Chereads / Star Wars - Rise of the Rust / Chapter 6 - Hope after the Shutdown

Chapter 6 - Hope after the Shutdown

Jake and Commander Kelp stood there, Rusty had now stopped moving and instead was watching Jake. Even through the uneasy and unmoving eyes of the B1, Jake knew that it was afraid. 

" so....clone...what ya gonna do now..." Jake asked almost a little too casually, as he lowerd his baton and made a relaxed pose.

"Uhh.." the clone spat in confusion at first before bitterly responding " first imma destroy this clanka, then take you in for separatist conspiracy"

Jake was about to make a remark, until a cracking was heard, a metallic noise that seemed to be the sound of metal breaking and bending, Both Kelp and Jake looked around before their eyes landed on Rusty, who at the same time had snapped off his right arm, the resulting electricity spark temporarily blinded the clone, making him let go of the droid. 

"Aaarghg-ggg-aahhh" Rusty let out a glitchy, yelp as it now stood free from Kelps grasp. The clone looked at the right arm now in his hands before throwing it to the side. He stared down Jake and Rusty, although the clone seemed more focused on Jake, because Jake was the bigger threat in his mind.

"imperial meatbag" Rusty spat out in a high pitched voice of hatred.

"Excuse me? Kelp responded clearly offended and shocked at the B1s remark.

"dont you know clone? " Rusty spoke in a semi questioning tone 

"Hurting people is kinda rude!!" Rusty accused before mindlessly charging in, Jake also went in as it'd be harder for Kelp to defend them both. Side stepping out of the way Kelp grabbed the droids back, and threw Rusty to the side, causing the B1 to stumble but stay standing. Jake ran up and landed a punch into Kelps chest which received a grunt from the clone, Jake was about to shock him with the baton but Kelp violently grabbed the Baton and yanked it from Jake's grasp and pushed Jake to the floor. Quick clanking could be heard as Rusty charged back in, clearly not learning from its mistake, Kelp grabbed the B1s backpack as it rushed past him again, and pulled it to the floor, now Kelp was to Rusty's side as the droid laid struggling on its back, The clone then electrocuted Rusty with the max setting possible on the baton directly to its chest.

"O-oowowww-ow, n-n-no-not...not fai-r-r" Rusty spoke in a series of glitches and static as its voice responded to the electrical shock of the baton. Jake quickly got up and turned to look at Rusty with panicked eyes.

Rustys head lifted up as his eyes flickered momentarily, the B1 reached out towards Jake with the only arm attached to it, Jake watching in horror as Rusty's body slowly gave out and started to go limp.

 "Wa-wa-wait-t...I-I don-do-don't wan-wanna shut dowwwwnnnnn....." Rusty spoke in a fit of glitchy desperation before his voice box was cut from power, its eyes flickering for a few more seconds before going dark, Rusty's limbs fell limp, and his head thumped on the floor. Jake stared at the now disabled B1, his vision clouded with tears as he was thrown into a fit of rage, he had barely met this droid a few days ago, but he was going to tear that clone apart for hurting it. Before Kelp couldn't even respond, Jake tackled him back to the floor and began to beat the clones face into a pulp relentlessly, Jakes knuckles began to bleed from hitting the clones helmet, and with every punch Kelps visor could be seen getting covered in his crimson red blood, Kelps screams were cut off as the clone fell unconsious, more blood spilling from inside his helmet and soaking the sand.

Jake stood up, now looking at the clone. Jake began to regret his rage motivated assault, but he had no time to think of it as his view got fuzzy, he saw a Probe droid quickly fly in front of him peering directly into Jake's soul, the Teen took a step back as the droids pincer arms reached for him, this was of course before the droid was struck out of the air by a spear, the droid lay lifeless on the floor as wing beats could be heard in the background, together with the panicked beeps of R4 behind him, all of which echoed in his mind before everything went dark.

The Geonsians picked his motionless body up, and another one grabbed R4 and a final bug grabbed Rusty as they flew back to the town, the bugs left the clones there as they believed the thrill of the hunt was worth more then simpy getting free food. The insects didnt know how bad of a decision this would be.

