LONER: A TROOPER'S TALE

Star Destroyers are not very well known for their cleanliness, but at the moment I am finding it hard to care. Even though we have caught womp rats rummaging though our supplies on numerous occasions, no one has said a word. The crew is simply too anxious for battle to care about such minor details. Today we are being landed on the planet Scolaris 7 to take out a Rebel base. It sounds straight-forward, but it never is. Scolaris 7 is not only a hide-out for the Rebellion, but also a well-known tourist attraction. We have been instructed to check our fire to minimize civilian casualties, but we all know that no one is safe in the heat of battle. It's even harder for me, as everyone else here has been in the service since the clone wars, a lot of them clones themselves. I had just come from the academy, people like to joke about the Imperial School of Marksmanship, but on the battlefield, we'll see who has the last laugh. One of the older clones, TK-702, we call him Scar thanks to the nasty calling card a Jedi left on his face, isn't making it any easier, "You think you're hot shit with your fuckin' name tag, private uh, Larson? The hell kinda name is Larson?", he said. I replied, "Hell of a lot better than TK-702". Scar paused for a second, before retorting "I got this name because I'm one of the originals." he then flexed his arm and said "See that? Genetic perfection. I've got the blood of the best fuckin' mercenary in the galaxy running though my veins." I scoffed, "He's dead, you know. Some Jedi cut his head clean off. Rumor has it, he's still buried there, his initials written with droid limbs. Perfection, my ass." Before Scar could respond, General Wurtz came on hologram. "Please report to your drop ships, we are entering the Scolaris system and will be leaving hyper-space in a standard hour." Scar looked at me and joked, "Looks like I won't hafta kill you after all. I'll just let the rebs do it." "I've heard awful stories about the tactics utilized by the rebels. What's it really like?", I asked. Scar's tone changed quickly, and he paused for 5 seconds, give or take, before replying to me in a quite serious manner, "It's fuckin' hell."

In the drop-ship, I had the misfortune of sitting next to Scar. At least I had someone to talk to. I could see the planet through the view screen, as well as the space battle between all the x-wings and TIE fighters. General Wurtz walked through the door to brief us on the situation, "Rebels under the command of General Kranos Lotlief are holding a total of 8,000 civilians hostage on Scolaris 7, and threaten to kill them all unless we release Luke Skywalker from prison. Skywalker is currently awaiting trial for crimes against the Empire on the planet --" He was interrupted mid-sentence by a loud boom near the back of the ship, followed by severe shaking. "WE'VE BEEN HIT!", the pilot shouted, as the ship started spiraling out of control. As we got closer and closer to the planet, I blacked out.

I woke up to the sight of a big, white helmet. It was yelling at me in an oddly distorted voice, "WAKE UP! WAKE THE FUCK UP!" As I regained consciousness, I realized that it was Scar's voice. "Don't die on me, Larson, you're not the only recruit in this fuckin' outfit." I smiled at him and replied "Did we win?" "Not yet, but if you're any good with a blaster, we will win." I grabbed my gun and joined the battle, before asking where General Wurtz was. "Dead", Scar replied. "Impact blew him to shit. This is Sergeant Zenn, he's in charge. He's that recruit I told you about.". The fighting seemed to last an eternity, then the ground started shaking beneath our feet. I looked back and saw at least a dozen AT-AT Walkers heading our way. "Hell yeah! Here comes the fuckin' cavalry!", Scar yelled. One of the AT-AT pilots contacted us through our helmet radios, "Sorry we're late to the party, boys. But we brought you a little present so there's no hard feelings." As the rebels started fleeing, my men and I got into the tank they brought us to chase them down. As we entered the city limits, Scar simply couldn't control his enthusiasm and started shouting at the rebels, "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAW! Yippee KI-YAY, motherfuckers!" He was right to be excited, for the rebels were dropping like flies. It seemed like we had this battle in the bag.

Hours later, the fighting had stopped, and the remaining rebels surrendered. In 5 minutes, we were gonna assault the rebel fortress where they're keeping the hostages. "So what's up with Zenn, how come he never talks?", I opened. "Fuckin' Wookiee tried to strangle him. He shot the bastard, but the damage was already beyond repair. The doctors were able to save his life, but he'd already lost the ability to speak.", Scar replied. "This is his last battle, then he's going back to his family on Coruscant. I betcha his kids are gonna be stoked to get their dad back. How about you, Larson? You got a family?" "Yeah, they're probably still waiting for me on Dantooine. I got a nice farm, some livestock, two adorable daughters, and a wife with the best ass in the fuckin' galaxy." I couldn't wait to see them again, it's been an eternity. I can still remember the last time I spoke to her over hologram. "I'm guessin' clones don't have families, eh, Scar?" Scar stared blankly for about 10 seconds, then replied "Not legally." Before I could ask any further, the Colonel started yelling "We ain't got all day, ladies. C'mon, those rebs ain't gonna kill themselves."

