A stormtroopers tale: stop that ship chapter 1

[Darth Tanner]

One question about the Twilek colony. One billion people, and they only have ~300,000 personnel for defense, along with 2 wings of local fighters, and 2 squadrons of FTL capable fighters?

You’re right, in retrospect that is just plain silly! I've decreased the planets population to one million, as I never really intended for it to have any military impact on the Convictions operations. Oh and I didn't really intend for it to be seen as a major economic centre, just a supply factory for Kuat that happens to be on its own planet, and it only produces civilian engine parts, so I assume its not of any real value. (otherwise they wouldn'y have sent the Conviction)

Also I was intending to have slavery play a part in the plot but I never thought about having it actually on the planet with the Stormtroopers deployed to its surface, I might steal your idea but it would raise problems with why the Conviction is taking part in planetary law enforcement.

I hate the common idea that the Empire would use slavery; even some people suggesting slaves were used to build the Death Star! Why on earth would a modern technological government need slavery or even condone it, it makes neither economic nor strategic sense. And am glad you seem not to share this idea.

BTW I was previously disproportionately annoyed that you had relatively elite soldiers requiring mouse droids to show them around. I get the point and sure it would prevent Spinal Tap style stupidity, but it just didn't seem to fit in right. Nice to see now they can navigate without them when needed.

Why? I don't have any military experience but from what I have seen on TV (cus its real!) things like carriers are mazes to people who haven’t served on them for some time like in NCIS where the woman (is it Abbey?) gets lost and end up in the toilet. I know the Romans built their forts so that you would always know the layout because it was the same empire wide but I would image that the Empire, which inherited a lot if its military infrastructure from the chaotic republic and independent system governments could not effectively do this, with the exception of those prefab garrisons they seem to drop everywhere.

Thanks for all the feedback. Keep it coming

[Coalition]

Also I was intending to have slavery play a part in the plot but I never thought about having it actually on the planet with the Stormtroopers deployed to its surface, I might steal your idea but it would raise problems with why the Conviction is taking part in planetary law enforcement.

I'd see slavery not for labor, but for private entertainment (like Jabba's palace). So there would be large profits in the 'business', as the customers are paying for entertainment, rather than business.

The Imperials are more concerned with patrols in other areas, stomping out rebels, and the slavers are very careful around Imperial invetigators, and bribing the others. Not to mention that slaves are a potential rebel spy system. A smart Imperial will use basic droids, to avoid any spies getting in. The droids would be memory wiped at the end of each day, and fresh programming loaded at the beginning.

So the stormtroopers will do their patrols, and not see anything. But later on, as they bust a few pirates, they find the slaves on board. When the slaves tell that they were taken from the same planet that the Stormies are based on, things hit the fan.

It would be a good way to make the Imperial troops rethink their mindsets. "Slavery happens in other places, but under Imperial rule, you don't have to worry." Then they find that it has been going on the entire time. It would be a mental punch in the gut.

The only time you would use slave labor is to keep prisoners busy, and too tired to plot escapes. Even then, it wouldn't be anything fancier that license plates, or lots of mud bricks. They key is to keep the prisoners busy, and tired, rather than profit.

[Darth Tanner]

Ah.. sex slavery, that is scarily similar to our current state, with regular slavery being abolished for some time but sex slavery being rife, with women from poor nations being shipped illegaly to the wealthy countries.

hmmm I might use this actually, could be an intersting final plot twist, well unless youve just read this... oh well, i'll put it in anyway.

[LadyTevar]

That seems to be the common Fanboy ideal of the Twi'Lek female: Sex slave/dancing girl.

I'd like to see one as an intelligent civilian contractor who manages to get the elevators working for them, leaving the stormies to sigh after her as she walks by

[jegs2]

Mike, I and some others got into a discussion of how stormtroopers differentiate their rank. Shoulder pauldrins can't be the only way to tell IMO (that seems more likely for the use of civilians to differentiate which stormtrooper at a checkpoint is in charge). We surmised that the stormtrooper helmet contains a heads-up display (HUD) that visually implants rank on whatever stormtrooper the trooper happens to be looking at, each stormtrooper having a specific code that "projects" his rank for other visors to discern. That would have an added benefit of force protection, as an enemy could not readily discern senior-ranking NCOs and officers.

You can see a HUD on the Land Warrior concept for the US Army in this image. The soldier's HUD is tied into an FBCB2 that projects both friendly and enemy data.

[Coalition]

That seems to be the common Fanboy ideal of the Twi'Lek female: Sex slave/dancing girl.

Completely true as to the dancing girl, but technical skills would allow the potential slave to escape, or perform sabotage. You have to find 'slave' skills that will not allow them to escape, but are in demand by a buyer. A slave that is an expert in demolitions will not remain a slave for long. A slave that is an expert in Alderaanian dance will be stymied by the number coded lock on the door.

I'd like to see one as an intelligent civilian contractor who manages to get the elevators working for them, leaving the stormies to sigh after her as she walks by

For the civilian contractors, that can be (and likely is) done also, as the colony is a ship refitting center. I probably should have said that not all the Twi'leks are sold as slaves, but the fact that it is occurring at their planet will be a slap in the face to the Imperial forces.

Any misunderstanding was probably my fault, for not being descriptive enough.

[Darth Tanner]

We surmised that the stormtrooper helmet contains a heads-up display (HUD) that visually implants rank on whatever stormtrooper the trooper happens to be looking at, each stormtrooper having a specific code that "projects" his rank for other visors to discern. That would have an added benefit of force protection, as an enemy could not readily discern senior-ranking NCOs and officers.

The Republic Commando game has something like this, with the HUD showing game related data like health and ammo, but in reality I see no problem just having the system serving to identify who is actually in the armour and rank details. I always thought the pauldrin was just part of the sand trooper equipment, maybe a heat sink or something, rather than a rank indication.

[Kartr_Kana]

Hey a couple of nit picks for an otherwise great story. First off is there CO a Col. or a Maj.? Second I just looked it up in the ISB, the unit structure pretty much follows the USMC's. Squad, platoon, company, battalion, regiment and division. The Empire also has the Legion and the USMC the FireTeam which is smaller then a squad. A squad is usually 12 men and a squad leader, and in the fleet Sgt.'s are usually a lot more chil'axed. The only place you'll really find one like the one in your story is at bootcamp. As for slaves the Empire did use them, thats how Han Solo lost his commision. He saved Chewie who was a slave, slaves also helped build the DeathStar IIRC. And I think its more of a psychological thing, kind of like the Third Riech and the Jews/Allied prisoners during WWII. Oh and the T-21 broke way to easy, no issue weapon should break that easy. They have to be tough and reliable.


Coalition its easy to subvert droids, programming and hardware wise. Slaves aren't more of a risk the're less of a risk, you notice them and are more likly to keep an eye on them then you would an everyday droid who could be recording and transmitting your every move.

Thats all I have for now, its a really good story though and I look forward to reading more.






Oh I'm living in one of those open barracks you mentioned, we call them squadbays and most of my NCO's live in the Squadbay with us. Soldier and Flyboy might know more about deployment barracks, but I garuntee that they don't live in a squadbay!

Keep writing!!