A planet lay cloaked in the light of its two suns. It was not unlike a shimmering ball of gold, though the actual composition of the planet was far less grand. A streak of blue charged towards the great celestial body with such speed that you might think it was going to crash, if you were there to see it. This planet didn't attract many ships, but today the air was filled with imperial spacecraft. Doing what, the local population did not know. But for the criminal population, one thing was obvious, if the star destroyer was any indication. They were in trouble.
The people relied on law enforcement being careless and inattentive, as it always had been. Many criminals would have fled, but the whole planet was on lock down. Civilians didn't go in or out, unless they wanted to be shot out of the sky. Only the best pilots could hope to outmaneuver a star destroyer, plus whatever else they sent out to stop you.
The ship diving for Tatooine at break-neck speeds bore the markings of a rare Jedi-class transport, a ship invented to fit the needs of dragons and their riders. The order signed by the emperor decreed that they were to be shot on sight, but Darth Vader had special permission to drive his, as it was necessary to transport his ever-growing dragon.
The controls groaned in protest as Vader's grip tightened, but if he noticed, he did not care. Dark memories swirled through his mind, making it hard to concentrate on the task at hand. He remembered his home world all to well, every detail of the last time he had been there branded into his conscious. Tatooine had always been the beginning of everything, but now it was starting to feel like the end.
The force flickered a warning around him, and he sensed the presence of one he had hoped to never face again.
But the presence hid itself quickly, nothing more than a temporary weakness in Obi-wan's mental shields.
Did you sense that? Asthordmak's question cut through the haze of anger that surrounded Vader's mind and clouded his thoughts as he fought to regain control.
I think I know where the egg is. Vader replied as the ship entered the atmosphere. He trusted the force to lead him to his destination, relying on a connection that he had tried so hard to erase.
(***)
"Oh, master Luke, we're doomed!" Threepio yelled when the group of sand people jumped out in front of them. There were four armored Banthas and their riders, along with multiple Tuskens on foot. Luke cursed, and turned around, hoping to find an escape route from the ambush.
He heard an unearthly howl that chilled him to the core; despite the blazing suns overhead. Then he saw it, the creature that was blocking the other side of the canyon was no other than the infamous Krayt dragon.
The huge lizard was creeping slowly forwards, it's scales as dull as the sand, but it's eyes a sharp point of contrast that fixed themselves upon him. It sensed his fear and bared it's large fangs. It knew that they were trapped and helpless. The dragon had three riders on it's back, Tusken raiders with spears yelling war cries in that strange language of theirs.
Luke didn't stop to marvel at their coexistence, he looked forwards for a means of escape. Ignoring Threepio's complaining he cranked his vehicle into full speed, going straight for the Tuskens in front and praying for them to move out of his way.
No such luck. His landspeeder crashed into a Bantha, throwing both him and Threepio out. Luke was slammed into the relatively soft hide of the dead Bantha, lucky that he hadn't hit an area with armor, bouncing off and landing on the ground. C3PO landed several feet away in the sand, and was immediately attacked by Tuskens who started to beat him with their gaffi sticks.
Luke was dazed as he carefully picked himself up, the world spinning around him. Then he fell back on his hands and knees, vomiting all over the sand. Everything hurt, but nothing was broken. Yet.
When he was in better control of himself, he looked up to see why the Tuskens weren't attacking, and realised that they had cleared a path for the dragon, and it was closing in fast, it's claws digging into the sand as it prepared to pounce. Luke had never before been so terrified in all his 14 years of life.
As the dragon sprang forwards, it's mouth opened, and Luke's eyes closed, he did not want to look at those horrible teeth, and he hoped for a quick death. A roar of pure fury met his ears, and he was for the second time that day thrown into the dead Bantha behind him by a great gust of air.
He heard something crack when he landed, laying on the ground for a while, stunned. He winced as he breathed in, not only from the smell of the Bantha, but also from the pain. He felt like a few of his ribs might be broken.
When his ears stopped ringing, he heard the sounds of fighting; roars and a few inhuman shrieks of agony. He opened his eyes to see a larger Krayt dragon was fighting the first- no, it was a different type of dragon. The lustrous copper scales that shown with a brilliance that no normal dragon was capable of, and it even had pale copper wings that allowed sunlight to flow through them. Where the Krayt dragon was more like an over-sized lizard the other one looked to be its own unique species, as hard as it was to observe while it fought.
