A whole damn military made up of a bunch of rapidly aged look a likes that's what the Republic was depending upon. The war continued to rage on and every once in awhile you'd catch word of a small non-clone military unit somewhere in the news. Whether it was about them all being blown to bits, or them being victories in some battle, you'd see them once in awhile. The Republic expected us to get along with these "soldiers" who thought so poorly of us... It's a bunch of crap if you ask me.
Sun shine rained upon the tan skinned human male who emerged from the main entrance of the Republic military base, his hazel green eyes annoyingly glaring at the soldiers in white armor that occupied much of the base. His blonde hair was short and was slightly spiked in the front, but kept at a military issued length to avoid being barked at by his superiors. He wore a pair of dirt stained combat black boots with a dark green jump suit with multiple patches located on his breast pocket and upper sleeves. Securely wrapped around his waist was a brown utility belt with two padded overalls, a blaster pistol located on his hip, and a pair of military issued sun glasses hanging from his white tee shirts collar.
First Lieutenant. Roy Walker.
"Just another day at work" Roy sighed heavily upon sight of a recently brought in droid tank which had been ripped apart by blaster fire. Clone engineers were carefully taking it apart to discover the new model's weak spots and how to take it out quickly. Several of the engineers and guards gave Roy looks of annoyance, while some gave him a warm friendly smile. Working with men who shared the same face and were all grown the same way made it hard, but luckily not all of the clones hated his guts.
The clones respected the Jedi because they could battle like no other warrior in the Galaxy. Roy on the other hand was just another human who the clones felt were unnecessary. Humans had many emotions that made them flaw soldiers that the clones didn't share, thus making many clones annoyed at the idea that the Republic was still using normal beings instead of more clones.
Roy approached one of the many AT-TE in the hangar yard, the armor was scarred from months of battle and had a collection of marking upon it. The most noticeable marking was a crimson red shark wrapping itself around a yellow sun painted near the cockpit of the tank. Just below the well painted design was a collection of twelve tallies that represented the twelve tanks, or gun ships its crew had taken out; normal droids weren't included.
"Well look who decided to wake up" A large white furred Togorian laughed loudly as his booming laughter caused a few clones to shoot him annoyed glares as he was disturbing their work. The Togorian wore a uniform similar to Roy's except it was fitted for his species, he wore now under shirt with the sleeves rolled back, he allowed his paw like feet to be uncovered, and he had a chevron on both sleeves to represent his rank. Running down the right side of his face was a scar and his right eye was a lighter color then his other one.
Staff Sergeant. Garp, he was the mass-driver cannon operator.
"Yeah, I realized I can't exactly waste this week of rest from the battlefield in bed all day" Roy chuckled softly as the large Togorian once again released a echoing laugh.
"Yeah, I don't think command would appreciate that" Garp chuckled loudly as he released a loud sigh before getting back to work on the mass-driver cannon, several blaster marks stained the metallic barrel from their last battle. Roy snickered lowly to himself as he made his way over to the back loading ramp of the AT-TE which led inside of the AT-TE.
Casually, walking side by side were two uniformed soldiers one being a human male about the age of eighteen and the other being a older male Dug who was walking on his upper limbs as legs.
The young human male wore a uniform like everyone else, he had light brown hair and a pair of glasses that hung loosely on the edge of his nose, and pressed against his forehead was a pair of tinted red goggles. The man had a few freckles and looked slightly young to be servings in the military as he was eighteen. He was Private. Rokus, the spotter of the AT-TE who had to use his specialized goggles to help his poor glasses.
The Dug looked to be in his thirties and wore a uniform that suited his species, a long well groomed mustache draped from his face, and a pair of goggles covered his eyes along with a leather helmet. Along with multiple patches located on his jump suit he had a pair of chevrons that represented his rank of, Sergeant. He was Sergeant. Puga, the main pilot/driver of the AT-TE.
"Hey, Lieutenant nice to see you today" Rokus chirped happily as the Dug shot his fellow cockpit aquatint an annoyed glare.
Puga spat upon the ground angrily, "Suck up."
Roy grinned at the Sergeant as he knew by nature the Dugs were aggressive species who were known to insult anyone, whether friend or foe. Rokus gave the Sergeant a hurt look for a moment before playfully grinning at him, the young private spent too much time in close quarters with the Dug to even be annoyed by his rude nature.
"Did you guys finish up the inspection of the control panel?" Roy asked curiously as he had remembered that they had been damaged during their last mission by a ion cannon that had bypassed the AT-TE's elctromagnetic shield enough to damage it.
"Yeah, we had to replace a few parts but everything is working fine" Rokus explained as he casually slipped his hands into his pockets as he almost stumbled over his feet as he walked away. Roy sighed as he knew if it wasn't for those goggles he had then he'd lose his job as spotter as he wouldn't be able to see anything that wasn't more then ten feet from him.
"Walk straight, kid" Puga spat lowly.
Roy shook his head lowly as he made his way into the AT-TE. Their AT-TE was different from most standard models as it had been customized for being able to do multiple jobs instead of being only troops transport, or being used as a mobile communication station. The rear of the AT-TE had about ten seats on both walls for troop transport, along with multiple crate holders, and two gunner stations for the rear anti-personnel laser cannons. A few steps led up from the center of the AT-TE to the front part of it. The front section had ten seats for troops, there was a small communication station in the center, a emergency hatch that led to the cockpit, and two gunner seats for the front cannons.
