Darik Plutan
Character
Location: Objective B, Droid Foundry
Objective: Defend the Foundry from Droid Attack
Allies: Rebel Alliance/Allies
Enemies: ACA, Corporatist Mercs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPa89K_viiM
The explosions and laser blasts filled the air with dust, light, and noise, overwhelming Darik's senses. He had never signed on for this: He was a man lost in time with few friends and a galaxy of possible enemies. Inwardly, he wept for the life that he had lost. He was never supposed to be here. He was supposed to die centuries before surrounded by friends and family. His daughter, Elise, was supposed to look down upon him one last time before he passed beyond this plane of existence. His wife, Marissa, was supposed to hold his hand and tell him that they would be together soon. His grandchildren were supposed to be there too, saying their final goodbyes to a man whose life was well lived and long. He was never supposed to be in this place, surrounded by the bodies of fallen Geonosian Militia and broken droids, cradling a blaster wound from an Albion droid that he then shattered with an AR-47.
Darik slowly stood up from his kneeling position where he had been dressing his wound. The bodies of the dead and dying surrounded him. In the distance, he could see more droids coming towards him. He heard distantly on the radio a desperate call for aid from [member="Alena"], droids had broken through and were making their way into the foundry. Darik reflected on it for a single moment: It was like the stories that his grandfather had told him about the Clone Wars. Only this time there was no General Obi-Wan Kenobi, there was no General Skywalker, and there were no waves of clones or teetering Republic to save them. They were out here on their own, the Rebel Alliance clinging to life on a dust ball of a world, surrounded by enemies and few friends all while clankers and battle droids pounded away at them like a child throwing a rag doll against a bedroom wall.
Darik could see his company of Geonosians just across from him outside of the trench. They were fighting valiantly. He lifted himself out of the trench and began to run towards them. Out of nowhere he felt a burning sensation in his shoulder and he was knocked to the ground. A blaster bolt had hit him, scorching flesh and bone alike. A sickly odor of burned meat entered his nostrils as he mouthed a silent scream of agony. Rough tears entered his eyes as he moved his head to the left and saw the advancing droids. He tried to lift his head to see his troops: He saw just over his chest his troops fighting but falling. Droids fell, but more of his men fell. The anguish washed over him and he heard distantly in his ears the sound of his own voice.
"Master Luke, Obi-Wan, Han, anyone please! Please come! I can't hold on any longer!"
In that moment, Darik felt a rush of energy, he felt what he had heard Luke once describe to him as the, "Living Force." He felt the energy of everyone around him. He felt the death dispassionately. He heard the cries for salvation on high from friend and foe. For a moment, an infinitesimal measure of time, he thought that he was dead and had become one with the force. He looked back and forth, his head lolling on the ground. When he realized that he was not dead, he let the tears flow again.
"Marissa, my sweet Marissa, come back to me. I need you here. Why? Why was I damned to live this life separate from you? Why was I condemned to die here on this sith-spitting world? Why could I not have joined you in death?"
The tears spilled out and he choked sobs. Blaster bolts flew over his head and he heard the distant crunch of metal droids against flesh and bone. He tapped into that energy as best he could and tried to lift his head. He was still paralyzed from fear, from pain, from remorse, from grief. As he closed his eyes and began to feel consciousness leaving him, he felt a warm touch upon his cheek.
"Darik, my sweet Darik. Why do you ask for death when all I would have wanted for you is life?"
He cracked his eyes open slowly in shock. He stared for what seemed an eternity at a shimmering reflection that hovered just above him. The face of his long dead wife was etched in light above him. Her bright eyes looking down upon him and staring into his very soul.
"But why now, Marissa? Why in this place? Why could you not come back to me sooner?" He said in a pleading tone.
"You weren't ready yet, you couldn't hear me through all of the pain. Darik, my love, we've been with you all this time," she said to him in a knowing tone.
She touched his face with her shimmering hand and he saw his Elise in his mind, his daughter as she was long after he was gone from her life. A husband and children stood beside her. She smiled at him and nodded, putting her arm on her husband's shoulder. His grandchildren, two girls who he had never known in life, smiled brightly at him.
"Darik, there is still so much for you to do. So much to see. They need you here. You have to put the pain aside and become greater than you are now. This is where you were always destined to be," she said.
Distantly he heard Master Luke's training mantra in his mind, a faint echo of times long past, "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. Such is the path of the Dark Side."
