He ran, the sandy area of Anchorhead blurring around him as he did. The oppressive heat was taking a toll on his body, sweat soaking through his flight jacket, sticking his hair to his face. He couldn't see behind him, but he couldn't hear footsteps as he did before. Maybe the hunter had given up, maybe he was safe now. He slowed down, finally coming to a complete stop and leaning against a wall. He breath was ragged, beads of swear rolled off him like rain. And a shadow fell over him.
"No, please! I'm worth more alive!" The distinctive T-slit visor of a Mandalorian helmet stared down at him. The helmet was smoke gray, the area around the visor blood red. The armor plates were greenish black, the shoulder pads red. A red cape hung from the shoulders, and a DC-15 rifle was pointed at the man's head. "Please, don't kill me!"
"I hate whiners. Face you death with some dignity." The blaster barked once, and the man slumped to the ground. The hunter stopped the hologram recorder in his helmet, having enough to prove the bounty was complete. He walked back to the center of what was basically an outpost; the houses and businesses to few to be a proper town. A few people wandered the main street, mainly an older man in a brown cloak, and a middle aged man with a young teenager. Nobody of importance, since they weren't blocking his way to the cantina. He threaded through the almost empty cantina, taking a booth where he could watch the door. A young woman, her skin browned by the twin suns, walked over.
"What can I get for you?" She stared at the formidable man before her, waiting.
"Steak, bloody, and some water." He handed her a credit chip as she walked back to the kitchen. He popped the seal on his helmet and eased it off, inhaling the hot air of the day. He was deeply tan, a trace of his ancestry, and his hair was a curly black, his eyes a dark brown. He looked just like his father, and his brothers. He sat there, watching as the old man from outside wandered in and sat in the corner, and then the teenage came in, taking a seat close to the armored figure. The waitress brought out his food and set it before him, smiling at him before leaving.
"She likes you." The comment almost as a surprise. It was the teenager. The armored man said nothing, he just cut into the steak, savoring it a he took a bite. The teenage got up and sat across from him. "Hi, my name's Luke. Luke Skywalker." That did take the man by surprise. He hadn't heard that name in about fifteen years, and now here it was on the rear-end of space.
"Adenn Mereel. Bounty hunter." The youth nodded, eager to speak.
"I saw you chasing that man. What did he do?" Well, this wasn't gonna be a peaceful meal.
"Murderer, rapist, thief. Doesn't matter. He can't tell us anymore." The youth looked startled at the cold honesty the armored man. Adenn just kept eating, but he noticed the old man staring at him rather intently. He could almost fell a presence lurking about the edge of his mind, like he remembered years ago. Before anyone in the cantina could react, Adenn had his rifle shouldered and aimed at the old man. "Nice try, Jetii. That stuff doesn't work on me." The old man appeared startled, but quickly exuded a sense of calm.
"Easy, friend. I meant no harm. What do you want?" Adenn stared at him, his eyes boring into him.
"Nothing from you, Jedi. What are you doing here?" He heard the boy and the bartender gasp when he said 'Jedi', but Adenn could care less. He was curious about the Skywalker boy though.
"Not here. My place." Despite the blaster pointing in the man's face he calmly walked out, motioning for Adenn to follow him. Adenn replaced his helmet and did so, noticing the boy doing the same. They walked out of the outpost, towards the Dune Sea. Adenn said nothing, he just followed the old man. They walked about a kilometer before a small building appeared, built partially into a cliff. The door opened at a wave of the old man's hand, and they walked inside. It was small, but still cooler than it was outside. "Now, to answer your question. I'm in hiding from the Empire."
"Who are you?" The old man looked vaugely familiar, but Adenn couldn't place him.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi, formerly of the Jedi High Council. And you?"
"Adenn Mereel, former commando of Alpha Squad, RC-1457." Kenobi gaped at him, obviously shocked.
"I thought the clones were supposed to age more rapidly than normal humans? I thought you looked like a Fett, but I thought you might be an actual Fett. Not a clone." Adenn chuckled.
"Turns out you Jedi don't know everything. What's the deal with Skywalker here? I remember a General Skywalker from the war." Luke looked up at Adenn, something scarily close to hero worship in his eyes. Kenobi sighed, sounding like a man defeated.
"I wanted to wait until he was old enough, but you forced my hand. Luke, your father was Anakin Skywalker, a powerful Jedi Knight and a good friend. He was like a younger brother to me. We fought alongside in the Clones Wars, years ago. When he died, I promised to watch over you."
"Who killed my father?"
"A young man named Darth Vader, who was also a friend until he fell to the dark side. He was seduced by the power of evil, and murdered your father after a betrayal." Luke somberly accepted this, bowing his head as Kenobi searched through a chest for something. He pulled out a silvery cylinder, similar to the one on his belt. He activated it, a shaft of bright blue emitted from it. "Your father's lightsaber. The weapon of a Jedi Knight, not as random or clumsy as a blaster." Adenn snorted.
"Kid, you need to learn how to be like me. A warrior. Not some dried up old mystic. I fought along side Jedi in the war, and they saw us as assets. Not human beings." Luke looked thoughtfully at him, and then at Kenobi.
