Spicy, Stella, and a couple more of his brothers boarded the ship. It took off into space and entered hyperspace. Spicy noticed that Stella was bouncing her leg and seemed really nervous.
"What is your problem? Nyla is acting better than you and she's never even been in space" Spicy said. The massif lifted her head at the mention of her name.
"I'm sorry, I really hate space travel, it makes me nervous" Stella said.
"Would you like me to hold your hand?" Spicy teased her.
"Oh, would you please" she grabbed his hand.
"That wasn't an offer" he glared at her and jerked his hand back. He did his best to ignore her constant anxious behavior, but she was really getting on his nerves.
"Will you relax! Nothing is going to happen! Force you're acting like a child!" Spicy snapped.
"I'm sorry, it's just in my ten years of life I've only space traveled twice" Stella said.
"Wait a minute, you're only ten!? But you look like an adult" Spicy was shocked.
"I look like an adult because I am an adult, why is that so surprising to you? Just look at you clones, you are an adult even though you're only…..how old are you?" she asked.
"Well seeing as I was cloned in thirty two BBY that would make me eleven years old, great so now I'm babysitting you" Spicy shook his head.
"How exactly are you babysitting me? I am an adult after all" Stella looked unamused.
"Well I didn't know humans aged like that" Spicy said.
"Humans don't age like that, I'm not human…well sort of, it's complicated" Stella said.
"This galaxy gets stranger and stranger" Spicy said.
"I'm surprised you're so shocked and weirded out by me, I mean you live on Coruscant the capital of basically everything, you had to have seen so many different races and creeds" Stella said.
"I have" Spicy said. He noticed Stella flinch when the ship rocked ever so slightly. All his annoyance returned.
"You're such a baby, it barely moved" Spicy gave an irritated sigh.
"Stop being so mean, I can't help what I'm afraid of" Stella looked at him with hurt in her eyes.
"Aww, did I hurt your feelings? Are you going to have a Senate meeting about it" Spicy jeered.
"You know I don't know why you're so mean to me for being a senator! It's not like I chose to be one! How would you feel if I was mean to you for being a clone! Something you have no control over! It's not my fault I'm defective I just am ok!?" Stella looked away from him, a sob shook her shoulders. He was shocked at her outburst.
"I never said anything about you being defective, what are you even talking about?" he asked.
"Just forget it, you wouldn't understand or care" she had a bitter edge to her voice. She kept her back towards him.
He realized that his coldness has caused her to become a little bitter towards him. Maybe he has been too hard on her, too quick to judge. After all that's what he and his brothers face on a daily basis.
"For the record, being a clone I do understand what it's like to be hated, to be judged for something you have no control over, people rarely are nice to clones, most people view us as lesser" Spicy said. Before anything else could be said the ship shook violently and dropped out of hyperspace.
"What was that!?" Stella gasped in horror.
"I'm sure it was nothing, I'll go check with the pilots" Spicy removed his restraint and got out of his seat. But before he could make it to the cockpit a violent explosion shook the ship knocking him on the ground. Red lights began flashing as sirens blared.
"Nevermind it's definitely something" He said as he quickly got back in his seat. He tried to raise his brothers on the comlink.
"What the kriff is going on out there!?" Spicy asked.
"We're not sure, it appears we hit something but we don't see anything, the ship is heavily damaged and we have to land on the nearest planet" his brother said.
"Looks like we're going to have to land on the planet below, there might be a slight delay in getting you to your meeting" Spicy told Stella.
"I'm fine with the delay, I just want to get there in one piece" Stella's eyes were wide with terror.
"I'm sure everything will be fine" Spicy said. Another explosion rocked the ship.
"What is going on?" Spicy wondered. There were no windows in the back where they were so he couldn't see a thing.
Suddenly the ship started rapidly descending.
"Something tells me this is going to be a rough landing" Spicy said.
The ship slammed into the ground with a booming explosion. And rolled a bit before coming to rest a few feet away from where it impacted the ground. Spicy awoke amongst the wreckage, the ship lay in pieces around him and he wondered how he was still alive. He immediately began looking for the others. Both his pilot brothers were dead, he found Nyla sprawled out. He went over to her. She rose to her paws and gave herself a good shake.
"That's my Nyla, tough as nails" he stroked her. Stella came crawling out of the wreckage coughing and gasping for air.
