REPOST; Planet of Darkness

["JDMeans" <Jim_D_Means@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Okay, I'll try it again. I noticed some important chunks of dialogue missing from the end of this story. So I'll try it on a different mail server. Let's see if it works.

Disclaimer;

This story is predominantly the child of my brain, but is based on concepts created by Joss Whedon and George Lucas, and owned by Joss and Mutant Enemy, and Lucasfilms, respectively.

Rating;

PG-13. Deals with two women in love. You cool with that? No? Then don't read any further.

Archives;

Just let me know first.

Feedback;

Puh-lease! Jim_D_Means@xxxxxxxxxxx

Summary;

A Jedi Knight and a Correlian scoundrel discover their shared destiny on a planet suffused with the Dark Side of the Force.

Author's note;

No, I didn't accidentally mail this to the wrong list! It is Buffy/Willow. Sorta, kinda. You may call it Uber-Buffy. Just crank up the John Williams soundtrack and let 'er rip!

Words in << >> are spoken in an alien language.

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Planet of Darkness

Written by Kirayoshi

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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

More than five centuries before Anakin Skywalker undertook what would become the road to domination by the Dark Side of the Force, before his son Luke would begin the journey to his destiny as the first of a new breed of Jedi Knights, the Skywalker lineage was favored by the Force. This is the story of an offshoot of that mighty line, a young and virtuous woman named Willa Sunrose, who would pursue her own special destiny. Trained to become a Jedi Knight under the tutelage of the learned Mon Calamarian Jedi Gy'les, she would embark upon her own quest, to defend the Old Republic against the unimaginable evil of the Sith. And in doing so, she would encounter one in whom the Force was equally strong. One who counterpointed her every weakness and complimented her every strength.

One who would prove her true soulmate...

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Episode 1

"A Jedi Craves Not These Things..."

"Long you have labored, Willa Sunrose," the elder gnome-like being intoned to the hooded young woman as she kneeled before the Jedi Council gathered in their chamber on Courscant. The entity holding a willow wand over her head smiled as he completed the ritual. His eyes gleamed with wisdom, his posture spoke of humility, his voice cracked with unshakable authority. "No more training do you require; know you all that you need to know. Worthy you have proven yourself. Rise now, Willa Sunrose. From this day forward, a Jedi Knight you are."

The young Jedi lifted the hood from her head, revealing the closely cropped, flaming red tresses from which she derived her name. "I thank you, Master Yoda," she bowed in supplication, "and hope to prove myself equal to the task set before me."

Yoda smiled upon the young woman. "No doubt you shall, child. May the Force be with you." The eldest and most revered member of the Jedi Council hobbled back to his seat, as Gy'les, the Mon Calamarian Jedi who had served as Willa's Padawan, smiled at her.

"You have honored me, child," he declared stiffly, yet his huge yellow eyes glimmered with emotion.

"I am the one who is honored," Willa replied to her mentor. "You have taught me well, Master Gy'les."

"And you have taken your lessons to heart, young Willa." He took her small hands in his claw-like ones, and nodded serenely toward his charge. Willa smiled, happy at the trust that her mentor had shown in her.

"Now, then," Master Yoda continued, "New business, we must attend to. Mistress Windu's reports of the outer rim, disturb me badly they do. Much evidence of Dark Side interference." He motioned for the regal looking dark skinned woman sitting next to him to continue her report.

"Indeed," Talas Windu announced, "One of the planets of the Outer Rim, Suun'dyl, has sent us several dire messages. Evidentially, an artificial worm-hole has opened within the planet's orbit, and there are reports of many terrible creatures walking the planet at night since the worm-hole opened."

"And is it the general consensus that the worm-hole is directly linked to these visitations?" Gy'les asked.

"That seems to be what the populace of Suun'dyl thinks. They have taken to calling the worm-hole 'the Mouth of Darkness'. And several Jedi who have passed the system have reported sensing a high degree of Dark Side activity."

"Could this be a plot of the Sith?" asked another Council member.

"It is possible. In any event, it bears looking into."

"I would recommend a small scouting party," Gy'les suggested. "Two Jedi, to ascertain the level of threat."

Yoda nodded, "Agreed, Jedi Gy'les. "Do you volunteer?"


"I do, Master Yoda."

"I would accompany my paduwan, if he would have me," Willa suddenly spoke. Gy'les nodded his massive fish-like head toward his pupil, silently indicating that he would welcome her assistance.

Yoda smiled at the newly-named Jedi. "So eager are you, young one?"


"Only eager to serve, as a true Jedi," Willa answered.

