Kit stood in the courtyard listening to the sounds of the barracks in the early morning. No one was up and about yet, or if they were they weren't outside. He smiled as he listened to the sounds of the insects, the wind, and the general stillness. His early morning ritual would not be hampered, not even by the fact that his training began today.

He closed his eyes breathing slowly, steadily, letting his heart slow as he concentrated on relaxing. Drawing his vibroblade he began to move through the forms slowly, methodically, feeling the blade move through the air. Opening his eyes he began to move faster, including thrusts, slashes, blocks and parry's into the movement.

Some might think im odd, for practicing like this every morning, but it helped clear his mind before the day, letting him imagine for a brief moment he was back home, his father standing near watching him work the forms. Dropping his vibroblade he began to work a series of vicious claw and punch attacks, his breathing now labored and fast as he moved around the courtyard.

"Recruit! What are you doing!"

Stopping mid-thrust Kit turned to find the source of the voice, his eyes eventually catching sight of his training lieutenant standing at the far edge of the courtyard, watching him. He slowly put his hand down and began walking towards his instructor, stopping briefly to grab the blade he had dropped.

Coming to attention in front of his trainer he saluted before giving an explanation, "Sorry, Sir. I was merely warming myself up for the assessment today. I didn't think anyone would be awake at this hour." The lieutenant eyed him up and down with a little grin before replying "Eager as ever Kit. . .come on, lets get you some chow before you get started shall we?" Together the walked off towards the mess hall as the barracks slowly started coming to life.

Sometime later Kit was standing with five of his fellow recruits at the entrance to a large building, as his instructor gave them their orders, "You will all be placed inside this building, where a simulation will run to assess your cohesiveness as a team. Your guns will be provided for you. While the ammo is not live rounds, getting hit will hurt like hell, not to mention cost you marks. Your goal will be to advance on a location held by another team. Make me proud gentlemen!"

Everyone stepped forward to collect their gear as the instructor went to the viewing platform. The sound of everything being checked, the clicking of magazines, the rustle of the backpacks being put on, was almost comforting to Kit. Grabbing his blaster and holding it at port arms he joined his fellows at the entrance.

"You will have 30 minutes to complete your assignment Recruits, starting as soon as you hear the buzzer, Good Luck!" Kit checked his blaster one last time as the buzzer sounded and the door flew open. Rushing forward the Wookiee was aware of everyone taking cover behind something, with himself ending up behind a large, overturned hunk of metal that MIGHT have been a speeder at some point. Peering over the top nothing could be seen, the quite room had the feel of a massive storm before it begins to shake the trees.

"Alright, Kit, you take those two, and go up the right hand side slowly, us three will take up positions to cover you, got it?" Kit nodded to the Zabrak giving orders and began to creep forward with his teammates, jumping from one cover spot to another. Suddenly a hail of blaster bolts erupted from ahead of them, pinning them down and leaving one of them with a nasty welt on her shoulder.

"Covering fire!" The recruit switched off the safety and began to lay down a suppressing fire  as the second group moved up towards the 'enemy's bunker'. Taking care to not hit his own teammates he allowed them to get as close as possible before needing to reload. "Tranzor, go now!" Kit called to the Zabrak ducking as he listened to them open fire on the other team, the shouts of pain and cries for mercy making him laugh loudly.

Above it all the instructor smiled "A good first step, but your not done yet!" Pushing a button another buzzer sounded and the sound of more 'enemy's' approaching could be heard.
"Tranzor get out of there! It's a trap!" He raised his gun taking aim at the silhouettes coming down the end of the warehouse. He opened fire a split second behind his teammates, forcing the enemy to find cover as the Zabrak found a defendable position.

Over his headset he could hear Tranzor giving orders, "Kit, lets do a leapfrog!" Kit nodded towards the other man, rising to a crouch as the other team opened fire down the warehouse. "You heard the man, leapfrog time!" Moving quickly, the three worked their way in front of the other team, finding a position to defend themselves at and took over the suppressing fire.

It felt like they had only been in the building for less then 10 minutes but suddenly they all heard the end of simulation buzzer. They looked around, dropping their guns to port arms and switching the safety's on. Everyone looked around puzzled as the instructor came to meet them, a wide smile on his face as he applauded.

"Lieutenant, why are you smiling? We didn't complete the objective, we failed the test didn't we?" Kit asked him, his face frowning. "Think back, what did I say at the beginning of the test? 'This simulation will run to test your cohesiveness as a unit' were my exact words boys" beamed the Lieutenant, "Failed? Heck no! The real test wasn't being able to get from point A to point B, it was being able to work as a unit, use tactical suppressing fire, and prevent any losses! You all passed with flying colors!"

Slowly it dawned on all of them, they began to smile as the realized they had just passed the first step in their training!

