[HARD CONTACT] Chapter 6: I love the humor of RepComm

|| Republic Commando: Hard Contact || 2004 || Book series || Military, Sci-Fi || 18+ for violence and harrowing themes || 

Crawling with his packs generated a lot of heat, but the bodysuit regulated it obediently. The armor system had more pluses than disadvantages. He didn’t have to worry about wildlife waiting to bite, sting, poison, infect, or otherwise ruin his entire day.
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or otherwise ruin his entire day. I love the humor of this book. :DDDD

[HARD CONTACT] Chapter 6: Uj cake

 || Republic Commando: Hard Contact || 2004 || Book series || Military, Sci-Fi || 18+ for violence and harrowing themes || 

Every so often he paused to kneel and sip some water from his bottle. His stomach’s fantasies were no longer of sizzling nerf strips but of sweet, filling, sticky, amber uj cake. It was a rare treat. His training sergeant had allowed his squad—his original squad—to try it, breaking the Kaminoan rules on feeding clones carefully balanced nutritional mixes. “You’re still just boys,” he’d told them. “Fill yer boots.” And they had. Good old Kal.

The flavor was still achingly vivid in Darman’s mind. He wondered what other normal civilian indulgences he might enjoy if he had access to them.

He slapped the thought down hard. His discipline was his self-esteem. He was a professional.

He still thought about that uj cake, though.

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First mention of the uj cake!!! Boy is so hungry he is daydreaming about uj cake and then beating himself up like BOY GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER YOU ARE A SOLDIER!!! But but but. Uj cake. I love Darman more and more. 

Also the fact that Sergeant Skirata broke the rules and feed them with sweets anyway. <333 

[HARD CONTACT] Chapter 6: Darman misses his squad

 || Republic Commando: Hard Contact || 2004 || Book series || Military, Sci-Fi || 18+ for violence and harrowing themes || 

He slapped the thought down hard. His discipline was his self-esteem. He was a professional.
He still thought about that uj cake, though.
“Come on, get moving,” he said, very tired of the absence of comrades’ voices and seeking comfort in his own. He would be his commanding officer, just to stay sharp. “Shift it.”
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Darman feels so lonely, damn. He is tired, he is hungry, he thought about uj cake, and now he misses his old squad, but also probably the company of his new squad he barely knows. And probably he misses Sergeant Skirata too.

[HARD CONTACT] Chapter 6: BIRDS!!!!!!

 || Republic Commando: Hard Contact || 2004 || Book series || Military, Sci-Fi || 18+ for violence and harrowing themes || 

Then there was a sudden patch of darkness in his visor.

Darman stopped dead. The thing had malfunctioned. But the image returned, glowing, red, and wet, and he realized he was looking into the digestive tract of a living creature.

Something had swallowed the remote.

A few moments later a large bird, slowly flapping four wings, sailed overhead and cast an alarming shadow before him. He glanced up. It was probably the same kind that had been sucked into the Narsh sprayer’s atmos engine.

“I hope it gives you gutache, you scumbag,” he said, and waited for it to dwindle to a black speck before moving on.

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WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Darman's line in Hungarian - Akadjon a torkodon, te nyomorult! - is thing I still affectionately tell to my cat whenever she swallows something she shouldn't have. :DDD 

[HARD CONTACT] Chapter 6: Ramikadyc

|| Republic Commando: Hard Contact || 2004 || Book series || Military, Sci-Fi || 18+ for violence and harrowing themes || 

I think Darman is doing the Ramikadyc here: 

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The last of the cube dissolved in his mouth. “Come on, soldier, haul it up,” he said. Playing mind games could keep him going. The trick was to remember where the game ended and then snap back to reality. Right then he decided to let his commander-self shout him into action.

“Sir!” he said, and sprang up from a kneeling position in one move. He tottered slightly when his knees locked out, but he stayed upright and leaned against a tree.

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Skirata called it ramikadyc—in a commando state of mind. It was a soldier’s unshakable belief that he or she could do anything, endure anything, take any risk, and succeed. It was stronger than muscle. It made the body do the impossible.

I’m not in pain. Any pain that I feel is temporary. Nothing can touch me. This is happening to someone else. I just observe it as I pass.

That mantra kept Darman going when all he wanted to do was lie down and die.

(...)

Some visualized putting their pain and fear in a box, or concentrating on its physical reality so minutely that it fragmented and ceased to register; some simply imagined they were somewhere else. And pushed beyond the breaking point by hunger, thirst, or exhaustion, Darman had been taught to focus only on the next moment that he could bear to think about—the next second, next step, next hill, next meal—time after time, until he’d come through the ordeal.

- Imperial Commando: 501st
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