The Hidden Message

Star Wars is copyright to Disney and Lucasfilm. I own nothing except my OC.

The twin suns of Tatooine were setting as Owen and Beru Lars stood outside their desert homestead, Beru's hand resting on her baby bump. Both moisture farmers were waiting for a visitor who would give them something very important. As they waited, Owen looked up the setting suns thinking about events transpiring far away. The Galactic Republic had fallen and a new authoritarian Empire had risen in it's place. Of course, Owen knew this wouldn't affect Tatooine much, as the Outer Rim was pretty much untouched by the politics of the core worlds.

Soon, their visitor arrived; a man in a brown hooded robe carrying something wrapped up in a blanket. Owen went over to the visitor and the two men talked quietly for a moment before the visitor handed Owen his bundle. Inside the blanket was a newly-born baby. This was Luke Skywalker; son of Owen's step-brother Anakin Skywalker. The Lars' had been informed of what had happened to Anakin and his wife, and had agreed to bring up the infant Luke.

With Luke in safe hands, the visitor departed and Owen went back to join his wife. He handed Beru the baby Luke and she held him close to her bump. "That's your cousin in there, Luke." she said softly

"You'll both be safe." Owen added, "I promise you. This farm will always be safe." And he and his wife both gazed out at the setting suns, contemplating the future they would have with two children in the homestead.

~8~

19 years later, a Jawa Sandcrawler arrived at the Lars homestead and the Jawas were soon bustling about preparing droids for sale. One Jawa approached the entrance to the homestead just as three Humans came out. Leading was the now middle-aged Owen, followed by Luke, who was now a 19-year old young man with unkempt sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Bringing up the rear was Owen and Beru's daughter Malia, a lovely 19-year old young woman with long brown hair and blue eyes. The Jawa approached Owen and indicated the droids out to him. "Alright, let's go." Owen said, and followed the Jawa towards the droids.

Luke and Malia were just following him when an older woman's voice called out from nearby; "Malia?" The young woman responded to the call and went over to the edge of the main hole that formed the homestead to see her now middle-aged mother standing there. "Tell your father if he gets a translator, be sure it speaks Bocce." Beru called up to her daughter.

"Doesn't look like we've much to pick from, but I'll remind him." Malia replied, and went back to join her father and cousin.

Owen meanwhile was looking through the line of droids for sale while Luke stood behind watching with disinterest. "Yeah, we'll take that red one." Owen said to the Jawas, picking out a red and white R5-series Astromech droid. "No, not that one." he said as he rejected a blue and white R2-series Astromech. Next in line was a gold Protocol droid. "You, I suppose you're programmed for etiquette and protocol." Owen said to it.

"Protocol? Why, it's my primary function, sir." the Protocol droid replied, "I am well-versed in all the customs..."

"I have no need for a Protocol droid." Owen dismissed it

"Of course you haven't, sir." the droid said, "Not in an environment such as this. That is why I have been programmed..."

"What I really need is a droid who understands the binary language of moisture vaporators." Owen told it

"Vaporators? Sir, my first job was programmed binary load-lifters, very similar to your vaporators in most respects." the droid touted

"Do you speak Bocce?" Owen asked

"Of course I can, sir. It's like a second language to me." the droid replied, "I'm as fluent..."

"Alright, shut up." Owen told the droid and turned to the Jawas. "I'll take this one."

"Shutting up, sir." the droid conceded

"Luke, Malia?" Owen called to the two youngsters, "Take these two over to the garage, will ya? I want 'em cleaned up before dinner."

"But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters." Luke whined

"You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done." Owen told him firmly, "Now come on, get to it."

Luke gave an annoyed sigh and turned to the protocol droid. "Alright, come on." he said sulkily, and he and Malia began to lead the droid towards the homestead.

"And you. Come on." Malia called to the R5 unit, who didn't budge.

"Well, come on, Red, let's go." Luke called grumpily to the droid, who reluctantly began to trundle after them.

Luke and Malia were halfway back to the homestead when they heard a loud bang and turned round to see that the R5 unit had stopped in a cloud of smoke. "Hey, dad." Malia called to her father, "This R5's unit got a bad motivator, look."

