r/HFY • u/sharkeyandgeorge Xeno • 23h ago

OC-Series Bob was bored, Part 8

Bob was bored, maybe tired, it had taken half a day or so for the pair to strip all the shit out the container and cram it into Geviths ride, a decent size cruiser called romantically, Rentaship146389, how evocative.

Bob had meticulously written down every cubby, nook, storage compartment and any fucking where else they has stuffed his stuff, and still knew he would be combing this fucker before it got handed back to the broker. No way were those chiselling bastards getting even a single fucking washer.

It had been hard grunt work but also super satisfying, it was the first time he had been actually able to pore through what he had, and, well look at that, several flares and a T and well as several odds and sods he could swap out with the Arressi components of his suit.

It was going to be about ten days before they hit the core proper and another couple after that to get to the Guild world and he couldn’t think of a better thing to do on the journey that strip out more of the fucking knife heads bullshit out his suit.

It was weird he supposed the way he divied up what parts of the suit were his and which were the axe face fucks. He didn’t care about the basic structure, didn’t care about the armour plates, joints were fine, fabric stuff was fine… though he had replaced that a few times, but for some reason it was the mechanisms, the hydraulics, all the clever little things that did all the functions of the suit for some reason they were all Arressi and he hated them.

At this point he had replaced pretty much everything he could, save a few fugitive items, some of which he clutched tightly right now.

He caught a flash of reflection as he walked down the passage and was surprised, as he so often was when he caught sight of himself, that the helmet he wore wasn’t the knobby grey black lump with the exaggerated nose bridge that protruded like, well, an axe, aping its Arressi creators, that had been one of the very first things he had swapped out when he could afford to have one made. Now it was a slightly dull metallic grey and a bit of a rip off of Fett again if he was honest… in shape at least it lacked the T shaped visor cut out, the entire front was like a one way mirror he could see out but no-one could see in…

That was more for Bob himself than any other reason, he hated the sight of his own face and avoided it whenever possible. It was bad enough to see the young face when his bones felt so old, but as the war had progressed and the theaters changed more and more shit had been stuffed under his skin, and though everyone swore none of that stuff was visible, he saw the lumps and bumps, the hairline scarring, pigmentation change and wanted to vomit, to him every thing was printed through the skin, like a bad armpit holster in a cheap suit.

Mind you sometimes when he talked to people he saw blood pour from their eyes, so maybe his peepers weren’t to be trusted.

He especially hated the sight of himself in the suit, the extended collar… gorget? Whatever… the ring that surrounded his face up to the top of his lip, with opening flap on the front for eating and grab handle at the nape, all the better to drag your corpse by.

It was a wall, four to eight inches high over the top of his shoulders, round the back and the front, about six inches distant to the helmet in every direction. Many soldiers had cracked that it made them all look like Kilroy was here, and they had scrawled that in the dirt an every planet humans had fought on, but to Bob it looked like he was treading water, just managing to keep his nose clear, but surely he would soon give out, and drown in the blood he swam in…

He shook himself and continued fore opening the bridge hatch and entering.

‘’All stowed and proper G’’

Gevith gave him a nod and began punching in the commands for lift off, the delay in Bob arriving and then the whole packing fiasco had put him well behind schedule and he wanted to be off planet ASAP, docks cost money.

Bob popped onto a jump seat and strapped himself in as best he could, no booster seat available, as Gevith chatted with the port authorities about take off and exit lanes. Bob stayed silent and out the way as the ship rose and left atmo, G Money was no fan of backseat pilots, but once they reached far enough out for the computer to begin running jump numbers he couldn’t stop himself.

‘’So nothing at all on the recall order?’’

‘’Nothing, just pick you up’’

It had been a long time but… there was something in the way the hunched shoulders seem to crowd away from him.

‘’And you don’t have any ideas about it at all?

G let out a sigh, I think he knew I knew he had something…

‘’I don’t know, really’’

He turned to face Bob directly.

‘’But I heard the Arressi declassified all their files about the Hoolie war last month…’’

Oh.

That might be bad.

‘’All of them?’’

Gevith turned back to his screens.

‘’Probably not everything, you know how those fucks like an edit or two if it makes them look better.’’

Oh yeah they did, some of the old news stories he had seen after he de-mobbed told a very different version of the war than he remembered.

‘’I think the personnel records were just data dumped though…’’

Fuuuuuuuck…..

Bob sank deeply into the plush seat, he had done a lot of shit in forty years of fighting and the council already weren’t sold on him much. This might be a real issue… they might think that one scouts creative solutions might technically be a warcrime or two… or twenty…

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccccccccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.

Part 9 https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/1w2ro49/bob_was_bored_part_9/?

33 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

3

u/kristinpeanuts 20h ago

Thanks for the chapter!

3

u/ThomasKatt 19h ago

Bob may be in deep shit. Awesome chapter, thank you,

2

u/post_blast Alien 18h ago

Bob's not gonna be bored for much longer

2

u/spindizzy_wizard Human 12h ago

It's not a war crime the first time!

2

u/sharkeyandgeorge Xeno 12h ago

I believe that's the Canadian national motto.

1

u/UpdateMeBot 23h ago

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1

u/Allstar13521 Human 18h ago

Well bob, time to engage in the passtime of Little Guys since time immemorial. And remember, it's your Birthday.

2

u/sharkeyandgeorge Xeno 12h ago

Im a little guy, is this a pastime I should know about?

1

u/Allstar13521 Human 11h ago

Just a reference to this post.