It snapped at the Krayt, and attempted to gouge out it's eyes, it's size an advantage. The Krayt twisted and bit its foreleg, spilling more blood onto the sand.
A Tusken hopped in front of Luke, ripping his eyes off of the majestic battle of the two dragons, he tried to scoot backwards. The Tusken raised it's club. Before it could strike, it was sliced in half by a pale blue laser.
It's upper torso fell to the ground to reveal a man in his late twenties to early thirties wearing robes, auburn hair cut short with a beard and blue-gray eyes. He didn't give Luke a second glance, but jumped back into the fray before the rest of the dismembered Tusken even hit the ground.
The mysterious warrior stabbed and slashed all who stood in his way. There were moments when Luke had worried for him, like when backup had arrived, bringing two more Banthas and a horde of Tuskens, which immediately surrounded him. They were thrown into the air by some invisible power that Luke couldn't begin to understand. The stranger fought like a machine, he had a lot of skill, dodging the dragons and their battle, even hopping onto the Krayt's back for a moment to evade the gaffi stick thrown at him by a enraged sandperson.
The dragon wasn't doing as well. Not only was it fighting off the Krayt, it had five armored war-Banthas to deal with. It tore at the Krayt's back only to be sliced in the flank by a Bantha's steel-tipped horn.
It turned to that Bantha and released a jet of flame, spraying it and two other Banthas, and many of the Tuskens that were trying to swarm it. The well-trained Banthas ignored the flames and tried to trample the dragon, looking like demons from hell, with fur in flames and cooking in their steel armor. Surprisingly, the sturdy animals continued to fight until the last breath of air was driven from their lungs. Yes, they were quite unlike any Bantha Luke had ever seen.
The dragon snapped one of their necks, then tackled the Krayt, probably hoping to do the same to it. The Krayt tried to push it off as it tore out the Krayt's throat and breathed flame in a way that it came out of the sand creature's eye sockets. The Krayt had struggled for a moment, tearing at it's opponent's then unprotected belly, but it stopped when the stronger dragon had flamed.
Luke averted his eyes, and then saw the warrior jump high into the air, landing in front of a flaming war Bantha. It charged and tried to fight him, but he stepped out of the way and swung at it with his blue sword, cutting half it's face off.
With those disgusting images fresh in his mind, Luke buried his face in his arms and tried not to think about the noises, shutting everything out.
He looked up when someone touched his shoulder to see the same blue-gray eyes of the man who had fought the Tusken Raiders staring down at him. He shook his head and cleared his dry throat. "What just happened? Who are you... Where did the dragon go..?"
The man smiled, "Oh, this dragon?" Luke looked over to where he was gesturing, and saw the same copper dragon as before, curled up on the ground near him, staring at him with clear reddish-copper eyes that reminded him of fire. Luke nodded, backing away a little bit.
"Hey! Steady, Luke, you don't want to overexert yourself!" The man exclaimed, putting a hand on his shoulder and using himself as a physical barrier between Luke and the beast, to calm Luke down. His injuries reminded him of their existence with a sharp pain in his ribs, making him wince.
Luke took a deep breath, and wondered if he was unconscious. But it didn't feel like a dream. He wouldn't question a dream while he was in one, even the strangest. Though Luke was almost sure this nightmare would make an exception.
"You saved me." Luke said, more of a statement then a question. "You and your... the dragon, you killed them." He said in wonder and shock. There were just so many bodies... The sand around them was soaked with blood, and the smell was terrible, he did not want to stay there as they cooked in the suns.
"They come back in greater numbers if you don't kill them all," he explained. "Though I'd be surprised if they actually have greater numbers to return in." The warrior closed his eyes, and said in a whisper, "stay still." Luke did as he was told, not moving as he concentrated. He wasn't sure what the man was doing, until a blue light shot out of his hand, wrapping itself around Luke's injuries. The light was cold, but lasted only a few seconds. After that, he felt significantly better.
"What did you just do?" He demanded, having never seen or heard of Force healing. The man offered a hand to help Luke to his feet while ignoring his question. Luke reluctantly took it. "My name is Obi-wan." The stranger said.
"My name is..." Luke started to say, then paused, remembering that the man had already said it. "You already know my name. And," He added, "I don't know how you did it but you healed me. What's going on?"
"Well," Obi-wan started, "There is a lot of explaining I owe you, and not a lot of time. I healed you with the Force. I know your name because I knew your father. Great Jedi. Also I would like you to meet my dragon, Kisenth."
