The Empress, Jedi, and Sith 1: Luke and Leia Discovered
Disclaimer applies.
AN: Thanks for the reviews! I'm actually getting a lot more support than I expected! Guess what? This is my first fan fiction I ever wrote! I know you are impatient for Luke and Obi-wan to appear. Guess what? They are in this chapter! So read on guys and
PS: The last SW movies I saw was about two years ago, so forgive me if my description of something isn't right or clear cuz my memory is kinda hazy on SW movies.
Jedi X-man: You're too kind. Nobody ever said my written piece is a genius and cool. Lol. Hope you like this chapter.
DarthGladitor45: Here's a question for you: Why do Dark Lords like chocolate chips?
Jediracer: Finally! There's somebody who gave me a constructive criticism! You are right I should leave some cliffhangers, but I still need work on dialogue. How do you make dialogue less stiff? And I guess I should describe things more, so I'll throw in more adjectives and adverbs. Thanks for saying my story have potential.
Anon: Thanks for telling me that! Hope you like this chap.
Cozy-rozy-etc: Yeah, A.S. what you thought.lol
Alexceasar: Yesss. It will be fun to watch that! Lol. Keep reading my story!
Sica: Thanks ya!
Phylitr: You'll have to keep reading to find that out. lol. Keep guessing, I like to see my readers guess.lol
Tasuja: I like L/M pairings too, but I'm thinking if Mara should appear or not. But stay tuned! There may be a twist!
Dmitchell: I agree with you. I don't like Vader in suit too. So I made him suitless in this story
GreenteaandHoney: No offense. You are not being rude to me. I'm open to suggestions on improving my writing. Maybe I should have put something like "tarnish my image". I only mean, "mar" to make the reputation look bad.
Summary of The House: Leia and her friends were found at the bar. A trigger-happy man shot down Winter and Nadia, and Vader slashed the man in two and saved Leia's life. The girls were taken to hospital. While rushing to the hospital, Leia and Vader had a chat. He will not contact or tell anybody what happened and Leia will tell about herself to him.
Chapter 5: TatooineA week later…
The Executor, the Dark Lord's super star destroyer, is orbiting the luminous planet Tatooine. The planet had fooled many people before who never saw it, only to assume it is a bright star. Tatooine is beautiful yet it is a wasteland. Desert covered every area of the planet, where no vegetation or green could be found. Surprisingly, life could be found there, even humans can live there.
After obtaining information from the smuggler at the bar, Vader immediately set course to Tatooine to discover any rebel sites and capture it. While journeying to the planet, he had retreated to his mediation room for the whole duration. In there, he was trying to battle many painful memories and unwanted emotions the cursed planet had caused to him. Even worse, the rebel site is about five mile away from the Lars home. He had no doubt that Owen and Beru had married and are working as moisture farmer as Cliegg Lars did before Owen.
It would be best if Vader quickly executed the mission and leave the damned planet behind quickly as possible.
The Lars' Home…"Luke! Come here!" called Uncle Owen.
Luke Skywalker sighed and stopped fixing on one of his machines. His annoying uncle probably wants him to do another boring chore today.
/Damn it! I want to leave this boring planet and go to the Academy, like Biggs/
He sauntered over to his uncle who was glaring at him for making him wait.
"Today, I want you go to visit the Jawas and find the parts we need for the vaporators," said Uncle Owen.
"Yes, Uncle Owen. I'll go now."
"Good. See that you return before the suns set. You know what it is like outside," Uncle Owen remarked gruffly.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll go now."
Luke went to the kitchen to get credits from the jar and hug his aunt before leaving.
"Bye, Aunt Beru. I'm going out."
"Ok, be a good boy, Luke. I'll make a bathaburger for you when you come back."
"Really? Thanks so much, Auntie! Bye!"
She just smiled at her nephew. The boy does have a big appetite, despite his small stature.
/Just like his mother…/
Luke went to his workshop to get his landspeeder. The workshop was kind of small and dirty, but at least it belonged to Luke. The landspeeder was located at the far side of the room. It was laid on the floor, but when it's powered up, it rises up, like antigravity and gravity are repelling each other. The four-seat land speeder looked beat-up and orangey, but it still works, only few sands in its engine.
