Saga Terror and Consequence [OC]

Disclaimer: None of this is owned by me, obviously, I am only writing it for fun.

Synopsis: A series of stories featuring the stormtrooper Asper Kalandis, as well as a few others also located on the planet Seckelar III. These stories take place around 1 BBY.

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[b]Spice and Other Oddities, Pt. 1[/b]

"Aren't you nervous if the Commander finds out?"

TRA-110?birth name, Asper Kalandis, though she certainly never shared it with anyone?hissed at the question. Her helmet distorted the hiss into a garble of static and pops, but her counterpart knew what it meant. He'd been hearing enough of it.

"Listen up, One-Five-Oh," she said, hoping that the poisonous undertones to her vitriol would carry through the tinny voice modulation, "for the last time, I am not going to stop. We've been on this planet for more than a year, and our stipend's gotten more and more meager every month. I've got kids to feed, y'know?"

TRA-150 said nothing for a while. Instead he gazed at the passersby, their bodies stretching and warping when they reflected from his helmet's lenses. They flanked a featureless durasteel door at the top of ten permacrete stairs, overlooking a broad street reserved for foot traffic. The squat, colorless building they guarded was Generator 9C for Berellon City, located at the direct center of the downtown district. On every side the grey-green horizon was blocked off by towering building blocks, and the red sun?weak even though it was midday?was overpowered by thousands of advertising marquees flickering from every available surface. Creatures of every species passed below them, and none of them looked up to meet TRA-150's steady gaze.

That line about kids always got him for a little bit, she noticed. It made her wonder if the high-and-mighty Five-Oh had some children of his own out there in the wider galaxy, running around, noses in the air, knocking spice from the hands of drugged-out Twi'leks. Maybe thinking of those little devils made him think about how far he would go to keep them safe. Asper didn't really care so long as it shut him up. But it never shut him up for long.

"But, One-Ten, if he found out?"

She strangled a shout, and jerked her blaster forcefully, swinging it up from her waist to smack hard against her right pauldron. "I'm gonna kill you?"

"Was your safety?"

"Five-Oh!" He stopped abruptly at her outburst. A calm sliver of Asper's mind noted a big dead zone had formed at the feet of the stairs. Pedestrians seemed to be repelled from it by an invisible force, and a yellow Gran nearly tripped over long robes in his haste to turn the other direction, but the rest of her was done with professionalism and discretion.

"The Commander?" she paused for a moment. Saying this could either get her into serious trouble if it filtered to the wrong people, or it could finally squash Five-Oh's crusade. [i]Worth the risk[/i], she decided; TRA-150 was many things, but not a snitch. "The Commander doesn't care. Neither does Cap, the lieutenants have never cared, most of the sergeants are in on it, and I don't have to tell you about the rest; you've seen what they do for me. Five-Oh, you are the one person who has a problem with our system. [i]You [/i]are the one who should be worried about Sergeant Derella deciding you're a troublemaker."

He was shocked into silence. Most people couldn't tell when a man was shocked if he was encased head-to-toe in armor and helmet, but Asper knew the signs. All the little unconscious motions, ticks and shifts people did normally came to a sudden halt, like the person had been petrified, and Five-Oh was not an exceptional case. He stood and stared, completely motionless, at a man-height marquee frantically hawking discount rates on spanner sets. Asper could only imagine what was going through his head at the moment, and it filled her with glee to envision that part of his world collapsing in on itself. Still, she was almost certainly going to pull guard duty with him again someday. "You alright there?"

Five-Oh shook his head like he was shaking off a heavy blanke

 

You've got me curious. Vivid characters.

Edit: There is going to be a happy ending to this, right? Light triumphing over evil, enlightenment, a ray of sunshine through the storm clouds, etc.?