The dragon, Kisenth, hummed, a sound that seemed halfway between a growl and a purr. The dragon's face was oddly expressive; Luke could tell he was amused. Luke looked between Obi-wan and Kisenth, as if trying to decide which was more out of place. Or if this was good time to faint.
Obi-wan sighed, there was no time for his confusion. He should have talked to him about this earlier, but his uncle had not allowed it. "Look, I can't promise you that I will explain everything, because I doubt we will live that long. But I swear to you that I will try to give you the knowledge you need, along with a few other helpful things." He said seriously.
"What are you talking about?" Luke asked. "I don't understand any of this," he said, it was the truth. However, it would be equally honest of him to say he wasn't quite taking this situation seriously. He had almost been eaten by a Krayt, and was rescued by a Jedi with a dragon. A real dragon, like the legends.
"You will understand. One day." Obi-wan said in a not-so reassuring way. "Also, I want to show you something." He gestured to Artoo, who Luke hadn't noticed before.
"Sneaky bastard." Luke muttered under his breath, almost angry at the droid for getting him in this mess in the first place. If he had not taken the restraining bolt off of the droid, he would not have had to chase after it. This whole thing was his fault.
Artoo Detoo rolled up to Luke and whistled something, sounding a little sorry. "I do not accept your apology." Luke replied stubbornly, glaring down at the droid. The droid glared back. One could say it was impossible for a droid to glare at someone, but then they would be wrong. The way Artoo was looking at Luke was proof of that.
"Show Luke your cargo." Obi-wan ordered, snapping them both out of their staring contest. Artoo beeped at him before turning to Luke his whole front opened slowly, inch by inch. Luke leaned forwards as Artoo revealed a large, shiny purplish-blue stone. It was only a little longer than Luke's forearm. Nestled in Artoo's circuitry, it looked very out of place.
What is so important about this thing? Unless... The realization dawned on him quickly. "Is it... an egg?" Luke asked. If it, by some chance, was an egg, it would be a dragon egg.
"Indeed, it is a dragon egg." Obi-wan carefully lifted it out of Artoo and held it out for Luke to see. Now that he could observe it properly, he could see thin white veins in the egg, the vibrant contrast of the light purple at the upper part of the egg, slowly transitioning into blue as it went downwards, the bottom a dark sapphire blue, deeper than anything he had ever seen, especially on a backwater planet like Tatooine.
He reached forwards and gently touched it. It felt warm, a strange type of warm that he could feel in both his hand and his mind. "A dragon egg..." Luke continued to stare at it, then back at Kisenth, wondering how something so small could become something so large. "When will it hatch?" Luke asked, curious.
"I'm hoping it will hatch soon. Eggs... they hatch for certain people. If this one hatches for you, you could be a Rider. A Rider like your father."
"Like my father? You knew him?" He asked, desperate for answers about him. Nobody had told him anything about his father, aside from his name. Anakin Skywalker.
"Yes, I knew him." Obi-wan said, his voice a mixture of sadness and poorly concealed concern. "He was a Jedi Rider, as I am, betrayed and murdered by Darth Vader. I have sensed Vader with the force. It is the reason we need to hurry."
Luke gasped. The Dark Lord of the Sith, here, now? Was there anything that could not go wrong? But what about- "Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru!" He exclaimed, realizing the danger they could be in.
"They are safe, Luke." Obi-wan reassured him. "Vader is more interested in us then in them." Well, maybe he wasn't that reassuring, but he tried. "We need to get out of here. You ever rode a dragon before?" Luke shook his head, though it was a rhetorical question.
Obi-wan scooped up the egg and climbed onto his dragon's back, reaching down to help Luke. He hesitated before climbing onto the dragon's back, thrill and fear in his chest as he started his first ever adventure. He was sure he could trust this man, Obi-wan had saved his life after all.
When he was strapped into the saddle, and the dragon sprang into the sky, and Luke suppressed the urge to vomit again. So, this was flying.
Below them, Artoo whistled sorrowfully at being abandoned, and rolled over to check on Threepio.
Kisenth flew with his Rider and their new padawan. If they kept that new padawan would be determined by their ability to evade their old padawans, who were also the fathers of both their new padawan and the egg that would hopefully hatch soon, long enough to get to their old ship, which had been parked far away to avoid discovery.
Kisenth sighed, wondering how they would ever make it.