T-minus 4: Chi'anna Eclipse

"Impossible... .absolutely impossible."

Remark attributed to General Rohm Moc upon seeing the test results of Chi'anna Eclipse's first live fire tests.

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"The test is simple." Judge Advocate General Micah stated to the little girl before him. "Some of the top Imperial brass have arranged a test for you and your new abilities." the JAG said softly. "There are some that believe you are not up to our proposed mission."

Chi'anna stood within the tent at the edge of the training field. Standing at four foot three inches tall, she looked like she was 12 years old. She was wearing a black bodysuit that was more complex than most starfighters. Carrying sensors, stealth fields and some protection, she only gripped her hands tight. "Im ready." she said softly, mentally preparing herself for yet another run.

"I know you are, Chi'anna." Micah said. "Others... require proof. You hardly need a reminder to be prepared for anything... but stay on your guard, just the same." Micah's voice dropped to a whisper. "I think General Moc would prefer to see you fail this test. And he has arranged to make sure you do - regardless of your performance."

"I never fail, Master."

He smiled. "I know you wont."

Behind them, General Rohm Moc stepped forward and barked an order. "Chi'anna Eclipse, you are ordered to count to ten after we leave. After that, make your way to the obstacle course. At the far end is a bell. Your goal will be to ring it." he paused, then added, "you are authorized to neutralize any threats in order to achieve this objective."

Chi'anna smiled. "Perfect."

Micah handed her a comm device to stick in her ear. "I will be in constant contact with you." Moc and Micah gestured to a pair of technicians and they left the tent.

One

Inside of her mind, her superluminal thought processes began loading combat protocols.

Two.

She initialized electronic detection algorithms within her brain, and boosted her neural interface performance to only eighty-five percent... she wanted to challenge herself.

Three.

She stretched out with her Force abilities, and enhanced her hearing.

Four.

She heard the destinctive sounds of armor plates softly moving against itself. Her brain analyzed the sound pattern, and she immediatly identified the sound as three stormtroopers preparing heavy DL- 44 rifles.

Five.

She heard Micah's voice through the earpiece of the communicator he had given her. "I assume you have a plan already, Chi?"

Six.

Chi looked bored as her senses precisely pinpointed the Imperial stormtroopers. "Yes."

"Presumably your plan doesn't involve getting shot?"

"No."

"So, little one... what is your plan?" Micah said, sounding anxious.

Seven.

"I'm going to finish counting to ten."

She heard Micah sigh in frustration, which gave her a small triumphant smile. Secretly she hated her master. Shadows moved along the wall of the tent - motion from the outside.

Eight.

Her body started to pump endorphins and adrenaline to the proper receptors, she started to shake her body loose, and grinned.

Nine.

Three stormtroopers entered the tent, moving in slow-motion. White armored figures, helmets hiding their faces, crouched low, and their rifles leveled. Two took flanking positions. The one in the middle opened fire.

Ten.

Chi'anna blurred into motion. She dove from her starting position and - before the stormtroopers could adjust their aim - landed in their midst. She rolled to her feet right next to the trooper who fired first, and grabbed the man's rifle. She brutally yanked the weapon away from the stormtrooper. There was a loud crackling sound as the man's shoulder dislocated. The wounded trooper stumbled forward, off balance. Chi spun the rifle and slammed the butt of the weapon into the stormtroopers side. The man exhaled explosively as his ribs cracked and his armor shattered. He grunted, and fell unceremoniously to the floor, dead or unconscious, it mattered little to Chi'anna.

Chi spun to face the left-flank trooper, assault rifle leveled at the man's head instantly. She had the man in his sights, but she still had time - the soldier was not quite in position. To Chi'anna's enhanced senses, amped up by her abilities, the stormtrooper seemed to be moving in slow motion.

Too slow.

Chi'anna lashed out with the rifle butt again. The stormtrooper's head snapped back from the sudden, powerful blow. He flipped head over tail and slammed into the ground. Chi sized the man's condition up with a practiced eye: shock, concussion, fractured vertebrae. Death should be imminant. Stormtrooper number two was out of the fight.

