[  This is in honor of Chui's graduating Basic Training.  I'm so proud!  ]

Rain poured down in a near constant downpour on the Imperial Stormtrooper Training Academy.  The stormtroopers assembled outside didn't show any discomfort as the rain streaked down their white armor.  All of them were nearly identical once in armor, except for Private First Class Chui.

It was Chui who carried the squad repeater blaster, the heavy weapon that could mow through enemy troops with ease.  Chui's strength let him carry and fire from the hip a weapon that normally was fired from a tri-pod.  Chui did alot of strength training in his spare time.

The company commander barked an order, and all the stormtroopers turned around to face the live-fire training course.  The course was a series of shallow hills and depressions that tested everything from a trooper's speed to his agility to his cunning.  All stormtroopers ran what had become known as 'The Last Stand' because of it's history of being a last stand for those less than worthy.

The old bell, having been replaced only when the metal had finally worn a hole in the side, rang, signalling the start of the course.  The other stormtrooper cadets surged forward, but the heavier weapon carried by Chui slowed him down.  The first obsticle was a series of landmines that only were visible when you almost stepped on them.  Instantly many blew up, their white armor and internal organs flying in all directions, covering their comrads.

Chui moved quickly through the field, following the smoking craters left by the others.  His steady pace caught him up with the others, who had begun to climb the first hill.  Atop each hill were a series of droids armed with blaster rifles, firing down on the cadets, who had to pick them off and make it to the top.  Chui laid down suppressing fire, then moved on up after his comrads, reaching the top and bashing the head off one of the replacement droids just popping up to fire.

The cadets then moved forward through the large tunnels that, while large enough to let three cadets move through at once, blasters fired in from the opposite end, and magnetic coils inside the tunnels prevented blaster fire from hitting the droids.

There was a predictable pattern, but many tried to run in to no success.  Wounded or dead cadets littered the front, their blood soaking into the ground.  Finally Chui reached it, firing a few shots, before realizing the feutility of it, and noticing the patterm. He slung his repeater blaster onto his back, and ordered the cadets to form a line behind him, and to follow his moves exactly.

It was slow work, dodging the one way blaster fire, which fired during brief periods of deactivation of the differant rings.  Finally, the cadets, with Chui in the lead, emerged, into the middle of an open field with droids firing blasters back and forth.

The cadets had to drop onto the ground, moving slowly across by crawling on their bellies.  Some moved too high, and received a blaster bolt in the side for their effort.  Once on the other side, a barricade provided some defence against the blasters raining down on them, and the cadets had to pin down the blasters with their own fire, then circle around and take the guns out.

Chui hefted his repeater blaster and opened fire, swinging his blaster around to keep each of the rising blaster rifles down.  He then yelled to the other cadets to swing around and take out the blasters.  Once that was out of the way, several trip wires wired to explosives led to an obsticle course with a timer for each cadet.

Chui used his blaster to shoot some of the explosives, before moving ahead and jumping over the last few and then moving through the obstacle course.  Here, his added mass of both muscle and the blaster rifle slowed him down.  The limit was 5 minutes through the challenging obstacle course, and Chui made it with 4 minutes and 45 seconds.

The last part of training was to hike the 12 miles through a swamp, with hidden gravity generators doubling the gravity, and natural predators that enjoyed the taste of young cadet.

Moving through the swamp, Chui was careful to kill any predator that took intrest in him personally.  Occassionally a cadet will disappear under the water, and the water will turn red for a while.  The water was so murkey that it was the red that told them where the cadet had gone under.  But trying to find him after that was next to impossible.

The hike was deadly and slow.  But finally, the last stragglers made it out.  Fewer than 25% remained, but they were the best.  Waiting, however, was a Naval Crewman, Linda.  She spotted Chui and couldn't help but laugh, "Damnit Chui, don't you have anything better than babysit a bunch of cadets?"

Chui removed his helmet, leaving the squad behind, "Just keeping in shape."

Linda turned to look at Chui, "Chui... this is the sixth time you've gone through Basic.  They don't need you to hold their hands, since I'm sure some will make it through regardless.  Besides..." she moved off a little, "you did" she laughed and ran off, with Chui in pursuit.
 
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FM/CRW Linda_Irris/Sting6 (2-2)/Wing2/ISD-II Devastator/Offensive/VEN/VE