Dox and Oddball were two retired clone troopers during the time of the Rise of the Empire (ROAE), who decided to retire by flying, specifically as smugglers. However, in this case, their ship has crash-landed (it was Oddball's fault, Dox claims), and they are up to their own means to get it flying again...
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A Long Time Ago, in a galaxy Far, Far away...
(it's a little less vague if you read the first chapter)
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Dox And Oddball ROAE Chapter 2
The market here's not so bad, considering the location, Dox thought to himself as he silently watched a not-so-legitimate Merchant go about his buying. I even think Oddball would be surprised at how much they're trying to sell here... Someone must have lost it in a gamble, He further mused.
Him and Oddball had come a long way on simply gambles, like finding a ship they could retire in, when all of the junk ships they had to chose from were just that: Junk. Fortunately, Oddball had gotten quite a nice one by asking for some prototypes instead. Their new ship was no popular YT Model, but it worked well, lifting them out of a fiasco with some Stormtroopers on Tatooine.
For all their luck, though, Oddball didn't choose too good of a spot. The planet Ibdolad, as far as he was concerned, was not any better than Tatooine, if not worse. True, every continent on the planet was like a giant sandbar on a beach, but it had an even stronger Imperial Presence, and for that matter, was just as hot and as terrible as Tatooine.
"You want something?"
Dox nearly fell as he whired around, pistol out of his pouch, hoping to not get in trouble with the Empire again.
To his relief, he didn't have to use it. It was just a shabby shopkeeper that was talking to him.
"Wha- oh." Dox corrected himself as he reholstered his blaster. "Yea, I'll take that thrust vector magnet, along with a calibrator." It would surely help Oddy fix the ship.
Trying to say it as if it was an after thought, Dox added, "I'll pay you fifty for them."
He hoped that his rough appearance would scare the man as he added, "I'll take it now. Unless you don't wish to cooperate?"
For a second, it worked -but just a second. "No, You won't steal from me!" Shouted the citizen, as if he wanted everyone to overhear. Why is he yelling? thought Dox.
His answer came soon enough.
"Hey hold it there, citizen!" A harsh Electrostatic voice came from over his right shoulder. "Let's see some ID's."
A stormtrooper? Here? But how? This was supposed to be the corner of town, and was of no wartime use to the Empire; It was just a suburb. But that had to be dealt with later.
Dox knew this was going downhill. Turning, pretending as if he didn't know who that was without looking, Dox brought up his plastoid glove, swiping a straight cut to the chin of the trooper, sending him sprawling backwards.
The Trooper, whom Dox now identified to be a seargeant, fell loudly, And attracted the attention of a 4 man sqaud whom the seargeant was apparently leading, until Dox obviously put him out of that for the next while.
Ooops! Now, it was time for some quick thinking.
"I'm using your storage room!" Dox yelled as he plunged through the counterspace, stealing a moment to glance back. The troopers were just standing there. They should really pick up the pace... Aren't they paid enough to have that shiny armor?
The squad was fully running now. Dox fumbled to find the shop's back door to the storage shed where the shopkeeper was, no doubt, hiding some really nice parts. He jammed the door shut as soon as he had leapt in.
The back room was decently empty, actually. An old lamp flickered to life, only illuminating that fact more. But that didn't matter to Dox as he tried to find the back door.
It didn't take long for him to realize that there wasn't one.
"What?! No Back Door? But there must be some way out, Right?" Dox glanced around once more, during which he spotted possibly his second escape route: a large, black, round hole plug in the floor. "I hope that's not-" -But it was. "Okay, Fine. It could be worse."
Blasterfire streaked the door outside as the troopers out there decided to finally become a little brighter of thinking. "Okay, It's worse." Dox jumped in the hole the lid was covering, and shut the lid over him. It was then that the troopers became even brighter as they blasted the door lever, instead of uselessly pounding against metal. I always heard these new guys weren't so smart. But these ones are actually quite effective, Dox thought.
