Author note: I hope you enjoy this. Thank you for clicking on it.

A man who had just past his mid fifties waited for his niece to come outside and help him inspect the droids the Jawas were bringing. He'd seen the sand crawler on the horizon not to long ago and he wanted his niece's kin eye to help him not get swindled.

Like last time.

Owen Lars let out a soft sigh while reaching up with his right hand to run his fingers through his thinning hair.

"Lucy! Hurry up! The Jawas are here!" Owen hollered as loud as he could. Wondering what his niece was up to now? Oh if she'd fallen back asleep...

"I'm hurrying I'm hurrying!" The words were soon followed by a thud and the loud cursing of a young woman.

Owen Lars looked up at the ceiling as his frustration faded and a small smile made its way onto his face. He shook his head and lowered his gaze just in time for his niece to stomp her way up the steps to where he was standing.

Lucy Skywalker wore her usual daily attire of a white shirt that seemed to be just a tad bit to big for her, a pair of light colored pants and a pair of even lighter boots. Her dark brown leather belt wrapped around her waist. On her right side was a holster made of similar material to her belt, residing in the holster was a SH-43 blaster pistol that her Uncle had gifted to her years ago on her birthday. Lucy gave her Uncle a slightly agitated look as she rubbed the side of her head.

"What took you so long?" Owen asked as he motioned her to follow him outside.

"I was getting dressed." Lucy muttered while dropping her hand down to her side as she walked with her Uncle. Her shoulders drooping with each step she took out into the infernal twin sun glare of Tatooine. Though after growing up on this sandy hell she was used to their gaze.

The pair hadn't gotten far from where they started when Lucy began to hear her Aunt Beru call out her name so with a quick nod at her Uncle she turned and made her way over to the crater where her Aunt's voice was coming from. She heard the lead Jawa that had come over to greet them jabbering to her Uncle. She almost felt sorry for the little creature with how her Uncle responded to it. When she got close enough tot he crater's edge she placed her right foot on it before peaking down inside to see her kind Aunt looking up at her with a smile on her face.

"Lucy dear, make sure your Uncle remembers to get a translator that speaks Bocce." Beru smiled up at her niece. Oh how the years had seemingly flown by. It seemed like only yesterday that Jedi, Obi-Wan, had brought them Lucy to look after and protect. Had it really been 19 years already? Lucy was all grown up now and Beru knew that they couldn't keep her here for much longer. She wanted to go out and see the galaxy, it had already led to many arguments between her niece and husband. The older woman had a feeling that these droids would cause yet another argument tonight.

Lucy looked over her shoulder at the line of droids the Jawas were showing off to Uncle Owen before turning her gaze back down at her Aunt, "It doesn't seem like we have much of a choice but I'll remind him!" She promised before turning and making her way over to her Uncle.

There were two Jawas standing by Uncle Owen, jabbering away. She was close enough to hear her Uncle tell them they were taking the red one, her eyes went to the astromech droid. The one they were apparently buying but her gaze didn't linger long on it, instead her gaze was drawn to the little blue one right next to it. A brief smile crossed her face before she approached the red one as her Uncle called it, getting down on one knee she began to inspect the droid. Something was wrong with this droid. She couldn't put her finger on it but it wasn't the first time she had such feelings.

"No not.. that one." Owen briefly wondered what that spider like droid even did before he came to a stop in front of a golden protocol droid. "You.." The droid's gaze focused on him after he addressed it. "I suppose you are programmed for etiquette and protocol." He placed his hands on his sides as he looked the droid over.

"Protocol? Why it's my primary function sir." The droid's head tilted to one side before straightening up. "I am well versed in all customs."

Owen stared at the droid. His voice sounded familiar. He shook his head before responding, "I have no need for a protocol droid." Just as he was about to continue down the line the golden droid spoke up again.

"Of course you haven't sir, not in an environment such as this." That almost made Owen chuckle. "That is why I have been programmed with over thirty secondary funcutions.."

Owen cut the droid off, "What I really need is a droid that understands the binary language of moisture vaporators."

"Vaporators?" The droid exclaimed. "Why sir my first job was programming binary load lifters very similar to your vaporators in most respects."

"Can you speak Bocce?" Owen asked.

"Of course I can sir. It is like a second language to me. I'm as fluent in Bocce as.."

Once more the poor golden protocol droid was cut off. "Yeah all right shut up." Owen spoke in a rush before looking down at the Jawa that was staring up at him expectantly. "We'll take this one too." The Jawa began talking again and motioning at its fellows.

