The Legio Twins Saga: New Day Dawning

New Day Dawning is the first book of the fan fiction series The Legio Twins Saga by author Padawan Leanne. It is told mainly from the alternating 1st-person perspectives of Earth-born teenagers Mark and Stephanie Legio, and follows them on their first adventure in the world of Star Wars. As of May, 2010, the author is reportedly not finished with publishing the work to fanfiction.net, the book's current home, but a full summary of the work is currently available.

Summary
The story begins on Halloween night, 2006, in the Legio family home in a suburd just outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Earlier that year, the Legio family had suffered a tragic loss with the death of John Legio, whose car had skidded on black ice and swerved into a tree while driving home from work. Both twins took their father's death very hard, though instead of bringing them closer together, the two siblings only pushed each other away. At only age 17, the twins began to become bitter and angry, often lashing out at each other for no apparent reason.

The state of Steph and Mark's relationship continued to rapidly deteriorate, until by October of that year their near-constant arguing had become almost unbearable for their mother and uncle as well. Only once did their frustration lead to physical violence, but it was often small matters that led to the worst bickering. One such occasion occured on Halloween night, 2006, as the family was preparing to go to a costume party at the home of their mother's sister, Susan. Stephanie and Mark, who had dressed up as the Episode IV: A New Hope incarnations of Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker, respectively, engaged in a viscious shouting match resulting from Mark's inability to find his prop lightsaber, casuing their mother to snap at them in frustration and run to her bedroom in tears. Having then ridden to the party in silence, the twins would most likely have not spoken to each other for the rest of the night, had it not been for a bizarre and life-changing occurance.

That same night, after arrivng at the party, Steph and Mark were confronted by their younger cousins, Eric and Ashley, who begged them to play hide-and-seek. The pair grudgingly agreed, despite suspecting that the children were only trying to trick them into being locked in the house's attic, since they would rather play along voluntarily rather than be forced to by their mother and aunt. After being led to the attic, where Stephanie was meant to wait and count, she attempted to beat her cousins at their own game by locking them out of the attic. however, the plan backfired, when instead of complaining, the kids simply locked the door on the other side, leaving Steph and Mark trapped together.

Noticing several large trunks in the attic, the twins decided to explore their contents, and were surprised to find a secret stash of old Star Wars costumes. Hoping to discover something else surprising, Stephanie attempted to open a thrid trunck next to the two they had already opened, but found the lid was stuck. She tried again, and was thrwon back when the lid suddenly burst open. Swirling winds filled the room, seemingly emitted from a large standing mirror. As she stood up, Steph found herself being drawn towards the mirror by a strong force, then was sucked into it, falling through the mirror's non-solid surface into a mysterious vortex. Mark, who had also been sucked in, grabbed her hand, but was unable to stop his sister from being pulled in another direction.

Separated from her brother, Stephanie fell through the void until landing hard and blacking out. When she awoke, she saw to her astonishment that her surroundings appeared to be exactly the same as Princess Leia's cell on the Death Star in A New Hope. Despite her initial shock, it did not take Steph very long to figure out that she had somehow replaced the character of Princess Leia in the timeline of A New Hope, and that the Imerials abord the Death Star believed her to be the Alderaanian princess herself.

Meanwhile, Mark awoke lightyears away to the sound of Obi-Wan Kenobi's voice in the middle of the Tatooine desert. Alarmed by the sight of the fictional Jedi - whom he initially mistook for actor Alec Guiness - and possibly concussed after his fall, Mark passed out again, only to wake up again in Kenobi's hut. The young man explained his situation to the Jedi Master, after which the two of them watched the message carried by R2-D2. The hologram displayed provided the evidence to confirm Mark's fear that his sister had "become Princess Leia," and he was determined to rescue her. Kenobi then proceeded to present Mark with the lightsaber of starwars: Anakin Skywalker, saying that he was in fact a Force-sensitive and that he would train him in the ways of the Force during their journey to Alderaan.

