Beyond - Legends Saga Saga - OT Half a Kilo - Drabble Challenge, UDC XI

Title: Half a Kilo
Author: Thumper09
Characters: Varies (OCs, Canon, EU Legends)
Timeframe: Probably OT or Beyond/ST eras
Genre: Everything-ish?
Summary: Varied slices-of-life for different characters in each drabble set.
Notes: This is my thread for the Ultimate Drabble Challenge XI.

I have no idea who or what any of these drabbles are going to be about. It'll probably be heavy on the Rebellion side of things. I expect there will be numerous OCs, but there are also several canon/EU characters I've kicked around the idea of writing about over the years, and these drabble sets might be a good way to do that without committing to a larger narrative story for them. So, yeah, no clue.

Constructive criticism is welcome. Star Wars is owned by Disney, etc. etc.

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Links to specific weeks:

Week One - Bor Gullet
Week Two - Iella Wessiri, Corran Horn
Week Three - Beru Whitesun Lars
Week Four - Pash Cracken
Week Five - General Antoc Merrick
Week Six - Sergeant Tevio (OC)

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Week One
1. Touch
2. Twinge
3. Tingle
4. Pierce
5. Pain

Word count: 100 each

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Touch

In Bor Gullet’s expert opinion, Saw Gerrera was a bit out-of-touch. As time went by, Saw believed more and more people were spying on him or planning to betray him. That suspicion and paranoia strained relations with other groups, and sometimes even his own Partisans, but to Bor Gullet, it was wonderful job security.

Sometimes when things were quieting down and Bor Gullet was getting hungry, he would arrange for just the right words to reach Saw’s ear. When a seed of doubt was planted about someone’s actions or loyalty, Saw nurtured it. A light touch was all it took.


Tingle

Once the seed of doubt had grown, Bor Gullet would find a humanoid strapped to the chair. Sometimes it was an Imperial, sometimes a pirate, smuggler, or other criminal. Saw would want information, either because they didn’t provide it or he didn’t trust what he’d received. It made little difference to Bor Gullet who was in the chair or what Saw wanted, though the tougher people were the best.

When he first wrapped his tentacles around the person, a delightful tingle ran through them. The Mairan savored that feeling, those initial, frantic thoughts and emotions overflowing from the terrified person.


Pierce

Bor Gullet consumed those chaotic, surging emotions like an appetizer. He drew it out, slowly teasing every last morsel he could from the person. It was easy to do as many were afraid of his appearance and scared of the torment Saw had promised.

When that was done, it was finally time for his meal. Bor Gullet’s tentacles latched on, piercing skin as he simultaneously pierced the mental barriers. Bor Gullet fed off the person’s resistance, that delicious meal made hearty by tough people who fought harder to keep him from their mind. It filled him up and satiated him.


Twinge

Once fed, he settled down to get to work. Bor Gullet ransacked the person’s mind and memories, searching for the information or verification Saw wanted. If the person still resisted, Bor Gullet would play their own memories in their head, especially ones of shameful experiences, over and over again until they stopped fighting. Beyond their physical pain, he tasted the delicious, sharp twinges of guilt and disgrace from the person with each experience they were forced to relive. Sometimes, for people he liked, Bor Gullet erased a couple of those shameful memories from the person’s mind at the session’s end.


Pain

Each session kept Bor Gullet fed and gave Saw useful information. But sometimes...

Bor Gullet knew emotions, and he was certain that Saw had been hurt badly in the past. Some sessions seemed more like a desire in Saw to inflict his pain on others.

Though that pain fueled the suspicion keeping their partnership alive, Bor Gullet wanted to help. He could give Saw more than mere information.

If Saw wasn’t so paranoid, if Saw would only trust him...

With one gentle session, Bor Gullet could erase the awful memories from Saw’s past.

Make him forget all of his pain.

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A terrible kind of being. But you are decribing in a few words what he wants and can do to his victums

 

Forceful use of the prompts in very literal ways. Bor Gullet is indeed the worst kind of interrogator.