"Shutting up sir." The Golden droid said quietly.

"Lucy!" He called out to his niece who got up from inspecting the red and white astromech droid. He watched her approach with a little hop in her step that made him smile. When she was next to him he pointed at the protocol droid and at the astromech as he spoke, "Take these two over to the garage will you? I'd like them cleaned before dinner."

Lucy's shoulders drooped a bit and she almost stomped her foot when she spoke, "But I was going to head into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters." She folded her arms over her chest and glared at her Uncle.

Owen remained unfazed by his niece's glare, responding sternly. "You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done. Now come on, get to it."

Her arms returned to her sides but only briefly as she threw them up in frustration before motioning to the golden droid. "Come on." As she turned to walk back towards her home she motioned for the white and red astromech droid to follow as well. "And the red one. Come on red." When she glanced over at the astromech droid she saw that the little blue one was looking in her direction. The Jawas stood around the red one and it had yet to move causing Lucy to raise her voice as she ordered once more, "Come on red!"

She stopped and planted her hands on her hips as she waited for the red and white astromech to follow. The blue one seemed to waddle in place as it let out a series of beeps and whistles. It seemed to want to follow after them but a Jawa came up and pointed a device at it, getting the little droid to stop moving.

Lucy had just turned back around to continue walking towards the house when a small explosion caught her by surprise. Her right hand going to her blaster as she turned back around to see what had happened only to see that a piece of the red astromech had blown off and the droid was smoking. She rolled her eyes at herself for being so jumpy, she moved her hand away from her blaster while stepping closer to the droid to inspect the damage.

"Well now what happened to you..?" She asked herself while looking the droid over once more. It seemed her feeling that something was wrong with this one was correct. "Uncle Owen!" She hollered. Gaining the man's attention as he was paying the Jawas for the droids. The man turned to look over at his niece and immediately noticed the smoking droid. "This R2 unit has a bad motivator!" She then gestured at the droid's head. "Look!"

Owen's hands clenched into fists as he turned to look down at the Jawa in front of him. "What are you trying to push on us?" The hard look in his eyes did not soften or go away as the Jawa leader went on its loud spiel.

The sounds of beeping and whistling drew Lucy's attention to the little blue astromech that was once more waddling in place in an attempt to inch closer.

A light tap on her shoulder caused her to turn her head to the side to glance at the golden protocol droid standing slightly behind her. "Excuse me miss but that R2 unit is in prime condition, a real bargain."

Lucy grinned at the protocol droid. "I like the way you think golden rod." She turned her gaze to her Uncle who was still listening to the Jawa's apologies and whatever else it was saying. "Uncle Owen!" She called to get his attention.

"Yeah?" Her Uncle turned his head to look at her.

"What about that one?" Lucy pointed to the blue R2 unit that seemed eager to get over to them.

Owen nodded before pointing off at the blue astromech droid as he looked down at the Jawa. "We will take that one." He said with a bit of finality in his tone.

The lead Jawa nodded reluctantly.

A pair of Jawa approached to take the damaged droid away. Lucy waved her hand at them. "Yeah take it away."

"Oh I'm sure you will be very pleased with that one miss. He really is in first class condition, I've worked with him before." Golden Rod said to her. "Here he comes."

"Yeah?" Lucy looked at the protocol droid before glancing back at the little blue R2 unit that whistled as he started to approach. "Well he sure is a cute little droid that's for sure." She smiled at the astromech when it was right in front of her. "Okay okay let's go." She thought if she hurried she could get these two cleaned up well before dinner and still get out to Tosche Station.

As she turned to head inside she heard the protocol droid talking to the astromech.

"Now don't you forget this, why I should stick my neck out for you is quite beyond my capacity.."


"Thank the maker! This oil bath is going to feel soooo good. I've got such a bad case of dust contamination, I can barely move!" The protocol droid exclaimed.

Lucy chuckled at the droid while playing with one of her old hand made models she'd put together herself. She ran her hand over it while looking over at the pair of newly purchased droids. There was no way she was going to get them clean and still have time to get out to Tosche Station, these two were absolutely filthy. With that in mind she sat up and placed the model ship on a little table.

"It just isn't fair." She didn't hold back the whine in her voice. After all it was just her and the droids here in the garage that was practically hers. Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen rarely if ever came to it. Even the most of the time they did come to the garage it was because they were trying to find her. "Oh Biggs is right. I'm never going to get out of here!" Biggs was one of her best friends. He'd gone off to the Academy a while back. She ran her right hand through her hair while recalling the time she'd nearly shot his mustache off after he scared her with a few of their other friends.

