So this is chapter two of this little saga (ha oxymoron). Anyway, I'm fairly certain now that its going to be Oruga and Murrue as another of the pairings. Crack pairings are coming out of the woodwork for this one! Anyway, mostly just setting up in this part as well as fleshing out the different characters. I'm having fun building personalities behind the crazed psycos that Kira fight's known as the Extended. Its quiet intersting. First fight is in this and its most of the chapter sadly. So, read and review!
Crot sighed once more as he stared at the clock. How long was this supposed to be? Two hours? Three? He wished his ZAFT uniform had a pocket so he could have brought a game to pass the time. Hell, he was almost tempted to actually do this goddamn test, if only to pass the time.
He was stuck in this stuffy room in this annoyingly high necked uniform for another half hour or hour and a half until they were supposed to have finished this annoying written test. As if he was actually going to do some stupid written test! This was the military! The military was about killing people not about... He glanced down at the paper. Not about being able to provide a plan for seizing an enemy territory. Bah! What a nuisance! Plans weren't necessary, kill all the opponents and there is no need for a plan.
He glanced over to his right at Shani who was scribbling away at a diligent pace. Of course, Shani was answering the questions. Shani was laid back and cold most of the time, and while Crot knew he would never admit it, Shani actually somewhat liked tactics. He looked at Shani's paper and saw his answer to the enemy territory question. "Before the attack put sustained bombing on another region near mine's boarder so that the enemy moves its troops to that area. The morning of the attack bomb all communications installations almost to the point of overkill in order to insure their elimination. Send in the quickest mobile suits and mobile armors to eliminate small way stations that might accost the main army while they move towards the more heavily defended targets. Also, use the fast units to quickly secure any lightly guarded resource silos…" It went on for another page. Ugh… how dull. Well, let Shani have his tactics.
Crot looked over at Oruga, who had already finished and was reading his book. Bastard. Having his book while Crot was with out his video game. Where had Oruga put it? Had he stuffed in his collar or something? Maybe he put it in his shirt. Crot had thought of putting his game in there but it didn't seem very secure and if it fell and broke Crot would be in eternal boredom ALL the time. The worst that could happen to Oruga's book if it fell was that he would loose his page.
Crot looked at Oruga's paper, specifically at the enemy territory question. Where Shani's answer had gone on and on Oruga's was brief and simple, "Bomb the enemy until they are weak then move in for the kill." That was probably why Oruga had finished so quickly.
The room they were trapped in was a large auditorium. There was a central platform around which long lines of interconnected desks were aligned. They had just been sent in here to begin there testing for the ZAFT army and here he thought he would get to shoot some guns or pilot a mobile suit but instead they were handed a paper and give two hours to complete it. Stupid.
He looked at the clock again, beginning to become annoyed by Shani's pencil scratchings. Still a while to go. Well, he might as well take a nap. He lay his head down but unfortunately could not sleep do to Shani's ever-present writing.
Eventually though, just when Crot was going to kill Shani, the other Extended stopped writing and Crot watch as he reached into his button up collar and pull out his music player. WHAT THE HELL? Shani managed to sneak his joy in here too! He was the only one who hadn't figured out a way! That must have been why Shani even buttoned his shirt all the way up. Normally he wouldn't care enough to button it. So Shani had used the tight collar to hold it against his neck securely? Goddamn it why didn't he think of that!
It wasn't long after this that the ZAFT officer that had shown them in had come back to say time was up. The man was a red shirt with orange-blonde hair that hung almost to his shoulders. He had introduced himself as Heine some-german-sounding-name, Crot hadn't been paying much attention.
"Ah well its seems you're all finished," Crot almost snickered at this, " so lets move on to the firing range." After he had finished Heine stepped outside, taking it for granted that they would follow him, which they did.
"HELL YEAH!" Crot yelled as he got up and ran after the man, "Finally we get to blow s--- up!" Oruga and Shani got up and both sighed, sauntering after him.
They arrived to find a completely indoor firing range with at least fifty slots for shooters and a huge number of targets and obstacles, as well as a large number of different weapons stored in locked cases across from the range. The weapons ranged from pistols all the way up to missle launchers. It was quite a collection Crot had to admit and he could feel his palm sweat and finger twitch already. Oruga also seemed quite pleased with this development, a vicious smile plastered on his face as he cracked his knuckles, and even the ambivalent Shani was piqued enough to twitch his lip briefly in what would almost be called a smirk. To his credit it was brief. Heine himself had a bit of a messy grin on his face seeing their reactions and he pressed a button. All the cases simultaneously unlocked with an audible click.
