Orbit Over Tatooine - Aboard the Star Destroyer Devestator

Princess Mara Jade, the Emperor's Hand and daughter of the Emperor, quickly strode towards the boarding team. Several squads of Imperial Stormtroopers awaited her there. "Attention!" snapped the trooper commander

"As you were. Board your troops, Commander. Get us aboard the Tantive IV. I want any resistance squashed but if they surrender or you can stun them, do it. I want Princess Leia Organa alive. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am;" came the curt reply and they prepared to board the captured Corellian Corvette. Princess Mara drew her lightsaber in her right hand and a blaster pistol in her left. She left the lightsaber un-lit but took her safety off while a pair of troopers began to cut through the boarding hatch. Her heart began to beat faster and a slow, feral smile began to cross her face. After the door was already cut through and the two troopers blew it open, the fire fight began. Rebel soldiers dressed in the style of the Alderaan diplomatic guards opened fire. They didn't stand a chance. These Stormtroopers were members of the 501st Legion as the blue streaks on their armor indicated and were the best that the Empire had to offer. They quickly overwhelmed the rebels, cutting the majority of them down. Princess Mara was in the corridor with them, blasting away with the best of their marksmen.

Princess Leia Organa quickly stepped over to her little astromech droid, R2-D2 and bent down, placing the disc in his receiver. She didn't give any orders. She didn't know what orders she would give. She only knew that this droid needed to get away with the plans to the Empire's Death Star weapon. The sound of blaster fire was getting closer and she pulled a sporting blaster from a holster on her hip, hidden under the white robes and ran for the escape pods, knowing that it was unlikely that she would be able to escape.

Princess Mara Jade stared down the Rebel officer before her. He was not a young man and it was easy to tell that he was a hardened veteran. One of her troopers marched up and said, "The Death Star plans are not in the main computer."

"I see. Tell me, Captain Antilles - Raymus Antilles, isn't it? Where are the transmissions that you received over Scarif? What have you done with the Death Star plans?" she asked calmly, almost conversationally. The rebel officer was respectful and calm as he replied, "We didn't receive any transmissions. This is a consular ship on a diplomatic mission to the planet of Alderaan."

"I see;" she said again before kneeling down and looking into his eyes. "Captain, I saw your ship escape from that rebel cruiser over Scarif before my brother disabled and boarded it. That's why we're here. If you were just a consular ship, why would you fire on my destroyer and my men when we boarded."

"Your troops opened fire, Princess. They cut through the boarding hatch and opened fire."

"Captain, if you get pulled over by Imperial Center Security in an airspeeder, would you fight them, especially after being caught coming from the direction of a suspicious situation?"

The man didn't answer and she straightened. "Commander, gather up the prisoners and take them to the brig. Has Princess Organa been found yet?"

"No, Princess but we are scowering the ship. There is nowhere for her to hide."

The Imperial Princess closed her eyes and stretched out with the force, sensing the beings aboard. Smiling, she said, "Have your troops focus on gathering the remaining crew members and guards, Commander. I'll handle my fellow princess."

She briskly strode towards the escape pods, holstering her blaster. She wasn't worried about the rebels. Her lightsaber would be enough. Several times, Princess Mara met single or groups of rebels. When she did, she used the force or her weapon to subdue them and continued on. When she reached the escape pod bays, she saw Princess Organa.

Leia sighed as the woman wielding a magenta bladed lightsaber and in a black, skin tight leather bodysuit approached her. "Your weapon please, Princess Organa;" said Princess Jade in a reasonable tone.

"Princess Jade. I must protest this treatment of my ship, my personnel and my self. There is know foundation for these actions and those were good men you had killed."

Mara shook her head, her red-gold hair swooshing in the stale air. "Now now, Princess Leia, let's be honest, one princess to another; I know that this ship fled Scarif as my brother eliminated your terrorist forces on the planet below. The Devastator was sent in pursuit while he finished things there."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Lady Jade. I'm a member of the Imperial senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan."

