Star Wars FanFiction: Brothers (Short Story)
Author’s note: This is fanfic with themes inspired by the animated series, STAR WARS REBELS. Contact: davidtvaughn[AT]gmail[dot]com.
Based on STAR WARS created by George Lucas, copyright © LucasFilm.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….
It is a terrifying time for the galaxy. Imperial troopers stormed the island-covered planet of Dinala. The world is stripped of its rarest metals, and Dom Mil-sa’s engineer parents are kidnapped.
The Mil-sa family has a strong connection with the Force, a ubiquitous power that binds all things. The Force once guided Dom with its light, but the teenager has become shrouded in darkness.
Angry and fearful, Dom has a vision of the Empire’s return to his village. As Dom waits for the arrival, he turns to the darkness for revenge….
One foggy morning, something cut Dom Mil-sa’s foot on the beach. A small wave washed over the sixteen-year-old’s largest toe, stinging the wound.
The water felt warm, as it always did, and life teemed around Dom’s brown feet. Several fingernail-sized crabs emerged from the wet sand. Their small bodies shook the thick granules off their purple shells.
“So many kanicrabs today!” squawked a tinny voice near Dom. His family’s modified pilot droid, RX2, wheeled over the sand. The droid’s dented head bobbled with alarm, and his metallic, three-armed body swiveled. “They give me the creeps!”
“What do you want, RX2?” Dom growled.
“This awful fog has been here for weeks!” RX2 whined as he looked around the beach. The droid noticed Dom’s foot. “Sir, you’re injured! Better have Gran take care of that.”
“Go away,” Dom snarled. The teenager’s eyes focused on the cloud-covered ocean, waiting to spot an Imperial ship.
Dom was tall with a wiry build, short black hair, and large, serious eyes. He wore a gray sleeveless shirt and tattered tawny shorts that hugged closely to his frame.
Snip! Something cut into him again.
Dom looked down to a larger crab with a dark purple shell, three black eyes, and a blood-covered pincer. The teenager quickly clamped the creature between his two toes. The crab wriggled for a moment before realizing that it was caught. It raised four pincers in warning.
“Do it again,” Dom dared. His angry, dark brown eyes narrowed on the creature.
“Don’t provoke them, sir,” warned RX2. “The big ones can really do some — ”
“GO AWAY, RX2!” Dom boomed.
All at once, the kanicrab dug its pincers into Dom’s big toe. The pain was sharp and made the boy bleed again. As the crab squeezed, a furious fire ignited within the teenager.
Dom’s eyes went wild as he combed over his short hair. His mind flashed to his angriest memory. A year had passed since stormtroopers arrived on that shore, stealing the island’s metal and kidnapping Dom’s parents.
The miserable event felt like only yesterday to Dom. Each day, he’d think of his parents and grow angrier. The Empire would return that morning — he could feel it.
Dom squeezed the crab harder.
“I think I’ll go find your brother,” beeped RX2. There was worry in the droid’s voice as he swiftly rolled toward the trees behind Dom.
The teenager ground his teeth as he surveyed the beach. Sand stretched for miles, lined with dinpalms on one side and the vast ocean on the other. The village was just a few steps beyond the nearby trees.
Dom turned to his right, where several charred dinpalms sulked near the sand. Their towering trunks were blackened and newly leafless. Over the past few months, Dom would sneak out in the middle of the night, and practice his newfound powers on those palms.
The crab kept fighting, wriggling its claws in desperation. As Dom’s blood seeped into a shallow wave, the creature stopped pinching. Instead, it haplessly banged its claws against its captor’s foot.
When Dom saw his ravaged toes, his anger exploded. Bright light sparked around the teenager’s fingers, singeing the tiny hairs on his knuckles. Just as the sparks grew, burning his palm, someone called his name.
“Dom!” yelled Gran Mori.
The hairs stood on Dom’s neck, and the sparks fizzled away. Quickly, he released the crab into the sand and turned back toward his grandmother. She was shaking, hardly able to balance herself on a metal cane. Seeing her like this broke Dom’s heart. His younger brother, Key, was helping their grandmother stand.
“What are you doing out of bed?” Dom asked.
Gran Mori narrowed her glossy eyes on him. Her black and silver hair spun together tightly above her round, brown face. A silky green sarong wrapped around her. “Come here.”
Dom worried about his ailing grandmother. Seeing her out of bed, walking around, terrified him. Ignoring his stinging foot and burnt hand, Dom raced up the beach to help her.
Years ago, his grandmother was full of energy. She taught Dom and his brother what she knew of the Force, and their family’s connection to it. However, after the kidnapping of her daughter and son-in-law, Gran Mori’s spirit waned. Raising two boys also took a great toll on her.
