(S12 - Nal Hutta - CFS) Mato II: Fleeing the Stench

[RocketBoy]

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Prior Post: Mato I: A Death Sentence

Next Post: Mato III: This Your First Time In Hyperspace?

 

 

Chapter 2! Introducing: Terrible Photoshop. Returning: Part of the build from Part 1. I had fun.

 

                Yigs and Mato crept through the tunnels of Nal Hutta. Yigs, a young human anti-Hutt activist and recently escaped prisoner, had a ship in an empty dock not far from where they were. They just had to get there, and they’d be free.
As they hurried down a corridor, Yigs held her nose. “Kriff, what’s that smell?”
                “The Hutts,” replied Mato, who had been her captor only moments before. He had made a choice—he was leaving this life behind. “On Nal Hutta, you always smell the Hutts. I have never known a sniff that didn’t include them.”
                She grinned. “You have jokes, who knew?”
                There was a scuff from up ahead. They froze.
                A Kowalkian monkey-lizard rounded the corner, grinning and chattering when it saw them. It beckoned Mato forward, impatient. Then its eyes took in Mato’s noncompliance, and the blaster in Yigs’ unbound hand. The eyes went wide, filled with rage. It suddenly threw itself on them both, screeching and clawing and making enough noise that someone was bound to come running. Mato felt it’s hands pulling at his eyes, before Yigs grabbed it and threw it to the floor.
                “Enough!” shouted the Weequay. He swung his vibroaxe.
                It clattered against the floor. The monkey-lizard’s head soon followed.
                “Great, now come on!” shouted Yigs. The echoing of footsteps was reaching them.
                Mato stood dumbstruck. “That was Baga’s favorite. Her pet.” The conditioning he’d been under all his life made his jaw go slack with fear. “I’m finished.”
                The woman grabbed his sleeve and pulled. “Not yet, you’re not! We have to go!”
                Mato shook his head and followed.
                Minutes of tense running, shouts from behind them, stray blaster bolts striking the foliage hanging overhead. They burst into the hanger, where a mottled freighter sat waiting. Mato turned around and smashed a panel with his axe: iron bars clanged down over the entrance, followed by a blast door.
                “That may slow them!”
                Yigs nodded, and led him towards the freighter. Yigs rushed to its ramp to do her pre-flight preparations. Outside the hanger door, the swampy fields of Nal Hutta stretched before them. Mato wandered to the edge and stood there, looking out on his homeworld for a final time.

 

                “No more Hutts,” he muttered to himself. “Never again. I’m going to be free.” He spat out the door. 
                Yigs was shouting his name. Something smashed against the blast door blocking off the tunnels. He charged up the ramp as it closed, and the ship lifted into the air. With a blast of force, it soared out of the hanger and into the sickly green sky.
                Yigs piloted them deftly to the safe, star-strewn black above.

There were so many controls in the cockpit, flashing lights whose purpose were a mystery. He looked out the viewscreen and swallowed a fearful gulp; the black of space seemed a forbidden, all-consuming thing.
                “I must sit down,” he stammered.
                “Feel free,” said the woman, elated with the thrill of escape. “Course is set for Wayland. You should get some rest. There’s, uh, a bunk back there, and some water.”
                He nodded in a stupor, and started to turn before she added, “Mato, thank you.”
                He looked at her, the girl he had been taking to die. The girl who had saved him. It had all happened so quickly, and yet he could never go back to how things were. Good riddance.
                “Thank you, Yigs,” he replied in kind, and he bowed.
                “You’re going to love Wayland, I promise,” she grinned, and she spun back toward the view screen and the infinite, confounding controls.
                Mato wandered into the recesses of the ship, found a soft surface (the blankets were not stained!) and fell into oblivion.

[karmajay]

Great story! Looking forward to more builds! :)

[Ross Fisher]

Once again, a great story. Keen to see how this develops. 

[n1majneb]

I like the design of the ship, Theres so much more to asymmetrical ships like the twilight and Outrider

[RocketBoy]

1 hour ago, Ross Fisher said:

Once again, a great story. Keen to see how this develops. 

Thanks for reading both posts so far. That's a fair bit of time and effort, I appreciate it.

 

2 minutes ago, n1majneb said:

I like the design of the ship, Theres so much more to asymmetrical ships like the twilight and Outrider

Yeah dude, asymmetry is my favorite. I get that everyone likes X-Wings, Y-Wings, and A-Wings, but the B-Wing is where it's at for me.

[marvelBoy123]

I've got to agree - I like that your going for asymmetry. I like where the story is going too - looking forward to see what happens next!

[Tariq j]

All 3 shots look great. 1st one has a good cramped feel about it - like we're in the tunnel with the characters. 2nd and 3rd ones are really good too - both have a nice cinematic feel to them. Good editing there.

[RocketBoy]

25 minutes ago, Tariq j said:

All 3 shots look great. 1st one has a good cramped feel about it - like we're in the tunnel with the characters. 2nd and 3rd ones are really good too - both have a nice cinematic feel to them. Good editing there.

Thanks a bunch!
On that note, I feel like I'm risking putting editing/cinematic feel over the builds themselves right now, which I want to be careful to mitigate going forward. Either way, I'm having fun! And learning a lot, lol.

[Simulterious]

Looking forward to more!