{"id":17671,"date":"2021-05-07T20:31:53","date_gmt":"2021-05-08T03:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/?p=17671"},"modified":"2021-05-07T20:34:18","modified_gmt":"2021-05-08T03:34:18","slug":"trading-scars-swtor-short-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/trading-scars-swtor-short-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Trading Scars – SWTOR Short Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

To help introduce the new planet of Umbara to Star Wars: The Old Republic, a short story called Trading Scars was posted on the game’s website. This short story was written by Samantha Wallschlaeger, who was a member of the Bioware writing team at the time.<\/em><\/p>\n

I have recorded an audio version of this short story as a video!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a>Watch Video<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

Veesh was scaring the rookie again.<\/p>\n

Nira watched as the Umbaran commando glanced to make sure the train compartment was sealed, then pulled back the edge of his sleeve to reveal a series of ugly welts snaking across his wrist.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cGot this escorting a shipment last month. Banshee swooped in out of nowhere, right as we were crossing the canyon.\u201d He smirked, his voice muffled by the visor of his helmet. \u201cLatched onto my wrist long enough for the poison to seep in. The medics say I\u2019m lucky to keep my arm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nira noticed the rookie looked pale, even for an Umbaran. He was fresh from the capital city–this was his first time escorting the Adegan crystal transport, and Veesh wasn\u2019t making it easy on him. Nira wanted to give the poor kid a break, but she knew better than to step in once her partner got going.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, I fared better than Yuula. She\u2019s the one you replaced. We had a run-in with a vixian mauler last week, and she took the worst of it. She\u2019ll be with the medics for at least a week.\u201d Veesh turned around and pointed to his shoulder blade. \u201cGot me right here, with a glancing blow. I was lucky it didn\u2019t crush my helmet. You ever see a vixian mauler? Makes a rancor look like a mouse droid.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rookie gave a half-hearted laugh and leaned against the crate for support, his hands shaking. Nira shook her head. It would be his fault if another new guy quit.<\/p>\n

Veesh grinned and pointed at her with his blaster. \u201cNira\u2019s been a crystal guard longer than me. Bet she\u2019s got a few nasty scars of her own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot in the mood, Veesh,\u201d Nira said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, come on.\u201d He took a few steps forward and leaned against the wall next to her. \u201cGive us a story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nira took a long pause. She looked over at the wide-eyed rookie, whose face was turned to her in anticipation. She sighed, staring straight into Veesh\u2019s pale eyes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want a story? Fine. Let me tell you about the first guard job I ever took. We were supposed to be transporting crystals out to the port, across the void forest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody goes out there anymore,\u201d Veesh said with a frown.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of us. We were halfway out when we suddenly shut down. A new supply train in perfect condition, and it just\u2026 stopped moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veesh leaned back, saying nothing. Nira crossed her arms and continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe engineer couldn\u2019t figure out what was wrong, so he left the train to check the power source. After an hour, he didn\u2019t come back, and we knew something was wrong. My superior split us into two squads and sent us out to investigate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as we touched down, something just felt\u2026 wrong. It\u2019s always dark out there, but this worse than usual. I could barely see my hand in front of my face. And it felt like something was watching us.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly, we heard a rustle behind us. Our tech officer jerk upward, straight into the air. Then he flew into a tree twenty meters away. Died on impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that, it was chaos. Our medic jerked backward and just\u2026 vanished. My superior panicked and fired her blaster, and I saw the air shimmer. Looked like the shots hit something solid. For half a second, I could make out the creature\u2019s outline. An alpha slybex.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veesh let out a low curse. After a pause, Nira spoke again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard my superior scream, and then it was just\u2026 silence. Just like that, my entire team was gone. I didn\u2019t know what else to do, so I ran. Didn\u2019t stop until I was back at the train. On the way, I tripped over what was left of the other squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hid inside the cargo hold for three days before the rescue team found me. They said the entire train was covered in claw marks and poison stains. That I was lucky to be alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rookie finally spoke, his voice a hoarse whisper. \u201cYou are lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor five years now, I\u2019ve had to sleep with a light on,\u201d Nira said quietly. \u201cWe all have scars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A klaxon sounded, and the train jerked forward. Veesh stumbled, clinging to a crate for support.<\/p>\n

They were silent for a long time, listening to the rumble of the power source beneath their feet. After what felt like an eternity, Veesh cleared his throat.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think–\u201d<\/p>\n

Suddenly, a low thud overhead made all three of them jump. An urgent voice crackled over Nira\u2019s comm.<\/p>\n

\u201cSquad One, an Alliance strike team has landed over car five! Requesting backup!\u201d<\/p>\n

Veesh and Nira stared at each other, both knowing what the call meant. If the Alliance was here, they would face an enemy much deadlier than the slybex.<\/p>\n

Nira frowned, then picked up the rookie\u2019s blaster and placed it in his shaking hands. \u201cYour lucky day, kid,\u201d she said, forcing a smile. \u201cYou\u2019re about to earn your first scar.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To help introduce the new planet of Umbara to Star Wars: The Old Republic, a short story called Trading Scars was posted on the game’s website. This short story was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-lore-short-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swtorista.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}