Holy crap! The reviews have been piling in! I'll see if I can answer some of them here:
fan: Oh trust me, it gets better. This is just the start...
ginsensu: And that more will come with a serving of Steve and Danno. Think about it... A cargument in a truck...
francis2: Admittedly I had the idea for how Tom meets Rachel for a while now. I guess he didn't run into trouble, trouble ran into him!
amblue36: Enthusiastic as always!
AussieJo: Oh yes, this storyline will get interesting down the line. And I have had almost 2 years (one on this site) to develop Tom. I'd say he's more mature than when I started, so it'll be interesting to see where he goes. Speaking of which...
Early next morning, Tom was hanging around in the parking lot of Five-0 headquarters, a place they called "The Palace." On time, he walked into the building, and didn't stop until he reached the room where Five-0 was stationed.
"Ah, Tom." Steve didn't even look up from the touchscreen desk. "Come in."
"What did you call me in for?" Tom asked.
"Alright. We need to know how good you are before we sign a contract with you hauling our loads. After much brainstorming from me, and ranting from Danny about pineapples..."
"I heard that!" Danny shouted.
"We managed to come up with a challenge to test your skills."
"Hit me."
"OK." Steve started working on the touchscreen, and brought up a map of Oahu. "The challenge tests for all of the qualities of a Five-0 member."
"I'm gonna enjoy this."
"Speed: You need to move fast to deal with situations. Get the load from Waialua to the palace in a certain amount of time to succeed.
"Maneuvrability: We're going to be dealing with close quarters here. Steer the trailer through the lot and reverse it into the space pointed out for you. This means you'll have to do tricky maneuvers.
"Caution: This load needs to be handled with care. Try not to damage the cargo, and treat it like you would treat a dangerous sitution: With care.
"Teamwork: You need to work well in a team. That's why we've got two trailers in Waialua bound for the palace. Find another trucker, someone you work well with, and stick with him."
"Are you actually signing me up for a contract, or are you eyeing me up for this taskforce?" Tom asked.
"Well, it's so we know we can call on you in times of need." Steve put two markers, the green one on Waialua, the red one on the location of the palace. "You've got 20+ miles to cover, and if you succeed in this test, we may decide to bring you on to haul our loads. Now, have you got someone to work with? Someone you trust?"
"Let's see..."
At the loading dock in Waialua, Tom was just thinking of how to reverse his truck onto the trailer. There were two trailers lined up next to each other. They were both white, unmarked container trailers.
"So what's in the trailers?" Nick asked.
"Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do or die." Tom replied, before jogging to his truck. "Let's do it to it."
After a session of synchronised reversing and trailer attaching, Tom and Nick were out on the road, Fortnell's Coronado leading the way and Aldrin's Argosy bringing up the rear of the convoy. Their route took them down the middle of the island, they weren't going to waste time skirting around the edge. The route took them south past Schofield Barracks, Wheeler Army Air Field and Mililani, before turning east and heading past Pearl City ("Sorry, no time to stop at the 60 miles.") before turning off and heading for the palace.
At the palace, Nick was instructed to wait outside the parking lot, while Tom had to maneuver through the lot and deliver the load. First off, Tom had to get through a narrow gap that was only just wide enough to fit the Freightliner through. Next, he had to maneuver around a parked Camaro which was again a tight fit. Then he had to execute a 180 turn, and he had to avoid pranging a parked Silverado with the trailer, while steering past a Cruze. Finally, he had to stop just in front of a Chevy Traverse, and then reverse the trailer into the empty area. All in all, the trip had taken just over an hour.
"I gotta say, you did well babe." Danny congratulated Tom as he got out of the truck.
"So let's open up this trailer and unload the cargo." Steve added.
Once they got the trailer doors open, the three men took a look inside. "You know, to be honest," Tom remarked, "I thought it was going to be empty."
"Well, we thought that since you've got potential, we might as well get you working for us straight away." Steve confessed. "Now, let's get this gear unloaded. Drop the ramps, will ya?"
With Tom, Steve and Danny on the job, the ramps were dropped in just two minutes.
"These look like vehicle ramps..."
"You'll see."
Inside the trailer, Tom began unloading the gear. First out were two 50' monitors.
"These things are big."
"Not as big as your skills."
