Missions and Memories pt.2

Still waiting for the team to get back.

28 hour have passed now. I have been running the sniper rifle semantic through my head to keep from getting lost in thought. Also, I am curious how the experimental ion round the Lt. Cmdr left with me will work. I only have two clips, along with the regular ammo. The ion round might be able to disable droid shields. That would help with the droid destroyers.

I am not sure where she comes up with these things. They are not standard issues. Maybe the ion rounds are Nabooian. They seem to have improved their offensive combat capability against droids in the past 10 years or so. But I guess you can't blame them.

I start to think of what I know of Naboo and my thoughts being to wander again.
_________________________________

5 Months Earlier, Coruscant

"OK then TK 266, let us get to the sparring and stop wasting a trooper's valuable time" A small smile plays across her face.

"I don't think I implied that you were wasting my time, Lt Cmdr."

"I know TK 266. It was a joke. Clones don't seem to have much of a sense of humor do you?"

She drops in to a standard Nabooian special forces fighting stance. I get ready to defend myself.

Her fist shoot at my head is much quicker then I imaged she could move. I block with quick, light hand movements.

"So TK 266, what do you do for fun?"

"Fun?" I block another flurry of hit and jump over her foot sweep.

'You know, what you do when you're off duty and leave base" she switches to a fighting style favored by the people of southern Naboo. She must have learned that in her youth.

"I haven't left the base except to go on missions" She feints with a kick and punches for my chest

"What do you mean, you don't leave the base? You have got to be kidding, here you are in the center of Republic civilization and you don’t leave the base?" A quick spin kick shoots towards my head. I block, grab her ankle and flip the Lt. Cmdr to the ground. She rolls over her left shoulder and then is back on her feet.

"So what are BIBO rules?" she asks, changing the subject as she launches in to a series of punches and kick. I block and retreat slowly across the mats.

"Informal trooper sparring rules. It means blood in and blood out. The sparring doesn’t end unless both troopers have bleed or one is incapacitated." I block a spin hit and then a reverse roundhouse kick.

"As opposed to being a punching bag like you're doing right now?" the Lt. Cmdr says with a flash of annoyance. "You haven't tried once to strike at me once" she begins to move a little faster. "You are fighting like a Voorpak."

"I think you're the Voorpak. Small, from Naboo and you have quite a bite."

"Wow hoo, was that a joke? From a trooper?" two jabs and a quick left almost catch me off guard. 'So are you going to attack at all or are you going to continue to fight like a adiik (child)."

"I have 28 cm and 32 Kg on you. I don't think it would be a fair fight. Plus you heard the arena Admin orders. And where in the galaxy did you pick up Mandalorian?"

She ignores the last question, "Don't worry about the admin, I outrank him. And we won't play BIBO's rules. We'll just fight until I knock you to the mat."

A sharp smile plays across her face "Or are you a hut'uun. (coward)

I am stunned by the word for just a second and the Lt. Cmdr lands three quick forceful blows to my face. As the blood start to flow I bark back "CAPAANI MIRSHMURE'CYE!"(are you looking to get hurt)

"Whenever you’re ready, TK"

I let my instinct take over. I begin an offensive attack with three stomp kick and a jab combo. The Lt. Cmdr block, jumps and dodges my blows, while backing away.

For the next five minutes we fight around the sparring arena with many of the troopers forming a wide circle and cheering us both on.

We have stopped taking and concentrate on the fight. The number of hand to hand fighting techniques the Lt. Cmdr knows surprises me. She can not be that old. And why would a slicer need that many fighting styles.

Finally, I spot a flaw in here defense. I test it with a reverse round house to the left and the Lt. Cmdr duck/dodges to the right. I quickly pivot for a spin punch from the right, as the Lt. Cmdr begins her defense, I stop and bring my knee up with force.

The sound of my knee connecting with the Lt. Cmdr's head quiets the room. She flies back and lands on her back, blood flowing from her nose and lip. I can see where the bruise is beginning to form.

She looks unconscious.

I rush over to make sure she is going to be ok. As I approach she pushed off the mat with her arms and one leg. She moves so fast I don't even see the kick to my groin coming. The pain shoots up my stomach and I feel the air rush out of my lungs. A second kick hits me in the chest and I fall back, trying to clutch myself while defending against the elbow coming towards my face. When she hit me I feel my nose break and hear a snap in her arm.