After hopping in, he zoomed out of his workshop into the searing heat. Tatto I and Tatto II are high in the sky, beating its merciless rays on anybody who dares to venture outside. Their positions indicate the time is about four o' clock P.M. Luke better hurry and get home before they set at six o' clock.
Ten minutes after dodging a few tall, sharp stones, he decided to visit Ben Kenobi before going on his way to the Jawas. He hadn't seen Ben for a while, because it was the harvest season, and his uncle and aunt needed his help to harvest the farm.
Ben was sort of like a second father figure to him. He is the opposite of Uncle Owen in almost every way he can think of. One, Ben never yells or blusters at him. Two, he never demands anything from him. The list goes on. Luke never knew who was his father, except being a navigator pilot back in the Clone War, and died when he was just a baby.
When Ben's home came into the view, Luke stopped his landspeeder and jumped out. His door was closed and looked clayish, just like the rest of his tiny building. The adobe building seemed to mesh into its surrounding or the cliff-like structure behind it.
The twelve years old boy went up and knocked the door, but there was no immediate reply as usual or him opening the door with a welcoming smile on his face. His thoughts began to whirl around in his head.
/What happened? Ben must have gone into the town, right? I mean, he doesn't know I'm here, so he doesn't expect-/
Luke…come in…/Whoa! What was that/
He felt kind of funny and strange, I mean, this hadn't happened to him before. There were tendrils of something telling him that, like a ghost whispering in his ear.
Anyway, he pushed the door slowly and entered to find Ben looking sickly and emaciated and sweaty. There were dark circles under his eyes and bony flesh could be seen from his arms. He was lying on the bed. The windows were open, letting in much sunlight as possible. But the bad thing was the suffocating heat in the room. It felt like he was trapped in a hot baking oven.
Ben's eyes brightened up when he saw Luke, "Luke! I'm glad you came."
His thoughts about the something disappeared when he saw Ben dying. Luke rushed to his bedside and anxiously asked, "What happened? Why you look sick?"
He chuckled for a moment, but let out a hacking cough when he tried it.
"Dear boy, I will be one with the Force soon. It is a disease I am dying of. Not quite common on Tatooine. Nothing you can do about it."
"Why didn't you tell me? When this happened?" demanded Luke.
"There's nothing you can do for me, and it all happened about a week ag-"
Ben stopped and let out another hacking cough and motioned at the water pitcher next to him. The boy jumped up and quickly poured it into a cup, and helped him to drink it.
"Thank you," he murmured.
He raised his eyes to meet Luke's, "Luke, open the box next to me."
Luke looked at Ben hesitantly. He really wants to help him, but Ben said he couldn't do anything for him. So he thinks it's best to stop arguing with him and do what he says.
He went to retrieve and open the box next to Ben. The interior was woody and bare except a strange metallic cylinder-like object with a button lay in there. It looked cool and gleamed in the light. There were five finger-like grooves on a side of it. Luke just stared at it, took it out, and rolled it back and forth in his hands.
At this, Ben said, "It belonged to your father, and he would like you to have it very much. Press the button."
Luke pressed the button, and brilliant blue came shooting up. No heat radiated from it, and the brilliant blue looked like a laser, but laser gives heat away. So it must be something like a heatless laser.
The boy gasped at it, his mouth was open. He felt awed by it. He whispered, "What is it? It's so beautiful. So cool…."
Ben sucked in a breath and chuckled, "Dear boy, it's a lightsaber. All Jedi use it as a weapon. Use it wisely. Your father lost it more than once. Had to find it every time…"
Still whispering, " My father was a Jedi? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because your uncle wouldn't let me tell you. So I had to wait until the right moment to tell you, and the moment is now."
Luke's expression grew darker, nodded, and shut the lightsaber off. Then clipped it away on his belt. He had heard about the lightsabers in his classes, but he didn't know they still existed around here. He had asked Ben once why he didn't have a lightsaber, and he said he doesn't really need one and have no use for it now.
"Typical Uncle Owen, "he muttered.
Ben then motioned at him to come closer to him, and the boy leaned in closer to him.
