"THE FORGE" GRID 068-505, BASIC COMBAT CENTER, RTC MORRE'AC, 3644 BBY - WEEK 14, DAY 4, 0745 HOURS
The troop transport whirred as Kat tried to catch some sleep. She failed - she was too tired, an irony considering the circumstances. They have already went through their physical, problem solving and soldier tests yesterday, which went decently. Now they are headed to be thrown into "The Blaze" - a 36-hour test of hell - and their final hurdle before becoming Marines.
She looked at the dimly lit troop compartment - the bulkhead is dotted with extra rations, spare parts,ammunition and equipment for its 3-person crew laid in transparisteel compartments - and her squadmates, either sleeping or deep in thought.
The transport slowed to halt and the ramp opened. Kat nudged the person next to her before going out, kneeling with her weapon ready. She looked at the sky. It's going to rain soon. Not good. Squad 1/0435 exited their vehicles, and the transport moved away.
"Alright. Follow me - diamond formation. The route's already on your HUDs. Stay alert, and keep up your noise discipline," said Venn, taking point. Kat was assigned near the back of the diamond, so she was the rear guard. The 14-person squad, along with their two assessing drill instructors, moved northeast through the forest, snaking through hills and streams, helping each other through steep ridges and over slopes with Kat and two others taking turns to watch their six, just in case.
The front elements were to be their scouting element to look out for potential enemies in their path. Then they all heard a chilling sound.
"Enemy patrol, bearing 199, 75 meters,"
They all immediately froze. Were we spotted?
Venn hushly whispered, "Get down!"
They all went prone, weapons pointed in the general direction of the suspected enemy. No one dared to move. Then she saw it. A MCTD Mark-5 training droid. Then another. Another. And another. The droids seemed to haven't seen them… yet. They were moving south of them.
How couldn't they see us?
Kat could barely breathe, but at the same time, she was struggling to steady her aim. The weapon optic blurred in her vision.
It seemed like forever, but when the order came to "Weapons down, let's move! Stay alert! Go!" she sighed loudly in relief.
They all swiftly but silently rose from the ground and started moving northwest again, taking care to move slower and keep their eyes open.
Kat's feet and body were slowly and surely feeling more strained. The helmet was weighing her head and neck forward, her pack pulling her back... It felt like she was being stretched in two different directions.
Droplets started falling to the ground. Ah stang. This is just great. Nevertheless, they had to move on, rain or shine, no matter what. But the rain grew into a torrent. Their clothes and equipment were soaked.
"We're going to seek shelter first. There's a cave marked on the map, but it's 500 meters out west," suggested Venn.
"I think we should keep going," objected Pells. "No, we should stop for a while. We've been going for almost four hours non-stop, anyway,""She's right," it was Xard. He was shivering from the cold.
"OK, let's move then! Keep sharp!"
They immediately darted west, trying to keep pace while watching out for their surroundings. When they arrived, they went in. It was warm. They all leaned against the cave walls.
"Kat, Pells, you're on watch for now. We move when this rain lightens up,"shivered Venn. Kat and Pells both propped their rifles on their knees and adjusted their optics to 1.5X. They all tried to settle in as best they could.
"Pells. What's your profession going to be after we graduate?"
"Just a humble droid technician. That, or admin work, or hangar, or infantry…" "Those are way different jobs, Arrin," "I went totally for an open contract. Just in case I flunk it here," he smirked. "I used to do athletics, but I permanently hurt my ankle. So I joined the Marines - it's the next best thing," he continued. "I used to be one too," "So what happened?" "I joined the Marines," she smiled back.
"You should've went to university instead… You look like a uni girl!" it was Laf'idi from the back.
"One day,maybe…? I don't feel like it right now," "Hah! Next thing you know, you will do the full 20 years!" cracked Venn. "Yeah, she'll be the Supreme Command Sergeant Major, then!" interjected Jar'an.
"Aren't you trying to join Special Forces, Jar'an? YOU should be the SC Sergeant then!" shot back Kat. They all laughed, the first time they did in a while.
The bushes outside rattled. Kat and Pells focused their rifles on the cave entrance, the rest of the squad reaching for their weapons. They all waited, the rain obscuring their vision and hearing.
A body fell forward, wearing the same greens and browns they did. Then another crashed forward, trying to get the first one back up. He pointed his rifle at the cave entrance once he realised their existence.
"Who the hell are you?" yelled Pells.
"Squad 2/0335. Who are YOU?" "Squad 1/0435," "What are you doing here?" "Trying to escape the rain," "Hmmmmpph," he turned around. "Just another squad guys, let's continue on!" he helped the fallen trooper, now covered in mud, back up again and disappeared through the bushes.
They all kept silent for a long time, only eating their rations and stretching out their bodies as best they could, only to be broken when Pells said, "The rain's lightening up. Should we go NOW? We've been here for an hour already," Venn took a peek outside. "Gear up. Let's go!"
