Sorry this took so long, I had a major writers block and didn't know where to continue the story. Not too sure how consistent I can be from now on, but I'm not ditching this story any time soon. I hate it when writers leave a story unfinished and it would be very hypocritical of me to leave it unfinished.

Happy Late May the 4th lol

I'm not too sure on how long the story will be, it will most likely end at the celebration on Endor in Rotj

Chapter 7:

Anakin awoke to the sound of his com link, it was blaring throughout the men's quarters. Luckily for him he was the only one there. He was still on the transport ship, sneaking past the Imperial blockade on Tatooine. Anakin grabbed the device from his utility belt and answered:

"Skywalker here, what's the situation." His voice sounded coarse and rough, like sand.

"General, the Alliance commanders wish to see you on the bridge." The Lieutenants voice went through Anakin's ear and out the other.

"So there's not a situation?"

"As far as I'm aware, no s-"

"Then let me sleep.." Anakin said before deactivating his com and lying back down on his bunk. His mind was being ravished with nightmares of the Empire, especially Vader and now the inquisitor. Anakin was awoken from a peaceful sleep and only wished to get back to it.

A few minutes passed where Anakin was able to catch up on some sleep, he never needed a lot as he would be woken up early to aid Watto when he was a slave. And in recent years, Anakin had to wake up early to go on assignments from the Jedi council.

Then Anakin's mind began to wonder, it was no longer a dreamless sleep.

Anakin's mind drifted into an empty abyss, it was full of different shades of white and chrome. Clouds soared endlessly above him. The air was filled with a clear white fog, one that only slightly obscured his vision. Through the fog, a figure approached, wearing a full black Jedi robe, his hair dangled down toward his shoulders. A scar pierced the right side of his face. Anakin was staring back at himself, however this version of himself was unfamiliar to him. He looked more worn down, more tired and on edge. What also caught his attention was how mature he looked. They shared the same grin, even with the different experiences.

From the corner of his eye, he could see the ice white clouds turn to ash black. The once smooth and silky white sight turned to darkness. The figure he was just watching stepped back into the alluring fog. Anakin was alone once again...

Suddenly, a raspy mechanical breathing filtered in Anakin's head. The commanding sound of robotic footsteps stamping on the ground was all Anakin could hear, that and the chilling respiratory device. A new figure entered Anakin's frame of vision, it was Darth Vader...

Anakin jolted out of his bed, he immediately grabbed his lightsaber and ignited it. The blade hummed, filling the deafening silence within the quarters. There was nothing, no Vader, and no threat. Anakin deactivated his saber, maybe now would be a good time to speak to the commanders. There was no way in hell he would be able to get back to sleep now.

On his way to the bridge, numerous rebel soldiers saluted him, it was an odd occurrence to say the least. As he entered the bridge, he saw the desert planet of Tatooine, his home. He also saw the vast amount of Imperial Star Destroyers, they were extremely similar to the Republic Star Destroyer, however less colourful and far greater in size.

On the bridge, a holomap stood in the middle of the sleek black room. Numerous rebel officers and commanders stood around said table. They all turned their attention to Anakin, who was looking quite worse for wear.

"General Skywalker, we are breaching the Imperial blockade. However, the nearest settlements are in imperial occupation and we cannot land, we need your input."

Anakin stated blankly at the holomap, it was planet-side if Tatooine, he could see all the nearest towns and cities. The original plan was to dock at Mos Eisley and use the local slums as an underground base. That was off the table now however.

"Theoretically, we could jettison the escape pods over Mos Eisley, splitting up Imperial forces. This would give us time to move our supplies and troops to the dune sea, we could set up a temporary base there." Anakin spoke optimistically, in all honesty there wasn't a high chance of this working.

"Sir with all due respect, the dune sea is a barren wasteland, not to mention in the open..."

"That's why it's perfect, by looking at the coordinates of Mos Eisley and Mos Espa, we are able to locate the midpoint between them. It just so happens that any life form without the necessary equipment would succumb to the scorching heat that far from any civilisation. And I don't know about you, but I don't think the Empire equips their troops with extra water and a cooler."

