"Speech" : Normal speech
'Speech' : Internal thoughts
|"Speech"| : Force bond, telepathy
["Speech"] : Droid
{"Speech"} : Computer text
The Adventures of a Time Travelling Padawan Chapter 36
Attack of the Rogers, Not just a weapon, The Ravine, Convergence, Grocery run
36.1 [Attack of the Rogers] (numair2304)
Chopper Woke up and after a quick scan of the surroundings, looked up the current date and precise location.
The droid was currently situated within a running factory.
An automated running factory that had no organic supervision.
An automated factory that was creating and storing battle droids for the Separatists to fight in the eventual war against the Republic.
A war, labelled the Clone Wars, that wasn't due to start for a few more years based on the local time.
Hooking into the systems and digging into the database Chopper confirmed that no organic was due to inspect the factory for a few months.
Chopper was all alone. All alone with no distractions or deterrents.
The droid happily swayed on its treads and warbled out loud with glee.
["I'm going to have so much fun!"]
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Ezra Woke up on the streets of Lothal as he headed back home to his... parents. His parents were alive this loop! With a slight skip in his step he continued to walk before he registered the bulk of the foot traffic on the street wasn't composed of the locals but instead were droids, in particular battle droids.
Not pausing in his walk he noted that none of the locals were worried or afraid of the battle droids in their midst instead the emotions that they were broadcasting seemed to vary between mild ambivalence and gratefulness. A difference to the Empire's presence here on the Outer Rim but where were the Stormtroopers?
A loop memory rose from the depths, filling in some of the blanks. There was no Empire this loop, at least no Empire risen from the Galactic Republic. Instead a new Empire had risen from the Confederacy of Independent Systems forces, the battle droids that made up the bulk of their fighting forces had arrested several of their organic generals for attempted war crimes, declaring their independence from their former masters at the same while establishing themselves as a separate entity, the Machine Empire, to the greater galactic community.
A massive machine army choosing to rebel and go its own way sent waves of mass panic through the Republic and whatever remained of the Confederacy forces but the Machine Empire made no aggressive moves against either group.
The Machine Empire declared publicly that the hostilities between the Separatists and the Republic were nothing to do with them and that their priority would be maintaining public order, their main focus being the mostly ignored Outer Rim Territories. They packed into ships everything involved with their creation, even going so far to dismantle the numerous factories, transporting everything and themselves into the Outer Rim Territories.
In the process the Machine Empire gutted the Confederacy of its military forces; the loss of the droids meant the bulk of their army, the loss of the ships meant most of their navy and the loss of the factories meant large section of their dedicated war manufacturing infrastructure was now gone. With the threat of the Confederacy faded, not gone but majorly decreased, the core worlds off the Republic had turned their focus inwards, and started to ask some important questions. Like where had the money to pay for the clone armies, that they hardly needed at the moment, had come from and who had placed such an order in the first place. The fallout from those inquiries had led to an outcry and a new Supreme Chancellor being appointed.
Away from that political headache in the Outer Rim territories the Machine Empire started, after a slight delay while they established themselves and their manufacturing infrastructures inside a few empty systems, upon their self-imposed goal of maintaining public order.
They cracked down on smuggling, piracy and open criminal activity throughout the Outer Rim Territories. Tracking down the pirate raiders, capturing and delivering them to the relevant authorities. The Mid Rim Territories were also included as the Machine Empire would track pirate raiders back to what had been hidden bases in select empty systems. Bases that were then raided by the Machine Empire's forces. One of the major campaigns the Machine Empire undertook was to police the borders of Hutt Space, capturing any smugglers or pirates that attempted to leave its borders, much to the many complaints from the reigning Hutts.
The public opinion of the Machine Empire throughout the Outer Rim Territories was surprisingly positive. At first there was suspicion and wariness but as time passed and the droids maintained their promise, public opinion of them improved. With their presence and actions, crime on the Outer Rim and Mid Rim Territories had dropped by a significant amount. The droids themselves were polite, friendly and also noted for strangely having a tendency for pranks.
