The Rising Darkness

.

.

.

A/N 1:Alternate Universe Story. This is a sequel to my "Suns Among Stars" trilogy. You don't have to read that first, but some things may make more sense if you do.

.

.

A/N 2: I do not own Star Wars.

.

.

Prologue:

The day was a sunny one, and two parents watched their little boy as he played innocently in the sand box at the community park. Duro wasn't their first choice for a place to hide, but it had been better than many of their alternatives.

Not that it was saying much, in Merida's opinion. The park could barely be called that, squashed as it was between the tall and somewhat imposing buildings that made up much of this part of the city.

They weren't on the planet itself, as much of the surface had been destroyed years ago, leaving the air relatively un-breathable for many species. Instead the Duro species had built orbital cities in which most of their population dwelt.

Only the lowest of the low were sent planetside to eek out an existence among the barren wastes.

She peered at the domed sky above, noting how the architects of this massive city had managed to mimic the day-time sky using specialized equipment. And though the sun was still natural, the blue sky was man-made.

"Mama, Papa!" their son called from where he was in the sand. "Look at what I made!"

Merida managed to plaster a smile onto her face as both she and Colton Vrei— her husband— stood to go see what their four-year-old wanted them to see.

"What did you make, Big Guy?" Colton asked as Rahvin beamed up at them from the ground.

Their child was a budding artist, even at his tender years, and he took every opportunity to practice his growing skills. Already the child was a natural with the stylus, and his drawings, while not perfect, were still rather advanced for someone of his age.

Of course, with as much as their family had been on the run in the boy's remembered life, the child had not been able to make steady friendships, and thus had turned to his art as a form of escape.

As for the boy's parents, they were nearing the end of their limits of what they could take. They were tired of being on edge, of looking over their shoulders and constantly wondering if their hunter would catch them this time around.

"I made a nexu Papa!" Rahvin informed his father happily, pointing to the fingered lines in the sediment.

"That's really good, Son." Colton bent down and gave the sand drawing due attention while Merida kept an eye out as usual.

She hated feeling so exposed, being so out in the open, but Rahvin had begged them endlessly to go play at the park, and finally his parents had agreed. Merida considered her child, feeling the growing resentment over his... Force powers strengthen.

Their lives had been completely normal and happy until it had been discovered that their son had a potent talent for using the Force. Rahvin hadn't done anything wrong except to attract the wrong kind of attention to himself, and thus his family. They'd been on the run ever since.

Colton and she had had many a late-night conversation about it, and she knew her husband felt the same way, but they didn't know what to do with the child.

At one point in Colton's examination of the drawing, Rahvin looked up and Merida tensed when his gaze unwittingly went to an alleyway not too far off. Merida followed his gaze, knowing that look all too well.

And sure enough, there in the shadows, barely noticeable save for a flash of two white lekku, was the one hunting them.

"Colton!" Merida hissed, and he looked to her, confused until she pointed out their find.

He paled and scooped Rahvin from the sand. "Time to go."

Rahvin, sensing the seriousness of the situation through his parent's emotions— he had seen this shadowy person before— hunkered down in his father's embrace. "Papa, who is that? Why are they always after us?"

Colton and Merida shared a tight-lipped look, and yet remained silent, not ready yet to tell the child.

They hustled to their speeder, which was parked apart from any others, and as they moved to enter, a sudden chill in the air made their skin prickle. Swallowing hard, Merida and Colton turned around to find their huntress standing mere paces away.

The Twi'lek woman stepped forward with a sure, steady gait, and lifted one white hand to point at the adults. "I sense your frustrations. Thus I will give you a choice: give me the boy and live, or die trying to take him away again."

Merida and Colton stared at her for a long minute, during which the woman remained silent and waiting. As for Rahvin, he whimpered and tried to hug his father tighter... but Colton sighed and stopped the child's motion.

"No Rahvin." Colton's voice was both resigned and laced with the resentment he'd been holding back. "Go with the woman."

Rahvin's head whipped around, eyes wide. "Wh-what?"

Merida, grinding her teeth, helped pry the child from his vice-like grip on the man's shirt. "Let go, Rahvin."

"No!" Rahvin cried. "Why do I have to go with the scary lady?"

