Legend of the Harp
By Hemaccabe
Episode III: The Crucible
Chapter 4: Do or Do Not
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
***Jedi Padawan Fio, Castanea***
I was taking such a pleasant nap in my co-pilot's seat. It was such a comfortable seat. I was so grateful to Incom and Harp for making sure the seats were so comfy. I'd had a bad dream about some sort of battle in space but that couldn't have been real.
Somewhere, deep down, I knew I needed to wake up, but waking up would mean something bad. I was having such a nice dream about flower picking, such a wonderful pastime. My Mother and I had gone picking flowers when I was a little girl. We would take a picnic and spend the day in the countryside. We would make each other garlands. Momma would tell me stories of Jedi Knights rescuing princesses. The flowers would be used in decorations and scents which Momma would sell in the store. Which was strange, because the scents should be so beautiful, but they all smelled like acrid smoke and the smell was getting worse.
Suddenly, the Force snapped me awake. I was still in the broken U-Wing. Then something amazing happened. I knew I had to get out. Right now. I felt myself working with the Force like I never had before. When I had tried before, I was focused on using the Force like an invisible tool, telling it what to do in the smallest degree. Trying to control the Force by the strength of my grasp. This was completely different. The Force was flowing through me. I was opening the blast shield over the shattered plex view port before me. I was pushing the broken plex out and away. I was unbuckling myself from the chair. I was flinging myself from the ship through the open plex windscreen into open space face first like I was diving into a lake, not knowing what was there, but having faith in the Force that I would have a way to land safely. All at the same time.
A split second later, I was on the ground having dropped 20 meters to land gracefully on my feet. The ship, which had been sitting in a tree and burning, fell to the ground a few meters away. Fire engulfed the ship. There was a small explosion. I was flung to the ground. Everything and everyone that was still inside was clearly gone. The ship's crew, the platoon of militia, the supplies, the long-range sub space transmitter, my rifle Bertha, all were definitely gone.
I had a small transmitter built into my left sleeve, but it was short range. My cuff transmitter was supposed to link into the ship's transmitter if I needed to call home. So, for the time being, I would be my own. Eventually, Dodger and the Harp would come looking for me, but until then, I'd have to make do. I also still had a mission.
It was a strange feeling then. On the one hand, I had achieved a tremendous breakthrough with my ability to use the Force. I'd finally realized what Dodger and Harp meant when they kept saying, often exasperated, "Try to feel the Force flowing through you."
I knew from now on I'd always call the Force that way and my Jedi skills had taken a quantum leap. However, I'd lost my entire command. I'd even lost my rifle. The droids, the galaxy might have a question about how sentient they were, but they were gone now. The people. The people with parents, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, some even children who would never see their loved ones again. They wouldn't even get a body. Even if we could salvage the vessel, there would be next to nothing left.
All that time in space combat training, I thought I was doing so well. I actually thought I was a pretty good space combat pilot. The first time I see an actual enemy ship and I'm down. All that training on the ground and all I had been able to do was dream about daisies. I was supposed to be a Jedi. Fat lot of good my being a "Jedi" did any of them.
Luckily, everything was very wet and cold. I could see mists moving through the air. So, despite a majority of the planet's land mass being covered with massive deciduous forests, my ship burning itself out wouldn't cause a massive fire. However, there was plenty of flammable and explosive material in the ship. It would burn well.
While I knew no one else had made it out, still I did a search. I had a small, weak scanner. It couldn't see anything. I reached out with the Force. I felt nothing. I tried to do a perimeter search. The surface was fallen logs, moss, brush, completely irregular. All wet. All covered with mist. There could be a trooper two meters from me and I'd never know. I did the perimeter search anyway. As I expected, I found nothing.
Now what would I do? Somewhere on this ball was supposed to be a Jedi in hiding. Maybe. We could have a million troops and a thousand Jedi and still not find someone. Even if they wanted to be found. If I was a Jedi who'd been hiding from the Empire all this time, I wouldn't want to be found.
So, what to do? As Dodger would say, "When you've tried everything else?"
I sat down and meditated.
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Please don't miss that this is the third book in this exciting series. Legend of the Harp Episodes 1 and 2 are also on this site! Episode 4 may be on her way soon!
If you enjoy modern urban fantasy and my writing, you may also enjoy a series of three novels I have written in the Dresden Files universe of Jim Butcher, called Warlock of Omaha, Warlock of Omaha Squared and Warlock of Omaha Cubed!
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