The Eta-class shuttle is the premier model of passenger shuttle available from Cygnus, capable of transporting six occupants in comfort and security, as well as a generous quantity of cargo. Military liaison variants come equipped with Undicur-class speeders as standard.

- Excerpt from "Passenger and Liaison Shuttles", Cygnus Spaceworks Product Catalogue, vol 608, no.3, p. 16.

"Gree? Gree! Open up in there! We're going to be late!"

Republic Naval Cadet Lerona Kodd glanced down at her chrono, and sighed. She glanced up and down the stark white corridor to see if anyone else was yet to leave the dormitory, but saw no one. Late again, she thought. If this goes on my report…

Even though she considered herself fairly quick to adapt to the rigours of spaceflight, she'd still hardly slept the previous night. Not only was today her first shift on the bridge of the Unity, but it was also the start of the Leadership Course, the final semester of work in the run up to the final examination. As part of their last year of instruction before joining the ranks of enlisted officers, cadets were rotated through actively-serving military vessels, albeit ones that were unlikely to see frontline combat. The Unity was an Acclamator-class assault ship, an 800-metre Kuat Drive Yards model designed for planetary assault and troop transportation. It was also the largest ship Lerona had ever served on, and even after a week on board she was still struck by the sheer size of the interior spaces and the crew of several hundred. Indeed, there were many firsts about this voyage for Lerona – her first time visiting the Outer Rim, and her first time interacting with clone troopers.

Busy as she was, Lerona hadn't factored dealing with a fellow cadet's travel sickness into her timetable. Lerona had hardly seen her classmate since dinner last night, when he and a small group of late arrivals had been brought aboard from the Naval Academy on Correlia. A fair-skinned, slim youth of approximately the same age as Lerona, San Gree had introduced himself as being a fellow signals officer-in-training, and the pair met their instructor. After that, San had retired to the dormitory, claiming he was feeling unwell. He had missed breakfast, and locked himself in the communal refresher.

"San, I need to talk to you. We're almost out of time."

For the last three days, the cadets had been drilled by their instructors in the art of forming an honour guard, and in just under half an hour, they would be putting their skills to the test in the main hangar. A high-ranking officer was being ferried by the Unity to the Outer Rim, and over the coming days they were scheduled to deliver a leadership seminar to the cadets. This close to graduation, Lerona knew that the instructors were keeping a careful eye on them, and had been known to downgrade the quality of or even outright exclude those who failed to put years of classroom theory into practice.

Lerona put her ear against the door. "San?" Not hearing any coughing, she swiped her access card and entered the communal washroom.

Like every other room aboard the Unity, the washroom was paneled floor to ceiling with white and grey metal. Cubicles were set along one wall, while the other was dominated by a benchtop and several hand basins. Hunched over the centre basin was Signals Cadet San Gree.

"You alright? You don't look so good."

Lerona caught a brief glimpse of San's bloodshot eyes before his head return to the basin.

Great. Looks like a first-time flyer…but how would you get to this level without knowing you couldn't handle space travel?

Taking a deep breath, San stumbled back from the basin and leaned up against the back wall of the fresher. His face was pale and drawn, and he shivered despite the warmth of the heated downlights.

"When did you start feeling off? You seemed fine at dinner last night."

Glancing at the time on her chrono, Lerona pulled San back from the wall, and did her best to brush the creases out of his uniform. She removed his cap, and held it for him to straighten out, but she received only a vacant stare in response, and found herself placing it back on his head.

"There…how's that?"

San continued to stare at his reflection in the mirror. His expression had changed from one of shock to one of sheer bafflement, and the way he slowly ran his hands over the material of his cap reminded Lerona of a beggar she remembered seeing in a street market, running their hands over a bolt of expensive cloth. His fingers found the Republic sigil, sewn into the front of the cap, and he gaped.

"What, don't they have dress caps back on Correllia?" Lerona grinned at the joke, but San said nothing. Slowly, he turned his head to look at her, and Lerona stared straight back. For a moment, neither cadet moved – then San clapped a hand over his mouth, coughed, and stumbled back to the basin.

That's a first, even for my jokes. Lerona gave her chrono a final check, and stepped over to the door. "Alright San, we've got maybe fifteen minutes to get down to the main hangar. If you really don't feel up to it, comm me and I'll tell the drill instructor – but please give it a shot. It really wouldn't do us any favours to be singled out this early. Remember what they told us about slip ups…"

Some minutes later, the door to the refresher opened, and a figure stepped out. Pale, shivering, one hand hovered near his mouth as he felt a cough rise in his throat. He was exhausted, his stomach aching after an hour spent bent over the basin. To his relief, his physical discomfort was slowly subsiding, but it was being replaced with a new feeling – total confusion.

There was only one thing he could be absolutely certain of. His name was not… what did she call me…San Gree?

His name – my name – is Sam Green.

I paused, leaning up against the wall of the corridor. I'd hardly made it more than a dozen steps from the doorway of the bathroom, but I still felt dangerously queasy.

Deep breaths, Sam. You've had worse.