"Could you both train me? I want to learn how to fight, and avenge my father's death." Adenn smiled under his helmet as Kenobi reluctantly nodded.
"If our friend will agree, then yes, I shall train you."
"I'll help, but we're gonna be moving around a lot. I ain't staying here." Luke grinned, and Kenobi groaned. They walked back to Anchorhead, where Kenobi met Luke's irate uncle, and tried to explain why his nephew had to leave with a Mandalorian and a Jedi. Adenn just stood back and looked menacing, something he did very well.
"Luke, ad'ika, we're gonna have to get you some proper kit. Some armor, and a good blaster."
"What was that you called me? I've never heard it before."
"It's Mando'a, it means 'little brother'. I'll have to teach it to you, it's rather easy to learn." Luke nodded, fiddling with the lightsaber on his belt. Kenobi walked back over, calm as ever.
"Alright, we can depart." Adenn nodded and led them to the speeder he rented in Mos Eisley. The sandy landscape soon became a blur as they whipped across the desert. Adenn sank into his thoughts, wondering when he had started caring about stuff like this. Fierfiek, he was becoming sentimental. He was gonna train the son of a Jedi, which seemed like a paradox, as he thought Jedi weren't allowed any attachments or anything.
"Hey, Kenobi. How'd Luke end up here if Jedi weren't allowed to love?" For once Kenobi looked flustered, which Adenn took extreme satifaction in. Luke looked rather curious as well, obviously he hadn't know his mother either.
"Well, it was forbidden, but Anakin had a secret marriage with a Senator from Naboo. Padme Amidala." That surprised Adenn. She was a rather fiery Senator from the stories he had heard, passionate about her work. But the converstion drifted to an awkward silence as Adenn throtled the speeder up. Mos Eisley was soon in view, and Kenobi asked Adenn to stop atop a nearby cliff. Kenobi handed Luke a pair of macrobinoculars to view the town with.
"Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villiany."
"I don't know, Kenobi, Keldabe could give it a run for it's money." Kenobi just ignored him as they got back into the speeder and traveled down the path. Many various species roamed the streets, from Jawas to Trandoshans. Imperial Stormtroopers from the local garrison patroled the streets, led by a black clad officer. A officer dressed in a grey uniform stopped them as they pulled into the local space-port.
"Intentions?" He looked over Adenn, Kenobi and Luke with little interest.
"Off-world travel."
"Passengers?"
"Family. My father and my son." The Imperial bureaucrat waved them through as Adenn parked the speeder in a designated spot. They unloaded what little they had brought and walked to the hangar Adenn had rented. They were greeted by the surprise of a Hutt and what appeared to be guards waiting in the hangar. One of them wore armor similar to Adenn's. The Hutt held a datapad in his fat fingers, while a pale yellow Twi'lek spoke to him. Adenn spoke up.
"Jabba. I got the bounty, it's done." Using his helmet HUD, he sent the vid to Jabba's datapad. Jabba watched the vid, the great being laughing as the man pleaded for his life.
"Good, Adenn. I will transfer the credits to your account, as always."
"I know, Jabba. But what did you need? I'm about to go off-world. Business." The Hutt did what passed for a frown among his species.
"So be it. I guess Boba can have the job. Too bad, it would have paid good." Adenn sighed.
"What is it?"
"A Toydarian in Mos Espa, a shopkeeper. He owes me money, a lot. Collect it, and I will give you a percentage."
"Fine, but I'm not gonna kill him." The Hutt just laughed, and began to ponderously make his way out of the hangar. As the other Mandalorian passed, they nodded at each other. Luke and Kenobi exchanged glances, but were caught off guard by Aden's ship. A YT-2000 light frieghter, a dull grey except for the black painted skull of some creature under the cockpit. It looked like a huge saucer, round except for the cockpit, which jutted out in the exact middle.
"Nice ship. A YT-2000, huh?" Adenn looked at Luke, who was staring at the ship longingly.
"Yeah, the Mythosaur. So, you know ships?"
"Yeah, I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16. I love flying."
"If you want, I could let you fly to Mos Espa. Then you get to do some on the job training." Luke grinned widely as he rushed up the ramp. Kenobi followed slowly, watching as Adenn fiddled with various parts under the ship.
"Adenn, who was that other Mandalorian?"
"Boba Fett, son of Jango. And my brother." Kenobi said nothing as Adenn walked past him up the ramp. Luke already say in the copilot's seat as Adenn took off his helmet and squeezed past him. He began powering up the ship, making sure power was equally distributed, things like that. Luke performed his copilot's check, still grinning ear-to-ear. Slowly the ship began to lift off, rising out of the hangar and over looking Mos Eisley. "Okay, Luke, this is about a fifteen minute flight. So, impress me."
Luke took the controls and gracefully turned the ship around to face Mos Espa's direction. He hit the throttle, kicking up dust as they shot off across the sky. Luke was a natural at the controls, knowing what to do at all times. Adenn just sat back and enjoyed the ride, watching as they got closer to Mos Espa. Before they got to the small city, Adenn told Luke to set the ship down on outskirts.
