4 BBY
Imperial Center
Ahsoka Tano landed in the passing speeder of an imperial officer with a heavy thud causing it to veer wildly out of control almost hitting another speeder coming from the opposite direction. Shocked the officer looked back after regaining control to see a prone figure rising slowly in the back.
"what the…" the officer managed to say before a wave of a hand and a strong suggestion put him to sleep.
Ahsoka moved the imperial officer to the side and took control of the speeder. Her body ached from the lightning and the fall but with any luck the Sith thought she was dead. He had to be an apprentice to Darth Vader how else would he have recognized Anakin Skywalker's fighting style, she thought to herself. This was an unexpected development; it appeared as though the rule of two had been violated or The Emperor no longer saw a need for it. Somehow she figured The Emperor was unaware of the third Sith. But she could worry about that later for now she had to figure out a way off the planet; she turned the speeder towards the spaceport.
Mon Mothma had narrowly escaped the strange intruder in the senatorial offices. She didn't think he was behind her but she couldn't be sure. She had thought about rushing back to her apartment but dismissed the idea. She had been planning to return to Chandrilla after the senate session tonight anyway; so she headed straight to her personal landing pad where her pilot was waiting for.
"Good evening senator" He greeted her cheerfully ignoring the rush the senator seemed to be in "we're ready for the trip home if you are"
"Change of plans Lieutenant Royce" She said using his alliance rank instead of his cover "We're going to the new base on Yavin IV. "
"Yes Ma'am" he said enthusiastically as he followed her up the ramp behind her.
She had decided her cover in the senate was blown and sticking around any longer would be a mistake. It was time to join the alliance full time. Luckily she still had allies in the senate. Recently her old friends adopted daughter, Winter Organa, had been elected as the representative of Alderaan at the age of fifteen. The young girl had approached shortly after arriving on world asking how she could help. She had quickly gained Mon Mothma's trust and been welcomed into the fold. As she mentally inventoried her resources in the senate Lieutenant Royce came up behind her.
"How long should I tell General Dodonna we will be staying for?" he asked.
"Permanently" she replied
Tattooine
As the suns began to set Luke Skywalker was working on his sky hopper in the garage. With Ahsoka gone for the time being he was staying with his aunt and uncle while Obi-Wan had returned to the hut. He was enjoying his time off immensely. He had spent the last week hanging out with his friend Biggs Darklighter and their pal Windy before Biggs went off to the imperial academy to be a pilot. Luke wanted to warn his friend not to go; that the empire was evil, but somehow he knew Biggs would figure it out before it was to late. Instead they talked about girls and racing. As he finished installing a new power converter he heard a speeder pull up and someone got out yelling.
"Mr. Lars! Mr. Lars'" the voice yelled.
Luke immediately went to see what the yelling was about and entered the courtyard at the same time his uncle entered from the other side.
"Windy what in the two suns are you yelling about?" his uncle Owen asked as Windy raced down the stairs still yelling.
"My dad sent me to round up everyone one I could" Windy said reaching the bottom of the stairs
"What's going on Windy?" Luke asked before his uncle could
"Sand people! There's a large group heading toward the Darklighter place! He told me to come get you and go to three other farms. He sent my brother in the other direction!" windy exclaimed
With that Owen Lars turned around and went to go get his blaster rifle. When he came back out he told Windy he would go with him to round up the others.
"What about Luke?" Windy asked
"If the sand people are attacking as you say I'm going to send to the south for help" he said referring to Obi-Wan though only he and Luke knew that. "Now get in your speeder I'll be up in a minute"
He waited until Windy was up the stairs before turning to Luke. "When I went inside I saw the Imperial Weather service broadcasted a warning about a large sand storm coming from the west. I doubt Windy and I will make it past the first farm before we have to sit it out unless we want to get lost in the Dune Sea. I want you to go get Obi-Wan, you two can probably make it to the Darklighter estate before the storm hits. Huff Darklighter may not be well liked but an attack sand people is very serious" his uncle told him
"Okay Uncle Owen. I just need to go inside and get my lightsaber. As soon as you and Windy are gone I'll go get him and we will go see what we can do" Luke said
"Good boy" his uncle said patting him on the shoulder before following after Windy.
Luke went inside to get his lightsaber from his room and stopped to check on this sand storm. It was close, if he went to get Obi-Wan they may not make it to the Darklighter place before it hit. He could always go alone, he was sure he would catch hell from Obi-Wan and Master Ahsoka when she returned. Luke sat there for a moment before rushing out to his speeder.