"Luke…Never do anything out of hate or anger. It will lead you to the dark side. I loved your father like a brother and son…Use the lightsaber wisely…. I will come to you in time…"
Luke doesn't understand much what he was saying, but listened and memorized it by heart. He had to help out the old man as much as possible…even he won't be there for him for long…
"I will be always by your side and I love you very much…May the Force be with you…"
After looking hard into the boy's eyes for a moment, he began to fade away.
"Ben! Wait! I have more questions! Please don't go now! I need you!" Luke shouted and started to sob. He was clutching and shaking Ben's arm.
At this, Ben just smiled and faded away.
When he left, the room felt much colder, like the baking oven suddenly turned off a long time ago or a sudden draft came in, but the outside pretty much seemed hot as ever. Luke began to slide down to the floor, shivered, and began to cry more. He really love Ben even his uncle called him a crazy old fool. Luke was like this for about five minutes.
Finally, he heaved himself up so he can bury the old man. If he left him out like that, the Sandpeople or the Force knows what will take him. He dried his tears and resolutely went to his landspeeder to get a shovel. Then, Luke started to shovel the sand next to the adobe house.
Thirty minutes later, Luke felt nearly dehydrated and very tired. At least the heat wasn't so bad as before. The suns will set in about one hour, so he better hurry and go home. His uncle will probably get mad for not getting the parts, but Ben is more important than getting parts. Anyway, he'll do it tomorrow.
Luke grabbed a flask of water from his landspeeder and greedily drank water from it. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
/Better go now and bury him./
He slid his arms under the corpse and tried to lift the hundred-something pounds body, but dropped when it was too heavy for him. Luke sighed.
/Forgive me, Ben. But you're too heavy./
He wrapped his hands around his feet and instantly jerked them off the bed. He carefully pulled the rest of his body down the bedside, so Ben's head wouldn't hit the floor and crack. Luke then dragged the corpse to outside, to the burial pit, and slid his body into the hole.
The boy began to put sand over the body until it was covered completely. Throughout the whole burial thing, he was pretty much dry eyed. He felt despair or sadness and full of questions at first, but after awhile, he finally accepted the death of Ben, and will remember him as always for the rest of his life. His questions probably will go unanswered.
/Oh Ben, why didn't you tell me more about my father before? I wish I had known him…/
Suddenly, an idea popped out of nowhere. He should create a grave marker for Ben! By that way, anybody who passed the house would know how a great Jedi he was. Luke knew Ben was a Jedi and what is the Force, but he never interacted with it.
So Luke found a large, flattish boulder and used one of his inventions he made in his workshop to lever it up and place it over Ben's burial site.
From his landspeeder, he got a laser-like pen; only it cuts through most surfaces, like a mini-lightsaber. Standing a good distance away from the boulder, Luke engraved the words:
Ben KenobiUnknown-Twelfth Year of the Empire
A Great Jedi Who Is a Hero And Will Be Remembered
After engraving it, the boy felt exhausted and emotionally drained. He really misses Ben. He shivered and stared out at the suns. They will set in about forty minutes, and dusk will approach.
Luke went to his landspeeder to grab his tan cloak and wrapped it around himself. He knelt in front of the grave marker, stared at it for a few minutes, until he felt a breeze fluttering around him.
He stood up to go into Ben's house. Luke just wants to stay there a little bit longer, just for a while. Then he'll go home and break the news to his aunt and uncle.
Luke crawled into the old Jedi's bed and rested there.
/Stars, I really miss him…./
His eyes began to close and he drifted off to sleep.
About fifteen minutes later, the boy felt a heavy presence next to him. His eyes flew open. There was a pair of eyes staring back at him.
AN: HAHAHA, I finally put a cliffhanger! Thanks to Jediracer for reminding me this!
ATTENTION: For the rest of this month, I won't be updating that frequent because I have midterm tests coming up on Feb. 1, 2, 3. Also, I have a lot of school projects and tests and studying now. So, I will be likely to update about once a week for the rest of this month. After the midterm tests end, I will be back, like updating twice per week. Sorry guys, don't blame me, so blame the school system.