“Bump” - From a Certain Point of View

"Bump", by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, comes from the perspective of Stormtrooper TD-110. This story follows "Of MSE-6 and Men."

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WARNING: This is a plot summary of the short story, spoilers ahead:

TD-110 is a loyal Stormtrooper. His squad had been stationed aboard the Devastator, and had been dispatched to Tatooine on a mission to find a pair of droids. The mission wasn't very long, but Tatooine was horrible. The sand had damaged several of the squad members' helmets and armor, and had left them completely worn out and in need of showers and rest. He had a headache. When the mission was called off, his squad was redirected from the Devastator to the Death Star. His headache worsened as he lamented that his helmet cam probably captured every moment of the failed mission. They were looking for droids, and had come across a couple in a speeder with an old man and a boy. That old man told them they weren't the droids they were looking for. He knew they weren't, but they'd just let them go without checking any ID at all. He knew now that he was in trouble for that.

He had just gotten to the Death Star, and was looking forward to a shower when the alarms sounded. There were intruders. He was pressed into service along with every other trooper on board. TD-110 was sent to one of the control rooms above the hanger deck. While running through the halls, he felt the nagging headache fogging his brain. It wasn't a normal headache, as it then became itchy. He suspected he contracted some kind of virus on Tatooine. He reached the control room with his team.

When the door opened, the team rushed in, and in his headache-induced fog, he bumped his head on the door. When he entered, he saw bodies everywhere. Two droids came out from a hatch, and said the intruders had just left, and they needed to go to maintenance. They looked just like the droids on Tatooine, but they weren't the ones he was looking for. His head ached and itched, but as the droids moved out of the room and down the hall, it finally dawned on him through the fog, that it was them. He knew that he should fire on them. He raised his blaster, and was about to pull the trigger, when his officer entered and told him to lower his weapon. Another trooper relieved the blaster from TD-110's hand, and escorted him towards a debriefing room. They must have reviewed the footage. They knew he failed. They knew he let the droids...the most important droids in galactic history...slip through his fingers. And he just did it again.

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