Chapter 2 – “Aftermath”
Posted by Tim on May 12th, 2010 filed in FictionComment now »
The sensation of floating was dizzying. Zee’s body ached, especially on his left side. His helmet’s heads-up display was dead, his only visibility now was a small window through his helmet’s shaded visor. His eyes finally began to focus, brain registering the illuminators above him. He began to attempt to rise off the ground, crawling for a moment before his body refused to go any farther.
What happened? His brain began to register the event. He realized that part of the pounding in his head was caused by static on the comm unit built into his helmet. The unit’s separate battery had kicked in since the power flow to his helmet had been cut off. Shaking his head, he spoke: “TK-8753 to any Imperial forces in the area; Scorpion squad has been compromised, requesting immediate support in sector nine-resh!” His voice was just a whisper, static the only reply to his call.
Zee’s helmet suddenly felt suffocating. He had crawled his way to what appeared to be an outcropping of rocks, but what in reality was a large cluster of permacrete chunks, metal shards and ornaments from shattered and destroyed statues and walls. He managed to prop himself against a chunk of permacrete, his breathing ragged and his vision still obscured from the failed heads-up display of his helmet. This has to come off, he told himself. He knew it was a risk to remove his helmet in a combat zone, but he decided it was doing him more harm than good to leave it on. His first attempt to remove it failed, since his left arm was injured, shooting stabs of red-hot fire up the entirety of its length when he moved it. He hadn’t noticed it earlier, since his primary concern was getting to safety. He judged from the pain that he had broken it in at least two places; attempting it to use it further would only cause more damage to the injured limb.
Using only his right hand, he finally managed to remove his helmet. Fresh air poured onto his face and over his short dark brown hair, an incredible sensation that felt better than a death stick into a deprived addict’s veins. His breathing suddenly became much less obstructed, and he could see his surroundings much better, his brown eyes scanning the perimeter alertly. Something caught his attention immediately: the exchange of blaster fire had stopped. The area was very quiet, and this made him nervous. The feeling of dread he had had moments before ending up where he was now was still there, as intense as before. He looked over to where the wall he was crouching behind was. There was a meter-wide impact crater not far from where he was crouching moments ago, the wall he was behind now disintegrated. A Thumper, most likely, he mused. Of course the cowardly rebels would resort to using deadly explosives in a civilian environment. The use of the TTT-54 “Thumper” grenade launcher was popular amongst the Rebel Alliance, since it was one of the few weapons developed by the rebellion that had been picked up by a weapons development corporation. It was simple and deadly, alongside a cheap cost to produce and purchase, three features which had enticed Merr-Sonn Munitions to license and produce the weapon from the rebels. Merely a launch tube that took many different sizes and styles of grenade ammunition, it was accurate, had a range of two hundred meters, and had a wide kill radius: a perfect weapon for clearing a company of stormtroopers in one fell swoop.
Zee looked down at his armor. Dents and divots abounded in the now dirt-smeared white plastoid armor, evidence of the close call he had. He shook his head, and slowly drew himself to his feet. Being careful to make sure there was no line of sight between him and the building full of rebels that had just tried to kill him, he moved slowly toward a part of wall that was still intact. He wondered where Nova had gone; Zee had been just behind him, so unless he had avoided the blast completely and kept running, he’d be in a similar predicament and, more than likely, in similar shape to Zee.
Zomgrei also pondered where the rest of the squad was: Hawk, Sting, Bully and Mynock had gone quiet since they received their assignments from Nova just minutes ago. Zee shrugged it off; it was typical for them to be quiet or even silent while they jockeyed their positions. Communication with hand signals was frequent, but even then the length of time the unit had been together had developed knowledge of each other’s tendencies to the point where even hand signals weren’t always necessary.
Zee shook his head. My blaster… He realized his E-11 and his small holdout blaster were missing. He felt his lower back, his thermal detonator container missing as well. Damn! Now I’m entirely disarmed. I’ve got to find a weapon. He scanned the rubble for evidence of his weapons. After a short while, he found his E-11 – or what was left of it. The barrel had been bent, and the butt-cap of the rifle was missing completely, exposing some of the electronics inside the weapon. This won’t do me any good, he thought disgustedly. Picking through the rubble of the relatively secure position he was in, he saw a glint of gun-metal black. He crouched and picked up the small holdout blaster he kept attached to his boot.