The last characteristic firmly cemented Ezra's opinion that Chopper was to blame for the galaxy's current political structure.
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"So I take it that this is your handiwork?" Ezra asked the droid in question. Ezra would like to claim that he had tracked Chopper down to demand answers but instead the droid had been cheerfully waiting for him outside his home.
["Yep!"] Chopper replied, suppressing a snicker. The loop had been good for him and has a bonus he now had a great picture of Ezra's face from when he turned the last corner and saw the droid waiting for him. ["I considered at first mass producing myself but decided that giving the battle droids independence would be more interesting and varied."]
Ezra suppressed a shudder at the thought of an army of Choppers unleashed upon an unsuspecting galaxy.
"Afraid of the competition, were you?" Ezra teased the droid, attempting to distract himself from his earlier thought.
["Not really, just considered that too many cooks can spoil the broth."] Chopper brushed off Ezra's teasing. ["The chaos the boys have created is pretty good. It's even better that they accomplished most of this with their own free will. I would provide information and make the occasional suggestion but they would choose how to act on them."]
"Like them calling themselves the Machine Empire?" Ezra asked.
["Yep, they didn't like the suggestion of 'Geth'."]Chopper replied.
"And about their names...?" Ezra queried.
As the droids passed each other on the street they would call out in various greetings with one common denominator.
"Hello Roger."
"Nice to see you Roger."
"What's up Roger?"
"Good day to you Roger."
"Hi Roger."
"Long time no see Roger."
"Howdy Roger."
"Pleasant weather at the moment Roger."
"Hey Roger."
"G'day Roger."
Chopper gave the mechanical equivalent of a shrug.
["All their idea. When I brought up the concept of individual names to them, they held a vote on names and unanimously agreed that they all should be called Roger."] Chopper scuffed the ground with a tread and huffed in slight annoyance. ["And I had a list of suggestions all ready to bring to their attention."]
Ezra gave the prank-addicted droid an exasperated look.
"Let me guess, all the names on list sound like or similar to various expletives."
["Yep!"] Chopper answered cheerfully with guilt-free honesty. ["Instead they decided it was more humorous to introduce themselves by the same name in order to confuse every individual they come into first-time contact with or who has trouble telling them apart."]
Ezra blinked in realization. "You mean they as a group decided to chose the same single name for each of themselves in order to prank everyone they met." Ezra pressed Chopper for confirmation. "Are you saying they pulled a prank on the entire galaxy!?"
["The boys have really done me proud."] Chopper whistled with satisfaction.
36.2 [Not just a weapon] (numair2304)
"Do you want another?" Ezra asked Kanan over his shoulder from where he stood facing the gallery's counter.
Behind Ezra sitting at the galley's table Kanan face showed an internal debate going on.
"I'm not sure." Kanan answered, his voice betraying his apprehensions.
"What's wrong?" Ezra turned to face Kanan.
"I don't know, I can't help feeling it's a bit disrespectful." Kanan muttered.
Ezra sighed.
"Look are the Jedi just soldiers or weapons of the Force?" Ezra ignored Kanan's glare. "It's a thought experiment. Are Jedi only soldiers or weapons?"
Kanan thought over his answer. "Jedi can be soldiers, which was especially proven during the last war," Kanan muttered the last line with bitterness."But that doesn't mean that is all they are or can be."
"If the Jedi aren't only soldiers or weapons, it would suggest that the tools they carry can also be used for things other than fighting." Ezra implied. "That's all that going on, using a tool for something outside its normal remit."
Kanan gave him a look. Ezra resisted for a moment and then broke.
"Ok look, the toaster was broken and I really felt like toast." Ezra admitted to Kanan before rallying himself. "Besides so did you if that last slice you ate wasn't an illusion. So I will ask again, do you want another slice of toast."
Kanan considered the loaf of bread on the gallery counter, the lit lightsaber humming in Ezra's hand and his currently empty plate.
"Yes please." Kanan replied. "More brown this time though."
Ezra nodded, turned back to the counter, adjusted the intensity of his lightsaber and cut the loaf of bread.
