Author's Note: May the Fourth be with you! Have this story as a present to celebrate.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars nor make profits from this work.

"A long time ago..."

On a planet in a distant galaxy, far from here, was a young girl. The young girl, clothed in simple, well worn, and slightly dirty clothes, made her way swiftly through rows and rows of piled up machinery, odds and ends, and common junk. The girl seemed to be searching for something, but if you asked her for what she would tell you she was not quite sure what. She would say she just had a feeling.

The girl had just passed what seemed to be old crates when she stopped. Something about the crates seemed odd. The girl backtracked and stood in front of the crates, staring curiously. The crates were old and rusted and covered in dust. Reaching a hand out she wiped away the dust and found an odd looking symbol, one not quite like those she had seen before. Biting her lip as curiosity washed over her she reached for the screwdriver on her belt, and pulled down her goggles. After a couple of minutes of working on the crates with her screwdriver they opened up.

Lifting the lid off the crates and peering inside she found a bunch of jumbled parts. Sifting through them she found the head of what appeared to be an old protocol droid and a couple other parts. Setting them aside she dug deeper to find a blue and white droid. The girl bit her lip. They were old, but they did not look to be in too bad of a condition. Nodding to herself, she piled the droid parts back into the crate and resealed the lid.

After setting off to get a hover cart, she pushed the crate on. Pushing the cart, she navigated her way back to the front of the shop. Stopping before the counter and peering up at the sentient who owned the shop, she set her jaw determinedly and put her hands on her hips.

"I would like to buy this crate," she stated.

In a cluttered, but large, dim lit room was the young girl from before. Her name was Sulia and she was a smart girl. Sulia loved to work with machines, or anything she could get her hands on, really. She loved figuring out how things worked, how to take them apart, and put them back together. She loved building and creating (but also a little bit of tearing apart).

But right now it was proving quite difficult. The two droids she had found were so old. She had never seen parts quite like theirs, and she was having a bit of trouble figuring out what she could use in place for the old parts. And they were well encrypted—even if they were old. And they weren't like any droid she had seen in her system before. There were some base similarities but that was all. The two were proving to be quite a challenge, but Sulia was nothing if not persistent. Or stubborn, as her parents would say. And who were probably going to start yelling for her to stop working on the droids for however many hours long soon.

Sulia spent as many hours a day as she could devoted to fixing the droids. The work was long and precise and required more patience than Sulia thought she had. Her parents were not sure whether to be mad she was spending so much time on the droids or proud she was learning patience through the endeavor. Things could be a blessing or a curse with Sulia.

Sulia had been torn multiple times between stopping her work out of frustration or continuing because of it so she could prove that she could do it. But she kept going—with the help of her friends. Afeh brought food and drink—including the one time deal of caffe which Sulia regrets ever trying. (Afeh said her brother used it to study for school.) Uket helped her with some of the building and programming, or at least gave her ideas. And Xie was the personal motivator who managed to redirect the adult's attention—especially when it came to the occasional crashing and sparking noises that could be alarming to parents.

Then there was the almost ever revolving rotation of children from the area who loved to come and see whatever project she was working on. Suli was known for being the person to go to to get an old toy fixed or for anything that involved moving parts, really. She was also the person who would build just about anything for you if you asked her nicely enough and with the occasional payment. The group could be annoying when Sulia was trying to focus, but sometimes their questions and excitement kept her going.

During the time Sulia worked on the droids she found the occasional gem as she worked. Little gems that kept her working and piping her curiosity. The droids were not fully functioning or even online yet, but that did not stop Sulia from finding some interesting things.

The first occasion was when, as she was working on the shorter droid that she accidentally activated the hologram projector. When the holoprojector came on a 'gram of a beautiful woman in white, speaking a language Sulia did not know, projected for maybe a few minutes before blinking out.

The second occasion was when Sulia accidentally got the shorter droid to project a series of holophotos of what seemed to be a couple and a few others. A woman with dark hair and similar looks to the previous 'gram Sulia had seen, and a man with dirty blonde hair and well tanned skin. The holos were focused on them, but also a man with red hair, a group of men who all looked the same but with varying tattoos, haircuts, and armor, and a girl with orange, blue, and white skin.

The third occasion was when the same short droid projected a large map of what Sulia knew was unfamiliar star systems and a trail. That same day the tall droid turned on briefly, eyes flashing red, before turning back off.

The small moments were enough to keep Sulia going. The young girl wanted to know the secrets the droids held.

After hours upon hours of work, dedication, and the dread patience Sulia sat in front of the two droids she had found. The droids were finally finished. She managed to repair the insides, but it was so old and she had to improvise lots. Then, she repaired all the sensitive stuff like the disks and data banks inside both with Uket's help. After finishing the insides she started to put together the larger of the two, treating it like a large puzzle. A very large, complicated puzzle with many sensitive parts. Sulia loved it.

Once that one was done with the larger of the two and had polished it up she moved to the shorter one and did her best to fix its outer casing. She had to do a decent bit of banging out dents and welding in new parts with the old parts, but it was done. Then, of course, a little bit of polishing but trying to put some new paint on. Now, after hours upon hours of work, she was done. Sulia just needed to turn them off—and see if they worked.

Sulia had planned to turn the droids on with her friends and maybe some of the other local kids watching, but it was late. She was supposed to be asleep and everyone else would be sleeping. She shouldn't wake them. Besides, it gave her a chance to see if they worked in the first place (other than those odd instances from before) and if last minute changes were necessary.

