Chapter 6

Soft Lies and Hard Truths

Somewhere in the back of his mind, an errant fantasy about bringing a girl to Beggars Canyon had always hung around. He would bring her out on a swoop or a skyhopper and then show her how he could 'thread' the Stone Needle and she would swoon at his piloting skills.

Nowhere in those fantasies did it involve her cleaning and healing a blaster wound in the shoulder. Yet here he was looking up at the beautiful Mara Jade as she put the finishing touches on his shoulder using a dermal regenerator. All the while the rocky outcroppings of Beggars Canyon provided them with shade and protection. If it wasn't for the excruciating blaster wound, this hardly would have been a terrible place to be.

"You're lucky," she said to him, keeping her eyes on the wound. "It just got flesh. If the blast had gone any deeper it might have fused your bones. Nothing in my medkit or the one in your trunk for that, we'd have to take you to a hospital. Now hold still, I have clean some of this blood away."

The thought of his bones having to be cut back into shape and grafted back together brought things even closer to home for Luke than they had been earlier. He shook his head and tried to take a breath. "Uncle Owen is going to kill me."

"I think he'll be happy to have you back alive," Mara said.

"Who were those people?" Luke said. "One of them had a laser sword like you… in fact, why do you have one?"

Mara regarded him for a moment, her emerald green eyes partially hooded by her thick eye lashes and partially shadowed eyelids, as if deep in thought; as though considering her words very carefully. Luke reminded himself that he wanted an answer not just to gaze into her eyes.

"You say you only had those droids for about a day?"

"Yeah," Luke nodded. "We bought them yesterday morning off some jawas,"

Mara looked away from his wound and straight at him. She took a deep breath as if steeling herself. Luke sat up a bit and she looked away, staring out into the canyons, and he looked down to see her hand quivering just a bit.

"Mara, what's wrong?"

"Luke can I trust you?"

"Of course you can trust me."

"No Luke," she turned to him. "I have to know for sure that I can trust you. Think about what you saw back there and then look me in the eyes and tell me that I can trust you."

"I… I saw some people dressed funny attacking us. I saw someone with a lightsaber attack me, and I saw you defending me with a lightsaber. You've saved my life twice today Mara, of course you can trust me!"

"That's good," Mara said. "Because I know that the reputation of my… employer is sometimes called into question and I don't want you judging me for it."

"What do you work for the Hutts or something?"

"Those droids you bought," Mara said. "They were stolen weren't they?"

"I think they might have been…" Luke frowned, trying to figure out what she meant by her employer and her follow up questions. "…There's no way of telling when you're dealing with Jawa's. Wait… you're not from the civil defense force… are you from the Empire?"

"Those droids belonged to an Imperial Senator Princess Leia," Mara said.

"Princess Leia?" Luke said felt his stomach fall. Mara and the Princess worked for the Empire. No, there had to be more to it than that. "I saw a recording of her yesterday! She looked like she was in some sort of trouble!"

"She was Luke," Mara said. "Her ship was transporting crucial information about the Rebellion, she was on her way to deliver it when Rebel terrorists attacked and destroyed her ship."

"Rebel terrorists?" Luke furrowed his brows. "That didn't sound right…"

"It's true," Mara said. "But before her capture by the Rebellion, the Princess managed to smuggle the information into one of the droids, probably your R2 unit there, then sent them to the planet in an escape pod."

"But the Rebellion wouldn't do something like that," Luke said. "Artoo is this true? Were you attacked?"

The droid warbled something quick and almost desperate but Luke couldn't understand, not for the first time he wished they had managed to get C3P0 on board. Luke sighed and looked back to Mara.

"I've always heard that the Rebellion is a group of… Freedom Fighters. Are you sure you got the story right?"

Mara reached over and took Luke's hand. "I know I have my facts right. The Rebellion attacked an Imperial escort ship, murdered everyone aboard except for the Princess. Then when they couldn't find the droids they sent a bounty hunter after them."

