A Falcon On Dantooine
The Avengers first came to the Galaxy three years before I was born. Their arrival would greatly impact the Clone Wars, which had begun months prior. They have greatly shaped my life as well. They were always a great inspiration for me growing up. But most importantly, they would impact the life of my father, Anakin Skywalker. If one is to truly understand the effect of these heroes, we must start at the beginning. All records show that the then Falcon, Lieutenant Sam Wilson, was the first one to arrive. Everything begins with this particular Avenger on the world of Dantooine.
-An excerpt from The Fight for Justice, by Luke Skywalker
Sam groaned in pain. His entire body hurt. It was like he had fallen from a large height and hit the ground hard. Sam opened his eyes to see vast rolling hills of grassland.
Where the hell am I? Europe? The Midwest?
Then the aviator remembered what Dr. Selvig had said just minutes earlier.
“Oh my god…I’m on an alien planet…Son of a bitch.”
This was bad. This was very bad. He reached for his earpiece and attempted to call his teammates. “Cap? Rhodes? Anybody?” There was no response.
Fear welled up inside of Sam. He was alone. He was alone on an alien planet, in another galaxy. He knew that when he joined the Avengers they’d face dangerous situations…but this was not what he expected.
His mind was racing so fast, he didn’t even know someone was behind him until he heard the sound of a branch snapping. Sam whirled around drawing his submachine guns. Only to see that it was a young boy. He couldn’t have been older than ten. The boy stepped back from Sam, in fear.
Realizing there was no immediate danger, Sam put away his firearms.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you there,” Sam said calmly and slowly, while raising his hands up in a non threatening manner. The boy seemed to calm down.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Sam. Listen, can you tell me where I am?”
“You’re just outside my parents farm.”
“No, I mean, what is this place,” Sam gestured everywhere. “Where in this…galaxy am I?”
“Oh! You’re on Dantooine!”
Dantooine. It wasn’t much but it was something.
“Where’s Dantooine?”
“The edge of Republic Space. Why are you so confused? Did you crashland here?”
“...Sort of. But what’s the Republic?”
The boy blinked. “You don’t know what the Republic is?”
Sam shook his head.
“Do you know who the Separatists are?”
“No. Can you explain, please?”
“My parents would be better at that. We should get inside. The Separatists are invading the planet.”
An invasion? Well that’s just great. Just my luck that I landed in the middle of an active warzone.
Sam’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of explosions and blaster fire coming from the other side of a hill. Before he could launch Redwing to scout the area, the boy ran in that direction. Sam, not wanting this kid to get hurt, quickly followed him. What they saw on the other side made Sam still.
There was a full blown battle between two different armies. One side appeared to be men wearing white armor. The other was made up of robots. These robots were tall with bulky upper bodies and arms, but had skinny legs. They were covered in dull silver plating.
Sam didn’t want to just turn a blind eye, but this wasn’t his fight. This was a war he knew nothing about, and it wouldn’t be smart to get involved.
That’s when he saw a robed man in the distance fighting the robots with what looked like a laser sword.
Curious, Sam zoomed in with his goggles to get a better look. When he saw the man’s face, he swore he looked like-
“Fury?”
Without missing a beat, Sam unfurled his wings. The kid stared at them open mouthed. Before the Avenger left, he turned to the kid and said, “Stay here.” Then the Red Falcon flew into the air, making a beeline for the man that resembled Fury.
Mace Windu cut down B2 battle droids left and right. After destroying the ones surrounding him, he charged at some marching in his direction. The droids fired upon him from their wrist mounted blasters. Windu deflected the blasts and sliced through them with ease. He lept high into the air, and landed in the middle of multiple droids.
As he continued to destroy his adversaries, a DSD1 Dwarf Spider Droid aimed at the Jedi's back. Before it could open fire, it was suddenly ripped to shreds a number of bullets.
Windu turned around to see a man with large metal wings flying in the air, gunning down B2’s around him. The Jedi was surprised by this stranger’s appearance, but he wasn’t complaining. The aviator seemed to be fighting on his side, and that was enough.
Mace leapt to rejoin his men, and landed right in front of them. The winged combatant followed him and gave the Clones cover fire from above. The Republic forces continued to fire on the droids when their enemies stopped all of a sudden.
The Clones ceased fire, puzzled by this action. Sam flew high into the air to get a better view, and saw what looked to be a ship that resembled a building slowly floating towards the battle field. Everyone was dead silent as it reached the center. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the ship dropped a gigantic metal cylinder like it was a press in an assembly line.
The ones that weren’t crushed were flung into the air, and pushed hundreds of feet by the artificial winds. The impact had also created a massive crater, and the survivors were sliding down its edges.
The ship moved in for another attack. The Clones in the crater shot at the hovering menace, in an attempt to survive. Sam flew around the ship, firing his submachine guns at the hull, but he wasn’t making a dent.
The ship struck the ground again, killing many Clones in the crater. The dust cloud caused by the impact stretched beyond the crater’s end. Mace Windu, who was just outside of the crater, was flung several feet. The force of the impact made him drop his lightsaber. He stood up just as the dust cleared. The Jedi found himself surrounded by numerous battle droids.
The B2’s aimed their wrist blasters at him. Windu’s eyes moved to his right. Then to his left. He outstretched his right arm and unleashed a massive force push on his surrounding enemies. Many didn’t get back up. The ones that did, fired upon the Jedi. Mace quickly dodged the attacks, and charged right into the droids.
Using the Force to enhance his blows, Windu fought the droids with his bare hands. They were breaking into pieces from punches.
It was at this point that Sam realized that this was not Fury.
He does look like him though.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, the Red Falcon returned his attention to the enemy ship. He pressed a button on his goggles and scanned it. Tony had updated them with that feature after he joined the team. The command bridge’s location was shown on the lenses. Sam smiled as he flew up to it.
The B1 battle droids inside didn’t see the attack coming. The window shattered as Red Falcon dived through it wings first. He landed on his feet and shot up the room. The pilots fell to the floor in pieces. All but one.
There was one droid left, cowering. “Ahhhh! Please don’t hurt me!”
Sam aimed his guns at the droid. “Move this ship away from those men!”
“I can’t do that. It would be against my programming-” The aviator fired a shot past the droid’s head. “Ahh! Alright, I’ll do it!” The droid hastily moved towards the controls and piloted the ship away from the battlefield.
After a minute or so, the droid stopped. “Is this good?”
“Perfect.” Sam fired upon the controls and flew out the window.
The Avenger landed on the ground at a safe distance from the crashing ship. One second after his wings retracted, the Separatist ship combusted in a massive ball of fire. The Clones cheered at the sight. Windu, who had recovered his lightsaber, walked towards this stranger.
“Thank you for the help. But who are you?”
“Lieutenant Sam Wilson. The Red Falcon. And I think we need to have a long talk.”