As the Shadow dropped out of hyperspace, Luke was reminded of both his childhood and the austere beauty of the desert world he had once called home. As he guided the space yacht towards the planet he had once called home, the memories were almost overwhelming. Uncle Owen. Aunt Beru. I love you, always. He thought, remembering the first loss he had suffered at the hands of the empire.
When they got to the edge of the atmosphere, he also remembered the first time he had left the world, aboard the Falcon, fleeing imperials who were after Artoo and C-3PO, and the secrets they contained. He had been going to Alderaan. Chewie. Han. Leia. The memories of the more recent losses of his three closest friends drove a second vibrodagger straight into the Jedi master's heart. We don't need to stay that long, not long enough for things to become a problem. He decided.
Next to him, Ben was sitting in the co-pilot's chair, a look of concern on his face. It had taken them five days to get to the planet, and Luke knew all to well how long someone would be able to last in the dune sea without water. He reckoned she would have lasted about eighteen hours, possibly thirty-six if she had managed a hibernation trance. When he had told Ben she might be dead, Ben had seemed to collapse in on himself for a second, before opening up again and reaching out.
"She's still alive." He had reported.
After about half an hour of flying, guided by his knowledge of tatooine weather, Luke managed to put the Shadow down in Fort Tusken, dropping the yacht into a docking bay with the Darklighter family motif blinking at one end.
After comming Dera Darklighter, and receiving permission to leave the Shadow in her docking bay, Luke and Ben disembarked, wearing a pair of heavy sandcloaks.
"We're going to need transport." Luke reminded his son. Another pair of speeder bikes wouldn't be a good idea, not in this part of the planet. Tuskens could hit podracers, so they'd have no chance of missing us at speeder bike velocity. "And it needs to be enclosed. We need protection from Tuskens, and the suns."
As they continued, it wasn't long until Luke spotted what he was after.
Sitting in the yard outside of a scrapyard, he noticed an imperial hoverscout, missing the various weapons but otherwise appearing to be in relatively good condition. It had been repainted from the original imperial white to a more useful tan, almost perfectly replicating the colour of the sand on the planet.
The forward laser cannon had been replaced by an advanced array of search sensors, indicated as being able to detect a life firm for up to ten kilometres in a narrow cone in front of the sensor array. The main turret had simply been removed, with a plate of durasteel welded into the mount.
Entering the shop, Luke quickly browsed through the racks of used blasters, taking a pair of longblasters from one rack, and two e-11 blaster carbines from a second. After examining the weapons, Luke took the two longblasters out into the shop's yard, before testing the scope calibration on a target on top of the wall about two hundred metres away.
Seeing the two offworlders, the Dug running the shop quickly hurried over to where Luke was standing, tweaking the scope calibration on one of the rifles.
"You buying that?" the Dug unceremoniously challenged the Jedi master.
Calmly, Luke turned round, before using the Force to lower his hood.
"I would have been, if they were calibrated better."
"They worked fine before you came along."
"Really?" Luke said, in a manner that suggested he had no confidence in that statement. "It was an inch out when I tested it."
"You better buy it." The alien spat, before glimpsing the distinctive hilt of a lightsaber under the sand cloak. "I meant, it would be correct for you to buy that weapon now, Master Jedi." He stuttered, realising he had been directing his anger at a Jedi.
"I know that." Luke snapped. "I will give you fifty credits for each of these rifles, and forty-five each for the carbines."
"400 hundred each. For all four will be one thousand four hundred."
"I could buy your entire stock for that much. I think I might be able to pay you one hundred each."
"Thirteen hundred."
"I'll take the hoverscout as well for that."
"That's twenty thousand. Add four hundred and you can have the blasters"
"Four thousand." The Jedi master replied, one hand going to his lightsaber.
"Hey hey hey" the dug replied, backing away slightly. "You can have 'em at four then."
"Good. The keys." Luke's tone did not suggest arguing would be a good idea, reinforced by the hand resting on his lightsaber hilt unobtrusively.
The Dug darted over to the counter, and pulled a set of swipe cards off the wall.
"here." He grated, before receiving the credit chip for the agreed amount.
As he placed the chip in the hand of the shop owner, Luke heard the distinctive snap-hiss of someone activating a lightsaber in the street.
"kriff it." He muttered under his breath, before pulling the keys off the rack with the force and marching outside, where Ben was standing off a group of tatooine street bruisers, several of whom had their blasters drawn.
"What the darkside is going on out here?" He yelled, directing the majority of the force at the thugs.
"None of your business, lumhead. Get lost." One of them replied, turning his head and blaster towards Luke. Feeling the man tensing to pull the trigger, Luke simply smashed him into the wall with a force blast, before holding him there telekinetically.
"The name is Skywalker. And I think you lot had better get going." He announced to the gang, before dropping the leader onto the ground.
As the six heavies ran off, Luke picked up his bag, before heading over to the hoverscout, and opening the main entry hatch.
The inside had been upgraded quite considerably from the imperial stock model, with four bunks fitted in place of the rear turret and its generators, and luxury seats installed in place of the original military models. There was also a small refresher cabin in the very rear of the cabin.
