Chapter 2

  Desmond was sound asleep. The cold had no longer cursed him, he was healed and basking in the love of the warmth. A new appreciation for heat had been imparted to Dez’s soul. Never again would he take the warmth for granted.

  The door to the medical bay swung open, and the bright lights turned on and blinded Desmond as he tried to cover his eyes. But he was too late, his eyes were now searing in momentary pain.

  “Rise and shine cadet!” Announced the Commander, his Imperial Uniform in top condition, as if it was the last thing the Commander's Grandfather ever gave him.

  Desmond was still glued to the medical bed. The Commander's face grew a little red, anger bubbling its way up to the surface, about to explode.

  “Cadet Desmond! Get your lazy ass out of bed! Your training starts today!” The Commander yelled.

  Desmond, still half asleep said, “Would you shut up.. fucking alarm?”

  Silence…

  “What was that Cadet?” Asked the Commander in the softest voice possible for an old man like him. “Do you want five more minutes?”

  Desmond, a gentle smile now on his face, “Yes, I would love five more minutes!”

  “Okay, I’ll be back in five minutes.”

  Three Hours Later

  Desmond was staring at the ceiling for the past hour or so, just thinking. “I thought he was coming back in five minutes?” He whispered.

  Desmond had enough, he got out of bed and wandered to the door. He was about to press the button on the panel before he realized something important. He was wearing nothing but a hospital gown. His cheeks were showing and he simply could not meet another person looking like that. Dez looked around the room, searching for any clothes. There was nothing.

  “Ah, I see your game.” Said Desmond, realizing that this was his punishment for not following the Commander's orders. “Let's get this over with,” he sighed.

  He opened the door, and as it swung open, the Commander, along with about 50 Stormtroopers and Officers stood in front of the door. All in formation. As the Commander realized the Medical bay door finally opened, his blank face grew into a smile. He slowly opened his mouth…

  “Two hours.. forty-two minutes… and fifty-six seconds…” The Commander said.

  Desmond raised his hand and waved to the fully armored garrison that stood in front of him, the white helmets and uniforms seemed to fill up the room and the hall beyond. There was a pretty good chance that every person in the base was in front of him.

  The Commander waved back to Desmond. “How was your beauty sleep?”

  Desmond froze, thinking of something to say.

  “Well?” Asked an Officer standing behind the Commander. “We’ve been waiting here for three fucking hours, you damn retard!”

  “Shit,” thought Desmond, he had just pissed off the entire base.

  Desmond spoke, “What's for breakfast?”

  The Commander let out a momentary chuckle, he lived for this stuff. The Commander threw a silver packet to Desmond. “There, you can eat this.” The Commander turned to the base personnel. “Go on, you have your duties for today. Captain Frisken, please wait here.”

  The Stormtrooper and Officers all vacated the area, all pissed off at the newbie. Only the Commander and a Stormtrooper Captain remained. The Captain wore the signature orange shoulder piece, had a blaster on his hip, and wore a leg cape. His armor was scratched up and a dry mud covered the lower half of the armor.

  Desmond spoke up, “So, training starts today?”

  “Yes, it starts today, Captain Frisken will oversee your initial stormtrooper training.” The Commander replied.

  The Captain let out a sigh, though the microphones in his suit barely picked it up. Another trooper approached the group, carrying a white box, probably the size of a large suitcase. “Here you are, Commander.” The Trooper saluted.

  “Good job TK-1801, you may return to your duties.” Replied the Commander, saluting the trooper. With a nod, the trooper left.

  “This is your Stormtrooper Armor and E-11 blaster rifle. Captain Frisken will teach you everything you need to know about them. If you can master the Stormtrooper Armor and its weapon, I’ll move you up to Flame Trooper. Think you can handle it?”

  “Yeah, how hard can it be?” Replied Desmond.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “That's the spirit, oh, here is your Imperial TK number and identification, along with an Imperial Checking Account, you’ll get your pay every two standard weeks.”

  Desmond took the chip and card from the Commander. “Thanks, when do we start?” He looked to the Captain.

  “Right fucking now!” He yelled, “Put your damn armor on! You have ten fucking minutes!!”

  …

  Desmond looked in glee at the Stormtrooper armor, the nerd in him came racing to the wheel. “This is awesome.” He said.

  He picked up the instruction manual, thankfully it was a diagram and not a worded instruction. First, he put the black undersuit on, it was similar to a scuba diver suit. Then he put on the socks, the boots, and the leg armor. Next were the knees codpiece and utility belt. He put on the chest plate and then the arm armor. Lastly, he put on the shoulder plates, gloves, and Helmet.

  As he put the Helmet on, it spoke to him. “Designate your TK number,” It said in a female robotic voice.

  “One moment.” he leaned over to the bed where he placed the chip and card. The card had his Imperial checking account information and the chip had his TK number.

  “Here it is…” he looked at the chip and read its contents, “TK-2165.”

  “Registering TK-2165 to Storm Trooper Armor… Registering successful, unlocking visor and wrist pad functions. Please create a verbal password for unlocking armor functions.”

  Desmond thought for a moment, he wasn’t great with passwords. “For the Empire!” He said.

  “Password accepted.”

  Desmond picked up his E-11 and closed the box, dragging it along with him. He opened the door, Captain Frisken was standing there waiting for him.

  “Cutting it close rookie.” The Captain pointed to his wrist pad.

  “Sorry,” said Desmond, the Helmet speakers jittering his voice due to not being properly calibrated.

