OOC:

Alright, I guess I'll kick this monster off

It had been a good clip since the last time Sam had bunked in a barracks. The upside is that he had a plan to avoid being in there with the enlisted troopers. He thought it was a pretty solid plan. He had tinkered a protocol droid, similar to his trusty aide 3PX, to act as a remote body. Its audio sensors were setup to transmit back to his home just outside the base and he could bring up the visuals on a terminal. Unfortunately, he had yet to solidify the mechanisms to send audio back to the droid, which could play to inconvenience.

"I know I'm a trooper again, but why must I live in the rax with the rest of the squad?" the zabrak grunted as he dropped a moderately sized box onto his bunk. His remote body was trailing behind; still a bit clumsy in its movement. "Let's hope this guy works out the movement kinks soon. I don't need to spend more time in here than I absolutely have to."

The barracks was fairly silent and calm. The Lieutenant was the only one, as far as his awareness goes, in the bunk area. The low hum of the droid's servos filled the air, but would easily be washed away had anyone made even the slightest commotion elsewhere. Sam sat on the edge of his bed and signaled his droid over.

Sam popped open the back hatch and began to tweak the motor settings, "Hmm, let's drop this one down and shift the balance sensor this-a-way..."

Suddenly Sam whipped his hand out of the back of the droid as a loud pop rang out. A capacitor had blown singed the side of his hand. "Ack! That's what I get for using cheap parts." He looked up to see the droid's head laying limp backwards. Sam shook his head and pulled a replacement capacitor out of the box he brought into the barracks.

After replacing the blown capacitor and correcting any other issues that came from the damage, he headed off to find his new squad leader. He knew a bit of the man. According to records, he was Gunnery Sergeant Dev Bandoran and goes by the callsign of "Psycho." He had not been around too terribly long. Had a few commendations and was a heavy weapons specialist. As he recalled all he opted to recall about his squad leader, he came to the door of where he suspected to find him.

He knocked solidly twice before entering. Dev swirled around to see a lieutenant standing in his presents. He quickly snapped to attention with a salute. Sam gave a grin. It had been awhile since he had someone be so formal towards him. The Lieutenant returned the salute.

"Sir, First Lieutenant Sandwich Sam reporting for duty," the zabrak reported. The Sergeant's face shifted quickly to confusion and surprise. It was pretty clear that he had not been briefed on his return.

"Eh...err, welcome to strike team besh sir," the Sergeant replied, "What can I do for you?"

"I'm just introducing myself. Working on getting back into the swing of things. Been a good clip since I have been a grunt," Sam half laughed forgetting to use his military mannerisms. It was pretty clear that the Sergeant was not completely sure how to act. On one hand he was the Lieutenant's squad leader and wanted to correct the lack of respect; on the other hand, the Lieutenant held rank.

"Erm, sorry about that sir," the Lieutenant corrected himself, "As I said, been awhile since I've been a trooper."

"Right, erm, just try to keep in mind that I am your SL."

"Yes sir, I'll try to remember that from here on out."

"Great. Thanks for introducing yourself, sir. I look forward to working with you. You are dismissed."

Sam was comfortable taking orders and all, but it was still a little unnerving to have a sergeant reprimand him. Anyhow, he maintained composure as he saluted and exited the room. He could only imagine what was going through his squad leader's head at that moment. The whole encounter was full of tension and awkward moments. Neither really knew how to act given the difference in position and rank betwixt them.

Sam shook off the odd encounter and headed back to the bunk area. To his surprise, his droid body double was not in a heap on the floor. It was functioning without error at least for now. He hoped that it would last.

"Alright you," the zabrak started at the droid, which slowly turned to face him, "Here is what you are expected to do for me. At night when the rest of the crew goes to bed, lay in this bed and go into low power mode. In the morning, stand next to the bed and don't move."

Sam had hoped that by limiting the droids overall movement it would cut down on any malfunctions that could arise as well as preserving some of the more fragile circuits for just a bit longer. It really was not a matter of lack of quality parts, Sam just did not really see the need to make such a quality machine for such a menial task.

Before he left, he slid the box of replacement parts under the bed. He then headed out of the barracks to his speeder and rushed back to his home. "Welp, here we go again."

Dusk sighed. He was standing at his bunk in the RAIDERS barracks. It dawned on him he'd never moved in really as he'd always lived just a short way from the base. Grabbing his necklace from his pillow, he walked out for the last time.

He had PD-Q5 carrying his specialty weapons and other belongings. His trench coat billowed out when the wind struck him, revealing his two screwdrivers that he intends to always have on him. As the trooper got closer to his new 'home' he was dreading it more and more. He wasn't sure who was in his squad and all he did know is that his new SL is probably named Psyco.

