Relic of the Republic

Chapter 1 - Assignment

Lucky dreamt the same dream every night.

Everything was dark, everything was cold. He could not move or breathe. An eternity would pass, and light would return – hazy, unfocused light that hurt his eyes. It would grow brighter, steadily reaching a near-blinding intensity, and then...

"Uta-sha nate badot, kung!"

He would wake up at this meaningless phrase, frightened!... and relieved.

Just a kiffing dream!

One soon to be forgotten, for today was his 10th birthday, which meant assignment! Although the formal transition from the comradery of training to the duties of an ensigned Republic soldier was not without nostalgia.

Later, Lucky found himself walking alone to the office of Commander Cody. Others turning 10 today were in the regiment hall, being grandly paraded before their peers.

Why am I being singled out like this? Maybe because... I'm joining the 501st!

The thought was exciting!

"Hey Lucky!" came a voice to his left. Nyxa was making a beeline towards him. "Why aren't you heading to the hall?"

"Orders, Nyx. I'm supposed to go see Commander Cody now." He paused, then: "Alone."

"What?..." Realization dawned on Nyxa's broad face. "You son of a blaster! You're heading straight to elite duty!"

Lucky shrugged. "I don't know about that, Nyx. I'll tell you after it's done."

"You know Rex got assigned captain? That shabuir had his karking backside marked straight to the top!"

Lucky nodded. Everyone had heard of Rex's seemingly unwarranted promotion.

They'd arrived at the office's blast door. A protocol droid beeped and whistled at Nyxa.

"Sure," Nyxa replied to the droid. He patted Lucky on the shoulder. "Good luck, buddy."

"Thanks, Nyx." He watched his friend depart, then turned to the droid. "CC-1812-10, to – "

" – see the Commander," the droid interjected. "You may enter."

Lucky went in.

Commander Cody sat behind a white desk, examining a terminal. "Private CC-1812-10," Cody said as Lucky entered.

"Yes sir."

"Do you have a name, clone, or should I just call you by this Bantha-dung scramble of numbers here?"

"I'm called Lucky, sir."

"Lucky?"

"Yes, sir."

The Commander sighed. "Well, Lucky, I'd like to tell you that today is... your lucky day. Not often assignments are done in person."

"Understood, sir," Lucky said.

"The 499th want a runner who has a DLT-19 accuracy of 95%."

Lucky straightened. His score with the heavy blaster was 97.8%.

The Commander placed a holocard on the desk. "Here you go, Private. Present yourself at the armory as soon as you can. Dismissed."

"Sir, yes sir!" Lucky snapped off a salute. He turned and went to the blast door.

"One more thing."

Lucky stopped, and turned back to the Commander.

"The 499 is being deployed to Geonosis."

"I am aware of that, sir."

"I wasn't finished," Cody said. "The deployment is tomorrow."

Lucky's eyes widened. "Then I had better report in straight away, sir!"

"That's what I like to hear, Private."

As Lucky left the office, Cody turned to the terminal and pressed 'send' on the holographic message he had recorded, thinking: Let the hell begin.