Jesianna's Story, part 1

[Sofija]

This is just the very first part of Jesianna's story. Figured people might like to know how a girl who loves baking cookies became a light-sided Sith. The story also introduces my newest bounty hunter, Hatsu. Feel free to tell me what you think

Chapter One
“Mom, I’m off to school.” Jesianna called back to her mom. She grabbed another slice of toast before adjusting her pink backpack that was covered with all sorts of cute animal and rainbow stickers and sparkles.
“OK, dear. Have fun,” her mom called back.
The 8 year old with red hair and pigtails, freckles, and a cute, infectious smile ran off to the local rail that ran by her house to the school. She loved going to school. There was always something interesting to learn and her teacher, Ms. Micela was awesome. Jesianna so enjoyed her lessons.
As she got on the rail, she saw her best friend a couple of seats down. “Hey, Alisia, did you finish your homework?” Jesianna asked as she sat down next to her.
“The maths homework’s hard. Can you help me?”
“Sure, which one?” Jesianna asked as she looked over her friend’s homework. Maths was one of her favorite subjects and she loved to help others when they had questions. As she helped Alisia, she noticed a yellow-skinned Mirialan girl, about the same age as herself, sitting by herself with her head down. The girl looked shy, frightened even.
“Thanks Jes,” Alisia said as the rail pulled up to the school. As the two girls got off, Jesianna noticed the Mirialan girl had gotten off as well and was heading towards the school.
“Go on ahead, Ali. I’ll catch up,” Jesianna said and headed over to the Mirialan girl. “Hi. You must be new. I’m Jesianna, but you can call me Jes. I’m in 4th grade. What’s your name?” Jesianna introduced herself in her usual bubbly manner.
“Hatsu,” the little girl said timidly.
“That’s a pretty name. Who’s your teacher? Mine’s Ms. Micela. I really like her. She’s nice and really funny too. I hope you don’t have Mr. Belyas. He’s boring and …” Jesianna continued talking but Hatsu tuned her out as she didn’t know what to make of this bubbly, energetic girl talking to her. She seemed nice enough so as Jesianna talked, Hatsu pulled out her datapad. This was Hatsu’s first time going to an organized school. Before her “adoption” by her new family, her mother and the other elders taught the children of her village in the communal hut. Because of that, the events that lead to her “adoption”, and being an alien on Dromund Kaas, she was scared and frightened. “Maybe we can be friends.” Hatsu thought to herself as Jesianna looked at the datapad.
“Awesome! We’re in the same class.” Jesianna exclaimed. “You can sit next to Ali and me. Come on, the bell’s about to ring and we don’t want to be late.” Jesianna grabbed Hatsu’s hand and lead her to the classroom.

[Sofija]

Chapter 2

The bell rang as Jesianna and Hatsu took their seats. “OK, class. Settle down.” Ms. Micela said as she entered the room. Jesianna noticed several of her classmates were looking at Hatsu “funny” as it were. “We have a new student joining us today. Hatsunomu, would you please come up to the front of the class and introduce yourself.”

Jesianna could tell Hatsu was scared. “It’s OK,” she smiled reassuringly. Hatsu nodded back and walked up to the front. “What’s an alien freak doing here?” “Slaves don’t go to school.” “It’s ugly.” Several of the kids said out loud. Even before Ms. Micela could say anything, Jesianna stood up and yelled, “Quiet. Stop saying such mean things,” as she glared at the other students. The students fell silent.

“Thank you Jes. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. She has every right to be here as you. Just because she has yellow skin doesn’t mean she’s any different than you. Sorry about that, so go ahead and introduce yourself.”

Hatsu looked up and saw Jesianna give her a reassuring smile. “My name’s Hatsu and I like collecting flowers and reading.” She quickly blurted out before hurrying back to her desk. She looked at Jesianna who smiled back at her and gave her a reassuring nod.

“That was a fine introduction, Hatsu. Now what do we say?” Ms. Micela asked the class.

“Hi, Hatsu.” The class chimed back. Jesianna could hear a bit of venom in some of their voices. She hoped that it was nothing and turned her attention back to her teacher as Ms. Micela began the day’s lesson.