 

Thanks, there's a lot of guesswork here since there's not much solid info about the species, but I'm glad the idea of his abilities came through. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thank you! I figure Bor Gullet developed a taste for those types of emotions, but whether it was a result of the partnership with Saw or the reason he joined Saw to begin with could be anyone's guess. I suspect Saw would never let Bor Gullet near his mind out of fear of what BG would change without Saw's awareness, but as to whether Saw's ever considered the relief he could get? Not sure! Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thank you! Admittedly there's a good amount of extrapolation here on my part from the sparse info available on Mairans, but they are pretty interesting. Sentient, they can speak Basic, and there was even one that became a Jedi. I figure his food was a bit different though.

Heh, that could be. Power is a malleable thing, especially when someone is very suspicious.

I suspect either it was simple for Bor Gullet to find what he was looking for with Bodhi, or he took it a bit easy on him. The reputation that Bors apparently have with interrogations makes it seem like Bodhi didn't get the full force, thankfully.

I've jokingly wanted to do a KR or Olympics event with Bor Gullet for a while (I have a list of several subjects that are... off the beaten path), but this drabble set was a much better format with its succinctness.

Thanks, it seemed like Bor Gullet should have some nuance, and maybe even some fondness for someone he's worked with for a while. Thank you for reading and commenting!

Yeah, no one would want to be on the wrong side of his attention. Thanks for reading and commenting!

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Week 2 will be up shortly.

 

Week Two
6. Judgment
7. Report
8. Account
9. Witness
10. Court

Word count: 100 each

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Report

CorSec officers Iella Wessiri and Corran Horn both kept alert while they performed their walking patrol on the dimly-lit streets. Blue Sector in Coronet City was a notoriously rough place to begin with, and after sunset it got even worse.

The partners’ idle conversation was interrupted by the dispatch officer’s voice transmitted over their earpieces: “We have a report of an assault in progress. One human female, one human male. Weapons unknown.” The location was only a couple blocks away.

Iella and Corran hurried that direction while Corran reported in that they were responding.

It would be a long night.


Account

Some tense minutes later, both suspects were restrained with wrist binders, but their voices were anything but.

“You thief! You cheated me!” the teenage girl yelled at the man, voice high-pitched and strung-out. She appeared to live on the streets. Corran had confiscated her knife. “Give me what’s mine!”

“You’re crazy! I didn’t cheat you!” the man yelled back. He looked at the CorSec officers, emphasizing his accounting of events. “She came right at me! Unprovoked!”

“You have my stuff!”

“It’s not yours if you haven’t bought it! You were trying to steal my property! See, officers? She just admitted it!”


Judgment

“Would this ‘property’ of yours happen to be spice?” Iella cut in.

The man abruptly quieted, alarmed.

Corran nodded. “Andris, if I’m not mistaken. I could smell it on her breath. You her dealer?”

“White spice is perfectly legal!” the man retorted.

“Not when it gets as refined as I bet yours is,” Iella said.

She glanced at Corran, whose eyes were narrowed as he looked from the man to the girl. Corran could never stomach people who preyed on the weak or the young, and Iella was sure this man had already been tried and convicted in Corran’s mind.


Court

She stepped beside her partner while remaining watchful over their suspects, who started yelling at each other again. Hopefully the backup they’d called would arrive soon. Iella lowered her voice, saying, “I know what you’re thinking, but all we can do is arrest him. After that, it’s up to the courts.”

“I know,” Corran muttered. “But you also know that the courts won’t do anything. Not for some nobody small-time spice dealer in Blue Sector. It never ends here. Every day just more lives get destroyed by people like him. For once I want to feel like I’m actually helping.”


Witness

Iella nodded, then a small noise sounded nearby in the darkened alley. She went to investigate while Corran watched the suspects.

She cautiously approached some discarded crates. It could simply be an animal.

Pushing one aside, she was surprised to see a pre-teen boy in dirty clothes, hiding. He anxiously huddled away.

Iella backed up a step. “You all right? What are you doing here?”

“That’s my sister,” he whispered. “I saw her get so mad and then-- she went after that guy-- She scared me...”

Iella crouched down. “It’s okay.” She offered a hand. “Will you let us help?”

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Woot! I love me some CorSec Corran Horn. Wonderful use of the prompts. I totally agree with and feel as does Corran. Spice dealers getting off light for whatever reason while they continue to victimize.

