Kat was jolted up from her sleep by the turbulence.

She was in a transport ship along with around 99 other recruits. Next to her left was a Nautolan, to her right, a Wookie. They were all headed towards the training base.

She left Brentaal IV yesterday, hugging her parents goodbye at the Brentaa City Spaceport. About 50,000 potential recruits for all branches of service travelled to the capital city to be shipped off.

She boarded the ship, given a ration pack, and was assigned a bunk before dozing off. The journey to the recuit centre, wherever it is, was supposed to last a few more hours, so she tried to open the Marines' Handbook to pass the time.

But there was another purpose - drill instructors were notorious for asking recruits questions on literally anything Marine related, anytime and anywhere. She didn't want to be caught off guard.

"Okay, so enlisted ranks are Private, Lance Corporal, Corporal, Specialist… Insignia rank is… none, upwards chevron, same thing but silver, then 2 chevrons, then that, but gold. Oh no, these all are starting to look the same... I hope I'll remember this…"

She read until she dozed off in her bunk.


The scream was the loudest she had ever heard.

"WAKE UP...AND GET...MOVING!"

She didn't even think. She shoved the handbook datapad into her bag and ran out towards the ship's exit. The twenty-something beings in her berthing were also doing the same.

There were also others, wearing grey and blue uniforms with patrol caps. They screamed and bellowed for the others to move as fast as possible, lunging themselves at the scrambling recruits.

"DOUBLE TIME OFF MY SHIP! NOW!"

"GET! YOURSELVES! MOVING!"

"GO! CAN'T BE ANY SLOWER, HUH?"

Kat ran out of the ship and realised that the recruits already out were putting themselves onto a gridded field. There were thousands around her. She moved to an empty grid and stood firmly as she could.

The air was filled with hundreds, if not thousands of drill instructors trying to corral the thousands of arriving recruits. It felt almost overwhelming for her.

"KEEP YOUR VISIONS IN FRONT! HANDS AT YOUR SIDES! MAKE SURE YOUR FEET FORM A 45-DEGREE ANGLE!"

She tried to look around as much as she could without moving her head. The field was well lit, and she noticed grass - where were they? Beyond the field, she saw buildings and lit windows, but she couldn't discern anything else. It was night, or early morning, wherever they are. She was warned not to bring a chono, so she couldn't tell the time.

Then the distant shouting became near again.

"GO! MOVE WHERE WE TELL YOU TO!"

She hurriedly jogged along with the others. When others broke into a run, she did the same. She didn't know where she was going, only that she followed the ones in front.

They had to stop in front of a five-storey building. There was another gridded walkway, so the recruits positioned themselves accordingly.

"YOU'VE NOW ARRIVED AT RECRUIT CENTRE MORRE'AC! FROM NOW ON, THE ONLY WORDS OUT OF YOUR MOUTHS WILL BE 'AYE, SIR,' OR 'NO, SIR" UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE, YOU UNDERSTAND?", bellowed one of the drill instructors.

"AYE, SIR!"

"YOU WILL GO INTO THIS BUILDING AND FOLLOW OUR INSTRUCTIONS, GOT IT?"

"AYE, SIR!"

"GOOOO…! GOGOGOOO…!"

Everyone rushed into the building to be greeted with screams of "GO INTO A ROOM, FILL OUT YOUR INFORMATION AND TAKE THE CARD FROM THE MACHINE…! MOVE!"

Kat quickly moved into a room and saw a table with a computer on it.

She sat down, and quickly read everything. She filled out her enlistment information, including her recruiting station, recruiter's information and vocation.

She was about to get up when a small machine next to the computer started whirring. A large, chained steel tag the length of her thumb popped out.

She only managed to read her name on the chip before a pounding ensued upon the door. "YOU'RE IN THERE LONG ENOUGH…! DOUBLE TIME…!" She slipped the tag on her neck and rushed out.

"GET TO THE NEXT BUILDING!"

Kat exited out back to another building behind and rushed inside. She scanned around for something before a harsh female voice yelled, "PUT YOUR TAGS INSIDE THE MACHINES AND TAKE YOUR GEAR…! DON'T JUST STAND THERE!"

She moved into one of the lines in front of the machines. Her anxiousness rose as time went on. When it was her turn, she slipped the tag into a slot in front of the machine. It had a large dispenser with a display above it. The display above displayed :

"MERRICK, CATHRIA

RECRUIT NUMBER 18047265/0027

PLATOON 4, CONCORD COMPANY, 5TH RECRUIT BATTALION"

As soon as she finished reading, a pile of stuff was dispensed. It was clothes, gear, and other things that she wasn't sure of packed in a very large duffle bag. She took the bag and ran off, following the recruits in front of her.

"GO! GET TO THE INNOCULATION STATIONS NEXT BUILDING! PICK IT UP!"

She ran into the next building. It was sterile and well lit. A droid was periodically announcing "Please move into an inocculation station and insert your tags into the machine shown. The process will begin shortly after,"

She quickly slipped into a station, searched for the machine, inserted her tags, and sat down.

