Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it, and hope everyone else has a good holiday too!
Shadow's Odyssey: A Star Wars Story
Cody's group waited impatiently for help to arrive.
"Where are they?" Sparky demanded.
"Yeah, this is taking way too long." Road Kill agreed.
"Something isn't right. Let me call them again." Cody turned on his commlink. "Hey Crash, where are you?"
No response.
"Crash? Crash are you there?"
"Hold on, I hear something." Eagle listened intently. He took a few steps back in the direction they originally came from.
"What'd you hear?" Road Kill asked.
"It kind of sounded like a voice. Cody, try contacting Crash again."
Cody obliged and called into comm again. As he did, Eagle heard the same sound coming from off in the distance.
"I think Crash might be closer than we think."
Cody and Eagle went to investigate, leaving the others to watch over Boil. Following the sounds, they found Crash facedown in the mud, blood oozing out of his armor.
"Didn't he take anybody with him? He knows better than to go into strange territory alone." Cody questioned.
"Maybe he didn't, and the other guy is dead somewhere too." Eagle suggested.
"Okay, it's too dangerous to stay here. We need to get back to the ships."
"What about Boil?"
"We'll just have to carry him. Let's go."
Rex's crew walked through the sun dappled trees to the north.
"Stupid bugs." Havoc grumbled as he waved at a fly buzzing in his face, then tripped over a root. "Stupid plants. Stupid sun!"
"Can you knock it off with your stupid complaints?" Jesse snapped. "We don't need to like this place, it just needs to be a safe place for us to hide."
Katooi then stopped in her tracks. "We need to go."
"What?" Dauntless asked.
"Something's happening, something really bad. I can feel it."
The clones all looked at each other. Everything seemed perfectly fine, but they knew by now that trusting a Jedi's instincts was the best course of action.
"Alright then. Let's move out and get back to the gunships." Rex ordered.
It was a tight squeeze for both Shadow and Petro in the Android's ship. For one thing, they were two people in a ship meant for one. For another, that one was only three feet tall. They managed it with Shadow curled up in Petro's lap with Petro hunched over and curled around Shadow.
"We are heading to the nearest civilized planet and exchanging this sardine can for a bigger ship."
"Agreed."
A few moments of silence.
"You know, for a guy covered in spikes, you're surprisingly soft." Petro observed, running his fingers through Shadow's fur.
"Can you not?" Shadow snapped harshly.
"Sorry."
"Whatever. How does this thing work?"
Petro gave Shadow a quick tutorial on how to use the navigational computer.
"Looks like the nearest place is… oh no."
"Is this the usual type of 'oh no' or is this a new 'oh no'?"
"This is the usual 'oh no'. The closest planet is Trandosha. This is the home planet of the Trandoshans. They are some of the nastiest scum bags in the galaxy."
Shadow wasn't concerned. "Good. Then I won't feel bad when we steal from them."
"Are you sure you want to stop there for a ship and not just keep this one?"
"I've already lost the feeling in my left foot. We're going." Shadow launched the ship into hyperspace.
"So…" Petro began. "How do you make those kinds of decisions?"
"What do you mean? We need a new ship so we're getting one."
"Not just this decision, but all of your decisions. Like the very first day you showed up in this galaxy you decided to turn the clones against the Republic."
"I freed them." Shadow corrected. "Because it was the right thing to do."
"You knew what you were doing would result in the Republic falling, so I think any other person would spend just a little more time thinking about it. But you made up your mind in just a couple hours. Were you at all concerned about the long-term consequences of this?"
"Sitting around and thinking about problems does not solve them. Making the wrong decision is better than making no decision at all. If I chose to think about it longer, more clones would have died in a war they were forced to participate in. True, the consequences for doing so were far worse than anyone could have imagined, but I regret nothing. I did what I felt was right and that's what matters."
"So, you just don't regret anything at all in life? Not even…"
"I do regret a few actions I've taken in the past. But the biggest regret is the time I didn't choose to act. And that is why I don't wait and think about it. It's better to choose who dies than let someone else choose for you."
Petro could sense that Shadow was intensely uncomfortable, and it wasn't because they were crammed together in a tiny ship (okay it was, but it wasn't just that). Luckily, they had arrived at their destination, so they could move on to a different subject.
"Okay, let's get that ship."
Rex's team arrived back at the gunships. The first thing they noticed was that two of the four pilots left to guard the ships were gone.
"Where's Crash and Rock?" Rex asked.
