[SoNE Ep. V] Many Bothans Died... Well At Least One

[MKJoshA]

OoC: See the rest of the story:

Season 1

Season 2

Junker's Fee

Welcome to Fondor

Fondor City Nightlife

I walked into the factory as a few strangling workers walked out. They didn’t seem to care that a stranger was walking onto the premises so I knew security wasn’t going to be a problem.

I could see that the whole place was in need of repair, though things looked functional. I walked into the main work floor and noticed a being who was still working. I walked up to him and seeing his furred features I knew I had found my Bothan.

“Sir, I’m here because I was told you might have some information for me. I’m part of the Rebel Alliance.” I said to him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Now please leave, I have some last minute work to finish” He responded.

His use of the code phrase “I have some last minute work to finish” reminded me that he was probably waiting for the pass phrase that would let him know that I was truly one of the good guys.

“I’m sorry, but I’m pretty certain you are the right individual I’m supposed to meet. You see, a Mon Calamari with a dry throat told me I might meet you here” I answered back.

At this he paused for a moment and caught my eye. He fished in his pocket for a moment as he said, “No, you are mistaken, now please leave.” But as he said that he pressed a data crystal into my hand.

I started to say “Thank you” but he was turning around already.

Right then the door opened and two stormtroopers rushed in firing on the Bothan. His body fell quickly and their guns trained on me.

One of the troopers removed his helmet and I received the shock of a lifetime. My brother stood there in gleaming white armor pointing a rifle at me. I knew this day might come. It almost came back on Hoth.

I had played this scenario through in my mind a hundred times and had never figured out how I would handle it when it happened. So I opened my mouth and just started talking.

“Well brother, we never did see eye to eye on politics” I found myself saying to him.

“Corporal, what are you doing?” one of the masked faces asked my brother.

My brother ignored the question and instead said, “Well, well little brother. I never thought you would go so far as to join the rebels. Don’t you realize what you’re doing is a galactic crime? I know you’ve never liked the way the Empire runs things, but are you really willing to commit treason against the established authorities?

“I don’t know if there is anything I can say to help you understand brother. You’ve never understood the importance of morals over power. The Empire only desires control with no thought of the people it’s supposed to protect” I said and then gestured at the body next to me. “Just look at this poor soul!”

“He got what he deserved!” my brother shouted. “Without order this galaxy would tear itself to pieces. What YOU don’t understand is that those who rebel against the government have only themselves to blame. People repeat the history stories of the small bands of individuals who decide they want to change how the government is run. But what happens then? Those rabble rousers become the new authorities with their own enemies who want to overthrow them. Who are we to decide? You talk about morals, but isn’t it better to do your best within the established system instead of killing innocent people on your way to establishing the new round of ‘tyranny’?”

My brother’s words made me stop in my tracks. I knew I didn’t have time to sort through what he was saying to see if any of it made sense. I had to get out of this situation and get the Bothan’s information to the Rebel Alliance. “Brother,” I replied, “Whatever the right or wrong way to oppose corrupt government is, I don’t know right now. But I do know the Empire is not taking care of the planets under its protection. Just look at our own Corellia! The people suffer as the Diktat grows wealthier. How is that just? Whatever the right thing to do is, helping the Empire do its dirty work is not it.”

I was hoping my pleas were getting through to my brother. It was a long shot as none of our conversations before, back in the swoop garage on Corellia, had ever changed his mind; but I had to try something.

My brother paused a moment as he thought about what I had said, then asked, “Sergeant, permission to arrest this rebel sympathizer?”

“Negative Corporal, our orders are to shoot to kill. We’ve wasted enough time here as it is” came the answer.

Another second passed and then my brother raised his weapon. “I’m sorry brother. You never did know what was good for you. You never should have left Corellia.”

I closed my eyes waiting for the shot to end my life. Instead I heard the sound of metal on flesh and the quick movement of Stormtrooper armor. I opened my eyes to see a Mandalorian pulling his beskar blade out of my brother’s now dying body.

The other trooper was turning to open fire on the Mandalorian but he was too quick for them and soon there was a helmet on the floor separated from its body.

I was holding the body of my brother. His last words to me were, “You never did learn.” As his body went limp I looked up to see the Mandalorian holding his sword near my head. A voice came out from under the helmet and I realized that it was not a “he” but a “she.”

“Hand over the data crystal and your death will be quick,” she said.

