Author's Note: This chapter is going to be rewritten.

Chapter 4 - Lars Homestead 1BBY

Luke stood in the garage, looking around for the misplaced hydrospanner. The repulsorlifts on Uncle Owen's V-35 Courier landspeeder had broken down and he had been told to fix them, but that was impossible without the necessary tools. As he searched, he had weird feeling, some sort of a faint mental nudge. And, it seemed as though it was directing him to look in the corner, behind his skyhopper. Sure enough, there it was on the floor, hiding in the shadow of his stationary T-16. He never understood why he gets these feelings, but he knew his uncle didn't like when he used them.

Hydrospanner in hand, Luke set out to repair the aged landspeeder. Since he had a high aptitude in mechanics, he found simple jobs like these, to be somewhat dull. Especially, since he has done it several times now. Not that he minded, it gave him a mental break. Besides, he was fond of fixing things, just not the moisture vaporators.

As he absentmindedly fixed the repulsorlifts, he began to replay the events of last week in his head for the umpteenth time.

After he and Biggs found the flyer, they went to the Recruitment Base to get more information. An officer there, informed them that they would be soon sending a notice to each household in the area with more information on matter and asked them politely to leave if they weren't singing up to be tested. They eventually caught up with the rest the gang and decided it was time to head back.

At dinner, just as he had predicted earlier, Uncle Owen denied his request to join the Naval Academy, saying that he need him to care for the farm. Knowing that his uncle was unaware of the new law being put in place, Luke responded as he normally would, whining about how he was unfair and so on. He had to act that way, so that his uncle wouldn't get suspicious of his lack of reaction.

Though Luke knew his uncle should probably know the truth, he decided against telling him. He decided not to talk about it at all, at least until the notice was sent and that way he didn't have to tell his uncle himself. Besides, if it saved him from listeninig to his uncle's incessant ranting for several days, he'd gladly keep his trap shut.

Shifting his attention back to the repairs, he quickly finished and replaced the repulsorlifts on the landspeeder. He turned the vehicle on and was met by the pleasing sight of it lifting above the metal floor. Everything appeared to be working, hopefully it'd stay like that for sometime.

As it was the evening before the weekend, this was his only chore to do, after coming home from school. And he wouldn't have to do any tomorrow either, considering the fact he'd be staying at Biggs' over the weekend. For a little celebration of the impending end of the season as well as Luke's final days in school.

Walking out the garage, he headed to the kitchen, in the hope of finding his aunt. His uncle was out in Anchorhead, to go retrieve some of Beru's much needed cooking supplies and he took Luke's landspeeder with him. Which meant he wasn't around for Luke to inform him that he had finished fixing the V-35 Courier. Luke was secretly glad, as he was convinced his uncle would probably make up another chore for him to do.

As he came closer to to his destination, a rich aroma hit Luke's nose. Haroun bread. Freshly made Haroun bread. He suddenly realized how hungry he was, as he mouth began salivating in anticipation. He'd better get to Biggs' fast before he starved. Fastening his pace, he entered the dining room, went around the table and into the adjacent kitchen. What he saw brought a smile to his tanned face. Beru Lars was in the corner of the modest sized kitchen, baking the bread Luke had smelled earlier, humming the tune of a old Tatooine folk song as she went along.

"I fixed the landspeeder."

"What was that, Sweetheart?" His aunt asked as she took out the bread fresh out from the oven. She set it down on the counter, took of her heat mitts and turned to face her nephew.

"I fixed the speeder," Luke repeated.

"Wonderful, Owen will be glad. You know how he hates to take yours, being finicky man that he is." She said, shaking her head as her lips turned up in amusement. "Now, would you be a dear and get down one of the plastene containers," pointing to a nearby cupboard.

Luke went over and got out the requested item and presented it to his aunt. "What's the occasion? You normally save Haroun bread for special dinners."

"Oh...I was talking to Tifa Darklighter this morning and she told me that she was preparing Ahrisa for dinner. And since you can't possibly have Ahrisa without Haroun, I told her I'd whip some up for you to take over. I hope you don't mind," packing 3 loaves of said bread into the container.

"Not at all, I love Haroun."

Handing the bread to Luke. "I'm fond of it myself. You'd hurry up now, it's rude to arrive late," directing him to the door with a little push.

"I'm going, I'm going." kissing his aunt's aged cheek on the way out.

Darklighter Residence

Luke had just walked up to the door, when it opened suddenly, revealing the grinning form of Biggs Darklighter.

"I thought I heard you coming." Looking behind his friend, he noticed a T-16 "Where's your speeder?

"Uncle Owen's broke down so he had to mine into town. But hey, look at it this way, now we can go racing together."

"Can't wait." Biggs said as they descended stairs down into an enormous courtyard. "Is that Haroun bread I smell?" turning his head back, to stare at the object in Luke's hands.

"Yup, fresh out of the oven. Aunt Beru made when she heard we'd be having Ahrisa for dinner."

"Luke, I love your aunt," taking the bread and passing it to a protocol droid to take into the kitchen. "Tifa never quite makes it taste as good as she does."

Luke thought it always sounded odd when Biggs called his step-mother by her first name. He understood why, but it just sounded strange. Like calling one your teachers by their first names, instead of Mister or Miss/Misses.

