User:CraftTech/Sandbox

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...

THE GALAXY IS IN A TIME OF GREAT PERIL. WITH THE CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW WEAPON CALLED THE DEATH STAR UNDERWAY, THE THREAT OF THE TITAN EMPIRE HAS NEVER BEEN SO HIGH.

THE REBEL ALLIANCE MANAGED TO PROCURE THE DEATH STAR PLANS, BUT THE TRANSMISSION REACHED A DROID STUCK ON THE PLANET TATOOINE AND THE MESSAGE HAS YET TO BE PASSED ON.

JEDI MASTER LEE IS NO WHERE TO BE FOUND, FLEEING AFTER THE EMPIRE GAINED UNPRECEDENTED POWER. HE REMAINS THE LAST JEDI IN THE GALAXY, ALL OTHER KNOWN JEDI WERE KILLED BY THANOS.

NO ONE KNOWS HOW THE MESSAGE WILL GET TO THE ALLIANCE...

Gamora looked up at the ship entering the atmosphere. She'd never even left the planet, and had dreams of exploring the galaxy. She wiped her forehead that was sweating from the heat despite the sun setting.

She worked on a small farm, but went back home alone. 19 years... she'd been waiting 19 years for her family. They'd left her as a baby here so she'd never met them. But she knew deep down that they were out there... somewhere and maybe, just maybe, they'd come back for her.

She'd been told more times than she could count that they weren't coming back, that her family were dead. But Gamora couldn't accept it. She had this feeling she couldn't explain that just told her she had family. She didn't know how she knew, she just did.

She laid down on the warm sand outside her small hut and watched the ship land not too far from the market place. Business probably, so she shrugged it off. Ships were always landing and taking off. But it was never for her.

The setting sun cast an orange glow over the sand. It was one of the few times she found she ever liked Tatooine. It was dull and full of shady characters, but she couldn't leave just in case. If her family were coming back, this was where they would look first.

The open desert before her was quiet, except a faint cry was heard in the distance.

She sat up and looked around, but it was just her and her small hut. She squinted her eyes and could make out the shape of some Jawas ambushing a silver droid.

Those things were always stealing innocent droids, besides, she liked ruining their fun; there was nothing else to do on this planet.

Gamora grabbed her long stick and ran towards the Jawas, trying to scare them off.

When they saw her running at them, the little creatures bolted, leaving behind the droid.

"Thanks." The droid said, one of his arms lay a few feet from him.

Gamora helped him up and handed him back the arm that had fallen.

"Can't stand those Jawas." She mumbled. "Are you alright?"

"Well I only have one arm, but apart from that, I'll live." The droid had a sarcastic tone.

"Well, I'll see you around. Market is that way but a droid like you should probably avoid that. And watch out for the back routes at this time of day, tusken raiders are about." She pointed in the vague direction of where she'd mentioned and then turned to leave. But the droid called after her.

"Wait! If it's alright, I'd rather stay with you."

She shook her head. "Absolutely not."

The droid hobbled after her. "Please, those Jawas come back and I'm done for."

"That's none of my business." She continued walking.

"Please. I shouldn't be telling you this, but I have an important message that needs to get to Master Lee."

Gamora stopped. "What is this message?"

"I can't tell you that."

She scoffed. "Ooh, some big shot in the resistance huh?"

"Oh yeah. I'm really important." The droid said smuggly. Gamora smiled. She would play along, he seemed like a nice droid.

They walked along together into town, the sky getting darker.

"I'm Gamora by the way."

"Steve." The droid held out his good arm for her to shake.

"Steve? That's an unusual name for a droid."

He laughed. "Blame my technician Drax." Steve suddenly realised what he'd said. "I shouldn't have told you that."

It was nice. Gamora hadn't had much company for a while. It was lonely, but all of a sudden she had run into a goofy droid.

She took him to the outskirts of town. She didn't know any "Master Lee" but presumed he meant old man Lee that lived there.

They knocked on the creaky door and it opened ever so slightly.

"Go away." Said a gruff voice.

"Old man Lee?" Gamora asked but received a grunt as a reply.

The droid tried to push open the door. "Please, I have a message for the rebellion. I've been stranded on this planet but I was instructed to give you the message as well."

The man sighed and opened the door wider, revealing himself as unshaven and wearing a brown cloak.

The hurriedly pulled them inside and closed the door. Gamora regretted her decision to accompany the droid. What had she gotten herself into?

Lee's hut was small and dark with a slowly dying fire in the corner.

"You have a message?"

"For the rebellion. I received transmissions of plans for the Cataclyst. They need to get to the rebellion." Steve sat down and placed his arm on the small table.

Gamora awkwardly listened in, feeling like she shouldn't be there.

Lee shook his head. "I retired from that fight long ago."

"You're the last Jedi. You're our only hope."

The old man looked up, as if he could feel something and turned to Gamora. "No, there is another."

She was aware of him looking at her.

"Gamora." He pointed a finger at her.

"I'm sorry? How do, do you know my name?"

The man sighed. "You have the force."

