Chapter Two
"Sen and I went to St. Gabriel's at the beginning of the war." She said quietly. "It was the school that was attacked by the Specials." She added.
Hilde eyed Duo, as if asking him how much these women knew about the Gundams, and if they knew whom their pilots were.
"Go on." Duo urged.
Chi bit her lip. "The attack sort of made me realize that I had to do something you know? A couple of my friends were injured and one or two even died in the attack. I couldn't let that happen again. I made a promise to do something about it." She said, pushing her rice around on her plate. "We were sent home after the attack, they needed to rebuild and the school just wasn't safe anymore. When I got home I told my parents of my plans. I wanted to join the Alliance, make a difference. I thought they would be proud of me. I thought wrong. I knew my father was a very traditional man, I just didn't realize how traditional. He forbid me to join the military told me that if anyone in our family were to join the military and 'fight the fight' it would be my older brother Katsuo. I refused to listen to him, and I told him that. He kicked me out, with just the clothes on my back I left. Katsuo found me later at the train station while I was waiting for my train to get in. He gave me some extra clothes and his savings. He told me that I couldn't call home, that father was planning on disowning me. That was the last time I saw him, I was fourteen." She said quietly.
"Shit." Tenshi said quietly. "That's fucked up."
Chi laughed. "Well thank you for that wonderful description Tenshi. Really it doesn't bug me too much. I was never close with my family, father never wanted me, and personally I think my mother fucked around on him. I mean look at me do I look remotely Japanese? I look more like Duo than I do Senshi."
"You have the nose." Cleo told her. "That sorta squished down nose."
Chi raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know if that was a compliment or an insult Cleo."
"Neither." Cleo said stiffly. "It was an observation."
"So what was Military Academy like?" Ally asked, leaning forward to look at Chi.
"Hard and fast like a fuck in the back room of a club." Chi said seriously.
Duo choked on his drink when he heard that statement from such an innocent looking woman.
"Well said Chi!" Hilde cheered. "Military training is hell." She added to the shocked looking Ally. "Up at 4 in the morning every morning, after that you go for an, oh, 5 kilometer run on good days, more on bad days. After that you have 10 minutes to choke down terrible cafeteria food, then off to whatever training they have planned for that day until about ten o'clock. Then you have PT." She said with a shudder. "More running, less than in the morning, after that there's pushups, chin ups, and so on. Then you have 10 minutes at noon to eat. Then you're back to more training until about five in the evening, another 10 minutes to eat dinner, more PT for about two or three hours, after that you have free time, but people usually dropped into bed, dead asleep."
"Then you had to do it all over again the next day." Chi added helpfully. "I'm surprised I didn't develop football players shoulders."
"So what type of things did you study?" Meiko asked.
"Firearms handling, hand to hand combat, self defense, explosives, mobile suit handling..." Chi trailed off.
"Stealth and under cover work, that type of stuff." Hilde put in.
"That's crazy." Senshi murmured. "How long did it all take you?"
"Four months for me." Chi said. "They had to push everything faster cause the war was happening already and they needed us then."
"Two months for me. I joined right in the middle of the war, we didn't have the luxury of time to train."
"And that my dear is why you get you ass kicked when ever you step into a mobile suit." Duo teased.
Hilde flipped him off. "I'm a techie and a ground force soldier, not a pilot thank you very much."
"Yay for techies!" Kirou crowed.
"Amen girl." Hilde laughed.
"Ahem."
Hilde spun around and gave a weak smile at Lucrezia who was standing behind her, hands on hips, eyebrow raised. "Erm, hi Captain Noin."
"Hello Hilde." Lucrezia said with a smile. "I do believe you should all be on your way to your quarters, you have a full day."
"Yes Captain." They all chorused.
"Chi, Senshi, Cleo, Ally and Meiko. If you five would be so kind as to meet me down at the firing range tomorrow in fatigues at 0600 it would be much appreciated."
"Yes Captain." The women said together.
"Hilde, please show them where it is."
"Of course Captain."
"Oh and Tenshi, Kirou. You're in with the mobile suits tomorrow instead of in security."
"Yes Captain."
"Good, now go and get some sleep."
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By five the next morning all the ladies in room 112 were up and trying to get ready before they were late. With seven women in the room and only three showers, it wasn't exactly easy. Cleo who had gotten up fifteen minutes earlier than the others was already ready, leaning against the wall and waiting for the other women to finish up.
"How the hell do you get ready so fast Cleo?" Chi asked as she walked out of the bathroom, pulling on her jacket.
