So this is my first EVER Star Wars story. I just really wanted to make something about Rex's past and this is what I came up with. Mind, this is what I think and isn't cannon, so please, don't hate me if things aren't inclined with the actual universe. It's fan made.
Also, there will be a lot of OCs - no parings though! I see things as I see them and you might see them as you do - hope you respect that.
By the way, the title Aliit ori'shya tal'din is in Mando'a language. Just a fun fact :P
Anyway... I own the grammar mistakes since I don't have a beta and most of the characters you've never heard of before. Hope you enjoy ^^
Chapter 1
"Would you stop pacing?" someone spoke as he stopped in his tracks and looked up.
"I'm sorry Bishop, just a bit anxious," he admitted, scratching the back of his head and sitting down.
"You worry way too much Rex," another brother said, lying on the top bunk.
"C'mon Turm, this is an important day for us all!" this came from the fourth person near.
"I agree with them – you should be a bit worried," the last brother said, letting out a sigh.
All five of them were the same – same eyes, same hair, same face and same body. They each wore the standard red cadet uniform, waiting for their superior officer to come.
And they weren't the only ones – their entire batch was getting settled. They've just been arranged into their squad. A total of 35 clones aka 7 squads were in the barrack room.
"The fact we're about to start and get to name our squad – it's so exciting!" Jezdec grinned.
"Good thing we already agreed on the name," Pion smiled right as the doors swooshed open.
All the clones stood at attention, face and back straight as they watched their trainer walk in.
Like most of the other trainers, he was a sergeant clone and named Tynan. He was different by the scar across his cheek.
"Alright men, today is your lucky day," Tynan started, walking down the path in the barrack where all the clones stood.
"Today, you leave the big batch and fall into the small, five-man-team until you graduate," the sergeant paused and looked at Rex. "You'll each face the next trials as a team. You have your training from before – use it," with that, Tynan moved again, heading to the door. "I wish you all the best of luck and skill. Make me proud," the clones nodded and saluted in unison, before the trainer left the barrack.
Chatter erupted amongst the soldiers, some of the scared, some excited, and others cool and few overconfident. Each squad is to meet their next trainer, one for the actual action. Tynan overlooked their educational, but now that they were out of school, they needed someone new.
"I hate it that we have to go last…" Turm muttered, arms crossed as he sat on the bed.
"That's what we get for scoring the lowest in our class," Pion laughed, leaning on a wall.
"I wouldn't worry too much," Bishop shrugged, watching as the first two squads left.
"As long as we don't anything stupid, we'll be fine," Rex sighed, a tinge of worry in his eyes.
"Really brother, you need to stop worrying!" Jezdec shook his head and smiled.
Time went on and the next two squads were called in. Then the next. And finally, the seventh.
"The last one I see," a clone officer muttered, looking at the data pad in his hand. "Follow me," motioning with his hand, the superior moved, the cadets right behind.
They walked for about a minute, maybe two, but no one spoke. When they finally arrived, the older one stopped by a door and looked at the five.
"Your trainer will be Ciel Termer – he's been a cadet trainer for a long time," he spoke curtly, reading off the data pad before looking them in the eyes.
"Your records show you five have some… rebellious streak. If you want to live through the war or this training, you'll need to freshen up," with that, the officer opened the door and allowed the rookies to enter, before heading his own way.
The room, into which they were set, was a 'safe zone' in one of the training grounds. They were behind glass and ray-shield, with a good view on the battle zone.
"The new squad then?" Ciel was a Lannik, short, bipedal humanoids with droopy, long ears and orange tones to his skin. A single scar ran across his bald head as his brown eyes looked up at them.
The clones blinked, surprised that their new trainer was… so small.
"You're our trainer?" Jezdec raised an eyebrow.
"He's kinda cute…" Pion muttered, smiling a stupid smile at the little man.
"He's so small!" Turm grinned, picking up the Lannik and raising him up.
"Hey, put him down!" Rex jumped, eyes wide with fear.
"Guys are you nuts!" Bishop slapped his own face, wishing he was somewhere else.
"Set me down cadet!" Ciel ordered and in an instant, he was on the ground, the clones back as they were, with realization across their faces.
"M-My most sincere apologies sir," Turm spoke, not looking down.
"Hmp," Termer frowned, brushed off his uniform and looked up. "What are your names?" his gaze was on the first in line, which happened to Bishop.
"CT-6248 sir," he spoke, looking down only to see the Lannik frown.
"I asked for your name, not your number," the cadets blinked before getting the idea.
"Bishop, sir," he could snipe anything or anyone from almost anywhere. Not to mention his eyesight was one of the best around. He never misses a detail, no matter what kind.
"I'm Pion, sir," he mostly kept the squad together, trying to find a way all of them could come together and make a compromise. He only resorts to violence if he has to, being the medic.
"I'm called Jezdec, sir," probably the most optimistic, he always finds a way around an issue and never knows when to stop.
"The name's Turm. Sir," he was the 'muscles' as they came to call him, always looking for a fight and protecting anyone he could. At times, he'd just take a hit, but give none back.
"They call me Rex, sir," he was usually the 'voice of reason' on the squad. At times, they'd joke he ate a manual, but he always knew what to do in any situation.
After each one said his name, Ciel nodded and looked up at them, studying each member at times even narrowing his eyes before letting out a sigh.
"I hope you know how your names sound…" they grinned for a second at his clear observation, before turning as serious as they could.
"And I'm assuming you have a name for the squad," there was a knowing looking in his eyes that the clones couldn't miss.
