Alternate Start (ARCHIVE)

Chapter Forty Six: Push

ARC Training was hell.

Tup took his solace in the showers, when he'd get to scrub the smell of sweat from his hair and finally make some kind of small talk with the other two of the dynamic trio. But, most of his time as of late was spent missing his brothers of the 201st. Missing little Satahl.

He still couldn't believe that he was almost done with ARC training. That he was almost six months separated from the nightmare that was Umbara, that had tested his limits and his faiths. His bonds, his trusts.

He rinsed the lather from his hair. Tipping his head back far enough, his hair touched his back. He hadn't cut it since he got here, and wasn't about to start now.

He felt so ready to be done. But he wouldn't be done for another month. Tomorrow, they left for the crux of their training. The final trials.

They'd be pushed to their limits.

—
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—

Dogma's body burned. Every nerve felt like it was alight, and every muscle ached.

Pushing through the mud and the rain on the planet they'd been shipped to for their final trial was hell. Tup and Hardcase were by his side, pushing onwards. He picked himself up out of the mud, wiping off his visor and narrowing his eyes.

He could do this.

He had to do this.

He pushed onwards, thinking up the perfect strategy for the situation they had been given. Droids holding civvies hostage, and an LAAT/i crash which destroyed most of their gear, save for what they salvaged.

This wasn't sims anymore. They put you in a real simulated combat situation, which came with the very real risk of injury, or even death.

Dogma nodded to Hardcase and Tup, making a few hand signs to get his plan across.

He and Tup rushed two commando droids modified for training, snapping the heads from the bodies and each driving a vibroblade through the processor.

Hardcase leapt out and gunned down the droids before him, all three of them were charged with adrenaline. They scrambled back into the shadows as a new group of droids to ambush appeared.

Something occurred to Dogma.

He looked down at his mud smeared chest plate, the dark mud covered the white plastoid easily.

He started adding more, fully aware of both of his teammates looking at him in confusion. Dogma made a vague gesture at how dark everything around them was compared to how bright their armor was.

Tup and Hardcase seemed to catch on, following Dogma's example and then hurrying into strategic positions.

"They brought the civvies as shields," Dogma pointed out over comms, "We need to pick off the droids without harming the civvies."

"I managed to salvage a sniper rifle, would that help Dogma?"

"That's perfect Tup. Get up high. Hardcase and I can act as a distraction while you start sniping."