What the Astromech Saw - Fic-a-thon 2013 Entry
Okay, here it is: For Nic, who requested Loran and Phanan and 'mechs, oh my! The prompts were 'gun rack,' 'escape artist' and 'Cheese Whiz.' Believe it or not, but I got them all in, and it makes sense :) Sorry I couldn't give you some KOTOR...I know absolutely nothing about that aspect of the SW universe. Note: see the comments for the second part (I was trying to build up some suspense in posting in two parts...let me know if that's absolutely stupid).
Title: What the Astromech Saw
Characters: Wes Janson, Ton Phanan, Face Loran and Gate
Rating: G
I had hid myself, quite cleverly I had thought, in a maintenance closet when they found me for the second time.
‘There you are!’ exclaimed the first of them to enter the room. He zeroed in on the light from my optic sensor - in my rush I must have forgotten to shut it off. We stared at each other, single red eyes locked on to each other; Flight Officer Phanan has always made me uncomfortable for this very reason. The other two entered in short order, surrounding me in the corner I had wedged back into.
‘Think you’re such the little escape artist, don’tcha?’ Lt. Janson was grinning widely as he stood in front of me, arms folded across his chest. ‘Well, come on. Did you get it?’
I stayed silent. I had in fact gotten ‘it,’ the missing piece of their plan the three humans had requested from me. It was fairly easy to find, once one looked in the proper quartermaster lists, not that I would ever tell them that.
‘He thinks he can resist us. Maybe we should just slap a restraining bolt on him for a few hours.’ This from Lt. Loran. And I had always thought him a friend of mechanical beings.
‘No, we need him to do this voluntarily. Otherwise he’ll tell Wedge the second we let him loose.’ I did not like the look Lt. Janson was giving me. No, not one bit. He squatted down and peered at me, much the way I have seen adult beings dealing with a youngling. ‘Now, Gate, you know Wedge has been a little down lately, not his usual gregarious self.’
I just had to blat at that. I don’t think anyone has ever referred to Commander Antilles as ‘gregarious,’ and to have come from the Lieutenant - well, you can understand my expression of sarcasm. However, I did have to say that the Commander had been unusually quiet as of late.
‘Twee-tooo.’ It was all I could say. I did in fact agree.
‘So, don’t ya think he could use a little cheer?’
‘Twee-tooo.’ Though I didn’t necessarily think their version of ‘cheer’ was exactly the same as mine.
‘Okay, so why don’tcha take us to it? I’m sure Wedge will thank you when he sees the completed project. You know how he loves surprises.’ I didn’t, but then I hadn’t known Commander Antilles as long as Lt. Janson had, so perhaps he knew this better than I.
I still had some doubts, but in the end I wheeled my way out of the maintenance room and led them to where I had hidden the item. After all, how much trouble could a gun rack cause? Perhaps they meant to hang a motivational sign from it; the pegs were perfect for such a use, now that I think about it, and that could certainly explain the string they had gathered. What they intended to do with the blow-dryer and Cheese Whiz I had no idea, I must confess, despite my running of various algorithms to try and deduce their possible uses in combination.
Ah! There’s the Commander entering his office now. I can’t wait to see this magnificent piece of mood-lightening work. And to think, I got to have a part in it. Oh, he’s coming out already...what’s...oh, dear. Oh, dear.
Perhaps I should make myself scarce for a time.
Title: What the Astromech Saw
Characters: Wes Janson, Ton Phanan, Face Loran and Gate
Rating: G
I had hid myself, quite cleverly I had thought, in a maintenance closet when they found me for the second time.
‘There you are!’ exclaimed the first of them to enter the room. He zeroed in on the light from my optic sensor - in my rush I must have forgotten to shut it off. We stared at each other, single red eyes locked on to each other; Flight Officer Phanan has always made me uncomfortable for this very reason. The other two entered in short order, surrounding me in the corner I had wedged back into.
‘Think you’re such the little escape artist, don’tcha?’ Lt. Janson was grinning widely as he stood in front of me, arms folded across his chest. ‘Well, come on. Did you get it?’
I stayed silent. I had in fact gotten ‘it,’ the missing piece of their plan the three humans had requested from me. It was fairly easy to find, once one looked in the proper quartermaster lists, not that I would ever tell them that.
‘He thinks he can resist us. Maybe we should just slap a restraining bolt on him for a few hours.’ This from Lt. Loran. And I had always thought him a friend of mechanical beings.
‘No, we need him to do this voluntarily. Otherwise he’ll tell Wedge the second we let him loose.’ I did not like the look Lt. Janson was giving me. No, not one bit. He squatted down and peered at me, much the way I have seen adult beings dealing with a youngling. ‘Now, Gate, you know Wedge has been a little down lately, not his usual gregarious self.’
I just had to blat at that. I don’t think anyone has ever referred to Commander Antilles as ‘gregarious,’ and to have come from the Lieutenant - well, you can understand my expression of sarcasm. However, I did have to say that the Commander had been unusually quiet as of late.
‘Twee-tooo.’ It was all I could say. I did in fact agree.
‘So, don’t ya think he could use a little cheer?’
‘Twee-tooo.’ Though I didn’t necessarily think their version of ‘cheer’ was exactly the same as mine.
‘Okay, so why don’tcha take us to it? I’m sure Wedge will thank you when he sees the completed project. You know how he loves surprises.’ I didn’t, but then I hadn’t known Commander Antilles as long as Lt. Janson had, so perhaps he knew this better than I.
I still had some doubts, but in the end I wheeled my way out of the maintenance room and led them to where I had hidden the item. After all, how much trouble could a gun rack cause? Perhaps they meant to hang a motivational sign from it; the pegs were perfect for such a use, now that I think about it, and that could certainly explain the string they had gathered. What they intended to do with the blow-dryer and Cheese Whiz I had no idea, I must confess, despite my running of various algorithms to try and deduce their possible uses in combination.
Ah! There’s the Commander entering his office now. I can’t wait to see this magnificent piece of mood-lightening work. And to think, I got to have a part in it. Oh, he’s coming out already...what’s...oh, dear. Oh, dear.
Perhaps I should make myself scarce for a time.