Lightning arced across the night sky. Rain hammered down on the recruits below.
"Attention!" Came a booming shout.
He stamped his boot down in unison with the other recruits as they turned to face the speaker.
"Welcome to the 209th stormtrooper training corps!" A couple in the crowd flinched at the ferocity in the shout.
"The next sixteen weeks of your life will be miserable! But you will depart here as proud soldiers of the empire!"
The one hundred and forty something recruits watched in silence as the chief instructor walked up and down the first rank, before he stopped in front of a hulking dark skinned recruit.
"Name and planet recruit!"
"Beckendorf, Corellia. Sir." The recruit replied, his voice baritone.
"With hands like what why aren't you building ships there boy?" The instructor roared back.
"I wanted to see the galaxy sir!"
"Well you're more likely to see the inside of a star destroyer than you are the galaxy." The instructor fired back, continuing to stalk down the line.
"Sandy!" He shouted out, stopping in front of a blonde recruit.
"Sir!" The recruit returned.
"Name and planet."
"Solace, Thyrerra. Sir."
"Why are you here Bacta boy?" The instructor yelled.
"To be an army medic sir." He replied.
"Army?!" The instructor bellowed. "This is the stormtrooper corps boy! I will ask you again Bacta boy, why are you here?"
"To be a stormtrooper medic sir!"
"Kriff it seems everything from that planet wants to heal people." The instructor roared, referring to the production of bacta on Thyferra.
"Row one, about face."
The first row turned to face the rest of the recruits
The sound of the instructor's boot's heels was the only thing audible as he assessed the next line of recruits.
Percy stood ramrod straight, the heavy rain matting his hair to his head.
The instructor stopped a few recruits down from him.
"Name and Planet." The instructor shouted.
"Di Angelo, Nar Shaddaa."
"I can smell the Hutt on you boy." The instructor fired back. "Row two, about face."
The row in front of Percy turned to face, and he locked eyes with a tanned girl, with wildly coloured eyes.
A shadow loomed over him. He locked eyes with the instructor.
"Name and planet."
Jackson's ears rang at the volume. "Jackson, Aquilaris."
"A water world? Tell me boy, do you have gills?" The instructor asked, grabbing him by his chin to check for any aquatic features.
"No sir." He managed to get out.
"What did you do before joining Gills?" The instructor roared, releasing his grip.
"Fight droids, sir."
"Fighting droids? What are you a clone?"
"No sir."
"Well you fight for order now boy. Row three, about face."
Percy was the first one to make it into his assigned barrack, and quickly snagged a top bunk, placing the rest of his items in his assigned locker.
The door opened and three more recruits walked in, he recognised Solace, from the hazing ritual earlier, aptly named 'Bacta boy' by the instructor.
With him was Di Angelo, and the hulking figure of Beckendorf.
He nodded his head in greeting to group, as they split up to grab beds and lockers.
Jackson sat on his bunk and flicked through his data pad, before the door moved up open again, a tall blonde stepped through, behind him was the tanned girl, and next to her was another woman.
The two were complete contrasts of one and other, the second was about Percy's own height, and had the broadness to match Beckendorf.
"My name is Castellen, I will be your squad leader. These two here are McLean and La Rue." He said, signalling to the two girls with him, who entered the room and claimed their respective bunks.
"Now get moving, we are starting with basic entry assessments."
The assessments were a routine part of stormtrooper training, they were used to judge if anyone within a squad was more suited to a more specialised role before any training.
The series of tests included marksmanship, medical tests, endurance tests and combat simulators.
Their squad was on the marksman test first, and they stopped by the quarter master beforehand to grab their equipment.
As it was only a test range, they could forego the standard plastoid armour. The base quartermaster was an grizzled old man, who checked out their gear with a frown.
Jackson gravitated towards the long rifle container, grabbing it up from the counter. The quartermaster further issued a standard crate and a second long rifle container.
They followed Castellan to the firing range, which had been set up outside the garrison walls in a nearby field.
There were standard targets set up down range, going to a maximum range of one kilometre. At the firing line were some tables which they laid their gear down on.