“Why did you bring Gran here?” Dom snapped at his brother.
“Me?” Key squealed. “She asked me to, Dom!”
“You always take her out!” Dom scolded. “I see you two sneak out in the morning for the mountains.”
“We go there for my lessons,” Key said, weakly. Dom and his brother looked nearly identical but were five years apart. They even had the same short hair, sleeveless shirt, and distressed shorts. “Anyway, you’re always sneaking out at night, too.”
“Your brother didn’t wake me,” Gran Mori said calmly. “You did.”
Dom knew what she meant. His grandmother could always sense his anger, no matter where he was.
“So, now it’s my fault?” Dom asked before pushing his brother out of the way. He carefully held his grandmother’s side.
“It’s not what you think,” said Gran as she gripped Dom’s raw hand. “You must control your — ”
“I know,” Dom interrupted. He knew she wouldn’t approve of his new rage-fueled power. Still, he had to get her back into their hut before the Empire returned. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“It’s not only that,” she said. Dom finally looked into his grandmother’s eyes. They were filled with sadness.
“What happened?” Key asked, noticing his brother’s hand and foot. He reached for his older brother.
“Don’t!” Dom yelled.
“How did this happen?” Key asked.
“I did it to myself,” Dom grumbled before looking back to his grandmother. “And that’s why you’ve come for me. You sense my power growing — you want to stop me.”
“No,” said Gran Mori, “I want to protect you.”
Dom felt his grandmother’s hand on his wrist. She shook nervously, and so did her watery eyes. The usual light around her had faded months ago, and she became unable to calm her grandson’s fury.
“You don’t need to protect me,” Dom said. “I am stronger now.”
“Dom, I had a vision,” his grandmother warned. “Someone is coming for you and your brother.”
“I know,” said Dom. Before the teenager could say another word, the clouded mountains hummed. Suddenly, a round gray ship with two curved wings broke through the fog.
The Empire had returned.
“Let’s get her back to the village!” Dom yelled to his brother. Key froze as he stared at the ship that doubled back over the ocean. “NOW!”
Key snapped out of his daze and helped with their grandmother. They moved through the palms and onto the stone path at the edge of the beach. A flock of torgulls fluttered from the trees above. Their giant, lime-colored wings lifted them toward the mountains. Dom heard the ship land near the scorched palms behind them.
“Gran, won’t the Empire find us?” huffed Key.
“They might,” said Gran Mori as she carefully took each step. “But we are better protected together.”
The path from the beach snaked into their quiet village. It wound past flowering shrubs and grass huts trussed with chrome pipes. Dom watched the villagers shut their metal blinds and bolt their hexagonal doors.
“We need to hurry, Gran,” said Key as they neared their home.
RX2 stood in front of the family hut, waving his three arms. “The village saw a ship!”
“Come,” said Gran Mori, “we’ll be safer inside.”
“No, we won’t,” Dom grumbled.
“The doors are made of metal!” Key protested. “The strongest from the mountains!”
“The doors are only weak scrap metal,” Dom informed as they neared the doors. RX2 extended an arm and pressed the keypad. The entrance parted, and they stepped into the dimly lit hut. “And we’re lucky the Empire didn’t take our doors, too.”
“Please, stay here,” Gran pled.
“I am strong, Gran,” Dom insisted. “Only I can keep us safe.”
“True power doesn’t come from anger and fear,” Gran shook as she dug her fingers into her grandson’s arms.
Dom felt her warmth surround him, but it still wasn’t like before. A creeping illness weathered the once-powerful woman.
“You’re not the same, Gran.” Dom pulled his arm from her grip. “You can’t protect me. You can’t stop what’s coming.”
“I know,” said Gran with her eyes still closed. A single tear escaped onto her wrinkled cheek. “Key, take your brother’s hand.”
“He can’t help either!” Dom barked.
“I can protect you,” Key nodded. “Gran’s trained me, and now I can control your — ”
“No, you can’t!” Dom barked. “All you’ve done is dent a droid’s head!”
RX2 flailed his arms. “I don’t remember what happened!”
“Dom, I promise that I can help,” Key pled.
“Stay here!” Dom demanded. “Gran’s protection is weak! You are weak! Only I can stop what’s coming!”
“Dom, please!” Key begged.
“STAY INSIDE!” Dom roared before glaring at RX2. “Lock the doors!”
RX2’s blue eyes blinked in a fluster. “But sir, Key has been practicing and — ”
“LOCK THEM!”
“As you wish.” RX2 reluctantly pressed the keypad and shut the doors.
