The Lone Power Droid (another Star Wars Day story)

May 5, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ Leave a comment

The Lone Power Droid

“Gonk.” EG-16 said to itself sadly.

The EG-Series Power Droid wandered slowly forwards. Ahead of it was countless kilometers of sand. EG-16 was still feeling stressed and anxious over the previous day’s events.

Only yesterday EG-16 had been on a Jawa sandcrawler in the company of other droids, when abruptly the sandcrawler came to a halt. Shortly afterwards came the sound of blaster explosions. The droids began to panic. Then a hole was blown into the side of the sandcrawler, presumably by TIE laser cannons. Stormtroopers began to enter the vehicle. When it was all over the droids had been shot, dismembered, or incinerated. EG-16, had somehow survived the ordeal. Once all was clear, the droid walked through the wreckage and past the dead jawas. EG-16 kept on going until the tragic scene was out of their sensor range.

The droid continued walking onwards, though sand was beginning to clog up it’s joints and the twin suns were beginning to overheat it’s circuits, but still they kept on hoping to survive this ordeal.

At one point EG-16 suddenly stopped and wondered how the Universe could be so callous and cruel. Some of the droids on the sandcrawler had been friends, and they had been mercilessly destroyed. Did nobody care about those droids or even this power droid who was lost and forgotten? EG-16 may only be a walking battery, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have thoughts and feelings. “Gonk.” The droid said softly to the surrounding environment. There was, of course, no reply. They began walking forwards again, resuming their seemingly futile journey.

Eventually EG-16 came to a ridge. They saw kilometers of featureless sand going on forever to the horizon. For the first time the droid began to lose hope. Then their sensors detected a vehicle moving towards them. Maybe at last they were going to be found? EG-16’s hopes began to grow as the vehicle came ever closer…

Joanne Fisher

For some reason I’ve always wanted to write a story about a power droid, and here it is. I wrote this shortly after the previous story.

Please support this blog: http://ko-fi.com/jedigirl 🙂

Survival (A Star Wars Day Story)

May 4, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ 2 Comments

Survival

“We need to get out of here!” Treddu screamed just as his X-Wing exploded. Shenda flew her X-Wing as fast as she could. Already there were two TIE Interceptors on her tail. She was the last one left. Something had gone terribly wrong.

It was meant to be an easy mission. A squadron of X-Wings had been sent to take out an Imperial communications facility. They came out of hyperspace and flew towards their target. Everything seemed to be going to plan when suddenly an Imperial Interdictor appeared, and the next thing they knew there were TIE fighters all around them. Half the squadron was destroyed in the first few seconds, while the remaining ones tried to flee only to be shot down one by one by the Imperial forces, and now only Shenda was left.

There must have been some bad Intel, or maybe, Shenda wondered, there was an Imperial spy in the Rebel base who told the Empire about their planned attack. She was still too near the Interdictor to escape back into hyperspace, so she tried to get some distance, though she knew the Interceptors were faster than her ship, and unless she found some way to get away, they would successfully hunt her down as they had with the rest of her squadron.

Shenda closed her eyes and focused. She needed to get back to her base and tell them what had happened and to also tell them about her suspicions. Until then she was going to do the best she could to survive…

Joanne Fisher

May the Fourth Be With You! Happy Star Wars Day!

Please support this blog: http://ko-fi.com/jedigirl 🙂

Cancelled Flight (repost – flash fiction)

April 28, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ 2 Comments

Cancelled Flight

Princess Saphielle woke up excitedly. Today she was flying across the Broken Sea to the Kingdom of Strasal on her gold dragon Vanarth. There was a knock on her door. It was her servant, Tialha.

“Your highness, Vanarth has dragonpox and cannot fly today.” Tialha informed her

“What?!” Saphielle exclaimed. She ran to the dragon roost, and sure enough, Vanarth had red spots all over her golden scales.

“You could always fly on Ommyth.” Tialha suggested.

“My life is so unfair!” Saphielle wailed. She wouldn’t look so impressive flying on a silver dragon. The flight would have to wait.

Joanne Fisher

A story I wrote several years ago and have decided to repost. I made a slight alteration to it. Enjoy!

Please support this blog: http://ko-fi.com/jedigirl 🙂

Until the End (micro fiction)

April 21, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ 2 Comments

Until the End

Isabella stayed with Hazel as she began to expire. She had seen this so many times now: the final moments of someone’s life. Isabella always stayed with them to the end as they breathed their last breath.

