The Jedi Knights

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Luke got up early next morning, and set off to find the missing R2. Soon, Luke and 3PO were speeding across the sand flats in Luke's landspeeder. "Old Ben lives out in this direction somewhere, but I don't see how that R2 unit could've come this far." Luke said to 3PO. "We must've missed him. Uncle Owen's not gonna take this very well."

"Would it help if you told him it was my fault?" 3PO offered.

"Sure. He needs you." Luke replied sarcastically. "He'll probably only deactivate you for a day or so."

"Deactivated?" 3PO stared. "Well, on the other hand, if you hadn't have removed his restraining bolt..."

"Wait a second." Luke interrupted, seeing something on the speeder's scanner, "Look, there's a droid on the scanner. Dead ahead. Might be our little R2 unit." And the speeder headed in the direction the scanner indicated.

~8~

R2-D2 was trundling towards a canyon when the speeder pulled up behind him and Luke and 3PO came hurrying up in front of him. "Hey, whoa. Just where d'you think ya going?" Luke asked the runaway Astromech, who beeped something to 3PO.

"Master Luke is your rightful owner now." 3PO scolded. "We'll have no more of this Obi-Wan Kenobi gibberish."

R2 beeped something else.

"And don't talk to me of your mission either." 3PO retorted. "You're fortunate that he doesn't blast you into a million pieces right here."

"No, it's alright, but I think we'd better go." Luke said. Now that they'd found R2, he just wanted to get back to the farm before Owen found out what had happened. R2 suddenly beeped and whistled frantically, rocking from side to side. "What's wrong with him now?" Luke asked.

"There are several creatures approaching from the south east." 3PO translated.

"Sandpeople, or worse." Luke said grimly. He went back to his speeder and grabbed a rifle. "Come on, let's take a look." he said to 3PO. "Come on." They climbed up to the top of the ridge and Luke scanned the horizon with his electrobinoculars. "Well, there are two Banthas down there," he said presently, "but I don't see any... Wait a second, they're Sandpeople alright. I can see one of 'em now."

Suddenly, something huge moved in front of his field of view. Before either Luke or 3PO could react, a Tusken Raider loomed over them, raising it's gaderffii stick and roaring loudly. 3PO gave a yell of surprise, lost his balance and tumbled down the hillock they were standing on. The Tusken Raider swung it's weapon down towards Luke, who managed to block the attack with the butt of his rifle, which was smashed to pieces by the impact. The terrified farm boy scrambled backwards until he was forced to the edge of a deep crevice. The Tusken stood over him with it's weapon raised and let a horrible, shrieking roar.

R2 meanwhile had taken shelter in a small alcove in the rocks and listened as the Tuskens' roar echoed through the canyon. Presently, the Tusken who had attacked Luke came into view, carrying the unconscious Human. It dumped the farm boy on the ground and was joined by the second Tusken as it headed over to the unattended speeder, both Tuskens ready to help themselves to anything valuable inside it. Suddenly, a Krayt Dragon's howl echoed through the canyon and the two Tuskens promptly scarpered. From his hiding place, R2 watched as two figures in brown hooded robes approached the unconscious Luke. One of them knelt down and checked Luke's vital signs. R2 beeped, attracting the strangers' attention and they lowered their hoods to reveal that one was an an elderly Human male, while the other was a young Human female. "Hullo there." the man greeted R2 cheerfully. "Come here, my little friend. Don't be afraid."

R2 cautiously came out of hiding, beeped a question about the state of Luke.

"Ah, he'll be alright." the woman answered. "He's had a bit of a knock, but he'll survive."

At that moment, Luke began to come round. "What happened?" he groaned as he regained consciousness.

"Rest easy son, you've had a busy day." the man advised him. You're fortunate you're still in one piece."

Luke sat up and rubbed the back of his head, then he noticed the old man and recognised him. "Ben? Ben Kenobi? Boy am I glad to see you!" he said.

"The Jundland Wastes are not to be travelled lightly." Ben said as he helped the farm boy to stand. "Tell me, young Luke, what brings you out this far?"

"This little droid." Luke replied, pointing to R2. "I think he's searching for his former master but I've never seen such devotion in a droid before. He claims to be the property of an Obi-Wan Kenobi. Is he a relative of yours. Do you know what he's talking about?"