A droid begins scanning before the machine sounded. "Please remain still,", and started injecting her arms with 6 different needles. She swore that she could feel the liquids burning while it coursed through her.

"Inocculation complete. Please move along,"

She took her duffle bag and hoisted it on. The pain got worse. She tried to power through and ran out before the instructors got her.

"GET INTO YOUR BATTALIONS, GO…! 1ST STARTS ON THE LEFT AND MOVES INTO THE RIGHT, MOVE…! FOLLOW THE SIGNS!"

She ran to the right, eyes scanning for anything that might help. She saw a pole with a sign that said "5TH RECRUIT BATTALION", so she picked herself up and started running again.

Once she reached the battalion, she started looking for her platoon.

No signs of which company or platoon is which… until she saw one with a guidon-holding recruit that displayed "BRAVO COMPANY 5TH BATTALION".

"Alpha, Bravo, Concord, Delta, Echo…Yup…! C'mon…"

She reached the back of C Company and asked a recruit, "Is this 4th platoon, C Company?" "No, 2nd," She hurried over to her platoon's formation and quickly snapped into attention.

More and more recruits moved into their platoons. She didn't know how long was she there. All she knew was that the relief she felt when a gruff voice yelled, "Concord Company, 5th Battalion, fall out and head to your barracks…! MOVE…!"

The company broke formation and headed double time towards the barracks buildings. Kat wondered how they were going to find their bunks until she saw signs that marked their companies.

As they headed into the buildings, an instructor yelled through a micro-hailer, "1st platoon is on first floor, second on next floor and so forth, just pick a rack, don't dawdle…!"

Oh no. Fourth floor. That's going to be fun.

The duffle bag was starting to weigh her down as she reached the fourth floor. She went into the room to see two rows of bunks of three.

Two trios of lockers were provided, one "below" their feet, another at the bottom of the bunk. She had to walk halfway across the room to find an empty bunk.

Thankfully for her, it was a bottom bunk. She set down her duffle bag, opened it and shoved it's contents into the lockers.

She tried to lie down only to realize the bunk is larger than expected. A towering Wookiee on the bunk next to her shows why it's better to have large bunks.

She peeked up to the bunks above. A blue-green skinned, black-eyed male Nautolan was in the bunk above her, Above that was another male, a human with white skin, green eyes and dirty blond hair. They were still trying to secure their gear in the lockers.

"Hey, need any help?" They froze. The Nautolan spoke up first. "Why not?" Kat got up, found another place to stand near his footlocker, and started storing his gear.

"Name's Kat Merrick. What's yours?" "C'alee. C'alee Hirashiy. Hey, thanks for helping," "No problem,"

She went over to the human, who is now storing the last of his gear at his bottom locker. "You want some help?" "Yeah, try to fit in these box-looking things in here," As she tried to fit the large box in, she asked, "What's your name? Mine's Kat. Kat Merrick."

He kept silent. Kat wanted to press on, but decided against it and continued silently.

"Aikern. My name's Aikern Zee," and flashed a sincere but subdued smile at her. She smiled back, then looked around. "I think we're all done here," said Aikern. "Thank you," and tried to climb the bunk.

"TEN...SHUN…! DRILL INSTRUCTOR ON DECK!" "GET TO YOUR DAMN RACKS!"

Everyone did so, seemingly at lightspeed - those already lying in their racks jumped out, those still unpacking either abandoned it or hurriedly shoved everything into their lockers or racks before rushing to stand at attention.

Ten drill instructors strode in menacingly with their precisionly-fit blue and grey uniforms and patrol cap. 8 of them had the three chevrons of a sergeant on their chest while the other two in the middle had three chevrons with a horizontal line at the bottom - the insignia of a command sergeant.

"SIT IN A SCHOOL CIRCLE, IN FRONT OF US, NOW!" screamed one of the command sergeants.

Kat had never seen almost a hundred beings try to sit so fast. She was in the middle, hoping not to be singled out. She tried to look at the drill instructors standing at parade rest. One of the command sergeants was a green female Twi'lek, the other a blood-red male Zabrak.

She looked from the left for the other sergeants- a black female human, a Kel Dor, a brown male human, and a grey female Cathar.

"SIT UP STRAIGHT, AND LOOK AT ME…!", screamed the Twi'lek sergeant. Kat adjusted her posture even though she hasn't been slouching.

"My name is Command Sergeant Ra'az, and I will be your senior drill instructor for this platoon," She spoke very quickly and authoritatively. "And these are my fellow drill instructors," and nodded to the left.

"Command Sergeant Luro, reporting,"

"Sergeant Darrow, reporting,"

"Sergeant Paxe, reporting,"

"Sergeant Kaj'fra, reporting,"

Ra'az stepped forward before sharply doing an about face, yelled out a command that Kat couldn't understand, and raised her right hand. The instructors followed.

