Level 1: Part 2: Electrical Systems

The instructor had brought them into another room in the training facility. It was full of desks made to accommodate only one person and were equally as white as the walls. "Now," he said when everyone had sat at a desk, "if you will look at the desk in front of you, you'll see a large battery," he paused and looked at them examining the batteries in front of them. "This is more complicated then anything you've come across before, it's mainly used in small two person vehicles. Now what I want you to do is to dis-asamble them and to take a look at them and then to re-assemble them. You will do this with no help from me or any others. This is good practical training as you may encounter something like this on the field. Begin."

They all reached for the bag of tools that had been laid out beside the battery. Orobos started on removing some bolts which seemed to be holding the thing together. Once the four bolts where away, two on each side, the shell came of the battery and he began his work. There seemed to be two, small energy cells in the shell which where linked together by a thick, metal cable. There were also some wires leading from the cells to each side of the battery. After disconnecting the two cells from each other Orobos removed all the wires from the cells.

After he disassembled the battery he looked on the inside of the shell in which it had been in. There were two small devices on the inside of the shell. He removed the bolts holding each of them. They seemed to be small heat panels. Any heat from outside would be absorbed and used as energy if the battery was depleted. You could light a small fire to heat it and restore some energy if you were stranded somewhere.

Once he was done looking through the battery he re-assmenbled it and waited for the instructor to come around. He was one of the few who actually managed to finish in time. The instructor congratulated him and took the battery away for inspection.

"Right.. now some of you did very well and others not as well as I hoped," he paused and glanced fixedly at certain people in the room, "but all very good for your first try."

"Now we're going to move on to..."

Orobos walked out of the room with a pounding headache and exhausted. They had to repeat the same process with different batteries and in varying degrees of difficulty and then they moved on to the different sorts of control panels that they would be likely to encounter in rebel bases and in ships too. All he wanted now was to get to a bed. He walked out of the training facility to a small shuttle were other students were entering.

Level 2- Precision Marksmanship; Story 1  Precision Range Shooting

"Up and at 'em, boys!" yelled Sergeant O'Leary.

Garryll bounced up. At least he tried to, in full stormtrooper armor.

"Ow," he said disgustedly. "Never sleep in armor if you can help it!"
He reached over to get his DC-15, but found it wasn't there.

Aw, crud. He thought. Now Sarge will chew me out for losing my weapon.

"Ok, boys, if you seem to have awoken from your beauty sleep-" at this point he stopped and kicked a sleeping recruit into wakefulness-"then you have been chosen to advance in the training!"

Garryll grinned behind the helmet's reflective face plate. And he'd thought that he was the loser here.

"Follow me to the shooting range!"

Sergeant O'Leary started off at a brisk pace, heading east. Half of the company sized exercise group followed behind.

-------25 minutes later-------

Having ran for 4 miles, they came up on the shooting range. There were different elavations of shooting areas, and it seemed to be designed like a defensive outpost.

"Okay, boys! Now that we're all here, you will be presented with your test: hit that target-" he pointed, and there was a tiny, mile-and-a-half away bull's eye- "with a sniper rifle from no closer than 150 feet! Now, as you've all noticed, I hope, that there are no rifles here! So, you will retrieve them with a fire team of your squadmates. Pick your teammates and get your maps."

Garryll walked toward Smith, the comm spec and the two riflemen that they had worked with several nights before.

"Hey, what's your names?" asked Garryll, having never learned their names during the entire exercise.

"Soji Ky."
"Tyler Freri."

Gates nodded then walked over to O'Leary to grab a map.

"You may begin once you get a map. Honors to the team that finishes first."

Gates, Smith, Ky, and Freri sprinted off down the trail after the squad that had first received the map. They chased after the other squad for ten minutes, before coming to within 100 meters of the armory. The other team kept charging, but Garryll nodded for some patience. They took out their sidearms, and continued forward at a crouched walk. Several detonations came from ahead of their position. They walked caustiously around the corner, and saw all four of the men lying on the ground. Two of them were blown apart and one was lying in a pool of his own blood and slowly dying, but one had only taken some shrapnel in the knees and coulnd't walk. He was bleeding from his arms and head, and his leg was torn apart.

"Help me," he moaned as the fire team rounded the corner.

Garryll nodded, then walked over to him and stuck a painkiller into his hip. He then walked over to the other man and shot him. Better to die instantly than slowly, and they had only a few painkillers and only one bacta pack.
"Here, help me lift this guy. We'll take him back to base after we grab some sniper rifles."

Gates and Smith left Ky and Freri guarding the poor man, and cautiously picked their way across the minefield. They came to a bunker, and walked in. They saw several racks of different sniper rifles, and Gates pulled the DC-15 style rifle, and picked two more standard class stormtrooper sniper rifles off for the others. They then ran back to their squadmates, handed them their weapons, and marched back.

