Kolus City, Brentaal IV, 3644 BBY
Kat Merrick strode along the pedestrian walkway, her bright blue eyes trying to scan the sights. The sun bore down on her light brown skin and auburn hair. She regretted not wearing a cap that day. All she wanted is to walk around after almost a week of staying in.
"GAREK'S ALDERAANIAN DELIGHTS"
"BVEKS ENTERPRISES"
A smooth female voice called out, "Hey there! Interested in joining the Republic military? We have over 40 million vacancies!" Kat turned around to see a female Cerean in a grey and navy uniform sitting on a desk with holobrochures.
"I... I've thought of it, once. But that was a long time ago... I never knew the military is here at Kolus City,"
"We have only have offices here, but we have a Marine Corps base a thousand miles away in the state of Viizi ,"
"Marine Corps?"
"One of our five branches. If you want more information, here's a 'chure for you," and handed a holobrochure to her.
"Huh... Where are your offices?"
"Floor ten at the Neyan Complex buildings, down the street. You can't miss it,"
She entered the building, filled with office workers of various species going about their day, and went up via turbolift.
"GALACTIC REPUBLIC ARMED FORCES - OFFICES, RECRUITING"
Huh. Here it is…
She walked into the well-lit, neat office to a grey droid mans the desk in front of the 6 doors. "Greetings…! My name is Gee-Ar Five Three…! Welcome to the Galactic Republic Armed Forces offices. How can I help you?"
"Uh… I'm just thinking of looking around, actually…" "Would you be interested in looking through our occupations? We have over a thousand available over six branches," "Please have a seat," and gestured her in to the chair in front of the desk.
She slumped onto the lightly padded chair and looked up onto the posters on the wall. One in particular caught her eye :
First In, Last Out : Head Into Battle With The Republic Marines Today!
She couldn't take her eyes off the poster - it showed three humanoids - a human female front and center, flanked by a blue male Twi'lek and a red Zabrak male in a dark blue uniform with grey-coloured accents. On the background was a starship, a walker and a fighter.
Whoa.
She snapped out of it, started looking through the Republic Marine Corps' jobs list. "Hmm… Logistician...Hyperdrive Maintenance Crewman… Administrations Officer… Intelligence Specialist…" Not my thing.
She scrolled up and selected the "Direct Combat Occupations" section.
Artilleryman- Artillerymen provide heavy fire support for ground forces by high-velocity munitions. (See further : Light Artilleryman , Medium Artilleryman and Heavy Artilleryman)
Anti-armor specialist - Anti-armor specialists are trained to take out enemy vehicles and armor with powerful rockets. (See further : Light Anti-armor specialist and Heavy Anti-armor specialist)
Breacher - An important part of today's close combat - with scatterguns, explosives and close quarters training, no fortification can survive the punch of a breacher.
Cannoneer - Cannoneers lay down heavy fire with assault cannons in order to break through to enemy fortifications. (See further : Light Cannoneers and Heavy Cannoneer)
Corpsman - Corpsmen heal combat injuries and other effects caused by fighting. (See further:
Combat Corpsman and Field Corpsman)
Combat Engineers - No obstacle is too great for the Republic's combat engineers - Engineers engage in a wide range of duties - including route clearing, structure building and fortification destruction.
Sharp shooter- An integral part of the infantry squad, the Republic's sharpshooters engages enemies with accurate fire at medium to medium long range distances.
Melee specialist - Melee specialists help close the gap when the fighting gets close. (See further - Vibrosword Specialist and Vibrostaff Specialist)
Mortarman - Mortarman provide mobile and light indirect fire support for ground troops for offense and defense situations.
Paramarines - Paramarines go into battle via drop jets behind enemy lines as elite infantrymen.
Pilot - Pilots maintain the Republic's supremacy of sky and space with a variety of starships. (See further : Pilot positions)
Rifleman - The heart of armies - riflemen are trained in marksmanship and small unit tactics in order to close with and destroy the enemy. (See further : Rifleman and Grenadier)
Snipers - Snipers are elite specialists that engage the enemy with extreme precision at extremely long ranges.