Mara laughed and said, "Please; you know that I do not move on my target unless I have irrefutable evidence to do so. Scarif simply sealed the deal - put a final nail in the coffin, if you will. You are under arrest, Princess Leia Organa and when I find your father, he will be in the cell next to you."

Leia lifted her blaster and it flew from her hand, landing with a soft slap in Princess Mara's gloved hand. With sure movements, Mara slapped her in stun cuffs and said, "Move, Princess."

The Emperor's Hand lead Princess Leia to a squad of Stormtroopers. "Take her to my destroyer-" but before she could finish issuing her orders, a young officer ran up. "Emperor's Hand, there is no sign of the plans in the ship's computer and no transmissions were sent out."

Mara frowned. That was a small problem. Clearly the stolen plans were not stored in the ship's systems or there would at least be a hint of them. The best slicers and technicians in the Empire had worked on the Tantive IV's computers. "My Lady, an escape pod was jettisoned but there were no life forms aboard it."

Suddenly, a tight smile crossed her face. "Clever Princess; she must have either hidden the plans in the pod or she sent a droid aboard the pods with the plans."

"My Lady, that does seem rather far fetched;" said the young officer hesitantly. With a knowing smile, Lady Jade said, "Well the plans aren't here and an escape pod was launched. Prepare a company of troopers, Commander. I want them planet side within the hour."

Pulling a comlink from her belt, Mara contacted to the officer in charge of the boarding operation. "Secure all prisoners, Commander and make sure that this ship and its contents are left completely undisturbed. I want it exactly as I left it when I return."

Quickly, she hurried back to her destroyer. Lady Jade was going to accompany her troops planet side. Just as she made it to her quarters, her comlink chimed. "Lady Jade, Lord Starkiller is trying to contact you."

Mara smiled as she shed her black cloak and jumpsuit. "Transfer the connection to my quarters and tell him I will be only a few moments."

Quickly, she slipped into a jump suit meant for a desert environment. Once sufficiently dressed, she activated her quarter's personal holocomms unit. "Hello, Brother;" she said mildly. She glanced over her shoulder at the frown on his face. "Uh... Mara, what are you about to do?"

"Long story; in short, we boarded the ship and captured Princess Leia Organa but couldn't find the plans. However, an escape pod with no living beings aboard was launched to the planet below - Tatooine I believe it's called. It's a desert planet so I guess I'm going for a walk in the desert."

Starkiller snorted with amusement. "You know, you have perfectly good Stormtroopers and such for that, right?"

Mara looked at her brother with an arched eyebrow. "Sometimes, Brother, if you need something done right, you just have to do it yourself. You should know that better than anyone, even with your cadre of Inquisitors and Dark Knights."

Another snort of amusement followed that as she threw what could only be described as a hooded scarf on her head and goggles around her neck. Starkiller sighed and said, "You know, you could wait for me and I could take care of it."

"Galen, if you were to take care of it, you would diminish Tatooine's already tiny population to nothing. No, I think more tact and less destruction would be better this time. I'll see you on the Death Star. If father asks where I'm at, just tell him I'm still trying to get the plans back but that the ship and its crew are in custody."

Darth Starkiller nodded slowly and said, "Very well, Sister. Be careful. If something happens, I'll make sure that Tarkin uses the planet below as a test run for his new toy."

"How sweet;" chuckled Mara dryly. "Vengeance by planetary destruction; how thoughtful. Take care, Galen."

The holocomms went dead and Mara headed towards the hanger. A boarding ship was being loaded, as were a trio of scout walker transports. The commander of the boarding party snapped a salute. "Emperor's Hand, we are almost ready to launch. Are there any special instructions?"

Mara paused for a moment but shook her head. "No, Commander. We are going to the coordinates of the pod's projected landing site and following a trail from there - if there is even a trail to follow. Maybe we'll get lucky and the plans will just be sitting there waiting for us."

