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[FN-999]

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Old Pa'Dan, Pa'Desh​

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In the middle of a large plaza not far from the fort hesitantly loaned to the First Order by the planet's rulers, a sturdy wooden platform had been set up. Ten meters long and wide, and about three meters tall, with steps on the back, it provided an excellent point for a person or group to stand out on. One First Order stormtrooper stood on top of each corner of the platform, with a fifth securing the stairs.

FN-999 stood on the center of the podium, a mircophone half a meter in front of him. Today, he had been selected to make a speech. FN-999 had been told why - he was one of the last surviving troopers who fought for nearly the entire duration of the war. He had been assigned between countless squads as their troopers perished, but he alone had lived. Now, the survivor trooper would be the image the First Order needed to continue.

Nerves put the trooper on edge - he was definitely not a public speaker. If the crowd rioted, even his baton couldn't keep them all down. His speech would have to be truly excellent if it were to redeem the Order after all of the terrors it had suffered. But FN-999 had been given the freedom to create his own speech, which he appreciated greatly.

"Hello." said FN-999 nervously, activating his mircophone. The bustling marketplace suddenly froze, transfixed by the armored man on the stage. He took off his helmet so he could truly convey his emotions, and continued.

"I am FN-999, a sergeant of the First Order Stormtrooper Corps. Two and a half decades ago, the First Order saved my life."

FN-999 started to feel his rage, a feeling as familiar to him as his sight, begin to flow through his speech. "I was four, and living in a slum in the planet Corellia. My parents never wanted me, and frequently took out their anger on me. I became bruised and bloody, emaciated, broken both physically and mentally. One day, they simply threw me out of the house as if I was garbage. But on that same day, a First Order recruiter found me. He brought me to medics, where I was healed and freed from my parents forever. The First Order took me offworld, where I became one of the first in a batch of thousands of children trained to be stormtroopers.

"For the next fourteen years, we were trained rigorously. When I felt too exhausted or incapable, I'd remind myself that I would someday need my strength to defend myself if my parents were to come back. When our batch was finally ready to become stormtroopers, I was moved into a specialist position. I became a shock trooper, a privilege granted by my excellent determination."

"Two years later, my exemplary performance lead to my promotion to sergeant. For nine years, I have fought in war after war, enforcing the will of the Supreme Leader. At Dosunn, I killed ten enemies for every meter they gained in our territory. Even after our Leader disappeared, I continued to fight, repelling massive red beasts on Cloud City. Now, I stand here, giving you all a speech."

"I have done my part for the First Order, but now it is your turn. The Stormtrooper Corps is slowly healing itself, but we will need your help. Join today, and be part of something bigger. Join today, and be free of your restraints. Join today, and we can bring back the Supreme Leader's will!"

"Do I stand alone?!" yelled FN-999 to the crowd, the microphone amplifying his voice so all could hear.

OOC: If you are interested in the First Order, and especially if you are interested in its army, feel free to hop into this thread. This is a general-purpose recruitment thread, and I or other First Order officers can draft you into the nation. Members of the First Order can hop in as well, to provide a helping hand to interested people. The only rules of this thread are no violence, and do not bring your Jedi or rebel soldier into this thread.

OOC Thread
Teaser Thread

 

[Pravina Venkatappa]

Pravina Venkatappa
Post 1
Location: Old Pa’Dan - Farni Square, Pa’Desh

Five Days Ago, Bala’dahl

“Mom!” Pravina called out from the kitchen in her native Pa’Deshi tongue, with her eyes glued to the holographic screen of a data terminal. Her mouth was slack-jawed and she bore an expression of optimism across her elegant features. She had just come across an advertisement for a First Order recruiting event which was to be held in exactly five days. After clicking on the link, she slowly read over the summary (which had also been written in Pa’Deshi), along with the list of things that hopeful recruits would want to bring.

