#repcomm hell

[mysticaltora8276]

Did I happen to mention that I do not like the Republic commando book series? Now the thing that I dislike aside for the obvious prejudice and racism and misogyny and ableism that permeates the book is the fact that it’s just so misinformed. And the thing is is that the author is intentionally misinformed.

Now this could’ve been an interesting story of someone with a radically stupid world view mind you in universe, but a different world nonetheless coming into contact with people who have a different world view and could’ve been good with someone who just has a weird viewpoint and an unreliable narrator. But nope. We’re supposed to take this guy seriously and take his word as gospel, even though he is demonstratively wrong.

And what’s worse is that the author constantly dismisses his emotional abuse as “being a good father.“ I don’t wanna know what kind of relationship the author had with her father because if that’s the kind of relationship that she and her father had…because it’s emotionally abusive.

Also what’s infuriating about this is the fact that there are moments tiny moments where it’s almost like her characters become self aware of how messed up it is, but they aren’t given enough screen time or they instantly shut down by non-arguments. So it’s almost like a part of the author is aware that this viewpoint is messed up, but refuses to let it go because it interferes with her fantasy. Again, if this was written by an unreliable narrator with a Jedi who has the facts to balance it out, it would’ve been interesting if a bit infuriating from a pro Jedi perspective. As is? It is a mess of prejudices, misinformation, and propaganda on the part of the author. In short, this would be good material for the Imperials to use as propaganda.

[mysticaltora8276]

Nope he wouldn’t kill Palpatine. He’d aid him and kill off Jedi by the dozens. Fox wouldn’t be thrilled either and let’s just say the Order wouldn’t be thrilled with Mr. Self righteous Jusik. Anakin and Obi-Wan would take him out

The war would be over very quickly in a republic commando/Coruscant guard crossover because the second he heard about the corries being mistreated by Palpatine, Ordo would have just straight up killed the chancellor with Jusik as his getaway driver. The next thing a very confused Fox knows is that he and his men have all been adopted by a very angry mando called Skirata. He doesn't know what happened but his evil boss is dead and he can now get more than 3 hours sleep a night so he's cool with it.

[papanowo]

no amount of canon is going to stop me from believing the batch were delta squad fanboys when they were kids

[verpine-art]

i colored it <3

[mysticaltora8276]

“Let’s not be too hasty. We know where their bolt-holes are, and with a little ingenuity we can track their movements. They step out of line—the Empire gets a treasure map with here be Jedi on it.” (501st)

May I remind you that basically Jaing and by extension the Nulls are saying that if somebody doesn’t “get in line” ie Jedi that they are going to point the empire their way and basically be OK with a genocide happening on their watch and by their hand. Again, these are the people that the narrative think is OK to root for. I want to jump into that scene and start hitting them with very blunt instruments and giving them blunt force trauma while screaming that you don’t do that to people suffering a genocide.

[mysticaltora8276]

I’m fine with people having their own can and what annoys me is when people force other people to become “true fans” and force their form of what they want on other people. As a sequel lover, this was constantly pushed upon me. I was sad is when I remind them that being old enough to remember when the prequel came out and when the backlash was around the previous were well loved to either, but then they put on their nostalgia goggles or welcome them to their face and pretend that they were “always beloved.” Give me a freaking break. I remember when people hated Ahsoka and Hayden and Ahmed Best (so much though that the man almost committed suicide over it.) and Jake Lloyd who was bullied for doing it. Everyone goes through phases of where they hate something, but I am really gotten sick and tired of particularly other social media platforms that act like that they are the authority on what goes on and if you don’t agree with them, then you’re not a “true friend.“ Yeah, sequel lovers can be guilty of that but I’ve seen more prequel and original trilogy lovers do it and they get mean about it. I mean, I’ve been insulted and ridiculed and called all sorts of lovely names that I will not repeat because I have more class than the people who did it and it’s quite frankly exhausting. That’s more more or less I kind of retired from those social media platforms, cause I’m sick of having to do something I like and gave me comfort.

Did I like everything that comes out or have I liked everything that comes out? No. But you know what I don’t do? I don’t take the Internet to rant about it. Yeah Republic commando is my personal punching bag, but I only ridicule the characters and the setting because as I’ve said before in other post, I’ve had personal experience with emotionally manipulative people and I do not like a book that actively promote sexism, racism and xenophobia and a very pernicious anti-religious segment to minority religion.

