Saga The Sandtrooper's Story - Part II

Title: The Sandtrooper's Story - Part II
Author(s): Terek_Deckard
Timeframe: Just Pre-ANH through ANH
Characters: ANH Sandtroopers as they assemble and are deployed, Lord Vader, a foolish Senator, an old man, a boy and two droids, a Wookiee and his pilot friend
Genre: Action/Drama
Keywords: Sandtrooper, 501st Legion
Summary: The formation of a new Sandtrooper unit on Tatooine, and the events that unfold around our group.
Notes: This is written in the same vein as Shadows of the Empire. It's Star Wars, from a B-Camera perspective, as seen by the Sandtroopers of the 104th Moisture Farm Patrol.

Disclaimer: I am just playing in George's Sarlacc Pit here. The obvious characters belong to him, the rest are of my making.


If you are just finding this, check out Installment I here:

http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...tallment-1-now-complete-10-chapters.24597606/




TIMEFRAMEImmediately follows Installment I and the hasty exit of the Millenium Falcon from Mos Eisley Spaceport, docking Bay 94)


Chapter 11 - Departure

Falker paced back and forth across the floor of the open bay pit looking up at the melted metal pipes hanging from the smoking, sooty wall as he finally received the name of the departing ship from the port authority. The top rim of docking bay 94 had been blackened and burned by the main engines of the departing Millenium Falcon. He confirmed with the crews of the Star Destroyers Conquestand Tyrant that the ship in question had run from them and escaped into hyperspace before they could acquire a good fix on the target.

0600 and Rogue carried the lifeless body of Taka out of docking bay 94, leaving the corpses of Tyrell and his troops lying in the sand. They knew there would be an inspection team here soon, but Taka deserved a better fate than to be picked apart in the official investigation process. Ddraig found a cargo repulsor sled in the upper hallway and met them at the top of the stairs. The bloodied, broken body of their comrade was gently lowered to its surface. Everyone stood silent for a moment, staring down at what could easily have been any one of them. Without a word, the sled was slowly and reverently moved down the hallway, past a silent Garindan, toward bay 98.

Any thoughts Rogue and 0600 may have had about Taka buying his way out of prosecution alongside them for the Belliran V Massacre were now gone. In the darkness of our shuttle flight from Kessel, he had said he thought they were dead in the med lab when he was released. Even if he had bargained his way out, he had now sacrificed his life for Rogue, repaying any debt he may have had, real or imagined. Felth walked behind a bit, and seemed to be somewhat preoccupied.

4120 fell back beside him, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m just going over what just happened, you know, making sure I did what I should have.”

4120 reassured him, “I’m sure we all did the best we could, given the circumstances. I’m sorry about your friends.”

Felth was going over the firefight in his head, “Oh, they weren’t really my friends. I had just transferred in, and I didn’t know anyone yet except Tyrell, and I couldn’t stand him.” He was glad that no one in the group had seen him shoot his own squad leader in the back during the last exchange with the Corellian. It had been a gut-wrenching decision, made in a millisecond, and one that had absolutely surprised him, but he now felt that the Rebellion was doing the right thing.

In his heart he felt the Empire was wrong, oppressing worlds across the entire expanse of the galaxy. He had worked so hard to locate the missing data and prove himself, and now, he knew he was trapped in that role of dedicated Stormtrooper. He knew the Empire would find him if he deserted and jumped sides. He knew he could now be of much more value to the rebellion by remaining within the Empire, and funneling information to their cause.

This newly assembled unit seemed to be a smart group though. He would need to be vigilant at all times until he was allowed, by the inspection team, to be reassigned.


* * *

The interior lights of the sealed meditation chamber were dimmed to near absolute darkness. Its occupant in a deep meditation. The obscure layers of consciousness slipped elusively by as the human brain, of what had once been Anakin Skywalker, fed on the energy attracted by the Midichlorians coursing through what was left of his bloodstream. He felt the warm pulse of his human heart in his upper arms and the trunk of his body. His heavy cybernetic limbs, however, still felt foreign and cold.

At first they had been ungainly and awkward, forcing him to re-learn standing and walking all over again. During those hazy, dark days following his defeat at the hands of his Jedi master, he had worked endless, grueling hours in his private chambers; practicing with one, and building to several seeker remotes and assassin droids to master his new limbs.

His ravaged body and blistered, deformed skin ached and burned beneath his suit and helmet, but not nearly as hot as the hatred that burned in his heart for his former master. He repeated painful motions over and over again, learning the new subtleties of moving through fight stances on his cybernetic legs, and regaining the dexterity and masterful control of his dominant lightsaber hand. He allowed himself to feed off the intense pain, focusing it, channeling it, bringing the Force around him to a constant, controlled boil.

