I have not updated this in forever. Help me.

I don't own anything.
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The day was already hot despite it being nine in the morning. Or it was just the excited atmosphere. Either way, Orson's palms were constantly sweaty and he kept wiping them on his knees, wondering why he was so nervous. It was just a school competition.

Well, it was more than a school competition. This was the Republic's Futures Program. These were the best of the best in the galaxy. And to be fair, he didn't know if he had the skills to stand a chance against them.

A soft arm wrapped around his shoulders and he was pulled to the side. Galen have him a tight squeeze before kissing him lightly on the forehead. He signed something and Orson slowly translated it. *"You're going to do just fine, Orson."*

Orson nodded. But he still wasn't comforted. The first round was the academic round and he, Mina, and Galen had agreed to go first. Orson had no idea what kind of academics they were talking about. If it was writing, he was going to fail. If it was reading, he was going to fall asleep. If it was math, he had a chance.

He wondered what Galen was thinking.

To his right, Mina sat tapping her pen against her textbooks. She was binging on information before they went in. As for Quint, he was looking around for Lyra. "Where the hell is Lyra?" He asked.

Orson shrugged. "I dunno." Then his eyes fell on to a small figure with a rope leading from their hand to the blob in front of them. Lyra ran up to the crew with her reek. The reek looked much better than it did a few days ago.

Orson swung off his seat and dropped to his knees. The reek nearly jumped into his arms. It began kissing him with its large tongue. "Why hello to you too, Hoagie!" Orson laughed.

Hoagie had been the name the group settled on. Mina wanted to call it Sapphire (which Orson argued was a girl's name), Lyra wanted to call it Emmitt (which Quint said didn't fit), Galen wanted to call him Horny (which everyone agreed was a terrible name) and Orson wanted to call it Galen (which Lyra said was stupid). It was Quint who chose the name Hoagie and while there was some controversy, Lyra liked the name and so became Hoagie the Reek.

Lyra bent down and rubbed Hoagie's horn. "You ready for the competition?" She asked Orson.

"No," he admitted quietly. "I'm far from ready. I can't believe we're doing this."

"What?" Lyra looked up at him, confused. "Speak up. You know Ilum screwed with my hearing." Orson repeated himself in a near shouting voice right in her ear. Lyra slapped him lightly across the face before saying "Hey, I'm not the one who signed us all up. But it's better than doing nothing I suppose."

Suddenly a woman's voice came over the loudspeaker. "We will now begin sending in those who are participating in the academic round of the Republic's Program Academy School Competition." Her voice droned. "Please step forwards and enter the metal door on the south side of the building when your team name is called."

"Wait, what's our team name?" Quint asked.

"I don't think we ever came up with one..." Mina said slowly. Orson and Galen nodded. They hadn't come with one either.

Lyra said otherwise. "You'll know when our team name comes up. It's something you can't miss." Orson was skeptical. Lyra had a tendency to think something was obvious when it wasn't for the rest.

The lady drawled through team names. "Avalanche... Break-Through... Bone Crusher... Cue-the-Horns... Devil's Advocate... Entitled... Fails-Aren't-Allowed... Game on... Havoc... Hawkeye... Hoagie..."

Orson burst out laughing and fell off the bench. Mina rolled her eyes and shut her book, shoving it into Quint's hands. "Come on, Krennic. Let's get going." Galen picked up Orson and supported him as Orson laughed like a maniac.

As they passed Lyra, she had the widest grin Orson had ever seen on her face. Galen gave her a shove on the shoulder before they strode into the building.

Orson nearly fell backwards when he saw the building. It was the biggest building he had ever seen. 'So this is what the Republic's Program's auditorium looks like.' The seats had been arranged so they could fit desks in between the rows. The grand stage below the rows of seats held stand-up databoards and one large one in the back of the room that was both a timer and dwscribing what the assignment was.

Orson sat down and looked at his desk. He had everything he needed, from a calculator, to an abacus, to more than enough pens and scrap paper. On the desks contained an envelope with a datapad in it and three chips. One was math, one was an essay, and one was abbreviated SAQ. In the corner of his desk was a small red button.

