In the Absence of Man/ Chapter 2: Incentive for Corruption

“Hey, my winchester and redhawk!” Crane cheered.

“Wait, why did he give us our weapons, exactly?” Fil questioned. Carg had to catch his breath so he sat down on the hard metal floor and shed a few tears. Keeli consoled him. Another message came in from the loudspeakers.

“Because I said you’re gonna need them!” answered Clyde. Clyde pressed another button that released some kind of beast from a latch. The beast resembled the physical appearance of a Mastiff phalone- a hairy animal with a huge bird-like mouth with sharp teeth and claws. Then, a second one came out. And another. The Republic troopers readied themselves with their weapons drawn. Commander Fil approached the three large life forms with ease.

“Fil, get back here!” Carg whispered loudly, trying his all not to startle the creatures even more than they already were.

“What are you doing?” Ponds asked, wanting to get a swift answer.

Fil kept on steadily yet casually approaching the creatures until one of them assaulted him and his body went flying meters behind his original position. The other men opened fire while Keeli helped Fil up onto his feet.

“What are these chumps?” Crane asked, loudly. Not being able to answer, the rest of the squad tried to save their own skin by dashing and jumping out of the way of the animals’ rampage.

Clyde snickered. “Let’s make things a little bit more interesting, shall we?” he mentioned to himself. Once the creatures were spread from one another, Clyde pressed a button that opened up thin hatches from the ceiling and ground and out came thick walls, trapping the Republic troops with only a limited amount of places to run to. Crane was by himself but with no animal against him. Keeli was with Carg with one of those animals, and Fil was trapped with Ponds with two of the creatures.

One of the beasts was getting ready to charge at both Fil and Ponds but Fil used his rifle to shoot it right in its pupil. Afterwards, it gushed out green plasma. The other was already injured from unknown circumstances, which made it a more aggressive warrior than the others. It stampeded to Fil and he got knocked into the air. Ponds rolled over and shot it in the side but left only a mark. It made a loud, shrieking noise that the other troopers could hear, despite the metal walls that divided them. It reached for Ponds’ neck. The clone trooper commander struggled with all of his might but Fil eventually came to his rescue.

Carg and Keeli easily took out that one that was trapped with them. “Men, are you alright?” Keeli shouted, banging on the walls. “Can anyone hear me?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Crane shouted back.

Ponds moved himself closer to the wall. “Fil’s pretty banged up, something’s wrong with his left arm.”

“I’m gonna go n’ investigate, troops. See if there’s somethin' beyond this door. Do y’all have a door too or are ya trapped?” Crane inquired.

“Fil and I have two doors and a window with bars. Should we go for the window? The forecast is very wicked and we’re up pretty high.”

“Don’t. Try to figure out a better way, Ponds. Stay there if ya have to,” Crane ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

“Keeli and I have one door. We’re going in,” Carg announced.

“Gotcha. Ready yourselves for anythin’,” Crane cautioned. Crane inhaled and exhaled deeply and entered through a doorway. Squinting his eyes, the captain realized that he might not be alone there. He began to cough. His intense coughing seemed uttermost indefinite. Looking around, he noticed a blurry sight of a Twi’lek woman. Blue and elegant skin, red lips and beautiful headtails coming out the back side of her head, like human hair would. Rubbing his optics, Crane concluded that it was Starla…