Cloudy thoughts now mingled with the energies of the dark side as Vader lost himself in its inky, warm liquidity seeking answers to questions that had plagued him since discovering Obi-wan still among the living. He allowed himself to slowly drift closer to the light side Force energies than he had since yielding to the Sith teachings of Palpatine, so long ago. He needed to sense others from his lost order in his quest for his former master. Suffering cries of the Jedi he had helped decimate echoed in his ears. He heard the urgent, pleading warning from Qui-gon calling out to him, “Anakin, NOOO!”

In spite of all that could have distracted him he remained focused, searching for answers, awaiting clues to be revealed to him. He was open to any sense or feeling of a reason why Obi-wan might possibly have been on Tatooine with a new apprentice. Obi-wan hated Tatooine, and would not have been there willingly.

He remembered the stories he had been told about the damaged, leaking hyperdrive engine forcing that fateful emergency landing, forever entwining his destiny with that of Qui-gon, Obi-Wan and the Queen, his fragile beauty, Padme. He had been concerned that they might have been stuck on the desert planet for a very long time. It made no sense that he would have willingly returned.

Perhaps that was exactly why he did so.

As his meditative trance became more focused, images began appearing in the mind’s eye of the dark Lord. He saw an emerging asteroid field; planetoids tumbling silently. One of them shifted and became master Yoda, tumbling off into a gathering fog.

He calmed himself and became even more centered in the Force. In his vision, there were clouds, rain and mud with the cries of unseen animals hiding in the shadows of colossal trees draped with vines. Then, as the cloudy haze parted slightly, he saw Obi-wan holding an infant in his arms and heard a voice call out, “Luke”. It was the shallow, but unmistakable, sweet sound of his wife’s voice.

His heart beat increasingly faster, pounding in his ears now as the images became disjointed, fast-morphing flashes in his mind as he abruptly ascended from his unconscious state too rapidly. He saw Padme lying on a table, speaking to Obi-wan, then falling silent as the life drained from her face. Her still body transformed into a mound of sand, blowing off the table in a wind across an emerging Tatooine skyline at sunset. A hooded Obi-wan now stood amidst the blowing sand with the child, walking into the sunset.

Then, the blowing sands consumed him and gave way to careening, colliding asteroids which became two combatants engaged in a furious lightsaber battle. He was fighting someone dressed in black whose movements were aggressive, attacking and Sith-like. He continued to ascend as intermittent, hazy images surfaced of himself throwing a dark-robed figure over a balcony amidst tangled streams of Force-lightning raining down on him, killing him.

Suddenly, he emerged from the trance. His eyes fluttered open wildly in the darkness of the dim meditation chamber, lacking the ability to form tears, but filled with the pain and grief of his loss all over again. His chest heaved and he gasped as his mechanical lungs quickly adjusted, cycling air in and out at twice their normal pace.


* * *

 

It's nice to see you continuing this story!!
I like it so far.

Please add me to your PM list.

 

I love it! Glad to see you are writing more on this.

Please PM me as before.

Thanks!

 

Fun post. I like the description of the dark side meditations. It is just as murky as the light side.

 

Thank you. I am enjoying writing stories set in "The Saga" timeframe so much more now, having the characters' past revealed. It leads to a much deeper, realistic exploration of thoughts and emotions.

Thank you for reading, everyone. More will come soon.

 

Thanks for reading everyone. Here's a little more:

4120 piloted Tyrell’s shuttle out across the sand waves heading toward the heart of the DuneSea. Captain Tyrell and his men were dead, they wouldn’t be needing it anytime soon. The members of the 104th MFP were seated silently in the jumpseats along both side walls.

Taka was the first to fall in the line of duty in this new post, and Rogue now prepared him for his final resting place. We all watched as he drained the energy clip, snapped it in the magazine well, and placed Taka’s E-11 in his hands, carefully positioning one hand on the grip, the other under the barrel, laying it across his chest as if he were standing at the ready.

Etz nodded knowingly, “You can have my blaster when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.”

Rogue turned to him, nodding, “Exactly.”

It was a cocky phrase that had been uttered by virtually every trooper, in every session on Carida when sidearms were issued to a new class.

The main engines were cut as braking thrusters fired and the ship began slowing, finally coming to a hover over the ridgeline of a large dune. 4120’s hands moved over the controls as he lowered us carefully to the ground. Topolev and Blade opened the rear hatch and extended the boarding ramp as the rest of us unclipped. A warm wind whipped past us as we pushed the sled down to the blowing sand.