The standard crate was filled with imperial standard issue Blastech E-11 carbines. The short barrelled rifles excelled in close range engagements, with the shorter muzzle allowing for greater manoeuvring in confined spaces.
The trade off however, came in a lack of accuracy at medium to long range engagements. Imperial doctrine usually defaulted to overwhelming firepower at such a situation, a principle that was reinforced by a stormtrooper squad's heavy blaster rifle.
Beckendorf opened his long container to reveal such a weapon, a DLT-19.
Jackson grinned internally at the revelation, as it meant his container had the marksman rifle in. He clicked open the locks and lifted the lid, eyes glowing at the rifle that lay before him.
The E-11s was the standard issue marksman rifle in the stormtrooper corp, it's accuracy was significantly higher, however was let down by poor cooling.
"Jackson." He snapped up at his name. "Since your having an orgasm looking at that rifle you're up first."
Percy took it by the strap shouldered the weapon, walking over to the firing line, where he took a knee and rested the barrel on the low wall.
Peering down the optic, it was blurry and out of focus. He twisted the dial on the top of the scope to bring it into focus and cycled the cooling system to check all was in order.
"Ready sir." He said.
Castellan brought up his macrobinoculars. "We'll start easy, 200 metres."
The target centre sizzled and flower orange as the bolt impacted, perfectly aimed.
"300."
One shot followed his order, and give a copied result. A perfect shot.
"you've got talent Jackson, 600."
Percy adjusted his aim. "Spent my teenage years shooting clankers sir." He replied, firing at the target marked 600 metres. The shot was just outside the centre, and he grunted in dissatisfaction.
He fiddled with a few more dials on the rifle and fired again, hitting centre.
Castellen let out a low whistle. "No kidding. Try 1200."
Jackson adjusted again, and clipped the edge of the target. "Excellent stuff, I think we found our marksman."
Jackson realized something, about a month into his training.
He hated endurance testing.
And his instructors loved endurance testing.
He gasped for breath as he landed down onto his knees, the muddy water splashing up around him. His rifle clattered on his back. Another person landed next to him, a hand entered his vision.
"Come on, get moving."
He reached out and grabbed Beckendorf's hand, the tank of a man hauled Percy up, gear and all without so much as a flinch.
The pair jogged on through the bog and thick rain.
"I Kriffing hate endurance." He bemoaned.
"I know. You say every time we do it." Beckendorf fired back.
"Aren't I supposed to get a speeder bike?"
"If you were a scout trooper, yes. But you're just a marksman."
They continued their jog, the weather on the forsaken planet hammering down on them.
They vaulted a fallen tree and continued through the forest, the edge of the base in sight.
They crossed over the boundary, the instructor taking their times down.
He sat down in a heap against the wall as the rest of the squad made their way over to him, joining him on the floor.
"I-" Percy started.
"Hate endurance, we know." McLean finished for him.
Jackson just groaned and rested his head back on the wall.
"Cheer up, you'll get used to it one of these days, Gills." McLean continued, using his ever-hated nickname the Commandant had given him.
Even from under the plastoid helmet she could feel the glare he levelled at her. "Why are you even here McLean, surely your dad could've got you a nice cushy holomovie job."
"Eh, I gave it a go but it wasn't any fun." She replied nonsensically.
"What was that Moviestar? Gave it a go?" Percy shot back, a new nickname just for her.
"Call me that one more time and that helmet will have to surgically removed." She threatened among the noise of the group all laughing.
"Stack up, set breach charge." Castellan ordered.
Percy's E-11 felt weird in his hands. He was used to his long barrelled marksman rifle, a weapon that would be no use in close quarters ship boarding.
His squad lay up on either side of the door, as Di Angelo set the charge on the door, Percy took a deep breath.
Castellan gave the signal, and the door exploded inwards, with La Rue charging in, loosing shots immediately.
The rest of the squad rushed in behind her, firing at the training droids in an attempt to secure their breach point.
Percy was the second last to enter, with Solace bringing up the rear. The droids returned fire, the yellow training bolts impacting all around them.
The hallway had ridged sections and the squad quickly sought cover from the incoming fire.
