Storyline Name: That's No Moon
Creators: Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter
Forum: Free Form
Advanced or Relaxed: Relaxed
Plot Summary: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

It is a period of civil war.
Rebel spaceships, striking
from a hidden base, have won
their first victory against
the evil Lunar Empire.

During the battle, Rebel
spies managed to steal secret
plans to the Empire's
ultimate weapon, the SILENCE
GLAIVE, an armored space
station with enough power to
destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire's
sinister agents, Princess
Minako races home aboard her
starship, custodian of the
stolen plans that can save
her people and restore
freedom to the galaxy....

The known universe is engaged in war, downtrodden citizens of planets suffering under the yoke of tyranny from the Lunar Empire pooling resources to form a Rebel Alliance and fight back. Princess Minako of Venus serves as both a member of the Imperial Senate and is secretly an operative for the Rebel Alliance. Darth Selene, a powerful practitioner of the ancient Sith way that utilizes the Dark side of a mysterious power known as "The Force", has been tasked with crushing the Rebel Alliance to ensure the continued reign of the Lunar Empire. She works alongside Grand Moffs Kaiou and Tenou, the Governors of the Imperial Outland Regions, to retaliate after the surprise attack from the rebels. Princess Minako obtains the plans for the SILENCE GLAIVE, the Empire's rumored deadly weapon, but manages to hide this data in a droid, L0-N4. During her capture, she arranges for the droids L0-N4 and 4RT3M15 to escape, sending them to another planet where she hopes to engage aid for the Rebel Alliance from a Jedi Master her father once spoke of, Plu-to Meiou.

On a distant desert planet, the young Usagi Moonwalker lives with her aunt and uncle on a moisture farm. Her uncle purchases a pair of new droids, once of whom plays a suspicious message when Usagi is cleaning them. These two droids are L0-N4 and 4RT3M15, and this planet is where Plu-to Meiou supposedly lives. When L0-N4 escapes, seeking out this mysterious figure, Usagi and 4RT3M15 must track down the mischievous little droid. "Old Setsuna", a reclusive hermit, saves the girl from an attack by Youma Raiders. In the conversation that follows, Setsuna reveals herself to be Plu-to Meiou, practitioner of the ancient Jedi way that harnesses the Light side of "The Force". She reveals that she once knew Usagi's mother, a powerful Jedi killed by Darth Selene. Upon returning to the moisture farm, Usagi discovers that the Imperial forces have destroyed it. Usagi and Plu-to take the two droids and aim to escape with hired help from a smuggler, Mamoru Solo, and his first mate, Makoto.

Will they be able to aid the Rebel Alliance and defeat the Lunar Empire?

Details on any necessary information:
• It's Star Wars: A New Hope with Sailor Moon.

Restrictions:
• This is a 1-on-1 RP for Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter.
• All other characters are NPC.

OOC Thread: via Discord

Approved Storyline: [Relaxed] That's No Moon

Member to Character List:
• Darth Selene (Queen Serenity/Darth Vader) - @Sailor Mercury
• Mamoru Solo (Tuxedo Mask, Mamoru Chiba/Han Solo) - @Sailor Jupiter
• Plu-to "Old Setsuna" Meiou (Sailor Pluto, Setsuna Meiou/Obi-wan "Old Ben" Kenobi) - @Sailor Jupiter
• Usagi Moonwalker (Sailor Moon, Usagi Tsukino/Luke Skywalker) - @Sailor Mercury

"We're going to make it!" insisted the Jr. Navigator, leaning into the control panel. Another explosion rocked the ship. Circultry on one of the displays nearby erupted into flames, the sound of laser blasts outside now joined by screams from injured and terrified crew members. As a droid struggled to put out yet another fire, another jolt sent everyone crashing into walls and consoles.

The captain shook her head. Hope and perseverance had got them this far, but they'd exhaust their fuel before every outrunning or outmaneuvering the Imperial fleet. The ship shook with tremors as more blasts found their marks.

With a heavy heart, she ordered an evacuation. If the Princess stayed safe, their chances would not be lost.

---

"Oh my goodness! Oh! Oh my! By the stars!"

In another corridor of the same Rebel ship, the humanoid metallic whitish silver droid picked his way through the debris, trailing behind a smaller cylindrical unit of a dark violet, nearly black, finish. Another thundering upheaval sent him crashing to the floor.

"Did you hear that! The main reactor has been shut down! We're doomed! Loo-nah, where are you going?"

The smaller droid soldiered on, recovering from every wayward jolt, seemingly oblivious to her companion's distress. Rebel troops ran past them, nearly knocking over the paler of the pair, guns drawn. The cacophony outside seemed slightly less booming and the turbulence had decreased slightly, but that was not encouraging.

"We're doomed! There will be no escape for the Princess this time..." he uttered, glancing up, the tone more matter-of-fact than seemed suitable for the situation.

The ship shuddered again, a loud creaking noise scraping through the air, and 4RT3M15 threw up his hands in horror.

"They've got us! Oh no!"

He scanned the corridor, suddenly realizing that L0-N4, the other droid, was nowhere to be found!

"Loo-nah, where are you?"

---

The horizon wavered and shimmered in the blazing heat of the twin suns that flared against the pale sky. A silhouette slowly resolved to show the form of a teenager staring out across the seemingly-endless desert. The wind tossed her long pigtails, blonde hair fluttering behind her amid the drafts of sand. The loose tunic and utilitarian pants and boots she wore blended in to her surroundings. Those brilliant blue eyes seemed unfocused, somehow. Whatever she was looking for, it wasn't here.

