Prologue

[Lilaly Tregari]

Chapter 0

"Open fire on the rebels!" as soon as they heard those words, two of the three cadets imediately turned around in a jumpscare, only to be surprised by the sight of a group of five children poiting their fingers towards them like they were holding blasters and tried to mimic blaster sounds with their moths. "What are you doing you idiots? We're under attack, return fire!" shouted the short blonde girl of the trio and raised her hand pointing towards the sky, signalizing them to open fire, and they did, pointing their finger towards the group they played their little game. One of the kids played dead and the other 2 held him by the arms, dragging him away. Man down! Retreat, retreat! Soon the kids disappeared into a nearby alleyway. "You know, cadet Tregari, if you don't make it into the Imperial Military, at least you have a guaranteed career as a caretaker!" The little cadet was too tired to bother with her gigantic counterpart's remark. "And you, cadet Eneel, showed great skill in dealing with an unexpected sittuation just now, i think i'm going to set you as vanguard next time they pit us in a training drill against the vets" The other two cadets laughed as they expected that it was simply a friendly banther, but inside Eneel does fear that she is serious about it. Eneel is taller than most people, being almost 6,5 feet tall, he is far from being a body builder but has a well kept physique of someone who does exercise regularly, he is blonde and appears to be someone who's had an easy life, he belongs to a rich family. On the other hand there is cadet Strat, 6 feet tall but built like a walking fortress, a mix between muscle and fat, his hair is short and black.

"Is Lily popular o somethin'? This always seem to happen when she's around." The little cadet was quick at correcting him with a blunt answer. "Thats Lilaly or cadet Tregari to you, Cadet Strat. But you might be into something, maybe those kids project into me, i look way younger than i am, maybe i seem more approachable than the other staff?" The two of them were already used to being cut short by the little cadet, while she seems like a doll on the outside, with her golden hair and shot size, she's a devil in many ways, while some mistake it for patriotism or a military upbringing, she's like that to avoid growing attached to her future meatshields. "Damn Strats, haven't you figured it out by now that our highness only likes to be referred by rank? no matter how small that is. I mean, no wonder they relate to her, same size and all that." Lilaly simply turned around to face them with a deadly gaze. "If you two used your brains for more than thinking about how small i am, maybe you'd have figured by now that its best to be friendly when being approached by the little ones even when we aren't on duty. They might be the next Officers or troopers giving their lives for the betterment of the Empire - of the galaxy in the future, if more cadets or officers followed this example, maybe we'd have more people in the academy." While its mostly true, its not her motivations for doing that, by acquiring fame amoung the common folk whenever she can, she will have more attention on her future endeavours, meaning a better chance for promotion.

"Thats our lady argent! Truly the academy's pride, do you write down those speeches or what" The trio laughed at the cadet Eneel's remark, Lilaly only let out a short laugh tough. "As a matter of fact i do, as i also do write down the times i will put you to take point or sign you to the vanguard next combat drill i'm leading!" Lilaly continued to laugh but Eneel don't, he doesn't know if it was a joke or not. "So.. who wants to play ball with the other boys at the Academy? We still got an entire day after todays drill, time to relax a bit." Cadet Strats was the first to raise his arms, Lilaly simply shrug her shoulders. "No. Way. In. The. Galaxy i'm going to do more exercise after todays drill, i think my arms are going to fall off at any moment! The other two tried not to laugh at the short one's remark, some of them do wonder why did they put someone so small in a class that is way ahead in the physycal training.

After each one of them went their own way, Lilaly lent out a small smile, relieved of being left alone to enjoy a fine meal at the local restaurant before heading to the quarters. Taking a seat at an empty table, she took a look around and saw mostly Imperial Officers from the dock there, its common to see Imperial staff in here, while the food is expensive, they offer a good discount to Imperial personel. As the little one still feels the effects of the physycal training, she wonders who tought it was a good idea to transfer her to a class advanced in physycal training. Maybe someone doesn't like her all that much, or maybe her father moved a few sticks to get her into shape. In reality they threw her in a class like that to see how she would handle adversity, before joining the Academy she did quite a few exams and excelled at all the theorical ones, as the Academy saw huge potential in her and to put it into test they decided to put her into a class that presumably had 0 compatibility towards her. In the end it backfired, or it worked too well, since she has the best theorical scores in the class and good relations with the others, she is usually choosed into leadership roles by the instructors.