The remaining stormtrooper completed his turn and opened fire. Chi's enhanced senses allowed her to track his trajectory and easily sidestep and slam her own rifle down - hard. The stormtrooper screamed as his leg gave out. A jagged spoke of bone burst through the wounded man's armor. Chi finished him with a rifle butt to his helmeted head.

She grabbed an undamaged rifle, and began to pull ammo clips from the fallen stormtroopers belts. The lead stormtrooper carried a vibro-blade; Chi'anna grabbed it.

"Did you kill them all?" she heard Micah ask. Chi shrugged. "Doesnt matter." She said as she secured the packs to her bodysuits. "They shouldn't - " she broke off, suddenly. her senses picked up seven new contacts and she grinned. This was starting to get fun.

She strode to the center pole of the tent, and with a yank, she pulled it free. As the roof fluttered down, she slashed a slit in the tent fabric and shoved through. She faced three more stormtroopers; they fired - Chi'anna deftly jumped to one side. She sprang toward them and lashed out with the steel pole, swiped out their legs. She heard bones crack - followed by screams of pain.

She turned as the tent finished collapsing. The remaining four troopers could see her now. One reached for a grenade on his belt. The other three tracked her with their assualt rifles. Chi'anna threw the pole like a javelin at the man with the grenade. It went completely through him and he fell with a sigh. The grenade, already activated ,however, dropped to the ground.

Chi'anna moved and kicked the grenade, saying "Kick the can!" as loud as she could. It arced over the training area and detonated in a cloud of smoke and shrapnel. Two of the stormtroopers screamed as their armor was penetrated in several areas by the sharp metal, while the third opened fire - spraying blaster bolts in a full-auto fusillade. Chi tucked and rolled, narrowly avoiding the incoming burst of fire, then sprang at the remaining stormtrooper.

She launched an openhanded strike at the man's chest. The stormtrooper's ribs caved in as his chest armor shattered and he dropped without a sound, blood flowing from his helmet grill.

"Mission time plus twenty-two seconds." She heard Micah say over the comm triumphantly. "Ten stormtroopers in less than thirty seconds."

Chi bolted towards the obstacle course. She ignored the outer buildings... her senses picked up no snipers, which was surprising... what was Mohc up too?

She scrambled to a halt when she saw the Dark Trooper Mark III standing in the half kilometer between her and the bell. "Oh." She said softly, calculating her chances.

Standing over seven foot tall, with thick heavy plate armor and carrying a custom assault cannon, with two shoulder mounted missile racks. It was designed to take out legions of soldiers...What could she do about it?

Improvise, she told herself.

She surprised whoever was in the suit by charging straight at it. She moved ten times faster than before, pumping everything she could, Force powers, adrenaline, and her enhanced abilities into her speed. Everything seemed to slow down. She could feel her achilles tendon threaten to tear, but she didnt slow. She watched as the Dark Trooper started to raise its weapon, and then it opened fire. Explosive rounds popped around her, but she moved so fast she left the worst of the damage in her wake. She crossed the half-kilometer stretch in seventeen second's flat. The Dark Trooper fired upon her with its missile launcher. She started to calculate the inbound velocity and waited till the right moment to sidestep it and leap upon the Dark Trooper's weapon arm. She slammed an activated grenade into the hot gun barrels and flipped over the top of its head. She landed behind the trooper in a crouch just as it fired again, causing its arm to explode and topple backwards. She flipped away as it crumpled to the ground, reached up...

and rang the bell three times.

Over the comm channel she heard Micah say "Test concluded. General Mohc is... rather upset that you managed to take out his Dark Trooper... well done, Chi'anna. Darth Vader sends his congratulations as well."

At hearing that name Chi turned to face the observation dome off in the distance and her enhanced senses locked onto Darth Vader, picking him out of the crowd of clapping observers immediatly.

Vader... almost within her grasp.