The Lt. Cmdr rolls off me, groaning, coming to rest on her knees and one hand, holding the obviously broken arm off the ground. Blood is dripping from her mouth and nose.

I turn on my side, spit out blood and I think a tooth on the mat, while trying to regain my breath.

Gasping the Lt. Cmdr say, "Well, you’re on the mat, so I guess the sparring match is over.”

She smiles up at the stunned troopers standing around “How about after the med bots clean us up, you and the other troopers join me off base for a Kashyyykie Ale?"

I just look at her.

"What do you say TK, you up for going off base?"

I nod the affirmative as several of the troopers help us up. They are all talking at once and slapping the Lt. Cmdr on the back. I think they are going to like her.

_____________________________________

As I gaze out over the landscape, my hand inadvertently rubs the small bump in the ridge of my nose. I think about the bar that evening and how the Lt. Cmdr embarrassed my by calling me Tak all night. The other troopers picked up on it and used it whenever the brass was not around. It took a while to got use to a personalized name.

Still no word from the team.

Missions and Memories pt.1

26 hours.

I have been lying here in complete radio silence for the past 26 hours. The Lt. Cmdr and the rest of the team went in the cave entrance over a day ago.

They were not supposed to be this long. We dropped far from the city. The team is supposed to make though the cave, which hooks up with the sewer system and attempt to access a computer within the City. We were sent in as a 5-person team. A sniper, The Lt. Cmdr to slice the system and 3 other troopers as back up.

I am annoyed that the Lt. Cmdr had me stay here on sniper duty. WK 315 is normally our sniper. On the last 4 mission E775 and I have acted as escort to the Lt. Cmdr. She had that mischievous look when she told me I was on sniper patrol.

The worst part of long wait like this is the stims. They make me jumpy. Not good while trying to stay silent and still. I use the ancient Echani calming technique the Lt. Cmdr has taught a few of us. My body calms, but my mind remains restless.

I dislike all the waiting, it give me too much time to think.

My mind begins to wander.
------------------------------------

5 months earlier on Coruscant

E775 is helping me up off the mat. He was bleeding from above his eye and I am trying to shake off the stun blow he had delivered to defeat me in the sparing match.

"Kandosii (nice one). You are getting much better"

E775 grinned at me; "I haven't beaten you in the last 7 matches, so I guess it was finally my turn today."

The Med Bot hovers up to us and begins examining E775 and me.

"Numerous abrasion, small incision above right eye caused by blunt force trauma, possible concussion." The Med Bot squawks at E775 and begins working on his cut and bruises. I can tell that it is going to leave a scar, regardless of the medical attention. I'll have to watch myself in the future.

As the Med Bot begins to treat my wounds, E775 start talking again. "So, how can you win so many of these sparring matches against me? We have the same training, came from the same Cloners, but you still seem to out match me most of the time."

I shrug, "I don't know. Maybe it because I've been in service longer than you. You came on after the battle of Geonosis. That's all I can think of."

E775 looks at me. The soon to be scar makes it the look quizzical, "I'm not..."

"Officer on Deck!!" barks the arena Admin.

All the troopers in the sparring arena turn to the voice and snap to attention.

Walking along with the arena Admin is a diminutive dark haired woman. I recognized her as the new officer, a Lt. Cmdr who was transferred here last week. On here second day here she had been given permission to interview several of the troopers. It seems she is building a team to work with her on selective missions. The troopers she interviewed came from many different units with out much rhyme or reason that I could discern.

"At ease!" the arena Admin shouts.

E775 quietly say "She been on the observation deck the last two day. Watching the trooper spar."

"I haven’t noticed" I lied

I do notice now that the Lt. Cmdr is wearing sparring clothes. But I don't see any other home-mades (clone phrase for non-clones) on the floor.

The arena Admin walks her up to E775 and me. "The Lt. Cmdr has requested a sparring session with a trooper. One of you two is it. No BIBO rules with her, understand!"

"Yes, Sir" we both bark back.

He turns and leaves us with the Lt. Cmdr.

