juliatheawzom3274 ,Word prompt contest

Word prompt 2: Loyalty

Note: New character introduction: Zach Rumi

The desert sand blew around wildly as a lonely ship landed just at the perimeter of a long-forgotten oasis. Effortlessly, fingers flipped off the various switches that littered the dashboard of the Silver Stinger, a result of years and years of muscle memory. 

Thanks to the hat Zach Rumi wore, the sun's rays weren't as nearly as painful to his eyes. Taking a look at the silver ship, admiring it's well-earned carbon scoring from pass shoot-outs. He sighed and made his way down the ramp. 

Silver spurs of his boots stopped clinking when Zach's feet stopped at the edge of a grave. Looking down at the gravestone, he read the beautiful words that we etched into the marble. 'Here Rest's My Good Father'.

"Good to see you again Pops." The young mirialan slowly bent down and sat beside the gravestone. "Have you been taking care of the oasis? You've been gardening in your afterlife? The shade is awesome." He noted the great palm trees that littered the small paradise.

Zach sat in the silence, thinking over the recent events and how he somehow managed to survive through it all. "Ya know something pops? Something great happened. I'd say it was my greatest adventure." 

He waited for a while as if hoping for some sort of reply to come from the grave but only silence greeted him. "A week ago, the Rebellion defeated the Empire. Yeah, that's right. The young pesky Skywalker boy and his friends managed to destroy the second death star. You should've seen it, the explosion." 

"Not that you'd enjoy it," grunts escape his tired body as Zach popped two bottles of booze. The mirialan leaned one bottle by the gravestone, while the other rested in his hand. "You were very adamant about protocols and rules after all." emphasizing on 'were'. "Also, Uncle Rex survived the battle of Endor and so did Uncle Grumps. They are retired from the war for good. They deserve the rest." Uncle Grumps was Zach's special name for Wolffe. 

Taking a sip from the bottle, Zach's eyes squinted as the bitter liquid wet his tongue and drenched his throat. A cooling breeze swept the hair that fell across his face. In the silence that comforted him, Zach allowed his mind to wander back to the street of Coruscant during the clone wars. 

Zach was an orphan at the age of eight. His parents passed away due to the war. Not one soul to take care of him. One day, two years later, he bumped into a stranger while scavenging for food at Coruscant's lower levels. The younger mirialan boy looked up and found a clone before him, a very sad one. Blinking back to the present Zach spoke again. "I know I say this a lot, but I still am very thankful that you decided to keep me around since the day I met you."

Zach remembered how clingy he was to this clone. After all, the trooper was kind enough to feed him. As the unexpected journey of the misfitted duo began, Zach slowly learned more and more about the clone. Especially the reason he was not in the GAR any longer. Needless to say, the clone found himself caring for the young boy by some unseen miracle. In a small apartment, big enough for the two, they stayed and called home. 

"You remember the time I nearly blasted a hole in your head, pops." Zach nudged the gravestone, laughing as the memory resurfaced. "I was ten, and you had already thought me how to use a blaster. One day you came back home late at night, I thought you were an intruder or the police, coming to take you back to the army. So I took the blaster and shot you the moment you entered the door. Good thing I missed and only the wall suffered." Zach was very sure he gave the clone a heart attack. 

Slumping further into the soft sandy ground, Zach continued to reminisce on old memories. "Or maybe you recall the time I tried to get you a date with random women we met at the small food stalls. You always said you weren't the dating type but, boy those ladies had the hots for you." 

"Remember the time we had to quickly leave Coruscant? The day the Republic fell. We tried to get off-world, but something snapped in you and you wanted to desperately kill a Jedi. Thankfully, I managed to get you back in the right mind. You warned me immediately that we had to escape Coruscant. Blabbed about the Chancellor and some chip story told to you by one of your brother's who went rogue." Zach traced a number five into the sand. "Fives seemed like a good man. Wish I met him, but I know you kept it away from me to protect me."

Looking back at the Silver Stinger, Zach pressed his lips to a thin line and hummed. "That's how we got the Stinger and left the planet. Running around, planet-hopping to avoid the Empire."