Owen promptly rounded on the Jawas. "Hey, what're you trying to push on us?!" he demanded. The Jawas could only shrug in bewilderment.

Meanwhile, the blue and white R2 unit whistled to the Protocol droid who then tapped Luke on the shoulder. "Excuse me, sir." he said, "But that R2 unit is in prime condition. A real bargain."

"Uncle Owen?" Luke called, "What about that one?" He pointed to the R2 unit.

"What about that blue one?" Owen said to the Jawas, "We'll take that one."

The lead Jawa seemed to agree to that and ordered the R2 unit to go to the Lars' while several other Jawas came over to take the failed R5 unit away.

"You'll be very pleased with that one, Sir and mistress." the Protocol droid said to Luke and Malia, "He really is in first class condition. I've worked with him before."

"Alright, you've made ya sale." Malia said to him, realising that this Protocol droid was a bit of a chatterbox.

"Here he comes." the Protocol droid said as the R2 unit trundled over to them, whistling as he did so.

"Ok, let's go." Luke said, and he and Malia led the droids towards the homestead.

"Now don't you forget this." the Protocol droid said to the R2 unit, "Why I should stick my neck out for you is quite beyond my capacity."

The R2 unit merely gave a nonchalant beep as they followed the two Humans towards the farm.

~8~

The Protocol droid was soon enjoying a hot oil bath in the Lars' garage. "Thank the maker!" he sighed, "This oil bath is going to feel SO good. I've got such a bad case of dust contamination I can barely move!"

Malia gave a hearty laugh. "You'll have to get used to it, I'm afraid." she said, "There's nothing but sand round these parts."

Luke meanwhile was playing with a model of his T-16 Skyhopper. "It just isn't fair." he complained, "Oh, Biggs is right. I'm never gonna get outta here!"

"Is there anything I might do to help?" the Protocol droid asked

"Well, not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest or teleport me off this rock." Luke huffed, putting the model down and getting up to start cleaning the R2 unit.

"Oh, lighten up." Malia snorted

"I don't think so, sir." the Protocol droid said to Luke, "I'm only a droid and not very knowledgeable about such things. Not on this planet, anyway. 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 it's furthest from." Luke replied

Malia rolled her eyes at her cousin's moaning. "Ignore him." she said to the droid, "You're on Tatooine, the heart of the Outer Rim."

"I see, ma'am." the Protocol droid replied

Malia gave a small laugh. "You can just call me Malia." she told him, "And that happy fella is my cousin, Luke."

"I see, Mistress Malia and Master Luke." the Protocol droid said

"Just Luke and Malia." Luke told him

"And I am C-3PO, Human-Cyborg relations." the Protocol droid introduced, "And this is my counterpart, R2-D2."

"Hello." Luke said to R2-D2 as he tried to scrape some carbon scoring off the Astromech's bodywork.

Artoo gave a greeting beep in response.

"You got a lot of carbon scoring here." Luke said, "Looks like you boys've seen a lot of action."

"With all we've been through, sometimes I'm amazed we're in as good condition as we are." Threepio said as Malia helped him out of the oil bath, "What with the Rebellion and all."

That piqued Luke's interest. "You know of the Rebellion against the Empire?!" he asked eagerly

"That's how we came to be in your service, if you take my meaning, sir." Threepio replied

"Really?" an intrigued Malia asked

"Have you been in many battles?" Luke asked excitedly

"Several, I think." Threepio replied, "Actually, there's not much to tell. I'm not much more than an interpreter, and not very good at telling stories. Well, not at making them interesting, anyway."

Luke returned to cleaning Artoo and struggled to unclog a piece of metal jammed into a slot just below the droid's visual receptor. "Well, my little friend, you've got something jammed in here real good." Luke said, "Were you on a starcruiser or..." Suddenly, the piece of metal came free and Luke tumbled onto his back. He picked himself up to see a hologram of a woman dressed in white about the same age as himself being projected out of Artoo.

"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope." the woman in the hologram said on a loop.

"What's that?" Malia asked

Artoo turned his dome to Threepio and gave an apparently innocent beep.

"'What is what?'" Threepio huffed, "She asked you a question. What is THAT?" He pointed to the hologram.