I looked down. Something was different, beside the change of clothes. My body felt odd. I took a deep breath, gingerly feeling my torso to identify the source of my discomfort. No part in particular seemed to be causing me any pain – but that did nothing to quell my confusion. I shook my head, trying to clear away the fog. That girl – Lerona? – had mentioned something about being a cadet of sorts. I removed my cap, and examined the badge on the front, then looked down at my uniform. A grey coat and pants to complement the grey cap.

"You alright kid? You're not looking too well."

I looked up with a start, and for a moment, my eyes were unable to locate the source of the voice. Then the wall appeared to move, and I realised that I was being addressed by a figure dressed entirely in white.

"Cadet?"

The word Stormtrooper flashed across my mind, and I jumped upright, one hand moving towards my forehead in a hasty salute. "S-sir?"

The armoured figure chuckled, and slapped me across the shoulder with enough force to threaten my shaky stance. "No need for that, cadet. Just making sure you were okay."

That voice…not a stormtrooper…a clone?

"You'd best get a move on. I suggest you get to the hangar before your drill instructors see you out here."

After making sure that I was steady on my feet, the clone turned and continued on down the corridor, oblivious to my bewildered stare.

The badge on my cap…a clone trooper…the Republic? Am I dreaming?

Glancing behind me, I saw a group of uniformed officers approaching the corner, and I quickly pulled my cap back on and began walking away. Soon, the corridor joined onto another passageway, and suddenly I found myself moving amongst a large crowd of clones and other personnel. Despite being only slightly shorter than most of the people I had seen so far, it was almost as if I was invisible, being pushed and jostled in every direction as I tried to move ahead. Up ahead, I saw a flash of grey and white. A group of people dressed in similar uniforms to mine were filing through a large doorway leading off the corridor. The crowd around me had begun to thin, and fearing being caught on my own, I quickened my pace to catch up to them.

The corridor opened up into a cavernous space, with a ceiling that was many stories high. The walls were metal, and the floor was made of a hard, faintly reflective material. The farthest wall appeared to be painted black, but as I stared, I glimpsed a faint twinkle of light. With a quiet gasp, I realised that the wall was some kind of huge window – a window that was looking out into space.

This must be some kind of starship... The rumble of heavy machinery filled the air, and I watched, awe-struck, as a heavy crane mounted on a track in the ceiling passed overhead. Dangling from the crane was the unmistakable outline of a Republic gunship, and as my eyes followed, it was inserted into a huge rack that dominated one wall of the room. The presence of the ships, the view out into space, and the markings on the floor made it clear that this was some sort of huge hangar bay.

Someone grabbed onto my arm, and yanked me sideways. I looked down in time to catch a glimpse of the surprised face of a uniformed officer before I was being led away, with a familiar voice hissing in my ear.

"Watch where you're walking! You almost hit the drill instructor!"

The girl – Lerona – marched me over to the rear ranks of the cadets, who were standing in a loose formation in the centre of the hangar. Mumbling an apology, I straightened up my uniform and fell into line alongside her.

Drill instructor... I looked down at my arms, noting the various patches and insignia on my shoulders and the breast pocket of my jacket. No matter the angle I examined them, they were meaningless to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I examined the arm of the cadet next to me, then Lerona's. Signals cadets…is it just us? The others all have different markings.

I jumped, stirred from my thoughts by the blaring of an alarm. The sound spurred the drill instructor into action and he walked quickly back and forth through the ranks of cadets, barking commands. Lerona stiffened to attention next to me, and I did the same. The eyes of the instructor passed over me, but he said nothing, and as he moved on I turned my head to see what was causing the commotion.

A huge object had appeared outside the 'window' of the hangar, and as I watched, it slowly began to drift through.

A ship…some kind of shuttle? The design was vaguely familiar, although I couldn't remember the name. A bulky fuselage, three folded wings, and a bulbous cockpit, painted in off-white and red and emblazoned with the Republic emblem. I winced, as did several other cadets, when the engines of the ship passed through the shield, suddenly filling the air with a high-pitched whining sound.

A blast of hot air rushed over the assembled cadets as the shuttle rotated in position, lining up its boarding ramp with the gap in our ranks. Then it descended to the deck, gently touching down on four bulky landing legs. The ramp began to extend from the rear of the shuttle, accompanied by a puff of white gas.

"Cadets…eyes front!"

As the haze cleared, the door opened, and the occupants of the shuttle began to disembark. The cadets around me snapped to attention, and I jumped slightly at the sound of so many booted feet striking the hangar floor in unison. By some stroke of luck, Lerona and I were standing in the last line of cadets, and as the officers looked out across the assembled ranks, none of them appeared to notice my shaky salute.

A fresh wave of nausea swept across me, and I fought to keep down the bile rising in my throat. As I watched the officers proceed slowly through the formation, several doubts vanished from my mind, but they were quickly replaced by new ones. In that moment, I wasn't sure what was more frightening; the knowledge that I had somehow been kidnapped, not only from my own world, but from my own body, and placed within the Galactic Republic – or the fact that I was now sharing a starship with one of the most infamous traitors of the era.