Jesianna was so absorbed in the lesson that, before she knew it, the lunch bell rang. “Come on Hatsu,” she said. “Coming Ali?” and before Hatsu had a chance to react to the command, Jesianna grabbed the girl’s hand and was hurrying out the door. “Only if you brought some of your cookies,” Alisia teased back. “Wait, I need to get my lunch sack,” Hatsu blurted out as they were already half-way out the door.

With lunch sacks in tow, the three girls hurried outside. The girls sat under Jesianna’s favorite tree which served as a natural shield to keep the rain away and began to eat. “I made some new cookies today. Want to try. They're sugar cookies and I made them look like Tauntauns. Here Hatsu, try one.” Jesianna said as she handed Alisia and Hatsu a cookie.

“They’re so cute I almost don’t want to eat them,” Alisia said as she took a bite. “Yummy. You make the best cookies. Go on Hatsu, try it.” Alisia reassured the girl who looked skeptical at the gift before eating it. It was yummy, Hatsu thought. “Thank you,” she said as she bowed her head in honor.

“Of course. I love making cookies with mommy. It’s so much fun, I hope I can open my own bakery someday.” The girls chatted as they ate their lunch. Jesianna could tell that Hatsu was relaxing a bit more, but what the other kids said really hurt Hatsu, and Jesianna as well. She couldn’t believe they could say such mean things. But before she could dwell too much further on it, the bell rang and the girls, with Jesianna pulling Hatsu along, ran back to the classroom.

[Sofija]

The rest of the class went by quickly as Jesianna was enjoying Ms. Micela lessons, and before she knew it, the final bell rang. Jesianna gathered her belongings, but before she headed out the door, Ms. Micela called her. “Jesianna, could you stay behind for a minute?” she asked.

“Sure,” she beamed. “Go ahead, I’ll meet you at the rail stop,” she said to Alisia and Hatsu who both nodded before leaving. “What is it Ms. Micela?”

“I just wanted to say I’m very proud of what you did today for Hatsu.”

“Of course. They were saying such mean things to her instead of wanting to be friends,” she replied with a sense of sadness and disbelief in her voice.

“Well, unfortunately, most people in the Empire feel that way about aliens. It’s what we call xenophobia.” Jesianna rolled the big word around her head. “It means they don’t like aliens and think aliens aren’t as good as them. They don’t have a place in the Empire. But really, it means they are scared of anything that’s different. And don’t understand that, despite having different skin color, or tendrils on their head, or different customs, they are no different than us underneath. I’m glad you’re not like those people Jesianna. But be careful, many will do things worse than call aliens names and look down on those who don’t share their hate. You’ll need to be strong. I have a feeling that you have to strength in you do it, to stand up to those bullies and maybe, help change the Empire,” Ms. Micela ruffled Jesianna’s hair as she said the last part with a smile
.
Jesianna smiled back in agreement, “It’s important that everyone be friends.”

“Good. Now go so you won’t miss the rail and your friends.”

“Thanks, Ms. Micela,” Jesianna replied back as she skipped through the halls heading towards her friends. As she got outside, she saw a group of kids standing around in a circle. Cries of “filthy alien”, “you don’t belong here”, “you’re disgusting” made Jesianna fear they were picking on Hatsu, so she dropped her bag and ran over as fast as she could. “Stop it, stop it, stop it,” she repeated as she pushed some kids away and saw Alisia and Hatsu on the ground covered in dirt and bruises from the kids kicking and throwing dirt at the two girls. Most of the kids seemed to be the ones who were saying those mean things earlier. Jesianna felt something happen to her inside. She had to protect her friends and stand up to these meanies. Time seemed to slow down, she felt strong and powerful, a sort of rage building inside her.

“So this is the alien lover herself,” said the biggest boy in the group, Nathian who was 10, who seemed to be the ringleader of the group as he was the one on top of Hatsu hitting her. Jesianna wasn’t surprised Nathian was there. He was always rude and mean to everyone.

“If you want to pick on someone, pick on me.” Jesianna said challenging Nathian who stood up looking straight at Jesianna. The energy coursing through her body giving her courage beyond anything she imagined.

“We’ll show you want we think of alien lovers, won’t we?” he said to the crowd to a resounding “Yes,” before he pulled back and punched Jesianna with all his might. Jesianna, sensing the blow, stood there bracing herself. Nathian’s blow hit her soundly across her chin, unbalancing her and dropping her to her knee, however she didn’t feel it, the energy seeming to form a barrier against the pain.

