Dear Matthew,

I just thought I'd write to you, since it has been a long time since we were teenagers, cruising together and enjoying all the delights that our lovely city had to offer. A lot has happened since those days and I am greatly enjoying my new job now and I think I may have even grown up a little.

I think that the best thing about my job is that I feel I'm on the right side. You know what I mean? Sometimes it is so much easier to view the world in black and white, good and evil. What I do, although quite stressful at times, is rewarding and definitely on the good side, not the dark side.

I probably should not indulge in nostalgia so much, our youth was a long time ago and those days are so far away now, that you have to look to the future - we need new hope to drive us on, not the ghostly shades of our past. Indeed, living in the past is probably a danger in itself - if you're living in the past, how can you handle the present or prepare for the future?

Still, despite reason, there is something which forces me to think of those days we spent messing around. Driving around at speed, shouting at the girls. And, at the end of the day, we could look up into the sky and enjoy the stars and the moons - a joy that only nature could give us. I think it is fair to say that those innocent years, spent on Tattooine, were by far the best years of my life.

Do you remember driving your sand-cruiser along with mine, where the only danger was the terrain, rather than the threat of the imperial troops? I do and I am glad of those days, not only because they were so care-free, but also because they taught me some of the skills I rely on daily.

I hope your mum is fine, I'm sure she is. Of course, I wasn't so fortunate with my immediate family, I hope that they were given a decent burial after their encounter with the troops. I sort of regret not staying behind to see them off, but there were so many things to do and if I had stayed behind, we may not be living so well nowadays.

There's good news and bad on the rest of the family front. It turns out that I have a twin sister - not identical, mind, but we have a kinship that is remarkable. Indeed, a mate of mine, who rather had his eye on her, thought that we were an item - he was glad when he found that we were not - so was I; she's attractive, but she's family for goodness sake! The bad news is that my father is dead. Now, I know you probably thought he was dead anyway, what with my living with my aunt and uncle on their farm for most of our childhood, but it gets more complex than that.

You see, my father was not dead - severely injured, yes - but not actually dead. His impairments meant that he had to rely on quite extensive life-support equipment to survive - this was not particularly attractive at the best of times, but that was nothing compared to the sort of person he'd become. The benefits for disabled people were much greater where he was and he managed to get a rather high-ranking position in the empire. As you can imagine, this is not the sort of stuff that parental admiration is based on.

My father was a well-known and well-feared leader and I was very shocked when it became apparent to me that this evil man was responsible for one half of my genes. I was even more torn when he tried to lure me to join in with his side. Remember how I used to say that I'd give my right arm for the chance to meet my father, well our first meeting cost me my right hand - it's okay, though - I have a replacement!

Anyway, it seems that he was not a completely bad man, my father. Although he lured me into the clutches of his boss, who wanted me to join very badly and would have killed me if I didn't, it turns out that blood does run thicker than water. When push came to shove and old wrinkly-face, the boss, laid into me, my father defended me. Sadly, it was his heroic defence of his son that cost him his life. The last thing I saw of him was his white face - out of the life-support mask for one last look at me.

There are loads more things I could tell you about, but I don't know where to start. So, I'll leave it for this time. Please let me know how things are going with you.

Catch you later

Luke.