A burst of steam and series of bleeps from the battered, sand-scarred droid at her side tore Usagi's attention away from her daydreams. She knelt in the sand, attempting to aid the clawed robot with her own hand-held tools as the pair worked to repair a series of pipes and valves protruding from beneath the tawny ground. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she continued, doing more work than the mechanical assistant that was supposed to make tasks like this easier. Twisting the wrench one more time, satisfied enough, she sighed again and rested back on her heels.

A glimmer in the sky twinkled brighter than any star, and Usagi snapped to attention. She pulled a pair of viewers from the clip on her leather belt and tried to get a better glance at whatever lay beyond this world. After a few seconds, the girl ran towards her nearby landspeeder, jumping into the seat so ungracefully that she nearly fell right off the other side.

"Come on! Hurry up!" she called back to the droid.

The noises that it emitted indicated that it understood her call for the pair to leave, but as it creaked forward on wobbling treads, the claw-tipped arms dragging behind it, it halted with a grinding noise. Dark clouds of smoke immediately poured forth, whipped away by another gust of desert wind.

The girl groaned, leaning forward over the handlebars of her lightweight vehicle, and then glared over at the ruined pile of metal and circuits. She left it behind as she revved the small engine of her craft and jetted away across the dunes.

---

The sounds of battle echoed through the ship, smoke from fires and gunshots forming a creeping haze. Within this smoggy obscurity, a hooded figure robed in white knelt down in front of the aubergine robot from before, pulled her hand away from the droid and stood up slowly, backing through a doorway and receding out of sight. L0-N4 rolled forward, back into the hallway, nearly colliding with 4RT3M15, who screamed once again in this state of heightened panic.

"Where have you been?" the taller robot chided, recoiling as another series of laser-shots rang out, too close for comfort.

"They're heading this way! Oh my, whatever are we going to do? This is the end for us, Loo-nah! We'll be disassembled for spare parts! We'll be shipped off to the glitter mines of Kessel! Or melted down just for our ore!"

The smaller droid zipped forward through an open doorway, light glinting a violet reflection off her dark surface. Her mechanical companion turned back just in time to see the back wheel of the cylindrical robot disappear through the opening. Once again, 4RT3M15 threw up his hands.

"Loo-nah! For galaxy's sake, that's the wrong way!"

Even if it were the wrong way, he followed.

---

A hush settled over the now-empty corridor, sounds of fighting now quieted. A bright light shone through one of the doors, and everything seemed to pause momentarily as a caped and armored figure stepped forward. A single hand, bloodied, could been seen behind the foot of one white boot. It was clear from the silence that there were more, merely unseen. The only sound that was heard as she stepped forward was the low hush of breathing, filtered through the masked helmet that concealed her face.

Additional armored guards filed into the area around Darth Selene, these the formidable Sailortroopers that carried out the enforcement will of the Lunar Empire. As the leader in white moved forward yet again, more wounded bodies can be seen. One man, an officer of some kind from the Rebel forces, wheezed painfully from his position on the floor.  The white cape fanned out around her figure as she knelt beside him, a gloved hand pressing against the terrified man's throat.

An Imperial soldier in a gray uniform edged in pale piping entered, bowing respectfully to Darth Selene. He kept his eyes averted, perhaps due to fear of the concealed commander or perhaps to not see the suffering of the Rebel.

"My lord, the plans are not in the main computer," he reported, trying to maintain a calm demeanour.

Darth Selene stood, dragging the form of the helpless officer with him, suspending the man with his feet kicking fruitlessly, unable to reach the floor. His hands clawed at the fingers around his throat, but he could do nothing to stop what was happening.

"Where are the transmissions that you intercepted?" The question, asked in such a simulated, deep voice, was both a statement, a question, and a threat.

The only reply came in the from of frantic gasps from the struggling, injured captive.

"What have you done with the plans?" Every word fell upon the ears of all present with its own weight and pause. Heavy. Final. It was a warning.

"No... transmissions!" the officer gasped. "Consular... ship! Diplomatic... mission!"

"Oh?" asked the modulated, synthesized voice, obviously amused at such a reply. "If this is a diplomatic mission, where is your Ambassador?"

This time the silence from the suspended man showed defiance. The hand around his throat squeezed until he could no longer contain his choking and gasping, and then, with a sickening snap, his body went limp. Selene tossed the worthless figure against the wall and turned masked face towards the wincing Imperial soldier.

"Bring me those plans and find the passengers. I want them alive! I don't care if you have to tear this ship apart."

He saluted, glancing away from the heap of flesh and bones. "Yes, my Lord! Of course!"

The Sailortroopers scattered, ready to fulfill their mission.

---

The silence from before no longer reigned in the ship. The boots of Imperial soldiers of all kinds pounded through the hallway. Crew of the vessel cried out, gunned down as they ran or dragged out from hiding and slaughtered by the Sailortroopers that awaited them. The two droids could barely make out the sounds, but they knew this did not bode well. 4RT3M15 still rushed behind L0-N4, clearly the only one of the two with some kind of plan in mind.

"Loo-nah, really! What's going on? We're not supposed to be here! Maybe if we surrendered they'd go easy on us! Don't you know this area is restricted? We'll be deactivated if they catch us!"

None of these pleas deterred the smaller droid. A variety of tiny collectors, claws, and adaptors emerged from ports on the usually-smooth outer structure as she connected herself to a variety of systems, overriding protocols, opening locked portals, and engaging several control panels. The bipedal of the pair could only wring his hands and bleat his warnings as he trailed behind her. The two stopped in front of a bay marked with several symbols, and once again L0-N4 got to work unlocking and initializing some kind of sequence at the nearby display. She whistled a series of beeps and chirps at 4RT3M15.