As we assaulted the fortress, things appeared to be going smoothly, until Scar said "This is a little too easy, feels like a trap." I scoffed and said "What makes you think it's a trap?" "I dunno, I've just never won a battle this easily before. Some thing's fucked up." "Well keep it to yourself, OK? I don't need you jinxing us." Before long, we noticed something odd. As we walked along, there appeared to be less and less cover, to the point of there being none at all. Then, we noticed that the alleys between the buildings were gone, and as we neared the fortress, someone pulled out a turret from the top window and started firing on us, and snipers on the rooftops started picking us off one by one as a firing squad kept us from retreating. Our only hope was to charge the fortress. "OH SHIT! I fuckin' hate it when I'm right!" Scar shouted. Once we reached the fortress, only a quarter of us survived, Scar, Zenn and I among them.

We sneaked through the hallways, checking every corner. As we inched towards the hostage area, we encountered about a dozen rebels along the way. We dispatched each one quietly and continued on our way. Things were starting to look up when we heard chatter through one of the doors. We quickly entered and cleared the area, and looked through the next doorway to see the hostages, all 8,000 of them, put in one huge pen. "Look!" I said, "In that balcony, it's Kranos Lotlief." Scar scoffed in disbelief for a second before saying "Son of a bitch. This war may be over sooner than we thought."

I couldn't believe it either. We've found the man who ruled the alliance in Skywalker's stead, and we have him trapped. If we were to kill him, it would end the war, end the violence, end the murder. Things were finally starting to look up, all we needed to do was snipe him, real quick. I told Zenn to get his sniper rifle out, and just as he had lined up the shot, Scar said "WAIT!". I was baffled, we have the opportunity to end the war with a single laser blast, and Scar is stopping us? Why wait? "What the hell is going on?", I asked Scar. He promptly replied, "Bastard's mine. Let's just say it's personal. I'm gonna get as close as I can, then I want Zenn to pick off the guards, but leave Lotlief to me." I sighed, this was neither the time nor place for revenge. But if Scar wants him that bad, he can have him. "Go ahead, Scar, but if he tries to escape, we're not gonna wait for you." Scar took out his knife, it looked like it was from Ryloth, rather than the standard issue knifes the rest of us are given, which come from Ord Mantell. It seems to have been used once before, as the blade is covered in blood. The blood is far from fresh, in fact, it looks so old and dry that the one time it was used could have very well been years ago. It must really mean something to him if he didn't clean it for that long. "What's with the knife?", I asked him. "My first kill. Poor bastard never saw me coming." I knew that was a lie, back in the Clone Wars, the only organics we fought were Geonosians, and they didn't even have red blood. "There's something you're not telling me, there's no way you could have gotten your first kill with that knife." Scar stared out into the open for a second, then said softly, as to end the conversation, "Never said I did." I had struck a nerve, he was noticeably more tense. You could tell something was bothering him, but what? Suddenly, he erupted, "Why don't you mind your own fuckin' business, okay? So do I or do I not have sniper support?" I nodded and told Zenn to cover him.

