//------------------------------// // The Late Night Ramblings Of An R4 Unit // Story: Star Wars Episode V, Phantoms Of The Past // by FourShadow //------------------------------// The work on Bracca continued like clockwork, but no one was sure what to do now. They desperately wanted to leave, to go back home to see what kind of mess had become of their home now, now that the Separatists had become a part of the team. And Team Six especially wanted to leave to provide comfort to Flurry Heart, they knew she was hurting, and needed the friends. everyone among the group was silent. They weren’t sure what to do now. Sure no major leaders were gone, but it was still hard to accept; once again, another valuable member of the Rebels was gone. Progress had been made on trying to fix the Venator, all the fuel necessary had been collected. While it wouldn't hold up to military standard, there was enough for a few hyperspace trips to and back if they absolutely had to. Now what came next would be grabbing sheets of metal, and help cover up the massive holes and open spaces in the ship. No one wanted to be dragged into the cold vacuum of space if they took off for the sky. But now, their shift was over, and it was time for folks to get ready for bed. “So… now what?” Gallus asked. “Should we call someone to pick us up, check in on Flurry? “I don’t know,” Ocellus remarked, folding her arms, mainly from the cold. “I mean that was Flurry’s mom. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose someone close.” “We have a job to do, Silver. We can’t just leave. Besides, we still can’t fix the Krayt's Head without the hyperdrive fixed,” Sandbar pointed out. “But friends can still contact Flurry. We should call her,” Yona suggested. “What does Master Jedi think?” Derpy was the most silent out of all of the group. And while she wasn’t in charge, she and her clones were the ones the team was looking up to because of their experience. But she couldn’t think. Not now. It felt as if her heart was getting snapped again. She gazed out at the Venator on the cliff edge, while her clone compatriots were making sure she was okay and didn't hurt herself by accident. First the entire 197th Battalion. Then Ahsoka. And now Lyra. Who else do I have to lose before I am completely alone? “Derpy? You okay?” Bubbles asked, trying to get her attention. “Hmm?” Derpy finally snapped, wiping her working eye away of any tears. “I’m here, what—what is it?” “They want to know what you think we should do now,” Bubbles asked. Derpy finally turned around and looked at her companions. She wanted to suggest getting back to it, but she didn’t feel like working any more tonight. And she didn’t even want to do anything right now, aside from curl up in her bed and cry. “I… no more working tonight. I think we should just stop tonight, we’ve made some good progress, you all can do what you want. I… I think I’m just going to go get some sleep,” Derpy said, walking slowly away. She didn’t look back as she dragged her feet, and climbed back into the Krayt's Head to get some rest. Not questioning her judgement, the Baker’s Trio and the rest of the engineering staff and technicians just shrugged and climbed back into the ship to go to their assigned resting spots for some much needed sleep. All that was left of the group in the outside was Rebel Six and one other individual who just perched on the edge of the cliff. “Maybe Yona and friends should get rest. We call Flurry first thing in the morning,” Yona suggested. “That’d be okay with me,” Sandbar agreed. “Same here.” “I’m in.” “Let’s do it.” One by one, they were getting ready to go back into the ship to get some rest, until Ocellus turned around. “Um, guys?” Ocellus asked. “What about G-G?” The Rebels turned and looked at the black and gray R4 unit who just stood there, gazing off into the distance of the graveyard. “What about him?” Smolder asked. “Shouldn’t we talk to him? We can’t leave him out here, it’s cold.” “It’s not that cold,” Gallus said. “But we promised to take care of him while he’s here with us. He’s still part of Flurry’s family,” Ocellus said. “Look, we’ll leave the door unlocked so if he wants in, he can just access it and slide back in,” Smolder said, not really caring one way or the other. She was the first to climb back inside, leaving the others to just look at the lonely astromech. “What do you think he’s thinking about?” Sandbar asked. “How should I know? I’m not a droid,” Gallus deadpanned, following suit after Smolder. “Buddy, how about you come back inside?” Sandbar called out. G-G did not respond. “RG, come on!” Still nothing. “Well, okay. If you need to be alone, that is okay. The door’s unlocked, so just fly on up and close it behind you when you get in." And without another word, the rest of the Rebel Six marched back into the ship to get ready for bed. The hatch closed behind them, leaving G-G all alone outside. The R4 unit didn’t want to look, nor talk to any of the Rebels. Not now. He felt as if his processors were going to explode if he tried to. He couldn’t comprehend the news; Lyra was just… dead. Gone. One minute he knew