Invasion
As far as dreams went this one was very strange. Even for him.
In a large room filled with an amber glow a man stood. He was concealed in tattered green robes and hood with a golden aura falling off him like solar radiation from a star. The man eyes were pure white and blazed with power that sent an overwhelming feeling to all the people in the room.
From a distance Jaden Halcyon watched in a disembodied state as the glowing man stood before the people. Jaden knew this was a dream and he knew it couldn't be real but still, the glowing man looked so familiar and yet so distant.
The glowing man raised both hands and the whole room shook violently. The man kept his hands raised high and the power around him swelled to a focal point. A bright flash of light emitted from him and Jaden found himself blinded and falling into darkness…
Day 1
57th Corona Star Avenue, Apartment #210, Coronet City
A sharp wailing siren tore Jaden out of his sleep. He shot up in his bed with both hands on his head, fingers running through his short brown hair. He blinked his emerald green eyes several times before they were able to focus. It took him a few moments to stop reeling from the dream and focus on the sudden outburst of noise. Jaden kicked off the bed sheets and ran over to the window of his downtown apartment.
The whole city was in panic. Fellow Corellian citizens were all running in one direction down the streets as speeders and hover cars weaved and dodged around each other in a mad rush to get somewhere. One vehicle flew so close to Jaden's window that it nearly shattered it.
The people on the streets were all screaming at each other to get out of the way or trying to find loved ones. Some looters were tearing apart the recently abandoned tapcafe that Jaden liked to frequent. The sounds of window smashing, vehicles crashing and people yelling all melded with the alarm sirens being emitted from the street level post that were placed throughout Coronet City, the capital of the Corellia.
Jaden didn't understand what everyone was running from until he looked up. His jaw dropped as the sunlight from above was being blocked out by the durasteel hulls of a thousand Separatist warships. Coronet City was under attack!
Jaden's feet began to move before he told them to. He was dressed in a white shirt under his favorite worn brown leather jacket with loose fitting grey pants and trekking boots by the time he was out of the apartment.
The turbo lift elevators were locked up so Jaden had to take the stairs to the street level, cursing the entire way down. He cursed at the Separatist for invading. He cursed at the dream that kept him asleep for so long. He cursed the Corellian Security Force, or CorSec, for not being able to fend off the interlopers. He cursed at the whole blasted planet for being invaded. And he finally cursed himself for living in an apartment situated on the top floor of a two hundred and two story building!
By the time he reached the bottom he had recited over a hundred different curses in his head. Corellians were well known for their inventive cursing.
Jaden busted out the apartment building lobby and into the chaotic streets with his heart hammering and sweat dripping from his brow. Immediately he was swept up in the rush of the thousands of Corellians running for safety. Jaden just went with the flow of humans and other species with his feet just barely skipping across the ground. The people were pushing and shoving like rabid animals with all sense of order escaping them.
The crowd he was in was rushing towards the capital building, Coronet Hall, as it was supposedly the safest and most fortified building in the city. Jaden could also see the hundreds of star ships operated by desperate pilots take to the sky and trying to break through the flotilla of Separatist warships. Corellians were also well known for their headstrong and highly skilled piloting. Still, most of the small ships were being blasted out the sky by the heavy cannons on the Separatist Dreadnaughts.
As the crowd entered the wider streets of the Government Distract, Jaden could move on his own accord again. The black and blue block shaped structure ahead was Coronet Hall. Its stairs leading into the grand entrance hall were being covered up by citizens rushing inside like ants on a mound. A few CorSec officers were trying to maintain order and get everyone inside but it was to no avail. Everyone was running for their lives, you can't expect them to get to safety in a calm and orderly fashion.
Just as he was about to ascend the stairs into the building Jaden heard a loud crash. He spun on his heels and found two speeder cars had crashed into each other and were wrecked on the side of the street. One of them was a civilian craft and the other a CorSec vehicle.
Once again he cursed at himself for his conscious. He bolted into the flow of people and pushed his way towards the speeder cars. A few times he got winded by a shoulder blow to the chest and a few other times he nearly flew off his feet from the crashing waves of panicking civilians. He persevered as he knew someone was in danger and needed help, he knew he had to do something, and he couldn't help himself. He cursed again.
When he got to the wreck a pair of CorSec officers had climbed out of their vehicle and were trying to get the rear seat door open. The civilian driver in the other vehicle had already climbed out and stumbled his way into Coronet Hall. The CorSec speeder was on its side with noxious yellow fluid bleeding out of smashed fuel lines.
"Come on corporal, get it open!" A female CorSec officer yelled over all the background noise as she stood on the topside of the speeder and tried to pull the door free with her legs bent and back arched. A male officer, the corporal, was standing on the ground and using a pipe to pry the window open.
The male corporal had the look of fear in his eye. "It won't budge captain! Fuel's leaking everywhere! If we don't get her out soon–"
"I know, keep trying!" The female captain looked over to Jaden with a furious glare. "You, civilian, help us get the passenger out. Now!"
Jaden couldn't tell if her harsh tone was from panic or rudeness but either way he wanted to help. He climbed to the top of the car, standing opposite to the captain, and they both pulled as the corporal used his pipe to try to pry the door free.