Jackson primed a thermal detonator and threw it down the hall. As it detonated, Beckendorf set up his squad gun.
The white hallway was baked with red laser fire as Beckendorf fired down range.
His muzzle emitted a puff of smoke as the weapon overheated, which was when the front runners decided to press forward, blasting any remaining opponents at close range.
His helmet radio crackled as new commands came in. "Press forward onto the bridge, capture high ranking personnel."
Castellan signalled the group forward, and they made quick pace through the ship.
Time was of the essence when boarding, as every moment gave defenders a chance to defend a ship hardpoint, wipe data banks or space forbid initiate a self destruct.
Castellan rounded a corner and caught a bolt instantly, clattering the ground. Solace was quick to grab him and drag him back, administering care to him.
Percy moved up and peaked his head around the corner, ducking back quickly as the wall sparked from a missed shot.
He turned back to his squad. "Four hostiles, all in hard cover." He reported.
"Can we go around?" Beckendorf asked.
"Not easily. Suppressing fire followed by a grenade?" Di Angelo suggested.
"Go for it." La Rue said, grabbing a thermal detonator.
Beckendorf primed his squad weapon and rounded the corner, unleashing a hail of automatic blaster fire at the hard cover, while Clarisse bowled her grenade down the hall.
It landed perfectly, and the cries of their opponents were audible as the squad marched on, a nearby medic taking Castellan back to the medical centre.
The squad moved up quickly through the hall, each taking turns to vent the heat sinks from their weapons.
As they approached the bridge, La Rue, the acting squad leader, signalled half to break off and prepare the other door into the room.
The two halves signalled ready, and the breaching charges exploded inwards, the squad rushing in through the smoke.
Piper immediately caught a bolt through the thigh, the training mode causing her leg to seize up, leaving her to fall flat down.
Percy was quick behind her to gun down the offending rebel, with two well placed shots to the upper chest and neck respectively.
Pushing through, he thumbed the fire selector on the side of the Blastech E-11 to stun, and fired at the three officers present.
The other half of the squad made quick work in decimating the remaining deck sentry's, leaving them in silence.
Their helmet comm's crackled as high command transmitted. "Excellent job. Simulation over, return to the prep chamber for debrief."
The squad helped eachother up and began to fold back towards their simulated entry point for the boarding exercise.
The next day, the roar of gunships was hardly dulled by his helmet as they flew back towards the base.
By the twin doors in the ship, Solace and Di Angelo were affixing the fast rope cables to the winches, as the rest of the squad checked their gear.
Castellan checked over the La Rue's equipment pack, the red pauldron on his shoulder a now official signifier of his rank as squad leader.
Percy felt a pull and took a step to steady himself as Piper tightened a strap on his pack, smiling at nearly tipping him off balance.
He thumped her shoulder playfully in response, as they both turned to allow him to check over her bag. It was, as usual, perfectly set, so he resorted to tossing her helmet to her, while donning his own with the rest of the squad.
"Mic check, Mic check." He rattled off.
"Loud and clear, Gills." He heard Piper snark.
He turned around and quickly socked her in the chest. "You too moviestar."
"Bastard." She muttered, still very much against her given nickname.
The intercom crackled to life, as the pilot spoke: "Approaching drop zone now, standby."
The doors slid open as Di Angelo and Solace finished setting the fast ropes, the former checking the latter's medical pack.
As the gunship swung around into a J turn to bleed off momentum, Beckendorf stepped up the door and hooked into the cable, ready to drop.
"Go go go!" Came the shout, and the squad began rapidly descend down the cables, towards the awaiting drill sergeant below with a stopwatch.
Percy all but pushed Piper out of the gunship, quickly dropping behind her to the landing pad on the roof of the facility, right as Castellan touched down besides him, rounding out the squad.
"Excellent timing Beta squad, a company record. Report the armoury to turn in equipment before dinner." The sergeant congratulated, watching as the white clad troopers trotted towards the cargo lift.
The rest sat down on the slow lift as it began to descend, while Castellan read his datapad. "We should be expecting two new squaddies, One Jason Grace, and another Ethan Nakamura."
