In August 2015 The Passionately Casual Podcast for Unholy Alliance and Wookiee Mistake Guilds for Star Wars: The Old Republic held a contest  asking people to write a few lines of story based on images from the Star Wars universe. Here are the entries. The authors’ names are held back for privacy.

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I had second hand information that the perp was holed up somewhere in this district on Nar Shaddaa. How am I going to find this scum. He’s already got a deathmark in 4 systems and if I don’t act quickly it’s going to be 5.

   The Twi’lek twins we’re up to no good in the middle of the road, as usual. Then I noticed something out of place, an astromech droid. The droid itself wasn’t odd but the fact that it was the only droid in sight was. So I decided to follow it as it went around the corner. As I turned the corner I heard an electric spark then everything went dark.

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 We were broken by poverty, sickened and shackled by spice, and distracted by our own neighbors “dancing” for money in the street. It was a hell I could scarcely stand as I turned and walked away from the sight of two Twi’lek women practically begging to be abused, all for the sweet taste of delirium and forgetfulness that came with spice. I felt as broken as everyone else, as broken as my horn, shattered by a pulse mine during the last war. Mostly though, I walked because I was as hungry as every other person here, and walking helps me forget. I suppose it would be easier, cheaper to lose myself in a haze of intoxication and forget how my belly called our for remembered food, or even the drips of nutri-gruel that we fight over like starved nexu. It wasn’t long ago that the Voidhound made sure we at least had food.

Her heroics weren’t just legend. I had seen them first hand. I know how she slid her ship through space infested by the White Maw pirates, how she shot her way past Imperial death squads, and how she paid off the Hutt enforcers. In her hold she could have brought spice and when she left she could have demanded fortunes to take the few wealthy people left to places offworld. Instead she brought us food and medicine, sometimes even holobooks and toys. She would land in secret, her hold filled to bursting not with lucrative spice but with common staples like blue milk and grains. She never charged so much as a credit, and when she left her hold was always filled with habitation pods containing the sick and the injured would wouldn’t survive if left here in this hell.

Two years she’s been gone. They say the galaxy is raging in war again. We’re sick, scared, starved. We don’t care about war. We care about surviving. We, I, need the Voidhound.

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Once again, Lyricá found herself scouting the movements of separatist walkers. She had been fairly certain the tactical suggestion by Quinn for her to wait in the swamps of Taris was payback for the not so subtle removal of his hand from her thigh the night before the mission briefing. But it turns out that was where the action was going to be hottest. Still, she smiled to herself at the thought of the brace he was wearing on his forearm, but it would be the least of his worries before the day was out. She read his dossier, in fact all the files of Lumpe’s crew when he requested her help. How Lumpe could stand to have that man… no, that good for nothing son-of-a-hutt as his second in command was beyond her. Lyricá knew what had to be done even if Lumpe didn’t….

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Not two minutes ago the pair of friends had been playing. He had sensed something that made him uneasy just before it happened. Then a large sea quake struck. Raesth and Jarin immediately ran for safety as their families had taught them. By the time Raesth noticed Jarin wasn’t with him, it was too late. As water flooded over, more debris fell between the friends preventing even the idea of aiding him. He watched from the safety of the launching submersible, staring at where his friend had just been laying unconscious.

Raesth tried to bury the memory as quickly as it had attacked him. This was not the place he wanted to be wandering unfocused. He had been on Taris over a month now, and had learned quickly the dangers of an unclear mind in such an environment. Nexu and Rakghouls lurked everywhere, searching for vulnerable prey. Bringing his attention back to the task at hand, Raesth was wondering what exactly he would be finding. The council had sent him on a search and recovery mission for imperial data. They had gotten word of two abandoned walkers in the swamps in Tuluran Marsh. Beyond that they hadn’t really given any details. Having just completed his trials before being stationed on Taris, he wasn’t really in a position to question his masters. The only other detail he did know was that he was specifically requested for this mission because of his affinity for water. Being a Selkath had its advantages. This time it turned out to be not such a good thing.

