A Force to be Reckoned With

Author: Cheryl W.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dean, Sam or any rights to Supernatural, nor am I making any profit from this story.

Author's Note: If you don't like AU, then this story is not for you. This craziness came to me because of a few factors: I wanted to write something action packed and encouraging, I'm reading a Star Wars book, have seen Star Trek and loved the idea of the boys being Jedi Knights. So, I left my common sense at the door as well as this reality and set the boys down into the Star Wars universe. They aren't hunters but Jedi Knights. And the time frame is after Revenge of the Sith and the Rebel Alliance has already been formed. No SW characters actually appear in this tale, only the SW universe.

Forgive my poor handle on the lingo. I think I ended up with a sad cross between Star Wars and Star Trek techno babble. Hopefully that doesn't ruin the story for the true blue SW fans…I'm a true blue fan…just not smart enough to speak their language.…

Summary: Total AU. The brothers are Jedi Knights. These few last Jedi fight against the Empire's forces and fight for each other. Sap alert. No slash.

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Standing on the bridge of the Rebel Alliance battleship, Stanford, Captain Samuel Winchester, dressed in the attire of the Jedi, a black tunic and gleaming black boots, watched the battle ensue among the stars. Watched intently as the gathered ships, small and large of the Imperial and Rebel forces sustained damages and inflicted them. The Force was nearly overloading him with emotions but he had learned to tune them mostly out, to focus on what mattered most to him. And right now, paramount in his concern, was the fate of the Rebel battleship, Impala.

He fisted his hands as the Impala broke through the Imperial barricade, seemingly unconcerned that it had to batter its way through the debris of ships that had just exploded in front of its path seconds prior. He nearly gritted his teeth, as one Imperial battleship seemed to scrap along the Impala's hull as it was pushed out of the way. And then the Impala was clear of the graveyard of its foes…but Sam's gut and the Force were screaming at him that worst things waited in the asteroid field that the Impala was headed for.

"Open a communication channel to the Impala, now," he tersely ordered, stepping forward to stand directly behind his communication officer's chair even as his eyes remained fixed outside the viewport, onto the Impala's progress.

"Channel open, sir," the officer crisply replied, knew that as easy going as the Captain could be, there were certain circumstances that could turn his superior into a fearful commander. That times like this he didn't discount the rumors that had once been bandied about that this particular Winchester had flirted with the Dark Side. And along with that tale went the one about the other Winchester captain, the one they were hailing now.

Without even thinking of proper protocol, Sam nearly shouted, "Dean, don't go into the asteroid field! I have a .."

"Bad feeling…" came Captain Dean Winchester's amused voice into the Stanford's bridge.

Sam couldn't help the low growl he gave, his brother always bringing out the worst…and best in him, and simultaneously annihilating any peace his Force training would have bestowed on him. "Yes! I think it's a trap."

"I know it's a trap," the elder Winchester drawled, " but they won't come out and play until someone walks into it. We'll all just be sitting ducks here, unable to move forward and they've already had some of their ships drop in behind our forces."

"So you propose to provoke a fight to the death here?! With you, of course, assigning yourself as the bait," Sam countered, railing against his brother's recklessness, bravery, loyalty and willingness to sacrifice himself before others.

"No one can resist me, you know," Dean cockily returned even as he gave terse orders to his bridge command to slow down their approach, to enforce their shields and sent a group of X-Wings into the asteroid field from the left.

Overhearing Dean's command gave Sam more confidence in his brother's plan…didn't mean he didn't feel it was a colossal risk. "I'm not saving your butt, you hear me. If some ….Dark Lord wants to make you his apt pupil, I'm just going to read about it in the holo-rag sheets."

"Oh, Sammy, you know you don't mean that. Sides, you carry the black so much better than I do," Dean returned, a lightness and a fondness in his tone, even amid the loud crashing in the background as the Impala sustained more hits from another Imperial Cruiser and started to creep into the asteroid field.

"Dean, don't do this!?" Sam called out in worry, hands gripping the back of the communication officer's chair so tightly the plastic nearly broke.

But his brother was as stubborn as ever. "When they come at me from the asteroid field, don't waste time figuring out where not to shoot. Just annihilate the asteroids and everything else that gets in your way and make it to the other side of the planet. And stay tight together cause the gravitational pull in this field, it's a monster, Sam. Is tossing us around," and Sam could hear his brother give a startled gasp of air that turned into a grunt of pain as he was 'tossed around.' "The debris, in your wake, it has the potential to tear anything apart not glued to your six..like any Imperial ships that want to follow you."

"And how are you going to get clear?" Sam demanded, wanted to believe Dean had a plan to live. That his brother had to have a way to survive his reckless plan because it was not just his life at stake, was all the crew aboard the Impala as well.