“I will not let you hurt my friends,” she said angrily, slowly trying to get back up on her feet. She stared down Nathian as rage continued to build up in her. She glanced around and noticed Hatsu and Alisia getting up, Alisia pulling Hatsu away from the crowd who was now totally focused on Jesianna. While the look on the faces in the crowd went from encouragement to sympathy as Nathian swung his fists again and again at Jesianna. “You filthy alien lover!” he kept calling her through his punches, however the energy in the young girl strengthened so his punches seemed to just glance off her and each punch had less and less strength behind it. “Stop it!” she pleaded as Nathian continued before being stopped when a pair of hands grabbed him by his shoulder and pulled him back.

Jesianna looked up and saw a group of teachers standing over them. Mr. Eloyer, the gym teacher, a big, muscular man who served in the Imperial Marines before becoming a teacher, held Nathian strongly in his grasp. “What do you think you’re doing young man? Hitting a defenseless little girl like that. You’re coming with me,” he said as he dragged the boy back with him towards the school.

Ms. Micela reached a hand out and helped Jesianna back up who was covered in bruises, her beautiful pink outfit ruined, as Alisia and Hatsu ran back and started hugging Jesianna. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’m so sorry. Are you OK?” the two girls said over each other.

“Are you three OK?” Ms. Micela asked looking at the little girls’ bruises and cuts.

“I had to save my friends. They were being so mean,” she replied, defending herself.

“This is what I warned you about,” Ms. Micela said scolding the young girl, but with a sense of pride as well as the three girls embraced each other.

Jesianna looked over and saw the kids who were in the crowd come over, a look of fear and sadness, as well as admiration in their eyes and apologized, “We’re sorry. We..., well, it won’t happen again. Can we be friends?” one of the kids said, extending his hand. Jesianna took it and smiled. “Of course!” The other kids smiled back before finally dispersing.

“Will you girls be alright to go home, or should I call a medical droid?” Ms. Micela asked as she tried to get some of the dust and dirt off the girls.

Jesianna looked at her friends who both gave her a reassuring smile. “We’ll be OK,” she reassured her teacher.

“All right. Jes, Ali, we’ve notified your parents. They’ll be here to pick you up shortly. Hatsu, I’m sorry, but we haven’t been able to reach your parents yet.” One of the other teachers in the group said as he handed out kolto packs to the girls.

“She can come home with me,” Jesianna immediately said. “Is that OK?” she asked Hatsu who smiled and nodded.

[Sofija]

“Alright, Jes, why don’t you show Hatsu were the sonic shower is so she can clean up?” Jesianna’s mom suggested as they arrived home.

“Sure. I’ll find something nice for her to wear too.” After Jesianna showed Hatsu were the bathroom was she headed to her room and found a cute pink outfit, one of her favorites, that she thought would fit Hatsu since they were about the same size and took them to the bathroom for Hatsu to change.

“You changed your hair! It’s cute.” Jesianna smiled as she noticed Hatsu had put her hair into pigtails just like herself. “And here’s some clothes. You can have ‘em if you like.”

“Thanks. Are you sure?” Hatsu smiled back and put on the outfit Jesianna brought, admiring how the pink contrasted with her yellow skin.

“Yep. We can go to my room and play till your mom and dad get here.” Hatsu couldn’t believe Jesianna’s room. It looked like a room fit for a young Princess, pink and frilly with tons of stuffed animals. But what really caught Hatsu’s eye were the numerous small cages with actual animals in them.

“These are all my pets,” Jesianna explained. “Most I’ve found around here. This is Lizzy and that’s Fluffy and that’s Mr. Shy since he hides during the day and this is Furball …” Hatsu couldn’t keep up with all the names of the various small lizards and mammals. “Oh, this is Squacky,” Jesianna said as she pulled a small bird from a cage and let it perch on her shoulder. “Say hi Squacky.”

*Squack* “Hi Squacky” *Squack*

“It talks!” Hatsu exclaimed in amazement.

*Squack* “It talks!” *Squack*

“He fell from a nest and broke his wing. I found him and helped him get better. Here, why don’t you give him a cracker?” Jesianna opened a box and pulled a small cracker from it and handed it to Hatsu. “Now hold your arm out like this and ask him if he wants a cracker.”

Hatsu extended her arm tentively. “Does Squacky want a cracker?”

