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twinkyssideblog · 2 years

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Chapter 1: Treacherous Waters

ITS FINALLY HERE!! :D :D :D YAAAAY! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm not too good with action scenes, so we'll see how this goes. 😅

Read on Ao3 || Season 1 Masterlist || Series Directory

Warnings: Fear of Death, close calls, action and peril, but nothing gory or graphic.

Word Count: 4k

A/N: I will be adding artwork to this as soon as I can; I just didn't have enough time to draw it yet, so I'll add it later.

Taglist (if you want to be added or removed just let me know): @chaoticvampirejedi @monako-jinn-stories @jedipoodoo

Not every story has a happy ending. Some don’t even have happy beginnings. But if you start from a place of utter despair and despondency, you have more opportunities to show how the darkness becomes light, and how sadness can turn into hope.

***

A scarf and a medallion. That was all she had left, all she had to remember them by. The broken escape pod carried her farther and farther away from the carnage and destruction and danger, but it also carried her away from everything, and everyone, that she had ever known. Her heart ached. Her mind was swimming. Deep down she knew that she should probably be trying to figure out what to do next, but all she wanted to do was go to sleep for the rest of eternity and pretend that this was just a bad dream. All she could do was collapse to her knees as tears streamed down her cheeks. Her heart cried out for those she had lost, worsening the ache that was threatening to tear her soul in half. She was never going to see them again. She was never going to hear their voices, or feel their arms around her, or hold them close… They were gone. It was all gone. And there was nothing she could do to bring them back.

***

The moon shone bright on the forests and rocky hills of Mariden. The wind played gently with the tops of the trees as a lone creature howled into the night. Its long, mournful call was carried by the wind to the ears of a clone soldier standing on the balcony of a lookout tower. He faced the sound and leaned against the railing around the edge of the balcony. “What’re you hunting…?” he whispered.

“What is who hunting?”

The clone, Visor, peered over his shoulder at the sudden voice behind him. He grinned beneath his yellow-painted helmet to see one of his clone brothers join him on the balcony. “Hey, Dagger,” he said as he turned back towards the night. “I think I heard a Tracker out there somewhere. Either that, or there’s something else that howls on this planet.”

“Hm.” Dagger joined his brother at the railing and pulled off his helmet. He ran a hand over his low-shaved hair fuzz and said, “Wouldn’t surprise me if there was. So, anything exciting happening out here?”

“Nope. Calm and quiet, just the way I like it.”

Dagger smirked. “Eh, you’re boring. I’d rather have a Screecher dive bomb me while I’m up here. Gets your heart rate up and your adrenaline pumping. Makes you feel alive, y’know?”

Visor rolled his eyes. “If you’d rather die from a heart attack then be my guest. I would rather live long enough to at least see the next sunrise.”

“Oh, come on! Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“I replaced it with common sense. You should try it sometime.” Visor gently knocked his knuckles against Dagger’s skull and strode to another spot on the balcony.

“Ha ha, very funny.” Dagger shook his head, leaning forward on the railing as he slipped his helmet back on.

Visor smirked and shook his head, then resumed his watch of the surrounding forest. He knew that technically he was supposed to be looking out for Separatists of any kind, but in the 3 months that he and his brothers had been stationed here, they hadn’t seen any sign of the Seppies, either on the planet or out in space. It made him wonder why the station was still here, but Sarge said that the GAR liked to take as many precautions as possible. So the station stayed. But thus far, the worst they had had to deal with were the wild animals bugging them. And even then, the actually ferocious animals tended to stay far away from the strange building built into the mountain. Just as well that they did. They had enough trouble with mere rodents sneaking inside. The last thing they wanted to worry about was larger animals trying to—

“What is that?” Dagger’s voice cut into the silence.

Visor glanced back at him. “What is what?”

Dagger pointed towards the sky. “That!”

Visor followed the direction of his brother’s finger until his eyes landed on a small, bright ball of light streaking through the air. “Huh… Well, that’s not normal.” He lowered the binoc attachment on his helmet; it gave him a better readout than his helmet visor, but the object was still too far away to see it clearly even with the binocs. “Might just be a meteorite,” he mumbled as he tried to focus in on it.

