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BEAVeR

[SoNE Ep. VI] 3 - Just another horror

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It is easy to find something on Ord Mantell. As long as you’re looking for something that hasn’t been destroyed yet. The facility we’re headed to is surrounded by junk, and seems to be mostly built with junk. But still, it has something… different. It seems like the one place on this planet where something constructive is happening.

Approaching a free space that seems supposed to be a landing platform, that thought becomes contradictive. This constructivism seems to come forth from destruction. Yes, the equipment seems to be made from old parts, nothing fancy here. And the facility seems to be made to recycle the pieces of junk that have replaced the planet’s vegetation. That explains why this facility is a concurrent to that… cancer on Fondor. There, they squeeze the planet out, not caring about the consequences. Here, they relieve the planet.

For once, industry makes me happy. But the ominous absence of employers, the lack of movement and the complete silence remind me of the reason why we’re here. We’re here to find this constructivism probably destroyed…

As the cloud of dust settles from our landing, probably the only living human in the environment approaches. A lone, shadowy figure.

“We’re here to investigate the murder of your employer” There’s no escaping the truth.

“Investigate? No one ever comes here to investigate! This is Ord Mantell. Half of us don’t even know what the word ‘police’ even means. But alright, I don’t want to mess with you. I hope you Imperials will punish the Rebels for what they did. The crime scene is this way. I’m the janitor by the way”

Since the facility has no hover platforms, we walk. On the left, giant chaotic heaps of junk. On the right, neatly stacks of cubic blocks of metal. We ascend a riding maintenance platform to have a better view of the heart of this part of the facility.

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[soNE Ep. VI] 3 - Just another horror by Bert.VR, on Flickr

“The trash compactor here is where it happened. The Rebels must have used this very platform to drop their victims in it. A technician once told me there’s a scanner in the machine that measures composition of whatever is in it. That’s to keep the metal pure, and it should prevent people getting caught in the machine as well. But those murderers were prepared, and as far as I can tell, they overwrote the system. Their victims died a horrible dead…”

Atrocious. The bounty hunter could just have shot the boss. Maybe he thought that wouldn’t deliver his message clearly enough. No, he disposed of his victim as if the human was nothing more than a piece of junk. And in an act of perverse symbolism, he used this machine that gives new life to the junk to take the life of something as beautiful as a human. A human that once had conceived this great facility, that had tried to give a new life to this planet, hope to the people. And now he’s just another victim…

No, it can’t be true…

“And why? The boss was a good man. And his family … they didn’t even deserve a worthy dead.”

Words fail me. Thoughts fail me. Goatm does the talking. He doesn’t seem to be affected at all.

“How do you know it were the Rebels?”

“They left a datapad behind, probably the one they used to overwrite the system. I haven’t had a closer look, but it is just too obvious. We don’t need an investigation. And who else would do this? Aren’t those terrorists the only ones who should commit such atrocities? Aren’t they the only beasts that are cruel enough? No one dares to come to work anymore, this might be a sign. I don’t know why, but it seems they want this facility closed. Maybe to prevent people having the means to defend themselves. But only they would be cruel enough to take away the hope of all the workers. I’m the only one left, just looking around to see if something could be of further use…”

“Still, you can have no objection for my colleague taking a closer look here. I would like to have a word with you in the meantime.”

I descend the platform, still baffled. The two are heading somewhere else with the platform.

I can’t get over it. Some moments ago, I despised the bounty hunter, but I thought he wasn’t the only one to blame. There were still the people who gave him the task. If they hadn’t given it, he wouldn’t have done it. But now… murdering the family of the target could never have been the assignment. He did it for no reason, purely for the pleasure that gave him. The murdered boss was a businessman. He knew there were risks to what he did. He could have taken precautions. But his family… they had never taken the risk. Yet the bounty hunter took them, and killed them in the most atrocious way for absolutely no reason.

This is no war. This is no job. This is plain murder. Of the most atrocious kind.

But this bounty hunter, this plain murderer, he got away with it. Nobody suspects him. They suspect the Rebels. He even gets handsomely paid for this. This can’t go on. But nobody does something. Nobody even seems to care. Nobody knows…

This is war. With all these battles going on, all these casualties, all this misery, such a murder is just ‘normal’. People die every day. They die by the hundred. Why care about these unimportant victims? It isn’t even important to find out why they died, not even who killed them. There is no police anyway. These things just happen every day. We should accept this.

