0 BBY
Imperial Star Destroyer Vengeance
Darth Vindicta walked down the hall towards the hangar bay the Corellian corvette would soon be brought into. The captain assured her that they had locked on the tractor beam and the ship would soon be in the hangar. At last, she would succeed where the late Colonel Redstar had failed. Three full squads of storm troopers followed behind her as she entered the hangar bay. She stopped and turned to the commander.
"You know your orders commander. Once we board the ship I want those plans found" She told him
"Yes, my lady" he said snapping attention
The commander turned and issued orders to his troops as the ship was pulled into the hangar. Once it had settled a squad moved to surround the ship while another worked on breaching the hull. The third squad stood ready to charge through the breach. As soon as the ship was opened the squad rushed in and blaster fire could be heard as they overpowered the rebels. It took a few minutes before the blaster fire stopped and Vindicta made her way on board.
Walking through the passageway she looked at the dead bodies of the rebels to see if any of them were anyone of consequence. Deciding all the bodies she saw were regular troops she moved forward. Two storm troopers approached with a man in cuffs that they identified as the captain.
"Where are the transmissions you intercepted?" she asked as she grabbed him by the throat with her prosthetic right hand "What have you done with the plans?"
"We have received no transmissions…" he said gasping for air "…this is a consular ship…on a diplomatic…mission"
Darth Vindicta was getting angry, the ship had entered an area that was under imperial blockade to receive those transmissions "If this is a consular ship then where is your ambassador?"
With that, Vindicta completely crushed the captain's airway using the force and turned to the commander of her storm troopers "Commander I want those plans found, tear this ship apart. Bring me all the passengers alive!" she ordered
"Yes, Lady Vindicta!" the commander replied before rushing off to relay the orders
Tantive IV
Crouched in a dark passageway behind some boxes Winter Celchu Organa clutched her blaster as she watched the imperial storm troopers search her ship. She knew it had been risky to come for the plans herself, but she thought her status as an imperial senator might help her get away without incurring the wrath of the imperial fleet. She had decided that she had to try, the alliance needed those plans if they were ever going to beat the empire.
"There's one" a storm trooper said to his partner as he spotted her "Set blasters to stun"
Winter stepped out from her hiding spot and shot one of the troopers in the chest and turned to run. She had barely taken three steps before her world went black.
A few minutes later she woke up to find herself cuffed and in the custody of storm troopers. They got her to her feet and started marching her down the passageway towards the bridge. As they rounded a corner she saw a woman in black robes with her back to her. She had never seen this person before but the imperials were clearly taking their orders from her.
"Yes Lady Vindicta" a trooper said before going towards the crew quarters.
As they approached the dark figure turned around to reveal a girl that was roughly Winter's age. As they stopped Winter looked at the figure more closely, there was something familiar about her.
"I want to read about the Negotiator"
"Leia?" she asked stunned.
"That name no longer has any meaning for me" Vindicta informed her.
Winter couldn't believe her eyes, her sister who had been taken fifteen years ago was standing before her. But where had she been? What was she doing with the imperials? Where was their father? Before Winter could vocalize these she questions her long lost sister spoke.
"Where are the technical readouts that were beamed to this ship?" she asked
Then Winter understood, the girl that had been her sister was gone, whoever this person was they weren't her sister anymore. Winter steadied her nerves and stiffened herself before replying.
"The imperial senate won't sit still for this. When they hear you've attacked a diplomatic… "she said before Vindicta cut her off.
"You weren't on any mercy mission. You received several transmissions from rebel spies. What have you done with the plans?" the Sith Lord asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan" Winter replied.
Darth Vindicta stepped close until their noses were almost touching "No, you're a member of the rebel alliance and traitor. My father will deal with you" she said before turning the troopers "take her away and have her transported to Lord Vader on the death star immediately "
As she was escorted away by the storm troopers Winter wondered what Leia could have meant by Lord Vader being her father. Bail Organa was her father.
Darth Vindicta watched as the prisoner was taken away. It was the first time she had seen anyone from her past in nearly two decades. In that time, she had come to understand the truth about her existence before Darth Vader found her. She had been prisoner in a gilded cage with Bail Organa holding the key. Her "sister" had been to young at the time to be considered part of the conspiracy. Now it seemed as if she was firmly in league with her enemies. The blonde being taken away was not her sister anymore, she was the enemy and Vindicta did not feel an ounce of pity for her.
"Holding her is dangerous. If word gets out it could gain sympathy for the rebellion in the senate" the commander said coming up beside her as they went to supervise the search of the ship.
"The rebel spies have been traced to her. She is the only lead for Lord Vader to find their secret base" He was informed by Darth Vindicta.
The commander continued "She'll die before she tells us anything"
Vindicta smiled as they walked along "What an excellent idea commander. Send a distress signal informing the senate that all on board we killed."
A trooper approached to make his report "Lady Vindicta, the plans aren't on the ship and they made no transmissions. An escape pod was launched with no life signs on board"
"The plans must have been hidden in the pod" she turned to the commander "prepare a detachment to go down to the surface and find those plans"
Tatooine
Two droids had just left the escape pod and we're arguing over which way to go. The small blue and white astromech wanted to go west while the golden protocol droid thought the east was the better direction. The protocol droid, C-3P0, was listening as the astromech, R2-D2, kept repeating that he had a mission to find someone. Threepio didn't know what mission he was talking about. As far as the protocol droid was concerned their priority was to find a settlement.