Arguments about what's canon and what's not in SW fandom are kinda pointless, I know for a fact that every fan has their personal frankensteined version of canon based on what's best for their own blorbos. I love picking up a random licensed book to sneer at half of its ideas and then steal the rest. Some shows and books and comics and whole movies are simply not incorporated into my belief system. That's how we roll

[gh0st-c0mpany]

I love how Dave Filoni and George Lucas pulled a Yu-Gi-Oh 4kids dub on the clones. Without the inhibitor chip, the clones are highly trained soliders that had to put their feelings aside after the betrayal of the Jedi (weather they knew order 66 was always part of the plan) and kill them but still giving them free agency to resist the order. Showing that even though the clones are slaves to the Republic they still have free will to resist an atrocity. But with the inhibitor chips they give the clones, who basically have no agency with their life already, have even less agency and make them the thing they swear they weren't, mindless droids. Completely striping them of what little freewill and personality they had and cementing their fate as only having one purpose, killing the Jedi.

[verpineshatterrifle]

Arligan 👁️👄👁️

listen ok... it's about how he tries so hard to play by the rules and do the right thing, and he knows skirata and his gang aren't playing by the rules at all, and how maybe he wishes he could go rogue like that too, but he can't, right

and as the war drags on he gets more and more beaten down and disillusioned but what the hell can he do about it? everybody knows it's all wrong but there's no way out

[mamuzzy]

I'm sure you hear this all the time, but why can't we just let people enjoy things? Why are fandoms so caught up on following "the rules" and chasing away people who think differently? I follow a Star Wars blogger who is getting harassed by the usual neckbeards because they say he isn't following the naming convention for droids. Normally droids have a dash between the series and their specific identifier (such as R2-D2 or C-3P0). But this blogger has a headcanon where he believes the Crips gang exists in the Star Wars universe and they would replace the dash with the letter C. So instead of using R4-C0, he goes by R4cS0. I agree it's weird to imagine gang bangers shooting Glock19s at a Jedi, but just let the guy enjoy stuff!

I'm not sure if you wrote this to me, because I said something that makes people feel they are not allowed to enjoy things, or you just needed to vent someone, but I go with the latter. ^^

And I fully agree with you that people really should just let others enjoy things. We are paralel-playing with dolls in a giant sandbox, and I think there is place enough for any kind of headcanons.

There are people who prefer fanon and headcanons and they shouldn't be bashed for their ideas, it's not like they are hurting anyone.

But this should be work in the otherway too. Fanon lovers shouldn't bash people for sticking to the canon, or not using the "community-agreed" headcanons.

The only thing I can't tolerate is hatereading/hate blogging. Creating headcanons around hating a single character.

I don't like someone's idea on a fan-something? I simply don't interact.

I have no idea what is Crips gang (ok, briefly looked up, I'm not from US, sorry), but if headcanoning them into Star Wars makes this person happy, I will be happy for them, and let the haters choke on the C.

[mysticaltora8276]

No it’s bad writing that’s all

What if the reason Etain and Bardan seem to think they were kidnapped as children by the Jedi is because neither of them can comprehend the idea that their parents could have given their children away willingly? Etain looks at Kad and wonders how her parents could do the same and still want to give her away

[engagemythrusters]

oh fuck i never considered canon mandalore vs legends mandalore in terms of. repcomm. and mount kyrimorut. and the skiratas.

shit.

[firewoodwander]

🏔️ + any RepComm cloneship? (snowed in is the obvious trope but do whatever you want :P)

Wintertime prompts

There’s a certain style of Mandalorian outpost Boss has always admired. Usually purposed as a sort of gatehouse or a watchman’s post, there just so happens to be one sat squat and not quite squalid on the verges of the Kyrimorut estate. Theirs seems to have been used mostly for storage in recent decades, but Boss has had a plan for it for a while now and Skirata doesn’t seem to care what happens to it—all he has to do now is the hard work.

Which is how Boss found himself out here when it began to snow of a midwinter morning. All of Skirata’s crap had been toted out to the trailer of a speeder and sent on its way with A’den, who had promised to dump it on Kal’s hearth rug for him. Boss had stayed behind to… well, he hadn’t been sure what, at first, but he’d taken cleaning as first port of call: the dust alone had been two inches thick.

These buildings are usually sturdy and mostly round owing to their construction of sandbags and clay. Sandbags, for insulation, and dirt and clay for structure. Built during the summers to dry in the baking heat. This one even has a little fireplace and a chimney and a faded, dirt-scarred mosaic tiled floor.