Imperial Center
Ahsoka piloted the speeder into the spaceport and got out. She wasn't sure where she was going but trusted in the force to guide her and it was leading her into the spaceport. As she moved along between the pilots and travelers she tried to sense if anyone was following her but couldn't feel anyone paying close attention to her. She decided to duck into an alcove for an additional look around before proceeding. Looking around she couldn't see anyone giving more than a brief notice as they passed. After a few minutes she was firmly convinced she had escaped and stepped out of the alcove and made her way through the crowd. She didn't know what she was looking for but she knew she would know when she saw it. Slipping in between two Rodians she came face to face with a familiar looking pilot.
"Captain Solo what an odd coincidence meeting you here" she said
Han eyed at the togruta suspiciously, if there was one thing the Corellian didn't believe in, it was coincidences.
"Yeah…coincidence" he said dryly looking around for a trap.
Ignoring the suspicious look Ahsoka continued "Hey I don't suppose you're looking for additional crew are you?"
Not sensing a trap; Han decided it probably was just a coincidence "Well, we're heading to Nar Shaada. We really don't have much trouble with the Hutts" he stated.
"Perfect! That's exactly where I was going. What do we need to do to reach an agreement" she asked?
"Run into anther old friend and decide it was time to leave again?" he asked
"Something like that" she said "I'll give you three thousand credits for a ride"
"Seems like you've been busy since we dropped you off on Alderaan. Alright, you've got a deal. Follow me" he said before walking by her and heading towards the hangars.
Tatooine
Luke pushed the sky hopper as fast as he could be trying to get to the Darklighter estate ahead of the sand people and sand storm. Dodging his way between the jagged rocks that lined beggar's canyon he reached out with the force. He could feel the sand people moving almost parallel to his route. They would be there shortly. He pushed the speeder well beyond what was considered the safe operating range of its systems.
As he came shooting out of the canyon he could see the Darklighter place on his scanners two kilometers away. The sand people weren't showing, but then again they never did. The scanner was designed to pick up metal and electronics not organic matter. They were close though, he could sense their chaotic thoughts through the force. Just as the Darklighter estate came into view he saw a blaster shot moving to his left as he pulled up to the farm and got out.
"Biggs!" he called as his feet the ground
Coming out the house trailed by his son Huff Darklighter gave Luke a disapproving look. "What are you doing here boy? What was that blaster shot?" the Land Baron asked
"There's a large group of sand people moving this way, I thought that was you guys shooting" he said.
"Must have been one of the hands out on the perimeter" Biggs offered from behind his father
Huff looked at his son then back to Luke. "Well if there's a big group coming why didn't you bring help?"
"Windy and my uncle are out gathering up some of the other farmers they'll be along as soon they can." Luke offered
"Why didn't you go with them? What's one extra hand going to offer in a fight?" Huff asked
"it's better than nothing" Luke countered "I figured maybe some farmers may already be here"
With that Huff told Biggs to gather up what few hands they had and to set up a small perimeter and went back inside. At first Luke thought maybe he had gone to get a weapon but when it was clear he wasn't coming back out Luke told Biggs he was going to scout the sand peoples position before Tatoo II fully set. Biggs told him to be careful as he hopped in his speeder and went south in the direction of the blaster shot he had seen earlier; he hadn't travelled very far before another shot from behind a group of rocks disabled his speeder. Hopping out he crouched behind it trying to sense where the shooter was. He was so focused on his search he didn't notice that two others had snuck up behind him until they let out a war cry. Jumping out of the way before he was hit by a gaffi stick Luke jumped to his feet and activated his lightsaber.
Upon seeing the blue blade, the two sand people that had snuck up behind him froze momentarily before backing away slowly to get away from Luke. Perplexed by the sudden change of events Luke couldn't help but be fascinated. He had never heard of the sand people backing away from a fight even when heavily outnumbered. If there was one thing people on Tatooine knew; it was any fight with the sand people was a fight to the death. After they had disappeared into the darkness Luke started his walk back to the Darklighter estate. He made it back just as the sand storm started to hit. Biggs came running up to Luke.
"Luke! I have to get everyone inside; this storm is going to be fierce. What did you find out?" Biggs asked knowing the sand storm wouldn't bother the sand people but it would render the humans helpless.
"Get everyone in Biggs, the sand people are pulling back" Luke said
"What? Why?" his friend asked trying to shield his face
Luke was doing the same now "I don't know but let's get inside" he suggested.
The two friends went inside where Huff Darklighter accused Luke of fabricating the whole story; until one of the other hands verified that he had been the one to fire the shot Luke saw when he was approaching the estate. Realizing it was a fight not worth having Huff Darklighter went to bed while the other hands found a place to sleep wherever they could as the storm raged outside. Luke and Biggs stayed up all night talking about the latter's impending departure for the imperial academy.