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"Yuck! I hate sewers! Even if they're empty." Dox grumbled as he popped a hatch above him, rising into a small alley way.
An explosion shook the ground.
Seconds thereaffter, Oddball emerged from around the corner, sprinting into a small shed, Which he quickly opened and ducked into. "What's he doing here? He's supposed to be on the other side of town!" Dox half-yelled, remebering that he was supposed to be hiding himself.
"I guess it went rotten for Oddball, too. Oddy, will you ever learn?"
His answer came with loud, but wild laser shot's streaking the once junky, and still junky, alleyway. "No he'll never learn." Dox saw yet a second seargeant streak into the little street followed by some troopers: Looking for Oddball, no doubt. Good job, Oddball. Really, really great job.
"Where did he go?" One Stormtrooper asked.
"I don't know. Let's fan out. You check the way we came," he gestured to one, "and you stay here," instructed the 'sarge to the other.
Funny enough, the exact moment the trooper sent back was out of earshot, a blast streaked from some corner (Dox couldn't tell which), hitting the assisting Tooper dead-center in the torso. Seconds there-after, with a "What-the-," the seargeant also fell.
A civilian eagerly raced around the corner, checking to see if one trooper might possibly still be alive, and seeing if he could steal an armor plate if he wasn't--
No, that wasn't it. The civilian was the shooter. And he had actually just shot the troopers, and now checking to see if he did indeed knock them out of action.
Satisfied, he turned and strode away.
"You're welcome, Strangers." He said as he dissappeared form the alley entryway.
Dox's brain later caught up whith what the man said. Didn't he mean Stranger? He helped Oddball, not anyone else directly, right? But no. No one would accidentally say a plural form of a word. He must have known Dox was also there. But how? Maybe I'm bad at hiding...
Was he following them from the beginning of this fiasco? Why? I think there may be some omnicient force user here, Dox mumbled.
Now that was an odd thought. Why did Dox think that way? There must have been some subtle hints that made him think like that; the way the man walked, the quietness in his voice, the way he carried himself... it was like reliving his days of when he was serving with Yoda, on Kashyyyk.
The man reminded Dox of a Jedi. No solid evidence, which could explain why the man wasn't captured yet, but literally every other indication that he was a Jedi: Tall, muscular, a vey clean man,... But didn't the chancellor order all of them to be killed? Dox stepped out of his hiding place to Oddy's 'hiding place.'
Oddball was curled up like a kitten, as far back in the shed as he could fit. Apparently, that was how he had been trained to hide, or he forgot how.
Mentally shaking his head, Dox breathed, "Oddball, I think we got saved by a jedi."
"Dox. I'm sorry about having to intrude into your end of the deal but," Oddy began, then stopped. "-- Wait, A jedi?" He questioned.
"...Never heard of it.," he openly mused, in a way that only he could do, "Wait, aren't they those Jedi starfigher pilots?"
Dox rolled his eyes, even though he knew that oddball wouldn't see it. Only Oddball would identify people by their ship. "Yea, I think it was a Jedi. I can't be sure-"
"WOW, aren't we special!" Oddball interrupted in that same, happy, impartial tone. "-And don't roll your eyes at me; I have seen many Jedi who only spend their time flying," he added.
"Yea sure." Dox continued, "But we'll need to steal a ride back to the crash site of our ship." He consulted his holomap app. "It should be only seven klicks west from here." He began calculating a route.
"But what about the unconscious troopers here?" Oddball asked. "Wait, I have an Idea..." He set to work
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"I did it," spoke Oddball, now strolling proudly away from his work of art, and regarded Dox, "Do you like it?"
Dox turned around from staring at his map. The stoopers were just sitting on top of the sewer hole, almost as if it were meant to be obvious that they were shot. It was almost like the rebel propaganda Dox had seen before.
"Oddball-. Oh, never mind. Let's just get going." Dox was still thinking about that 'Jedi' thing the whole journey to the depot.
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