"The guy in the helmet?" Luke said. "What about the guy with the lightsaber?"

"Think about it Luke, you were out in the desert looking for Obi-wan Kenobi," Mara said. "A Jedi. That wasn't just someone with a laser sword. That was a Jedi, probably Kenobi himself."

"But why would a Jedi attack us?"

"Jedi were almost all traitors, he was probably trying to recover the droids just like the bounty hunter."

"But Princess Leia was looking for him in her message," Luke glanced at R2. "She said he was her only hope!"

"The Princess might have thought Kenobi remained loyal to the Empire," Mara shrugged. "But remember, he's the Jedi that killed the man that might be your father. Even if he didn't, you've got the blaster burns to prove whose side he's on."

"I don't know Mara," Luke shook his head. "Everything I've ever heard or seen about the Empire is bad. They tax us and impose such hard regulations. And I've heard they do much worse! I've heard about how they oppress whole star systems!"

"Am I oppressing you Luke?" Mara said. "You're a smart guy, so I know you've figured out that I'm with the Empire. Am I hurting you or even threatening you?"

"Mara I…" Luke searched her eyes for anything that would show him the cruelty or evil that he associated with the Empire but saw none of it there. Part of hims said to jump in the speeder and run, the other reminded him how she'd defended him from the moment they met. In the end he gave the only answer he knew for sure."…Mara I can't get involved, we had no idea that the droids were stolen. I'm grateful that you've helped me but I don't know what you expect out of me. I'm just a moisture farmer."

"A moisture farmer that might be the long lost son of one of the greatest Jedi Knights that ever lived," Mara said. "I know you don't trust the Empire and I can understand that, sometimes it can seem a bit harsh, but it's helped me my whole life. And I need your help now. I'll never be able to avoid the rebels and return this stolen property by myself."

"I can't," Luke said. "Look, I can take you as far as Anchorhead. From there you can get a transport back to your Imperial headquarters or wherever you're going."

"You must do what you think is right of course," Mara said.

"Okay," Biggs said, his usual smile back. "Now that my arm is starting to feel better, let's take a look at your arm my golden friend."

"Oh thank you!" C3P0 said. "You don't know how worried I was that I would have to go on for days with only one of my appendages."

Biggs nodded and examined the arm. As luck would have it, the gold plated arm didn't appear to be damaged. It likely popped out due to the impact. All he had to do was reconnect the central wires and snap it back in place. Hell, his own shoulder wound was more dramatic to fix than this would be.

"Never thought I'd be riding on the back of bantha fixing a droids arm," he said and looked out over the sand dunes then at the back of the head of the 'driver'. Winter's snow white hair was practically blinding under the suns. Still he was glad to be on the beast with her.

"We all draw strange cards in the service of the Alliance," Winter shrugged. "How's the arm?"

"Tender," Biggs said. "But I'll survive."

"Good… I have a feeling things are only going to get more complicated from here."

Biggs glanced over to the bantha alongside theirs, the one being guided by one of the most notorious bounty hunters in the galaxy. Behind him sat Princess Leia with the hood of her Jedi robes pulled up so as to protect from the sun. He had to admit he envied her just a bit, he would kill for a decent hat at the moment.

At least they had plenty of water. Using anything that would serve as a container that the they could find at Kenobi's hut, they loaded anything that could store water up and packed it on the banthas. Though he was convinced each of them might have drank their weight in water as soon as the vaporator had filled the main water storage unit.

He still had a hard time believing everything that had happened, not the least of it being that they had just been in a hut that, at least for a time, had belonged to a famous Jedi Knight. That hut had been there all these years and nobody had disturbed it. That by itself was hard to believe.

"So the Princess," Biggs said, reworking some of the wires of droid's arm. "Is she always like this?'

"I don't know what you're talking about," Winter said.

"She seems so… morose?"

"Morose? Are you sure you know what that means?"

"Of course I know what it means!"

"Just making sure," Winter said. "I have no idea what they've taught you in whatever barn they used as a school when you were growing up."

