Star Wars Journal - The Fight for Justice by Luke Skywalker by John Peel

FIRST ENTRY
    …So don’t just dream about applying for the Academy, make it come true! You can find a career in space: Exploration, Starfleet, or Merchant Service. If you have the right stuff to take on the universe, dispatch your application and join the ranks of the proud!
    I’ll admit it. I keep playing the Space Academy Recruitment tape. I have it memorized, but I still like to listen to it. Windy just caught me in the tech-dome playing it again—but so what? So what if I have dreams of joining the Imperial forces? Windy, Fixer, and Deak can laugh about it because they’re happy as farmers, living day in and day out with nothing happening. But why should I be embarrassed for wanting more? For having dreams beyond moisture farming?
    Windy says I should grow up. That I’m a farm boy, just like him. But I’m not. I don’t have a farming bone in my body. I was made for action, for radical maneuvering in my T-16, for bold adventures and risk-taking.
    That’s why I took Windy with me through the eye of the Stone Needle today. I guess I needed to show him I’m not just a farm boy like him. And maybe it worked. He was scared. Squealing the whole way, like a baby Jawa. And me? I was loving every minute of it. What a thrill to steer that fast, that close to death. I could hear the buzz of metal as my speeder eased through that needle of stone. And to know I was going to beat Fixer through the bottleneck! Yes. The only thing missing was my best friend Biggs.
    Biggs is the only one who understands. And now that he’s at the Academy, there is really no one I can talk to about all this. I’m sick of my friends telling me the Academy is for suckers. That it’s all about taking orders, wearing a fancy uniform, losing your identity—and probably your life.
    I’m ready for the Academy and I’m as trained as I can be. I’ve had my T-16 for several years now, and I can fly it better than almost anyone around here. Of course, there’s not much competition, especially since hotshot Biggs left for training. Tatooine is a pretty small place. Small and boring—no sane pilot would hang around here for long. So the Academy is really the only place for me. Maybe before I go, I can visit the spaceport at Mos Eisley. I’d love to check out some of those ships! I can just imagine all the planets they might be going to: Alderaan! Coruscant! Endor! But they’re just names to me from a vid-encyclopedia. If I could just see them…

SECOND ENTRY
    Tonight I saw a space battle. At least I think it was a space battle. I saw flashes of light out of the corner of my eye. And when I looked through my electrobinoculars, I saw two ships firing at each other.
    I dropped everything and hopped on my landspeeder. Forget chores! I had to find my friends—Fixer and Windy had to see this. A real battle in our system! Why couldn’t I be up there fighting for justice with the Imperials?
    When I found my friends, I was in for another surprise. Biggs was with them! Back from the Academy. I was so happy to see him, I forgot about the battle. And by the time I remembered and convinced everyone to take a look, the action was over. Nothing to see. Here I was making a big stink about two ships firing at each other, and the ships were just sitting there in orbit, hanging out like a couple of fat banthas. Nobody believed me. Windy, Fixer, Cammie, and Deak all thought I made it up. Like I’m so overeager to join the Space Academy, I’m starting to see stars—and battles! Well, they’ve got zip imagination. And that’s fine for them. You don’t need much imagination to farm. But they don’t need to laugh at my expense.
    And to be honest, I was a little hurt that Biggs didn’t believe me, either. Biggs and I have been through a lot together. And just because he’s at the Academy and I’m not doesn’t mean I’m imagining stuff like a little kid. Those ships were not refueling or switching cargoes. And it wasn’t the suns reflecting on metal. Those ray