——————–
To be continued…
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Finals are done!
Posted by Tim on May 7th, 2010 filed in MiscellaneousComment now »
I’m finally finished with my final exams. Now with that out of the way, my focus shifts: Troop Tracker, armor fixes, computer repairs, work, possibly summer classes.
Lots to come!
Finals Suck
Posted by Tim on May 5th, 2010 filed in MiscellaneousComment now »
Ah, finals. Quite possibly the most distressing and mentally exhausting times in a college student’s life. It’s upon us again, and the universe, in all it’s glory, doesn’t seem to want to give us any breaks in such a hectic time. I’m at work, and I feel like my brain’s oozing out my ears from finals. Whoever decided to cram the hardest tests of the semester into one week is an idiot.
Update
Posted by Tim on May 3rd, 2010 filed in MiscellaneousComment now »
Just an update: Went to the Tampa Comic Book & Toy Convention yesterday, and had a blast! Updating the Trooping Record page and will be posting the mission report sometime later today.
Mission Report: Sunscreen Film Festival
Posted by Tim on April 29th, 2010 filed in Mission ReportsComment now »
Date of mission
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
Location
Sunscreen Film Festival in St. Petersburg, FL
Event Description
The actor who portrayed Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars films, Billy Dee Williams, was set to appear at this film festival. It’s only natural that when a Star Wars celeb makes an appearance, some sort of Imperial presence has to be felt. In attendance, besides myself, were another TK, a TB, a Jedi, R2-D2, an Imperial Officer, Darth Vader, a TIE Pilot, a Tusken Raider, and a X-wing Pilot.
Comments
I stood about two feet behind Mr. Williams himself. It was AWESOME. It’s very hard to describe how much fun I had. We initially started out mingling in the movie theatre, greeting guests and “guarding” Mr. Williams. After the crowd went in to see the film, “Black Dynamite”, the troops that were left went to the after-party, where festival-goers were enjoying themselves with food, drink, live music, and lots of conversation. However, myself as a TK, Darth Vader, TIE Pilot, Han, Leia, and our Imperial Officer wanted in on the fun. So we went down and had a blast mingling – lots of photo ops, plenty of goofing with the crowd, etc. It was certainly a night to remember. My first high profile event, and it was one of the best!
Photos
This is where photos will go when I upload them.
Mission Report: Dunedin Concert Band Performance
Posted by Tim on April 29th, 2010 filed in Mission ReportsComment now »
Date of mission
Friday, March 19th, 2010
Location
Dunedin, FL
Event Description
TK-8753’s first official troop! I got the opportunity to enter into a gymnasium when an orchestra played hte Imperial March. It was EPIC. After marching in, we moved outside of the gym to pose for photos and generally look menacing. Two TDs, an Imperial Officer, Darth Vader, a Royal Guard, Han Solo, Princess Leia and R2-D2 were also in attendance.
Comments
This was my first official troop, so I was NERVOUS. Super nervous. Of course something of mine had to give way – my nylon webbing belt gave out and we had to safety pin it. Needless to say, the belt is now sewed firmly to avoid the issue from occuring again.
Photos
This is where photos will go when I upload them.
Mission Report: Sugg Middle School Invasion
Posted by Tim on April 29th, 2010 filed in Mission ReportsComment now »
Date of mission
Monday, March 15th, 2010
Location
Sugg Middle School in Bradenton, FL
Event Description
On this day, TK-8753, the newly-approved Stormtrooper of the 501st Legion (Vader’s Fist) invaded Sugg Middle School to test his newly-requisitioned armor to ensure it’s survival even in the harshest conditions. Middle schoolers can be a rought crowd, y’know?
Comments
I had a LOT of fun at this. I got to interact with the kids and the faculty, and I really made some of the kids’ day!
Photos
This is where photos will go when I upload them.
Busy Busy!