"Sir, any idea when those new replacements are coming in?" A voice called out from behind him as Roy turned around to come face to face with a young male human. The boy was about nineteen years old and held the rank of, Corporal. He had short light brown hair, his brown eyes lazily starred at his blaster pistol which he was cleaning, and he had several freckles located on his face. He was, Corporal. Ralf "Herder" Jenkins. They all called him "The Herder" due to his old life on the farm and how he's use his torrent cannon to push the enemy in certain directions allowing the mass-driver cannon to take them out easily.
"Not sure, Corporal" Roy sighed heavily as he joined the young corporal in one of the seats designed for the on board infantry troops, his muscles relaxing as he stretched his arms high into the air. "How the hell did I manage to lose three lives?"
There was an awkward silence between the two.
"I must be the worse Officer in the history of the Republic."
"Untrue, you're not bad but I mean I wouldn't give you a medal or anything" Jenkins said jokingly with a sly grin as his commanding officer gave the young enlisted tank crew member a playful push. "Plus, those droid bombers came out of nowhere when we were fueling up the tank. They bypassed the radars and no one saw them coming."
"True, true."
Jenkins and Roy sat there in silence for about three minutes the two of them reliving the memory of their last battle. How they had to get pulled off the line because three of their own men were killed when a fleet of droid bombers entered what was said to be the "green zone." Catching the crew off guard the whole Republic base was reduced to ash and the crew lost it. Roy tried to stay together but being in command the guilt fell upon him, Puga and Garp had seen enough death to hide their pain, Rokus wouldn't stop shaking, and Jenkins just sat there starring at their empty seats for hours.
Yuoie, Marcus, and Hugy... All three good men with families and all of them killed in a war that didn't have to fight in, but wanted too.
"Roy, we got some fresh meat!" Garp called out loudly from the top of the tank as Roy grinned weakly at the staff sergeant's nickname for replacements. Garp was the only one who actually refereed to him by his first name and not Lieutenant, he kind of enjoyed it as it reminded him of home.
Roy and Jenkins shared a sly grin as the corporal popped on his signature brown wide rimmed hat and the two made their way down the loading ramp. Standing before Roy and his crew were three young faced replacements, Garp grinned as he handed Roy a data pad that held all of their information and any type of specialization they may have.
"Boys" Roy greeted them with a weak smile his eyes scanning them until his hazel eyes fell upon the last replacement who was actually a female, "Um... And girl."
The girl gave a unsure smile as she was obviously nervous about meeting the crew for the first time. If they got on a bad start now then they'd be having a rough few months before anyone could actually request a transfer.
"I'm your commanding officer, First Lieutenant. Roy Walker" Roy introduced himself happily as his happy-go-lucky smile was interrupted by the sudden shouting from the replacements as they all saluted him as if they were back in basic. This at first startled Roy as he hadn't been greeted by that in a long time as his crew had been with him long enough to create a bond similar to family.
"Fresh out of basic" Garp chuckled softly to himself.
"So, which one of you is... Um... Private. Um'ha-Um'hu?" Roy called out as his words became mixed with each other as he struggled to pronounce the young soldier's name right.
"Private. Um'har Tonal, sir" One of the replacements chirped out lowly as his eyes met with a young looking Pantoran, his uniform neatly pressed with nothing out of place and a pair of goggles pressed against his forehead.
"Any special skills?"
"Um... I got ranked third in basic for my piloting skills" Tonal explained nervously as Puga shot the replacement a dirt look upon hearing that.
Puga spat onto the ground annoyingly, "I'm the AT-TE pilot here kid, so don't get any ideas."
"Oh..." Tonal moaned lowly in embarrassment.
"I should inform you that the only spots open in the crew are torrent gunners, but if you have any additional skills then they'd be welcomed. We already have a pilot, spotter, mass-driver cannon operator, and a frontal torrent operator" Roy explained as the crew all shot the replacements sly grins upon having their role announced, except for Puga who was still giving the young Pantoran a dirty glare.
"Next one then, Private. Keller Saga?"
"That's me... Sir" A bald headed Zabrak said lowly as he pretty much muttered the last part, his brown skin was dry and reminded Roy somewhat of a desert almost. He had a long scar going from his lip all the way across is left cheek, like a canyon through a desert. His uniform was like everyone else's except that he had the sleeves rolled back to his elbows and a pack of Shento cigars poking out of his upper left breast pocket.
"Any skills?"
"I'm pretty good with a blaster rifle, I got top at basic" Saga explained as although they were a tank crew having someone good with a blaster rifle helped out as sometimes they'd need defending it the tank had to be refueled, or worked on.
"Private. Mia Carter?"
"That's me and I'm a pretty good engineer" Mia chirped out as she was a young female human, she had black hair done in a bun in the back and curious blue eyes that scanned her new crew excitedly. Her uniform was made for her figure and hugged her curves tightly, several geese marks stained her uniform to show her true nature as an engineer.
"Looks like I got myself a partner" Garp said with a grin as he was an engineer himself.
"Pretty hot" Jenkins muttered to Rokus.
"Yeah, but she's kind of blue" Rokus said lowly as he was starring at Tonal.
"Wrong one, get your vision fixed you idiot" Jenkins sighed heavily as he snapped on the spotter's goggles causing the human male to groan in pain.
There was an awkward silence as no one knew what to say to the new replacements. Finally, Puga broke the silence as he groaned loudly in annoyance and stormed off to the cockpit to finish working on the panels. Rokus followed close behind almost tripping as he removed his goggles.
"Corporal. Jenkins, show them to their new home and assigned them to a torrent station" Roy ordered the enlisted torrent operator who nodded and waving the three over he brought them inside the AT-TE to show them where they'd be working at.
"You going to tell them about our new assignment?" Garp asked curiously.
"Tomorrow... Apparently, they're sending us out to Geonosis again."
"Where it all began."