"Oh, I got some tricks up my sleeve. Sammy…"but static obliterated Dean's next words "don't……you…..Promise." And then static filled the bridge of the Stanford as Sam looked out the viewport, saw the Impala disappear from his sight as it slipped into the asteroid field.

Growling out a curse, Sam stalked forward until his hand rested against the window, his eyes on the space where his brother..his brother's ship was moments ago. Over his shoulder he ordered, "Tell the other ships to be ready to blast their way into the asteroid field at my command, with Battleship Colt, taking lead. Tell them to keep close in line and to be wary of enemy squadrons." Then almost as a begrudgingly afterthought, he tacked on, "And for the love of the Rebel Alliance, tell them to NOT shoot at my idiot brother." Even as the Communication Officer began conveying his orders, Sam growled under his breath, "Killing Dean is going to be my privilege." But even the Force couldn't give him the strength to dampen the fear that was slipping past all his defenses, always had: The fear that he would lose his brother…maybe even that very day.

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Pressing his hand to the side of his untraditional blue Jedi Knight tunic, Captain Dean Winchester grimaced in pain, looked at the blood coating his hand in frustration rather than worry. Almost angrily, he wiped his hand on his pants and focused on the asteroid field that now encompassed them and the Imperial Cruiser that was sliding into view. Tricky black hearted Imperials were right where he thought they would be. 'Good thing I'm trickier,' he grimly thought, knew that the Rebel armada would have been cut to shreds if they had inadvertently drawn closer to the asteroid field, not realizing the danger.

"Captain, our engines are now down to 43% and the hyperdrive, it's pretty much fried like you suspected," the Engineer officer reported, his voice grave, knew that they had little hope of limping home…and that was before they made the push to the asteroid field. He understood that the hopelessness of their situation, it had prompted the Captain's orders to become bait, to make themselves useful one last time. But it had taken every last measure of his loyalty to his Captain not to cut into the transmission with the Captain's brother, to not tell the younger man that his brother was on a doomed mission, that he should say his goodbyes now. However, his loyalty had stayed his tongue, though he had looked imploringly to his superior, mouthed, 'Tell him, Dean,' because his Captain wasn't merely his superior but was his friend. Had witnessed enough of the interaction between the brothers to know that the stories were true, all of them. The only thing that had saved Samuel Winchester's soul from going Dark Side was his brother's stead fast faith in him and love for him. Just as the only thing that had tethered Dean Winchester's soul to life after that debacle in the Hellspawn system was his younger brother's unrelenting adoration and love. Honestly, he didn't know where each brother would be without the other. Knew that, sadly, the world was about to witness that transformation in Samuel Winchester in only a few short hours, when his big brother's fate became known.

But the bleak status of his ship's engine and hyperdrive didn't phase Captain Winchester, instead he stepped forward, leaned over Fire Control Officer's shoulders to view the readout. "Take us further into the field, let's make them work for it at least," as if to punctuate his words, the ship rocked to the left, had everyone standing stumbling and everyone sitting struggling to not land on the ground. "And yeah, let him take some damage from the asteroids, same as us. Put the shield to encompass the ship and ready the barrage of torpedoes to take this Cruiser apart." Turning to the Communication's officer he said, "And tell the X-Wings to find the other Cruiser lurking in here, probably in the north east corridor."

"Other cruiser sir?" The officer asked, not in defiance but surprise.

Dean smirked darkly, "Have you ever known the Empire to do things small? They would drag a Death Star in here waiting for us if they could have kept it off our sensors."

Without further hesitation, the officer gave the order over the internal comlink.

Heading back to his command chair, Dean was knocked off his feet as the ship collided with a fast moving chuck of asteroid. From the ground he ordered, "Punch us through some of this debris, make the Cruiser take up pursuit." Under him, he could feel the ship surge forward, was jarred as it literally plowed through more of the small asteroids. It was a deuced bad time to find himself trying to gain his feet, was surprised when an arm wrapped around his waist and pulled him to his feet. He was steadied against his Engineer Officer's shorter frame and they lumbered together to his command chair. "You should be at your post," he lowly said, the reprimand not for anyone's ears but his friend's.

"Yeah, and you should have told Sam how bad off we were," the officer whispered back, depositing his Captain into his chair, surprised when he looked at his hand and saw it was covered in blood.

"Why? So Sam could risk someone else trying to save us?!" Dean countered, knew that it was bad enough he was costing his crew their lives, didn't want to add to that tally. Certainly didn't want to add Sam to the list of people dying with him.

Pulling back, the officer met Dean's eyes head on, "How about so he could say goodbye…so you could."