Posted by Tim on April 28th, 2010 filed in MiscellaneousComment now »
I know I’ve not updated in several days. As you can see by visiting around here, I’ve been writing some of my story (chapter one is a prior post to this one), I’ve been trooping, I’ve been working, and doing a ton of stuff.
I figured I was overdue for a post here, so here I am! I’m trying to keep on top of stuff, but I have a backlog of troops to post mission reports for so I need to get on top of it! More soon.
Chapter 1 – “Zee”
Posted by Tim on April 8th, 2010 filed in FictionComment now »
Bolts of scarlet hate flew past the wall he was crouching behind. The smell of ozone penetrated his white helmet, invaded his nostrils, swirled in his brain and mixed with the cacophony of sights and sounds and strategies and data that already occupied his thoughts. This was a risky situation: Rebels had barricaded themselves within a building, knowing their fate when their terrorist cell was located. The building was a medium size, approximately thirty meters in length and thirty meters wide. It was fashioned out of plain gray permacrete – a testament to the plain architecture craze that swept Coruscant during the Clone Wars. It was nestled in the center of a courtyard, the building surrounded by statues and ornate lawn decorations that were placed on top of false grass. Since it was Coruscanti tradition to build city over city over city, above the building about ten meters was durasteel, supporting the city above. Affixed to the durasteel above were powerful illuminators that automatically adjusted depending upon the time of day. During night time, the illuminators gave off light equivalent to that of a street lamp. During the day, however, the light emitted was warm and inviting, as if one was standing in the natural sunlight.
Surrounding the courtyard was a two-and-a-half meter tall wall, with intermittent gaps opening the way into the courtyard. Less for security and more for decoration, the permacrete walls provided a mild amount of protection from blaster fire, but more importantly, prevented those behind it from being seen. There were holes in spots where blaster fire had penetrated, and larger, craggy gaps in areas where thermal detonators and other explosives had detonated before. This was once the home of a galactic senator – long since abandoned, the senator probably removed or killed for dissension in the shaky period following the Clone Wars.
It was midday, so the illuminators above beat down with an almost-intense heat. Thankfully, the troopers had environmental controls built into their armor to help ward off some of the heat. The rebels’ building was in a run-down area in the lower levels, of all places, on Coruscant – the heart of the Galactic Empire, and his home. His home… The memories began to flood in like a dam bursting after months of rainfall.
“Zomgrei, do you know why I named you that?” The little boy shook his head, looking up at the rugged spacer who he had called his father for six of his short eight years. The spacer just laughed. “The moons around the planet Enkarr are called Zomn and Dagrei. But these aren’t ordinary moons, my boy – these are special, just like you. They’re in the Kro Var system – that’s in the Unknown Regions. Very few have seen them, but I promise you that one day you’ll see them. I’ll be right there with you.”
“But dad, why are those moons so special?” The boy was always wondering, always learning, and had actually become a fair pilot and a relatively accurate shot with a blaster, for his age. The spacer smirked, looking down at the boy with a sly gleam in his eyes. “It’s what they’re made of, boy. A completely unique composition of elements seen nowhere else in the entire galaxy, and as such, causes these moons to have some unique properties,” he told the young one before him. “During night on Enkarr, the light they reflect shifts colors – from the most incredible reds and oranges and pinks to blues and greens. It is truly a sight to behold, and one that no other place in the universe can replicate!”
“Zee!” His thoughts were shattered by his commander shouting his name. “Focus! We need to split up and flank their position!” His commander, Vol Astim, was a brilliant tactician and an excellent leader, instilling confidence even in the most dire of situations. It was because of his leadership that the Scorpion squad had become one of the best crisis response teams in the core systems. Zee’s heads-up display registered new data, and a set of paths was drawn on a miniature map of the area – the potential paths that the squad of stormtroopers could take. There were approximately twenty-four possible routes, with several leading into a direct line of fire of the rebels, and a few leading into areas with no cover whatsoever. His brain began calculating what the possibilities were. Their orders were simple: take as many alive as possible and kill the ones who resist. It was unknown if they had hostages, which was mainly the reason they dispatched Scorpion – they needed deadly accuracy to help minimize civilian casualties.