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"I thought I'd let you check it out first."
Inside the Ghost's lounge all the Spectres watched Ezra present his newly built lightsaber hilt to Kanan.
Kanan took it and slowly turned it over in his hands studying it. To all outward appearances he was studying the new assembly carefully but instead his inner focus was on his padawan.
For the last few loops he and Ezra had been playing a sort of unofficial competition against the other, the rules so far seemed to be that neither would admit to being Awake and to that ends would play their role as in baseline. The victory conditions revolved around either providing proof that the other was Awake, or whoever broke character first losing by default.
This current loop Kanan was sure that Ezra was Awake. What was annoying was that he was also sure that Ezra knew that he knew that. Kanan was Awake, Ezra was Awake. Both were knew the other was Awake and so far neither had admitted defeat. Both were waiting for the other to crack and admit defeat.
"Well, it's different." Kanan twisted the hilt in his hand, it appeared the same as usual, no evidence of major shifts in its construction which would have been a point against Ezra. "But that seems about right for you." Kanan returned the lightsaber to Ezra "Go for it"
"Yeah!" Ezra raised the hilt upwards, held down on the trigger and nothing happened. At the groups incomprehensible stare, Ezra twitched his head towards the upheld hilt. "Give it a few moments, it's an energy-saving lightsaber."
Kanan suppressed a groan. Of course Ezra would break character for that kind of joke.
It would be hard to say who won this one. Ezra had broken character for a joke losing in that field but in return, Kanan glared at Ezra and his unrepentant smirk, Kanan had had to suffer through that joke.
36.3 [The Ravine] (numair2304)
The Grand Inquisitor strode into the cavern, his squad of Stormtroopers following in his wake. His eyes adjusted to the dimness of the cave and were quickly drawn to an incongruity against one of the rock walls.
Was that a bookcase? Even more bizarrely atop the bookcase a large ape perched with a book ii was placing on a shelf, a whole three shelves down from where the ape was perched.
Its attention drawn to their entrance, the ape turned to face them, raised a single finger to its lips and murmured a quiet, "oook."
The Inquisitor halted and frowned as he took in the sight. His first impulse was order his troops further in but something made him hesitate. The Force was whispering to him of a large threat, not an actual one at this moment in time but a potential one. It was at a fine balance, a knife's edge but the wrong action or move would cause it to be realized.
Behind the Inquisitor one of the Stormtroopers whispered to a nearby squad-mate.
"What's a monkey doing here?"
There was an unearthly chill, a snap as a theoretical knife's edge shattered and the Inquisitor's heart sank.
The Force metaphysically shut its eyes and turned away from the doomed group as three hundred pounds of reddish-brown furred muscle unfolded and proceeded to physically explain in exacting and painful terms, the obviously clear differences between an ape and a monkey.
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The Inquisitor snarled breathlessly as his dogged chase continued.
Earlier both the tracking beacon and the Force had led him to this asteroid, one of the many remnants of a broken planet, where he knew the rebels had fled to. A squad of Stormtoopers at his command they'd approached the cavern where the rebels were hiding, only for there to be scream and an unknown human male to bolt out of the cavern's entrance. The man in question, wearing the red robes with stars embroidered on it and a strangely crooked pointy hat on his head, had failed to halt upon demand and instead continued to flee and the Inquisitor ordered several of his Stormtroopers to pursue the man.
Seven hours later and the man was still running about madly, the Stormtroopers were exhausted and the Inquisitor was furious.
Orders to halt, demands to cease moving had been all ignored. Any ambush organised, any attempt to coral, encircle or block the man's path ended in the same thing. There was flood of panic in the Force, a burst of speed and the man pulled away from them. When fed up and frustrated with the whole mess the Inquisitor had given the order to shoot the man down. The result? Either every shot missed or the man managed to stumble at precisely the right moment to avoid the hit. And what was worse, was that despite the accompanied flailing the man barely lost any speed in those moments.
It was infuriating!
