The Fool
he/him
Lehon (Rakata Prime),
Outer RIm
If it moves, it's edible.
That's how Rusty Bones had been able to survive for so long. He'd eat anything, puke it and then eat it till he would not. At this point, he thought, he would be able to eat steel too. Rusty Bones wasn't his name a long time ago, it was something else. But he could vaguely remember and it hardly mattered. Where he'd come up with the name Rusty Bones? He wasn't too sure either. Maybe something he ate. Maybe an old crew member of his who did not survive the crash. Did he actually have a crew? Did he actually crash here at all? Delirious dreams, most likely. He'd been here his whole life. Once he separated his life into two parts - before the crash and after. Eventually, all blurred together. What was before the crash remained as blurry dreams haunting him once a week. Rusty Bones got so used to these dreams he now acknowledged them as visions instead and thus he became Rusty Bones The Seer of the Crabs.
The only stupid edibles which never avoided him. They'd come out on the shore, dozens of them and listen to his incomprehensible ravings. At the end of his tale, they were already in boiling hot water ready to be served to Rusty Bones.
One sunny morning, he woke up sweating on the shore. Another vision of the ship crashing down onto the planet. But this time it was different, it was not the same ship, nor the same crew. Rusty Bones pondered on the visions and the more he wondered about it the more he seemed to recall moments of a life before he was baptized as Rusty Bones on this world. At noon, a shadow flickered and he looked up to see his vision come to life. A ship on fire as it plummeted towards him helplessly. With a gaping mouth he gazed at the sight as the ship came closer and closer.
And then it all came back to him.
He'd been a faithful husband and a good father to three children. Oh, how he had loved them. They had been plagued by debt, financial insecurity. It was why he had gone on this voyage, on this crew. It was a good pay for an honest job. A cargo run to the Outer Rim. They had received their payment on delivery and were headed back home. He finally had the hard earned cash to clear their debt and start their life anew. Pay the mortgage, send the kids to college. Alas, an interdictor caught them. War times. Believed to be smugglers for the enemy, the interdictor started blasting and tearing the ship to pieces. Half of the crew died then. The frantic navigator sent them on a course to nowhere and the ship appeared too close to the gravity well of this planet. Yanked out of hyperspace and sent down to their deaths. And he - the lone survivor - lived. Hope dwindled. Day after day until the days became years and the years became decades. A tear rolled down his cheek and Ran Felian took a final glance at his life.
*
Gaz swore he saw a man down on the shore right before they crashed. He also swore it was the Shepard that was to lead them to the Heavens. But he was still alive, he knew that because the unholy stench of the Empress Teta still lingered in the air. He'd cursed the day his captain decided it was a good idea to smuggle Gizkas and if the stench was not enough of a reason to turn down the job - take a look at this. Apparently, one of the gizkas had eaten an artefact of great power for Jedi and Sith alike, a star of some sort. He could've sworn he'd seen it auctioned by a Zeltros girl a few months ago. Well, either way, they ended up chased by a big warship. Navigator boy sent 'em here with engines ablaze and no hope of survival as the corvette plummeted down from orbit to its death.
They were supposed to be dead, right?
*
Salko fought back the weight of his eyelids to wake up to an unforgiving headache. He lied down on the cold steel floor of the bridge. Emergency lights flickered, conduits sparkled and hissed.
And the stench.
So we made it.
The Force had listened. He called upon it right before impact. Shielded the whole ship in a bubble as it crashed. Alive and away from the damn Sith.
These rusty bones' still got it, huh?
Something was beeping.
"Gaz."
No reply. He cleared his throat.
"Gaz!"
"What...captain?"
"Why is the distress beacon on?"
"Feth."
Outer RIm
If it moves, it's edible.
That's how Rusty Bones had been able to survive for so long. He'd eat anything, puke it and then eat it till he would not. At this point, he thought, he would be able to eat steel too. Rusty Bones wasn't his name a long time ago, it was something else. But he could vaguely remember and it hardly mattered. Where he'd come up with the name Rusty Bones? He wasn't too sure either. Maybe something he ate. Maybe an old crew member of his who did not survive the crash. Did he actually have a crew? Did he actually crash here at all? Delirious dreams, most likely. He'd been here his whole life. Once he separated his life into two parts - before the crash and after. Eventually, all blurred together. What was before the crash remained as blurry dreams haunting him once a week. Rusty Bones got so used to these dreams he now acknowledged them as visions instead and thus he became Rusty Bones The Seer of the Crabs.
The only stupid edibles which never avoided him. They'd come out on the shore, dozens of them and listen to his incomprehensible ravings. At the end of his tale, they were already in boiling hot water ready to be served to Rusty Bones.
One sunny morning, he woke up sweating on the shore. Another vision of the ship crashing down onto the planet. But this time it was different, it was not the same ship, nor the same crew. Rusty Bones pondered on the visions and the more he wondered about it the more he seemed to recall moments of a life before he was baptized as Rusty Bones on this world. At noon, a shadow flickered and he looked up to see his vision come to life. A ship on fire as it plummeted towards him helplessly. With a gaping mouth he gazed at the sight as the ship came closer and closer.
And then it all came back to him.
He'd been a faithful husband and a good father to three children. Oh, how he had loved them. They had been plagued by debt, financial insecurity. It was why he had gone on this voyage, on this crew. It was a good pay for an honest job. A cargo run to the Outer Rim. They had received their payment on delivery and were headed back home. He finally had the hard earned cash to clear their debt and start their life anew. Pay the mortgage, send the kids to college. Alas, an interdictor caught them. War times. Believed to be smugglers for the enemy, the interdictor started blasting and tearing the ship to pieces. Half of the crew died then. The frantic navigator sent them on a course to nowhere and the ship appeared too close to the gravity well of this planet. Yanked out of hyperspace and sent down to their deaths. And he - the lone survivor - lived. Hope dwindled. Day after day until the days became years and the years became decades. A tear rolled down his cheek and Ran Felian took a final glance at his life.
*
Gaz swore he saw a man down on the shore right before they crashed. He also swore it was the Shepard that was to lead them to the Heavens. But he was still alive, he knew that because the unholy stench of the Empress Teta still lingered in the air. He'd cursed the day his captain decided it was a good idea to smuggle Gizkas and if the stench was not enough of a reason to turn down the job - take a look at this. Apparently, one of the gizkas had eaten an artefact of great power for Jedi and Sith alike, a star of some sort. He could've sworn he'd seen it auctioned by a Zeltros girl a few months ago. Well, either way, they ended up chased by a big warship. Navigator boy sent 'em here with engines ablaze and no hope of survival as the corvette plummeted down from orbit to its death.
They were supposed to be dead, right?
*
Salko fought back the weight of his eyelids to wake up to an unforgiving headache. He lied down on the cold steel floor of the bridge. Emergency lights flickered, conduits sparkled and hissed.
And the stench.
So we made it.
The Force had listened. He called upon it right before impact. Shielded the whole ship in a bubble as it crashed. Alive and away from the damn Sith.
These rusty bones' still got it, huh?
Something was beeping.
"Gaz."
No reply. He cleared his throat.
"Gaz!"
"What...captain?"
"Why is the distress beacon on?"
"Feth."
