Star Wars : Chapter 4 : Message

The garage is cluttered and worn, but a friendly peaceful atmosphere surrounds the low grey chamber. Threepio lowered himself into a large tub filled with warm oil. Near the battered Landspeeder was Artoo, who rested on a large battery with a cord to his circuits.

"Thank the maker! This oil bath is going to feel so good. I've got such a bad case of dust contamination, I can barely move!", the protocol droid exclaimed with relief.

Artoo replied a muffled beep. Luke seems to be lost in thought as he runs his hand over the damaged fin of a small two-man Skyhopper spaceship resting in a low hangar off the garage. Finally Luke's frustrations get the better of him and he slams a wrench across the workbench.

"It just isn't fair. Biggs is right. I'm never gonna get out of here!", Luke whined to himself in front of the two droids.

'He even whined like Anakin.', Padme thought with a smile at seeing her son though a part of her saw that Luke probably had no knowledge about his father.

"Is there anything I might do to help?"Threepio inquired as Luke glanced at the protocol droid. His frustrated look was replaced with a tiny smile creeps across his face.

"Well, not unless you can alter time, speed up the harvest, or teleport me off this rock!"Luke said in frustration as he worked on Artoo.

"I wouldn't blame him for wanting to get off of Tatooine." Ahsoka mused, admitting that the planet is more or less dull when she visited a few times.

"I don't think so, sir. I'm only a droid and not very knowledgeable about such things. Not on this planet, anyways. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure which planet I'm on."the droid explained to the young man.

"You used to live there, Threepio!" exclaimed Anakin. Everyone else who knew the droid began to see the fact that C-3P0 didn't seem to have any memories of him being in Tatooine nor had any clue about the Clone Wars.

"Well, if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from."Luke added as Threepio nodded

"I see, sir."

"Uh, you can call me, Luke"

"I see, sir Luke"

Luke laughed at the droid's formalities. "Just Luke."

"And I am C-3P0, human-cyborg relations", the protocol droid introduced himself to the young man before he gestured to the blue droid. "And this is my counterpart, R2-D2."

"Hello."Luke greeted the astromech droid, who beeped in response. The young man disconnected Artoo and began to scrape several connectors on the droid's head with a chrome pick while Threepio climed out of the oil tub and begins wiping oil from his body.

"You got a lot of carbon scoring here. It looks like you boys have seen a lot of action."Luke mused at the two.

"Artoo sure. Threepio? I don't think so..."Anakin exclaimed while Obi-Wan and Padme chuckled at the fact.

"With all we've been through, sometimes I'm amazed we're in as good condition as we are, what with the Rebellion and all."Luke gasped at what the protocol droid had said. "You know of the Rebellion against the Empire?!"

"Looking for adventure, the boy has been. Hmm?"Yoda mused.

"If he's stuck on a dull planet like Tatooine, I can not blame him," Kit fisto stated at seeing this.

"That's how we came to be in your service, if you take my meaning, sir."

"Have you been in many battles?"Luke asked out of curiosity.

"Several, I think. Actually, there's not much to tell. I'm not much more than an interpreter and not very good at telling stories. Well, not at making them interesting, anyway."

"You always panicked everytime we're in a battle, Threepio. Or at least unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire."Ahsoka commented.

While working on Artoo, Luke struggled to remove a small metal fragment from Artoo's neck joint and he turned to use a larger pick to do the job.

The fragment breaks loose with a snap, sending Luke tumbling head over heels. He at up and sees a twelve-inch three- dimensional hologram of Leia Organa, the former Imperial senator, of Alderaan being projected from the face of the astromech droid. Luke's mouth hanged open in fascination and awe at seeing this.

"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.", the hologram exclaimed.

"Obi-Wan?", Anakin asked in surprised, shocked that his master is still somehow operating within this timeline even after the Clone Wars had ended.

"Now, what have I done this time?", Obi-Wan wondered on why Leia opted to ask for his help, not yet knowing what he was doing at this time.

"What's this?", asked Luke.

The astromech droid looked around and sheepishly beeped an answer for Threepio to translate. The hologram continued to repeat the sentence fragment repeatedly as if it was glitched at the moment..

"Who is she? She's beautiful."Luke asked the protocol droid. "I'm afraid I'm not quite sure, sir."Threepio replied. 

"I think she was a passenger on our last voyage. A person of some importance, sir - I believe. Our captain was attached to..."

"Is there more to this recording?"Luke interrupted as he reached out for Artoo, but the droid lets out several frantic squeaks followed by a whistle a whistle.

"Easy there, Artoo," Anakin commented to his droid.

"Behave yourself, Artoo."The protocol droid reprimanded him. "You're going to get us in trouble. It's all right, you can trust him. He's our new master."Artoo replied and beeped a long message to Threepio, who translated what the droid told him. "He says he's the property of Obi-Wan Kenobi, a resident of these parts. And it's a private message for him. Quite frankly, sir, I don't know what he's talking about. Our last master was Captain Antilles, but with what we've been through, this little R2 unit has become a bit eccentric."

