Just something I whipped up in the spirit of Halloween. Hope you enjoy!
"So, there the troopers were," Echo intoned, voice low and quiet, but face utterly intense in the campfire's flickering red light. "Outnumbered, outmanned, and outgunned. Odds about a hundred— no, a thousand to one. And the clankers flanked them on every side."
A mix of expressions stared back. Tech looked vaguely perplexed, his brows furrowed in concentration. Wrecker's eyes were wide as saucers; his hands were over his mouth, where his teeth chattered nonstop. Hunter kept one eyebrow raised and a mug raised to his lips, barely concealing an amused smirk. Crosshair's expression was flat as paper; he was not amused in the slightest. Omega's mouth hung open slightly as she absorbed Echo's every word. She leaned so far forward she was probably going to fall over.
"The troopers turned to their general. Surely, a Jedi could get them through this. But all hope was lost when the Jedi dropped his cloak. Underneath that cloak was…" Echo raised his hands for dramatic effect. Wrecker looked ready to lose it. "A protocol droid!"
Wrecker screamed at the top of his lungs, causing Omega to lose balance— "Woah!"— and fall face-first into the dirt. Crosshair rolled his eyes, Hunter did a spit take, and Tech burst out laughing.
Echo lowered his hands, confused that his story didn't have the desired effect on his audience. "What?"
"You regs all have the worst scary stories," Crosshair scoffed. "If you even call that scary."
"What's not scary about it?" Echo retorted, folding his arms defensively. "Your whole squad's on the line, and only a protocol droid can save you? I'd just lay down my blaster and die."
At this point, Tech was doubled over while hugging his sides, and Hunter had tears in his eyes from choking on his drink. Wrecker remained whimpering in the fetal position on the ground.
"Well, I liked it!" Omega's grinning, un-scared face popped back up above the campfire. "Do you have another one, Echo?"
"Oh, no," Crosshair interrupted. "If I have to listen to another scary story, I'll be the one telling it."
"What makes you think you can do better?" Echo challenged, still miffed his story hadn't frightened the others.
"Because mine won't have protocol droids in it."
"Let's have it then, Crosshair." Tech finally wiped his eyes and recomposed himself. Hunter poured himself another drink. Omega sat back down on her log, nudging Wrecker to join her. He didn't budge.
"They say it's a real legend among the Jedi," Crosshair began, "of an unspeakable horror roaming the galaxy, searching for its next blood sacrifice."
He was a superb storyteller. Every single eyeball in Clone Force 99 was glued to him, too fascinated to tear themselves away for even an instant.
When Crosshair concluded with, "To this day, no one, not even the greatest Jedi Master, has seen this beast and lived. They say it's still out there, scouring the cosmos…ready to strike the instant you least expect," stunned, shocked, and thoroughly spooked faces greeted his story. Even Echo turned paler than usual. Hunter wasn't bothered, though Tech was probably running mental calculations on how long it would take for the monster to arrive at their campsite. Wrecker had crawled behind his and Omega's log and was cowering behind her tiny frame for protection. Omega just grinned and bounced her legs.
"My turn," Tech declared.
"What're you gonna tell, 'the equation that came to life'?" Echo joked.
"…No." Tech frowned.
"I'll tell one," Hunter said quietly. His face was so grave everyone immediately got quiet. "Listen closely, and you'll never see the galaxy the same way again."
To make a long story short (and to keep you from having nightmares for the rest of your life), when Hunter finished, everyone was thoroughly, absolutely, one hundred percent freaked out. After a long, dead silence, Crosshair tossed away his shredded toothpick and said, "So…Echo…
…Do you have any more ghost stories to share?"
Happy Halloween, everybody! :)