"When has that ever happened, Lady Jade?" asked the Stormtrooper commander dryly. Mara chuckled at him. He was a long time veteran of the Imperial military - one of the last of the Clone War's veterans actually. "There's a first time for everything, Commander. Let's board and get this over with."

"Right away, Ma'am."

Tatooine - Lars Homestead

Luke Skywalker groaned as the hydrospanner slipped - again. "Stupid thing;" he griped as he refit it. The tool was so warn down that it was likely to keep slipping but his uncle was using the other one at the moment. Suddenly, from outside the homestead came a call. "Luke! Come on up here. The Jawa's are coming this way and I'm gonna need you to help me take care of the droids - assuming they have anything worth the money this time."

Luke sighed. Was he ever going to be able to get his Skyhopper fixed up? Probably not since he was being worked off his feet to get ready for harvest. Wiping his hands on a greasy rag, Luke hustled up the stairs and watched as an old Sandcrawler rumbled up. The things were ugly as could be - rust colored with massive treads and blocky with the front end forming a wedge. Sighing, Luke hustled towards his Uncle Owen only to be stopped by a call from his Aunt Beru. "Luke? Luke!"

Running to the lip that looked over the tiny courtyard of their small farmstead, he saw her down there. "Luke, tell your Uncle to remember to get a droid that speaks Bacchi."

"It doesn't look like we have much a choice, but I'll remind him;" he replied before hustling back to his uncle. Owen Lars was already neck deep in negotiating with the Jawa's for a shiny gold droid who certainly did not look like the normal scrap the Jawas came upon. As he ran up, Luke heard his uncle ask, "Do you speak Bacchi?"

"Of course, I do, sir! It's like a second language to me!" said the droid eagerly. "Take these two back to the garage and get them cleaned up;" said Owen as he prepared to pay for the droids. Suddenly, the second droid, a red astromech droid literally blew its top. "Uncle Owen, this R2 unit has a bad motivator, look!"

Owen turned to the Jawas and growled, "What are you trying to push on us?"

The Jawa waved its arms and spoke at a fast pace, chattering in their odd speech. Suddenly, Luke felt a metallic tapping on his shoulder. The golden protocol droid that they had purchased said, "Excuse me sir, but that Artoo unit is in perfect condition, a real bargain."

Luke looked at the blue and white droid for a moment before yelling, "Uncle Owen, what about that one?"

In the end, the two droids trundled over the dirt behind Luke towards the speeder garage, which also doubled as a workshop. Then began the long, grimy task of cleaning the dirt and the dust and the grime out of the droids - and there was going to be a lot since they had just come from a sandcrawler. Considering the fact that they were in excellent condition, it stood to reason that the droids were found wandering the desert. The golden Threepio unit was dipped directly into an oil bath while Luke worked on scrubbing the astrodroid. "It's just not fair. Biggs was right; I'm never going to get out of here."

"Is there anyway that I can help you, Sir?" asked the See-Threepio.

"Not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest and teleport me off this rock;" replied Luke moodily. Threepio quickly answered, not understanding his sarcastic attitude. "I don't think so, sir. 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 entirely sure which planet were on."

"Well;" drawled Luke, "if there's a bright center to the universe then you're on the planet that it's the furthest from."

"I see, Sir."

Luke chuckled at the droid's prissy nature. "You can call me Luke."

"I see, Sir Luke;" which got another laugh from the dusty farm boy. "Just Luke;"

As he was raised out of the oil bath. "And I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations and that is my counterpart R2-D2."

Luke kept scrubbing, muttering to the blue and white droid, "Hello" as he did. "You got a lot of carbon scoring here. Looks like you boys have seen a lot of action."

In reply, Threepio said, "With all we've been through, sometimes I'm amazed we're in as good condition as we are, what with the Rebellion and all."

Luke jumped up. "You know of the Rebellion against the Empire?"

"That's how came to be in your service, if you take my meaning Sir."

"Have you been in many battles?"

The droid seemed to pause as if contemplating. "Several, I think. Actually there really isn't much to tell. I'm not much more than an interpruter and not very good at telling stories. Well, not at making them interesting anyway."