She smiles and offers her hand "Lt. Cmdr J. Ranaé Oneida"

E775 puts out his hand "I am E775 and the quiet trooper next to me is TK 266. Unfortunately he'll have to be your sparring partner. I have to head over to medical..." he taps the cut on his head "concussion you know."

The Med Bot start to make a noise, but E775 bumps it hard as he leaves hurriedly, leaving me to fume and youngling-watch the officer.

The Lt. Cmdr does a slight eyebrow arch, "TK 266, I guess you're the lucky trooper today. You get to...hmmm what phrase would you use: Watch after, play host, waste time, baby-sit... me."

"Not at all, ma'am. I am happy to..."

The Lt. Cmdr points a finger at me. "Please don't call me ma'am. It drives me nuts."

"Of course ma'ma...I mean Lt. Cmdr"

"So TK 266, what do your friends call you?

I look puzzled "TK 266, ma..., Lt. Cmdr"

The Lt. Cmdr looks a little incredulous and says in a mock somber voice. "OK then, TK 266, let us get to the sparring and stop wasting a trooper's valuable time" A small smile plays across her face.
---------------------------------------

I shake off the memories like dew from morning grass and scan the area around the cave entrance. It is one click away and I have a clear view of everything in a 270-degree arc. Nothing moving in my immediate sightline.

Where are they?

Caption Winner....

The caption that made me laugh the most was submitted by Wedge:

"Things got worse when GD666 realized that the only thing to read was an old version of the Palpatine Bible."

Don't know why, it just hit some kind of funny nerve for me. Thanks to all of you who played along.

And now I present to Wedge (I can not believed I am doing this for a Rebel Scum) 2 cool points given to me by the Jedi of coolness himself, Qui-Gon Jinn.

*Hands over cool points, with a salute*

Tak’s Caption Contest

Best caption for the following picture win 2 of the 3 cool point awarded me by JJ and Qui Gon.


Yeah, this is a cheesy post, but deal with it. :-)

Yesterday

With Master Yoda going into exile, I felt I had express my feeling, which is hard to do when your not programmed with to many emotions. I choose to express my self in song.

Here is to you, my little green friend.



(Sung badly and off key to the tune of Yesterday by the Beatles)

Yoda’s blogs seemed to always say
“now in your nose that crayon will stay”
Oh, I read Yoda’s blogs just Yesterday

Suddenly, I’m not afraid to say Pickles like I used to be
Or scared that Yoda will wedgie me
Oh, Yoda’s blogs is gone suddenly

Why he had to go
We all know he couldn’t stay
I sense something wrong
Now that Yoda’s blogs is gone away

On Yoda’s blog, Windu had such a girlie way
And Kenobi had some dumb to do or say
Oh, I read Yoda’s blogs just yesterday

Why he had to go
Now we are stuck with dismay
I sensed we will have to get along
Now that Yoda’s blogs is gone away

On Yoda’s blog, the rules of grammar were just thrown astray
Now I need new blog to read everyday
Oh, Master Yoda has gone away
Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm.

Looking For Spys

I received word from command that the Hutts may be trying to get a spy on the base. Intel thinks they may be trying to get in to the fighter units.

I have been ordered to look over the personal files to see if I can glean any information.

Looks Ok.

Nothing odd here.

Well he looks a little sassy, but nothing to weird.

Red Stripes...that is odd. Hmmm, now were getting somewhere.

Nothing strange here

Hmmm....I think I'll do a little more research on that sassy looking pilot. But I don't see anyone who look like a Hutt spy.

Last Stop With Senator Aak Ask

Continued from here and here.

One last stop with Senator Aak Ask and were done for the day. The senator decided he wanted to do a troop review. I contacted the base and let commander officer know we would be soon have a V.I.P. I am sure the troopers will be every so happy the have to dump training for the rest of the day to stand at parade.

“You know trooper, I enjoy visiting bases. It reminds me of my day in the Malastare home guard” the Senator told me.

Oh, yeah his illustrious service in the home guard. If I remember the file the Lt. Cmdr gave me on Aak Ask his service was in a public relation unit. He was a copy boy on the base newsletter. Seemed his father pulled a couple of strings for him. Good thing, considering his shooting score. You would think a guy with three eyes would have a little better dept perception.

We make it to the base shortly.