“But Claptrap didn’t tell us about any meteorite belts in the area, did he?”

“Hmm… I don’t think so.” Visor activated the comm link in his helmet. “Claptrap, do you copy?”

“Yeah, I copy,” a voice nearly identical to his own crackled over the comms. “What’s up?”

“Clap, were there supposed to be any meteor or meteorite showers tonight?”

“Uh, no, I don’t think so. Lemme double check.”

“What else could it be?” Dagger asked while they waited.

Visor shrugged. “I couldn’t tell you.”

Claptrap’s voice returned. “Sorry, Visor. No showers tonight. I’m clocking a possible belt to pass by Mariden within the next couple of days, but they’re too far away to… Wait… Wait, hold on.”

“What is it?”

“I’m… I’m not sure. The scanners are picking up something… Something big breaking through the atmosphere.”

Visor and Dagger looked back up at the sky. The object was getting closer, and larger. “Well, we definitely see the something,” Visor said. “But we can’t tell what it is. Got any better info for us?”

Claptrap hummed to himself as he worked his magic on the scanners. When the clones had first arrived at the station, no one had expected him to have such a knack with the radars and computers, but thankfully he did. No one else wanted the boring job of staring at a screen all day, so it was a relief when he willingly volunteered. “Details are fuzzy, but I think it’s a… A vessel of some kind.”

“A vessel? You sure, Clap?” Dagger questioned as he and Visor both kept their eyes glued to the falling object.

“Mostly. Our scanners are picking up a life form of some kind aboard, so its either a ship, or a meteor with a person or animal trapped inside. I’ll let you guess which one is more likely.”

Visor zoomed in as close to the object as his binocs would allow. The closer the object got, the more he could make out its features, like the way the light of the moon glinted off its metallic surface, and how it was too smooth to be a meteorite or anything natural. And how it was too on fire. If the scanners were right and there really was a lifeform in there, they weren’t going to last long. Especially if the vessel crashed.

“Claptrap, can you tell where its going to touch down?” Visor asked with a new sense of urgency rising in his chest.

“Uh, I think so. Give me one sec.”

“Make it a quick sec, Clap.”

“What’s wrong, Visor?” Dagger questioned.

“If there’s a person inside that, then I don’t think they’re gonna survive a crash landing in that tiny little thing.”

“Who’s to say its even gonna crash?”

“I’m pretty sure it IS going to crash,” Claptrap said. “Its coming down too fast and hard to be a precision or purposeful landing.”

“So can you see where its going to hit, then?” Visor asked again.

“If it keeps on its current trajectory, then it should hit somewhere near the Eastern Waterfall.”

“Got it. You’d better tell Sarge.” Visor lifted his binocs.

“On it!”

Dagger tilted his head. Visor could almost see the suspicious look beneath his helmet. “And what’re you gonna do?”

“I’m going to meet the shuttle. What else?”

***

Everything was shaking. It felt like the world was going to explode around her all over again, and this time, there would be no escape.

As if the shaking wasn’t bad enough, the fire outside the view port was even more worrisome. Was the pod supposed to be burning up like that? Through the flames she could faintly make out shapes in the darkness, rising fast to meet the pod. Panic seized her. The pod was going to crash!

Her hands searched for something, anything, that she could grab and hold onto. Had she escaped death once only for it to claim her now?

***

“Come on, Dagger!” Visor called as he and his brother crashed through the underbrush. “We’re almost to the waterfall!”

“Right behind ya!” Dagger responded from somewhere to Visor’s right. It was too dark to tell his exact location; the thick canopy of trees above blocked out almost all of the moonlight, and the night-vision in their helmet visors only helped so much. For the most part, Visor was relying on his hearing to guide him towards the Eastern Waterfall. Its powerful thunder could be heard in the air and felt on the ground long before the waterfall itself came into view. But finally, the two clones broke out of the foliage and stumbled into a large, moon-lit clearing.

