Part 1.
“I never thought I’d see this place ever again,†Luke Skywalker said quietly aloud as he set the X-wing Star-fighter down on the shimmering hot sands of the plane Tattooine.
R2D2 made a series of electronic squawks that most people would have thought to be either random noise or, at best, totally incomprehensible. When Luke first encountered R2 a year previously, he’d needed C-3PO to interpret the droid’s electronic warbling for him. But, after a year’s association with the feisty droid, Luke had learned to understand what he (he couldn’t think of the droid as an ‘it’ anymore) said to him as if he had spoken the same human language he had known all his life.
And it as just as well not to have the fussy golden droid along on this trip anyway. For some reason C-3PO dreaded being on this world Luke used to call home as much as he’d dread being melted down and sold for scrap. The droid would never say why, but Luke’s intuition told him that C-3PO had some previous experience with Tattooine that he’d never told Luke about. However, as the droid was a notorious fussbudget anyway, Luke had lacked the interest to delve more deeply into the mater.
Of course, had Luke had any inkling that C-3PO had been the home-made creation of his own father, and that Anakin Skywalker was now known as Darth Vader, Luke would have been a whole lot less blasé about C-3PO’s objections to his returning to the planet that, unknown as yet to Luke, they had both originated from.
But Luke did not know this; nor even that Darth Vader and his father were one and the same person. This was a mere year after he had first encountered R2D2 and C-3PO and had the course of his life changed forever, and his revelations at Cloud City floating high in the clouds of the planet Bespin were still two years in the future. And although the spirit of Obiwan Kenobi appeared to him at irregular intervals to continue his training in the use of The Force, even his mentor never mentioned the true connections both he and C-3PO had with the dark, powerful, armored being that had killed Obiwan and nearly ended up killing Luke as well the Battle of Yavin 4.
It was because of the spirit of Obiwan Kenobi that Luke was on Tattooine again now. It was certainly not from any feeling of homesickness on Luke’s part. With the deaths of his aunt and uncle at the hands of Imperial Storm Troopers, there was nothing on this planet he missed or cared about. There was of course their moisture farm which he had essentially inherited, but Luke cared about that no more than he did about his fingernail clipping whenever he had a manicure. If others had taken over the moisture farm in his absence, they were welcome to it free of charge; he had no intention of even looking in on the place to see what had happened to it.
Instead, Luke had landed his small spaceship on a spot fifty kilometers away; at a spot he’d been to only once before in his life: the isolated home of his friend and mentor Obiwan (aka ‘Ben’) Kenobi. Luke had come here when, the last time he had seen his mentor’s spirit, Obiwan had told him that he must come here to retrieve some of his old journals of the Jedi Knights which, the spirit had said, would greatly speed up his progress in the use of the Force.
It was an awkward time to go however. The Forces of the Empire had forced the evacuation of the Rebel Base on the moon of Yavin 4 after the destruction of the Death Star, and had now forced the evacuation of a second base the Rebels had been using for years. Things were now in considerable disarray among the Rebel forces, who were now considering what planet to establish their next base at. It had to be somewhere so remote that no one would ever find them there, and inhospitable enough that no one would come on their own to colonize the place.
Looking around as he dismounted from the control cab of his X-Wing, Luke could scarcely imagine a place that was even more remote and inhospitable than Tattooine; but that was what the Rebels must find if they were ever to have a secure base against the vast forces of the Empire. The suns were still low in the morning sky, but already it was so hot that Luke found his outfit to be uncomfortable. With a few quick motions he doffed his helmet and his black shirt; leaving on only his dark boots (especially designed for rocky terrain such as Tattooine’s) and a set of black, skin-tight leggings that, despite their coloration, kept his legs cool and sweat free.
R2 began warbling at Luke as he walked toward the structure that once served as the home of the former Jedi knight turned hermit. “Stay where you are, R2,†Luke called to his agitated droid companion without bothering to try to translate the droid’s noises into their human equivalent. “I won’t be gone for long. Ben’s old place is very large. It shouldn’t take long to find what we came for.†Especially not, Luke thought to himself, with the Force to guide him.
