The Skywalker Dynasty

Chapter 27

(orginally posted on another site Posted: Nov 16th, 2005 at 05:29 pm)

While back on board, some of the passengers watched as Anakin finished the last repairs on Threepio. Carefully, he completed all his circuitry, and put his head back on. Soon, his eyes lit up, his head turned, and he was working again! Everyone cheered.

"I knew you could do it, Anakin!" Han told him.

"I did too."Anakin looked up with a proud, almost smug grin. "I built him myself, from junk, when I was just a kid. I'm much better now, and hopefully, he will be too." Anakin stared at the old face, colored a bright but scratched gold. This was such a special droid. He couldn't believe he had been so cold and hard as Vader in Bespin that he didn't even consider that the familiar voice may have been this old friend! What would Threepio think of him now? Did he know he was Vader?

Anakin made some final adjustments, and the eyes flickered on, the head turned, and the familiar voice spoke. "Master Luke!" He said as he looked around the room at mostly unfamiliar faces. "Han, Chewy, Leia, R2! What is happening? Who are all these people?" Anakin was sad to see that Threepio didn't remember him.

"Don't you remember me?" Threepio stared at Anakin, and shook his head sadly. Anakin was disappointed. "Something must be wrong with his memory circuits, he may know Darth Vader, but he would remember me as myself-" He paused for a moment, considering that "himself" was being Anakin Skywalker. The same person who built this droid, the same person who loved Padme and fathered Luke and Leia, a good person. When he realized he had thought of himself that way, the joy of being his old self again thrilled him once more. Darth Vader's life was like a distant nightmare to him now.

"Father," Leia spoke up, "it seems to me I recall my father, I mean, my adoptive father, saying that Threepio's mind had been wiped once.'

Anakin looked straight up at her. "Wiped? Why?"

She shook her head. "It was after the Clone Wars, right about the time the Empire..."

Anakin closed his eyes and bent his head back in a shameful memory. "Of course. They wouldn't want him to have any memory of..." he remembered it was Threepio who had flown Padme to Mustafar. By erasing his memory of Anakin, he would not know who Vader was. "So, he has no memory of my past with him." Anakin looked at him, feeling so sad.

Padme's eyes light up like light bulbs, and she spoke up. "Anakin, I kept a microchip of his memory as a restoration disc in case anything happened to his memory!"

"Do you still have it?" He asked, sounding like an excited child.

She looked down, and remembered with a sigh, "it was in my apartment, which is now long in the past. I don't know what happened to it."

But then, Leia remembered the things she had taken out of Padme's apartment that night she was there! She ran and got the bags, and Padme dug through them and found it! "Oh, here it is!" She announced as he held it up.

"Thanks Leia, for robbing my apartment! There's lots of things in here I am glad to have."

Leia didn't know what to say. "Uh, no problem, Mother."

Padme laughed at her and handed the chip to Anakin, who installed it in Threepio's memory bank. He restarted the droid, and this time, when his eyes lit up the first thing he said was "Master Ani! How good it is to see you, thank you for fixing me, my maker!"

Anakin was so glad! "Any time, Threepio, my special friend." Threepio may have some adjusting to do once everything kicked in, but like everyone else, he was going to be okay. R2 squealed and rocked back and forth. He would now have his old memory back as well as his new, the entire saga! His eyes lit up as he looked around. "Master Ani! Mistress Padme! Master Luke! Oh, I am so happy!" Everyone showed their affection for him.

"Good to have you back, Threepio." Luke smiled at him. Anakin and Threepio went back a long, long way, and they and R2 now shared older memories than anyone else. Now the circle was complete as Luke and Leia also had memories with their father's droids of his youth, and these droids had tied their destinies together in saving the galaxy. They were very special and always would be.

Anakin and Padme stood at the window, staring at the stars. "I feel so badly for my family, Anakin. They don't even know I'm alive. I don't even know if they are alive. This is breaking my heart."

Oh, no. The last thing he wanted to do was break her heart again! He asked Han if they could stop by Naboo for awhile.

Han said he thought now they had back to Courscant, but could leave again later. "Besides" he smiled at her. "There's going to be a wedding in a couple of weeks"

Leia's eyes shot over at him, and just as cocky as he was, declared, "oh, there is, is there?"

"Yes, there is!" He stood his ground. Anakin and Padme and Luke looked at them all and laughed. "Look, princess, if anyone should be in doubt about this matchup, it should be me! Look at all the trouble you've caused me!"

She put her hands on her hips and mocked a huffy voice."And you think you'd be in any less trouble without me?"

"Probably not." He admitted, and everyone laughed.

She walked over and hugged him from behind as he flew. "Yes, there is going to be a wedding, very soon." She turned to her mother and added: "And I can't wait to meet my grandparents, my aunt Sola, and all my cousins and their younglings!" Padme had feared her parents had not lived into this time, but according to Leia's check of databases, they did. They could all look forward to a very special and happy family reuninion, well, once the shock wore off! Padme wasn't even sure it had worn off for her, but she was feeling comfortable and loved just the same. Once they got home, they were going to be very happy together, and things were going to be fine. She and Anakin looked at Han and Leia's cuddling, and did a little of their own. Kyrie, who had wondered up to the group away from the other newly discovered 'younglings', gazed lovingly at Luke. He returned her stare, in his own shy way.

Just then, Han got a desperate message on his communication speaker! It was Lando. He informed him that Coruscant was in turmoil and under seige! With Luke and the spectre of Darth Vader gone from the city, insurgents, including rogue droids like the one that drugged Luke, former stormtrooper deserters, and out of work bounty hunters had formed a renegade army and threatened to take over the city, and all the power it held. Not only Coruscant, but the entire galaxy was now in danger if this group or any part of it were to gain control and run a government. It could be worse than the empire, and more unstable. Mon Mothma and a few old senators for liberty were holed up in the old senate building, guarded weakly by a few poorly armed freedom fighters. Admiral Ackbar and the rebel fleet was forming a blockade around the planet to make sure no more troublesome characters got through, and Lando, Wedge, and a few other experienced pilots were on their way to help with the fight to secure the city. Everyone on the Falcon stood silent, shocked and deeply concerned. It wasn't over yet.

"Han, old buddy, I hate to beg, but the fate of the whole galaxy rests on this. Are you still as crazy as I am?" Lando begged for help.

"Guess there's no rest for the wicked, is there?"

"I'm afraid not, my friend. When you're as good as we are, you're always bound to be needed!"

"I'll be there, buddy, you know it!" He transmitted back.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Lando sighed in relief. He also heard Chewbacca roaring in the background. He was with them too.

"I'm here, Lando, count me in!" Luke shouted so that Lando could hear.

"Count US in." Anakin said, joining and shaking fists with Luke. "Skywalker and Skywalker, the best team in the galaxy, is on the way."