Artoo gave an answering beep to his counterpart's question.

"Oh, he says it's nothing, sir, ma'am." Threepio told the cousins, "Merely a malfunction. Old data. Pay it no mind."

"Who is she?" Luke asked, watching the woman in the hologram closely. He couldn't help but feel that she was familar to him somehow, yet he'd never seen her before in his life.

"I'm afraid I'm not quite sure, sir." Threepio replied, "I think she was a passenger on our last voyage. A person of some importance, I believe. Our captain was attached..."

"Is there any more to this recording?" Luke asked, and reached for Artoo, who gave an indignant beep.

"Behave yourself, Artoo. You're going to get us into trouble." Threepio scolded, "It's alright, you can trust them. They're our new master and mistress."

Artoo beeped and whistled a long message to Threepio while the two Humans watched the recording with curiosity.

"He says that he is the property of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a resident of these parts, and it's a private message for him." Threepio told the cousins, "Quite frankly, sir and ma'am, I don't know what he's talking about. Our last master was Captain Antilles, but with all we've been through, this little R2 unit has become a little eccentric."

Luke and Malia looked at each other thoughtfully. "Obi-Wan Kenobi?" Luke pondered, "I wander if he means old Ben Kenobi."

"Could be." Malia agreed, "Same last name, after all."

"I beg your pardons, sir and ma'am, but do either of you know what he's talking about?" Threepio asked them

"Well, we don't know anyone called Obi-Wan, but old Ben lives out beyond the Dune Sea. He's kind of a strange old hermit." Luke replied and watched the woman in the recording thoughtfully. "I wonder who she is. Sounds like she's in trouble. We'd better play back the whole thing." He moved towards Artoo, who squawked indignantly again.

"He says the restraining bolt has short-circuited his recording system." Threepio translated, "He suggests that if you remove the bolt, he might be able to play back the entire recording."

Luke thought this through. "Hmm, oh yeah, well... I guess you're too small to run away on us if I take this off." he said and used a chisel to dislodge the restraining bolt from R2's bodywork. "There ya go." he said.

The recording promptly shut off. "Hey, where'd she go?" Malia questioned

"Bring her back! Play back the entire message." Luke ordered Artoo, who gave an innocent beep

"'What message?'" Threepio translated, and promptly gave his counterpart a frustrated kick. "The one you've just been playing! The one you're carrying inside your rusty innards."

"Luke! Malia!" Beru's voice called from elsewhere in the homestead.

"Yeah, we're just coming, mom." Malia called back

"I'm sorry, sir, ma'am, but he appears to have picked up a slight flutter." Threepio said wearily.

"Here. See what you can do with him." Luke said, handing him the restraining bolt, "We'll be right back." And he and Malia left the garage.

"Just you reconsider playing that message for them." Threepio scolded once he and Artoo were alone.

Artoo beeped something

"No, I don't think they like you at all." Threepio replied, and Artoo beeped something else. "No, I don't like you either." Threepio retorted.

~8~

Owen and Beru were just settling down to dinner when Luke and Malia joined them. "Ya know, I think that R2 unit we bought might've been stolen." Luke said as they sat down at the table.

"What makes ya think that?" Owen asked

"We found a recording while we were cleaning him." Malia replied, "He claims he belongs to someone called 'Obi-Wan Kenobi'."

Both Owen and Beru shared looks at this, but neither Luke or Malia noticed this. "We thought he might've meant old Ben." Luke said, "D'ya know what he's talking about?"

Owen shook his head. "Maybe they're related." Malia suggested

"That wizard's just a crazy old man." Owen replied, "Tomorrow, I want ya to take that R2 unit to Anchorhead and have it's memory erased. That'll be the end of it. It belongs to us now."

"But what if this Obi-Wan comes looking for us?" Luke persisted

"He won't." Owen told him, "I don't think he exists anymore. He died about the same time as your father."

Luke's interest perked up again. "He knew my father?" he asked

"I told you to forget it." Owen told him, "Your only concern is to prepare those new droids for tomorrow. In the morning, I want them up there on the south ridge working on those condensers."

"Yeah, we'll get it done, dad." Malia reassured him.

