The Varactyl Squadron Commander (A Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Fifty-Two

Twenty Three Years Ago...

Her little feet pattered across the floor and each hurried step echoed through the silent house like a drum as a string of giggles dribbled from the little girl's lips. With her paper sword in hand, clad in her blue and pink pajamas, and her blanket-cape tied around her neck, the toddler sprinted down the hallway as fast as she could to her bedroom, which had been magically transformed into a pillow fortress by her loving mother the night before, and quickly disappeared beneath the blankets of her stronghold.

Thud...thud...thud...thud...

She clamped her hands over her mouth to muffle the laughter she couldn't contain. The dragon was approaching, and she was approaching quickly with each lumbering thud of her giant dragon feet. This was the little warrior's favorite game- hide from the beast long enough to steal its treasure, which happened to be the jogan-fruit cookies sitting on the kitchen counter the child adored.

Thud...thud...thud...thud...

The monster had passed the bathroom, passed her parents' bedroom and the doorway to her mother and father's office, and continued to get closer and closer and closer. She could hear the rumble of the dragon's stomach as the fire boiled in its belly and the sound of its claws slowly dragging across the wooden floor, growing ever closer to the little warrior's compound. If she would be found, the girl had only two choices: run, or fight.

Before she could decide, the thudding stopped and the warrior held her breath; the dragon was at the door now, and she could see the beast staring back at her through the hole in her covers. Hunched over, covered in a giant green sleeping bag they'd found in the supply closet, the dragon stuck out her claws and slowly began to approach the bed.

"G-g-g-grrrrr-r-rr...." The dragon growled. "I have f-f-found you, princess..."

With an excited squeal, the toddler tossed her paper sword to the side, grabbed her stuffed bantha, jumped out of bed and tackled the dragon to the ground where they both collapsed in a heap on top of the mountain of pillows. "No, draggy! My castle! My castle!" The warrior let out a majestic battle-cry and began to pelt the predator with the stuffed animal in a last attempt at defending her stronghold.

"A-a-a-hhh! N-n-nooo!" The dragon bellowed in pain before falling still on the floor, dead. Little Mo pulled the sleeping bag off the droid and giggled at the robot on the ground, defeated just as all the other times the warrior had beaten her foe.

"I win!"

"I s-s-see that you have, little princess," JC chuckled and swept the infant off her feet, tossing the squealing child into the air and catching her back safely in her arms. "But now it's t-t-time for this little princess to go to bed. Don't w-w-want to be tired when Mama and Dad g-get back home tomorrow." Molindi groaned as the droid set her back in her sky-blue covers and tucked the blankets around her tiny body like a tiny burrito, as she always did before bedtime.

"Cookies!"

"You already b-b-brushed your teeth, Mo. You know the rule. I'll g-g-give you your cookies for breakfast, how about that?" JC promised her and the child gasped mischievously, the biggest grin she could muster lighting up her face like fireworks. The droid extended her pinkie finger to the little girl and Molindi eagerly intertwined her own with the piece of metal. "N-no telling your parents though, r-right? Our s-s-secret?"

"Secret," Mo agreed with a nod and JC turned the light off before beginning to stand up. When the droid took a step towards the door, two small hands wrapped around the droid's wrist, tugging the robot back towards where she'd been sitting on the edge of the bed. "Story! Story!" A small chuckling sound could be heard from JC and the caretaker had no choice but to comply. It was tradition, after all. Even though her joints squeaked from a day's worth of adventures and her power cells were near empty, JC always made time for a story before bed.