Entering the new barracks, he walked up to his new bunk and had PD set his things on it. "PD, get the prowler out, I wanna do some work on it."
"Yes, sir." It responded in it's deep metallic voice.

He assumed he was to check in with his SL so he knocked on the door frame. "Private first class, Jacen "Dusk" Arture, reporting in. Just call me Dusk though, sir."
"Oh, Private, welcome." Psycho replied.
"Sir, I want to like you, I do. But I've gone through seven hells with RAIDERS and until I've seen you can do the same for the squad you won't have my respect. Only what is necessary of my superiors, nothing more nothing less."
"I'll take that to mind, Private. But I'd prefer if you stayed in line. Dismissed."

Dusk sighed. As he stood infront of his cluttered bunk, PD off to the side.

OOC:

WC: 267
Short, but I couldn't think of much to write.

Balac stepped into a cantina. It had been quite some time since he'd been to this world, but it's sights sent a pang through him. He scanned the faces, trying to match them with the photo of the man on his datapad. In the back of the room, a pair of eyes gazed into his, a spark of a challenge glittering in them. Balac set off towards him and sat down.

"Well, hello there, Ven." the man said.

"Kad." Balac replied stiffly.

"How's the arm?" he asked, gesturing slightly to the durasteel imitation.

Balac lifted his arm, the sound of the servos whirring reached his ears, and slammed it into the table, palm open. The noise caught the attention of the other patrons. Balac turned to glance at them and looked back to Kad. "I'm here merely to find out who you are, nothing more."

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

Balac stepped off the shuttle and headed back towards the Eclipse barracks. The lapse of activity for the squad had allowed Balac to take a short leave to Mandalore. Once he reached the barracks, he was intercepted by a man standing outside the barracks.

"Identification." the man stated.

"Senior Sergeant Balac, Eclipse Squad in Wildcard Platoon," Balac replied flatly, "I'm bunked here, move out of my way."

The man checked his datapad. "That squad has been disbanded, you have been reassigned, your orders should be on your datapad." With that the man went back to watching the entrance to the barracks.

A jolt went through the Mandalorian. The squad that had been his home since he passed basic had been disbanded? His datapad beeped. Balac retrieved it and opened the file displayed. It gave an outline of the restructuring process as well as a list of who was in his new 'Strike Team' which had a callsign of Wraith. Looking through the list mulitple times, Balac was disappointed to see that none of his former squad mates were in the same strike team.

Ven walked up to the entrance of the barracks, "I need to remove my stuff."

"Very well, but be quick about it, we a have a new class of recruits to move here."

With a glare, Balac brushed past the man and went to his bunk. Looking around to make sure he was alone, he sat down and pulled his footlocker out from under the bunk. Inside, were his weapons and armor, neatly arranged and faintly shiny, except for the chest plate which had gouges in it from a previous mission. Balac shuddered slightly as he remembered the mutant's claws gliding through his armor like a vibroblade through cloth. Closing the footlocker, he went back to his datapad and cycled through the messages. The most recent before his orders, caught his eye once more. It was from the man who called himself Ven's brother, Kad. He played it back again, lowering the volume.

"Hello again Ven, I never got the chance to give you my offer, considering you stormed out of the cantina. I once offered you the chance of a true family, of people like you, who understand you. The Empire is rotting from the inside out, just like the di'kutla Republic before it. Consider this offer... Brother."

Balac knew the Empire Kad spoke of was that run by the Emperor. The Vast Empire was different. Yet at this moment Balac was tempted by the offer. He closed the message and returned his datapad to his belt. He continued sitting, going back over the missions his squad had been through, wishing for the past.

He shook his head and stood, "Look to the future dammit, that's what you were taught." He pulled two bags out from under his bunk, once for his weapons and one for his armor. Placing them neatly in their own bag he set off for his new barracks.

Arriving at the barracks, Balac entered, anxiety rising through him as he walked through the door. He saw some of his new squad members as he walked over to bunk on the far side of the room. Ven set his bags down and walked to the office door. He hesitated before knocking, unsure of how he should treat the stranger who would be commanding him.

He knocked, slowly, three times.

"Come in." a voice called from inside.

"Sir, Senior Sergeant Ven Kando, callsign Balac, formerly of Eclipse Squad, reporting." the Mando stated crisply with a salute.

"Welcome, I've recently gone over your dossier and I'm glad to have you with us. Welcome to Strike Team Besh. I'm Gunnery Sergeant Dev Bandoran, callsign Psycho."

Balac stayed silent, unsure of a reply. Instead just studying the large man in front of him.

"If there's nothing else, you're free to set up and relax. We haven't recieved any orders yet."

Balac gave a curt nod and swiftly exited the office returning to his chosen bunk. Moving his bags under the bunk, Ven sat down, pondering what this new change would bring.

OOC:

WC: 832
Room for improvement, but it's a start to kick me back into writing.