Chapter 7 – Trooper

After the heated topic, Ved, Jay, and Ram arrived at Ved's station in the coastal section of Xelia. It was a two-story blue building in between a business center and a town plaza.

"Almost late there Ved." Said a guy who was walking out of the station. "Lucky Reed's on a good mood today."

"Yeah whatever." Ved went in the station with Jay and Ram following him. "My table's upstairs. I'll show you the way then I have to put my stuff in my locker."

They climbed the stairs in the middle of the first floor. On the second floor, there were a bunch of troops at their tables doing paperwork and chatting with other troops. "Just in time Ved." Said Reed. "Go sign in."

"Yeah." Ved sighed. "Oh this is my brother Jay, and this is Ram."

"Oh yeah I remember you two." Reed looked at them. "You're living in the house right?"

"Yeah. Good place for a station huh?" said Ram.

"Guess you could say that yeah." Nodded Reed. "Well my office is right there in that room so if you need anything, just knock." He walked off telling other troops to get back to work.

Meanwhile, Jay and Ram followed Ved to his desk in the right corner. "Don't mess with my stuff on the desk. I have to go to my locker."

"Jay I don't think he's over his princess." Said Ram. He pointed at a picture frame with a picture of Ved and Sheia at the beach.

"Tough love." Jay had a weird feeling while looking at the picture. Jay saw the post-its on Ved's computer screen. Ved came walking with another troop.

"Yeah Reed left some notes on your screen earlier." Said the troop.

"Shit." Ved saw the post-its. "You know you guys can sit." Jay and Ram took the two empty seats in front of Ved's desk.

"What kind of work do you guys do here?" asked Ram.

"Well since people have been coming here to Xelia, we have to input their profiles into our computers. You know, for identification and records." Ved explained. "Kind of like the barcodes you did Ram. Except all the people that want to be residents here get the Xegian symbol on their neck, like mine."

"So what if someone wants to live somewhere else and move out? Is there a way to take it off?" asked Jay.

"Yeah, but Gene is the one in charge of the new citizens and the tattoos, therefore he's the only one that can remove it. You can try to cover it up if you want, but the tattoo is completely visible for as long as it's there." Ved opened up a folder and began entering a profile.

"Does any crime happen around here?" Ram wondered.

"Occasionally." Ved replied. "Missing people, stealing, the worst we ever got was a ransom case."

"What happens to those who commit the worst crime? Jail?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, worst comes to worst they're sent off the island. Never happened yet though." Answered Ved. "Looks like this is all I have to do today."

"You know what?" said Ram. "I think I want to be a troop."

Jay laughed. "Yeah right."

Ved shook his head. "You want to become a troop? Go to Reed."

"Actually I'll do that." Ram got up and headed to Reed's office.

"What the hell?" Jay was shocked. "He's actually going to do it."

"Well he's going to need luck for his training." Ved continued typing. "Why don't you become a troop?"

"I don't know. What do you think?" asked Jay.

"It's pretty alright. I get good pay and benefits. You can always work part-time. That's what I'm doing." Ved opened his drawer and took out a lollipop. "Candy?"

"No thanks." Said Jay. "See you in a bit, think I'll go see Reed."

"Good luck." Ved pulled out his lollipop. "Hmm…strawberry."

Meanwhile back at the house…

"Hey Lex." Gel sat next to Lex in the common room.

"What do you want?" Lex sat watching T.V.

"Oh I don't know. Just want to talk." Gel smiled.

Lex sighed. "Go bother someone else Gel." Lex sat on the high chair with Slade.

"I don't know why he has to be so mean." Gel rolled her eyes.

"Gel be considerate instead of an airhead." Said May.

"An airhead?" gasped Gel. "If anything, it would be time to move on. I really don't see why he has to keep crying over that Siva girl. She really has nothing on me."

"SHUT UP!" yelled Lex. "Look you little skank I don't need you to be talking about Siva like that."

"Lex…" said Ebony.

"And you!" Lex looked at Ebony. "It's because of you that SHE'S NOT HERE! You just had to be just as stupid as Gel and kill YOUR sisters. I don't even know why you bother being with Slade, I thought 'ZOOT LIVES'?"

"Lex calm down…" said Salene. Breathing hard, Lex stormed out of the common room as Trudy came walking in with Brady.

"Gel you are stupid." Lottie gave her a look.

"Shh." Said May. May gave a dirty look too.

"Jeez." Said Gel.

"Lex is right Gel." Said Salene. "You should shut up."

