Star Wars: Last Hope

Tatooine

Obi-Wan Kenobi sat in his small hut on Tatooine, stroking his grey beard. He had noticed the battle in space and wondered whether the Rebels had come to Tatooine for his help. He had been in contact with Bail Organa, one of the leaders of the Rebellion, and knew that one day, they would need his help. But right now, Kenobi needed to hide. It seemed all he had done for the past 19 years was hide. It was all he could do since his apprentice betrayed and murdered the Jedi Order in order for the Empire to rise. Now all of the Jedi, the protectors of the galaxy, were traitors to the order that replaced the Republic. But although he had survived the purge, Obi-Wan often feared that Anakin, no, Vader would find him. But what worried him more was that Vader would find the boy he had watched ever since he arrived on Tatooine. Luke Skywalker, a Farm Boy that lived with his aunt and uncle. Luke was secretly the son of Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight. Because of this, the boy was highly force sensitive which made him a possible target for the Emperor if he was discovered, which was why he and his sister, Leia, were separated in order not to draw the attention of the Sith. Obi-Wan could only hope that the Empire would not discover Luke now that they were occupying Tatooine.

Suddenly, Kenobi heard his communicator go off. He had kept a communicator in order to contact Bail and Yoda, another survivor of the Jedi Purge. However, it was only to be used in emergencies in case the Empire was able to hear the conversation and track it to find Obi-Wan or Yoda. Kenobi grabbed his comlink and activated it. He immediately heard Organa's voice.

"Hello, Obi-Wan." He sounded tired and weak, and his voice was barely above a whisper.

"Hello, Bail," responded Kenobi "Is everything alright. You don't sound well."

"Leia's dead," said Organa before giving a loud sniff. "An Imperial told me a Rebel killed her during her return to Alderaan and escaped to Tatooine." For a moment, the Jedi didn't know how to respond. Then, he spoke

"I'm sorry, Bail."

"But they're lying," said Organa "No Rebel would kill my daughter. She was a major leader in the Rebellion. There would be no reason to kill her."

"Do you think the Empire killed her?"

"I don't know, But if the killer, Imperial or not, is truly on Tatooine, Please find out who it is. I just... Need to know."

"Ok, Bail. I'll try." said Obi-Wan before turning off the communicator. He found it strange that Leia had been killed. Like Organa said, no rebel would kill his daughter, and Kenobi believed the Empire would have taken her as a prisoner, not kill her. Obi-Wan started to become worried. If Leia was killed and the murderer was on Tatooine, could that mean Luke was in danger? Then, he took a deep breath. The boy was in no danger. To the rest of the galaxy, Luke and Leia were in no way connected and no one could have learned that they were siblings. Still, he could not shake off the feeling that the son of Skywalker was in danger. Obi-Wan thought for a moment before making a decision. He should check up on Luke, just to make sure that he was not in harm's way. And with that, Kenobi grabbed his traveling cloak, went outside, and started walking to Skywalker's home.

Aboard the Death Star, Darth Vader sat in his dark, empty quarters, thinking about the incident on the Tantive-Four. Leia Organa was not hated by the galaxy, so he found it strange that she had been killed. He was certain that whoever killed her was not an Imperial. No one had encountered Leia before she was captured and the team that captured her weren't exactly strong enough to resist the Dark Lord's mind probe. He sensed that all of them were telling the truth when they said they had only stunned her. He was also certain that whoever was in the escape pod had some connection to Organa, whether it be enemy or ally. So, whoever it was could know something about her death. Suddenly, one of the buttons on Vader's chair blinked red. He clicked it and the blue hologram of a Stormtrooper commander appeared.

"Lord Vader," he said, "We searched the escape pod's crash site."

"And?" asked the Dark Lord.

"We found nothing. Whoever was aboard it was really good at covering his tracks. He left no finger or footprints. But we found another escape pod about a mile away. It seems to have contained two droids, astromech and protocol."

"Can you track them?"

"We can but it will be difficult. Their footprints are starting to get covered in sand."

"Find them," said Vader. "They might have desirable information about Organa's death or the stolen plans."

"Yes, My Lord." responded the commander, who then turned off his holocommunicator.

Luke Skywalker turned in his bed. He didn't want to get up, Uncle Owen needed help with picking a new droid to help them with their moisture farm. He just wanted to stay in bed and sleep the whole day. He hated walking outside and experiencing the heat of Tatooine, let alone spend hours out helping his uncle with the farm.

"Luke!" called his Uncle "Get up, we have to get new droids." Luke didn't respond, he just pretended he was asleep. However, he should have known that his Uncle still had a bargaining tool up his sleeve. "Ok, I guess if you don't want to help, I'll have to reconsider allowing you to go to the pilot academy." Skywalker's eyes shot open. He immediately got out of bed, pulled on his clothes and ran outside to meet up with Uncle Owen. He couldn't risk his Uncle not allowing him to go to the Imperial academy. He always dreamed of getting off Tatooine and becoming a star pilot, and the academy was the only way he could make that dream a reality. Even if it was an Imperial school, it would still teach him how to become a pilot.

"The Jawas are late." said Owen "If they don't get here soon, we'll have to go back inside and wait another month." but as soon as he said that, the Jawas's square sand crawler appeared in the distance and a moment later, it was at their front door. The large door to the moving homebase opened and the small, hooded Jawas came out with at least a dozen droids. Almost all of them looked old and rusty, but two droids looked shiny and brand new. A golden protocol droid and a blue and white astromech. Luke and his Uncle started to walk towards the dealers, but as they reached them, they heard a voice behind them.

"Luke!" The two farmers turned and saw old Ben Kenobi in the distance. Owen looked annoyed with his presence but Skywalker was excited. He always liked Ben. He was always there for him and always listened to whatever Luke had to say, even if it was stupid. He remembered when he was young, he had stolen a landspeeder and nearly crashed it into a mountain. Ben had saved his life and didn't scold him for stealing the speeder, like his uncle would, instead plainly saying not to do it again.

"Hey, Ben!" shouted Skywalker "What are you doing here?" Kenobi's calm face instantly turned into fear as fast as a set of traffic lights. He raised his hand and suddenly, Luke's face hit the ground and he was pulled away from the Sandcrawler just as a loud bang sound came from behind him. When he got back up, he turned around and saw that half the droids were destroyed and a majority of the Jawas were blown up. Then he noticed his uncle's body on the ground. He was dead.