The transport broke though the atmosphere and the recruits, who all had slept on the trip through hyper-space, were jostled violently as the pilot bounced them through the thermal layers. The Sergeant was already on his feet and despite the recruits being thrown like ragdolls, he stood unaided at the front of the transport with his arms folded sharply behind his back as comfortably as he were standing on soil.
"Okay Grunts, your first exercise for today is to see who here is a puker," as he scanned around the seats.
Solasta could hear a few people wrenching in the seats further back and the sound of fluid splashing on the durasteel deck. Looking at the Mirialan male sitting beside her, she was pretty sure he had passed out and his skin had actually turned a shade of mint from nausea, and she giggled to herself.
"Private, are you enjoying our little ride this morning?" the Sergeant shouted out.
Looking around Solasta was shocked when she realized he was talking to her. "Yes Sir, Dad was Navy so we frequently flew Transport," she answered.
"Oh, is that so? Well, maybe you could help your fellow soldiers who haven't had the pleasure and may appreciate some assistance," he said, and with that Solasta spent the rest of the approach to the Academy handing out sick bags and helping those in misery clean themselves.
As the shuttle flew low and circled to the landing pads Solasta could see the Academy from the windows as she moved around the deck. There were dozens of grey concrete buildings set upon a plateau that housed a sprawling training facility and parade grounds. When the pilot announced, "Good Morning recruits, our apologies for the turbulence. We've been cleared for landing so buckle in and we'll be planet-side shortly." Solasta returned to her seat to find her Mirialan friend awake and had put his head between his knees.
When the transport landed and the ramp was lowered, they were marched to their barracks, which Solasta thought was equally drab on the inside as the rest of the Academy looked from the outside.
Their orientation consisted of a different, but equally loud, Sergeant barking out a description of the building layout. The first level housed the Mess Hall and a 'Common Area' which had the modest comfort of benches and tables that faced an array of monitors displaying schedules, information, and a holo that seemed to be permanently locked to the HoloNet. The second through fifth levels were all coed dorm-style rooms with separate refreshers for males and females, and every room was exactly the same with a bed, locker, and desk with a data terminal.
Solasta was pretty sure in that first month at Basics she had done more physical training than she had previously done over the course of her entire life, and the results showed as muscle mass started to fill her previously lean frame making her look healthier than she had in the past two years.
The recruits were up at 04h30 every day and running the grounds and trails before the day's training would begin. The physical advantages she had as a Cathar growing up, only had a marginal benefit with the endless strength, endurance, and combat training they were subjected too. Over the period of that first month those who couldn't manage the mental stress, fatigue, or sleep deprivation slowly disappeared from the barracks without any notice. Only a few recruits were injured, usually a result of the combat training, and sent to the infirmary to mend before returning to training.
By the end of that first month the remaining recruits were formed into squads of four to focus on building cohesive strike units. They were assigned roles in their squads as the Combat Trainers tried to determine each of their capabilities, and Solasta's Drill Instructors continually debated on whether they would slot her in a Vanguard position or as a Commando based on her potential in either specialization.
As a Vanguard she would be directed towards heavier Farium armors with a mult-layer meshing of Ceraglass that gave it a durability that almost matched that of Mandalorian armors, and she would have the ability to absorb direct blaster hits and several strikes from Lightsabers. By comparison, as a Commando she would be geared in Durasteel armors which were not as durable or damage absorbing, but were considerably lighter to offset the Pulse Cannon that she would have slung over her shoulder. Solata's love for the Commando specialization, since that day at the Vocation Fair, hadn't wavered and her size and strength allowed her to wield a Cannon with ease, and her Cathar grace made her combat moves almost a fine dance.
Solasta liked her fellow recruits and new squad mates but as the old awkwardness resurfaced, she was often shy and distant around them in social settings, making her seem standoffish. On the Combat Training field there wasn't any hesitation in Solasta's voice, and within the first couple of weeks of the second month she had gained the trust of her squad as they took notice of her sound judgement and followed her commands without question. That ability she had on the field came from an undue advantage that may have equaled some of the soldiers in Combat School where tactical theory was concerned.
Some of Solasta's earliest and fondest memories of her father had been those nights after dinner when he would tell her stories of the many exercises the Republic had been engaged in over the years. Using just a few key variables he made a game out of making her guess the various battle tactics that were employed, allowing her to work through each one with a holo-sim, and discussing the failures until she finally achieved success. These games developed her ability to reason, be creative on the fly, and many times she would achieve success using some unconventional approaches in the small scale simulations he provided. After she would go to bed, he would overlay the full battle variables and re-run her simulation, always to failure but occasionally with some surprising results.
During this time Solasta and Tasa messaged each other daily since the differences in the planetary rotations of Ord Mantell and Carida meant that Tasa could send a message to Solasta during the midday and by time it passed the Republic Forces filters it would arrive shortly before 'lights out' for Solasta to read on Carida. On a few occasions communications would lag and she wouldn't receive his message until sometime through the night, so she would read it quickly in the morning while getting dressed for the morning run.
It was this unpredictability that didn't cause Solasta any concern when after a long day of exercises in the field she returned to her room and her terminal wasn't blinking to let her know she had messages waiting. Without giving this a second thought, she showered and went to the Mess Hall to eat dinner before returning to her room and studying combat simulations on her terminal. By lights out she still hadn't received a message from Tasa so she went to bed.