Dust Bowl Dance
Written by: Adventure-Seeking-Juliet
Summary: Star Wars AU. A long time ago in a galaxy, far, far away...
It has been thirteen years since the destruction of the Jedi Order. The Sith Lord, Sidious, rules the galaxy in the guise of Emperor Palpatine, and with Vader at his side, no one dares oppose him. Fortunately, a small band of dissenters has come together on Tatooine. Led by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and former senator, Padmé Amidala, the small group of rebels begins preparations for their first large-scale attack against the Empire. Meanwhile, Lord Vader tirelessly searches for force-sensitives to aide him in his quest to overthrow Palpatine and rule the galaxy with an iron first.
Part One: All It Could Yield
Tatooine, 6 BBY
For as long as Luke could remember, he'd been surrounded by sand. It covered the planet, dusted the floors of his family's home, and even, somehow, managed to find its way into his clothes and shoes.
Now, it seemed, the sand had started to invade his dreams.
It was the same every night. Luke is gazing out over the horizon, watching the twin suns set. Then, the stars come out. He tries to name them, one by one, from the stories his mom has told him...Naboo, her homeworld, Coruscant, the planet that never sleeps, and Kamino, the planet where the clones were born, but the sands start swirling.
It's a sandstorm! He covers his eyes to shield himself from the barrage of sand, but the force of the wind is too strong. He's knocked to the ground.
As he struggles to his feet, he begins to hear something strange; loud, mechanical, breathing. Suddenly, a huge, dark figure is looming over him. Luke can't look away from the man's visage. He stretches out with the Force, like Ben has taught him, and all he can feel is darkness.
Behind the man, Luke can just barely make out two other figures.
"Mom! Leia, run! Get out of here!" He yells, but they can't hear him.
The evil man turns his attention to the others, but Luke can't allow that. He tries to hurl rocks at the man's helmet, but the man uses the Force to send the rocks flying back in his direction. Luke dodges the first one, but the second hits him in the head. Hard.
Luke falls to the ground, and his vision blurs. In the distance, he can see a strange, red light...
He can hear his mother's voice, screaming as she tries to shield Leia with her own body. The man strikes her down in one blow.
"No! Mom! Run, Leia!"
Thank the Force, his sister actually listens to him for once! She runs away from the man, and shields herself behind one of the house's many alcoves. Then, she pulls out a blaster.
"NO. Leia, run!"
She turns her blaster on the man, but, somehow, he deflects the shots with his hands. Luke stumbles to his feet, and tries to run toward her. His head is throbbing from the blow he received from the rock.
The man reaches Leia before he does, and the red light appears again. This time, Luke recognizes it to be a red-bladed lightsaber.
"Luke!" Leia screams, "Luke, please-"
Luke jumps forward, planning to knock Leia out of harm's way so the two of them can make a run for it. It seemed to be their only chance against this monster. But the man uses the Force to hold Luke in midair-then sends him flying in the other direction.
Luke's head slams against the ground, and he can feel himself losing consciousness. The man stabs Leia with his blade, and another scream tears itself from Luke's tired lungs, "Leia, no!" Hot tears, now tinged pink with blood from his head wound, slide down his face. Luke can't breathe. They're gone. Why hadn't Ben come to help them?
The man looms over him, lightsaber still ignited, "Yes, Luke," he says, "I can feel your anger, your hatred. Come with me, Luke."
"No. I'll never join you." Luke spits, tears running down his face, "I'd rather die."
The man is disappointed, "Very well then." He raises his lightsaber-
"Wake up, Luke," Leia whispered, gently shaking her brother's shoulders. She was tempted to throw some water on him, but, luckily, her shaking seemed to do the trick. Luke shot up in bed, blue eyes wide and scared.
"Mom? Leia? No!"
Leia was used to this. It seemed to be their new nightly routine. She gently grasped her twin brother's shoulders, "Luke, it was just a dream. I'm right here."
"A dream?" He asked, still dazed. How could it be a dream? "But it felt so real..."
"I know," Leia said, quietly, "Here, drink some of this." She handed him a glass of water. Luke gulped the water down like a man dying of thirst.
"You had the dream again," Leia didn't bother to phrase her comment as a question. She already knew the answer.
Luke nodded, "Yeah. I think it gets worse every time." He rubbed his head absently, and winced when he touched the spot where the rock had hit him in the dream. It was almost as if he could still feel it.
"I think it's time for you to tell Mom and Ben. You can't go on like this. It's been happening every night for weeks!"
"No," Luke snapped, "I've already told you. They'll worry too much...Or think I'm crazy. We can't tell them... I'll deal with this myself."
"Deal with what yourself?" a deep voice asked from the hallway. Luke and Leia both jumped in fright.
"Uh...the speeder bike's transmission," Luke suggested, "It's busted again. I need to go fix it."
He jumped out of bed, hoping he could make a run for it before Ben sensed anything amiss.
"Luke's been having a recurring nightmare," Leia admitted.
