A/N: Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you enjoy tomorrow regardless if you celebrate the holiday. I like it because I get to eat a lot of food, which is always a plus. :D

Also, I have made a decision that the final piece to my Ahsoka series won't be posted until at least Jan 1st. I want it to be 100%, which means I'm going to have someone beta it (which I haven't done for the previous three stories...but should have). So...yeah.

MLV

The wind outside was howling, but that was all of the proof that Luke and Han had that there was anything but calm weather outside. Luke was busy cleaning up, trying to make the place slightly more comfortable before he started his research.

While he shuffled around the small room, his mind began to wander. He glanced at Han, and the thought struck him that Han had been the closest thing to a brother like figure that Luke had had in years. That particular thought made him think of Biggs. He missed his old friend. Luke used get himself into fights that should have resulted in him getting his hide handed to him, but Biggs would always try to bail him out. Luke remembered one particular time where he had had just a tad too much to drink, which resulted in a fight that probably should have sent him to the med droid.

It had been a cool night-unusually cool for Tattooine. The Galactic Extravaganza had been in town for a few days, and everyone in Toche Station was having a grand old time. After sneaking out of the house-unbeknownst to him at the time that Beru and Owen had known where he was the whole time-Luke made his way to the main tent and had partaken in his fair share of liquors. There was a beautiful young girl sitting two seats away from him that was giving him 'the eye'.

After finally gathering some courage, Luke scooted closer to her. "Hey," he had managed to say with a still voice. "How are you?"

She giggled. "I was wondering when you were going to come over here."

Luke laughed too, but mostly at his own embarrassment. "Haha, yeah," he said, staring into his drink. Think, Skywalker! He told himself, trying to stop being so…childish.

Thankfully, the woman took pity on him. "So, you work for the show?"

"Me? Oh no," Luke said, shaking his head, still unable to make eye contact. "No, I live here. On Tatooine."

"Hmm," she said, hints of the earlier giggle evident in her voice. "How come I haven't seen you around then?"

Luke shrugged. "I'm a moisture farmer," he said, slightly mumbling his words.

She laughed, and he could tell she had had plenty of alcohol herself. "That is the profession to have around these parts." She leaned into Luke and placed a hand dangerously high on his thigh. He immediately stiffened. "If you want, I can show you a thing or two about moisture farming," she said, her voice sultry, and her lips grazing the skin on his ear.

Before he could even wrap his mind around a reply, Luke felt a hand forcefully grip his shoulder, and then pull him out of the bar stool he was sitting on. He was slammed into a wall, and then was face to face with a man at least twice his own size.

"What are you thinking, hitting on my girlfriend?" the much larger man demanded to know.

Luke stammered, trying to compose himself. "I-I had no idea she was here with anybody, let alone that she was your girlfriend!" he said, hoping for convincing, but ended up sounding completely terrified; which he was.

Obviously the bigger man didn't believe him, and gripped Luke's shoulders and lifted him up-Luke's feet dangled just above the floor. The large man carried Luke out of the bar in this fashion, and then let go. Luke fell into a heap.

Trying to stand up and prepare himself for the upcoming fight, Luke felt a large hand find its way onto his cheek, and he fell back down.

"Hey, why don't you pick on someone your own size!" Luke recognized the voice of his best friend. The attacking man's attention shifted from Luke onto the owner of the new voice, and Luke used that to his advantage. With lightning speed, Luke leaped from the ground and flung himself onto his attacker. The surprise of the attack more than force knocked him down and Luke frantically scrambled to stand up, hoping to take the advantage.

Luke placed a foot onto the other man's neck, pressing lightly so not to hurt the man. "I walk away from here, and you can tell everyone in the cantina that you beat me up, got it?"

Despite being pinned down, the other man refused to agree to the terms.

"Oh? Okay then, how about my friend over there gets everyone to come out here, and they see this?" Luke pressed his foot just a bit harder.

That seemed to get his attention. "Fine," he choked out, and Luke let him go.

Biggs walked closer to Luke, making sure that his attacker knew not to double cross the boy. He didn't.

When they were alone, Biggs looked at his younger friend and sighed over dramatically.

"Luke," he began, but was interrupted.

