Author's Note: I really wanted to get this posted yesterday as promised, but I was feeling lousy with a stuffy head. But here it is so enjoy!

Chapter 9: Luke Skywalker

Luke sighed as he thought about Podracer yet again. He had packed all his belongings the night before and was ready for the move, whenever that would be. But among all the confusion, a new thought had squeezed its way inside his head. Han had said the place was going to be cold. Well, freezing would be more accurate. The young Jedi couldn't help but wonder what cold and snow would be like. Living on Tatooine most of his life, Luke had never seen snow or experienced real cold before and he was curious. Excitement mixed with trepidation wove its way through his body. What if he couldn't handle the cold? He had, after all, come from a desert planet with two suns.

/I wish I could write Podracer and tell him./

At last he had gotten a good sleep the night before. Luke had been sure with all the excitement caused by Podracer's letter and the possibility of him being his father that he would lie awake in bed last night. Instead, he had passed out the moment his head had touched the pillow.

/All the excitement must have worn me out. That and the packing./

All the Rebels were slowly filing their way into a huge meeting room on the base and Luke went with them. It was common knowledge that Mon Mothma was going to announce their move at the meeting and give out instructions. He made his way through the doorway and found a seat next to Han and Leia. The Princess, as usual, looked just gorgeous with her hair piled on top of her head in braids. If only she'd notice him! She smiled at him in greeting and his heart leaped in joy. If only he could have a girlfriend as beautiful as she was one day…

/But I'm not dashing like Han is./

Compared to his older, more experienced friend, Luke felt awkward. Back home, he had never really dated anyone. He had never really fitted in, partly because he lived way out on the Lars' farm and partly because he was such a dreamer. Also, the Lars' hadn't had much money so he couldn't do all the things that his fellow classmates did, not that it bothered Luke much. Still, if he had had a girlfriend on Tatooine, maybe he would have some idea of how to handle the situation with Leia.

/Like I even have a chance!/

Still, it would be good to actually have the courage to ask her out, even if it was just to the lunchroom for a cup of caf. He couldn't be scared of the opposite sex his whole life. Even if he didn't end up with Leia, it would be nice to get his very first date over with and then he wouldn't be so green anymore. The whole idea sounded brilliant to him, if only he could implement it! Then his thoughts again shifted to his penpal, his father. He had started out a slave and actually married a queen!

/Maybe I should ask him for advice on women…/

"Hey, Kid." Han said as he slouched in his chair looking as rumpled as usual. "You get all your packing done?"

"Yeah." Luke smiled at his friend. He couldn't believe the things Anakin had said about friendship. He trusted Han with his life and knew the smuggler would always come through for him in a pinch. While he was glad he knew Han, it made him sad that his father had suffered such rotten luck is his miserable life. If only he could show the man that not everyone was that way, that real friends existed out there and all he had to do was find one? Sure, Han looked a bit rough on the outside and maybe he didn't have the most glamorous job, but his heart was in the right place.

/If I trust Han with my life, why don't I tell him about Anakin?/

Luke pondered the question a moment.

/Because I want to make sure he is my father first./

"Hey, you still worrying about that Jedi stuff?" Han asked as he shifted around on his chair to better look Luke in the face. "You're drifting off into space again without your X-wing. I'm worried about you, Kid."

"I'm sorry if I seem distant, Han. I just have a lot on my mind." Luke admitted. "For one, I never been anywhere cold before and I'm not too sure if I can handle it. Second, my dream is to become a Jedi and I'm not sure how I can accomplish that without a teacher. That's why I want to research it."

"Well, I'm sorry I couldn't help you much last night. The Emperor had them all killed, you know." Han replied.

"Why?" Luke asked, curious. This was something he hadn't asked Podracer about and if he was one of the last surviving Jedi, it would be interesting to hear his viewpoint on the issue. Of course, Luke realized that the Jedi had apparently treated the man unfairly and his view might be slightly skewered. But still, to kill all of them!

This time Leia answered the question. "Palpatine felt threatened by their mystical powers. He feared them, I think, so he had them wiped out. Poor Ben was the last one, I fear."

"But surely there must be others!" Luke insisted, thinking of his penpal living on board the Executor. "Ben apparently lived as a hermit for years out in the desert. Other Jedi could be doing the same! They could even be living among others, passing themselves off as regular people! All I have to do is just find one of them."

"Now don't get your hopes up, Kid." Han put a hand on his shoulder, urging him to calm down. "Even if there was one out there, the odds of finding him are impossible."

