Seras little snippet thread

"I'm home!" I called out as I came rushing out of the hangar. I was covered in dust soaked into my clothes. The suns had long since started setting, and on top of that, I smelled.

But as Aunt Beru came around the corner to see me, all of that was pushed aside as she gasped in shock and then delight at what I had come back with.

"Is that?"

"A big chunk of sand whale!" I chirped confidently, pushing my nose to the sky as I held the massive chunk of fish.

"Where, what? Luke! Come on boy let's get that processed before it goes bad!" Aunt Beru decided, laughing in delight all the while as she waved me to follow her into the kitchen.

I laughed back, our voices entwining the love between us singing through the air as I chased after her, and soon only after I was smacked with a wooden spoon for not washing up, was I standing beside her, helping her cut the fish and store it away.

"What's that I smell? Luke?"

"Uncle Owen!" I offered cheerfully, and he took one look at my mussed appearance and then to the hunk of sand whale meat and spoke in that so natural deadpan of his. "Did it swallow you?"

"Nope! It's a long story!" I offered, intending to not explain why I was coated in sand in such an odd way. Saying I had gotten wet, would be as mystifying as if I said I jumped into the stars…

Hmm. You know, wasn't that a thing, the Loth Wolves did that. Walk Between.

I shook off that thought, Probably not a good idea to play around with that idea. As I had experienced with the Dune Sea, going in between was possible, but not safe.

"Alright I've got this Luke go clean up. You too Own, I'll need to do some work for dinner." Aunt Beru offered and I grinned, because we were totally having fish for dinner.

Considering how rare such a thing was? It would be a definite delight for everyone.

"Hmm. Luke you first. Don't forget to scrub behind your ears."

"Yes Uncle Owen!"
I hurried out of the kitchen grinning as I headed for the sonic shower. Not quite as pleasant as an actual shower, but needs must.

—--

Baked whale and Tubers was super delicious.

But then again I loved everything Aunt Beru cooked, because it was all made with the most important secret ingredient of all.

Love!

I shot the woman a happy smile, and her eyes crinkled up in delight as she took a bite of her own dinner.

So it was the perfect time to prep the next part of the plan.

"I'll need some time tomorrow to go out."

"No." Uncle Owen said instantly, the moment his mouth was clear.

"I know I need to do some work Uncle Owen, and you've been really nice. I appreciate after I messed up and got grounded that you even let me fly again… But I have something I have to do. I'll be gone most of the day."

"Doing what?"
I licked a bit of the fish taste off my lips. "I found an old ship in the desert. I'm going to pull some parts off it, I need to do it before the sand covers it again." I didn't like lying, but this was the truth… From a certain point of view.

"A ship?"

"An old one. Sand blew off it, so I don't know how long I'll be able to… Please?" I kept my eyes locked on Uncle Owen. If I looked to Aunt Beru, he'd think I was trying to get her to argue for me, and he'd double down. But if I could get her to offer her own opinion without me begging her…

"Fine. One day. After your morning chores."

"Yes! Thank you Uncle Owen!" I cheered that made things, no it made everything easier. I'd have gone without permission, but I'd have come home to another maybe more permanent grounding.

I relaxed into the atmosphere, my path now set before me. Everything was as it should be, and as I laughed at Aunt Beru's teasing wink at Uncle Owen, I felt nothing but the Hope for the new day in my heart.

—--

I was off nearly before the suns even rose. Uncle Owen gave me a look as I carried a full bag of tools and equipment into the Skyhopper, but my answering grin was enough to let me off with a roll of his eyes.

I had done my tasks already. I'd set an alarm and woken up super early just so I would have the whole day.

The Great Mother alone was going to take a long time to help.

Then I was off, the sky cooler than I was used to, but the suns rose, and warmth on my back sent me straight towards my goal.

As I arrived I had to whistle. There wasn't much left of the sand whale. Enough still sure, but the Great Mother had really gorged herself. As I landed nearby I could feel the sand shift. Her hazy attention, satiated, and if not yet entirely hopeful, at least no longer drowning in despair, had noticed me.

I brushed against her before I even stepped out of the T-16, feeling her awareness lock onto me, with an intensity and a hunger.

She still wasn't quite sure what to make of me, I realized.

