Xin sits alone in the war room, finishing off his last bit of drink from the bottle he brought in, a new batch of rum from his private stock. He locks in the patterns, sending another batch of gangsters into Wild Space, as far from the Ship as he could. He grumbles as he stands from his chair, albeit a little wobbly, making his way to the crew quarters, just tipsy enough to crash here, spotting the always lovely Jackie and the Hotshot Halo having a tender moment he simply chuckles, muttering “About damn time kid..” under his breath as he flops into a hopefully unoccupied bunk. His mind reeling from protocols and data streams, the pounding of his head giving way to sleep, the pounding becoming the click and clacks of polished boots.
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Drommund Kaas, a planet of idiots and inflated heads, this was the beginning of my new life..brilliant. I walk as straight as i can, glancing around the officer academy, seeing who immediately wanted to kill me, looks like just about everyone. I make my way to Orientation, only to find the room almost empty, a tall man, grey in his hair and a scowl on his face, that would probably be from my being late. I make my way forward saluting as best as i can standing in line with the other Nine, Each of which look at me with a mix of disdain, confusion and slight intrigue.
The instructor huffs to get our attention before speaking, in possibly the most stereotypical Imperial voice i had heard yet. “Well, since our final recruit has decided to join us, we shall begin. This is the Advanced course, those completing this test will receive the distinct honor of serving Imperial Black Ops in covert and highly dangerous operations. Your tests will be some of the most trying of your young lives, specialist training and a no failure policy, If you fail, you die.” He looked at us to judge our reactions, i think the lad beside me pissed himself a little, but i decided on a mostly disinterested expression, i had no fear of death. The instructor raises a brow and nods, continuing “You will be split into teams of two, Arkus..you will be paired with mister Moontear, our late comer..” The two of us make eye contact and he makes the most priceless face i had seen so far, a look of pure “What the actual fuck.” without letting it slip from his privileged face. I simply nodded and waved my hand casually, i wasn’t about to let this dickhead know i took this seriously, the less i act like i care, the more i can impress the silent eyes watching us even now.
We broke after the orientation and made our way through the tests they had, Arms, physical stamina, and finally a full physical. The Arms test was mainly to see if we could avoid shooting ourselves, the rest of the line fire the various weapons, each choosing a particular one, my partner choosing a sniper rifle, showing off my shooting the farthest target. I looked over the pistol, standard issue imperial blaster, ML-4 single shot blaster, hangs to the left but otherwise a fine blaster for a back up. As it came to my turn i wasted no time, firing four body shots, grouping nicely on the heart area before shifting my stance and firing at the sniper target. The group chuckles as they see me fire off to the side, seemingly into no where…of course before they hear the ding of the farthest target, a square shot in the gut. I set down the blaster and stand to attention, muttering filling the room as they gossip. Physical endurance, some of these idiots hadn’t run more than a kilometer in their lives, let alone in a time limit, four out of the Six of us finished the Kilometer in a few minutes, i came third, just behind my Partner, one of the two females, i think her name was Grace, blasted past us about half way through, i was certainly impressed.
And finally the Physical exam, being conducted by a Medical student within the class no less, not the most fit kid id ever met but he had potential, given how bloody tall he was. The girls were put off but went along with it, giving their most disgusted scoffs before they walked in, his dejected sigh always following. Kid was lanky and tall, bit nerdy looking, even for an imperial, as it came to my turn i smile to him, his face showed it was the first smile he had seen that day returning it excitedly “Drex, hows it going lad, i think im your last one.” He nods and extends his hand to shake, which i meet enthusiastically, the nerd had a strong grip. “Andrew, Andrew Kepler, we met earlier at orientation..” I nod and roll up my sleeve, letting him check my pulse and take samples “Aye, was a tad behind, setting something up for later, you will love it.” The kid’s eyes grow wide before he takes the samples, afraid it will get him in trouble probably, shaking his head “Just don’t involve me Drex, Im worried as it is to survive this test, they need my mind for my research, but they wont risk everything to get me through..” He sighed as if this was his only chance, i knew how that felt. I fix my uniform and shake his hand once again “Don’t worry doc, I got your back…” I move to leave before that old curiosity creeps back in “Oy lad, wot are you reasurchin, our of curiosity..” He perks up and smiles “Dangerous pathogens and Diseases, the Empire is looking into Biological Warfare.”
Some time later the Instructors car was found upside down ontop of the Academy entrance.
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