Sulia reached forward and turned them on. She sat back and pouted as after a while the droids did not turn on. She sighed. They didn't work. Those instances from before were just flukes.

Sulia got off the floor and made her way to the door. Pausing before she left and turned off the power, she turned back. Nothing. Sulia shook her head and left the room. But the young mechanic was unaware of the low whirring noise and dim lights flickering in the droids.

Sulia was not sure what happened first and the order of the events that followed. The yelp she gave, the yelp the droid gave, the sounds of surprise her friends gave, the crash of the tools she dropped, her squeal, and the crash of a falling bench loaded with her tools and scraps. The droids—they worked!

"You work! You work," exclaimed Sulia, rushing forward, "I thought you were broken, that you were too old. But—but you are awake!"

Sulia was vaguely aware of her friends chatter behind her, but she was too focused on the droids. The droids. They worked. They were working. Sulia resisted the urge to dance in place and settled for jumping up and down.

"I thought you said they didn't work," she heard one of her friends say.

The droids looked at her and began talking—but Sulia had no idea what they were saying. And apparently neither did her friends going by their confused mutterings. The short one was speaking something she guessed was coded speech and the other one, well, she wasn't sure. It sounded nothing like any language she had heard before. And her translator was not translating anything they were saying. Instead it buzzed with the warning noise that meant it could not translate. She looked to her friends who seemed confused too. Their translators couldn't decipher the speech either, it seemed.

"Do you understand me," asked Sulia, tapping her translator to let it begin repeating her phrase in the most common languages, "Can you understand me? I can't understand you. My translator doesn't recognize your languages. Neither do my friends."

The tall droid tilted its head and turned to the shorter droid. The two seemed to understand each other, and even know each other. A short conversation seemed to ensue between the two before they turned back to her. The taller droid began trying to speak to her again, but Suli just stood confused and her translator continued to buzz and beep in her ear. An odd word or two seemed familiar, in a way that archaic versions of present languages did.

"I'm sorry, but I do not understand you," said Sulia, shaking her head.

The young girl turned to her friends then back to the droids. Sulia bit her lip. What was she supposed to do now?

"Finally," exclaimed Sulia loudly and excitedly, pumping her fist. Around her her friends cheered and celebrated.

Sulia managed to install a memory stick full of languages native to her system into the two droids with the help of Uket and his programming. Hopefully, it would actually translate, that it would work. She took a deep breath and steeled herself.

"Hello, I am Sulia," introduced Sulia calmly and her translator echoed out. "These are my friends Afeh, Xie, and Uket." The taller droid tilted their head and paused before speaking. A short phrase sounded out and after a minute and a few more tries:

"I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations and protocol droid, and this is R2-D2," introduced the droid. Sulia smiled.

"It is nice to meet you, C-3PO and R2-D2," said Sulia. And the smaller droid beeped in what Sulia assumed was excitement.

Ever since the communication gap had been solved between Sulia, her friends, and the droid the children had not stopped interrogating the droids.

"So, where are you guys from," asked Sulia.

"How did you get here," asked Afeh.

"How old are you guys," asked Uket, "You guys are older than any droids we have seen before."

"Do you guys know each other? How long have you worked together," asked Xie.

"That is many questions, Mistresses Sulia, Afeh, and Xie, and Master Uket" said C-3PO. "But I think I can answer them."

"You didn't even remember half of what happened in our history for fifty years," fired back R2-D2.

"Well I remember now," C-3PO said irritably.

"And you would still manage to get it wrong," fired back R2-D2.

"Can you tell us," asked Sulia, excitedly, "Can you tell us your stories?" And all her friends agreed, nodding and looking between each other excitedly.

"I do not see why not."

In the dim room, cluttered with tools and scrap pieces, sat a group of children in front of a golden droid on a chair and a blue and white droid beside him. A few more children ran into the room and sat down with the others. Hushed whispers sounded throughout the room as the children talked excitedly to each other. The air was filled with electric excitement as they waited for the story to begin.

"Alright children. Gather round. Gather round," said C-3PO and the children settled down as R2-D2 chirped.

"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…"

Author's Note: There you have it.

I created this story after hearing how George Lucas had planned to end the Skywalker/Star Wars Saga with C-3PO and R2-D2 telling the story. But I wanted to spice it up with adding Sulia, the girl who helps make it possible by reactivating the pair and getting them to tell the story. I do not know how long after the Skywalker Saga this takes place. At the very least a few centuries after the movies. And it does take place in a different galaxy from the Star Wars one, maybe a nearby one that has finally established contact with the Republic or its predecessor. That is also why there are a few different terms used, and why I mention translators. This galaxy has translators to translate every language you hear—why Star Wars does not have something like that I do not know. Especially when Marvel Comics has it. The translator is also why all speech is in italics—everyone hears the language they know. Also I just randomly came up the names to my knowledge, well, Sulia is the inspired by the name of some Celtic deity. I look for naming inspiration in weird places. And if any of the names actually mean something that is offensive or not polite let me know and I will change it.

This is all. I welcome reviews, feedback, and constructive criticism. Just no flames as they are not needed. Let me know what you think, and have a great May the 4th!

-Miss Corrine

Published May 4th, 2020.

Updated with slight modifications April 18th, 2021.