"I swear to train these recruits of mine to the best of my abilities. I will develop them into smart, fit, courageous, disciplined and trained Marines. I will demand and demonstrate by example to fulfil the highest of standards for moral conduct and professional professional skill."

Ra'az lowered her hand, and sharply turned towards the recruits as the other instructors lowered theirs. She then took two more steps forward.

"Now, our mission is to train you recruits," she quickly spoke in a military cadence. "YOU! Are to obey… EVERY SINGLE ONE of our commands! WITHOUT QUESTION, OR HESITATION! DO WE HAVE AN UNDERSTANDING?"

"AYE, SIR!"

"We will make this as clear as possible - we WILL give a hundred percent for you, but in return, you MUST give one hundred percent for us, at ALL TIMES! If you need motivation," she smirked, "we WILL give you some! Do you get me?"

"AYE, SIR!"

"GOOD! Now you will learn the basics of our terminology! Front is now fore, back is aft, left is portside and right is starboard side? You get me?"

"AYE, SIR!"

"GOOD! Now change into your PT gear and wear the wrist monitors provided to you. It should be packed along with the datapad box. Double time it…!"

The recruits started rising to their feet. CSGT Luro yelled "Too slow, banthas…! Move faster! You have 10 minutes maximum to gear up and square away all your gear…! Your civilian clothing MUST be locked away and secured! Use your tags to lock everything else! Gooooo…!"

The recruits jumped an ran as the instructors exited the barracks. Kat rushed to her footlocker, rummaged through the contents and found the box of clothing.

She picked out her grey and black -coloured PT gear and set it aside, then pulled out the rest of the issued clothing before taking off her civilian clothes, securing it inside the box, arranging her issued clothing into her lockers, and finally putting on her PT gear.

She scanned her tags on her lockers before running down towards the platoon formation. Some of the platoon members are already standing at ease.

The drill instructors meanwhile, were standing menacingly while now wearing grey and orange coloured PT gear of their own.

An orange coloured insignia of a pair of crossed blaster rifles, superimposed over a Republic battleship, in turn superimposed over a shield - the insignia of the Republic Marines - was emblazoned on the left side of their chests, and the insignia of the Galactic Republic on the right.

Kat took her position in the 2nd row. Aikern joined up beside her shortly after. C'alee joined up in the row behind them. She tried to look around. The sun had just rose. She saw could see that there were mountains near the camp. It was green and forested.

After ten minutes, everyone in the platoon had formed up. CSGT Ra'az ordered, "Platoon Four-Cee-Five! Activate your wrist monitors!"

The recruits of 4/C/5 started fiddling with the monitors. "Now, this will monitor your physical performance and condition throughout training… do NOT, under any circumstances, take this off until your graduation! These things are waterproof and made durable, so there's no excuse! Any issues, come and speak to us!"

CSGT Luro then spoke. "We will now begin our first physical training exercise! This will also be your first physical evaluations. Now we run! Follow my orders and try to keep up, slowpokes!" he smirked and started running.

"Four-Cee-Five! Go!"

"Push those legs on!"

A barrage of yelling started the platoon's run. Kat did okay at first, but as the minutes wore on, she started to feel her legs go heavier. She tried to glance at the wrist monitors for information.

"MERRICK, CATHRIA 18047265/0027

RUN TIME 6:06 MINS

RUN DISTANCE 970 MTR"

She guessed that she's at the front half of the platoon, but there's no guessing. She had to push on.

After a few more minutes, they arrived at the PT course. There were a few obstacle courses and a row of pull up bars flanking the side close to them. The instructors ordered, "Platoon! Halt!" the recruits slowly slowed down to a stop. Kat checked her time.

"RUN TIME 13:32 MINS

RUN DISTANCE 2006 MTR"

CSGT Ra'az said, "That will be the first of many, many runs! I'll expect you to be better as time goes on, as with these exercises! Grid formation, now! It's push up time! Set your monitors!" The recuits rushed into formation and reset their monitors.

"Do as many as you can within 1 minute! Make sure you go down as low as possible and keep your arms at a perpendicular angle! We'll watch over to make sure you don't cheat! Let's begin!"

Kat proceeded to go into position. "Begin!" She pushed as hard as she could, but she was tired from the run. When the timer ended, she could only do 40.

"Great! Now let's do some sit-ups!"

"38 reps"

"Go to the pull up bars!Move!"

"15 reps"

She felt like passing out. Sweat rolled into her eyes.

"We're running again!Get set!"

She couldn't believe her ears. Nevertheless, she formed up with her platoon.

"Alright, let's go, follow me, and sing along!"

"They're asking us to sing? I can barely breathe…!", Kat thought.

"Hey-there, hey-ho, left, right, lay-oh..!~"

"Hey-there, hey-ho, left, right, lay-oh…!~"

"We are the Republic's best, all the Imps all say so! ~"

"We are the Republic's best, all the Imps all say so! ~"

Through heavy breathing and pounding feet, Platoon 4/C/5 runs on.

And so does Recruit Cathria Merrick.