The Jedi From Earth: A Star Wars Story #Wattys2023

Guidance Of The Force

March 3,2016, Imperial Palace, Coruscant
Shawn sat in the garden with Mara who was trying to teach him to read Aurebesh, "ok what's this?" Mara said holding up the datapad showing the "b" letter, Shawn looked at it trying to make sense the garbled letter, "uh a b?" He said, "good" Mara said in a upbeat tone with a smile. "Ok how much more of this?" Shawn asked, "what? It's kinda what's on the screens and it's important to know it, I had trouble learning to read High Galactic or "English" Mara said. "You look like a kindergartner!" Maarek yelled out from the other side,Shawn shot back a glare and Maarek only rolled his eyes in a friendly sarcastic manner, Mara then held up the datapad with a sentence on it, Shawn could only make sense of the "e" and "o" nothing more "no idea" he said. Mara smiled " you'll figure it out".

Then Shawn heard the foreboding mechanical breathing, " Mendes, Jade follow me" Vader said. Shawn looked at Mara who shrugged then stood up and walked over to Vader. "I've an assignment for you" Vader said walking away and they followed, "what is it sir?" Shawn asked, "the Emperor has assigned the both of you to Grand Admiral Thrawn you are to accompany him to the moon Titan and Mars from there to Chandrila" Vader said, "what're we to do Lord Vader?" Mara asked, "what ever he commands you to but is your equal to a degree"  Vader replied. " are you coming with us?" Shawn asked as he didn't want to have Vader's constant monitoring the whole time "yes I will only in a overwatch position"Vader replied, now Shawn knew he'd have to be careful of what he did.

Super Star Destroyer Ravager
Shawn and Mara walked onto the bridge along with Vader, Thrawn was studying a hologram and turned around "ah welcome Lord Vader" Thrawn said, " spare the formalities Admiral I'm simply here to monitor the boy and girl" Vader said. "As you wish my lord" Thrawn said bowing slightly, "two of the Emperor's Hands it's an honor" Thrawn said approaching and bowing a little "Grand Admiral Thrawn at your service" Thrawn said extending his hand to Shawn, Shawn shook his hand "thank you sir" although a little uneasy by Thrawn's piercing red eyes, Mara shook his hand then Thrawn went back to the holoprojecter.

"I will make this simple" Thrawn said his friendly gaze turned stern and militaristic in the blink of an eye, "Saw Gerrera was on his way to a facility in the Mid Rim when he was rescued" Thrawn said clicking a button and a hologram of a moon appeared "behold the moon Europa we've detected a rebel base there the ISB has determined Gerrera is there, a differing report from COMPNOR suggests he is on Mars or another world called Baridia" Thrawn explained in a serous demeanor as if talking to a group of small children. "Their forces are large but we are as well" an officer said, "force? Captain Orson the Imperial Navy is highly capable of dealing with a remote base" Thrawn said. "They aren't compared to the power of the Force" Mara said in a way that made Shawn not recognize her at first, the other officers smiled and even laughed, "Madam Jade the Jedi are extinct the Force is meaningless" Thrawn replied with a condescending smile.

Shawn almost laughed as well and felt Vader's disdain even, "sir we can use the Force it's real, even Lord Vader can" Shawn said with a professional tone although he felt out of place amongst these military personnel, "is that so? Prove it" a short faced officer said. Suddenly Vader stepped forward , " I will make this clear making remarks such as that will result in punishment is that clear" Vader said sternly "of course Lord Vader" Thrawn said and Vader released the officer who coughed. Shortly afterward the fleet entered hyperspace, "Why don't people believe in the Force?" Shawn asked as that'd pondered him lately "same reason people why people on your world are agnostic or atheist they just don't see its existence as logical" Mara replied, "too bad I was gonna zap him" Shawn said with a slight chuckled, Mara said "uh not a wise choice you'd get in so much trouble and get scolded for a while".

Europa, Low Jupiter Orbit
The fleet exited hyperspace near Jupiter, Shawn practically had his face pressed to the glass as he stared at the enormous gas planet in front of him. Like everyone else on Earth he'd only ever seen it in pictures, then it struck Shawn he was the first person from Earth to have seen Jupiter in person, the giant red spot dwarfed the eleven mile long ship and looked as big as Earth. Shawn even saw that the sun looked like the size of a small moon now and it's light was dimmed, space fascinated Shawn greatly and he even shook his head a little at it. "Lord Vader we've contacted the base and they've stated Saw Gerrera is in their custody" an officer said " good, send him here" Vader said "yes my lord" the senior petty officer said. Shawn and Mara followed Vader to a smaller hanger where a man was dragged off a shuttle and dropped on the floor, "well Mendes is it him?" Vader asked, Shawn didn't recognize the man at all. "No it isn't" Shawn replied, an ISB colonel said to the base commanders angrily " are you two trying to deceive us? Shall I throw them in a cell Lord Vader?",That will not be necessary" Vader said turning around and heading back to the bridge.