"Then it will be so," Yoda answered. "Jedi Gy'les and Jedi Sunrose, go you will to Suun'dyl."

The meeting soon adjourned, and the separate members of the Jedi Council left to attend to their own affairs. Gy'les approached his young charge and asked, "Are you certain that you are up to the potential challenge? There could be a great deal of risk involved in traveling into the frontier planets of the Outer Rim."

"Master Gy'les," Willa answered serenely, "There is risk in waking up every morning. If I as a Jedi were to flinch from every danger, or every setback, then what is my purpose in joining the Jedi Knights in the first place?"

"I am only concerned for your own welfare, child," the usually gruff Mon Calamarian observed. "Your parents have charged me with the responsibility to see to your welfare. I don't take that responsibility lightly."

"Hey, you guard my back," Willa said, patting the light sabre handle that hung from her coarse cord belt, "and I'll guard yours."


"Very well," Gy'les agreed. "We had better be on our way. We must first make sure that the Vigilance is fully stocked and ready for flight. We leave for Suun'dyl tonight."

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The Mon Calamarians have always taken pride in their starship construction. They regard their ships as works of art, as much as vessels of transport. The Vigilance is one such vehicle. Its trademark rounded exterior surfaces mark it as Mon Cal design, as opposed to the jutting angles and flat surfaces preferred by so many other spacefaring species. The Vigilance is a durable ship, and has served as Gy'les personal transport for many years with distinction. 

Willa Sunrose finished taking inventory of the ship's supplies. A full compliment of foodstuffs, full fuel tanks, adequate drinking water, two speeder bikes, additional supplies, first aid equipment, spare components should the Vigilance need repairs, all neatly put away in their place. 

She smiled as she noticed that Gy'les had remembered the speeder bikes. She always harbored a secret passion for fast land vehicles. As a teen-ager, she had tinkered extensively with her old landspeeder, shaping that archaic fossil of a vehicle into a distance-eating machine. She had even surprised her friends by successfully charting the infamous Beggar's Canyon on Tatooine, the world where she had lived before being sought by Gy'les, to become a Jedi.

As much as Yoda had chided her over the years about her reckless nature, it was still very much a part of her. "Adventure, excitement," Yoda would say. "Pah! A Jedi craves not these things!"

But it wasn't about mere thrillseeking, or at least that's how Willa saw it. It was about pushing herself, bettering herself, exceeding her limits in body, mind and spirit. She had done that much by learning about the Force, by applying these teachings to her daily life. Becoming a Jedi was the most important thing that ever happened to her. It gave her soul, voice and function. It became a way of life that she would gladly dedicate herself.

So why did she feel as though there was something missing? Some vital component to her being, some missing piece. Something was not there. And ever since she discovered her sensitivity to the Force, she had been keenly aware of that loss. 

She put down the inventory list, knowing that it was complete, and chose to meditate on her sense of loss. Rather than let that loss control her, she sought to control it. She sat in a lotus position, relaxed herself completely, and attuned her mind to the Force.

After several seconds of peaceful meditation, the sudden visions hit her like a tidal wave. She fell backward, physically stunned by the sudden clarity of her visions. She shook herself out of the meditative trance, and stood up. As she collected her thoughts, she heard a hatch open.

"Willa?" Gy'les asked as he rushed in, concern coloring his gruff voice. "I felt a disturbance in the Force, that seemed to be concentrated on you. Are you well, child?"

"I'm fine, Master Gy'les," Willa answered shakily. "Nothing to be alarmed about, I just had a vision of the future. A rather vague one, but..."

"When did it happen?" 

"Well," Willa began, recalling the chain of events. "I had finished inventorying the supplies, but I felt an uneasiness. I couldn't quite define it, so I chose to meditate on it. As I was in my meditation trance, I saw the vision."

"What did you see, Willa?"

"A person," she remembered. "A woman. My age, more or less. Yellow hair. Blue-hazel eyes. Thin, pretty, with a great confidence about her. That's all I remember. But I feel as though she is important to me. That she is someone that I need to know, that I need to trust. And I know somehow that our paths will cross. Soon."


"It is good to trust your feelings in this matter," Gy'les counseled his charge. "The Force has sent you this vision, and clearly it will send this person to you. Trust the Force, child."

"I do, Master," Willa answered, smiling warmly. "The Force sent me here, didn't it?"

"Indeed," Gy'les laughed lightly. "Now, let's get underway. We have a mission ahead of us." The two Jedi prepared to embark on their assignment to Suun'dyl.