"Because you don't belong with us!" Merida snapped. "You're some sort of freak of nature! You and your cursed Force powers! We don't want them, and we are tired of being on the run because of you!"

Rahvin's eyes widened even more with an immense measure of hurt, and his lip trembled. "Y-you don't want me?"

Merida turned her head away. "No. Not anymore."

Rahvin sniffled and turned to Colton. "P-Papa?"

Colton at last got Rahvin off of him and he set the boy down, only to have the child try to wrap his arms around his father's leg. "Go with her. Now."

And with that the parents turned away, a white hand snapping out to grab the boy by the collar as he tried still to follow.

"Mama, Papa!" Rahvin cried, tears streaming down his face as they walked away while he was dragged to who-knew-where. "Don't leave me!"

But they didn't answer him, never looking back as he struggled, arms outstretched for them. He sobbed harder when their vehicle started up and they steered away.

"MAMA! PAPA!" Rahvin screamed after them, but then his head was covered with a heavy sac, after which Rahvin was picked up by an invisible hand and carried away.

He continued to struggle and cry, but the woman did not relent her hold on him until at some point— it seemed like forever to the child— she set him on his feet. He heard her knock on a door and soon after it was opened.

Rahvin was shoved inside and only when the door was shut did the bag get removed from his head. Disoriented, Rahvin stumbled into the woman, who looked down upon him in a way that sent chills down his spine.

"This is the boy I need you to... condition as we discussed previously," the woman told a burly man with dark hair and a mean face.

"When will you be back for him?" the man asked in a gruff voice, and Rahvin saw a boy slightly older than him appear around the man's legs, with a blond-haired woman not far behind. They all looked at him with disdain, but the boy actually smiled nastily at Rahvin, who shied back.

The woman looked to Rahvin, who was still crying and shaking in fear and hurt. "In a few years. I need him good and broken down."

"Then that's how you'll receive him," the other responded.

Rahvin didn't know what was going on, but nor could he get his legs to work to try escaping. Besides, something told him the woman wouldn't allow it. But he did speak just as the Twi'lek woman and the man shook hands.

"Who...who are you?"

The woman gazed upon him for a second and then turned away. "Your future master."

And with that she was gone, leaving Rahvin alone with the family. The man approached and leered down at him. "And I'm Byrec. Welcome to our home, runt."


Chapter One:

Many years later.

"Uncle Han! Uncle Han!"

Luke Skywalker laughed as his twin children Ben and Emry Skywalker tackled their favorite uncle to the ground. He'd tried to keep them somewhat calm, but upon seeing Han after being let into the Solo residence, their excitement bubbled beyond their control.

"Hey you little rascals!" Han growled playfully as he pounced upon the pair of children with tickling fingers. The ten year old's giggled and squirmed until they finally got free of the man's reach, at which point their elder sister chuckled and offered a hand to the man.

"I guess they're happy to see you," Shmi Skywalker remarked with a smirk. "It's not like it hasn't been a week or anything."

Han chuckled and accepted her hand, standing and ruffling the young woman's onyx hair affectionately. "Well, they do have good taste in people."

Shmi grinned, ducking away to trade playful punches with her uncle before they embraced warmly. "I'm always happy to see you too, Uncle Han."

Han kissed her head lightly. "And you're always welcome in our home, Sweetie."

Shmi smiled and then broke away when Leia Solo appeared. While Han and Luke greeted each other, Shmi moved to her aunt.

"Aunt Leia!" Shmi embraced the woman, who smiled warmly and held her close, though she pulled away and shook her head at the teen.

"Seventeen... and you get more beautiful each time I see you."

Shmi blushed. "Thanks Aunt Leia."

Leia looked around. "Where's your mother?"

"Here."

They turned to see a heavily pregnant Mara Jade Skywalker slip through the entrance, and Luke took her arm, helping her to sit on the sofa. Mara blew out a breath and flashed grateful smile.

"This one's got my ankles swollen like a Hutt." Mara complained, but everyone present knew of the great love the woman held for her unborn child.

Leia moved to sit next to her sister in law, and the women chatted while Shmi sought out the source of the playing noises coming from the bedrooms down the hall.