"A secret mission? Did something fry half of your circuits?"

A hatch slid open, revealing a small chamber. Several windows looked out into the vast darkness of space, punctuated by so many glimmering stars. From this vantage point, they couldn't see the Imperial ship that had overtaken them. A tan planet loomed below, large not due to size, but due to proximity. After a moment, L0-N4 glided in, beeping again at her companion.

"I'm not going in there! There must be something wrong with your programming!"

He had barely completed the sentence before another explosion echoed behind them, close enough that they saw actual flames. Tangled metal, dust, and smoke filled the area. As L0-N4 continued to issue frantic whoops and beeps, 4RT3M15 tumbled in. The hatch slammed closed and the escape pod jettisoned away.

---

"We've got her," confirmed an Imperial soldier, bowing to the higher-ranking officer. "Alive, as Lord Selene required."

"Excellent." Motion on the screen outside the ship caught his eye, and he strode forward, pointing to the small capsule plummeting down towards the nearby planet. "An escape pod? Destroy it."

Another officer shook his head, pointing to a readout on one of the consoles. "Sir, it looks like that was a malfunction caused by damage in that area. There are no life-form readings."

---

The hood of her white dress fell back as the Sailortroopers dragged their prisoner forward, hands bound. It may have seemed like too many guards for a young woman, but she had severely wounded one of their number in the scuffle of her capture. The long blonde hair spilled over her shoulders, held back from her face by a large red ribbon tied in a bow at the back of her head. Blue eyes glared at her captors, but she knew better than to struggle against them.

As they crossed through another area of her once-grand star cruiser, now destroyed, that armored figure in white stepped out through the smoke, cape fluttering behind her.

"Darth Selene," the blonde scoffed. "I should have known. Only you would be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not tolerate this, when they learn you've attacked a diplomatic mission—"

Darth Selene swiftly moved forward, pointing a gloved finger at the young woman and cutting off the Princess's claims.

"Don't think you can play games with me, Your Highness. I won't be fooled. It was no mercy mission this time. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans that they sent you."

The young woman glanced away, seemingly slightly startled by the accusations, but she quickly gathered her composure and attempted a response.

"I told you," she said, looking up at the armored woman with earnest eyes. "I am a member of the Imperial Senate and this is a diplomatic mission to Alderaan. This is—"

The motion that the masked woman in white made to the Sailortroopers caused them to jerk the girl backwards, gripping her arms tightly in preparation. Darth Selene leaned in again, the expressionless helmet terrifying when combined with the woman's warning in the simulated voice.

"You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor! Take her away!"

---

The Imperial officer switched his gaze between the retreating Sailortroopers and their royal prisoner and the imposing figure that stood beside him.

"My lord, this is dangerous. She could encourage sympathy for the resistance in the Senate," he offered, voice shaking only ever so slightly.

"Princess Minako is my link to the Rebel spies, and she is how we will learn of their hidden base," grinned the voice of Darth Selene as she continued to gaze out into the far reaches of space.

The officer shook his head, clearly taken aback at the Sith lord's confidence. "She'll die before she'll tell you anything."

The armored woman dismissively waved a hand. "Leave that to me, Commander. Your task is this: send a distress signal. Inform the Senate that there were no survivors."

The clank of hurried footsteps echoed against the metal flooring. An Imperial soldier bowed to Darth Selene and the officer, eyes wide as her words tumbled out in the haste to deliver her message. "Lord Selene, the plans are not on board this ship, and no transmissions were made! No one escaped. Well, um, there was an escape pod, but it was empty!"

The alabaster cape swished as Darth Selene pivoted towards the officer, staring the man down. "She must have hidden the plans in the escape pod. Retrieve them."

It wasn't a request. It was a warning.

---

"Where are you going, you nearsighted little scrap pile? Settlements? What makes you think there are settlements over there? Oh, don't you get technical with me! We seem to be made to suffer. That must be our lot. My joints ache. I think I'm going to fall to pieces. They'd never find me in this sand anyway."

At this distance, L0-N4 looked like a small dark speck against countless kilometers of sand. The small droid rolled along through the vast desert, leaving the wreckage of the escape pod far behind. It bleeped a series of electronic noises back at the much slower 4RT3M15. He huffed in exasperation.

"Mission? What are you talking about? Oh my, you really must have been damaged in that crash. Why would you have a secret mission? Loo-nah, come back here!"

Neither droid noticed the slow crawl of the looming structure or spotted the dark-robed figures until it was too late.

---

Usagi sighed and kicked at the dust as she trudged along behind the taller, older man in similar desert clothing. One of the traders stood by the man's elbow, chirping away in an animated foreign tongue, espousing the benefits of his wares.

"Usagi!" called a voice, and the blonde turned and trotted over, peering down towards the open door of one of the curved buildings that made up her home. An older woman with long indigo hair stood in the doorway, wiping her hands on an apron. "Tell your uncle that if he gets a translator, make sure it speaks Bocce."

"It doesn't look like we have much choice," Usagi scoffed, but she smiled at her aunt anyway. "I'll remind him, though."

She ran up just in time to watch her uncle adjust his glasses and speak to a bipedal, humanoid droid with a gleaming white-silver exterior design. Usagi yawned and glanced elsewhere, stretching her hands above her head. She never got to have much say in equipment purchasing.

"I have no need for a protocol droid," Uncle Kenji began. The droid, 4RT3M15, spoke up before he could finish his sentence.

"Of course not, sir—not in this environment. That's why I have also been programmed with over thirty secondary functions that—" This time, the man cut off the droid.

"What I really need is a droid that understands the binary language of moisture vaporators."