With that, Dom raced for the beach. A light mist covered the village and wound through the palms. All at once, the teenager sensed the dark presence on the shore.
Dom darted from the trees and onto the beach. The sky was silver, and the giant ship stood just steps away from him.
Suddenly, Dom’s eyes closed, and his mind pulsed. For the first time, he felt a presence as angry and fearful as his own. Dom opened his eyes and saw a terrifying being step from the ship. The invader had obsidian skin, two fleshy tendrils hanging from the back of his head, red eyes, and razor-sharp teeth.
“Who are you?” asked Dom, trying not to stutter.
“Someone to fear,” hissed the invader.
“You need to leave,” Dom warned. “We have nothing for you here.”
“That might seem true,” chuckled the invader as he stepped onto the sand. A black suit clung to his lean, muscular frame. A dark metal chest plate draped over his shoulders. “However, your parents say otherwise.”
“My p-parents?” Dom’s heart sank to his feet.
“Yes,” said the invader. “They spoke so highly of you and your little brother. They wanted to see you again.”
“Why didn’t you bring them back then?”
The invader ignored Dom. “Did you sense my arrival, boy?”
“WHERE ARE THEY?”
“Do you know what I am?” the invader asked, ignoring him again. “I am a Twi’lek. Of course, not many of us make it to meek planets like this.”
“I don’t care!” Dom seethed.
“I’ve been here before with troopers,” the Twi’lek sneered with a jagged grin. “Just to take some metals… and two engineers.”
“NO!” boomed Dom.
“You look just like them,” smirked the Twi’lek. “They begged to see you again… Of course, they resisted helping the Empire design weapons. Foolish, if you ask me. Once we tortured them with extraction, they told us everything. How to use the metals from this planet and even your family secrets.”
Dom’s eyes watered with rage. “How dare you?”
“I’m tasked with eliminating all threats to the Empire. That includes the remaining Jedi scum and Force-sensitive children. Sadly, during your parents’ extraction, they spoke too much. They revealed that you and your brother have remarkably strong connections with the Force.”
“Bring back my parents!”
“I would,” snickered the Twi’lek, “but I’m afraid they did not survive the extraction.”
Dom’s face flared. “You will regret that.”
“I am certain that I won’t.”
Enraged, Dom charged toward the invader. He’d practiced this attack before, late at night on the dinpalms nearby.
As Dom’s hand burned and sparked, the Twi’lek didn’t move. All at once, Dom jumped from the sand. He flew impossibly high and far over the beach. Dom’s hand curled into a sparkling fist.
The Twi’lek’s eyes looked hungry as he watched Dom leap into the air. The boy’s electrified fist aimed for the invader’s head. The Twi’lek dodged him with ease as Dom tumbled onto the sand near the ship.
“Pathetic,” smirked the red-eyed invader. “You are clearly self-trained.”
Dom’s anger spiked as he toppled on the sand. The teenager rolled onto his stomach and tightened his fist. The sparks ignited again.
“AHHGH!” Dom opened his burned hand, and a single lightning bolt sparked from it. For a moment, he saw pure delight in the Twi’lek’s eyes. However, the bolt didn’t connect, and it fizzled on the sand.
Fury boiled in Dom’s veins.
“Better job, boy!” Twi’lek laughed. “Now, do it again!”
“DON’T!” yelled a small voice from across the beach.
Dom focused behind the Twi’lek to see Key and RX2 dashing from the palms.
“What are you doing?!” Dom yelled as he stood.
“That must be your little brother,” sneered the Twi’lek.
“Go back to the village!” Dom commanded. Key didn’t listen, and he only stopped when he saw the Twi’lek’s fanged grin.
“He’s come to save you,” the Twi’lek laughed. “But it’s time to kill you both.”
“YOU’LL PAY!” Dom roared. The teenager sent another bolt from his hand. It burned him and missed again, jolting the sand.
The Twi’lek laughed and pulled something from his back — a circular piece of metal. Dom opened his fist once more and flatted his fingers. This time, three thin lightning bolts cracked through the air. The Twi’lek ignited two red blades on opposite sides of the metal circle. Dom’s lightning fizzled against the blades.
“Your power is weak,” the Twi’lek growled. “But the Empire can make you strong.”
“DOM!” Key called. “DON’T DO THIS!”
“I have orders to terminate children like you,” said the Twi’lek, “but the Emperor would enjoy this raw power. Either come with me or perish on this beach. What’s your choice, boy?”
“My choice is… to terminate you!” Dom roared as he pushed both arms forward. Twin blue bolts ignited from his hands, but this time he wasn’t burnt.
