Glimmer in the Sun

Chapter 3: The Training Begins

It had been a long couple of days for Derik Raj, with navigating the massive base meeting his new roomies and getting acclimated to the whole "military thing." He had met his fourth roommate the day before and boy was he a character. His name was Chase Merkans, the son of wealthy noble who apparently had held a position in the famed Rommefeller Foundation prior to his retirement. Merkans was an arrogant and vain young man, though not to say that he wasn't a nice guy sometimes. It was just that he had an inflated view of himself and his skills. The life of the party has just arrived was the first thing he said when he almost literally burst through the door to there room. He had frightened Kibitz nearly to death, and surprised Derik and Faith just as bad. He was followed soon after by a person who appeared to be a butler carrying a couple of bags.  But they had all managed to survive each other for the first few days and today was the day Derik had waited his whole life for. For today was the day they would begin training with actual Mobile Suits! All of the recruits were lined outside the barracks in the sweltering sun in full uniform. They had been standing there for a few minutes waiting for their instructor to arrive, not a single one wanted to move or mess up at this point. Derik had spent the precious day doing nothing but making sure his uniform was clean and was as shiny as was physically possible. He stood between the always-beaming Faith and the sleepy-looking Kibitz and the smug-faced Merkans. He too was smiling, but the heat was starting to get to him. His collar had long since wilted. The crowd simultaneously turned to look in the direction of an oncoming jeep. The jeep screeched to a halt in front of the recruits and an older-looking man stood up in the back and seemed to examine the young men and women. He hopped out of the vehicle and paced the area in front of them; he looked like the kind of guy that had seen it all at least twice. His face was not as much wrinkled as it was well-worn, and his eyes still showed the fire of a man still in his prime. They were permanently squinted, indicating that a good portion of this man's life was spent outside in the sun. He took a few steps backward, his face as lifeless as steel, then his voice boomed out:

"Attention!" Any recruit that wasn't standing straight bolted up and froze like a statue. The man stood in silence for a few seconds, but then to the surprise of every person gathered there, he smiled!

'My name is Sergeant Alexander Neocral, and for the next few weeks I will be your instructor." He boomed again. "You are the most promising recruits, and if you weren't then you shouldn't be here, but don't think just because we think that you have potential that you can get away with anything you want" Derik's gaze quickly went to look at the still grinning Chase, who seem unfazed by the Sergeant's words.

"There are a few rules, and I'm sure you've all been informed of them, so I won't bore you with the detail, that's not what I'm here to do. From what I know you all have passed the simulator exams and generic skills training, so if you'll follow me I'll take you to your new best friends." He turned on his heels and briskly began walking towards the awe-inspiring MS hangers. The recruits remained still, none of them sure what to do, until he stopped turned around and motioned for them to follow, after which they broke ranks and rushed after him. Neocral stopped them in front of one of the hangers.

"Excuse me, sir but do we each already a suit of our own?" Derik asked, followed by the murmur of the group in agreement.  The sergeant smiled again, laughing.

"Well that depends on whether or not you can handle the real thing, Ensign Raj." The fact that the man already knew his name came as a surprise to the young man. Neocral must have noticed the look on his face and laughed louder this time. "Don't be so surprised, I know each and every one of your names, and a little bit of your background. For example Ensign you've got two brothers, both of whom served in the military, one with the Specials," He was correct, his older brother Dominic does serve with the Specials, and his other brother Damien was a promising MS designer, but he went MIA a year ago during a trip to the colonies. Derik had another brother, but according to his parents he died when he was young so Derik was therefore the youngest of the three.

"But onward to more important matters than just personal information." Neocral said, motioning to a pair of soldiers, who proceeded to open the hanger, revealing the brand new Leos inside. A collective awe rose throughout the trainees, as they took in the sight of the humanoid machines. "I want each of you to find the suit that has your identification number inscribed on the shoulder."

"When do we get to fight something" one of the recruits called out. A wave of laughter rolled over the crowd.

"You're not gonna do anything, till you get your suits outta that hanger." Neocral chided

            Too a seasoned pilot, the next few hours would have brought on a combination of fits of laughter and extreme grief. This was mostly due to the exploits of the young trainees attempting to maneuver their Leo's out of the hanger. The recruits soon realized that piloting an actual suit was a lot harder than piloting a simulation. Some managed to do it on the first or second try but others weren't so lucky. Kibitz had somehow tripped and slammed into the side of the hanger, while two others walked right into each other. Yet another pilot fell flat on his face. Derik did not want to mess up, so he took the ordeal as slowly as possibly, not wanting to rush anything and risk looking bad. Step by step, he eased his suit out the door and onto the concrete, where to his surprise he found both Faith and Merkans among the few that made it outside without screwing up.

"You made it, great job!" Faith called out from within her own suit.

"Yeah, looks like you got lucky, roomie" Merkans added. Little did he know that this was only step one in his path to becoming a pilot.