The sky over Coruscant was always the cleanest.
It was clean and beautiful because it was fake—a projection to mask the smog. Of course, to the locals, it was just a boring, artificial sky.
Especially for Jax.
Amir had left, Veronica had left, and Lango had left.
Every day, Jax would ride his spray-painted speeder bike out for a spin, seemingly showing off to no one in particular.
Upon returning to the warehouse, he would park it next to Amir's dark amber bike.
Sien had returned after meeting Amir on Tatooine and tasting the local grilled meat. He had never left Coruscant before, but if he ever did, he swore he would visit Tatooine first.
Of course, there was also Alderaan, which Amir often talked about.
Walking over to the workbench, Jax picked up the task Pierre had assigned him—fixing an industrial astromech droid that had been damaged and wouldn't start.
This level of damage was easy for him to handle, so he picked up his tools and began disassembling the chassis.
After a while, however, his legs started shaking uncontrollably.
"Ah! This is so boring."
Jax threw down the hydro-spanner and ran out.
"Where are you going, Jax?" Pierre shouted from behind him.
"To buy something to eat!"
Jax patted his pocket. Luckily, Amir had given him some credits before he left; otherwise, he would have been bored to death.
Since it was still early, he decided to go to Victor's place to play games. He had heard that Victor had brought back a new gaming console from the Outer Rim.
Before he knew it, Jax had run to a beverage stall in the upper levels and bought two cups of "Mechanical Heart." He loved the rich, creamy flavor of the drink. The extra cup was for Victor.
While waiting, he looked up and saw two black TIE fighters taking off in the distance.
"What kind of fighters are those? So cool!" Jax thought.
. . .
Tatooine
In the dusty streets of Mos Eisley, a man wearing a long, hooded robe sat at a stall, drinking tea. He had just helped the stall owner deliver a batch of goods and received a few coins in payment.
He looked up at the archway at the end of the road where a dead Jedi's body had once hung.
Like himself, that Jedi had survived Order 66, but the past decade of fleeing must have been agonizing.
Fear, hiding, despair.
Obi-Wan understood that feeling, but he knew there was nothing else he could do now.
That Jedi had once asked for his help, but he had refused, telling him to discard his lightsaber, forget his identity, and bury himself in the sand like a womp rat to avoid detection.
He was dead.
Yet Obi-Wan was still alive.
At that moment, Obi-Wan thought of the boy from the moisture farm and placed all his hopes on that child. The boy carried the blood of the Skywalker family, so his potential in the Force must be powerful.
He just had to wait, and the light side of the Force would eventually prevail. He hoped Luke would be the Chosen One and that he would train him to become a Jedi.
But fear overwhelmed him once more. Owen's words echoed in his ears:
"Just like you trained his father?"
"Anakin is dead, Ben."
He clearly remembered Anakin's death. He had severed his brother's limbs with his own hands and left him to burn on the lava bank. That image was forever etched in his dreams, tormenting him.
Perhaps he had been wrong all along, he thought.
Maybe he shouldn't have forced the issue. Maybe he should have let Luke follow his own path, guided by the Force to where he truly belonged.
This thought came to him especially strongly after a blond-haired boy approached him with a backpack a few weeks ago and told him that he wanted to learn the ways of the Force.
His name was Amir, and he was exceptionally talented—far more so than Obi-Wan had been as an apprentice.
This time, he didn't refuse.
He shifted some of his hopes onto Amir. And Amir accepted this responsibility without hesitation.
No matter what, I'll protect you as you grow up, Luke.
Obi-Wan finished his tea, stood up, and took his Eopie by the reins.
"Hey, Ben!" A rough voice came from behind him.
"Kaiyin?"
Obi-Wan turned to look.
"I went to your house, but no one was there, so I came to Mos Eisley to take a look around," Kaiyin said.
"It's good to see you. You've been gone so long that I thought you had been killed by some outlaw."
Obi-Wan smiled, seeing his young fan joking around for once.
"I'm a fugitive now, wanted by the Empire. Heh, heh. Come on, let's have a drink. I'll tell you all about what happened on my trip."
Kaiyin stepped forward, took the Eopie from Obi-Wan, and headed toward the tavern.
Suddenly, Obi-Wan's communicator beeped twice. It was the backup frequency Amir had left for him.
"There's a message from Amir," Obi-Wan said.
"Amir? I haven't seen him in a while," Kaiyin said, leaning in.
"It's a holographic image," Obi-Wan said as he held out the communicator.
A blue holographic projection of a stone slab encased in ice appeared before them.
"What is this, a rock?" Kaiyin asked, confused.
"Amir went out to find a hidden structure, but he doesn't know what it is yet. This scan must have been taken inside," Obi-Wan said, turning off the projector. This wasn't the right place to examine it closely.
"Let's go back first," said Kaiyin.
"All right." Obi-Wan was eager to study the markings. They immediately set off toward the city gates.
. . .
Imperial Cruiser
"Report, sir! We've detected a new signal! But it was very brief, only a few seconds."
"Is that the signal?" Gideon asked, turning to look at the technician reporting the information.
"Yes, sir!"
"Where is it located?"
A hint of impatience appeared on his serious face.
"On the Outer Rim, the Hoth system. It's extremely cold there, and there's almost no intelligent life activity."
"Launch the cruiser."
"Sir, this was only a brief burst. There was no continuous signal. It's difficult to determine the target's real-time location!"
"Launch the cruiser! I already gave the order!"
"Yes, sir!"
"I'm going to the experimental area. Call me when we arrive."
Gideon strode toward the interior of the warship, followed closely by a black combat droid.
After passing through narrow corridors, Gideon walked through a blast door into an open area.
The space was filled with numerous instruments and dozens of personnel in white medical uniforms bustling about, interspersed with several medical droids.
"Colonel!"
A middle-aged man pushed his way through the crowd and shouted.
"How's it going, John Mori?"
This man was Boris Ascot's student, whom Gideon had relied on heavily.
"Everything is going smoothly, Colonel. Thanks to the latest data from Kamino, we've made significant progress in many areas."
He hesitated before continuing.
"However, Boris still refuses to cooperate, so we can only attempt the experiment by chance."
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