"Your jokes about my inexperience would be a lot funnier if I wasn't the first man you ever kissed."

Still looking at her back, Biggs watched as her entire frame stiffened up and her fingers tighten around the reins of the bantha. In spite of himself he grinned. He even glanced over to the droid to share his mirth, though all he got was a blank expression back. It was still funny as all hell though. At least until Winter looked back at him with fire in her eyes.

"That. Mr. Darklighter was a little thing we call playing a part. I can assure you that, even though it is none of your business, yours are not the first lips mine have touched and that it will never happen again."

"What if we're prisoners and we need to escape? You never try the same trick-"

"Never. Again."

"What if-"

"You two," Fett said. "Shut up. The bantha's are getting agitated with all of your bickering."

Biggs leaned over and looked at his bantha and then theirs. Either animal seemed barely aware that they were there at all. Part of him considered ignoring what was just said but he figured it wasn't best to provoke a bounty hunter unless he had a good reason. Ribbing Winter was hardly something worth going to blows over.

"The Princess is just worried for the future of the Alliance," Winter finally said. "As should we all."

"Right," Biggs nodded. "I guess more than just the morose look she has it's the… is she always so… mysterious?"

"What?"

"The cloak, the hood, the talking in cryptic language like she knows something the rest of us don't… is she normally like that?"

He watched as Winter's head looked over to the Princess then returned to stare at the desert in front of them. She didn't respond for a bit before finally glancing over her shoulder just a bit.

"That's new."

"Swell," Biggs said.

"More often than not," C3P0 said. "The Princess prefers functional clothing when not wearing royal attire that is."

"Thanks Goldie," Biggs said as he put one hand on C3P0's shoulder and lifted his arm.

"C3P0 sir."

"Nope, I'm Biggs."

"And I am C3P0, human cyborg re-"

Biggs simply snapped the droids arm back in place. While it wouldn't have hurt him, the sudden sensory input of having his arm back shut him up. The droid began working the joint around, lifting the arm up and down in a standard set of tests that were probably in his programming to run anytime he had a limb reattached.

"Oh thank you good sir! That feels so much better!" the droid cooed. "Now that I am back to my full functionality I dearly hope that the Princess will accept me back into her full service. I am afraid I am not too keen on going back to the moisture farm."

"Hey, don't knock on moisture farms," Biggs said. "I grew up on one."

"Oh I'm terribly sorry!" C3P0 said. "If it helps sir, Master Luke was a most gracious and well mannered owner I would never think that-"

"Wait shut up! Who?"

"Master Luke? My previous owner."

"Master Luke?" Biggs said. "As in Luke Skywalker?"

"Well yes sir, that was his name, did you know him?"

"Shut up," Biggs said and looked to the bantha alongside his. "Princ… your highness? Princess Leia? You said that the assassin you attacked was with a farmhand?"

"Yes…"

"Sandy blond hair, a little on the long side? Athletic frame? Maybe a white tunic?"

"Sounds like the guy," Fett said.

"Do you know him?"

"Know him!?" Biggs said. "He's my best friend! He's with the imperial assassin?"

"He defended her and he helped her escape," Leia said.

"He probably thought she was in some sort of trouble," Biggs shook his head. "Kid was always too damned nice for his own good."

"Darklighter," Leia said, pulling her hood down. "This Luke, if he's the same person, was injured. He's likely to return home-"

"Provided the assassin doesn't off him and dump him in the desert," Fett said.

Leia ignored him and continued. "Can you take us to his home?"

"Can these bantha's go any faster?" Biggs said, his heart pumping as he started to realize just how much trouble Luke was in. "I can get us there."

"These things were built for endurance," Fett said. "Not speed."

"The Lars homestead is a hell of a lot closer than Mos Eisely, if they can take a little bit of pressure… we have to try."

"Fine," Fett said. "But if they look like they're getting too hot we have to slow down. The only person I'm willing to drag across the desert is the Princess."

