The Stormtroopers, soldiers of the Empire, already killed my uncle and aunt in their search for C3-PO and R2-D2, who held the plans for the Death Star, a spaceship that could obliterate an entire planet with a laser beam. Through R2-D2, I also learned that the Empire captured Princess Leia, a beautiful woman clothed in a white dress. She asked for the help of Obi Wan Kenobi, or, as I knew him, Ben, a hermit who was a Jedi master, a warrior that defended the galaxy from the Sith lords, until they took over. Apparently, according to Ben, my father was also a Jedi master, who was killed by Darth Vader. Ben passed on my father's lightsaber to me and offered to train me in order to fight against the Empire. I was reluctant to join Ben in the fight because I had never been off this planet before. I always wanted to get off Tatooine since all of my friends were out in that vast galaxy and I had never been anywhere else before, but I didn't want to abandon my uncle and aunt, since they still needed help with work. But, after seeing their dead bodies in flames, I decided to join Ben in order to stop the Empire from killing any more innocent people.

Though, there were too many of them on Tatooine at the moment. So, our priority was to escape them in order to deliver R2-D2's plans to Alderaan. Since we didn't have a ship, Ben took us to a cantina in Mos Eisley, where we could find a pilot that could fly us off this planet. When we entered the place, Ben went to the counter, but I stopped at the entrance with C3-PO beside me, awed by the diverse amount of people here: a band of aliens with large heads played a lively tune on strange instruments, a blue alien with huge black eyes, a creature with white fur and a mouth of an insect, woman with pale faces and curled dark hair, and a balding man near the entrance.

As C3-PO and I were walking to the counter, a husky human bartender yelled, "Hey!" He pointed at us. "We don't serve their kind here!"

"What?" I said, confused since I was a human like him.

Frustrated, he clarified, "Your droids. They'll have to wait outside. We don't want them here."

I turned to C3-PO and told him, "Listen, why don't you wait out by the speeder? We don't want any trouble." I patted him on the shoulder, assuring him that Ben and I would return to him and R2-D2, safe and unharmed, as soon as possible.

"I heartily agree with you, sir," said C3-PO. He turned around and wobbled out of the bar through the main entrance.

I went to the counter, where Ben was talking to a creature covered in fur. After being out in the desert for so long, I was parched. I gently pulled the shirt of the bartender from behind. He turned around with a questioning look on his face. I asked him for a drink, gesturing towards the container of blue liquid and he nodded his head. He filled up the cup from the container and gave the drink to me. I thanked him with a nod. Before I drank it, I observed my surroundings again. I couldn't believe all sorts of people lived here on this planet. I saw a man with a reptilian face talking to a short man; an alien with large red eyes conversing with an alien, whose chin went past his neck, in a gibberish language, a worm with teeth surprising a frightening wolfish alien, and an alien with a curved head.

They all seem so strange to me, both aliens and humans. I couldn't wait to get out of this place. Ben was still talking to the huge furry creature with a brown belt of silver boxes strapped over his shoulder. I wasn't pay attention to them. Instead, I looked at the blue liquid in my drink, thinking about Leia, the woman from the hologram that R2-D2 projected when she was reciting her message to Ben. I hoped she was still safe. She looked beautiful in her white robes and her hair tied in neat buns on both sides of her head.

As I got lost in my thoughts, someone interrupted them by turning my upper body around. The person was an alien, who had a pink indented chin. He said something to me in a guttural sound that I couldn't understand. I ignored him and went back to my drink.

Then someone tapped my shoulder. This time, the person was a man with a contorted wrinkly face that had a snout like a pig. He translated for the other alien, saying, "He doesn't like you."

"Sorry," I replied. I faced the counter.

But the man pulled me to his face and said, "I don't like you either." The other aliens in the bar began to watch us. "Don't insult us. You just watch yourself. We're wanted men. I have the death sentence in twelve systems."

I said nonchalantly, "I'll be careful then." I turned to the counter again, hoping they would go away.

But the man pulled me to his face again and yelled, "You'll be dead!"

Thankfully, Ben intervened by saying, "This little one isn't worth the effort." The man's face became angrier as he stared at Ben. "Come, let me buy you something."

Unfortunately, the man responded by shoving me aside, causing me to crash into a table. The lively music stopped. More aliens watched the commotion. He pulled out his blaster on Ben. I heard the bartender saying, "No blasters! No blasters!"