But R2D2 made even more insistent noises than ever, and Luke suddenly realized that the droid was frantically trying to warn him of danger it had sensed which he had not. Reacting quickly, Luke called upon the Force to sense everything that was around him for as far as h could detect in every direction while at the same time paying careful attention to what R2 was actually saying to him. It took him two seconds for him to simultaneously translate R2’s warnings and for the Force to alert him to the same thing: a dozen Tusken Raiders (aka Sand people) were waiting to ambush him once he approached the house.
Luke was puzzled. He had only just arrived and no one knew of his coming here except for the spirit of Obiwan Kenobi himself. The Sand people were unlikely to take the effort to ambush chance visitors; it was unlikely anyone had been in this remote spot since he and Ben had left here before. They certainly could not have possibly set out ahead of time to waylay him in particular. The only sensible explanation was that they had set up camp here some time ago, saw him land here, and immediately prepared an ambush.
Although Luke had no particular love of the Sand people, he did not wish to engage in a useless battle with them either. Armed as he was with his light-saber as well as a fully charged blaster, Luke might have stood little chance on the ground against a dozen savage Sand people (who had crude laser weapons of their own) but for his already considerable skills in the use of the Force. As things stood now, it would indeed be a slaughter were there to be a fight – but it would be Luke who would be doing all the slaughtering; even without returning to the X-Wing and using its weapons to strafe the Sand people with its formidable blaster cannons. A year ago, he might have found such a thought almost appealing; but now it thoroughly disgusted him. Such pointless slaughter was not the way of a true Jedi. There must be a better way to deal with the Tusken Raiders than a pointless battle.
Concentrating on the Force, Luke rendered himself essentially invisible to the now puzzled Tusken Raiders and walked as silently as a gnat’s whisper right into their encampment. From there, he was able to find the chief of the Raiders and read his thoughts. The Sand people saw all other beings as mere intruders upon their land who wished only to spoil it and slay Sand people indiscriminately. Nor were their beliefs entirely unfounded; after all, they (and their smaller, more intelligent and sociable cousins the Jawas) were the native species of Tattooine; not Luke’s people or the other species (such as the Hutts) who had come to settle here in their various fortified cities. The Sand people had good reason to detest outsider species.
Using his skill in the Force, Luke carefully spoke into the ear of the chief of the Sand People (without that worthy being consciously aware of Luke’s presence) of his peaceful nature and good intentions. He came here only to retrieve something for which the Sand people had no use, and then he would be on his way again. Perhaps Luke would even leave a gift for the Sand people as a token of his respect and good will if greeted in pace rather than attacked outright.
It took a few minutes of careful cajoling, but the Jedi Mind Trick worked. The chief of the Sand People suddenly called out orders in his own harsh, rasping language (which Luke vaguely understood), telling his underlings to let Luke approach in peace rather than shoot at him on sight. Luke patiently waited until he was sure these orders had been heard, understood, and acknowledged before he secretly retreated from the campsite a goodly distance away, shed his telepathic aura of invisibility, and then approached the encampment again openly.
The Sand people stood by and let Luke approach with neither signs of hostility nor friendliness.
But though the Sand people were now placid, Luke sensed that there was something seriously wrong. Immediate danger still threatened him… but from where? None of the Sand people were harboring any immediate intentions of attacking, but there was no one else around for miles in any direction… except…
Alarmed, Luke suddenly looked straight up!
A spaceship was hovering directly over the encampment about two miles up; so high and so quietly that only his Force-enhanced senses enabled him to detect it at all before he had seen it with his eyes. Even now, he could not hear even a whisper of engine noise coming from the spacecraft; it was rigged for silent running and had undoubtedly come into the area invisibly with a cloaking device; he had detected it only when the cloaking device was shut off and the ship had become visible to ordinary (or extraordinary) senses.
Even as he looked, eight armed and armored figures wearing rocket belts flew out of the spaceship like bees from a hive and dived straight for the encampment. They were not Imperial Storm troopers or members of the Rebel forces, but wore uniforms that Luke was entirely unfamiliar with. Luke’s instincts warned him that these new intruders were not at all concerned about the Sand people; whoever they were, it was Luke himself that they were coming after.