I grabbed my stuff jumping onto the already searing hot sands and trudged over to the cave that had already half filled with sand once more, just with a single night. Yet… Sliding down into the cave was much easier. The darkness that had pooled and filled until it was strong enough to drown was now a shadow of its former strength.

But not gone.

Likely never gone. Not here, not on Tatooine. Not after all the horrors this world had suffered.

But, as I stood at the bottom of the path, my feet crinkling in the glass floor I took a breath in and out.

The source of the darkness no longer fed it, or at least had banished most of it away.

She just needed… It was weak enough. I raised a hand, gripped and dragged.

Like throwing open a curtain on a dingy room the shadows were banished and the sun flowed down bright and strong.

She flinched from the sudden lightness, despite it not being a visible light. It wasn't actually brighter, I had just pulled the shadows to the side, to reveal the truth beneath.

That this wasn't some dark deadly cave, but one she had once felt was good enough to be her nest.

That there was nothing to fear here. Everything was visible in the dim light.

"I'm Luke Skywalker, I'm here to rescue you." I say to my own personal delight to the Great Mother.

Sure she wasn't a Princess, but Queen of all Krayt Dragons still gave the saying a bit of gravitas.

My feelings were conveyed, and in turn I felt the slump as the great dragon simply lowered her head.

A huff of foul air blew past me, and I nearly stumbled just from that.

Okay that was probably fair, but also kinda rude. I scoffed, and headed closer.

"Just need to get this door to unlock." I muttered. Staring at the massive hangar doors that had slammed down cutting into her flesh and pinning her down.

I popped the light I had brought with me, and after a minute pinned it to the loop in my jacket. Now I had a light pointed forward so I could still use my hands.

The force was a path to many abilities, but it was a better multiplier of other tools than a tool in its own right. I moved forward the path laid out before me, as I climbed up the bottom hangar door, and then into the ancient ship. First I'd need to get these doors to unlock, then either open them through the mechanisms, or open it with the force.

I found the first control panel buried under a pile of sand, and I instantly knew this was going to take a lot of work. I brushed it aside, and pulled out my tools. Buttons didn't work. So I popped open the panel, and pressed a power sensor to the nodes. Dead as a doornail.

I pulled some batteries out of my pocket. Time to work some Skywalker magic.

—--

It took six access panels, and cutting through part of the wall, to access the hangar door locks to finally get them ready to disengage.

Unfortunately, this came with a problem. One lock left, and the moment I released it, the door would release… Letting it close even more.

The door would come down. She would die. This I knew. This she knew.

So I had reached the end of where normal tools would get me. Not unless I could get main power to this ship working.

I could. I definitely could, but not today, and I simply didn't have the time to get power running on a ship like this.

I connected to the last lock behind the wall, I would have to cut it directly to get it to disengage. The only way I could access it was to literally sit on the bottom hangar door.

I stared up. The door hovered over me, a literal sword of damocles.

Yet, despite the chance of literal death hovering above me I felt no fear.

She did. I could feel it sick and poisonous, as she could feel the danger. The force spoke to her, just as it did me.

The darkness had returned after time, and while it was clinging to her lightly, only illusions and faint shadows it was still there.

I settled cross legged on the teeth of the Hangar door. One hand stuck into the hole in the wall. For this… I would need to be more. I'd never done such a major action before, and I couldn't mess up.

Do or do not. Lives were on the line, mine and the Great Mother. Meditation. I had to be utterly in tune with the Force. Something I'd…

I rarely let myself go truly deep. There was worry that if I went too deep something, or someone might notice.

Do or do not.

I would do. I breathed in, and out.

Then again.

Then, there was no Luke. The Great Mother breathed in.

And the sands breathed out.

The wind breathed into the cave.

And the suns exhaled out.

All things were connected.

Not just that which lived like the Great Mother.

Not just that which had no life, like the sand itself.

Not just the great suns that released their energy in endless explosions of power.

It was not Midichlorians. That was simply a simple way to compare how connected one was to the Force.

And honestly a terrible comparison even then. Darth Plagueis. Thought he could create Force sensitives by controlling Midichlorians.

How short sighted he was. How unable to see that which stood right before him. How all Sith were.

Asteroids crashing together in the distance, the small asteroid belt around Tatooine breathed out.

The worlds spun around the twin suns, their gravity sucking and endless breathed in.

Size matters not.