*Squack* “Squacky wants a cracker.” *Squack* The bird then hopped down Jesianna’s arm and cocked it’s head at Hatsu before taking the cracker. But before Hatsu had a chance to lower her arm, the bird hopped over and made it way up her arm to her own shoulder and ate the cracker. *Squack* “Let’s be friends” *Squack*

Hatsu could barely contain her excitement. “Let’s be friends forever,” she said, first nodding at Squacky then to Jesianna.

“YEAH!” Jesianna gave Hatsu a big hug and nodded back. “Forever!” The girls giggled but were interrupted by the door chime.

“Mom and dad are here!” Hatsu exclaimed in excitement. “Come on. You have to meet them.” Hatsu grabbed Jesianna’s hand and lead her running to the front door. Jesianna wondered what her friends parents looked like. She had never seen an adult Mirialan before. What color skin did they have, were they tall, did they have any cool tattoos? But as they got to the door, the sight froze Jesianna for a brief second.

“Mom! Dad!” Hatsu shouted as she ran to the two Human Imperial officers standing at the door and gave each a big hug. Dad was tall, almost 2 meters, with blond hair in a tight high top cut and a handsomely chiseled face. Mom was much smaller with a soft, round, gentle face and long brown hair done up in a tight bun under her hat which she took off as she bent down to hug the little Mirialan. “I’m so glad you’re OK my little angel. And I love your pigtails. They look so cute on you, just like your friend there,” she said with a thick Imperial accent.

Hatsu smiled back and gave her mom another big hug. “Mom, dad, this is Jesianna, my bestest friend in the galaxy.”

“Jesianna Vandercamp. It is a pleasure to meet you,” Jesianna greeted them with a curtsy.

“Wow, brave and polite. What a wonderful daughter you have here.” Hatsu’s dad addressed Jesianna’s mother before bending down and patting Jesianna on the head. “I apologize. I hope you weren’t inconvenienced. We tried to leave as soon as we heard from the school about what happened, but you know how Sith can be.”

“Not at all,” Jesianna’s mother replied. “They were having fun playing together anyway.”

“I’m glad.” Hatsu’s dad looked back at Jesianna and could tell despite her best efforts to hide it, that she was a bit puzzled by their appearance. “I forgot my manners. Commander Dylan Pratton, and my wife Major Josephina Pratton, Imperial Army. It’s a pleasure to meet you. As you can tell, we’re not Hatsu’s biological parents,” he said as he bent down to address Jesianna. “We adopted her after I found her, the lone survivor of an attack on her village. I can’t go into details, top secret and all that, but we felt sorry for her and wanted to raise her as our own.” Jesianna nodded in understanding. “I was worried about her going to school here after we moved back, but with Jesianna here looking after her, I think she’ll do fine,” he said looking back at Jesianna’s mother as she stood back up.

“There’s no school tomorrow. Can Jesianna come over and play?” Hatsu asked looking at her parents then at Jesianna and her mother.

“Yeah! Can I, mommy?” pleaded Jesianna. Her mother smiled and looked back at Hatsu’s parents.

“That would be wonderful,” Hatsu’s mother replied. “We’ll pick her up, it’s only fair. We’ll arrange things later. First though, we need to get you back home angel.” She said as they made their farewells and left.

[Sofija]

<Seven years later>

“Mom, I’m off to school. I’ve got to go to my part-time job at the café so I’ll be late.” Jesianna called back to her mom. She grabbed another slice of toast and put it in her mouth before adjusting her pink backpack that was covered with all sorts of cute animal stickers and badges.

“OK, dear." her mom called back.

The 15 year old dressed in pink with red hair and pigtails, freckles, and a cute, infectious smile ran off to the local rail that ran by her house to the school. As she got on the rail, she saw her best friend a couple of seats down. “Hey, Alisia, did you finish your homework?” Jesianna asked as she sat down next to her.

“This maths homework’s stupid hard. Can you help me?”

“Sure, which one?” Jesianna asked as she looked over her friend’s homework and smiled; all these years and Alisia still hadn’t changed. She helped her friend and they began to chat and before they knew it, the rail pulled in front of the school.

The usual greetings met Jesianna as they arrived at the gates of the school. “Morning Jes.” “Hey Jes, Ali.” “How’s it going, Jes?” All her friends and classmates waved and smiled as she headed to her locker to put her stuff away and got ready for the first class.

