~IMPORTANT NOTES~

Hello, and welcome to my 'if Earth was in SW' AU. Unlike many other AUs, SW dose NOT exist on Earth (or Terra 46-B PL3). I'm trying to keep this as realistic as possible, while keeping a good balance of both canon, fanon, and legend influences. Please be patient, (this is my third time re-writing it, and I may do it again) and enjoy the ride!

/Text/ - Forcespeak
- This can be used for speaking though a master/apprentice force bond (or another type of force bond)
- It can also be used when something is being 'projected' though the force

A Note on the Original Characters…
- All of them were based on real life people, though as I've re-wrote this over the years, they have developed into something completely different. Thanks to my 7th and 8th grade social studies teachers and a few of my 8th grade friends as the original models!
- One of the OCs is a shameless self-insert. *shrugs* What can I say? Haven't done one yet, and everyone has too. Might as well make it epic!

PART 1

Chapter 1: Silhouettes in the Dark

The gym's floor had long since lost its proud shine, and there was the constant smell of ozone in the air. The walls were scorched from blaster bolts, and a watery sunlight filtered down through the shattered ceiling. The men and women scurried around the room like ants in a nest, and jury-rigged cables snaked across the floor to the makeshift generator in the center of the room. A dozen old Dell desktops lined one wall, with damage ranging from a cracked screen to exposed circuits that sparked and buzzed, held only out of harm's way by a few strips of duct tape. A half dozen televisions were spread along the remaining walls, old school desks ringing around them.

The people were mostly young men and women, some little more than children, and they had the odd shrunken appearance of someone who spent their early years with enough to eat but failed to satisfy their hunger now. Hair greasy and shaggy, cloths ragged, some people trembled when they walked. A mother and her crying baby sat in a corner, the mother's silent tears contrasting with the baby's wails for food. Another woman- only a few years her minor, knelt beside her.

"Do you know what it's like, Martha, to bring a new life into the world only to condemn it to death?" The mother's tears glittered in the sunlight.

The younger woman, Martha, spoke her eyes far away. "No. I can't bare my own." Martha swallowed. "But it's an old pain. One ache in meny now."

"Perhaps that's better. Perhaps-"

Martha shook her head, brown waves of hair bouncing. "No. Anyone with the gift of motherhood is blessed. The future is not condemned for your son, or for any of us."

They sit in silence, as the baby begins to quiet, sharing burdens and grieving for the world.

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"Sandra's baby died."

Martha looks up from the papers scattered on an old wooden school desk. "I know. I was there."

The short, stout teen the same age as Martha slides onto the bench, straddling her. "Burn off some steam with us, dove. We miss you." Martha sighs and leans in to her arms, their breaths mingling.

"There's work to be done, Jade. Duty can't wait."

Jade's eyes harden. "It can and it will. Don't think we don't see the tremble in your hands." Jade takes Martha's hands in hers', fingers so small and delicate they looked like a skeleton's bone ones.

Martha leaned a little closer, slightly breathless. "Lust is a trivial thing Jade, and it has no place in a war."

"On the contrary, love most certainly does have its place in war." Jade purred in Martha's ear, sending a shiver down her spine.

"Love and lust are not one and the same, Jade. You know-"

"Fuck it." Jade smashes her lips- hot and wet- against Martha's.

"We have a breach near the Wendy's parking lot." Both girls jump, and Martha turns slightly pink. Jade stands and pulls the smaller girl to her feet, as Martha stutters apologies.

"I'm terribly sorry Dave. It-"

"Doesn't matter, Martha." Dave's dark beard concealed a tiny smile. "Your not my student anymore. Come. We'll try and nip this new wave of 'bots in the bud."

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The abandoned Wendy's parking lot was eerily silent. The black asphalt had faded to a light grey from misuse and the sun, and it was riddled with large potholes and patches of weeds and dandelions. The trio crouched behind a large chunk of plaster from the bombed restaurant, peering through a nearly invisible crack running diagonal along the debris.

"Nothing's here," Jade muttered, frowning. "Who called it in?"

"Don't know." Dave muttered back. "Came from an anonymous tip."

"Look!" Martha whispered as a silhouette of a man appeared in the shadows of another rubble pile seemingly out of nowhere.

"Creepy," Jade whispered. "It's like he came out of thin air." Dave cocked his blaster and slowly rose to his feet, silently motioning for the two women to stay behind him. Jade slipped Martha a knife while she readied a small handgun.

The man stepped into the sunlight. He was an older man, dressed in dark clothes trimmed with silver with a long, billowing cloak. When he walked, he boots made a heavy thud, louder than they should have, like the soles were made of rock. Or concealing something else, Martha thought. A silver cylinder was clipped to his belt. When they were a dozen feet away from the man, he lifted one hand. Both Dave and Jade slumped to the ground.

"Come with me, and your friends will not be harmed." The man spoke in a rumbling, brassy, tenor. It was rather pleasant to listen to. A strange, dark warmth filled Martha as she stared into the man's golden eyes.

/Come with me./ A voice purred in her head. /It's easy, so easy… Come with me… Martha/ The sound of her name jolted her back to reality. She realised she was now just a foot away from the man- she must have been walking towards him- and tore her face away from his gaze and ground her heels into the asphalt. What am I doing?! Her knife arm was shaking but she raised it anyway, preparing to strike a blow to his face-

-Her fingers spasmed and the knife fell from her hand, nicking her palm on the way down. She put her whole willpower in staring at the small stream of blood. Don't look, don't look…

The man grabbed her face and she gasped. He forced her eyes to meet his.

"So strong already. No wonder my Master fears you."

"Your Mas-ster is s-smar-ter than you th-hen." Martha felt ice creep along her veins, slowly paralyzing her.

"But you are a fool to fight against me. With you, I will rule the galaxy, my Master and Skywalker dead at my feet. I have foreseen it."

"I'll never join you."

The man smiled. "We shall see." Martha crumpled into the man's arms and he strood away, cloak billowing behind him.

Count Dooku had work to do.

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Darth Sidious sat in a concealed meditation chamber in the Chancoller's Office, deep in the currents of the dark side. He had been sensing discontent from his apprentice recently, but that trivial matter did not worry him. He sensed Dooku was hiding something, and there would be repercussions for his actions. Sidious dived deeper into the oily blackness of the dark side, tearing and ripping, chaining beasts and locking monsters away, untill…

There.

He stood on the ashy slopes of Mustafar, and saw himself and Skywalker approaching. He became aware of another presence, a dark star to rival the Chosen One's light. A young woman, with dark ringlets of hair looking black in the flickering red light, and bloodshot golden eyes.

And even Sidious couldn't deny how the force spoke in that moment.

It called for he and Skywalker's death.

"A foolish move, my apprentice. You will pay for your treachery." But for now I must wait. Dooku has yet to betray me. Time remains, but it is limited.

He called an aid to his Chambers.

"Send summons to Jedi Anakin Skywalker. Say the Chancellor requests his presence."

As the underling bowed and left, Sidious drummed his fingers on the dark wood of his desk, and considered.