"Why sir, my first job involved programming binary load lifters, very similar to your vaporators—"

"Do you speak Bocce?"

"It's like a second language to me! I'm fluent in Bocce as well as in—"

The man silenced the droid with a curt gesture of his hand, turning back to the traders. "We'll take this one."

He adjusted his glasses again, flicking away a few grains of sand, and waved for Usagi. The teenager rolled her eyes as she shuffled through the sand, clearly in no hurry. "Take these two to the garage and get them cleaned up before dinner."

At this, the blonde pouted. "But Uncle Kenji, I was going to go to Tosche Station and pick up some power converters..." she whined.

Her uncle shook his head, already moving away, the plight of his niece of little importance to the moisture farmer. "You can waste time with your friends after your chores are done!"

She was leading the pair away when the cylindrical red one sparked, halted, and popped a plate from the front panel. Usagi rolled her eyes and called out to the robed older man, who was wrapping up the purchase with the diminutive robed traders.

"Uncle Kenji! This L0 unit has a bad motivator," she called, taking another step back in case it sparked again.

At this, the bipedal droid tapped the blonde girl on the shoulder. "If I might suggest, I've worked before with the other L0 unit over there. She's in prime condition."

He was pointing towards a small dark cylindrical droid that had been shuffling over, although the scavengers were attempting to load it into back into the massive monolithic vehicle. Heated words were being exchanged between the moisture farmer patron and the desert dwellers that had almost left him with a newly-purchased malfunctioning droid. When Usagi called out and asked about switching for the other L0 unit, neither farmer nor sellers disagreed. Soon the violet-tinged droid came crawling across the sand towards the teenager and the other droid.

"Don't you say I've never done anything for you!" 4RT3M15 quipped at L0-N4. She answered with a series of chirps and whistles that shocked the taller droid into silence.

---

Sailortroopers searched through the sand, a few picking through debris related to the wreckage of the escape pod while others scanned the surroundings for life forms and other data. A few of the armored enforcement agents shuffled through the sand, each dedicated in their mission to find the missing plans.

"Someone was in the escape pod," one reported back to their Imperial ship. "The tracks go this way."

Another picked up a metal fitting from the sand, holding it towards the other. "Sir, a droid!"

---

"Thank the maker! This oil bath will be wonderful! With all the sand and dust, I can barely move!" 4RT3M15 enthusiasm bubbled over as the droid slowly lowered into the stand for cleansing. Usagi crouched on the garage's dirty floor, in-between piles of half-finished projects, boxes of tools, and spare parts for repairs. In front of her stood L0-N4, hooked up to cords that the blonde teenager adjusted. Her movements seemed too sharp and aggressive for the task at hand.

"It isn't fair! Naru was right—I'm never going to get off of this rock!" she grumbled, tossing a wrench on the nearby workbench with too much force. It clattered against the other tools, most of them tumbling off the other side. With another huff, Usagi shoved it with her foot, and the others fell off.

"Is there some way I might be of service?" inquired the pale silver droid from where he soaked in the warm oil.

When Usagi glanced over, the attentive glance of the humanoid face melted her flash of anger. She smiled, and stretched back.

"Not unless you can alter Space-Time, speed up the harvest, or teleport me away from here!" she announced, but now she sounded more resigned than fiery.

"I'm afraid not, miss. I'm only a droid, and not very knowledgeable about such matters. At least, not on this planet. I'm not even sure which planet we're on."

Usagi picked up another tool and settled down in front of the L0 unit again, disconnecting the cords and starting to clean debris and stains from the surface of the droid.

"Well, if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet farthest from it," she quipped, flicking off a crusted lump of sand.

"I see, miss."

"You can call me Usagi."

"Of course, miss Usagi."

The blonde giggled. "Just 'Usagi' is fine. After all, we're going to be friends. We're all stuck here."

4RT3M15 stood near the cleansing station, no longer submerged in the oil, and carefully wiped down the residue from his outer structure. He busied himself with polishing while Usagi did the same for L0-N4.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I am Four-Ar-Tee-Three-Em-Fifteen, and this is Loo-nah," he stated politely, introducing the pair.

"Wow, there's so much carbon scoring. Have you seen a lot of action?" she asked, scrubbing away at a particularly stubborn embedded chunk of debris sitting inside one of the almost-beveled-looking grooves on the dark outer surface of the droid.

"With everything we've been through, I'm amazed we're in the condition we are in, what with the Rebellion and all."

At this, Usagi almost knocked over the entire tool bench as she jumped to her feet. The blue eyes stared at 4RT3M15 with wide awe and wonder, her mind already whirling with the epic adventures that she and her friends eagerly listened to contraband news of.

"You know of the Rebellion?" she asked, her voice a hushed but thrilled whisper. She knew Uncle Kenji would not be happy that she was bringing this topic up.

The replies from 4RT3M15 stayed vague in response to Usagi's questions, but her imagination could not be quieted now. She no longer saw the dingy garage littered with spare parts. She imagined herself in a small space fighter, hands gripping the controls, listening attentively to messages communicated by her commanders, ready for a mission. Her landspeeder was nothing compared to an actual spaceship. If only that was what she was doing, instead of slaving away here on this desert.

She wasn't really focusing on the droids when she dropped back down to continue her cleanup work on L0-N4. Her pick hit something hard, wedged between two plates on the droid's face. Peering more closely, she saw that it was interfering with one of the other functions. Muttering slightly to herself, she adjusted her grip and pried it out.

When the piece of metal cluttered across the floor and into obscurity, a light lit up and a hologram began to play.

