It had been nearly a month since Zulu had arrived on the planet of Eriadu. In that time the members of the Zulu Squad have learned what it means to be both a team and a soldier. For the last thirty days they had marched, ate, sleep, and drilled together. During this, the members of Zulu Squad have been properly introduced to the other twelve cadets that came with them from Tatooine.
They were first introduced to those in Romeo squad. Marcus Enshire, Lina Xander, Aaron James Foster-or simply A.J as he liked to be called-, Lucia Herrero, Oliver Dune and Francis Dune.
Most if not all of them were from Mos Eisley or the surrounding lands. In their meetings Zulu squad learned that Marcus was the son of Tatooine's special forces commander, Dean Enshire, who was a part of Mobile Infantry Battery Krayt. Marcus had hoped to join the Imperial State Troopers so at the end of their two years of basic training he could sign up for the officer corps.
The squad found it easy to get along with Marcus because despite being the son of Tatooine's special forces commander he was rather humble and modest. Taking the time to listen to his squad mates in training exercises going as far as to help other members of different squads when they fall behind on marches if he can.
Lina came from a similar background. While her parents were no special forces unit they were both Imperial State Troopers that were stationed in Mos Eisley. But unlike Marcus who seemed to be a natural leader, Lina was timid. However in the past month she had been slowly breaking out of her shell. Despite this she seems to give everything a more than one hundred percent effort.
As it turns out, A.J and Lucia have been friends since they could speak.
Unlike Marcus or Lina, A.J and Lucia came from civilian backgrounds.
The only reason why A.J had enlisted was because Lucia had. Out of the two Lucia was the more adventurous and prone to injury. A.J was much more cautious with a slight tendency to second guess himself.
He had joined because he had promised Lucia's parents that he would watch her and keep her out of trouble. Something that more than a few playfully teased him for.
The last two members of Romeo squad were Oliver and Francis Dune.
They were twins. Despite this they couldn't be any more different. Oliver was tall reaching almost six foot three inches while Francis was only about five foot ten inches. Francis could ramble on and on about anything while Oliver spoke in small and to the point sentences. Truly a man of few words. They were both farmers-like Luke who seemed to get along a lot faster with them than anyone else-outside of Mos Eisley just south of the Great Mesra Plateau. Their family owned a large plantation grade biosphere that was about four kilometres in diameter with an area of about one thousand acres. Something that floored Luke when he heard about it.
All and all, both squads got along with each other.
When Zulu was introduced to Victor Squad the results were much the same with one exception.
Falynn Pyxis.
She was the definition of someone who wanted nothing more than revenge.
Her father was a field medic on the Acclamator class Hospital Ship Safety when it was destroyed by the rebels.
The other members of Victor squad, Rachar Despot, Hest Ollovughn, Durran kall, Terrence Kori and Amilia Svar-Tre had been imposed out of any kind of leadership position due to Falynn's shut-up-and-do-as-I-say attitude
Rachar, Hest, Durran, Terrence and Amilia had all been from either Mos Espa or Mos Entha. Most of them had known each other in some shape or form before enlisting.
Falynn on the other hand was from the town surrounding Palace Military Base like Ce`na.
According to Zulu's Twi'lek squad mate-who had known the girl that was causing Victor squad hell-, Falynn had been devastated at the news of her fathers death. When news came no-one had seen her leave her home for nearly a week.
When she did, she was very, very different.
Before she could be described as innocent, sweat, even childish at times. But after her fathers death that was all gone.
She had a shorter temper and was prone to get agitated or angry. If she wasn't in school or at home she was training. Some had claimed that they had seen her using her fathers blaster at the shooting range after dark.
When talking to the other members of Victor squad they could confirm most if not all of that Ce`na hand told them.
Even after training-even the days that they do suicide running drills-with Captain Lawrence, she makes them continue in their room for about another hour.
This had almost made them miss dinner several times in the last month. For the other members of Victor squad who all came from civilian backgrounds, this was almost like torture.
Rachar and Hest tried to stand up to her but the only response they got for their actions was a bloody nose and a free trip to the infirmary. No one tried to tell Falynn off after that. The members of both Zulu and Romeo kept their distance from the revenge driven girl, only talking to her when addressed or in training exercises.
The rest of Victor squad was well liked and had gotten along well with the others. But since the first month of training was over. Things were about to change.
It was midday when Tangie, Luke, Ce`na, Zachary, Jyn and Bruyere were in the recreational room that was located within the facility. The Recreational Room or Rec. Room as most cadets and officers called it was open to those who have shown that they can work with their squad and have received high scores in training as a reward.
Currently the members of the Zulu squad were sitting in comfortable chairs facing a monitor that was on the wall in front of them. On the monitor, it showed a strangely shaped ship with a light grey hull and a great many blue lights. As the camera panned around the ship's exterior, a voice belonging to an old man could be heard.
'Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Their ongoing mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new lifeforms and new civilizations. And to boldly go where no-one has gone before.' The ship's engines grew bright before blasting off into the darkness of space and the screen went black. Not a moment later the credits started to play.
"Well that was…" Tangie started.
"A waste of time?" Ce`na suggested.
"No, no… well…"
"I agree with Ce`na, we could have used our time more productively." Jyn said standing up out of her seat stretching.
"I don't get it. I feel like I'm missing something." Luke muttered.
"Well what do you expect? This movie is more than three hundred years old!" Bruyere stated. He turned towards the boy from Mos Espa. "Zachary, where did you even find this?" The laid back boy shrugged in his reclining chair.
"I don't know. Found it at the back of the cabinet over there." Zachary said pointing behind him. The rest of the squad looked in the direction the boy was pointing to see the glass cabinet that held many ancient terran 'DVD's.'
