#vau seriously hurting atin like twice

[cienie-isengardu]

My RepCom Musing: HC vs TZ?

As was pointed out to me in regard to previous Jango Fett and Walon Vau meta that Atin’s first squad died during training on Kamino (my bad for not checking the first book, obviously) I went to recheck the two sources and to be honest, I’m a bit confused by the feeling of divergence between Hard Contact and Triple Zero. And also wonder how the squads were refilled on Kamino when one of them lost its member(s). 

Right now I’m trying to figure out did somehow the number of Atin’s brothers killed before he became part of Omega were forgotten and/or retconned?

In Hard Contact Atin said:

"I've been the last man left standing in two squads now."

 "Oh." Silence. Niner prompted: "Want to tell me how?"

"First squad tried to rescue me on a live range exercise. I didn't need rescuing. Not that badly, anyway."

What means Vau lost overall six (or seven?) men from the first day to the Battle of Geonosis - Atin’s three brothers on Kamino and another three (or four?) brothers in the first battle.

I’m putting the numbers in doubt because where did these 3 new brothers come from if all the other Vau’s teams survived in full to the beginning of the war? Did they come from different batches trained by other instructor(s)? In that case, wouldn’t it make more sense to take a singular Atin and add him to someone else than one of Vau’s team? Skirata lost four trainees during training including Niner’s squad losing one member at some point. Of course, I’m talking here strictly theoretically as the books did not give us any solid timeline for those two incidents but it seems more logical to add one Atin somewhere when a squad needed refilling (like Niner’s pod needed) than gave Vau three clones that weren’t from start trained by him and thus could fail to meet the man’s requirements and/or lacked the skills and mindset the other Vau’s trainees already had. Thus becoming the weakest link.

Which is why I wonder if Atin could be added as fifth member to one of Vau’s squads and thus losing not three but four brothers on Geonosis. Especially if at the time when his original brothers died, there was no squad needing the refilling?

(Additionally, if Atin’s three new brothers weren’t commandos at all but chosen from between common troopers and added to the commando program when cadets were already advanced in their practical education, it could explain why Vau was so hard on Atin and presumably his whole squad. As in pushing them to not stand out from the whole batch’s level of the skills?)

But then in Triple Zero nor Vau nor Sev acknowledged this loss of 6 commandos?

"Here we go," Skirata said, all contempt. "He's going to tell you that his father beat the osik out of him and it made a man of him. Never did him any harm, no sir."

  "I've lost just three men out of my batch, Kal. That tells me a lot about my methods."

 "So I lost fourteen. You making a point?"

 "You made yours soft. They don't have that killer edge."

Additionally important quotes about Kal’s KIA boys, all from TZ:

I started with one hundred and four trainees, plus my Null lads, and now I've got ninety commandos left.

Not counting Nulls, Kal had under his watch 104 men (26 squads). One year after the Battle of Geonosis he had 90 men. But he also said to Etain that four commandos died during training on Kamino:

I lost four of my batch in training accidents, and - some of those were even down to me, my rifle, my realism.

So, when Kal says he lost 14 men, he included those killed during training and later in the war. Either Vau and Kal had a pretty big misunderstanding here or TZ!Vau lost only three people in total. Of course, Atin didn’t need to start as originally one of Vau’s men - what could explain why they count different the number of their losses -  but if all Walon’s squads were complete, there was no need to transfer Atin as the fifth member, right?

Sev also suggests that only Atin’s pod lost people. Not his pods, the plural version. One pod. And Fi, who knew in HC about Atin’s killed in action two squads did not correct or mention the original one either?

    "Look, what is this thing with Vau?" Fi pulled Sev out into the walkway again, and they jogged back to the speeder they'd left a block away. "I know he had a reputation for beating the stuffing out of trainees, but why are you ready to gut Atin?"

    "Atin's sworn he'll kill Vau."

    Fi almost stopped dead.

    "Atin? Old don't-interrupt-me-I'm-working-on-a-really-interesting-circuit? Our At'ika?"

    "Seriously?" Sev asked.

    "Yeah, sometimes I get serious. It happens?'

    "Okay. Atin's pod was the only one that ever lost men!"

    "Geonosis. Ruined Vau's clean record?"

    "It's not that simple. Atin was doing that survivor guilt thing when he got back, and Vau just focused him a bit."

    Odd: Skirata hadn't been around when Fi returned from Geonosis. But he'd worry about that later. "That explains the scar on his face."

    "You got it."

and even True Colors seems going with that version:

    Scorch grabbed a plate of seedbreads and slapped them on a table to mark his territory. Few of the other commandos sat near Delta at mealtimes because they were one of the last complete squads who'd been decanted together in Tipoca City and stayed together this far. Heavy casualties in the early days of the war-Sev hated himself for believing all that guff about Jedi being invincible military geniuses- meant that most commando squads had been re-formed at least once and just didn't have that extra cohesion that Delta did, Sev was sure. All but one of Vau's squads had stayed in one piece; he might have been a savage instructor, but it was all for their own good. He said so. It was true.

Even Etain, again in Triple Zero, has “forgotten” this particular detail?

Etain could hear the shower running in the 'fresher. She could also see Atin wandering around, eyes fixed in defocus on the grubby carpet as if he was rehearsing a speech in his head, and he was trailing a disturbance in the Force that felt like the aftermath of a battle. She'd felt Atin's raw grief on Qiilura, the pain at losing his original brothers at Geonosis, and she could taste the dark depths in him all too easily.

It could be just a bad choice of words on Etain (author)’s part but Atin’s brothers who died on Geonosis weren’t the original ones. Something Etain knew, as she was told by Niner in Hard Contact:

"All beings are individuals, and their essence in the Force reflects that. The act of living makes us different, and in that way you're like twins, only more so. Atin's very different. What happened to him to make him so burdened?"

[...]

"Atin was the only survivor of his first squad, then he was reassigned and lost all three brothers in action again," Niner said. "He feels guilty." 

"Poor man," she said. "Does he talk about it?"

 "Not much."

(Niner’s statement that Atin’s lost another three brothers seems to counter my wondering if he could be added as fifth member to one of Vau’s squad but since Atin did not talk much about that subject, Niner could simply assume the number as all known to him squads were made by only four-members)

So… is it just me or did the author somehow have forgotten how many brothers Atin lost and the survival guilt that played a big part of Atin’s characterization in first book suddenly was changed into Atin’s wish for revenge on Vau for abuse in another? And as a final result, Vau was turned away from HC!strict/grim instructor into TZ!abusive bastard just for drama (and possibly to present Kal in a better light)? Especially since Hard Contact did not present any solid hints Atin hated his former sergeant’s guts but about that I’m gonna talk hopefully  soon.