I've been wanting to do a fairly simple threeshot for a while.
As a bit of a timeline to the chapters:
first chapter is a prolouge to the first game
second is post Beyond the Portals pre Origins
third is the aftermath of Origins.
Chapter one:
The average NPP officer knows that if your conduct is fair and you're called to the commander's office, one of three things is happening: you're being bunked up, bunked down, or you're being reassigned a partner. However, in the case of Rallen, with his rather iffy conduct, he knew rather well his odds of being bunked up were low, bunked down high, and reassigned somewhere in the middle.
Rallen took the momment before entering to think about the odds. He laughed at the thought of getting put up a rank, but being put down or... fired would not be good. Then there was being reassigned, which could very easily be a good or bad thing. Whatever happened next would be inevitable as it would take the influence of some devine force to change one of the Commander's decisions.
Finally, he proceeded into the office, moving toward the desk, stopping, saying only five words: "You called for me sir?"
"Yes..." Commander Grant said as he stood up, looking Rallen directly in the eye. "You may have been informed that your former partner has been taken up a rank, therfore you will be reassigned a partner." He paused to clear his throat. "Your ship will not be reissued, so remain there untill your new partner has arrived."
"May know the name of my new partner, sir?" Rallen asked. Surprizes he liked, being left in suspense- not so much.
"That, I will allow you to figure out by yourself tommorow. I will tell you that it was your former partner who suggested this person. You are dismissed."
"Can you at least-"
"You are dissmissed, Rallen."
He could tell from the firmness of his words that there was no use in trying to press the Commander further- at least not without unpleasant conciquences. "Yes sir." He said, walking briskly out of the office.
One of the wall clocks told him that it was five-thirty, the end of his working portion of the day. As he clocked out Rallen realized that the Commander really hadn't given away anything about the identity of his new partner. He only adressed them as "Your new partner" or "this person", never using the words he or she let alone a name.
As he walked away, he noticed another thing: a girl about his age in a cadet uniform. At this distance Rallen couldn't make out the name on her nametag, but she was in fact, rather cute. Her eyes were startlingly bright blue and fringed with thick dark eyelashes, but her hair was completely tucked up under her hat- something several female cadets did when their hair kept getting in the way. He also noted she appeared to be holding some sort of bundle in her arms that looked like clothes.
After looking around to make sure no one was watching (and apparently not noticing Rallen) she tossed of her hat and threw her arms in the air (almost dropping the bundle) and exclaimed "Finally! I got promoted!", with her hat gone her pale pink hair fell from confinement at the top of her head, falling to the middle of her back. It must've somehow been natural since it bore no trace of dye, and her eyebrows were the same color.)
Her happiness was short-lived when she noticed Rallen was standing there, looking at her and chuckling at her outburst. Turning bright red and completely mortified, she atempted to hide her face in her hair, biting her lowwer lip.
Rallen immidiately left, hoping that his leaving wouldn't add to the girl's embarassment. So she'd been promoted... he began to wonder if this girl would end up becoming his new partner. Of course not, it was probably just a coincidence. He told himself, but somehow he figured it might just actually be fate.
(now switching to Jeena's point of view)
"Now to see if I can find the right one..." Jeena muttered to herself, walking through the spaceport, wondering why every single ship the NPP owned had to look exactly alike. At least each one had its own number- which was all she had to go by.
She remembered the previous day... when that redheaded guy saw her act so immaturely. It embarassed her to think she actually thought no one would be looking. "And what if he ends up being your partner? Wouldn't that be horrific." Jeena laughed slightly but underneath she was thinking or like something out of those romance mangas the girls at the academy used to read... No. This wasn't some devine force's way of introducing her to her true love. It couldn't be. Heck, there was probably no way that it would be the same guy.
Finally she reached the ship with the same number as the one on her access card, and entered it, silently praying it wasn't the wrong one. She walked into the cockpit, noticing the co-pilot seat was empty, but when she turned to look at the one occupying the pilot's seat, her heart skipped a beat.
Of course, it had to be that way, it was just her luck. Why hadn't she realized it, and apparently the guy remembered her too. After an eternity of blushing and stuttering, Jeena finally composed herself. "Alright. I understand that I may have... let my excitement get the best of me when you saw me the other day, but can we please pretend that never happened?"
"Fine by me." He stood up and extended a gloved hand "I'm Rallen. And you are?"
His introduction was more friendly than proffessional, but she gladly shook his hand "My name's Jeena. Its nice to meet you." Once he let go, she took her seat, and several screens flickered to life.
The takeoff was very smooth, defiently proving to her that Rallen had a good deal of tallent as a pilot as Commander Grant had told her- but he'd also warned her that Rallen could get a pretty big head sometimes. "Just a patrol mission through a few sectors is all we were asked to do. So I suppose we have a bit of time to kill." She said, hoping to restart conversation.
"Yeah, you're right about that." He said, setting the ship to auto-pilot and placing his arms behind his head. "No offense," Rallen began "but you look like you haven't quite grown into your uniform yet."
This did in fact- offend her slightly. She wished that she hadn't been such a late-bloomer, barely having hips or anything in the chest-area, and unfortunately, combined with how thin she was, made her look rather akward in her new uniform. Jeena desperately hoped she'd actually grow into it someday. "You should know I'm new I said yesterday that I-"
Rallen cut her off "But yesterday never happened, remember?" he said with a wink, causing Jeena to blush inwardly. Wether this was his way of flirting, she hadn't figured out, but she was determined not to let him win at whatever game he was playing. "Oh forget it," Jeena started, returning her attention to the vast star-studded darkness that lay ahead of them, "lets just get this over and done, 'kay?" and winked back. It must've been a sucessful comeback given she could've sworn she saw him blush in the corner of her eye.
She then knew that in some odd way, she was rather begining to like him. She had quickly found out that underneath Rallen's slight arrogance and immaturity, he had an intense desire to help those in need and a good understanding of right and wrong. Jeena refused to admit that she was falling for him- even to herself.
But some things can't be hidden for long.
So how was it? I hope the cliffhanger(ish) ending won't get me hated ^^; I will tell you the next chapter won't take too long
reviews would be lovely, especially constructive critisism (I can take it, as long as it isn't really harsh)
