Zall sat up in his bunk feeling uneasy, he was not used to sleeping in the academy barracks yet.  He swung his feet off the edge of the bed and began to stare off into space. His mind kept returning to the obstacle course and he kept thinking back to his performance. This was a very rare occurrence for Zall, this was one of the few times in his life that he was actually nervous. Normally he could stay calm and collected but now, now he just wanted his results.  He kept running over the course in his head and the actions that he took. Over the entire course they ended up breaking at least six droids, he himself breaking at least two. As Zall stood up his hip throbbed slightly, a reminder of the punishment that he had taken during the drill. He was glad that the medics were there to patch them up however. Thinking back again he could not help but wonder as to how Kurl’s rib was doing.

As he sat lost in thought his stomach began to protest making him realize his hunger. He stood up and quickly began to dress deciding to run and get some food. Before he left he picked up his blaster intending to go over to the firing range to practice his marksmanship after.  As Zall walked down the hall he noticed some of the other trainees and even a few troopers were giving him an eyeing glance. He supposed it was natural though. In many cases he stood at least a foot over many of them and his tail and scales did not help his case much either. He sighed and continued on his way, his stomach protesting more and more as time passed.

He shortly arrived at the very crowded mess hall and looked around for a place to sit. All around him various troopers sat with either their squad or their friends and conversed about their training or a recent mission they went on while they ate. Watching all of the commotion around him made Zall feel slightly out of place being a lone trainee. He ignored the feeling and ordered his food realizing how hungry he truly was. After he ordered he found a table off in the corner and sat down. He set his blaster down on his side and sighed. He looked up at the ceiling and wondered how Kurl was doing after the drill.

Zall snapped back to reality when he heard a noise next to him. He looked over and watched Kurl sit down next to him. Zall guessed by the expression on his face that Kurl was doing better then he had after the training course. The other thing that he saw was the "food" on Kurl's tray. It looked tasteless and smelled distasteful. Zall looked down to his own tray and to his dismay that the food he had been mindlessly eating looked and smelled similar to Kurl's. He sighed and continued to eat.

Kurl suddenly spoke up as he started to eat. “How’s it goin’?” he asked in between mouthfuls.

"It's been better I suppose," Zall said. "Getting screamed at by an instructor here, doing countless hours of training there, and getting used to eating....this." Zall gave the food a distasteful glance and continued to eat. "Mostly been replaying the obstacle course over and over again in my head, just wondering how we did."

They continued to eat and Zall slowly slipped back into thought. He remembered his time back on Barab 1. He could not help but smile when he remembered one of the hunts he had been on when he was still a hatchling. He had been tracking his pray for a few days but could never quite catch up to it. His rations had started running dangerously low so he had to result to scavenging. The only thing he could find that seemed edible was a plant that had been growing near by. The first bite he had taken nearly made him sick but since it was all he had left he suffered through it. The taste of the plant had actually reminded him of the taste of the slop they were eating. Ever since that hunt he had always tried his best to avoid eating that plant again because of the horrid taste it had left in his mouth, but apparently to no avail.

He looked up from his train of thought suddenly and realised he had finished eating. He turned and looked over at Kurl before he spoke. "So, how did the droids in the medical bay do as far as patching you up?" He looked at where Kurl's rib had been broken but could not see any sign of a break or a bruise. "From what i can see they didn't do half bad."

“So, do you think they’ll make us do anything else along the lines of training? I mean the obstacle course was tough as hell but I don’t think that’s all they will have us do before they send us out on the front lines. And if they do where do you think the higher ups will put us?" Kurl asked him. Zall mulled the thought over in his head. He had a strange feeling that they, unfortunately, were not yet done woith training. What else they were going to be forced to endure was beyond him though. All he knew was that if the obstacle course was as bad as it was, he was not looking forward to the next part of their training. He chuckled to himself as he imagined them being dangled over a pit or some similar fate.

He looked up at Kurl and began to speak. "Well, I believe that i heard a rumor floating through the barracks that we are in for another drill. However when that drill will be and what it will be is beyond me. As far as where we will be placed i can't say. For all I know we will be put in the same squad, or we may be put into two separate squads. Who knows." He began to think about squad placement. Zall did not really care what squad he was thrown into, he just hoped that it would be one that he could work well with.

