Fiction Activity

Competition
[CNS-PLA Antiquity] Week 1: Okay, Who Packed This?
File submission
3714-whopackedthis.txt
Textual submission

Someone was going to be fired.

No, better yet, drawn and quartered. A fitting punishment for the Rodian calling himself Quartermaster but was apparently composed of equal parts incredulous facial expressions and utter incompetence. The cases the droids unloaded from the transport were patently incorrect, painted bright colors as if by children. The Rodian watched as an equite waved a stuffed porg under his snout, asking him quite loudly if he would like to wear it internally.

Muz chuckled at the whole scenario, watching them from across the ad hoc platform. He leaned against the Lambda, watching as journeymen flung bits and pieces of random clothing and spare parts over their shoulders in an effort to find something of actual use. He scratched his chin as he watched the Rodian seem to get more and more frustrated with the situation, blaming first interns, then ensigns, and finally the loot from pirates that they had already captured. That made the most sense, after all. Pirates were rather nondiscriminatory with what they stole when the situation afforded it, and the clans seizure of their goods were fast becoming a logistical nightmare. Somehow, a deleted spreadsheet entry was to blame for this. If it wasn’t so amusing, Muz would have peeled the skin off of the Rodian already.

A minor ruckus raised as one of the Guardians found something, then was bowled over by a pair of Knights that quickly seized it for themselves. The raised it quickly, trying to activate the hilt, only to find that instead of a properly tuned crystal chamber, there was a collapsible plastic tube and a weak flashlight. Tossing it aside, they continued to dig through the containers, worthless detritus flying everywhere.

"Mind telling me what you think is funny?" Tasha moved alongside the man, noting his mood.

Muz nodded in their direction, the Guardian now waving around a protocol droid's disembodied arm, making a rather obscene gesture with the fingers before throwing it at one of the Knights that had previously bullied him.

"I suppose it is good to see them having fun for a change." Tasha continued, watching the mirth. "Still, without the proper equipment..."

Muz raised an eyebrow. The first thing you learned in your knight trials was to never leave your saber behind. The Jedi would act as if it was all but inseparable, often going to great lengths to retrieve a fallen friend's weapon. Muz shook the thought out of his head. That was a long time ago, a different life.

Muz pushed himself off of the Lambda, stepping forward as one of the younger journeymen was trying to make a holoprojector work despite a faulty battery and a cracked lens. He turned, looking at the Rollmaster as a half smile crept up his lip.

"You're going in anyway?" The Twi'lek tilted her head. "Don't you need..."

He shook his head, then turned to walk away.

Tasha sputtered for a second, looking for the words to say. "Hey, uhh, if you decide to ...ummm... " she moved her hands in a weird way, then spread her fingers wide and made an explosion sound with her mouth, "Could you at least give us a little notice first? Please?"

He let the smile bloom fully, reaching his eyes. "Maybe."