Anakin Skywalker POV, Location: Venator Class Cruiser

"Attention!" Rex's voice echoed across the room. The legions of clone troopers stood at attention in front of him. Rex looked over at Anakin, who gave him a nod of appreciation. Anakin stood alongside his former Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Beside Rex stood Obi-Wan's clone Commander, Commander Cody. Rex was Anakin's clone Captain. Before them stood five clone troopers at attention. From what Anakin had heard, on Kamino, they were called Domino Squad. But today, they were heroes of the Republic.

Because of their heroic efforts, they had managed to uncover a Separatist plot to attack Kamino. The five stood at attention, unwavering. The first one had a blue blood imprint on his armor. Rex said that it was eel blood. The eel had supposedly almost eaten one of the troopers before Rex shot it. The next trooper had a growing beard, and a tattoo of the number five on his head. The one after that had face tattoo of a Z-6 on both cheeks, and a heavy duty Z-6 slung over his shoulder. From what Anakin had heard, the trooper refused to let it out of his sight. The next trooper had a beard, and the ghost of a faint smirk on his lips. The last trooper looked like any other clone, and Anakin noticed that he seemed a bit anxious. The bearded trooper nudged the last one, and he stopped twitching. bi-Wan took a step towards the troopers.

"You have done the Republic a great service today. You should be very proud." His master said with a smile. Anakin nodded along, grinning at the troopers. Each trooper was rewarded with a medal pinned to their chest plate. The trooper with the beard elbowed the one with the tick mark happily. Rex stepped forward after the medals were passed around.

"You five are exactly the kind of men I need in the 501st. Loyal. Brave. Courageous. What do you say, men?" Rex asked them. The troopers all looked at each other for a brief moment, before snapping into salute positions.

"Sir yes sir!" They all cried. Rex nodded to them. Obi-Wan and Cody walked off, and the crowd of troopers began to disperse. Rex walked up to Anakin's side. Anakin turned to him as the clones swarmed the new recruits.

"Tell me about them. Domino Squad." Anakin told Rex. Rex nodded.

"Well, they seem to gather around their leader, Hevy. He was the one with the rifle. He knows weaponry well, and helped us arm a bomb to blow up the Rishi Moon base. Just lucky we all got out alive. But he knows how to take out a few clankers." Rex told him, pointing out Hevy, who was already telling an exaggerated tale of events to a group of troopers.

"What about the eel print?" Anakin asked, gesturing to where the trooper stood, along with the trooper with the five tattoo etched onto his forehead. "And the other one."

"Echo. And Fives. Echo came up with strategies to use against the droids. So did Fives. Both are good soldiers. Follow orders." Rex said.

"And the last two?" Anakin asked. The trooper with the beard was trying to get the anxious trooper involved in the festivities.

"Droidbait and Cutup. Cutup was the one who almost got eaten by the eel. He likes to crack a few jokes. You'd get along very well with him, General." Rex said with a smirk. Anakin smirked as well. "And Droidbait. Almost died to Commando Droids. Would have if it weren't for the group's Sergeant sacrificing himself. Bit shy." Rex added. Anakin nodded.

"Sounds like a good group. I trust you'll whip 'em into shape, Captain?" Anakin asked. Rex nodded.

"Absolutely, sir." He said with a nod. Anakin nodded, observing the troopers. They would do well. They were now 501st after all. Shinies no more.

Echo POV, Location: Corridor

Rex led them down a corridor of the Cruiser. Echo walked in the back with Droidbait. Fives was chatting with the Captain, and Hevy and Cutup were trading jokes. Echo nudged Droidbait.

"Hey, Droidbait. You good, brother?" He asked, nudging Droidbait. He looked up at Echo, as if he had forgotten Echo was there for a moment.

"Oh. Yeah, thanks. Just, a bit shocked is all. I mean… I almost got killed back there. And now I'm in the most highly trained legion in the entire Grand Army of the Republic." Droidbait said, a bit in awe.

"Yeah. Big leagues, huh?" Echo said with a grin. Droidbait shrugged, and looked down. Echo gripped him by the shoulder. "Hey. Your big leagues, Droidbait. We belong here. Rex wouldn't have let us in if we didn't." Echo reminded him. Droidbait nodded, smiling a bit.

"Yeah. I guess your right." He said. Droidbait smiled as they kept walking, and the group turned a corner. The doors slid open, revealing four troopers standing in the barracks. Rex moved aside, as the five of them filed in the barracks in a line.

"Troopers. You will serve under me, in Torrent Company. Each Company has two platoons. Each platoon has four squads. Each squad, nine troopers. We recently lost some men in a battle. This will be your squad. Welcome to Platoon A. More specifically, Alpha Squad." Rex said to the five of them. The other four troopers stood up at attention.

"Division Three, these are your new members. Fives. Hevy. Cutup. Droidbait. And Echo." Echo straightened at the mention of his name. He nodded to the other four troopers. Rex turned to the four. The first of them wore a medic symbol, painted in blue on his armor. "Coric." He said, gesturing to the trooper. Coric nodded to them.