Depositing his bags into one of the storage lockers, Luke began the power-up sequence, just as Ben took his seat at the sensor console.
"All good." He said, rotating the scanner head 360 degrees to check the mounting was fully functional. After running through checks on all of the remaining systems, the Skywalkers set off into the Jundland Wastes.
~0~
Standing in front of Jaina, Jag and Tahiri was a red skinned humanoid male about the same height as Jag. The being had a face adorned with intricate jewellery, with small facial tentacles and bone spurs breaking up the almost prefect symmetry. For Tahiri, the most striking feature of the man was the open, yellow eyes, which reminded her of another friend. Caedus had had eyes like him. Then she recoiled. "Sith!" she screamed, her had going to her lightsaber hilt, only to find Jag's hand already resting on top of the weapon, preventing her drawing it.
"Indeed. Greetings, Jedi." The man said, his voice surprisingly soft. "It seems I must surrender myself and this," he said, holding out his lightsaber by the emmiter, "to you."
Jaina took the lightsaber hilt first, and fastened it to her belt next to and below her own lightsaber.
"My name is Darth Jiido, dark lord and emperor's wrath of the sith empire. It is my pleasure to meet you, Master Fel, Jedi Veila." He then knelt before Jag, before continuing, "My lord Fel."
Shocked, Jag stood speechless for a moment, before his chiss training kicked in. "you may rise, Jiido." He said, in a pre-emptory fashion suggestive of a head of state receiving an unaccustomed honour. "I have no rank, except that of being husband to Master Jaina Solo Fel."
"You were imperial head of state, were you not? And was your father not a baron."
"That is immaterial now. I am a rankless exile from my family, and I am no longer a head of state." Jag stated.
"I see. And Jedi Veila, I am a sith in more than creed. I am a Red Sith and my forefathers roamed korriban when Adas sat on her throne."
"Your kind are… well extinct." Jaina stammered, recognising the species from her history classes in middle school "you died to the last in the second great galactic war."
"I remember the final days of that conflict well." The Sith replied. "I remember the days when my master the emperor fell at the hands of a Jedi, and your warriors roamed our worlds, killing all who stood before them. It was no war, not at the end. It was genocide."
"We would never have committed such an atrocity. The Jedi protect life in all its forms."
"Your kind, and your republic, strode our worlds, killing everyone who stood before them. There was no mercy shown to civilians, children or adult, and no surrender was honoured for longer than it took to take weapons from their owners."
When she looked into the man's eyes, Jaina realised the complete truth of what he had said.
"Our survivors fled to the deep core." The Sith continued. "There, we built a vast stasis warren, and we activated it, sealing ourselves inside for more than three and a half thousand years. And now we return. Our fleets are preparing to deploy, and our warriors are mustered to destroy your republic forever."
"And why are you telling me this?" Jaina asked, shocked at the revelations of the past.
"I want to stop the genocide before it returns. You destroyed us once before, and you would destroy us again if we attacked you."
"And your other reasons?" Jaina pressed, feeling the Sith holding something back.
"I do not believe in our supremacy being one of our birthrights. When I fought the republic before, I saw Jedi stand between a column of troops and a huddle of refugees, fighting to protect the innocent until they fell. I saw Sith use similar columns as shields between themselves and republic troops. I saw republic soldiers fight from positions that left them no retreat, covering the retreat of allies and comrades. I want to be part of that tradition."
~0~
When he saw the hut that had once belonged to his mentor, Luke was surprised by the tarpaulin stretched over the roof, before suddenly seeing the smoke rising up from the structure. Beside him, Luke felt Ben start, at the sight, before drawing his lightsaber and vaulting out of the hoverscout.
When Ben reached the entrance to the hut, he saw the bed overturned, and the few items inside scattered everywhere, as if a man had systematically tipped over and then smashed everything in the hut, before setting fire to it.
In the centre of the floor, somehow uncovered by any item or debris, Ben saw a small patch of sand, discoloured in a way he had hoped not to see. It had had blood pooled on it; he knew that from his training in the guard. And suddenly he knew what he had to do.
Reaching into the force, he flow walked, back to the previous night.
Standing in the centre of the hut, he saw Vestara sleeping, smiling slightly, wearing all of her clothes. Despite himself, he moved closer to study her sleeping form, embarrassedly wishing she was less well-clad, and was so engrossed in her body that he missed the entrance of several beings into the hut, so silently did they move.
Suddenly, one of them moved into his field of vision, and he started, suddenly sending out a useless warning to Vestara through the Force.
To his surprise, she stirred slightly, before looking up into the face of a Tusken raider, his rifle pressed to her neck, and then she screamed. At the sound, several more raiders approached, before dragging her out of bed, wrestling her into a kneeling position, with her arms held behind her. Ben couldn't help but wince, having been restrained like that several times during CSF arrest training.
Abruptly, one of the Tuskens brought the butt of his rifle down on her head, stunning her as a number of bands of what looked like bantha-cord were pulled out and used to secure her wrists behind her and then used further in connecting them to her belt. She was then dragged out of the hut, and then Ben snapped back into the present, suddenly remembering something his aunt and uncle had found at a Tusken camp nearby, in Tatooine terms.