[Colher Harheat]

Ooc: I can't wait to see your story unfold.

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden was out at a rather nice, and expensive, restaurant for the first time in far too long. Imperial officers received a rather generous discount at the location and he had decided against indulging himself in wearing civilian clothing for this reason--not that he couldn't afford to pay for the meal, but why waste the credits?

"No, no!" he laughed, shaking his head briefly "The poor man had a heart attack--but you can imagine that made my job far easier." he said. His audience, an elderly gentleman in fine yet simple clothing, and two young women who appeared to be the elders... associates. Rhoden took their laughter and subsequent chattering to look around and over the balcony. He saw a young woman, wearing a Cadet's uniform, sitting alone at a table below.

"If you'll excuse me." Rhoden said, moving off from the standing group doubting they even noticed his leaving. He walked downstairs and headed for her table. He had seen in the young woman what he had seen before, long ago. A young person, aspiring officer, with an the sense of purpose. But there was also, he saw, a will to protect her own interests over any other. She exuded confidence, but her posture and facial expression, seemingly at ease and normal, showed the signs of her continual vigilance. Rhoden decided he would interact with her, determine whether she would be a liability, or simply an interesting study.

He took a seat without asking for invitation, or if she was expecting someone else. He smoothed his uniform, far from standard, it was black with red trimming and the rank plaque a gleaming gold. It was the uniform of the Inferno Squad, and he was rather fond of it though he wore it infrequently.

"Ah, hello there." he said, giving a small smile. His voice was calm, collected, and confident. He gave an abbreviated bow of the head, "Commander Rhoden Carbine. And you might be?"

[Professor Mors]

Captain Doren Vassyl let loose an unrestricted yawn as he sat in the dim lighting of one of many private offices within the Imperial Academy. Previously, Vassyl himself had little to do with the postgraduate placement of cadets. However, upon his recent elevation in rank, decorum and administrative authority demanded portions of his time to ensure the best and brightest of the Empire's training program were allotted their proper place within the military hierarchy.

On occasion, intense meditation and deliberation was needed to determine where a promising youth might best thrive. The majority however, were overwhelmingly blunt in their aims, leading to a simple, and evidently dull paperwork procedure. Stretching for a moment, Doren extended his arms, and popped his right shoulder with a sickening crack. How long had he been at it? "Key-Three", the Captain called out, addressing his synthetic secretary, "The time if you please".

Whirring to life, the RA-7 unit wobbled towards its superior, and gave a neutral response, [Present Time: Eighteen Hundred Hours Sir]. "Empress' Mercy!", Vassyl bellowed back, "Has it really been four hours?". Doren glumly confirmed the droid's statement on his own chrono, before sinking in his chair with partial defeat. Would that he had a moment reprieve for a hot meal, or even a cup of caf. Alas, such pleasures would have to wait until later. Clawing his way back onto the durasteel desk, Doren doggedly returned to the various profiles and holodocuments, until his eyes lit up on one particular transcript.

"Tregari", Vassyl whispered, mulling the name over in his head, "Tregari: why does that ring a bell?". Activating his personal dataslate, Doren thumbed through several search functions, before snapping his fingers in celebration, "Ah yes, Yegar Tregari". Narrowing his gaze, Vassyl returned his attention to the previous record, and softly added, "Very interesting". "Key-Three", the Captain piped without warning, "Contact the headmaster and inform him I wish to schedule a meeting with one Cadet Tregari". Propping himself further into the back of his seat, Vassyl continued to read over the detailed academic record. Perhaps the evening would liven up after all.

[Lilaly Tregari]

"Cadet Lilaly Tregari, at your service." Her facial expression didn't change one bit, still the serious and calm look from before, tough a sharp individual could perceive a bit of curiosity in her voice, she is wondering why someone so high would speak to a Cadet. Well, there is a few reasons that comes to mind, first reason is that the high ups loves to weed out cadets that they consider a liability for the Empire, a reasonable line of thought, who wants to work with incompetent people? The cadet herself makes sure to go extra hard on her fellow cadets whenever she's on a leading role during the combat simulations, making the lazy and uncommited give up is the first step towards a productive community.