She needed a second to sit down. She'd literally met this man a few hours ago and he was dropping that bomb shell on her.

"I don't, how could I?"

"Have you ever felt things, things you perhaps couldn't describe. You know things, can sense things. I can sense the force, it is strong within you."

Gamora shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm just... having trouble processing this."

"I hate to interrupt," Steve stood up. "But time sensitive information here."

"Yes," Lee looked away from Gamora who was still thinking things through. "Let me see the message."

"Ah," Steve sunk back down. "Thing is, I need the technology from the resistance. At the base..."

"And you have no way of getting there?" Lee confirmed and pulled down the hood of his cloak, running a hand through the thinning hair.

"We need a pilot.'' they both turned to look at Gamora.

Gamora shook her head. "No, I can't. My family, what if they come back for me?"

Lee gave her a sad smile. "Gamora, you know, deep in your heart that whoever you are searching for is not coming back."

She gulped back a tear, she didn't want to admit the truth, but she knew in her heart that Lee was right.

"I don't have a ship." She whispered. Neither accepting or declining their offer.

"I know where we can find one." Lee stood up.

"Now?"

"Yes, we don't have time to waste."

Gamora didn't know how she'd ended up in this mess, but something told her she couldn't leave. This Lee seemed to know about her, and maybe he'd know about her family... where she came from.

Reluctantly she followed along with the droid and old man. He led her to the local cantina.

Steve was forced to wait outside, no droids were allowed but he put up a fight until Lee forced him to wait.

They scanned the bar, pushing past all sorts of strange creatures.

Something, some odd feeling - she guessed it must be something to do with this "force" Lee told her about - pulled her towards a table in the corner. Her eyes met a young man around her age drinking alone. He had dark, almost black hair that curled wildly, it was messy and unkempt. His cheeks were freckled and Gamora felt a weird tension in the air looking at him. He looked away after a few moments, but Gamora found herself walking towards him.

"Gamora?" Lee looked at her, but she was already approaching the young man.

"Are you a pilot?" She slammed a hand against the table and he looked at her and then away again.

Before taking a long sip he leaned back and said, "Might be. Who wants to know?"

Lee approached the table with the young man and cautiously sat down opposite him. Gamora followed suit.

"I've seen you around kid. You're a smuggler." Lee said firmly. "We need transport and you can help us avoid any routes where there may be some Kree soldiers."

The curly haired young man shrugged, "I have a ship. Fastest in the galaxy." He leaned forward. "But why should I help you?"

"We'll pay."

The young man's ears perked up at the subject of payment. "Say... 10,000?"

Gamora looked at Lee. "10,000? We could buy our own ship with that kind of money."

But Lee was adamant that they needed a pilot that knew back routes and how to avoid the Kree empire.

The young man scoffed. "Oh and I suppose you would fly it? You need me."

Gamora leaned forward and looked into his eyes, "I can assure you that I-"

"We'll pay you 2000 now, and an extra 15,000 when we reach Nova Prime."

"17,000 huh? Alright, you got a deal." The young man smiled. "Names Peter Quill, people call me 'Star-Lord'." He extended a hand to Gamora.

"Gamora. Just, Gamora."

"Watcher Uatu."

"You're one of those Jedis, huh?" Mike shook his head, "bunch of malarkey. The force? Please."

Hopper nodded, "the ways of the force are known to but a few."

Mike rolled his eyes and stood up. "Yeah, alright." He spotted someone sat at a table nearby. "I just need to uh, take care of something. I'll be right back. It's docking bay 94."

El watched him leave. There was something about him...she couldn't quite figure out.

Hopper stood up, "I'd better go find that blasted droid."

El remained in her seat, transfixed on Mike. He was talking to some shady creatures. She noticed how his hand was resting casually over his blaster.

El stood up and made her way towards Mike but before she'd reached him, two gun shots went off at almost identical times. The creature Mike had been talking to fell to the ground and he turned sharply, practically bumping into her.

"Why did you-?" She began to ask but a pair of stormtroopers had suddenly entered the premises.

Mike grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

"Hey!" The stormtroopers called, firing after them.

Instead of going to the docking bay, Mike had pulled El out the back and through the market to try and shake the Stormtroopers.

"Let go of my hand!" She shouted. "I know how to run for myself."

Mike instantly dropped her hand but carried on running, blasts only barely missing them.

"Why are they chasing us?" El asked.

"Well, I'm not exactly on best terms with the empire." Mike ducked as a blast just missed the top of his tall head. "And they probably saw you hanging around old man Hop there. And if he really is a jedi, then he's a prime target. In here." Mike grabbed her hand again and pulled her into a nearby stall behind a large piece of cloth.

They slumped down on to the floor to catch their breath.

"I didn't sign up for this." El sighed. "I thought maybe... maybe I could find my family but here I am being chased by stormtroopers."

She began to panic, but Mike grabbed her shoulders.

"Hey, look at me." His voice was strangely soft all of a sudden. As she looked into her eyes, she felt her breathing return to normal. "We're going to be ok." He grabbed his blaster and she nodded.