Obi-Wan stared between the two of them for a moment, stroking his graying beard thoughtfully, "How long has this been going on?" At their mother's request, Luke and Leia had received only minimal training in the Force, but even they could sense Obi-Wan's worry.
The twins shared a look. Luke was hoping Leia had picked up on the direction of his thoughts. Sometimes sibling intuition could come in handy.
"Just a few days," Luke said, shrugging, "No big deal."
"Weeks," Leia tersely insisted.
Luke glared at his sister. So much for sibling intuition.
"Weeks?" Obi-Wan echoed, "Is this true, Luke? Why haven't you told anyone?" He gestured for the two of them to take a seat on their respective beds.
"It's just a nightmare," Luke replied, "It's not important. Besides, you and mom are dealing with all that, " He lowered his voice, "...rebellion stuff."
Obi-Wan began to pace, "Perhaps you should tell me about this dream."
"Why?" Luke asked, genuinely confused, "it's just a dream."
Obi-Wan seemed to struggle with something for a minute, before finally plopping down at the edge of Luke's bed, "There is something you must know. Your mother and I did not think it important enough to discuss with the two of you, but I see now that we were wrong."
A loud knock sounded at the door, and Obi-Wan quickly moved to open it, "Speaking of your mother..."
As soon as the door was opened, a gust of wind and sand blew through the house, bringing with it Tatooine's chilly night air. A strange, almost alien, silhouette loomed in the doorway. At first glance, the being looked like an oversized Jawa. He was draped in leathers that had various bits of junk and rusted armor attached, and he wore a strange face mask and helmet. Some would have thought him to be a Tusken Raider, but most of Tatooine's inhabitants would recognize him as Boushh, a former bounty hunter and ex-agent of Jabba the Hutt.
Of course, the Skywalker twins and their Jedi guardian knew the real truth.
"Mom!" Luke and Leia rushed forward to greet their mother.
Padmé Amidala hastily removed her face mask and helmet, and, after dropping them unceremoniously on the table, sighed, "It's good to finally be home," She turned to her children, "Now, what are you two troublemakers doing up so late?"
Despite her accusation, she was glad to see the twins. She embraced both of them warmly, silently thanking the Force they hadn't yet reached the age when they would consider themselves too cool and mature to hug their mother.
"Ben was just about to tell us some big secret," Luke explained, gesturing to the slightly guilty-looking Jedi master.
"Oh, is that so?" Padmé asked, raising an eyebrow in anticipation, "What exactly is this big secret, Obi-Wan?"
"Well...that's not quite the way I would phrase it," Obi-Wan began to pace again, "Luke has been having a recurring nightmare...I believe it may be a vision of the future."
Luke and Leia shared a look of surprise.
Padmé quietly sat down at the table, and tugged on her Japor snippet necklace. She traced the symbols as she had a thousand times before. The necklace always served to comfort her in moments of anxiety.
"Your father had a...tendency to have Force visions," Padmé explained, dropping the Japor snippet against her chest, "I don't know how...Obi-Wan can explain the logistics better than I can...but I do know that your father saw glimpses of the future. The visions manifested themselves as dreams, usually...although I think nightmare is a more accurate descriptions. His visions of the future were almost always harbingers of impending doom."
"Yes," Obi-Wan agreed, "This is why it is important for you to tell us about the dream, Luke. It could be nothing, or it could be of vital importance."
Luke sighed," Okay. I get it. You don't have to guilt trip me. It always starts with a sandstorm...and then I hear this strange breathing sound. It's like a respirator, in a hospital. I think it must belong to the strange man in my dream."
"What strange man?" Padmé asked.
"I don't know who he is," Luke admitted, looking uncomfortable, "He's huge, dressed in all black, and he wears a strange mask. He carries a red lightsaber."
"A red lightsaber," Obi-Wan's voice is barely audible, "No. It's not possible, he would never come here."
"Who?" Leia asked.
"Darth Vader. He's the Emperor's successor and a Sith Lord," Padmé responded, her voice hard.
"A Sith Lord?" Luke asked, confused, "Why would a Sith Lord come here? And how could I dream about someone I've never heard of? I don't understand."
"I don't know, Luke," Padmé replied, "This is something Obi-Wan and I will have to discuss as adults. I don't want you two to worry. We'll figure out a plan, and as soon as we know what to do, I'll do my best to explain everything to the two of you."
Obi-Wan nodded, "Your mother's course of action is best, younglings. There is much you don't know."
"We don't know because you won't tell us anything!" Luke argued, "How are we not supposed to worry when there's so much going on that you aren't telling us?"
Padme placed a calm hand on her son's shoulders, "Luke, please listen to me, this is more complicated than you know-"
But it was too late, Luke had stomped off to the garage and closed the door.
Leia remained standing, torn between going to comfort her brother and further questioning her mother and Ben.
"Do you know Vader, personally?" Leia asked, folding her arms.
"What?" Obi-Wan replied, "How would-"
"You seemed very familiar with Vader when Luke described him. How else would you know he would never come here?"
Obi-Wan sighed, seeing he was caught in a trap, " I have not met the monster Luke described, but I knew the man Vader once was...he was a Jedi."