What has war done to the people? It has made a murderer of many a soldier. And it has made everyone indifferent. Nobody cares anymore. Nobody cares that there are more people dying than living these days. Whether it is in the war or not. From time to time, if someone gets killed they know, people wake up and think this can’t go on. But only to fall asleep again. It’s the war that killed them, and what can we do about the war? This just happens. Killing has become the new normal.

How can this go on? How can people keep adoring murderers like Boba Fett? How can we want to thank him for his good work? How can I participate in this madness? I have to wake up, and stay awake. Before I can even start to think how to end this, how to wake up the world, I have to wake up myself. How?

I have no idea, but this murdering ‘hero’ is not getting a thank you card from me. But I will find him. Datapad, show me the way to the land of the living.

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[soNE Ep. VI] 3 - I'm going to find him by Bert.VR, on Flickr

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The story continues in goatman461's build, right here.

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Thanks for reading another one of my heavy stories. I hope you like it as well as the build, and i do hope it makes you think. Let me know!

I wanted to do something else for Ord Mantell. Because it would fit my story, and because making wreckage and pile it is just impossible in LDD. I hope this unexpected take can still please you. I tried to keep everything plausible to build, but with the complicated mechanics, it is often hard to keep track of the stability. And I know those pieces that make up the pillars of the platform have a certain flexibility. Maybe they're rigid enough to keep it up. If not, this would be the equivalent of fishing rope here, and I hope that's okay. Hopefully, this doesn't offend anyone.

Finally, if some parts look a bit strange to you, that's due to artefacts in the render. Olive green renders horribly, more like sand green, so I had to adjust everything, and this might have some strange implications. Also, there were some polygons astray, and I had to edit them out. Hope it isn't to offensive for the eye...

Thanks again, and if anyone want to have a look around the model, here is the LDD file.

Edited by BEAVeR
Title change at poster's request.

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"I'm a loaded gun yes, but you, you're the hand that pulled the trigger!" (or something like that, it's not an exact quote) from Arrow.

"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it! I just do things... The schemers are who made you who you are" from Joker in The Dark Knight.

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Nice idea and build! It's really amazing to see, what is buildable in LDD ...

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Thanks again for your comments!

Very good, you used nice and unusual parts, so it is even better.

Of course, a good MOC isn't defined by some NPU's, but I have to admit it is often such a new parts usage that starts it all with me. In fact, I had no idea how I was going to build this, until I read a review of Cragger's command ship, mentioning the olive green rafts. The connection was rapidly made, and the whole MOC just started from there. So if you ever get stuck, just have a look at some wacky parts, and they might inspire your entire build! It's fun to watch, but definitely fun to build as well with those pieces. They always provide new challenges (e.g. those snow ploughs have a width that is out of system, so I had to figure an entire construction out behind that wall), and often accomplish new things.

"I'm a loaded gun yes, but you, you're the hand that pulled the trigger!" (or something like that, it's not an exact quote) from Arrow.

"I'm like a dog chasing cars, I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it! I just do things... The schemers are who made you who you are" from Joker in The Dark Knight.

Well, I don't know how these quotes are going to help me to build better MOCs :look: ... :laugh: Seriously though, they illustrate that I'm not the only one having these thoughts, so that they might be important after all. I'm just a single link in an entire world that is trying to say something sensible, and I'm glad that some of it has come through. Thanks for the insightful background information!

Nice idea and build! It's really amazing to see, what is buildable in LDD ...

Thanks a lot! Though if it's amazing what is buildable in LDD, you're actually just saying it's amazing what is buildable with Lego. I'm doing nothing here that can't be done in real life (I hope so, at least). Sure, I have infinite bricks, but I lack the physical contact and the particular way of viewing the brick like that, and building complex structures is a real nightmare. And the o so useful illegal connections... I have to do without them. In a way, I can only connect bricks the way they were intended to, instead of discovering all kinds of accidental connections. And an unlimited supply of bricks is sometimes annoying as well: with a limited supply, it is way easier to 'see' what you can build. But I'm not complainging... as long as you don't treat actual and digital builds as something completely different. So I am very glad you like it!

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Well, I don't know how these quotes are going to help me to build better MOCs :look: ... :laugh: Seriously though, they illustrate that I'm not the only one having these thoughts, so that they might be important after all. I'm just a single link in an entire world that is trying to say something sensible, and I'm glad that some of it has come through. Thanks for the insightful background information!

Yes, I'm sorry that was so cryptic! The quotes were just the first thing that came to mind after reading your story and I couldn't help but post them. Your build is truly fantastic. Amazing work as always!

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