

"Your father's lightsaber," Obi-Wan answered. "This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized time." He continued speaking quietly, remembering, as Luke activated the blade and waved it gently in the air. "For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times, before the Empire."

Luke powered down the lightsaber and turned back to Obi-Wan. "How did my father die?" he asked seriously. If his father had been a Jedi, he couldn't have died in a crash as Uncle Owen had once mentioned.

Obi-Wan seemed to gaze through him, and his face wore a slightly, almost imperceptibly, troubled expression as he answered the question. "A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force."

"The Force?"

He seemed to come back to himself and smiled faintly at Luke. "The Force is what gives the Jedi his power," he responded. "It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."

Artoo-Detoo suddenly began to beep, and the two turned to the droid. Obi-Wan resumed his position in front of him.

"Now, let's see if we can't figure out what you are, my little friend. And where you came from.

The image of the young woman was again projected from Artoo.

"General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire," she said. "I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope." The transmission ended.

Obi-Wan sat back and absently scratched his chin, deep in thought. Presently, he broke the silence. "You must learn the ways of the Force if you're to come with me to Alderaan," he said to Luke.

Luke laughed, thinking his uncle was not being serious. "Alderaan? I'm not going to Alderaan. I've got to go home. It's late, I'm in for it as it is."

"I need your help, Luke," Obi-Wan insisted. "I'm getting too old for this sort of thing. She needs your help."

"I can't get involved! I've got work to do!" Luke exclaimed. "It's not that I like the Empire, I hate it! But there's nothing I can do about it right now. It's such a long way from here." His excuses sounded weak, even to him.

Obi-Wan looked at him impassively. "That's your uncle talking," he said.

Luke looked at him for a long moment, considering. Yes, he wanted to get away from Tatooine…but he didn't want to abandon his aunt and uncle. "Look, I can take you as far as Anchorhead. You can get a transport there to Mos Eisley or wherever you're going."

Obi-Wan hid his smile. "You must do what you feel is right, of course."