Gunny looked around, ensuring noone else was around to hear "Are you playing games with me, Trask? I'm sticking my neck out for you to be made a corporal the same day you join the ranks, and you're pulling this on me? What do you mean you saw all this? Did the battle do more damage to you than we thought?"

Aaron sighed, he knew he had to sound cray. "No Gunny no games. I'm not sure I can even begin to explain it. Not sure I even want to try. But I would  give you a hundred to one odds on that tunnel leading to the palace."

The Gunnery Sergeant looked back at the tunnels, trying to imagine what lay beyond. With the incredible density of Coruscant, even if the tunnels were connected to the temple, he wouldn't be able to see it, despite his imagination.

He turned back to you swiftly "I don't trust soldiers who are willing to gamble their lives away Trask. Gets everyone around them killed in the process, and I've already seen too much death. Republic Credits on the otherhand, I'll take that bet. Don't get any wild ideas though, falsifying a report to win a bet is not only petty, it's grounds for court martial. With there being no JAG on the frong lines, you get 'gunny justice'."

Aaron shrugged, "I'm not the type to be gambling with mine or anyone else's life. If you want pick a squad you trust and we will investigate."

Looking around at the destruction and the dead bodies from both sides. A somewhat sorrowful look clouded his face as he thought about things. I thought this was what I wanted. Now I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't have went about things differently.

"Let's see what the droid comes back with. If this tunnel does go that far, it may connect to a much wider system. If so, that makes this point very lucrative, and possibly very dangerous and hard to protect. We may have to take the valuable equipment and torch the rest behind us as we leave. I'll keep you up to date"

As you think to yourself, the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn comes through

"Wisdom pierces the veil of rage. Decisions, even the best possible ones, come with severe consequences. It is no small thing to end a life. You now understand the necessity of discretion, and restraint. Necessary qualities for a Jedi Knight, and a leader."
This message was last updated by the player at 18:58, Tue 09 Nov 2021.

Aaron nods, "Very well what should we do for the time being? I'm guessing it will take a while for the droid to report back." His question, though spoken to Gunny was truly aimed at both Gunny and Qui-Gon.

It was becoming quickly apparent that he was going to have to develop his patients and discipline.

"Eat, rest, check your gear, tend to your wounds. Whatever you need to make sure that whenever the next fight happens, you're ready for it."

Gunny gave a last moment of gruff humor as he walked away "If we're really lucky, this tunnel connects us to someone who caters"

Aaron grinned at Gunny's joke, who would have thought the guy even had a sense of humor. Working his way back to the comms building from earlier he found himself a place to sit and rest. Doing pretty much as Gunny had said he checked over his weapons and gear as he took the time to grab a bit to eat and to just let the adrenaline dissipate.

He was sure about this promotion Gunny had suggested, but for now he would live with it. Maybe he would be able to do some good after all. Leaning back against the wall of the building he tried to relax as he watched the others in the unit. Some were doing the same as him others were about doing one thing or another. Spotting Jon and Squig he waved them over, "Take a load off guys. get a bit of rest before something else happens and we're on the move again."

"Man, I hope we're not leaving already. All that work just to get here, only to give up the position."

Squib, halfway deep into a canned dinner, tabs the teen on his shoulder "oh, right. The medic chick was asking about you. Wouldn't say why."

"The medic chick? Really Jon, her name is Dilancia, Sergeant Dilancia to be accurate." He grinned "Might not want to let her catch you calling her the medic chick. You might end up needing a medic if she does."

Standing up he stretched a bit as he looked around for the sergeant. "Guess I better not keep her waiting."

Heading for the area where the injured were being tended was his best bet. Spotting the Sergeant he stopped a couple feet short. He wasn't entirely sure how things in this military were suppose to work. So he imitated some of what he had seen in vids and real life. "Ma'am, Private Trask reporting."

There was a noticeable eyeroll from Jon as you walked away. Seargent Dilancia was actually just beyond the injured. She was in the rows of the dead, using small pieces of equipment and an air-propelled optical sensor droid as she studied the dead in exacting detail.

"As you were, Corporal. You may refer to me simply as Technical Sergeant, or Sarge. As you can see, I work for a living. I understand you're my new second."

Aaron's posture eased only slightly as he nodded to Sergeant Dilancia. "Looks that way Sergeant. Though in all honesty I really wasn't quite use to being a private. So this is all coming about a rather quick and taking a bit of getting use to."

He stopped talking before he buried himself to deep. Wondering for the hundredth time or more if he should have chosen a different path.

"Life rarely moves at the pace we want it. War, almost never. If you're going to have any success, especially as a leader, you're going to need to be able adapt quickly. Hopefully, that leads to fewer insane charges into fire to plant explosives."