The second trooper in line straightened. He had blue stripes painted down his arms, with blue circles on the pauldrons of his armor. He had a word painted out in aurebresh on his chest plate that Echo couldn't make out from where he stood. Rex gestured to him. "Rift." Rift gave them a small wave.

The third trooper in line had no paint on his armor at all. It was completely white. Shiny armor. Except for one blue stripe that ran down the front of his armor. That was the only paint there. Rex turned to him. "Halo." He told them. Halo gave them a small salute.

The fourth trooper had paint running down his armor's arms and an X covering his helmet in blue. He nodded to them. Rex walked up to him last. "This is Marker. Your squad leader. You report directly to him after me and General Skywalker." Rex told them. Echo, along with the rest of his brothers, nodded. Rex looked at the two groups of troopers.

"I'll leave you to it." Rex said, walking out as the door behind him slid closed. Echo turned to look at the troopers, all of them stood there silently for a second. Echo looked over at Hevy, who had been their de facto leader as of late. Then it occurred to Echo that Hevy wasn't much for being social. He walked up to the squad leader. Marker.

"I'm Echo." He said, offering a handshake. Marker accepted.

"Marker. Happy to have you aboard." He stated.

"Happy to be here." Echo replied. Behind him, his Domino Squad brothers began to move around. There were five bunk beds total. So the barracks could fit ten. Even though they only had nine in the squadron. Hevy tossed his bag and rifle on a top bunk.

"I call top bunk!" He shouted out. One of the other troopers, Halo, walked over. It looked like his stuff was on the bottom.

"That's fine, I prefer the bottom anyways." Halo said. Hevy looked at him.

"Remind me your name." Hevy said.

"Halo." The clone replied. Hevy nodded.

"Name's Hevy." He said, before he continued to unpack. Echo walked over to a bunk bed, intending to bunk with Droidbait, but, much to his surprise, Droidbait was already at a bunk, talking with Rift.

"Is this bunk taken?" Droidbait asked.

"Uhh. No. Your good. Droidbait, right?" Rift asked. Droidbait nodded.

"Yeah. But my friends call me DB." He replied nervously. Rift nodded, and gestured to the bottom bunk.

"Well DB, bottom bunk's free." He told him. Droidbait grinned as he began unpacking. Echo smiled proudly over at his brother. He looked over at the other bunks. Cutup was chatting with Coric, and unpacking his stuff. Echo grinned over at Fives, who had taken a completely empty bunk. Fives threw his stuff on top, and Echo tossed his on the bottom.

"Hope you don't mind bottom bunk, brother." Fives teased him. Echo shrugged, and slid right into his bunk. That left the bunk situations as Hevy and Halo, Droidbait and Rift, Coric and Cutup, Echo and Fives, and then Marker, as squad leader, got his own bunk. After unpacking, the group got to talking.

Coric was one of the very few Teth survivors, and had since become a medic for Torrent Company, though he stayed in his original Division. Teth had shaken him, and he had decided to spend the rest of the time on the battlefield helping save more of his brothers from harm.

Rift was easily the quietest of the bunch, but seemed to have heart. He had a shell, and seemed to be shy, like Droidbait, which made the two of them become fast friends, which Echo was glad to see.

Halo was the newest member of the division until Echo and the other Domino Squad members had come along. He hadn't done much to paint his armor, since he had no ideas. The others had suggested a halo painted on his helmet, but he had refused. Rift and Coric had almost painted it on one night, but Halo had caught them.

Marker was the squadron leader, and had been there pretty long. He was originally in Wave Company, but had been reassigned after most of Torrent was lost in Teth. He seemed alright as well.

A few hours after their introductions to their new squadron, and after getting settled in and sleeping, Echo and the others were woken up by Marker and the others. Marker's alarm clock went off, and since Cutup bunked right next to him, he got the worst of the noise.

"What the kriff?" Cutup groaned, sitting up. Echo sat up on the bottom bunk. Fives groaned above him. Hevy and Droidbait were getting up as well. Marker stood at the doorway with Coric. Rift and Halo had already gone to breakfast.

"What is it?" Fives complained. Marker smirked over at them.

"Oh, so I'm guessing you don't want to paint your armor then?" He asked. Echo perked up. So did the others.

"Armor painting? Already?" Droidbait asked.

"Usually, you remain unpainted for awhile, but, it's a squad tradition to get your marks after your first mission, which, you all already had." Marker pointed out. Echo stood up, eager to begin. Droidbait and Fives looked eager as well. Cutup and Hevy were less so, and more grumpy.

"Coric will show you where you can get your paint." Marker told them, gesturing to the medic, before walking off. Coric looked over at them as they wandered over. Echo and Fives in the front, Droidbait in the middle, and Hevy and Cutup in the back.

"This way, boys." Coric told them, jerking his thumb down the hallway. And they followed him.