We were not these bodies of flesh and blood. We were luminous beings. Interconnected yet separate.

I listened, and could hear the faint noises of the past, and future. My attention shifted. My mind had thought of Plagueis and so that is where I was.

I heard Plagueis whisper his vile plans to Sidious, heard that evil fool plot his master's murder in turn.

Ah, there was darkness there. Tempting, offering secrets. I waved, and the secrets were muddied, like a pristine pool showing a reflection of the events now becoming muddy and indecipherable.

No one would need that poison reaching for them. I had no interest in that vile practice.

I was the Force, and the Force was with me.

It was then I realized I had gone too deep. My eyes shut didn't hinder my sight, and I realized embarrassed I sat cross legged not where I needed to be, but in the place between. The world Between worlds. All because I had thought too deeply about something silly.

I breathed in, and exhaled, back on the ship. Never having moved, and yet having traveled endless lengths of time and space.

What was this hangar door, when compared to the strength of the asteroids? To the power of the suns? To the distance between things and yet, as connected as all things were, there was no distance at all. Time? Space? These were concepts of the body, and not of the Force.

There was no Death, only the Force. It meant more then even the Jedi truly realized. How could something die, when it's all connected forever?

There was a drum beat. Not in my ears, but the sense of the past.

Tusken, the old Tusken after the destruction of their world. They had their seers, their shamans. I could hear them. Whisper the secrets of what they saw in the force.

Of Skywalker, a faint future Hope. They thought him a Messiah, the balance bringer.

They spoke of my father, I thought for a moment, but then I realized it wasn't so.

I heard a thousand thousand voices cry out. Tens of thousands of years of force sensitives born on this planet alone. Looking to the future, looking for Hope.

"Help us."

"Save us!"

"Skywalker!"

"Hopebringer!"

And I heard it. My eyes were closed, but I stood before them. In huts on the sands. Before fires as they danced. I heard their questions. Their pleading words. Their desperate need. Their simple wonder.

I was there for it all.

I answered what questions I could. I offered what hope I could for their pleading. What strength I had for their needs. A smile for their wonder.

The drums of some build up rapidly. A tempo that grew until it matched the heartbeat of Tatooine herself.

Not just the Dune Sea, but the planet. The beat was the crashing of long forgotten waves.

The hammer of rocks falling down steep hills. Of sand rushing across dunes.

My sound. My heart beat.

I was Tatooine. Thriving with life and surging in power. Ocean flooded and wondrous to behold.

I was Tatooine. Long dead, and reborn in sand and sun a solemn world with dark undercurrents.

I was Tatooine. Opening my eyes as my heart beat once more. Sand and sun, and yet, there was no death.

Only the Force.

I moved my hand, the lock disengaged, and yet the hangar doors did not move an inch downward. Instead, slowly they retreated. I pushed the massive slabs of duralloy all the way back, the cry of pain as the metal pulled out of the Great Mothers wound, hurt, but was necessary, and then without effort as the hangar doors were pushed into place, the duralloy buckled and bent. Crushed in a mimicry of my own clenched fist.

The hangar would never again close.

Tatooine opened his eyes.

"Well that was tough." I exhaled, then yawned. It took a minute as I stood up, my legs asleep. Hangar doors were not a comfortable seat, and my butt hurt.

I looked over. Where the Great Mother looked down at me, unmoving despite her regained freedom.

There was no shock. No fear. Instead simply understanding.

We had been one, and would always be so. The Force connected us, and even she could grasp that.

She was safe, she knew, this would be a fine nest for her from now on. Yet she shifted even so, reveling in her regained mobility, in the way her body no longer crushed could stretch and shift.

And I had to curse and jump away as she moved. Pushing her massive bulk out of the hangar, blasting through the sand like it was water as she surged forth.

Her roar shook the entire cavern and I quickly hid deeper inside just to keep the glass ceiling from landing on me.

And then, I winced as I held a hand up to my eyes. The bright light of the Tatooine suns bore down through the much larger hole leading to the surface.

Well… That was my good deed for the day.

I breathed in, and out, and the final fading shadows of darkness. The sickness of her hopelessness was banished away as the wind swirled around.

The force calmed, and balance was restored in this tiny sliver of Tatooine, yet all things are connected, and this tiny sliver was part of a whole.