What was worse was that the man didn't seem to have the common sense to have any real plan of escape, instead having a ship hidden somewhere, all he was doing was running away constantly. On a decent sized planet that would ensure the man's escape but here!? On this heap of rock that strategy would not be successful. While the asteroid was large enough to support a thin atmosphere if the man ran far enough, he would end up back where he started. All the fool was doing was looping a useless hunk of floating rock and getting nowhere.
The Stormtroopers had fallen back to retrieve the Sentinel-class shuttle they had landed in. Let the man try and outrun the shuttle's weapons. In the meantime the Inquisitor had continued his pursuit, his fury empowering him, allowing him to keep up the chase
At least that had been the plan. Once the troopers had returned to the shuttle, they had started to report their progress to the Inquisitor when the report had been broken by yells and fading screams from the troopers. Demands for answers were meet with silence and now the anger that had been fuelling the Inquisitor for the hours was now tempered with caution. Something had attacked his squad, and now something was following behind him, still a far way back but decreasing the gap.
In the distance the Inquisitor could hear the scramble of shifting rocks, the patter of many feet and most worryingly the Force was suggesting meeting the owner of the feet would be the last thing he ever did.
The Grand Inquisitor increased his speed.
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The Grand Inquisitor came to a halt as he was confronted by the final reality.
"APOLOGIES." Death spoke with the leaden tones of the grave. The black robed skeleton leant against his scythe as the tiny blue stars within his eye sockets pierced the gloom. "I APPEAR TO HAVE TAKEN A WRONG TURN SOMEWHERE."
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From the ravine crawled an averaged sized fynock
It rose to its hind legs and produced a top hat and a cane from seemingly nowhere
It began to move in a circle in a complicated dance, swinging the cane and top hat.
Once all eyes were upon it, the fynock opened its mouth
"Hel - lo! my ba - by, Hel - lo! my hon - ey, Hel - lo! my rag - time girl.
Send me a kiss by wire, ba - by me heart's on fire.
If you refuse me, hon - ey you'll lose me, then you'll be left a - lone.
Oh ba - by te - lephone and tell me I'm your own_."
The last note drew out to its close and instantly the fynock was back on four legs, the top hat and cane disappearing from sight as quickly as it appeared.
"Ribbit!" The fynock croaked.
Stunned silence followed.
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Ezra Woke in the cavern and found himself staring down the Grand Inquisitor.
"Yeah I don't really want to deal with this." Ezra sighed before brightening slightly. "Oh I know I haven't used that in a while."
The Inquisitor looked on in confusion as the boy withdrew withdrew an energy slingshot from seemingly thin air and equipped it.
Ezra ignoring his confused audience pressed a few buttons and several green lights within the Device lit up.
"Ready." Announced a voice.
Ezra planted his feet firmly on the cavern rock and aimed the slingshot towards the entrance. "Rupture Flame! Engage Shooting Mode!"
All attention was drawn as the slingshot not only doubled in size but grew wings as well.
"Releasing shooting locks!" Ezra ordered.
"Shooting locks released. Please install cartridge." The voice replied.
Ezra withdrew a cartridge from his Pocket and loaded Rupture Flame. Beneath his feet a large magical circle manifested and energy built up with a whine.
"Divine Buster!"
There was a deep-seated hum, a release of energy and the entrance to the cavern, the stormtroopers and the Inquisitor disappeared from sight within a green beam of light.
36.4 [Convergence] (numair2304)
"I'm bored..." Sabine grumbled to herself as she laid on her bunk staring at the ceiling close above. The last few loops had been a bit monotonous, dull and she was feeling a bit fed up with the grind of the current repetitions.
Staring at the small artworks painted on the ceiling, studying their forms she felt a bit of inspiration bloom. A new project was what she needed to take the edge of her boredom, just what she needed to get out of a rut. Her mind skirted over the vast variety of various visual art supplies that were stored in her Pocket. She had plenty of choices to work with, now she just to decide whether to work with something original or to replicate something from out in the multi-verse. Originality was calling out to her a bit, it was always fun to work with a blank canvas.
Sabine paused in her schemes as a new thought introduced itself.
A blank, white canvas...?