There is also the possibility that he may be looking for promising Cadets, some officers do that but its doubtful that a Commander of a elite unit would be looking for recruits in a academy full of youngsters that still reeks of blue milk, there are some exceptions, of course. The least likely scenario is that he knows who her father is, doubtful, while her father has friends in high places, they're not that high. Maybe just a high up seeking to analyze the mindset of the Imperial youth, possibly.

"I'm sorry if i sound a little bit off today. Still have my mind stuck on today's drill! They've been going extra hard on my class lately and usually its a sign that a expedition is comming or maybe they're bringing stormtroopers for the combat simulation again. Always assume worst case scenario, its better to be prepared than to be used as a mop during training." Its true, sometimes they have squads of formed troopers to go against the Cadets in combat simulation, mostly evacuation exercise to see how they would fare to pull a retreat when a stronger force is hunting them down, needless to say that it doesn't end well for the Cadets. On the bright side the Inferno squad is unlikely to partake on it, aside from being too overkill, they don't have much to do with the academy.

While she seemed to be planning a few steps ahead of her, and the next combat simulation is constantly banging in the doors of her mind, she prefers to hide that today's training almost killed her, figuratively of course. She is trying her best to figure out the Commander's intention, its common too see high ranking Imperials in the estabilishment, but if they're not from the Academy, they're often with an "associate" of the opposite sex, not having one by his side means that he is visiting on business, or simply lives solely for the Empire as many do.

"Still, i'm ready for whatever they sent my way. Unless its the Inferno guard, in that case i might need a few drinks after it, and new classmates. Its obviously a joke but there is a nugget of truth in the first part, every single drill she feels like death, but still kept going, nothing can stop of archieving what she wants, there is a lot of confidence in her voice. Soon a young man approached the table and politely asked if they had chosen a item on the menu, it is clear that he is used to dealing with Imperials, since he was polite and at the same time straightfoward, wasted no time.

"A Corellian Course please, and blue milk." The young man was subtly surprised by her request, its quite unusual for someone that looks like a doll to ask a full course, a full Corelian Course, and its even more unusual to not ask for a stronger drink. Lilaly is pratical, Corellian food is a nice change from the rations she gets at the academy and has a higher sugar and carbohydrates, while unhealthy to consume on a regular basis, its a nice quick source of energy after a tiresome week of training. Milk is because she is traditional, only drinks at special occasion.

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden smiled at her comment on being pit against Stormtroopers. It was a tactic he had seen used by academies many times, but not so frequently as Stormtroopers became more rare, which meant she was in an advanced position. "Yes, being target practice for Stormtroopers isn't what one would call conductive to long life." Rhoden said, smiling. His smile widened at her comment about being ready for anything, "I doubt that. One never is ready for everything but I daresay you'd fare better than most." he said.

His observations of her pointed to a reasonable level of competence, and despite being more for herself than the Empire he could see she knew also that she would not escape the wrath of the Empire should this disposition bring about unfavorable events. He was content, for now, to harbor no ill will toward the young woman.

Rhoden said nothing as the young woman ordered her meal, the waiter turned to him. He held up his hand, "I'm afraid I've already eaten, I'm simply enjoying some idle conversation with this lovely young woman." he nodded toward the Cadet. The waiter smiled and moved off, Rhoden knew the man undoubtedly thought that he had more than conversation on his mind, but the assumptions of the blind did not overly concern him.

"So, Ms. Tregari," Rhoden said, "Why have you graced the Empire with your services?"

[Lilaly Tregari]

The cadet saw the look that the waiter gave them, paid no mind to it. Simple people can't think away from the box unfortunately. She was more concerned with the question asked after it, while she kept her straight face and answered almost immediately, its never an easy question. The higher the rank the higher the experience her father said, he probably already knows the answer for the question, there is no sense in embellish her answer. "Personal interest." She makes a short pause and quickly resumes.

"I was different from the other kids, while they were playing, i was studying, while they were dreaming of a wonderland, i was preparing for my future. Everyone around me make sure that i knew how good i was but to me, its meaningless. Name one thing i'm good at and i'll name someone thats better than me at it, if it isn't on this planet, its on this system, if it isn't on this system, its in another galaxy." The cadet makes a short pause, its possible to see a certain spark in her eyes, determination maybe?