"Don't 'Luke' me," was the reply. "You saw it. I took care of myself."

"Only because I distracted him for you!" Biggs insisted. "Without me, you'd be a flaming pile of bantha poodoo."

Luke made a face at his friend. "Don't be ridiculous. I knew exactly what I was doing."

Biggs chuckled to himself and slung an arm over the younger man's shoulder. "Sure ya did Lukey, sure ya did."

Luke was brought back to the present by Han shaking his shoulders. "Hey kid, you alright?"

Luke nodded. "Uh, yeah. I must have gone into a trance or something."

"Well you were scaring the hell out of me, that's for sure," Han said, returning to his seat across the room.

Luke felt a flicker of annoyance at Han. "Why, exactly?" he asked.

Han gave him an offended look and put up his hands in mock defense. "Geez kid," he said. "No need to go on the offensive. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Well you make sure that you just keep your thoughts to yourself, alright?" Luke demanded, and he motioned for Artoo to come closer.

Han rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, making sure to be extra loud when he sighed in displeasure. "Well, are ya gonna be done any time soon Lukey?"

Luke ignored him and focused on the Artoo unit. Eventually, he got the disk to play.

There wasn't much on it, just some data about some people that lived long ago, and no mention of any Jedi. Artoo told him that there was a lot of corrupted data, and perhaps that's where the information about the jedi was.

"Hmmm?" Han said intensely.

"Seriously Han!" Luke almost shouted. "You don't even have to be here! Why don't you just leave?"

"Maybe I will," Han said through clenched teeth. He jumped to his feet and left the hut in an icy silence.

Luke began to mumble angrily to himself, and then stopped when he heard Han shouting to him.

"Luke, get over here!" The tone of his voice suggested there was no room to argue.

Sighing dramatically, Luke got to his feet and left the hut as well. When he made it outside, what he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. Standing right in front of him was a dismantled droid and a very, very angry Wookiee.

The Dark Lord paced angrily back and forth in his personal chamber. Tarkin's plan had failed fantastically, and they were no closer to extinguishing the bane of the Empire's existence that was the rebellion. They hadn't accounted for everything, and that is where the plan had failed. Tarkin was over confident. He believed there was no one in the galaxy that could match his brilliance.

Vader seethed inside. Not only had their only lead disappeared, but so had his former apprentice. That fact alone was enough to make him fill with an insatiable anger. One of the medical droids that lived permanently in his meditation chamber exploded from the pressure of the dark force that began to fill the room.

The mini explosion brought Vader back from his thoughts. He would need to be smarter than Tarkin, that was a given. But he also needed to outwit his former apprentice. She always seemed to figure out what his next move would be. An idea struck him; keep her busy, while the imperial forced deal with the rebellion. She hadn't shown much interest in the growing uprising in the last nineteen years, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get her out of the way. But then again, assuming anything at this point was a mistake. First, he needed information.

Vader went to the comm system and called for an intelligence officer. It was only a few minutes before a young sandy haired officer entered his chamber.

"You called for me, my lord?" he asked. His voice was firm, but Vader could tell he was nervous. He was impressed, however, at how the young man was able to keep the nervousness contained.

"I have an assignment for you," the dark lord announced. The officer didn't waver as he waiting for more information. "I have a troublesome problem that is getting in the way of the Empire's plan to smother the rebellion," Vader began to explain. "I need you to find this problem of mine and distract it for a time; make sure that she stays away from the rebellion at all costs."

The office blinked, and then spoke. "Sir, I've never had a field assignment."

Vader's anger flared. "Are you refusing an order?" he demanded, his voice flowing with irritation.

The young man flinched in the face of Vader's fury. "No, my lord. I am only giving you more information that you may need to construct a more successful plan."

Vader's anger thinned. Inside his helmet, his lips cracked a smile, and he was suddenly thankful for the prisonlike helmet that kept his disfigured face hidden from the rest of the world. "What is your name?"

The officer only hesitated a second before answering. "Krik Danva."

"Return to your station," Vader ordered. "I will call for you when I am ready."

Danva nodded, and then left the Sith's quarters.

All Vader needed now was an idea that was sure to keep his former apprentice busy enough so that he could destroy the rebellion.