"I'm ok…thank you for asking" she said in between breaths.
"See? I told you everything would be ok" Spicy said.
"How is everything ok!? Our ship is destroyed, the pilots are dead and we're stuck on…..where is this?" Stella looked around. They appeared to be near some kind of beach, she noticed there was a house and she saw a fishlike man rushing towards them while a fishlike woman stood giving them a baleful glare from the house, she had her arms protectively around two little children.
"State your business!" He pointed a trident at them.
"Really? That's all you have for a weapon? You do realize that I have a…..blaster" he realized he no longer had it.
"Yea you dropped it, it's over there, now state your business" he snarled revealing sharp fangs.
"Hi, we're sorry to just drop in like this, we mean no harm, our ship crashed nearby and we kind of need help" Stella said.
"You are a clone" the fishman pointed at Spicy.
"Really? And here I thought I was a wookie" Spicy's voice was dripping with sarcasm. The fishman growled at him.
"Hahaha, you are such a kidder Spicy, this guy loves to joke, right Spicy?" Stella gave him a warning glare.
"Anyway, could you help us out?" Stella asked. Suddenly there was another fishman heading their way.
"You are to report to the palace immediately, Duchess Azura wishes to speak with you" he said.
"Ah a duchess, maybe she can help us" Stella said. They were led to a palace that was beautiful, sea glass and shells adorned the blue marble palace. They entered two giant blue marble doors that were adorned with sea glass. There on a coral throne sat a fishlike woman with iridescent pink scales, she had webbed hands and feet and a tail with a fin on the end of it her hair was purple and she had pointy ears with webbing behind them. Stella couldn't help but think she was quite beautiful. Oh Force it's going to get Spicy started.
"So you two are the ones scaring my people" She said.
"We're very sorry that wasn't our intention, you see our ship crashed here and we are in need of help" Stella said.
"Hmm, judging by the clone you two are from the Republic are you not?" she asked.
"Y-yes, that's right we just want to get home" Stella said.
"Where is home?" Azura asked.
"Coruscant" Stella said.
"My, you are a long way from home" Azura said.
"Look fishface enough with questions, can you help us or not?" Spicy said irritably. Stella nudged him with her elbow and mouthed shut up. Azura stood up from her throne and did a circle around him.
"A bold one aren't you" she said.
"I have to look out for my people and I don't trust Republic scum" Azura said.
"Look seaweed for brains, what part of we're not here on purpose do you not get" Spicy sighed heavily.
"That could be a lie, how do I know what you say is true?" She sat back on her throne.
"Well we could show you the smoldering remains of our ship" Spicy said.
"And how did you crash? Were you shot down? If so by whom? Was it the Separatist? Did you bring them here?" Azura got more upset with each question she asked.
"We're not sure, we were on our way to a meeting and suddenly our ship took heavy damage, the pilots said we hit something, but aren't fully sure what happened" Stella said.
"Well if you wish to get home you're in luck, a transport shuttle comes here every so often to collect water from our oceans it has healing propeties" Azura said.
"That's perfect! When will the next one arrive?" Stella asked.
"In about five months" Azura said.
"Five months!? Are you out of your mind!? We can't be here for five months! There has to be another way" Spicy said.
"Nope, we have no ships coming or going other than that, because Aquarians like us thrive only on this planet so we never leave and we prefer not to have people coming, you just don't know people's intentions anymore" Azura said.
"But you have comms right? So we can contact the Republic to come get us, I would use mine but it broke in the crash" Spicy said.
"No, why in the galaxy would we want to be in touch with anyone?" Azura said.
"So I guess we really are stuck here for that long then" Stella sighed.
"Don't worry you'll be my guests here, mostly because I want to keep an eye on you" Azura said.
"However that beast of yours must stay outside" Azura said.
"Nyla is a well trained massif, she won't be any trouble I promise, as long as you don't try to touch her she's very unfriendly towards anyone besides me" Spicy said.
"Very well, so long as there is no funny business we should get along swimmingly, will you show them to their rooms please" she turned to the man standing guard beside her. He dipped his head respectfully and led them away. They were taken to a huge room with two king sized beds.
"Hey, there is something I want to tell you" Spicy said as he sat on his bed.
"What is it?" Stella asked.