Dean looked away, "Goodbyes are overrated…"

"Yeah, and so are heroes but it's never deterred you both from being a couple of them," the officer grumbled back, earning him his Captain's sharp gaze. "No disrespect meant, sir."

Dean pulled on a sad but real smile, "None taken. Guess it's been a family tradition. Now get back to your station so we can go out in style."

Giving a shake of his head but a smile in return, the officer did his Captain's bidding.

Shifting in his seat, wincing at the stab of pain, Captain Winchester ordered, "Alright, run into one of the bigger asteroid chunks and grind to a halt."

"Hit one…on purpose, sir?" the just recently assigned to the Impala navigator asked incredulously. He had heard stories about Captain Dean Winchester being a wild card but this?! This was beyond his ability to understand.

"Yup, make it look like we're out of commission, Navigator. Once the cruiser is lured in, bank right and we'll fire torpedoes on my mark," Dean explained, knew his crew was following his orders to their deaths, that they deserved to have his respect and to be in his confidence here at the last. "We aim our torpedoes right, they'll split her in two, send her spiraling into more asteroid and hopefully help to make a hole for our ships to slip through."

There was a silence on the bridge a moment and he found a few members of his staff simply staring at him, not in disagreement to his orders…but in awe. He nearly blushed, shrugged uncomfortably instead, "Guess you won't find this tactic in any text book…"

"Doesn't mean it shouldn't be," his second in command returned, coming to stand at his side with a grim but determined smirk on his lips.

"My brother would love that…me getting in a textbook," Dean snorted, shaking his head, knowing that as much as Sam would tease him about it…his brother would be proud of him 'But not more proud than I am of you, Sam. Sorry I'm not going to be around to see you become a Jedi Master,' he thought as the Navigator did as he was ordered and plowed the Impala into a asteroid that shook the hull and practically caused the ship to crumble apart.

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"One of our ships bordering the asteroid field report that an Imperial Crusier just came unto their grids. Inside the asteroid field. The Impala, her plan, its working, Captain," the Navigator on the Stanford reported, surprise and awe in his tone.

"Course it is, this is my brother we're talking about here," Captain Samuel Winchester, drawled, half in bitterness and half in pride as he watched one Rebel ship after another dove into the asteroid field to elude the vicious attack of the Imperial's Cruisers entrenched around the convoy in the open arena of space, set to destroy them. "Any readings from the Impala, from that sector of the asteroid field?" he inquired for the fifth time, praying that this time the answer would be different.

He was bound to be disappointed. "No, sir. The field is too thick in the western quadrant. I can't detect the Impala or the configuration of the asteroid field…or any Imperial ships either."

"Oh they are there," Sam drawled, knew it was a certainty by the clamoring of the Force and the instincts that had kept him alive long before he knew the Force even existed within him. Knew it just as resolutely because Dean said they were there. But he couldn't help wish that his brother was wrong this time. Wished just as valiantly that he could determine the cause of the darkness that was seeping into the Force, was nearly choking him. It was not the temptation of the Dark Side…was something more, something more sinister…a malicious glee of the anticipation of a victory. And yet, that made no sense. He knew they were foiling the Imperial ambush, were not going to win this battle but were going to escape with most of their numbers intact.

It hit him then like blaster fire, had him stumbling back, his hand fumbling for the side of chair to keep himself upright. Dean! Dean was in danger. Was more than the vibe he got when faced with his brother's usual reckless ways, wasn't even all about the brashness of Dean playing bait. Was about …. Dean leaving. Dean giving up. Dean dying. Reaching out in the Force for his brother, he latched onto his brother's subconscious, felt his brother's thoughts a moment before the connection was brutally severed. 'But not more proud than I am of you, Sam. Sorry I'm not going to be around to see you become a Jedi Master.'

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"No!" Sam shouted, stumbling forward as if his brother was just within reach, that their link through the Force could be solidified, could bring his brother to his side. Unmindful of the attention his erratic behavior was garnering from his bridge crew, he stalked to the Navigator, "How long until the last of our ships are in the asteroid field?" when the Navigator punched keys onto his keyboard instead of answering, Sam thundered, "How long?!"

"About fifteen minutes. We only have to hold the Imperials' off another fifteen minutes," the Navigator hurriedly reported, not daring to shift his eyes from his workstation to his Captain's fierce face.

"Fifteen minutes," Sam mumbled, hurriedly crossing to the Navigation console, hands flipping through the technical readout screens almost faster than the human eye could process.

From across the bridge the communications officer called out, "Report coming in from a member of the Impala's X-Wing squadron." The name of the his brother's ship caused Sam's head to snap up, drew his full focus to his Communication Officer's features. "There's a 2nd Cruiser in the north eastern section of the asteroid field. The X-Wing Squadron managed to damage its forward shields and do some hull damage but the Cruiser is still limping its way toward our convoy."