Kit stood in dew-laden grass, his feet flexing and contracting, letting him feel the earth under him. It had become a daily ritual to get up early, do a bit of blade work, practice his forms. Recently however, other troopers had been getting up early with him, watching him practice, even joining in. Now he looked around him and could see three other troopers busily sparring with practice vibroblades. He didn't think of himself as a teacher, maybe more of a club leader, this was just something they did in their spare time.

Kit noticed the Lieutenant walking towards them, smiling that smile he always had. "Alright guys, I think were done for the day, looks like the Lieutenant has our next training assignment for us!" With a grin he patted the other troopers on the back, his large paws almost dwarfing the short Twi'lek that had joined him this morning. Snapping to attention as the Lieutenant stepped before them they all waited patiently for his orders.

"At ease men, were not standing on ceremony here. Kit is right, you are getting your next assignment today. Your all going to be working together actually as a unit. Your all different specialty's, so I want to see how you work as a team. Follow me." The Lieutenant turned on his heel, walking towards the firing range. The troopers fell into step behind the Lieutenant, looking at the tall structure the were headed towards anxiously.

This wasn't just any building, this was the holo-training facility. There would be no other real people in here, only holo-projections, and when you got shot in there, it REALLY hurt! Opening the door the Lieutenant stepped through, beckoning them forward. "All right Troops this is your assignment. I'm going to simulate a basic program, the defense of a key bunker emplacement on Tadath, and your going to defend it from whatever attacks you. Kit you will be in charge of the heavy weapons, Tali your the field medic, anyone gets hurt you gotta deal with it. Roark your in charge of engineering, you will find a limited supply of explosives, but a wide variety of tools for the maintenance of the base, go nuts. And Rhin your in charge of communications. Your main goal is to defend as long as possible, but retreat or call in reinforcements ASAP. Good luck Guys, you'll need it"

The Lieutenant pointed at the Twi'lek female, the Zabrak male, and the Human female before smiling and walking off, leaving the little rag-tag group alone to figure out what to do. kit looked around the room, not seeing any sort of gear. He shrugged at the other members of his little team and placed his large paw on the activation sphere in the middle of the room. The others joined in, placing their hands beside his. With the loud thrum of something turning on the holo-projection came into focus. Moving his hand away from the now normal looking ball in the room Kit took his bearings.

"Alright guys, we can do this, lets just be smart and see what we have. I'll go look over the gun emplacements, Tali can go look for her field kit, Roark see about turning on some lights and maybe closing some of the excess blast doors, heck try for the sentries if you can re-wire them somehow. And Rhin you jump on the horn and see if you can get a signal." With a nod from everyone they all scattered, taking the few quite minutes they had to become accustomed to the bunker. With a buzzing the lights did come on, clearly a quick fix. Kit was to busy looking at the EHWB-10 Heavy Repeater they had. He field checked it quickly, not stripping it but making sure the barrel and everything else was clean.

Just as the Trooper was finishing up the field check an explosion caught his attention. Looking out the window he noted what looked like a small reconnaissance unit of Rebels advancing on their position. Grimacing he saw what looked like a communications unit attached to one man who seemed to be giving a very rapid report, no doubt informing a larger group of what they had found. "Alright Lieutenant, you want to play? We'll play. . ." Pushing what appeared to be a comm device built into the wall Kit issued some orders.

"Lock and load guys we got trouble down here! Roark the gun emplacements need power, I can't fire this gun here! I'll try and keep them busy until you power it up, Tali I'm going to need some help if you can find a blaster down there!" Letting go of the button Kit inspected the room, noting a few dusty blasters had been left behind. Checking the mags he grabbed them, tossing a few of them over the side, hopping someone will notice them. Crouching, the Trooper crawled up to the window, peeking out and sighting down the barrel, aiming for the comm officer. Kit began pulling the trigger in rapid succession, his first bolt connecting with the  officers head. Beginning to fire on the Rebels. He barely noticed the other blaster bolts coming from beneath him, Tali had found the guns apparently.

With a loud hum the repeater could be heard powering up. Smiling Kit launched himself towards it, taking aim through the window. The first few times he fired it it surprised him, the gun kicking up, spraying over the heads of the Rebels. He began to focus his fire more, holding onto the gun as best he could as he unloaded at them. Kit noticed that most of the Rebels were either not moving, or running away. Letting go of the trigger for a moment Kit peered, wondering what could be moving the trees like that. Eyes going wide for a moment Kit grabbed the repeater, trying to haul it out of the window as a large burst of energy blasted into the room, melting the bi-pod off the repeater. Grunting with exertion Kit hauled the EHWB-10 downstairs.