Afterwards, Isabella stood up. Time to go home and rest. It would take a few days for her body to digest all the blood she had consumed this night.

Joanne Fisher

Word count: 66

This was written with the prompt expire provided by Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt #360.

Please support this blog: http://ko-fi.com/jedigirl 🙂

Disaster (micro fiction)

April 17, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ 1 Comment

Disaster

“My lord, this tempest is destroying our fleet.”

The Emperor stayed calm as the ship swayed violently. The Augurs had warned not to attempt a crossing today.

Joanne Fisher

Word count: 27

This was written with the prompt tempest provided by Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt #359.

Please support this blog: http://ko-fi.com/jedigirl 🙂

Sick Day (micro fiction)

April 12, 2024April 17, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ Leave a comment

Sick Day

“I’m not feeling so good.” Gina said. Erin put her hand on Gina’s forehead.

“You have a temperature. I think you should stay in bed today.” Erin told her.

“Whatever I have, I hope I haven’t given it to you.” Gina replied.

“Don’t worry I never get sick.”

“Yeah, you’re like a robot.” Gina said.

“I’ll make you some soup.” Erin said as she walked out of the bedroom. She looked at herself in the mirror. How did Gina know?

Joanne Fisher

This originally started life as a response to a prompt, but grew too large… I rarely get sick as well, though I don’t think I’m a robot (unless I’ve been programmed to think I’m a human. How would I know 🤔).

Please support this blog: http://ko-fi.com/jedigirl 🙂

The Sorceress and the Dragon (flash fiction)

March 29, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ 3 Comments

The Sorceress and the Dragon

There was once a kingdom that was being bothered by a dragon. Sometimes it would fly around and steal cattle; sometimes it would burn entire villages to the ground, and this was a problem.

The King sent for champions to deal with this dragon. He promised a large pile of gold to anyone who defeated it. From far and wide warriors came, many that had experienced numerous battles and single combats, and one by one they all went off into the hills to destroy this dragon, and none of them returned. And the dragon still kept flying around the kingdom causing mayhem and doing what it pleased.

Then one day a woman turned up. She wore a weather-stained travelling cloak and carried a staff made from oak. She had long black hair, and seemed younger than she should be.

“I am a sorceress.” She declared, “I will defeat your dragon.”

“Fine. Then seek the dragon out.” The King replied hastily. They let her go off alone into the mountains to fight the dragon. No one believed she was a sorceress. They all thought she was some mad delusional girl that would quickly meet her fate.

“She will be burnt to cinders within the first minute.” One of the King’s Counsellors said, and everyone agreed with him.

The woman had guessed no one had believed her, and she didn’t care what they thought. She was older than she looked, and had far more experience than any wizard with long grey hair. So she walked into the mountains to seek her foe. She eventually found the dragon perched on top of a hill. It looked down on her. The Sorceress stopped and faced them.

“I’ve met many of the King’s warriors. They came here to defeat me. None of them survived longer than a few seconds.” The dragon said. “But you’re something else. It seems finally I have found a worthy challenge.”

“Fine. Then let’s begin.” The Sorceress said. She raised her arms and the fireworks began…

A few days later the Sorceress returned to the King’s castle. She strode into the throne room and stood there expectantly.

“So you defeated the dragon?” The king asked.

“Well we had a big fight, and then we had a serious discussion, after that the dragon agreed to leave this kingdom and never come back.” She said.

“I see. Well done!” The King replied.

“In my discussion with the dragon, they mentioned how they offered to leave your kingdom alone if you gave them enough gold, you told them you’d think about it, but instead you offered a smaller amount of gold to any champion that could defeat them.”

“Well it’s always best for the kingdom to go for the cheaper option.” The King replied.

“So can I have my gold now?” The Sorceress asked.

“Well the thing is we don’t actually have any gold to spare. I never seriously thought the dragon could be defeated.” The King admitted.

“Was there any provision made in case someone did actually defeat the dragon?” She asked.

“Well I was going to offer them the hand in marriage to my daughter, the Princess, but uh…”

“Is that what she wants?” The Sorceress asked.

“Well, she was never happy about the idea.” The King told her.

“Well it’s not really an option then, is it?”

“I guess not.” The King replied.

“So you have nothing to pay me with for defeating the dragon?”

“Nothing but our everlasting gratitude.”

The Sorceress sighed. “You see yonder hill?” She said pointing to a distant hill through the window. “I’m going to build a tower there. And then I’m going to be a bigger problem to your kingdom than the dragon ever was.” She then spun around and began walking out of the room.