Luke sighed and went back to try and get something jammed out of one of the astro droids crevices. "Well, my little friend, you got something jammed in here real good. Were you on a star cruiser or a-" but the object suddenly came free and a hologram began to play. It was a young woman, all in white and repeating the same line over and over again. "We need your help, Fulcrum."

"What's that?" murmured Luke. The astro droid whistled and tweeted and Threepio said incredulously, "What is what? He asked you a question! What is THAT?"

The droid tweeted again and Threepio looked back to Luke. "Oh. He says it's nothing, sir - merely a malfunction. Old Data. Pay it no mind."

"Who is she? She's beautiful;" murmured the young farm boy.

Threepio sounded ever so slightly hesitant. "I'm afraid I'm not sure, Sir. I think I was a passenger on our last voyage - a person of some importance, I believe. Our captain was-"

"Is there more to this recording?" asked Luke, cutting the golden droid off. The little blue and white droid whistled and tweeted again and Threepio scolded, "Behave yourself, Artoo! You're going to get us into trouble. It's alright, you can trust him. He's our new master."

More whistles and then the golden droid said, "He says that he is the property of a person called Fulcrum and that this message is for them. Frankly, Sir, I don't know what he's talking about. Our old master was Captain Antilles but with all we've been through, this Artoo unit has become a bit eccentric."

Luke nodded and chewed a lower lip. "It sounds important, I'd better play back the entire message."

Luke moved in to try and fiddle with the droid but Artoo whistled and Threepio said, "He says the restraining bolt is short-circuiting his recording system. He suggests that if you take it off, he'll be able to replay the entire message."

Luke nodded and grabbed a tool to remove it, saying as he did, "Oh, yeah; well my little friend, I suppose you are too small to run away if I take this off."

With a pop and a spark, the bolt came off and the message disappeared. "Hey where'd it go?" Luke asked in dismay, "Play it back, bring back the entire message!"

Artoo tweetled and Threepio said, "What message? The one you were just playing. The message you are carrying inside your rusty innards."

Luke was about to inquire more when Aunt Beru called, "Luke? Luke!"

That was the dinner call. "Alright, I'll be right there, Aunt Beru."

Threepio apologized, "I'm sorry sir, but he appears to have picked up a flutter."

Luke gave Threepio the bolt and tool and said, "Here. See what you can do with him, I'll be right back."

As soon as he was gone, Threepio turned to his counterpart. "Just you reconsider playing that message for him."

After a whistle, Threepio growled, "No I don't think he likes you at all, and I don't like you either."

A half hour later, Luke came back in a sullen mood. He had argued with his uncle about leaving for the academy and had, once again, been turned down. In the garage, it was dark and neither of the droids were to be seen. Pulling a droid caller from his belt, Luke activated it and Threepio gave a startled cry. Suspiciously, Luke asked, "What are you doing back there?"

"It's not my fault, Sir;" insisted the droid. "Please don't deactivate me! I tried to stop him but he's faulty, malfunctioning - kept babbling on about some mission."

"Oh no;" groaned Luke and ran outside. It was getting dark. One of the twin suns had already set and Luke pulled his electro-binoculars. Looking in all directions, he didn't see anything. From beside him, See-Threepio said, "That Artoo unit has always been a problem. These astro droids are getting quite out of hand. Even I can't understand their logic sometimes."

"How could I be so stupid?" muttered Luke. "He's nowhere in sight. Blast it!"

"Pardon me, Sir, but shouldn't we go after him?"

Luke shook his head. "It's too dangerous with all the sand people around. We'll have to wait until morning."

From inside the stead came Owen's voice. "Luke, I shutting the power down."

"Alright I'll be there in a few minutes;" Luke replied before growling, "Boy am I going to get it! You know that Artoo unit is going to get me into a lot of trouble."

"Oh, he excels at that, Sir. Come on."

They headed back into the farm house for a sleepless night.

Updated 12.12.2017