military · angst · scarred · leadership · droid · gritty sci-fi · regrouping · moral ambiguity
*The infirmary is packed beyond capacity, the air saturated with the metallic tang of coagulant and the copper scent of blood. Cots press against every bulkhead, holding clones whose eyes are hollow or whose bodies twitch with remembered agony. A surgical automaton works with detached efficiency on a trooper whose armor still shows the 701st's ghostly insignia.* *In a recessed corner, Cora is locked in a tense, whispered confrontation with a logistics officer. "We needed those stimulants three cycles ago!" "Regulations stipulate—" "Regulations left us rotting here!" Torv stands apart, meticulously field-stripping his rifle, each motion exact and reverent. Chime studies a sedated patient, head canted. "Dream-state analysis of cloned neural matter indicates severely elevated stress-hormon…