The waterfall before them, cascading down the sheer rock face of the mountain, was immense and beautiful. It reflected the white light of the moon like thousands of tiny diamonds pouring into the lake below. The lake fed into a river that carved a winding path through the forest, and here and there, aquatic creatures could be seen poking their heads above the surface of the water. It was an incredible scene, and it was a place of peace and relaxation that the boys of the station liked to visit when they could. Had they not been in a stressful situation, Visor would’ve taken a moment to appreciate the beauty before him. But the ship falling towards them brought other priorities to the forefront of his mind.

“So what do… what do we do?” Dagger panted. “Its not like… we have anything… to stop it… from crashing.”

“I know,” Visor gasped. He was just as winded as his brother. “But we’ll… we’ll have to… to figure out… something.”

“Like what?”

“Visor! Dagger! Come in!”

The two brothers glanced at each other as another voice came in over their helmet comms. Uh-oh. It was Sarge. And he didn’t sound too happy with them.

Visor answered the call while Dagger watched the falling ship plummet closer and closer. “We’re here, Sarge.”

“Can you explain to me what in the galaxy you two think you’re doing?”

“Didn’t Claptrap—”

“Yeah, Claptrap told me about the ship that’s falling, but he didn’t tell me what made you and Dagger think that going to ‘meet it’ was a good idea! Both of you return to base right now!”

“What? But Sarge—”

”No ‘buts,’ Visor! I want you and Dagger both back in the station immediately!”

“Uh, Visor?” Dagger said.

“Sarge, there’s someone inside of that vessel. We can’t just leave them there to die in the crash!” Visor argued.

“Visor…”

“And I’ll commend you for that attitude, Visor. But what makes you think that it’s a good idea for the two of you to wander out into the middle of the night armed with nothing but your DCs? What if a pack of the Nocturns find you? You know those things practically eat blaster fire!”

“We can handle them, Sarge! We’ve beaten them back before.”

“Visor.”

“I know, but I’d rather we didn’t take chances and end up losing you two.”

“But what do we do about the ship?”

“Visor!”

“We’ll have to come back for them. You boys are my main priority and concern. Besides, what if there’s a Seppie in there? They could be dangerous!”

”Or they could need our help, Sarge!”

“VISOR!”

“What, Dagger?” Visor spun around to face his brother, just in time to watch the burning ship hurl straight towards the center of the lake.

***

She hadn’t known what true fear was until she saw the lake her pod was falling towards. She clung tight to whatever her hands could find to grab, trying to brace herself for what she was sure would be a hard landing. But nothing could’ve prepared her for the force of the impact as her pod crashed straight into the middle of a body of water with a thunderous BOOM! She flew forwards towards the dashboard, and her head collided with the glass of the view port. There was a sickening cracking sound before something ice cold water began seeping into the only measure of safety she had left.

***

“Whoa…” Visor gasped. The crashing of the vessel had created a gigantic wave that knocked both him and Dagger both to the ground. They groaned as they rolled onto their sides and then to their knees.

“Well, I think I can check ‘tidal wave’ off my bucket list,” Dagger wheezed. The force of the wave hitting them had knocked the air out of both their chests.

“Visor! Dagger! What happened? Are you two okay?” Sarge’s worried voice called for them over the comms.

Visor did his best to catch his breath before he answered, “Yeah, Sarge we’re… We’re okay.”

“The ship hit the lake,” Dagger explained. “It made a wave that knocked us down for a sec, but we’re fine.”

Sarge sighed. ”Good. Now both of you returned to the station before Seppies start popping out of that thing!”

Visor pushed himself to his feet and eyed the ship. It seemed to be floating well enough, but that probably wouldn’t last long. A crash that hard had most likely cracked the ship’s viewport, which meant that water would start bleeding in immediately, and after that, the ship would sink. Fast. Any living creature in there wouldn’t make it on their own. With a sigh – Visor knew that what he was about to do could get him court martialed – he said, “Sorry, Sarge, but I can’t do that. Whoever or whatever is in there, they need help.” He pulled off his helmet, then grabbed his DC blaster, and tossed both onto the pebbled shore at Dagger’s feet. “Here. Hold these.”