The moment that name had been mentioned, Ben's expression changed. He sat down on a rock with a thoughtful expression. "Obi-Wan Kenobi... Obi-Wan." he murmured. "Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time... a long time."

"I think my uncle knows him." Luke continued. "He said he was dead."

"Oh, he's not dead." Ben replied. "Well, not yet."

"You know him?" Luke asked.

"Well, of course I know him. He's me." Ben replied.

R2 beeped something, apparently happy that he'd found his former master.

"But I haven't gone by the name of Obi-Wan since, oh, before you were born." Obi-Wan told Luke.

"Then the droid does belong to you." Luke said.

"Don't seem to remember ever owning a droid. How very interesting." Obi-Wan remarked. "Oh, this is Juno Kosem, my protégé." he introduced, gesturing to the young woman who had accompanied him.

Luke hadn't noticed the very attractive woman before, but upon Obi-Wan introducing her, he abruptly tried to brush the sand off his tunic and fix his shaggy hair. "Hi." he breathed.

"Hello." Juno nodded, amused at his reaction.

Suddenly, Tusken roaring could be heard in the distance. "I think we'd better get indoors." Obi-Wan said as he stood. "The Sandpeople are easily startled, but they'll soon be back. And in even greater numbers."

Luke got up to follow when R2 beeped, reminding him of someone he had forgotten. "3PO." Luke said as he rushed off to find the Protocol droid.

3PO had landed nearby and had managed to withstand the tumbled relatively intact, but he had lost an arm, which Luke retrieved and he hurried over to where the rest of 3PO was. "Where am I?" the droid moaned. "I must have taken a bad step."

"Can you stand?" Luke asked him. "We've gotta get outta here before the Sandpeople return."

"I don't think I can make it." 3PO said pathetically, "You go on, Master Luke. There's no sense in you risking yourself on my account. I'm done for."

"No, you're not." Luke snorted. "What kinda talk is that?"

"C'mon, let's get him outta here." Juno said as she came over and helped Luke lift 3PO out of the sand.

~8~

Obi-Wan and Juno had soon taken Luke and the droids to the hut where they lived, and Luke set to work reattaching 3PO's arm. Obi-Wan had been just telling Luke of how he had known Anakin Skywalker. "No, my father didn't fight in the wars, he was a navigator on a spice freighter." Luke laughed.

"That's what your uncle told you." Obi-Wan replied. "He didn't hold with your father's ideals, thought he should've stayed here and not gotten involved."

"You fought in the Clone Wars?" Luke asked.

"Yes, I was once a Jedi Knight the same as your father." Obi-Wan replied.

"I wish I'd known him." Luke sighed.

"He was the best star pilot in the galaxy, and a cunning warrior." Obi-Wan told Luke warmly. "I understand you've become quite a good pilot yourself." he added, causing Luke to smile bashfully. "And he was a good friend." Obi-Wan sighed in reminiscence. "Which reminds me, I have something here for you, Luke." he continued as he stood and walked over to an old chest. "Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it." He reached into the chest and produced a silver metal hilt with several knobs and buttons on it. "He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some 'damn fool idealistic crusade' like your father did."

"Hmm, your uncle sounds like a funny guy." Juno remarked to Luke.

"Sir, if you'll not be needing me, I'll close down for a while." 3PO offered as Luke finished reattaching his arm.

"Sure, go ahead." Luke waved him off, then he got up and approached Obi-Wan. "What is it?" he asked as Obi-Wan handed him the hilt. "Your father's lightsabre." Obi-Wan replied, "This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster." Luke pressed a button on the hilt and a bright blue beam of energy shot out of it, forming a 4ft-long blade.

"It still works, after all these years." Juno remarked as she watched Luke play around with the lightsabre, the blade humming with power as he swung it around.

"An elegant weapon for a more civilised age." Obi-Wan said as he sat down. "For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. "Before the dark times... before the Empire."

Luke switched the lightsabre off and turned to Obi-Wan. "How did my father die?" he asked as he sat down again.

Obi-Wan was silent for a moment and Luke assumed he was trying to find the right words, then he answered, "A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father." Luke's eyes became downcast at this news. "Now the Jedi are all but extinct." Obi-Wan sighed, a look of regret in his dark eyes. "Vader was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force."

"The Force?" Luke questioned.

"The Force is what gives a Jedi their power." Obi-Wan explained. "It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, it penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together."

Luke was silent as all this sunk in. He then turned to Juno. "Are you a 'Jedi' too?" he asked her.