she was alive, and now she was just dead. He wasn’t going to see her again. The sweet Jedi he knew all these years, who was sweet to him, G-G, all of the droids on the Sweetie Drop. He cursed himself for tagging along with the crew, not being there in person. He could have comforted Flurry, or Bon Bon, or even Cheep; his best friend, practically his brother. But nothing he could do could get him back home; not even hitching a ride on one of the ships down below could work. No way of knowing if they had fuel or even any functional hyperdrives, and the Y-Wings were a massive no-no. His feet wobbled as he sat on the ledge and grumbled something with some beeps that none of them could hear. But his beeping got louder, and it turned more into beeping whines than just standard binary communication. “Bwoop… bwoop… Bwoop…” A hologram projection flashed before him, showing a picture that had been installed in his memory banks. A sweet, wholesome picture of the Heartstrings family all together. That sweet unity he always loved was non-existent on this stupid rock. His eye focused in on Lyra, to look at her for one last time that night. He felt oil start to leak from out of his eye socket, running down his torso. But he didn’t stop, nor could he stop it. He just whined quietly as he tried to find some comfort in some holographic picture that he could never get back again… The night skies were quiet on Bracca. The only sounds anyone could hear was metal creaking from the rusted ships, and the soft wind blowing through the air. The crew on board the transport were asleep, resting in the hammocks and beds onboard the ship. Everyone seemed to be sleeping just fine, no one disturbing one another while they tried to get some beauty sleep. Only one individual didn’t sleep that night; the astromech unit that volunteered to come along. G-G sat on the ledge of the cliff their ship had crashed on, and he gazed out into the graveyard of ships all around him. So many memories were resurfacing in his memory banks, some good, some not-so-good. He swiveled his cone head around to look at a few of the Republic cruisers that laid to rest, most of them hacked apart and left in pieces to be used for the new Star Destroyers. And then he looked back over to the Republic cruiser was that left intact, the one ship they had available to try and salvage. Work had been done, but it felt like it wasn’t going to do much good without extra hands. Then he bent forward a bit, to look down the cliff where he stood. A few rocks crumbled from the ledge, but he didn’t fall forward. He saw a few stripped shuttles laying in a massive wreckage of parts and scrap. Bon Bon would have a field day with that scrap. The R4 unit looked up again, this time seeing a small line of old Republic Y-Wings, mostly intact. Only four were still together as far as he could see. But just seeing them made his entire body shiver and rattle. He did not want to go anywhere near those things. G-G sighed, thinking back again. A lot had been on his mind recently, and being so far away from family didn’t help him. The unit just wanted to be back to Yavin, back with Bon Bon and Lyra. But Lyra was gone. The kindest most sweetest Jedi he had ever met was just… dead. Gone. It was almost impossible to even believe. And so he just stared blankly into the enormous graveyard of dead ships and fallen memories. But he heard someone coming from the ship. Smolder, having used the bathroom, was stepping out in just a tank top and shorts, hearing the astromech droid beeping softly outside. The Draconoid’s legs crunched on the ground and she stood next to him. “Hey, what are you doing out here?” “Bwoop… bwoop.” “Can’t sleep? Or power down, whatever it is you droids do?” G-G shook his head, clearly answering Smolder’s question. “Yeah, I get it. Being stuck out here’s not helping our job.” “Bwoop brt beep boop.” Smolder sighed and threw her head back. “Aghhhhhhhh, why is binary so difficult!? I wish I understood what you were saying, but I can’t.” G-G shimmied his legs a bit to scoot over to let her sit next to him. Exhausted, she just sat down on the edge of the cliff next to him. The R4 unit moved his head back to look at her, thinking for a second. There had to be some way to communicate to her… wait. He still had recordings, maybe if he just played the right words, he could speak to her! A hologram projected from G-G’s projector, displaying an old recording of a 20-something year old Bon Bon doing repairs on him, all from the droid’s point of view. “I miss—” The recording stopped, and another recording showed Bon Bon and Lyra sitting on the ship, having dinner together with a baby Flurry. Smolder leaned in to get a better look, but she didn’t understand. “—Lyra.” Smolder’s eyes squinted, not understanding. “I don’t understand…” G-G sighed again, and played the footage again. “I miss—Lyra.” Now it was clearer to the Draconoid. “Oh… you miss Lyra? Yeah, I get it. I mean I’ve only known her for a few months, but she seemed like a really great friend.” “Bwoop boop brrrt bwooopp… bwooppp…” G-G whimpered. Smolder didn’t understand the binary