"First, we'd like to test you all using your weapon of choice. So choose your best then pick a slot." Heine ordered.
Crot looked around for a while before he saw it. It was a machine pistol, looked to be a CR-17 or 18 with a long but to which held a large magazine. It was glimmering and well polished, its steel giving off a proud glow. He picked up two of them. He always had a particular love for pistols and preferred being in close when he fought. He smirked as he twirled the two weapons on his fingers before flipping one up into the air, catching it behind his back as it fell. Ah, yes he was glad to have his pistols back.
He looked at the other two Extended who were holding the weapons he always remembered them perfering. Oruga had a missle launcher over his shoulder. The tube of it had a three missile magazine sticking out of the top. He also had a couple grenades attached to his belt. Shani's tastes were a bit different. He had with him two rifles. One of them was a bolt-action with a large scope and was definitely for precision sniping while the other was smaller, a semi-automatic assault rifle. On Shani's belt he had a knife.
They each took a slot, Oruga on the far left, Crot two spaces to the right, and Shani on his own closer to the far right side. They all checked there weapons for jams and made sure there was ammo in their clips. After he had finished Crot leaned back against the partition separating his slot from the one adjacent as he waited for Heine to explain the specifics.
Heine gave a satisfactory nod when he was sure all the Naturals were finished with there preparations, "Alright, this is a pretty simple affair. You will have 5 different stages which vary in the amount and positioning of the various pieces of terrain. In each stage five targets will appear for about 2 seconds each. Depending on where you hit the target you will get a certain amount of points, center of the chest and head being, of course, the highest points. You must get a certain number of points in the allotted time to pass the target. Pass as many targets as you can in all the stages. Don't worry if you miss a few targets, we don't expect you to pass more the about 10 targets, depending on weapon, especially since- never mind that. Just don't worry about we haven't had a clean sheet from new recruits."
Crot smirked, "Heheh, well your about to get your first, fool! I'm the best shot you'll ever see!"
Heine rolled his eyes in response to Crot's enthusiasm, but he had an amused smile on his face as he did. The red shirt didn't seem to be offended by Crot's behavior.
Crot set himself up in his slot his left leg forward with his right slightly crouched his arms reaching across his body to aim toward where the targets would be. His left hand was a foot higher then his right to keep it out of the other's field of fire. Patiently he waited.
The first stage started and it was basic with no obstacles. The targets drop at varying distances and alignments. One was far off and left, another center and close, all were easy. He started sleepwalking through his shots and listened to Shani and Oruga's shots. Shani was using his assault rifle, probably saving the sniper rifle for when there were obstacles while Oruga was using one missile per target. They were dummy missiles because Crot didn't hear any explosions but they probably still racked up a lot of points as far as the score was concerned, as long as Oruga hit even a little bit he would most likely pass the target. And at this level Oruga wouldn't hit just a little bit, he would hit dead center, same with Shani. Even with his pistol shooting full auto he hit the center of the head with most of his bullets. He sighed somewhat bored when the first stage ended.
The second stage wasn't much hard with just a waist high wall as the sole obstacle. Crot passed all those targets as well. The third was more challenging with a corner the targets would lean out from, showing only a portion for him to hit. The forth almost made him sweat as a triangular obstruction prevent from getting more then glancing blows, the center completely covered. Shani he could hear had switched over to his sniper rifle and Oruga was using grenades, which he was probably holding and then arching behind the obstruction so he got a cleaner hit. The last one was actually quite difficult, the target would move in and out of protection exposing itself for only a quarter of a second twice per target. But Crot manage to pass the all of the targets and shouted with almost berserk joy.
Heine clapped his hands, "Three clean sheets from three recruits. Amazing, you all must have been aces for the EAF. I especially liked that knife throw at the end Private Andras." A joking smile crept over his face at the last part. Shani had thrown his knife? Show off.
"You know about our connection with the EAF?" Shani said and when he said it Crot suddenly realized that that knowledge was something, which might be incriminating and definitely not something they wanted just floating about.
"As your commanding officer, I am given that priviledge, yes" Heine responded coolly, " however, no one else but those at the top know specifically who the Naturals are that joined us. Every soldier knows that a group did but they don't know who they are or how many of them joined."