"Palpatine had his lapdog hunt them all down and murder them." Leia added, a sour expression on her face.

'His lapdog?" Luke asked.

"Darth Vader." Leia replied as she turned her eyes to the front of the room where Mon Mothma waited. The meeting was about to start.

....

After the meeting had ended, Luke stormed to his quarters. Anger at the Sith Lord burned inside him. Who was the horrible man inside the black armor that had stolen so many things from him? He had thought at one time that he had been responsible for his father's death but now there was a slim possibility that Anakin still lived. Yet, Luke knew for a fact Vader had killed Ben, his former teacher. And then Leia had dropped the bomb on him, that Vader had been the one to destroy all the Jedi!

/What right did he have to kill all the Jedi? I won't have a teacher now and its his fault!/

And who was this Emperor, this mystery man that was pulling all the strings? Leia had said his name was Palpatine, but the name meant nothing to Luke. Why had he declared himself Emperor? Was he just a power-hungry old man or was there more to it? And if he was just an old man, how could he control Vader?

/If I become a Jedi, Vader will try to kill me, too./

Yes, the Sith Lord would become his enemy, his real enemy. He wouldn't just be trying to kill another Rebel anymore but aiming just for him. Darth Vader would hunt him down like a carnivore hunts his prey. How could he possibly ever hope to survive such an encounter? He knew nothing of the Sith Lord except for exaggerated stories told by other Rebels, many of which Luke thought were just made up. Did Vader really have Jedi powers? He certainly had a Jedi's weapon, a lightsaber. He had used his red-bladed weapon to kill Ben.

/I will just have to kill Vader before he kills me./

Luke paused in the hallway, leaning against the cool stone wall. His heart thudded loudly in his chest as he imagined the encounter, goose bumps rising on his damp skin. Vader would meet him someplace dark and creepy, his red lightsaber glowing eerily. The room would be filled with that awful loud rhythmic breathing coming from the horrible black mask. The Sith Lord would taunt him as he came closer and closer. He would ignite his own lightsaber and try to defend himself, but his lame skills would be no match for the evil man. No, Vader would win, that was all too clear. There would be a moment of sharp pain and then it would be all over. His corpse would fall to the floor lifeless and the Jedi would be no more. The Emperor and his lapdog would have won.

/I could never defeat Darth Vader in a fight!/

The cold from the wall seeped into Luke's body and he shivered. He touched the wall with his hand and laughed. It wasn't really all that cold at all. He was just scaring himself by imagining such things, by thinking of Vader.

/But if I'm going to be a Jedi someday, I'll have to face Vader./

Yes, he would have to. At least, he should get revenge for Ben's death. Shouldn't he?

/No, I can't fall into that trap. That's the Dark Side. If I go down that path, I'll wind up just like Vader./

But wasn't killing itself evil?

Luke shook his head, confused. That's why he needed a teacher so desperately! And the only possible one he knew of was currently stuck aboard Vader's ship! How ironic indeed! He realized he needed to start planning what he would do if he ever crossed paths with Darth Vader again. His first reaction would be to probably just stand and gawk at him in surprise, perhaps in horror. Vader could cut him down that way all too easily. And since he couldn't outfight him, what did that leave? Luke rubbed his chin as he continued down the hallway deep in thought.

/I could ask Anakin what he knows of Vader! Surely he must see a lot of the man working as a commander on board Executor!/

But was that such a wise idea? He couldn't let Podracer know he was planning on killing Vader, could he? Of course not! But he could make the question seem innocent, just like he was curious. And truthfully, Luke was curious about Darth Vader. Who was he really? And what in the Force was a Sith and why did the Emperor have one working for him? Why didn't Vader just kill the old man with his powers and become Emperor himself? How hard could it be to kill an old man, anyway? Luke had only seen a photo of the Emperor once in school and the guy looked to be ancient.

By the time Luke reached his quarters, he had a smile on his face. He would slowly gather information on Darth Vader and use that information to make a defense plan for himself. Surely even Vader must have a weakness. It was probably a false hope, but it made him feel a bit better anyway.

/Maybe I have a reply from that letter I sent./

Thinking of Kitster and his page about podracing, Luke booted up his computer and checked his email. To his delight, a letter was waiting for him. Eagerly he clicked on it and started to read.