Cleaning had taken all afternoon. He’s only managed to finish one room. The place is bigger than he’d expected and the temperature dropped below freezing long ago, so now in the dwindling light he’s resorted to a ration bar out of his day pack in the low buzzing glow of his chemlamp.

Snow has piled up on the window ledge beyond the hefty pane of thermal transparisteel. It sits at least a foot taller than it did when he paused earlier for midmeal, which he considers with a resigned sort of resentment towards his past lack of preparation: he’s going to have to stay here, and it’s certainly not going to be comfortable.

Or at least that was his line of thinking before the sound of speeder engine turbines catches up to him over the howling gale of wind.

Boss tosses the wrapper of the protein bar into his pack and sets his water canteen safely out of the way. He brushes off crumbs and pretends he isn’t at least a little spooked, peering out through the disguised peephole in the front door.

The engine cuts. Someone dismounts the bike, crunching heavily over snow. Rustling, clattering, dragging, all manner of other noises, and then a familiar grunt when a heavy bag is dumped where the doorstep usually would be.

“Come on, Boss,” calls a voice in the dark. “Are you going to let us in or make us freeze out here?”

Boss whips open the door just long enough for A’den to bustle through with his armful of squirming, yipping blankets, diving out into the blast of frigid cold to retrieve a large canvas bag himself. He slams the door with haste and shakes the chill away; A’den sighs and creaks and slowly unfurls himself in the relative warmth of the entryway.

“Why in the seven hells did you come back out here?” Boss asks.

Laughing, A’den sets the pile of blankets down and looses the two rambunctious strill pups trapped within. He unwinds his scarf from his mouth and begins to pull off his gloves. Boss bends down to greet the many-legged, tuber-sized catapults before they can pounce on his knees and bowl him over.

“Well you see, there was this stupid git who insisted on doing home renovations in the beginning of a snowstorm. I wasn’t going to leave him out here with no gear for a whole night, and the babies were very upset he wasn’t coming home.”

Boss scratches behind Nuisance’s great floppy ears while Noise throws herself onto her back, all eight paws akimbo. He smiles despite himself, despite rolling his eyes and thinking up a hundred reasons why this was a stupid idea.

“So instead of taking me back,” he says, “you brought them here.”

“Oh honey, don’t I always say I’ll take you back?” A’den hangs his coat on a crooked stand that has seen better days and reaches over to drag the large bag towards himself. “Come on, let’s get that fire going.”

“Did you bring any bedrolls?” Boss asks.

The sound of the bag being dragged across tile is grating, but the house is small and soon A’den is stacking fresh firewood expertly in the hearth.

“Of course I did,” he says, setting up kindling and a lighter, “but only the one. Jaing let me take the leftover stew.”

The two pups yap and scramble around their feet. A’den gently nudges Noise’s snout away from the tiny flame he’s nurturing; Nuisance sticks her nose into a forgotten corner and promptly falls into a fit of sneezes. Boss finds the bedroll in the canvas bag and sets it up somewhere they will neither freeze nor suffocate from the smoke. He sets aside the pot of stew and the spare clothes A’den packed, but takes a moment to run the weave of a knitted jumper—the one he knitted for A’den, in fact—between his fingers.

A’den kneels by the fire, gently herding the strill pups as they insist on trying to burn their little noses. He talks quietly to them in the kind of tone one might use on a little cadet.

Outside, the snow mounts on the window ledge.

The rest of the galaxy seems very, very far away.

[sootyships]

Why jetii and not jedai(i)?

The Doylist explanation, of course, is that jetii is a Harlin word, and Harlin was doing his own thing. Let's talk Watsonian.

I'll separate the post into 3 sections: [j]e[t][ii].

/d͡ʒ/, /j/, /t͡ʃ /...

In the Repcomm soundtrack, "J" is pretty consistently pronounced as a /j/, a "yod" like in "hallelujah". So how come jetii uses a "J", if mando'a didn't use to have a /d͡ʒ/ sound? The spelling probably just got updated once "J" came to stand for /d͡ʒ/ and the clones singing Vode An etc were applying the J-as-yod rule across the field when they perhaps shouldn't have. Maybe it was spelled "chetii", "tsetii" or "detii" in the past.