Zall looked back over at Kurl. "So," Zall began. "What specialty do you want to train as? Personally I want to be either a scout or a sharpshooter. I mean tracking is what im best at. I just need to work on my accuracy. Thats why I brought this baby with me." As he finished speaking Zall reached over and picked up his blaster. As he picked it up he noticed a smudge on the barrel so he began to clean and do some maintenance on his trusty gun while they talked. As he listened to Kurl speak he disassembled his blaster and cleaned it piece by piece.

Zall was finishing cleaning his blaster when he heard Kurl speak to him again. “I say we go and do something rather than sit here and look at this disgusting pile of crap that they call food.” As he said this Zall watched him poke the food he had been eating with his fork. “We could probably find the shooting range or something or walk around till we find something exciting to do.” Zall mulled the thought over he had planed on going to the firing range to practice anyway. It did not matter to him either way though.

"I like the idea of the shooting range," Zall said as he rose from his seat. He slung his blaster over his back and cracked his neck. "I had planned on going there anyway. We can run back to your room to get your blaster on the way." He watched as Kurl rose from his chair and follow him out in to the hall. As they walked into the hall Zall had to wince slightly as his eyes were adjusted to the dull cafeteria lighting and the long white hall was brightly lit. They started down the hall in a mutual silence. As they walked Zall noticed a few troopers walking in the opposite direction, he could not help but grin thinking of the slop they were in for.

"So," he said finally breaking the silence. "What made you decide to join the oh so luxurious life of a solider? Personally I was forced in to it. I used to be a professional shock boxer. During my first match though i lost my temper and accidentally killed my opponent. They gave me me two options. The first option was for me to spend the rest of my life rotting away in prison. The other option was to join the army. Now here I am, getting myself beaten half to death by these things that they call training exercises."

As Zall listened to Kurl's story he thought back to that fateful match that led him here. He remembered standing in the ring getting ready for the match. The screams of the crowed filled his ears pumping him up more and more as the match drew closer. He remembered watching his opponent climb into the ring. The man was a human, he looked thin but well toned. He defiantly had the body of a fighter. Zall had been started to pump himself up for the match when the referee walked over to him and began to explain the rules of the match. Zall only half listened to the man and started to focus his body and mind. The next thing he knew was the bell rang and the match began. Everything went black after that . The next thing he could remember was being dragged away by troopers and seeing the mans limp body laying still in the ring.

Zall snapped back to reality and continued listening to Kurl. He was a little troubled that he could not remember what had happened during the match but it did not matter at this point in time. He realised that they had almost arrived.

Zall could not hhelp himself and glanced around Kurl's room. It was extremely similar to his in many ways, it was a standard room with standared equipment and a standard bed. Good to know that the army was not splurging on the trainees. The only real diffrence was that unlike Zall, Kurl lacked a roommate by the looks of it. Zall however did not. He glanced up and saw that Kurl had collected his blaster and was ready to move on. They left the room and continued on to the range for practice. They were in for a bit of a walk as it was on the complete opposite side of the acadamy.

They walked for a bit in silence until Kurl turned to him and asked, "So what was it like living on Barabel 1?” The question took Zall a bit by surprise. He looked at Kurl and contimplated how best to describe life on his homeworld.

"Hell," was all Zall said. He saw confusion on the humans face so e decided to describe it a bit diffrently. "The planet only has four hours of light each day out of sixty but due to the colassol radiation the light gives off we are only able to go out in the dark, thats how we barabel have the ability to see in the dark. On top of that the rainstorms that happen during the dark hours are so powerful that they can drive even our strong race back into the dark caves. When we actualy are able to go out and hunt we have to be constantly on our gaurd from the mighty durgolosk, a creature feared by even the barabel. Since their arn't any buildings beside the space port, Alater-ka, we are forced to live in caves. My people have no true governing body, only tribes. Many of our people were killed off in the great war as well so now there are few of us. Although we face much hardship in our daily lives we grow stronger from it. That is one of the reasons why we barabel are so feared in combat."

Zall took a deep breath finaly finishing his long speech. He looked around and saw that they had nearly arrived at the range and was glad, he wanted to practice as much as he could before his next training excersise. He looked back over at Kurl and spoke again, "Does that give you a good idea of Barab 1?"