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"Xander?" The grubby woman shouted from the repair hatch of her Correllian freighter. "Get your tin butt over here!"

"Right away, Buf," XNDR-12, an old but still serviceable explorer droid, responded with its usual laid-back charm, its tank-like treads conveying him to his mistress. The XNDR series was designed to aid surveyors, explorers and pioneers to uncharted worlds. As such, it combined the best features of an astromech, a repair droid and a pack mule, and the linguistic capabilities of a protocol droid. A dull silver plated chassis, propelled by tank treads, with a human-like torso jutting out of the top, with two arms and one head, that carried an AA-1 Verbobrain processor. 

The previous owner of XNDR-12 had programmed it with a more relaxed personality than most protocol droids, so Xander, as Buf Somars called him, had a tendency to crack jokes and behave in a casual manner. At times Buf had wanted to give Xander a memory wipe, but at heart, she found that she rather liked having his company on long trips.

This trip was longer than most. She had picked up readings of an undiscovered planet near the Outer Rim, one that could support colonization. Her employers would pay her handsomely to chart this world, so that a new group of colonists would have a new home. However, her ship, the Slayer, had to choose that particular moment to blow a fuel line. She had to land on the nearest planet to effect repairs, and it would have to be Tatooine. Not only one of the less hospitable planets in the galaxy, but the home of the Hutt Cartel. Three times since landing on Tatooine, she had been forced to work for a particularly unsavory Hutt named Snydaa, in order to afford parts to repair the Slayer. Those parts proved to be defective, and she found herself owing Snydaa more than she could afford. She tried to break this vicious cycle by avoiding any Hutt, but Snydaa had been more than just a little persistent.

And about this time, her dreams started. Dreams of a young red-haired woman, whom she had never met. There was a serenity that colored her features, and a sweetness in her smile that made Buf's heart beat faster. When she caught sight of those deep green eyes, Buf thought that she could fall into them, and never emerge. Great, she thought angrily, I'm falling in love with a dream!

But this dream lover, she beat any of the real lovers she had known over the years. Mostly one-night stands, no meaningful relationships. Buf's job as a surveyor wouldn't leave her time for anything more lasting. But this red head. There was something about her. Some force, some destiny, was trying to pull them together. She knew it. But she couldn't understand it.

"Uh, Buf," Xander's tin-like voice interrupted her reverie. "We've got company."

"Let me guess," Buf poked her blonde head out of the repair hatch. "The esteemed Snydaa the Hutt?"

"The one and, thank the Maker, only," Xander quipped. "Shall I translate for you?"


"No, you'd only edit what I have to say. Besides, I've been on this dustball enough to pick up some Huttese. I'll handle Grease-ball." She stepped out of the hatch, brushed off her coveralls, and approached the fat slug.

<<Buf Somars>> the Hutt greeted her with mock civility.

<<Your Ugliness>> Buf answered, not even trying to be civil.

<<I thought that you would like some employment while you're visiting my fair nation. I've taken the liberty of passing your name to some associates of mine-->>

<<Snydaa,>> Buf cut him off. <<Listen to me good, because I'm not going to repeat myself; tell your associates that I don't work for them, and will never work for you or anyone with whom you associate.>>

The Hutt slithered slowly toward Buf, who didn't flinch, even though the stink coming from his body could curdle milk at ten meters. <<I'm sorry, Buf, but it doesn't work that way. You are only allowed on this world at my sufferance. So long as you stay on Tatooine, you work for me.>>

<<Fine,>> Buf smiled. <<As soon as I have my ship repaired, I'll be off our planet, and out of your employment. And if you send your goons to sabotage my ship again, I'll send them back, one piece at a time.>>

Snydaa hissed, then laughed. <<Do you think that I would condone sabotage against your vessel? You wound me, child.>>

With lightning speed, Buf drew her blister, and pointed it directly at Snydaa. <<Wound you? What a wonderful idea! Get away from my ship and out of my sight, slug boy!>>

The Hutt backed off, his eyes narrowed in anger. <<You've made a mistake, Correllian. The last one you'll ever make!>>

<<Yeah, yeah, I'm so shaking.>> Buf answered as the Hutt slithered off.

After Snydaa had gone, Xander commented to his mistress, "He'll be back, Buf. And I don't know if we'll be able to repair the vessel in time."

"Yeah, I know," Buf answered, holstering her blaster. "But I'd rather be sent to the spice mines of Kessel than ever work for that slug again. C'mon, Xander. We're going to Mos Eisley. Maybe someone knows a way I can get off this hellhole." The two longtime companions left for the city of Mos Eisley.