Sprocket A Star Wars Story

Chapter 7: The Fan Mail

Sprocket, Sentinel, Slingshot, and Utooni hung out in the locker room and watched the screen as another battle took place. The Mon Calamari observed his friends Rieve, Grozz, J-3DI, and Skora on the same team against Zaina, Diago, and some other tanks who were new to the Arena. The game was Power Control, the same game that Sprocket and his teammates had just finished. It seemed like Rieve's team was doing well against the opposing team, although fighting alongside J-3DI tended to make things a lot easier.

The Mon Calamari turned to see Aran Tal walking into the room. The Mandalorian headed straight to his locker and opened it. Sprocket couldn't help but wonder what was inside the locker, and he peered over Aran's shoulder to try and catch a glimpse. It looked as though there was a photo of Clan Tal and another photo of school kids that he usually visited after his wins. In addition to this, there were also pieces of newspapers hanging around. The Mandalorian abruptly noticed that Sprocket was looking at him and quickly closed his locker.

"What are you looking at, kid? Trying to find something to gloat about?" Aran Tal snapped.

Sprocket winced. "No. I was just wondering why you have photos and newspapers in your locker." He knew Aran usually donated his winnings to the charity—and that he was giving the money to the orphanage.

"This was part of my motivation to join the Arena. After Clan Tal died, I found a new purpose. I wanted to win all of the money and send it to orphans," the Mandalorian explained sadly. "I wish I could adopt all of the orphans to be my foundlings, but it would simply be too much. Perhaps if I make enough money, I can raise my own clan," Aran added as he gathered his things.

Tal must've noticed Sprocket's look of compassion and sympathy, because before Sprocket even had a chance to reply, Aran stepped past him. "Don't give me sympathy, kid. It just messes up my image," he mumbled as he walked away.

Sprocket knew that Aran Tal always wanted to be seen as a strong person in the Arena, and that he'd rather not show his soft side to anyone. Sprocket watched him leave the room, feeling a newfound sense of respect and admiration for the Mandalorian.

He watched as Charr stormed in after his battle was finished. Charr aggressively opened his locker and tossed in his belongings, appearing upset. After the Transdoshan closed his locker, he looked at a photo quickly before tossing it in the trash can. He walked away, leaving the curious Mon Calamari wondering what the photo was.

Sprocket walked over and grabbed the photo from the trash, looking at it curiously. The photo was of Charr's ex-girlfriend, which Sprocket had heard rumors about in the news. He knew that Charr didn't want to talk about what had happened.

The Utooni brothers saw Sprocket holding the photo and made their way over to him. They attempted to say something to him, showing him books, scissors, and some paint. Sprocket figured out what they meant right away.

"Oh, I see! You want to make a scrapbook!" Sprocket said with a smile.

The Jawa brothers nodded with excitement. Then they try to say something else to Sprocket with some more gestures.

"Oh yeah! We need a camera droid—I'll build one right away!" Sprocket exclaimed.

The Jawas quickly got the supplies ready for Sprocket so that he could build one in a few minutes. He got to work as soon as they gave him the parts and finished it momentarily. After the camera droid was done, the Jawas got excited, seemingly wanting the camera to take some pictures of their own.

Sentinel and Slingshot must have heard the racket they were making, and they both turned around to look at Sprocket and the Jawas.

"What are you guys doing?" Slingshot asked. "Your friends are finishing their match," he told them.

"We're taking pictures for the new scrapbook!" replied Sprocket as the Jawas snapped a few photos of themselves.

Rieve, Skora, J-3DI, and Grozz burst into the locker room a heartbeat later, their expressions brimming with happiness.

"Sprocket, we won the match!" Rieve said excitedly as she wiped her sweat from her brows.

The Jawas took a photo of them and said something in their language, which J-3DI translated, "Let's have some fun! We're going to build a scrapbook with Sprocket—we will find some leftover art supplies for decorations."

Grozz chimed in as well, and J-3DI had to translate again, "That sounds fun! Let's have a party in my apartment!"

Sprocket and the others nodded their agreement, while Sentinel and Slingshot looked somewhat hesitant to join the party.