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“This sucks. Why do we have to do all the boring stuff, while the other guys are on the frontlines?” Rimau complained, his voice coming out more robotic due to his helmet. “Aren’t we supposed to be like, Vader’s Fist or whatever?”
“Nobody actually calls us that.” Anden sighs, shaking his head. “‘Sides, it’s only three days. That ain’t so bad.”
“And,” Cadet tunes in. “We’re— we’re allowed free time to roam during the evening. The commander said so.” Rimau sniffed.
“So?” He sounded unamused, his helmet tilted the slightest bit. Cadet sighed, irritated, rolling his eyes though he knew Rimau couldn’t see.
“So we get to go to local bars and crap, dude. This is basically a vacation,” He replied.
The three of them, alongside a few other members of the 501st, were assigned to guard some precious material for the Emperor for a few days on a remote planet in the middle rim. The planet was near bare, with only a few small civilizations scattered around the habitable areas, and an imperial base sat proud in one of the less densely populated regions. Cadet thought it was kind of an eyesore compared to the rest of the buildings around, if he was honest.
They were the ones on duty at that moment. Their commanding officer never separated them, probably because he knew they’d be annoying about it. Or maybe it was because the other troopers seemed to avoid them during missions, so he was left with no choice. Cadet didn’t care all too much either way, because he was able to work with his friends.
Anden yawned from next to him, the sound muffled. “Man, I wish we hadn't been assigned the night shift, though.” He lowered his voice. “You think I could take a quick nap without the commander noticing?”
Cadet shoved him, shaking his head.
“Absolutely not. If we’re suffering, so are you.” Anden rubbed where Cadet had shoved him, as if it could’ve possibly hurt through his armor.
“Man, whaddya mean ‘we’? Rimau’s snoozing.” Anden nodded toward where Rimau sat, and sure enough, he was softly snoring. Cadet grumbled under his breath. Of course he was. Typical Rimau.
He went and kicked Rimau awake, none too gently, and the other man startled awake.
“Huh? Whuh?” He yawned. “Are we being attacked?” Anden snorted from behind them.
“If we were, you’d have already gotten shot,” He said plainly, making Cadet laugh. Rimau grumbled to himself, standing back up without another word, and the three of them fell into a silence as they guarded the door.
The rest of the shift passed by quickly, and by the time it ended, the three of them were so tired that they stumbled the whole way to their quarters. One of the guys that had been assigned to guard the base led them to their assigned quarters, and when they got inside the room, Anden immediately took his helmet off.
“Stars, that was exhausting. I dunno about you guys, but I’m ready to hit the hay.” He yawned, looking back at Cadet and Rimau. They were quick to take off their own helmets, Cadet shaking his curls loose, Rimau scratching his cheek.
“Uh, guys, were there some budget cuts recently?” He asked. Cadet and Anden exchanged a look.
“Not as far as I’m aware,” Cadet responded. “Why?” Rimau pointed to the room beyond them, and the two of them turned to look.
The room that awaited them was a standard Empire-issued quarters, except rather than the usual four bunks, there was only one. Cadet furrowed his eyebrows. He was sure the other trooper hadn’t led them to a higher-up’s room, which meant that they were expecting three adult men to share one small bunk.
“I call the bed,” Anden blurted after a few seconds of silence passed between them. Rimau shoved him.
“Like hell!” He shouted. Anden shrugged and gestured to himself.
“I’m the tallest. It only makes sense. Sleeping on the floor would hurt my back too much.”
“You’re not that much taller than me!” Rimau looked ready to throw a punch or two, and while Cadet would love to see that normally, he was exhausted.
“Guys, we can just share.” He said, turning toward the weapons rack and taking the rest of his bulkier armor pieces off. The other two were silent, so he turned to look at them. “What?”
Rimau shrugged.
“Guess we just hadn’t thought of that,” Anden said. “I’m down.”
“Me too,” Rimau cut in. “And I had thought of it, I just didn’t say anything.” Cadet scoffed.
“Sure you did. Hurry up, both of you, I’m tired.”
The other two exchanged a glance before proceeding to make a competition out of who could get ready for bed the fastest. Cadet watched in amusement as Rimau won by a split second, sitting on the small bed. Rimau made a tsk noise at him.
“You’re going in the middle. You’re the smallest.” Cadet made a face.
“Shouldn’t I be closest to the wall then?” He asked. Anden shook his head.
“No, I get the wall because I’m the tallest,” He said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Rimau nodded sagely, so Cadet sighed and stood up for Anden to get into the bed first. He followed, then Rimau followed him. With the right positioning, the three of them were able to fit into the small bunk easily, and Cadet felt his eyes getting heavier. He’d gone to sleep in far more uncomfortable situations, and his friends were warm. He barely even noticed their whispered debate over him as he finally was able to drift off to sleep.