Ebony sighed. "Don't let him get to you." Said Slade.

"I'm never going to be forgiven. Stop trying to make me think otherwise." Ebony shook her head. "He's right anyways…"

"So you guys wanna become troops?" asked Reed as he paced around his office.

"Well we're interested." Said Jay.

"Any kind of experience with this kind of thing?" Reed questioned.

"Um, we were part of this tribe called the Technos." Said Ram. "Kind of like the police thing. Jay was the general, I was pretty much in charge, till I got overthrown by Mega and all that crap started happening. Sorry."

"Oh yeah Mega, how is he?" Reed stopped pacing.

"You know Mega?" Jay was surprised.

"A long time ago. Don't you know?" Reed wondered. "He's Sheia's brother."

Ram and Jay stood there shocked. "Brother?" Ram asked.

"The brother that left?" asked Jay.

"Yeah." Said Reed. "Why are you surprised? Well, they look nothing alike that's for sure. So how is he?"

There was a knock on the door. It was Ved. "Reed, I have a question. Whoa." Ram and Jay were silent.

"Ved do you know Mega?" asked Reed.

"Well yeah." Replied Ved.

"You know that's Sheia's brother right?" Reed asked.

"Really?" Ved raised his eyebrows. "Well she talked about having a brother but never talked a lot about him, only the fact that he left after the virus. Wow, Mega."

"So what happened to him when you left?" Reed asked Jay and Ram.

"Um, well…" said Ram.

"He actually um, died." Jay said slowly.

"He's dead?" Reed was shocked. Jay and Ram told him about the whole Mega ordeal and how he tried to take over the city, which ended with his death. "Does Sheia know about this?"

"I don't think so." Ved replied. There was an awkward silence.

"Well, she'll find out eventually." Reed nodded and swallowed hard. "Now then, I'll see you at the house and tell you when your training is."

"Thanks." Said Ram as the three of them left the office.

"Did you have a question Ved?" asked Reed before Ved walked out.

"Actually I forgot." Ved walked off.

"She's Mega's sister? How the hell did that happen?" Ram said surprisingly as they walked back to Ved's desk.

"He was probably dropped in birth. Ved did you know that?" asked Jay.

"Honestly no." Ved answered. "Sheia talked about her brother left and all that, but that was it. Never mentioned his name."

"Well that was crazy." Said Ram as he sat back down. It seemed as if the three of them were distracted for the rest of the time they were at the station, even Ved was distracted while he was entering the new profiles. After Ved was done with his work, they all left and headed back to the house. They saw Sheia once they entered the lobby.

"Ved you joining us for dinner?" asked Sheia who had her hair up in a ponytail, wearing a white tank top and black sweats.

"Um yeah sure." Said Ved as Sheia smiled. She began walking to the kitchen.

"Someone has to tell her and it's not me." Said Ram going to the kitchen.

"She has the right to know." Said Jay.

"You think I don't know that?" Ved thought. "Maybe we should tell her after dinner." Jay nodded as they entered the dining room. Everyone was chatting, eating, and watching T.V. There were two separate tables so that everyone had a seat. There were two empty seats in between Ram and Trudy.

"There are two seats here Jay." Called Trudy. "I heard you guys spent some time at the station."

"Yeah we did, thinking of becoming a troop." Jay started putting food on his plate. "Pasta Ved?"

Ved was looking at Sheia in the other table. "Oh, yeah sure. Ram can you pass the hot sauce?"

"You totally missed it Jay." Said Salene.

"Missed what?" Jay wondered.

"Lex totally snapped." Said Trudy. Lex was unfortunately stuck sitting on the same table as Ebony and Gel.

"Gel insulted Siva and Lex just went off." Salene explained. "To make it worst, Ebony was in the same room so he went off at her too, the reason why Siva's not here anymore."

"I really feel sorry for him." Said Amber as she fed baby Bray. "He's gone through a lot. Last thing he needs is Gel to ruin the day."

"Well I'm done, trying to watch my figure!" They heard Gel from the other table. To no surprise, she finished eating.

"Why bother?" May shook her head and drank her soda.

"No one's trying to look at it anyway!" yelled Lottie from their table.

"Lottie!" Ruby scolded. Salene tried not to laugh. After dinner, Ved and Jay went up to Sheia.

"Sheia." Called Ved.

"Yeah?" Sheia wondered. "What's up?"

"Is it okay if we talk to you?" asked Ved. "Alone."

"Um, sure. Let's go to the quad." She looked at both Jay and Ved curiously and walked to the quad.