Zall noticed that Kurl had quickly changed the subject after Zall had described his home world. He wondered if it was something he had said or the way he had finished He was still getting used to speaking in basic and noticed he slipped up on words every now and then. His thought processes quickly changed as they walked in to the range and he began to look round. He noticed that there were many troopers practicing at various lanes. He also noticed that there were many different ranked troopers here as well ranging from trainees to a lone general off in the far corner. They were each aiming at a targets along the range. The targets were floating orbs that reminded him of the thing that nearly broke his hip on the obstacle course.

He looked over at Kurl and saw that he had set himself up at lane three. Zall quickly walked over to the man at the counter and asked him to set up lane four for him. The man gave him a weary look before doing as asked. Zall was slowly getting used to this look, most likely because he seemed to be one of the few if not the only barabel trooper around. It had annoyed him at first but he learned to deal with it especially because many people gave him a wide breath when he walked through the hall.

He walked over to his lane and set himself up for practice. As he set himself up the targets seemed to come to life. He watched as they started to emit a low humming noise and some of them started to move. A few of the ones that moved seemed to move in a set pattern but half of them seemed to have a mind f there own and have no set course. Zall adjusted the sight on his blaster and aimed a few shots at the stationary targets that were close to him to be sure it was accurate enough. Once he was satisfied he started to fire at the targets that were farther away. He tried to aim for some of the moving targets but found he only hit eight for every ten shots. The thing that he found most odd was that he seemed to have an easier time hitting the ones with no set pattern to them then the ones that moved back and forth. He assumed that this was because he was more accustomed to hunting and his pray usually moved sporadically.

He snapped back to reality when he noticed Kurl turn to face him out of the corner of his eye. When he looked over he saw that Kurl had a few credits in his hand and was grinning. "How about we make this thing a little more interesting and see who is the better shot?”

Zall nodded in agreement. "I'm up for a little game," he asked as he dropped his credits and faced back to his lane. "What did you have in mind as far as the goal?" He continued to take a few shots as Kurl explained the rules. He aimed a quick shot at one of the targets that moved from side to side and pulled the trigger. He watched the blot sore at the target and and started swearing out loud in barabel, a habit he did alot when he was mad, when the target changed it's course at the last second. He turned back to face Kurl and spoke again, "I'm ready whenever you are my friend."

Zall listened as Kurl explained the rules to him. "Well, we can see who shoots down the most targets with only 10 shots, the person with the most targets down wins the credits. It’s pretty simple.” As he spoke Zall nodded in agreement. He liked the idea and he was interested to see how good of a shot Kurl was. “Alright I hope you don’t mind me going first," Kurl said. Zall motioned with his hand for Kurl to begin and the man stepped up to the lane. Kurl was able to quickly take out his first seven targets with relative ease but lost his edge on the eighth shot. Kurl lined up his ninth shot but that too missed its mark, he was now at seven out of nine shots by Zalls count. He quickly fired his last shot and it hit the target right in the center. “There 8/10, your turn big guy," said Kurl as he stepped back from the lane.

Zall nodded and stepped up to the lanes. He saw that the targets were now all activated and hummed softly as they floated in the lane. He stood in the lane and set himself up. Zall stood in place for a few moments taking a few long slow breaths. He looked down the lane and no longer saw targets but instead they were now prey. He was in the hunters mindset now, something he was used too from his early life. He became much more alert started to track his marks. He lined up his blaster at the first target, a stationary orb about halfway down the lane, and pulled the trigger. He watched his shot hit the target and he moved on to the next before he saw it deactivated. He aimed his blaster at his next target, an orb that floated a bit farther away from the first. This one moved in a fast paced, tight, figure eight motion. He aimed his blaster slightly ahead the orb and pulled the trigger. The bolt flew as straight as an arrow and hit the orb dead center.

Zall continued in this fashion until he was about to hit the eighth orb. It was one of the ones that did not seem to have a set pattern to it so Zall would have to try his luck. He aimed his shot and pulled the trigger, watching the bolt fly down the lane. The orb suddenly changed direction mid flight and the bolt flew effortlessly by. He started to utter a low hiss in annoyance. He aimed his blaster his next prey. It was a low flying orb at the far end of the lane. It moved up and down while it floated in next to another orb. He watched the target and once it had just started to float back up he quickly pulled the trigger and watched as the bolt flew true and hit the mark. That makes eight for me. Now for the last one. Zall aimed his blaster at the last target, an orb that moved in every direction. Once he was satisfied he pulled the trigger. To his great disappointment the bolt missed.

