Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Star Wars, other than Aurora. It all belongs to the bearded genius in flannel. As this is based on the book, some of the dialogue is taken verbatim from Shadows of the Empire. That belongs to Steve Perry and George Lucas. I do not intend any copyright violation and am not making any profit from this.

A/N: Sorry about the delay in updating…and I was doing so well too. But I finally finished my Master's and am now teaching four college classes, so I've been a little busy with syllabi and grading papers and planning lessons, etc. It's hard work, dang it. Not to mention all the workshops and conferences and luncheons I have to attend.

Hopefully once the school year gets a little more underway, I'll have more free time and can get this baby finished. And then move on to Jedi….

With the throttle opened up all the way, it didn't take long before they reached the edge of Beggar's Canyon. Luke paused on the rim, looking down for a moment, just to get his bearings.

"We're going in there?" Aurora asked over his shoulder, raising her voice above the noise of the engine.

"Yep. Beggar's Canyon."

Aurora looked past him at the turning, twisting canyons cut into the yellow sandstone. There must have been a lot of water on Tatooine at one point to carve this elaborate maze. She'd heard enough stories from Luke about his flying adventures here to be too worried, but it had been a few years since he was last here.

"Can you still do it?'

Luke turned his head to grin at her. "Like shooting womp rats!"

His infectious grin had an answering one pulling at her lips, and if it also caused her heart to flip a little, then that was something that was just going to have to be dealt with later. "Okay, Commander. You do the flying, I'll handle the bladework."

She ducked back down behind him and Luke hit the retros, sending them over the edge and into the towering canyon walls. He risked one swift glance behind him at the oncoming swoop gang and smiled savagely.

Welcome to my territory.

The first stretch was called the Main Avenue and ran nearly straight before pretty much dead-ending in a right turn they called Dead Man's Turn, which was pretty apt. If you didn't gauge your speed correctly, you'd end up a dark smear on the canyon wall.

Luke, with the ease of familiarity, managed the turn with no trouble. The swooper behind him wasn't so lucky; he didn't slow enough and the fireball that occurred when he hit the wall was spectacular.

There wasn't time to turn and see if the others made it through. The next stretch was a sort of elongated zigzag which narrowed down in the middle. It was necessary to keep directly in the center or you'd get scraped off on the walls.

Aurora had her head turned, watching behind them for the rest of the swoop gang to appear. They could always get high enough to watch them from above, but then they would be too high to catch up with Luke and Aurora. And there were a number of overhangs that they could simply hang out under and never be seen.

Aurora thumped his shoulder. That meant the gang had appeared. Some of them must be pretty good to have caught up this fast. Pretty good or pretty stupid.

Luke smiled maliciously. One way to find out.

Time to thread the Needle.

The rock formation that locals called the Eye of the Needle was a tall narrow spire with a jagged slot through the center, lined with equally jagged teeth-like rocks. It took serious concentration and not insignificant skill to go through it at any kind of speed.

Luke gunned the turbojets and took off.

They made it through, although a sharp tug at his shoulder let Luke know he'd been a little closer than he would have liked; one of the rock's had been close enough to tear his shirt.

The rider directly behind them tried to hit it at the same speed, but wasn't good enough.

An echoing boom and a wave of heat swept over them as they continued down the passage.

That made five down, seven to go. It was going to get a little chancier from here on out. Compared to the Needle, the rest of the run was relatively easy. If the swooper gang made it through, they might be able to catch up to them.

Aurora must have had the same thought because he felt her let go of his waist with one hand and saw her lightsaber come up on his right.

At that moment, there was a shout from behind them.

"He's got help! We ain't gonna win this one, Spiker! Let's burn!"

Confused, Luke turned to look.

Above and behind them, there was another swoop falling silently towards the biker gang. Its engines were off and its rider, shielded behind a full helmet, was shooting a blaster continuously at the swoopers. He wasn't hitting anything, but he was certainly distracting them. Just in time, he hit the repulsors and the swoop hovered to a stop, only a handspan above the ground.

Luke's jaw dropped at the performance, but he heard Aurora mutter something about showing off.

The swoopers obviously agreed with Luke, because they took off as one man, scattering in a wave of displaced sand and grit.

