Thursday, March 13, 2008

Backstory part 14

Esoom wondered to himself what he was getting into as he looked at the huge pile of rusty sand pitted metal that Lihp was pulling him towards. The jawa let go of the ithorian’s hand and ran ahead of him, he started to move a few of the useless hull panels from the front of the pile and pulled out two broken Pit droids. One was just a head and torso that had it’s limbs ripped to shreds, the other had no head with the torso beaten beyond repair but the arms and legs looked decent enough.
“Droids broken, Lihp take two and make one later.” The jawa excitedly said as he climbed over the pile to the backside.
A moment later the whine of an anti-gravity system filled the wing of The Tree hugger. Whatever was making the sound churned up the dust in the area and made any visibility impossible. Shielding his eyes from the dust and debris Esoom could make out a long oval shape coming around the backside of the junk pile. The ithorian not sure what was going on started to walk backwards away from the loud high-pitched whine. As the shadow of the object came around the front of the pile he could also hear the object scraping along on the floor making faint sparks as it moved. Suddenly the whining died down and the dust started to settle, Esoom coughed as the object came into view, there in front of him stood a light green landspeeder with dark green striping. The body looked as if it was pushed off a steep hill upside down and the anti-gravity system was so out of whack the passenger side rear end dragged on the ground while the front end was pointing towards the ceiling.
“Where did you get this hunk of junk!” Esoom exclaimed.
“Lihp get 20 suns ago, not able to fix bugs in systems to sell. Last mean owner said it is a top of the line X-34 model.”
“Well I hope you did not trade anything good for it.” Esoom said with a little despair in his voice.
“Yes good deal! Mean man threw in this ASP-7 droid for free!” Lihp said happy as can be while pointing to the passenger seat where the droid sat. It had a horrible amateur paint job done in a streaky chipping black. Every joint on his body was frozen from heavily encrusted sand from being left out in the elements and not having an oil bath in years.
“That droid looks as if it would be better as a statue” Esoom said. “Lihp fix droids then droids help Lihp fix speeder!” The jawa said as he climbed over the dusty windshield of the vehicle and jumped on the hood to get it to go down and level out. “I got parts to fix repulsor lift system in pile somewhere; ship will fly anywhere then!”
Esoom closed his eyes and put his hands on his face. “Ok I have seen enough for now Lihp. I want you to do me a favor and clean up this mess, anything that can be repaired or used put in a line on one wall and all the scrap metal put in a pile down by the bay doors.”
“No worry! Lihp clean up mess! E-sooome go do other stuff.” The frantic jawa said as he jumped on the hood one more time as the front end tried to point skyward again. Esoom gave two weak smiles and walked away to head back to the bridge, wondering if he made the right choice to let the jawa stay aboard.
“Is everything ok?” Patches ask as soon as he seen Esoom enter the bridge area.
“Yes everything is all right my friend. I just think our new roommate is going to be a little on the annoying side till he settles in.”
“He is an odd creature but I think he means well.” Patches warbled, “We will be near Corucant in about 30 minutes.” The astromech added.
“Good my friend, good. I should have enough time to install most of the replacement parts we got for you before we arrive.” The two of them went to one of the empty wing compartments and got to work starting with Patches’ cracked radar eye.
“Do you think we are doing the right thing my friend?” Esoom said questionably, “I could feel anger welling up inside of me that I have never felt before. Ever since we left the herd ship I have felt uneasy, and after being attacked on Naboo and subsequently being banished from Ithor I can’t seem to make this anger go away fully.” Tears started to form in the ithorian’s dark brown eyes as he chocked to get the last of the words out.
“I think we are doing the right thing Esoom.” Patches softly whistled, “Many things are bound to change out here. We are no longer in the safety and serenity of the herd like we used to be.” Patches shifted back and forth on two legs to get closer to Esoom, “Do you not think I am angry with those who almost destroyed me? I used my anger for good and used it to get over most of my fear of flying.”
Esoom wiped away his tears and put a hand on the droid’s shoulder. “You are become very wise my friend and I thank you for your kind words.” Changing the subject Esoom continued. “If I do have any kind of force sensitivity perhaps the Jedi on Corasaunt will show me how to use it. It would be useful in our future battles to fight Eco terrorists.”
“When will we start on that mission?” Patches asked as he tried out the new Radar eye lens Esoom had installed.
“After we meet with the Jedi and seek their wise council we should be ready. Now come let me take this patch off and replace your broken holo projector.”

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