The three all nodded. Crot supposed that it would be fine. What was the worse that could happen. He glanced briefly at Oruga, who seemed subdued by Heine's words as he calmly ran his hand over his hair to make sure it was all nicely slicked back, and Shani who was watching from behind his shade of green hair with the same disinterested face he always wore.
Having gotten that out of the way Heine moved on with the weapons exam, "Now we'll move on to the required weapon tests. First will be pistols, then…"
They had finished the weapons tests easily enough, Crot was somewhat annoyed because he hadn't managed to get a clean sheet with rifles but he was fine because Shani hadn't managed to get a perfect score with either pistols or explosives. Oruga, however, smirked triumphantly. The bastard had managed to do every exam without failing a single target. "Don't get cocky f---nut!" Crot sneered at him.
"What's that, wimp?" Oruga shot back with a vicious, toothy smile. Shani, as he always did, calmly watched them in silence.
"Stop it you two!" Heine shouted over them, loosing his patience a little but regaining it back once he had the Naturals' attention. "You all did extremely well in the weapons exams. Now, however, we shall be moving on to the mobile suit portion of the exam. So if you would come with me, I shall explain it on the way."
Once more, Heine walked off with the assumption that they would follow and, once more, they obliged him. Crot followed after Heine in a half run until he had caught up, Oruga not far behind him moving at a brisk walk. Shani was the last to catch up having slid in at a flowing pace. Having all his charges in hearing range, Heine introduced the exam, "You will be using basic model Ginns for this exam as will your opponents. We don't want you to have an unfair advantage using your superior suits."
Shani cast a brief glance over at Heine, "Wouldn't that put us at a disadvantage since we wouldn't be as familiar with the controls."
Heine nodded, "It will but I'm sure you'll be able to compensate. You will be using weapons that have been specifically redesigned to fire paint cartridges. We even have some missile launchers that fire rockets that shower paint on a radius." Oruga smirked happily at this. "You will be fighting against an equivalent number of cadets from the academy, three of our star pupils in fact. Its simple elimination, first team to loose all its men loses. I will be monitoring the fight from an observation area and if I feel that the number and placement of the paint impacts to be consistent with what would be fatal in a real combat situation I will remotely shut down your suit." They had been walking through a number of dull steel sided hallways. Zaft soldiers of various ranks passed them, sometimes in small groups more often alone, and occasionally one would wave at Heine and he would smile while nodding his head at the person. They stopped at a large steel door and Heine pressed a button and the door opened up into a fair sized hanger with three GINNs standing against one wall. There were a few mechanics walking around but no more then a skeleton crew. Most were hovering around the suits, doing some minor task or another that had probably been done five times already but they redid anyway if only to keep busy. "One more thing before you go out, the area is a 100 by 100 acre square and if the suit senses itself going beyond that it will automatically pilot itself back into the sanctioned zone. This will leave you exposed until it reverts back to manual control, so keep that in mind. There are four large towers that denote the corners of the square so just watch out for those and you should be fine.
"Now! What sort of weaponry do you want for your GINNs?" Heine smiled like a a bestower of candy to children.
Crot cracked his thumbs in an idle motion as his mobile suit exited the watehouse. He scanned to battle field which consisted of a number of buildings which were all at least taller then the mobile suit itself. They were all completely covered with multiple layers of paint all in varying states of peeling and some had structural damaged caused by the accidental collisions of the academy's pilots who used this place for there testing grounds. Aside from that the map of the area he had been given showed that in the center was a large pyramid structure. It would have a good view of the terrain, invaluable in this labyrinth.
Shani came out after Crot and he was followed by Oruga. Shani's GINN was armed with a large rifle which from the ranting of the mechanic was accurate to within a millimeter. The mechanic had been a middle aged man with a eccentricness about him that came off in the way he would use specific product codes to refer to all the weapons, "This over here is a Valtech 132-83-0098." It was only later that they clarified that he was talking about a shoulder mounted missile launcher.
That missile launcher now rested on the shoulder of Oruga's GINN and in his hands was a larger launcher that fired an equally bigger rocket that would allow him to cover a large radius with paint and if used accurately would be able to get multiple enemies.