The afternoon light was fading fast, bathing us in a dark orange glow as the twin suns sat just above the horizon. 0600 walked away from us in silhouette, facing the two giant fireballs, then stopped and looked down at his feet, kicking at the sand a bit, “This is a good spot.”

We moved the sled over to him and lifted our dead from it, placing him gently in the sand on his back, blaster held up to his chest, staring up into the stars. We all stepped back a pace and respectfully removed our helmets. Only the sound of the wind blowing past us was heard.

Blowing sand began to collect around Taka’s body, mounding up against it as we watched silently. Rogue spoke, “He gave his life to save mine, this new Sandtrooper. And as a Sandtrooper, we offer up his body to be returned to the sand . . . to become one with it.” He knelt down and grabbed up a handful of sand, and tossed it across Taka’s chest, “Pleasant journeys, my friend; pleasant journeys” then turned and walked away silently with his helmet in hand as the wind continued to whip around us.

We all observed a moment of silence, then one by one dropped a handful of sand on Taka’s body. The evening winds were picking up now, drifting even more sand around the one we were leaving behind as we all silently returned to the shuttle. Topolev and I were the last to board, taking a final look back at Taka as we ascended the sloped ramp. We had all seen troopers fall in battle, many of them friends. I just didn’t think it would be happening this soon after arriving here.

The white of his Impervium had almost been swallowed entirely by the time we lifted off.

* * *

 

Nicely done. It was like a funeral at sea, with the dead slipping under the waves of the DUNE Sea.

Please continue to PM me as you update!

 

I came back to read the new post and actually re-read the others as well. I like it more each time I read it. It seems to really fit what would have happened after the Falcon dashed away, and Vader's meditation was great!
I like that he is getting flashes of things to come as well as the past. Always in motion, the future! This could get interesting in a hurry as he starts to see possible futures, as the secrets of the past are revealed.


The new post is nice too, like Oh_Behave_Kenobi said, it was like a military funeral at sea. I could see the solemn troopers in the fiery orange light of the dying suns as they say goodbye to their friend and fellow trooper.

Don't forget to PM me!

 

I liked the segment of "you can have my blaster when..."

Although I admit that when I read that I thought of Men in Black and how the alien found the terms acceptable.

I liked the imagery of the dune sea.

 

Great job and wonderful story! Very intense moments with Vader!


Bravo!

 

Thanks Jade_Pilot!

I am really enjoying writing Vader now that the information from EPIII has been revealed. It makes him much more complicated, and the Original Trilogy new again for the watching.

I will have more soon.

 

Bumped...so it will appear just behind Installment I

 

I just re-read this new Installment, and I really like the way I see the Dune Sea in my head, with the troopers silently leaving their friend behind.

Very nicely done. In your PM you said you had been busy, but have plans to post more soon, please do so and drop me another PM when you update. I really want to see what happens on Tatooine while the rest of A New Hope is unfolding.

 

I really like the way you get inside each person's head, especially Vader's. I also hope to read more about the Trooper who is going Rebel. Keep writing, and please PM me!

Raptor517

 

Thanks very much for reading, Raptor.
I really appreciate the feedback, please keep it coming. I am a newbie here and can use all the feedback I can get.


If you have only read the second Installment, check out the first here:

http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=24597606&brd=10476&start=24621091

 

Here's a little bit more. I didn't get as much time as I would have liked to write, but let me know what you think . . . and where you think the story might go from here.



The bluish-white haze of the afternoon sky had given way to the amber and bronze tones of the early evening which had now yielded to the suffocating blackness of a moonless Tatooine night. 4120 had bypassed the spaceport protocols and set our shuttle down in the open courtyard behind our new barracks. We all moved quietly out of our seats and headed for the fresh air outside. I stepped off the bottom of the ramp into the now-cool sand and ran through the events of this very long day as we all walked toward the back of our building.

Rogue opened the rear armored door of the barracks and we entered through the storage area, stepping around our supplies, still piled high on the repulsor sled. I secured the door after Topolev and Etz came through, and was about to make my way through to the bunkroom out front when I noticed something behind a storage crate. It was a lever on the plates of the armored wall. There were no labels as to its function.

I looked around. No one was hanging back, so I reached over and pulled on the lever. It resisted a bit, but then rocked to one side. As it did, I felt a slight rumbling under my feet and the supply sled began to lower into the floor. The entire recessed center of the room was a lift system that was now lowering to a sub-level. I watched as it slipped out of sight below the floor and came to stop several meters below.

