Padawan

38

The 212th came back from Kamino with overjoyed expressions. They mourned their lost brothers on Kamino with the other troopers. Sal greeted them on the Negotiator and the first thing she noticed was how full the ship looked.

"We got a ton of new shinies. A ton," Cody told her while sipping some of his decaf caf.

A shiny with a camera ran onto the bridge and started taking random pictures of some clones minding their own business.

"We have shinies that act like this," Cody sighed. "SNAP! Stop taking photos of the troopers!"

The shiny looked up and smiled at the Commander. "The General approved and he told me specifically to tell you to 'mind your shebs and act like Snap is not there.'"

Cody didn't believe the shiny one bit, but he knew that if this shiny didn't train he would die soon enough. A bad thought towards one of the vode, a rare thought indeed. He has wished for very few of his brothers to die, Slick being the only one. And Fox at times. The shiny walked up to Sal and saluted.

"Commander, sir!" Snap bellowed. Sal chuckled at the salute.

"It's just Sal. I am not as strict as the Kaminoans. Don't mind Cody, I know shinies don't lie," Sal replied. Snap dropped out of the salute and started taking photos of the bridge.

"This is cooler than the Kaminoans told us it would be," Snap said in awe while taking a picture of Cody while the Commander wasn't paying attention. "The Kaminoans told me I am defective. But me? I believe that I am not defective, I just have different likes than my brothers."

"And you like photography?" Sal asked.

"Yes! 99 snuck me a camera before he died. He's a good friend to us clones. A true soldier. And on top of that, General Kenobi gave me access to a photo printer!" Snap cheered.

"Kriffing di'kut jetii," Cody cursed from nearby, trying to stay silent. Either Snap needs hearing aids or he just ignored the Commander, the photographer continued raving.

"-the General also said that I can take photos of the planets we visit. I really cannot wait. I love seeing new places-"

"-the Kaminoans said that I needed a gun. Of course, I refused, because my camera is a weapon. You know, the flash? It hurts the enemies' eyes-"

"-and Commander Blitz said my batch died. I hated them. They were the reason I wasn't decommissioned, though.-"

"-I always keep a lot of flowers on me. Some of the Vode love to commission flower photoshoots with ration bars-"

"-this cadet, he was so small, I thought he was decanted too early-"

"-the Bad Batch is the best clone squad, but the 212th is better now of course-"

"-the Kaminoans almost accidentally put me in CC training. Can you believe that? I surely can't-"

"-what is a shiny? The other clones call me it. Is it because of my flash camera? Maybe. I am still not sure-"

Sal felt like Snap was rambling for hours. Snap was now talking about how Bantha meat tastes better than Nerf meat.

"-the food quality is degrading, you know? Now it's ration bars for lunch instead of cooked meals. They had to make the chefs fight too-"

"Just shut it, shiny, my head hurts," Cody growled.

"Sorry, Commander, but the medics are in the medbay," Snap told him. "Two floors down and a few halls to the left?"

"Just, go, shiny," Cody growled.

"Fineeeee," Snap groaned, but left not before getting a few pictures of some unknowing clones and an angry Cody.

...

Sal felt a disturbance that night. She was on some sort of strange planet, if you could even call it that.

Three strange figures walked up to her. Her vision was blurry, so she couldn't distiguish them.

Come to us, child.

We need him.

If he doesn't come the force will fall.

The figures vanished and Sal woke up. She rubbed her eyes and noticed her saber was glowing. She walked over to it and took out the crystal. It was vibrating and Sal studied it. It was glowing as bright as it did when she found it in the caves on Illum.

Sal messed with her hilt and grabbed a screwdriver. The saber was in need for a few tightened screws, anyways. Sal grabbed a few replacement screws and took the rusty ones out. She screwed the new ones in and made sure that they were sealed with the force. Sal set the hilt down and looked for a rag. She found her cleaning rag and cleaned the saber with a lot of scrubbing.

Sal grabbed the glowing crystal and inserted it into the saber. She remembered that she can't just push it in and that she has to use the force to insert the crystal in. She crossed her legs and felt the force flow through her. She focused on the lightsaber and kept her hands on her thighs. She heard the lightsaber click together and slowly drop to the floor. She grabbed the saber and made sure that all the plates didn't look too rusty or worn. She was going to have to replace some of the parts eventually.

Sal ignited the saber and knew something was up.

Her blade was yellow.