Today I am going for something a little different. Rather than writing a review, I am going to practice my writing by picking a writing prompt from https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/ and see what I can come up with.
I’ve decided that I will go for a Star Wars based story. The writing prompt is “The Empire has gotten fed up with the terrible aim of its storm troopers, and has instituted a remedial marksmanship program.”
Commandant Rhorro Berand was feeling… content. The next batch of Stormtroopers to graduate from the Imperial Training Facility that he oversaw were due to complete their training in one standard week. The majority would be shipping out to serve as local enforcement, a few would be moving on to specialist training programs designed for harsher environments.
Commandant Berand sighed as he looked out of his office window at the trainees currently marching in perfect unison through the parade ground, he was unsure if they were being marched as a punishment or not, laps of the facility were often a punishment for minor infractions. This latest batch of trainees was not the best to have passed through the facility, far from the worst though. He was pleased with how they had progressed. One of the best parts of being in charge of the training facility was that standards were low, the current need for troops far outweighing the rate of recruitment meant that it was harder to fail than pass. The best part was being far removed from actual combat but admitting to being a coward was out of the question.
Berand was interrupted from his musings by the sound of commotion coming from the parade ground. The cadets he had been watching had moved on and in their place, an Imperial shuttle was coming in for a landing.
“Z-3H, explain to me why there is a shuttle landing on my parade ground” Berand instructed the droid that had been waiting patiently in the corner of the room
“Accessing… Sir, it would appear that a representative from Imperial High Command is visiting the facility, they have transmitted appropriate authorisation codes.”
Berand’s feelings of contentment were a distant memory, visits from Imperial High Command were rarely good, and often very bad. He could recall hearing from an acquaintance about an inspection of an armory that had been experiencing high failure rates on vehicles they had produced. Imperial High Command had decided that it was the work of rebels and had executed the facility commander, the foreman in charge of production, and a handful of others too. Berand was never sure if that was because of genuine rebel activity or just to send a message.
“Z-3H, prepare to receive the visitor, I want training reports, disciplinary reports, and a staff summary available for them immediately.” Without waiting for a reply from the droid Berand stood up and went striding out of the office.
Arriving at the parade ground Berand could see that his visitor had already disembarked, already a mark against him for not being there to greet them immediately. Approaching the figure at the bottom of the shuttle ramp Berand stumbled slightly. His visitor was a Grand Admiral, this was not good news at all. Berand righted himself and tried to regain his composure as he reached the Grand Admiral and snapped into his best parade ground salute, fitting considering the Admiral had decided to land right there next to the flag pole.
“Grand Admiral, my sincere apologies for not being here to greet you sooner, I am Commandant Rhorro Berand, welcome to our training facility.” A bead of sweat had started to trail down Berand’s face despite the frigid conditions
“I am aware of who you are Rhorro, show me to your office. I’ve already been standing out here for too long.” The Grand Admiral wasn’t one for introductions. The use of Berand’s first name seemed somewhat disrespectful, a sign of how far above the Grand Admiral was in rank, Berand would need to tread carefully here.
As Berand studied the Grand Admiral the only impression he got was that this was a serious man. Older than Berand but not by much the Grand Admiral had a stately bearing. Slightly taller too, every inch of the man before him was regulation, greying hair kept close to the scalp, no facial hair, uniform exactly to specifications. Berand felt shabby by comparison.
“Of course Grand Admiral, please follow me.” Berand turned and led the way to the office growing increasingly more worried with each step. The Grand Admiral was also not one for small talk, he intended to save whatever it was he had come to say until they were situated in Berand’s office.
As they entered the office Z-3H stepped forward to deliver the reports that Berand had asked for before he left to greet the Grand Admiral
“Grand Admiral, I had my droid prepare some reports on our training here for your perusal, I hope they will prove satisfactory.” Berand tried to keep his nervousness from his voice but he wasn’t sure he succeeded.
“I know what I need to know already Rhorro, do you think I would come unprepared? Leave us droid.”
Berand floundered slightly as Z-3H turned and left immediately, no one else in the facility could command Z-3H without Berand’s approval, of course, that wouldn’t apply to a Grand Admiral from Imperial High Command but Z-3H didn’t even look to him before leaving, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the droid followed orders and yet Berand felt somewhat betrayed, things were getting away from him quickly and he still had no idea why the Grand Admiral was even here.
