An Unforgettable Melody Ch. 04

For this chapter, I decided to have a little fun with the fantasy in the first half, setting it in the Star Wars universe. In case it isn't clear, for the first portion, Burke is Mike and Kana is Melody. No song titles for this chapter, so please sit back and enjoy!

An Unforgettable Melody Ch. 04

Sand. Sand. Sand everywhere. Such was life for Burkateer Lark.

Eighteen years ago, he had been a promising seven-year-old Padawan learner in the Jedi Order of the Old Republic. That, of course, was before the betrayal of Darth Vader and subsequent formation of the Galactic Empire. On that fateful day, his master, Cin Dralig, had gotten wind of the betrayal and impending attack on the Jedi Temple. Though his master had tried to send the boy away on his own to train, Burke had convinced Dralig to come with him. He reminded him that it was the prudent move, finally convincing him upon receiving an emergency transmission from Master Yoda that a plan was in the works, and that the pair should flee.

They went into hiding on Tatooine in the desert surrounding Mos Espa. For five years, Dralig taught Burke all he could, before finally succumbing to disease and old age. Though a talented Jedi, Burke's training was nowhere near complete. He improvised as best he could, learning to use the Force in any way he could think of. Ten years after first arriving on the planet, Burke's experience with the Force had increased to the point that he could sense the presence of other Force-sensitives. One day, while practicing this ability, he was able to detect a strong presence on the same planet, out beyond the Dune Sea.

Deciding to investigate, he traveled for three days before finally detecting the source of the presence in a tiny, ramshackle hut. The occupant clearly felt his presence as well, as Burke soon found himself under attack, his lightsaber clashing with the blade of none other than Obi-Wan Kenobi, the great general of the Clone Wars. His mood immediately brightening at finding a fellow survivor of the Great Jedi Purge, Burke introduced himself as the pupil of the late Cin Dralig. The news of Dralig's death caused a great deal of sadness in old Kenobi, who had served alongside him many times over the years.

Burke trained for several months with him, quickly becoming more proficient in his use of the Force. Unfortunately, both of them knew that, as hard working as Burke was, he would never be powerful enough to stand up to the Empire. Raw potential had never been his strong suit, not like Master Yoda or Anakin Skywalker. Kenobi confirmed for him that Yoda's plan was still in the works, and involved an individual with sleeping potential in the Force, greater than even Skywalker himself. Proclaiming his training complete, Kenobi bid the young Jedi farewell, and he returned to his makeshift home in the desert canyons near Mos Espa.

A few years later, Burke could no longer sense Kenobi's presence anywhere on the planet. When word arrived in town a few months later of the destruction of the Empire's super weapon, the Death Star, Burke couldn't help but chuckle. That wily old dog still managed to get one over on them.

Now twenty-six and content in living a simple life, Burke spent his days working as a mechanic for a local junk dealer in Mos Espa named Watto. He had a rough outer shell, but Burke rather liked him, and could that tell the poor Toydarian had lived one of the unluckiest lives imaginable. Many years ago, he was the most successful junk dealer in town, until he lost his best mechanic and slave, along with his life savings, in an ill-advised podrace bet. Though still gruff, Watto's heart had softened with a large amount of humility in the years following the loss. He paid Burke as best he could, enough for him to make ends meet.

Outside of work and keeping up his Jedi skills in secret, Burke spent his free time at the local cantina. While he normally tried not to associate with the seedy individuals frequenting such an establishment, he kept coming back, mainly for the owner and barkeep, Kana Croft. She was a stunning vision of loveliness, kind and welcoming to boot, and was right about his age. He could sense that she was very infatuated with him from their first meeting. However, Burke knew full well the oath of celibacy inherent in being a Jedi, though if any could bring him to turn away from the oath, it would be her. On many occasions, he had considered doing just that, seeing little reason for him to still hold firm to Jedi principles, but still, for some unknown reason to him, he resisted.

This particular day seemed as uneventful as the last. He had just finished work for the day and walked into Kana's cantina. She waved him over to his favorite barstool, smiling and running her hand through that gorgeous red hair of hers as she did so.

"The usual, sweetie?"

"Not today, thanks, Kana. Been really hot out there, so just some ice cold water for now," he replied.

