Fic; Planet of Darkness (3/?)

[Jim_D_Means@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Well, I promised. Here it is, part three of my Buffy/Star Wars amalgam. Enjoy and(sorry, 
gotta say it), MAY THE JOSS BE WITH YOU!

Kirayoshi

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 site! 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 brackets [like this] are spoken in an alien language.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

PLANET OF DARKNES
WRITTEN BY JIM MEANS

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


Chapter Three;
"In My Experience, There Is No Such Thing As Luck."

Buf Somars slammed her fist on the bar, and shouted to the bartender, "Two Dantoine Ales 
over here!"

The bartender grunted stiffly. "We don't allow droids here," he declared, regarding Xander 
with disgust. The XNDR unit, feigning a cool detatchment, told Buf, "I'll just wait outside," 
before ambling on his treads out the door. Buf scowled at the bartender; Xander was more 
human, more sentient, than most beings she had encountered during her turbulant life. Her 
Wookiee companion, Ossborca, grunted understandingly, nodding at Buf. Buf turned her 
attention to Oz, and discussed their most recent failures at repairing the Slayer.

"So what you're saying," Buf repeated to make sure she understood the situation, "is that the 
Slayer works perfectly, but it still can't make escape velocity?"

Oz barked an affirmative. Buf let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, Oz. So is there something 
else stranding us on this flyspeck?"

Oz barked again. Yes.

"Great," Buf said, mostly to herself. "I'm running dead on into the language barrier. So, what 
the hell is preventing the ship from departing?"

"An artificial gravity well, my friend," a clipped voice announced from behind her. Buf swung 
around, blaster at the ready, and saw a large, rose-colored being standing behind her. The 
being blinked its large yellow eyes and continued. "It seems, ma'am, that you are in the same 
dire straits as my companion and myself. I am Gy'les," he added, extending his clawlike hand 
in greeting.

Buf sized up the interloper at once, and decided that he didn't pose a threat. "Buf Somars of 
Correllia, captain of the Correllian cruiser Slayer. And Ossborca of Kashyyyk." Oz 
growled out an inarticulate greeting. Gy'les nodded in response. Buf noticed Gy'les' crude 
rope belt, and the device hanging from it. "A light saber, isn't it? You a Jedi Knight?"

"Jedi Master Gy'les, at your service," he answered, bowing formally. 

"And a long way from Mon Calimari, to boot," Buf observed. "Tatooine must not agree with 
you."

"I must admit I prefer a wetter climate," Gy'les admitted. "Perhaps the three of us should 
talk. My companion and I have need of someone who knows their way around Tatooine. 
Someone who can handle a fight if it comes to that. Perhaps if we combined our resources, 
we could locate the gravity generator, and escape this planet."

"You must be hot to leave here," Buf commented. Oz grunted an agreement.

"Let's say that I have vital business to attend to elsewhere. And you seem as anxious to leave 
here as I am."

"True," Buf nodded. "However, my business to the outer rim has been cut short by my 
forced vacation to this little garden spot, and I don't know when my next client will call, so--"

"If it is a matter of money," Gy'les assured her, "I am sure that the Jedi Council, once they 
learn of your service, will gladly reimburse you whatever you deem fair."

"So I guess we got ourselves a deal." Buf stood up. "So you spoke of a companion? Do I 
get to meet him?"

"Her," Gy'les amended. "She should be along soon. She's a native of Tatooine, but hasn't 
been here in several years. Her name is Willa Sun--"

"Sunrose," Buf said suddenly, causing Gy'les to jump slightly. "Her name is Willa Sunrose, 
isn't it? Red hair, elfin smile, green eyes?"

"Yes," Gy'les pondered. "How did you know--" Before he could continue, Willa entered the 
tavern door, and stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing Buf Somars.

Buf stood thunderstruck as she gazed at her dream companion. Her flame-red hair, her jade 
green eyes, her sweet face. The face of innocence, but at the same time posessed of eternal 
wisdom. She radiated calm, serenity and peace, states of being that Buf Somars never knew 
but desperately wanted in her life. The redhead stood in a passive stance, but Buf could 
sense the coiled strength and purpose that lay beneath her humble appearence. It was her 
eyes, however, that described her true power. Green gemstones, gleaming with ancient 
knowledge, twinkling with secrets. Secrets that Buf Somars wanted so much to share.