Luke decided to change the subject. "I think those new droids are gonna work out fine. In fact, I, er, was also thinking about our agreement. About me staying on another season? And if these new droids do work out, I wanna transmit my application to the Academy this year."

Owen looked up at him with an unreadable expression. "You mean the next semester before the harvest?" he asked

"Sure, there's more than enough droids." Luke said

"Harvest is when I need you the most." Owen told him, "It's only one season more. This year we'll make enough on the harvest that I can hire some more hands and you go to the Academy next year. You must understand I need ya here, Luke."

"But it's a whole 'nother year." Luke moaned

"Look, it's only one more season." Owen tried to placate him

"Yeah, that's what ya said when Biggs and Tank left." Luke sulked, getting to his feet as he lost his appetite.

"Where're you going?" Beru asked him

"Looks like I'm going nowhere." Luke grumbled, "I'm gonna finish cleaning those droids." And he left the dining chamber.

"Owen, he can't stay here forever." Beru said to her husband, "Most of his friends have gone. It means so much to him."

"I'll make up to him next year. I promise." Owen replied

"Luke's just not a farmer, Owen." Beru said wisely, "He has too much of his father in him."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Owen said darkly

"What d'ya mean, dad?" Malia asked him

"Nothing, sweetie. Eat ya dinner." Owen told her.

~8~

After dinner, Malia found Luke standing outside the homestead watching the suns setting. "Whatcha doing out here?" she asked him

"Nothing." Luke sighed, "Why won't he let me leave?"

"He will eventually." Malia reassured him, "Mom's gonna nag him till he relents, you just watch. I know how ya feel, Luke. I don't wanna be stuck here forever either, but might as well make the most of it, cos' nothing lasts forever, that's what Biggs used to say."

~8~

When Luke and Malia returned to the garage, they found it dark and the droids were nowhere to be seen. Luke took out a droid caller from his belt and activated it. "Oh!" Threepio yelped as he came out of hiding being a box.

"What ya doing hiding back there?" Luke asked him

"It wasn't my fault, sir. Please don't deactivate me." Threepio babbled, "I told him not to go, but he's faulty, malfunctioning. Kept babbling on about his mission."

Both cousins shared a look of horror as they realised that Artoo had snuck out thanks to Luke's removal of the restraining bolt. "Oh, no." Luke breathed, and they hurried outside. Once they were outside the homestead, Luke took a pair of electro-binoculars and scanned the sand flats for any sign of the runaway Astromech.

"That R2 unit has always been a problem." Threepio remarked as he joined them, "These Astro-droids are getting quite out of hand. Even I can't understand their logic at times."

"How could I be so stupid?" Luke cursed himself as he saw no sign of Artoo, "He's nowhere in sight, blast it!"

"Pardon me, sir, ma'am, but couldn't we go after him?" Threepio suggested

"It's too dangerous with all the Sandpeople around." Luke replied, "We'll have to wait till morning."

"Luke, Malia, I'm shutting the power down." Owen's voice called from inside the homestead.

"Yeah, we're coming, dad." Malia called back, then she turned back to Luke and Threepio. "He is gonna kill us." she groaned, "That little droid's gonna cause a whole lotta trouble."

"Oh, he excels at that, ma'am." Threepio replied

"Come on." Luke sighed, leading the way back to the homestead.

Author's notes: This is my first attempt at a Star Wars fanfiction. I've had this idea on the backbunner in my head for some time and I've finally decided to make a start on it. During a rewatch of the Original Trilogy last year, an idea occurred to me about what if Luke had a cousin who ends up joining him on his journey. Regarding Malia, I picture her as looking like Shelley Hennig but with blue eyes instead of brown. She's a few months younger than Luke and is Owen and Beru's daughter. As for whether or not she's Force sensitive, I currently don't have any plans for her to become a Jedi. Not everyone in Star Wars has to be a Jedi! Rogue One proved that we can have great non-Force sensitive characters so I'm leaning towards having Malia be someone who knows of the Force and encourages Luke in his quest to become a Jedi but doesn't go down the same path herself. Many thanks to Maethorial Artemis for proof-reading this chapter. So, I hope you all like this story. Next time will see the cousins meet Obi-Wan Kenobi and tragedy will strike the Lars family. Until next time!