The classes went by quickly and Jesianna headed to her part-time job, a small café, not much to look at from the outside, that had been around for generations near her neighborhood. Known before for its wonderful coffee, tea and biscuits, now made locally famous for its sweet, warm, bubbly part-time baker and her cookies. "Good Afternoon Jes. You ready to bake? We already have a huge line of people hoping you'd be in today." Ms. Peniwan said with a smile as Jesianna put on her pink apron and hat.

Jesianna smiled back. "Yeah! Of course." Her face beaming with joy and excitement as she jumped up and down knowing so many people loved her baking. This was her dream. A chance to make cookies, cakes, and other sweets and share them with everyone made her so happy. While she didn’t need the job for credits, she needed the experience if she were to ever start her own café or bakery. And the owner, Ms. Peniwan, loved it when she came in as there was always a huge surge in sales of people wanting to come in and buy some of Jesianna's lovely cookies. In fact, she had been contemplating about handing the business over to her star employee. Her family has owned the café for over 3 generations, but with her children dead and seeing how loved Jesianna was with her customers and how she treated each and every one like family, she knew it would be in good hands once she was ready.

Ms. Peniwan patted her star chef on the back and headed out to the front to help take care of rush of people cramming into her small café wanting to know when the first batch of Jesianna’s cookies would be ready. She assured the growing crowd they would be ready soon as she served them their coffee and tea as they waited.

Jesianna saw the crowd through the window in the kitchen and smiled as she started her first batch. She knew they couldn’t wait, but instead of rushing, trying to sate their demands, she took her time as she poured her heart and soul into each batch. Each cookie given her full love and affection they deserved as she reflected on all those times she would make cookies with her mom and how much joy it brought them as they bonded. This is why she loved baking so much.

Soon though the first batch was done and she brought them out. The crowd was large, but polite as the first group of customers paid and thanked the young girl for her wonderful cookies. She giggled as she thanked each one of them before heading back in to start the next batch.

The time flew by, and soon it was time to clean up. Her last batch and her personal favorite, Tauntaun-shaped sugar cookies, were cooling ready for the early afternoon crowd when she heard a commotion outside the back door. When she opened the door, she saw two girls, human, had a young Twi’lik girl on the ground as they repeated hit her in the face. “You kriffing slave!” “You don’t belong here you ugly creature.” “Go back to your hole.”, were just a sampling of the horrific things they were saying between blows. She hated bullies like this. She began to feel a power course through her, just like that first time when she was 8 and she saw her new best friend, Hatsu, being beaten by her classmates.

“STOP IT!” she yelled as time began to slow down for her. Anger, at the girls, and compassion, for the victim, slowly enveloped her. The girls looked up. They were all about the same age and Jesianna recognized one of them from a track meet she ran last week. That one was tall, skinny and leggy with long, straw-blond hair while her accomplice was slightly shorter with dark hair and a slight pudginess in her face.

“Why don’t you make us you alien-lover?” the pudgy one called back before pulling one of the Twi’lek’s lekku just for emphasis. “Yeah. Kriff off!” the other said pointing her middle finger up.

“LEAVE! HER! ALONE!” Jesianna screamed and a slight reverberation shook the bullies. Fear began to wash over them looking at the skinny little 15 year old in a pink apron and red hair with pigtails and freckles who smelled of cookie dough as her brown eyes began to glow red and a palpable aura enveloped the girl who dared to stand up to them. Jesianna felt the power flow through her, making her feel bigger, larger, and at the same time, protective. She felt their fear as she drew more and more of that strength toward herself, much like that time 7 years ago, hoping it would scare them off.

“Alright, alright,” they said almost in unison, scared and frightened, as they slowly stood up, hands in the air, before darting off into the dark back streets.

Almost immediately, the power faded as Jesianna returned to that sweet, bubbly girl everyone knew as her concern for the girl lying at her feet took over. “Are you O.K.?” she asked worryingly as she tried to wipe the blood from around the girl’s eyes, her face bloodied and bruised.

She looked up at her savior. A pure white light seemed to envelope the face looking down on her as a warm, calming aura swept over her. She felt the caring arms lift her head up and wipe the blood away and began to cry. “Thank you,” she said weakly as her savior’s face came into focus and smiled at the cute, brown eyed, freckly face which smiled back.