On the Death Star, Stephanie's worst fears were confirmed when Darth Vader entered her cell and proceeded to torture her for information concerning the whereabouts of the Rebel Alliance with the aid of an interrogation droid. Determined not to betray the Rebels, and also determined to live to be reunited with her brother, Stephanie managed to survive the first round of Vader's torture before the dark lord left, with a promise to return when she was more willing to divulge what she knew. Worried that the impending Destruction of Alderaan would occur due to her continued refusal to cooperate, Steph devised a new plan: to convince Vader when her torture began again that she had broken down, then give him the false location of Dantooine. Though it took all her strength and willpower to do so, Steph managed to accomplish her goal, and was left in her cell to wait for her execution while her claim was being investigated.

In need of transportation to Alderaan, Mark, Obi-Wan, C-3PO, and R2-D2 travelled to Mos Eisley spaceport, where they were able to enlist the aid of Han Solo and Chewbacca.

Having been tortured twice and refused several meals out of fear of being drugged, Stephanie was very weak, and her attempts to escape through the ventalation shaft in the ceiling using both the Force (like her brother, Steph had also suspected that she had somehow become Force-sensative) and a bobby pin from her hair were both useless. Some time later, she heard a noise above her, and was shocked to find Mark prying open the ventalation duct, followed by Han Solo and Chewbacca. The group crawled thorugh the shaft and dropped down through another duct into the entrance area of the detention block, which was by that time heavily guarded by four Imerial officers as well as five Stormtroopers. Despite the group being able to defeat the Imerials and destroy the surrveilance equipment, they were dismayed to discover that during the not-so-secret attack, Han had been shot while jumping from the ceiling, resulting in his arm breaking as he fell on the console. In addition, a button on the console had been activated by one officer before he died, alerting all areas to the situation in the detention block. Mark stalled on the intercom, while Steph dressed herself in the armor of a dead Stormtrooper and helped the injured Han to do the same.

Realizing that more troops would be arriving at any moment, Steph briefly bickered with her brother over what to do next, until Mark decided to use Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber to cut through the turbolift door and deal with the troops himself. After Mark came back up again dressed in armor and surrounded by several dead troopers, everyone else got in the turbolift and headed to the medical center to treat Han's injury. Afterwards, the group split up, with Han and Chewie taking one route back to the Millennium Falcon and Steph and Mark taking another.

When they had almost reached the ship, the twins encountered Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi engaged in a fierce duel, and witnessed the Jedi Master fall at the hands of his former apprentice. Though Steph tried to stop him, Mark rushed forward to engage the Sith Lord, but was caught off guard when Vader Force-pushed him into the wall, causing him to momentarily black out. Stephanie ran after her brother, and, despite having no formal training at that point, called the fallen Kenobi's lightsaber into her hand. Having had some experience with lightsaber combat from making several Star Wars fan films in the past in addition to her martial arts training, Steph was able to hold her own agains Vader for a short while, holding out until her brother regained conciousness. Together, they managed to cut off the Sith's left arm, narrowly escaping with their lives aboard the Falcon.

Since Steph had managed to save Alderaan from destruction, Han wanted to take her and Mark there, believing her to be the real princess. However, she forcibly told the smuggler that if he wanted his money and proper medical treatment, then the smart thing to do would be to take them to Yavin IV, where the Rebel base was. Solo grudgingly agreed to do so, leaving the twins alone for awhile, during which they had a heart-to-heart talk and came to realize their real purpose for being on this adventure: to bring them closer together again. Mark apologized for rushing at Vader in anger, and Steph told him that she understood perfectly well, becasue she had felt much the same way for a long time.

Stephanie, Mark, Han, and Chewie reached Yavin safely, but with the Death Star not far behind. Soon after arriving, the partial plans carried by R2-D2 were complied with the rest of the plans to give a complete technical readout of the Death Star, allowing the Rebels to form a plan of attack. Steph and Mark both realized that as the "acting" Luke Skywalker, Mark would have to be the one to ulitmately destroy the battle station, despite never having flown an X-Wing before. He would also have to do it without Han's help, who was both injured and unwilling to do so. Determined not to let her brother die trying to save the Rebellion, Steph decided to try to help him by flying a starfighter of her own. However, her plan fell through, and she was forced to devise a new one: hijack the Millennium Falcon.