-----10 minutes later------

They reached the fortification,  and dropped the injured soldier off at the hospital. Quickly, they ran up the fortification, and peered through their rifles. While they had been out in the field getting their equipment, O'Leary or his superiors had slipped a few troops into the battle zone to complicate matters. The squad slipped through the tall grass, trying to avoid being seen.

--------2 hours later-------

Gates and Smith finally reached a good shooting point. They zoomed their sniper rifles in, and saw a little note on the side of the target. Gates zoomed in again.

"Hey, lookit that!" he whispered.

"What does it say," Smith said.

"Ok, let me see... Once you have..... shot the target.... run like hell... back to the fortification for mid-air sniper training."

Gates shot the bull's eye.

"Yes! Time to go!" he said as he jumped up and sprinted back the way they had come. Smith was right behind him and Ky and Freri were just a few steps back. They made it back to the fortification, where an LAAT/i was sitting. They jumped in, and it took off. O'Leary was sitting in the troop compartment, as was another non-com with a pad.

"You will fire from a standing, kneeling, and prone position, as well as hanging. You will be allowed 4 tries at each one, of one shot each."

Gates hopped up to attach himself to the bar over their heads. He then looked through the scope of the rifle. Several bull's eye's apperead. Fireing at each target a total of two times from ech position, he took his turn on the bench. He was resummoned after everyone else took their shots.

"Live fire, boys!" yelled Sergeant O'Leary to be heard over the dropship's engines.

Several shots came from below, and Gates remorselessly fired several more times from each position.

"Cold. Effective. You pass."

"Thank you, sir."

Tanus Solvona, SGT
Squad specialty story: Combat Engineer
Story: Bridging and Rigging

Tanus arose to find his astromech buzzing and whirring in a frenzy. Tanus gestured to it, since he noticed that it had a message to play. The droid put itself straight up and a dim blue light emitted from one of its optical sensors. It was the miniaturized man, of medium build and in a pristine dark green uniform.

“Grettings. I am Dirk Calgren. You’re up for you’re bridging and rigging exam today. Show down at the Proving Grounds, no pun intended, at 1300 hours. Don’t be late or you fail. That is all.

Tanus hopped out of bed and grabbed a shirt, then looked down at his droid and smiled.

“Well, time to get ready.”

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

Tanus walked down to the Proving Grounds in a dark blue training outfit. When he got to the beginning of the Grounds, Dirk Calgren came into view. The older man came forward and extended his hand to Tanus. Tanus shook it.

“Welcome, kid. Today, we’ll be doing the Bridging and Rigging exam. Basically, build me a bridge so that I can have nine or so droids cross over it without breaking or buckling. If they can cross over twice, then you pass. Understand?”

Tanus nodded. He knew he would pass.

“OK, then follow me.”

Tanus followed him out into the bright sun. The Proving Grounds were an expanse sweeping more than twenty kilometers in either direction. The terrain varied depending what section the trooper happened to be in. The Proving Grounds were basically an all purpose training ground for the Vast Empire army. The first area was grasslands and some desert. This was where Tanus would be tested. They both came to a trench about 2 meters wide and two and a half meters deep. Dirk gestured to the pile of tools.

“Get started. There is no time limit, so work until you’re sure it’s ready. I’ll be up here, watching you do your work.”

Tanus hopped down into the trench and putt on some goggles, a hammer and a fusion cutter and got to work. First, he shoved four hard wood poles into the ground and reinforced them with some metal lying about. His fusion cutter burned brightly in his hands as he soldered the metal to the wood in the ground. Next, he took some metal rails and measured them. He cut them with a saw that was lying about and laid them down across the plank, leaving two durasteel bars going from plank to plank. Next, he reached for a rather large, rectangular sheet of metal. Tanus gave it a look over and noticed it was incredibly strong: it was a jet-black metal that was incredibly dense. Tanus decided to try and but it with the fusion cutter. To his surprise, it actually caught, and Tanus cut many strips of the metal, laying them all along the top layer of the bridge. He soldered them into place and reinforced them with several small supports on the underside of the bridge. Tanus got up and out of the trench and held his breath as he walked over the bridge. It had held. Tanus blew out a sigh of relief, but knew that it was going to be very different when nine soldiers were going to cross over it. Tanus hopped back down into the trench and cut two more wooden poles, shorter than the other two. He then cut two larger, trapezoid shaped metal supports and wedged them under the bridge. He secured everything with his fusion cutter and stepped back to give the thumbs up to Dirk.