Scar started moving along the catwalks towards Lotlief. Once Scar was close enough, he signaled Zenn to take out the guards. Zenn lined up the shot, fired, and BAM! One less rebel. He then aimed at the other, held his breath, and fired, BAM! Now Lotlief was alone. Scar moved in for the kill, "Remember me, dick head?" As I moved a little closer, I could hear what they were saying. After Lotlief did some rant on clones, Scar gave a particularly interesting speech, "This knife's got a lot of history. It's got her blood, my blood, just need yours and I've got the whole fuckin' collection." Lotlief was unimpressed, "You clones think you know love? Bullshit! All that clones know about is death. You are coldblooded murderers, every single one of you." Scar was visibly angry, "MURDER?! YOU'RE ONE TO TALK, KRANOS, YOU'RE ONE TO FUCKING TALK! You would slaughter all those innocent people down there, just to cover your own fuckin' ass!" Once again, Lotlief was unmoved. "Necessary sacrifices in a battle for freedom. For every one I kill, hundreds of thousands are being saved. Can you say the same?" Scar paused for a second. "No, I can not. I've done a lot of horrible things in my life, but there's one thing I know for sure: I am a soldier, not a fuckin' monster. Can YOU say the same?" The room went silent, not a peep. Then, after around a minute, Scar decided he had something to say. "I've had enough of your fuckin' bullshit." He held up his knife, menacingly. "I'm gonna enjoy this." Scar lunged at Lotlief, knife in hand, but Lotlief dodged and slammed Scar in the back. Scar dropped his knife and tried to face Lotlief hand-to-hand, but he was no match. Things were getting too heated, I ordered Zenn to take the shot. Zenn pulled the trigger, but his gun misfired and blew up in his face. Zenn was alright, so we all charged in to help Scar. Lotlief saw us coming, so he gave Scar a mighty kick, stole his blaster and hid behind a terminal. We laid down suppressive fire to keep Lotlief from popping out while I helped Scar. He was alright, just a few cuts and bruises, so I brought him back behind cover. Our blasters were starting to overheat, so a lot of the men just decided to charge him and hope for the best. Lotlief saw them coming and popped out of cover, catching them by surprise. Lotlief fired upon the charging troopers, killing them all. All that was left was Scar, Zenn and I. Lotlief then retreated behind a door, locking it behind him.

I pulled out my standard issue First-Aid Kit to help Scar while Zenn hacked into the door. I asked Scar why he had a personal vendetta out on Lotlief, and this time he actually answered me. "Ah, what the hell? You're a good man, Larson. There's a chance I won't live past this battle to tell anyone else, so you might as well know." Scar took a deep breath and continued. "Remember how I said that 'legally' clones aren't allowed to have families? Well I never was too keen on rules, so after the battle of Ryloth I deserted my unit and married a Twi'Lek chick named Marrissa. She was the most beautiful woman in the galaxy, we thought nothing would ever come between us. When the Rebel Alliance seized the planet, we thought we were in the clear because the Empire would no longer be looking for me. In fact, we were anything but. When the Empire re-captured one of Ryloth's moons, the rebels started looking for imperial spies. One day, Kranos Lotlief came to our home with two of his best men and asked to see Marrissa. During the interrogation, she repeatedly claimed she was innocent, but Lotlief would have nothing of it. He left one of his men alone with her in hopes he would beat a confession out of her. She was being tortured, I had to do something. At one point, he took a knife out of a drawer and held it to her neck, demanding she tell him what he wants to know. I came in, snapped his neck, took the knife, and cut her loose. We tried to escape, but ran into Lotlief. I threw the knife at him, but the other rebel jumped in its path and saved him. Marrissa then jumped on him, biting and clawing, but Lotlief pulled the knife out of his friend's skull and stabbed her. I angrily charged at him but he slashed at me with the knife, which hit my face. He was about to finish me off, but a platoon of Stormtroopers arrived so he dropped the knife and ran. I managed to join said platoon, and have been hunting Kranos ever since. Oh, and yes, that IS how I got my scar. You don't actually think I took on a fuckin' Jedi, do you?"

Zenn nodded, signaling that he was done hacking the door, I had also finished patching up Scar, so we were ready. We grabbed our guns and prepared to charge the room. When Zenn pulled the switch, the door opened to a barrage of gunfire. We took cover and threw a thermal detonator, which took out half of the rebels. Scar spotted Lotlief and ordered us to cover him while he attacked. Once again he pulled out his knife and charged at him shouting "YOU'RE MINE, MOTHERFUCKER!" When Scar reached Lotlief, he jabbed the knife at him but Lotlief grabbed his wrist before he could stab him. Scar and Lotlief continued to struggle for several minutes, until Scar managed to grab the knife at which point Lotlief kicked him away. Scar slashed at Lotlief once more, but Lotlief grabbed his wrist again, this time directing the knife into Scar's gut. Scar was visibly in pain, blood was seeping out the bottom of his helmet as he was gasping for air. He leaned in towards Lotlief's ear and stuttered as he was trying to get his last words out. "F- f- f- f- f- f- fu- f- f- f-..." He finally took a deep breath and summoned the strength for one last insult. "fuck you." With that said, he fell to the floor, with blood all over his armor. Soon, he stopped breathing, and gave me one last look as his muscles relaxed and his body grew silent. Scar was dead.