The Sand people were also suddenly aware of this intrusion and began to prepare to fight them off with their own weapons. But Luke knew that the Sand people had no chance whatsoever against these newcomers; they would be slaughtered as easily as they’d originally thought they would slaughter Luke himself, without inflicting a single casualty among their enemies in turn.
Feeling a concern for their welfare he’d have imagined impossible during his previous life on Tattooine, Luke exerted his power of the Force to convince the chief of the Sand people of the hopelessness of the situation. He then told him to do the one thing a Tusken Raider hated to do most of all: retreat without a fight. The chief mentally fought this revolting suggestion at first (Sand people were not cowards!), but, being a rational being for its kind, quickly saw the sense in it and ordered his band to evacuate at once without a fight. The other Tusken Raiders were also repelled by this suggestion at first but complied when Luke sent a suggestion that it would be foolish to fight and die defending an outsider like Luke himself. With this Force-impelled rationale to spur them on, the Tusken Raiders retreated quickly but in an orderly fashion.
Luke had almost expected the intruders to dive right in and start attacking the Sand People anyway, but – somehow not quite to Luke’s surprise – they did not. They simply hovered a thousand feet overhead and circled overhead like carrion birds while the Sand People left Luke to his own devices; something the newcomers were apparently as desirous of as Luke himself.
The Tusken Raiders were scarcely out of sight when several of the newcomers landed. Luke now realized that these were members of a mercenary band of some kind; but what did they want with him? Even if he knew he was a member of the Rebel Alliance (which was very likely as the nearby presence of his X-Wing was pretty much a dead giveaway), Luke could see no reason why they should bother to capture him alive rather than simply shoot him down and take away his X-Wing (and R2D2 along with it) as booty.
Luke tried to divine some answers from the minds of the mercenaries. But, strangely, where he should have been able to pick up some surface thoughts about their intentions, Luke could not read them at all. He could not even sense their presence using the Force alone. Were it not for the evidence given by his eyes and ears, it was as if the mercenaries were not there at all.
The mercenaries were completely invisible to the Force!
“Neat trick you have there, lad,†one of the mercenaries said to Luke as he landed about thirty feet in front of him while the other seven landed at roughly the same distance all around him in a circle. “It’s not everyone who can use the Force to pacify Tusken Raiders. But you’ll find that your Jedi mind tricks will have no effect on us. Now please come along with us peacefully.â€
None of the mercenaries had made any attempt to draw their firearms but faced Luke empty handed. Luke therefore made no attempt to draw his own weapons… yet. Instead, he tried a more peaceful approach. “Where do you wish to take me to?†he asked as mildly as if they were simply discussing the weather.
“Up to the ship of course,†the apparent leader of this group replied with a simple gesture upward and a quick glance in the same direction.
“And where to from there?†Luke asked without a trace of emotion. “I trust you’re not simply inviting me over for a spot of tea and some crumpets.â€
“No indeed,†the mercenary relied with a slight smile. “There’s a man who has paid us good money to find you and take you back to him. Alive… and unharmed… if possible.†The tone of voice implied that if Luke did not come along peacefully, the mercenaries would immediately dispense with that last portion and bring Luke back anyway – even if it meant a reduced reward.
“Who paid you?†Luke asked without any sign he cared one way or the other.
“You don’t need to know that,†the mercenary replied with a slight edge in his voice.
“I insist,†Luke replied with a slight smile.
“His name is Darth Vader,†the mercenary replied while he casually drew his blaster from its holster and began to aim it at Luke – a move smoothly imitated by all seven of his companions.
“An now you will…â€
The mercenary did not get to finish either his sentence nor the act of aiming his weapon at Luke. While he and the others were still pulling their blasters out of their holsters, Luke moved with blinding speed. He drew out his light saber with a celerity than made the mercenaries – skilled gunmen though they were – seem like they were moving in extreme slow motion while he simultaneously charged at the mercenary ahead of him.
Halfway between where he’d stood and where his target stood lifting his weapon, Luke launched himself and gave the mercenary leader a flying kick that sent him sprawling unconscious on the ground behind him before he had managed to lift his blaster high enough to point away from the ground beside his foot. At the same time, he snatched the weapon out of the now limp hand of its owner and caused it to fly into his own free hand.