Usagi's eyes widened, staring down at tiny projected image of a beautiful girl. The resolution wasn't very good, but she knew what she was seeing. The figure remained standing for a moment, long hair crowned with a bow, wearing an elegant white dress.

"Help me, Plu-to Meiou. You're my only hope."

Then the hologram turned, startled, crouched down to touch something, and disappeared.

The clip looped once again on itself, starting over.

"Help me, Plu-to Meiou. You're my only hope. Help me, Plu-to Meiou. You're my only hope."

The unfamiliar voice echoed in the garage, despite the confined space and piles of junk. The audio seemed somewhat garbled, yet it sounded as clearly in Usagi's mind as though it was being broadcast directly from the Imperial satellite network. She barely remembered to breathe as she stared at it, mesmerized. The blonde reached out her fingers as if to touch it, but she couldn't bring herself to get that close.

"Who... what is this?" she breathed, transfixed.

L0-N4 rotated the domed top structure of her body, but remained otherwise silent. When 4RT3M15 prodded the smaller droid for an answer, the beeps and bleeps she followed up with seemed somewhat insincere. After a moment, the bipedal of the two shrugged.

"She says it's a malfunction, miss. Old data. Nothing important," 4RT3M15 translated.

"She's beautiful. Who is she?" Usagi continued, eyes still fixed on the message.

"I'm not sure, miss. I think she was on our previous ship—a passenger of some importance, I think," the pale droid continued.

"Is there more to this recording?" When Usagi reached forward, L0-N4 whistled and jittered, staying just out of reach. 4RT3M15 waved an arm at the smaller droid, his voice exasperated.

"She's our new mistress, Loo-nah, of course we can trust her!"

The long string of beeps, clicks, whistles, and bleeps that the droid emitted seemingly took the taller a moment to translate. Usagi waited with baited breath, still thinking about the hologram she had seen before.

"She says that she belongs to 'Plu-to Meiou', a resident of these parts, and that this is a private message for her. I'm afraid that I don't know what she's talking about, miss. I'm afraid that with all that we've been through, this little L0 unit has gotten a bit eccentric."

Usagi rocked back on her heels, hand resting on her chin.

"I wonder if she means Old Setsuna Meiou."

At this, the lights in the round eyes of 4RT3M15 face flashed, as if the face were blinking in surprise. "Pardon me, miss—do you know what she's talking about?"

"I don't know anyone named Plu-to, but Old Setsuna lives out beyond the dune sea. My uncle says she's a strange old hermit," Usagi replied. The short message continued to play, the young woman's voice resounding softly in the dim garage. "I'd better play back the entire recording."

At this, the small dark droid chirped another sequence. 4RT3M15 kindly provided a translation, fulfilling his duty as a translator: "She says that the restraining bolt is interfering with her systems. If you remove it, she believes she could play back the entire message."

Usagi chuckled, reaching for a tool without a second thought, intrigued at the prospect of learning more about this bit of excitement in her dull, desert life. She didn't feel particularly concerned about an escape—the small wheels of the L0 tripod were ill-suited for long treks across the sand dunes. Unfortunately, when she pried off the security bolt, the message disappeared immediately.

"Wait! What's going on?" she whined. "Bring her back!"

L0-N4 rotated her central light towards another area of the garage, emitting a single bleep.

"What message?" exclaimed 4RT3M15, turning accusingly towards the smaller droid. "The one you're carrying in your rusty innards, you overgrown oil can!"

A voice called to Usagi, and she sighed, tossing her tool into the nearest pile on the floor. Already, the one interesting thing that had happened was over. Instead she was still here, stuck on the farm, exactly where she'd always be. They needed her at dinner.

"See if you can do anything while I'm gone," she instructed 4RT3M15, her voice heavy with disappointment.

As the girl walked away, L0-N4 beeped again at 4RT3M15.

"No, I don't think she likes you at all," the white-silver droid replied.

Another few beeps.

"No, I don't like you either."

---

Usagi rushed into the kitchen like a whirlwind, her typical style of entrance. Uncle Kenji already sat at the table, his face hidden behind the newspaper. Her aunt placed a few more dishes on the table and poured blue milk into everyone's empty cup. Usagi was all chatter as she sat down, helping herself to a roll from the nearest basket.

"I think that L0 unit might have been stolen!" she announced to her uncle, speaking around a mouthful of bread. "I found a recording while I was cleaning her—says she belongs to 'Plu-to Meiou'. I thought maybe that's Old Setsuna. Or someone related to her."

Aunt Ikuko exchanged a nervous glance with her husband, who rattled the pages of the newspaper with barely-disguised frustration. "She's just an old witch. Tomorrow take that droid to Anchorhead and have her memory erased. She's ours now. That's the end of that."

Usagi had been half-listening, tearing a large bite from a orange meat cake. She swallowed most of it before she spoke, coughing for a moment.

"What if this Plu-to comes looking for her?"

"She won't," Uncle Kenji shook his head. "I think she died around the same time as your mother."

At this, Usagi nearly upturned her side of the table. "She knew my mother?"

"Forget it." The tone to her uncle's voice made that statement final. "Get those droids ready. In the morning take them out to the south ridge to work on those condensers."

The blonde tried to take the conversation in another direction. "I think these droids are going to work out great. I was thinking about our agreement to, um, stay here for another season. If the droids do work out, I'd like to submit my application for the Academy this year."

She glanced tentatively at her uncle, but what she saw did not look promising.

"Before the harvest?"

How many times had she heard him say that exact same phrase? Instantly the girl's spirits sank. The little bit of hope she had felt only seconds before completely evaporated. She could have left the kitchen right at this moment, and she'd still know what he was going to say. Usagi wasn't eating what she had served herself anymore, just shoving it around on her plate, looking down with a blank stare.