"As a matter of fact we do, sir," Jezdec smiled down. "Chess," Ciel nodded at that name in approval before turning his back to them.
"It all started with Rexter here," Turm grinned, patting the said man on the shoulder.
"Oh?" Ciel looked up, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"It's an old nickname, I never knew I'd use…" Rex explained, looking at his feet and scratching the back of his head.
"Rex – it was used to mock him that he seemed like a dog," Bishop added, earning a look of betrayal from his friend.
"He was really upset about it till we told him another meaning behind it," Jezdec grinned as the talked-about clone sighed in defeat as the others laughed.
"Have you ever thought about… identifying yourself," Ciel spoke up, careful at his words, as he knew clones could be… sensitive, about certain things.
"Identify how, sir?" Pion asked, curiosity on their faces.
"Getting tattoos, hair dye, different hair style… from what I hear, those are common things," the small man shrugged, as if not caring.
"Well…" Jezdec started, looking at his brothers. "We have thought about it, but we're mostly allowed to do it when we graduate. I think nothing more than a shaved head is allowed?"
"I see they've gone that far…" a sigh escaped the trainer as he looked at them with sad eyes.
"Well, let's not think about that right now. How about some actual training?" in a few seconds, his expression changed into his professional.
"Sir, yes, sir!" they saluted and smiled, glad to finally get some training in.
"But first, let's get you into your armor," a grin was on the trainer's face as he led the cadets down the room and towards the dressing room.
"Rex, catch!" Turm called, grinning as he tossed his friend the top armor, while setting on his own.
"Why do I always have to be number one?" Rex sighed, looking at the number on the plastoid-alloy.
"'Cause that's what a 'king' is," Pion joked, putting on his own armor, number five on it.
"You guys know he never likes it when you talk about it," despite his words, Bishop was smirking, setting on his lucky number three.
"Guys, try and not mess this up okay?" Jezdec rolled his eyes, already in his armor, number two.
"The trainer seems nice enough," Pion shrugged, helmet under his arm.
"Yeah, I thought this was supposed to be a bad thing, us being the worst squad and all," Turm spoke halfheartedly, trying on his bucket.
"There's probably more to him than meets the eye," Jezdec tried getting in some wisdom, helmet on.
"Look, as long as we don't give him a reason to hate us, go with it," Rex rubbed his face before setting on his head gear.
"I agree with Rex – keep it cool and keep it professional," Bishop nodded, heading to the door and opening it, followed by the rest of the squad.
"Looks good on you," Ciel grinned, seeing the cadets in full armor standing at attention.
"Thank you sir," they said in unison, giving a nod as well.
"We'll start plain and simple, since your scores weren't… all too bright," there was slight humor in his words as Termer looked at a data pad in his hands before setting it away.
"Target practice should do you all some good," with a nod, the Lannik turned and motioned for the clones to follow up to the shooting range.
At where they stood, was a low wall, marking the distance, while across the field were dummies made from scrap metal and other material. To the left of their position was a bench, with a multiple weapons. Amongst them were: hand blaster pistols, blaster rifle and blaster cannon, each with different types of design.
"Chose a weapon you feel most comfortable with and line up," the troopers gathered at the bench, looking over the weapons, but there wasn't much need for testing.
"Typical Turm – going for the heavy artillery," the others grinned, seeing their brother pick up the Z-6 rotary blaster cannon, smiling like an idiot under the bucket.
"Hey, at least I know a good weapon, unlike Bishop over there," with a nod of his head, the clones saw and weren't surprised, that Bishop had chosen a blaster rifle, looking at the scope.
"Best choice for a sniper," the clone shrugged, looking at the last three.
"I'm taking these," Rex grinned, holding up two DL-18 blaster pistols.
"Dual? Isn't that cheating?" Pion held blaster carbine, eyebrow raised.
"Consider it a challenge," Jezdec also took the carbine and they lined up.
"Good to see you have your specialties covered," Ciel gave a nod of approval, surprised these 'low grade cadets' were so well organized. "But, can you actual work it?"
The cadets lined up, each with his own lane, and first checked their weapons, as they were thought. Making sure everything was functioning; they turned to Termer, waiting for him to give them the 'go ahead'. The sign was a silent nod, and the troopers aimed.
"Hmm…" the Lannik murmured to himself, watching each man take his shots.
"This one relies heavily on the area of damage…" he thought, seeing Turm blasting away with the cannon. He is accuracy was off, a lot, but the ones that did hit, left an impression.
"Is he missing on purpose?" the trainer's eyes narrowed, watching Pion fire slowly, and apparently concentrating, but most of his shots missed vital spots.
"Precise, but slow… he'll need to fire quicker," Ciel sighed inwardly as Bishop aimed his rifle and fired, hitting all the vitals, but his pace was slow.
"These two seem a good balance… but they lack sustain and damage," a slight frown was on Termer's face as Rex and Jezdec fired their own blasters.
A few minutes later, and the cadets finished, either taking out all of their targets or running out of ammo. Setting their blasters down, they turned at their trainer, waiting on his words.
So, just to clear things up: I named the cadets after Chess pieces, hence the name. Turm is 'rook' in German, Jezdec is 'knight' in Sloven, Rex is 'king' in Latin (well, didn't name this one), Pion is 'pawn' in Indonesia (I think it's like that... don't sue me if I got them wrong!)
And that's it for the first one! Please, tell me what you think! Good? Bad? Meh? Anything is fine! And if you're not sure, there's another chapter out as well - to get more of a feel on this story ;)
Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed, feel free to fav/follow/review and I'll see you next time ^^