Basic Training for Chalwaar

[Captain Awesome]

Chalwaar leaned up against the cool stone wall of Coruscant's barracks, absently surveying the surrounding landscape. The recent rain had created brown puddles that littered the packed dirt ground and reflected a dreary shade of grey onto Coruscant's cloudy sky. In front of him, drops from the barrack's roof steadilly dropped to the ground a foot from his nose in a rhythmyc pattern, drip, drip, drip.
Occasionally, a drop would hit one of his big, hairy feet, but he didn't mind: Even if he could have felt it through the fur, he would have been to macho to do anything about it. His bored eyes lazily followed all of the soldiers - trainees, mostly - as they ambled along their various, menial tasks. Chalwaar would have sympathized with them - but not today.
Today was a big day for Chalwaar - today, he was to learn how to fight for the Republic. Chalwaar's usually matted hair was neatly combed and glossy, attesting a grueling hour he had spent in the fresher with a steel comb. He wore a clean, camouflage poncho, in preperation for more rain. He had tried to make his ratty old bowcaster presentable, but alas, no such luck. the poor thing had gone too much to ever look remotely valuable, but that was okay. Usually, he found himself in the same boat.
With his claws he drummed the concrete wall. An impatient sigh escaped through his nose.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Coruscant was a horrible place to train recruits. It was filthy and they had to recreate all of the terrain needed for a combat simulation. It also rained too much. Abele Rounded a corner looking for the damn Wookie. He was the only one of his kind that had signed up this time around. He was also assigned to Abele to be trained for special forces.

He wasn't hard to miss though, "Recruit! Chalwaar! Get over here!" Her voice cut through the rain like a bullet. She stood at ease and waited for the tall furry man to report. She'd been chosen to teach him mainly because she actually understood his language, unlike most of the other Sergeants.

 

[Captain Awesome]

Chalwaar's eyes latched onto the figure hollering at him - a petit looking woman with a rediculously big gun strapped onto her back, waving irritably at him to come over.
Oh, she's one of those...
Chalwaar had come to classify his superiors' dispositions into one of two catagories: Aloof, and irritable. He couldn't decide which one he disliked more.
The woman called him over again, and Chalwaar hustled over to meet his superior. He stood a reasonable distance away, but it was obvious that he towered over the girl, but he saluted nonetheless. "[Yes, I'm here!]"

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

"I am Abele Hallen, I will be your instructor. You have been designated for a more specialized role in infantry. If you can show you are ready for this you'll be assigned to your unit and shipped off to who knows where." She looked up at the Wookie, he was big, she'd already sized him up. How fast would he be able to strike at her, his reach in comparison to her own. Could she get her rifle down fast enough of would she have to use her sidearm or her combat knife?

"Recruit, we're going off to get you scored. I have seen you make it through basic, it wasn't difficult for you. You are allowed to keep that bowcaster, but you may have to replace it for something more efficient." Abele stopped and inclined her head for a response, she had been informed that he might have an issue with restrictions to his firearm.

 

[Captain Awesome]

Chalwaar was momentarily stunned by this absurd lady's proposition. Give up his bowcaster? He'd sooner shave himself and call himself human.
Shock slowly turned to anger. ["My bowcaster? No kriffing way!] He roared it out at the hapless instructor, but expelled any though of physical violence from his mind. He was too well disciplined for that. He did, however, fix his face into a scowl that would make the average man crap his pants on the spot as he unconsciously clamped his bowcaster tightly to his side.
But then, he reasoned that lashing out in anger would only get him kicked out of the Republic, so he strove to regain control over his hot temper. ["This was my first father's, and you can't have it.]

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

"I will not take it from you. You will not be able to keep it loaded. You will be permitted to keep it in your own locker." Abele stood her ground in the face of an outburst. "You will also learn to control yourself. If you can not it will only make things more difficult for you." Her cool tone was a contrast to the less then calm Chalwaar's temper.

 

[Captain Awesome]

Chalwaar grit his jagged teeth and bit back a hot comment, but what was the use? He knew he had lost. She was right.
Never breaking eye contact with this shorter woman who inexplicably managed to tower over him, he deftly flicked a few switches on his bowcaster, and its quarrel box slid harmlessly from its sleeve, proceeding to dissappear, with a splash, to the bottom of a muddy puddle. ["Yes. Ma'am."]

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

This was good, he was following orders. "Pick up your weapon and ammunition. Store them safely in your quarters and be back here in twenty minutes. I will be waiting." As he went off to store his things Abele retrieved a rifle she'd already cleared and waited under the overhang of a building to catch a quick smoke.

When he returned she would be sitting with a rifle held at her side almost as if she were on parade grounds.

