Chapter 12 – Night of Visions

The Tusken charged him, howling, a brilliant blue lightsaber raised high over his head. Vader blocked the slash, feeling the strength of the blow even through his cybernetic arms. He clenched his teeth as his son struck again, pounding at his defenses, his robes billowing and his masked face a nightmare in itself…

"You destroyed my family," Luke hissed. "You betrayed Mother… and the Jedi."

"I only wanted to protect her," Vader countered. "Her, you, and your sister…"

"Some protection," Luke growled. "You abandoned me, Father. You abandoned Leia. You exiled Obi-wan and murdered Mother. You betrayed us all."

"I had no choice," Vader said desperately.

The blue saber struck his red one, and the blade disintegrated in a thousand shards of crimson light. Then Luke's blade seared through his arms, leaving smoking metal stumps in the place of his hands.

"You had a choice… and you chose to follow the path of darkness, the path of power and greed. You have fallen so low. You're not worthy for me to call you Father."

The azure blade swept toward his head…

Vader shot bolt upright, his heart pounding despite all the efforts of his life-support systems to regulate it. Disoriented, he glanced around, seeking his men, his lightsaber, his foe…

The leather wall of the Temple of the Moons lay to his right, and on the other three sides he was surrounded by the slumbering forms of the Tusken tribe's holy women, the Daughters of the Moons. The clay fire-bowl in the center of the temple glowed with a red-gold light, a young priestess sitting awake close by to keep the flames going and the temple warm through the night. The metal ornaments and chains hanging from the ceiling glittered in the firelight, and in the far corner of the tent he could hear the subdued chittering and squeaking of a clutch of flappers in their leather cage, awaiting their fate in some ceremony or other.

A dream, he decided. Nothing more. The knowledge that he had a Tusken for a son was simply stirring up his emotions…

But what the visionary Luke had told him troubled him on some level…

He caught movement to his left, and he turned to see Wind-Dancer also sitting up in her pallet, staring at him and cocking her head at an inquisitive angle.

Nightmare? she queried, relying on the Force to communicate to avoid disturbing the others.

Nothing that concerns you, he retorted.

Sky-Walker is my brother as well as Leia's, she shot back. If your dream concerns him, then it also concerns me.

I will have you know that the only reason I forged this truce with you is because you are useful to me, Vader informed her. I am not doing this for your tribe's benefit or yours. I only seek to reclaim my son.

And I only seek to help you in order to protect my people and my brother, not for YOUR benefit, she countered. Let us admit we're doing this for our own selfish reasons and leave it be.

He cut off their connection and lay back down, setting up a block in his mind to ward off any more of her inquiries. She didn't attempt to reestablish the link, however, but simply rolled over in her pallet and ignored him.

Vader stared at the ceiling of the tent, lost in thought. Wind-Dancer had told Vader as much about his son as she knew, including his true name of Luke, though apparently he had opted to call himself by his original surname. Apparently, despite his vastly different upbringing, Luke possessed many of the traits a younger Anakin Skywalker had – recklessness, courage, curiosity, a thirst for adventure, a disregard for rules and authority… and a kind heart. Of all things a kind heart! How in the galaxy could he retain THAT while being raised by the most brutal creatures in existence?

He shifted his arm, flexing the wounded shoulder. It hurt to exercise the muscles, but at least he hadn't lost use of it. His leg was another story, but once they reached some kind of civilization tomorrow that would be swiftly repaired. He would be ready to resume his search…

Ready to bring his son and daughter back under his wing. Ready to exact vengeance upon Kenobi. Ready to set his ultimate goal into motion… to overthrow the Emperor.

Before sleep could claim him, however, he had something he needed to do.

He dropped into a meditative trance, reaching out to touch Luke's mind, to feel his presence. The boy was asleep, wracked with bizarre dreams as his brain, accustomed to a simpler life on a desert world, struggled to process the information he had taken in that day. For a moment Vader was reminded of another boy on another ship departing Tatooine for the first time, struggling with strange dreams and the knowledge that he might never go home again…

He shook himself free of those thoughts and plunged into Luke's mind, ready to make true contact with his son for the first time.

Break…

Skywalker's dreams were a weird jumble that night aboard the Falcon – symbols floating across the sky trying to impart a message he couldn't decipher, a training remote chasing him down the streets of Mos Eisley and shooting deadly bolts, stormtroopers aboard banthas pursuing the Falcon across the stars… He shifted in his sleep, moaning, straining to understand. But the harder he tried to decrypt these night visions, the more twisted and indecipherable they became.