I leaned over the edge to look down as lights flickered through a doorway leading away from the platform below. The others were now standing in the doorway behind me. I looked back over my shoulder. “Check this out”.

With buckets off, 4120 and Rogue were first through the door to inspect my discovery, closely followed by the others. Topolev whistled as 0600 and Ddraig walked to the edge.

Falker spoke up, “It looks like a supply cache. We used something similar on Talasea while I was there training on their orbital platform.”

Rogue turned to me, “I see another control lever down there. Call it back up. Let’s see what’s down there.”

I nodded. “Sure” and stepped over to the lever, giving it a pull in the opposite direction. The floor shook again as the lift rose until it docked once again with our level. Everyone stepped on, crowding around the supply sled. I threw the lever and stepped on as once again it descended.

We came to a stop on the lower level, and the open doorway ahead revealed a dark room with a flickering, malfunctioning luminary. We all stepped through the door into the relative darkness of the next room. The air here was stale and the only working luminary hung from a wiring harness, flickering and swinging as we moved past it, sending sporadic, rocking shadows across the room and up the walls.


It was very hard to make out what was here with the light strobing as it was. There were more supply crates, several items draped in large canvas tarps and large bay doors on the opposing wall.

Etz was looking under the edge of one of the tarps when Blade stepped up from the other side and pulled it off. Dust flew off, swirling up in a cloud and hanging in the still air.

 

Ack! You can't leave us hanging! What's under the tarp?

Great update.

 

That was a total cliff hanger... or lift hanger? Argh-- Either way we are left wondering what was down there... Thanks for PM.

 

Thanks for reading!!

Jade_Pilot - In all honesty I haven't written it yet! I truly had very little time to write this weekend, but I have an idea of what I want under there

Ocelotl_Nesto - Thanks for reading! The Cliff(t)-hanger will be resolved soon, I promise. I just need a bit of time to gather my thoughts and know where I want it all to eventually head.

More coming soon!

 

Oh, I like very much! I would like even more to know what's undery the tarp, though. So, write again, write now!

 

A little more...sorry, very little time to write these days.


In the dim light we could see several tripod-mounted cannons. Etz grabbed the next tarp and pulled it off as Danz and Topolev pulled off the remaining two.

By now we were all coughing as the air was thick with very fine dust particles. I noticed the outline of a deactivated astromech droid squeezed between the cannons, and moved in for a closer look. Topolev ran his gloved hand over a full rack of what appeared to be hundreds of transparent holo-cards.

He pulled one out and leaned toward the swinging light, gently wiping the years of dust away. “Jabba’s Court – 22413”. He reached over and pulled out several more. The labeling was the same, but with ascending numbers. “I’m not sure, but I think these may be surveillance recordings of The Hutt’s Palace.” He handed the cards to Rogue as the others moved further into the darkness checking out what else had been waiting silently in the shadows.


Rogue held them up and looked over to the full rack of similar cards, “These may prove very helpful. What else is back there?”

Danz and Etz walked between racks of weapons. Each of them lifted out a rifle, turning them over, examining them as 4120 and Falker broke the seal and lifted the lid on a container resting against the stone wall.

As Rogue continued looking over the card with 0600, I pulled the astromech from its tight squeeze between the cannons and knelt down to look it over. It was a little the worse for the wear. Several panels were missing and a blackened wiring harness protruded from one of its side panels, but it didn’t appear to be anything some repair work couldn’t take care of. A few parts and a refreshing of its internal power cells, and we might have ourselves a working maintenance droid.

 

Thanks for the PM.

Nice work on the updates. Answers and more questions, just like you said.

I want to see where this goes!

 

I'm getting caught up! Love the defecting storm trooper and how he decides to stay where he is. The imagery you used with the Vader piece was wonderful!

Well done!

 

Thank you!

The defecting trooper is not my original character, but his involvement in the unfolding saga storyline beyond the escape from docking bay 94 is. Sandtrooper Davin Felth is well known. I see a clouded future for him...always in motion, right?

When I was writing the Vader meditation piece, I was seeing it in my minds' eye and scurrying to write it down as I saw it appearing, shifting and trying to put myself inside his head. Anakin has gone full circle...in many ways he is once more a slave...to his suit, to his chamber, to his twisted Sithlord master, to the choices that have cost him and the galaxy so much. It truly is a mythic tragedy.

I appreciate your kind words and feedback. More to come soon. I apologize for the VERY short posts...but that's all I can seem to manage these days.

 

Hmm-- datacards and some arms... I still think your allegory of Vader as a slave again is pretty good. He is kind of a slave king... getting the other slaves to do the masters bidding.