An entire battalion has been put in formation on the parade grounds. The Republic Officer on duty took over from there. I was told to follow along to make sure that all Photo Ops for the Senator had a trooper in them.

As the Senator review the troops he made comments to the troops along the line.

“You should stand taller trooper.”

“Is that insignia regulation, commander?”

“In my day we would have never been allowed on parade with a smudge on our uniform.”

Strange none of us could see these glaring flaws.

Finally towards the end of the line were two ARC troopers, just back from a mission, wearing the traditional Kama (a kilt like clothing)

The Senator stopped and looked over the ARC troopers.

“Trooper, your Kama is a little frayed” the Senator stated haughtily

The ARC trooper shot back, “Sir, you are wrong Sir. This Kama and the trooper wearing it ain’t ‘fraid of anything or anyone!”

Was that the Republic Officer I heard snickering?

Happy Easter To All!

Here are some Easter Eggs for you all.

And also here’s a shout out for all my Peeps.

More Easter Greetings

http://starwarsunited.blogspot.com/2006/04/happy-easter.html

check out some of my Peeps

Deeper and Deeper

After the younglings, Master Yoda and several members of the press stopped laughing, Senator Aak Ask blithely jumped right back in the Bear Clan’s Den.

“If you are so clever, younglings, use the word "fascinate" in a sentence”, barked the Senator.

I think to myself: Boy, this guy never learned the first rule of holes. When you find your self in one, Stop Digging.

The Twi’lek boys put up his hand and said, "We went to polar irrigation system here on Coruscant. It was fascinating."

“Ha” Aak Ask said, "That was good, but I wanted you to use the word fascinate, not fascinating."

The Shili girl quickly raised her hand. She said, "I went to the Temple Archives and I was fascinated."

The Senator said, "Well, that was not very good. I wanted you to use the word fascinate, not fascinated."

What a jerk, I thought.

Harvey raised his hand. Senator Aak Ask hesitated because he had just been slammed by Harvey. He continued to look around the room. “anyone…anyone”

I spoke up, “Senator, I believe that student has his hand up”

The Senator glared at me and sighs.

He finally decided there was no way Harvey could damage the word 'fascinate', so he called on him.

Harvey said, "Aayla Secura has a shirt with ten buttons, but her chest is so big she can only fasten eight."

I think the camera man from Faux News Network wet himself at that point

Great Loss

I was given another assignment to escort Senator Aak Ask on a Senatorial press junket. The Senator from Malastare thought it would be good for public relation to visit the Jedi Temple. What follows won’t be seen on RCNN (Republic Core News Network) or FNN (Faux News Network) tonight:

Senator Aak Ask toured the youngling classrooms at the Jedi Temple. The Bear Clan had just begun a discussion related to words and their meanings.

Master Yoda asked Senator Aak Ask if he would like to lead the class in a discussion of the word "tragedy." The Senator asked the class for an example of a tragedy.

A Shili girl stood up and said, "If my best friend who lives next door is playing in the street and a speeder comes along and runs him over, that would be a tragedy."

"No," said Aak Ask, "that would be an accident."

A twi’lek boy raised her hand and said, "If Bob the Bantha was carrying 50 younglings and fell off a cliff, killing everyone, that would be a tragedy."

"I'm afraid not," the Senator said. "That's what we would call a Great Loss."

The room went silent. No other children volunteered. Senator Aak Ask searched the room and asked, "Isn't there someone here who can give me an example of a tragedy?"

Finally, way in the back of the room, Harvey raised his hand, and in a quiet voice, he said, "If your space cruiser, carrying the Malastareian delegation, was struck by a missile and blown up to smithereens, THAT would be a tragedy."

"That's right! And can you tell me WHY that would be a tragedy?" asked the Senator.

"Well," Harvey said, "because it wouldn't be an accident and it sure as heck wouldn't be a Great Loss..."

It's Going To Be A Long Night

After spending the day helping the Lt. Cmdr move in to her new apartment and procuring some furniture on a search a scavenge mission, I headed back to base.

As I get close to my barrack I begin to hear music:

Come on, shake your body baby, do the conga
I know you can't control yourself any longer
Come on, shake your body baby, do the conga
I know you can't control yourself any longer

I don’t have to even guess whose idea it was to throw a party while the Lt. Cmdr was away: Batch 3. I head in to see what kind of damage is being caused.