Dirk nodded and pressed a button on his datapad. Nine SBDs came out of the shadows and trudges along the bridge Tanus had made, one by one. The footfalls resonated through metal frame, but it didn’t falter. Tanus smiled at his handiwork. But then he remembered that the droids had to come back a second time. His smile faltered a little. The droids turned around and started to walk along the bridge, this time with heavier footfalls. Tanus got nervous: they were making dents on the metal and the wood was starting to crack. This went one for some time longer, until finally the last droid crossed over. Tanus looked his bridge over: the metal was dented, the wood split and it had been forced several inches farther into the ground, but it was standing. Dirk looked down at him.

“Congratulations, trooper, you pass. Dismissed.”

Fifth Story: COMPLETE
Tanus Solvona, SGT, CE in training

Mako Sanguin
Combat Engineer Training
Level 1 Electrical Systems
Story 1 Basic Electronics Wiring


Mako Sanguin reports for his second day of training at the same field building from the day before.  The C.O. from his first day of training was standing at the door.  “You’re late,” he said.  Mako looked down at his watch and noted the time; he still had five minutes.  “Sorry sir, won’t happen again” he said.  “Damn right trooper, now ID yourself at the glow box and report to the training room double time.”

Mako hustled past the C.O. and slid his hand in the glow box, then ran into the training room, just beating the C.O. in.  “That’s more like it Sanguin” the C.O. said.  “Grab that box over there.”

As Mako reached for the box, he noticed some wires running behind it out of sight.  He almost touched the box and thought better of it; he remembered yesterday’s trickery.  He inspected the back of the box, and noticed that the wires ran into a mobile power supply hidden on the next shelf up.  He looked around for some type of switch, and decided that he needed to disable the power supply before touching the box.

“Sanguin!  Grab that box!  Can’t you understand Basic?” the C.O. shouted.  “Sir, the box is live.  It would shock me if I touched it, sir!”  Mako replied.  “You are finally wising up son.  Now disable that box and get it onto the table there, ASAP.”  The C.O. was grinning curtly to himself.

Mako was able to disable the power supply using one of his hand tools, and removed the box from the shelf uninhibited.

He followed the procedure in the training manual that he was given with his tools, and quickly had the box disabled.

“Alright Sanguin.  Now we learned another lesson didn’t we?  Never touch anything that looks like it could be live until you know that it isn’t juiced.  If you complete the circuit the best thing you can hope for is that your hands don’t lock up from the shock without your tools in them still.  That box would have put your lights out for a few hours.  You did well not to get yourself sent to the infirmary there, now lets see if you have any talent.  I want you to convert that box into a power cell capable of resisting tampering and running a combat power suit.”

Mako thought the instructions through quickly.  He would need to create a small defense shield of some type and give it juice, but the power cell on the shelf wouldn’t hold enough charge to run a shield and a combat suit.  He strained to think of alternatives, nervous under the C.O.’s intense glare.

The idea sprang to mind so quickly and clearly that he almost dropped his tools in his haste.  He remembered from yesterday never to drop his tools; that lesson was ingrained clearly. 

Mako got to work wiring the console and rerunning circuits.  It was somewhat intuitive because he had the idea clearly in his head, but it still took him an hour or so, and he did have to rework a couple of wires.  He had coupled the power supply from the shelf, and integrated it with the wire box.  He double checked his work and then finished up by closing up the box and inspecting his work.  He switched the box on and it hummed lightly.

“All finished sir.” He reported.  The C.O. came over and inspected his new trainee’s work.  There was no shield over the maintenance compartment or the power switch.  It was sealed up tight, but was it tamper resistant?  The C.O. pulled an inspection pointer from his own tool belt.  He liked to use this pointer to show the recruit their mistakes, and then scar their knuckles a bit to prevent reiteration of the same mistake in the future.

“Did you forget that it has to be tamper resistant, PFC Sanguin?  Why isn’t there a shield in front of this switch?” the C.O. reached for the switch with the pointer while he was talking.

“Sir, a shield would push the limits of the power cell.  I chose to do something…” Mako was interrupted by a harsh noise of pain from the C.O.  His hands locked up and he shook awkwardly and somewhat violently for a few seconds, his pointer wobbled wildly through the air.

“Sir!?!”  Mako shouted for his C.O.  The man was still now, pointer lying near him on the ground.  Mako shouted for help.  He ran for the front door and saw no one.  He ran back and threw the C.O. over his shoulders and started double time for the infirmary building.


A few hours later….

Mako had been sitting by the C.O.’s bed, alternating between somewhat funny thoughts of the C.O. not following his own rules and more serious concerns of what would happen when the C.O. woke up.

The C.O. stirred a little, and then woke up all at once.  He looked at Mako, somewhat embarrassed.  “What the hell did you do to that switch?” he asked. 

“Sir, I wired it into the power circuit, as well as the maintenance box.  The only way to safely touch it would be to have it grounded at all times, sir.  I didn’t mean to..” he was cut off by the C.O.’s laugh. 