Next out was a big crate.
"M4s, MP5s, you never told me I'd be hauling automatic weapons!"
"I've been watching Black Dog, what can I say?"
There was also automobile parts.
"These look like spares for a '74 Mercury Marquis."
"Good. Thank you for delivering them, I'll take posession of them.
"Do you know something I don't Steve?"
Police tape.
"Crime scene. Do not cross. Right, I'm putting this on the weapons crate."
Grenades.
"What. The. Hell?"
"Don't ask babe. It's Steve."
First aid kit.
"I'm not sure if this is big enough..."
"I struggle to get this in the trunk of the Camaro, and you're telling me to make it bigger?"
Surfboards.
"Now who needs these? Danny?"
"Shut. Up."
A wardrobefull of ties.
"Don't even think about commenting on them. Don't even not think about commenting on them. Do. Not. Comment on them."
"I didn't even say anything!"
More spare parts.
"Camaro parts. Seriously, how many of these things do you go through?"
"No comment..."
"Do I even want to ask?"
"NO!"
A blue 1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z.
"Umm..."
"Yeah. That solves the problem of not having an ideal pursuit vehicle. This'll be your car until you can get your own car."
Once all the gear was unloaded (including the Camaro), Tom signed all the paperwork, and handed the clipboard to Steve. However, there was still one thing on Fortnell's mind.
"So how come I only ever see you guys driving Chevys?" Tom asked.
"Well..." Steve answered. "We made a deal with a Chevrolet dealer. In return for them supplying all our cars, we would advertise their products by only driving them."
"Yeah." Danny piped in. "That meant stuff like the Ford Mustang had to go."
"I dunno about you, but was it because it was involved in a firefight?"
"Correction, because you used MY Mustang for cover in one firefight too many!"
"Oh." Tom remarked. "You guys seem to have a history with cars. Now I know why you've got Camaro parts here."
"Yeah." Steve leaned against the trailer. "Well, looks like you've got your contract."
"Thanks. I'm gonna need details."
Danny spoke, "Every Wednesday, you're gonna get a call, e-mail, carrier pigeon, whatever suits you. Now your job is to drive to point A, and get the load to point B, which will be explained in the message. You get the load to us, and we'll use it for whatever we need it for."
"Sounds good to me."
"Come inside." Steve motioned for Tom to follow. "Let's get you tooled up."
Inside, Steve showed Tom the firearms available. There were plenty of handguns, rifles, submachine guns, Tom was surprised that they didn't have heavy machine guns or rocket launchers in there. Danny would have a field trip when he saw this.
"Take your pick." Steve offered. "Anything you want."
"Thanks." Tom went over to an M4A1 Carbine, his favorite assault rifle. He picked it up, pulled back on the charging handle to see if it was loaded, and then put it down on the table. He picked up some attachments, including several sights.
"Aimpoint Red Dot. Good for close to mid range combat." With military precision, he removed the M4's carry handle, and installed the Aimpoint on the top rail.
"EOTech Holographic. Close quarter choice." Tom deposited the EOTech next to the rifle.
"Trijicon ACOG 4x scope. Probably my bread and butter for most mid range engagements." The ACOG as put down next to the EOTech.
"6x Sniper Scope. Bit extreme, I know, but it's good to be prepared." He checked the sniper scope, and used it like a monocular to get a visual on his new Camaro IROC-Z out in the lot to see if the scope worked.
"Finally, a thermal scope. Darkness can't touch this." All the sights were now on the table.
"And now, a few bits and pieces. How about a CQB surpressor?" Tom screwed the surpressor onto the barrel. "And a 40mm grenade launcher." The grenade launcher was installed on the underside of the handguard. "Say hello to my little friend!" Tom yelled before miming launching a grenade at the door, testing the launcher for feel as he went. Satisfied that the M4 was to his liking, he went over to the pistols and picked out an M1911 .45 handgun. "Yep. I'm equipped."
Outside, the entire team plus one was gathered around. Tom swore to protect and serve the United States of America and the state of Hawaii, and then he was handed his badge, and his M1911 pistol (he'd only chosen it beforehand).
"Aloha." Chin congratulated. "Welcome to Five-0 brah."
Welcome indeed! I hope this chapter was good enough. Next time... Well... A clue: E Malama...