As the storm subsided and the two suns of Tatooine came up Biggs loaned Luke a speeder bike and he went to his uncle's farm. When he got home he found his aunt, uncle and Obi-Wan all waiting for him and they were not very happy.
"What we're you thinking Luke?" his aunt asked. She had obviously been worried when Obi-Wan showed up that morning without him and not knowing anything about an attack by sand people.
Owen and Windy hadn't even made it to the first farm before being forced to turn back. Owen had sent the boy home in the morning knowing that it was to late to help the Darklighter's at that point. After chastising the boy for what seemed like an eternity; Obi-Wan finally announced that he and Luke should return to their hut to continue Luke's training, if no other reason than to keep him out of any further trouble.
They drove back home in silence. When they finally arrived Luke put his things inside and was preparing to do his afternoon mediations when Obi-Wan came and spoke to him.
"What you did last night was reckless and foolish. You might very well have been killed. But it reminded me of another young Jedi I once knew" the aging Jedi Master said
"I'm sorry master" Luke said
"That's what he would tell me every time he didn't listen as well" Obi-Wan chuckled. The boy certainly had some of Anakin's recklessness, but he also had Padme's caution. "Tell me what did you feel as you went out to face them?"
Luke looked up at Obi-Wan not sure what the Jedi was asking "Honestly master I was afraid. I knew if I came here to get you the Darklighter's would be on their own. I also knew they were going to need the help so off I went" Luke said
"But you overcame that fear" Kenobi said stroking his beard in thought "I'm curious why the sand people retreated up seeing your lightsaber"
Luke was puzzled as well "I don't know Master Kenobi, as soon as they saw it they backed away. The chaos I sensed turned to outright fear when they saw it"
"Very interesting" Obi-Wan said "Well, crisis averted I suppose. What you did was very courageous Luke, but also very stupid. Next time come and get me. I suppose Ahsoka will need to be told"
"Yes Master" Luke replied.
Vjun
"I was unable to locate the senator after she ran in the senate offices" the kneeling image of Starkiller said "I know she was due to come to Chandrilla but since arriving here myself I've learned the senator never arrived"
Darth Vader listened as Starkiller gave his report. He had encountered a lone jedi in the senate building I he identified as Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano, his former Padawan in another life. The news that Ahsoka was dead caused Vader a brief moment sorrow that quickly turned to anger as he realized once again his former apprentice had been the victim of the Jedi. Many years ago Ahsoka had been framed for bombing the Jedi Temple. Anakin Skywalker had worked tirelessly to prove his padawans innocence. Eventually Skywalker had discovered that Barris Offee was the real culprit. Having cleared her name, the Jedi Council had offered her knighthood but Ahsoka had declined and left the Jedi Order. Her departure was one of the reasons Vader had never put her on the list of wanted Jedi. Afterwards, Skywalker had insisted that Ahsoka be recorded as having passed her trials achieving the rank of Jedi Knight before her departure.
The image of Starkiller continued to kneel before him. He had partially failed in his mission and Vader knew he must be punished but he had passed the test Vader had wanted him to pass. He had defeated a fully trained Jedi Knight.
"Return to the Executor and await further instructions" Vader commanded before breaking the connection.
A few hours later a shuttle was approaching the castle using the codes he had supplied Leia several weeks before. Vader was curious as to what the delay was but when Leia finally entered the office and gave her report he agreed she was right to wait for her target to come to her. He had received word of Hutts death several days before and knew she would be returning soon.
"Your strength in the dark side is growing my daughter" he said
"Thank you, my master" the kneeling Leia said before being dismissed
Tatooine
A week after Luke's incident with the sand people Ahsoka returned home. She gave her report on the rebels which called themselves The Alliance to Restore the Republic. Mon Mothma had told her that their forces were growing as more and more systems joined the alliance but they were not ready to face the Empire in an all out war. She was sure the alliance would welcome the Jedi in the fight against the Emperor but she needed to discuss the matter with the alliance leadership before she could say for certain. There were some who believed the Jedi Order had actually staged a coup, though they were in the minority. She told Obi-Wan and Luke of the unknown Sith she had encountered in the senate offices. She didn't believe Palpatine was aware of his existence since the only Sith anyone in the galaxy knew about was Darth Vader and the suspicions of a few, besides the Jedi who knew for a fact, that Palpatine may actually be a Sith himself.
After giving her report Obi-Wan informed her of Luke's encounter with the sand people. She didn't reprimand Luke as she was sure that Obi-Wan had done so already and there was no further need for it. Both of them, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, agreed that by going to face the sand people alone; Luke had passed the trial of courage. That left only two trials for the boy, the trial of flesh and the trial of spirit. They agreed force would give both to Luke in due time.