But Ben drew out his lightsaber and sliced his hand off with one swing of his blue laser blade. His hand fell to the ground, blood spilling out onto the floor as the man wailed in pain. Ben retracted the blade back into his cylindrical handle with the push of a button. The alien spectators, bored now, turned back to their conversations and their drinks. The band started to play their music again.

Ben nodded to the furry creature he was talking to earlier. The creature followed him as he helped me get back on my feet. I said, "I'm all right."

He then led me to the other side of the bar. "Chewbacca here"—that must be the furry creature—"is first mate on a ship that might suit us."

We walked to the other side of the bar as the music switched to a more upbeat tune. We took our seats at a booth. Chewbacca made a loud growling noise, directed at some other part of the bar. I then saw a man with scruffy brown hair, wearing a black vest with pouches over a white shirt, unbuttoned near his collar, walking to our table.

He sat down with a stoic countenance as he introduced himself to us. "Han Solo. I'm captain of the Millennium Falcon. Chewie here tells me you're looking for passage to the Alderaan system."

"Yes, indeed." He added, "If it's a fast ship."

Dumbfounded, Han said, "Fast ship? You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?"

Ben shook his head and replied, "Should I have?"

"It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs." He said.

That was pretty fast ship around Tatooine. While Ben wasn't interested in Han's exploits, I wanted to hear more about them. "I've outrun Imperial starships, not the local bulk-cruisers, mind you. I'm talking about the big Corellian ships now." As he boasted, there was a slight grin on his face. His eyes contained a flicker of enjoyment that was comforting to me. He didn't seem as cold or even hateful compared to the pig-faced man earlier. "She's fast enough for you, old man." He said, satisfied with his accomplishment. "What's the cargo?"

Ben replied, "Only passengers. Myself, the boy, two droids, and no questions asked."

Han chuckled and asked us out of curiosity, "What is it? Some kind of local trouble?"

"Let's just say we'd like to avoid any Imperial entanglements."

"Well, that's the real trick, isn't it?" He said, with an amused tone, but it became businesslike as he said, "And it's going to cost you something extra." He paused for a moment to see Ben's reaction. When Ben made no response, Han said, "10,000. All in advance."

Startled, I said, "10,000! We could almost buy our own ship for that!"

"But who's going to fly it, kid. You?" He said with a smirk.

Annoyed, I got out of my seat and said, "You bet I could! I'm not such a bad pilot myself! We don't have to sit here and listen…"

Ben calmed me down with a patting gesture of his hand and said, "We haven't that much with us. But we could pay you two thousand now. Plus fifteen when we reach Alderaan."

Han's eyes widened at this new proposition and said, "Seventeen?"

Ben nodded once in response.

He smiled and said, "Okay, you guys got yourself a ship. We'll leave as soon as you're ready. Docking bay Ninety-four."

"Ninety-four," Ben repeated, committing the number to his memory. For all of Han's boasting, I hoped that he was as good as he said he was.

Han then observed another part of the bar and his satisfied smile went away. "Looks like somebody's beginning to take an interest in your handiwork."

I turned around to see whom he referred to on the other side of the bar. Over there, stood two armed Stormtroopers, clad in white armor from top to bottom, questioning the bartender. He then pointed his finger in our direction.

"All right, we'll check it out," said the Stormtrooper with an orange shoulder guard. They started to walk towards us as they carried their rifles on standby.

Worried, Ben and I quietly got of our seats and I said, "See you at ninety-four."

Han nodded his head. Ben and I then snuck through the crowd of aliens to the front entrance. I didn't look back, just in case the Stormtroopers happened to look in our direction.

Once we were out under the desert sun of the town, Ben told me, "You'll have to sell your speeder."

I replied, "That's okay. I'm never coming back to this planet again."

My uncle and aunt were already dead. I knew no one here on this planet. The aliens and the humans at the cantina didn't seem to care much about me. At least I have Ben; C3-PO; R2-DR; and two new companions, Han Solo and Chewbacca. I couldn't understand Chewbacca, but he seemed friendly. Han seemed like any other person on this planet. Yet, I kept thinking about his grin and his bright eyes when he talked about his skills as a pilot. I believed he was probably one of the best pilots of the galaxy based on his exploits, probably better than me.

So, I wasn't really sure why I had to boast about my piloting skills to him. I was taken aback by his demand for 10,000, but truthfully, I wasn't sure if I could fly out of this place without getting shot down by Stormtroopers or anything else out there. I didn't even know if Ben and I could find a ship fast enough for us to escape before the Empire could find us. I guess that I wanted to impress Han in some way—to show him that I was a pilot that could take care of himself out there. But did I really need to prove myself to him?