As if sensing Obi-Wan's distress, Leia relented from that line of questioning. In a calmer tone, she asked, "Why do you think he'll come here now?"
"There have been rumors that Vader is searching for Force sensitives," Padmé replied, "He has killed nearly all of the Jedi. It was only a matter of time before he began targeting children."
Leia was silent for several minutes.
"I'm going to go try to calm Luke down," She said finally, leaving the two adults to worry alone.
"What are we going to do, Obi-Wan?" Padmé asked, once both twins were out of ear shot.
"We will do what we must," he replied cryptically, "I am going to contact Master Yoda on Dagobah. We have no time to lose."
Padmé nodded, "The Rebellion is planning to relocate to Dantooine in a week's time. With this new knowledge, I'm going to have to contact everyone and move the date up. Three days from tonight, all members of the Rebel Alliance will need to be relocated. We need to be off Tatooine as soon as possible. We cannot risk Vader finding anyone out."
"There is still a chance Luke's dream is just a dream," Obi-Wan said, "Although I believe that to be unlikely, we could be overreacting."
"There is no such thing as overreacting when it comes to the lives of my children and the survival of the Rebellion, Obi-Wan. I must protect them."
"I know."
Ayslyn Kryze been running for hours. The Mandalorian forest was not easy to traverse on foot, especially not when you're being chased by someone with a lightsaber. She'd never been so exhausted and emotionally drained.
Just when she was about to give up to rest against a tree, something whizzed past her shoulder. A speeder bike! She recognized the driver immediately.
"Aunt Bo! Thank the Force you found me."
Her aunt, who was dressed head-to-toe in full Mandalorian armor, just shook her head, "Of course I found you. Someone has to constantly save your skin!"
Ayslyn smiled at her aunt and jumped on the back of the bike. They were off at full speed before she could even prepare herself.
"I've arranged a transport for you. It may be your only chance."
"A transport?" Ayslyn asked, yelling over the sound of the wind, "To where?"
"Does it matter? The pilot's a former Jedi. She said Vader's been after Force sensitives for months now. Do you want to end up as one of the Emperor's puppets?"
"No," Ayslyn said quickly, "Of course not, but how can we trust this...pilot?"
Her aunt was silent for a moment, "Let's just say I've met her before. She's trustworthy."
They stopped at the closest space-port, but there was no time to rest. Bo went sprinting through the port, with Ayslyn struggling to keep up.
Suddenly, blaster shots rang through the air.
"Stormtroopers, up ahead!" Bo pumped blaster bolts into a few of them, but there were too many to count. They were surrounded.
Her aunt pulled her close, "Listen to me," she whispered, "Get to Docking Bay 1138. No matter what happens. Promise me."
Then they heard it. The sound of mechanical breathing, and a deep, electronically modulated voice, "You are foolish. There is no way to escape."
Her aunt didn't even lower her blaster, "Lord Vader. I never expected to see you so far away from your master. Tell me, does he keep you on a leash, or in chains like a slave?"
Vader lunged forward, igniting his red-bladed lightsaber.
Bo turned to her niece one last time, "It's live. Be ready to throw it and get the Hell outta here, Ays."
She tossed Ayslyn a tiny hand-grenade.
Ayslyn knew what she had to do. As her aunt distracted Vader, she threw the grenade at the small battalion of stormtroopers who had gathered around them. The explosion nearly off-balanced her, but she ran through the smoke with little difficulty. Her vision was blurred from the explosion, and her ears were still partly ringing from the sound of the grenade going off.
She tried not to listen to the screams of the troopers...or to the startled yelp of pain from her aunt.
She turned back only once. Just in time to see Vader, still partly obscured by smoke and fire, using the Force to send his blade straight through Bo-Katan's armor, into her chest.
Ayslyn ran harder. She was so focused on running that she nearly ran right past docking bay 1138, and had to do a quick turnaround. She could hear the sound of Vader's respirator growing ever closer.
It was an older model of an Eta-2, a Jedi starfighter, modified to carry two extra passengers. Ayslyn didn't bother to ask for direction. She jumped in to the co-pilot seat.
"Strap yourself in," the pilot said, "this is going to get rough."
Ayslyn just nodded. The ship blasted out of the docking bay, barely slipping through the huge blast doors before they clamped shut.
A/N Don't worry, the action will heat up for our friends on Tatooine pretty soon. Luke's still reeling from Vader's words in his dream (but he and Leia aren't the type to whine and sit back) they'll be making their own plans in the next chapter. Ayslyn Kryze is another Force sensitive that Vader's been chasing after...and, of course, I assume those of you who watched the Clone Wars recognized her aunt as Bo-Katan Kryze, Duchess Satine's sister (and a member of Death Watch.)
I'd like to apologize for any grammar and spelling mistakes. I'm super busy, and I'm lucky I managed to write this at all. I'll eventually go back and edit the small problems out. Does anyone think they can identify the mystery pilot?
EDIT: Thanks to the anon reviewer who pointed out my mathematical error at the beginning of the story. (As you can see, math is not my strong point.) It has been corrected.