He realized in that moment what he had done. Those past three years of life had not even been life for Darik, he had embraced the darkness within him. The grief and anger and suffering had become his reason for existence. Even his work with the Rebel Alliance had become a reason for him to embrace more pain. He had run to the bottle and death sticks in a desperate bid to escape from it. He had forsaken what he had stood for and become the thing that he despised.
"What can I do Marissa?" He asked. He already knew the answer.
"You can stand up now Darik, stand up and do what is right."
He managed a faint smile at her words. She was always blunt with him. A single tear rolled from his left eye to the dusty ground.
"Is this all a dream? Am I hallucinating this? Is any of it real?"
"Of course it is a dream, my sweet love. That doesn't mean that it isn't real."
He looked faintly at her and smiled once more.
"We will be waiting for you when the time comes, Darik. The ways of the Force are mysterious to the living, but to us it all makes sense."
"I have so much left to do. How long will it be?" He asked. She merely smiled at him and waved her hand at the world around them.
"Not yet love. Not for many, many years yet to come. But when that time comes, we will be here. Those who you left behind are not lost. Go forward and make us all proud."
At that moment, in his mind's eye, he saw all of them. All of his friends, all of their compatriots long dead and turned to so much dust. In that instance he was with them again. And then, they were gone. He was left again on the battlefield. The sound of clankers and Geonosians, explosions and blasters. But, he could feel the difference. He felt the Force within him and with it came a sense of inner peace and harmony. His shoulder still ached, the pain still raced through his right arm. But it was dulled. The Force was with him.
Darik pushed himself up off the ground and reached into his backpack. He took out a silver cylinder that he had been carting around with him since one of his first salvage missions. The lightsaber of a long dead Jedi. He ignited the blade, listening to the snap hiss of it activating. A blue light emanated from it. Darik looked around the battlefield. The droids were pushing forward while his men fought bravely. They fell, but they continued on fighting.
He knew what he had to do. Darik ran to them and, remembering the days when he watched Master Luke's lightsaber forms, he brought his lightsaber up to a rough guard stance.
"All of you, with me! We're going to push through! FOR THE ALLIANCE!"
Darik ran forward and slashed through a droid. It was going to be a long and hard road, but he knew that with the force fighting by him, they and the Alliance would see the battle through to a victorious conclusion.
Objective: Defend the Foundry from Droid Attack
Allies: Rebel Alliance/Allies
Enemies: ACA, Corporatist Mercs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPa89K_viiM
The explosions and laser blasts filled the air with dust, light, and noise, overwhelming Darik's senses. He had never signed on for this: He was a man lost in time with few friends and a galaxy of possible enemies. Inwardly, he wept for the life that he had lost. He was never supposed to be here. He was supposed to die centuries before surrounded by friends and family. His daughter, Elise, was supposed to look down upon him one last time before he passed beyond this plane of existence. His wife, Marissa, was supposed to hold his hand and tell him that they would be together soon. His grandchildren were supposed to be there too, saying their final goodbyes to a man whose life was well lived and long. He was never supposed to be in this place, surrounded by the bodies of fallen Geonosian Militia and broken droids, cradling a blaster wound from an Albion droid that he then shattered with an AR-47.
Darik slowly stood up from his kneeling position where he had been dressing his wound. The bodies of the dead and dying surrounded him. In the distance, he could see more droids coming towards him. He heard distantly on the radio a desperate call for aid from [member="Alena"], droids had broken through and were making their way into the foundry. Darik reflected on it for a single moment: It was like the stories that his grandfather had told him about the Clone Wars. Only this time there was no General Obi-Wan Kenobi, there was no General Skywalker, and there were no waves of clones or teetering Republic to save them. They were out here on their own, the Rebel Alliance clinging to life on a dust ball of a world, surrounded by enemies and few friends all while clankers and battle droids pounded away at them like a child throwing a rag doll against a bedroom wall.
Darik could see his company of Geonosians just across from him outside of the trench. They were fighting valiantly. He lifted himself out of the trench and began to run towards them. Out of nowhere he felt a burning sensation in his shoulder and he was knocked to the ground. A blaster bolt had hit him, scorching flesh and bone alike. A sickly odor of burned meat entered his nostrils as he mouthed a silent scream of agony. Rough tears entered his eyes as he moved his head to the left and saw the advancing droids. He tried to lift his head to see his troops: He saw just over his chest his troops fighting but falling. Droids fell, but more of his men fell. The anguish washed over him and he heard distantly in his ears the sound of his own voice.
