OBJECTIVE THREE
(I had a hard time writing, but hey! Heres an entry!) -A
------------------
19:50, early evening
Estle City, Capac Ring
Shortly after War was Announced
Fear spread across the town like blue butter slab on a hot and fresh slice of toast. Alara didn’t have time to waste. The Seph...
Submission Text
OBJECTIVE THREE
(I had a hard time writing, but hey! Heres an entry!) -A
19:50, early evening
Estle City, Capac Ring
Shortly after War was Announced
Fear spread across the town like blue butter slab on a hot and fresh slice of toast. Alara didn’t have time to waste. The Sephi determinedly continued on through the shifting currents of the citizens’ panic around her. While others ran to seek shelter, she did as she has always done best: walked straight into the fight.
She had to find her shuttle and get to the Lyra system as soon as possible. The Seer had arranged for her bags to be packed and waiting for her there. She already disclosed her plans to her loved ones, Gregryck and Jae’lle.
“You’ve trained me for long enough, haven’t you? Let me into the fray! I’m used to bloodshed, you know that to be true!” She recollected Jae’lle’s cries in her memory.
“Jae’lle, you’re strong and learning well, but you’re only twelve. You have to wait. I need you here to watch the city walls and to be with Gregryck should he need your assistance.” Her own personal words echoed through her mind.
“Your Master is right, you know. You’re needed here with me. Don’t think we will be doddling around while Alara has all the fun.” The old ewok had tried to persuade the girl, but to no avail.
“This isn’t fair! You have been fighting since the age of nine, Alara. Nine! How can you expect me to sit back right now?!“ The Mirialan girl hollered.
“It’s true, I’ve been fighting since I was nine. But I wasn’t fighting in a war, Jae’lle. Merely a few battles. And only because Gregryck was there to help me as my Master. You have to stay here."
No matter what Alara had said then, it wasn’t enough for the fiery spirit she had been training up. Ever since she had adopted her as her own apprentice after finding her a street urchin on Ulress, the girl grew more rebellious by the day. Alara couldn’t afford to have her rebel further. Though she wouldn’t admit it ordinarily, she was growing attached more and more to her daughter. This led her to understanding Gregryck, her adoptive father, more and more each day.
“No matter how hard I work. No matter how hard I try to serve you. You still don’t trust me! Why did you bother taking me in anyhow?’´ The young apprentice shouted through her tears.
´´Jae’lle, its because I trust you that you’re being put to work here instead of being sent off to your cousins back on Seraph. You need to understand that—“
"Forget it! Save your excuses!" Jae'lle cried. She spun around and fled back to the house.
With a sigh, Alara turned away to face her father once again.
"She will understand soon enough. Do what you need to do." Gregryk gave his daughter a kiss on the hand, held it for a moment, and followed after Jae'lle.
The Seer bit her lip, and headed to the city's airport. Her ARC-170 was awaiting, all packed and ready to go. When Alara grew closer, the ship's ramp automatically folded open for her entrance. She stepped forward and walked to find her tusked cat Artemis and her KX series droid inside.
"So where is it exactly that we are going, Alara?" Her droid asked from the pilot's seat.
"To the home of the Meraxis. I've got a target to kill." Alara replied and petted her feline in greeting. Artemis responded with a rich purr.
"Why? Is this target involved in the Collective or the war?" The droid spoke curiously in a masculine-programmed voice.
"Not exactly. I'm using this time while I await orders to complete my own mission. I'm going after the man who killed Brandon, my sister's husband."
"I see. And where is this man, exactly?"
"Seraph, of course." Alara spoke plainly.
"So we are going back to the fray. Back to where your enemies await you."
"Quite right. I'm not doing this to make a statement to Scholae Palatinae. I'm doing this to avenge my brother and to help my sister heal. It feels like the right thing to do. I don't care what that clan thinks when it happens. I'll stop anyone who gets in the way." Alara stood up and sat in the passenger's seat next to the droid."
"You've made up your mind then. But you have missed one detail, Miss Alara."
"And that is?" She turned to look at him.
"How does Mr. Wyndell feel about all this?"
Her thought process stopped. Wyn… did I even tell him where I was going? She gulped and placed her hand over her mouth in thought. With a slight hesitancy, she lifted her hand and opened her mouth to speak again. "I'll shoot him a text, I suppose."