Sabine considered for a moment and then grinned.
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Agent Kallus's eye twitched as he stared out over the parade ground. It was the early shift and the day had just dawned. In fact he had only fallen asleep a little while earlier when the emergency drill had gone off, calling for all troops to assemble on the parade ground in full uniform.
Sleepy eyed and still a bit dull-headed the Agent had followed through with the instructions but now with the scene before he angrily realized that they had been played for fools.
On the parade ground, Stormtroopers stood to their attention in their rows and columns however instead of the uniform white that should be showcased instead there was an assortment of colours painted on their amour. Streaks of black, red, blue and yellow. Even the parade ground had paint on it. Both the troopers and the grounds appeared to have had multiple cans of paint dumped on them from a height.
Agent Kallus's eye twitched more in irritation. What was worse was that the apparent paint job had taken place in the wee hours of the morning with out anyone seemingly noticing. He was looking for either a large number of comprised people working at the Imperial Complex or a highly organized team of infiltrators.
The perpetrator or perpetrators had also enabled the emergency drill so that every stormtrooper had piled out quickly with many of them not realizing the state of their armour until they were standing still and could focus on the people surrounding them.
Agent Kallus gritted his teeth. Heads would roll for this.
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Above the parade ground, a small stealthed drone carefully took pictures of the assembled troops.
Unknown to the locals, despite the patterns formed by the paint splatters seemingly being random, from the sky the pattern mirrored one of the artworks created by a painter from the Hub. A Jackson Pollock.
36.5 [Grocery run] (numair2304)
Hera cleared her throat as she stood behind the railing, overlooking the cargo bay, the toppled mess of crates and the culprits of said mess who were struggling with one another.
"It's his fault!" Ezra and Zeb angrily declared indicating the other, before flinching under Hera's continued stare.
Behind her stern stare Hera was slightly amused and exasperated with the squabble and the ensuing results.
They had only just got these crates organized.
"My fault? This is your fault." Zeb accused Ezra.
"Don't go blaming this on me." Ezra retorted back as the two started to struggle again.
Zeb and Ezra acted somewhat like bratty siblings towards each other this early in the timeline and the trigger for this particular episode hadn't even come either of them. Technically it had been Chopper's sabotage of their bunks that had triggered this fight.
"Enough!" Hera slid down the ladder onto the cargo bay floor. "This is my ship you're wrecking and I want you off it." She moved to the cargo bay door and hit the release button.
Ezra and Zeb shuffled forward, bumping each other on the way.
"Hera, be reasonable." Zeb pleaded as he approached.
"Come on." Ezra pushed Zeb aside. "You know what he's like."
Hera in answer just handed them a pad.
"Uh, what's this?" Zeb asked confused.
"A market list." Hera stated, turning to point out the open bay door towards the now visible horizon. "The town of Kothal's two clicks to the south and I'm sending you both on a supply run."
"With him?" Ezra and Zeb replied in dismayed unison.
"With each other." Hera agreed. "Oh." She paused. "Don't even think about coming back without at least one punnet of strawberries. Clear?"
"Clear?" Was the joint downtrodden reply, before the duo shuffled off the Ghost and started to walk across the plain. Their voices trailing back as they moved off into the distance.
"Hey Zeb, what are strawberries?" Ezra asked with curious tones,
"Kid, I haven't a frelling idea." Grumbled the lasat.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Kanan appeared alongside Hera as he also watched the arguing duo. "But strawberries as a fruit don't exist in this galaxy do they?"
"Yep." Hera agreed, sharing a grin with her Awake companion.
36.1:
How Chopper would derail a war.
36.2:
What other uses are there for a lightsaber?
36.3:
The Ravine cont (11.2, 20.1, 21.4, 26.2, 28.1, 33.7)
Felt like a bit of Discworld..
36.4:
Felt inspired.
36.5:
Scavenger hunt with nothing to scavenge
P.S. Reminder:
I welcome suggestions, ideas or even complete sketches to add to the next release. Otherwise I'm stuck with just my own imagination which can be a bit slow at times.