“Yes, Beti?” Her mother came into the kitchen a minute after Pravina called, along with the pungent odor of millaflower which seemed to cling to her like a moth on a light. “Oh, please don’t tell me it’s the First Order again.” She began. “Honey, you’re too sick for that life, they’ll never take you. A beautiful girl like you has no business trying to play soldier.” Her mother said as she checked the food cooking on the stove.

“Mom, I told you, they can fix me!” Pravina replied as she turned around in her chair to face her mother, taking in her familiarly aged, albeit elegant features. The violet-haired girl took a deep breath before continuing on. “It’s in five days, mom, at Old Pa’Dan. I would very much like to go. Please?”

“I...don’t have the money right now to pay for a bus ticket...but…” Her mother paused and let a sigh escape from her lips. “I can take out a loan for the trip and any additional expenses that you’ll incur, but...I need you to promise me that they will accept you and that you’ll help me pay it back.” The aged woman knew just how much the opportunity meant for to Pravina. She didn’t want her daughter to be dead by the age of thirty because of a respiratory infection due to a lifetime of breathing polluted air and drinking toxic-laden water. Although it had taken some mild convincing, in the end, the decision was an easy one to make. She was unable to fix her daughter’s condition, but if the First Order could do it, then she would help Pravina in any way she could.

“You will? Oh my gosh, mom! Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Pravina exclaimed, this time without taking a single breath amidst her joy as she jumped from her seat and ran into her mother’s arms. “Oh mom! We’ll need so much, I...” The girl finally inhaled. “Need my social security forms, my state ID, and-” Another breath. “My medical records.”

Present, Old Pa’Dan

In preparation for the long trip, Pravina had stayed in bed for almost the entirety of the previous day so that she would have the energy to keep herself on her feet during the duration of the event. With her condition, Pravina had a severely limited amount of energy. The recruiting event by itself would be especially taxing for her, considering that she would have to stand for almost all of it.

Clad within a colorful sari which was one of her best, Pravina stood in the very front row of the almost exclusively male crowd as the white-armored stormtrooper delivered his speech with confidence and passion. Almost immediately, Pravina found that she could relate to the speaker. She had lived most of her life within an urban slum, breathing poisonous air and perpetually hungry for her next meal. Her mother was a drug addict and left most of the parenting to her while her father rotted in jail for some mysterious crime of which she had never been informed of the details.

With a wide and focused stare across her delicate light brown features, Pravina listened to the rest of the stormtrooper’s speech as he described the defense of Dosunn. It dawned on her immediately that this was a man who lived for something. He had dedicated himself to a cause that he fervently believed in. The First Order cared for the lives of her servants, far more than she could say the bureaucrats cared for the lives of those within the sprawling slums.

When the man concluded his speech and yelled to the crowd, in spite of her asthma, Pravina was the first and the loudest to call back.

“I stand with you! Hail Sieger! Hail Sieger!” The short-statured girl screamed at the top of her inflamed lungs, before letting out a loud cheer as she raised her arm in the air and bunched her left hand in a fist to form the distinctive salute of the First Order.

 

[Robogeber]

The droid watched the proceedings with a bemused smirk. He sat behind the curtain in a semi official dressing room. Technicians briefed on code blue security about his condition, fiddled with dials and settings of the droids disguise module. The officers finished, as the droids visage flickered from the monotonous and alien design of the droid to a more formal human form. White uniform, neatly displaying his crisp rank badge, and war regalia. Medals now glimmered from his body. "Well gentlemen, I suppose it's time we address the adoring crowds."

The Grand Admiral was lead on stage by two towering Death Troopers. "Yes, trooper." The Grand Admiral gestured to the stormtrooper. His voice boomed aloud, across the square. "The future requires a camaraderie and unity which will bind us, and the Galaxy together." The automaton paused, and pressed forward toward a makeshift podium. "Comrades, and prospective comrades, welcome!" Rausgeber began, "To our patriots and comrades, I need no introduction, but to those of you," He gestured to the swathe of local Pa'Deshi who had assembled before him. "Allow me to acquaint myself, I am Grand Admiral Carlyle Rausgeber." He began, allowing a smile to purse his lips.