"We have enough droids," Usagi replied, her tone dull now.

"Harvest time is when I need you the most. It's only one season more. We'll make enough this year, so then we can hire more hands. You can go to the Academy next year."

For a few moments, there was only silence.

"I know you understand that I need you here, Usagi," Uncle Kenji continued, this time his voice sounded softer.

"That's a whole year," the blonde protested.

"Look, it's only one more season."

She pushed her plate towards the center of the table and stood, avoiding looking at either her aunt or uncle.

"Yeah, I've heard that before," she muttered, turning and walking towards the kitchen door.

Aunt Ikuko looked up, concerned. "Usagi, where are you going?"

At this, the blonde scoffed. "Nowhere. I'll go clean those droids."

When the teenager was gone, the motherly older woman stared at her husband across the table until he looked up at her, sheepish.

"Kenji, dear, she can't stay here forever. Most of her friends are already gone," Aunt Ikuko said, her sympathy for the restless young woman evident.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose, staring up at the ceiling. "I'll make it up to her next year."

The long-haired woman chuckled slightly. "Usagi's just not a farmer. She's too much like her mother."

At this, Uncle Kenji paused.

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

---

The wind whipped at her pigtails as she stared out across the distant sand dunes through her viewers. She stood at the edge of the farm property with 4RT3M15 by her side, the pale silvery droid stammering a variety of apologies. Behind them, two red orbs dipped slowly into the horizon, the sky darkening with each minute.

"I can't see her, but she couldn't have gotten far," Usagi muttered, lowering the viewers. Behind her, Uncle Kenji called out that he'd be dimming the generators for the night.

"I'm so sorry, miss. She's malfunctioning. Kept going on and on about some kind of mission. Those astro-droids are getting quite out of hand. I simply cannot follow their logic at times. Shall we go search for her?" stammered the pale humanoid droid, still terribly embarrassed at having been unable to stop the smaller robot from escaping.

At this suggestion, Usagi shook her head. She raised an arm for a moment, shielding herself from the sandy breeze.

"It's too dangerous with the Youma. We'll have to look in the morning."

The pair headed back to the compound for the night.

"You know," Usagi complained to the robot at her side. "I'm going to get it for this. That little droid is going to cause me a lot of trouble."

"Oh, she excels at that," replied 4RT3M15.

---

The desert flew past them as Usagi and the pale droid soared across the sand in her landspeeder. She kept the viewer to her eyes and her vision scanned the distant dunes and rock formations, searching in the early morning sunlight.

"There's a droid on the scanner, straight ahead! I hope it's our L0 unit!" she announced to 4RT3M15, pushing down on the accelerator and whipping them through a narrow canyon passage.

She knew that this was Youma territory, but she didn't see them on the scanner or catch glimpses of their huddled forms on the scanner. They, unfortunately, saw the young girl, easily overpowered, and her very salvageable droid and vehicle.

Usagi almost fell out of the landspeeder when they overtook the wayward L0-N4 and came to a halt, although she had tried to exit gracefully. 4RT3M15 followed, eager to reason with and reunite with his companion. The cylindrical droid beeped and chirped in response, insisting once again that she had a very important secret mission, and remaining completely indifferent to 4RT3M15's insistence that Usagi was their mistress now.

"Come on, we'd better go," Usagi said, planning to lead the reluctant droid back anyway, but pausing when she began to jitter and make a commotion. The blonde turned to 4RT3M15 for guidance, feeling increasingly uneasy the longer they stayed in this territory.

"What's going on?"

"She says there are creatures approaching from the southeast!" was the panicked reply.

They moved to get a better look at whatever might be coming their way, and Usagi unclipped her viewers and turned them towards the cliffs. There was likely truth in what the L0 unit claimed; she could see a few harnessed beasts near the edge of the gorge, but she didn't see any of the actual Youma.

"There's one," she finally reported, turning back to confirm with the humanoid droid.

With a great howl, one of the creatures rose up suddenly from the rock formation in front of them, waving its weapon menacingly. Usagi scrambled to pick up her own stick, but she was too uncoordinated. The monster swung, knocking the knobbed end into her head. The blonde flew backwards, her tunic-clad form skidding against the dusty rocks.

The blue eyes fluttered closed and the body went limp.

From where she lay in the dust, Usagi stirred. When the blue eyes fluttered open, she was surprised to see another human figure, one she vaguely recognized. She dragged herself upright, groaning for a moment as her body recalled the attack.

"What... what happened?"

Setsuna smiled down at Usagi. For as long as Setsuna had known her, the farm girl was always tumbling into trouble and for just as long, Setsuna had been there to get her out of it - whether Usagi knew it or not.

"You should rest," she suggested, a twinkle in her eye, "You've had a busy day. You're fortunate to still be in one piece."

As the mental haze cleared, it suddenly dawned on the girl just who stood before her. Her eyes lit up with recognition.

"Setsuna? Setsuna Meiou?" She was moving more now, shaking some of the sand from her hair.

"Boy, am I glad to see you!"

"You ought to be more careful," warned Setsuna. "The Negaversian Wastes aren't to be traveled lightly." She reached out to brush some dirt from the girl's shoulder. "Tell me Usagi, what's brought you out this far?"

L0-N4 still remained somewhat in the shade of the outcropping of rock, but she peered out, whistling softly, when the blonde girl gestured at the droid.

"Oh, this little droid," Usagi said, climbing to her feet. Her head still ached from that blow, but the pain was duller now, receding. "She seems to be searching for her former owner. I can't say I've seen that kind of devotion before—there's practically no stopping her."