"Yes." she answered. "There's only a handful of us left now. I was just a girl when the Order fell, and yet I remember it vividly. " she murmured. "The Clones, they attacked our Temple, killed any Jedi they came across. I was so scared. I hid 'till it was all over. Then Master found me and took me under his wing. We've been living here ever since, hiding from the Empire. Until the time is right."

Obi-Wan meanwhile stood up again and walked over to R2. "Now let's see if we can't figure out what you are, my little friend, and where you come from." he said, tapping the Astromech on the back of the dome.

"I saw part of the message he was..." Luke began.

"I seem to have found it." Obi-Wan said as R2 began projecting the holographic message of Princess Leia.

"General Kenobi, years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire." Leia said in the message. "I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this R2 unit." Obi-Wan's eyes shifted to R2 as he recognised the droid from their adventures in the Clone Wars. "My father will know how to retrieve it. You MUST see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope." Leia finished pleadingly before the recording finished.

There was a moment of silence as everyone in the hut processed the message. Obi-Wan leaned back in his seat, stroking his beard thoughtfully, then he turned to Luke. "You must learn the ways of the Force if you are to come with us to Alderaan." he said.

"Alderaan?" Luke frowned. "I'm not going to Alderaan. I've gotta get home. It's late, I'm in for it as it is."

"We I need your help, Luke." Obi-Wan said earnestly. "She needs your help. I'm getting too old for this sort of thing."

"You're not old, Master." Juno tried to reassure her mentor and the closest thing she'd ever had to a father. "Your grey hair just means you're wise."

Luke was sorely tempted to go with the two Jedi on this adventure, but then he remembered his family responsibilities. "I can't get involved, I've got work to do." he told Obi-Wan. "It's not that I like the Empire, I hate it! But there's nothing I can do about it right now. It's such a long way from here." he sighed.

"That's your uncle talking." Obi-Wan said dryly.

"Oh, my uncle." Luke sighed. "How am I gonna explain this?"

"Easy; learn about the Force." Juno said nonchalantly.

Luke shook his head at her. "Look, I can take you both as far as Anchorhead." he said, deciding to compromise. "You can get a transport there to Mos Eisley or wherever you're going."

"You must do what you feel is right, of course." Obi-Wan said simply.

"Looks like our exile has ended, Master." Juno remarked.

~8~

The Devastator had rendezvoused with the Death Star, a massive spherical space station the size of a small moon. Aboard the battle station, a meeting of several Imperial military chiefs was taking place in one of the conference room. "Until this battle station is fully operational, we are vulnerable." the pragmatic General Cassio Tagge said. "The Rebel Alliance is too well equipped. They're more dangerous than you realise." he warned the arrogant Admiral Conan Motti.

"Dangerous to your starfleet, Commander, not to this battle station." Motti retorted.

"The Rebellion will continue to gain a support in the Imperial Senate as long as..."

Suddenly, all heads in the room turned and Tagge's speech was cut short as Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, governor of the Imperial outland regions, entered. He was followed by Darth Vader, who had travelled over from the Devastator. All of the chiefs respectfully held their tongues as Tarkin took his seat at the head of the table. Vader stood behind him. "The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us." Tarkin announced. "I've just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away."

"That's impossible!" Tagge burst out. "How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?"

"The regional governors now have direct control over their territories." Tarkin replied. "Fear will keep the local systems in line; fear of this battle station."

Motti smirked deviously at this news, but Tagge was still worried. "And what of the Rebellion?" he pushed. "If the Rebels have obtained a complete technical read-out of this station, it is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness and exploit it."

"The plans you refer to will soon be back in our hands." Vader said calmly.

"Any attack made by the Rebels against this station would be a useless gesture, no matter what technical data they've obtained." Motti said arrogantly. "This station is now the ultimate power in the universe. I suggest we use it!"

"Don't be too proud of this technical terror you've constructed." Vader warned him. "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force."

"Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader." Motti scoffed. "Your sad devotion to that ancient religion hasn't helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebels' hidden fort..."

Suddenly, Vader held up a hand and Motti began to gag and choke as he felt an invisible force around his throat. "I find your lack of faith disturbing." Vader said with calm threat as he used the Force to choke the insolent Admiral.

"Enough of this!" Tarkin interrupted. "Vader, release him." he ordered.