No sooner had she delivered his drink did Burke sense a dangerous presence approaching. Glancing over his shoulder casually, he saw a trio of Stormtroopers entering the cantina. Keeping his mannerisms as casual as possible, he quietly used the Force to listen in on their conversation.

"Who are we after again, Captain?"

"A Jedi. Vader found out that Kenobi was hiding out on this planet, so there's got to be more. He said he felt the presence of one in this town."

"Dead or alive?"

"He doesn't care, and personally, I'm keen to go with whichever option gives us the best chance of surviving. So, dead then."

Turning back towards the bar, Burke could now see the concern and worry spreading across Kana's face. Casually signaling her to come close, he whispered to her, "Don't worry, they're here for me."

Trying to keep as straight a face as possible, she replied, "You? What do they want with you?"

Sighing, he sensed that after knowing her for three years Kana could be trusted with his carefully guarded secret. "I'm a Jedi."

As she silently pondered his revelation, he continued, "I have to get out of this system as fast as possible. I have a ship hidden out in the canyons. Please, I need your help. Do you have a back door I can use?"

Considering her options momentarily, she made her decision. "I'll do you one better. I'm coming with you."

Glaring at her with a look of concern, he said, "No way, this isn't your fight."

Gently placing her hand on top of his, she leaned even closer. He could smell her sweet perfume wafting from her neck. "I helped two rebel spies escape capture last year," she revealed. "It's only a matter of time before they come for me. Please, take me with you."

Relenting, Burke nodded slightly. He stood up, moving as if he was going to relieve himself. As he approached the back door, he heard Kana say to her coworker, "Take over for me please, I'm going on break." He then heard her whisper to the worker, "The twin suns are setting."

Catching up with Burke, Kana explained, "My friend has known for some time I'd need to make an escape at some point. That was my goodbye to her." Before they exited out the back, she pulled out a DL-44 blaster from a drawer in her office, holstering it at her right side.

As the pair stepped out into the dusty streets of Mos Espa, they began to make their way towards the city gates where Burke's X-34 speeder was parked. The large crowds of shoppers and day's end travelers, however, made their progress quite slow. As they neared the gates, the amount of Imperial troops patrolling the area increased dramatically. However, they kept their cool, simply walking as if they were on business. Sadly, as the gates were in sight, a passerby bumped into Kana, knocking her over in such a way that she accidentally pulled Burke's jacket open, revealing the lightsaber clipped on his belt.

"Look! There's the Jedi! Shoot to kill!" a Stormtrooper shouted.

In the blink of an eye, Burke drew his weapon, igniting the blue blade. "Kana go! Get to the speeder!"

As a trio of Stormtroopers open fired, Burke deftly deflected their shots back at them, instantly killing one of the three. Taking advantage of their surprise, he leapt directly at the remaining pair, landing between them and executing them both with a horizontal spin. He deactivated his weapon and sprinted for the speeder, pulling out with Kana just as reinforcements were arriving.

Flying through the desert at top speed, Burke's speeder was suddenly rocked by a near miss of blaster shots. Kana peered behind them to find two Imperial speeder bikes in hot pursuit of them.

Burke warned, "We've gotta lose them before we hit the canyon, or they'll track us right to my ship."

"On it!" Pulling out her blaster, Kana expertly aimed back at the speeder bikes, glancing one with her first shot. These pilots were better than most, however, and managed to easily stay on target. Changing tactics, she now fired a quick series of shots at both of them, breaking them up and bringing one of them nearly alongside the speeder. Steadying her aim against the hull, she aimed dead center and fired twice, knocking the pilot off of his ride.

"YES!!" Kana squealed.

"Nice shooting! Second one's on our six!"

As she was attempting to get a clear shot, the second pilot showed his extreme skill, deftly weaving back and forth to avoid her sights. "Dammit! I can't get a clean shot, he keeps evading!"

"Ok, I've got an idea." Burke lowered the front windshield and sharply veered right. "Get ready to fire straight ahead!"

He quickly leveled out and immediately hit the brakes, causing the biker to zoom directly past them. Burke then sped back to full throttle so as not to lose him. "Ok, he's dead center, get 'im!"

Kana took careful aim and fired two shots directly into his rear engine. As smoke billowed from the bike, it finally exploded in a ball of fire. "Got it!" Kana shouted.

