Chapter V:

Percy's eyes were not prepared for the amount of people that were waiting behind the doors. The room was in the shape of a large auditorium, with multiple rows of seats sweeping out in a large arc. A massive white and black banister, decorated with the Imperial insignia, hung behind the stage and pedestal, where a dark-skinned woman stood, impatiently waiting for everybody to find a place to sit.

Not wanting to attract too much attention, Percy slipped into one of the open seats in the back row, which so happened to be next to a red-headed girl. She was wearing the same cadet uniform as him, and everyone else. There were probably a hundred cadets in total.

"I'm Shira." The girl spoke first as she extended her right hand.

"Percy." He said back while returning the gesture. At first glance he guessed that she was around his age. She had a noticeable lemony scent that was pleasant to be around.

"Where are you from?" Shira asked.

He really needed to figure out a convincing homeworld and backstory that he could tell. He didn't think that too many people would believe him if he told them he was brought to life on board a star destroyer. "Outer Rim," he answered quieter than he meant to be.

"Oh come on, don't be embarrassed if you're not from Coruscant." Shira chided while absentmindedly toying with a silver pendant in her hands. "Makes you different from the rest of us here."

"You're from Coruscant?" Percy assumed that Coruscant was the capital, or main world of the galaxy.

Shira turned her gaze to him, away from her pendant, and for the first time Percy was able to see how striking she was. There was a certain allure about her that was captivating him, like she was a girl full of secrets that she would never share. "Not proud of it. But a man approached me and gave me a chance to be something more than my bonehead, politician parents. So I took it, and never looked back."

Before Percy could ask Shira who the man was, and what was so wrong with her parents, the uniformed woman on stage tapped her mic.

"Cadets." She greeted, silencing the room with her powerful voice and grabbing everyone's attention. "I am Sergeant Triosa Broog."

"All of you are now part of something far more important than your insignificant individual lives. You are now part of an empire."

The last word echoed off the walls of the auditorium, and filled Percy with a sense of pride, like he was part of something great.

"I am not here to be your friend. Right now, as far as I am concerned, you are nothing. But when you leave this academy, you leave as a trained weapon of the Imperial Navy. Or, you don't leave here at all."

There was an ominous pause in Broog's speech as she took the time to look every cadet in the eye. When she reached Percy, he didn't shy away. He had made his decision. His unknown past, no matter how convoluted, wouldn't help him here. He was ready for this challenge. He wanted it.

"Welcome to Carida Academy, cadets." Broog said to the audience, her eyes not leaving Percy's, and his not leaving hers.

-Ω-

"First order of business is assigning you all a number, which you will go by until you officially enter the flight program." One of the officers announced as they all lined up to receive a starter bag. "You will find this information on the tablet that is handed to you, along with your dormitory, schedule and the company you will be training with every day."

When it was Percy's turn, he received a decently-sized canvas bag that included the tablet, along with a couple other essentials such as a toiletry bag. He heard some cadets in front of him complain about the quality of the toothbrush and such, but he was more than thankful since he didn't have a single belonging to his name.

"Any general announcements will also be relayed through this same tablet." The officer continued as he went down the line. "Make the most of your meal times, they might be the only breaks you get throughout the day."

Shira nudged Percy on the shoulder and pointed at her tablet. "What company did you get?"

Percy booted his tablet up, and it performed an initial scan of his face for future facial ID access. His company designation was on the top of the screen. "Epsilon-7."

"Same." Shira flipped her tablet over so Percy could see that she wasn't lying. "Same dorm block too huh?"

Upon further inspection, it turned out that their schedule was also identical. As he was scrolling down the list, he reached a peculiarly labeled late night time slot. "What's this? Inquisitorial training."

"Do you… not know?" Shira asked with a confused look. The way her response came out made it seem like it should've been obvious, but Percy made it clear with his own confused look that it wasn't.

Shira looked over her shoulder to make sure that no one else was listening, but the cadets behind them were engaged in a separate conversation. "We shouldn't be talking about this here."

Percy didn't understand why she couldn't just tell him now, but Shira couldn't stick around for long because they had reached their second order of business. A haircut.

Men weren't given a choice, it was a buzz cut and only a buzz cut. Women on the other hand were allowed to have their hair fall as far just above their shoulders, but could go shorter if they wanted too.

He studied his reflection in the mirror as the barber began to cut away at his black hair. In his mind, his younger body still didn't look quite right. When sifting through the deepest recesses of his memory he remembered being at least seven inches taller, with a lot more muscle.

The barber finished and patted Percy on the shoulder, telling him to make his way to the cafeteria for dinner. In his opinion, he actually looked pretty good with a buzz cut compared to his compatriots.

He entered the cafeteria and tried to locate Shira amongst the crowd as he fell in line to receive his pre-rationed meal, but she was lost for now in the sea of grey uniforms. The meal was pretty barebones in terms of portion size, consisting of just a slice of mystery meat, and a cup of mashed potatoes with some mixed greens.