"Guys we got a problem! They have soemthing big, and it doesn't like us! It almost melted me!" Setting the gun down Kit noticed the blast doors were closed, giving the ma measure of security. "Ok look, were going to try and keep this litle bunker, but were not going to die doing it! Rhin, did you get hold of anyone yet?" Rhin nodded, holding the comm device beside her ear. "Yeah, they can get a bombing run in here in 5 minutes, or an Evac in two. Your choice Kit. . ." Frowning Kit grabbed the repeater, lifting it up to rest on his hip. "Get the bombers in here, were holding our ground. Roark I need you to go blow something up for me." Roark's eyes twinkled as he grabbed the explosives, having already strapped the mall into one gigantic bomb.

Before either one of them could say anything a large explosion rocked the bunker, and one of the blast doors disappeared. Crouching down Kit began to unload bolts through the hole, cutting down three rebels in seconds, but not without sustaining a hit to his shoulder that made him cry out. Tali grabbed her blaster, running up to the door and checking around. "No one else, they were just a suicide crew, we have a straight shot to the Machine, but were going to need covering fire." Tali had walked back, pulling out her medical kit and giving Kit a shot of something, the pain subsiding as she taped the wound.

Kit pushed himself up with his good arm, grabbing the repeater. With Roark's help he managed to get it over beside the hole, giving him a pretty good defensive wall behind some rubble. "You two go place the charges, leave one detonator here, take one with you. I'll cover you guys with this." Taking aim with the bi-podless gun, he grinned a hopeful grin. "Look it's been two minutes already, only three more guys!" Steeling himself for the fight, Kit began to unload out the gun, trying to draw everyone's attention as Tali and Roark went out the back, keeping low, trying to hide amongst the trees. Within seconds there was a wave of blaster bolts headed his way, the force they were up against clearly outnumbering them ten, maybe even fifteen-to-one. He began to sweep the area closest to Roark and Tali, pinning down those units, allowing the other two to get close enough to shot them with their pistols.

Those were the longest, slowest, most gut wrenching three minutes of the Troopers life in training. Watching Tali and Roark make there way towards the cannon. Watching them time and again have to hide as they were shot at. They did eventually make it, placing the charge and running back. On the return Roark was shot twice, his eyes going wide as the blaster bolt burned into his back and leg. Tali grabbed hold of him, dragging him back towards the door as Kit opened fire again, his face curling into a snarl of rage as he tried to pin down the Rebels, his shoulder burning with pain.

Tali made it back with Roark, but his vitals were low, he wouldn't be helping anyone else for the time being. Taping his wounds and giving him a couple shots, Tali pushed him against the wall, giving him a blaster in case he woke up. Kit scrabbled back, away from the entrance, leaving the m EHWB in a hail of blaster fire. Giving Tali a thumbs up Kit grabbed the detonator, depressing the button, grinning as he heard the explosion and the resulting screech and groan of metal tearing. Sighing wearily he grabbed his blaster, aiming it towards the door. It didn't take long, maybe half a minute, before Rebels could be heard out the door. Someone poked their head in, getting it blasted by Tali. Shouts and yells could be heard, someone called for a medic, someone else called for a det-charge.

Kit grabbed Tali hand, looking over at Rhin as she gave him the thumbs up. "Thirty seconds out" She mouthed. He smiled, knowing they wouldn't last that long. using his knee as a brace, he aimed towards the door, beginning to spray shots towards it. The set charge going off behind Rhin was a surprise, she was thrown over her cover, landing in front of the other three. She looked up at them "seventeen seconds" She mouthed again, rolling onto her back, grabbing her pistol. Crying out in anger Kit turned towards the new hole, firing blindly, reaching out his other hand to the Comm girl, trying to pull her. He felt the sharp, burning pain of blaster bolts hitting his side, making him double over in pain. He could feel Tali jumping as she was shot. His ears rang from the explosion, his breathing was labored, his pulse going wild. Rhin was shouting something, before someone cracked her in the mouth with a rifle butt, taking her helmet.

Grinning up at the Rebel holding the gun to his face, Kit sat up, letting go of his gun. Through the ringing he had heard Rhin, barely making her out. He leaned back, hearing the approaching gunships. Holding onto his three friends hands he waited. Rhin had told them to demolish the bunker, the enemy had captured it, this was it.

With the sound of the large explosion still ringing in his ears Kit collapsed to the floor, his hand coming off the now dormant ball, his mind reeling as he realized he was back in the holo-facility. He doubled over in pain, his side searing as someone was now above him, flashing a light in his eyes, checking him. He saw the Lieutenant smiling over him "7 years of training and your the first group to try and hold the bunker! You crazy S.O.B's! You passed with flying colors Kit! You passed!" Kit's vision began to blur, and as he was loaded onto a stretcher with his friends, he had a big smile on his face.

OOC:

Very well written, I like how you worked in the NPC's in your story. Keep it up. PASS