They all started moving north again, crossing any main roads they come across in fours, with the rest covering them, before disappearing into the alpine forests. They marched through bushes and along gullies to avoid enemy droid patrols. The mud and water from the rain made it difficult - it slows them down and they would occasionally slip on slopes while traversing up or down them. Kat felt her feet slowly ache. The post-rain air was chilly. She shivered.
It took them two hours, but they finally were 300 meters away from the enemy position they were supposed to do recon on. "Alright, send out one from each team. Elements from Aurek will approach from the south, Besh west, and Cresh north. Take images, and return back without being spotted. Then we'll regroup, and slowly go southeast. I'll be on comms listening out. Got it?" "Roger that," they replied.
Kat then went to her team, Team Besh. Rews finally said, "Okay, Merrick and Tuqr. You're up for this one. Get to an overwatch position, use your helmet to record what's on that position, and report back. Make sure you're not spotted. Move it," The pair started moving towards their objective.
"Tuqr, you cover me. I'll do the recon,"
"Messa got it,"
They pointed their guns, trying to ensure a 360-degree coverage as they tried to move without being caught off guard.
When they reached a small hill west of the target, they carefully went up halfway before reaching a hillside facing their target. "Watch my six," Tuqr pointed his rifle in a 180-degree sweep behind her. Kat opened her helmet HUD and flipped down her multiple-optical device in front of her eyes. She zoomed in onto the enemy position.
There were a few concrete buildings, the tallest being three-stories high. A pair of droids were on the roof of every building. A few more were patrolling around the buildings. She tried to count the one's she could see. She saw a few weapon emplacements at the edge.
Two… four… six… eight… nine, ten… eleven… thirteen, fifteen, seventeen...eighteen. Twenty. Twenty-one. That's a lot.
She took images of the enemy position with her helmet - the buildings, the patrols, and every single thing of importance nearby - "supply" crates, vehicles and static weapons.
"I got the images, Tuqr. Let's get out of here,"
"Right-a behind ya,"
She turned… and fell with a loud "Ungh!". She had snagged her foot on a tree root - she realised her mistake and held in the pain - she didn't want to alert anyone. If they were spotted, the entire squad could be in trouble - they didn't have the numbers to take them on. She got back up with Tuqr's help and continued on. Her feet felt a slight sting from the fall, but she was fine.
When they reached back, they were greeted with "Where in the galaxy have you been?" from Rews. "We took da nice route," shot back Tuqr. Kat signalled Venn. "Uploading a copy of the recon images to you now," and fiddled with the helmet's systems.
"Ok. I got all the stuff. Let's move," and Venn then beckoned them to advance to the next objective.
Kat glanced at her chrono. 1842 hours. It'll be dark soon.
She glanced upwards. The planet was beautiful, though they all rarely get a chance to appreciate it, as they were always too busy or too tired. Now that they're leaving soon, she tried to take the sights in , even for a bit. The coniferous forests were made up of brown-red and green-coloured pine trees, which gave it a smell that Kat always found to be distinctive but unrecognizable. She took a deep breath.
"What on Coruscant are you doing, Kat? Don't look up, look around! Stay alert!" chastised Plorr. "Sorry, Plorr! Will comply…" and returned to scan her surroundings. She continued to savor the smell… the only thing she could do for now.
They all continued to move, trying to cover as much ground as possible before it went dark. Optical goggles and devices may have made night operations more possible than ever, but it still weighs on soldiers' helmets, and no matter how good the devices were, it still reduces peripheral vision significantly - not good especially if you don't have natural night vision, like Cathars or Bothans were.
Once the sun went down completely, it got dark enough, and Kat switched on her optical-device to night vision mode. A green glow filled her vision. The trees appeared as dark stick-like figures. She always thought it to be creepy, like ghosts or demons standing guard. Night combat operations were her least favourite part of combat training because of that.
A burst of fire rang off in the distance. Then another. And suddenly a cacophony of fire came out. And it continued. 700 meters away, maybe? "Stay alert. We don't want to trip up on the enemy," said Plorr. Kat's heartbeat shot up. She felt that if it beat even harder, her heart would be outside of her chest.
They all finally were half a klick away from the target. "Alright. Same as before. Each team sends out a recon element, then report back over comms. The faster we finish this, the more we'll get to rest," briefed Venn. She was starting to get tired… they all were.
"Aurek will approach from the south. Besh will approach from the northeast, Cresh from the northwest. Let's be done with this already,"
They all split up and moved, keeping themselves low by crouching and sticking to any concealment they could find. "Me and Letami would scout ahead. Wait here. Set up a watch perimeter," said Rews.
"Got it," and the team members set themselves up against trees, watching out for enemies.
Kat squatted on a branch and aimed her rifle downrange. The air was eerily quiet - the firefight from earlier had stopped long ago- the only noise came from the unseen bugs in the forest. The bugs no longer bothered her. Their bites were always a fact of life.
Back during the first few weeks, they would often dig into her skin, but she couldn't react, especially in formation. A fellow recruit once slapped her neck, killing a bug. An instructor spotted this, and made her find and bury the bug, while the rest of the platoon made push-ups and sit-ups until it was over. That was a lesson for them in military bearing.