 

[Captain Awesome]

Chalwaar could hardly bear the indignity of it all. He crouched down and fumbled around the bottom of the puddle until his hands closed around the quarrel. Was he some dog, to have to first drop and then to retrieve his own property at his "master's" whim, as if it were some sort of stick? He shook the muddy water off of his quarrels as he straightened up, cast one last dark look at the back of his trainer, and trudged, sulky, through the muddy puddles and into his barracks.
Gaah! His locker wouldn't open! Chalwaar almost tore it off of its hinges, but that would only brand him as "unfit for duty". And then where would he be? He forced himself to take deep breaths as he, once again, entered the keycode onto his locker. Its mechanical red light, flashing uniformly with every other locker in the hall, turned solid green with a beep.
The locker popped open and Chalwaar quickly stuffed his bowcaster and his quarrels into the locker before slamming it so hard that he dented the metal.
Next time I see a training dummy, Chalwaar promised himself, I'm going to rip its head off. This is what he thought as he stalked out of the barracks and into the open, where he found his superior sitting there with a rifle at her side, as if nothing was wrong. He didn't offer so much as a word as he trotted, bowcaster-free, up to her.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

"This will be your rifle for the foreseeable future. I made sure it was in good repair and fit for your use." She handed the rifle to Chalwaar and motioned for the Wookie to follow her. "I hope you know what you will be doing for the next few weeks. I can guarantee that it will test you and possibly break you. There will be others competing against you to gain this honorable position in the republic."

They neared the rifle range witch was inside a building. The smell of ozone and fire burned the nose and a nuisance to the eyes. The sounds of weapon discharge could be heard all around the room. Abele waved to the man behind the desk before grabbing a set of headgear and walking over to one of the ranges and signed a piece of paper on the table there.

"Recruit! You may fire on this range at target number thirteen. When you are ready and follow all of the proper range procedures you may load your weapon and sight it. When you are ready I will score you as a marksmen on a scale of one to one hundred." She stood off to the side with a scope in hand. Her rifle now rested on the table, safely.

 

[Captain Awesome]

["Yeah, yeah..."] Chalwaar popped his headgear onto his hairy head and hefted his rifle. It was a nice rifle - all the pieces fit smoothly together, with a nice scope and balanced weight distribution. He pointed his rifle at target 12 - no, wait, he adjusted his aim to target 13 - and he let the rifle sag down into its naturally comfortable position.
He pressed the sights to his cheeck and peered down its sights. At the side of the scope was a holo-HUD of his current altitude, the humidity, and the degree of the criolis effect, which was completely unnecesary at this range. He repositioned his eyes so that the sites and the scope aligned in a "six-o-clock hold", as he remembered his father calling it. No, it was aiming too far down, to the left. He brought his back leg even further so, and adjusted his front leg to be more to the right.
Perfect. The target's bulls eye aligned right where the sights met the center of the scope.
Chalwaar kept the rifle trained effortlessly at the bulls-eye, heaving a miniscule amount as he waited for his instructor to begin to count.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

"If you are ready I will begin the test in ten seconds." She held up a stop watch and counted down. "Ten...nine...eight..." She continued counting until, "...one...Go." She clicked the stopwatch. The time really didn't matter, but it was useful information to keep. She could figure his shots per second with his accuracy. The formal part of the test was just to get a score on record, but she needed to know more about his style than his accuracy.

When he finished Abele would stop the clock and record his score. The scoring was done by a computer that could tell where he hit on the target.

 

[Captain Awesome]

(OOC): Edited last post to coincide with yours.

Chalwaar listened to his instructor count down, "Ten... nine... eight..."
He held his breath, and exhaled slowly. "Three...two...one...
"...Go!" Almost simultaneously, Chalwaar squeezed the trigger directly backwards once. Chalwaar heard the discharge, muffled by his headgear, as he waited for the rifle to naturally readjust from the recoil before he squeezed the trigger twice more.
Two more discharges.
Satisfied, Chalwaar peered over the rim of the scope to examine his handiwork.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

((More shots please. Describe ten at least.)

