11 Terminal Velocity
Jake pushed the sliding door that led into the LAAT, sand fell from any crack or crevice available, the inside of the ship wasn't necessarily huge, but to Jake it was the first time he had set foot in any starship. He carefully stared around in awe, touching every corner of the interior within his sight, "it's beautiful" it was a dream of his, to soar the skies. He was more giddy than usual as he continued to touch the inner walls of the ship with his hand, feeling the warm metal thanks to the burning sun.
He took the small staircase that led up to the double cockpit, he sat down as the seat creaked with his weight, Jake stared at the controls, not knowing what to press or what any of them meant. Instead he just looked up into the geonosian sky, the glass above him had clearly been broken, because a section of it was a different color, a more modest red, then the normally clear glass, probably the handy work of the Geonosians. he rested a bit looking at the sky, before deciding to actually do something and searched around the cockpit for any form of manual. You would think a starship would have one, at least that's what he thought, and lo and behold, he pulled out a small book from under his seat, reading the following.
"Imperial LAAT Gunship manual and Guide"
Jake stared blankly at the dusty cover, which showed the ship itself on a red background, behind the ship was the faded out helmet of a clone trooper.
"Neat" Jake told himself, admiring the cover art.
He slowly lifted the first page of the book, and to his surprise, he looked at the table of contents and there were fewer chapters than he originally thought, only 7.
- Door Controls
-Fueling
-Taking off
-Evasive maneuvers
-Weaponry
-Maintenance
-Emergency landings
Jake hoped this would go faster than first thought as he began to read with a confused smile plastered on his face.
Meanwhile.....
Rusty, Clank, R4 and Teesh walked from the gates towards the lizard's home. Passing by several houses, small markets, and other normalities of a town that grabbed the interest of both separatist droids, who have been scanning their surroundings throughout the entire stroll.
Teesh took note of this behavior as he looked behind, him being in front, at the droids who followed. R4 of course was already used to the town due to years of selling scrap with Jake before they even went to the Geonosis battleground.
Back then Jake also thought it was too risky and not worth it, when Jake was younger, around 13, he was much more gullible, and so was R4, So when they heard the stories that adults would tell them, of scavengers going out to the battlefields and never returning, Jake and R4 were scared and stayed away from that area... that is until they started to trade with Teesh. Teesh explained to the young scrapper and R4 that those battlegrounds were filled with valuable items, and that if he (Teesh) wasn't caught up trying to fix his house, he would go there himself. Jake and R4, conflicted about the 2 sides of the story, where finally encouraged by Teesh to go and see for the themselves the "treasure" they'll acquire, Teeshs original motivation was to buy loot from Jake if he ever returned, but he ended up enjoying the humans presence, despite his snarky attitude towards said human.
Jake and R4 were surprised to see that Teesh was right, the only resistance being Republic droids who still collected scrap up until the Clone wars ended 2 years later. And so both Jake and R4 bluffed to other scrappers about the dangers saying that only they could navigate the area and collect its valuables, however the village was skeptical and thought Jake may be working against them on someone else behalf, why....i don't know, but that's what they thought. So they cast the boy away from the village into his well known hut. Jake eventually got used to it, but of course the items they got were of still value, so the citizens traded with Jake, despite their distaste in him.
of course, as Jake proved to be more of a town hero then they thought, many Townspeople simply ignored the kids past, and happily welcomed him.
R4 of course knows why it was so dangerous, Clone Troopers and TK Troopers. Both of which he had met before, patrolled the deeper areas of the battlefield.
R4 spun his head around, scanning the citizens that passed, the few that spotted the droid while working gave a small wave, of which R4 couldn't return. R4 was kicked out of his memory as Teesh began to talk.
"Alright droidsssss, you're only staying here temporarily" he spat out matter of factly, pointing at his house that they had finally gotten to.
"Sssssso don't touch anything" he pointed at Rusty in particular, being the only droid Teesh had met personally.
"Roger Roger" Clank and Rusty repeated, followed by beeps of agreement from R4.
"Good, now come onnn" Teesh motioned towards his front door.
The 3 droids went in single file, with Teesh entering behind the three closing the door. R4 immediately went on a search for a powering station where he could recharge till Jake returned, Rusty looked at Teeshs musty sofa, tilting his head slightly in confusion at the object. He called over Clank.
"Hey Clank" Rusty turned towards clank "What's that" he pointed at the sofa, as Clank walked towards Rusty. Teesh watching their conversation.
Clank stared blankly at the sofa "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" he continued in oblivious stupidity, Rusty doing the same.