“Private, I have never had a recruit that thinks like you.  I guess you will keep this old man on his toes.  And thanks for reminding me of my own rules.  I hope that we both learned something today.  You pass, son.  And if I hear any talk of this in the barracks, I’ll have your fingers served to me on a tray.  Dismissed, and good job.” 

“Thank you, sir!  I will see you tomorrow sir.” 

“Not tomorrow, son.  I am taking a day off.” The C.O. said.

Mako grinned to himself as he walked out of the infirmary building.

Level 3 :story one

"Right!" shouted the instructor. They were standing in a field about ten kilometres from the town in which they had spent a further two days practising explosives and the likes. Running along the field heading off in the direction of the town was a road. the only problem with it though was that there were bits of ruble and stones blocking the path and looked too big to be moved.

"Now.. if you would look at the road you will notice that there is difficult terrain blocking the path. Now this would be easy for troopers to scale and climb around and such but say a vehicle wanted to get past. Ah your probably thinking, sure it could just drive around it but say there was no way around it like on a bridge or that there were mines. this would mean that the vehicle would have to stick to the road."

They all listened intently while looking at the road. The instructor was standing looking at them as though expecting them to say something. Orobos finally y said "So how do we get the vehicle past the ruble then." The instructor looked at him pleased that one of them had said something. "Well if you will look at the sides of the back-packs you were assigned at the beginning of your training. there was a lot of rustling as bags were removed from backs and examined by there owners. There was bundles of metal rods at the sides of the packs.

"Now on the side of the bags there are small rods. These are you could say collapsible scaffolding. They can be extended into polls about 1 metre in length each. Now these can be connected to form a sort of track which a vehicle could then use to drive across the interposing terrain safely. Now what I want you all to do is to construct a track across this road for the trucks," which were waiting for them, "so that they can cross. Just remember that if this doesn't work you'll be walking home. So what you waiting for an invitation? START!"

There was a lot of rustling and clanging as the rods were removed and extended to full lentgh. They moved towards the terrain and started constructing the track. They made it in a bridge like fashion as the stones grew in size as they got near the centre.

Once they were done they stood back to admire there handy work. Th instructor moved close and inspected it for a while. When he was done he motioned to the trucks to pass they moved over the makeshift track with ease. "Know you have to pack it all up again," the instructor said a smile playing across his face.

It took them an hour to take it apart again but once they were done they hopped on the truck and went back to the academy. "Great work today tomorrow we'll be making makeshift bridges across small gorges and such. It will be pretty much the same thing but will require some more skill."

Mako Sanguin
Combat Engineer Training
Level 2 Demolitions and Fortifications
Story 1 Field Fortifications + Story 2: Explosives Deployment

One week after his last training session Mako Sanguin again walked toward the engineering field building for training.  He still had a slight limp from the wound that he had received on the training field, but it was soon to go away. 

The Bacta Treatments had burned like hell the first time they were administered.  He had to submerge himself into the tank, and as he lowered his still septic leg into the bubbly greenish blue mixture, he saw massive fizzling as it made contact with his wound.  He knew that the Bacta was burning all of the dead tissue and germs out of the wound, and that it was necessary, but it made the process no more pleasant to go through. 

He was granted some unspoken liberty to hobble around the base listening to his new C3POD and jamming out to his favorite tunes from around the galaxy.  This made dealing with barking officers and muttering Imperials much easier as they expressed their frustration at his extra time spent working through the lunch line, or going to the bathroom.

After his first treatment, the cleansing, the doctors had rigged his leg with a somewhat uncomfortable sleeve that was filled with Bacta Solution.  This odd burden quickly strained his patience as it both hobbled him and irritated the skin around the closures of the sleeve.

He was forced to sleep, bathe, and evacuate his bowels while wearing this awkward rig, and life was not good for a while.  He had to learn how to adapt with things that he often took for granted, such as putting on his dress uniform, or taking a shower in his personal refresher booth.  At least he knew that was safe, with his sniper droids guarding it and the Droideka’s close by.

Mako made his way to the building now, thankful that his Bacta sleeve had been exchanged for a spray solution applied three times a day and after heavy sweat.  The wound had almost closed all the way, and so long as he didn’t pack it with viral mud he would be ok.

Mako walked into an empty building, slid his hand under the light of the glow box, and once the I.D. check was confirmed, he moved through the building cautiously, looking for instructions or his C.O.  He was somewhat wary of the emptiness of the building, and decided to switch off his C3POD and check the readiness of his DC-17 Interchangeable Combat System. 

He had been practicing with the different functions of the rifle, using the sniper attachment as well as the grenade launcher piece, and had found the rifle to be very reliable and durable under any attachment, even though the attachments didn’t work quite as well as a weapon whose sole design was to do the job of the attachment.