 

[Captain Awesome]

Chalwaar glanced up at his instructor, and, finding that she was still alternately glancing at his stopwatch and peering expectedly at him, returned his sights to his rifle.
He swore softly to himself, in Shyriwook. His shifting his view had thrown off his aim. He realigned his scope once more so that his sight ended exactly in the center of his scope.
Chalwaar fired. He could feel the rifle shudder lightly, as opposed to his bowcaster, whch tended to punch him in the arm.
He readjusted his aim, and fired once again. And again.
The lack of recoil, as opposed to his bowcaster, was remarkable. However, the rifle probably left sissy little pricks compared to the gaping craters that his bowcaster was known to leave behind.
But he couldn't deny that there was a groove, almost a trance, when its just you, and a nice gun - shooting stuff. He exhaled gently, and popped off another shot. And another, and another, and another. He resolved to continue firing in this manner until someone stopped him.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Once the wookie reached fifteen shots Abele hit the clock. "Time," She barked. She looked at his score and took a few seconds off because he was distracted. His average was advanced but not exceptional. "You scored an eighty-nine. That is an advanced score. Not enough to be a sniper, but good enough to begin your training. Return to your quarters and prepare for departure off world. Your training continues on another planet."

And with that she pulled a small piece of paper form her pocket. She handed it to the Wookie. "I will take care of the paperwork. Be at the docks with that paper, I will be waiting there with the other recruits. Make sure to bring your things. You'll be there for some time." And with that she collected her things and left. She had paper work to do and prep for take off. They were off to the military outpost of Ord Mirit.

 

[Captain Awesome]

Eighty-nine. That was a good score - it said, "I'm a good shot", but it didn't say "give me a rifle, and drop me on a rooftop 2 miles away from the action." What's fun about that? Chalwaar accepted the trainer's papers and walked out to the barracks door.
Kark it, it was night, and raining again.
Chalwaar wordlessly tucked the paperwork under his camo poncho and set out into the night, head hunched down. He trudged through the mud and into the sliding doors to his dorm complex. He walked through the halls, and up to its locker, still dented from his earlier tantrum, and deposited the paper.
Next day, it was, surprisingly bright and sunny, as if Coruscant were apologising for its bad behavior in the past few days. But now, just as it was getting pleasant, he had to leave. Typical. He had all of his possessions on his belt or slung over his back, but it wasn't much - his bowcaster, his poncho (folded up in his backpack), his bedroll, and survival necessities. Even without his prodigious strength, he would have stepped lightly.
He walked through the training camp, reading and rereading the slip of paper he'd been given. Ord Mirit? Never heard of it. At long last he came to the starport, a grimy old setup. But then, the Officer's quarters were the only part of this camp that was not grimy or old.
He stopped in the presence of a military transport and peered around for the disagreeable human woman.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

She stood just inside the ramp where the sun outside would hide her from those nearing the transport. When he came close enough Abele caught the Wookies attention, "I grabbed a good room, the rest of the squad is already here." she lead him to a barracks room large enough for the Wookie to move freely in. It was spacious enough for a tactical squad of nine to move freely about. There was a mix of various species, even one other Wookie.

She whistled sharply and all eyes looked at her. "Now that you're all here, you will be first squad. You will train for the next eight weeks or until you can complete training. If it takes ten weeks it will take ten weeks. If you can get it done in less time then good for you. Until that time we haven't shit to do."

Then she frowned as if she hated saying the next words. "You will address me as Ma'am or the equivalent in Shyriwook. You will respect me and all of your fellow squad mates. You know the rules about what happens in transit. If I catch you I will have to do paperwork. I hate paperwork... go back to what you were doing."

She grabbed a deck of cards and tossed it onto the table. "Anyone for a game?" She walked out of the room and shut the door behind her. Wile the grunts played she had to do more important things.

 

[Captain Awesome]

Chalwaar walked over, his clawed feet click-clacking softly on the grated metal floor. There was plenty of space left for each recruit to have his own row, each with two seats. Chalwaar plopped down in his own, sitting next to nobody just as one of his comerades-to-be in front of him sat up to play at cards. He was a seedy-looking man with shifty eyes and a head not suited to a military buzz.
Chalwaar watched as he and four others began to play a game of sabacc.
He watched as the money gravitated to a young Arkanian again and again, and he finally noticed that the dealer was cheating - he had a skifter up his sleeve.
Chalwaar quietly chuckled to himself, a deep rumbling sound, and closed his eyes in preparation for a long rest.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

As the ship took off Abele watched from the command room. Then as the stars turned into lines she turned to return to the squad. They would train during their move over to Ord Mirit. When the planet came into view they were well drilled and fit. Then before they landed she called them to attention and gave a short speech. "It was all fun on the way over, but when we hit that dirt I will make you hate me. You will be trained to kill in more ways than are written in any single volume. I will make sure that you hate me while you do it."

She dismissed them and left the room. Her job now was to make sure they became the best soldiers in the republic. They would hate her now, but when the end came they would see why she had to do it.

They landed and the soldiers were ordered to their bunks. Abele was moved to a separate one. The Recruits had a day of free time. Abele did not, she was being brought through the new training regiment for the soldiers here. She reviewed the Shyriiwook language for use in squad communication.