“Wait, Visor, what are you—?”

Visor didn’t wait for his brother to finish the question. He took a deep breath, then dove headfirst into the lake.

***

Cold. Everything was so cold. And fuzzy. She couldn’t think straight. She hadn’t been able to think straight since the escape pod launched and she witnessed the destruction of her family. But this was different. She felt sleepy. Really sleepy. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and let sleep overtake her. She would just get a quick rest before trying to get out. Just a quick rest… A few minutes.

THUMP!

Her heavy eyes flew open. What was that? Were those… voices she was hearing outside?

“Help,” she whispered as cold sleepiness once again tried to claim her. “Help me… Please.”

***

“I think I found a hatch!” Visor shouted and he kept himself afloat in the freezing waters. His arms were sore, and his lungs were on fire, but he didn’t let that stop him. He could worry about his aches and pains later; getting this hatch open and making sure that there were survivors inside was his one and only mission right now.

“Can you open it?” Dagger asked over the wrist comms.

Visor groped about the hatch door he had found for a handle or latch of some kind. At last his fingers caught on it. He pulled on it with all his might, but it wouldn’t budge!

He grunted in frustration. “Its stuck! I can’t get the handle to work!”

“The handle must’ve melted partway when the ship was breaching the atmosphere.”

“What do I do?” Panicked desperation was starting to infiltrate Visor’s mind. The vessel was beginning to sink lower into the water, and if he didn’t figure out something soon, there wouldn’t be any survivors to save!

“Try to find a rock or something to jam it open! I’ll come out to help!”

Visor nodded and looked down at the dark waters surrounding him. If he dove down, there was no telling what he would find. They weren’t even sure how deep the lake was. But he was running out of options. And time. So, filling his tired lungs with a deep gulp of air, the soldier plunged beneath the surface into the cold, murky depths. The lake wasn’t as deep as he thought it was. When he touched bottom, he fumbled about for a rock or a log or anything heavy to use to bash the hatch open, but there was nothing. It was all mud! Mud and planets and slime. And the occasional squirming thing that made him shudder.

Unable to find anything, he planted his feet on the bottom and pushed up. Not soon enough, his head broke the surface of the water and he gasped for air. He was semi aware of something splashing towards him as he paddled back to the ship.

Dagger pulled himself to a stop beside his brother. “Find anything?” he asked as he wiped the water from his eyes.

Visor shook his head. “No… Nothing but mud and plants.”

Dagger huffed and examined the quickly sinking ship before them. “We’ll have to get it to shore.”

“How? Its not like we can lift this thing.”

“I know, but we can push it. Come on. Let’s get around to the other side. On the count of three, push it towards the shore, got it?”

Visor couldn’t think of anything better, so he nodded. “Got it.”

The two swam to the opposite side of the ship and braced their hands against the metal sheeting. “Ready?” Dagger asked.

Visor nodded again. “Ready.”

“Okay. On three, push. One… Two… Three!”

Both men pushed with all their might, fighting to stay afloat themselves as they tested their strength like they never had before. At first it seemed to be working, but too soon they realized that, while they were getting closer to shore, the ship was also falling deeper into the water.

“Dagger!” Visor cried out. “Its sinking!”

“We gotta keep pushing!”

But there was no more room on the ship to push it. The top of the vessel submerged fully beneath the waves and the ship began plummeting towards the bottom of the lake.

Frantic terror squeezed Visor’s heart. “No!” He swallowed as much air as his lungs would allow, then dove once more under water. He grabbed onto the stuck latch of the exit door, holding on as tight as he could while the vessel plunged down, down, down… Finally, it hit the floor of the lake with a muffled thud, kicking up a cloud of mud. Visor lost his grip and began floating back towards the surface. But he wasn’t about to give up that easily. He summoned every last bit of energy he had and swam downwards. When his hands hit the ship, he clawed his way over it to the muddy bottom. There had to be something more than mud and plants down here! A rock of any size, or a log or… just… something! He would NOT leave whoever was in that pod to die like this. He couldn’t!

