The red dawn that greeted them brought the giant Wobegangs under their branches making the trees shake. The Wobegangs were giant fur covered creatures, with large tusks protruding from their lower jaw and shaggy brown coats. They stood taller than 3 men and had bad tempers. The boys sat still making no noise as the creatures passed. Startling them could cause a stampede and Wobegangs were perfectly capable of taking down trees.
AJ stretched and wondered what the giant bovine tasted like.

"Let's stick to Biktin." Connor said following his line of thought even as his stomach rumbled in betrayal.

"There won't be much of those nearby with the Wobegang traipsing through," AJ muttered, his stomach growling in unison. He froze in place suddenly stiffening.

"What is it?" Connor asked turning around.

And then he saw him.

Across from them was a man. He had very short cut brown hair, brown eyes and his clothes were mended over and over. He wore a few belts around his waist from which hung to metal cylinders.
Lightsabers? AJ wondered.

"Good guess," the man whispered smiling. At the sound of his voice BJ and Caohdan woke up. The man held up his empty callused hands, over which he wore thin finger-less gloves. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Who are you?" BJ demanded. He positioned himself in front of the other boys and made an attempt to look menacing.

"You can call me Starkiller." The man said. He surveyed them. "Took me long enough, I didn't realize you'd go so far." He smiled.

BJ was still suspicious but suddenly he noticed that AJ and Connor were just sitting there with their mouths hanging open not making a sound. Both were pale.

"You!" AJ managed shakily.

Connor simultaneously whispered. "It's him."

BJ glanced back at Starkiller. "What do you want from us?" He demanded.

Starkiller paused and considered his answer quickly. What did he want from them? Why I am here? "Short answer? I don't know. I know I am supposed to save some Force sensitives."

Connor nodded. His dreams made sense now...if the man was indeed saving Force Sensitives. "Are you with the Rebellion?" He asked suddenly.

Starkiller winced. "It's complicated..."
"You'll take us off world?" BJ interrupted and was suddenly hopeful. This was their chance, their chance to get off of Kelusia, out into the black. He was ready to jump on it.

"Yes if you want to come." Starkiller grew serious. "I wouldn't wait too long though...Kelusia is only a backwater because of its distance from the center of the Empire, it is rich in resources, and apparently Force Sensitives. The Emperor has turned his eye this way. I don't know why."

Secretly Starkiller wondered if he was the cause. He certainly never wanted to face the Emperor and Darth Vader again. He would not survive a third encounter. That he was sure of. There would be no return for him a third time.

Plus he was a loose end that needed to be snipped.

"You can sense us." BJ said finally breaking the silence. "And if you can so can others."
"Yes." Starkiller didn't lie.

"There was a man in the market yesterday, he came in off the Empire ships that have been landing here...he gave me a large bag of coins...."

"Where is it?" Starkiller asked suddenly, concerned. Any tracking device could be hidden in a bag of coins.

"I left it back with Em," BJ answered. "I didn't think about grabbing it, we wouldn't have had any use for it out here."

"I'm not going without Em or Allana," Caohdan said suddenly, having not said a word up to this point. Starkiller pivoted to face the five year old whom he'd forgotten was there for a few moments. He reached out with the Force and felt a jolt of surprise. The boy's connection was surprisingly strong. 

He wondered if this was how Vader had reacted all those years ago... and then dismissed the Dark Lord entirely.  As if simply thinking about him could put Vader on his trail. I'm coming for you, the dark clone's voice echoed in his mind. He forced himself to concentrate on the boys in front of him.

BJ was about to argue with Caohdan when Starkiller spoke up first.
"Take me to them. That man could have planted a tracker in there to find you later."

Starkiller looked down below at the immense creatures passing below. He could simply weave in and out of them to get back.

Connor looked down at the Wobegangs as Starkiller dropped down silently among them. They all cringed knowing the volatile natures of the Wobegangs in a way that Starkiller did not. Although he was perfectly still and the beasts took no notice of him yet.

BJ looked at the others and then dropped quickly down next to Starkiller and put a finger to his lips slowly swiveling his head. Starkiller followed his lead amazed at the huge creatures but not getting too close.
"Juno." He spoke suddenly into his com. "I'm heading back your way. There are more than we thought here. Better make plenty of room."

The nearest creature froze in place and snorted. BJ brought his hand up and face palmed as several more beasts froze. It did not take much to set Wobegangs off and they appeared startled now. Starkiller froze for a moment, himself startled and looked down at BJ who motioned UP with his eyes. Suddenly BJ found himself being flung upwards into the trees violently landing in the branches next to Connor with Starkiller leaping up next to them. The others grasped the branches for dear life as the ground began to rumble. All knew what a Wobegang stampede meant.

"Juno to Starkiller, there seems to be a lot of movement in your area, several large creatures are stampeding, are you all right?"

"Tell her to shut it!" BJ snapped loudly as the creatures below grow more agitated and began to run.

"Fine Juno!" Starkiller called into the Commlink on his wrist. "But can you wait to contact us again. You're setting the...the..."

"Wobegangs?" Connor supplied, grasping a branch for dear life.

"Wobegangs...off...just hold off while I get us out of here." He switched it off as the beasts came at the trees. "They're vegetarians I hope?" He said glancing at BJ.

"Yes," said BJ in a loud whisper, "but temperamental as a woman when both moons are in full face." The tree vibrated as the Wobegangs kept charging past it.

"I have no idea what that means," snapped Starkiller. It was a phrase he'd never heard before but he assumed it meant things were going to get ugly before they got better.

"Let's get away from here," AJ said holding Caohdan's one hand and the tree with another, "You know they won't stop for a while, we need to move away from, the direction they're going in."

"We're going to have to go down and through," said BJ wobbling. A loud crack sounded. "Then we can go up again, these aren't nearly big enough to hold us or hide us from them."

"You're kidding, right?" Starkiller asked. The branches were wide enough for them to stand on but not strong enough to stay standing?

"On three," said BJ but before he could even start to count the tree toppled over spilling them onto the ground. They all found themselves inside a herd of stampeding beasts who'd lost their target and were just now running for their lives.

Starkiller snatched up a screaming Caohdan and yanked the other three boys to their feet with the Force. "Run!"

"This way!" BJ pointed. Together they sprinted dodging and weaving between the animals' legs. He felt his lungs would burst and suddenly a familiar grove was in front of them. "There!" He shouted. He leapt up into the air using the Force managed to fling himself up. Suddenly Starkiller was there next to him dropping Caohdan into his arms as he turned and stretched out both hands and pulled. A startled Connor and then AJ came flying out of the herd and landed on the branch next to them.

"Absolutely quiet," BJ said to them in a whisper, "they aren't charging this way yet, so once they pass we can go." The creatures were moving away from them heading south.

It was a long wait. Caohdan stared up at Starkiller, awe on his, in worshipful silence.

Starkiller sat staring at the passing Wobegangs in fascination. He'd battled many creatures before that he thought were terrifying. But these creatures attacking in a herd like this, he'd never be able to hold them all off. They were mindless once enraged. Lesson learned he thought. Find out as much about the local wildlife as possible before I go charging in.

BJ stared hard at him. The boys blue eyes had a hardness that didn't match his years. He didn't need the Force to read the boy's thoughts. Was he their salvation or their doom? But the thing was, even Starkiller didn't know the answer to that question.

These were the boys from the vision but what now?