As he turned around, he saw his father gently picking something out of the sand, and recognised it instantly as a bracelet he had made for Vestara, using the force to meld a set of crystal shards onto a length of gold wire he had taken from the electrical repair kit. It was snapped.
Angrily, Ben turned to his father, pulling the small trinket from his hand with the Force.
"Dad, they're taking her to the valley of the spirits."
"Why?" Luke asked, suddenly looking alarmed.
"To sacrifice her to my grandfather."
"I went there just once, Ben. It scared the sithspit out of me."
"She's there now." Ben stated. "I'm going." He continued, running back towards the hoverscout, "If we don't get there soon, she's dead."
Feeling the utter truth of the boy's words, Luke wasted no time force flipping to the driver's side of the craft, before diving inside and starting her up.
As soon as Ben was aboard, the hoverscout fishtailed away.
~0~
Regaining consciousness after a blow to the head was not a pleasant experience for Vestara. Her hands were immobile, seemingly trapped above her as she vainly tried to rub the aching lump on the top of her head, before her memories kicked in. Realising her situation, the Sith girl screamed, helplessly, into a thick wad of fibres, held firmly into her mouth by a cord secured around her head. Her hands, she realised, were tied to a frame above her head, and when she tried to move her ankles she found that they too were bound incredibly tightly to poles.
After several minutes of frantic squirming, she stopped fighting the cords, deciding that there was not point, before reaching out with the Force.
She felt Ben, concerned for her, and his father, deep in his own mind, replaying a earlier visit, where she saw a glimpse of a blood spattered archway, and grimaced at the guessed at purpose in his mind.
Ves! Ben responded to her force touch after a moment. Are you ok?
I love you. She replied, glad that they would finally be reunited. And I think so.
Abruptly, however, her situation changed.
Two large Tuskens swung the doors of her prison open, before marching inside, cutting her hands free and dragging her toward the entrance. She could feel Ben closing rapidly, and just had to hope he arrived in time.
As his father flew the deadly slalom course of the Jundland wastes, Ben was slightly surprised by the way his father seemed to be flying on auto pilot. With the taps open, he knew it would take them just four and a half minutes to arrive at their destination, but the final jumbled impression of being led outside he had received from Vestara told him that if they were lucky, they would arrive with seconds to spare.
As she was dragged though the crowd of jeering raiders, Vestara struggled as much as she could, still too concussed to attempt force usage. Every time she tried to break free, her arms were forced up behind her another couple of degrees, and she quickly stopped trying to escape. Ahead, she could see the archway Luke had shown her, and the two leather cords attached to it.
Before she could think of fighting back, her two guards took her arms and forced them into position to be secured, and she could feel the thongs suddenly holding her upright, helpless, as the expectation built to a fever pitch.
Next to her, she heard a Tusken, wearing elaborate robes, compared to the rest of his tribe, begin to speak, and she began to pray to anything that might be listening, knowing that her death was moments away.
When the hoverscout reached the berm overlooking the camp, Ben was already opening the hatch next to his seat, a longblaster ready in his hands. By the time Luke Skywalker slewed the craft to a stop, Ben was already taking up a firing position, overlooking a scene straight out of his nightmares.
A band of Tuskens were formed into a semi-circle, and he could see Vestara's slight form bound almost motionless to a arch, which looked like it was made from bantha ribs. Behind her, a large Tusken, a male he presumed, was readying a gaffi stick for an overhead blow, resting the weapon's spiked tip against the crown of her head.
Dropping into a crouch, he raised the rifle to his shoulder, looking down the scope.
Range, 250 yards. Target, one big Tusken. He ran though in his head, before taking his shot as the executioner brought his weapon up in a backswing.
As he fired the shot, he wondered where the hell his father was.
~0~
As he had brought the hoverscout to a stop, Luke had seen the sky suddenly change from crystal blue to black, and suddenly Ben vanished from beside him. As he sat there, confused, he became aware of a swoop bike pulling up feet away from the hoverscout, turning round, be saw a man, wearing black clothing climb off the craft, and go down the slope, barely making a sound.
When he got to the bottom of the slope, Luke lost track of him for a second, then caught a glimpse of him ducking into a tent, avoiding the two sentries standing in front of it by crawling under the back wall. What seemed like two minutes later, the man re-appeared, cutting down the two guards from behind with his lightsaber, before killing several of the dogs the Tusken's kept as pets and guard animals.
Stunned, Luke watched as the blue lightsaber strobed through the night, killing men and women and children alike. Faintly, he could hear the voice of a man, pleading with the man to stop, but no heed was paid, and the Tuskens died to the last.
As the man stalked back up the hill, Luke finally saw his face, and it was one he recognised all too well. "Dad." he said, as the force image of Anakin Skywalker walked past him, carrying a shrouded body over his shoulder, before fading back into the bright sunlight of a afternoon on Tattoine.
Then he heard Ben fire his longblaster once, then a hail of returning gunfire from tusken slugthrowers.