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Jake woke up with a slight headache, his eyes slowly lifted open to find a red tinted ceiling above him. Once he opened his eyes he saw R4 next to, currently deactivated and charging, he also saw a few Geonosians walking around, all wore the same armor, but seemed to carry more medical items, syringes, bandages, stuff of that sort. Most importantly he looked to his right and saw another medical bed with the exit door behind them. Rusty was lying on said bed, his body still lifeless and unmoving, the lights in eyes still off. However, his arm seemed to be reattached and the dents and scratches gained from their clone scuffle seemed to have been repaired. Jake knew in the back of his Rusty would be fine but he was still worried, with a pained grunt he sat up, only now noticing his left arm I caused a wrap of bandages, along with several used bandages covered in blood on the table to his left. While looking over their R4 detected his movement and turned on, his Main eye now glowed as the droid went into an ecstatic series of beeps and other droid noises, Jake smiled and happily pet R4s head. 

A few Geonosian doctors and mechanics rushed over to see Jake awake, they didn't ask much other than "are you ok" and "how are you feeling" in their native language of course. Jake swung his legs to the right side of the bed, R4 rolled from the left side of the bed to meet him as Jake stood up, he used R4 for support before standing up fully on his own. He walked slowly towards Rusty, while the B1 was fully repaired, the sight of Rusty's body completely motionless, was unsettling, it was almost as if the droid had become an Image.

"Arech top Tara mop to ahahrhl ao ach terro irch" one of the Geonosians spoke behind him, as Jake turned R4 translated it to "your droid is fully functional, yet requires some time to charge"

"Alright" Jake spoke in a hoarse voice "thanks for fixing him" 

The bug nodded, before being called over by someone else, Jake turned back towards Rusty, however he saw someone unexpected on the other side of the table, Teesh, who was also inspecting the B1.

"Ssssoooo...what happened?" Teesh asked In a blatant concerned tone.

"I left Rusty at home while I got some scrap" Jake wheezed before coughing for a bit " he found himself being chased by some Clones, we stopped them....but" Jake stared at Rusty

"the droid got shot" Teesh finished as he turned to face Jake.

Jake walked around towards Teesh , the Trandoshan turned towards the door, and with Jake giving a final glance towards Rusty both walked out, R4 in tow. Teesh led Jake to his house, the boy was in no condition to use a speeder, so getting back home would require a lot of walking, that was also a stupidly bad idea. Teesh opened his door and Jake oversaw the lizard's home, looking to the left an unknown brown pelt layer on the floor in front of 2 seats. Across the seats was a kitchen with a table to the right of it, a door layer to the left of the kitchen which Jake assumed was the Bathroom. And to the right of the Entrance there was a wall with a door attached which Jake guessed was Teeshs bedroom.

"you can sssstay here for a bit, but you better go home ssssoon" Teeshs tone was of course harsh, but Jake knew the lizard cared, so he responded with a smile before taking a seat on one of the chairs. Teesh walked into his bedroom, returning moments later with something in his hand. Upon further inspection Jake saw that it was a Blaster pistol, a Trandoshan Doubler. a small compact blocky pistol, its signature part was a massive square attachment to the front of the pistol that increased its firepower, but made it slightly heavier than other pistols.

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"Keep thissss, that sssssstick of yourssss is getting you into trouble" Teesh spoke as kind as he could with his slurred speech as handed Jake the blaster.

"Really?....thanks Teesh" Jake said slowly, but thankful. He looked up and gave Teesh a small smile with a thumbs up from his working arm. Teesh had little reaction but gave a quick thumbs up in return. Teesh walked towards the kitchen to fetch something for them to eat, Jake sat there enjoying the silence that engulfed him, the only problem being he missed the high pitched voice of Rusty, he pat R4s head next to him as the droid shut down to rest. Jake smiled towards R4, happy nothing had happened to him.

Now he just had to hope Rusty was ok....