The murky, muddy, polluted grime on this planet made Raesth miss home dearly. There wasn’t anything quite like the refreshing and clear waters of Manaan where kolto is grown. Maybe that’s why he kept thinking back on memories of home, albeit not the happiest. “Not the most glorious task I’ve been given, but that’s not why I’m here” Raesth chided to himself. After a few hours of searching he spotted the walkers. He had been trudging through the mud, but now he could see he would have to swim to get to them. A fact he did not relish. Swimming further out into the grime he couldn’t help but think of home again. His thoughts betrayed him as he dwelled on Jarin. Something kept bringing him back to those memories. As he made his final approach he felt something. He couldn’t tell what is was, it just felt….wrong. At the same time it almost felt familiar.

Before he could even react, purple lightning lashed at the water right beside him. He turned to avoid it but it had already missed and hit the swamp next to him. He followed the trail of the arc to its source atop the walker. A hooded figure stood looming over him. His whole left side of his body tingled and throbbed. The figure may have missed, but even that ‘mud’ was a good conduit for the powerful force lightning that had just struck near him. “So, this is a Sith…” he thought to himself. He watched, only his head and face visible above the grime filled marsh. Sith and Jedi stared, eyes locked for what seemed an eternity. Raesth had never dealt with a Sith before. His heart raced. Not from fear, but from pure curiosity and excitement. Raesth chose the path of the guardian for a reason. He respected power. But even more so, he respected what someone did with that power. Having heard stories of the Sith, he was anxious to see what they were capable of.

As if goading the young Jedi, the Sith held their hand straight out to the side. Their light saber, unhooking itself, flew through the air straight into their hand, igniting two beautifully sinister purple blades of energy.

Raesth grinned, his mouth still below the water line. The Force was with him. His master, Tal’drienne, also favored the staff saber. Throughout his training he had sought out master Kaedan to learn how best to counter such a weapon. He had learned well from the Blademaster and was ready to put his knowledge to the test. With a combination of Selkath swimming ability and little help from the Force, Raesth propelled himself down into the water and then back up and out. Landing atop the walker he ignited his own saber, a bright cyan blade hissing as water trailed down his arm and evaporated on the blade. At this point, his smirk turned into a full grin. “This should be fun…”

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The metallic sound filled the walker, as it made step after step through the swamp. This sound was almost an afterthought for the squad since the three week deployment. The one thing that could not be overlooked was the musky, damp smell of the swamp. It seeped into everything, even with filter systems in the armor, the days of breathing, worse yet, tasting the air had proven as big a challenge as the Imperials.

Bindo, “the boot,” had only been on maneuvers with the squad for two weeks and was already settling into a routine. It was a long way away from training on Ord Mantel or even Coruscant and even farther from home. Home, it seemed like forever since thinking about home, let alone being there.

It had been years since Bindo and his brother Kael were running around pretending to be heroes of the Republic. As kids they had played battle all the time, each one of them claiming to be a hero from the past. “He never did let me be the Jedi Master.” Bindo thought to himself as a smile came over his face. The dreams of being a Jedi had long ago been put to rest by Bindo. Although not a Jedi, this idea of selfless sacrifice to an ideal did run in their family. The willingness to defend the defenseless and serve the greater good were not just catchy slogans, these were the codes he learned as a young boy.

“Yo, Bindo, time to move out. We can’t keep the Rakghouls or the Imps waiting”

Hearing his squad mate had brought Bindo back to the present. Taking a deep breath, immediately he remembered…the swamp. He exited the rear of the walker to join the rest of his squad. Not brothers by blood, but brothers in every other sense of the word.

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The walls of a great city emerged suddenly and out of place before them, torn through the thick overgrown jungle they had traversed since the starport like a scar. Dull carved grey rock and fabricated steel punctuated with grandiose imperial flags of bold red and white, adorned it’s massive walls. So much grey and blue tinted steel, a stark contrast to the green vegetation of twisted vines and thick oppressing plant life that encroached and constantly threatened to reclaim that which was taken. A sudden crack of thunder, a myriad dance of lightning streaked and forked across the sky illuminating an imposing statue of the emperor, the watcher of the gates, who’s stone-faced gaze greeted all who would enter Kaas city.

“Kaas city, this is a mistake agent,” exclaimed the slender female Rattataki to her travelling companion, “Nonsense Kaliyo, we are right where we should be.” Nikto’Barada lifted her metallic visor to reveal her livacious blue skin and glowing red eyes to the harsh cold weather of Dromund Kaas. Her breath misting from her mouth and nose, dissipated by the constant downpour that blanketed most of this inhospitable planet, it’s never-ending rain.

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