Read It Back

[Thaal Sinestro]

So, this has been something I've had on my mind for awhile. Been wanting to use some secondaries as just run of the mill Stormtroopers, with their daily lives. Some days will be exciting, others dull, but every post would be just a snapshot in the life of some or all of them. I wasn't planning on doing anything with this until after the secondary saga, but all this activity with the Empire as got me wanting to get started. I've been sitting on this intro post for awhile and tweaking it occasionally. Still not quite happy with it, so I thought I'd get some feedback here.

Just a heads up, it's around 2100 words, so no rush at all. Just wondering about...well, all of it. Thanks to anyone that takes the time to check it out.

[spoiler]The artificial sun shone brightly on the city, as cars traveled both by land and by the air highway. It was a typical day in Tier Two of Coruscant. High above the surface, the lanes of hovercars sped along, with all of the flying vehicles following each other in the multiple lanes that weaved through the tall buildings of this tier. It was in the air, off to the side of one of these lanes, that an Imperial patrol craft sat.

The craft itself was a simple vessel, measuring about twenty feet long with a tall center console right in the middle of it. The controls sat to the left side of the console, and there was a tall bench right behind them, with enough room to seat two comfortably, but also enough space between the console and bench that the occupants could comfortably stand. Behind the bench itself were three cabinets, capable of storing plenty of supplies.

The occupants, themselves, were two ordinary Stormtroopers for all intents and purposes. They both sat there in full armor, though since they were hovering and taking a break, their helmets were off. The pilot of the craft was a man in his late twenties, with short black hair. Knox sat with his left leg propped against one of the support braces for their center console, casually watching the flying cars zip past. Immediately beside him on the bench was Grace, a girl in her early twenties. Her red hair was tied up in a bun, allowing her to easily slide her helmet back on if she needed to. She sat in a much less casual position, but watched the cars just the same.

Grace was, however, fidgeting uncomfortably. She was still very new to this job, having only been an official Stormtrooper for a very short time. As a new arrival to the Omniverse, and having emerged in Coruscant to some unknown Prime, she had immediately looked for a job that would suit her skills. Having found nothing like that, she settled for the work of a common Stormtrooper. So here she was, with one of her newest teammates on her small squad of five, learning the ropes of typical patrol duty.

"You alright?" Knox asked, looking over to the red haired woman.

"This armor is somehow both the tightest thing I've ever worn and also the most bulky," Grace answered, trying to adjust both the white armor as well as the body hugging black suit underneath it.

"You'll get used to it," Knox said with a laugh as he looked back out at the sky traffic, and continued to make some small talk with his newest teammate. "So what's your home like? Any crazy demi-gods or whatever?"

"No, it's pretty boring where I come from," Grace responded, finally giving up on getting comfortable in this infernal thing. "Normal people doing normal jobs. No flying cars or superpowered freaks. Just good old planet Earth."

Knox continued to chuckle at that description. "I've heard more than one person talk about that type of place, or at least somewhere similar. This must really be a culture shock."

"You can say that again," Grace giggled, now propping her foot up on the opposite support beam. "All of this was just crazy movie things where I'm from." She shook her head in disbelief for the hundredth time as she said it, but then looked back to Knox. "What about you? What's your home like?"

"Mine's a little more exciting," Knox explained. "Humanity is space-faring where I come from. There's even a Coruscant and Palpatine, himself, is probably from that world, or some variation of it. Definitely not from my time period, though, because I never heard of him before I got here."

Grace smiled as she listened, but didn't know what else to say. After a bit of silence, she decided to ask about the other squad members. She'd only briefly met them, and this was her first actual day in the field. It wouldn't hurt to get perspective from someone who'd been around longer.

"So, there's three other guys we'll work with regularly?" Grace broke the silence with her question, noting Knox's facial expression when she asked. He had clearly been expecting such a question at some point.

"Yea, we've got a pretty solid bunch, for the most part," Knox said, thinking about where to start. "I know you met our squad leader, Avin. He's a stand up guy, a real leader."

Grace had probably dealt with Avin the most, since he was her supervisor. The man was in his mid forties, yet already had gray hair. He had been kind and caring, and she felt like he was one of the few Imperials not trying to jerk her around. He was somewhat pale, and didn't have much of a tan unlike herself or Knox. It was obvious that when he was done being a Stormtrooper he went home to his family and stayed with them until it was time to come back out.

"Cade, he's a good guy, too," Knox continued. "Strong son of a bitch. I wouldn't cross him in a fight for anything."

Grace nodded, she'd also met him. Cade was about the same height as Avin and Knox, yet he was completely ripped. The black skinned man kept his head shaved bald, and was in his early thirties. He was like Knox, light-hearted and always joking. Watching the two of them argue with each other had been fairly amusing, and she might have enjoyed it more if she hadn't been so wrapped up in figuring out her new reality.

"...And that last one...well, you'll just have to meet him," Knox finished his explanation, laughing a bit as he did and shaking his head.

Grace sighed. She didn't like that description of the one squadmate she had yet to meet. She knew that Avin and Cade were in a similar patrol vehicle a short distance from them, but didn't know where in the world their fifth member was. She was pretty sure she heard him sign on the radio that morning.

"Unit Five Eight Zero, Control," a voice called from their radio, immediately ending Grace's train of thought.

