Skywalker: A Family at War by Kristin Baver

Author:Kristin Baver
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley

g Part Two: The Twins g CONTENTS

Chapter 20

The Death Star

It was not a long time after Luke first held the Skywalker lightsaber that, worlds apart, Luke and Leia both lost their adopted parents, casualties of the fearful destruction wrought by the Empire. It was the second time a war would make them orphans, and the crucial incident that ultimately thrust the twins together and defined much of the rest of their lives.

Luke returned from his visit with Obi-Wan Kenobi to find ashy smoke billowing from the charred ruins of his home, the husks of each delicate hydroponic plant reduced to blackened stems and shriveled leaves. Empire stormtroopers had tracked the missing droids to the threshold of the Lars homestead and left their signature mark. Near the resting place of Shmi Skywalker’s bones, where the imprint of Anakin’s trauma and bitter revenge still echoed amid the shifting sands, Luke called out for his family. The act was desperate and careless—if the stormtroopers who murdered his kin had still been nearby, he would have surely been next. But his shouts abruptly ceased when his eyes fell upon the domed entryway that had welcomed generations of farmers home and came to rest on the smoldering remains of his loving aunt and uncle. The image of this senseless carnage was seared into his brain, never to be forgotten—a bitter reminder of how the Empire dealt with matters in dispute.

In contrast to Anakin’s grief-fueled massacre of the Tusken Raiders’ camp some 20 years prior, Luke’s rage paled in comparison to his birth father’s capacity for fury. Luke was angry in the aftermath, grief competing with a burning desire for revenge; however, he was more heartbroken over his loss than vindictive. The key difference between father and son in response to similar traumatic events was that whereas Anakin turned his woes inward, assuming a mantel of responsibility that far exceeded any single being’s capability, Luke turned his pain into a call to action. The deaths of Beru and Owen Lars would become a driving force, inspiring Luke to devote his life to a higher cause—one that would have nothing to do with moisture farming.

In a significant turnabout, Luke resolved to go to Alderaan and learn the ways of the Force. He would follow what he knew of his father’s path, and, with Obi-Wan’s help, become a Jedi Knight. He intended to find the beautiful woman who had begged for Kenobi’s aid, join up with the rebles and fight bravely against the Empire. That was how Luke intended to seek justice against the regime whose soldiers had butchered his family.

At Mos Eisley spaceport, Obi-Wan hired a freighter to take them to Alderaan. The ship was the Millennium Falcon, piloted by a known smuggler named Han Solo and his Wookiee partner, Chewbacca. Known as Chewie to his friends, his people had been aided by the Jedi Master Yoda during the Clone Wars. Although it is unknown if he had met Obi-Wan Kenobi at that time, he recognized the

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