“You can’t threaten me like that! Guards stop her!” The King ordered. The guards with their weapons ready ran towards the Sorceress. In an instant all of them turned to dust. The Sorceress walked out of the throne room without breaking her stride.

“I’ll be seeing you.” She stated as she left.

“Oh, nuts!” The King said.

Joanne Fisher

I came up with the idea for this story when I was recently rewatching the film Dragonslayer (1981). I seem to have recently developed a fondness for 1980s fantasy movies…

Please support this blog: http://ko-fi.com/jedigirl 🙂

The Forest Cottage (flash fiction)

March 26, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ 4 Comments

The Forest Cottage

I was tired of living in the city. I bought a cottage in the forest so I could be alone. Far away from anyone else.

Only hours after I had moved in there was a knock on my door. There were two people standing there. “We just want to say hello to you. We also live in isolated cottages here and want to welcome you to our little community.”

“Thanks.” I said. Once they had gone, there was another loud knock on my door. Standing there was a woman with a green face and hands. The rest of her body seemed to be covered with bark.

“Technically I’m your neighbour. If you ever need anything tree-related, feel free to call on me or my sisters.” She said in a serious tone.

“Good to know.” I replied. Then afterwards, there was a light tapping. I opened the door to find a squirrel and a badger standing there. The badger handed me a leaflet.

“Ever considered adopting a talking woodland critter? There are many talking animals in need of a home, and a good conversation.” The squirrel said.

“I’ll consider it.” I told them. Next was some frantic rapping. I opened the door to find a pixie hovering there. They handed me a voucher.

“All goods at your local Faerie Market are a tenth off in value for tomorrow only! Just go through the nearest portal tomorrow, present the voucher, and save!” The pixie said in it’s shrill voice. I closed the door on them.

In the evening there was yet more knocking. I opened the door to find two tall figures with long blonde hair and pointed ears. They both carried bows. “Just to let you know we’re the local forest watch and your cottage is protected.” One said.

“Thanks.” I replied. After that, I went to lie down on my bed only to hear another series of knocks. Confound it all! I was getting bothered here far more often than I ever was in the city…

Joanne Fisher

This was originally a prompt but the tale grew in the telling…

Please support this blog: http://ko-fi.com/jedigirl 🙂

The Foretelling (flash fiction)

March 19, 2024March 19, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ 4 Comments

The Foretelling

I had escaped to an isolated cottage in the forest to hide. They were after me, and it would only be a matter of time until I was found.

You see, I can accurately foretell the future. I’m not sure whether I accurately see the future or change the future when I make a pronouncement. Either way my predictions become true. Government agencies, television networks, religious groups, and criminal organisations all wanted a piece of me. Some wanted me for their own ends, while a select few wished to snuff me out.

I decided to finally see my own future. I stood in front of the mirror: “You will be standing in front of the mirror foretelling your own future when a sniper’s bullet will pass through your head and hit the mirror in front of you.” I watched the bullet hit the mirror and then I collapsed to the ground.

Joanne Fisher

Word count: 150

It seems as though my previous post, Do As I Say, is not being seen by people for some reason. I’d be grateful if you would take a look at it (unless you’ve already seen it). You can view it here: https://jedigirlblog.wordpress.com/2024/03/18/do-as-I-say-flash-fiction

This was written with the photo prompt provided by Crimson’s Creative Challenge #279.

This was my second attempt at the prompt. With my first attempt I wrote over 300 words. I’ll post that one sometime shortly. Even when I wrote this one, it was initially still one hundred words over the limit. I had to cut out a paragraph I really liked, among other things. Still it wasn’t really needed….

Please support this blog: http://ko-fi.com/jedigirl 🙂

Do As I Say (flash fiction)

March 18, 2024 ~ joanne the geek ~ 10 Comments

Do As I Say

“Yes?” I asked my advisor while finishing some foie gras in my private dining room.

“There’s been a leak to the press about the latest cuts. It’s bound to spark more outrage.” He said.

“People have to learn to live with less. We all have to tighten our belts.” I said as I poured another glass of champagne. “Want some caviar?”

“Nevertheless there is the perception that the cuts to public spending is being siphoned by us in government to pay for our rather excessive lifestyles.”

“That’s nonsense. We’ll talk more about this later, my gold-plated Rolls-Royce is waiting.”

Joanne Fisher

Word count: 99

This was written with the prompt leak provided by the Carrot Ranch March 12 Story Challenge.

Please support this blog: http://ko-fi.com/jedigirl 🙂