LONELY STARS | A Star Wars Story

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BD-6 beeps urgently in the comm.

"I know, I know!" I yell back, yanking the steering wheel to my space-craft hard left. I still couldn't believe this was my ship. My own crappy ship. It was big enough, but big meant it was an easy target. The hum of the Tie Fighter behind us was overbearing.

Everything was going wrong for me today. I punch more buttons, prepared for another hit from the fighter.

"Hit the rear shields!" I command to BD. My little droid is working his metal butt off back there. "Hyperdrive?" I ask.

BD beeps nope, and I return to trying to shake the Tie Fighter off our tail. "Where's the nearest planet?"

This time, BD doesn't have time to answer. A loud bang echoes throughout the entire ship. I'm thrown from the pilots seat onto the floor, my hair falling out of my ponytail. I sit up.

I move all my limbs, and nothing's broken. Not yet.

I slide my self back into my seat and buckle up.

"Better get in here, Red!" I yell through the comm. The door slides open behind me and the little BD unit beeps angrily. Wires show through the sides of his head. He must've been damaged by- with my luck- by parts of the ship that were falling apart. "We're landing on the next planet we find," I tell him, and he beeps in agreement. He uses his little robotic legs to hop up on the co-pilot's seat.

I bring up a holo map, and stare at our next stop: Tatooine.

I've heard of it a few times before. It mostly consists of desert, sand, and moisture farmers.

Yet there is an unsettling feeling about it... a strong force is coming from Tatooine.

A piece of metal falls from the ceiling of the cockpit.

"Alright, Bee-Dee, get us down there," I command the little droid.

He hops over to the terminal, and then the lights turn off. "Seriously? Why'd you turn the power off?" I ask him. He beeps in response.

"Oh, you wanna save power? Well it might save us if I could see the steering wheel," I retort, and increase the speed of the ship.

Once we get closer to the surface of the orange planet, miles and miles of desert come into view. "See if you could land near a village, or farm," I request to BD. "There!" I yell, pointing to a small moisture farm. BD turns the ship left, towards the farm, but the Empire has other plans for us. The Tie Fighter shoots our left engine on the back of our ship, causing us to veer right. Away from the farm.

"No!" I curse, and smack the wheel. The controls are jammed. We are most certainly going to crash-land. Which wasn't what I had in mind. Red lights suddenly blind me and alarms roar from all over. But Jedi are taught not to get anxious in these situations. I run out of the cockpit, and kneel in a narrow hallway. There is a small box, which I stash all my belongings and credits. Then, I grab my lightsaber. I hug it to my chest for a moment, then shove it in the box too. All I grab is a DL-14 blaster, and run back into the cockpit.

"Hey," I say to BD, beeping nervously, "just in case we don't make it out of this... thanks. For everything." I couldn't tell you how many times this droid had saved my life. He then shuts off his power. The desert floor came closer into view, so I strapped myself into the pilots seat and closed my eyes.

-

My eyes opened slowly, and I tried to remember what had just happened. Empire... Tie-Fighters... crash landing... I looked around me. It was dark, the power was still shut off. I was strapped into my seat, facing downwards. My ship must have landed with the front facing down, like a dart shot into a board.

Is the Empire here? They were chasing us- for no specific reason. Sure, I may have been a little rude when they asked to see my identification while I was flying through a free, non-Empire controlled part of space, but that's just me.

I tried to move my left arm, but winced from the pain. With my right arm I unbuckled myself and fell to the floor.

I crawled over to the power console, which sparks flew from. It must've been hit hard when we crashed.

"Bee-Dee?" I croaked, looking around. Then I figured he must've kept his power shut off. I'll have to try to fix this power console with one good arm and no smart droids to help me.

I tie my brown hair back in a ponytail, and get to work.

-

I blow a stray hair out of my face and take pride in my work. It's been two hours, and the power console is finally fixed. Not that it works, but I think it's fixed.

Next, I patch myself up. Under the co-pilots seat was a medkit, so I wrapped my arm with medical tape and cleaned up my scrapes. I worked on standing, and even though it took lots of energy away, I could. Next I would look for BD.

I hopped out of the cockpit, and go to where I stashed my belongings. I open the small box, and grab my lightsaber. Then I ignite it.

The familiar purple light shows, and I exhale. I was afraid I wouldn't find it after the crash. I use my lightsaber as a light during my search for R4. I cough because of all the dust.

The ship is turned at an angle, not a lot, but I need to grasp the right wall of the ship to balance myself.

I step back into the cockpit one last time, and smile as memories flood back into my head.

I grab an empty canteen, and some small leather bags which I strap to my holster belt. I pat my trusty DL-14 blaster, and walk out.

While I'm walking through the ship corridors, I try to salvage things.

The damage done to this ship is severe, and unfixable.

So I keep walking. "Bee-Dee?" I repeatedly yell. I couldn't do anything without this droid. I swear- if BD is pulling a joke, and didn't even shut his power off-

I hear a noise. It sounds like a creature-

"Utini!" It yells. Whatever language it speaks, I wouldn't know. The only language I speak that isn't my own is Wookiee. And part Astromech Droid. Maybe this thing is a scavenger. I don't know how long I had been passed out in the cockpit, there could be tons of them searching around my crashed ship.

I ready my lightsaber.

Then there is silence. My heart is beating faster by the minute.

"Bee-Dee?" I whisper. Something grabs my leg, something small. I turn around and see a cloaked figure with glowing yellow eyes. "Utini!" It yells again, as one sneakily comes up from the front and knocks me down. I turn off my lightsaber and lift up my head. More of the creatures come from around the corners- there are about fifteen, yellow eyes fixed on me.

I laugh nervously. "You guys don't look so bad!" One comes closer to me- and pulls out a blaster.

Please be set to stun, please be set to stun.

He points it at my face, as more come to hold down my arms and legs. I panic for a moment, but it doesn't last long, because he pulls the trigger.

Bright blue light flashes and then everything goes black, for a second time today.

Good. It was set to stun.