"Consider myself, and my staff, honoured by your peoples hospitality and generosity," The Grand Admiral continued, "You have honoured our alliance, even in our darkest days, and it is a debt I am sure we will repay." He allowed himself a pause. "However debts will wait, because movement and stabilisation are of critical import." He added, "The task ahead of you, prospective members of our Order," He looked directly across the Pa'Deshi. "Is to save our legacy and our people from the enemies and opportunists who seek to usurp our culture and history from our domain."

The Grand Admiral's tone had changed now to one of venomous snarls and anger. "We must insure, that the enemies of our Order and people cannot be allowed to succeed." He leered into the podium, "And that will require, upon all of us, a dedication to the doctrine of total warfare." He declared, "A dedication to the ideals of our Order. Of Supreme Leader Ren, of loyalty. Honesty. And sacrifice." The Grand Admiral thundered, "These are what we strive for, to create a society, stronger and more determined than any other which presents itself."

"And that, is what you dear comrades, are apart of. You are living proof that the First Order's determination. That it's power, will never, ever be broken!" The Grand Admiral glowered, "And to those who endeavour to join us, who wish to become apart of something greater, I welcome you!" The Grand Admiral greeted with a wolfish grin, "I welcome each and everyone of you for the strength of character, and conviction you have shown!" The Grand Admiral offered a strong salute, right arm raised and clenched with a fist, "Long live Sieger Ren, and long live, the First Order!"

[member="Pravina Venkatappa"] | [member="FN-999"]

 

[FN-999]

The crowd went wild, but not before FN-999 heard one voice above the others.​

​

A young girl in a colorful dress yelled her support, louder than almost anyone he had ever heard. But her voice seemed to be slightly restrained - a lung condition, perhaps? As long as she could breathe and fight, she would be a useful asset to the First Order. As the Grand Admiral he suspected had taken the mantle of the Order's leadership concluded his own speech, FN-999 reactivated his microphone and spoke directly to the girl, looking her in the eyes.

"You." addressed FN-999 to the girl. "Your enthusiasm and pride will be rewarded within the First Order. Come up here and join me on the podium."

With a swipe of his hand, FN-999 gestured for the trooper guarding the stairs to momentarily withdraw, allowing her entry.

"As for everyone else," continued FN-999, slowly becoming louder, "You'll all have your chance to contribute to galactic stability. Contact me, the Admiral, or any other recruiter on the planet, and you will be guaranteed a chance to serve."

[member="Robogeber"] | [member="Pravina Venkatappa"]

 

[Pravina Venkatappa]

Pravina Venkatappa
Post 2
Location: Old Pa’Dan - Farni Square, Pa’Desh
[member="FN-999"] [member="Robogeber"]

In spite of her shortness of breath, Pravina did not restrain her cheers and chants after (and periodically throughout) the Grand Admiral’s speech. Her level of excitement had reached a fever pitch by the time Rausgeber finished speaking, and she couldn’t help but to sing aloud her salutes to Sieger and to the First Order itself in as loud a voice as she could muster. She paid no heed to the fact that she was one of only a handful of women standing in the crowd. Hostar’du women like her were expected to work just as much as they were expected to bear their husbands sons and maintain the home. However, her presence seemed to elicit a few sneers from some of the men in the crowd. Even so, in the First Order, women were just as often warriors as they were caretakers. As such, the men refrained from doing anything too overt to the diminutive violet-haired girl in the front row. Although a few had shown up to the event on a whim, many of them had hopes of joining the First Order as well. It wouldn’t do for them to expose themselves as backwards chauvinists in a galaxy which had moved far beyond such primitive ideals.

Unfortunately, their restraint only held up until the moment Pravina was called up to the podium specifically.