"Scratch two! We're clear, let's get off this planet."

Entering the mouth of the canyon, Burke navigated the speeder through the maze of rock formations, finally arriving at secluded outcropping containing his ship.

"Nice ride..." Kana marveled.

"Yep, she's a Defender-class, custom built for the old Jedi Order. After my master and I escaped the Great Jedi Purge in it, we worked to modify the hell out of this baby. Added a powerful cloaking system, made it completely undetectable. Once we're in space, nobody will find us unless we want them to."

Burke activated the entrance ramp, anxious to get on board and take off. In the worst turn of events imaginable, however, the hydraulics malfunctioned, with the ramp stuck halfway open. As the pair worked to reactivate the lift, Burke suddenly felt an ominous presence approaching. "Get that ramp working, now," he warned Kana. She nodded, clearly frightened by his change in demeanor.

As Burke stood facing the narrow entrance to the outcropping, he heard a distinctive sound, slowly growing louder. The closer it came, the clearer it was what was approaching. Recognizing the distinctive breathing described in the countless stories from the cantina, he soon stood face to face with Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith.

"Fascinating..." came the voice from within the mask. "If I am not mistaken, I am now addressing Burkateer Lark. It seems that the Padawan has gained some slight skill."

Determined to show no fear, Burke shot back, "Darth Vader. You smell better than the stories of you describe."

Eyeing each other momentarily, each was fully aware of the likely consequences of this encounter. As Vader's gaze shifted to Kana, frantically working to repair the ramp, Burke instantly drew his lightsaber. "You leave her out of this," he threatened. "She has nothing to do with us."

"If that is what you wish," Vader said, igniting his crimson blade, "then you know what you must do."

Nice try, but I'm not playing your game.

Using his quick thinking, Burke began to size up the upcoming duel. Vader was renowned for his strength and physical prowess. His reach would also be his advantage, and he had a good 8" height advantage over Burke. Vader was, however, known to be rather slow moving, at least on his feet. His suit also made it impossible for him to use any acrobatics, even with the help of the Force. That would be Burke's edge: mobility.

Vader lunged forward, opening with an overhead attack common to his fighting style. Burke defended easily, though he immediately felt how powerful even Vader's simplest strikes were. Damn, he really is strong. Now knowing a head on assault from either combatant would put himself at a distinct disadvantage, Burke immediately began his hit-and-run tactics.

As Vader upped the tempo of his slashes, Burke started using a simple yet effective strategy. Defending each strike lightly, so as to redirect, rather than block with brute force, he continually sidestepped, slowly encircling Vader. This style was also common of old Kenobi; he was renowned for his defensive capabilities back in his prime. As Vader began to realize this, changing his attacks to precision strikes assisted by the Force, Burke immediately somersaulted over his opponent.

Striking at Vader's back with a horizontal strike, he was amazed at how deftly the Sith Lord defended, simply flipping his lightsaber over his shoulder, effectively executing a no-look one-handed block. The stories don't do him justice. Still, he knew Vader enjoyed toying with his prey before closing for the kill. As he turned to face Burke, the young Jedi knew he had to formulate a victory condition before said toying ended.

Resuming his assault, Vader now began striking quickly from multiple directions in succession, drawing from the combat techniques of his youth. Beginning to spin his saber in his hand, the power of his slashes skyrocketed, forcing Burke to use full acrobatic maneuvers to evade them. Needing something to tip the scales in his favor, he suddenly remembered the bag of supplies in his speeder.

Quickly force pushing Vader back to give himself a moment of breathing room, he focused with all his might, drawing on the Force like never had before. He extended his hand and called his master's old lightsaber to him from within the bag. Just as Vader recovered, he ignited the bright green blade in his left hand and assumed a protective stance with both sabers horizontal, one high and one low.

Undeterred, the Sith Lord continued his power attacks. Burke, however, was now able to defend much more effectively with his second blade, resuming his encircling strategy. Now able to press his own attack, the Jedi began to drive Vader back towards the mouth of the outcropping. As they dueled, Burke heard the most heavenly sound in the world: The entry ramp of his ship fully opening.