Gy'les looked on as the two women slowly stepped toward each other. "You are Buf 
Somars, aren't you?" Willa asked timidly, as if saying the name would break the spell and 
shatter her vision.

The sight of the blond Corellian didn't drift away as her name was spoken. Instead, she 
looked into the young Jedi's eyes, and answered, "Yes, and you must be Willa Sunrose. So I 
finally get to meet the woman who's been haunting my dreams."

"And I meet the woman who has been in my visions," Willa added. "I must say that so far 
you're everything I had expected." She offered her hand to shake, which Buf accepted 
warmly. "Good to finally meet you," they said simultaneously, and laughed as they spoke. 

"Well, my friends," Gy'les announced, breaking up the rapt concentration between the two 
women, who turned their eyes to glare at him. "Perhaps we could retire to your ship, Captain 
Somars."

"What good would that do?" the Corellian asked. "The Slayer works fine, according to Oz, 
but with this gravity well in place, we're stuck like Correlian firemoths in amber."

"If your ship is functioning properly," Willa suggested, "then are your planetary sensors 
working as well? The reason we ask is because our sensors were misaligned slightly when 
we crash-landed on Tatooine. We've been able to fully repair our ship, but our sensors are 
still down. If your sensors work, we can get a closer fix on the gravity well."

"Good idea, Sunrose," Buf announced. "Let's head out for the Slayer, and find that well."

[And how are you going to do that, Buf Somars,] a voice like shredded metal blasted from 
the doorway, [when you're not going to leave this bar alive?] The two Jedi and the Corellian 
turned toward the offending voice, and saw a pack of Trandoshans. The slaver whom Buf 
had earlier taken down led the pack, his lizard eyes gleaming with malice. [Take her! If her 
Jedi friends interfere, they die as well!]

Buf immediately grabbed her blaster, ready to pick off as many Trandoshans as she could 
before they made good on their threat. Ossborca knocked his chair away as he stood beside 
his new partner. Gy'les and Willa sat calmly beside the other two, seemingly blase about the 
irate reptiles.

"Hello, my formidable friends," Gy'les greeted the Trandoshans. "Would you care to join us 
in a drink?" Buf Somars looked at them, amazed that they would consider inviting these 
slavers to drink with them. She noticed his waving his claw-like hand at the slavers, his voice 
the definition of calm. She wanted to scream at him, to get him to defend himself from these 
ruffians, but Willa Sunrose raised her hand to stop her. "Peace, Buf," she said serenely. 
"These Trandoshans have no desire to fight with us. Do you?" She pointed this last query at 
the lead Trandoshan, who slowly lowered his weapon. 

He turned to his cohorts, and said, [We have no desire to fight with them.] The other 
reptilians looked around at each other, confused.

"There is no need for hostility between us," Gy'les stated calmly. "You have no business 
here. Be off with you."

The Trandoshans blinked quizically, before filing out of the bar. Buf beheld the sight of six 
Trandoshan slavers, full of outrage and ready to sink their teeth into her flesh just seconds 
ago, now submissively following the orders of two unassuming Jedi. She regarded her new 
friends with awe and respect. "How--how did you--" she started to ask, faultingly, as she sat 
shakingly next to Willa.

"The Force allows one to control the weaker minded," was Gy'les only explaination.

"The way of the Jedi Knights is not a path of war," Willa elaborated, "but one of 
enlightenment." She placed a gentle hand on Buf's, and the Correllian shivered at the contact. 
Was this seemingly frail red-haired beauty even remotely aware of the power she held over 
her? Did this young Jedi know how she was affecting Buf, merely by being in her proximity?

"Well," Buf coughed nervously, but didn't remove her hand from Willa's, "Thank you for the 
demonstration. Now then," she added, returning to business, "how do we find this gravity 
generator?" The four partners began to discuss their current predicament, not knowing that 
obsidian eyes regarded them with an almost joyous malice from behind a black hood. The 
hooded man left the bar quickly and quietly.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Trandoshans were returning to their repulsor-lift, vaguely aware of an important errand 
they had set out to accomplish, when a stranger spoke from behind them; "Well, well, well, if 
it isn't the greatest collection of fools it has ever been my pleasure to meet." The six lizard-
men turned on their heels, intent on making those words the last this stranger ever spoke. 