"Very well General, we shall follow your plan." The rebels surrounding the holomap saluted Anakin before dispersing.

It took less than a few hours until they were in the upper atmosphere of Tatooine, the heat already seeping through the durasteel ship walls. Anakin stood on the bridge deck, pacing up and down impatiently, he hated returning to Tatooine. However if R2 deemed it necessary, he would trust him. At the rear of the bridge, the blast doors opened, revealing an R4 courier unit. They discretely moved toward Anakin before stopping a mere 2 ft in front of him. A crystal blue hologram appeared from its sensors, revealing the plans for the base, drafted by R2. Anakin studied the plans thoroughly, not wanting any mistakes to unfold.

"That seems about right... commander, contact your troops and have them be prepared. If we want to succeed we'll have to do this now." Anakin spoke with authority and determination, he wasn't going to be the reason the Empire caught them.

"Very well General." The commander replied "Bravo one, you are cleared for phase one."

Numerous escape pods were jettisoned from the transport, all crashing down with thunderous might. Anakin watched as the pods started to burn and crash into Mos Eisley, the trajectory of said pods allowed for zero casualties, but yet extensive damage. When all the pods had crashed into the town, it lured all enemy Tie Fighters to search for damaged imperial tech and casualties. Without a moments hesitation, the transport went full throttle, it's speed increasing terrifyingly quickly. It only took an hour for the transport to arrive at the base location, it was surprisingly secretive with monstrous desert dunes obscuring the skyline. Rick formations were scattered across the sand like sea.

The transport landed with a thud, shaking everyone to their knees, except from Anakin who had been expecting the rocky landing. It didn't take long for rebel troops to start offloading supplies and equipment off the cool ship and into the scorching hot rays of the twin suns. Within minutes, the base was already starting to take shape. Only temporary tents and canvas would be put up, there was no need for unnecessary waste of supplies. A barracks was constructed under a large canopy of silk and cloth, water reserves and wells built to keep the air humid and under 30 degrees.

Anakin was aiding in offloading munition crates and blasters, there was always a risk of sand people ambushing them. That and also the risk of the Empire striking back at them. It would be a long couple of weeks, the Alliance needed to send at least two squads to set up on Hoth and get the facility in shape before moving everyone there. Anakin would feel complied to stay, when he left last time it almost resulted in the destruction of the Alliance and death of Luke. When Luke arrives on Tatooine, it would be one of Anakin's first priorities to train him as a Jedi.

A few hours would pass, the remaining transports were a day away from Tatooine minimum. The blistering hot sands of Tatooine were slowly becoming colder as the twin suns fell. The scorching heat within the air turned into a cool breeze. Fires were set up around the base, at least ten troopers at each. There wasn't a sound heard beside the crackling of fires and the laughter of the rebels, everything was peaceful.

However, not everything was calm, Anakin could sense something was off. It was never this quiet on Tatooine, at least since Anakin became a Jedi and had his senses dialled to eleven. Usually you would hear the critters and crawlies of the dune sea, maybe a speeder at times. But there was nothing, whenever there was a deathly silence, nine times out of ten it was Tusken Raiders stalking their victims. Anakin's last run in with the Sand people was less than awful, they had killed his mother and he had slaughtered their entire camp. They were animals...

Anakin sat on his knees, they dug into the now ice cold sand. He began to meditate deeply, as if he was in a deep sleep, it was all he was focusing on. For around an hour, nothing was wrong. It seemed that all was fine and just rather a quiet night in the dune sea. But Anakin's experience told him otherwise. Suddenly, Anakin's gut twisted and turned. He sensed a faint presence, sneaking and creeping close by. It was soon followed by two more similar presences, and then in a matter of seconds, Anakin could sense over fifty lifeforms. They all had the intention of violence, anguish and death.

