Star Wars, The Clone Wars Minisodes

Loyal Father, Loyal Son

juliatheawzom3274 ,Word prompt contest

Word prompt 2: Loyalty

Note: New character introduction: Zach Rumi

The desert sand blew around wildly as a lonely ship landed just at the perimeter of a long-forgotten oasis. Effortlessly, fingers flipped off the various switches that littered the dashboard of the Silver Stinger, a result of years and years of muscle memory. 

Thanks to the hat Zach Rumi wore, the sun's rays weren't as nearly as painful to his eyes. Taking a look at the silver ship, admiring it's well-earned carbon scoring from pass shoot-outs. He sighed and made his way down the ramp. 

Silver spurs of his boots stopped clinking when Zach's feet stopped at the edge of a grave. Looking down at the gravestone, he read the beautiful words that we etched into the marble. 'Here Rest's My Good Father'.

"Good to see you again Pops." The young mirialan slowly bent down and sat beside the gravestone. "Have you been taking care of the oasis? You've been gardening in your afterlife? The shade is awesome." He noted the great palm trees that littered the small paradise.

Zach sat in the silence, thinking over the recent events and how he somehow managed to survive through it all. "Ya know something pops? Something great happened. I'd say it was my greatest adventure." 

He waited for a while as if hoping for some sort of reply to come from the grave but only silence greeted him. "A week ago, the Rebellion defeated the Empire. Yeah, that's right. The young pesky Skywalker boy and his friends managed to destroy the second death star. You should've seen it, the explosion." 

"Not that you'd enjoy it," grunts escape his tired body as Zach popped two bottles of booze. The mirialan leaned one bottle by the gravestone, while the other rested in his hand. "You were very adamant about protocols and rules after all." emphasizing on 'were'. "Also, Uncle Rex survived the battle of Endor and so did Uncle Grumps. They are retired from the war for good. They deserve the rest." Uncle Grumps was Zach's special name for Wolffe. 

Taking a sip from the bottle, Zach's eyes squinted as the bitter liquid wet his tongue and drenched his throat. A cooling breeze swept the hair that fell across his face. In the silence that comforted him, Zach allowed his mind to wander back to the street of Coruscant during the clone wars. 

Zach was an orphan at the age of eight. His parents passed away due to the war. Not one soul to take care of him. One day, two years later, he bumped into a stranger while scavenging for food at Coruscant's lower levels. The younger mirialan boy looked up and found a clone before him, a very sad one. Blinking back to the present Zach spoke again. "I know I say this a lot, but I still am very thankful that you decided to keep me around since the day I met you."

Zach remembered how clingy he was to this clone. After all, the trooper was kind enough to feed him. As the unexpected journey of the misfitted duo began, Zach slowly learned more and more about the clone. Especially the reason he was not in the GAR any longer. Needless to say, the clone found himself caring for the young boy by some unseen miracle. In a small apartment, big enough for the two, they stayed and called home. 

"You remember the time I nearly blasted a hole in your head, pops." Zach nudged the gravestone, laughing as the memory resurfaced. "I was ten, and you had already thought me how to use a blaster. One day you came back home late at night, I thought you were an intruder or the police, coming to take you back to the army. So I took the blaster and shot you the moment you entered the door. Good thing I missed and only the wall suffered." Zach was very sure he gave the clone a heart attack.