Graveyard of Stars - Being Rewritten

Six

The ship landed not too long later.  

The rest of the flight had been in silence, Aster succumbing to a half-asleep, half-awake state, not being bothered by Wrecker or the others.  There was a faint feeling of numbness, and she couldn't even brush her arm against something without being reminded of the probe droid.  

She knew Hunter and the others were waiting for her to explain why the Kaminoans questioned her, but for now they weren't pressing.  It was clear she wasn't in the mood to talk, and Tech said she needed rest anyway.  

Aster was the last to exit the ship, stopping behind Omega as she fell to the ground, picking up the dirt.  She seemed bewildered and fascinated it.  Aster had forgotten Omega hadn't been anywhere but Kamino.  She'd only left the rainy planet a few times herself, none being recent.  

She patted Omega on the head as she passed by, walking to her four older (technically younger-) brothers.  Hunter glanced at the storm far away, saying they needed to hurry.  

The group continued on their way, walking through the farmland.  They came to a trip wire, Wrecker accidentally tripping a second one, activating old battle droids.  He quickly gunned them down.  

"Uh, was that me?"  He asked, looking around at the defeated, harmless droids.  

Hunter sighed just as a voice spoke up.  "What do we have here?  More clones who have lost their way."  A pink Twi-lek woman appeared, a long weapon with her.  

"It's been a while, boys," a familiar voice said, and Aster looked to see a clone near the woman-a deserter, by the looks of it.  

Cut and Suu led them to their farmhouse.  It was so unlike anything Aster had ever seen, small, a bit dusty, wood, messy but cozy.  She'd only been in the pristine cloning facility and the Slave 1, nothing else.  It was so vastly different.  

"I see a couple new faces," Suu noted as they relaxed.  

"This is Echo, Omega, and Aster," Hunter introduced.  

Aster tuned out their conversation as she glanced around the house.  It was the only thing she'd seen that actually felt... homey.  It didn't feel natural, but it was.  She imagined what it would be like to live on the farm, to have what most people considered a normal life.  

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door burst open, two young Twi-leks running in.  "Mom!  Dad!  There's a cool ship outside!"  

"Jek!  Shaaeh!"  Wrecker exclaimed.  "Remember me?"  

"Uncle Wrecker!"  The sibling yelled, running to him.  

The big clone scooped them up into a bear hug, laughing.  Aster watched them from where she stood near the wall, not far behind Hunter and Omega.  When Wrecker set the kids down, they looked over at Aster and Omega curiously.  

"We never see kids around here!"  Jek said excitedly.  

He grabbed Omega's hand, pulling her toward the door.  Shaaeh grabbed Aster's hand, but the teen clone didn't want to socialize.  Even though Omega was the only one close to her age she'd seen in three or four years, she wasn't much of a socialist.  

"No-" she mumbled, but Shaaeh seemed oblivious to the fact that she didn't want to play, and with a bit of resistance, was able to drag Aster outside to play with their ball.  

Jek threw it to Shaaeh, who caught it and tossed it to Aster.  The young teenager smacked it back, which both alarmed and excited to Twi-lek siblings.  Jek caught it and tossed it to Omega, but she stepped out of the way.  

"What is the point of this?"  She asked, looking down at the ball.  

"Uh, you're supposed to catch it?"  Jek explained, glancing at his sister.  

"Oh."  

Aster zoned out, which led to her getting hit in the face with the ball.  Jek mumbled an apology, picking up the ball and tossing it to Omega again, who caught it this time.  She grinned, looking at Hunter in excitement, who was leaning in the doorway of the farmhouse.  

"I caught it!"  She said, earning a smile from the clone.  

After a few minutes of playing with the ball, Aster went back inside.  Partly because she was bored and being anti-social, as always, partly because she begrudgingly admitted-to herself, not out loud-that Tech was right, and she needed rest.  

716 Words 

Written: 10/13/2024