"Excuse me sir," C3P0 said as Biggs pushed himself closer to Winter in the saddle. "Might I inquire as to what's going on? Is Master Luke in trouble."

"More trouble than he's ever been in…" Biggs said then leaned over Winter's shoulder just enough so he could see her face, making sure to keep a proper distance. He had no desire to flirt or provoke right now. "… Please tell me you can remember how to get to the Lars."

"I can Darklighter," she said, glancing over at him. "And we'll go as fast as we can to save your friend."

The little droid didn't trust her as far as he could throw her. And considering he had no arms… she knew to keep her distance. Still, Mara Jade made sure to never let the little astromech leave her sight. Darth Vader's team had been looking for a droid that the princess may have smuggled the data on, and here it was.

The Princess herself had eluded Mara's grasp but when the Force gift wrapped what made the Princess valuable in the first place, plus a mysterious commodity such as the offspring of the Jedi 'Chosen One', well… Mara knew which way to go. She could always kill the Princess after she delivered the droid and Skywalker's spawn to the Imperial Garrison.

And he was the son of Skywalker. There was no doubt now. She had taken a sample of his blood when she cleaned his wound and had it analyzed, comparing it with the stored information on Skywalker in the Imperial Database. A perfect match. She'd been to one end of the galaxy to the next but she never expected to run into the child of a famous Jedi.

Hell, that was the only reason he was alive right now to leave her alone at a burnt out sand crawler surrounded by the corpses of the jawas that had previously occupied it. The Empire had killed them, obviously, though they'd made some effort in making it look like it was sand people. But she recognized imperial blast points when she saw them.

She'd continued the narrative she'd crafted for him, blaming it on the rebellion in their effort to steal back the R2 unit. Luke had questioned it at first, even mentioning that he had a friend in the Rebellion that he had just seen and that they would never do something like that. Mara replied that maybe he didn't know his friend as well as he thought, to which Luke had remembered that his aunt mentioned that his friend had been by that very morning without wanting to talk to Luke. Mara barely had to make further implications before Luke completely ditched her in an effort to race to his home and warn his family.

Mara could only hope he didn't run into the stormtroopers that did the sandcrawler. Him getting vaporized would put quite the kink in her plan.

A plan that only needed final approval from the one person she reported to. She'd encrypted the data and sent it straight to him. All she waited for now as confirmation. This part always had her on pins and needles. She believed her Master would be pleased with her discoveries and her plan but for all she knew he would be furious that she deviated from her task of killing Princess Leia.

She gazed off into the horizon and saw a speeder approaching. Even from here she could feel the Force potential of the boy. How had he remained hidden all these years? The larger question wasn't even that, the larger question was how a powerful and important Jedi Knight could have an heir and no one know of it. Perhaps her master knew but he had never made mention of it.

And then the Voice came just as it always did. Starting as a slight rumble in the back of her skull and growing until it filled her senses. Most the time it was but a whisper but when the Emperor wanted to he could yell with deafening results. She stiffened up just a bit as it echoed in her ears and leaving her goose bumps up her arms. The Emperor contacting his Hand.

"You will bring Skywalker directly to me. Willing or not. Do not use Imperial Channels or transports. Nothing to tie you to him. Nothing to reveal his identity. Do not fail me my Hand."

"It will be done my Lord," Mara whispered just as Luke's speeder neared.

His vehicle hovered not too far away and Mara peered through the sand to get a look. Inside, the former farm boy just sat and stared forward as though collecting himself. Mara already knew what had happened to him. The Empire had destroyed his home, his emotions of grief, anger, and pain swirled in the Force. Slowly he got up and pulled himself out of the speeder.

As he approached, she stood, ready to tell him what he needed to hear, and what her Master would want her to do and say.

"There's nothing you could have done Luke," Mara said, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Had you been there you would have been killed to, and the droid would now be in the hands of the Rebellion."

"I want to come with you," Luke said. "There's nothing for me here now. I've seen you use a lightsaber, I want to learn to use the Force just like my father."

