The blue lightsabers flashed in unison towards them. AJ watched in awe as they moved almost faster than his eyes could see. He stood and watched, fists clinched at his sides.  The man who wielded them walked out of the darkness to them. His expression was neutral, his dark brown hair was close cropped, and AJ could make nothing out of his brown eyes.

Sometimes he came to them for AJ was often accompanied in these dreams with his cousin Connor.  Other times the man fought another man, an identical man wielding two red lightsabers. He often wondered if they were twins separated at birth, sadly ending up on opposite sides of the Force.

The dream always ended with them fighting, but he never got to see who won. He'd always wake up before the end, looking over at his cousin, who more times than not was having the same dream. 

Tonight was no different. 

AJ awoke again the dream fading into the night. Connor also popped up from the floor wide awake where he was lying next to him. By instinct they both turned to each other even though neither could see the other very well. They'd been doing this for sometime now. It was habitual, no one else shared this dream with them. 

"The same again?" Connor asked into the darkness.

"The man with the blue lightsaber?" AJ replied.

"Yeah," Connor whispered. For weeks they'd dreamed of the same man. Having the same visions together.

"What does it mean?" That was the underlying question. The dreams had plagued both of them so heavily as of late their eyes were starting to have permanent bags under them.  

"I don't know." Connor whispered. "What if it doesn't mean anything?"

"But they've started happening during the day." AJ replied. "They have to mean something. Won't people notice?"

Connor looked up into the gloom. "I don't know."

They could hear the breathing of BJ and Caohdan in their shared room. It was black but the light from Kelusia's twin moons Iblis and Ivaine cast a white light through the window. AJ could just make out Connor's outline in the darkness.

"Both moons are out," Connor observed. "Maybe the old people are right. People act funny when both full moons are out."

"That's just women," AJ muttered. He laid back down and stared at the ceiling. His eyes drooped as he fell asleep. Once again the dream flared up.

The man sat on a tree branch in front of him, his hands up in a conciliatory gesture. He had brown hair and eyes, wearing a gray shirt with belts strapped around his chest for carrying his lightsabers. He stared at them holding up his hands and started to speak....

AJ's eyes popped open. A quick glance at Connor told him Connor had also seen the strange scene. They stared at each other. That was new.

"What does it mean?" Connor whispered.

"Forget that part," said AJ, "It means he's coming."

_____________________________________________________________________

The next morning brought all four boys to the river. They were street rats, and the river afforded a decent meal, if you could catch it. Connor and AJ were both groggy from waking up so much during the night, but BJ and Caohdan were none the worse for the wear.

Caohdan threw his line out as far as his short five-year-old arms could go.

The fish were there, he could see them. Just below the surface... If only...

He stared at the fish in the water, willing them to come closer to his bait. In his mind, he wanted to just snatch the fish out of the water with his bare hands. That would show everyone that he could fish! He focused on the fish, zeroing in on their silver bodies moving through the water, the air prickled around him... he felt as if he were reaching out with his arm which was extended as the other hand grasped the pole... He ignored the rest of the group, any other people from Shantytown, the flies and gnats buzzing collectively around any moving targets...

...and concentrated on the fish.

And suddenly the fish came flying out of the water and hit him in the face with a loud smack. He barely managed to wrap his arms around the creature that was large enough to feed three of the boys at least. It thrashed in his grip.

He barely noticed the quiet, as he struggled. There were a few mouths hanging open downstream. He held the fish up to his oldest cousin BJ who was staring at him with a strange expression on his face.

"I got it!" He exclaimed joyfully. He couldn't understand why everyone was staring at him with suspicion. 

"What just happened?" One of the men stared at him, eyes narrowed. He turned and whispered to the man next to him.

"Well, there is something you don't see every day!" BJ shouted turning away to the other hardened men, men who wouldn't hesitate to turn in a suspected Force Sensitive to the nearest inquisitor for a few Imperial credits. "The fish trying to get away from you just leaped into your arms! I guess it is your lucky day!"

There were some relaxed smiles. BJ grinned and turned back to Caohdan as the normal buzz of insects could be heard over the low monotone of those trying to fish the river. 