Suddenly a hiss and a flare of red light cut through the chaos, and the Black One stood before him in all his fearsome glory. Skywalker screamed as the creature strode forward, armor gleaming, mask rasping malevolently. He groped for his gaderffi, his lightsaber, anything…

"You belong to me, Luke Skywalker," the Black One breathed. "Not to Obi-wan. Not to Leia's people. To me." He raised a hand, beckoning. "Come to me, young one. I am your future. I am your destiny."

"I'll never join you!" Skywalker shouted, finding his saber and gaderffi at last and brandishing both weapons at the Black One.

"If only you knew the power of the dark side," came the resonant reply. "If only you knew the true reason Obi-wan has taken you from everything you know…"

Skywalker hesitated. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ask your new Master," the Black One snarled. "Ask him the truth…"

"Skywalker."

He jolted awake. "Obi-wan?"

Obi-wan gazed down upon him with a worried expression. "Are you all right?"

"A dream," he moaned, pressing a hand to his forehead. "A dream of the Black One."

Obi-wan nodded, the concerned look remaining. "I felt his presence while you slept. I fear he tried to contact you through your dreams."

"He can do that?"

"Distance is no barrier when a Force-sensitive wants to communicate with someone." He frowned. "What did he say to you?"

"That I belonged to him." He shuddered. "That it was my destiny to be with him. And that… that you had a reason for taking me away from Tatooine."

Obi-wan's eyebrows arched upward in mild surprise. "And did he state the reason?"

"No. He told me to ask you."

He sat down on the edge of Skywalker's bed. "Let me ask you this – why did you leave Tatooine? You could have easily simply stayed with your people."

"I left because I needed to learn how to defeat the Black One," Skywalker replied. "And I left so I could learn more about my past, my human heritage."

Obi-wan nodded. "And after that… what are your plans?"

He hesitated. "I don't know."

"Skywalker, the Force is unusually strong with you. You are strong enough to become a great Jedi someday, given the training."

"Like my father?"

He nodded. "Like your father. I took you from Tatooine in order for you to learn what you wished to learn, but I also took you in the hopes that you would agree to become a Jedi Knight, to help me restore the Jedi Order… and bring justice back to the galaxy. But if you have no wish to become a Jedi, I will return you to Tatooine if you so wish."

Skywalker shook his head. "I want to learn the ways of the Force. I want to become a Jedi like my father. And I want to help my people… Tuskens and humans alike."

Obi-wan smiled. "Thank you, Skywalker. I know you will become a great Jedi someday."

Han stepped in at that moment. "We're coming out of hyperspace now. Alderaan's coming up."

Obi-wan stood. "We're here, Skywalker."

He pushed aside the blankets and climbed out of bed. "What's Alderaan like, Obi-wan?"

"Leia can answer that better than I," he replied as she stepped out of the refresher, making a final adjustment to her braids.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Skywalker would like to hear about Alderaan."

She smiled fondly. "It's beautiful. There are many mountain ranges, some so high you swear they touch the stars. And I always loved traveling to the lakes near our home for picnics…"

"Lakes?"

She faltered, then smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry. I keep forgetting you're from a desert world. A lake is a large area covered by water."

"You mean like a sacred spring?"

"Bigger," Obi-wan replied. "Much bigger. There are lakes on Alderaan larger than the Dune Sea."

He felt his jaw drop. "Enough water to fill the Dune Sea? That's impossible! How can that much water exist in one place?"

"Not all worlds are like Tatooine, young Skywalker," Obi-wan told him. "There are other desert worlds, yes, but also many that are covered in plant life or rock, and others entirely covered in water or ice. The galaxy is vast and varied, and there is much for you to see and learn."

"I see that," he said in awe. "There's so much I don't know…"

"You three going to stand there and gab all day?" asked Han.

Leia cast a disapproving glance at the smuggler. "You seem to be in a hurry to be rid of us."

"I'm just along for the credits, Senator," he told her. "Whatever business a crazy old man has with a Tusken kid and a senator isn't my problem." He caught Skywalker's eye and flashed him a grin. "Seeing as this is your first time in space, kid, maybe you'd like to take your first look at another planet?"

"I'd love that!" Skywalker exclaimed. A thrill of pleasure gripped him. No other member of the tribe could claim to have laid eyes on another world… or to set foot on one, as he would soon do. This was the experience of a lifetime!

Skywalker, Obi-wan, and Leia followed Han to the front of the Falcon – the cockpit, Skywalker reminded himself – and to an eye-popping view. A great sphere of glowing blue and white filled his vision, silently beautiful. As he continued to stare the swirls of white that streaked the globe's surface shifted gently, like smoke wafting from a campfire. And surrounding both this magnificent sphere and the Falcon was a panorama of infinite blackness studded with the gleaming gems of stars.