The commander’s voice crackled into Zee’s helmet, interrupting his thoughts again: “Hawk, Sting, move to sector three-six! Bully, Mynock, take sector eight-two! Zee, you’re with me – we’re taking sector six-one.” Four almost-in-unison “yes sir” responses popped over the secured channel, and the four troopers, glistening white armor now smudged and dingy from the short twenty minutes of exchanging blaster fire with the rebels, moved off into different directions. Zee’s heads-up display registered, and four blue dots appeared on the miniature map of the area, indicating his comrades’ positions relative to himself and the commander.
Zee merely nodded his confirmation to his commander. “Nova,” Zee preferred using callsigns to given names, even in social settings, “what’s the plan?” The helmet swiveled to glance at Zee. “Just keep up,” he responded. The commander bolted out into the open, cutting across the area ahead of him with almost blinding speed. He slid to a halt behind a shattered statue that was almost entirely destroyed by the thermal detonators the rebels had thrown earlier. The commander’s order came in sharp and almost breathless: “covering fire!” Zee pulled the out small holdout blaster he had hidden in his boot with his left hand, and gripped his E-11 out with his right. Spreading out his arms, he positioned the muzzles of both blasters at the top of the wall, and began firing both weapons sporadically, and at different rates. The advantage of being a stormtrooper: we almost never come in small squads like this, and looking alike hides our numbers. We all look the same to those rebels; They’ve probably no idea how many of us are out here, Zee thought.
Zee continued to fire off shots, which echoed back to him in the form of thud, thud – the sound of blaster fire impacting permacrete. The hail of blaster fire emanating from the building sheltering the rebels slowed. Stormtrooper Commander Astim sprang into action, tearing from his cover point behind the destroyed statue, firing all the way. “Let’s move!” he shouted. Zee followed suit, sprinting from his cover point, E-11 in his right hand, holdout blaster pistol in his left, firing blindly at the building. Zee was normally at ease in situations like this – he had done it dozens of times before – but something about this situation had him tense. Something was off. As he made it to cover on the opposite side of the opening, he crouched behind the wall, looking now into what bit of the courtyard he could see through the volley of blaster fire, spitting from the building like an angry cobra. “Sir,” Zee told the commander, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
Suddenly, everything went dark.
—–
This chapter was updated 4/20/2010, to add more detail to the surroundings.
This chapter was updated 5/10/2010, to increase continuity/flow to the next chapter.
Whew…
Posted by Tim on March 18th, 2010 filed in MiscellaneousComment now »
I know that the leap from, “I’ll post pics from test-fit two” to approved was sort of a big one, but I’ve been working my butt off with school, armor and lots of other stuff. But, good stuff in the works, so I can’t complain.
My first official troop is coming up this Friday in Dunedin. I’m pretty excited about it, but I’m also pretty nervous. Eh, just guess I have an innate fear that I’ll get there and people will poke fun at my armor not being as glossy as the ABS kits tend to be.
Aside from all this, I had a blast invading Sugg Middle School here in Bradenton. It was sort of a spur of the moment thing – and a huge thanks to the principal and staff of the school for allowing me to be there and cause all sorts of havoc. It was a great test to make sure my armor could withstand the rigors of being worn for hours on end (five hours was the amount I hit, with a few breaks in between), as well as the dangers of middle schoolers. I’ll post a full mission report as soon as I get some time and motivation.
My new amp came in for my armor today, so I’ve rigged up the mic inside my helmet using hot glue, and the amp (it’s a small white box with the amp and speakers in it, and a rechargeable battery) sits on my belt and is nice and loud. No more not understanding me from the helmet that seems to muddle everything coming out of it! I’ll probably only use it for cons and such, or events where communication’s important. Mainly because it’s so far OFF-canon that unless I fashion some sort of leather holster for it it looks pretty much like a sore thumb on my movie style armor. But I suppose sacrificing a little screen accuracy for a basic need (the ability for people to understand me) is acceptable in some situations.
As a big sigh of relief, I finally am employed! I got an internship at an area insurance company. I’ll be testing software for them – doesn’t THAT rock? I get to do the techie thing, and get paid for it. It’s pretty darn exciting.
Well, that’s all I have for now. Off to sleep!
Tim, out.