“Now why would he do that?” came the questioning voice of someone I never expected to see again. Kale stepped into view with a heavy repeating blaster in hand. “I know Mandalorian armor is supposed to withstand a lot, but I’m not sure you want to test it against this thing” he said.

“You’ll regret the day you crossed our path smuggler” the bounty hunter said. But she turned and walked out with any more threats.

As much as I didn’t want to leave my brother to become just another number on the Empire’s casualty list, I knew we had to get out of there fast.

“Kale! I am glad to see you! Can you get us out of here unseen?” I asked.

He just rolled his eyes. “Can an ewok sing ‘yub-yub’?”

“I don’t know,” I answered, “I’ve never heard an ewok sing.”

“Well try to avoid it if you can, come on, let’s go” was his answer.

We made our way back onto the streets of Fondor City and quickly got lost in the crowd of workers out to enjoy their night. I had Kale help me find a data transfer point and I sent the Bothan’s encrypted information onto to the Rebel Alliance. I also included this message, “I’m going to be going off the grid for a little while. I ran into some Imperials and others who might be giving me a hard time. I’ll contact you when it’s safe again.” I didn’t add that I also needed time to process my brother’s final words and to figure out why Kale was helping me. It looked like I was going to be getting to know the back streets of Fondor City pretty well.

[VK-318]

Wow ... lots of plot twists in a short space of time there. I really like how so many builders a creating some strong personal dramas and side-stories here.

The door design is really terrific, and I like the layout of the factory. But I do think the white is a poor choice for a planet that is, if I remember your previous remarks correctly, fairly poor and run-down. The wedge plates and round plates help with a battered look; maybe using dark bley instead of white would have been better.

[MKJoshA]

Fondor is actually a very well-off planet overall. There are just some run-down parts. The white is supposed to represent a time when the factory was at the top of the line. I'm trying to incorporate White and Orange as Fondor's main colors.

I'm glad you like the door design. It's something I've been planning on using for awhile

[Lord Tyrus]

Great story!The cracked walls look really effective! I don't agree with VK, the white does look OK, maybe break up that big stripe a bit though, if it's meant to be run down.

[Nom Carver]

The cracks on the walls and the damaged floor look great, you could have used some old grey bricks here and there to get a more old and damaged look, and the story is absolutely fantastic but a little dramatic .

[MKJoshA]

Great story!The cracked walls look really effective! I don't agree with VK, the white does look OK, maybe break up that big stripe a bit though, if it's meant to be run down.

Thank you Tyrus, I appreciate your kind words!

The cracks on the walls and the damaged floor look great, you could have used some old grey bricks here and there to get a more old and damaged look, and the story is absolutely fantastic but a little dramatic .

What do you mean it was dramatic!

Just kidding. I'm glad you like it.

[MstrOfPppts]

The build itself is nice and clean. The wall cracks are well done and the doors with those turntable tops really look interesting. The inclusion of the conveyor is a nice touch! For how the walls are damaged, I think that the rest of the hall looks too clean. Maybe you could put some junk here and thre. This way you can't even tell what they're producing in this factory. Droids, food, anything's possible with just crates lying around. I also miss some more color since if it wasn't for the figs and the blue pins (which are more disturbing than helping with color), it'd look like it's made in grayscale. As said adding some junk - products could help with that. Aother possibilites are some crates in brown and maybe some accesories on the walls - fire distinguisher, first aid box, some signs, red alarm lights or yellow stripes around the machines - just anything that could revitalize the color scheme.

[markus1984]

Excellent work!

Many details, good story an some nice technical subtleties.

Love clean builds and the idea how you made the door ist great!

markus

[MKJoshA]

Excellent work!

Many details, good story an some nice technical subtleties.

Love clean builds and the idea how you made the door ist great!

markus

Thank you Markus!

The build itself is nice and clean. The wall cracks are well done and the doors with those turntable tops really look interesting. The inclusion of the conveyor is a nice touch! For how the walls are damaged, I think that the rest of the hall looks too clean. Maybe you could put some junk here and thre. This way you can't even tell what they're producing in this factory. Droids, food, anything's possible with just crates lying around. I also miss some more color since if it wasn't for the figs and the blue pins (which are more disturbing than helping with color), it'd look like it's made in grayscale. As said adding some junk - products could help with that. Aother possibilites are some crates in brown and maybe some accesories on the walls - fire distinguisher, first aid box, some signs, red alarm lights or yellow stripes around the machines - just anything that could revitalize the color scheme.

