The night air sits still, cool, and quiet, saturated by the light of Locuna's only moon as it looms over the planet, painting the tree leafs in a simple-but-beautiful unpolished silver never before seen by the off-worlders. This light illuminates the road like a grand white belt compared to the dark, shadowed tree trunks on both sides. Some may feel it's a line of safety surrounded by danger, others might say it's just a road.
Little of the planet's nightlife can be seen from the road. The occasional darting shadows and unrecognizable calls from far away leaves much to the imagination. For those awake, that is.
Almost everyone is in a deep, deserved, and much needed sleep. The only exceptions being the few Troopers taking up night watch, and the Commander as she takes her master's place this night to stay up and watch for danger.
The night watch stays scattered though. All keeping their eyes open for trouble in different sections. So naturally no one talks, since there's no one to talk to. This leaves dead silence to reign over the glowing road, unchallenged. Like a bottomless hole, imposable for the single Clone to fill with his own sounds as he sits off to the side of the road and watches the tank. His eyes stinging, and his helmet and blaster rifle both forgotten at his feet.
The Trooper was tasked with watching over the walker. It's a slow, simple, but important job, apparently. Watch the tank, that's all. He doesn't even know why. He heard something about animals on the tank the other day, but didn't bother to ask around about it. He regrets that now. How can he do his job if he doesn't even know what the job is?
The Clone tries to stifle a thick yawn but it forces its way out. Unfortunately for him, he already served guard duty for the last two nights, and he never got the chance to sleep those nights off in the tank on the move. In the last three days he has only had maybe an hour of sleep. Of course he tried telling this to the Trooper who ordered him onto night duty, but all that Clone did was pull rank on him. He has no choice.
The lonely Trooper closes his eyes for a dangerously long "blink." Completely missing the small shadows as they scuttle down tree trunks and leap onto the tank, disappearing through the torn holes on the sides just as he opens his eyes again. Each time he "blinks," more and more shadows race past him. All timing it perfectly to avoid detection.
After a while, the blinks get longer, and the yawns become more and more desperate. Finally, the Clone convinces himself to let his eyes rest, just for a minute or two. If something comes, he will definitely be able to hear it. The Trooper's eyelids drop as he relaxes against the wagon.
The shadows immediately press their advantage and start pouring from the trees. Like black droplets, splashing down onto the walker, only to be absorbed through the holes like a mettle sponge.
It's not long until the harsh sounds of tipping crates can be heard over the Clone's steady snores, followed by ripping cans, crumpling wrappers, and the happy squeaks of creatures as they begin their nightlong feast.
I know this was short, and there's a reason for that. My writing has been slow lately so I just cut this chunk off the bigger incomplete chapter and made it into a small chapter. In other words it didn't take me this long to write 557 words. I just needed to put something out there, hopefully it'll respark my consistency.
I'll give two recommendations to make up for the shortness and the delay:
Go read "Cloning Around" By: Igorina
This one doesn't have anything to do with the clone troopers, but it's still a hilarious and silly SW one shot. If you want to see how Cad Bane and other bounty hunters would handle the art of babysitting smaller copies of themselves.
And go read "The Phase II Saga" By: spikala
This one's a bit longer but it's beautifully written and the characters are…well, in character. Captain Rex's armour has been stolen and his men are suspiciously nowhere to be found. Don't try reading in a classroom because you will lol hard.