He knew that these weapons had gotten the Republic Commando’s through some tight spots, and had definitely increased the functionality of a four-man team dramatically.

He checked that the assault rifle attachment was secure and loaded, knowing that a blaster was the best general-purpose weapon for unknown situations.

He did wish that the weapon had come with the shotgun attachment, but would hopefully be able to get one made at the Imperial Center Store soon enough.

Mako walked out behind the building back to the bomb-cratered and droid carcass littered field that he had been hurt in.  He saw no one around, but there was an empty combat power suit standing lonely and open several yards away.  He walked over to inspect the suit, keeping a distinct eye out for traps, as his C.O. had already pulled some serious stunts.

Off in the distance he heard some small arms fire and decided that the C.O. must be off training someone else currently and would be back shortly.  Mako pulled out his 1020/a Macro Binoculars to survey the field, lighting a Lung Blaster as he waited.

Mako heard some more small arms exchange, and wondered why two teams would be shooting at each other with what sounded like live ammo.

He heard some crackling just before the com-link came to life with a frantic communication: “C.O. DeVeille to engineering.  I need all available support to the training field STAT!  This is not a drill!  We are under heavy suppressing fire and need assistance for evacuation of wounded.  Code Epsilon!”

Mako threw down his Lung Blaster and stowed his Field binoculars.  He rushed into the powered combat suit and jammed the com-link on: “PFC Sanguin reporting, sir.”  I am en route with personal armor.”

Mako surveyed the controls quickly, and started the suit.  It seemed to work similarly to a regular construction suit, but was a little more bulky and had a few extra controls on it. He tried to activate the weapons systems but was denied.  Password protected; he didn’t have clearance, and this was a training model.  Damn!  No time.

He launched the suit into action; jumping and prolonging his airtime with the suits jump rockets.  It followed his movements pretty well, but was much more sensitive to movement and definitely more complicated than a construction suit.

He had trouble keeping his head still, and every slight turn of his head made the suit twist in a direction that he hadn’t meant for it to go.  He pulled out his personal com-link and synced it with the suits channel.

Mako arrived at the scene of the chaos, but was unable to see the force that was pinning down his C.O. and fellow troops.  He landed the armor as close as he felt comfortable to his group, and powered down the suit. 

Mako jumped hastily out of the armor and ran in a half crouch to his C.O. yelling to him about the weapons systems failure to activate.  He had hoped to be able to put the suit through some paces, and felt like a simple valet when the C.O. spoke up next.

“Settle down Private.  I will man the armor, you have to build a defensive shelter for these troopers, and hurry, because the two that are injured now will not be the only ones injured if you lolli-gag about it.  Move out!” C.O. DeVeille sounded off harshly, and Mako felt sure that this situation was serious.

There was another brief volley of small arms fire from across the field, and then some mortar rounds started dropping from the sky at random intervals nearby.  It seemed as if the mortar teams spotter still needed a bit of practice, because at some mortar volleys the rounds were closer, and at others the rounds were actually farther away.  Small bits of the field exploded and were tossed into the air as the bullets landed.  The troopers who he was to help protect quickly broke cover, returned fire, and dropped back into position.

Mako wondered if they had been practicing combat firefight drills that week, because the troopers seemed to do it with experience and vigor, and he himself was still nervous and a bit uncomfortable at the short blasts of battle.  He gained a bit of respect for the medic especially, as this trooper was probably only a few weeks more into training than he was himself, and was already treating a wounded soldier under heavy fire.

Mako scoped the land out and quickly went to work setting charges and calculating blast radiuses.  He thought to cave out a crater that would provide some type of cover from the direction of the seeming assault, while leaving some options open for later modifications. 

C.O. DeVeille was working that combat suit like a madman, jumping wildly and returning volleys of rail-gun ammo and the occasional small area proton grenade.  Mako didn’t see how it was possible for the suit to move so responsively, and decided that he must get some suit time in so that his next impromptu ground suit piloting mission would not leave him as useless as he was this time.

He detonated the charges after ensuring that everyone was clear of the blast, and then started moving his troops into the barricade.  He still needed a roof, but the crater would provide some cover while he figured that part out.

The mortar rounds seemed to taper off a bit, for now.  Mako hoped that the blasts would secede long enough for him to get his shelter ready.

He saw a rather large piece of scrap durasteel lying nearby and decided that it would make a decent roof.  It was too heavy to be lifted by anything but the armor, and that armor was busy making it possible for him to build this shelter.

He gathered a few parts from some nearby droid carcasses and started working them into useful parts.  There was still fire coming his way, and he started to gain a little bit of confidence in the fact that he hadn’t been hit so far. 