The Twi’lek knocked the bolts away with his red blades and jumped over Dom to avoid the rest. “Wrong choice.”
Dom now faced the Twi’lek who stood in front of his ship. Key yelled behind Dom, but his voice sounded muffled. Suddenly, the Twi’lek’s weapon started to turn. The red blades whirled like a wheel around the metal circle.
The invader quickly tossed his weapon like a giant, glowing boomerang. It spun in a mad dash of light as Dom’s fingers sparked. Two more bolts shocked the air as the red blades whirled toward him.
The teenager watched his electricity splinter all around. His body now burned as the lightning singed his arms and face. A blue bolt cracked into the Twi’lek’s weapon and spun it into the foggy sky.
Dom wanted to stop his lightning, but he couldn’t. The wild bolts continued to fizzle around the beach, fueled by his fear. Just as Dom felt the electricity take over him, the lightning lurched and connected with someone — but it wasn’t the Twi’lek.
Key had run onto the beach, stepping in the way of Dom’s attack.
Overwhelming grief washed over Dom as the bolts finally stopped. The Twi’lek laughed wildly near his ship. Dom’s eyes watered when he saw sparks glowing from his brother. He expected to see Key’s lifeless body collapsed on the sand. Instead, the impossible happened.
Key somehow absorbed the lightning into his own hands. A ball of pure light glowed in the boy’s palms.
“Key, you’re training!” beeped RX2.
Dom saw his little brother focus. All he could hear was the distant sound of rolling waves and the sparks from his brother’s glowing hands.
“What is this?” The Twi’lek hissed in wonder. “I… sense — POWER!”
“Not power — ” Key mumbled as he turned toward the red-eyed invader. “Protection!”
Key pushed his glowing hands forward, and a force wave rippled through the air. The wave knocked the invader from the sand and into the water.
Roaring with anger, the Twi’lek quickly jumped back onto the sand. Still in a daze, the invader glared at Key. “You will pay for this!”
The Twi’lek pulled a small, glowing blade from his chest plate. He leaped into the air, baring rows of jagged teeth.
Key’s head turned to Dom. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the brothers’ minds connected. Dom wanted to save Key, and he sensed a way out: the two red blades spinning in the sky behind him.
Dom fell to the ground just as the Twi’lek’s blade whirled across the beach. The forgotten weapon had boomeranged back to its master, but wouldn’t be caught. In a single movement, the blades cut the Twi’lek’s head from his body. The lifeless invader and his wayward weapon tumbled into the water.
Dom ran to his little brother and held him tight. Key shook in his arms for a moment before returning the embrace. Relief swept over both of them. Dom almost lost one of the few things he loved in the galaxy. As they stood on the beach, listening to the waves and their racing hearts, Dom felt his brother’s light around them.
After that day, the fog dissipated from the beach and didn’t return. Like the fog, Dom also felt his murky spirit lifted. Though he missed his parents and wondered if the Empire would return again, he felt much safer than before.
One cloudless afternoon, as Dom and Key played on the beach, something bumped into his foot at the shore. A dark purple kanicrab wriggled near his toes.
Dom and the crab looked at each other for a moment. A sense of knowing came between them.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. A second later, the crab shook its shell and pushed back into the sand.
“What was that, sir?” beeped RX2 as he wheeled toward the shore.
“Nothing, RX2,” Dom answered.
“Oh good!” sighed the droid. “I thought you were talking to crabs again!”
Key rushed from the water, splashing everywhere. His tan face beamed brightly, and Dom could feel his brother’s warm presence everywhere.
“Guess what?” Key glowed.
“What?” Dom asked with lifted brows.
“Gran’s dinfruit pie should be ready!” Key exclaimed. “C’mon!”
“Alright,” Dom grinned as Key grabbed his arm.
As soon as they touched, a vision buzzed through their minds. Together, they saw a dark, metal-covered room in a place they’d never been. A dozen corpses lay scattered on the floor. Many of them belonged to alien species the brothers had never seen before.
Two of the bodies moved, groaning in the near darkness. They reached for each other and clasped hands. Dom’s eyes focused on two human faces.
All at once, the brothers snapped out of the vision. Together, they stood in a cold sweat on the warm beach.
“Are you two alright?” asked RX2.
“It can’t be,” wheezed Key.
“What is it?” squawked the droid.
“Mother and Father,” huffed Dom with wide eyes. “They’re alive.”
D. T. Vaughn is an author, playwright, and theme park enthusiast. His award-winning dark fantasy novel, The Midnight Glass, is now available. To get updates on other stories by Mr. Vaughn, please subscribe to his free e-mail newsletter here. Contact: davidtvaughn[AT]gmail[dot]com.