As soon as all the groups were seated, a teacher came in. "Folks, please take out your datapads and insert the chip that reads math. You must complete the no calculator and the calculator sections of the math before we give you the next test. Press the red button on your right when you are finished. You may begin... now!"

Orson seized his math chip and shoved it on. He opened the datapad. A geometry problem as the first question? This was already looking up! He wrote chicken scratch until he came up with an answer, which he circled. Then he moved on.

For the next twenty minutes, Orson worked vigorously to finish his test. To his left, Galen was (and this came as a surprise to no one) the first one finished with his math test. A teacher came up to him and took the math chip from his datapad. Then they told him to continue on responding to a prompt in essay format. Orson glanced over and saw the prompt was something boring. "Is history still important to learn today?" Of course it was! Orson hoped he got the same prompt because his mind was raging with responses.

He was the seventh person to ring the bell and swapped out his math chip for the essay. To his dismay, he had a different prompt. "Should the voting age for the Chancellor be lowered from 18 to 16?" As much as Orson wanted to say yes (which would allow him to vote) he wasn't sure if it was the best for the entire galaxy. What if there was a 16 year old who wasn't as smart as him and not as aware of the world as he was? At the same time, it would force 16 year olds to become more aware, about two years out from the coming of age for a human and full adulthood for other species. Orson weighed the pros and cons of each before settling on an opinion and putting them down on the essay.

Mina ran the bell long after Galen and Orson had finished their math. However, she was the fourth in the entire room to ring the bell for the completed essay. Her topic had been "Should there be a ruler over the Entire Galaxy rather than each individual planet?" Orson wondered if that would be an easier topic to write about. He watched as Mina received a datapad that would simulate a political situation. She had to respond to each question given to her.

Orson rang second on his team, which he figured was about twenty-fifth in the entire group. He moved on to the SAQ chip, which was nothing more than a Speed Answer Quiz. They had to answer 100 questions varying in all subjects throughout the school in less than fifteen minutes. Galen rang the bell only a few minutes after him and was given the third chip. Maybe his team could pull off a win after all!
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"You want me to write a chronicle about our LIFE!?" Orson roared. "B-But Galen, I-no, why?"

Galen took a slow deep breath a looked off in the distance. "One day, we won't be remembered."

Orson scoffed. "What the hell, Galen? We're going to be remembered-"

"Then tell me about some other Directors in the Empire." Galen's eyes were cold. "What did they do? Their greatest accomplishment? Their innocent years as a child?" Orson was unable to answer. "Think about it. Even your massive weapon won't have your name pasted to it. People will remember it by the higher-ups."

Orson became enraged. He seized Galen by the shoulders and slammed him into a wall. "What makes you say that? The Death Star will always bear-"

"Who created the first battle droid?" Galen demanded. He clenched Orson's wrists to alleviate some of the pressure off his body.

"The Separatists."

"Specifically."

"Dooku."

Galen shook his head. "It was the Geonosians. But because Dooku was higher than them, he receives the credit."

Orson scoffed. What the hell was Galen talking about? He didn't know the first thing about fame! "I don't understand what this has to do with a chronicle of our lives."

"Trust me on this one. Please. In time you will understand." Galen pushed him off. "I need to get back to work." He left without another word.

Confused and enraged, Orson returned to his Star Destroyer, the Raider, and pondered over the issue for a while. Did he really have to do this? What was Galen hoping to achieve? There were too many questions and no answers. He procrastinated until it made him queasy and then he grabbed his datapad. Orson stared at the blank screen for a while, wondering where to start. He considered childhood. But that was too long ago for him to remember easily.

What about the Republic's Futures Program?

Orson sighed at set his fingers in the holonet board. Then he began to type.

"The rubber band ball bounced off the holodesk and right back into his hands. Again and again, it hopped back and forth, always landing in the young man's hands until his teacher came around and stole it from him. "I'll be seeing you again after class," she hissed."
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Why does Galen want a chronicle of their life? We shall find out! At some point.

I hope this chapter made some sense to you all.

Please review and vote!