 

Love to see Corran and Iella. And spice-dealers shouldn't get light sentences at all

 

Thanks! These prompts seemed to fit them rather well. Hopefully the Corellian justice system will be able to help the victims and prevent the dealer from making any more. Thank you for reading and commenting!

Thank you! They're an enjoyable pair, and hopefully they got one more spice dealer off the streets. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thanks! I wanted to do an Olympic set with this pair, but it didn't pan out, so here we are. Probably couldn't get a set of better prompts for them. Yeah, I imagine they saw a lot of difficult things during their CorSec days, and though their position is a key part of the string of justice, they might feel limited with being unable to do more. Thank you for reading and commenting!

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The next set will be posted momentarily.

 

Week Three
11. Heavy
12. Aim
13. Novelty
14. Besotted
15. Lifeline

Word count: 100 each

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Lifeline

A sandstorm raged outside the small adobe building, pelting its walls with billions of tiny missiles.

Good-- it meant no one would be outside looking for these two. Not yet.

Beru Whitesun brought blankets and a tray of food to the two escaped slaves huddling together. Her colleague had just removed their slave chips; luckily it had gone well. Beru wished Shmi was here to see the fruits of her labor.

Though still afraid, the pair grabbed onto Beru’s comforting words and delicious food like a lifeline. It was probably the first kindness they’d experienced.

She let them hold on.


Besotted

The pre-dawn Tatooine sky was brightening, telling her she was running late.

Beru didn’t care.

She’d brought Luke along that morning to go pick mushrooms off the moisture vaporators. The going was always slower with an infant nestled in the sling around her body.

He’d started giggling at a mushroom she made dance before him in the air. Those bright blue eyes shone with such joy, first at the mushroom, and then at her.

She’d spent the last ten minutes soaking it up and returning that love a thousandfold.

Just like Owen, she was wrapped around that tiny little finger.


Novelty

“What is it?” Luke’s eyes were wide as the young boy gaped in curiosity at the strange-looking, colorful plant. He was careful not to disturb any of the equipment or other growth chambers in Beru’s hydroponics lab on the farm.

Smiling, Beru chuckled a bit. “I tried to mix a funnel plant with spring celto to see if I could make the celto grow better in the hydroponics chambers. It doesn’t look like it worked, though, does it?” She snipped off a jagged leaf and offered it to Luke for study.

He tentatively poked at it with a finger. “It’s so weird.”


Aim

The suns had set. Their home was dark. The perimeter sensors had been tripped. Beru stayed still, hidden, alert, holding her rifle steady. Terror raged inside but was outweighed by fierce determination.

The terror was not for her. It was for her family.

Then she came, just like they’d expected. A woman, dressed in black, stepped into the lower open area of their home. She activated a red lightsaber, bathing their home in bloody shadows, while she slowly looked all around.

Looking for Luke.

This woman aimed to kill Beru’s family, so Beru aimed her rifle at her.

She fired.


Heavy

Beru softly knocked on the door to Luke’s room. After several moments came a depressed, “Yeah?”

Opening it, she found Luke sprawled on his bed, staring at the ceiling. The mood inside was thick and heavy.

“How was it?” she asked gently.

Luke shrugged, then sat up. Beru stepped in, sat beside him, and put her arm around his shoulders.

“As good as any going-away party can be, I guess,” he said. “I’m gonna miss him.”

“You’ll see Biggs again,” Beru comforted. “Despite what Uncle Owen says, you won’t be stuck here forever.”

Though she dreaded the pain of that day.

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SWEETNESS in Besotted. Loved the curiosity in Novelty. Aim -- what a terrifying situation. Heavy -- an excellent use of the prompt and wow, what a bit of foreshadowing there is about Biggs.

 

Love how you write about Beru. rescuing slaves, sweet with Luke and rescuing him from that Sith and the going away of his friend Biggs

 

Thanks! I'm glad these entries worked out okay with the prompts-- they've been getting trickier for me. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thanks! She had a lot going on in her life, especially after Luke came into the picture. Thank you for reading and commenting!