"Will that be enough?"
"It will have to be." She flicked her datapad open from her wrist and began to tap away at the screen:
Going on a trip. I have a target to deal with on Seraph. I'll be home as soon as it's done. Then we will figure out what to do in this war together. Love you. -Lara
"Another thing, Miss Alara," the KX series droid spoke once more.
"Yes?"
"You never gave me a name after programming me. Is there something youd like to call me?"
Alara smiled brightly at him and tapped his metallic shoulder playfully. "Kicks it is. Let's call you Kicks. Sounds like KX."
"Thank you, Alara. Kicks it shall be. Now, off to Seraph."
objective 2 lazy fiction
Hilgrif flipped through several random video feeds from the location of the explosion. A few of the feeds were damaged due to the explosion, but for the most part it was made to look like it was caused by someone loyal to the Iron Legion. Hilgrif spoke in a commanding voi...
Submission Text
objective 2 lazy fiction
Hilgrif flipped through several random video feeds from the location of the explosion. A few of the feeds were damaged due to the explosion, but for the most part it was made to look like it was caused by someone loyal to the Iron Legion. Hilgrif spoke in a commanding voice as he called out, “Shroud, do you see any anomalies to disprove the fact that this was done by the Iron Legion?”
Shroud paused for a moment before turning to his Verpine master. “Master, looking at this footage I can see no way to disprove that this was the Iron Legion unless we can find some way to repair the damaged recordings. So Master, we need to find a way to gets these repaired in order to disprove it was the Iron Legion and prove the Collective was actually behind it.”
Hilgrif then turned to his droid and paused in thought for a moment and then turned back to the console and muttered to himself”Why does the Master give such menial tasks when I could be improving the hive?” Hilgrif recalled the debriefing he had reviewed before he began his task. It was using this information that he was to sift through the data that the previous teams had collected after landing on the planet. The data was from a local explosion that destroyed a part of a local city.
The Collective was accusing the Iron Forces of attacking the colony for their fanatic beliefs. But as the Iron Forces had given no such order for any bombings, Hilgrif was given the task of proving the accusations false. Hilgrif shook his head shaking the idle thoughts from his mind and turned his concentration back to the console in order to try piecing together the damaged video files. Hilgrif paused then tried to merge 3 video angles to try making a clearer image. Then with a little extra rendering, he was able to make out the figure who set the bomb was using a mechanical hand to set the bomb.
Hilgrif zoomed in to attempt to make out the hand model to see if it would match up to any models on record as a possible clue to who the bomb setter was. While the hand was being cross-referenced with any on file in the database, Hilgrif was able to piece a few more frames from the videos together from before the explosion. The frames showed 2 people in a speeder exiting the vehicle to check the building the bomb was being set in. When the bomber saw the people coming in the building, he quickly removed his blaster and shot the bomb to trigger it so as to have no witnesses.
Hilgrif swapped to outside video feeds to try to better identify who was in the speeder. The speeder was a security vehicle, and the people getting out of it were speaking. But before Hilgrif could run the clip through the lip reading software, the other monitor beeped saying it had found a match to the hand.
Before he could turn to the monitor Shroud confirmed what he saw,”It seems to be a Collective model previously salvaged from suicide units from the Collective.” Shroud paused then added “But this will not be enough proof as the Iron Forces uses some of these same hands.”
Hilgrif turned to double check the data on the hand and said “At least it’s better than nothing.” Then he tuned back to the video feed monitors to turn on the lip-syncing software. As the software worked, a translation ran along the bottom of the screen. He noticed as one of the security said “Oh look it’s one of those foreigners from the Collective. I wonder what he’s up to in this abandoned build——-.”
The explosion cut off the guards sentence.
Shroud then said “Master I think that is the evidence that is required.”
Hilgrif nodded. “I will transfer this data to the higher ups so they can sort this mess. Then I can go back to working on that battle droid.”
A howling wind carried specs of purple sand through the dry air, storm clouds accumulating above the childhood home of Zodac. Long since abandoned, the acidic rain of Parnassos deteriorated the simplistic building to its foundations.
At opportunity, the former soldier would visit the makeshift ...