T vs D

While Traviss says,

Occasionally, the pronunciation of "t"s and "d"s are swapped. "T" is the modern form; "d" is archaic,

it would seem to me more likely that perhaps Mando'a did not possess a /d/ sound at the point in time when the word for Jedi was adopted, and so the /d/ turned into a more familiar /t/, and the pronunciation did not "update" when the sound change occurred that (re?)introduced /d/ into the language. Alternatively/additionally, Traviss could be correct, and at the time /t/ mutated into a /d/ in particular positions, such as in jetii and kote, where it is between two vowel sounds. (In the Repcomm songs it sounds to only apply to kote, but it is a little difficult to make out what phonemes exactly are being used much of the time, anyway...)

AII, AYII, -II...

We have jetii, aruetii, kaminii, even or'dinii and prudii, that refer to people, so the -ii as a suffix most likely refers to people. So keeping the "ii" is important, "ai" would lack the morpheme. But why not -aii, like in vaii, or -ayii like in wayii? Hell, no idea, actually. Maybe Basic experienced a Great Vowel Shift the same as English, and what is now pronounced as [aɪ] was originally [iː]? Though, maybe not, because the predecessor of the Jedi Order (in Legends) was the Je'daii order. On the other hand, perhaps [a] (like in Jedi, /ˈd͡ʒɛd.aɪ/) was not present as a phoneme in mando'a at the time the word's adoption (perhaps mando'a "A" was pronounced with a more back vowel sound such as <ɑ> like in "father"), or was an allophone of, say, [ɛ], and <eii> is not allowed in mando'a, so the more open vowel got dropped, leaving only -ii.

Basically I have no answers, only theories. :')

[mysticaltora8276]

Again, these people are supposed to be the good guys and they’re talking about a time where the so-called ideal father grabs someone and sexually assaulted them. And as much as I like to crap on the Knowles, I actually feel bad for them because these little moments indicate that somewhere deep down side of them, they are aware that something’s off, but they are too blinded by their dare I say attachment to their father to do anything about it…..

Republic Commando: Triple Zero, Chap. 7

In my opinion, this is one of the first exchanges between Ordo and Skirata that so starkly illuminates the dissonance in their relationship: perhaps even KT herself got so blinded by the honesty of what she’d written, she couldn’t face it again.  

Notice how ready Skirata is to dismiss Ordo as a thug. How he assumes that all he sees is all the clones do. This tracks with his constant reinforcement of the Nulls as psychotic and unpredictable and basically incapable of functioning in “the real world” without him (read: functioning according to his expectations and to his music). Meanwhile, Ordo is so obviously trying to placate Skirata’s pride, it’s embarrassing; he’s operating so far ahead of Skirata at this point, even KT writes Skirata as playing catch-up in the dialogue, when she normally privileges the POV character.

And then! Skirata still consoles himself that he’s doing alright (stellar, even!) by Ordo, despite reading fear in Ordo’s face. 

This isn’t to say that Ordo doesn’t have hang-ups about Skirata – without question, the dude has daddy issues. (In a better version of this series, Besany would be the one to shove Ordo’s face up against that truth.) BUT it completely changed how I interpreted Ordo’s actions from that point, now that it seemed clear he had an inner world he kept to himself, perhaps for obvious reasons. 

[mysticaltora8276]

"So how do we justify what we are doing now? Breeding men without choice, and without freedom, to fight and die for us? When do the means justify the end? Where is our society heading? What are our ideals, and what are we without them? If we give in to expedience this way, where do we draw the line between ourselves and those we find unacceptably evil? I have no answer, Master. Do you?"

Padawan Bardan Jusik to the Jedi Council

Okay break down time

1. "So how do we justify what we are doing now? Breeding men without choice, and without freedom, to fight and die for us?" They didn't. The Sith instigated that........The Jedi know this. Jusik did you just ignore history? Or for that matter the entirity of Obi-Wan's mission. Oh right she hates Obi....

2. "When do the means justify the end? Where is our society heading? What are our ideals, and what are we without them? If we give in to expedience this way, where do we draw the line between ourselves and those we find unacceptably evil? I have no answer, Master. Do you?" Funny considering later on your fine with an abuser and someone who murders civilians for expediency.........Yeah shut up Jusik.

[nocturius8015ficore]

**EDITED VERSION** 18th of October.

Nocturius: 4th Republic Commando fanfiction! This one is about Kal Skirata and the clones as children facing some difficulties on Kamino.

————-

Title: Growing up.

Fandom: Star Wars Republic Commando books by Karen Traviss

Characters: Kal Skirata, RC-8015 ''Fi'', Mij Gilamar

Rating: Family-friendly ** Fairly accessible to people who don’t know RepComm / alcohol consummation **

Topic: Growing up, clones, medical concern.