"Is there anything I might do to help, miss?" The golden droid asked.

'Bless him.' Lucy thought as she looked over somethings before turning and walking away from the oil bath. "No.. no. Not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest, or teleport me off this rock." She looked over her shoulder at the bathing droid before turning her focus back to the astromech.

"I don't think so miss." The protocol droid said with what sounded like genuine regret in his voice. "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 am on."

Lucy smirked at the protocol droid's confession while she continued to clean the R2 unit which was being surprisingly silent what with all his beeping and whistling not all that long ago. "Well my golden friend, if there is a bright center to the universe.. you are on the planet that is farthest from it."

"I see miss." He responded lightly.

"You can call me Lucy, Golden Rod." She informed the protocol droid while continuing with cleaning the astromech.

"I see, miss Lucy."

She almost laughed but settled for a light giggle at the droid's formality. "No no. Just Lucy. Miss makes me feel old. That reminds me though. Do you two have names?"

"I am C-3PO. Human-cyborg relations." The identified protocol droid said as it was raised up out of the oil bath. "And this is my counterpart is R2-D2."

Lucy grinned as she worked. "Well it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Threepio. R2." The blue astromech let out a soft whistle in response. "My oh my, you my little blue friend have quite the carbon scoring here. Looks like you boys have seen a lot of action."

"With all we've been through I'm surprised sometimes I'm amazed we're in as good condition as we are in." Threepio sounded rather exasperated. "What with the rebellion and all."

She nearly dropped her tools as she whirled around to look at the gold protocol droid. Excitement bubbled up inside of her. She quickly got to her feet, stumbling as she did so. Soon she was face to face with Threepio. "You know of the Rebellion against the Empire?!"

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

She tilted her head to the side before brushing it away and instead asking what she really wanted to know, "Have you been in many battles?"

"Several, I think. Actually there's not much to tell." Threepio moved around a little as he spoke. Lucy resisted the urge to sigh in disappointment as she turned back to R2-D2 and got back on the floor in front of the little astromech to continue picking away at the grime. "I'm not much more than an interpreter and not very good at telling stories. Well, not at making them interesting anyway."

"Well my little friend..." Lucy grunted as she tried to pry loose whatever it was jammed inside R2. "You've got something jammed in there real good.. were you on a star cruiser.. or.." She finally broke free whatever it was lodged inside and in doing so she comedically flew backwards a little bit onto her backside. There was a sound she couldn't quite identify but it didn't matter as she turned her head to see a hologram of a young woman that if she had to guess was around her age. Lucy's eyes widened at the hologram. The girl.. woman.. was beautiful.

And she was speaking.

"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi." The hologram woman said, even her voice was pretty! "You're my only hope." The young woman then bent down before the hologram glitched and the message began to loop.

"W-what's this?" Lucy asked the pair of droids, shocked at what she was seeing.

R2-D2 let out a whistle followed by a few beeps.

"What is what?" Threepio asked the astromech rhetorically before gesturing at Lucy, "She asked you a question. What is that?" The protocol droid then gestured to the hologram.

Lucy turned her gaze away from the droids and back to the hologram, the lady in white was asking once again for help from 'Obi-Wan Kenobi'. The only Kenobi she knew was old Ben.

R2 let out a few beeps after the message looped a few times. Threepio spoke up once more, "Oh. He says it's nothing miss. Merely a malfunction. Old data, pay it no mind."

She wasn't really paying attention to what Threepio was saying, her focus solely on the holographic lady in white. She slowly got into a more comfortable position as she asked the pair, "Who is she?" without taking her eyes off the hologram. "She's beautiful." Lucy said in amazement.

"I'm afraid I'm not sure miss." Threepio hoped the young lady didn't call his bluff. Then he felt bad for lying to the poor young miss and added, "I think she was a passenger on our last voyage. A person of some importance, miss."

Lucy pointed her tool at the hologram as she asked another question, "Is there more to this recording?" She turned her gaze to R2-D2 as the little droid let out a series of what sounded like frantic beeps and whistles.

"Behave yourself R2." Threepio said while taking a few steps closer to R2. "You're going to get us into trouble." He had lowered his voice and to Lucy it seemed like the gold protocol droid was trying to whisper of all things. "It's all right. You can trust her, she's our new master." Artoo replied with another series of beeps. If he was able, Lucy was certain that Threepio would be rolling his eyes at whatever the astromech had said. "He says he's the property of an Obi-Wan Kenobi. A resident of these parts and it's a private message for him. Quite frankly miss, I don't know what he is talking about. Our last master was Captain Antilles, but with what we've been through this little R2 unit has become a bit eccentric."

