I sat in the mess hall, looking blankly at the food. I shrug and scarf it down. It's better than rations, that's for sure. I heard the cadets come in, and heard some of them complaining. I shifted my armor to white, and my face to a clone's.
"I don't understand what that changeling's teaching us!" one said.
"Yeah, it's not like she's doing anything. Why's Master Ti letting her do stuff like that...?"
"Cause she needs a break. Two squads got killed under her command. That's why she's giving us such a hard time."
"And how would you know that?"
"Because I listen to the ARC troopers conversations."
"So that's where you get off to when we've got jobs."
"Shut up, Jas. No one asked your opinion.
"Ease up, Lemon, no one asked you to be a grouch!"
These boys would need a lot of work.
At 0900 hours I stood on the platform. Lemon and Jas were absent. I asked where they were. The other three in their squad shifted and looked at each other.
"Well?"
"Uh, sir…we don't know. They both went off in separate directions, and that's the last we saw of them."
"What's your name?" I asked. He looked startled.
"Uh, Blast, sir."
"Hm. Go find them." He nodded and ran off.
"All right, boys, I heard a lot of attitude yesterday." They look at each other. "I'm a CHANGELING you idiots, I heard you as a clone!" they shrink away. "And so we're going to get dirty." I decided to have them learn the basic blocks. I chose one of the clones I had heard in the mess hall.
"Name?"
"Uh, Kink, sir."
"All right, get in ready stance. I braced my feet against the slick ground and crouched low. "Copy me." he did so. "This is what I want to see when you fight!" I shouted. I stood up and shoved Kink. His feet kept him from falling over, and I nodded. "See? Everyone into position!"
I heard Blast coming back several clicks later with Jas.
"I can't find Lemon, so I think he's probably rigging something for you." He said. I nodded.
"Thanks, Blast. Jas, when I say 0900 hours I mean 0900 hours. Got that?" he nodded quietly. "Okay, something's definitely up. Pair up with Kink. Blast, take someone else."
At the end of an hour I dismissed them and went inside. I walked down a hall toward the command center when I heard a whistling. I ducked as a large bucket flew over my head. I stood up and hit it, knocking it into a closet. I heard someone grunt and grabbed Lemon and shoved him into the hall.
"You missed training." I said. he shrugged and glared at me.
"So what? I've got a blaster, does it matter?"
"Yes, actually. It matters that you don't follow orders."
"So?"
"So, we're going to have a session right here."
"Really? I've got plenty of training from the bounty hunters. I doubt you could top them." I kicked him in the stomach and went into my ready stance. He charged me and I knocked him to the side. He went down in a heap and looked at me. I shrugged and walked away. I went down another hall and felt something slam into the back of my head. I rolled forward and kicked a droid head flying at me into the wall. I jumped up.
"Anything else, Lemon?" I asked.
"No."
"Good. Because you haven't given me any challenge whatsoever."
"It's on." I turned and smirked.
"You got it, plastic boy."