"As you wish." Vader conceded, and released his Force grip on Motti, who fell against the desk, breathing heavily.

"This bickering is pointless. Lord Vader will provide us with the location of the Rebel fortress by the time this station is operational. We will then crush the Rebellion with one swift stroke." Tarkin announced.

~8~

En route to Anchorhead, Luke, Obi-Wan and Juno noticed that a Jawa sandcrawler had been attacked, apparently by Tusken Raiders. It was a terrible sight, with the sandcrawler ransacked and all the Jawas slaughtered. "It looks like the Sandpeople did this all right." Luke said as they surveyed the carnage. "Look, there's gaffi sticks, Bantha tracks, it's just... I never heard of 'em hitting anything this big before."

Obi-Wan meanwhile had been surveying the footprints in the sand. "They didn't," he told Luke, "but we are meant to think they did. These tracks are side-by-side. Sandpeople always ride single file to hide their numbers."

"These are the same Jawas that sold us R2 and 3PO." Luke realised.

Obi-Wan pulled him round to look at the disabled sandcrawler behind them. "And these blast points... too accurate for Sandpeople." he told Luke, pointing to the destroyed caterpillar tracks. "Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise."

"What, the Empire? Here?" Juno stared.

"But why would Imperial troops wanna slaughter Jawas?" Luke wandered. He happened to look at R2 and 3PO at that moment and he suddenly remembered what was inside R2. "If they traced the droids here, they might have found out who they sold 'em too and that would lead 'em back... home!" He came to a horrifying realisation and ran for his landspeeder.

"Wait, Luke! It's too dangerous!" Obi-Wan called after him, but the young man paid him no attention. He jumped into his speeder and raced off.

"I'll go with him." Juno said to Obi-Wan, and hurried over to her speeder bike.

~8~

Luke's landspeeder tore across the sand flats as fast as it's engines would let it. As he approached the Lars homestead, Luke could see black smoke rising up in the farm's direction and when he finally arrived, he was horrified at what he found. The farm had been ransacked and torched, just like the sandcrawler. Luke leapt out of his speeder and ran towards the burning homestead. "Uncle Owen?! Aunt Beru?!" he called, hoping that they'd managed to hide somewhere. "Uncle Owen?!" Suddenly, he came across two charred skeletons lying on the ground outside the entrance to the homestead; the skeletons of Owen and Beru Lars. Luke's face changed from fear to hate as he looked at the charred remains of his family.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to see Juno standing next to him, having followed him. "Luke, I'm so sorry." she told him sympathetically.

Luke was still too overwhelmed to answer her. Instead, he turned back to look at his burning home, a new resolve coming over him.

~8~

Aboard the Death Star, two Imperial guards opened a detention cell door and Darth Vader entered the cell of the captive Princess Leia. The young princess' face was filled with defiance as the Sith Lord towered over her. "And now, Your Highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden Rebel base."

An IT-O interrogator droid hovered into the cell, a hypodermic needle extended at the ready. Leia's expression went from defiance to fear as she realised what was in store for her.

The cell door slid shut and the long cell block hallway appeared peaceful. A few cells away, Kali Marek paced in her cell, trying to think of a way out of this predicament, but so far she had come up blank.

~8~

Obi-Wan, 3PO and R2 had made a funeral pyre for the Jawas by the time Luke and Juno returned. "We were too late." Juno reported sadly as she and Luke disembarked from their speeders.

Obi-Wan turned to Luke. "There's nothing you could have done, Luke, had you been there." he told the young man sympathetically. "You'd have been killed too, and the droids would now be in the hands of the Empire."

"I wanna come with you to Alderaan." Luke said with determination. "There's nothing for me here now. I wanna learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father."

Author's notes: And here's the third chapter. Here we meet the second OC for this story, Juno Kosem. Regarding her appearance, I picture Juno as looking like Phoebe Tonkin. Just to get her backstory out of the way, Juno was a youngling at the time of Order 66 and was at the Jedi Temple when the Clones attacked, though she didn't see Anakin leading the massacre. She survived by hiding from the Clones and was found by Obi-Wan and Yoda. Obi-Wan then took her to Tatooine with her and has spent the ensuring 19 years training her in secret. And before anyone asks, no, Juno does not know that Anakin is Vader. So, hope you like this chapter. Next time it's off to Mos Eisley to meet Han Solo and Chewbacca. See ya then!