She hadn't taken her eyes off the hologram as Threepio relayed the information to her. "Obi-Wan Kenobi.. I wonder if he means old Ben Kenobi." She tapped her chin with her index finger as she thought it over.

"I beg your pardon miss." Threepio said while turning to look at her. "But do you know what he is talking about?"

"Well I don't know anyone named Obi-Wan." Lucy groaned as she got to her feet and stretched before walking over to one of her many tool kits. "Old Ben lives out beyond the dune sea. I guess you could consider him a neighbor of ours. As much as someone can be a neighbor out here. He used to come by a lot when I was younger. Bit of a strange hermit, a friend of Uncle Owen's. Doesn't come around much anymore. Uncle Owen says the suns have fried his brain."

She finished fiddling with her tools and wiped her hands on a rag while looking down at the small hologram which continued to cycle through it's short message. To Lucy the lady in white sounded worried. "It sounds like she's in trouble." Lucy moved closer to Artoo, "I better play back the whole thing." Concern for the mysterious woman filled Lucy as she got down on a knee to try and find a way to hear the full message.

Just as her hands were about to touch the astromech it led out several loud beeps that had Lucy flinching away from the droid.

She looked up at Threepio expectantly.

Threepio looked down for a moment before realizing what she was silently asking. "He says the restraining bolt has short circuited his recording system. He suggests that if you remove the bolt he might be able to play back the entire recording."

Lucy tilted her head to the side, considering it. Before nodding. She got back to her feet, returning to her tool kit. "I guess you are too small to run away from me if I take this thing off." She gave Artoo a sly smile as she approached with a tool in hand. She pressed the tool against the restraining bolt and with a bit of effort she easily pulled it off, a bit of sparks flew as the device unlatched from the droid. "There you go." She turned her head just in time to see the blue hologram of the lady in white vanish.

"Wait a minute where did she go?" Lucy asked while pointing at the area on the floor where the hologram had been. She turned her gaze first to Threepio then down at Artoo. "Bring her back." She demanded, "Play back the entire message."

Threepio seemingly picking up on the miss's ire quickly turned to the astromech after R2 let out a beep. "What message?" He repeated what Artoo said in disbelief, raising his arm up. He then swiftly brought it down giving the top of R2-D2's head an open hand smack. "The one you've been playing. The one you are carrying inside your rusty innards."

Despite the annoyance she felt at having been tricked by the little droid, watching the protocol droid smack the top of the astromech's head nearly had Lucy doubling over with laughter instead she let out a snort and shook her head, pointing her screwdriver at the little blue astromech.

Just as she was about to threaten to pull the little droid apart piece by piece unless he showed her the full recording like he said he could, her aunt's warm voice caught her attention.

"Lucy! Lucy!"

"I'm coming Aunt Beru!" Lucy called back, realizing it must be dinner time. She turned her gaze back to the pair of droids, a stern look on her face. One she hoped resembled Uncle Owen's.

"I'm sorry miss." Threepio was quick to try and use this opportunity to advert the young miss's ire. "But he seems to have picked up a slight flutter."

"Here." Lucy said jokingly as she handed off the screw driver and restraining bolt to Threepio. "See what you can do with him, I'm going to get some food."

With that she turned and made her way out of the garage, leaving the pair behind.

"Guess it couldn't hurt to take him to see old Ben." Lucy muttered to herself.


Lucy stepped into the dining room, her Uncle's back to the entrance. She noticed he was putting a spoon full of stew into his mouth as she sat down.

"Looks great Aunt Beru." She said warmly for her aunt's benefit and was rewarded with a smile from the middle aged woman. Lucy picked up a spoon and began to poke at her own bowl of stew that mostly resembled some kind of muck before looking at her Uncle. "You know I think those droids we bought were stolen."

"Oh?" Owen asked gruffly, taking a sip of Bantha milk. "What makes you say that?"

Her stomach rumbling distracted her for a moment. She quickly gulped down stew before responding to her uncle's question, "Well I stumbled across a recording while I was cleaning him. He says he belongs to someone called Obi-Wan Kenobi." As she said the name she looked at both her aunt and uncle to see their reactions. She noticed the look her aunt gave her uncle.