Anakin immediately jumped out of his meditative trance and ignited his saber, he couldn't see anything just yet. Numerous rebels all turned towards him, they were completely shocked and stunned at Anakin's dramatic display.

Anakin stood there for what seemed like an eternity, he could sense a foul presence, one that reminded him of his mothers killers.

"Sand people, get everyone on alert" Anakin spoke with authority and anger, it was clear he wasn't messing around.

Com chatters echoed through the the camp, blasters all around were raised and pointed directly at where Anakin was looking. There was no noise beside the silent hum of Anakin's saber. Until...

A red beam of light barrelled down towards Anakin, with a single stroke of his blade, the blaster was parried back toward the assailant. A gut wrenching groan echoed throughout the barren wasteland. Suddenly several more blaster shots were directed toward not only Anakin, but the rebels aswell. The worst thing about this attack, no one could see the Raiders, they were ambushing with the clear intent of not being seen, or even heard.

Anakin blocked all the attacks with significant ease, he tried his best to cover any rebels near him. Everyone started to scatter toward more cover, Anakin was left alone in the open field of blaster fire. Anakin used the force to sense the whereabouts of the Tuskens, at least twenty of them had their blasters firing upon him. In one swift motion, Anakin threw his lightsaber toward the force signature, jumping away from the line of fire and behind a barrel. The guttural sound of the blue plasma blade hitting the Tuskens was like music to his ears. Ever since they killed his mother he had a hatred for them, but he also regretted his actions ever since.

Suddenly, all the Tuskens began yelling frantically, repeating the same phrase over and over again. Loud footsteps began trampling away from the base, the echoes of the Tuskens screeches still booming.

Anakin raised his mechanical hand above his head, almost immediately his saber returned. Anakin noticed a slight trace of blood on the hilt and immediately wiped it off. The rebels left their cover and began chasing in the direction of the screams and shouts, leaving Anakin and only a few troops behind. Only a few casualties took place, medics were able to resuscitate most wounded rebels, but not all of them.

The casualty mark was around five. And Anakin felt sorely responsible. However before he could blame himself, a rebel officer approached him, a data pad in his hand.

"General, the party that chased down the Tuskens were able to translate some of their dialect. It turns out they were repeatedly screaming something along the lines of 'angry ghost' and 'Demon'. Do you know if the Jedi of old had any quarrels with the sand people?" After the officer finished his sentence, Anakin's mind began to fluster. Memories of the slaughter that had took place crept up in his mind once again. It seems as if a Tusken survived his onslaught, and traveled the dune sea to spread message of this demon. Anakin felt a tremendous amount of guilt.

"n- no. No I don't think they did. At least to my knowledge, the lightsaber may be a paranormal occurrence to their culture, but yet again I can't say I qualified top of my class about the culture of the sand people."

"Very well sir, the remaining transports are around 26 hours out, I suggest we send out patrols to survey the area and ward off another attack."

"I agree. Send them out in no less than groups of 10. I want a regular curfew of an hour, if a team doesn't come back then we send two teams after them." Anakin knew that the best way to deal with Tuskens was large numbers, they usually only picked on the vulnerable. It was also key that they left no man behind.

"Yes sir we'll get on it right away"

Anakin went with one of the patrols, of course they found nothing but that didn't stop Anakin from being cautious, last thing he wanted was to get bushwhacked again. The party had been out for 40 minutes and had started to head back in order to meet the curfew. It was a cold night, one that could even cause hypothermia to those unfortunate. Anakin kept glancing up toward mountain formations and cliffs, he swore he could see a figure illuminating a blue glow, an old man with a bleached white beard. But as quickly as he saw him, he disappeared.

All the parties returned from their patrols, the only thing that was missing was someone's food rations, better than losing a head. The next rotor of troops were preparing to go on patrol, everyone was rather tired and started to head toward their respective quarters. All except Anakin, who knew he wouldn't be able to get any sleep. So, instead he decided to meditate, it would rest his eyes and allow him to sense any oncoming threat. It was practically a dreamless sleep, or at least it used to be...