It had been nearly an hour since Luke had left the transport. In that time he had learned the names of several of his squad mates including Jyn.
The boy sleeping next to him was named Zachary Smith. He was from Mos Espa and was a rather laid back guy. Like Luke, Zachary was blonde but had light brown eyes. He was also taller as well.
Another, the boy who sat across from him, Bruyere Zor'n, was from Mos Eisley. He was about Luke's height with amber eyes and black hair. He was meant to have already been in training but overslept the first time he had enlisted forcing him to wait a month until the next transport-the one that they were on now-was arriving at Tatooine. Bruyere was very polite and had an obsessive interest in anything from the Clone Wars era.
Next was the first non-human of the group that Luke had met. Ce`na was a Lethan Twi'lek who lived outside of the Palace Military base on Tatooine after the Imperial State had removed the Hutt's from the planet. Ce`na was very confident and had a little attitude when it came to boys looking in her general direction. The last person that Luke had formally met was also the second and last non-human of the group, Tangie Oto, a male Zaberak.
To Luke. Tangie was the most interesting. He was arrested by Imperial State Troopers when he was caught stealing a speeder bike. He was given an option between spending time in a juvenile detention center or serving time in the Imperial State Army. Seeing an opportunity at getting off of Tatooine as well as getting paid for it, Tangie had taken the ladder of the two.
Currently Luke, Zachary, Bruyere, Tangie, Jyn and Ce`na were in one of the many marine quarters on the ISN Cosmos. As it turned out, everyone had been put into squads of six as well as been given names. Their squad name was Zulu Squad. The twelve others were in rooms either side of Zeta's quarters. The other squad names were Victor and Romeo Squad. They were all told by Captain Lawrence that they should get some rest as the ISN Cosmos would be in the Eriadu system by 'morning' and left them to their own.
Luke was sitting on his assigned bunk listening to Buryere talk about the ship they were on. Under him on the bottom bunk Zachary was already asleep with a piece of Terran head gear that played music from his datapad. Underneath Bruyere, Tangie was also listening to his rant about the ship. In the last bunk in the room, Ce`na was listening as well, while above her, Jyn was on her datapad once more.
"-During the Liberation of Ryloth, the acting jedi general had actually used his Venator as a battering ram that destroyed the Separatist Command ship in orbit."
"I wonder how much trouble the guy got in after he used a war ship as a ram." Tangie commented offhandedly.
"Yeah… cool… hey the Cosmos wouldn't have to do that right?" Ce`na asked, slightly concerned. While she enjoyed hearing about the liberation of her planet, the dreams she was going to have tonight we're not going to be nice ones. Seriously, the emperor knows that she was nervous enough just being on a ship. She didn't need to hear about the same ship crashing into another.
"Why dislike space?" Tangie asked, raising a brow.
"Would I be asking if I wasn't?' Ce`na snapped. The Twi'lek was still annoyed with the male Zabrak from checking her out earlier. 'It's why I signed up as a State Trooper and not the Marines." Ce`na turned back to Bruyere for his answer. To her relief he shook his head.
"No, not anymore at least. The Imperial State Navy considers Venators as de-facto flagships when Victorys aren't present within a fleet and as such they are almost always with an escort of two to three Arquitens." Bruyere said honestly.
"That's a relief. Well, I'm going to get some shut-eye. I wouldn't stay up too late boys." Ce`na said as she shifted herself under her blanket. The light from above her bunk that was created by Jyn's Datapad turned off.
"I agree with Ce`na. We all better get some sleep before tomorrow or Captain Lawrence will have our hides." Jyn said as she too went to bed.
"Night girls." Tangie said. The three awake boys looked at each other and agreed that they too should get some sleep.
"Night."
"See you in the morning."
"Goodnight." The remaining light turned out leaving the quarters of Zulu Squad pitch black.
Luke woke up both cold and to the sound of yelling. Rubbing his eyes he saw the back of Captain Lawrence dressed in his full armor leaving the room. The others were just getting out of their bunks.
