The Only She- A Star Wars Fanfiction [COMPLETED]

Dawn Goes Commando

-Dawn's POV-

     A subtle electrical jolt shot through Dawn and she sat up, yawning.  Much more effective than an alarm clock, she was woken up each morning by a jolt from her bed.

     She opened her eyes blearily to survey her room.  Her bed was in one corner, a desk in another, and one wall was covered in tools, weapons, and spray cans that held the same paint now splattered all over her originally gray walls.

     Having a lack of material to sketch on, Dawn had turned her boring walls into a canvas of sketches and paintings of creatures, landscapes, and rainbow-splattered Republic symbols.  

     She walked over to her closet, a small section opposite from her bed.  Her first training session with her squad was today, but she winced at the thought of wearing that clunky armor again.

     She decided on her helmet, also personalized in graffiti splashes with gray pants, a black tunic, two blasters strapped to her waist and set to stun, and her ever-present combat boots.  Dawn stared down her reflection in a small mirror and frowned.  There was one thing missing, she thought, reaching for a drawer in her desk.

---

     About 15 minutes later, Dawn entered the huge terrain-simulation room where the troops trained.  She had watched from the rafters above, but it looked even bigger down on the ground.  The floors could turn different colors and slide up and down, and doors ringing the room no doubt held droids for them to fight.

     She checked her communications band on her wrist.  There was still a minute or two left before the training started, and she spotted the rest of her squad talking in the middle.

     How could she tell it was them?  She had studied and watched all the clones while she grew up, and she recognized the haughty tilt in Rider's head, the hunched way Oak walked, the animate gestures Bright made when he talked, and the constantly alert stance of Blast.  

     Dawn walked towards them, confidently weaving through other squads gathered in the center of the room in clumps.  As she walked past them, she felt heads turn her way, not just because Dawn was the only girl.  They had all heard she was a new trooper last night.  It might have been how she wasn't wearing armor, or the loose way she walked that differed from other clone's straight backed march.

     But most likely it was that in the morning, she had dyed her hair bright pink.

     Dawn's shocked squad turned to her as she grinned in greeting.

     "Hey Dawn," managed Bright, still staring at her hair.  No clone dared dye their hair before they left Kamoa.  Which was exactly why Dawn did it.  "Nice hair."

     Before hse could reply, a voice rang out from the balcony above.  Dawn looked up and rolled her eyes.  Great, she thought.  It's Sea Slime Man.  

     The clone standing on the balcony, whose name Dawn could never remember, spoke in a voice oily and slow, like sea slime.  

     "Cadents," he began.  "Toda-"  He stopped short, staring at Dawn's pink head in the middle of the crowd.  He had most likely been briefed on why she was there, but he most likely wasn't expecting the absence of armor or pink hair.  He shook his head just a fraction and continued.

     "Ahem.  Today we will be working about in squadrons, practicing defensive and concealment tactics.  The floors will be moving and you will have to be sly to escape the droids, using the cover of terrain to your advantage."

     He nodded in a pleased way as the troopers started splitting into groups, but Dawn just internally sighed.  Sea Slime and his fancy terms.

     "So basically," she called up, "we're playing hide and seek with big guns?"  The rest of the troopers froze, staring at her as if she'd said something offensive.

     Sea Slime's mouth tightened and his eyebrows rose.  "Ms. --- Dawn, is it?" he called, and without waiting for a reply continued.  "Your flagrant disobedience is disconcerning.  You could get injured if you are stunned with an absence of armor."  His tone said that he would not be overly depressed if that happened.

     Dawn gave him a sly smirk.  "Then I won't get hit," she replied, before walking off to join her squad behind a simulated hill.

     "What are you THINKING?" Rider practically screeched.  "We are SO going to get shot now!  He'll direct half the droids at us!"

     "You might get shot," replied Dawn.  "Me, probably not."  She winked, and the doors opened.  The floors started sliding and droids spilled out onto the battlefield as the battle began.

     Ok, sorry for the cliffhanger but there will be a Part two.  I just thought of the hair thing while I was writing.  I've never dyed my hair, but that's the kind of reaction I would imagine.  Have you dyed your hair?  Don't forget to like and comment, I love feedback!

May the Force be with you,

Jedi Master Swift