"Alright, follow me, I got some armor you can borrow." Luke followed him towards the cargo bay of the ship, where several lockers lined the walls, as well as a droid in a stasis pod.
"What's that droid doing in there?"
"That's an assassin droid I found on Mustafar. He tried to kill me when I had to land and make repairs on the ship. I captured him and managed to tweak his programming a little. I haven't had a chance, or a need, to activate him yet." Adenn told Luke this while he was digging out an old suit of Mandalorian armor. It was mostly green, covered in dents and rust spots, a black outline running on the edge of the armor and around the visor of the helmet.
"Wow. Whose armor was this?"
"It was mine after I left the army. First Mando armor I owned, I stole it from bounty target on Galidraan. A bunch of Mandalorians were betrayed by one of the former govenors, and were killed by Jedi. I also got this." It was a lightsaber, the hilt curved slightly, very ornate. Adenn activated it, the blade a blood red. "Apparently this is a replica of a famous Jedi's, Count Dooku. The target liked to play at being a warrior. You can have this, I have no use of it." Luke clipped the new lightsaber to his belt, as Adenn helped him into the armor. The helmet HUD confused Luke until Adenn told him how to disable it, making it a normal visor.
"Hey, Ben. How do I look?" Kenobi looked up as the armored up Luke walked in, but he did a double take at the curved lightsaber hanging from his belt.
"Where did you get that lightsaber?" Luke pulled the lightsaber from his belt and activated it, the red blade giving him an evil look.
"Adenn gave it to me, said he got it from a target a Galidraan. He said it was a replica. Why do ask?"
"Count Dooku, a dark lord of the Sith owned a lightsaber much like that one. I was there when your father killed him, though I was unconcious at the time." Luke looked at him funny until Adenn got his attention.
"Come on, Luke. Your Mando'ad training begins now." Luke followed Adenn down the ramp, back out into Tatooine's oppressive heat. With most of his armor systems shut down, Luke got the worst of it.
"This armor's too hot."
"Shut up! You're gonna be a Mando warrior, and Mandos don't whine." A edge to Adenn's voice made Luke wonder if asking him to train him was a good idea after all. But he did feel rather menacing in this armor, and as they got closer to the city he noticed people looking at him and Adenn. They looked scared, like they wanted to run away. Luke liked that feeling, it was like being intoxicated. But he was snapped out of it as they walked past several Trandoshans in ragged armor, and one of them said something to Adenn.
"Human, we poor, we need money. You give us money, we not kill." Luke looked at the group. They all carried bladed weapons, and the one that spoke had a small blaster pistol. All of them were rather rough looking, and looked like they were spoiling for a fight. Adenn chuckled, and Luke could sense the hostility in it, although it seemed like the Trandoshan couldn't. Adenn's rifle was leveled before Luke could blink, squeezing off shots at the would-be robbers. One of them came at Luke, brandising a large metal pipe. Luke drew the curved lightsaber before he could think, slicing vertically at his attacker. The massive reptile stumbled back as his right arm was on longer attached to his body, before charging Luke again. Luke slashed again, sending the Trandoshan's head tumbling to the ground. He looked as several more people had joined the fight, some with weapons and some with fists. One man was pointing at Luke, drawing several stormtroopers to his attention. As soon as they saw the lightsaber they began to close in, bashing people out of the way.
"Come kid, we gotta move our shebs!" Adenn grabbed his arm and led him back towards the ship. Jabba was gonna go spare. Adenn had said he would take care of it, and now he was running away, or a tactical retreat. And the Imperials were after the kid. The stormtroopers followed them to the outskirts, where they laid down a field of fire. None of the shots came close. "Learn how to shoot you di'kutla hut'unn!" They kept running, and Adenn made a mental note to add jetpacks on his shopping list.
"Did we make it?" Luke was outta breath, gasping in ragged gulps of air in the heat. Adenn almost forgot he was dealing with a fifteen year old kid. A kid who cut a Trandoshan to ribbons with that Jedi sword.
"Yeah kid, we did. Nice job with that overgrown lizard." Luke groaned.
"I actually killed somebody. I'm a murderer." Adenn sighed, having had this conversation before.
"Luke, I'm gonna be honest with you, it's a tough galaxy out here. Kill or be killed. If you can't handle that then I can't train you. If you wanna quit, I won't hold it against you. My brothers and I never got that chance."
"No, I wanna fight. I wanna avenge my father's death. Teach me, Master Adenn. Teach me the ways of the Mandalorians." He knelt, probably something he had seen in a holovid, but it made Adenn uncomfortable.
"I'm no master, kid. I'm just an old verd who doesn't know when to quit. But I'll teach how to fight, and how to win." Luke nodded and stood, walking next to Adenn as they approached the ship. Both climbed the ramp, but Adenn turned back to look in the direction of Mos Espa. Large black clouds wafted across the sky, and Adenn knew it would be a long time before he could come back to Tatooine.
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Ok, that's the first chapter of this fic. An AU take on ANH, bringing in a RC to spice things up. Please, read and review, and give me an honest opinion. I don't care whether it's a good or bad one. By the way, where do you think Luke should train at? Give me an idea and I'll put your name in the credits. Thanks, and bye.