Main Mess Hall
The mess was loud, packed with fellow Guardians, support staff and family members. Holi scanned the room whilst walking to the food line, trying to see the flash of red that would give away the location of her best friends and team members. She spotted them, along with the rest of Salvation unit over the crowd, they were all full of energy and it showed as the men and women chatted animatedly. They were due to be briefed on their deployment a little later that day and the marines were excited.
Loaded up with steak and veggies she made her way over to the table where Astrid and Flynn were waving stupidly to her.
"How's it hanging Holi-moley? Still not bothering to cook your meat?" Astrid was of Scandinavian descent, her parents a product of the baby boom jokingly titled Generation 'E' that occurred almost immediately after TQB's Exodus from Earth.
Every child that grew up on the Meredith Reynolds grew up with the stories of how TQB left Earth and the fun game of creative cursing was legendary among them, new words being added as fast as Frank Kurns could type them.
Second generation Astrid had the mouth of a sailor and the heart of a valkyrie. Even without enhancement she was incredibly tall, 6"5 of sculpted, tattooed muscle. She wore her burnished dark red hair in traditional Norse braids and her heart on her sleeve. Further down, a nice selection of shiny hand-axes discouraged roving eyes.
"It's better than steak the consistency of old combat boots. How many days is it gonna take you to chew on that?" Flynn chipped in. His soft jibe was just the way he communicated, his inner cat manifested in his very feline personality. He rarely spoke to anyone apart from the two women and his close-knit family.
"You would say that!" Astrid hammered in her point with a punch to the were's arm. "Cats love raw meat. There's practically no genetic difference between humans and Cavallegians so Holi's love for meat that's still mooing is gross, bleugh!"
Holi laughed and really enjoyed her delicious, juicy, rare steak while Astrid made sicky faces at her. This conversation had been going on since their Academy days. Unmentionable shenanigans had ensued from day one with every Alpha Class since the inauguration of the Etheric Academy and Holi, Astrid and Flynn's class had been no different.
Bobcat still gave Holi the stinkeye when she passed him in the corridor. You blow up a few hundred barrels of beer one time!
The three had also bonded over their shared love of the media streams ADAM had 'liberated' as TQB left Earth. They all knew early on that stationary jobs weren't for them. They wanted adventure, to see the galaxy and fight injustice in the Empress' name. They were the ones who took the names after the Empress and her court had finished kicking ass. The Guardian Marines was the only calling for the three of them.
"Where goo fink ee're going gis chime?" Flynn asked the two women through a mouthful of spaghetti. "Hopefully somewhere someone left us some scraps" retorted Astrid.
"You just wanna fight," Holi accused half mockingly, pointing her fork at Astrid. "Again. Even if we don't need to! I think it will either be border patrol or a diplomatic handshaking thing with us in the back. It's been quiet around here lately."
"Buzzkill!" This earned him a punch in the arm from Holi as they stood to take their empty trays to the clean-up line.
"Anyway, we might get to do something exciting; didn't you hear about the ghost colonies?"