Sam clenched his fist, "Notify the Battleship Colt that they have an obstacle in their path."

"Sir, communications are not working that far into the asteroid field."

"Alright, send the X-wing back in the asteroid field with the communiqué but ask him one question before he leaves." The Communication officer waited almost looked to his Captain but then his superior spoke, "Ask him the status of the Impala when he left her."

Quickly conveying the order and the question, the officer grimaced at the news, braced himself for his Captain's reaction. "Order conveyed, sir and the Impala, her engines were damaged and her hyperdrive drive was off line and they were engaging a Cruiser when the squadron was ordered to search for the 2nd Cruiser."

At the news, Sam felt his chest constrict and his heart falter. It was a deadman's mission. Dean had known his ship was beyond saving, would be a weakness to anyone trying to help them limp home. Had chosen to make his ship's last stand a worthy one. Idiot was planning on dying on him.

Through the Force he channeled to his brother, knew that a friggin' asteroid field was no match for his anger, knew his words, they would reach Dean, would tell his brother what he thought of his piss poor plan. 'Screw you Dean!!! I'm not going to let you die! You're just going to have to wait a good long while before you can go down in the Jedi annuals as a dead hero because I'm going to save you, you nerf herding idiot!'

"Navigator, set us on a course for the Impala's last position before they entered the asteroid field. Communication officer, order the Frigate Rocksalt to bring up the rear on the convoy and herd everyone to the far side of the planet. Have someone in our docking bay prepare to receive the Impala's fighter and transport ships and have someone prepare temporary quarters for the Impala's crew," Sam calmly ordered, knew his course as if it had already been traveled as he sank into his Command chair.

His second in command came to his side and he could feel the older man's indecision and objections but he didn't cut off the man's words, let him speak, would let anyone do anything they wanted as long as they didn't get in his way. The second in command's voice was pitched low, as if he didn't want his objections to be heard by the bridge crew. "Captain, I know he's your brother, sir, but you are putting all our lives in jeopardy unnecessarily. Dean knew the risks, he chose this path. He saved us, Sir." When his words didn't even get a reaction from his Captain, he gripped his superior's wrist, found his friend's eyes coming up to meet his with steely resolve. "Sam, Dean would want you saved most of all." But there was a bleakness in his Captain's eyes, something he had glimpsed a time or two, that sent a shiver of fear down his spine, spoke of darkness and pain and no redemption.

"You don't get it, do you?" Sam asked dangerously, his voice bitter even as it quaked. "If I lose Dean, what I'll become if I lose my brother…" he seemed to catch himself and bite his lip a moment before a cruel smile turned up his lips. "I'll make Emperor Palpatine look like a saint. Trust me when I tell you that you want me to save my brother. And God help the Alliance if I don't," and his words were a threat and a prayer alike.

Sliding his hand from Sam's wrist, the second in command took a retreating step backwards, felt some raw power in his Captain that he had glimpsed before and had naively attributed to his Force power. But this…this was more than the flow of the Force. This was the power honed by a bond stronger than the Force, was about the unfathomable tie between the two brothers that even the powers of Dark and Light had had to concede to.

Knowing that the argument was closed, the second in command simply asked the mechanics of what was being proposed, "The smaller ships the Impala crew will use to board us, they won't stand too much abuse by the asteroids and in the turbulent forces of the asteroid field, we'll be lucky to hold our position steady enough to allow the most seasoned pilots to land in our bay. Not to mention the damage we will sustain, taking on the Imperial Cruiser with only one, damaged ship to back our play."

"We're saving the Impala," Sam stated roughly, his eyes warning his second in command to not raise more question, to not doubt the lengths he would go, the way he would use the Force to see that his brother was saved.

"Sir, yes, sir," the Stanford's second in command curtly replied, accepting that, like so many times before, his fate lay in the hands of his Captain. Loyally, he stood erect at his captain's side and checked on the docking bay's progress.

"Navigator, take us into the asteroid field at the Impala's insertion point and follow her ion trail. Front deflector shields on full," Sam commanded, his Force connection screaming that there was little time left to undo what it foresaw, to change fate..to change his fate as much as his brother's.

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TBC

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Thanks to anyone reading this story! Hope it's entertaining in some fashion… I do have it all written out, just needs polished up by my beta. So it shouldn't take me long to post it all if I get some encouraging reviews.

And yes, I'm still dedicated to my two other stories…just struggling with stepping back into their mindsets to update them. But be assured, I'm going to finish both Designated Driver and It's in the Genes. Just got sidetrack like I always do with another plot idea.

Have a wonderful evening!

Cheryl W.