THERE WERE four of them in the fire team and because shouting out things like FN twenty one eighty seven watch your back was a mouthful especially when the blaster fire was searing the air around them they'd defaulted to shorter versions In front of the officers in front of Captain Phasma especially they always used their appropriate designations of course But in the barracks and in combat they used the names they'd given one another or the names they'd given themselves FN 2199 he was Nines because he liked the sound of it simple as that FN 2000 had told everyone to call him Zeroes because he was proud of the fact that he'd landed such a straight forward number as his designation He thought
it made him special and either nobody had ever told him that being a zero wasn't exactly something something to be proud of or he didn't care FN 2003 was the only one with an actual nickname nickname They called him Slip He always seemed just a little slower a little clumsier than the rest of the fire team It wasn't simply physical either Sometimes in briefings during training during during drills you got the feeling that orders didn't quite take with him that he didn't or couldn't fully understand what it was he was supposed to be doing or how he was supposed to be doing it FN 2187 was simply Eight Seven whenever one of the team wanted to shorten his designation They didn't do it very often He was as far as the training cadre and his peers were concerned one of the best stormtroopers anyone had ever seen He was everything their instructors wanted loyal dutiful brave smart and strong Whatever the test whatever the evaluation FN 2187 consistently consistently scored in the top I percent So he was FN 2187 well on his way to becoming the ideal First Order stormtrooper That was what everyone everyone thought at least Except FN 2187 himself 4 BEFORE THE AWAKENING
FN 2003 Slip had fallen behind FN 2187 Zeroes and Nines had taken cover behind what was left of an exterior perimeter wall the section they were sheltering behind still mostly intact but cracked and scored with innumerable innumerable blaster hits The wall marked the edge of the Republic compound still heavily defended and the suppressing fire being directed their way was withering Bolts of bright blue sizzled overhead overhead and smashed into the ground around them They punched into the wall with enough force that the stormtroopers could feel the impact even through their armor He did it again Zeroes said elbowing FN 2187 and then pointing up range the direction direction from which they'd advanced FN 2187 crouched down and looked in the indicated direction They were all virtually indistinguishable in their stormtrooper armor but within his helmet along with the near constant stream of data projected across his lenses telemetry firing solutions atmospheric conditions everything up to and including the ammo count for his blaster rifle individual ID tags would pop up whenever he looked directly at another trooper his in suit computer reading FINN 5