Thank you! I hadn't known this until I started researching things, but apparently Beru had worked with Shmi to rescue some slaves on Tatooine and then kept doing it with others until Luke came along. Yup, that Inquisitor (and the whole scene) is from the Kenobi TV show. I think that episode was where Beru's character first grabbed my attention and made me want to know more about her. I hope at some point we get more stories about Luke and Leia as kids or teenagers. Thanks for reading and commenting!

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Weeks Four and Five will be up shortly.

 

Week Four
16. Father
17. Mother
18. Mentor
19. Ancestor
20. Legacy

Word count: 100 each

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Mentor

“Feel that? Ease up on the throttle. It’ll keep your turn smooth.”

Flying the small shuttle, young Pash Cracken followed his father’s instructions and was gratified to indeed feel the maneuver smoothing out. He soaked up everything his father taught him about how to fly.

Out the viewport, Pash spotted Imperial landspeeders surrounding a civilian one in the green farm field below. He angled in to see better.

The Imperials were taking supplies from the civilian speeder and restraining the protesting driver.

His father saw it too. “Not good. What do you say we go help?” he asked.

Pash grinned.


Mother

Josta Cracken smoothed down a stray lock of her son’s red hair, the only nervous habit breaking through her calm facade. Pash expected nothing less from her; if there ever was a picture of rugged stubbornness, it was a Corellian transplanted to Contruum.

“You ready? Got everything?” she asked. Pash nodded.

“I still wish you’d have let me choose your fake name,” his sister Dena said.

“In your dreams,” Pash snorted.

Their mother cut off the budding sibling argument by enveloping Pash in a hug. “Stay safe,” she said.

Though the Empire’s Vensenor Flight Academy would make that a challenge.


Father

The Rebel mechanic grinned and offered his hand. “I’m Lerrik Prester.”

Pash shook it. “I’m Pash Cracken.”

Prester’s demeanor instantly changed. “Any relation to General Airen Cracken?” Prester asked. He tried to make it sound nonchalant but did a very poor job.

Pash sighed quietly. Not again. “Yes, he’s my father.”

At the confirmation, Prester squinted suspiciously at Pash, who only barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes in frustration. “Look, I promise I’m not bugged, and I’m not one of his operatives,” Pash said. “I’m just here to fly.”

Prester didn’t seem convinced. But none of them ever were.


Ancestor

The Rebel base on Xyquine II didn’t have much in the way of databases, but Pash dug through them all the same. His flight group had just been assigned A-wing interceptors, and he wanted to learn all he could about flying them.

He’d discovered that the A-wing’s original design had been based on the Delta-7 Aethersprite light interceptor, so he was hunting for whatever he could find on the Aethersprites: how to fly them, optimal tactics, maintenance issues, and so on. If he could understand the A-wing’s ancestor, Pash hoped he would better understand the A-wing’s strengths and weaknesses.


Legacy

That mission had gone worse than it should have.

The pilots making up Cracken’s Flight Group had gotten careless and complacent, and nothing Pash did was fixing it. They believed he would get them out of any bad situation, so they thought less for themselves and relied completely on him. They saw no reason not to trust the leader they’d built up to a near legendary status.

It gnawed at Pash.

One day he would inadvertently lead them to their deaths, and that wasn’t the legacy he wanted to leave behind.

He sighed and began filling out his transfer request.

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Week Five
21. Tower
22. Cascade
23. Beaming
24. Heedless
25. Reprieve

Word count: 100 each

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Heedless

Outside the Rebel Base on Yavin Four, General Antoc Merrick couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The communications technician was telling Senator Mon Mothma that a Rebel group was attacking Scarif. Not only that, but Admiral Raddus had also just left to join the battle, heedless of the Alliance Council’s order to not pursue obtaining information about the “Death Star.”

Merrick wasn’t going to complain, though; he’d agreed with Raddus all along. Now the Mon Calamari had broken the logjam and tacitly freed up Merrick to go as well.

He wasted no time in ordering the starfighter squadrons to launch.


Tower

Citadel Tower loomed over Scarif’s surface. It looked isolated and imposing all at once, like the Imperials were using it to puncture the very heavens.

