The Jedi's Final Stand

A New Ally

We walk away, silent. If I want to convince her that I’m a good person then we have to at least talk to each other. “So, I’m Atarah. What’s your name?”

“I’m Bellanova. But you can call me Bella.”

Well, at least she told me her name.  We walk along the cliff in which her tribe is located. I don’t know what to say, so it’s a very awkward silence until I decide to break the ice. “Where did you learn your fighting skills, Bella?”

“Training from the tribe, of course. Everyone has to learn how to fight. It’s in our blood. What is a Jedi’s duty anyway? And what is the Force that you talk about so much?”

Questions.  Answering each other’s questions. That’s friendly right? All I have to do is explain what a Jedi is and what we do. And that’s only good. Right? “Well, as Jedi, we are keepers-of-the peace. We have to restore balance to the Force. The Force is like an unseen bond between everything. Jedi can use it to perform many different actions. But if someone uses the Force for dark things, lets just say outlook not so good.” I really hope that answered her question. But all she did was nod in response.  Her and her people must really hate the Jedi. If I want to show her that the Jedi are good, I’m going to have to prove it some how. “Do you want me to show you what we Jedi can do with the Force?”

“Not really,” she says, "but I don’t have anything else to do so sure, I guess.”

Ouch. Well, there goes my head. We walk down the cliff walls until we reach the forest below. A huge boulder! Maybe if I lift that she’ll be convinced. I sure hope so. I lift the giant boulder in the air, hover it over her head, and then set it back down.

“This is a cool magic show, but when are you going to show me about that ‘Force’ you were talking about?” she sarcastically remarks.

What else can I do? All I know is that and mind tricks. "Ok miss critic, show me what you can do with that bow. But instead of shooting a tree, aim it right at my head.” I can stop the bow right in front of my face. That’s cool right?

“Now this is what I’ve been waiting to do all day!” she says.

She loads her bow. Then, she pulls back the string and launches her arrow. Scared at first, I stop the arrow about a few inches from my brain. Wow she is good.  That would have been and instant kill. Then, I carefully slip the arrow right back into her quiver, all with the Force.

“Wow. Pretty good for a Jedi. We should go, it’s almost sun set.”

“Do you want to come with me back to my speeder? I have food and tent supplies. We can campout on the cliff if you want to,” I say.

“You get your supplies, I’ll wait for you by the edge of the cliff over there. And don’t run off for your sake.”

Well, I have no idea if she trusts me or not. She kind of said she did, but with a threat placed in somewhere. Either way, I nod and walk back to my speeder. I could escape and go back to camp, but I don’t want to risk the mission. I walk my speeder back to the forest right under the edge where Bella said she’d met me. I can’t risk taking it in that type of altitude. Just then my communicator beeps. It’s a foggy message but it says:

” Watch… careful… scouting patrols… very dangerous…. check out… body of water… tomorrow….”

Scouting patrols? That’s weird. I look up at the edge, but Bella isn’t there yet. BELLA! With that thought I sprint up the cliff. I can look up know and I see figures fighting. But now they are all surrounding one, and it has a knife to another’s neck. They are going to kill her! With quick thinking I dash up the side of the cliff, my light saber at the ready. When I finally catch up to them, I decide to slowly approach. There are four men, the recon squad I predict, crowding around her. The leader with the knife is talking.