Fives POV, Location: Armor Design Lab

Fives walked into a room, covered with brushes and cans of paint. He was eager to begin, and stepped forward. But a hand pulled him back. It was Coric.

"Not so fast, brother. Find a station first." He chuckled. Fives sat down at a table next to Echo. Droidbait sat across from Echo, and Hevy across from Fives. Cutup sat down on the other side of Fives.

"Paint whatever you want boys. Whatever makes you most recognizable." Coric said, nodding to them. He was about to walk out when he turned around. "Oh, and uhh, make it appropriate. Marker might let it slide, but Rex won't." Coric said, laughing nervously. Fives took it that there had been a previous incident with some less then appropriate paint on some clone attire. Coric left, and the group began pulling out cans of different shades of blue paint. Fives chose to begin with the helmet. He painted a blue pattern on top, with a red, sort of arrow shape below. He painted the arms of his armor with blue stripes, like most of their new division had. He also painted the number five in aurebesh on his on the corner of his chestplate, just so people would be able to distinguish a bit. Satisfied with his work so far, he looked over to Echo.

Echo had painted two stripes on his helmet, above the visor portion. He had left the handprint on his armor that he had gotten from Rex, and had touched it up a bit. He had also gone the with blue stripes on the arms. The handprint was in the same spot as the five on Five's armor. Fives nudged Echo.

"Copycat." He muttered. Echo shook his head.

"No way. I started before you." He objected.

"I started before either of you." Another voice said. The two looked up to see Hevy. Just like Fives and Echo, he had painted the arms of his armor with blue stripes. However, he had painted the fin of his helmet blue, and above the visor and painted blue stripes extended from the painted fin that were curved in a way that they almost formed fangs. The fang pattern continued on his chest plate, with two fangs each extending down from the left and right upper corners of the plate. He had also painted a doodle of his heavy duty gun on his shoulder.

"So, we're all doing the blue stripes then?" Cutup asked from Fives' left. Fives looked over. Cutup had painted his arms with blue stripes, and then the full pauldrons blue, similar to Rift's pattern. But instead of full blue on the left pauldron, Cutup had painted an eel, and under it, in aurebesh written, "thanks Rex." The helmet had one blue stripe running down the center, which continued onto the chest plate, which, like Halo's, had a single blue line down the middle.

"You got originality?" Hevy asked sarcastically. Cutup scowled at him.

"What are you gonna do for the helmet?" Echo asked, leaning over to see. Cutup shrugged.

"Don't know. I'll leave it blank for now. When I think of something, I'll paint it on." He replied. Fives nodded, and looked over at Droidbait.

"What about you, DB?" He asked. Droidbait looked up. Instead of painting stripes on his arms, he had painted the outer portion of the armor pieces, so that white stripes were formed down the arms. He had painted the fin of his helmet, like Hevy, and had painted blue paint around the visor. On his chest plate, he had drawn a large target in blue.

"Might as well let 'em know I'm coming. Though, no idea when we'll see more action." Droidbait explained. Fives nodded, smiling. Next to him, Echo smirked. Even Cutup and Hevy were impressed.

"You'll have more than enough soon, DB. After all, the 501st is the best of the best. We'll see action again in no time." Hevy stated proudly.

"That's right. 501st now. Shinies no more." Cutup added.

Fives liked the sound of that. Shinies no more.

Hevy POV, Location: Commissary

Hevy walked alongside Cutup to get their first meal aboard the cruiser. Their paint had finished drying, and Hevy was starving, so he'd dragged his pal along to go get some food. They waited in line, getting their rations, before looking around to find a table to sit at. Hevy noticed some of the other troopers looking at them in their painted armor. He gave them an eyebrow raise, and they went back to eating.

"Hey! Hevy! Cutup! Over here, brothers!" A voice called. Hevy looked over to see Halo and Marker sitting at a table. Hevy glanced at Cutup, who shrugged, and the two walked over, sitting down across from the other two.

"I like the paint job, boys. Very creative." Marker said, taking note of gun that had been painted on his shoulder. Hevy smirked.

"What can I say? I paint what I love." He chuckled. Marker nodded, looking over at Cutup.

"Not much on yours, huh?" Marker asked, pointing to the one striped helmet. Cutup shrugged. "That's alright," Marker told him. "Halo here didn't know what to paint at first. Still doesn't."

Halo shrugged. "Hey, I'll find something. Give me time." He replied. He looked at Cutup's armor. "Is that an eel on your shoulder?" He asked.

"Tell him the story." Hevy suggested to Cutup. Cutup nodded and began telling Marker and Halo about the Rishi eel, and how Rex had been able to kill it with only one shot. Halo was amazed, while Marker nodded knowingly.

"The Captain is impressive, that's for sure." He said with a smile. "Just wait until you get out on the field. Nothing quite like it." Hevy and Cutup nodded, understanding.

"Yeah. Just you wait, boys. Just you wait." Halo said. "Shinies no more, I tell you." Hevy smirked.

"Yeah." He said. "I like the sound of that."