He had been able to make three functional, though not necessarily reliable anti-gravity lifter kits form the droids hoverpod engines, and hoped that they would suffice in lifting the massive plate.

He moved into position, taking cover wherever he could, and kept a cautious eye out for the wildly maneuvering combat suit.  He didn’t want to be under that two-ton armor when it landed, that much he knew for certain.

The mortar volleys picked up their pace again and Mako cursed lightly under his breath.  His still wounded leg started to ache slightly, but he pushed the dull pain aside.  He started setting the makeshift anti-grav lifters to the durasteel plate.  Once the third one was set, he activated them and slowly moved the giant plate into a workable position.  It lifted oddly and was not level in its strained flight.  The lifters kept this behemoth off of the ground a few feet, but would do no good if one of them broke, or they encountered an obstacle that the plate would need to be higher to pass.

Mako slowly moved the plate over the entrenched soldiers, praying that the lifter held up until it did its job.  He did not want to be responsible for the lives of these new recruits being crushed under field scrap, even if it was in the line of duty.

The plate settled unsteadily over the makeshift shelter and Mako quickly estimated the drop angles.  He decided that it would be good enough, and decided to release the plate before one of his lifters crapped out.

The plate dropped heavily above the troops, and slid only a few inches past where Mako thought it would settle, though these few extra inches had probably cost Mako a pair of his brand new Imperial boxer shorts.  He moved quickly inside of his shelter and checked that all of the troops inside were still ok. 

He signaled to the C.O. that his shelter was in place and then went to reinforce it as best he could.  He set some small charges behind a huge felled tree, and hoped to roll it behind the back end of the huge plate to prevent further sliding.  He set the charges off and the tree moved grudgingly into a usable position, though not quite what Mako had hoped for.

It would have to do, because the mortar teams spotter seemed to have finally gotten enough practice.  The rounds were moving ever closer to his new bunker, and he was hopeful that he had done his job well enough to survive a direct blast.

He then crawled back into the shelter and switched the attachment on his DC-17 to the sniper attachment.  He scooted up to small opening in the seam that the durasteel plate and the crater made, and proceeded to survey the field with his macro binoculars.  He was able to spot some movement about 75 yards off near some brush, and raised his weapon to scope in on the offenders.

The shelter’s roof clanged loudly as several heavy mortars rained deafeningly upon them, and the ringing inside Mako’s head threw him off for a minute.  As the ringing subsided, he was able to carefully study the spot where the movement had occurred. He soon had a target, and moved to zero in on him.  The troopers inside of his shelter seemed to be talking amongst themselves in a low tone.

Mako wondered why they were not more active in their own defense now that the shelter had been erected.  They seemed to be discussing possible outcomes for their strategies.  Mako looked back into his scope and focused on the task at hand.

He saw one of the assault team in his scope, and was surprised to see that it was a droid.  Mako thought that the Empire had set up defenses against remotely controlled droids as a standard at every base. 

No matter. However they figured out the way to bypass Empire security, they were going to be several droids short the next time they took inventory.  Mako honed in on his target, breathing slowly and holding steady.

He had his targets head right in the crosshairs…he calmed his chattering nerves…held his breath…BLAM! The rifle’s sound exploded in the small shelter and Mako was glad for the sound dampeners equipped in his helmet. 

He watched through the scope as the back of his target head exploded, and wiring and loose parts came flying out as if launched from a spaghetti cannon.  The droid hunkered down, now useless, and Mako started to target his next victim.

Suddenly his C.O. screamed through his com-channel: “God Damnit Private!  Abort exercise; cease-fire.  Repeat Cease Fire!  Do you know how much that damned droid costs? It’s coming out of your damn check soldier!”

Mako was shocked at what he was hearing.  This was another damn test!?!  He thought this whole time that his brethren soldiers were under serious attack.  He spun wildly on the troopers within the shelter.  “What the hell is going on?” he demanded.  Several of the troopers pulled off their helmets and began to laugh a little.  Mako looked at the wounded soldier:  “Are you even injured?”

“Relax pal.” One of the troopers said, grinning wildly.  “You passed the test man.  If this was real we would still be alive because of what you did, though you do need to learn not to give away your vitals over the comm.  If you announce that you have personal armor then the enemy has that much more time to come up with a defense, if they can monitor our channel that is.  Don’t take it so hard, we al had to go through it.  Anybody an build a shelter if there isn’t anyone shooting at him.”  The soldier looked solemnly at Mako.

He was embarrassed for falling for this deceit, but it had been believable at least.

“Okay.  So who is buying me a beer?” Mako tried not to sound so frustrated, but the anger at his deception was still there under the surface, though it was dissipating somewhat.

“Beer is on me, son.”  The C.O. said as he walked in.  “And I have decided to make you fix that droid you shut down.  Keep the old head as a trophy; you will want something after you get done rewiring that pain in the ass.”  Then he tossed the droids detached head to Mako, scrambled wires trailing behind it and loose parts rattling inside as it landed in Mako’s grasp.