" Captain" Vader said as he stepped on the bridge "plot a route to Baridia immediately" he continued, "of course Lord Vader". Thrawn approached "Admiral alert all commands of COMPNOR and the Intelligence Ministry calculate every possible route along their last known trajectory" Vader said, Shawn then thought of something random and that was when and why a base was constructed on Europa secretly. But it wasn't the time for questions without suspicion,

Baridia, Unknown Regions
The world ahead was a strange one, it had an Earth like look but there were no people of any species there only plants and water, "now who wishes to go down there?" Thrawn asked, " I will" Shawn spoke up. The other officers seemed surprised "you must have a death wish then" Thrawn replied "but you'll most likely be looking for ghosts then, this world was discovered almost two years ago". "Now go, and don't fail me" Vader said to Shawn,Mara followed him down to the hanger, as he prepped the Strings Mara leaned in "don't die ok, oh one more thing" she said and handed him a flat bottle of water which Shawn put in a pocket inside his jacket, "I won't or get lost" Shawn replied with a smile before kissing her and she jumped off.

Baridia, Alpha Centauri system
Shawn stared in awe at the vast landscape in front of him, it was temperate yet warmer. Looking down below Shawn jumped off a large rock before reaching the bottom and looking around, it was....quiet..very quiet there was no intelligent life anywhere no insects or anything. So he continued on keeping to the shade of the canyon, Shawn felt the crisp air and the smell of the dirt of a desertlike region, after about half and hour he came upon quite an obstacle. There was a vast valley in front of him pockmarked by empty lake beds, Shawn took a moment to catch his breath and observe, suddenly he sensed something and heard the sound of a speeder.

Then a speeder dropped down overhead heading into the valley, Shawn saw the valley was vast so he took a breath and studied his options, either cross the mountains to the west or east or go through the valley and hopefully reach the other side by the afternoon. The valley it was then and he set off, Shawn reached the bottom in half an hour and sat down to rest, why can't a bike fit on the ship?, he thought. Also here on the valley floor it was very hot , looking up the the two stars Shawn calculated it was mid afternoon, he reached into his jacket and took out the bottle of water and sipped it before heading off again.

The barrenness of the valley was mesmerizing in a way but also instilled a sense of loneness, feeling the Suns beginning to burn the back of his neck Shawn simply removed his gloves and stuffed them in his belt before removing his jacket and holding it behind him as a sort of tarp as he walked. The effort was also exhausting as well, Shawn's muscles ached but he pressed on hoping it would be better on the other side of valley. Press on, a voice said press on and they will come it said again, as the Suns began to set Shawn plopped down in a sort of small cave to rest once more,He put his jacket back on then sipped some water gazing at the sky and the unfamiliar constellations, from here the Big Dipper was closer and brighter and Orion was farther away and dimmer. Shawn leaned against the wall and eventually fell asleep.

The next morning Shawn was awoken by something hard poking him in the chest, he sensed people nearby. Very slowly he reached for his blaster while opening his eyes but found it was gone, he saw a man holding it as well as his lightsaber, "looking for this kid ?" He asked. Shawn was unsure how to react, he stood up "give those back" he demanded. The group laughed, "don't know where you come from kid but you're not exactly in a position to make demands" the leader said, "now how'd ya get here, looks like by the Imperial logo on your there you're some kind of cadet" the leader said. "What kind of a cadet has a blaster" another said,

"I think the more interesting question is, where'd get a lightsaber?" The leader said holding it up. "Give it back" Shawn said feigning anger, "I thought only Jedi carried em-" the leader spoke but was interrupted, "wait I know this kid, Onderon the one with the red blade!" Another man yelled and they aimed their blasters at him. Shawn held his hands up "I don't wanna hurt you" he assured sincerely, but meanwhile he looked behind them spotting a good sized rock and bent his index finger lifting it, "really? I ain't trust ya boy, not after the Empire bludgeoned my wife and three year old daughter to death in front of me" the leader said. Shawn moved the rock closer, "I'm sorry about that I had nothing to do with that" Shawn said merely as a distraction as he moved the rock closer, Suddenly Shawn was stuck on the back of the head and he saw stars dropping the rock which made a thud in the sandy dirt. He was slowly slipping away, "let's bring him to Saw he'll know what to do with him". "Hopefully kill him if not turn him over to general Kota" another said and everything went black,