Across the fields of Cordova, the morning sun filled the land with its golden light. Above, the empty sky was painted brilliantly with streaks of orange, yellow, and red. The silence of the night was soon broken as the songbirds awoke and filled the air with their morning songs. Far off from the city, amongst the high cliffs that looked down upon the fields, a young man sits alone gazing upon the beauty of the dawn. He breathes the brisk night air in and looks up towards the sky. The young man smiles as he begins to dream of the worlds beyond his own.

As the young man is lost in fantasy, he does not notice the sound of footsteps made by a young girl approaching from behind. She sneaks up close behind the young man and stops. A large smile appears on her face as she jumps forwards to surprise the young man.

“Mathan! Wake up!” she screams. The sound of her voice shocks the young Mathan and nearly causes him to slip off the cliff. He turns quickly to find young girl smiling and waving at him.

“Jolee! What was that for? I almost fell of the edge,” asks Mathan.

“You were day dreaming again, Baba,” laughs Jolee as she sits down next to Mathan on the cliff’s edge. She begins to look out onto the glowing fields below and then sighs. “I can sure see why, though. Everything is just so beautiful from up here.”

Mathan looks back at Jolee and smiles. He looks at her and sees that her skin and hair seem to be glowing as the sunlight and wind catch her face.

“It sure is,” he says softly. Jolee turns back to Mathan and their eyes meet. The sight of her brown eyes in the glow of the sun makes the young boy blush and he quickly turns away back towards the horizon. Jolee notices his embarrassment and laughs quietly.

“How come you are always up here?” she asks.

“How come?” repeats Mathan. He thinks about the question for second and then lays down on the ground to see the sky above him. “I come here because it’s the closet place to the sky.”

Jolee lies down beside Mathan and looks up at the sky as well. “You’re really serious about going off-world some day aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I really am,” he answers, “Ever since we were kids, I’ve always had this dream of flying out into the stars to see everything this galaxy has. There are so many worlds out there, worlds we can’t even imagine.”

Jolee turns her to Mathan, “Well, what’s wrong with this one?”

“Nothing,” he says as he turns to her, “Its just . . .”

“Just what?”

“Just . . . nothing.” He smiles at Jolee and gets up quickly off the ground. “It’s just a boy’s dream and besides, who’s going to give me a ship.” Mathan turns and extends his hand out to Jolee. She grabs it and is pulled up from the ground. She sees the smile on his face and decides to smile back.

“Okay, lets get back into town then,” says Jolee as she starts to walk down the path off the cliffs. Still holding her hand, Mathan gets pulled along with her as they travel back into their small town.

As they continue past the cliffs into the fields, a feeling like a small shock suddenly hits Mathan. He stops and lets go of Jolee’s hand. Mathan quickly turns around and from out of nowhere a large bang rumbles through the fields. The rumbling is then followed by a huge gust of wind that blows past the two. Surprised by the sudden events, Jolee looks back at Mathan and is shocked by what she sees. Far off into the horizon, a column of black smoke rises into the air from a fire burning through a patch of grass. In its center is a small black ship that only moments ago plummeted into the ground.

Mathan stands frozen with his eyes wide and locked onto the burning craft. He knew he had sensed the crash coming and turned in time to see the entire landing. Fearing him hurt, Jolee runs up behind him to check if he’s okay.

“Did you see that? I think a space craft just crashed,” she yells with shock in her voice. “Mathan, I think we should go get help.” Jolee looks up to find that the sight before them is entrancing her friend. She pulls at his arm to get his attention, but to no avail. She tries to call him name again, but is suddenly interrupted by Mathan.

“Did you hear that?” he asks, “I can hear someone calling for help?”

“Help? Mathan that things is like a mile away, there’s no we could be hearing anything! Now come on!” she again tries to pull Mathan with her, but again he wouldn’t budge. He instead begins to walk forward and starts pulling Jolee with him.

“No, Jolee. I can hear him. There’s someone there and he’s calling for help!” With a great burst of speed, Mathan breaks free of Jolee’s grasps and blasts forward towards the burning wreck. His speed is so quick that Jolee has no time to react and is left standing in the field.

“Mathan, where are you going? Mathan!” she screams with all her might. Panicking, she decides there is nothing left to do, but to run for help. She stops for a second to look for Mathan and sees him still running towards the ship. Tears begin to roll down her face as she races back for help.

All the while Mathan sprints forward at full speed. His heart begins to race as he nears the source of the smoke. Without realizing, his speed increasing dramatically and within seconds he reaches the crash site. He stops before the flames and begins to scan the area. He can see all around many small fires blazing through the golden grasses. Within the middle of blaze, is a small, black triangular shaped ship sitting on its side. Mathan tries to see past the smoke into the cockpit, but the black cloud is too thick. He attempts to move closer, but the heat holds him back. Suddenly, he hears what sounds to be a loud roar come from within the cockpit.

“Guess I have no choice then,” he says to himself as he looks around for any people that might be nearby. After seeing that there is no one else, Mathan closes his eyes and begins to concentrate on a power that hides within him. A power that he’s had for as long as he can remember. A power called the Force.

As he tries to focus on the energy around him, he brings his hands up to his chest and inhales deeply. Mathan can begin to feel the strain on his body as he focuses almost everything he has into his hands. Just as it starts to become too much, he opens his eyes and releases the Force energy in all directions. The power of the blast sends shockwaves through the air and is great enough that all the nearby fires are extinguished. Mathan falls to one knee and gasps for air. He has never before tried to do anything like what he had just done and the effort left him feeling drained. Remembering the cry for help, he forces his body up and makes his way to the now exposed cockpit. Inside, he can see a form start to move. Raising his hand, Mathan uses the Force and pries the cockpit open. He excitedly runs up to it and is overpowered by what he finds. Sitting unconscious within the cockpit was a large furry alien. Mathan knew immediately what it was and could not believe his eyes. There before him was a Wookiee and not just any Wookiee, for Mathan could see the insignia branded on his belt. He knew he had just saved the life of a Jedi Knight.