“If you’re going to stand there all day looking stupid then I’ll begin.” Berand hadn’t noticed that while he was lost in thought the Grand Admiral had already seated himself, in Berand’s seat no less, and was waiting to begin. Taking a seat on the wrong side of his desk Berand tried to regain some composure as the Grand Admiral began.
“We have a rather severe problem Rhorro.” The expression on the Grand Admiral’s face hadn’t changed at all since his arrival, it was one of disappointment with a hint of something else, disgust?
“You had the droid bring reports for me, tell me are you familiar with what those reports say? How well do you know your facility Commandant?” the edge that the Grand Admiral put on his title sent chills up Berand’s spine
“Sir? I know the facility very well Sir. My trainers all prepare detailed reports daily that my droid summarises for me, anything out of the ordinary is brought straight to my attention, we run a good facility here Sir.” Berand may be a coward but he was a good administrator, he was almost certain the Grand Admiral hadn’t found anything major to criticise him on in the daily operations or in the reports that he himself sent on to Imperial High Command.
“Indeed you do Rhorro, so far we have found no fault in your leadership. For the time being, we are willing to allow you to retain your command of this facility. However, we have a new directive for you.” The Grand Admiral pulled out a file and placed it on Berand’s desk
“Do you happen to know, Rhorro, what the average score of a cadet is across all facilities for marksmanship?”
“Yes Grand Admiral, Imperial guidelines state a passing score for a cadet is 70% accuracy, I believe that high performing cadets bring the actual average score up to between 76-78%” Being a good administrator has some advantages, as luck would have it Berand had asked for a report on this very subject about one standard month ago. The Grand Admiral may have even quirked an eyebrow slightly at his answer, maybe he was impressed, equally likely it could have been an itch.
“77% is what our reports show as being the average marksmanship of Stormtroopers in combat situations. As you astutely pointed out higher-performing soldiers do tend to increase the average slightly. I’ll be blunt with you, Imperial High Command has decided that this isn’t good enough. Footage obtained from recent battles make our Stormtroopers look incompetent, something has to be done.” The Grand Admiral paused and opened the file that he had placed on the desk.
“Your new training regime is contained in this file, the finest minds at Imperial High Command have worked on an intensive program designed to take the average score above 90%. With that in mind, we will be increasing the passing grade from 70% to 85%. Any cadets close to graduation will have their training period increased to give them time to meet this new requirement.”
Unfortunate for the cadets that were due to graduate but the new target should be achievable in time, Berand was feeling a lot better about this meeting. From fearing for his job, and possibly his life, now he was faced with a challenging new assignment.
“Also Rhorro, all non-combat duties are to be suspended, cadets will focus solely on training. Any leave is cancelled for instructors and cadets. Instructors must also complete at least 10 hours of marksmanship practice per week.”
“Yes Grand Admiral, I look forward to meeting this new target. I will have these orders to the trainers immediately. You can count on us” Berand had already begun to plan out the new timetables for the instructors, not being able to reward cadets with light non-combat duties combined with the increased workload might sap morale slightly but they would manage. This was an opportunity, Berand could turn this to his advantage, promotion might not be out of the question, to think how worried he had been when the Grand Admiral showed up, it was almost enough to make him chuckle.
“Oh one more thing Rhorro”
Berand had been lost in thought again, the Grand Admiral had left his seat and was at the door preparing to leave
“Yes, Grand Admiral?”
“There is something else in that file I forgot to mention, unsigned orders for your reassignment”
Berand was sure the colour must have drained from his face at that moment, was that a hint of satisfaction in the Grand Admiral’s eyes?
“Should you fail to bring the standards to a more acceptable level in this training environment then we will be generously offering you a chance to redeem yourself. You will be sent to provide in-field training to troops on the front lines, to lead by example. I suggest you make sure your own skills aren’t lacking. You have one standard month to make these improvements or those orders will be signed. Good Luck Rhorro.
Berand wasn’t even sure he noticed the Grand Admiral leave. The front lines? He might prefer execution to that. Looking around his comfortable office Berand noticed that Z-3H had returned.
“Z-3H, make sure these orders and the new training regime are passed to the instructors, instruct them to familiarise themselves with the contents, and inform them that we will have a meeting in the morning to discuss how we proceed. Quickly Z-3H, we have a lot to do and not a lot of time.”
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