  “Whatever, let's get you a bunk.” The Captain started to march away. Desmond followed.

  …

  They entered a new hall, along this hall, there were dozens of doors. Troopers entered and left in their casual uniforms. This was the crew quarters. The Captain led Desmond to a room, the door slid open and inside Desmond could see two other troopers, wearing red shoulder guards, watching a broadcast on the Holonet. They stood once they saw their captain, then they saluted. They also wore casual uniforms.

  Captain Frisken spoke up, “This is TK-2165, he will be TK-2586’s replacement.”

  One of the troopers looked over to Dez, “Is that the prick who made us wait in front of the Medical Bay for three hours?”

  “Indeed, sigh, go easy on him, he’s got the Commander's promise for training.” Replied Captain Frisken.

  “Ah, I see, Mr. Bigshot here is special. That's some nice shiny armor too.” The Trooper stood up and walked over to Desmond. “How about a trade? My dirty armor for your clean armor.”

  “No thanks, you can keep your armor.” Replied Desmond.

  “What did you say, little brat?” The Trooper shoved Desmond to the wall, Dez fell back slightly and got in the troopers face.

  The two armor-clad troopers looked into their opponent's eye holes in their helmets. Both not saying a word, trying to intimidate the other.

  A few moments of this passed, and then the Trooper still inside the room started to burst with laughter. “Hahahaha, we really got you, hahaha!!”

  The Trooper in Dez’s face also started laughing, then the Captain started as well.

  Soon every trooper in the halls was laughing and smirking.

  The Captain then spoke up, “You… you actually thought we all hated you,” he knelt down, laughing hysterically. “We got out of the morning run thanks to you.”

  The Trooper still in Dez’s face paused his laughter as well, “You’re alright in our eyes… hahaha, just don’t tell the Commander, he’ll go berserk if he knew.

  Desmond was still a bit confused, then it all made sense in an instant. Once he realized that the base personnel didn’t hate him, he palmed his forehead, hitting the top of his helmet.

  Come on in, have a seat.

  Desmond nodded and walked into the Quarters. They all sat down in chairs pointed toward the Holonet broadcast. One of the troopers paused the hologram and initiated the group in conversation. “My name is Goran and the guy who just shoved you to the wall is Corel.”

  Captain Frisken spoke, “These are my Squad Leaders, I oversee them, they oversee four other troopers each.”

  Corel nodded, taking off his helmet, his face was pale, he hadn’t seen the sun for a while. A giant scar also jetted down his upper cheek and down to his chin. Atop his head was not a single strand of hair, bald as can be.

  Goran then also took off his helmet, took Desmond's hand, and gave it a firm shake. “Nice to meet you.” Goran, on the other hand, was not bald. His hair was long and blond, no scars on his face. He also looked a little younger than Corel.

  Captain Frisken kept his helmet on. “I’m not taking mine off, I’m still on duty.”

  “Sure Capt’n,” joked Goran.

  Finally, Desmond took off his helmet. He was the youngest of them. His hair was longish and brunette. “Desmond, it’s great to be here.”

  They had a conversation for a few moments before there was a knock on the door.

  Captain Frisken stood up, Corel and Goran put their helmets on, and Desmond mimicked the Squad leader's Actions, putting his helmet on quickly.

  The door opened, and in front of Captain Frisken was a young woman. Her Imperial Uniform was top-notch, with barely any wrinkles or folds. She had a very professional stance and wore a ponytail. It wouldn’t be wrong to say she looked almost as cultured as the Commander.

  “Lieutenant, how may I help you.” Asked Captain Frisken, it seems he didn’t know her name, just her rank, indicated by her uniform.

  “I have a message for TK-2165,” she looked down at her datapad. Yes, it’s from Lieutenant Commander Alamon.”

  “Oh, he’s right in here, I can give it to him.” Replied the Captain.

  “No, that's alright. I was told to give it directly to TK-2165. I also need an immediate response, " she declared. The Captain let her in and pointed to Desmond, the only trooper with plain white armor.

  “Here you are. This is a confidential message only for you.” She gave the data pad to Dez, who kind of just sat there frozen. Corel moved his hand over Dez’s helmet, checking to see if he fell asleep. Desmond snappend out of it with a slight shake of his head.

  “Oh my, Dez, are you okay?” Asked Goran, in a joking tone.

  “Oh, I’m fine, thank you.” He took the data pad from the Lieutenant and began to use his helmet's text to speech function to read the information.

  “Hello, Desmond, I have a proposition for you. The lovely lady in front of you is, fresh out of the Imperial Academy, Lieutenant Rennia. Shes by far the most attractive girl on this base, if you can finish Stormtrooper basic training, get Captain Friskens recommendation for the rank of Captain, finish Flame Trooper training, and pass the ISTFTO (Imperial Standard Test For Troopers and Officers), in two weeks, I’ll assign Rennia as your subordinate officer (basically a secretary/2nd in command). Of course, you’ll have to do the rest… if you know what I mean?” The text to speech stopped and Desmond looked up.

  “You’re answer?” Asked Lieutenant Rennia.

  Desmond paused for a second before answering, “Tell the commander I agree to his little bet.”

  “Of course,” she leaned up, took the data pad, and walked out the door. Before she left the room, she looked down to the pad, reading its contents which should have been gone by now, if Desmond knew how to use a data pad. After reading it, she exited the room. Before the door closed, she turned to Desmond. “Good luck,” she said, red as a cherry.

  The door closed, and Desmond had three Stormtroopers turn to him, about to berate him with curiosity.