The stranger stood before them, sheltered from the twin suns of Tatooine by a shop's awning, 
clad in a black cloak that covered his entire body. He lifted the hood from his head with 
skeletal hands, revealing a gaunt, ashen face, and bright yellow spikes of hair on his head. 
His eyes were black irises set amid grey, with a pinpoint of glowing red in each pupil. 
Hunter's eyes, the Trandoshans recognized them. Predatory, feral, evil.

"Why, in the name of all you believe," the stranger continued, "would you simply let the 
woman who cost you your prize catch, that magnificent Wookiee of yours, to slip away from 
you? She interfered with your livelyhood, gentlemen. This cannot go without challenge!" 
The lead slaver looked around at his compatriots, and saw in their eyes that this man's words 
were reaching them. Yes, this Buf Somars cost them dearly. She should be made to pay 
with her life.

"Now then," the stranger continued, knowing that he had these miserable lizard-men eating 
out of the palm of his hand, "I am prepared to pay you handsomely for that beast, if you can 
reapprehend it. Simply eliminate Somars, and her new friends, and the Wookiee shouldn't be 
too difficult to handle. Without his companions, he will prove to be most docile." He knew 
that wasn't true, but these slavers didn't strike him as the intelligent type. "Bring him to me in," 
he mimed looking at a pocket chronometer, "one tenth of a cycle, and this," he withdrew a 
handful of credit notes from his cloak, "will be yours."

The reptiles fairly drooled at the sight of so much currency, and immediatly returned to the 
tavern, their rage to strike back at the Correlian who dared to mock them returned. 

The hooded man smiled at his handiwork. Darth Spyk didn't care who did his dirty work, as 
long as he could acquire the right muscle for the job. And using the Dark side of the Force to 
cloud their minds while firing up their blood was all too easy.

"Fools," he sneered contemptuously at the reptiles. He didn't care what happened to them, 
so long as the two Jedi were stalled.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Buf Somars listened intently to Willa Sunrose as the young Jedi retold the journey of her life 
to the Correllian. Buf could have listened to that sweet voice, like small chimes to her ears, 
for all of eternity. As they, with Oz, Xander and Gy'les, made their way to where Willa and 
Gy'les had left their speeder bikes, they had chatted like lifelong friends. Buf had grown 
amazed at how at ease she felt around Willa. 

They had also spoken about the visions they shared of each other prior to their meeting, 
without mentioning the more intense emotions that accompanied them. Buf wouldn't admit 
this to anyone, but she was afraid of the feelings she might be developing for this young 
woman. She came from a society that didn't consider gender issues in matters of the heart, 
but she had never allowed herself to become attatched to anyone else. She lived alone and it 
suited her fine. She wasn't sure she could share her life with another, or that another would 
want to share that life.

Willa herself was uncertain about her feelings for Buf. She couldn't deny the attraction to this 
compelling woman. She was drawn to her like a compass needle to magnetic north. And the 
fact that this woman had seen her in visions, before they even met. Willa found herself 
wondering, was this woman in tune with the Force? Could she be a potential Jedi? She 
knew that the council would probably not approve, siting that she was too old to train as a 
Jedi. But still, if she had the potential, it would be a shame to waste it. Perhaps she should 
discuss this with Gy'les later.

"Willa," Gy'les interrupted her wandering thoughts. "It occurs to me that we only brought the 
two speeder bikes with us. Will our new friends be forced to walk all the way to their ship?"

"I am equipped with repulsor lifts in my treads," Xander announced. "I was built for 
exploring rugged terrain, and my designers thought that it might be easier for me to be able to 
hover where I couldn't roll."

"And Buf can ride with me," Willa volunteered brightly. Buf was surprised at her offer, but 
didn't want to refuse it.

"I suppose that could work," Gy'les suggested. "My speeder bike is equipped with a side-
car which should accommodate our hirsute friend," he added, indicating Oz. "How fast can 
you travel with your repulsors, Xander?"

"I can keep up with you, Gy'les," Xander stated proudly. "I've made a few modifications 
outside of my manufacturer's specs."