Pitch: RC-8015 ''Fi'' is a clone cadet who noticed some chronic pain for him and his squad. He decide to talk to his sergeant about that since he doesn't understand where it come from.

Like almost every night for the last three years, there was a thunderstorm outside. As a Cuy’var’dar, Sergeant Kal Skirata had his own quarters with a window showing the never ending wet hell.

Fierfek.

Skirata was sick of that dampness and his ankle wasn't in a forgiving mood. It seems the pain was echoing his own mood. He went over the cabinet to swill a mouthful of dry tihaar, a Mandalorian tongue-burning spirit.

Training 106 kids to be commandos and Nulls-Class special ops was hard. It took a lot of imagination to find new challenges to outsmart those little prodigies. No, not outsmart, let’s be honest, they were a lot smarter than him, to stimulate them to their full potential.

The really hard part was to keep day after day his composure and not let himself sink into the depressing thought of those kids having no future. They were blissfully ignorant of how the universe was unjust to them. The Sergeant was about to take another sip but got interrupted by a knock on the door.

‘’ Come in! ’’ he said.

He knew that was not the kaminiise, they would have communicated with him on the com before. They never come to his quarters anyway. A little boy entered the room. Even with universal blue fatigues and the standard haircut, Kal Skirata was able to tell apart each clone boy under his protection. That one usually had a wide cheerful grin on his face, but not this time. It was RC-8015, Fi. He had let the squads lads named themself. That was one of the only few ways he could let them express their individuality. This time, Fi wasn’t all smiles. He looked worried and distressed.

‘’ Sergeant Kal, I would like to talk to you about something. I’m sorry to disturb you. ’’

‘’ Sure, son. Sit there, help yourself in the drawer. ’’

The boy did what he said, but didn’t take a bite in the warra nuts bar yet. Which was worrying in itself. The clones were always hungry.

‘’ I… I’ve noticed that my brothers from Teroch and I feel the exact same pain in the chest, around the sternum area and the rib cage. Some nights, we have difficulty breathing because of it. There are also ligaments and muscles in the back of the legs and most of our joints. I know it’s not the training or musculoskeletal injuries. I’ve signaled it to the med-droid but the scans said our vital signs were normal. ‘’

Skirata shouldn't have been surprised to hear such advanced language from a 5 looking 10 years old boy, but he was. He stood up and walked to the boy and ruffled his hair affectionately.

‘’ Shabla tinnies, they can’t do their job properly, mh? Let me have a look, the old school way. ‘’

He indicated Fi to remove his shirt to inspect his chest and with his bare hands. He tried to feel some irregularities in the area the boy mentioned. Kal Skirata wasn’t even close to be a doctor, but he knew enough about medical stuff to recognize when things were wrong. Fi stayed very still, fully trusting the only human adult who had ever care of him.

‘’ If I push there? Does it hurt? ’’

‘’ A bit. ’’

‘’ Take a deep breath, does it hurt more? ’’

‘’ Yes .’’

The child was visibly in pain but he wasn’t acting to get attention. He knew him. He was the kind to hide it or literally laugh when getting himself in an accident. That was a goofy little one, not a whiny one. The kid was brutally honest with him, no masking, he deserved the truth.

‘’ I’ll be honest with you, Fi, I'm not sure what you have, but I will talk to my colleague Mij Gilamar, who is an actual medical doctor and ask around if it’s just your squad or all of you. Could be my fault for being too hard in the training or something else. We will find a solution. In the meantime, I’ll schedule you more swimming, ok? ’’

‘’ Ok, thanks Sergeant Kal! ’’

Fi hugged him spontaneously and put the whole warra nut bar in his mouth, winked and poorly articulated a goodbye as he left the room. Skirata couldn't repress a chuckle. They were so innocent. ***

The very next morning, Kal Skirata went to the Nulls quarters. They each had their own beds and some personal furniture. He insisted on that. He wanted to make clear they were no animals. Sadly he couldn't win the same level of comfort and intimacy for the commandos.

Without a word, all the 6 Nulls-Class gathered around him in a perfect line, waiting for instructions. They were usually pretty rebellious but not to Kal. He was Kal’buir for them. Their father.

‘’ Udesiir sons, I just want to talk with you about something. ’’

‘’ Is it something we have done, Kal?’’ said Ordo, the leader of the small group. The kid was looking at him with his anxious big eyes.’’

