The Jedi From Earth: A Star Wars Story #Wattys2023

Undercover Flashback

July 6,2015, 20 parsecs past Munnilist
As the ship went through hyperspace Shawn knew they'd have to be cautious as this event was drawing in bounty hunters all across the Outer Rim so it'd be just as dangerous as the actual event,

Bastion CR controlled space,
The ship exited hyperspace and Mara said " well that's Bastion we're now deep in CR space and on our own" Shawn flew the ship closer to the planet where Trade Federation battleships surrounded it, as they landed at the capital Mara handed him a small card saying "if anyone asks for your info here's 10,000 credits on here they're easily bribed" Shawn took the card and said "would they accept Imperial credits not Confederate ones" Mara replied "well they might if not just mind trick em". Walking off the ship Shawn saw many battledroids were patrolling the spaceport, "well let's find out where they're holding this thing" Shawn said and they went off. After walking around a bit Mara asked a Rodian man where it was "at the big palace over there" he replied pointing at the large palace on the other side of the city,

As they got closer Shawn saw the large hovering cube structure in front of it but also something else much darker. "I sense it too" Mara said, there was a crowd of other bounty hunters outside it waiting for whatever it was to begin. They waited for about thrifty minutes before the doors of the former Imperial building opened and several Magnaguards emerged, Then Maul stepped out with a short humanoid man beside him, Shawn and Mara quickly summoned the masks when a man asked  "what is the meaning of this the Viceroy was supposed to meet us!" Maul replied "the Viceroy no longer has power I now lead the Confederate Remanent I am Lord Maul welcome to Bastion" addressing everyone,

Then Maul walked along carefully scanning the crowd selecting a few. Then he got to Shawn and Mara, Shawn cleared his mind so Maul wouldn't sense him "how is it two young persons become bounty hunters?" Maul asked. Shawn replied "being resourceful and a quick way to make some money" Maul seemed intrigued and replied "hmm very well you two may participate" then he walked away, "Great thinking" Mara whispered as the other bounty hunters gathered in a circle where the humanoid man began speaking "listen up this is The Box designed by me Moralo Eval and its same one Count Dooku used during the Clone Wars inside you'll face many obstacles only a few of you will survive and those who do will be going to Naboo". Then one of the Magnaguards held out a tray where the bounty hunters put their blasters and weapons on, "place your weapons on here and we'll enter The Box" Eval said.

Shawn put his blaster and vibroblade on the tray before following the others into the later structure which was maybe five stories tall, the elevator went up and Mara whispered "good luck and don't die ok" Shawn replied "I won't". The elevator stopped inside a large white room with squares all around, suddenly a panel opened and a yellowish gas began coming out "dioxides" Mara said when several panels began raising off the ground, Shawn jumped on one while Mara kicked a bounty hunter off another as the panels went up. The panel Shawn stood on stopped for a minute before getting closer to the ceiling, he looked around and saw an opening in the floor which looked like an exit. Gesturing to Mara he jumped down and saw the exit and crawled through, upon exiting the room was just as plain as the last one but felt off,

Soon the others emerged then many of the panels began moving and had energy blades almost like lightsabers on the ends coming out of random areas. Shawn dodged the blades until one very narrowly cut his ear ever so slightly, then he saw there was a pattern to the panels and said to Mara "there's a pattern" Mara scanned the panels and Shawn said "follow me" then began jumping up the panels one by one before reaching the top and jumping up, By now several of the other bounty hunters were dead and only six remained out of the original ten. A large hologram popped up of Eval and he said "now we'll test your sniper skills" a box popped up out of the wall, "I got this" one of the bounty hunters said arrogantly,

The bounty hunter picked up the rifle firing at the star shaped dot that zipped around randomly until missing causing the panel beneath him to drop and he fell into the pit of fire below. The box reset and another rifle popped out, Shawn picked it up aiming it trusting in the Force to guide his motions, he fired hitting the dot each time as it zipped quickly in random patterns but it felt as if his arms weren't being moved by him almost. "Excellent this concludes the tournament" Eval said and the lights came on, Shawn set the rifle back in the box then followed the others outside. Maul stood with the Magnaguards beside him as he said "good work we leave in three weeks this time rendezvous at Coreilla before we head to Naboo",

After they were dismissed Shawn saw Maul enter the palace and whispered to Mara "I'm gonna see what he's up to head back to the ship" Mara nodded and Shawn slipped away into a nearby alleyway before releasing the mask and climbing the high walls of the palace. Soon he reached a large open window where a large room was and there sat just beyond the edge is the light was a large tall figure, the doors slid open and Maul walked in "my lord I've chosen the bounty hunters for the mission" the figure replied "excellent work Lord Maul" as he walked into the light Shawn saw his pale deformed face and was over seven feet tall with a large metal staff.

"Lord Maul enlighten me are your security measures as sharpened as your senses?" The figure asked, Maul looked puzzled and replied "of course Lord Snoke why wouldn't they?" Snoke replied " because the Emperor has many pawns at his disposal and they're trained to infiltrate anything such as the incident two standard months ago" Maul asked " what're you implying my lord?" Snoke turned to Maul saying "that if your senses were attune you'd have known that boy is right there" pointing right at Shawn and he froze.

Shawn was frozen by both shock and being held in place with the Force, he was yanked in where Maul grabbed him by his jacket "why it is you I ought to kill you right now!". "Do no such thing Lord Maul" Snoke said, Maul pushed Shawn forward and he could just remember seeing this figure somewhere but didn't recall it "ah yes you don't remember me do you" Snoke said. Shawn didn't respond "I've been watching you from the moment you discovered your abilities and I must say you did a great job at concealing it",

Shawn was shocked and creeped out at the same time. The door slid open and Grievous walked in "my lord I've been summoned to dispose of this intruder", Snoke replied "that will not be needed" Grievous seemed confused and said "but sir he's a-". Snoke yelled "GENERAL!" Grievous bowed his head slightly before backing up, "why don't you just kill me now?" Shawn said trying to sound convincing, Maul chipped in "that can be arranged" Snoke waved him off and said "no Lord Maul I have an alternative" and waved his hand at Shawn and everything became distorted and warped until Snoke said "let's have a little travel back in time shall we".