He turned to face kurl and spoke, "With that we have a tie my friend."

(OOC: I didn't really care either. Felt like it made it more interesting)

Zall reached over to the counter and pocketed his credits. He Watched as Kurl lit a cigarette and spoke, “So do you know of anything else to do in this place?” he asked "Maybe there is a cantina near the training facility we could go and find? Maybe have some sort of adventure?” Zall sat and thought a moment about where exactly they could go. He suddenly remembered a local cantina that his roommate had described to him on one of the first few nights but only vaguely remembered where it was.

He looked over to Kurl with a grin n his face and spoke, "There is a place about forty five minutes form here I have heard of. If ya want we can go there. We can either take the transport that is leaving for town soon or we can take my speeder either way we have to head to the hanger." He took his blaster and holstered it. For a brief moment he debated on brining it back to his quarters but decided that would take to long. He turned and walked out of the range with Kurl on his heels. As they walked Zall continued to speak, "his place is apparently one of those typical hole in the wall cantinas, you know the ones that are filled with smoke, drunken idiots, and the occasional bar fight. A few troopers g there from what i heard, mostly the ones who are stationed here at the academy. I can't say that I really blame them though. This place does tend to get rather boring."

As they walked Zall pondered on what he was craving at the cantina. The only thing that he could real think of that he wanted was a nice strong flameout. He loved the feeling that it gave him when he drank them, the burning tongue, the freezing throat, a feeling he missed. He could not help but let a wide, fang filled grin creep across his face. He knew this would be one of the last time he could drink for a while before he was placed in a squad and sent out on missions. The thought excited him and he was looking forward to the drink.

They had been walking in silence for a while so Zall decided to speak up. "Tonight we can drink to being done with that obstacle course. Let us pray we never see that thing again unless we are the drill instructors." He could not resist laughing at the thought. He was still green but here he was anticipating being one of the higher up. Zall chuckled as he walked while lost in thought.

“I think we should take the transport, it would be a little cramped on the speeder," Kurl said as they walked. "Oh and just a warning I tend to cause some trouble when I’m drunk.” Zall burst out into laughter when he heard this. Laughing was rare for barabel, and even more rare for Zall. His sides began to hurt because he had not laughed in a long time. He finally was able to get himself under control and turned to face his companion.

"You have never been drinking with a barabel before have you? Not many people tend to pick fights with us. That and we have a bad temper anyway, it gets worse when we have pounded down a few drinks." They continued on their walk discussing the trip to the cantina until Kurl mentioned that he wanted to stop by his room to pick up some credits, and idea that Zall had not thought of. They parted ways so that they could each gather their things. Zall walked into his room and quickly rummaged around for spare credits. Once he was satisfied with what he had he decided to change out of his training gear to civilian clothes. He popped open his trunk and began to rummage through it. He eventually found a plain black t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He quickly changed and strapped his blaster back onto his hip. On his way out of the room he grabbed his necklace that he was given before he left Barab 1. It was a necklace made up of the teeth of the mighty durgolosk that his people had occasionally managed o kill. It always felt right to him to wear the fangs, he was never sure why though.

He shortly met up with Kurl and they continued on their way to the hanger to catch the transport. As they reached the hanger he noticed a few others already waiting nearby. There was a group of civilians, most of which lived near the compound, that were taking a lift up to the city among the crowd and also a few fellow troopers. Most of the civilians gave him a frightened look and seemed to shuffle away somewhat. He rolled his eyes and joined Kurl in the shuttle sitting to the man's left. As Zall sat down the shuttle began to take off, a sensation that he was still getting used to.

Kurl turned to him and spoke, “So do you have any idea what this place is called or are we gonna have to go into every building in the area and find the one that smells like booze and spice?” Zall could not help but smile at the thought of them bursting into someones house looking for the bar. That would go over wonderfully with their superiors.

"I believe that its called The Hanging Rock. Or at least something to that effect. From what I understand it's in a side alley off of a main street. It is actually near the edge of the city. Come on how hard will it be to find?" He smirked at the thought of them wandering around drunk and lost.