Merrick and the other Blue Squadron pilots who had made it through the shield gate before it closed descended toward the ground. They swung around the tower, and Merrick led them to parts of the complex he could see where dark smoke billowed up like inverse beacons. The Rebel ground force had been busy, but they’d need help.

If the Imperials wanted to pierce the skies, Blue Squadron would bring them back down to earth.


Beaming

When Blue Squadron reached the first ground engagement zone, Merrick saw Imperial AT-ACT walkers tromping through the beach’s surf and firing at Rebel troops taking cover amid the nearby trees. They needed to put a stop to that immediately.

“Blue Squadron, target the walkers. Fire at will,” Merrick ordered.

Laser blasts flew through the air and impacted the Imperial behemoths. Merrick himself laid down precision fire into one AT-ACT, and by the time his X-wing reached it, the walker was consumed by explosions and falling to the ground.

Grinning from ear to ear, Merrick swung around to his next target.


Reprieve

The Rebel ground troops had done an incredible job, but they were getting hit hard and relentlessly by the Imperials.

General Merrick ordered his Blue Squadron pilots to cover the U-wing troop transports as they sped toward the surface. The U-wings looked like they were about to crash belly-first onto the sandy beach, but at the last possible moment, their repulsors caught them and prevented the impact. The ships hadn’t even touched down before their ramps lowered and fresh ground troops jumped out.

It wasn’t much, but Merrick hoped these reinforcements could give the first group something of a reprieve.


Cascade

The battle raged in the shadow of the Citadel Tower. The Rebels were underpowered, outnumbered, and cut off from their fleet, and Merrick hated seeing so many of his people killed, but they all recognized the absolute need for this mission to succeed.

Merrick destroyed a TIE Striker that had just blown apart his squadmate. A moment later, he heard, “General! Behind you!” Merrick twisted his fighter, going evasive, but his X-wing was critically hit.

Hardware failures rapidly cascaded through his systems from the damage. He was unable to stop it or even eject.

His X-wing fell from the sky.

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nice set about Cracken and his flying and eventual transfer.
The second set was harrowing with Merrick paying the price

 

Super sets seeing 2 characters we don't get very often, Pash facing a milestone/crossroads decision, Merreck in a crucial command situation.

 

Thanks! Pash is an interesting character. I was sad when Merrick was killed-- I was hoping he'd survive Scarif. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thank you! These are some characters I'd like to see more of. Pash has a fascinating history, and Merrick was a good commander in a hard battle. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Yeah, given that parts of Corellia don't seem like a utopia, I'm not sure how well their social and law enforcement system works there. I imagine it got worse under the Diktat, when Corran and Iella were with CorSec. That helplessness and those problems had to be hard for them to face day in and day out when they truly want to protect others.

Thank you! Beru's work with Shmi is from one of the novels... Queen's Hope, methinks?

Thanks!

I think Beru's actions in this episode were the first time I saw the character as more than "just the sweet little aunt in the background," which I'm grateful for because since then I've learned there's so much more to her than that. For instance, do not get between her and her family.

Stories of Luke and Biggs pre-ANH would be lots of fun. I hope kids on Tatooine don't try to ring Jabba's doorbell and run away before someone answers. I can't imagine what kind of stress and sleepless nights Owen and Beru had with Luke being so intent on leaving as soon as he could. "Here, protect this really special kid who has to go into hiding to survive, but oops! He's not sticking around. He's bound and determined to go blasting out into the very galaxy that will hunt him down once they figure out who he is." That's a no-win situation.

Thanks! Pash is awesome. Airen taught him a lot in both skills and morality.

LOL, isn't that a frightening combination of cultures?

Heh, yeah, it's one thing to be related to someone well-known or high up in an organization, but it would add an extra layer of difficulty when that person is the Chief Spy.

The culmination of those sorts of things was how he eventually transferred out from his flight group and joined Rogue Squadron. Stackpole put a unique spin on things this way, IMHO.

Thank you! IIRC Merrick was one who wanted to go to Scarif from the get-go, so he didn't need a lot of convincing once Raddus went ahead and did it.

You totally made my day by picking up on the falling/cascading relation there. Thank you! And thanks for reading and commenting!