"From Theta squad?" Beckendorf asked.
"Yep, only two survivors." Castellan confirmed.
Training had been cancelled from yesterday afternoon, Theta squad had been undergoing the same aerial insertion training they had just completed, before one of the gunship's engines had failed mid J turn.
Luckily, in a last dying act, the pilot had swerved away from the main complex, and the ship had crashed in a nearby field. All of Theta squad had been in the transport, with half dying immediately upon the crash, pilot included.
Two more had later succumbed to a mix of internal bleeding, massive skeletal damage and fuel burns, leaving only the two members of Theta, who had been thrown from the ship mid descent, as survivors.
"Grace, the name rings a bell." Percy trailed off. "Oh, Sparky right?"
La Rue grunted in agreement.
"Yeah I remember, he picked up a stun baton by the wrong end on like, second day." Piper finished.
"Anything good from Nakamura?" Percy asked.
"Nothing of note." Castellan replied monotonously.
The cargo lift reached the bottom and the squad hauled eachother up before returning to the armoury and turning in their weapons and extra equipment sets.
The group afterwards made their way to the mess hall, collecting their "slop" as it lovingly named by the recruits.
They sat round their usual table, before Castellan waved over Grace and Nakamura, having them join Beta squad for their mealtime.
They spent the next hour getting to know eachother, retelling stories of Theta, and teasing Grace about his nickname.
Jackson was midway through explaining the Piper's nickname Moviestar, before the base commandant stepped up onto the serving tables, slamming his boot down for attention.
Immediately, all within the mess hall stood stiff at attention, before their superior officer began.
"At ease, return to your seats"
A moment of the screeching of benches being dragged back into position filled the room.
"Tomorrow, we will have The Imperial Star Destroyer Devastator to assist us with specialised training. While Lord Vader will attend to business in Theed."
Already low muttering filled the mess hall at the mention of the Empire's top enforcer.
The rabble was again squashed by the Commandant's boot slam. "Furthermore, we will be assisted by the Vader's own five-oh-first legion, in various exercises and wargames. Lieutenants, your specific orders will be issued to your platoons by myself once dismissed, check your data pads. Understood?"
"Sir yes sir!" Was the chanted response.
"Dismissed."
Immediately Castellan motioned towards the barracks, and the squad was quick to return their trays and speed walk back to their bunk room.
They all convened sitting in a circle on the floor, whilst Luke opened the orders that had chimed through.
"Looks like we will be having a prefab deployment exercise, with elements of the five oh first acting as an opposing irregular local force whilst our company deploys the prefab from the above star destroyer.
Deployment will occur at Point Kilo, we will trek on foot until arrival there, where we, second platoon, will be patrolling the northern forest. Second platoon is patrolling the eastern river bank, third holds the plains, whilst fourth platoon will be building the forward operating base using the prefabs that will be airlifted in from The Devastator." Castellan briefed.
"Kriffing Trekking are you having a laugh." Jackson moaned, which was immediately met with a whack up the head from McLean.
"At least you will get your little marksman rifle." She said in mock comfort.
"Means we get to lug extra gear too, can bring some toys from the armoury." Beckendorf pointed out.
"Not the worst idea, may bring a few mines." Nakamura suggested.
"Good thought, proximity sensors too." Di Angelo added.
"Castellan, if I requested some scout armour would you approve for tomorrow?" Percy asked.
"Ping it to me within five and I'll pass it up to the lieutenant, shouldn't be an issue." He replied.
Jackson pumped a fist in celebration before sending over the equipment request.
"Get some sleep all of you, big one tomorrow. Ready room at 0600." Castellan called out.
"Ho Ho Ho, check me out." Percy bragged, as he fastened the scout trooper spec armour onto his body glove.
"Get over yourself." Piper shot back, fastening the last of her plastoid armour on, before reaching down and donning her helmet.
"Sounds like someone's coping a bit." Percy replied in Jest.
He crouched down besides the bench to check he had all the equipment he needed. In addition to the scout armour, he had also grabbed a hooded rain poncho, which he could use to distort his outline.