"Not another word about it." On BJ's face was a trace of fear Caohdan had never seen before. BJ always knew everything, he wasn't afraid of anything.

Caohdan didn't understand.

"But BJ, I could pull them out of the water with my mind," he started. "I'll show you, watch..."

"No!" BJ said taking the fish and grabbing Caohdan by the arm. "We're leaving. Now!"

His brother and cousin standing a few feet away nodded. They took their fishing rods immediately out of the water and packed up whatever fish they had caught into a small bucket. It wasn't much but it was something.

BJ was already walking Caohdan away from the river while Caohdan was still clutching the fish. He was protesting vigorously.

"But--!"

"NO!" BJ's voice had gone a little higher. "Don't speak like that in front of anyone."

"I could have pulled them out of the water with my own mind," Caohdan continued stubbornly.

"Look you could but you shouldn't!" BJ whispered trying to keep Caohdan from talking too loudly. "Keep your voice down already!"

"Why?"

"Because you are a Force sensitive, we're all Force sensitives!" BJ waved his arms over his head in frustration.  You know what will happen to us if we're caught!"

And Caohdan did know. Force Sensitives were a mysterious group of people, plucked from their families by the Empire's Inquisitors. Some people thought it was an honor, but those taken were rarely seen or heard from again.

Connor and AJ came puffing up behind them dragging their rods and fishing baskets.

"Not a word of this to anyone," BJ finally said to Caohdan as the other two boys joined them.

"But..." Caohdan still had so many questions.

"Not a word," BJ said firmly.

"Wait," he said, "looking at BJ again. "You can do it too?"

"Yes," BJ whispered. He gave Caohdan a hard look. "Didn't I just say that?"

It was tough being a Force-sensitive after order 66 came through. Many took to hiding out at the edge of the Empire on the outer planets where it was easier to hide among the lawless or simply escape the Empire altogether. Going outside the Empire was another unknown in itself. There were plenty of other groups outside the Galactic Empire but no one was going to challenge the Empire directly. Hence the boys lived on the outer rim of planets on an underdeveloped world called Kelusia. It was easier to hide here.

BJ was the oldest, his real name was Benjamin Joral but to his brother and their two cousins he was just BJ. His younger brother was named Connor Joral, and their cousins AJ or Aidan Joral, and AJ's younger brother Caohdan Joral. Connor refused to be called CJ. 

Their parents were long dead...

At 14 BJ was in charge, he kept strict rules. No one outside their family was to know they had any Force ability. His biggest fear was being caught by someone who would turn them in to the nearest Imperial Post. In the past, someone would have taken them to the Jedi Academy. But with the academy gone, no one on a backwater planet in the outer rim of the Empire really knew what happened to anyone caught using the Force. 

All anyone really knew was the Inquisitors came and went with the Emperor's blessing.

BJ was determined that they not be caught. They had no real future other than as outlaws but he was determined that their future would be one of their own choosing.

He alone remembered his parents the most, he remembered running from Inquisitors, escaping, and arriving on Kelusia. Connor had been a toddler as had his cousin AJ. Caohdan had been an infant. They'd arrived in Kelusia without their parents as refugees. Many of those in the Shantytowns were all refugees from elsewhere.

Their parents had left the Jedi temple. They married sometime after that and had gone into hiding when the Order came through. BJ was never sure of the details completely.

BJ pushed the memory away of their deaths. HE did not want to remember how they happened. He knew they were gone. That's all there was to know. It was a burden he kept to himself. His brother Connor, and cousin AJ had snatches of memories of their parents but nothing as clear as BJ.

The Force had kept them alive, BJ had learned to use it out of necessity to keep himself and his sibling alive. Stealing milk and clothes for a baby was easy when you could just lift them out of whatever merchant had them. BJ promised that someday he would repay those he'd stolen from but leaving his baby cousin to be raised by strangers was not an option for him. Especially now in light of the fact that Caohdan was a Force Sensitive. BJ was, his brother and cousin both were. There had been no reason for BJ to believe that his younger cousin would remain untouched, so he held onto him instead of letting him be adopted into a new family. The fear that Caohdan would be "honored" with a visit from an Inquisitor was too much for BJ to bear.

And it turned out, he'd been right to do so.