The Jedi From Earth: A Star Wars Story, Part 2 #Wattys2024

Ch. 13

******* Raxus

After sneaking out of the palace Clara hitched a ride on a public transport ship. Though the Imperial security on Coruscant had proved difficult to slip past as well, but once the ship departed Clara knew she was safe. Her thoughts on what would happen to Mara due to her kind act also kept her mind occupied most of the time, yet she kept on feeling like she was being followed and glanced around at the other passengers human and non-human alike. About halfway through Clara dozed off for a short while before  she was woken up by the ship shuddering quite violently. "Attention passengers we have arrived at our destination of Raxulon on the planet Raxus, our next stops will be Cloud City on Bespin and Kijimi" the automated droid voice spoke. Figuring it was a safe place to exit, Clara waited anxiously as a few passengers got up and left first before she too followed them down the causeway to the platform.

She looked around to see a marvelous beige colored city, with a few lanes of speeder traffic in the air like Coruscant though not as crowded. "Move along to immigration please" a stormtrooper said and Clara saw that about ten of them were scattered throughout the platform and were checking everyone's identification, so she readied her fake credentials and walked toward the exit. Looking up she thought she saw a head disappear back over a ledge for a second yet figured it was an effect of the sunlight. "Identification please" The Imperial Officer asked in a bored tone and Clara handed her the fake ID. The officer ran it through her datapad before asking her some questions. "Where are you from?" The Officer asked sharply. "I'm from-" Clara started but was just short of saying Toronto, and knew it could give her away if the officer typed in the name into her datapad. She could not also say Lothal as it wasn't an Imperial held world and she didn't seem Coruscanti enough to pass for one. She decided to say one of the places the automated voice had listed.

"Kijimi" she said as truthfully as possible. The officer typed something before she asked another question, "what brings you all the way out here?". "I'm just passing through to visit my aunt" Clara replied and the Officer handed her ID back. "Alright be on your way" The Officer said sternly and Clara passed by her to look for a transport to Lothal. The only problem was that she saw more stormtroopers on patrol along with probe droids and figured she had best hide somewhere in the city, as she could tell she was being followed but did not know by whom.

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Clara wandered down from the platforms to the plaza of the central city and considered her options. She had no weapons or means of communication, and she could not read Aurebesh either which limited her ability to seek out travel effectively. Her asking random people how to read the signs might come across as suspicious too. The heightened Imperial presence didn't help with her thought process as well. Figuring that being out in the open wasn't a good option Clara began heading back to the platform to wait for another transport, even if that meant having to wait for hours on end.

As she walked down an empty alleyway she thought she saw a shadow following her faintly, when she glanced back no one was there except for a couple of droids rolling along. She turned back around and ran into someone which made her fall back on the ground. She looked up to see Maarek, only he was dressed in more ordinary looking clothes. He had a somewhat disappointed look on his face but she also saw he had a bruise on the side of his face too. "Found you" he said plainly and extended his hand at her before pulling in and she levitated off the ground gently. "Um hi" Clara said awkwardly and considered running back knew she was screwed now. "Why're you on Raxus?" Maarek asked with slight sarcasm . "I dunno why are you on Raxus?" Clara asked back with slight sarcasm as well.

"Looking for you" Maarek said, "Because somehow you snuck out of the most secure place in the Empire". Clara shrugged, "what can I say, if it was the most secure place in the Empire then your standards are a little low". Maarek then smiled a little which made Clara laugh a little and put her hair behind her ear. "What happened to your face?" She asked and put her hand up to his cheek but Maarek grabbed her hand to stop her and pushed it back. "Let's just say the Emperor wasn't too happy when he found out you escaped", "he may've had the guards beat me". Clara then felt bad, she knew it was her fault that Maarek had gotten hurt but it felt like it was worse somehow, that even though Maarek was an Imperial he was separate from that role and a person of his own. Which she realized made her drawn to him.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault that happened to you" Clara said apologetically, "But I cant just stay put when people are dying, that the Ghost, and the Alliance need me too and I can't just abandon them", "I just can't bare seeing people be hurt because of me too it's-" she continued but was cut short but Maarek cupping her face and kissing her right on the lips which caught her off guard. Maarek then stepped back and Clara felt her cheeks flush and burn while she saw Maarek blushing red too. "I Uh-" he stuttered, "sorry about that" he apologized. Clara then came out of her momentary shock and was met with a rush of emotions, she enjoyed the kiss and wanted it to happen again. "No it's fine, um do it again?" She asked and Maarek laughed before he leaned in and kissed her again, but this time she kissed him back and hugged him too, and he did the same.

She felt more emotions rush in, longing, lust and most of all attraction. She wanted to be with him like this, and it did not matter to her if he was an Imperial and she was a Rebel. For as she heard in a saying once, Love conquers all. She savored every bit of the few seconds the kiss lasted and her heart raced quickly now, she never wanted to leave his embrace and wanted to be his forever. Maarek cupped the back of her head gently and then he suddenly stopped kissing her. Clara opened her eyes and saw him looking up at the sky with concern, "what's wrong?" She asked. "Somethings about to happen" Maarek said quietly and suddenly twelve capital ships came out of hyperspace in the upper atmosphere, causing a quick series of sonic booms. "Oh no" Maarek said, "it's the Separatists".

Clara managed to get herself back into her tactical headspace and saw a few landing craft beginning to descend from the capital ships, then sirens across the city started to go off. "Damn it I knew something would happen when there were no destroyers here" Maarek hissed the sighed and looked back at Clara, "we have to leave now". "Um I don't exactly have a ride" Clara admitted. "I don't either because I followed you here" Maarek said back before looking up at the sky again. "I have an idea, come with me" he said and started running down an adjacent alley. Clara saw TIE Fighters begin flying up into the sky and firing at the landing craft. "Come on!" Maarek called from the end of the alley and Clara ran after him.

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Clara and Maarek ran down a street where one of the landing craft had landed and the droids began marching out. "Blast them!" One droid yelled and the other twenty began firing their blasters. Maarek jumped in front of Clara and drew his lightsaber, then he began deflecting the laser bolts all around and back at the droids. Clara saw he had a spare blaster on the back of his belt and grabbed it before firing back too. She hit one droid in the head and another in the arm then chest. "Keep running!" Maarek shouted and disengaged while Clara fired and dodged laser bolts while following him. They ran down an alleyway and a pair of droidekas came rolling from the far side of the alley. Maarek retracted his saber and looked at Clara. "Hold on to me" he said urgently and Clara put the blaster in her belt and jumped onto Maareks back and he leaped up at an incredible speed and height onto a nearby buildings roof. Clara climbed off his back and then laser fire came from another rooftop.

Clara drew her blaster and fired at the droids on the rooftop until a TIE Fighter screamed by and blasted the building, destroying it and the droids in the process. "Where are we going?" Clara asked and then Maarek grabbed her hand and suddenly in a blur of motion they were back at the platform, only the ship was burning. "Well I was gonna try getting you out of here" Maarek said in an honest tone, "if I just took you back to Lothal it'd be suspicious, and-" then suddenly a laser bolt went through his shoulder causing him to cry out in pain and fall to the ground. "Maarek!" Clara shouted and dropped to his side while Maarek winced and held his shoulder in pain. "My my, what a pretty thing you brought with you" a harsh female voice said and Clara looked up to see a bald gray human looking woman approach, with two super battle droids at her sides. Clara looked around to see regular battle droids surrounding them too.