Mako was very happy about his first confirmed headshot, even if it was a fake battle.  Then he thought about it.

“They were suing live rounds, weren’t they? What if they would have dropped one of us by accident?”  Mako asked.

“Droids rarely have accidents, but there was a margin of safety included in their calculations.  The droids had live ammo, we didn’t; except you.  These guys aren’t new recruits either.  They are actually some ‘Old Heads’ in Imperial circles.  Keep your ears open and you may hear a few stories that will save your life later.  This really is a vast empire we have our thumb on, and people will test the limits of our authority.”

“You did good today Sanguin.  Now I just wish that you had installed an air conditioner in this thing.”  The C.O. made a motion to the “wounded trooper” and he ruffled through his rucksack for a minute and pulled out a case of Imperial Stout Trooper Beer.  He began tossing them around to the troops, making sure that Mako got the first one.

“Next time we will go over some construction techniques and run an obstacle course.  These guys will be building it, so get what you can from them, if they will tell you anything.”  C.O. DeVeille looked around at the troopers in the shelter, silently amused at the knowledge that none of them would leak a word.

Mako popped the cap and felt the can instantly chill in his hand.  “Nothing like a good cold beer after a hard days work,” he thought.  He pulled out a Lung Blaster and offered them to the rest of the troops.  One trooper accepted, but a few of the others complained that they would kill you faster than the rebels would.

Mako sat around until well after dark that night, talking and drinking, smoking and listening to stories about the look on his face when he realized it was not real.  He had a good time, and had actually bonded a bit with these troops.

Level 3: Construction and Rigging
Story 2: Construction Skills

He'd been in the rain for 2 hours. Orobos was working hard to fix up and fortify the building he had been assigned to. They were supposed to repair any damages the building had suffered and fortify it. They had been given five hours. He had just finished repairing a large hole in the wall. Just big enough for a well built man to climb through.


Another hour later and he had the windows and doors fully fortified (apart from the one in which he and the instructor could walk through) and was just checking that they were secure and that he had gotten all the holes in the walls. Having filled that in he though he might add some extras seeing that he still had forty minutes or so.



The instructor walked into the room to find Orobos siting by the window tieing a ling of string to across the doorway. He looked up as the instuctor coughed and stood to attention.


"At ease." he said carelessly looking around the room.


"Looking good.. looking good. All windows and doors secure and, look at that you had some time on your hands didn't we setting traps and everything by the doors and windows."


Orobos tried not to look too smug but allowed himself a little smile. He looked around then back at the instructor who was still checking the door. "I hope the traps weren't too noticeable sir."


"No, not to someone who hasn't been trained to recognise concealed explosives. Right then i think that'll do it. You may go."


Orobos walked out of the room pleased with himself. He had just passed he third stage of his training.

Level 4: Materials Science

Orobos sat in the surprisingly white room considering what sort of stuff was practiced here. He was at a desk and they were supposed to assemble a bomb which could be activated by a remote switch and a second one which had a set time limit.

He was starting on his second one and he had an hour to go. The first one was two packs of black powder which would be ignited by a small wire which would give of a spark when he flipped the switch.

The second on was made out of the basic explosive gel which could burn through practically anything. He had a timer sunk into it and at the back when the clock reached zero the wire which usually set off the beeping noise now led into the gel so it could ignite it with a spark.

He had just finished with ten minutes to spare. He worked on a simple one minute timer on the first one which could be activated with a remote. When the flip was flipped it would start the one minute timer. In case of a change of plans the timer could be stopped again by the remote.

The instructor walked passed and took the remote and the devices and walked up and set them in the blackened blast chamber. He started the first one. After a minute there was a a bang which echoed around the room. A few people looked up but most didn't. You got used to unexpected bangs at the academy after a week or two. It also created a sense of paranoia but that went away after a month or so.

After the smoke had cleared the instructor walked back in with the second bomb. The room was covered in a fresh coat of black soot and a burnt layer. The instructor set the bomb for two minutes they stood waiting. Then as the clock reached zero there was a second of silence then loud fizzing sound and an explosion that shook Orobos's eardrums.

"Good, you can leave. Right anyone who's finished hand theirs up anyone who isn't tough."

Tanus Solvona, SGT
Squad specialty story: Combat Engineer
Story: Construction Skills

Tanus woke up to the sound if his bedside alarm: it read 5:30. Tanus groaned as he lifted himself out of bed and into the main hall of his condo to start up the caf machine and his breakfast. While that was going, he hopped in the shower for a little bit so he looked moderately well prepared for his meeting with the training Sergeant today. He checked his datapad one more time, with his caf in one hand and toast in another:

Come down to the training grounds at 0700 hours for your next Combat Engineer exam.