"A member of Cody's team got injured so they took a stretcher and went to go help." Caramel answered. "But they should have come back by now."
Cody's team picked that moment to return. Sparky had Boil's shoulders and Road Kill had his feet. There was no stretcher or Crash or Rock.
Rex studied them, confused. "Why aren't Crash and Rock with you?"
"They're dead. They were killed by the natives. We are obviously not welcome here." Cody explained. "We need to call everyone back and evacuate."
Gungi sprinted back into the clearing. Wolffe came behind him dragging Survivor, who had several arrows sticking out of him. Wolffe had his blaster out and was shooting behind at a group of natives that chased him out of the trees. Rex's group quickly shot them down.
"What happened to the rest of your team?"
"They're dead." Wolffe panted. "Those mini-Wookies killed them all! We need to evacuate now!"
"What about Falcon's team?"
"I received a distress signal from them. I think they're all dead."
A terrified Zatt then ran into the clearing. "Help! They got Byph!"
"Everyone into the ships. We are leaving." Wolffe ordered.
"Wait! What about Byph? He's still out there!" Zatt cried.
"He's probably already dead. Let's go."
"No, he's still alive! I can sense it!"
"Well it's not worth the risk to go get him. We're leaving." Wolffe declared and dragged Survivor onto one of the ships.
Rex gaped at him. "You're not seriously saying we should leave him out there to die, are you?"
Wolffe's glare could be felt through the helmet. "Me and Survivor barely made it back. Falcon's team didn't make back at all. If we go out there, we're gonna lose more men. And for what? A Jedi?"
"But he's just a kid!"
"Don't you get it Rex? The Jedi are responsible for every bad thing that's happened to us! They forced us to fight in their war, they're the reason Kamino got destroyed, and they're the ones who suggested that we come here! And I refuse to lose another man because of a Jedi!"
Rex was silent for several moments, then said, "If you want to go, go. But I'm not leaving without him." He turned to Zatt. "Where did you last see him?"
Wolffe sighed. "Fine whoever wants to stay can stay. But we're not going to wait up there forever for you."
When the ships lifted off, Rex was left with the younglings, Edge, Cody, Jesse, Dauntless, and Havoc as well as one gunship.
"With all that complaining, I'd thought you'd first onto the ship." Jesse commented.
Havoc snorted. "So you could tell everyone I was too afraid to fight a bunch of furballs with sticks and rocks? No thanks."
Rex got everyone's attention. "Alright men, we only have a couple of hours until the sun goes down, so let's move out!"
Zatt lead the way out of the clearing. They hiked for miles and eventually night fell. It was so dark they couldn't see their hands in front of their faces. They switched on their flashlights and kept moving.
Edge was starting to regret staying. Every small noise he heard made him increasingly paranoid. Then as he was looking around, he tripped over a wire. A huge log swung down, and Edge braced for impact.
But the log didn't hit him. Instead, it swung back and forth several feet above him.
"You alright there, Edge?" Jesse asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Good thing those stupid natives didn't set up this trap very well."
"I don't think that trap was built with us in mind." Katooni observed. "Those natives aren't the only creatures that live here."
"Well we can speculate about that later. We're on a rescue mission." Rex reminded them.
They kept walking until they saw the light of a campfire. They could hear the mini-Wookies singing. They quietly crept closer.
Dauntless peered through his binoculars into the camp and was met with a horrifying sight. Strung over the fires were the unmistakable carcasses of his dead brothers. He had to look away before he threw up.
Havoc grabbed the binoculars and looked himself. The first thing he saw was the mini-Wookies using clone helmets as drums. Others were dancing and eating chunks of meat. Havoc grabbed a thermal detonator.
"Those little furry-"
Rex cut him off. "Easy, Havoc. Remember, we're here on a rescue mission. Do you see Byph anywhere?"
Havoc looked again. He saw Byph hanging like the others with the mini-Wookies piling wood underneath him.
"I see him! He's over there on the left!"
Rex began spelling out the plan. "Alright, we don't have a lot of time, so we need to make this fast. One of us needs to sneak over and get Byph while the rest of us make a distraction on the right. Once he's free, we all make a run back to the ship."
Gungi held up his hand and spoke.
"He volunteers to go get Byph." Ganodi translated.
"Alright, you wait here. Once we have their attention, go get Byph."
The clones and other younglings snuck over to the right.
Havoc held up the detonator still in his hand. "Now?"
"Now." Rex confirmed.