It's a Big Galaxy (Earth x Star Wars)

Chapter 16

Stand among the ashes of a trillion souls, and ask if honour matters. The silence will be your answer.

"Welcome to day 11 of the Azure siege races." A young boy greeted into the camera droid, his signature smile gracing his lips as he rattled away, "It is a wonderful morning today with a heavy storm brewing overhead and the occasional shower of Republic artillery, however fear not as all the town's residence are still safely hidden away in the town's bunker." The boy's grey eyes quickly tracked to the growing crowds in the cafeteria before returning to the droid. "My name is Jack Borelli, my producer is Hanzi Gulak, and our camera man for today is the just awesome CD-21663681. Give me a fist bump little buddy." Extending his bruised fist, Jack smiled as the droid gave a small chirp before lightly bumping the camera lens against his knuckles. Sweeping the hand through his dirty blond hair, the boy took the chance to quickly straighten out his grey jacket beginning to walk towards a podium.

The Azure siege races as they quickly became known, were an odd event to be sure. Started when a group of kids challenged several commandos to a trailer race, it sort of snowballed into a chaotic and action-packed event. While they ended up causing absolute carnage through the concrete corridors, the scene was humorous enough that several other groups did it again the following day despite the warnings. After the third day of racing, the bunker's leaders agreed to hold them each day for the entertainment of everyone on the promise it wouldn't disrupt the military operations.

It was actually a welcome relief for most, being able to watch or participate in something other than the fighting for the town. Some didn't involve themselves in the racing, instead finding solace in the quiet offered by the accommodation blocks. Those who did get involved, fully bought themselves into the 40 minutes of craziness as a distraction from the death which regularly surrounded them; the commandos and militia fighting in the town, the medics and doctors trying to save those rescued from the surface, and the people who helped around the bunker. All of them were trying to find a peaceful way of dealing with it all. Besides it was a nice way of entertaining the 1000 odd kids locked in the bunker with little to do.

Hanzi was initially sceptical of filming these races but after the first three days of nothing much happening up top, the rodian relented and joined in on the fun. Eventually though, the kids wanted to be the ones in charge of filming, believing the alien who had spent his entire career as a reporter wasn't going to do a good enough job. Unfortunately, it was hard to hide personnel belongings when stuck 30 meters underground with over 1000 children. To the Republic reporter's surprise however, Jack, one of the more popular kids, was a natural in front of them camera; his charisma, his wit, and his charm making him an easy person to watch. He wasn't your stereotypical serious reporter nor one of those frustrating influencers. He was just himself, and that was something Hanzi found to be worth every minute of recordings because unlike the rodian he could ask those awkward questions and get solid answers out of people.

Everyone knew after the battle was over, all of Hanzi's recordings would be shown to the galaxy through the Republic News Network, and so strict rules were put in place; the clones couldn't talk politics and the terrans couldn't talk strategy. There was the occasional slip up, but Hanzi knew he could quietly edit it out and no one would know. It was the unspoken rules he found to be harder to get around however, for example don't discuss the Clone Wars. Hanzi could understand why they wanted to keep their mouths shut, force knows neither the GAR or CIS need more ammunition to pressure the UPA into joining either faction. However, if no one gave their opinions on the factions, how could he as a reporter possibly explain the personnel situation of the terrans?