language, but she could just tell from the tone he sounded sad. “I’m sorry, buddy. I wish I knew what to say, but I don’t. I’ve been by myself for a long time, I can’t say I’m an expert on losing someone.” G-G moved his head back forward, looking up ahead. A small little hand, almost looking like a little claw extended out from one of his panels, and he pointed it to the left, lowering it down to aim at the Y-Wings. Smolder looked down, and moved herself a bit so she could see where he was pointing at. “The Y-Wings? What about them?” G-G projected another hologram recording, showing footage from the 20-something-year-old Bon Bon again, who was looking at him with a hopeful face. “Hey there buddy, it’s okay,” Bon Bon whispered, patting his face. “You’re safe. I just got you back online, what happened?” “Bwoop boop brt brt brt!” G-G said with fear. “Your Y-Wing was shot down? Yeah, I thought so just based on the wreckage,” Bon Bon replied with a frown. “But it’s okay, I got you out, you’re safe. You’re online now.” “Bwoop?” “Oh… Buddy, I’m sorry, but the pilot was… dead,” Bon Bon frowned. “Bwooop…” Bon Bon’s hand patted the top of his dome sympathetically. “Don’t you have somewhere you can go? Maybe there’s a Republic transport I can take you to?” G-G’s head spun back and forth, shaking his head. “Bwop boop brt beep boop.” “You don’t want to go back?” “Bwop boop boop beep bop.” “Ohhhh… I understand. I guess, is there anything you want to do? If you want, you’re welcome to stay with me. I could always use a friend,” Bon Bon offered with a friendly smile. “Only if you want, you don’t have to.” G-G was frozen on the screen, but he then gave a soft but sincere beep to reply. “Okay. Well, it’s nice to meet you, what’s your name?” “Bwoop boop.” “RG-G1. How about I call you G-G, for short?” Bon Bon asked. G-G nodded in agreement. “Well okay, G-G. Nice to officially meet you,” Bon Bon smiled, extending a hand out to shake his little claw. “My name is Bon Bon.” And the recording cut off, with G-G looking back to Smolder. “Ohh… you’re scared of them, aren’t you?” G-G nodded, shivering and rattling. “Well, uh… hey, it’s okay. We don’t have to go near them. Besides, someone’s probably already stripped them of their engines by now,” Smolder replied, folding up her arms. “But, you know that might not happen again, right?” G-G still replied with a shivering response, looking back. "Hey, look at me," Smolder gently turned G-G's head around so he could look at her. "I... I'm sorry what happened to you a long time ago. But you're in safe hands now, you're here with us, we'll make sure you're okay. Myself included. We won't abandon you, you understand?" The R4 unit was quiet for a moment or two, but gave a resounding chirp that Smolder for once understood as a 'yes'. "You're a good bot, you know that?" Smolder reassured with a soft spoken tone, patting his dome. "Come on, let's get inside where it's warm." Smolder walked back to the ship, climbing up the ladder to go back inside. She was ready to go further but stopped when she came into a problem; how did they get G-G down in the first place? Well thankfully that answer was quickly resolved as the R4 unit hovered with the rocket boosters in his legs, allowing him to fly up and gently come inside with the others. Softly, Smolder guided him back to where some of the others were sleeping and she climbed into her bed, just underneath where Ocellus was sleeping. Covering herself in a blanket, she tried to make sure it was covering her whole body, which was aided by an extra claw from G-G draping it across her. Smolder smiled at him one more time before whispering, "Night buddy." G-G quietly nodded before moving into a guard position, back against the side of their bed to help look out for any intruders. And with a gentle sigh, RG-G1 finally shut down to get some much needed rest. The next morning came, with everyone in calm spirits once again, ready to be productive. Team Six's moods was much more chipper this time, though it was mostly because they were ready to talk to Flurry, and give her the best boost of friendship healing they could offer. To their surprise, they hadn't expected the R4 to be sleeping next to Smolder's bed, but just decided to approach that subject another time. Gathering around the projection table on their ship, Sandbar hit the right switches and codes to transmit a message back home. After a few minutes, someone finally answered; but it wasn't Flurry. "Team Six, glad to see you all are doin' alright," Applejack greeted. "How goes the cleanup?" "Operation is going underway, but we're still trying to reel ourselves from the news. Is there any chance we can talk to Flurry Heart?" Sandbar asked. "Friend hurts, and friends must help, even from far," Yona emphasized, putting her cloven-hands down on the console with a slam. "... Ohhhhh, um... oh dear," Applejack hesitated. "Alright ya'll, I'm gonna be straight with you. We've kinda got problems." "Is she okay?" Ocellus asked, her wings chittering behind her. -- Outside, everyone was getting breakfast, waiting for the rest of their leading squadron to come out and