You have had a hard day the ancient ship found in the wrecking yard is starting to come together the old husks of engines have been removed and the modern engine have been installed in the engine casing. Tala is still climbing through the compartment making sure the power units and the engines all work as they should. The hyper drive will be next salvaged from the cruiser.
Tala has an idea about the small shuttle she is building a docking port in the back of the ship this will give us guns on the upper dorsal section when the shuttle/fighter is docked.
You are tired the work was exhausting. Going to the small pub was long overdue. The weather was kicking up the wind was blowing dust off the plain. The town was small mostly stores and houses for McDougal salvage yard. The pub was easy enough to find.
Going through the door you see an open floor plan. Half the tables are full of workers eating and drinking. McDougal wife Mama McDougal is moving around the room talking with worker after worker. The serving droid was coming from the kitchen with an aroma filled plates. The atmosphere is light and relaxed.
You sit down and place an order with the serving droid. You fully intend to get dinner and hit the rack. It in nice to think you have a rack. After they got the mold out of that stuff that was bought in gungen town.
The order comes and the plate of roasted beast serounded by vegetables smells awsome. A stought ale hits the spot as well. The hubbub of conversations rise and fall as you eat. Suddenly a crash can be heard. You turn around and see a grey haired man looming over a table. His chair sits upended on the floor. “You calling me a liar Lars?” He spits out in anger.
Mama McDougal casual glide turns into one of a predator as she moves through the crowd. For the first time you see some hard lines under that loose dress she wares. “Niner stand down!” She commands.
“But mama he was saying I was lying.” The gray haired man said.
“I know niner.” Mama said as she moved closer. Putting her hand out and gently moving the gray haired man’s away from the small blaster on his belt.
You take a closer look at the man and realize he is a clone. You have seen him in the junk yard running an antiquated hauler around the massive yard.
“Now Niner you know this is not the way we do things here. You know we let the crowd judge who is in the right here. Then we let the matter rest.”
Looking down at his feet very nervous he says “I know.” Clearly something is bothering the clone. You wonder if it means he was lying. “now mama I not sure I want to share this story with the group?!” He says.
“Well Niner then we will just have to assume you are lying then.” She says.
Niner winces and seems to collapse in on himself. “Ok mama”
She turns to Lars “Well Lars what do you think Niner was lying about?
Lars suddenly looks very uncomfortable and kind of shifts in his chair. “Well Mama, I never said he was lying. All I said was that sounds like a tall tale.”
Mama turns and says “Well Niner let’s here this tale let us decide.”
Niner takes a long draw on his ale to fortify himself. “Well it was the end of the war right after order 66. Fortunately, I was not a part of that as I was in the hospital after getting shot up by some klinkers. I later learned that thier was a chip in our head forcing us to follow that order. When I was forced to retire I had that thing removed. The thought of those days still makes my spine shudder.”
“You see I heard General Konobi had destroyed the Jedi archives before he disappeared. The emperor was in a tizzy over the loss of the archives. For all of the locations of the other temples were lost. The real jewel was serenity. You see the Jedi had a system they used to send masters in the twilight of their life. A place that was safe for them and safe for the galaxy at large. The system had been struck from the maps and nobody knew where it was. You see these old masters had many enemies and they had to be protected. Also it was often the case when a master got old thier control got away from them. Serenity was a safe place for them. Why I don’t know.”
He took another draw of his ale. “Well that is where I come in. You see I was done convalescing and reassigned to the cruiser Spear. You see Spear was newly put under the command of an imperial officer by the name of Tally. This commander was very ambitious and smart. He had pieced together a possible location from freighter captains. Getting permission from the Emperor himself he was going to take the Spear to check it out. In secret we jumped to the quadrant he thought the planet was. It was a rough reentry but we made it. We found a small blue and green planet around a yellow sun. It had two continents and hudge polar oceans. We moved in to check it out.”
Niner got up and moved to the center of the room where there was a huge open fire pit. “We entered orbit and one area of civilization was apparent. On the smaller continent. The first wave loaded up and flew out of the flight bay. I was in the third wave. The first wave confirmed they found a jedi temple. They moved in to take it and the second wave boarded to assist. As they flew out a ship left hyperspace. It was two separatist cruisers they moved into attack positions. The call for battle stations was put out and we moved forward to engage the cruisers.”
“We moved in and quickly figured out that these cruisers were undermanned and first salvo took out the first cruiser. The first wave of droids hit our cruiser. We were in the middle of repulsing them when suddenly a wave came up from of the planet. Suddenly the ship split like a axe cleaved it in two. The other cruiser was destroyed intently. The bridge of the Spear was gone. Those of us that were left hit the escape pods.
The thing I saw was another wave hitting the pods. My pod and my six brother were the only one recovered. We crashed on an far planet in the uncharted space. We have no idea how we got there. The only reason we made it back was that a group of pirates landed on our planet and well not realizing who we were tried to take us captive. With thier ship the three of us made it back. By that time the clones had been replaced by the buffoons you call storm troopers. We were discharged and that was the end of my career as a soldier.”
With that he sits down. He puts his head into his hands and soft sobs come from it. The crowd watches silently then almost in silence someone stands and collects the old broken clone. They lead him out and after he leaves. Mama McDougal stands up and says “Not a word of this is to be shared” She walks out following after the clone and his friend. Lars sits quietly looking very ashamed.
You finish what is left of your meal and go back to your bunk. The old clones story bounces around in your head as you drift off.
GWDwarf23 - Roleplaying 