Vehicle crewmen - Armed with an array of walkers, carriers and starships, vehicle crewmen are ready to engage the Republic's enemies on land, sea and space. ( See further - Vehicle crewman positions)
Thoughts started going through her head - Raider. That sounds cool. Explosives? I get to blow up things...like in the holoflims? But… everything else seems pretty neat too. I could see myself being a mortarman… I've always imagined myself as a rifleman though.
"Uh, excuse me-" "Yes?" "Can I talk to the Marine recruiter please?" "Of course. Past my desk, 2nd door from the left,"
She walked into the Marine recruiter's office - and froze in the doorway.
"Good afternoon. I'm Command Sergeant Li'ha of the Republic Marines. Welcome to our offices. Can I help you?"said a green female Twi'lek in a grey and blue uniform. Her L-shaped desk was neat and tidy, and had a small computer from which she handled her work.
"Uh… yeah. I'm… thinking of joining, ma'am. haven't decided, though," said Merrick.
"Well, have a seat then…! I can answer any questions you might have." She eased herself on the chair in front of the desk.
"...What makes the Marines different from the Republic Army?" asked Kat.
"Well, first of all, we are our own fighting force. We're focused more on combined arms more than any other branch. Not saying that the others don't, but we have a force that others simply can't match easily. We're also the only force to specifically train for starship boarding. Most importantly, we have a more flexible doctrine, training and regulations and equipment to fit every type of unit, mission and location,"
"Do the Marines see a lot of combat right now?"
"Not since the Treaty… We do have some forces deployed to high risk sectors, though,"
"Oh, okay… Is it difficult to get into combat jobs?"
"Nope. We've got a lot of spots available…"
"Cool… How long do I have to serve with the Marines?"
"At a minimum… 5-year contract. If you want to stay after that, reenlistments extensions are for every two or five years. You'll be able to retire after 20, minimum. In all cases, you'll be attached to the reserves for a minimum of five years at least, where you'll live as a civilian but can be called up if needed. Any other questions?"
"I'm interested in the uh…" Merrick looked down before coming back up with a "mortarman and breacher jobs. what… what do those do? Sorry, I only know military stuff from holofilms. They all look so cool though,"
"A mortar is an explosive weapon, like a rocket but it fires at a higher angle and has a much shorter range. That's what mortarmen use. Breachers, on the other hand like assault specialists. They use all kinds of different things like shaped charges to knock down doors and walls and use other explosives in close combat… "
"That's awesome. What do I have to do to sign up?"
"How old are you?" "Nineteen,"
"Well, first of all you have to take this test here. This is to determine what jobs you are qualified for," Command Sergeant Li'ha handed her a datapad and pointed to another desk and chair beside hers.
"Huh… I didn't know I have to take a test…. I… I think I should've studied first, Sergeant"
"Don't worry, it's not a pass or fail test. It's just to assess what jobs you could do,"
Kat sat down, opened the datapad, and began the test. The general knowledge questions were okay, the electronics questions not so… the xenobiology and Mechanicals Knowledge questions were rough for her…! The only somewhat easy questions for her were Galactic Basic Usage and mathematics. Time passed by quickly. By the time she handed the pad over to the recruiting sergeant, it had been "40 minutes", as she said.
Command Sergeant Li'ha pulled out a tiny chip wafer from a side of the pad and inserted it into a slot on her computer. She then returned to typing and clicking. Not even a minute later, the chip slightly ejected from the slot, and she picked it and put it back inside. She then handed the pad over to Kat. "Here are the occupations or vocations that you're qualified for,"
She took a hard look into the details. 79th percentile. She scrolled down to see the vocations. Bridge Crew...Logistics Officer… Walker Driver… skip...skip...Rifleman… Paramarine… Corpsman...Breacher...Sniper...Marksman….
"Wait, I'm qualified for all combat jobs?"
"Most jobs,"
"So...when I do ship off to boot camp or something?"
"Are you sure you want to decide now?"