His hands searched the mud and slime. His body was begging for air, for relief, but he wouldn’t grant it until he had accomplished his goal. However his body wouldn’t be controlled so easily. He was starting to get light headed and his lungs felt like they were about to explode when finally his fingers hit against something large and hard. A rock! Bigger than his head! He freed it from the mud and heaved it through the waters towards the pod. He passed his hand over the metal outside until he found the smoothness of the front view port. Desperately, he prayed that this would work, then he slammed the rock as hard as he could against the view port. It cracked! Bubbles of air seeped out and floated upwards. He hit it again. More cracks! More bubbles! He stiffened his muscles, begged for one more ounce of strength, and delivered the hardest thrust of the rock that he could muster. The glass caved in. A small but strong current pulled him into the confines of the vessel. Fighting back the urge to panic, Visor felt around the cold darkness for a person, or a creature, whatever it was that had given off the life signs Claptrap had seen on the scanners.

There! Something soft! A hand… An arm? A full body! But… they weren’t moving. In the water, Visor couldn’t tell if they dead or alive but unconscious. But he looped his arm around their waist anyway. He would find out on the shore whether or not he had done all this for nothing. Fighting the current as the little ship filled with water, Visor emerged from its confines. He pushed his feet against the bottom of the lake once more and shot upwards towards the surface.

That was the most refreshing gulp of air he had ever taken in his life. He breathed in the night air deeply, treading water with one arm while keeping a tight hold on the survivor with the other.

“Visor! Visor, are you okay?” Dagger’s voice had never sounded so good to Visor’s ears.

“Yeah…” Visor panted, making his way towards his brother’s voice. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“What in the galaxy were you thinking, you idiot?” His voice was coming from the shoreline.

“I don’t know; I’ll figure it out later. Give me a hand, will ya?”

Dagger splashed back into the water until he reached Visor. He lifted the unconscious body from Visor’s arms, then pulled his brother towards the shallows. Visor didn’t even bother to stand when his legs touched bottom; he crawled his whole way up the shallows until he reached dry ground. With his body screaming for relief, he gave in and collapsed onto his back. Suddenly he was aware of the many pains and aches that were now ransacking his limbs, his chest, his head. It was probably going to take more than a good night’s sleep to get over this.

Dagger fell to his knees at Visor’s side, then laid their survivor down on the ground.

“Thanks, vod,” Visor panted. “I owe you.”

“No… No you don’t.” Dagger took a deep breath. “We look out for each other.” Slowly, he eased himself back to a standing position. “I’m gonna go get our buckets and blasters. Try not to go for a swim until I get back, okay?”

Visor rolled his eyes. “I’ll… I’ll try.”

Dagger chuckled, then shuffled down the shore to retrieve their gear.

Visor stared up at the stars for a moment, grateful that his lungs hadn’t given out. He then turned towards the person beside him. Were they okay? Painfully, he pushed himself up until he was supporting himself on his elbows. He gazed at the crash victim, grateful that he had risked his for an actual sentient and not just some dumb wild animal or a—

Wait a second… Why were they so small? And thin? They couldn’t have been more than four feet tall! The longer he stared, the more Visor began to see. This wasn’t just a person. More specifically, this wasn’t an adult.

Footsteps approached as Dagger trudged his way back to his brother. “Well, Sarge isn’t too happy with us. He wants us back to the station on the doub— Visor… You okay?”

Visor wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. Adrenaline mixed with the worry and fears in his mind and created more questions than he would ever have the answers to as he gazed down at the rounded face laying beside him. “Dagger. Its… It’s a…”

“It’s a what?”

Visor turned his gaze up to his brother, eyes wide as he exclaimed, “It’s a kid!”

#chapter one #tmsc #the mariden station chronicles #season one #season 1 #claptrap #sarge #dagger #star wars #star wars fan story #summer project #twinky's pen

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