Uncle Owen simply looked down into his bowl at the look.

"I thought he meant old Ben." She looked at Uncle Owen. "Do you know what he's talking about?"

Uncle Owen shook his head in response, chewing his food.

Lucy sighed before putting another spoon filled with muck stew into her mouth. "Maybe they're related." She said with her mouth full, much to her Aunt's displeasure.

Owen cleared his throat, "Ben's just a crazy old man these days." He sighed, running his right hand through his hair. "Look, tomorrow I want you to take that R2 unit down to Anchorhead and have it's memory wiped." Lucy reached across the table for the tall glass of Bantha milk, she turned her head to look at Uncle Owen as he talked. "That will be the end of it. It belongs to us now."

Lucy frowned. She'd already made up her mind on taking Artoo to see old Ben. Still, Uncle Owen didn't need to know that now did he?

"But... what if this Obi-Wan comes looking for him?" She asked innocently as she poured herself a glass of Bantha milk.

"He won't." Owen said with certainty. Lucy noted an odd look that crossed his face as she took a sip of milk. "I don't think he exists anymore. He died about the same time as your father."

Her cup nearly slipped from her fingers at her Uncle's words but she managed to tighten her grip just before it could fall. Her eyes widened at this information. Obi-Wan Kenobi, the man the lady in white was asking for, knew her father? She lowered her cup and sat it on the table as excitement filled her stomach.

"He knew my father?" She asked in a rush. The words practically flying from her mouth. "Did he work on the freighter with dad?" Her father had been a navigator on a spice freighter. Her aunt and uncle didn't like to talk about him. Getting information about Anakin Skywalker was like trying to find a lake out in this desert. She knew more about her grandmother Shmi then she did her own father. At least she knew that much about him, she knew nothing about her mother.

"I told you to forget it." Owen said with the same tone of finality he had used against the Jawas earlier. Six simple words were enough to take the wind out of Lucy's sails.

Her right hand tightened into a fist under the table. Anger flashing in her blue eyes.

Owen looked away from his niece, down into his bowl of food. The anger in those blue eyes took him back to that day. The day his step brother had returned with the body of his step mother. He took a deep breath and steeled his resolve before lifting his gaze back to meet his niece's.

"Now listen Lucy." His voice had softened considerably, "Tomorrow I want you to have those two droids out on the south ridge working on condensers as soon as possible, all right?"

Lucy gave a slow nod before looking away, staring across the room at an interesting crack on the wall for a few minutes as she calmed down.

"I think those new droids are going to work out fine." She said while lowering her gaze back to her food. Taking her spoon once more into her right hand. "In fact I.. uh..." She looked at her aunt briefly before swinging her gaze to Uncle Owen. "I'm thinking about our agreement. Remember? The one we had last year."

The year before she had desperately begged and pleaded to her uncle to allow her to submit her application to the Imperial Academy just as her best friend Biggs Darklighter and a few others had already done. Her pleading had fallen on deaf ears as her uncle insisted that he needed her around the farm and all he had asked for was just one more season.

That season had come and gone.

Now that they had purchased a pair of droids that could help out around the farm, it was time to bring up the academy once again.

"I was thinking about submitting my application to the academy, this year." Lucy made sure to sound a little forceful as she looked at her uncle.

"You mean the next semester? Before the harvest?" Owen already knew the answers to his own questions but he asked them anyway in an attempt to buy time. To think of an excuse.

"Yes." Lucy said tensely.

"But the harvest is when I need you the most." Shame washed over the old moisture farmer as he lied to his niece. Just another lie to add to the pile of lies he and Beru had told her over the years. Though this one he would add to his own pile as he knew his wife had for the last few years wanted to tell Lucy the truth. He knew what he was about to do would upset Lucy greatly and that it would very likely take a tremendous effort to get her to trust him ever again as he was about to break his word to her. Break the deal they had made. He tried not to notice how tense his niece's shoulders were.

"Look I... I know the deal we made... but listen, okay? With these new droids, the ones we already have, and with you here helping me..." It stung. Seeing her turn her head away from as he spoke. He knew he was crushing her dream once again. He knew that all Lucy dreamed about was leaving Tatooine behind and getting in the seat of a starship. He hated this but as much as he hated it, he wanted her safe. Lucy could hate him all she wanted as long as she was safe. "We'll make enough money from the harvest where I can hire some more hands and you can go to the academy next year."

Lucy could feel her temper rising. She had every right to be angry. Every right to yell at her uncle. Call him every name under the twin suns.