"I...I've always felt like joining up, now that I'm here... I'm sure,"
"Alright, then...There will be a planetary wide pick-up before you're shipped off to your training camp, I'll inform of you when it's close,"
"I'm not going immediately then?"
"No, you're not,"
"So what do I do now then?
"Well, I want you to fill out this form, list your personal information as shown here, and also fill out your preferred vocations in this next section, here"
"You can choose the exact ones you want?"
"Yeah, but sometimes you won't get the jobs you chose - you will be asked this again after the end of boot camp, and the jobs may not be available then,"
"Alright, then..."
She filled it out, noting the interesting choices of questions asked - Have you been charged with any crimes against the Republic? Are you suffering from any debilitating illnesses that require long-term treatment and/or medication? Have you consumed any spice or similar narcotic substances?
She filled out her vocation choices as
Paramarine
Breacher
Rifleman
Anti-armor specialist - light
Cannoneer
She handed it over to Command Sergeant Li'ha. "Is… is there anything else I have to do?" "No, nothing. I have your contact details so I can inform you if there's anything. Thank you."
"Ah, okay then. Thanks for having me here." Kat said as she rose to leave the office.
As she neared the exit, Command Sergeant Li'ha said, "Don't forget to shape up and read up…! You can get some flimsiplast books from the front desk droid. Never hurts to be prepared," "Aye, Sergeant, thanks,"
She bought a book titled "The Republic Marines' Handbook" for 4 standard credits. She looked at the holobrochure on the front desk again, and asked the GR-53, "Can I bring this brochure home?" "Of course," the droid replied. She took the tried to store the book was slightly smaller than her palm but it's also a thick book. At least it fit in her jacket's inner pocket.
She started walking back to the underground tram to go home. She stared out the window as the tram started going above ground. The view was of buildings of varying heights, speeder highlanes and huraa trees sparsely arranged on the walkways filled with City was no Coruscant - It only had an estimated 30 million inhabitants. A 3 hour speeder trip from the capital, it was a typical galactic city, with beings from all planets, species, beliefs and ages. The city was known for hosting a number of major laboratories belonging to mega-corporations, which employed a majority of the beings here.
Kat Merrick's father is one such employee. He isn't a scientist - just a minor manager in BrentaaLabs' - Brentaal IV's largest biotechnology company - satellite labs.
Her mother was one too, albeit from a different company - before quitting a couple of years after Kat's birth. Now she's a homemaker. The two met when their respective work groups had lunch at the same restaurant.
After three… or it is four stops? she thinks as she stopped off at the Mxova underground station. She stopped to grab a Kvak Chicken sandwich at a kiosk before heading off towards her apartment. She checked her chronometer - 1500. Sunset in 3 hours.
The Mxova suburbs were a lower-middle class residential area, with mostly multi-family dwellings. The streets were not dirty, at least, and crime is only limited to break-ins and the occasional street fight.
She arrived at her apartment building and got onto the elevator. She exited on the sixth floor and walked to the front apartment complex had 8 houses on ever floor - hers was at the end. She scanned her owner's card and stepped into the apartment. Her family wasn't super rich - most of their furniture was slightly older than Kat, bought shortly before her birth, and the three bedroom apartment wasn't spacious nor cramped -enough for a family of three.
She walked past, greeting her mom watching holovids on the couch, went into her room, took off her shoes and let herself fall onto the bed. After a short rest, she got up, put the Marines' Handbook on the table, took her chicken sandwich, unwrapped it, and started eating. The sandwich tasted slightly spicy, which she liked. As she ate, she stared around her room - a study desk and a chair were next to the bed. The walls were adorned with band posters and war holofilm posters. A small shelf filled with books and holofilm disks is beside the desk. On the desk were two champion medals for her athletics during secondary education.
She finished her sandwich, crumpled the container and threw into the small garbage processor next to the shelf. She then took a shower, contemplating under the flowing water.
Here it goes. Can't believe this. No turning back now…
She finished showering, dressed in a new set of clothes, and sat on her study desk, and started reading the handbook.
The Republic Marines is the finest fighting force in the galaxy with centuries of tradition and history...
