Chapter 2

Obi-Wan sat next to his bed absentmindedly stroking his beard. He wished he were better at force healing or, at the very least, had better first aid supplies. The woman whom he had pulled from the escape pod yesterday was still unconscious. The only time she had come around was immediately after he'd pulled her free of the wreckage. He had been forced to pull on her arm, which he was sure was broken, to get her free and she'd screamed in agony. She had looked at him then, her eyes wild with pain, confusion, and fear bordering on panic.

"Help me! Help me! Please…" She looked wildly around as if searching for someone.

"Shhhh…it's alright. I'm going to help you. You've had an accident." He'd said, trying to calm her.

"They can't find me! I can't…let them find me.." And with that, she passed out.

Once they were back at his hut, he had put her down on the bed and started to do what he could for her injuries. He put a splint on her arm and propped it up on some pillows. Superficial cuts and scrapes from the glass that had shattered covered her arms and face. He carefully cleaned these and the deep cut in her scalp and liberally applied bacta gel. Finally, he bandaged her head with gauze. Now the whole side of her face had turned an ugly shade of purple and there was an angry looking lump on her forehead at the hairline.

Despite the injuries, he couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was. She appeared to be in her early to mid 30s with long dark brown hair which lay in waves across the pillow. Thick eyelashes fringed her eyes which, he remembered, had been sea green. She was average height with an stunning hourglass figure. Always the gentleman, he tried not to look, but he had needed to check for injuries…

Obi-Wan's brows drew together in a worried line. Who was this woman? What was she so afraid of? Was someone truly after her, or was this some kind of paranoia brought on by a blow to the head? Had he inadvertently brought some kind of danger close to Luke? It was impossible to say. He shook his head. Maybe some meditation was in order.

…..

Luna Merris sat on the shuttle trying to look as if she traveled to the outer rim of the galaxy every day of her life. In reality, she had only ever been off planet a few times. Her heart clenched as she gazed out the window at the blue glow of hyperspace and thought of her life back on Corellia.

The trouble had all started a few months ago. Like everyone else, she had seen reports on the holonews about the end of the Clone Wars and the new Galactic Empire. She had watched the elegant speeches Emperor Palpatine gave promising thousands of years of peace now that the war was over. But, while she wanted peace as much as anyone else, something about the new Emperor set off warning bells in her head. Just watching him gave her a cold feeling deep inside that was hard to describe.

Luna was a teacher at Coronet Junior Academy, a small independent school on the outskirts of Coronet City. Her class of third year students consisted of 15 sometimes rambunctious and always endearing younglings. Most were human, but there were a few other beings in the group. That morning they had studied some Corellian folk tales and done a quiz on multiplication. After lunch they had music and were just settling down for a galactic history lesson when a knock came at the door. It was Headmaster Bowman who motioned her to come out into the hall. She stepped outside with a questioning look in her eyes.

"Luna, I have to tell you something." said Mr. Bowman. He was a short man with a round belly and wispy gray hair that stuck out in tufts over his ears. His usually jolly face looked worried.

"What's wrong?"

"The Empire is implementing new educational mandates. All schools in the galaxy are expected to follow them."

"What kind of mandates?"

"We will now be required to teach a new curriculum effective immediately. The materials will be arriving this afternoon."

"But we're an independent school aren't we exempt from this? Our funding doesn't even come from the Empire, I don't see how…"

"Luna, you don't understand. There is no longer a difference between public and independent education. All schools regardless of their former affiliations are now under the control of the Imperial Ministry of Education. We will follow the new regulations or we will close. No exceptions."

Luna's head was spinning. The implications were enormous. "How can they possibly enforce this?"

"They will start sending inspectors to schools within the next week and if we don't meet their standards…" His worried look intensified and he began rubbing his hands together as if to keep them from shaking.

"What? They'll fire us?"

"I don't know. Let's just say I've heard rumors and getting fired could be the least of our worries."

There was a faculty meeting after school. After a few announcements and updates, the new curriculum was handed out. Luna and her fellow teachers started flipping through the new materials. At first glance, the shiny new maps, books, and data pads looked impressive, but on closer inspection they began to notice certain things were missing.

"There are no mentions of the Republic or the Jedi in any of these history texts." said Mr. Cancel with disbelief.

"I noticed that." Said Ms. Aragie the Librarian. All the poetry that mentioned the Force has been removed from the new reading series."

Mr. Krumbein who taught intermediate science spoke up. "The chapter about Midi-Chlorians in the science books is gone too."

"Have you seen the list of approved songs? Anything written by a non-human composer has been cut. This is outrageous!" exclaimed the music teacher Ms. Lanning.

Angry voices began to rise in protest. "How can they do this?" "This is blatant propaganda!"

Headmaster Bowman raised his hands for quiet. "Please, people, Please!" He shouted. "I understand how you feel. I was very upset when I learned about all this. Unfortunately we really do not have a choice. If we refuse to make the changes our school will be shut down. As much as I hate this, we're going to have to do what they say. Maybe some of the restrictions will ease up a bit after a few months."

So, the following day the students returned and started the morning at a joint assembly saying the new Imperial Pledge of Allegiance followed by a rousing rendition of the the new Galactic Anthem that extolled the glorious virtues of Emperor Palpatine. There was something terribly unsettling about hearing these words lisped by children.

The following week the inspectors came. The two oily looking humans reminded Luna of used speeder salesmen. One was tall and almost skeletally thin. The other was short, fat and wheezed with every breath he took. They wandered around the building watching lessons, taking notes, and making holovids. It seemed odd that they even lingered in the cafeteria and walked the playground during recess. They were obviously trying to catch the staff at something and everyone was on edge.