But she didn't.

Instead, Lucy slumped her shoulders and got to her feet. No longer feeling hungry. "Next year... next year..." She muttered. He'd said that last year after Biggs and Tank left. She wondered what exactly he would say next year. She shook her head and made to leave the dining room without saying another word.

Until her aunt spoke up.

"Where are you going, Lucy?" Beru asked softly.

"Looks like I'm going nowhere." Lucy's response was immediate. She paused briefly to look at her aunt then down at her uncle who she was standing next too. "I have to finish cleaning those droids." Her eyes stung but she held back her tears as she stomped out of the dining room as quickly as she could without running.


Lucy didn't return to the garage immediately. Instead she made her way out of the homestead, kicking at the sand in frustration. Her gaze went to the twin suns that were slowly sinking below the horizon. Even with the turmoil she was feeling do to her mixed emotions she couldn't help but acknowledge that the sunset was absolutely beautiful. She made her way to the crater where she had stood earlier that day when conversing with Aunt Beru.

She stood there silently, the wind gently lapping against her face as she stared at the sunsets.

A soft breath escaped her as she lowered her gaze to the edge of the crater while thinking about her future. Her hopes. Her dreams.

Her gaze lifted from the edge to the horizon once more. Taking in the breath taking sunset one last time before slowly turning away.

She still had to finish cleaning those droids after all.


It hadn't taken long to get back to the garage. She closed the door behind her after entering, not wanting to be disturbed. She hoped that if her aunt or uncle stopped by to check on her that they'd take the door being closed as a sign to leave her alone for the rest of the night.

She blinked as she stepped into the main garage area. Scanning the room for Threepio and Artoo.

No sign of them.

Lucy reached down to her belt and pulled out a small device, tapping the button with her thumb. The device made a whirring sound but it was quickly drowned out by the sound of a bucket being knocked over which drew her attention off to the shadows of the garage where she could make out Threepio standing next to the family V-35 Courier. In her opinion he kind of looked a little creepy, standing in the shadows with his glowing eyes.

"What are you doing back there?" She asked in exasperation. Lowering the device and placing it back in one of the pouches on her belt.

"It wasn't my fault miss." Threepio whined. "Please don't deactivate me!"

She raised an eyebrow at the protocol droid.

"I told him not to go but..." Lucy immediately started looking around for the little blue astromech droid, a sinking feeling making itself known in her stomach and it wasn't because of the muck soup she had at dinner. "He's faulty! Malfunctioning. Kept babbling on about his mission!"

"Oh no." She whirled around and made her way back towards the garage door after picking up her MB450 macrobinoculars from one of the work tables. She barely registered the sound of Threepio following after her as she ran from the garage.

It didn't take long until she was once again outside, almost tripping over herself in her rush.

She took a deep breath before bringing up her macrobinoculars to scan the horizon for the astromech.

"That R2 unit has always been a problem." Threepio said as he caught up to her. He observed the young miss as she turned in a circle while scanning all around. "These astro droids are getting a bit out of hand. Even I cannot understand their logic at times."

"How could I be so stupid?" Lucy wasn't paying attention to the protocol droid at all. "He's nowhere in sight. Blast it!" She lowered her MB450s and looked at Threepio while biting her bottom lip to keep herself from shouting.

"Excuse me miss but couldn't we go after him?" Threepio asked while turning his head to look at her.

"We can't." She groaned while motioning to the wide open desert all around the farmstead. "It's too dangerous at night what with all the sand people. We'll have to wait till in the morning."

How was she going to explain this to her uncle?!

As if summoned by her thoughts, Uncle Owen called out to her.

"Lucy! I'm shutting the power down!"

"All right! I'll be right there!" She shouted back. Hoping he didn't appear and ask why she was standing out here with the golden droid. "Oh I am in so much trouble. Ya know Threepio, that little droid is going to cause me nothing but trouble."

"Oh he excels at that miss." Threepio agreed before turning to look at the horizon. Hoping Artoo was all right out there.

She took one last look off at the horizon before turning her gaze to the protocol droid. "Come on. Let's get inside before Uncle Owen shows up and starts asking questions."

Lucy turned and headed back to the entrance of her home with Threepio hot on her heels.

End

Author note: If you've made it this far then I thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoyed it. If you are curious as to what the SH-43 blaster pistol is, it's the name I gave to the blaster pistols Carl Weathers carries in the Mandalorian. Named after the Steyr-Hahn pistol and PPS 43 sub machine gun.