join them. But in a brief moment, the entire ground shook when a collective uproar of voices all screamed at once. "SHE'S WHAT!?" -- All seven of them were locked onto the projector as Applejack was reeling back from how loud the volume of their screaming was. "H... How!? How did Midnight find her? We make sure no one can lock onto any tracking systems, don't we?" Silverstream worried. "It's not that simple, Silver," Applejack began. "Flurry went to her." "Probably got lured into a trap," Gallus growled. "No. She went to find Midnight on her own terms," Applejack clarified, emphasized by her stone-cold stare into all of their eyes. The room went quiet. Applejack's words hit them like whiplash, no one had expected Flurry to intentionally seek her out. "... she chose to find her?" Ocellus asked, her wings starting to buzz, with her increasing tone. "She did. Sunset tried to stop her, but she escaped. We don't know where she is, or Midnight's castle. But right now, we're working to make sure we can find 'em again," Applejack reassured. "Well then we have to help you! Send a shuttle, take us all, we'll do everything we can--" "--No," Applejack firmly interrupted. "Right now, all of you need to focus on fixin' that ship. We have more than enough folks here on the base that can help us look for her. We will call you if we absolutely need your help." "But Applejack, shouldn't we--" "--I know all of you are scared. I am too," the temporary general continued. "But if we're going to help Flurry, we can't just go charging in without a plan. We're going to track any Imperial frequencies, outposts, shipments, anything we can to find her castle. We will get her back, I promise. Over and out." Now the room went quiet again. All eyes looked at each other with worry and fear, no more words said inside. Deep inside, all of them were feeling the same anxiety, in some other levels. Sandbar and Yona looked the most terrified, getting flashes of dark memories during Sandbar's Imperial days. Gallus and Silverstream had dark thoughts of her being possibly taken to an Imperial labor camp, remembering the thousands of faces worn down by the Empire's cruelty. Smolder and G-G looked to each other, with the latter whimpering while all Smolder could do was pull him close to give some comforting hugs. Ocellus however, was angry. Her wings buzzed louder and louder as if there was thousands of bugs in the room buzzing in everyone's ears, making her hover. Her fists were clenched and she quickly buzzed out, not even realizing there was someone out in the hallway who had listened to them. Sunset’s body laid limp in bed, peacefully asleep. The morning light slowly crept into her room, casting onto her face. Her eyes winced at the brightness, but she slowly adjusted as she pulled herself up. Stretching her arms with a big yawn, she looked to her side to check the time; 9:30 in the morning. She didn’t pay mind to it, for about two seconds. A massive shock rushed through her body when she looked again, it was only 9:30 in the morning and she hadn’t woke up yet? Her alarm hadn’t been set, it was deactivated! Wait, there was no alarm clock, it was gone! And her jumpsuit she had on last night, wasn’t on her body! She looked down, noting the more casual pair of a pajama pants and shirt, who undressed her!? With a quick foot, she reached into her closet, only to find nothing inside aside from more casual outfits; civilian ones at that! “You got to be kidding me…” Sunset growled. “Okay, whoever thinks this is a good prank is going to be fired.” Grabbing her crocs (that she only realized after she left the room she never had), she speed-walked to the cafeteria to grab something to eat in a rush. A few faces noticed her, but didn’t pay much attention. Looking around, Sunset tried to find anyone, anyone she knew who was— “Sunset Shimmer!” Pinkie waved from her seat. “Over here, we got you breakfast!” Sunset was about to get even more mad, but she found herself slowly calming down. Pinkie was here, maybe she could figure out who stole her clothes. And at the very least, she got her breakfast, that much was appreciated. She walked over to the table for six, seeing the rest of her friends around and having breakfast. “Sorry I’m late, I would have gotten here sooner, but my alarm didn’t go off because someone stole it. And apparently someone stole my clothes,” Sunset apologized. She reached for her cup of milk to take a sip-- “Oh I know, I stole it and smashed it with a hammer,” Rainbow Dash said nonchalantly. “And I took all of your uniforms,” Rarity added, just as nonchalant as her, as if it wasn’t that big a deal. “Seriously, when was the last time they all were properly cleaned, they smell.” Sunset’s eyes widened and she spat out her drink across the table, splattering against Rainbow Dash. The veteran looked at her unamused before grabbing a napkin to wipe away the spit. “You… did… what?” Sunset grit her teeth with some seethe. “Do you have some sentimental value to that clock I don’t know about?” Rainbow asked. “Rainbow, why did you destroy my alarm system?” “Because you haven’t been sleeping well, and