‘’ Of course not, ad’ika. I want to ask you something personal. Do you have chest and leg pain? Especially at night? ‘’

The little boys turned to each other and in a same voice they answered yes. Skirata felt his heart sank.

‘’ Why have you never told me that before? ’’

‘’ We didn’t want to bother you with that, Kal’buir, it’s only because we are growing too fast. I’ve looked on the holonet, there is nothing we can do about it.’’ said Kom’rk, the Null was already very versed into hacking the kaminoan firewalls to access off-world intel.

‘’ Well, I will find something. Next time, you talk to me about any unusual stuff happening to you, alright? We can’t trust the med-droids even less some aruetiise on the holonet to make a diagnosis about you. You are too unique!

‘’ Yes Kal! ’’ they said in unison.

Soon after his quick meeting with the Nulls, the Sergeant went to his friend and other Cuy’val’dar, Mij Gilamar. After telling him in detail Fi’s perspective, he actually laughs.

‘‘ Your boy, Fi. You should bring him to me in a few weeks. His observations were pretty keen. He would make a terrific medic. ‘’

‘’ Yeah, I’ve noticed it. I was planning to make him a sniper but I think he might wear both hats real fine. Actually, I plan to teach all my boys some field medic skills like yours ’’.

‘’ Common sense, really. About the growing pains, that was highly expected but I understand you didn’t guess osik, you are on head shorter than anyone here.’’

‘’ Funny, ner vod. ’’ he said sarcastically. ‘’ But there is truly nothing we can do about it?’’

‘’ Well, not really. And it’s gonna get worse when they hit puberty. ’’

‘’ Fierfek. ’’

Somehow, his brain almost forgot that this growth stage was about to start and will be very difficult to handle indeed.

‘’ Will… they grow normally? I mean, twice as fast, but about their… ’’

‘’ I know what you mean Kal, I’ve thought about it too. I don’t know the details of the aiwha-baits meddling with their genomes and hormones, but they seem to have everything we have, but stronger, faster and it’s not gonna be easy for any of us. They needed to keep the testosterone level accurate for max aggression as soldiers.’’

‘’ It’s gonna be a shabla nightmare for all of them. We’ll need to have a talk. Serious one.’’

‘’ We have about four or five months ahead, but you are right. I’m gonna get in touch with the others. There is no way the flashtraining is covering that. We’ll have to talk about it ourselves. I’ll be on it, don't worry. ’’

Gilamar and Skirata stayed silent for a moment. They were both worried, but the doctor suddenly had an idea.

‘’ I think we can teach them self-massaging. ’’

‘’ What?! ‘’

‘’ Not that, di’ikut. For the legs and chest pain. Therapeutic deep tissue massage. Releasing tension they accumulate during the day. Stretching the muscles and ligaments. Bring the boy tomorrow. If it works, we will teach it to all of them.

In the early afternoon Skirata and Fi came to Gilamar’s medical office. The cadet didn’t show a lot of nervousness but was very curious about the non-kaminoan medical equipment there. The doctor showed on a holoprojector some mix of basic theory about chiropractic, physiotherapy, osteopathy and other less known non standard, or archaic medical procedures for a week. The next one, he began to train them with some practical exercises.

At first, Kal Skirata was unsure about how to perform some spinal adjustments but got the general idea. Fi on the other hand, was very good. The boy took his time and did things with astounding dexterity. He even did some little miracle with his ankle.

The boy would be a great medic, he thought. Could have the potential to be a surgeon with that precision, his sensibility and attention to the surroundings… or a musician, thinking of it. If he would have had the opportunity to choose but that was impossible. Sniper/medic was the only option.

‘’ You got it better than I, son. I'm proud of you! ‘’ he said, moving his feet like a new one. ‘’ Do you think you might be able to teach it to your squad? ’’ the child smiled widely.

‘’ Of course Sergeant! Already did! ‘’

‘’ Oh great, we will cascade-training the other squads under my care then .’’

‘’ Really? I’m gonna meet the other squads? Can’t wait to make new friends! ’’ his face illuminated.

‘’ Just for a couple of days, but yes.’’

Skirata felt sad about it, squads were isolated from each other most of the time, except for some competitive training. The program for commandos required it. Will those boys ever have a normal social life? What would happen after their training when they will see the civilian world?

Meet ordinary people. Meet women.

That night, Skirata thought he might sleep better without his ankle pain but he actually felt worse. He took the bottle of tihaar and drank its contents till he passed out.