Pravina’s golden-brown features turned a deep shade of crimson when the trooper addressed her. At that moment, an overwhelming wave of euphoria overcame her emotions. It dawned on her that she would no longer have to breath the toxic air within the slums of Bala’dahl, her lungs would be fixed so that she could finally breathe once more, and she would never have to know hunger or destitution ever again. The loud chorus of boos and jeers which echoed from the crowd was humiliating, but it wasn’t nearly enough to spoil the moment for Pravina. Sensing that the diminutive violet-haired girl was potentially in danger from the crowd, a small group of six stormtroopers pushed into the front row to shield Pravina as she was helped up the stairs. A sharp-eyed stormtrooper held up his riot shield to block a red tomato which had been thrown in Pravina’s general direction. Fortunately, the suspected assailant was quickly identified and apprehended, which seemed to make the others think twice about going through with a similar course of action.

In spite of the arrest, the loud racket of boos, jeers, and insults did not cease as Pravina took to the podium and took her place next to the towering stormtrooper.

 

[FN-999]

The woman had at last arrived.​

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She seemed relatively young, a good fit for training in nearly any branch in the First Order's defense forces. Aside from her potential lung condition, she seemed to be healthy and relatively fit. Even if she did have a lung condition, FN-999 knew medics who could work wonders in treating such ailments. She seemed very eager to join the First Order, and leave her world behind. The resistance from the men could be handled, and overall, the woman was an excellent candidate for the First Order's armies.

FN-999 lowered the volume of his microphone while looking at the girl, before speaking to her. "What position would you like within the First Order? Do you seek to join the Stormtrooper Corps, and valiantly charge into battle for the Supreme Leader's will? A specialist position, to master your skills with a weapon of your choice? Or perhaps our Starfighter Corps, where you can fly modern, cutting-edge starfighters across the galaxy?"

There was suddenly a rising undercurrent of jeers from the male crowd. The planet had clear lines of segregation, with most women at home. This woman had shown true bravery in going out, and serving. So he moved to address the ignorant.

"The First Order does not exclude anyone based on gender. Women make just as good soldiers as men, and many have risen to high and respected positions in the Order."

"And as for those who disagree, and keep their strongest women from the frontlines," said FN-999, his voice taking on a menacing tone, "I assure you that they will force you out of their way to join us."

"So," continued FN-999, putting his attention back on the woman, "What role would you like in restoring the First Order?"

[member="Robogeber"] | [member="Pravina Venkatappa"]

 

[Pravina Venkatappa]

Pravina Venkatappa
Post 3
Location: Old Pa’Dan - Farni Square, Pa’Desh
[member="FN-999"]

With her blushing features and nervous expression, it would be obvious to any onlookers that this was a dream come true for Pravina. In truth, the raucous jeers from the crowd had done very little to spoil the grandeur of the moment for the violet-haired girl. After all, she had been born into circumstances where at times it had felt like the whole galaxy was set against her. A few sexist insults were no match for the perseverance she had developed over years of living within the worst slums on Pa’Desh. Tears of joy welled from the corners of her eyes as the stormtrooper delivered a strong rebuke to those within the crowd who sought to bully her for daring to improve her circumstances.

There was a momentary pause after the stormtrooper lowered the microphone to Pravina’s level so that her tiny voice would project across the square. First, Pravina thought of the roaring TIEs she would hear every day as she studied Galactic Basic. Then, she thought of the massive star destroyers which she would periodically see flying overhead, but which always made her want to climb to the roof of the house so that she could get a better view of the colossal war machines. Pravina very rarely saw stormtroopers, but when she did, she could never resist the temptation to stop and stare as they went about their duties in their brilliant white armor.

However, more than anything else, Pravina wanted to soar.

“My name is Pravina Venkatappa and I’m from Bala’dahl. I-” Pravina began before swallowing. “I want...to be...a starfighter pilot!” She spoke excitedly, hyperventilating as the words left her lips. “And I want to be the best TIE pilot the First Order has ever seen!” The violet-haired girl cried out, as yet more tears streamed from her cheeks. “Hail Sieger!”