When the teenager shook her head, another flurry of sand and dust sailed away on the wind that whipped past them.

"She claims to be property of a 'Plu-to Meiou.' Are you related to her? Do you know what she's talking about?"

Those clear eyes stared up at the older woman expectantly, once again entranced with the possibility of something more than the daily tedium of this life.

"Plu-to Meiou..." she whispered, almost breathless.

Her legs suddenly didn't seem as stable as they once were, and she leaned back on a nearby boulder to support her weight.

"Plu-to Meiou. Now there's a name I haven't heard in... in a long time."

Usagi tugged at her pigtails, combing her fingers through the long hair.

"My uncle seemed like he knew her—he said she was dead."

"She's not dead!" Plu-to snapped. "Well, not yet anyway."

She shrugged, her weathered face crinkling into a smile. "In fact, she's me! But I haven't gone by that name since... Well, since before you were even born."

The teenager's face cycled through her confusion and interest as she listened to the old hermit.

"Then the droid belongs to you!" she commented.

"I don't seem to remember owning a droid..." mused Plu-to, "Very interesting..."

She made a quick movement, locking her eyes to the horizon. "Regardless, we had better get a move on. The youma may have been easily startled, but they'll be back in greater numbers. Come along, young Usagi."

She turned and began to shuffle off in the direction of her home.

Usagi rose, feeling much stronger now, and had taken a few steps to follow Old Setsuna when a long, low beep from L0-N4 caught her attention. Wait... there was only one droid...

Thankfully, the smaller of the pair was able to lead the blonde towards the sad mess that had once been the bipedal 4RT3M15. The robot laid inert, badly dented from his fall, and with one arm separated from the humanoid body. The lights that had lit his eye sockets remained dim. Usagi carefully clambered down, tripping over her own feet only once or twice, and tried to restore the droid to his senses. He didn't respond to shaking, but her deft fingers located a manual switch that brought the pale automaton back.

She did her best to pull the droid to his feet, despite his dramatic protests that they should simply leave him because he was "done for", and made sure to pick up the arm for later repair. It didn't seem like it was so far out of her skill set to make this type of fix, but she'd find out when they weren't threatened by those dangerous scavengers.

They needed to get to Old Setsuna's house, quickly!

Inside Plu-to's home, they were safe from both youma and the sandy, buffeting winds. The earthen walls are spartan. Aside from a stove and a smattering of furniture, there are a few old droid parts, and the usual detritus of a life long lived in solitude.

Plu-to sat on an earthenware seat, a permanent fixture in the home. "Going out to the Wastes like that... brave of you. Brave and foolish." She rubbed her chin. "In many ways you remind me of your mother. She was the same in the Clone Wars, always leaping before she looked."

Usagi tossed her head, flicking her bangs out of her eyes, and leaned in closer to make another adjustment to poor dazed 4RT3M15. Putting his arm back on had proved a bit of a challenge, but thankfully one she was willing to try a few options for. The circuitry and construction of this old droid seemed peculiar, but also... somewhat familiar. She felt like she could understand the thought processes of the person who may have built it. Internally, she chuckled—she was reading way too much into this.

At Old Setsuna's comment, Usagi glanced up, confused. Perhaps the old woman had mistaken her for someone else.

"My mother didn't fight in the wars. She was a navigator on a spice freighter."

"So your Uncle Kenji says." Plu-to scoffed, "He didn't agree with your mother's ideals, thought she should have stayed here and not gotten involved, but your mother was once a Jedi Guardian - the same as me. She was one of the best star pilots this galaxy has ever seen, a bold and cunning fighter, and a good friend." Plu-to gazed at Usagi, "I hear you've become quite the pilot yourself."

The blonde seemed to have halted completely when the old woman shared this information. Others might say that Old Setsuna was a crazy old hermit, but when she heard those words, Usagi trusted her. This person had once known her mother. Unlike Uncle Kenji, this person spoke about that person Usagi so much wanted to know with honor and respect. She leaned in, transfixed.

"You fought in the wars? You knew my mother?"

The two sentences tumbled out of her mouth, almost blending into a single question. She felt that ache in her heart, the one she had known her entire life, the one that begged to hear more about the mother she had never known. Usagi dearly hoped that Old Setsuna would continue.

A moment of doubt snagged at Plu-to as she moved across the room. She had been considering taking this next step for some time, but Usagi was so like her mother. No, she thought, No doubt. I must have faith in the force. I must defend this galaxy and to do that, I must let the force guide me.

"I have something for you," she said, reaching into the depths of an old chest. It seemed a random mish-mash of useless things, and it was meant to. It was always wisest to conceal important things in a place a would-be thief would overlook.

Plu-to found what she was looking for and returned, cradling the weapon in her hands. "Your mother wanted you to have this." It was a lie, but it was important that Usagi have faith. It was important she believe. 

"Your Uncle Kenji wouldn't hear of my giving you this, thought you'd end up following me on some idiotic crusade like your mother did." She held the silver hilt out to Usagi.

When 4RT3M15 requested permission to shut down and rest, repairs currently complete, Usagi was too wrapped up in her conversation with Plu-to to do more than nod a brief acknowledgement.

The item that the hermit handed her hefted a substantial weight, pressing into her palm as she accepted it, but it wasn't so heavy that it caused strain. It had a beautiful shine to the metallic casing, more like jewelry than machinery. The sort of trinkets her frugal aunt and uncle never owned, but which she sometimes saw pictures of when hanging out with her friends. Her eyes couldn't leave it. It seemed almost like magic.