Realizing that his prey was close to escaping, Vader pressed his attack once more, forcing Burke to evade with a series of backflips, keeping his dual sabers in prime position to protect himself while in the air. As he slowly moved the duel towards the ship, Kana boarded and began the take off sequence. Burke found himself defending a frenzied barrage of attacks, resulting in the destruction of his master's lightsaber. Now forced into a saber-lock with Vader, he was finally able to disengage, back flipping onto ramp of his ship as it took off. In the process, however, Burke took a nasty slash to his left thigh from Vader's lightsaber.

As he staggered up the ramp and into the cockpit, Burke began activating the cloaking systems while Kana programed the hyperdrive coordinates. "I have a friendly contact on Corellia. How bout we head there?" She inquired.

"Let's do it," Burke replied. Two minutes later, they had made the jump to lightspeed, undetectable to all hostile ships. Panting and sweating in the pilot's chair, Burke couldn't believe he had actually faced the most feared warrior in the entire galaxy and lived to tell about it.

Kana turned to him, her mind running a mile a minute. "I can't believe all of this... you, a Jedi... those Stormtroopers... HIM... it's all too much..."

Rubbing her shoulder gently, Burke responded, "It's ok. You're safe now."

Nodding, she suddenly noticed his leg. "Oh my god! You're hurt!"

"Nah, it's nothing," he tried convincing her, but his wincing at her touch was too obvious.

"That is most definitely NOT nothing! Come on, to bed with you."

The ship now on autopilot, she brought the injured Jedi to his quarters, seating him on the edge of his small bed. Inspecting his leg, the cut didn't appear to be too deep, but the slash itself had nearly cut his pant leg clean off. She tore the last bit of fabric from the leg, exposing him up to mid thigh.

"There's a med pack on the wall with some bacta fluid in it," he directed her.

She slipped his boots and socks off, took the medicine from the med pack, and began to treat his wound. It stung at first, but the soothing motions of her hand slowly began to relax him. With his wound now clean, she bandaged it up, and sat next to him on the bed.

"You're very lucky, you know. The cut wasn't too damaging, but a centimeter or two more, and he could have completely severed your muscle," she said.

He shrugged. "Comes with the territory. The Jedi Knights, guardians of peace and justice, no matter what."

She gazed into his deep blue eyes, dumbfounded. "You still believe that after all these years? After everything that's happened?"

He smiled. "It's all I've ever had, all I've ever wanted. That is, until..."

His hand slowly moved on top of hers. "...Until you."

As the tension between them reached a fever pitch, Kana could hold herself back no longer. Throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed him passionately, wanting nothing more than to love him. Though he was hesitant at first, he slowly began reciprocating her feelings, running his hand down to the small of her back. She swung her leg over to straddle him on the edge of the bed, cupping his face in her hands as she continued their lip lock.

"Burke... I just want you to know. This has nothing to do with the fact that you're a Jedi. I'm not some swooning girl wanting to throw herself at you because of what you did for me today. I... I want you. I've wanted you since the first day we met." She began to slowly unbutton her dark blue work shirt, "And, if you'll have me, I know you'd make me the happiest girl in the universe."

As she finished unbuttoning herself, she left the shirt loosely hanging, barely covering her tantalizing breasts. Resuming her kissing, she slowly ran her hands over his face and down to his strong neck. She started grinding her hips gently, being careful not to rub against the cut on his lower thigh, and could feel his enormous cock growing hard against her.

Breaking their kiss momentarily to come up for air, Burke gasped, "I... want you too. God, I've wanted you for so long. I know I'm not supposed to, that it's not the Jedi way, but, back in the canyon, you were honestly the reason I survived. During that duel with Vader, I kept thinking of you, knowing what would happen to you if I failed." He moved his hands under her unbuttoned shirt, gently caressing the small of her back. "You were my strength. Through you, I was able to do things I never thought possible. If that's not the true nature of the Force, I don't know what is."

He drew her close, kissing her softly. Running his hands slowly up her back, he began to slip her shirt off of her. She shrugged her shoulders as he did so, allowing the blue garment to fall to the floor of the ship. Her bare breasts now fully exposed to him, she took his hand and gently placed it on her left tit. As he began to fondle her, his left hand moved up to run through her deep red hair, eliciting a moan of pleasure from her. She threw her head back, allowing him to begin kissing her neck, slowly working his way down to her chest.