This time, Pravina’s emotion elicited more than a few errant cheers from within the crowd, primarily from feminine voices, though a few men joined in as well. The chorus of boos was still resounding, but the acclamation and applause was quickly rising to counteract it. In time, the Pa’Deshi would come to accept the First Order as their saviors from the depths of a primitive social order. Change would come, and Pravina desperately wanted to be a part of that change. That was her calling, and she wouldn’t dare shirk from her duty.

 

[FN-999]

The crowd went wild with Pravina's speech.​

​

"Well then... Pravina." replied FN-999 over the microphone. "Welcome to the Starfighter Corps."​

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The crowd erupted into a unified chorus of noise, cheers and jeers becoming indistinguishable from each other. He patted Pravina on the back before leading her off of the platform and down the stairs. The four troopers on the platform followed them, along with the trooper guarding the stairs. Together, they paved through the crowd, creating an effective barrier with their riot shields. FN-999 began noticing that the crowd was cheering for him as well. His story must have truly inspired the population of the planet, and would likely create a new batch of trooper cadets.

As they left the square, the crowds began to thin. On a cordoned landing pad about ten meters in front of the troopers was a troop transport. As the formation continued towards its slowly opening doors, FN-999 addressed the woman.

"You'll do well." said FN-999. "Once we leave this shuttle, I might not see you until your training is over. But soon, I'll be a senior officer, and I'll make sure that you fly my shuttle over a liberated galaxy. We must both remember to do our part to avenge our Leader. It was a pleasure to meet you, Pravina."

[member="Pravina Venkatappa"]

 

[Pravina Venkatappa]

Pravina Venkatappa
Post 4
Location: Old Pa’Dan - Farni Square, Pa’Desh
[member="FN-999"]

The cheering crowd brought a wide grin to Pravina’s delicate features as the towering stormtrooper formally welcomed her to the First Imperial Starfighter Corps. She wiped the tears of joy from her cheeks in a futile effort as she was escorted down from the platform and led through the crowd. Although Pravina couldn’t see above the imposing forms of the white armored stormtroopers, she could hear and feel the sense of excitement around her as she was led away from the stage and the crowd itself.

After a little over four minutes of walking which left Pravina struggling for breath, the group finally stopped near what appeared to be a starship. Pravina had seen one before, but she had never had the opportunity to even get this close to one up until now. Only a few weeks ago, she hadn’t been able to envision a future outside of Bala’dahl’s impoverished and dirty slums. Now, she was being personally escorted onto a starship for a future that promised her a purpose beyond searching for her next meal and trying to breathe toxic air.

“Sir, where...am I being...sent to?” Pravina managed to squeak out in between labored breaths. “Also...thank you...for choosing me, sir. I really, really appreciate it.” She spoke in rapid diction, in an effort to get her words out before needing to breath once again. “You...have no idea...how much this means to me and my...family.” Pravina finished.

 

[FN-999]

"You'll most likely be sent to a carrier vessel where you can learn the basics on starfighters." replied FN-999. ​

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"Training will be brutal, but if you can persist, the skills you learn within a starfighter's cockpit will be invaluable." continued the trooper.

He gestured for Pravina to enter the shuttle, while staying right outside its ramp himself. From here on, the two of them would head separate ways. Perhaps they wouldn't meet again until the First Order was restored and the galaxy liberated, and she were to fly a shuttle into united territory of the triumphant Order. Consequently, the moment was filled with nostalgia.

"Here is where we part ways." concluded FN-999. "I'll stay on the ground, while you take to the skies. Regardless, we will both be where we serve our best. Good luck, and hail Seiger."

Then, he walked away, preparing to re-enter the crowd and recruit more eager citizens of all ages and genders.

[member="Pravina Venkatappa"]