I think you deserve a day off,” Rainbow shrugged, wiping her face, still keeping calm. “D-Da… wh… ok, can someone tell me what is going on?” Sunset slapped her fork down on the table. The sudden slap of her utensil caught the attention of the entire cafeteria, but only for a few seconds. After seeing nothing else, they just went back to their meals. “Sunset, by official orders of us and the high command, you are taking a week off. Maybe more, depending on how everything goes today,” Pinkie announced, pulling a datapad out of her hair. “I’m going to be keeping tabs, and if it goes well, your number of vacation days won't have to be super extended. Or if it does go well, we’re still going to extend it, because according to the worker’s union, you have, ohhhh… several months worth of vacation days you haven’t used,” Pinkie’s eyes widened. “W… no I’m not, I have a job—” “—We are aware of this. But we’ve been concerned for you darling, and even the admirals have been concerned for you. When was the last time you’ve gotten a full night’s rest, can you even tell us that?” “Or how about if you’ve skipped meals, mind telling us when the last time was you had a full day’s meal that didn’t have rations?” Applejack added. “Or even had a moment to relax with something to make you happy?” Fluttershy also joined in. Sunset slowly breathed in and out, feeling personally attacked by all of their statements. This was insane what they were asking of her, especially during these times. “Girls, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, we don’t exactly have time to relax anymore, we’re in a war, my former friend’s niece is lost in space—” “—We know,” everyone said at once. “We haven’t forgotten that, but we’re worried about you because you haven’t been taking care of yourself,” Rarity pleaded. “I’m fine, look just—” “—Sunset,” Pinkie interrupted. She grabbed Sunset by her shirt and yanked her extremely close to her face, invading her personal space. “Look at me.” “Pinkie, this is really—” “—Look. At. Me,” Pinkie emphasized again, not even joking this time. “You are doing the exact same thing as… as…” she had to stop to bring herself together, but came forward. “You’re doing exactly what Twilight did. You’re not letting us help, you’re not taking care of yourself, and it’s making you sick.” Sunset tried to fight Pinkie’s grip but… she didn’t. She should have pushed Pinkie off of her so she could go be by herself and cool off, but she didn’t try and fight. “We aren’t forgetting the problems we have right now. But as a General, and as our friend, it’s also your responsibility to take care of yourself, and you haven’t been doing that. You have a problem, woman! We already lost one friend, one friend we loved very much! We j… we…” Pinkie tried to fight back the tears but couldn’t. She did let them show, but she wasn’t breaking down. “We’re not letting what happened to her happen to you, Sunset!” She let Sunset go and sat back down, letting the general sit back in her chair trying to think her words over. Pinkie quickly wiped her tears away, receiving a reassuring pat from Rainbow and Fluttershy. The two of them then turned their focus back to Sunset, just as worried, although not as dramatically as Pinkie Pie. Everyone waited for Sunset to reply. She just sat there, thinking. Everyone swore they could see the gears turning in her head as their friend contemplated every choice, action, and event that she had been through. “… You’re right.” “I WILL BELT YOU—wait, what?” Pinkie yelped. Sunset let out a sigh. “You’re right. All of you.” Her head slumped down onto the table, food pushed away having lost her appetite. “I’m turning into Twilight. But I’m afraid of letting everyone down, everyone expects me to be on top of things, and I just… I can’t,” she sniffled, quietly. “No one says you have to,” Fluttershy cooed, sliding her hand under one of Sunset’s. “But we want to help you, and we can make things easier on you. Please? Can you trust us?” Sunset sighed into the table, trying to keep herself together. “I… I trust you. All of you.” “Aww, come here.” Pinkie Pie stood up and picked Sunset up from the table to give her a proper hug this time. Sunset immediately wrapped her arms around her friend, holding her in a loving embrace, more than last time. Although her friends didn’t see, Sunset was smiling happily, even with the tears running down her cheeks and onto her friend’s shoulder. After breaking from the hug, Pinkie wiped the tears coming from Sunset’s face and allowed her to sit back down. “First thing’s first Sunset, you gotta understand that cause you’re taking a break, you won’t be doin’ any kind of Rebel work. You’re a just a regular, ordinary civilian right now; temporary command’s given to us,” Applejack started. “I assume Dodonna and Raddus suggested this?” “Nope, we did. And they approved it,” Pinkie added innocently. "As of today; we are now the generals of the Rebellion. And we're going to get some wins back to repay for the string of bad luck we've been having." "Look out, Empire! You've got some trouble coming your way!" Rainbow declared with a fist pump.