"Why would I be living on Tatooine?" Obi Wan asked in disbelief, having known the Jedi Temple to be his home ever since. Unless of course, if the war had anything to do with it.

"In hiding perhaps?" Ki-Adi Muni mused. "It seemed like the Jedi never allied with the Empire, and it seemed like Vader was never a Jedi to begin with."

"If anything, at least we know Obi-Wan is all right. And we could only hope the same for the other Jedi, "Anakin concluded.

"Kenobi huh… the only Kenobi I know is old man Ben. Not sure if they're the same person, but Ben's a neighbor of mine… as much of a neighbor one can be in this desert anyway. 

He lives beyond the dune sea, a bit of a strange old hermit. He's an old friend of Uncle Owen and I used to see him around, but uncle says he's too lost in the past now after the sun fried his brain.", Luke explained to the droids present.

"I certainly do not know any other relative who goes by Kenobi. It is unlikely since I hailed from Stewjon, not Tatooine, "Obi-Wan told them before any questions asked.

"Only one way to find out then," Anakin said as they kept on watching.

"I suppose I can take you to visit old Ben when I'm free. Gotta get to dinner first." Luke muttered before leaving the garage.

In the kitchen stood Aunt Beru, a warm, motherly woman, fills a pitcher with blue fluid from a refrigerated container in the well- used kitchen. She puts the pitcher on a tray with some bowls of food and starts for the dining area. Luke sat with his Uncle Owen before a table covered with steaming bowls of food as Aunt Beru carries in a bowl of red grain.

Once he sat down with his uncle, he brought up the droid's message.

"You know, I think those droids might have been stolen." Luke said as he dug into his meal, an unappetising plate of muck that tasted as bland as it looked.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, the R2 unit is carrying a message for one. Says it's for an Obi-Wan Kenobi who lives around these parts. Although I only know of Ben Kenobi and there aren't that many others who live nearby." Luke said as she stared at her meal, missing his uncle's sudden somber look.

"Do you know what that's about?"

"No." Owen answered in a curt voice and wiped away his expression.

"Maybe they're related?"

"No. Ben's just a crazy old man now. Bring the R2 down to the workshop tomorrow and have its memory wiped, and that'll be the end of it. It belongs to us now."

"He's hiding something from Luke here," Plo-Koon said as he observed the way Owen spoke to his nephew.

"But… what if this Obi-Wan comes looking for it?" Luke asked unsurely.

"He won't, I don't think he exists anymore."

"That message was created about about a few hours ago, I don't see the Princess actually be sending a message to a dead man if that were the case."Mace Windu commented.

"Just as Master Plo said, Owen may be hiding something from Luke," Ahsoka added, with the audience beginning to see that statement to be true.

"Obi-Wan… died about the same time your father did." Owen said and immediately cursed internally at the slip up.

"He knew my father?" Luke's head perked up excitedly at the thought that there was someone else who knew his father.

"I told you to forget it. Your only concern is to prepare the new droids for tomorrow. I want them working on the condensers on the South Ridge as soon as possible."

"I think those droids will be fine… and if they work out I think… I think I wanna submit my application for the academy this year."

"You mean the next semester before the harvest? But that's when I need you the most." Owen said, lying through his teeth.

"Surely you can stick around for one more season, then I'll make enough on the harvest to hire some more hands for next season. You can go to the academy next year, you must understand, I need you here."

"But that's a whole nother year! And you said the same thing last season too!" Luke complained, frustrated at his uncle.

"I'm pretty sure you can still go one without Luke," Anakin said in amusement. "Give him a chance!"

"It's just one more season."

"Yeah, that's what you said last year when Biggs and Tank left."Luke put down his spoon and pushed her his empty plate away, no longer having the appetite.

"Where are you going?"Beru asked her nephew.

"It looks like I'm going nowhere. I have to finish cleaning those droids."Luke promptly left the table, leaving Owen and Beru alone.

"I'll make it up to him next yea, I promise." Owen said to Beru and slumped in his seat .

"Owen, he can't stay here forever. Most of his friends have gone. It means so much to him, "Beru told her husband, who was unwilling to let go of Luke in the meantime.

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"I could say that Owen is trying to protect Luke from something," Shaak-Ti suggested, causing the audience to pay attention to her.

"How so, Master Ti?"Kit Fisto asked out of curiosity.

"He kept dodging the subject regarding Master Kenobi, who may be alive in Tatooine but in hiding. Owen is simply trying to protect Luke in his own way. But that is just my thought. We can only keep on watching this for answers."

The people present agreed to her point, and they focused back to the screen. Anakin however, had constant thinking regarding both Obi-Wan and Luke. 'Obi Wan knew Luke's father?'thought Anakin. The boy is Owen and Beru's nephew, yet he looked so much like him and had a deceased father who'd known Obi Wan.

Then a conclusion came to his head: 'Luke is my son?'

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