Now the only thing she had to do is apply some anti-bug and wait for downtime to apply some ointment if it happened. No time for niceties now… and she slapped the bugs of with her barrel hand. No instructors to tell her off now.
The scouts returned. Rews was silently whispering into the comms trying to co-ordinate the attack. He continued to give out information to as they all waited. Finally, he gave out images into the team's helmet HUDs.
"Now, there's three buildings. We've spotted 5 enemy droids outside - two are close to our side. One is on watch on a rooftop, here and one is patrolling. We''ll get close, around 150 meters from the target, here at the edge of this treeline. Me and Letami will go together, Merrick and Tuqr, you'll pair up together. When the signal goes off, each pair will move up while the other provides suppressing fire. We'll start suppressing first. Move fast, and use cover, and fire accurately. Stay extra alert. We don't know how many are there inside or if they'll come out. Let's go,"
They all started moving silently towards their designated position. When they reached it, Kat realised her weapon optic was on low zoom, so she adjusted it to 3X and started adjusting her aiming. She aimed for the droid on top of the building, and adjusted her breathing.
"Go! Go! Strike them!"
Kat pulled the trigger. A blue bolt shot out. She missed, and the droid took cover and started popping off shots. Blue bolts - the same colour as theirs - shot back at them. "Damn it!" She and Tuqr continued to fire periodically as Rews and Letami moved forward. The others teams opened fire. She reloaded her rifle as quickly as she could "Loading!"
The clearing immediately lit up with fire as the droids spotted them. The pair in front of them stopped, and fired. "Tuqr! Let's go!" Kat yelled and they immediately ran forward. Kat zig-zagged as the enemy fire flew towards her. "Stang, stang!" She leaped on branches and went around trees, and finally shot past Rews and Letami. She went on until she was about 100 meters from the clearing, then yelled, "Tuqqqq, suppressing fiiiireee!" The pair stopped almost immediately and fired off.
She aimed at a droid firing from near a barricade. She squeezed the trigger twice, and saw the droid drop. "I… I got one! I GOT ONE!" She then emptied her magazine towards the rooftops. "Reeeeloadiiiing!" then she heard "ME-SA GOT HIMS!" from Tuqr. "YESSSS!". Rews and Letami dashed towards the building, taking cover near the barricade with the droid Kat shot. As soon as they started firing again, the other team pushed forward. They finally joined up near the barricade.
"This is Cresh. We're about 20 meters from the nearest building, over," radioed Rews. "Roger. Proceed to clear the buildings. Recommend you use grenades to clear the buildings first, out," replied Venn. Kat reloaded her rifle. "Okay, let's do this. Use grenades first. Take every room in pairs," and gave a hand signal to move into the building. Kat went first, and saw that the building is a hallway flanked by rooms on the sides. She picked the nearest one on the left. She signalled to Tuqr to take the left side of the room while she took the right.
She opened the door, trying to stay out of the doorway as much as possible, and threw an EMP grenade in. As soon as she heard the grenade detonate, she immediately went in. She saw the droid on the ground in the middle of the room, fired off two shots, and swept her rifle across her side. Tuqr went in. "Clear!" She signalled him, and he nodded. They went to the next room.
This time, she let Tuqr take point. He signalled her to take the left. He opened the door, threw and EMP in, and moved in. She heard two shots, then one, then two - it happened all too fast. She went in and saw a droid behind a sandbag, then realised the droid managed to get off a shot, which barely missed Tuqr.
He stoically nodded, and they exited the room. Rews and Letami were outside the room opposite them, watching out and waiting for them. "Clear," Rews commed "This is Cresh, our building is clear, over," "Cresh, this is Aurek - rendezvous near the center of the compound, out" "Roger that, out - let's go! Center of the compound,"
They went out and regrouped at the center of the compound. "Alright. Now that we're done, let's take a breather. We'll stay here for the night," "You sure we could do that?" replied Letami. "Well, nothing says that we can't… We'll stay at that building there - we'll only have to throw out one droid," and beckoned to the building behind them - the building Team Cresh cleared.
They moved in. Jar'an and Xard threw the disabled droid out. They picked a room, and entered. "Alright. Each team rotates every two hours. Aurek will be up first. Now is… 2228 hours. We'll move out at 0300 hours, " They all took off their packs, and the ones not on watch took off their chest rigs and helmets, though they still kept on their rifles, just in case. The ones on watch watched the windows and the door, rifles ready, just in case.
Before they went to sleep, they ate and drank their rations, which they haven't done after they exited the cave that afternoon. Kat adjusted her pack on the floor to act as a pillow of sorts. She lies down, rifle on her chest. It had been a long, long day.
"Wake me up when it's my watch," and she fell asleep almost immediately.
Reviews and Author's Notes
pbtv - Thanks!
veliacrum - Thanks! I've always wanted to do a militarily accurate Star Wars story about the ground troops haha :D