"Master Luke, Obi-Wan, Han, anyone please! Please come! I can't hold on any longer!"
In that moment, Darik felt a rush of energy, he felt what he had heard Luke once describe to him as the, "Living Force." He felt the energy of everyone around him. He felt the death dispassionately. He heard the cries for salvation on high from friend and foe. For a moment, an infinitesimal measure of time, he thought that he was dead and had become one with the force. He looked back and forth, his head lolling on the ground. When he realized that he was not dead, he let the tears flow again.
"Marissa, my sweet Marissa, come back to me. I need you here. Why? Why was I damned to live this life separate from you? Why was I condemned to die here on this sith-spitting world? Why could I not have joined you in death?"
The tears spilled out and he choked sobs. Blaster bolts flew over his head and he heard the distant crunch of metal droids against flesh and bone. He tapped into that energy as best he could and tried to lift his head. He was still paralyzed from fear, from pain, from remorse, from grief. As he closed his eyes and began to feel consciousness leaving him, he felt a warm touch upon his cheek.
"Darik, my sweet Darik. Why do you ask for death when all I would have wanted for you is life?"
He cracked his eyes open slowly in shock. He stared for what seemed an eternity at a shimmering reflection that hovered just above him. The face of his long dead wife was etched in light above him. Her bright eyes looking down upon him and staring into his very soul.
"But why now, Marissa? Why in this place? Why could you not come back to me sooner?" He said in a pleading tone.
"You weren't ready yet, you couldn't hear me through all of the pain. Darik, my love, we've been with you all this time," she said to him in a knowing tone.
She touched his face with her shimmering hand and he saw his Elise in his mind, his daughter as she was long after he was gone from her life. A husband and children stood beside her. She smiled at him and nodded, putting her arm on her husband's shoulder. His grandchildren, two girls who he had never known in life, smiled brightly at him.
"Darik, there is still so much for you to do. So much to see. They need you here. You have to put the pain aside and become greater than you are now. This is where you were always destined to be," she said.
Distantly he heard Master Luke's training mantra in his mind, a faint echo of times long past, "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. Such is the path of the Dark Side."
He realized in that moment what he had done. Those past three years of life had not even been life for Darik, he had embraced the darkness within him. The grief and anger and suffering had become his reason for existence. Even his work with the Rebel Alliance had become a reason for him to embrace more pain. He had run to the bottle and death sticks in a desperate bid to escape from it. He had forsaken what he had stood for and become the thing that he despised.
"What can I do Marissa?" He asked. He already knew the answer.
"You can stand up now Darik, stand up and do what is right."
He managed a faint smile at her words. She was always blunt with him. A single tear rolled from his left eye to the dusty ground.
"Is this all a dream? Am I hallucinating this? Is any of it real?"
"Of course it is a dream, my sweet love. That doesn't mean that it isn't real."
He looked faintly at her and smiled once more.
"We will be waiting for you when the time comes, Darik. The ways of the Force are mysterious to the living, but to us it all makes sense."
"I have so much left to do. How long will it be?" He asked. She merely smiled at him and waved her hand at the world around them.
"Not yet love. Not for many, many years yet to come. But when that time comes, we will be here. Those who you left behind are not lost. Go forward and make us all proud."
At that moment, in his mind's eye, he saw all of them. All of his friends, all of their compatriots long dead and turned to so much dust. In that instance he was with them again. And then, they were gone. He was left again on the battlefield. The sound of clankers and Geonosians, explosions and blasters. But, he could feel the difference. He felt the Force within him and with it came a sense of inner peace and harmony. His shoulder still ached, the pain still raced through his right arm. But it was dulled. The Force was with him.
Darik pushed himself up off the ground and reached into his backpack. He took out a silver cylinder that he had been carting around with him since one of his first salvage missions. The lightsaber of a long dead Jedi. He ignited the blade, listening to the snap hiss of it activating. A blue light emanated from it. Darik looked around the battlefield. The droids were pushing forward while his men fought bravely. They fell, but they continued on fighting.
He knew what he had to do. Darik ran to them and, remembering the days when he watched Master Luke's lightsaber forms, he brought his lightsaber up to a rough guard stance.
"All of you, with me! We're going to push through! FOR THE ALLIANCE!"
Darik ran forward and slashed through a droid. It was going to be a long and hard road, but he knew that with the force fighting by him, they and the Alliance would see the battle through to a victorious conclusion.
R 