"I just wanted to say, that I'm sorry for being so mean to you, it's just senators talk a big talk about caring and ending the war, when really they only care about their personal agendas, good people are overtaken by greed and corruption" Spicy said.
"I understand why you would feel that way, and I readily admit that I didn't become a senator because I was driven by a need to help people" Stella said.
"Oh yea, I remember you saying that you didn't ask to be a senator, what was that about?" Spicy asked.
"Ok, I may as well start from the beginning, as you know I'm from Moonglen, well on Moonglen are what's called Moonchildren, we're wolf shifters… at least we're supposed to be, however; I never learned to shift, Moonchildren shift long before they reach adulthood but not me, to make a long story short I was deemed defective questioned if I was even a Moonchild and disowned, as punishment I was banished from Moonglen and sent to be a senator that is seen as the most dishonorable title on my homeworld" Stella explained. She was on the verge of tears.
"Oh, I'm sorry that must be hard" Spicy said.
"Last night, when I seemed obsessed with the moon, I was trying to shift, you see we draw our strength from the moon and the full moon is when we are at our strongest, most Moonchildren have their first shift during a full moon" Stella explained.
"I think it's time to face facts, I will never shift, I am just defective, but shifting is what makes a Moonchild a Moonchild, it's like I'm missing half of my identity" Stella swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Oh come on that's not true, you are still your own person with your own identity, you're still a Moonchild you're just different from the rest which isn't necessarily a nad thing" Spicy said.
"Yea, a pretty darn useless one" Stella hung her head in shame.
"I know what it is like to feel useless" Spicy said.
"But how can that be? You are a clone who protects the galaxy, you're far from useless" Stella said.
"Well you see, I'm stuck on Coruscant, what use is that? My brothers are out there giving their lives on the front lines to end this war, I chase criminals on Coruscant, that contributes nothing to this war, I guess that's why I'm such an angry jerk sometimes….ok most of the time, because I just feel so useless" Spicy explained.
"Stop selling yourself short, Coruscant is the capital of the Republic, no doubt a big target, if you and your brothers weren't there to defend it the war would come to Coruscant for sure, if anything you are playing the most important part in the war" Stella said.
"Wow I never thought about it like that, thank you" he said. Just then a guard came in.
"Azura wishes for you to join her for dinner" he said. They were taken to the dining hall.
"Please, have a seat" Azura motioned too the chairs in front of them.
"So we still have no idea where we are" Stella said as food was set in front of them.
"Ah yes, you are on Aqai an outer rim planet" Azura said.
"So you said your ocean's water have healing properties, why not just get bacta tanks they are way more effective" Spicy said around his mouthful.
"Well not everyone can get them as easily as your precious Republic" Azura said sourly.
"Why do you hate the Republic so much? You know we help people right" Spicy said.
"Let me help you see past your own narrow and biased view of the Republic, you see the Republic taxes the mess out of mid rim and outer rim territories to fund the core worlds, so that's why neutral planets like this believe that both the Separatist and the Republic are the bad guys" Azura said.
"Now let me ask you, how do you know you're doing the right thing? Do you really believe the clones don't kill innocent people too?" Azura asked.
"I know that sometimes innocent people get caught in the crossfire…..but I know my brothers would never willingly hurt or kill an innocent person" Spicy said firmly.
"Even if they were ordered to?" Azura asked.
"I know it is a general thought that clones blindly do whatever they're told, and you know what? most do, but we are capable of rational thoughts and discerning right from wrong, if someone were to tell me to do something that I know is wrong I wouldn't do it even if I was ordered" Spicy said.
"Well then you are an exception" Azura said. And they finished dinner in silence. After Stella and Spicy returned to their room. They were getting ready for bed.
"Boy it's been a long day hasn't it?" Stella said as she flopped down on the bed.
"I'll say" Spicy said as he got in bed.
"You know, I've often wondered that myself" Stella said
"What?" Spicy asked.
"Do you clones ever question the Republic?" Stella asked.
"I suppose there are some that do, but I personally don't, we like to believe in the cause we fight for, so I believe wholeheartedly that the Republic has nothing but pure intentions and means no harm to anyone, but I suppose it is nice to get outside opinions" Spicy said as he let out a loud yawn.
"Yea, I think it is time to get some sleep" Stella said.
From there room you could hear the peaceful sound of the ocean, it lulled them right to sleep