Mara nodded and wrapped him in a hug, knowing it was what he needed right now. He held her tightly and even though he wouldn't have seen it, she made sure that she didn't give out the smile that she felt. Her Master's Will would be done.

They saw the smoke long before they arrived at their destination. Fett spotted it first, black clouds billowing off in the horizon. Biggs heart sank as soon as the bounty hunter pointed it out. But he held onto hope that they would get there and the Lars would be fine; that Luke would be there and they could sort everything out.

At this point he didn't much care if the assassin got away with the droid, just as long as Luke was safe. Biggs joined the Rebellion to fight for people like Luke and his family, now it seemed like the Empire had found a way to put even them in the crossfire.

Still he clung to hope as they neared the homestead, there were any number of reasons that there could be black smoke. He just had to hope it was something mundane like burning garbage or something. But as they drew closer, and the smoke got heavier, Biggs hope dwindled.

At one point they thought they heard a landspeeder zipping away but they weren't able to see who it was. Not for the first time, Biggs wished that he and Winter had been able to stop by their own demolished speeder so they could have recovered some supplies, including macrobinoculars. Unfortunately such wishes were in vain.

Both Leia and Winter offered their condolences once the burnt out homestead came into view. Biggs cursed being on the slow moving bantha rather than a speeder as he was forced to look and dwell on the destruction far longer than he would have otherwise. The Empire had completely destroyed the place, just because they bought a pair of droids.

A raw hole had carved itself out in his stomach by the time he leaped off the bantha and ran to the burning building. His eyes immediately set on the two charred corpses lying on the ground where Winter and he had stood just the day before. He covered his mouth as he stared at the corpses, he couldn't even tell who they were.

"H… help me search the grounds," he finally looked back at the others. "If Luke's dead then we need to look for his body."

"Darklighter," Winter put her hand on his shoulder, he hadn't even realized she'd dismounted. "You can take a break if you want, we'll look-"

"No," Biggs stepped away from her, letting her hand slip off his shoulder. "I have to know if Luke was here when it happened or not."

"For all you know, your friend Luke could be one of them," Fett said nodded toward the corpses.

"Maybe," Biggs said grimly. "But as long as there's not a third body there's hope."

With that he covered his face and entered the smoking remains of the homestead. He immediately went to Luke's room but found it empty, albeit torn apart. The rest of the house seemed to be in a similar state. What was once a fine if not humble home was now a heap. The Empire was death and with every footstep he swore he would pay it back somehow some way.

They searched for over an hour but no third body turned up. Not in any part of the estate. Leia at one point had gone about putting out the fires so at least they didn't need to worry about it burning up all around them. And while they didn't find evidence that Luke was or wasn't part of the carnage, Biggs did find at least one small thing to bring them hope, just not hope surrounding his best friend.

"You sure it will run?" Fett had said once Biggs brought them to the garage. "Looks like it needs to go to the shop… or the wrecker."

All four of them, plus C3P0 stared at the V-24 landspeeder that sat in the back of the garage. Miraculously it had somehow escaped the carnage. Based on what Leia had told him while they travelled here, Luke had the other one the Lars owned; an X-34 model. Biggs wished that the fact that they couldn't find the X-34 meant Luke was alright but the assassin could just as easily taken it.

"The Lars were the type of people that used everything until it couldn't be used anymore, then they fixed it and used it again," Biggs said as he cleared out some space for the speeder. "It might not run well, but it will run, and it will get us to Mos Eisely."

"Or would you rather continue atop a bantha?" Leia said.

"He can come with us or not," Biggs said, opening up the speeder. "I'm leaving in five minutes, the assassin will have to return the droid to the Empire, which means she'll be going to Mos Eisely. If Luke's still alive then I'll find him there."

"And we'll finally be able to get off planet," Winter said. "And get the Princess to safety."

"There's no such thing as safety as long as the Empire has Artoo," Leia said. "So it would seem that Mos Eisely is the next best thing."

Next time: Shooting First