Star Wars Journal - The Fight for Justice by Luke Skywalker Read Online Free PDF

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    I’d never seen Mos Eisley before. Actually, I’d never seen any place bigger than Anchorhead, and that’s only about twenty buildings. Mos Eisley was huge . There had to be thousands of buildings, and at the far edge was the spaceport, like a small city of its own. Ben had been here before, of course, so he knew what to do and where to go.
    There were people and creatures everywhere. Species I’d never heard of before. Of course, I’ve seen aliens before. But not very many. There wasn’t any reason for them to swing past Anchorhead, so few of them ever did. Mos Eisley was filled with all sorts of strange characters—strange-looking, strange-talking, and strange-smelling.
    I’m sure a lot of them felt the same way about me, too!
    Ben saw me staring and obviously knew how I felt. He smiled and told me that Mos Eisley was one of the most depraved places in the galaxy. I could believe it. Most of the people and aliens looked very tough, and Ben told me that the port was rife with smugglers, thieves, and con men of all kinds.
    It was also full of stormtroopers.
    I’d never seen so many in one place before. There were hundreds of them, and they were checking everyone and everything. Once, I’d thought they looked invincible in their white armor; now, I was hoping I’d been wrong. Because these troopers were looking at me. And I’d seen what they did to people who got in their way. I started getting nervous and looked for a way out.
    Ben calmed me down a little, explaining that it would attract attention if we tried to flee. Instead, he had me drive up to the closest checkpoint. I’ll admit, I was nervous as anything, pulling up next to the troopers, with their blasters set and ready. The men eyed Artoo and Threepio and wanted to know how long I’d had them. I was sure the troopers could sense my fear.
    “Two or three seasons,” I lied, hoping Ben knew what he was doing.
    Sweat was trickling down my back. I wanted to shudder, but did my best to look confused and casual. The troopers told us they were looking for stolen droids—which was obviously the story they’d dreamed up to explain what they were doing—and wanted to see my papers.
    I did have papers, of course. Only there was a problem. They’d been burned in the house with my uncle and aunt.
    Then Ben leaned forward. Staring directly at the stormtroopers, he told them in a low, intense voice that they didn’t need to see our papers.
    Then the weirdest thing happened.
    The troopers repeated what Ben said, and when Ben said we could move on, they acted like it was their idea and waved us forward.
    I got us moving as fast as I could, but my mind was whirling. I had no idea what had just happened. Ben explained that I had witnessed the power of the Force. It can affect certain minds, he told me—weak minds—if you’re trained and they’re not. But it wouldn’t work on everyone, and it wouldn’t last forever. So we had to hurry.
    Ben had me drive to a cantina he knew of. I didn’t ask how he knew about this place, but it obviously wasn’t the sort of establishment he ever hung around himself. It was seedy, filled with low-life types, and reeked of alcohol and low-grade motor oil. There was an alien band playing in the corner, and a bartender with an attitude problem the size of an asteroid.
    The bartender was prejudiced against droids, and flatly refused to allow us in unless we left Threepio and Artoo outside. I’d heard of people being like that; I guess they’re bothered by the fact that droids are intelligent but artificial. I don’t understand the attitude myself, but some people get really defensive about droids.
    Ben had me leave them outside to avoid any trouble. I was worried that something might happen to the droids in this town. Droid thefts aren’t unknown in the best of places, and this was far from the best of places.
    It wasn’t just that we had to get Artoo to Alderaan. To be honest, I was getting kind of attached to the two