"That's Alderaan?" he breathed.

"Yes, Skywalker," Obi-wan replied. "We will be landing shortly, I presume, Solo?"

Han nodded. "Give me a minute."

Skywalker couldn't tear his eyes away. "It's so big!" He reached out his hand as if longing to touch it. "Why is it blue?"

"That's water, Skywalker," Leia explained.

He turned to her with a wondering expression. "You have that much water on Alderaan?"

"Yes, we do." She placed a hand on his arm. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

He continued to gaze upon the planet. "Where are the suns and moons? I don't see them..."

"Alderaan doesn't have any moons," Leia explained. "We only have one sun, and it's behind us at the moment."

"No moons? Then who guards your people at night?"

Han gave him a strange look.

"Keep your comments to yourself, Solo," Obi-wan suggested. "He cannot help his ignorance."

"Ignorance?" Skywalker repeated, taken aback.

"The Tuskens have learned much about Tatooine," Obi-wan replied, "having traveled its surface for thousands of years. However, their knowledge of the worlds and space beyond Tatooine... that is another matter."

"What do you mean?"

"The Tuskens see the suns and moons as godly figures," he explained. "They give them sentience and personalities, believing them to be givers and takers of life, deliverers of justice and vengeance, and bestowers of gifts and visions. Those you term outsiders, however, have learned that the suns are, in reality, simply stars that the worlds revolve around. The moons are smaller worlds, if you will, that revolve around worlds. They do provide light and life to worlds to a certain extent, but they have no intelligence, no life."

Skywalker stared at Obi-wan. "That can't be right. What about the ceremonies to honor the suns and moons? What about the visions the suns grant? What about the night-demons the moons repel?"

"The visions you speak of come through the Force, and I have found that the acts the Daughters of the Moons perform at ceremonies are also the work of the Force. As for the night-demons... many species have an instinctive fear of the dark, and so they conjure up evil spirits and monsters in their minds to fill that darkness."

He leaned back against the wall, stunned. No all-powerful suns and moons guided his life? No spirits answered the calls of the Daughters of the Moons? All he had been taught to believe... was a lie? Bad enough that Obi-wan had revealed his true lineage as an outsider – now he had completely unraveled the beliefs that had made up his life for the past eighteen years.

"Enough, Kenobi," Leia told the old Jedi. "He looks like you hit him with a prybar."

"He needs to know and understand the truth, Princess," Obi-wan replied.

"Yes, but you don't need to dump it all on him at once." She clasped Skywalker's shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"I... I don't know." He gazed helplessly at his sister. "I suppose..."

Chewie howled, making Skywalker nearly jump out of his skin.

"I see it," Han retorted, his voice grave. "Whatever it is, it doesn't look friendly..."

Skywalker, Leia, and Obi-wan looked up at Han's comment. When they caught sight of Chewie's find, Skywalker gaped in awe, Leia paled, and Obi-wan wore an expression of dread.

A dull-gray sphere had emerged from the darkness behind Alderaan, much smaller than the planet but still massive compared to the Falcon. It hung over the gleaming blue world like the cold eye of a predator, silent and oddly sinister. Skywalker felt a chill grip him as he stared at this menace, and his skin crawled.

"The Death Star," Leia whispered.

"That's a star?" he inquired.

"It's a space station," Obi-wan replied gravely.

"It's too big to be a space station!" protested Han.

Cold fear exploded in Skywalker's gut, driving the wind from him as surely as if he'd been punched. Horrid pictures danced across his eyes – searing green light, burning rock, the faces of a vast multitude crying out in horror and pain... an outsider ship caught in the outstretched arms of the inferno, melting in the intense heat, its occupants dying in torment...

"Get away!" he cried without thinking. "We have to get away now!"

Obi-wan staggered, as if he'd been struck by the same horrific blow that had stunned Skywalker. Then he regained his balance. "Han, get this ship away from here. Fast!"

"What's going..."

"Do it!" The Jedi wore an expression of fear for the first time Skywalker had seen.

Han began to protest, but a roar from Chewie shut him up. He whirled the ship around, and it began screaming in the opposite direction.

A flash of green at the edges of Skywalker's vision...

A wave of energy seized the Falcon and shook it brutally, throwing the occupants violently around. The ship cartwheeled helplessly through space as the horrific explosion propelled it farther and farther away. Alarms sounded in the cockpit, systems screamed for attention, warning lights flared...