She poked her head into the first room on the left and smiled at her cousin, making room for Ben as he entered the space. "Hey Asher!"

The brown-haired boy looked to Shmi with chocolate eyes, waved, and then went back to his game. "Hi Shmi."

Shmi eyed Ben, who had now positioned himself next to his seven-year old cousin to watch him play, and gave the pair a loving nudge in the Force before she sought out her other cousin.

Carmi, a nine year old with lighter brown hair and her father's hazel eyes sat with Emry, both of which were now engrossed in child-appropriate books.

Shmi knocked on the doorframe, got a huge grin from Carmi, and met the girl halfway to exchange a hug.

"Shmi!" Carmi exclaimed, squeezing hard. "I'm so glad to see you! Look at my new book!"

Carmi led the teen over to the bed, and showed her a new book that was about ships and vehicles around the galaxy. "Someday I'm going to be a mechanic and pilot like you and Dad! I want to fly my own ship, but I have to learn all I can about them first!"

Shmi laughed, examining the books pages with open interest. "Well, this is a good start, but you also have to do well in school, got it?"

Carmi nodded seriously. "I am! And I will!"

Shmi handed the book back and sat next to her cousin. "Have you practiced any of the Force-exercises Luke taught you?"

Unlike Asher, Carmi was Force-sensitive, and Luke had offered to give the child lessons whenever she was ready. In the mean time, he'd set some exercises for her to perform so the girl could manage her powers without having uncontrolled outbursts as she got older.

"Yes I have. I want to learn the Force too, but I don't know if I'm ready to be a Jedi." Carmi looked down self-consciously.

Shmi frowned at her demeanor and tipped her chin up. "Hey, no one is going to force you into that life, Carmi. If you choose it, then we will teach you. Not before. And if you choose not to become a Jedi, that's fine too."

Carmi smiled gratefully and nodded.

A knock on the door drew their attention, and all three girls looked up to see Han in the doorway. "Time for dinner, Ladies."

The girls cheered, washed up and then sat at the table. The seating took a few minutes because all the cousins vied for position nearby an aunt or uncle. Eventually all were seated in agreeable locations and the meal began.

Leia looked to her own twin and spoke as she spooned food onto the kids' plates. "So how are your students doing Luke?"

Luke smiled. "Very well, all things considered."

Luke and Mara had started finding children who had Force potential. They had then begun teaching those wanted to learn to control their powers or become Jedi. So far there were three classes of students, separated by start-date and age, though only a few were as old as Shmi and had enough training to achieve Knighthood. The rest were either beginning, halfway there, or in another stage of accomplishment.

A few Knights of the Old Order who'd managed to survive the Purges had come out of hiding to assist. Luke had welcomed them openly, though he'd made it clear that the old ways would not be entirely enforced.

Attachments were not forbidden, and some of the other old Code laws had been changed or relaxed as Luke and Mara had felt necessary to ensure a fresh start for the New Jedi Order they were establishing.

"That's great to hear," Leia replied, smiling softly. "Did you get those lightsaber parts you needed?"

"Yes, we did." Luke nodded his head. "Thanks to Lando."

And so the conversation continued, covering a range of topics as the meal ran its course, laughter and teasing mingling among the voices.

When the meal ended, the younger kids all vanished to play while the adults and Shmi retired to the sitting area to talk of a more serious matter.

Once everyone was settled in, with Luke rubbing Mara's back for her, the talking began.

"Has anyone seen the latest Holonet news?" Leia began, her face drawn and tight. "The Rising's fleet just attacked Ord Trasi, one of the old Imperial ship-building sites."

Luke nodded grimly. "Yes. Vexa stole old Imperial files, and even got away with one of our freighters before the Republic's Third Fleet arrived to fight back."

"No one saw it coming?" Mara asked in mild disgust. "We should have been protecting our resources."

"But, Mara," Leia countered. "No one has been able to predict her movements enough to beat her to a target. She seemingly hits sites at random."

The Rising had appeared out of thin air five years previously, and had started their rise to fame by attacking many of the Republic's major resource centers, including the planet that produced most of the galaxy's food: Tanaab.