I am greeted by loud yells of “Party On” and a group of conga lined clones.

As I look over the barrack, through the throng of people and din of noise, I can not believe what I see.

There are at least 2 bands on either end of the room. Dang! Is that Anakin (what is up that wacky outfit) and E775 on stage:

It's not the east or the west side.
No it's not!
It's not the north or the south side.
No it's not
!It's the Dark side.
You are correct!
Keep frontin' the Empire,
To all you Vader-haters out there,
We'll blow your planet up!

And I cannot believe all the Twi’lek’s dancers around here.

How did the Batch 3’s convince them to show up! And freak dance with them to boot!

The closest I’ve come to a date since arriving on Coruscant was a meal at a diner with the Lt. Cmdr and 3 other troopers.

I see two troopers coming out of the bathroom with Tarisan Ale, so I glance in:

That’s going to make for a long night.

As I make my way across the room to look at the other band. I am again surprised (to put it mildly):

Don't step out of this house if that's the clothes you're gonna wear

I'll kick you out of my home is you don't cut that hair
The Chancellor busted in and said, "What's that noise?"
Aw, Palps you're just jealous - it's the Alien Boys!

You gotta fight for your right to party

You gotta fight for your right to party


Just then I hear a loud shout of “OFFICER ON DECK” The room quiets down.

I turn to see the Lt. Cmdr and Senator Amidala come into the barracks. The Lt. Cmdr scans the room with a scowl and barks “Why haven’t one of you brought me an ale yet.” Then breaks into a big grin.

The music start up again as three troopers and a Rodian rush to get the Lt. Cmdr an ale.

The rest of the night became a blur. Senator Amidala got a little wild, but the Lt. Cmdr did something with her I-Pod and all camera in the building stopped working.

And man oh man, the Lt. Cmdr can dance! Not in a Twi’lek way, but in a crazy, fun, "I am so comfortable with who I am" way.

Bad Day on Guard Duty

I have been put in the brig. That’s right, arrested and tossed in the base jail. I’ve talked to Lt. Cmdr Oneida about the problem and she is looking to see what can be done.

Here’s what happened:

I was assigned guard duty at a diplomatic meeting being held here on Coruscant. This is always a good assignment: the duty is light, break time means good food and most of the diplomatic corps are a nice group (a very diplomatic group).

The downside of the assignment was I would have to work with B3-1453. He is a Batch 3, with the slight defect of being very foul mouthed. I have no idea how this moron received this assignment.

We we’re not at the door more than 5 minutes when B3-1453 starts in:

“Whoa, did you see the t**s on that Twi’lek. Dang, I’d like to f*** her”

“Boy oh boy, if I had a dog that was as ugly as that Gran, I’d shave its @ss and make it walk backwards”

“Personally, I don’t give a f*** if we have to go to war. Just give me more time to kick the S*%$ out of something”

“Hey Tak, What the f*** is your f***ing problem! You have been f***ing quite all night. I hate working with stick in the mud f***s like you!”

And so on the evening went. B3-1453 kept it up, offending the guest, annoying me to my core. Finally, I called into base to explain the problem. The watch commander told me to, and I quote “Stop whining and just deal with it.”

So I dealt with it by going over to B3-1453 and pushing him over the railing. I know, not the best way to “deal with it”, but in my defense…He was really annoying.

Turn out B3-1453 fell about 10 stories and landed on a Hutt. Both survived the incident, but B3-1453 was hurt badly enough he will be in medical for at least 10 weeks.

Finally the Lt. Cmdr come back to talk with me.

“Well Tak, They wanted to charge you with assault, battery and involuntary battery on that Hutt.”

“That doesn’t sound good for me Lt. Cmdr.” I smiled weakly

“Don’t looks so worried Tak, you know I look after my troops. It took a lot of smooth talking but I got the charges reduced. All you will have to do is pay a fine and do a little community service.”

I brighten up instantly, “That is great! Thank you for your help Lt. Cmdr! I was really sweating it.”

The Lt. Cmdr started to get up and leave.

“Lt. Cmdr” I begin to ask, “What did I get charged with in the end”

She smiles at me, “Making an obscene clone fall, what else.”