The newcomer guided his swoop over to where Luke and Aurora sat on the idling swoop, casually pulling off his helmet to reveal a familiar face.

"Rendar!" Luke said, amazed. "What are you doing here?"

Dash shrugged. "Saving your butt from swoop scum, it looks like."

Luke felt a frisson of irritation skitter along his spine, but he ignored it. "You know what I mean. Why are you here?"

"Well, here's the thing, Leia – she's a hot package, that one – Leia kinda wanted me to keep an eye on you until she gets back."

The irritation burst into full-blown anger. "She what?"

"Ease up, you'll blow a fuse. No big deal."

Luke turned the full force of his glare on the woman seated behind him. "Did you know about this?"

Aurora looked irritated, but he had a feeling it wasn't directed at him. "No. Leia didn't tell me she was sending Rendar. If she had, I would have told her not to bother." She cast a disparaging glance at the other man.

"Guess she didn't think you were up for the job, babe." Rendar said snidely.

Aurora's hand clenched at Luke's waist, but before she could unleash her temper on Dash, Luke was speaking.

"Listen, pal, I don't need a baby-sitter!"

"Oh, yeah, you coulda taken those melloons all by yourself, right?"

"I wasn't doing so bad."

"No, you're right, you weren't. But you were gonna lose."

Luke reined in his temper as much as he could. There was no point in getting into a pissing contest with Dash Rendar. The man would never admit to being less than the best. He personally couldn't stand the man, but he had helped them out, and he was right, it would have taken extreme good luck for them to beat the rest of the swoop gang by themselves.

Swallowing his pride, he muttered a reluctant, "Thanks."

He felt Aurora's surprise behind him, but she didn't say anything, probably fully aware of the blow his pride had just taken.

Dash, on the other hand, had no such qualms. "Excuse me, I didn't hear what you said."

"Don't push it, Dash." Aurora snarled.

The older man grinned at her.

Luke quickly changed the subject before his passenger leaped off the swoop and turned Dash into another casualty of Beggar's Canyon.

"Any idea who these guys were?"

"Jabba's men. I recognized their patches."

Luke glanced at one of the bodies behind him. He knew that shoulder patch had looked familiar. Jabba the Hutt's boys. They must have been hired out.

"I was in Mos Eisley, kinda….hanging around, when I heard them talking. They had orders to kill you."

"I think we figured that out, thanks." Aurora said dryly.

Dash looked at Luke. "Vader is no longer your number one admirer."

Luke turned away at the mention of the name. "He never was."

"If it's him behind it." Aurora interjected. She still had her doubts about that, despite what everyone else seemed to believe.

Luke was looking far too pensive for her liking, and she nudged his shoulder. "Come on, let's get back home and out of this heat."

He shook himself and reached for the ignition. "Right."

"Hang on." Aurora caught his arm. "Who says you get to have all the fun? I want to drive back."

Luke turned his head to find her grinning at him. "Have you ever driven one of these?"

"Nope, but I learn fast."

"Hey, babe, if you want to learn how to ride, I can show you." Dash called.

Aurora gave him a withering glance, but otherwise ignored the insinuation. "I'm sure. But I want to learn how to do it right."

Luke couldn't help the triumphant grin he tossed at the other man, and he climbed off the swoop, allowing Aurora to scoot forward on the seat, then swung his leg over to sit behind her. If Dash hadn't been sitting there glaring at him, he probably wouldn't have snuggled up quite so close behind her, but having to thank Rendar for saving them still stuck in his craw and he couldn't resist needling the man.

"Okay, here's the throttle. This is the clutch and the retros…"

Aurora was right; she did learn fast and it was only a few minutes before they were zooming off, Luke clutching tightly to her waist and trying not to enjoy too much the feel of her sitting tightly between his thighs.

Dash kept pace with them, occasionally calling disparaging remarks about her flying towards them, but Aurora ignored him.

Luke could feel her thrill at the speed and power of the swoop and when they cleared the last of the canyons, and she gave him a wicked glance over her shoulder, he tightened his grip, knowing what she was going to do.

Dash was left in their dust as she suddenly opened the throttle fully and hit the turbos, Luke's laughing whoop floating back behind them.