After chastising the astromech and telling him not to follow him Threepio headed east while the astromech went west. The suns of the planet brought down an almost unbearable heat but luckily for the protocol droid the heat didn't bother him. It was the sand, he could feel it working its was into his servos, making movement difficult. What he wouldn't give for an oil bath. After wandering the desert for what seemed to be hours he saw a glint in the distance thinking he had been saved.
Hours later he was aboard a sandcrawler having been captured by jawas. He was sitting there contemplating the fate that awaited him when heard a familiar beeping and looked up.
"Artoo is that you?!" the protocol droid asked and was greeted by a flurry of beeps "R2-D2 IT IS YOU IS YOU! IT IS YOU!" He exclaimed
Imperial Star Destroyer Vengeance
Darth Vindicta was on her knee in the holo projection room with the image of The Emperor hovering above her head. She had just finished reporting the capture of the rebel ship and the imperial senator on board, as well the launching of the escape pod to Tatooine.
"You have done well with your first assignment Lady Vindicta" the image of the emperor told her.
"Thank you, my master" she replied "I believe the plans were hidden with an astromech droid or a protocol droid. The commander on the surface reports tracks leading away from the pod and there are two droids unaccounted for on the ship"
"You must show no mercy to anyone who encounters those droids. We cannot allow even one person who may have seen those plans to live" the Emperor commanded
"I understand Lord Sidious" Vindicta said before the transmission was cut.
Rising, she exited the holo projection room onto the bridge and informed the captain to pursue the droids with absolute haste and to eliminate anyone the tracks led to.
Tatooine
Luke Skywalker was working in the garage when his uncle called down that the sandcrawler was approaching. His uncle despised dealing with the jawas but it was easier than going into Anchorhead, which took half a day at least. Running up the stairs Luke saw the jawas were already unloading their droids.
"Luke?" his aunt called "Luke?"
Luke rushed back over to look down into the courtyard "What is it Aunt Beru? "
"Tell your uncle if he gets a translator to make sure it speaks Bocce"
Luke looked back at he droids and then back to his aunt "It sure doesn't look like much but I'll tell him" Luke said before heading back to his uncle
His uncle picked out a golden protocol droid that said he could speak to vaporators in binary and a red Artoo unit that turned out to have a bad motivator. The protocol droid suggested a blue astromech he claimed to have worked with before. After his uncle paid for the droids Luke offered to take them down to the garage to get them cleaned up. As Luke was cleaning off the astromech the protocol droid let slip that they had spent time with the rebellion.
"You know of the rebellion against the empire?" Luke asked getting excited. He couldn't wait for his chance to join in the fight. But since Obi-Wan said they had to wait he would have to get any news he could whenever he could, and this droid seemed to have some news.
"That's how we came to be in your service, if you take my meaning of course" Threepio told his new owner
As Threepio went on to explain their roles in the rebellion Luke tried to pry loose something that seemed to be stuck in side the astromech droid. He reached for a larger pick to work out the fragment when it suddenly popped out causing him to fall backwards. The small image of a woman dressed in white robes appeared.
"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope" the image said over and over
Luke was shocked to hear his masters name being spoken by an absolute stranger. This was entirely unexpected. Obi-Wan had never left Tatooine in all the time Luke had known him, so the fact that this girl knew his name shocked Luke.
"What's this?" he asked the droid who beeped a response
"What's what? He asked you a question" Threepio said pointing to the image "What is that?"
The little astromech beeped something that Threepio translated "He said it's old data. Don't pay it any attention"
Luke was mesmerized by the blonde woman "Who is she? She's beautiful"
"I'm not quite sure sir" Threepio responded
"Is there anymore to this message?" Luke asked regaining his senses. If this was old data like the droid said maybe it would give him insight into who Obi-Wan was before he lived on Tatooine.
The little Artoo unit began beeping frantically as Threepio listened before he translated "He claims to be the property of an Obi-Wan Kenobi. I don't know what he's talking about though sir, our last owner was Captain Antilles. Do you know who he means?"
Luke looked at the two droids. "Yeah I know who he means. I've known Obi-Wan my entire life and he's never owned a droid as far as I know. Let me to talk to my uncle, but I think in the morning I'll be able to take you to Obi-Wan in the morning and get to the bottom of this" he said as R2-D2 beeped excitedly. Luke grabbed his lightsaber off the bench it had been sitting on and went to tell his uncle of the intriguing development.
Artoo beeped excitedly again and Threepio looked at him "A jedi? They died out a long time ago. Sometimes Artoo, I swear some of your wires are crossed.
When Luke found his uncle he told him the Artoo unit claimed of belong to Obi-Wan. Like Luke, his uncle found this news to be very interesting. Luke informed him that it had to be the work of the force for the little astromech to have found his way here and convinced his uncle to let him take the droid to Kenobi in the morning. When Luke returned to the droids he told them it was to late to head to Obi-Wan's tonight, he would take them there first thing in the morning.