Every second passed with the puddle of fuel getting bigger and bigger and threatened to be ignited by the slightest of sparks. The speeder door had been smashed closed by the impact and the effort of the three wasn't making any progress.
Jaden cursed as he could see droid drop ships descending upon the city with an army of battle droids ready to take control. If he was going to save a life he was going to have to do it his way.
"You two, get back," Jaden said.
The captain glared at him. "I'm not abandoning her! No one is!"
Jaden tried to remain calm despite all the distraction around him. "We're not leaving anyone behind, it just that you two are in the way. I can get this door open myself."
The captain moved to reject Jaden's order but she suddenly found herself being picked up by an invisible grip. She was levitated off the vehicle and gently dropped next to her subordinate on the street. The sudden anomaly made the officers go speechless.
Lowering his hand from the female officer, Jaden bent down and yelled into the blacked out window. "Hey, hold on to something in there!"
He jumped off the speeder with surprising agility and raised two hands towards it. As he dug deep into concentration the vehicle slowly tipped forward and then slammed onto its belly right side up. The jammed door buckled, cringed and then flew off its hinges in a matter of seconds.
Jaden wasted no time in waiting for the stunned officers to react. He stepped up to the speeder and extended a hand inside the darkened passenger area. A soft hand met his and held on tightly. With great care he pulled her out and carried her in his arms.
The passenger was a lot younger, and more beautiful, than Jaden had expected. Instead of some corporate VIP or wealthy citizen he found a young woman in his arms. She was Corellian like him, white skin with black-brown hair that stopped on top of the shoulder. Her dark brown eyes were stunning to look at and Jaden could guess she was around his age, seventeen. A spot of blood was on her forehead along with several bruises along the left side of her body. Jaden could feel that she was pain but also in great relief.
"Th-thank you…" The young woman sounded shaken to the core. Jaden hoped he hadn't scared her by using his power to save her.
"Don't mention it," He gave her a reassuring smile that told her everything was going to be alright.
The captain checked the woman for injuries before taking her into her own arms, showing that she was stronger than she looked. "Enough standing around, move it!"
The CorSec officers carried the woman into Coronet Hall with Jaden just a few steps behind them. He grimaced as he heard and thunderous boom from behind him. No doubt it was the CorSec speeder finally exploding from all the fuel leaking out of it. To think that could've been him if he hadn't taken the initiative.
He was the last ones to enter and the grand entrance hall doors were closed by another group of CorSec officers. An energy shield was then activated and shrouded the entire complex in an impregnable veil of ultraviolet blue energy. Nothing could get through that, or so Jaden thought or at least hoped.
The grand entrance hall was cavernous and filled to the brim with refugees. The unfortunate people were all seated along the floor, walls and the double staircase that led to a second level terrace overlooking the room. The young woman he rescued was carried off by her CorSec escorts, leaving Jaden behind. Finding a nice corner to collapse in, Jaden let out a deep breath and tried to get a bearing on the situation.
Just an hour ago he was having another one of his strange dreams, now he was sitting in an overcrowded room with nothing but the clothes on his back. He thanked the Corellian gods that his parents were on a business trip to Coruscant. It made him cringe at the thought of his mother crying once she hears about the invasion but at least she wouldn't be crying about his death. That is if she knew he was still alive.
His powers always had his parents worried but they knew it made him special and more than likely to survive. For years he's practiced with them and for years he also hid them from nearly everyone. If everyone knew he was a Force-sensitive they would instantly treat him as something else. As a person who had an unfair advantage in life. He did not want that and today was the only exception that he has ever used his powers in public. Saving a life was worth giving up the secret. Then again the people were too panicked to notice anything so hopefully no one knew or cared.
One thing he didn't quite understand is why the Separatist would invade his home world. Corellia was but a stone's throw away from the Galactic Republic capital, Coruscant. True Corellia possessed some of the largest shipyards and factories in the galaxy not to mention some of the best pilots but that hardly made them the biggest target for the Confederacy. If the droid armies were able to drill this deep into the heart of the Republic then there reach must stretch father than Jaden wanted to think about. What he did want to think about was what was he going to do next?
The future seemed bleak for everyone. It made Jaden wonder what he would do now with his home probably being torn apart by malevolent scavengers or by battle droids. He was essential homeless, just like the rest of his people. Corellians weren't the sort to just sit around like this. Once everyone's fear was replaced with anger there will be more bloodshed than ever. A Corellian never gives up and never submits. His people were also the rebels in the galaxy, always objecting to the higher authority of the Galactic Republic and the war it started. Once the people began to resist the Separatist invasion there will be much chaos and Jaden could only wonder if he was going to be a part of it or stay well away from it.
Now that he thought about it, he felt kind of proud that he was the only one who wasn't panicking at the moment. He was the one calm being in the sea of emotions around him. Babies cried as their mothers tried to silence them with words of false hope and children were asking their parents when they could go home. Many civilians were complaining to the CorSec officers and demanding answers to why the Separatist took over the planet so easily.
Feeling as though there was nothing else to do at the moment, Jaden got as comfortable as possible against the wall and closed his eyes. Before slipping back into his sleep he thought about the beautiful woman he had rescued and wondered what her name was…
Seems slow for now but it picks up in second and third chapter. Promise.
Thank you for reading,
Xander867