"How did we miss that?" Ce`na asked.
Before anyone could answer her, the door to the room slid open revealing Marcus Enshire in his dress uniform. The black haired boy was panting slightly leaning on the door frame.
"There you guys are!" He said. "I've been looking all over for you."
"Why? What's wrong?" Luke stood up and walked over to the member of Romeo squad.
"Get to your room and get changed then head over to the Amphitheater," Marcus instructed. Seeing their confused faces Marcus explained further. "Remember what Captain said during our first day?"
"Yeah, that at the end of the first month those who have shown that they can handle training were going to be promoted, why?" Tangie asked unconcerned. Ce`na slapped the back of his head before briskly walking out of the room with the rest of the Zulu squad.
"Thats today idiot!" She called out to Tangie behind her.
The Zabrak stood there for a moment before it clicked.
"Oh…'
'Kriff."
Marcus laughed at the Zabrak as he ran down the hall. In truth his squad would also have missed the ceremony if Falynn hadn't barged into their room and all but ordered Marcus to go find the members of Zulu Squad since they were not in their room when she had forced herself in after several minutes of knocking.
The members of the Zulu squad were walking quickly down the hall towards the Amphitheater dressed in their beige dress uniforms.
"Why are we always the last to arrive?" Bruyere growled out as he tried to tighten his cap so his hair didn't fall out.
"No clue." Luke replied fixing his arm cuffs.
"I blame Zachary."
"What!"
"Blame accepted." Tangie simply said as the group stood arrived in front of the doors.
"Now that's just not right…"
"Quiet, all of you." Jyn said. The four stopped talking as the door opened. Thankfully no-one noticed them and the chatter of the other several hundred cadets drowned out the sound of the door. "Come on."
The members of Zulu quickly found their place in line with Romeo and Victor.
"Well, well, well. Look who finally arrived." Lucia joked as the members of Zulu Squad sat down.
"Yeah well, we forgot that the ceremony was today." Bruyere said, scratching the back of his head.
"Obviously. So where were you? When Falynn forced her way into our room she looked like she was going to tear the base apart when she said that you guys weren't in your room." Lucia asked.
"Rec. Room." Luke answered.
"Yeah Zachary was showing us an old Terran movie that he found." Tangie explained.
"Ah, I see. Well at least you made it." Lucia said.
"Yeah. Could you imagine what would've happened if we were late?" Luke said. Tangie shuttered.
"I'm not sure whose punishment would be scarier. Captain Lawrence's or Falynn's." Tangie wondered.
"Falynn's. Captain Lawrence can make us do suicides for hours but Falynn could get physical." Ce`na said.
"Well we weren't late so it doesn't matter." Bruyere said. The others nodded along with Bruyere. The two squads talked for a little while longer before LTC. Monroe arrived up on stage. Seeing the Lieutenant Colonel the cadets quieted.
"It's been a month since I have seen you all last. In that time you all have performed above the standards of what we had hoped. But only about twenty percent of you will be chosen for promotions today." LTC. Monroe stated. "Now, I will call you up by alphabetical order of what planet you are from." He cleared his throat. "First up, Bakura!" This went on for a while until the Lieutenant Colonel reached Tatooine.
"Tatooine."
Hearing their planet be called every member of the three squads were at the edge of their seats waiting with baited breath.
"Enshire, Marcus. Pyxis Falynn. Skywalker Luke."
The other members of Zulu, Romeo and Victor applauded their squad mates at the promotion.
Luke was surprised. It seems that he did a lot better than he thought he would. Following Marcus and Falynn he passed the members of his squad who congratulated him. As he stood up on stage he stood at attention with Marcus and Falynn.
Lieutenant Colonel Monroe walked up to each of them and placed a badge over their left breast. Stepping back he saluted them. "Congratulations Sergeants, may you lead your squads to victory."
He turned and picked up a fourth badge from a case that his aide was holding.
Stepping up to them he said, "All three of you have shown that you can lead others and work together with each of your squadmates. But only one of you will get this."
Luke felt a drop of sweat roll down his forehead. While he knew that he wouldn't get it there was always still a chance. Besides if not him then it was either Marcus or Falynn. He really hoped that it was Marcus.
Lieutenant Colonel stopped in front of Marcus.
"Enshire, Marcus. You have shown the true traits of a leader within both your squad and others. As such you will lead the platoon from Tatooine designated the Twin Star Platoon. Congratulations Second Lieutenant." LTC Monroe said.
Luke let out a breath. He was happy for Marcus. He deserved the position.
Looking over to Falynn he saw that her face betrayed her showing a flicker of anger before changing back. Her fists were still clenched though. As they walked back to their seats Luke congratulated Marcus.
"Congratulations." Luke said.
"Thanks, you too."
The rest of the day was spent celebrating.
All the squads knew that this was just one of many hurdles that they would have to jump over.
(A.N: I know that I said that I wouldn't introduce anyone else in the last chapter but several hours after uploading it while I was about to go to sleep I realized that I would have to for the story to continue. If I introduce anyone else then it will just be one person and not twelve.
Next chapter I actually plan on writing the beginning of the first arcs rising action! (Yay! Woohoo! About Time!). I would have wrote it in this chapter making it much longer but decided that it would be easier to just make them separate. Also I would like to thank FreeWar for the reminder about the lack of name for the third ship that was escorting the Safety, that has been fixed! So without further adieu...
"Luke Skywalker was promoted to Sargent and is now a part of the Twin Stat Platoon under command of Marcus Enshire! Will Marcus' promotion cause discord in the newly formed Platoon? Will Falynn cause problems with the group? Find out next time in Chapter Six, "March through the Jungle.")