I bent down to pick up my tools, even if I enjoyed it, I couldn't spend all day daydreaming. I found everything and soon was staring at the entire reason I had come here. I didn't need to go through the airlock outside the ship anymore, and instead could work through a more internal door.

I sighed, and started pulling another control panel open.

—--

Getting through the first door took a while, and that led to a long hallway, then the next door took a while, which led to an internal mess hall from what I could tell.

Then the next door took a while.

Anyway, time continued to slip away even as I dug deeper and deeper into the ship. I could feel the suns shifting overhead, and there was no way I could get away with coming home after dark.

Finally I pulled open a door, and came across what I had been led to.

The bridge.

I went silent. I had found bodies already. Mostly ancient clothes that had long since rotted away.

But…

I closed my eyes, and then looked.

"The stabilizer is out!"

"I know, I feel it!" The voices shouted out. I could hear them. The voices of the ancient past.

"Can you land her?"

"Oh that's not in any doubt." The voice said almost charmingly, but I could hear the truth, and so could the other side.

"You know what I mean. Alex?"

"No. We're coming in too hard. Damage is too great. I'm sorry Faer."

"There is no death. Only the Force." She whispered back, but I could follow she turned to look.

"Will it be safe?"

"I'm sure I can land her so she doesn't come apart."

"Then do that. The Order will recover the-"

I looked towards what she had been focusing on. It was a case. Stuck in crash webbing, to keep it from jostling too badly, and an ancient skeleton in a robe wrapped around it.

It was important to her. Enough to protect it with her dying breath.

But…

I felt nothing but sympathy. It had never been found by the Jedi at the time.

And now the Jedi were gone.

There was no Jedi order to hand this over to.

Take it. Begged the ancient ghosts. The woman was there, cradling the case. Her green eyes met mine.

Take it. It must go to the Jedi! The War! It could change the outcome of the war!

I reached out, and touched not the case, and not bone, but flesh.

"Have hope. Your task is done. I will hand this to the Jedi. You have my word."

And then it was done. The bridge was empty beside me and old corpses.

I reached out and gently took the case, and pulled it away. I held the heavy thing and was about to leave, but as I steppedm my foot came down on something, and I yelped as my feet rolled out from under me, and I ended up slamming back first into the solid floor.

"Ow." I wheezed the air knocked out of me, as I just lay there for a while, the heavy case in my arms not helping as it slammed into my chest as I fell.

Ow.

Why didn't you warn me? I asked the sand and sky, and only got a sense of impishness.

You were going to leave before you were done. What else did you think would happen? The sand mocked me as it wormed its way into my ear.

I groaned, finally able to get myself breathing normally again but decided just laying here on the ground was a better idea than struggling to my feet.

Sometimes you just needed to accept that the floor was where you lived now.

After a few minutes I started feeling okay and slowly sat up. What had I?

Ah, of course.

I had planned on just leaving them, but I guess they wanted to come too.

I climbed to my feet and walked over and grabbed the stupid thing.

"You really want to come with me, and not just stay here?" I asked, and the warmth in my hand told me the plan. "Fine. I'll get the other one too." I grumbled, and searched around. Finding the other still attached to the belt on the other skeleton in the room.

"I'll take care of it. I promise. They'll go to the Jedi." I told the long dead body and grabbed the Lightsaber.

Two lightsabers dangling from my belt, I grabbed the case and headed out.

I looked up and winced. I'd probably be late… But I needed to see Obi-Wan. The faint wisps at my side, of the ghosts of two Jedi smiled and vanished.

The walk out of the cave took a bit, and it was a relief to see my T-16 hadn't been damaged when the Great Mother had left. I could feel her still, in the distance, her face now open once more to be written by the sand and sky.

She noticed me, and for a moment regardless of the distance she was there. Looking down at me.

Then we split. She had her path, and I mine.

—--

I landed slowly, and popped the hatch. To my relief the old man came out of his little cave hut, and I took a bit longer grabbing the case, and dragging it out with me with some difficulty, so that he met me, and helped me pull it free.

"Young Luke. Hello there, I was hoping you would come soon. What is-" And Obi-Wan went silent as he looked down at the emblem on the case.

The old Jedi symbol emblazoned across it in ancient paint that while faded, still showed clearly.

"Hi Obi-Wan. I've had the craziest day, and the Jedi ghosts really wanted me to hand this to a Jedi… So you want it?"