"Okay, it's settled," Willa said. "Let's head out of here--" She suddenly stopped in her 
tracks, and Gy'les and Buf both noticed the serious expression on her face. "Something is 
wrong, Gy'les," she whispered. "I'm sensing the Dark Side ahead."

Gy'les looked ahead of their path, and concentrated. "Yes, child," he agreed. "We'd best be 
careful." Even Buf, who to Gy'les knowledge had no affinity for the Force, seemed to sense 
a wrongness ahead of them. They ventured forward slowly, Buf and Oz two paces behind 
the two Jedi and the droid, watching their backs.

The ambush was quick and brutal. The six Trandoshans jumped them from all sides. The 
leader attacked Buf, who drew her blaster just quickly enough to fend off her attacker. She 
fired two bolts from her blaster, winging the beast in the right shoulder. He howled in pain, 
and staggered toward Buf.

Oz immediately clubbed the leader with his mighty paw, bellowing his rage that this monster 
who had enslaved him earlier now tried to harm the one whom he was honor-bound to 
protect. His eyes flashed green fire, and his canine teeth gleamed in the light of two suns.

Gy'les and Willa, meanwhile, were prepared for the melee, as they loosed the handles of their 
lightsabers. Willa pushed Xander out of the line of fire as the Trandoshans advanced, and 
then they drew their blades, glowing brightly with their deadly energies. They feinted at first, 
as the slavers fired their blasters at the two Jedi. They maneuvered their sabers in front of 
them, the blades effectively reflecting the shots away from them. One deft move from Gy'les 
deflected a blaster shot directly at the shooter's hand, forcing him to drop his weapon as he 
winced in pain. Willa smiled at her mentor, and calmly executed a like move, disarming her 
opponent. They stood their ground as their attackers gradually lost their courage. They 
hadn't expected their prey to fight back, certainly not as effectively as they had.

"I will say this once," Gy'les intoned, regarding the slavers with righteous ire. "You will leave 
here, and never again do harm to our companions. They are under the protection of the Jedi 
Knights." Hearing these words, the Trandoshans lost the last of their resolve, and departed 
peaceably. Buf and Oz glared at the reptiles, and fought off the urge to shout back at them. 
They had won this battle, and they had no desire to start another.

Xander emerged from the doorway into which he had been pushed and, shaking his head, 
asked, "Is it over?"

Buf smiled at Willa and Gy'les, saying, "I am impressed. I never saw anything like that 
before."

"The Force guided our hands, Buf," Willa observed sagely, "and brought us victory this day."

"The Force, eh?" Buf asked her new companions.

"You sound skeptical, my friend," Gy'les noted.

"I wonder how much of that was just luck."

"In my experience, Buf Somars," Gy'les countered without malice, "there is no such thing as 
luck."

"Perhaps, Gy'les." Brushing the dust off of her pants with her hands, she announced, "I tend 
to be skeptical about what I can't see, hear, touch, taste or smell, but after what I saw today, 
I'm prepared to keep an open mind."

Willa nodded in acceptence, and then said, "We'd better get moving before our buddies get 
their courage back. Shall we?" Buf and Willa smiled at each other and led the way to the 
speeder bikes.

They didn't notice that their departure was being watched keenly by two glittering pale yellow 
eyes. "Damn lizard-men," Darth Spyk muttered in disgust. It galled him to use lesser beings 
to test the limits of these Jedi Knights, but he knew that he couldn't face them himself, not 
while the twin suns of Tatooine blazed so brightly at midday. Wait for the night, Spyk 
consoled himself. Then his strength would be at its zenith, and he could eliminate the threat of 
the Jedi himself.

As for Buf Somars, he would have to discuss her fate with Darth Ang'lus. No doubt his 
master would have special plans for her.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The ride from Mos Eisley to the Slayer went without incident. Oz sat uncomfortably in the 
cramped side car attached to Gy'les bike, and if he was uncomfortable sitting next to the 
hairy Wookie, the Jedi master kept it to himself. Xander flew alongside the two speeder 
bikes, keeping up well enough. 

