Chapter 14: Itoll Oc
MGX-93776
In the dead of the night, 150 Wookiee Warriors and the 62 uninjured Republic Troopers marched towards Azagor City, a Commerce Guild Stronghold. Collectively, they comprised Echo Company. Itoll and Fojo were each embedded in different sides of the Wookiee components. Fojo was embedded at Stomper of Puddles' translator, while Itoll was Rider of Storms' translator.
For reasons Itoll could not fathom, the Wookiees had engaged in a loud roaring match over who gets the Bothan. Both of them wanted him. After Ekos screamed in fury at the Wookiees, Stomper of Puddles relented and allowed Rider of Storms to take the Bothan.
They continued advancing through the savannah, the darkness occasionally illuminated by laserfire or orbital bombardment. At the edge of the horizon, Azagor City's shields were being pounded by turbolaser fire.
"Hold up!" Ekos's voice ordered in Itoll's comm.
"Marsh oh-rargh!" [Stop!] Itoll growled in Shyriiwook.
[We can speak Basic,] Rider of Storms moaned impatiently.
[I know that ma'am. This is how I keep practicing my Shyriiwook,] Itoll explained, adjusting his helmet strap.
Thirty Wookiees emerged from the darkness, crouching around their village leader and the Bothan.
"All right everyone," Ekos's voice came through the comm urgently, "they are going to fire on the position directly ahead of us to take out some tanks. Hold position and take cover."
[Everyone, get down!] Rider of Storms moaned.
Itoll laid prone on the soggy grass. His elbow and kneepads sloshed into the mud.
Child of the Cave Beach, at age thirty-two, one of the youngest Wookiees in their formation, moaned angrily, throwing his canteen to the ground, spilling water everywhere. [WE ALWAYS JUST STOP AND WAIT! KRIFF THE REPUBLIC! THIS IS SO BORING!]
[Child of the Cave Beach, I told you to take cover,] Rider of Storms growled in a warning, her brown eyes narrowing angrily. [That is not a request. You can bitch and moan from a prone position if need be.]
Kriffing Wookiees, Itoll thought grumpily. His fur swirled nervously. [This is going to be very loud and very powerful,] he whispered urgently in Shyriiwook. [Lie the kriff down or you will die!]
Child of the Cave Beach roared furiously. So loudly that, no doubt, any droid within a kilometre would hear. With a defeated sob, he dropped his bowcaster in the mud, then, in a ferocious tantrum, threw himself down next to Itoll and Rider of Storms, splashing them with mud.
Itoll gave a whiny growl as mud splashed onto his face. [Kriffing asshole!]
[Bothan! I am mad,] Child of the Cave Beach moaned, [I will kriff you up so hard when this is over you will—]
—Rider of Storms grabbed him by the hair and punched his right eye.
Itoll tactically rolled away from the commotion, swearing under his breath. Even for a Bothan, the level of immaturity displayed in Wookiees younger than fifty was often completely shocking.
After three more punches to the face, Child of the Cave Beach began yelling and moaning, struggling to block the blows.
More Wookiees began roaring angrily.
"Echo-five, what is happening over there?" Ekos asked urgently in the comm.
"Echo actual, the Wookiees are just fighting again," Itoll explained in a breathy voice.
"Echo-five, if you don't get your Wookiees under control, I am going to have to relieve you of command."
"Sir," Itoll snarled, feeling a bit braver with the Padawan being deployed in a completely different element of the company, "I am not 'in command' so relieve me all you want. I am just an Ensign. I am just translating. If you want me to be in Command that is an entirely different—"
"—Ensign, you have been so much more respectful the last few days that I was beginning to change my mind about you," Ekos huffed.
For a moment, Child of the Cave Beach got the upper hand, stood up, and began kicking Rider of Storms. Rider of Storms wailed in agony.
"I am sorry sir, but I am just saying a fact. I am literally not in command, sir," Itoll growled cautiously. "If I were in command, I would have not brought this—could you kriff heads stop. PLEASE!"
The Wookiees continued fighting in the background.
"Very well," Ekos sighed. "I just hope our position was not given away."
"Me too sir, me too," Itoll growled. "If you want me to be in command, that's a different matter and would require a promotion."
Rider of Storms reached around Child of the Cave Beach's leg, tripping him. She grabbed hold of his hair again, clearly her favourite fighting move, and began viciously punching his left eye.
"I know how the command structure works Ensign," Ekos huffed.
"I am sorry sir," Itoll growled nervously. "I did not mean to imply otherwise."
"All right. Well, you have been doing surprisingly nicely for a Bothan. I'll consider it," Ekos muttered.
"Thank you, sir," Itoll replied. His few patches of fur that were not covered in mud, or covered by his uniform or armour, danced with excitement as he gave a triumphant toothy grin.
Finally, Child of the Cave Beach relented, receiving blow after blow to his eye. [I am sorry! I didn't mean—]
[—Are you sorry to the Bothan too?] Rider of Storms growled in a warning.
[Yeah! I am sorry Bothan! Little Bothan, I won't kriff you up, I promise!]
"Echo-five to actual, the fight's over," Itoll said into his comm. Then he snorted, in Shyriiwook, [apology accepted Child of the Cave Beach. Now please, I know this might be really difficult, really hard, but please let's try to follow orders, be a bit more professional, and maybe we'll survive the night. Seriously, I don't think any of you fully grasp the danger. You will probably live hundreds of years longer than me Child of the Cave Beach, but you are not immortal. We could die. You could die. This is a war and—]
—Itoll's fur fell flat as the loudest explosion he had ever heard thundered up ahead. The first explosion was followed by a series of explosions, shaking the ground. Itoll sunk a few more centimetres into the miserable mud.
As the horizon was lit by red and green turbolaser blasts, a few of the burly Wookiees began yelping in terror, making noises Itoll had never heard Wookiees make.
By the end of the barrage, Child of the Cave Beach and several of the Wookiees were whimpering.
On the horizon, a wall of black smoke and eerie steam rose, misting the night. The humidity felt like it went up significantly.
Sighing despondently, Itoll wiped some mud off the bottom of his snout and flung it onto the ground.
[They could have killed us!] Child of the Beach moaned despondently. [Those were so close!]
[Yep,] Itoll growled, his soggy fur relaxing. [But we are alive.]
Thrower of Flimsiplast Spacecraft began standing up.
[We were not ordered to stand up yet,] Itoll growled.
Rider of Storms roared angrily at the standing Wookiee, baring her teeth.
Itoll shook his head in exasperation. [Please don't fight. Just get back down.]
Thrower of Flimsiplast Spacecraft relented, going back to prone position without so much as an upset groan.
o-o-o
"Huh," Itoll muttered to himself, kicking a droid head. It skipped away into the mud, bouncing a few times before landing in a puddle.
The bombardment had pulverised an entire army of droids. Smouldering tanks, droid wreckage, and unidentifiable pieces of scrap were scattered about for hundreds of meters.
The Republic forces and their Wookiees sat on the edge of the wreckage, chowing down on rationpacks, not daring to go any nearer to the smouldering tanks. Every few minutes, as if giving further warning, a loud explosion would burst from one of the hunks of wreckage.
"Hey Itoll," Fojo whispered sitting down next to the muddy Bothan. "How you holding up?"
"Good," Itoll muttered quietly, then whispered a bit quieter, "kriffing Wookiees."
"I know!" Fojo exclaimed.
Opening his rationpack, Itoll smiled. Gartro Meat and Army Noodles, yum. He began gingerly digging through the condiment baggie, looking for a moist towelette. The mud on his snout was beginning to drive him crazy.