"Go ahead, Control," Avin's voice called back through it, while Knox and Grace looked at the radio.

"We have a report of a stolen hovercar," the dispatcher called in through the radio. "Blue two seater, Incom brand. Awaiting further details. It should be in your unit's area."

"Ten-Four on that," Avin replied through the radio. "Five Eight Two, you hear that?"

Knox reached out and grabbed his mic upon hearing his own call number, and clicked it on. "I copy direct, Eight Zero. We're on..."

Suddenly a flying car whipped past the two of them, catching their attention immediately. Grace let out a scream as it blew past, not expecting that at all. Knox watched as it sped on, but then remembered he was still transmitting.

"...On it. He just passed me, Avin," Knox reported, then tossed the transmitter on the console as he stood up and fired up their hovercraft. Grace was on her feet in an instant as well, though she could do little other than simply hold on.

"Copy that, on our way!" their sergeant replied through the radio.

Grace gulped as Knox turned a few dials, then put his helmet on. Grace grabbed hers and put it on just as quickly, having forgotten briefly that she needed to be wearing it when conducting official business.

"Welcome to the Omniverse!" Knox shouted, though Grace couldn't quite tell if he was being facetious or not.

It didn't matter, because he pushed the throttle forward and they were in pursuit. The craft lurched forward roughly, but Knox tightly gripped the wheel as they flew through the air, having the benefit of being able to ignore the assigned traffic lanes. Grace glanced to the side to see a second craft coming around the corner. Avin was piloting his own patrol vehicle, while Cade stood beside him and held onto one of the poles with one hand. Grace couldn't help but notice that he looked much more composed as a passenger than she did. Luckily, they were all hidden by the anonymity of their white armor.

Once they began catching up with the stolen vehicle, Avin cut his speeder out to the right while Knox banked theirs to the left. Grace thought her heart was going to bounce out of her chest when she watched the thief pilot his ill-gotten car to the left, and realized they were just about to cut him off. She held onto the craft tighter than she thought was possible when Knox cut the craft and came right at the other one head-on.

Knox pulled the throttle all the way back, and the front end rocked upwards as their patrol skiff came to a quick hover. The thief was clearly caught off guard by this, and turned to the right and tried to take off again. Avin had maneuvered his own craft over to them, though, and was right on the vehicle's tail, by then.

Grace felt downright nauseous at that point. Last month she had been on a sunny beach in Florida, enjoying a vacation. Now she was being thrown around a flying death machine, when the worst she'd ever done before was a commercial air flight. She kept both hands on the support beam of the center console, wondering how Cade was fairing so well on the other craft. She watched as Knox turned the wheel and they took off once again at full speed.

"He's heading for that balcony!" Avin called in through the radio, and Grace and Knox could both see the vehicle moving somewhat slower as it approached a large stone balcony on a high rise. They were easily seventy stories high at this point.

"Five Eight Zero, be advised reinforcements are coming to your location," Control reported through the radio.

"Get ready to bail out!" Knox shouted, and Grace looked at him in disbelief through her helmet. He couldn't be serious.

She then looked ahead to see the thief had given up on the stolen vehicle already, and had roughly set it down on the balcony. People were lounging about the pool that took up the center of the platform, while others swam and played. At least, they had been before the vehicle parked in the middle of their nice day. They screamed and shouted in surprise as the man leapt from the craft and sprinted up the stairs and towards the door to the building.

Grace glanced to the side to see Cade at the front of Avin's skiff. There was nowhere to park, so he leaped from it and landed on the balcony with a roll.

"Go, go!!" Knox shouted at her.

Grace gulped, making grabbing her gun and running to the front of the vessel. She gulped and looked down. It looked like a ten to twelve foot drop, and they were well over the edge of the balcony, but just knowing they were flying so high above ground made her stomach twist. It took every bit of energy she had, but she jumped from the vehicle as well, landing with a hard stumble.

Avin and Knox quickly piloted the patrol vessels around the building, looking for a suitable landing place. Cade, meanwhile, broke into a full sprint after the suspect and Grace had no choice but to run as fast as she could after him. She noted, in relief, the fast approaching vehicles of all types that were adorned with Imperial markings, so she knew help was almost there.

People screamed and shouted as she ran through the crowd. She felt for them, she really did. It wasn't long ago, at all, that she would have been a screaming bystander to something like this. She ignored that thought and continued to run, keeping Cade in sight. She had tunnel vision at this point, only really seeing Cade and the fleeing thief. The would-be carjacker stopped at the metal door to the building and tried to open it, but couldn't get it to budge. He only had a few seconds to try, because the next thing he knew Cade slammed into him at his full sprint, tackling him into the door and bouncing off of it to the ground. Grace arrived just a few seconds after him, but by then he had already put a pair of handcuffs on the stunned and dazed thief.

"We got him!" Cade shouted into his helmet-mounted radio, then looked at Grace as he stood up and pulled the criminal to his feet. "Nice jump, rook. You'll do alright here."

Grace let out a deep breath as Stormtroopers flooded the area. She could only assume Avin and Knox were among them. Some of them broke off to deal with the oddly parked vehicle, while others helped to haul the man off. As the Imperial presence worked on containing the scene, Grace could only watch in awe.

What the hell had she gotten herself into?[/spoiler]

Yo I got a bunch of writing I gotta do, but as soon as Im done with that I'll hook you up