She sits up momentarily, resting on one knee to look at you properly "I really hope you didn't join the Resistance to die a hero in a blaze of glory."

Aaron nodded, "Yeah, something that is becoming more and more apparent the longer I'm on Courascant."

"Trust me I have no desire to die or be a hero. It was just something that had to be done."

"Good, because I don't how much longer I can spend filling out death reports and consolation letters for unnecessary deaths of soldiers, especially when they're capable of doing so much more."

She sits up, making a few short jabs on her datapad, before looking at you. "I run a tighter ship than Gunny does. Until you can be trusted to keep yourselves alive, don't expect it to change."

She looks down for a moment, her rigid armor showing a slight crack "how's your injury?"

Aaron hand reflexively went to his side, the wound really hadn't bothered him since earlier. "It's good, haven't had any pain or trouble recently. You do good work." He wasn't sure what the sergeant was leading up too but hopefully nothing serious.

"I understand Sergent. I'll do my best to stay alive and keep the others alive as well."

"Well, that's good news, because I'm putting you on first sentry watch. There's a strong chance of a First Order counterattack, so really have to be vigilant in the middle of the night. You, I'm less concerned about. It's Larthol I'm worried about. I don't know if he has  the maturity for this. He'll be on the last watch, so he'll be up with the sun. If he's dozing or slacking off, that's it, no questions asked."

Aaron nods. "I'll speak with him and see if I can impress up on him how crucial the task is. I think he wants to do his best. But like you said if he can't cut it he will have to go."

Aaron felt that Jon would be okay but the sergeant was right. "Is there anything else sergeant?"

"Not at this time, no." She said, as she began to look over the captured biometric information. There was a pause, even after she put it down "I'd better be left to my work. It's a painful collateral duty, but it's important."

Tech Sargent returns to her knees, capturing more images and data of the fallen. "The New Republic wants to try and identify every fallen soldier, on both sides. Many of the First Order soldiers were abducted children, more than anyone can count really. Someone thought it would be worthwhile to their surviving families to know what happened. I don't know if I would want to know that my missing son was brainwashed to be the enemy, but if it's closure for even one person, this will all be worth it."

"There is one thing you could do for me, Corporal" She says as she sits up briefly, wiping the early signs of sweat from her forehead "Our squad's going to need a name, and I'm not good at that. Last time I tried to give my squad a name I nearly had a mutiny. Figure something out, come back to me by morning. Just make sure we're not going to embarass ourselves when we say it over comlinks, okay?"

Aaron nodded and was about to excuse himself as the Sargent started talking again. He hadn't thought much about the First Orders soldiers. The fact that they were mostly abducted children, raised and brainwashed to follow the First Order, was something he had heard as a rumor but had never really thought it was real. The fact that the Sargent was gathering data to try and figure out where each one had come from sounded like a lot of effort. But it did sound worthwhile if a family somewhere would know what had happened to their child.

When she said he needed to figure out a name for the squad he groaned inwardly. It was not something he would likely be good at but he would give it a go. "I'll do my best with a name but I'm not gonna make any promises about how good it will be."

"I should go talk to Jon, make sure he knows whats expected of him."

Jon was exactly where he had been left, Squib near his side and having attracted a couple of other soldiers who could best be described as "scrapping". Lots of trying to talk over each other, loudly, so it was hard to tell exactly what one or the other was saying.

He wanted very much at this point to just find a nice quite spot and hide for a while. But it was to late for that now. With a loud whistle he grabbed the bunches attention.

"Okay soldiers quiet down. We're gonna be sticking it out here for a bit. At least until reinforcements arrive. So in the mean time it falls to use to hold this place should First Order forces decide to try and take it back. So everyone needs to check their gear and if your running low on anything let me know or see if you can scrounge anything up."

He looked around at the others gathered around, "You lot got names?"

The crowd seperates, hearing your loud and declarative voice. A few glares. None bother to address you specifically. One of them stands up and approaches you, as if to size you up, but is quickly intercepted by Squig.

Jon looked at you crossly as he crossed his arms. "Who died and made you CO?"

Aaron gave Jon a rather neutral look for a moment. "No one Jon. The sergeant and gunny both told me to get you lot ready. Just as a precaution. And Sgt. Dilancia has you on last watch Jon. So you might want to turn in early, wouldn't want to fall asleep while on watch. And definitely wouldn't want the sergeant catching you asleep."

"Always have it out for me." Jon says to himself. "I've got the watch. Don't worry, nobody'll catch me"

OOC: if you're done with everything for now, we'll time skip off to the next big event. If there's something you want to do in the meantime, you have the conn.