Thank you! I heart Pash. He's a character I'd love to do more with, but I don't feel like I know him enough to do something in-depth so this was a good way to dip my toe in the water. (Plus it's my secret hope with these non-mainstream characters that it might remind a reader of them, and then they write a long story about the character so I can read it. ) Pash has so many juicy twists and tendrils in his backstory with the relations with his father and the pilots he commands, and how it all affects the people he flies with (and ultimately, himself).

Thanks! I've wanted to do something with the Battle of Scarif for a while-- there's so much there to explore with the characters and situation. Merrick is a canon character, though his name might be obscure because I'm not sure if it's ever spoken in the movie. Here's a picture in case the visual helps. It was interesting seeing the reactions of the non-main Rebel characters in RO, particularly with Scarif. We've been with Jyn throughout the movie and have seen what the Empire has and what it can do, but the Rebels on Yavin haven't. They're (eventually ) sending their whole fleet out based on the unsubstantiated word of a few people to defend against something that sounds, frankly, unbelieveable IU. If that was an Imperial trap they'd be completely wiped out. The nameless Rebel Joe-schmoe perspective here, being willing to sacrifice their lives at Scarif on that sort of trust, is amazing. But anywho. Thanks for reading and commenting!

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Week 6 will be up shortly. This set completely stumped me, and eventually I had to write something to break my logjam and keep going. Connections with the prompts are a bit more... tenuous than I'd like. </Disclaimer>

 

Week Six
26. Clay
27. Potter
28. Tanner
29. Iron
30. Copper

Word count: 100 each

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Clay

The future of the Empire rested on Sergeant Tevio’s shoulders.

Without him, the Empire would gradually fall to attrition. It was his responsibility to take new recruits through Basic Training and prepare them for reality. None of the other drill instructors readied their soldiers as well as he did.

He walked along the line of his newest batch of recruits for the first time, seeing what he had to work with now. He scowled, unimpressed.

Sloppy. Out of shape. Weak. Undisciplined.

These men weren’t fine clay to mold into soldiers. They were just mud.

It was time to get dirty.


Tanner

Livid, Sergeant Tevio stood centimeters away from the unsuspecting cadet dozing at his guard post. He took a deep breath and bellowed in his face, “Cadet Onger!”

Onger snapped awake in a panic, then jumped again at seeing Tevio right in front of him. Onger shrank back fearfully.

“If I was a Rebel, you and your whole squad would be dead right now!” Tevio shouted. Falling asleep on watch was a cardinal sin. His hands balled into fists. “I’m gonna tan your hide, you worthless sack of Hutt spit. That’s a much better outcome than the Rebels would've given you.”


Copper

“C’mon, is that all you got?” Tevio taunted.

He and Cadet Hiien danced around each other in the small sparring ring during their hand-to-hand combat training. Hiien had lost every bout in the last few weeks, and Tevio could see the comment needled him.

Hiien gritted his teeth, then his fist flashed forward before Tevio could react. The blow split Tevio’s lip and surprised them both.

Tevio’s tongue caught the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, and he grinned fiercely. It was a sign his efforts were starting to pay off.

Tevio pressed Hiien harder as they continued sparring.


Iron

Sleet drove down from the sky. Tevio hated this miserable planet, but he always brought his group of cadets here toward the end of Basic as a sort of final exam.

He’d been running them hard for three days in this treacherous weather, but they were persevering. No matter what challenge he threw at them, they responded with the sort of iron determination he’d been hoping for. They weren’t backing down. They weren’t giving up.

They had become the strong, unbreakable foundation the Empire was built on. A solid structure, a stalwart defense in the turbulent galaxy.

They were ready.


Potter

Sergeant Tevio looked on with pride as his group of cadets graduated Basic Training. How different they were from the coddled whiners they’d been when they’d arrived. This group had been challenging-- they’d still been more mud than clay-- but he’d deftly shaped and molded them into the Imperial soldiers they were destined to be.

Afterward, Tevio returned to his office. He pulled up the files on the next batch of recruits coming to him to start Basic Training in a few days.

Once again, he would take the raw materials the Empire offered and refine them to something useful.

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