Taking another swing from his bottle, Zach pulled a gold chain from his neck and fiddled with the locket that hung of it. "Thank goodness we did leave. I wouldn't have met Reetha if we didn't." He opened the locker and smiled fondly at the picture kept inside. It was a picture of Zach, Reetha and Pops. All with happy and carefree smiles on their faces. 

A swirl of emotions stirred within Zach. Sighing deeply, Zach turned to look at the gravestone "By the way Pops, I have a surprise for you. I asked Reetha to marry me about a year after you passed, and she accepted." The mirialan blushed happily as warm feelings washed over him. He raised his hand to the sky and wiggled his fingers. "See the ring. You would be glad to know that I used your advice when I proposed to her. Married for two years already." The mirialan proudly boasted.

In Zach's heart, he was greatly in debt to his Pops. It was Pops who greatly supported the blooming relationship Reetha and Zach had. It was Pops who told Zach and encouraged him to make the move and ask Reetha's hand in marriage since the girl had been in their crew five years, and Zach was head over heels for her. "We found a place to stay on Lothal. She wanted a simple life for our baby, I do too. We are going to be farmers." 

"I also have another surprise." This time, there was a hint of cheekiness and pride in the mirialan's voice. "Reetha is... with child." A big smile shone on Zach's face. "You're a grandfather Pops. You're ancient now." Zach turned his attention to the lake oasis and laughed. "You got old. Really old." 

Hoping that his Pops heard the wonderful news, Zach fell into a brief silence. Among all the moments he had with Pops, meeting his brothers when they joined the Rebellion, then his wife, and fighting a war Zach thought he'd never survive, nothing could have prepared him for the death of Pops. Since Pops was a clone, naturally he aged twice as fast as a regular human. 

Although the clone still engaged in shoot-outs and fights with stormtroopers, he couldn't move like he used to. Zach remembered Pops annoyed voice as he complained about aching bones and bad eyesight. If it was one thing the mirialan was thankful for, was that his Pops died a natural death, not of injury or health issues. 

However, the most important thing that Zach was ever grateful for, was the lessons he learnt from his fatherly clone. Placing down his half-emptied booze bottle beside the full one on the gravestone, Zach stood on his feet and faced the grave. Dusting off his coat, Zach pulled out a piece of crumpled paper. His fingers traced the edges of the paper and the words written on it. 

"Dear Pops." He began to read. "You were the greatest in my life. I love you and I wish I told you every time we talked. I'm glad you found me and took me in as your own because if you had not, I would have not survived and known such life. Our adventures brought me to meet not just my wife, but your brothers, my uncles. I never had the chance to say this to you and never knew how, but now I do." Stopping to take a breath, Zach continued ad hoped his voice would not crack. 

"Thank you. Thank you for being my father, my guardian. Thank you for teaching me how to defend myself and my family. Thank you for showing me what living truly meant. Thank you for teaching me to be brave, understanding, strong, smart and most importantly loyal." Turning the paper around to the next page, he gently continued. 

"You told me once, that you learned about loyalty in the most painful way. Loyalty means following the orders we are given, but not blindly. I nearly walked down the same path during the Rebellion because I never understood what true loyalty meant." 

Craking slightly in his voice, Zach refused to stop. "One does not follow orders even when we know they are wrong. That does not make us any less than loyal. In fact, it shows that we understand the boundaries of loyalty, how not to take advantage of a person's loyalty. If I hadn't learned that from you, I would have lost Reetha and many of my friends. But your advice and words saved me. So now I vow, that I will stay loyal and protect my family, like how you thought me. Thank you."

Crouching down to the grave, Zach placed the paper in between the two bottles. He ran his hands on the engraved words and taking in the feeling of the cool marble beneath his fingertips. "I might not be able to visit you as much, but I will come here again. To show you your grandson. Reetha misses you too." 

Zach hovered his fingers upon the name of the clone that sat engraved on the gravestone. "I hope you don't mind if I have a son, I'd name him Tup, after your closest brother. If I were to have a daughter though, I'm still working on the name." A grin spread on the mirialan's face. 

Sighing, Zach stood up and took one last look at the beautiful and peaceful grave, in the beautiful oasis. "Thank you so much, Dogma." 

With a final smile and a nod, Zach made his way back to the Silver Stinger and flew back to Lothal, to his family, vowing to be a good father to his child, like how Dogma was to him.