Crot himself was equipped with to fully automatic, short-range, compact carbines. He enjoyed being up close with opponents, as did Shani, though Shani only like melee weapons which weren't available since they had a high likely hood of being lethal. That left Shani to choose his rifle and gave Crot the enjoyment of having the tornado of close quarters fighting all to himself.
They all paused and individually thought up there basic plans, none asking what the other was planning to do but instead thinking as three isolated individuals in different realms altogether. They all launched up onto the roof of the building and, as one, moved toward the central pyramid. It was obvious to Crot that if they got the center area they would have the height advantage and be able to spot and attack their opponents. It was the best choice, only an idiot would pass it up.
They all moved together, united not by common sentiment but by common choice. There was nothing that held the group together save for the fact that their goals were aligned, no fabric of teamwork or fellow feeling. They were only a team in the nominal respect. Though their mobile suits were together nothing seemed to be in sync.
The light of the faux midday gleamed shimmered across their mobile suits as they approached their objective, occasionally catching it in such a way as to blind the casual observe with its glimmer. The roof tops were relatively free of debris though the occasional one had been collapsed through by some idiot who had failed to use his boosters to soften the landing and had been trapped when the building swallowed him. It gave him only enough time to contemplate his stupidity at allowing himself to come into such a situation before his enemies mercilessly covered him in paint. The three Extended currently piloting their GINNS over the concrete suffered no such fate, being quite capable and experienced pilots they would never make such a foolish mistake because padding their landing had become such a second nature action that they did so even when, strictly speaking, it was not necessary.
The large pyramid that approached them was a tiered structure made from approximately three story high cylanders that were staked on top of on another each about fifteen yard from the edge of the one below giving any mobile suits on them ample space to move around. It, like many other structures, had chucks missing from the walls which the eye would find resting on the ground beneath mournfully wishing to be once more part of the whole that it had been torn from. Their were large windows spaced evenly through out the outlying wall of the structure which dispersed the light they reflected over a wide radius creating a vague haloing effect. The concrete between them did not numb this; blisteringly white they made the light they focused only more painful to the eye, which looked at them.
Crot continued toward the structure before her heard thesound of something locking into place. Turning back he saw Shani had deployed the stabilizer of his rifle, which was located on the barral a bit further up the barrel than the hand used to steady it, and seemed to be setting himself up to snipe. Crot grunted with annoyance. Idiot. The pyramid was the best place to snipe from; its height would be advantageous. Ah well, let Shani be an idiot. That meant Crot would get more fun for himself.
Crot jumped from the last building before the pyramid, there was a large clearing between the two but he was able to clear it with only a single boost. He landed on the second tier and Oruga on the second at a proximately the same point on each circle's circumference. Sparing a final glance towards Shani, he moved around the pyramid keep his eyes alert for any sign of his opponents. Suddenly, he saw them around the bend and the two of them saw him. They opened fire on one another but both sides moved behind the cover of the structures mass. One of Oruga's missiles flew by Crot's vision toward the two but he couldn't tell if it hit or not. A stray thought entered Crot's mind, didn't Heine say there were three opponents?
That's when he heard something land above. The main camera located on Crot's GINN's head area craned up to see the barrel of a rifle aimed at it. The rifle was held by a deep crimson GINN. The slot that the opposing GINN's camera looked out from was curved in such a way that it appeared to be smiling at him. Damn.
He heard the shot.
But never felt it. His systems were still running as he looked around the cockpit, his skin tingling with a slight cold sweat, which he would be sure to edit out if he ever told this story. He turned his attention back to the GINN. It stood there a moment before slumping forward. All sounds and lights that had been emitting from it ceased. Inspecting it he notice a large splotch of paint right over the cockpit. Had that been a real bullet, the pilot would have been dead.
"Goddamn it Shani! Was that you!", Crot shouted angrily as Shani's face appeared on the small subscreen where the boot up graphic and the OS was normally displayed.
"Of course, it was." Shani said with disinterested voice which held in it that insincere passiveness of someone who just wanted to ignore what he was hearing.
"What the hell were you thinking? I could have been shot!" Crot knew he wouldn't have been hit. He had fought beside Shani enough times to know that Shani never missed his target, if he had aimed at that enemy mobile suit he would hit it, a thousand times out of a thousand. Crot just needed to vent some of his frustration.
Oruga cut in briefly to comment that he had checked around the bend and that the two surviving mobile suits had fallen back to the streets. Crot ignored him.