They listened carefully but it sounded like the troopers had passed. He turned to her, "Are you alright?" He smiled. It was the kind of smile that felt so genuine and El knew it probably made most girls weak at the knees. But not her. Ok, maybe it did have a little affect on her...She found herself smiling back at him and nodded. She was slightly taken aback by his concern. No one had ever really asked how she felt or if she was ok, but this stranger had done it within a matter of minutes of meeting her.

Hesitantly, they moved from behind the stall. "Hopper and Steve." El suddenly remembered.

"If they're smart, they've gone on to the Falcon." Mike said but didn't look at her, he had his blaster held up as they walked.

"The Falcon?"

"Yeah, my ship the Millennium Falcon. Fastest in the galaxy. Made the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs."

She rolled her eyes at his boast but he didn't seem to notice.

They were almost back at the docking bay when they were spotted once more. Mike again grabbed El's hand, forgetting her earlier statement of not needing it.

"Would you stop taking my hand?" She screamed but found herself holding on to it for dear life as they ran.

At the docking bay, Hopper was in the midst of a petty argument with Steve.

"Go, go!" Mike shouted to them and it took a few seconds before Hopper and Steve noticed the stormtrooper blasts following Mike and El as they ran. Mike hurriedly ushered everyone into the Falcon.

He quickly made his way to the front pilot seat. Stormtroopers continued to attack and he knew it would only be a matter of moments before they called for back up in the form of tie fighters.

"El, I need you to man the defence." Mike called back to her as he prepared the engine to take off. "How good is your aim?"

"I don't, I don't know." But she ran to the gun positioned at the back of the ship and placed the communicators over her ears.

"El? Can you hear me?" Mike called into the system.

She nodded but then remembered he couldn't see her. "Yes."

"Ok, it's just as I feared." Mike looked up and saw the arrival of the tie fighters. "We're gonna have to shoot our way out."

He turned back to the rest of the ship where Hopper and Steve were still bickering. "Hold on tight you two."

The ship took off but wobbled as it was caught under fire from the imperial tie fighters.

El activated the gun and managed to shoot down one of the fighters as they took off.

"Nice aim!" Mike grinned, slightly surprised.

The millennium falcon weaved in and out, trying to avoid the tie fighters behind them. El continued to shoot back, and managed to take down another one.

Mike was a skilled pilot despite barely being 20 years old. Years of evading the Imperial ships had given him good practice and knew how they flew. The final tie fighter was hot on their trails, but Mike flew into a nearby cavern, with tight turns. The Falcon shouldn't have been able to fit, but somehow it did.

He made a final tight turn and the ship behind swerved crashing into one of the stone walls.

Mike smuggly smiled to himself as he left the cavern and exited the atmosphere of Tatooine.

He put the ship on autopilot and ran back to El who met him the the cockpit.

"That was amazing." They both said at the same time, circling around each other.

"Your aim was unbelievable!"

"Where did you learn to fly like that?!"

Hopper coughed and the two pulled their gaze away from each other.

Mike awkwardly looked away from El. "I should uh, should make the jump to hyperspace." He pointed back towards the dashboard.

El nodded and went to sit with Hopper and Steve who had begun to play a weird game with holograms on the table.

There was a question that was bugging El. Hopper knew she had the force, but what was she supposed to do with that information.

"About, about the force..." She hesitantly asked Hopper.

He sighed. "I knew this day was coming."

"What, what day? What do you mean?"

"I know your family." Hopper couldn't meet her eyes.

"My family?" That was all El had ever wanted in her life. To know her true family.

"But...but they were killed."

It was like a knife in her gut. Killed. Before she could even meet them.

"Killed?"

"By a man, well he's more machine than man these days, called Brenner."

El felt anger course through her. "Brenner?"

"You are a jedi, like your mother before you. See...Jedi aren't supposed to marry or have children...but your mother did. But she deserted and decided to live on Tatooine so she could have you." Hopper gave her a sad smile.

"But, but when things started to get bad she came back. It was my fault, I called her back to help us. And they...they were all killed. I couldn't save them. I'm sorry. I was, was the only one who could escape."

"I'm going to kill him." El said through gritted teeth.

Hopper rested a hand over hers. "No, you can't let anger take control. That's a one way ticket to the dark side."

El pulled withdrew from Hopper. "So I'm supposed to just sit by and let him get away with murdering my family?"

Hopper tried to get her to calm down. "No, but we can't change the past. I can teach you to control your feelings. Become one with the force. I believe her lightsaber still resides at the base..."

The droid had been silent for a while, but he finally spoke again. "This why we need you. The rebel alliance needs you. You can help us. If we let them get away, who knows how many countless, innocent victims will be lost?"

El let it all sink in. She has nothing for her now on Tatooine so what does she have to lose by joining this fight.

"We're about to leave hyperspace," Mike poked his curly head around the corner. He noticed the intense atmosphere surrounding El and Hopper but decided it wasn't his place to comment. "So uh... buckle up."