At this point the other mercenaries had still not managed to get their weapons pointed level; let alone aimed them in even remotely the right direction. While they were still orienting on him, Luke turned to the nearest mercenary on his left and fired his blaster. The shot blew the blaster out of the man’s hand and turned it into melted slag, while the man himself sustained no injuries worse than a scalded hand and a few broken fingers. He was still yelling in pain and starting to clutch at his hand when Luke turned on his heel and snapped off another blaster shot with the nearest mercenary on the other side. The result was identical to the first; another blasted blaster and a mercenary with a broken hand and a resulting loss of interest in further conflict.
The remaining five mercenaries had now had time to aim and fire their weapons however, and fire them they did and damn the reward for taking Luke in alive!
Five blasters fired their lethal bolts of energy at Luke.
All five shots were expertly deflected harmlessly away from Luke with blindingly fast moves of his light saber. One bolt even ricocheted back to its source, and missed striking the head of the mercenary who had sent it by less than an inch.
Undaunted but dismayed, the mercenaries closed in and fired their blasters again; this time multiple times as rapidly as they could pull the triggers of their weapons.
Luke did not stand and deflect these shots. Instead, he made what to anyone else would be an impossible leap thirty feet into the air. Before the astonished mercenaries could react, he landed feet first upon one of them and knocked him unconscious. And then there were four.
The mercenaries fired again, and again Luke leapt into the air – but this time in a somersault which ended with a landing upon one of the remaining mercenaries. This onewas also sent sprawling unconscious ion the ground. And then there were three.
The mercenaries closed in, firing. But now they were so close that, with a few deft movements, Luke slashed at each of their blasters in turn with his hitherto unused light saber – shattering them like so many cheap toys. The three remaining mercenaries stared at Luke in impotent fury.
But here Luke made a mistake. Though injured, the two mercenaries who had been injured when their blasters were shot out of their hands were still conscious and were trained to keep fighting as long as they were conscious and capable of moving. Now seeing that Luke’s attention was now diverted away from them, they ignored their own injuries for the moment and attacked from behind. One threw a massive rock that struck the wrist holding the light saber; causing it to tumble out of Luke’s momentarily stunned hand and drop de-activated to the rocky ground.
Before even Luke could react, the other mercenary tackled him and wrestled him for the blaster Luke still held. Each had only one good hand at this point, but then the mercenary who had thrown the rock joined in the struggle as well. Taking advantage of the sudden change on developments, the three remaining mercenaries who were still conscious tackled Luke as well – so that Luke soon found himself at the bottom of a pig-pile with the five mercenaries (all of whom were rather larger than he was) on top of him.
Luke concentrated on the Force and made a gesture with his uninjured hand.
As if an energy grenade had exploded in their midst, the five mercenaries flew away from Luke in different directions – some as far as twenty feet – before landing in unconscious heaps upon the ground.
Rubbing his injured wrist with his other hand, Luke surveyed the fallen mercenaries as he bent down to retrieve his fallen light saber.
Before he could finish the move, his Force-enhanced instincts suddenly alerted him to new danger. But before he could do anything about it, his limbs and torso were suddenly enveloped in several faintly glowing blue bands of energy.
Not just energy… these bands were made out of the Force itself.
Luke suddenly felt all control of his body leave him, although his mind stayed as clear and sharp as ever. But he did not fall over as if stunned, but instead found himself standing erect with his arms at his sides as if he were a soldier standing at attention. Then, incongruously, he began dancing a jig as if doing so of his own free will to the sound of music.
Luke was not paralyzed; he was as agile as ever. But he could not move of his own free will; the movements of his body were now fully controlled by these mysterious bands – controlled by another mind not his own. Luke fought with all his mental and physical strength to regain control of his limbs and body, but it was no use; the bands moved him around as if he were a mere puppet on a set of strings. Luke no longer had control of his own body.
The bands made him stop dancing and stand at attention again. Luke struggled to move again on his own, but it was as if his body was encased inside of invisible durasteel or bound with invisible chains. Despite the evident futility of it, Luke continued to struggle with all his might as a new figure abruptly flew into view from above and landed in front of him.
“Do you wish to surrender now young Skywalker, or is another demonstration of the uses of the Force necessary?†the new arrival asked with a mocking sneer.
TBC (with loads more TUGs) if there is sufficient interest