Glad you liked the last chapter, so here is nr. 2. Just something in general about the characters: they may appear OOC, but that is on purpose. I share the belief that Arthur is not the smartass-suit-wearing-cold-blooded-self-confident-white-collar-criminal right from the beginning, so we have to take him there. In this story he is around 22, Eames is roughly 24, and before you start thinking that Eames is the undisciplined gambler he appears to be in the movie – he is not. I think that he is a very disciplined, hard working, highly decorated for a purpose Officer not giving a damn about others and showing his confidence by pushing other people's buttons. Long story short: Commander Eames shows Arthur that you don't only work for the military, but the military can work for you, that self confidence pays off and badass guys always get the pretty girls. I hope you get along with that ;-)

The plane landed somewhere between 4 a.m. and breakfast, Arthur didn't even bother to check his watch. It had been cold inside the aircraft and now he was shivering, clinging on to his baggage while they lined up on the endless tarmac blurring its seams with the desert around them. He knew Nevada nights could be freezing, this was just an idea of what was still to come. Most of the men were tired and responded in hushed voices to their names being called. The flickering orange of crooked street lamps mixed with the bright flashing indicator lamps. The air base buildings behind them were suggestive of emptiness for the last years.

A yawning Colonel ushered them towards a complex of bungalows, supposedly dorms, crowded together like a flock of sheep in the middle of a vast open space.

"Two to a room!" The Colonel shouted and started reading out names again, pairing up complete strangers for the next nine months. Arthur found he shared his room with a Major around his own age. The guy was the quiet type, setting up a picture of his girlfriend as soon as he had opened his bag.

Arthur unpacked silently.

"She's cute, huh?" Turner, his roommate, asked.

"Um, yeah." Arthur mumbled and shoved his hands in his pockets. The girl had long, wavy brown hair and smiled innocently at whoever had taken the photograph. "Lucky you."

"Thanks." Turner lied down on his bed. "I'll have the alarm set for breakfast at 7:30, is that ok with you?"

"Sure." Arthur shrugged off his jacket and loosened the tie. Turner was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, and Arthur decided to get some sleep as well before training started tomorrow (technically today). Before the world turned black he prayed that the disgruntled Major General wouldn't show up too soon. And if he did, god grant that he ran into Commander Eames first.


Breakfast didn't brighten Arthur's mood, although it was a vast variety of food and beverages and absolutely delicious for army standards. Most nations stayed for themselves on the long tables, not only the demure interior had whipped away yesterday's splendor but also the fact that everyone wore camouflage suits or simple service dress and was more or less tired. Arthur caught a glimpse of Commander Eames and his comrades. Although dressed down to a white shirt with tie and rank insignia he stilled looked like someone to better not mess with.

After breakfast they filed into a lecture hall not quite the size of yesterday's. A British Officer mainly repeated what had been said in Texas, adding on some bits of information and missing out on the part mentioning the risks before setting them up in groups of ten. No regards to nationality were made and so Arthur ended up in "Squad Davis" named after their tutor, Macaulay Davis, with two other Americans, a French, Commander Eames and Lieutenant McAsh, two Officers from Canada and two from Germany . Davis was one of the few civilian scientists around as there was just not enough trained military personnel available.

They gathered in a little room very much like a classroom at High School. Davis seemed a little nervous. He started to relax as Commander Eames rolled up his sleeves and took off the tie.

"So, welcome, gentlemen. This going to be your first lesson, just theory," He looked at Arthur "but I guess you do a great amount of theoretical work before flying a jet plane. Or drive a tank." Davis added in the direction of the two Germans.

"As you will have all read this is one of the biggest projects ever launched by the NATO, training promising young Officers in Dreamsharing. Take a close look at the man to your left – and now at the man to your right. Nine of you will leave us during the next months and weeks as we increase the intensity of training, at least that's what the statistics say. One out of ten stays sane enough to be a professional Extractor once training is completed."

"What do you mean by 'sane enough'?" Eames interrupted.

"Sharing dreams and intruding other people's subconscious, where we store away our most private thoughts, memories and secrets is a process that will drive everyone mad after a certain time. Imagine, I broke into your mind and stole something from you, hurt you in your most vulnerable spot – how would that make you feel? On the other hand, switching between dreams and reality on a daily basis doesn't exactly help you keep track of things. What's real and what's made up?" Davis looked at Eames over his glasses. "That, gentlemen, is a threat highly underestimated."

The room was silent.

"But before we plunge into the vast depths of dangers that lie within this great technology, let me show you the world of the dream." And with that he pulled out a silver briefcase which would from now on be the constant companion of two people in the room – only they didn't know yet.

Sorry this was a little lame, but honestly, how authentic are those stories where you have action from the first sentence to the last not giving credit to logic or setting? Now that we have the outlines though, we will gather speed quickly and launch ourselves into the universe of Extraction, Action and Eames' horrible civilian shirts (c'mon, what fic would that be if it didn't feature their unique styling?). So fasten your seatbelts and stop smoking…

Actually I found a mistake in the last chapter: Sweden is not part of the NATO, got that mixed up with the ISAF. Sorry!