Luna came back to her classroom one afternoon and found the skinnier inspector digging through her private file cabinet. "Can I help you?" She asked with as much disdain as she could muster.

"Ah, yes. Ms. Merris, is it? Would you care to explain this?" he asked in an accusatory tone as he held up A Child's Guide to Heroes of the Republic. On the cover was a picture of two Jedi standing back to back brandishing their lightsabers. Luna's heart sank. It was a book she had used as a read aloud for years, and the children loved it. They all fought over who got to be Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi during recess. But, when news came that anything having to do with Jedi was no longer acceptable, she hadn't had the heart to throw it away. It broke her heart to think both of them were now dead and considered traitors.

"What about it? That book used to be a favorite of my students." Luna felt sad. How could everything have changed so much in the past few weeks? Anger quickly replaced sadness as the man continued to stare at her as if she was some kind of criminal.

"As I'm sure you know, this kind of reading material is no longer acceptable. I suppose it's no surprise you would have a book like this. I've been watching you. You obviously don't approve of the new curriculum and you treat those dirty little Rodians as if they are as good as everyone else." He spit out the word "Rodians" like it had a foul taste.

Luna was so furious she was shaking. She thought of Danilla and Gordak the two Rodian children in her class. They were smart, funny, and interested in everything. She thought of Gordak patiently helping his human best friend Jarin with his math homework and envisioned Danilla running in from lunch sporting a blue milk mustache. "Well, you don't need to worry. I'm teaching your new curriculum to the letter and we spend so much time learning about the GLORIOUS Empire that there's no time for anything else!" She yelled sarcastically.

"Just as I thought! I knew there were Republic sympathizers here. This book alone is proof! What else are you hiding Ms. Merris?"

Cold feelings of dread began to creep down Luna's spine. She'd heard rumors of people who spoke out against the Empire. Was she about to end up in some nameless prison cell never to be heard from again? Why hadn't she taken that book home, Why?! She began to panic. Without thinking she grabbed for the book but the inspector sneered at her and held it out of her reach. She staggered forward, lost her balance, and landed on the floor.

That's when it happened. She was so focused on the book she didn't really notice the strange feeling that washed over her. She reached out and suddenly the book flew through the air directly into her hand. The inspector stood still with a shocked look on his face. There was a sharp gasp from the doorway. Mr. Bowman and the other inspector had come to investigate the noise and had apparently seen the whole thing. This seemed to snap Luna out of her daze. She leapt to her feet and ran out of the building at top speed leaving the two inspectors shouting behind her.

Once Luna was a safe distance from the school, she stopped to catch her breath. What was happening to her? She looked down at her hands in disbelief. That book had pulled straight away from the inspector but how? Had she used the force? She had read about it in plenty of stories, but never imagined she could do it herself! Then a thought occurred to her and her heart froze in terror. What if it happened again? She had to get out of here fast.

Without a moment of hesitation, Luna went straight to the bank and withdrew all her credits. She found a pilot in a nearby cantina willing to fly her to a space station in a nearby system where she caught the first shuttle available headed for the outer rim. She didn't even check the planet on the ticket.

After several hours in hyperspace, Luna began to relax a little. Maybe she had managed to get away after all. Now, the problem was what to do next. She didn't have much time to think. They suddenly dropped out of hyperspace and an announcement came over the loudspeaker. "Attention passengers, we are being boarded for inspection. Please have your tickets and Identification ready." The voice continued. "If you look to your right you will see the desert planet of Tatooine, home of Jabba the Hut…" The announcer droned on, but Luna wasn't listening. She was watching as two storm troopers opened the door at the front of the cabin and started slowly working their way down the asle checking ID's as they went.

Luna got up from her seat and walked towards the back of the shuttle. Hopefully they would think she was just heading for the refresher. In the back of the cabin next to the refresher was a small staircase marked "Private". She slipped past the sign and quickly hurried down the stairs into what appeared to be the luggage hold. Maybe if she stayed down here long enough they wouldn't notice her. She slipped behind some crates and waited. Before long there were footsteps on the stairs.

"I think I saw someone come down here"

"We'd better check it out."

"Copy that"

Luna began looking wildly around for a way to escape. It was pretty crowded down here, but suddenly out of the corner of her eye she saw her salvation. An escape pod! She ran, crouching behind boxes and threw herself into the pod. The door closed with a loud bag. So much for being stealthy she though as she strapped herself in and hit the "Eject" button. The pod broke loose from the shuttle with a lurch and floated free for a few moments. Then it started to roll, slowly at first but steadily gaining speed as the pod was caught in Tatooine's gravity. Her stomach felt as if it had been left behind in the shuttle. Too late she realized she had no idea how to control the pod. The last thing she remembered was the sickening spinning and then, nothing.

….

Pain radiated through her body. Why did everything hurt so much? What had happened? Luna opened her eyes and looked around in confusion. The room was unremarkable. A table, two chairs, and a stove were the only things she could see over the foot of the bed. There was a window in the wall directly across from her and the first rays of sunlight were beginning to shine through.

A quiet snore startled her and she noticed a man sitting on a worn looking trunk next to the bed. He was sound asleep leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed and his head at an uncomfortable angle. Shaggy locks of auburn hair fell over his forehead making him look younger than he probably was. A neatly trimmed beard covered his chin.

As she watched, a sand fly buzzed through the window and lazily made it's way across the room. It circled around the man's head a few times and then landed on the tip of his nose. His hand automatically reached up to swat it away, and the fly buzzed loudly in protest. He groaned uncomfortably and sat up opening his eyes. He looked so annoyed that Luna giggled. He started, turning his full attention on her. His blue eyes twinkled and he gave her a warm smile. "Well, hello there!"