The Jedi From Earth: A Star Wars Story #Wattys2023

Part 186

**********, Star Destroyer Chimaera

The whole experience of what he'd seen still dwelled in Shawn's mind, it possibly even left him shocked in some way. Though it didn't seem to be negatively affecting him, at least what he felt. His main concern was that Vader might sense it in somehow, that and wondering on end about what would happen to Camilla. He kept pondering on that so much he was only pretending to hear Thrawn explain his attack plan. "Our reconnaissance has shown the Rebel fleet around the planet is small, they only control the capital as of now and threaten an area of personal interest to the Emperor in the north". Vader simply stood still while the other Inquisitors did as well. "Where do you plan on setting Bridger free as to lure out the Jedi, Lord Vader?" Thrawn asked.

"Outside the city, and wait for the fools to arrive" Vader replied and looked around at all of them there. "If you fail me, you will not be fond of the consequences". With the last words he looked right at Shawn and stared him down for a few short seconds, this snapped Shawn out of his inattentive state. He nervously gripped his wrist tightly as he looked back while trying not to show any sign of fear. Suddenly the ship along with the other fifteen destroyers accompanying them dropped out of hyperspace, followed by green streaks of lasers as they all fired their main cannons at the rebel ships opposite them. "Begin descent at once and prepare the ground assault", Thrawn ordered. "Sir! Five ships are coming out of hyperspace!" One of the ensigns yelled suddenly.

     Shawn walked to one of the side viewports and saw three Separatist cruisers had appeared now and began sending out their landing craft. "Fire on the landing ships" Thrawn coolly said, the Chimaera's cannons then began firing to the right of the ship and managed to destroy two of the landing ships and damage several others. All while they had entered the atmosphere. "Rebel fighters inbound!" Another ensign yelled. Shawn then noticed Vader turn around and begin heading to the lift, "I will handle them" he said then stopped next to Jerec. "Do not let Mendes leave your sight unattended or disobey you, it'll be your head if he does" he said and Jerec simply nodded and replied, "of course Lord Vader". Vader then got into the lift and the doors slid shut.

    Shawn's temper flared intensely now, his fists clenched hard, he had had enough of being constantly pushed around and treated like a slave. Without even knowing he called on the Force during this as well, and he didn't even notice that the viewpoint suddenly began to crack a little until Maarek nudged then shook his shoulder. "Hey, you Ok?" He asked and Shawn snapped out of it, "I-uh, yea, yea I'm ok" he said as reassuringly as he could, though upon noticing the cracks in the viewpoint it scared him a little. It was a reminder of the immense power he held within and what he could do if he weren't careful with it. Shawn looked down at his hands while pondering this. "Sir we're holding formation over the city but some ships are coming in on our scanners, coming in this direction" an ensign called to Thrawn.

Suddenly a squad of fighters zipped past the bridge and startled Shawn a little. He then felt a familiar presence, no, more than one. He saw the Ghost among the fighters, it broke off and headed for an area what looked like the southern portion of the city. This took him aback so abruptly that he hadn't processed who it was he even sensed until it crossed his mind, Clara, Kanan, Ahsoka, he thought. "Ah yes the Ghost, an intriguing ship with an intriguing captain", Thrawn remarked while walking over. "The Jedi are surely onboard it" Jerec spoke up, "we should hit them now" another Inquisitor, a female Mirialan replied with spite. "Patience, Third Sister, we do not want to disobey Lord Vader", "and some reconnaissance will prove this as well" Jerec said then nodded at the Fourth Brother who clicked a button on his wrist com. Again Shawn felt their presences again and only hoped that they wouldn't fall into Vader's trap.

***********

Clara was relieved they'd managed to make it down to the city without any major difficulties. "Whew, that went smoothly" Sabine commented as she came down from the upper turret. "You guys go Zeb and I will provide air cover" Hera said as she began landing the ship at one of the vacant spaceport areas. Tatiana walked in too, "you fly like a crazy person" she said calmly though it sounded serious and not sarcastic, but Clara knew it wasn't meant in a spiteful manner. "We'll rendezvous with Azadi and his group here, but now that the Empire is here in force that might be tricky" Ahsoka commented while they began to exit the cockpit toward the ramp. As the ramp came down the sounds of concussive blasts and TIE fighter screams filled the air. An older man wearing an over sized hat carrying a large rifle ran up to them, "Come on!" He yelled. They all ran out and followed the man into an underground command center of some sort.

     "I wasn't expecting such a grand welcome Ryder", Kota said jokingly. "Well we didn't expect the Empire to just show up out of nowhere either" Ryder replied while setting his rifle down on a table, "so tell me, what brings you all here?" He then asked. "Ezras been captured by Vader, we think he's being used as bait to draw us out" Kanan explained which earned a raised eyebrow from Ryder, "and you played into this trap because why?" He asked. "Well we only had a hunch he'd be here, and besides, usually an ambusher expects they'll be outmaneuvered in some way" Ahsoka spoke up. Ryder put his thumb to his chin while thinking intently. Meanwhile a TIE fighter screamed overhead, followed by the thud of an explosion. "It'd be best if you drew Vader out of the city, I fear the Empire might fire on the city with the destroyers to force a surrender", "and our reconnaissance units in the southwest have already engaged the Separatist landing force".

     Clara then glanced over her shoulder to see if the Ghost hadn't been destroyed, it was there that she saw some kind of legged dark droid hovering just over the ship. She quickly deduced it must be Imperial and started walking away from everyone else while readying to shoot the droid. The droid hovered around the ship then suddenly looked right at her with its bulbous red lens. Clara quickly drew her blaster and fired a single shot right through the red lens, making the droid crash into the ground. Everyone else ran out not even five seconds later. "I caught this thing hovering over the ship" Clara said cooly while holstering her weapon. Ahsoka walked up to it and knelt down, "wait, this is the same type of droid from Malachor, and Hammertown", "it's an Inquisitor probe droid".

      "Well that's just great, now we gotta worry about Vader's lap dogs too" Kota remarked while the sun became partially eclipsed overhead by one of the destroyers. "We'd better get going, like now" Hera remarked nervously, "let's go, we'll try to draw him out at Ezras tower" she said while running onto the Ghost. Clara looked up at the destroyer more closely and saw the design of some sort of creature painted on it. Then three shots from its cannons were suddenly fire and landed not too far away, this brought her back too reality and she too ran onto the ship with the others, she then recalled seeing that particular destroyer over Toronto a couple of times. Also, that after it did she heard rumors of a weird blue skinned Imperial Officer of some kind with red eyes from some others at her school, and his masked accomplice or Governor Kaine. Although she had ever heard this mans name, Clara figured that if he had a design on his ship whereas others did not that this man was either very valuable or very talented in warfare.