I agree. The build lacks color overall. I was trying to balance realism of a factory setting (I've worked in a few production assembly-line places and there is surprisingly very little color) and aesthetic appeal. As for fire extinguishers, I wouldn't want to get a letter from Lego and Marvel saying I stole their superhero trademark.

[Godtshep]

The conveyer belt and slope are nice additions. I like the minifigs and the Technic crane is good. Great job.

[BEAVeR]

These stories are getting more and more intense! And the builds grow with them. You've reached quite a high level already!

The build is quite refined, and i'm surprised to see some really, really nifty details. The layout of the factory is nice. the conveyor belt (where most of the work happens) is the focal point, and all of the other elements make sense as well. The hole in the wall (in black to make the connection with the belt!), the crates, the chute, the crane... all those elements tie in with the factory feeling, and everything seems to make sense. That's certainly well thought out. I think all the elements are there for a nice factory scene. The problem is that there are no traces of work. Sure, you really went for the battered look, but there are no traces that give us hints as to what happens there. Something like a darker track of tires on the floor, or a trail with more battering than usual. Or perhaps a pile with defective material, or a stain where once some oil or something-like-oil-but-with-a-very-techy-Star-Wars-name-like-carbon-repulsor-hydrofluid was spilled. So instead of random battering and debris, you could think of what wear regular factory work could cause. Showing that in your build, would achieve a new level or realism.

Thinking in that way, you would also see that using those round tiles as wear maybe isn't the best choice, as the resulting negative space has a weir, unnatural geometry. It is much more likely that a panel got loose or something like that, resulting in more rectangular damage (a 1x1 tile could be missing somewhere, or could have another color), or chipped of corners (like you achieved with the wedge plates). Protrusions from the floor would make for detailing, but would physically be a bit strange. You should use the same insights you used when decorating the walls, as with decorating the floor. Because damage often reveals something. The bars you see through the cracks in the walls are really masterful, and remind me of reinforced concrete. So in the same way, damage to the floor would reveal what's underneath the tiling. Again, tubes could be shown here, or just a filler of another color. And creating the floor in SNOT, by the way, would offer you more possibilities for damage, and would help you to have the seems between the panels a bit less present (it's fit to see them, but they are really a bit too clear).

A sentence back I was talking about color. I agree with MstrOfPppts that the build lacks a bit of color. And unlike with the Death Star, where that lack of color really works, here I have my doubts. There's something a bit off, but I can't say what. Maybe the color scheme is too light, and everything would be better with dark grey? Or maybe it's the lighting that isn't very realistic for a factory (something more bluish and sterile would be better, I guess). And because the factory is worn down, some color variation would be nice. I'm not referring to very bright coloring. Sure, there could be a piece of equipment all yellow, but that's not a requirement (although striking safety signs would be a good idea). No, I would suggest to work with dirty bricks. you said that those white elements refer to more glorious times. You should keep the white then, but you could use a couple of yellow bricks. The grays could be mixed with the old variants (and there could be sections where everything looks crisp after a reparation for instance). And on a higher level, there could be touches of brown and dark red in far off corners, acting as rust. These kinds of more subtle coloring would already bring much more life and realism to this contradictory facility, which has wear and tear all across but somehow looks a bit sterile.

But all in all, this is a very nice build. All the details are very good, and I like things like that combination of grill tiles and minifig levers. That column was a clever bit of layout. And all borders are pretty nice. The cracks are beautiful (although showing some studs at the inner edge would make for a more worn look), the door design is nice (although the fact that it isn't perfectly symmetric works on the nerves of my autistic side), and the story is just thrilling. I like all the action that is going on, and the fact that you have such a clear, well worked out story.my favorite part is the conversation though. You really get to see that they (or better, you) are brothers, both having a strong opinion and the will to fight for it. But the varying perspectives and opinions offer some strong points of view on that war. It should be clear I'm fond of that kind of deep thoughts about what is actually going on. And no matter how interesting I find it, you don't let it get boring and then there is that deus ex machina... which turns out to be the bad guys and... wow, you really had me there with all the events. Hat off for the gripping story and the beautiful build (in fact, the only issues I have are pretty vague, aren't they?). Amazing! So when is the book coming out?

[CCarmichael89]

Really like the amount of detail in the pictures. Dialogue was really well depicted in the photos as well