Pain swamped Skywalker's senses, the pain of a world dying... and the pain of his sister's soul.

Leia! was his last thought before striking his head on something and blacking out.

Break...

Wind-Dancer fell to her knees, gasping, the basket of cactus fruit she'd been carrying falling to the sands and its contents scattering. Pain... suffering... death... fire... terror... a world shattering... an outsider ship tumbling through space... a cold sphere of metal gliding through the stars...

Sky-Walker...

She forced herself to her feet and ran the rest of the distance to the Temple of the Moons, forgetting the fruit entirely. Her legs still trembled beneath her, but she would not slow her pace. Star-Thief had to know this! There was danger to her brother, and quite possibly to the tribe...

She flung back the tent flap to find chaos. The Daughters of the Moons should have been preparing themselves for the coming ceremony, but instead they were quivering with fear wherever they stood or sat. Some had fainted from the shock; others huddled together like frightened children, crying. A young priestess had collapsed right at the door of the tent, and Wind-Dancer hurriedly bent to help the whimpering Daughter to her feet. Star-Thief herself leaned against one of the support poles, one hand over her heart as she gasped for air.

"Eldest Daughter!" exclaimed Wind-Dancer, running to help her.

Star-Thief waved her away. "I'm fine, Wind-Dancer. It's not my heart; it's my spirit. Something dreadful has happened."

A deep moan, like the echo of thunder, issued from a corner of the tent, and the two women turned to see Vader slowly rise from his pallet, where had fallen in a fetal position. He, too, had felt the strange premonition that had swept the encampment, and it had affected him just as much as it had the priestesses.

"What happened?" moaned young Cloud-Chaser. "Was it a spirit passing through?"

"No," Star-Thief replied, straightening and scraping her dignity together. "A vision."

"But I thought only Sons of the Suns had visions..." protested Cloud-Chaser.

"The gift of vision is their specialty," Wind-Dancer replied. "But they are by no means the only ones who can see visions. The Black One saw it too, you will notice."

"Do you think the Sons saw this as well?" asked Storm-Chaser, struggling to sit up.

"Of course they saw it," Star-Thief muttered. "But they'll use it to either curry favor with the chief or whip the tribe into a frenzy, not help Sky-Walker."

Storm-Chaser moaned, clasping her belly. The other priestesses rushed to her aid, laying her back and ensuring she was comfortable. With child by one of the dragon hunters, she wasn't due to give birth for another moon, but the sudden vision could very well have sparked labor prematurely. Wind-Dancer made sure her friend and her child were in no danger before going to the Black One.

Vader knelt on his pallet, hands resting on his thighs, his gaze seemingly fixed on a blank spot on the tent wall. When Wind-Dancer approached, his gaze moved to her.

"The pregnant woman... she will be all right?" he inquired.

Wind-Dancer nodded. "The fright of the vision must have reached her child. There is no danger of the baby coming too soon, however."

He nodded. She caught the briefest glimpse of another woman, this one outsider and also carrying a child, before his mind closed off from her view.

"How many Tuskens will see this vision?" he inquired.

"Only the Sons of the Suns and Daughters of the Moons," she replied. "The other tribes might sense the death, but not the danger to Sky-Walker, as he is unfamiliar to them. Our tribe will know that danger faces one of our own... but I sense you know more about this vision?"

"I do... but you would not understand it."

She squared her shoulders back, a challenging gesture. "Try me."\

Vader took the challenge. "The Death Star, a space station with the power to destroy a planet. It was still under construction when I came to Tatooine, but I can only assume it is now complete and operational… and has been put to use."

She nodded. "An outsider ship with the power to kill a world… that has already exercised that power," she noted, and she felt an irrational pleasure at seeing him stare at her, startled that she knew what he was talking about.

He recovered quickly, however. "Luke was not on the planet when it was destroyed. I feel his presence still."

She nodded slowly. "All the same… I do not like this."

His gaze now moved to the tent flap. "How soon can I leave?"

She thought on that a moment. "Give me a few hours to make preparations. You cannot simply ride out of camp, after all, with the tribe after your blood."

He nodded. "Two hours."

"It will be done." She turned to Star-Thief. "We have to get him out of here. With this newest vision of Sky-Walker in peril, the tribe will want more than ever to ensure the 'night-demon' is dead."

Star-Thief nodded agreement. "It's only a matter of time before they storm the tent demanding proof of his death. I agree with you; he must leave soon. The question is how."

Wind-Dancer glanced over at Storm-Chaser… and felt a sly grin cross her lips beneath her veil. "I have a plan."