Tatooine

When Luke heard the telltale sound of a sandcrawler pull up outside his aunt and uncle’s moisture farm, he sighed in annoyance. As usual, the Jawas were trying to get on his uncle’s good side. He wondered what they would try to coax Uncle Own to buy this time.

He jumped when Uncle Owen entered through the garage, heading towards the entrance. "C’mon," Own ordered, gesturing.

Luke got to his feet and followed his uncle outside to see several droids being lined up by Jawas. He raised an eyebrow, impressed with the little scavengers. Maybe Uncle Owen will actually buy something this time, he guessed.

"Luke!"

Luke turned at his name to see his aunt, Beru, looking up at him from inside their little "courtyard." "Tell Owen that if he buys a droid, make sure that it speaks Bocche," she called up to him.

"I think it would occur to him, but I’ll remind him," Luke promised, then turned on his heel and ran after his uncle.

He saw his uncle approve a red and white astromech droid, but blow off an obviously better-looking blue and white one. The blue one beeped, and even Luke knew enough about droids to know that he seemed surprised. Smirking, Luke bent down by the red droid and started looking him over. The droid had obviously been through a lot. He frowned, looking at his uncle. Why had Uncle Owen chosen this droid over the newer-looking blue droid?

Owen was now in some sort of conversation with a gold protocol droid that the blue droid obviously knew. Luke stood up, heading over towards his uncle.

Owen took advantage of the move. "Take these two into the garage and get them cleaned up," he ordered.

Luke blinked. "I was just about to head over to Tosche to buy some power converters!"

"You can hang out with your friends after your chores are done."

Luke huffed his obvious annoyance, but gestured for the two droids to follow him. "All right."

He started off with the gold droid shuffling after him. The red droid beeped, not following. Luke frowned, looking at him. "C’mon, Red! Let’s go!"

The red droid, obviously reluctant, began its tread after Luke. Luke had almost gotten them both to the garage when there was a loud pop, and smoke began billowing out of the red droid’s head. Luke sighed, annoyed. "Uncle Owen!"

Owen turned away from one of the Jawas. "What?" he called back, annoyed.

Luke merely pointed to the top of the red droid’s head. Owen started berating the Jawa he was talking to, who seemed very annoyed.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, and Luke looked over. The gold droid was looking at him. "If I may, sir, that blue droid there is in perfect condition," the droid told him primly, pointing to the blue astromech droid Luke had noticed earlier.

Luke nodded. "Hey, Uncle Owen!" he shouted. "What about that blue one?"

Owen looked over at the droid, then nodded. "We’ll take that one."

"Thank you, sir," the gold droid told Luke.

"It’s fine," Luke replied, waving smoke away as Jawas hauled the red droid away.

"You won’t regret it. Here he comes."

Sure enough, the blue droid was rolling across the sand towards Luke and the gold droid. "C’mon," Luke told both of them, ducking down to enter the garage. Both the gold droid and the blue one followed.

"Oh, this is going to feel so good," the gold droid gushed as he was lowered into the hot oil bath that Luke had prepared. "I don’t remember the last time I had an oil bath."

Luke smirked, leaning back as he started tracing symbols out on the floor. Ice began to form wherever he touched. "I’m guessing not on that crawler."

"Definitely not, sir."

Luke smiled, standing up. "It’s Luke."

"Of course, Master Luke."

Luke snorted in amusement, getting a few tools and crouching down by the blue astromech droid. "It’s just Luke."

The gold droid was lifted out of the oil bath, reaching for a towel. "And I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations. And this is my counterpart, R2-D2."

Luke smiled, nodding vaguely to the droid he was working on. "Hello."

R2 twittered a hello back at him. Luke started digging around R2's dome, then frowned when his tool caught onto something. "Well, my friend," he grunted as he tried to get the unknown object out. "You’ve been through something. Were you guys in, like, a battle or something like that – ?"

R2 squealed, and Luke was jerked back as something popped. Luke fell onto the floor, then started to sit up when he realized there was some sort of projection being lowered onto the floor. "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi," a female voice pleaded. "You’re my only hope."

Luke blinked, looking at the hologram of a white-robed woman with her brown hair curled into buns on both sides of her head. "Who’s she?" he asked curiously.

3PO looked down and gave a droid shrug. "I believe she was a diplomat on our last master’s cruiser. Other than that, I have no idea."

The recording began to replay itself over and over again. "Who’s she talking about?"

R2 beeped in reply. 3PO translated: "It’s a message for an Obi-Wan Kenobi. It’s a private message R2 is supposed to deliver to him himself." He looked at R2 in droid-like disappointment. "Yourself? We don’t even know where this man lives!"

R2 gave a snort of annoyance. "Don’t talk to Master Luke like that!" 3PO demanded. "He’s our new master, not Captain Antilles."

"No, it’s fine," Luke assured 3PO, looking over R2. "But how do we turn it off?"

R2 gave a beep in reply. "He believes it may be the restraining bolt that the Jawas put on him," 3PO translated.

"Oh, well, that’s easy," Luke commented, leaning down and pulling on the bolt. It popped off into his hand, and the recording flickered off.

R2 beeped gratefully. "You’re welcome," Luke replied, guessing what the droid had said.