Dear Luke,

Hi and greetings from Tatooine! So you're Anakin's son, huh? Cool! Too bad you never knew Ani. He was great! He was my best friend until he left with that longhaired guy. He was a Jedi, you know, the longhaired guy, I mean. That always was Ani's dream, you know, to go off and be a Jedi. And then one day a real Jedi actually shows up and actually frees him! We were both slaves of Gardulla the Hutt. Gardulla used to own both Ani and his mother Shmi but she lost them in a bet to Watto. Watto was a Toydarian who owned a junkshop selling spaceship parts and stuff. Everything around here revolves around betting. It still does, but I guess you wouldn't know that living out on a moisture farm. Anyway, Ani used to work in Watto's shop fixing things. He was wizard at fixing things and could make even the most broken of things run. It was almost magic! And he was always helping people whenever he could. That's partly how he got freed, you know. A sandstorm was coming and he invited the Jedi to stay at his house. The Jedi's ship was broken and Ani agreed to race for them so they could win enough money to buy parts from Watto. Ani was just doing it to help the Jedi; he didn't know they were going to free him!

Shmi used to live out on the Lars' farm. I went out there several times to visit her after Ani left. She was your grandmother. I guess you don't know about her, though. A few years after Ani left with the Jedi she met Cliegg Lars and later married him. It was quite funny, really! That longhaired Jedi had sent Shmi this really valuable gem through the mail. It was worth a fortune! See, Watto had this rare ship and all he needed was this gem to make it go, but actually getting one was like impossible. So here Cliegg walks in one day and offers Watto the crystal if he can have Shmi. Well, Shmi was all for going with Cliegg but Watto didn't want to let her go. Finally he gave in and took the gem. Soon after that Cliegg freed Shmi and they got married. Owen was Cliegg's son from his first wife, who had died years before. And I guess you know that Owen married his girlfriend, Beru. The Tuskan Raiders killed Shmi.

Shmi missed Ani terribly after he left and thought about him every day. Watto would even watch the news, trying to keep track of where that longhaired Jedi had gone and what he was doing. One day, not long after Ani had left with him, Watto had heard on the news the Jedi had been killed! We were all so worried about Ani and feared he had been killed, too. Shmi had even written the Jedi Council a letter, asking for any information on her son. A long time passed and we thought he must surely be dead, but then a reply came and they said he was alive and training with a new master!

I really don't know what happened to Ani after he became a Jedi. But I can tell you Ani built his own podracer from spare parts he borrowed from Watto. He built it in the old boneyard behind the slave quarters. We all use to tease him that it would never go but it really did! Boy, were we ever shocked! And he was going to be in the Boonta Eve Classic! And the Jedi had a real astromech droid! I still remember it like it was yesterday…

Oh, I almost forgot to say that Ani even built his own protocol droid! You can see him at the beginning of the podrace video carrying the flag. He was really cool! It was neat how he could build things like that. He built the droid for his mom and after he left and Shmi got married, C3PO went to live on the Lars' moisture farm. I have no idea what happened to the droid after that, though.

Ani's a real hero around here for winning the Boonta Eve Classic! People still talk about it in Mos Espa. Sometimes I wonder what happened to him. He was always talking of how once he was a Jedi he would come back and free all the slaves. That was his real dream. We pretty much talked about it all the time.

Hey, if you ever find out where Ani is or what happened to him, let me know! And if there's anything else you want to ask, go ahead!

Kitster

Luke stared at the monitor, his mouth drooping open.

/Anakin built C3PO?! And my grandmother used to live on the farm?!/

He had been hoping for something he could ask Podracer, but this was just amazing! Why hadn't 3PO ever told him about his father? And why hadn't his uncle recognized the droid? True, all protocol droids pretty much looked alike and it had been a long time since Owen must have seen the droid, but that didn't explain why 3PO didn't recognize his last name. Unless his memory had been wiped? Unless the information was locked in his head somewhere…now there was a tantalizing idea!

But as far as he could tell, Podracer was apparently telling him the truth. The information that Kitster had told backed up his penpal's letter. Now all he had to do was to ask Podracer a simple question from Kitster's letter, something that was unlikely for anyone but the real Anakin to know…

But what?

After studying the letter, Luke decided on two questions. He would ask Podracer what his childhood dream was and how he had met the man that had freed him. If he answered both correctly, then surely he was his true father!

/If only you really were my father! I waited so long to find you!/

Saving a copy of Kitster's letter, Luke called up a clean page to write Podracer a letter.