Usagi moved her hand experimentally, fingers feeling the variety of plates on the outer casing, wondering exactly what it was meant to do. Her mother's hand had once touched this same thing. It was as close to contact as she might ever hope to get.

"What is it?" the girl whispered, entranced.

"An elegant weapon for a more civilized time, Usagi. It's your mother's lightsaber. For thousands of years, Jedi Guardians were the keepers of peace and protectors of justice in the Old Republic, before the Lunar Empire seized control. The lightsaber was a Jedi tool of last resort used to protect that peace."

Sadness overcame the old hermit. Those days were so long ago now. Sometimes, when she thought back on them, they seemed even longer still. So many friends had been cut down, so many vibrant lives extinguished by weapons just like these... and yet, they had saved many lives too. Plu-to watched Usagi as she held the weapon and thought that maybe, just maybe, there was still hope left in the galaxy.

She couldn't take her eyes off the thing, the new word echoing softly in her mind: lightsaber. So, that's what this was... And it had belonged to her mother! Her fingers found a ridged rectangular button, the object re-oriented in her hand, and pressed.

A beam of brilliant pink light flickered into existence, the weapon humming softly. It cast strange shadows and highlights on the low ceiling of Old Setsuna's hut.

Usagi's lips parted slightly, face still wearing the awed expression, as she moved her wrist and glided the light blade. It felt so much less clumsy than the blasters her Uncle didn't want her carrying, anyway. She tried to imagine her mother carrying this lightsaber, using it to keep peace and protect justice, as Plu-to just explained. It was hard to add much detail to what she tried to envision.

Her voice halted slightly when she asked the next question.

"How... did my mother... die?"

She had known this question would come. She ran a hand over her chin, and began.

"A pupil of mine... Darth Selene as she became known, was seduced by the dark side of the force. The pull proved too strong for her, and she turned, hunting Jedi Guardians under the banner of the Empire. She mercilessly killed those she once fought alongside... your mother was one of those she betrayed."

Years of solitude had done little to temper the pain of this hard truth. She had failed her Padawan in the worst of ways. Could she have seen it coming? Prevented it? Perhaps if she had only impressed upon her the black allure of the dark side... These questions had followed her across the galaxy, and still she had no answers. The weight of responsibility for her lack of caution pressed down on her. She would not, could not repeat her mistakes, not this time.

"You see Usagi, the force is not meant to be used in such a way. It's the energy that binds and surrounds us and every creature, every grain of sand throughout the galaxy. It can be a force for good, or for terrible evil, and it is what gives a Jedi her power."

"The Force?"

All of this sounded strange to her. The information Plu-to had shared, the first history she had ever actually heard about her mother beyond the clipped, huffy mentions from Uncle Kenji, hadn't yet sunk in. She hadn't felt the impact of this, of knowing a bit of information about the woman she dreamed about almost every night. Her mother had been someone. Someone important enough to be remembered by Old Setsuna. She felt a brief heaviness in her chest, but the teenager wasn't concerned about illness. This was different.

Nearby, L0-N4 beeped and whistled, and Usagi turned towards the small robot. Oh, right... this little droid was why they were here in the first place, wasn't it?

"Ah, yes. Come here my little friend, let us see what this is all about."

The L0 unit approached obediently and Plu-to stretched out a hand to its metallic surface. The droid was cool to the touch, and coated in a layer of dust from its brief sojourn in the desert. It's good to see you again, L0, Plu-to thought. She ran her hands over the old, familiar dome, and with a few simple tweaks, a holographic message sprang to life. L0-N4 focused her optical sensors and a slightly staticky 3-D image of a young, blonde girl came into focus.

Usagi broke her attention from the projection, once again struck by how beautiful the blonde girl was, startled by Plu-to's comment. She couldn't even contain the laugh that bubbled up. Wow, she had been complaining yesterday about being bored, but today was going haywire with new stuff.

"Alderaan? I'm not going to Alderaan," she giggled. She took a moment to stand up and stretch, and saw the way the shadows stretched longer and longer as the suns moved across the sky. "I've got to get home. I'll be in trouble as it is!"

"I need your help Usagi. She needs your help," Plu-to said, gesturing toward L0. "Besides, I'm getting too old for this sort of thing."

Usagi balked, her pigtails almost seeming to bounce and display her shock. Adventures might have been wonderful daydreams, but what Old Setsuna was suggesting seemed just irresponsible. She could already imagine what her uncle would say when she finally got back to the farm. Usagi would be lucky if she'd be allowed to go and hang out with her friends for at least a week, and by then those bound for the academy may have already left! If she had any hope of leaving, the academy was the right path—not rushing off to follow an old woman on a journey based on a strange message.

"I... I can't help! I've got so much work to do. It's not like I like the Empire, but there's nothing I can do. I have obligations here," she protested.

"Those are your Uncle Kenji's ideas, not your own!" Plu-to said emphatically, "You must learn about the force, Usagi. If not to help, then to continue your mother's legacy."

She was laying it on a little thick, and she knew it, but appealing to Usagi's sense of curiosity about her family history just might work on the thick-headed farmer.

When Old Setsuna mentioned her uncle, she groaned, dragging hands down her face.

"Oh man, my uncle. How am I going to explain any of this?" the blonde groaned, already hearing a litany of complaints and admonishments. Uncle Kenji would never understand any of this. She knew she'd be in for one heck of a talking-to. Would this interfere with what they'd agreed upon, that Usagi would apply to the Academy next season? Had chasing after this little droid doomed her to additional years on this rock?

She was too preoccupied with these thoughts to have the "mother's legacy" comment actually sink in.

"Look, I can take you to Anchorhead, and you can catch a transport there, okay?" Usagi offered.