Considering that there was still time before dinner, the pair headed into the entertainment loft to play some hologames. They had been only playing for 20 minutes when they heard a high bell voice sing "Biggs, Biggs, Biggs! Mom says dinner's ready!" It was Dera, Biggs' little sister. She came bounding into the loft, her auburn curls bouncing with each step. Just looking at the two siblings, one wouldn't assume they were related. Dera had inherited most of her pale features from her mother Tifa, whereas Biggs was a pleasant mix of his father Huff and his late mother Ryssa. The only thing they shared were their bright amber eyes and dimpled smile.

"Okay, okay. We heard you." Biggs got up and turned off the hologame console.

"Hiya, Lukie!" Dera giggled, as she finally took notice to her brother's friend.

"Hi, Dera," trying to leave his slight discomfort out of his voice. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Biggs smirking, he found the situation hilarious. Dera apparently a huge crush on him, at least that's what Biggs had told him. She was a sweet little girl and enjoyable to be around, but it was just a bit awkward for his best friend's sister to have a crush on him, that's all. He tried to act normal around her, without seeming distant and unfriendly.

"C'mon," she grabbed Luke by the arm and dragged him out of the loft. Biggs came snickering behind them.

When they arrived at the large dining room, Tifa and a server droid were setting large platters of food out. "Good to see you Luke, the bread smells wonderful, no doubt it will go perfectly with the Ahrisa."

The four sat down at the long table and awaiting the patriarch of the family. They didn't have to wait long. Moments after they sat down, Huff Darklighter came in and placed himself at the head of the table.

"So Luke, how is your uncle doing? Are the vaporators still acting up?" Huff turned to Luke as Tifa began serving the meal.

"He's fine I guess, nothing's really changed since you last saw him. And yeah, vaporators are still in bad shape, but Uncle was talking about possibly being able to buy a couple new ones recently."

They chatted on, eventually ending up on the topic of the Academy. Which caught Biggs' ear and so he ended up joining in the conversation. Resulting in Tifa scolding him for speaking with food in his mouth as Dera laughed at her brother's misfortune. Overall, dinner was very entertaining. Sometimes, moments like these made Luke's heart ache for his family, his blood family. His father, brave, strong, intelligent, as a navigator on a spice freighter should be and his mother, kind, encouraging and compassionate, at least that's what he assumed they'd be like. Not that he didn't love his aunt and uncle, but he just felt that they didn't always understand him and that his parents probably would have.

Lars Homestead

After Luke left, Beru started making the part of dinner that she could. The pantry was pretty much bare as a bone. Hopefully Owen, would be back soon, with the groceries. She wanted to eat before sun down.

Sure enough Owen arrived 10 minutes later, groceries in hand. He lumbered into the kitchen, placing the bags down on the counter with a loud thump, startling Beru in the process.

"Owen! You scared me half to death!" Beru cried, placing a wrinkled hand over her bosom in surprise.

"Sorry, dear." His eyes twinkling, looking not at all sorry.

"Never mind that, did you get all of the items I asked for?" Peering through the bags to check.

"Yes, yes. I even doubled checked… Speaking of asking for something, did Luke repair the speeder?"

"He did, he finished not long after you left. Now, will you unpack those, while I finish up with dinner.

Beru started grilling the nausages, filling the room with the scent of fresh meat. While the crepes were cooling, she gave the beans a stir and turned off the slow cooker. For dinner, the couple would be having nausages with dustcrepes and a side of curried H'kak beans, one of Owen's preferred meals.

Dinner was a quiet affair without Luke. They sat in comfortable silence, every once in a while, breaking into conversation. They conversed about how well the mushrooms were growing, the possibility of new vaporators, how Beru's sister Dama was faring and so on. Most of the topics their nephew would've found boring. Owen took particular pleasure in his nephew absence, needing a break from Luke boisterous personality.

Beru was just to take a sip of her tea, when she heard the distinct beep of the comm, indicating there was a new message. Owen was already pushing out his chair when Beru stopped him, "I got it, you finish up your beans."

She crossed the small courtyard, headed up stairs to the loft where the comm station was situated. She turned on the computer, watching as the message inbox popped up on screen. Opening the new message she was met by the Imperial logo in the heading. "The Empire? What is the Empire doing sending letter to simple moisture farmers? Could they have found out about Luke!?" Beru didn't wait to read what it said, before she called her husband,"Owen!"

"What?"

"Will you come here! Now!"

"Alright, I be there in a moment," came the distant reply.

Beru waited for her husband, staring blankly at the screen, only turning when he came shuffling up the stairs.

"What was the reason you called me up here?"

"The Empire sent-" pointing to the message opened on the screen.

"What!?" He hurriedly walked over to his wife, taking her place in front of the computer. His eyes slate grey eyes widening as they read the content of the letter.

Noticing her husband's reaction. "What is it? What does it say?" Beru questioned him desperately.

"The damn Empire. They want all the human boys, seventeen and up, who live the Outer Rim to sign up for the Academy. They ain't giving anybody a choice, either. They're making it a law. They're gonna take up all the farmers in the area, there'll be nobody around if they go through with this."

"Owen, Luke- They'll want Luke. What are we going to do? The reason he was here in the first place was to stay away from them, from the Emperor," her voice shaking with worry.

"I don't know, Beru. I honestly don't know" rubbing his hands down his face.

"Perhaps we could leave, go away, leave the Outer Rim."

"That'll look too suspicious, besides with what money? All of our is invested here. "

"Do think Obi-Wan could help us?"

"We don't need his help." Owen grumbled, jutting his chin out in determination.