Team Zero
The calendar said "2058". As Flint Bowman had never actually been to Earth, he hadn't known whether that referred to the Cosmic Calendar or the Earth one. In truth, they may or may not have been the same thing. As his father had been stationed in the Galactic Federation for his whole life, Flint had only lived on Daiban with all the other trainees he knew. Daiban was the official "Capital of the Milky Way" as far as the Federation was concerned. It's been over 50 years since the Federation had established this system as Earth had come into contact with more and more races throughout the galaxy.
Flint had an aptitude for marksmanship and "quick thinking", as his official transcript had pointed out. That was probably why they stationed him here on K-2L of all places. Established as an official Earth Colony, K-2L was known to be rich in Afloraltite: a crystal compound that can be liquidized and used to power the ignition modules on Galactic Federation ships. This became evident when he was greeted at the docking bay.
"Flint Bowman..." A decorated Federation Marine stood near the central ramp near the main platform. As soon as Flint walked up to him, the Marine walked with him. Flint was aware of protocol, and that the marines didn't like standing around anymore than they had to. "I'm sorry we can't give you a tour of the place before you meet your new team."
This being his first time off planet, Flint was not told anything as he was flown here. Not that he thought that anybody was keeping anything from him. In all honesty, the nature of Flint's purpose on the mining colony was seemingly classified to everybody, including him. "I'm sure I'll get to know the place soon enough."
The ride to HQ was more silent than the entirety of the interplanetary flight that had taken place over the past few days. Flint had been given a specially decorated suit similar to that of standard Federation army personnel, except this one had a special insignia on the left shoulder and had slightly more armor around the chest and back. His helmet had a "00" imprinted on the top above the visor. "You're team is officially off the grid," the marine had told him. That seemed to be all he knew.
Outside the HQ, was a fully operational outpost. To the left, were Federation troopers loading supplies onto a cargo transport. On the right, a platoon of army recruits were firing weapons at test-dummies towards the forest.
As instructed, Flint headed into the HQ building. Above him, several Stiletto-Class Fighters flew past him, presumably towards the main mining center. Flint walked through the main corridor before being led into a room with four other soldiers, all wearing slightly different variations of the armor he had just been given. Two were sitting at a computer terminal, listening to a message. One was sitting in a corner bickering with another over something to do with their guns.
"I don't know," the one sitting down said in a fairly high pitched voice. "If the commander wants to authorize use of specific components of utilities we already have..."
"Wait." The trooper standing next to him cut him off in a much deeper voice. His face was turned towards Flint with a slight smirk. "Hey commander." He turned towards the computer. "The new guy's here."
Great, flint thought to himself. If only he had been told before hand. The hazing was the worst part of the academy on Daiban. So it's THAT kind of team...
The trooper standing over the left side of the computer turned around. This one was a woman. "Oh joy," she slowly walked towards him, smiling. "Welcome to the team, Flint."
"We're on a first-name basis," the deep voiced one called out from behind. "We won't require anything else, nor will we ask." He stood next to Flint. His build was enormous, with arms and legs big enough to terraform an entire colony.
"That's Seth, the team muscle," The woman pointed towards the brute. "He may act tough, but deep down he's like a giant stuffed animal."
As he quickly lowered his head, the one sitting in the corner laughed in a slight whimper.
"THAT one," she pointed to him. "is Marx, our technicians expert."
"Hello," Marx let out in his high pitched voice.
"You can call me Audry," she said as she leaned back. "And this..." she pointed towards the one still listening to the computer. "is..."
"Vince." He cut her off. "I'll be your commanding officer here on K-2L." He placed his hand on Flint's shoulder. "I see you've met the rest of the team, so I'll cut through the bullshit." He walked towards the door and pulled a lever on the control panel, shutting it. "As far as you may know, this team of ours doesn't officially exist. We're meant to make sure the mining operation goes by without a hitch for of the big assembly coming up."
"So essentially, we're guarding," Marx said from the back of the room. That was a condescending way of looking at it, but it made sense.
"Actually," Vince continued. "Although Dr. Aran won't admit it, the higher-ups insist that having an elite team here on K-2L will deter any sort of... unwanted guests."
"Commander." Seth walked up to Vince and Flint. "I've just received the green light. We should gear up now."
"Alright," Vince turned to Flint. "I'll give you the briefing on the way."
Flint's head was swimming with information that was struggling to fit together. "Wait," he called out to Vince. "Is that it then?"
Vince turned his head to the team who was already geared up, then back to Flint. "Welcome to Team Zero."
