Before - Legends Strange Things~ Disney Songfic Roulette Challenge, Atton Rand (KOTOR era)

Title: Strange Things
Genre: Angst, Canon
Summary: Atton Rand's musings regarding his life and experiences in the Mandalorian Wars, from the time of his enlistment in the Republic military until some Jedi lead by Revan join the war effort.
Author's Note: This was written rather quickly (I was strangely inspired for some reason with this one) and is my first fic on the Before the Saga boards. My apologies if I offend anyone.

Disclaimer: I own nothing here. The song Strange Things comes from Toy Story.

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[i]I was on top of the world
it was right in my pocket
I was living the life
things were just the way they should be
When from out of the sky like a bomb comes some little punk in a rocket
now all of a sudden some strange things are happening to me
[/i]
Atton Rand remembered the carefree days of being able to fly wherever you wanted to in the galaxy. The feelings of freedom that being able to go where you wanted, when you wanted and not giving a damn about what the trumped up bureaucrats who ran legitimate or otherwise star ports thought.

Yeah, those were the days. The days when anyone could seemingly do anything and the possibilities before your typical spacer were limitless. Days when he could count friends in every space port and just as many contacts.

But then strange things started to happen. Strange alien species from Unknown Space started showing up in those same ports, warning of an impending doom in their stilted, broken Basic. Of course, most ?wise? sentients didn?t believe them and dismissed their tales of doom as mere balderdash. That balderdash though, about the Mandalorians and their crusade, actually turned out to be real.

[i]I had friends,
I had lots of friends
Now all my friends are gone
And I'm doing the best I can to carry on[/i]

Like everyone else in the Republic, he could remember the day they started their invasion of the Republic. Like everyone else, he could also remember the day when they had glassed the Stereb cities of Serrocco along with the rest of the surface and the outrage that he felt along with everyone else.

But for him, the devastation of Serrocco held a deeper sense of outrage and pain. Everything he had in his galaxy except for the clothes on his back and the blaster at his side had been there. His parents, his kid brothers- even his second cousin twice removed who he?d sooner shove out the nearest airlock than have to be in the same room with. Atton Rand the carefree spacer had lost everything.

The next week after the devastation, he signed up for one of the first mustering of volunteers. The Republic was going to war.

[i]I had power (power)
I was respected (respect)
But not any more
And I've lost the love to the one whom I adored[/i]

Oh, that hadn?t worked out quite the way he thought it would at first. In Atton Rand?s mind, he was going to help the Republic win the war and get revenge against the helmet heads at the same time. A win-win situation if ever there was one. It should have been an easy thing, really.

But war never is. And the Republic was losing, badly.

[i]Let me tell you about the strange things are happening to me
Strange things
Strange things are happening to me...
Ain't no doubt about it[/i]

Then even stranger things happened. The Jedi refused to even fight on behalf of the Republic, the government they were sworn to protect and defend. They didn?t feel this was their fight and that something else was pushing the Mandalorians to fight. Something unseen in the deep, dark shadows of the galaxy.

Just some damned excuse to avoid what needed to be done, were the whispers that spread through the fleet. Jedi weren?t encouraged to have families or attachments of any sort, so they probably wouldn?t ever possibly sympathise with those like Atton who had lost everything and continued to lose everything as they fought against the helmet heads. Blast them all to hell.

There were claims that they were afraid of some of their number turning to the dark side. That was a lot of hooey too. All just to avoid going and doing their duty.

Yes, these wer

 

That was very poignant.

Atton Rand the carefree spacer had lost everything.

I really liked seeing the events through Atton's eyes. You did a nice job capturing his character.

Great response to the challenge

 

Thanks. I've never tried anything with the KOTOR era or characters before. Glad you like the perspective and characterisation.

 

Nice work with Atton's past and motivations. I wouldn't have known it was your first jump into this era if you hadn't said so. The song really fit with the story nicely.

 

Atton Rand the carefree spacer had lost everything.

Beautifully done!

 

Thanks. Glad to know that I've managed to do well here.

 

Thank You.

 

Just upping for the sake of upping here.

 

Thanks for the nom for this songfic for this year's Before the Saga Fanfic Awards. Definitely very humbled and really honoured too. . And it qualified, even more amazing! A big thanks to everyone out there!

 

Edit: Damn! Double post! Sorry about that.