"I couldn't bring myself to do anything because i felt that no matter what i did i could never be in the same level as a genius. The ones that shook the galaxy be it for good or bad, for the Empire or for some fanatic cult like the Jedi or Sith. i don't want to be a simple pawn on a game that i can't bring myself to comprehend, a footnote in someone else's story. The Empire values and rewards efficiency above all else, it isn't dragged down by a cult of fanatics, it has potential. Love at first sight i'd say. If there is the perfect place for me to break my limits its the Empire."

Its the truth, while there were some factors that led her towards the Empire, like her father being an Officer and living most of her childhood under planets with heavy Imperial presence, her desire to not let her fate be decided by fanatics or power hungry maniacs disturbing one of the great powers. She does not want to be one of the heroes or villains of the legends, she prefers just to be someone who has control over her own life. Lilaly lets out a one-sided smile. "My mother always said that i was a businesswoman at heart, its somewhat true. I trust that my service will be of great use for the Empire, and in exchange i get valluable experience that aside from putting me a step closer towards my goal, i'll be more capable of offering a better service."

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden smiled, "I'm sure you'll prove most capable in your services." he said. He made a mental note to look up her profile later that night, she could be very useful indeed given the proper qualifications. There was a beep from his wrist.

"Ah I really must be going now, business, business." Rhoden said genially. He stood as a commotion erupted from the second floor balcony. "No! You have no right I'll--" Rhoden smiled a predators smile, "Come, now, Mr. Delarik. You don't want to make a scene and we don't want to process the paperwork blasting you would bring down upon us." The man he had spoken to, eyes wide and crazed as a hunted animal, looked down at him. His two associates stood, one seemed frozen in fear, the other--Sylwen Raya, a member of Inferno Squad currently dressed extravagantly--held a small hold out blaster, a small smile gracing her face. The armored figure of Jorvan could be distinguished by his domed helmet.

The man seemed to wilt and he walked out of sight, "Until next time, Ms. Tregari." Rhoden said formally, once again giving a brief bow. He walked off, smiling to himself.

[Professor Mors]

KI-3 released a slight buzz, alerting Doren that the droid had just received a correspondence. "The headmaster I assume?", Vassyl questioned, his gaze glued onto various holodocuments bearing the Tregari name. [You are correct Sir], KI-3 began, pausing for a moment to process what Doren assumed was a text-based memo. After a few moments, the metallic messenger continued, [He wishes to inform you that it's the cadet's break cycle for the evening, and that formal meetings are not typically held at this time]. "They aren't are they?", Vassyl rhetorically mused, and looked up from his reading to make eye contact with his companion's photoreceptors, "Then I suppose we'll have to organize things ourselves: how do you feel about stretching your legs some my friend?".

Several minutes later, the insectoid-like protocol droid found itself traipsing down various hallways, with only a facial id and a name to follow. KI-3 couldn't fathom why the Captain couldn't have endeavored to join in the search, or simply sent another courier to accomplish the same deed. The artificial advisor pondered his employer's reasoning for a time, but ultimately decided that his organic form was fatigued from the day, and thus the task was better suited to one who could not tire. Rounding yet another identical corner, the droid took to voicing his concerns over the assignment, lamenting, [If there is more than one Lilaly Tregari enrolled here, this could take far longer than my charging cycle can provide; thank goodness the conference chambers are easy enough to locate...].

[Lilaly Tregari]

Lilaly smiled and gave a nod at his remark, for better or for worse she must be in some sort of list right now, the Empire is a relentless machine that always make the best out of its resources, the imperial personel are no different. The cadet was about to speak when a commotion erupted from the second floor, she quickly found the source and focused her attention there, while she doesn't carry a blaster, its best to be prepared to jump out of the line of fire before things gets too heated up. Thankfully she didn't even need to get up as the commander seemed to have things under control.

"It was a pleasure Commander, until next time!" Spoke as the waiter and two other waiters came with the Corellian course, she let out a genuine smile while being delighted by the sight of her meal. It is indeed a good day, almost good enough to forget about the drill. Almost an half-hour later, after finishing up her meal she leaves enough credits on the table to pay for the food and a hefty tip, getting up and heading straight to the academy.

Going to the dorms and sleeping out the rest of the day would be what others would do in her shoes, after a extreme workout and a fine meal it seems fitting to have a nice rest, but no. One must make the best out of each day! Walking throught the seemingly endless halways of the academy, she thought of her next course of action, maybe find an instructor and get an extra task? Collect information with other cadets?