"But they can't be all that random," Mara answered. No voices were raised in heated debate: the group was simply talking out the latest war news. "Look at what they've hit so far: Ord Trasi, Tanaab, Mon Calamari, and other well-known manufacturing sites. Resources. They're after our resources, or at least trying to damage ours so they can get a one-up on the Republic."

Leis sat back, considering the other's logic. "You're right. But even knowing this, how do we know where to protect next? What will they go after next?"

No one could answer that, and a heavy air settled upon them, one which Han tried to lighten by changing the topic.

"Shmi, we leave in the morning," Han informed the young woman. "You've got all your things packed, right?"

"Yes, Uncle Han." Shmi shifted, looking to her parents. "Are you sure I'm ready for this?"

Luke and Mara exchanged a knowing glance, and then both nodded at her. "You are."

Shmi sighed nervously. "I just don't want to mess up my first solo mission."

She was going with Han to Socorro, where they were to pick up a delegate who wanted to have a Jedi ensure safe passage to Coruscant. Luke and Mara, as well as the other Masters, had discussed it and asked Shmi if she would be that Jedi.

The young woman hadn't hesitated at the time, but now that the mission was right on her doorstep, she was beginning to wonder if she'd spoken too hastily. Sure it should be a simple mission, but it was one that would show if she was ready or not for the responsibilities of a full Jedi Knight. And Shmi knew that simple missions weren't always what they appeared to be.

Luke rested a hand on her shoulder since she sat nearby where he could reach. "Sweetie, you will do wonderfully. I trust you, and I believe in you as I always have."

Shmi closer to hug him. "Thanks, Dad."

"Trust the Force, and your gut." Mara added, clasping Shmi's hand firmly, lovingly. "You've never let us down, and you never will."

"Even if I botch this mission?" Shmi worried.

"Even then," Mara promised. "No one is perfect."

"Except me." Han hooked a thumb to his own chest, sitting back confidently. "I'm as perfect as they come."

Amused snorts were had all around and Leia shoved her husband's shoulder. "Nerf."

00000

Several hours later, early in the morning, Shmi embraced her father in the hangar bay where the Millennium Falcon rested.

"I love you, Dad," Shmi murmured, resting her head on his chest.

Luke's arms tightened around her. "And I love you, Shmi. You make me so proud: all the time. You won't disappoint, alright?"

Shmi pulled back, standing slightly upon her toes to kiss his cheek. She was about an inch shorter than her father, and she didn't think she'd be growing anymore, but her stature didn't bother her in the slightest.

Shmi was confident and capable, and her nerves were merely a product of the knowledge that she might be Knighted after this mission.

Luke caressed her face in a fatherly manner, and then pulled something from his pocket. "Here."

Frowning slightly, Shmi took the small box. "What is it?"

"A gift." Luke smirked wryly, and Shmi rolled her eyes.

Shmi untied the bow and then pulled off the lid... and gasped to see a small japor-snippet necklace within. Her eyes watered to see the twin suns of Tatooine shining on the farm they'd both grown up on.

The home where their family had begun: the destruction of which had spearheaded Shmi and Luke's adventures away from the homestead. Shmi thought of her Aunt and Uncle Lars, and how she missed them, recalling how Beru had always been so kind, and Owen had never spoken harshly to her.

Shmi turned the pendant out of curiosity and saw an etched silhouette of an adult and a child, hand in hand. Luke and Shmi.

She sniffled, feeling a few tears slip down her cheeks as Luke lovingly took the pendant and clasped it about his daughter's neck for her. He then took the snippet in his palm. "So you never forget where you came from."

Shmi placed her hand under his. "I could never forget."

Luke smiled at his eldest, and they embraced again. Luke pulled back and kissed her forehead. "Be safe, Shmi."

She wiped her face dry and tucked the snippet under her tunic. "I will be. See you when I get home."

Luke backed up to a safe distance as Han fired up the engines. As the ship lifted from the deck, Luke waved farewell, and stayed in place until the ship's engines had vanished from his view.

(A/N: Some of the original characters and their back story etc... were co-created with me by AngelDesaray for a storyline we co-wrote. She has agreed to my use of them here, though the characters' personalities and back-stories aren't completely the same. But I am giving shared credit where it's due.)