mesa to his right and sand everywhere else. “What a desolate place this is,” he observed.

Tired of being ignored, R2-D2 whistled, then started off in the direction of the rock mesa. “Where do you think your going?” C-3PO asked. R2-D2 answered in a steam of electronic noises.

“Well, I’m not going that way,” C-3PO said. “It’s much too rocky. This way is much easier.”

R2-D2 justified his change of direction with another round of beeps.

“What makes you think there are settlements over there?”

R2-D2 beeped a very detailed explanation.

“Don’t get technical with me,” C-3PO chilled with annoyance.

The astromech decided it was time to inform, C-3PO about his mission, and uttered more beeps and whistles.

“What mission?” C-3PO asked, dumbfounded. “What are you talking about? I’ve just had about enough of you. Go that way! You’ll be malfunctioning within a day, you nearsighted scrap pile!” Thoroughly frustrated, C-3PO gave a swift kick to R2’s right leg, then turned and headed towards the dunes. As he stormed off, he said in a scolding tone, “And don’t let me catch you following me, begging for help, because you won’t get it.”

R2-D2 rotated his domed head to see C-3PO walking away from him. He beeped again, trying to convince C-3PO to come with him.

“No more adventures,” C-3PO shouted back as he continued walking towards sand dunes. “I’m not going that way.”

R2-D2 rotated his head to look away from C-3PO’s departing figure, then rotated back for another look at 3PO’s back. The astromech let out a forlorn, whimpering beep, then waited a moment longer. But when he realized C-3PO was determined to go his own way, R2-D2 turned his dome in the other direction and moved off, towards the rocky mesa.

”That malfunctioning little twerp,” C-3PO muttered to himself several hours after parting ways with R2-D2. “This is all his fault! He tricked me into going this way, but he’ll do no better.”

Tatooine’s skies had turned cloudy, but C-3PO could still feel the heat from the planet’s twin suns. He walked past the skeletal remains of a large, long necked creature, and trembled at the thought that the deceased might have relatives near by. C-3PO noticed a metal O-ring was missing from his knee joint, and realized it must have jarred loose. He knew there was no chance he’d ever find the disk-shaped piece of metal again. With each step, his sand-clogged gears made horrid grinding sounds. He was ready to give up.

Then he saw something on the horizon.

“Wait. What’s that?” he said. It was an angular shape with a blinking light. Despite the distance, the droid could tell he was looking at a large vehicle. “A transport. I’m saved!” In his loudest voice, he shouted, “Over here! Hey! Hey!” He continued shouting and waved his arms. “Help! Please, Help!”

At first, 3PO felt relief when he saw the transport turn and move in his direction. But after it arrived and C-3PO met the transport’s drivers, he wished he’d gone with R2 after all.

As Tatooine’s twin suns set, the temperature dropped. And from every shadowy hole and crevice that lined the canyon walls, nocturnal animals chirped and croaked and hissed in the appreciation of the cool air that came with darkness. R2-D2 had never been so spooked in his life. He had already evaded sandpits, traveled circuit-jarring terrain, and boldly descended to a high cliff to arrive at the canyon floor. However, these accomplishments had been merely challenges to overcome, and they didn’t bolster R2-D2’s sense of courage. In his experience, dealing with nature was one thing, and dealing with organic creatures was something entirely different, especially when one was in their territory. Even though his primary photoreceptor was equipped with radar and night-vision, it didn’t change the fact that nightfall was — for some large predators — the preferred time for scavenging. Despite his weariness, R2-D2 kept moving. He was on a mission, and no one could ever call R2-D2 disloyal. And so he rolled forward on his treads, proceeding cautiously through the rock canyon. A pair of lights flickered between two boulders, and then winked off. R2-D2 paused. Using his sensors, the astromech detected a number of life-forms in this area. As he wondered if the lights on his own domed head might have attracted the life-forms, he heard some rocks fall. They were just small rocks, pebbles mostly, but R2-D2 knew that rocks usually didn’t fall on their own. Then he saw a small, dark form dart behind a boulder. R2-D2 couldn’t help but emit a whimpering beep. He started moving forward, hoping the life-forms would stay where they were and allow R2-D2 to pass.