He read over his manuals and books one last time, gathering whatever information he could on structural integrity; luckily for him, his time in the Onderonian Guard academy had taught him such things, but he just wanted to be sure. When he was finished, he downed his caf and quickly finished his toast, then went out the door.


Tanus walked out onto the training grounds: it was a nice right day, and he could he could hear something like birds in the distance. Tanus disregarded it and continued on to the field. Waiting for him was a tall man, cleanly shaven, wearing dark sunglasses. He stuck out his hand and Tanus shook.

“Greetings, soldier. I am Soren Bresbin, and I’ll be your instructor today. As you know, or I at least hope you do, you’ll be training in the Construction Skills portion of the Combat Engineer training programs. Do you have any questions before we proceed?”

Tanus shook his head; he was itching with anticipation.

“Excellent, follow me.”

Tanus followed the man through various types of environments, until he eventually came to some partially destroyed buildings. Tanus looked them over: They were either totally bombed out, had some portions missing or were completely untouched.

“This, as you can tell, is where we train our demolitions people. Having said that, we have used quite a number of these structures, inclusive of the bunkers and barricades around you, in training exercises. Your task is to fix the structures that actually can be fixed; I am not going to lie to you, some of them can’t be fixed. You are also to identify the structures that need fixing, hence so you can continue to your previous task. Any questions?

“No, sir.”

“Excellent, begin.”

Tanus walked over to the first building he saw on his left: it was totally destroyed and in no way could he repair it, short of heavy industrial equipment. Next he saw a small barricade with a portion of it blown out. He walked over to it and grabbed a hydrospanner and a piece of large stone. He cut a piece of the stone and grabbed some mortar and stuck it in the missing space: it was a perfect fit. He then took his fusion cutter and cut it down the size so it would be an even fit. He kept walking around, looking for what he could repair. He saw a small building; it didn’t look much larger than a shed. He walked over to it an inspected it, and he noticed that there were some holes in the frame. He took out a plasmatorch and some tongs and brought it over the metal. The metal turned white-hot and malleable. He brought up the tongs and stretched the metal down, covering up the hole. He didn’t need to bring out the fusion cutter; the metal was so hot that it was binding to the other metal on its own.

He looked around a little more; the sun hung nicely in the sky, and reflected off of the metal, giving it a nice sheen. Tanus walked around some more and noticed a completely shattered barricade next to one that was still partially standing. He walked over to it and thoughts began racing through his head. He picked up a piece of metal and shoved it in one of the empty spaces, melting it to a bendable mass. He placed it in the gap, and it started to cool instantly. He picked up another mass and did the same thing, putting it right on top of the one below it, allowing it to settle into place. He looked at his chrono and saw that he had been working on that piece for about twenty minutes. Tanus swore under his breath as he put the tools into the notches of his belt.

He got up and looked around at some of the other buildings: he saw one that identified as needing some structural work done on the outside, specifically with some durasteel. Unfortunately there wasn’t any around. He walked a little more among them buildings. He saw another building whose roof was partially blown apart. He looked around for some durasteel when he finally found some. He grabbed it and went over to the two buildings that needed the most repairs. He applied the durasteel and soldered it down and hopped off of the roof when he was done. He walked back over to his instructor.

“All set, sir. Most of buildings are too far gone to repair, which I’m guessing has to do with demolitions training. I fixed what I could, but since there isn’t much in terms of industrial equipment, I can’t do all of the repairs required.”

Soren nodded. “Excellent work. But you’re not quite done yet. There is one more thing I want you to take a look at; no repairs, I just want you to take a look at it and see whats wrong.”

Tanus followed Soren through the training fields until he got to a bridge. Soren took the downward path and Tanus followed, bringing him up alongside the large structure.

“As you can see, there is quite a bit of structural damage. I want you to take a look at this and see what you can find wrong with it. Take your time, no rush.”

Tanus walked back and forth several times from right to left along the path. He took notice of several dead or decaying pylons, and several of the supports were blown apart or missing entirely; Tanus was surprised that the bridge was standing at all. He continued looking, noticing a few gaps in the structure that were a bit too wide for regulation, and several melted durasteel support struts that were partially melted. He turned to Soren and rattled off all that he saw was wrong with the structure. Soren nodded a few times.

“OK, now how would you fix it?”

“If it were my choice, sir, I would blow the bridge to kingdom come. But, as its not, I would have the support struts reinforced with durasteel and some type of hard wood, and the pylons reinforced with a heat-resistant metal for when troops and armor pull through.”

Soren nodded a little more. “Well said, soldier. You pass. Congratulations.”


Sixth Story: COMPLETE
Tanus Solvona, SGT, CE in training