In addition to his normal kit belt, he also had a bandolier on. The two combined carried what the thought he may need for the day's operation, in addition to the old DC-17 he had dug up and slung into his sidearm holster.
That paired his own E-11S, the long barrelled marksman weapon thrown over his shoulder and secured by the standard strap.
In his belt he carried the standard Infantry First Aid Kit, a couple of ration bars, a canteen, extra gas cartridges and power cells, proximity alarms and a set of macrobinoculars.
The rest of his squad all carried their own excursion gear of mostly similar things, with some opting to carry a couple more thermal detonators with their kitbags.
Solace was the only other one with a unique kitbag, equipped with advanced medical supplies alongside a mountain of spare equipment in case any situation arrived.
Before leaving, they all double checked they had been equipped with training rounds, then proceed out to the main pavilion to meet up with their company.
They milled around for a while before their captain waved them on, and the company deployed, beginning the twenty kilometre trek to point Kilo.
Thankfully, the scout armour boots were a bit easier on the feet than the normal stormtrooper standard issue ones, so Percy's feet were given a rare mercy from the usual blisters that were generated from the long hikes.
After a couple hours, the company had arrived at point Kilo, and all huddled around the company captain, who stood on a rock to address them.
"As of right now, the exercise is officially live. The first parts of the prefabs will arrive in an hour by transport. Platoons, you know your assignments. Let's show these five-oh-first how it's done." He shouted.
The company roared in agreement, and quickly began dividing up to move into their prearranged areas.
Beta squad stood off to the side as Castellan conversed with the other squad leaders and the platoon Lieutenant, as to which sections of their allocated area each squad would hold.
Percy spied a holomap being projected, before it was shut off, and the group split, returning to their own squads.
"We are securing sector two, split up, set defences, start patrolling. The enemy could already be here." Castellan ordered.
An array of Yes Sirs followed, and Percy was quick to head into the forest. Where his home planet was mostly ocean, the few dotted continents were mostly a thick forest, and he had spent years fighting in the terrain.
Moving to the far edge of the forest, he began digging small holes in the ground with his gloves, he began implanting the proximity sensors, setting them to activate from vibrational forces, and linking them to his gauntlet.
It had rained during the night, and the floor was near totally mud. He had donned the rain poncho, and then began wiping the excess mud onto his white armour; to conceal the vibrant colour among the forest.
After setting a web of proximity sensors, he fell back deeper into the forest, finding a particularly broad tree to climb, not before he dived and rolled in a puddle of mud, appropriately slicking him a deep brown to help blend into the forest and bark of the tree.
Ascending the tree with the standard issue grappling line, he climbed the extra height to see out over the canopy.
He commed the rest of his squad. "I'm in position, any word on any contact?"
"Nothing yet, no contact for the other platoon's either, stand ready. First stages of the prefabs are landing now." Castellan informed him.
"Copy that." Jackson affirmed, switching to his macrobinoculars and attempting to see out past the forest for if any contact could be made.
Scanning the horizon, he looked out past the forest from his above canopy perch, scanning the rolling hills and plains for any movement.
Overhead, the first of the Sentinel-Class landing craft passed, touching down in the centre of the forest to begin deploying the first of the prefabs to establish the mock forward operating base.
As he again passed his vision over the horizon, he locked onto the silhouette of a person, adjusting the view of the binoculars, he assessed his target.
"Possible contact, one klick out. Bearing one-forty-two, mark three. Single person, green camouflage clothing, weapon slung on his back." He reported. "Requesting hostile declaration."
"Standby." Was the response, no doubt whilst Castellan transmitted the report to the lieutenant and then the captain.
Jackson kept looking, watching as his target retrieved their own set of marcobinoculars to assess the forests.
"Contact declared hostile. Take him down Jackson."
AN
Blammo. Been wanting to do something like this for a while, a story that sort of humanises stormtroopers a bit, and tells the story from a soldiers point of view, and decided to dribble some Percy Jackson characters in there too.
Inspiration for this has mainly come from the art of Edouard Groult.
Shoutout to Sol for proofreading, go check his stuff out too.
Cheers fellas,
Dududeuehehe