Suddenly, a squat, hooded figure with glowing eyes jumped out from the shadows, shouted in an alien language, and fired and ionization blaster bolt at R2. The astromech shrieked as ripping charges of electricity traveled over and over through his body. He didn’t stop screaming until the charges crackled and died. Then his domed lights dimmed, and he pitched forward and crashed against the hard ground. The shooter lowered his blaster. He called out to the other shadows, seven more hooded creatures scurried out from their hiding places. All were shot, most no taller than R2-D2 when standing. Like the shooter, they were completely shrouded in dark brown robes made of heavy cloth. Their only visible facial feature was a pair of yellow glowing eyes, glowing out from the darkness of their cloaked heads. They chattered at one another with delight as the stepped up to examine the fallen droid. The shooter holstered his blaster, then directed his fellows to lift the R2 unit. They picked him up and carried him to their waiting transport.

The transport was an enormous rust-covered vehicle with a high, sharply angled prow that appeared to cut into the night sky. The transport rested on four massive treads that elevated the hull from the ground. The hooded creatures carried the deactivated R2 unit under the transport and set him on his feet, positioning him under an extendable repulsorlift tube. As the tube was lowered a short distance above the droid’s head, one hooded figure quickly welded a restraining bolt to a panel on the front of the droid’s cylindrical body. After the restraining bolt was secured, the repulsor switched on, and R2-D2 was sucked up into the transport. Having made their catch, the hooded figures entered the transport via a landing ramp.

R2-D2 reactivated to find himself in a scap heap in a cramped, low-ceilinged chamber. Durasteel shavings had come to rest upon his head, but they fell as he leaned away from the metal wall. Pushing various bits of scarp aside, he moved out of the heap, then rotated his dome to study his cluttered surroundings. He was surprised to find an old RA-7 servant droid nearby, seated with his back against the wall. The RA-7 gave R2-D2 a dismissive glance.

R2-D2 heard an electronic voice, and turned to face a red R5 astromech against another wall; the R5 rotated its characteristic head — shaped like an inverted cup — in greeting. Then R2-D2 spotted a binocular-eyed Treadwell droid and a box shaped GNK power droid. Curious, R2-D2 moved up a narrow aisle to explore the chamber. As he passed an ancient CZ secretary droid that was swaying back and forth amidst a pile of scrap, he heard a familiar voice call out, “Artoo?”

It was C-3PO. The golden droid had been hunched down against a wall, but seeing his friend, struggled to his feet. “Artoo! It is you! He cried happily. “It is you!”

R2-D2 beeped the situation to C-3PO, who also had a restraining bolt attached to his chest. Both droids nearly stumbled when the transport suddenly lurched forward. Under the star filled sky, the transport chugged off and headed into the canyon.

Indeed, Kaltag did what Balto had told him to do. The next morning, a squad of Imperial stormtroopers found the abandoned escape pod half buried in the sand. A Sentinel-class landing craft had delivered the stormtroopers to Tatooine, where they’d appropriated Dewbacks—large four legged reptiles — from the local authorities. The landing craft lifted away from the escape pod’s impact site, leaving the dewbacks and stormtroopers to search for any sign of the pods passengers. In addition to their slandered armor and survival gear, the stormtroopers wore pauldrons — protective shoulder armor — over their right shoulders. All the pauldrons were black except for the orange one worn by the squad leader, a blue husky, Captain Mod Terrik.

His stormtrooper helmet was especially designed with ear slots so his ears could come out of the helmet. During the rise of the Empire, Terrik had a special job as the Captain in charge of the attack on the Jedi temple. He was wounded by a slash from a lightsaber by a Jedi padawan, spending days in a bacta tank. Through the lenses on his helmet, Terrik looked from the pod to the surrounding sand, searching for any signs of passengers. Because of winds and shifting sands, footprints didn’t last long on Tatooine, so he considered himself lucky when he spotted the tracks.

“Someone was in the pod,” Terrik announced to the other stormtroopers. He raised a pair of micobinoculars to his helmet’s lenses and scanned the desert, then added “The tracks go off in this direction.”

Near Captain Terrik, stormtrooper Davin Felth bent