"Luke! Dinner’s ready!" came Aunt Beru’s call.

"All right, I’m coming!" he called back, then handed the bolt to 3PO. "Wait until I get back, OK?"

"Yes, sir," 3PO replied as Luke started for the door.

Luke turned back, pointing to 3PO. "Just Luke," he reminded the droid, then looked towards the entrance to the dining room and teleported there in a few seconds.

　***

All around the cantina in Mos Eisley, no one thought to take a glimpse of the black-haired woman with silver eyes dressed in ragged clothing in the corner of the room.

They didn’t notice the blond-haired, blue-eyed young girl standing there five minutes later.

And they certainly paid no attention to the teenage girl with silver hair and glowing white eyes five minutes later.

Danielle sighed, transforming her appearance back into her normal dark-haired, gray-eyed state. She walked over to a table in the corner. "Why the heck are you making me do this when you know nobody will pay attention to me?" she asked.

Han shrugged. "You can never be too careful." He grinned. "Any chance you could do the second appearance next time we land on Ryloth?"

Danielle growled, feeling her hair stand on end. "Shut up."

Han grinned. "No can do, Storm."

Danielle blinked. "Storm?"

"Can’t help anyone finding out your real name," Han replied.

Danielle raised an eyebrow. "You’re talking, Shadowcat."

Han looked alarmed. "You did not　just call me that!"

Danielle laughed, doubling over. Han narrowed his eyes. "Oh, you should’ve seen your face!" Danielle giggled, trying hard not to choke.

"I. Will. Kill. You," Han growled.

Danielle raised an eyebrow. "Really? Good luck with that. And that wasn’t the name I was thinking of."

"Then what was?"

Danielle pointed to the candle that lit up their table. "Pyro."

Han considered, then held a hand out. The flame from the candle flew over into his hand, and he stared at it. Finally, he nodded. "Pyro. I like it."

Danielle smiled. "So, when do you think we’ll leave?"

Han pointed at the candle. The flame flared back to life. "I don’t know. I think we’ll stay here for at least one more night. If no brute of Jabba’s shows up by then, I think we’re in the clear." He nodded towards Danielle’s waist. "Although, if they do show up, I don’t think they’ll like what they’ll meet."

Danielle nodded, holding up her hand. The double-bladed lightsaber she had on her belt unclipped and flew into her hand. "Never cross a triple mutant with a lightsaber."

"Especially if she knows how to use it," Han finished, and they grinned at each other. Han stood up, and so did Danielle. "Now let’s go see what advancements Chewie made to the Falcon　while we’ve had our fun."

Danielle shook her head. "Probably nothing good," she muttered.

Wisely, Han chose not to comment.

***　

Luke sat down and watched the sunset for a little bit. He frowned, feeling himself calm down a little. He hated the way that Uncle Owen acted as if he was still a little kid. If only he knew what I could do . . .

He had never told any of his friends about his . . . issues, as he called them. Was he grateful he had them? Yes. There were times that he enjoyed making ice cubes, get somewhere in a flash just by looking at that place, and healing instantly after he had a brawl with his friends.

Did he want anyone to know about them? No.

Luke knew his friends would think he was a freak. Windy probably wouldn’t have. Alone among his friends, his best friend, Biggs Darklighter, had been the only one who knew about Luke’s issues. And he had accepted them. Then Biggs had left for the Imperial Academy.

Luke sighed and stood up. He could think more of his best friend later. Now, he had to get back to those droids.

He entered the garage, then frowned at how dark everything was. He looked around, then found the droid caller he was looking for. He pressed the button.

"Ah!" a familiar voice shouted, and Threepio appeared from behind the landspeeder.

Luke raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing over there?" he asked curiously.

"I tried to convince him not to go!" the droid wailed, waving his arms. "But he just wouldn’t listen!"

Luke’s jaw dropped. "Oh, no . . . " he murmured, grabbing a pair of macrobinoculars from his work stand.

He ran back outside, scanning everything. There was no sign of the astromech in sight.

He heard the sound of machinery behind him. "Will we be able to go after him?" Threepio asked.

Luke sighed, lowering the macrobinoculars. "No," he sighed. "The Sand People will be around. We have to wait until morning." He pointed towards the garage. "You go in."

Threepio shuffled there without a comment. Luke sighed, putting his face in his hand. That droid is even more stubborn than I am,　he thought.

He felt the wind pick up suddenly, starting to pick up sand. He frowned, looking up.

And his eyes widened. Standing on top of a sand dune, he swore that there was the figure of a girl that looked almost exactly like his friend Camie. Except that it wasn’t Camie.

Luke took a step forward, but the sand got in his eyes. He rubbed them, then looked back up to the dune.

The girl was gone.

How could she have gone so quickly?

he wondered in shock.

***　

"Pyro!"

Han shot up from the cockpit and headed for the ramp when he heard Danielle’s startled scream. He ran up, watching her as she ran in, covered in dust, her eyes glowing a soft white. "Dani, what’s wrong?" he asked worriedly, catching her by the arms.

Danielle nearly collapsed with exhaustion. "There’s another."

Han frowned. "Another what?"

"Another one like us." Han’s blood froze. "I found another mutant."

***

Han Solo on the side. :) And Danielle and Han are officially now known as Storm and Pyro!