Teeth gave a sigh as he walked over "idiotssss" he mumbled.
"It's a sssssofa, you sssssit on it for ressssssst. How do you two not know thissss" Teesh explained in a state of confusion.
"meh" Rusty let out immediately, shrugging his shoulders.
Teesh ignored him with a sigh and walked away. Clank inspected the sofa, now knowing its purpose. Rusty then carefully and stiffly sat down on the sofa, Clank followed suit, the sofa creaking in displeasure as the weight of the B2 and B1 strained its wooden frame. Until .... CRACK!,.. the sofa spilt in two from where Clank was sitting, the B2 was now on the floor as Rusty slid down from the side of the sofa and fell atop Clank. R4 rolled out from Teeshs bedroom, which had a charging station, and started beeping in a way that was probably saying "fucking idiots" or "stupid piles of scrap". Teesh also rushed over but wasn't surprised by the broken sofa.
He walked towards the front door and opened it "cmon, get out" Teesh snarled. The 3 droids obliged and stood outside in the sand, of which their feet sank in. Teesh also came out and closed the door behind him. The lizard waved the droids to follow him, and so they did, starting another walk.
Meanwhile....
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"
Jake screamed as he fought to control the ship, it was only a few feet of the ground, and in hover mode, but it was spinning rapidly. Jake used one hand and pushed a few flashing buttons on the console randomly, which miraculously slowed the ships movements to a stop, the LAAT now floated in place.
Jake took a deep breath before lightly pushing the movement stuck forwards, the hum of the LAAT wings increased in volume as the ship effortlessly moved forwards, Jake pulled the stick back an inch, causing the ship to slowly readjust and fly at an upwards angle. Jake lessened his yelling as the ship stabilized, slowly hovering away from the town. Jake smiled proudly, now pushing the stick to the left and right, turning midair. The starship was moving slowly, but Jake never felt more alive.... all the years of traveling on the annoyingly loud speeder, R4 attached to the back. All the years of rigorous walking throughout the desert, all of that led him to finally soar the skies, something Jake had dreamt about forever since he could think for himself. Jake's eyes teared up, he tried to wipe them away as he started laughing at himself for getting emotional for such a small accomplishment. but he couldn't help it, he began laughing and crying in pure joy as he hovered slowly throughout the air, finally passing over the Town, and continuing forwards in the canyon. Below within the town, Rusty, Clank, R4 and Teesh looked up at the noise as the LAAT hovered over them.
"is that?..." Teesh spoke in realization.
"It must be Jake!" Rusty exclaimed in excitement, performing a little dance, waving his arms into the air while cheering. Clank followed suit with slight movements of his body to the rhythm Rusty had set.
"wwwwaau-a-a-rggghh!!" R4 called out rolling around in excited circles, the beeps produced almost sounded like crying. Teesh only gave a small smile as Jake flew past them.
Jake pulled the LAAT out of the canyon, and turned around, aiming to land In Front of the gates. He hadn't practiced landing yet, so he was nervous, but with the confidence he went full speed ahead anyways. The ship passed over the town again. the heads of any watchers followed it as it slowed and slowly descended from the sky. Jake held the control sticks tightly as the ship came to an abrupt halt when it landed on the floor, causing jake head to smash into the dashboard In Front of him. he quickly shook off the pain as he unlocked the side doors of the LAAT and ran down the steps from the pilot seat and outside, Jake wore a smile as he ran outside. The first thing he saw was Rusty, Clank and R4 running towards him, with Teesh walking quickly behind them. Jake, who was still half crying and laughing, ran toward the 3 droids, embracing them into a tight hug. Of which Rusty returned, Clank stood still but still gave off a happy glow, and R4 cooed as Jake hugged him.
"why are you crying sir?" Clank asked as he stepped away from the group hug, as the other droids let go and stepped back Jake answered.
" I really *sniff* don't know" he said between joyful sobs, still wearing a smile.
"good job kiddd" Teesh complimented in his normal slurred tone as he walked towards the group from behind the droids.
Jake gave a small smile as he wiped the last of his tears away.
"well.." Jake spoke happily as he reentered the ship, turning back and looking at the group
"ya coming?" he questioned with a smirk.
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Hello peeps, to be honest I do have somewhere i'm getting at with this story line, with 2 more mystery droids to add to jakes group ( I Dare you to guess what droid they'll be), and a few ideas in mind, expect the next few chapters to be good. and don't worry, i'm trying my best not to make errors but this stupid autocorrect is nice. anyways, bye!