Dear Anakin,

Thanks for your letter. Sorry this one is a day late but things are going on here and I'll be moving soon, so I had to pack my stuff last night. I'm going to be going on a trip to some cold, snowy place. Truthfully, I'm a little worried about it. I never saw snow before so I'm not sure what to expect. Oh, I saw holovisions of it before so I know it's white and really cold, but that's a lot different than the real thing. My buddy also tells me its supposed to be very, very cold there and I don't know if I can handle that. I mean, how cold is cold? I guess that just sounds stupid. Have you ever seen snow? If so, did you like it?

So you really work on board the Executor? Wow! Isn't that Darth Vader's ship? Do you ever see him? Well, I guess since you're a commander you must see lots of him, huh? Is it true he's a Sith Lord, whatever that is? I'm not really sure what a Sith is, do you?

I had no idea the Republic used to be like that. The way some people talk, I had the impression it had been perfect. But then, growing up on a farm I never really thought about either the Empire or the Republic. It was all just too far away, if you know what I mean. I had read about the Clone Wars in school and like any little boy I had thought it sounded very exciting. Now I'm not all that sure it was…

You have had very bad luck with people and friends. Not all friends are that way. Anyway, I hope they're not. I believe my friend is a true friend. He has always been there when I needed him. Yes, I admit I haven't really known him all that long but I can see he really cares about me. Just today he was asking me if everything was all right. See, he was concerned about my well-being. I realized in the past your friend probably did the same thing, but I will continue to trust him. He came back for me when he didn't have to and I think that says a lot. You can't judge a person by how they dress or look. For example, my friend is a bit scruffy looking. A lot of people who don't know him might mistake him for some … scoundrel … but he has a good heart. And just because a person dresses fancy and is well groomed all the time doesn't mean they would be honest or a true friend, either. But I presume you already know this.

Thanks for telling me how to meditate. I didn't have a chance to try it yet, but I assure you I will the first opportunity I get. It really means a lot to me. I really wish I had a teacher, someone to instruct me in the ways of the Force. That is what you were studying, wasn't it, to learn how to use the Force? So, did you complete your training? I suppose we are both skipping over a certain word that starts with a 'J', are we not? Are you concerned your superiors will find out? It's just that I want to learn but I don't have a teacher…

I don't suppose you could get off the Executor, could you?

Tell me, what was your childhood dream? Surely you had one, didn't you? My childhood dream was getting off Tatooine and getting into space, to see the galaxy. But you've accomplished such amazing things during your lifetime; surely your dream was grander than mine?

I was wondering how you went from being a slave to a commander on the Executor? I know you said your freedom involved a man that visited the junkshop and winning the podrace. What exactly did the man do? I'm curious, as I don't fully understand it and it sounds like it must be a fascinating story. Won't you tell it to me?

You asked what was keeping me awake at night. Well, truthfully, your letters were. A bit. I was just trying to figure out whom I was writing to. And well, I was wondering if you were in the Empire…that and well, like I told you there's this girl. Except I'm quite a klutz around them, well, not really but I've never really gone on a date before. I really don't know how to go about asking a girl out. How did you do it? I mean, you weren't even supposed to be going out yet you managed to do it and I on the other hand have a pretty princess I see every day and I can't seem to find enough courage to ask her to get a cup of caf with me in the cafeteria! So, what should I do? I really don't expect to end up with her or anything, but there are others girls and maybe if I had some idea on how to go about it…

Umm… I really don't know how you're going to take this, but my father's name was Anakin. So do you think that…?

OK, I know that sounds a little bit weird. What are the chances that ….? I've been trying to figure that out for the past day and it's against the odds, right? But yet, it would be really cool if it only were true! I really thought my father was dead all these years! That's what my Uncle told me. I don't suppose you had a brother, did you? Oh, wait. Didn't you say your son was kidnapped when he was a baby?

This whole thing is getting very confusing and making my head spin! I don't suppose you could explain it? But then, you're probably as shocked and confused as I am!

Well, I should go now.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Farmboy

Luke reread his letter several times, pausing as he considered if he should ask anything else. Deciding he had said enough for the time being, the young Jedi sent it on its way. Closing his computer down and unplugging it from the wall, he carefully stored it in a special carrying case. When he flew his X-wing to the new base, he would take it with him. Good thing it was light and would easily fit into his fighter plane. It even had a battery pack that he could use during an emergency. Picking up his other bags, Luke left for the hanger bay. Moving day had arrived and it was time to go.

To be continued…