Cleo smirked at her. "Discipline." She said simply. "Is everybody ready yet?" She asked as Chi quickly pulled her hair back into a ponytail and braided it.
"NO!!!" Ally cried, hopping up to the others on one foot, trying to get her boot tied.
"It's not like we can go anywhere yet, we need to wait for Hilde." Meiko stated, as she too tugged her hair up into a ponytail.
Cleo opened the door to see if Hilde was coming down the hall, to see Hilde standing in front of the doorway hand ready to knock. "Erm ready to go?" She asked.
"So what type of testing are we going to be going through?" Meiko asked as the group made their way down to the range.
"Firearms handling, obviously. You might be tested on Mobile Suit handling, mechanical know how, diplomacy, stealth and so on. You're basically being tested not only to see if you're fit for duty, but also where you would be best placed. Like me for example, the only diplomatic know how is to get Duo to take me out for dinner. There's no way that I could get politicians to listen to me, however I'm really good with computers and firearms, so I work in security. You follow?"
"It makes sense." Meiko agreed. "I personally wouldn't want to be the one out there fighting."
"It's highly unlikely that you will end up on an away team. They need diplomats here." Hilde answered, as they entered the range. "Watch Captain Noin, she's one hell of a shot." She whispered. The women were silent as they watched Lucrezia pop off three shots, getting them all almost dead center. "She was in OZ during the war." She said quietly. "Her and Zechs were the best they ever had."
Lucrezia noticed them then and smiled. "Right on time." She said after she had taken the headphones off. "Well welcome to our range ladies. We expect you to have an eighty percent shot, meaning eighty percent of what you aim at you hit. So if you're not up there yet, I suggest booking some time down here and practice. Right now however, I just want to see how good you are. Nekoheron you're up first."
"Um, Captain Noin? May I be dismissed?" Hilde asked. "I'm going to be late if I don't leave now."
"Of course Hilde, thank you for showing them down here."
"Not a problem Captain." Hilde said with a smile and left.
"Cleo?" Lucrezia asked, nodding towards the gun.
Cleo nodded, and shrugged off her jacket on her way. Carefully she slipped on the headphones and picked up the gun.
Chi watched in awe as Cleo's shots landed even closer to the bull's eye than Noin's.
"That's what you get when you're S.W.A.T." Senshi mumbled in her ear.
"How the hell are we supposed to match that?" Chi demanded in a harsh whisper.
"We don't, we just do our best." Senshi said calmly.
"Heiwa! You're up!" Lucrezia called.
"I am so screwed." Chi muttered.
"Now, say a colony leader wanted to separate from the ESUN, and threatened to declare war if the president refused, what would you do? Cleo?"
"Tell him he's an idiot, shoot him in the head and be done with it."
There was dead silence for a moment after that response.
"Er, no Cleo. You would try to reason with the leader that staying in the ESUN would provide benefits that he would not have as his own country."
"I like my way better."
"Hey Meiko?"
"Yeah Als?" Meiko asked.
"I think you just stepped on a house with your suit."
"Oops... well how am I supposed to know what's down there?"
"You can rotate your cameras."
"Oh..."
"Oh dear, this may take a while." Lucrezia said rubbing her forehead.
"Okay, I don't know if Hilde explained to you why we did all these tests today or not. So I'm going to tell you. In the Preventers we have many different sections, as in any military operation. Now of course not everybody is fit for every job, as you five so aptly proved to me today. So we separate the new recruits after testing them to see what they're best at and what job would suit them the best."
"I'm taking that as a hint that I won't be working with the mobile suits?" Meiko asked sheepishly.
"Not directly no." Lucrezia said with a small smile. "However, you do have a very good strategic mind, if we're in a bind we might just get you to plan out strategies and so on. Predominantly you will be working with Korwasky, assisting Lieutenant General Une when she goes to conferences, help her negotiate matters and such. Korwasky, you will be working with the mobile suits. So make sure you practice down at that simulator."
"Yes Captain."
"Heiwa, Midori and Nekoheron, you will working in the away teams. Meaning that if there is a group disrupting or threatening to disrupt the peace you will go in and investigate and work with your partner to get it under control with as little bloodshed as possible if you please."
"Who will our partners be ma'am?"
"I have to okay it with the Lieutenant General, but my plan is to have the three of you working with the guys. When not on assignment, or doing reports for the assignments you will be down working with the mobile suits. So what I said to Korwasky applies to you as well."
"Yes ma'am." The trio chorused.
"That's all for today, you're dismissed."