Guest Poster - Padawan Erifia [Topic: Aiming]

“Private Apoc! Take your time and Aim, but do it quickly!” How could I possibly do that? I was looking out at the target range. There were several target droids all of them moving.

It was the start of week three. Having to carry this gun everywhere with me, strengthen my arms and my legs because as we did pushups and ran those many miles we had to do it with the guns on our shoulders.

I held the gun up, and I aimed, and I pulled the trigger, swung right, pulled the trigger, and pushed upward and pulled the trigger again. I heard three beeps, and felt a gust of wind and the targets came back.

“Private Apoc!” I nodded meekly, “Yessir?” He spoke again, “You hit all three of them in the heads. How did you do that private?!” I shook my head no. “Speak up!” I said loudly, “I don’t know Sir, I hate guns!”

“Dismissed. Remember to clean that gun and replace its power cell with this!” He handed me a new power cell but this one was glowing orange instead of the blue one in my gun. I saluted and left the range. When I arrived back at barracks, all of the men in my company were changing powercells out.

“Hey Tri’lek. You hear what we are doing tonight, right?” It was my friend, the one he had saved, I didn’t know his name, so I called him ‘Deadweight’ which was a suggestion from the other men, “No Deadweight, should I have?” “Yessum, young lady. War games.”

I didn’t know what that meant, was war supposed to be a game? Was it a holo-game like Obi-Wan plays back at the temple? Was it a board game of some sort? Or a card game? I did as Drill Sergeant Ordered, I cleaned my gun, and replaced the power-cell.

I laid down and took a nap. It was nice not having to do anything after range practice. I was awoken by Deadweight who handed me a vest and a helmet.

“Put these on,” he said, “And lets go.”

I put them on over the clothes I was wearing and I exited my little cubby. We were all taken outside of the shield and into the forests. The whole area was marked. No-one said a word as we walked there. The Drill sergeant finally spoke, “Men, this is a two mile by two mile battlefield, you will be fighting against your other two companies. When you shoot them with these guns it will hurt, but it will not cause lasting harm. The vests are to protect vital organs, and they will vibrate and shut off your gun when you are considered dead. You will be commanded by Private Jerin here. You have six minutes to develop a battle plan.”

Drill sergeant left, and all that remained was us. Private Jerin’s first orders were this, “Tri’lek, go hide somewhere where no-one can see you, and wait for anyone wearing black or brown vests to walk by. Shoot their head, but don’t reveal your location.”

I nodded. I rushed off into the forest. I found a tree, it was somewhat hallow on the inside of a fork of its branches and I cradled into there. It was warm and I waited. Darkness was falling, and my eyes adjusted immediately. I could see as clearly as if it was day.

I felt that this was the point in which they could tell if I was going to be a good soldier or not. I had to do well. The temple wouldn’t accept me, I had to do it here. As I sat there in silence, I thought about Master Gerith Gwin. I missed him. He was my father.

A lone tear rolled down my cheek. I saw through the tear and I looked out. There was a ground of about four men. I looked. The soft moonlight glowed and I saw a reflection the light off of their helmets.

My master’s lightsaber was a enhancement of light. Were not blasters too? I held steady, they were moving at a rapid pace, and just as the moon’s light became the brightest in my scope, I fire, and it hit both of their heads. I heard loud beeps and vibration, and I laid my gun on the tree, and I curled into my cubby.

“A sniper? Where is she?!” They began to search. I couldn’t move, not just yet. That’s when a group of five men from the other company came down over the rolling hill, and the two men (minus the two I put out) who were scouts were mowed down by their gunfire, but not before they killed three of them. I moved, and aimed. I fired twice. Both struck them, and they dropped to the ground.

I curled into my spot again. It took while before I heard shots fired, and rays were going everywhere, everyway, and everyplace. I was told to stay. I couldn’t move. I watched as my company ran over the hill, they were retreating? The group chasing them had a GAR Mini-gun. The blasts were unrelentless.

I aimed, and I fired, one, two, three, four, five. Reload. Six, seven, eight, nine and ten. Each shot landed, and my company turned, and charged into it. I climbed down from the tree, and I walked forward, I walked to the soldier who had the GAR Mini-Gun. I reached down, and spoke softly, “I’ll give this back after the battle.”

I strapped my sniper rifle on my back, and I held his Mini-gun in my hand. I grabbed his side arm too. It was a small blaster rifle. I chased after my company. The last rival company was coming through the woods, and our company sat in quiet ambush. When the majority of their troops were in between us, without order, I unleased fire from the mini-gun. I wasn’t aiming. That’s not how you use that gun.

I turned rotated, and the men on the other end starting screaming, “They’ve got a Mini-Gun!” Finally the powercell died, and I dropped it, and withdrew the blaster pistol and fell back to the tree line. My chest was rising up and down with adrenaline rush.

I had never felt like this before. I decided to sit still and calm myself further. I would make mistakes in battle if I allowed this outburst to get the best of me. Private Jerin, walked over to me, “Good job tri’lek. Get back to your hiding spot, there has to be more of them.”

I did as ordered, I climbed the tree, and sat down in my cubby. I withdrew the pistol. It was uncomfortable to be strapped at my side. I heard screams and heavy fire. I sat still. Over the hill came something I didn’t expect to see.

It was a rancor. Or at least, a rancor robot. It had suffered little damage. I was scared my company had been hurt. I hoped they weren’t. I looked at it, it was a droid. But there was a cockpit. Someone was operating that thing.

I looked for apparent weaknesses in structure. None. I looked for a way to shoot through the cockpit. None. There were targets on it, or at least receptors. But I didn’t want to treat it as though it was the animal. It wasn’t.

I slowly climbed out of my tree. I strapped the blaster at my side, and the sniper on my back, and I held low to the ground as I went across the field. I melded into the shadows as Master Gerith called it.

I arrived behind the monstrosity. I saw an entrance to it. I shot the latch with my sniper rifle, it made no sound generally. I opened the door, and climbed in silently. I climbed up the ladder. At the top of it, I noticed there was a man operating it. He wasn’t wearing the protective armor and helmet. I held the blaster to the back of his head.

He stood with his arms in the air, “Miss Apoc,” the older man who was smoking the cigar supplied, “Gerith Gwin warned me about you. He said you’re too logical. I didn’t figure anyone would do this. You’ve got me, what are you going to do with me?”

“I mean no disrespect sir. I am just reacting how I would as a Soldier of the Galactic Republic sir. I am going to need to commandeer your rancor, sir,” I added meekly and softly.

“Well done, it’s yours,” he climbed down the ladder. I began to operate the monstrosity. It projected force fields around the claws, that caused no harm to the solider, and when they were eaten, they fell in a tub of foam. It was a clever training device.

I walked down the road, and found part of Company A in a blaster fight with my company. I swung my claws at Company A, and I stopped, and shut down the robot, and climbed out the back of it. When I exited, my company saw me, and began to laugh.

“We figured you’d take it out, tri’lek, just not like that.” They all came up and started slapping me on the back. Why do men have to hurt people to show their affection?

If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a mile run in the morning, and more intensive training with my weapon tomorrow,

Hugs and Kisses,
Erifia Apoc