Submission Text
A howling wind carried specs of purple sand through the dry air, storm clouds accumulating above the childhood home of Zodac. Long since abandoned, the acidic rain of Parnassos deteriorated the simplistic building to its foundations.
At opportunity, the former soldier would visit the makeshift grave he created for his elderly mother as a child, the stone that marked her grave mysteriously untouched despite the planet’s awful conditions, the poorly marked inscriptions made so many years ago still legible. It was a miracle of sorts, though not one Zodac would pay much attention to. The crunch of the sand beneath his boots haunted him of days long since passed, each step bringing painful memories few have ever known. A sudden halt brought a silence, the wind blowing the cloth around his neck in it’s breeze. Slowly, he made his way to the floor, a low murmur escaping before he finally sat on the floor.
“Hey, ma.” He softly said, patting the top of the stone where she rested. He removed the helmet he bore and set it beside him, then pulled some things out of the sack that dangled from his thigh. “Sorry I haven’t come around in awhile, ma. I’ve been… busy with work.” He hesitated. As the howling wind finally began to calm, out came two aged teacups, along with a thermos. “I brought you a ‘lil somethin’.” He smiled, placing one cup ahead of the stone. Zodac poured a hot tea from the thermos into the cup within the sand, as well as to the one in his hand. He tapped her cup with his own with a small clink and sipped the drink. Silence is all that endured, not so much as a word escaping from the man’s lips. The gentle breeze brought some sort of calm to Zodac, watching the sky as the storm began to brew.
After awhile, the elderly man turned to the stone with the largest grin stretched across his face. “I know you’re gonna roll your eyes at me for this one, ma, but I got the funniest story. Just the other day, I was out drinkin’, just to let off some steam from work, yeah? And, this real tall guy, some eight-foot lookin’ alien man, stuck out like the biggest sore thumb you ever saw. Poor fucke-,” He paused for a second, “Poor sucker didn’t even enough credits to get a drink, meal, nothin’. So, I got him a lil’ somethin’ somethin’. Real nice, naive fellow, but could prolly squish my head like a grape with his huge ‘ol hand. Anyhows, we exchanged names and such, and to make a long story short damn thing ended in a bar fight.” A smile grew across his cheeks. “He’s my friend now, believe that? Got meself a friend haha. And you know what? I can die happy.”
“You’ve still got much ahead of you, Zodac.” A disembodied voice spoke.
“Ma finally, I was thinkin’ you were gone for good.” The old soldier expressed. Though, he never really knew who he was truly speaking too. It could have been in old age he was losing his mind after the countless battles he partook in, or simply the heat of the Parnassos. No matter though, he was just happy to receive a dialogue from his mother. It had been too long.
“I'm joyous to hear this son, creating bonds with others, but don't you think you’ve grown too old to pursue this kind of life? I do not mean to offend, but pretty soon you won’t be able to keep up with the others in this… business of yours. I mean, you are nearly as old as I when I passed. And-” “You know ma, I appreciate your concern and all, but I’m going to continue ‘til I can no longer. It’s how I get by, you know? It’s all I know how to do.”
“Whether or not you realize, it is killing you. Your full potential has not been realized, and if you kill yourself before it’s accomplished, it would be a great dissapointment to me. To those before us who allowed for you to be born. Find time to meditate, and you will know what I speak of.”
Zodac stared down at his teacup, swishing the liquid around the rim. He fell silent listening to the voice of his mother, unsure of what to say.
“Once you discover who you are. Come back to me. Together, we can realize your potential. I promise.”
Zodac’s hand began to shake, some of the tea spilling off the edges.
“Ma,” he began, “how do I know you’re real? How do I know that I’m not just some crazy fuck, talkin’ to myself? I just… I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do, ma.” He whined. He looked up to the storm clouds above, holding back rouge tears attempting to escape. “I mean, shit. I can’t even see you. You’re just… A voice. A voice that I can recognize, but not one I know for a fact is there.”
“Trust in me, Zodac. Only then will you be able to see me.” The voice stated, as it began to grow distant.
Zodac remained silent, staring at the sky for what felt like an eternity. A shaky sigh escaped before he slowly came to stand, gathering his things to leave the ruins of his home. He picked up his mother’s teacup, now empty, and wiped it clean with his glove before gently placing it in his satchel. He patted the top of her stone before walking to his ship, wiping his eyes of the tears that had gathered.