Buf rode with Willa, her arms wrapped securely around the young Jedi's waist. Willa 
blushed slightly at the contact, but was secretly thrilled by this closeness. It had been a long 
time since she felt close to another, and she certainly never thought she could feel so safe and 
secure with someone she had only met less than an hour ago.

Ah, but you met her long before then, a voice cajoled her from the back of her mind. 
You've known her from the moment you were conceived. She is your other half. Your 
soulmate. Only with her will you be complete.

She brushed these thoughts aside for now. She had to concentrate on the task at hand. She 
and Gy'les had to find the gravity generator that was imprisoning their ship on Tatooine, and 
once the gravity well was eliminated, she and Buf would, in all likelyhood, part ways.

That thought filled her with inexpressible sorrow, and she tried to push it out of her mind 
again. She concentrated on the terrain in front of them, on piloting her speeder bike safely, 
and on the strong, slender arms that encircled her.

May the Force grant, she prayed wordlessly, that Buf and I not part quickly.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Once they arrived at the Slayer, Buf headed directly for the navagation computer in the 
central cockpit. She programmed the nav-comp to locate any anomalous gravitational spots, 
as well as sources of energy output, because she knew that any gravity generators would 
require vast amounts of energy to maintain.

While Buf waited by her nav-comp, Gy'les noticed a restive Willa. "Is there something 
troubling you, Willa?" he asked his paduwan.

"Not really," she shrugged. "I just keep thinking of Buf. She's so pragmatic. Not quite what 
I imagined."

"And yet, she's so much more, isn't she?"

Willa looked into the wise coutenance of her mentor. "Yeah, she is. Do you think that she 
may be Force-sensitive?"

"I was wondering the same thing," Gy'les mused. "I suspect that she may be. After all, she 
seemed to have visions of you similar to the ones you claim to have had of her."

"True, true. But would the Council allow her to train as a Jedi? She's at least as old as I am. 
And when I first petitioned the Council to make me your paduwan, many of them protested 
that I was too old, even then."

"Willa," Gy'les reminded her, "we have much to accomplish on Suun'dyl before we meet with 
Council again. I think that it may be wise to test her blood for midiochlorines. If they are 
present in her system, then we will have our answer. Then we can deal with the 
ramifications."

"Thank you, Master Gy'les." Willa smiled sweetly at Gy'les, who simply nodded. 

Willa left her mentor, and climbed the ladder to the cockpit. She saw Buf with Xander, as 
Oz sat in the co-pilot's seat, checking various instruments. The Wookiee was evidently a 
pilot prior to being enslaved by the Trandoshans. He certainly knew his way around a 
Correllian freighter's instrument panels.

"Hey, Buf," she asked, causing the young Correllian to turn her head. "Any luck?"

"Yeah, Willa," she answered. "Not good luck, though. And I thought you and Gy'les didn't 
believe in luck."

"Gy'les and I have debated strenuously on the subject," Willa stated simply. "Did you find the 
gravity generator?"

"Yeah, and you're not going to like it." Buf punched a button next to her view screen. The 
screen lit with a map of the surrounding deserts. "The generator is situated some fifteen 
kilometers from here, south by southeast."

"So," Willa looked puzzled. "If it's not so far, we could shut it off immediately."

"Not likely," Buf fumed. "It's located on property claimed by the Hutt Consortium. And the 
communiques I received make it less likely that we'll be able to saunter in unnanounced. The 
figurehead for this operation is an especially unsavory character named Snydaa." She 
looked at the map again, sighing in exasperaition.

The last thing she wanted to deal with today was the return of Snydaa. But if asked, she 
would love to be the one to make him pay for what he did to her, for trying to force her to 
work for him. If he was responsible for her being trapped on this flyspeck of a planet, then 
vengeance was called for.

And vengeance will not be denied.

TBC

"I think that what my daughter is trying to say is -- Nyah, nyah, nya-nyah nyah!"
--Joyce Summers to Mr. Snyder, "Faith Hope and Trick"

"God moves in extremely mysterious, not to say, circuitous ways. God does not play dice 
with the universe; He plays an ineffible game of His own devising, which might be compared, 
from the perspective of any of the other players* to being involved in an obscure and 
complex version of poker in a pitch-dark room, with blank cards, for infinite stakes, with a 
dealer who won't tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time."

*ie., everybody	

--Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
"Good Omens"