"Alright, girls will get dressed in the fresher, boys can get dressed out here." Jyn stated leaving no room for argument.
"Sure."
"Whatever"
"Fine by me."
"You sure-" Luke watched as a boot was flung across the room and hit Tangie in the face causing both himself and Zachary to chuckle while Bruyere went to make sure Tangie was okay.
"Nice shot." Zackary said.
"Thanks, just keep him out." Ce`na said as she closed the sliding door. Luke also began to change. Taking off his beige attire he slid on his black bodysuit. The suit itself was very form fitting and was very light. Almost as if he was wearing nothing at all. After getting into it he began the puzzle of pieces that made up the State Trooper Armor. However his shorter height made it hard to put on the chest protector.
"Can someone help me with this, it's in a weird spot." Luke asked. The others had their armor on leaving Luke the last to get it on.
"Sure turn around." Bruyere said. Doing as the boy said, look turned around messing with his helmet. Hearing the armor click he smiled and turned to face Bruyere.
"Thanks."
"No - Problem." Bruyere said as he put on his helmet. The helmet's vocabulator takes effect changing his voice. Luke followed suit. Soon everyone was in their armor including the girls who had just come out of the fresher. Their armor wasn't very different from their own. Other than the small almost unnoticeable bulge on the chest piece the only difference was the helmet given to Ce`na that was open in the back and the bully covered her lekku in a soft stretchy fabric so the armor could still filter out toxins and smoke.
"I feel like a badass." Tangie said as he flexed in his armor. Ce`na let out a laugh.
"I think your definition of 'badass' needs be revised."
"Now, now, save it for training. We need to get to the hanger." Zachary suggested.
"He's right, we have twenty minutes before the transport leaves for the planet's surface." Bruyere said.
"Well then let's not keep them waiting. Lead the way Bruyere." Luke said. The cadet nodded and the six members of Zulu filed out of the room and turned left down the hall. The group walked in silence for about ten minutes before Tangie spoke up.
"Do we even know where we're going?" This caused everyone to pause and groan.
"Bruyere! I thought you knew the way." Ce`na snapped
"Yeah Man, why didn't you tell us sooner?" Zachary asked.
"Well Luke just said lead the way-"
"Whoa! This isn't my fault-"
"-I wanted to prove myself-
"You have got to be kidding me…" Ce`na muttered.
"-I'm sorry!" Luke was about to join Ce`na's, Tangie's and Zachary's berating of Bruyere when Jyn tapped his shoulder.
"Hmm, what?" Luke asked the silent girl.
"Mouse droid." Jyn simply said as she pointed down the hallway. Following her visors gase he saw the small four wheeled droid roll down the hall. Moving to the side into the droid's path he got its attention.
"Hey!" Luke called. The mouse droid stopped and squeaked at him. "We're a little lost, can you bring us to the main hangar?" The small droid spun in a circle before turning back down the hall. Looking up to everyone else staring back at him.
"How did you…" Tangie started.
"Work with droids back on the farm. But that's a story for later. We need to move before we get left behind."
"Sir yes sir!" Ce`na mocked. The six began to follow the small droid. Five minutes later they arrived at the main hanger. Kneeling down Luke thanked the small droid waving at it as it drove away.
"You can always trust a droid." Luke commented.
"Yeah." Tangie agreed. "Too bad I can't understand them." This got chuckles from the rest of the group. Before they could continue however a voice shouted at them.
"Zulu! You were supposed to be here five minutes ago. Where were you?" Captain Lawrence hollered as he marched over to the group. The six stood at attention.
"Apologies sir! We took a wrong turn and had to ask for directions." Bruyere said.
"Very well. Make sure it doesn't happen again."
"SIR!"
"Alright. Get going, the transport will leave soon."
"Sir yes sir!" As the squad made their way to the landing craft Luke couldn't help but wonder if every morning was going to be like this.