Chapter Text
They didn’t know that Force Sensitive children were being targeted until it was too late. They were supposed to be in a time of peace. The Empire had been torn down years ago. Yes, sympathizers and power hungry egoists still roamed free, as was they’re right, but those bigots were dispersed and few in number.
Or so Kes Dameron had thought.
The humid, sun shiny Yavin lV morning had begun like any other. Kes had walked out of his room and into the living space to find that his ten year old son had preceded him. This was not unusual. Isaac had always been a morning person like his mother; he was one big ball of energy that could not be repressed from morning till late at night. Kes didn’t even try to enforce bedtimes anymore. Isaac slept when he wanted and awoke when he pleased. There wasn’t anything Kes could do. That had always been Shara’s specialty but that regularity had gone since her passing.
Isaac didn’t look up from whatever game he was playing on his pad. Kes assumed he had already eaten and walked passed his son to make himself some caf.
As he started the pot, his son’s voice surprised him by asking, “Can I have some?”
Kes turned. “Some what?”
“Caf,” Isaac said as if it was obvious.
Inclined to say no Kes started to voice it but then Isaac took his eyes off the pad and said in a plain tone. “Mama said she loved caf in her cream.”
A lump jumped from the pit of Kes’s stomach and settled in his throat. Shara had said that often in that laughing, shimmery tone so unique to her and her good moods. How Isaac remembered that, Kes had no idea. He had only been four when Shara had…had her accident.
Instead of the original denial, Kes sighed. “Sure.”
Isaac practically glowed before turning back to his pad.
How Isaac remained so positive and happy, Kes had no idea. It wasn’t that he had a bad relationship with his son but he knew that he hadn’t been the most present parent. He hadn’t nurtured Isaac as well as he should have after Shara’s death being too caught up in his own grief. And after he felt halfway stable again, well, he had missed three years of Isaac’s life and it seemed it was just too late. So he let Isaac do what made him happy and stayed out of it, just supervising his beautiful son’s life take off.
Kes made himself his usual dark caf but pulled down another mug, filled it over halfway with cream and the rest with splashes of caf.
“Here you go, son,” he walked over to Isaac and set down the drink on a small table.
“Thanks Papa!” Isaac said without looking up. It looked like he was winning his game.
A knock called Kes away and to the front door.
“Who would be calling at this time?” He mumbled to himself.
Yavin lV was a newly settled planet. Homes were scarce and spaced out. They were a small farming community, mostly made up of ex-rebels living their retirement out and raising their children in peace. The closest farm was thirteen miles away…it wasn’t as if someone just walked over to ask for a cup of sugar for morning flapjacks.
Cautious as ever, Kes opened the the view cam feed before opening the door. Three men Kes did not recall seeing before waited on the other side.
“Mr Dameron?” One of them questioned, his eyes looking up at the camera. “Is this the home of Kes Dameron?”
Kes did not answer the question. Instead he posed his own. “What do you want?”
“Sir,” the man said in a soothing, calm voice, “we have traveled a long way to be here. We have heard tell that…that you may possess one of the last Force trees from the old Jedi temple. You see, sir,” the man’s voice lowered slightly but was still audible, “we are founding members of the New Church of the Jedi.”
Despite never having heard the title did not mean such a thing did not exist. “Jedi?” Kes asked, curious.
“We are not Jedi ourselves,” the man was quick to say, “but we study their teachings and hope to serve the Force. We hope to rekindle the unity that the Force provided widespread in the people of the galaxy in the old times. We do not wish any harm or take only to gaze on the special tree you possess.”
Kes relaxed with a smile on his face. These men were dreaming obviously but he hadn’t heard talk like this since his friendship with Luke Skywalker. It brought back memories.
He opened the door and immediately regretted it.
For many years after Kes would wonder what would have happened if he had denied the men entry. Would they have left? Unlikely. Would they have forced the door and shot him and his son? It seemed probable. Was death a preferable fate to the reality? Yes.
The man he had been speaking to lunged at him and they fell to the ground. All three men pulled out blasters and pointed them at Kes. He struggled against the man who currently held him down until -
“Where is your son, Dameron?”
Kes froze. Bounty hunters here to take him away dead or alive he could deal with. But they were after his son? Over his dead body they were.
“Papa?”
“No! Isaac! Run!” Kes shouted, catching sight of his young frightened child still holding onto the pad that had made him smile moments ago.
The man holding Kes gestures toward Isaac. “Get him. If he isn’t what they say, kill him. If he is, put him in the ship with as little fuss as possible. You know how annoying it is when the cry.”
“RUN ISAAC NOW!” Kes emphasized. But Isaac didn’t move. He only took a single step backwards.
“Are…are you going to kill my papa?”
One of the standing men glanced sideways at the other. He took a step forward but Isaac quickly retreated. “Are you going to kill my papa?” He asked again.
“Yes,” the standing man said, stopping his advance.
Isaac swallowed but did not hesitate in asking, “Why?”
The man atop Kes said with a smile, “Because we want to take you with us and your papa here will only get in our way.”
Kes implored. “Isaac go. Stop talking and go.”
But still, he was ignored.
“I’ll come with you,” Isaac said, shaking only slightly. “I won’t cry. Just don’t kill Papa.”
The two men laughed at this but the third man who had not spoken yet silenced them with only a look. He starred at Isaac with a gleam in his eye that Kes did not like in the least.
While Kes continued pleading breathlessly for his son to make a run for it, the third man spoke. “You’re very brave child. Do you understand that if you come with us, you’ll never come back to this planet again?”
“…you won’t kill Papa?”
“We will not.”
“Then…okay.”
“Good. Come here.”
Isaac walked slowly to the man. As he did so he finally looked down at his father. Kes felt tears come to his eyes when Isaac flashed him his most winning smile.
The smaller-than-average boy stood before the adult who was only minutes away from kidnapping him. Neither batted an eye or showed any signs that this interaction was abnormal.
The adult kneeled down and placed both of his hands on either on Isaac’s head.
“Well?” Ken began to fight the man speaking off of him at the sight of a stranger laying hands on Isaac. “Is he or isn’t he?”
“He is,” the man holding Isaac’s head said solemnly.
Only months after they had stunned Kes and taken Isaac away would Kes know what exactly his son was. This had not been exclusive to the Dameron’s. Children from across the galaxy were being hunted down and taken from their families. Special children.
Force sensitive children.