"No you wouldn't have. It was obvious that the pyramid is the optimal location, which meant they would come here as well. It was obviously the perfect place to ambush them. You just led them into my line of fire." Shani had an annoyingly omniscient glimmer in his eye. The bastard knew he had it all figured out. They were fighting cadets. The cadets had been trained to see tactical places on the battle field but were not yet able to take into consideration the fact that the enemy could exploit these locations even without using them. They could see the surface value of the pyramid but not the more subtle possibilities of it. Damn you, Shani.
Crot moved the controls and jumped up to the top of the pyramid to determine where the two survivors had gone to. He gazed down at the precisely blocked of pattern of the streets and scanned over them looking for movement. He zoomed his camera in out in case he needed a closer look to pick out some subtle indication of his opponent's movement. That's when he saw the GINN raise a large rifle at him.
He boosted backwards just as the shot was fired.
It proved unnecessary though, the man missed by a large margin. Ha, they were just a bunch of scrappy cadets. Still, now that he had seen them, he had no more use for the pyramid. His weapons were too inaccurate to be put to be effective from that range. Shani would probably take the sniping position on the top. Crot didn't care either way, all that mattered was he had found the opponent and he was going to get stuck in.
Crot boosted toward the street the street they were on and Oruga followed behind him, knowing Crot had seen the opponents. Shani indeed moved to take the top of the pyramid. They were taking the most logical formation just by acting in their own best interest.
The street was quiet except for the sound of Crot and Oruga's thrusters as they moved forward at full speed. The enemies had been farther down but Crot kept scanning for an ambush just in case. He didn't trust them not to have an ambushed set up on one of the roof tops or on one of the side streets that cut across the street the Extendeds were on now. Suddenly, shots came from their left flank but Crot was able to boost past without damage and Oruga managed to stop before. Crot leaned his mobile suit against the wall and then pivoted to bring both of his carbines to bear, opening a torrent of bullets.
The GINN on the left, blazing white in the light, ducked behind cover narrowly avoiding both Crot's bullets and a shot which from its trajectory was from Shani. The other, a dull green, followed suit. Crot kept firing holding them pinned while Oruga brought his larger missile launcher to bear. The older Natural fired a rocket so that it impacted near the left corner of the building, spraying the entire area within a twenty foot radius with paint. Crot stopped firing and stepped back behind cover to reload.
Crot heard the sound of a thruster jetting away, and turned the corner again. The enemy hadn't started firing on them so they had probably fallen back. Crot plunged forward and as soon as he reached the opposite he aimed his rifles to both the left and right. There was nothing on the right. On the left, however, was the white mobile suit. It had been completely covered with paint from Oruga's missile. That left only one and he was quickly getting away.
Suddenly he saw the last remaining opponent jump into the air a few streets down and open fire. Crot avoided the shots and dashed after his opponent firing at him all the while. The scenery blurred together into a single streak of ugly browns, tans and grays of the passing buildings as he surged forward. He could feel the force of inertia pushing him tight against the seat. But this was nothing, he could take more than this little inconvenience.
"Shoot below him." Shani's voice said as his face joined it from the screen. "Keep guiding him north but shoot under him so he can't land."
"Shut you mouth!" Crot snarled, not wanting to be distracted, "I will do what I want, and you can't say a thing about it!" His eyes bulged angrily and the screen had a small splattering of spittle.
"Just do it!" Shani shouted back, though he did it with more control and seemed not to loose the sense of control that oozed from him. This was even more annoying then when they had been forced to take drug, Crot had forgotten its name if he had ever been told, and they had all been out of control psychopaths. Now they were just calm psychopaths.
Crot grumbled and continued to shoot as his opponent. Unconsciously, he had begun to aim at the legs.
The pursuit continued until the enemy turned around to shoot at him again. Crot's eyes widened when suddenly the opponent stopped in midair. His boosters switched direction and he froze in midair. Before he slowly floated towards Crot. Realizing what had happened Crot covered his opponent with paint, shutting him down. Damn you, Shani!
Looking out of the corners of his eyes he saw the two towers. Just as expected.
"One more thing before you go out, the area is a 100 by 100 acre square and if the suit senses itself going beyond that it will automatically pilot itself back into the sanctioned zone. This will leave you exposed until it reverts back to manual control, so keep that in mind. There are four large towers that denote the corners of the square so just watch out for those and you should be fine." Shani had noticed the towers and the fool had let himself be herded right into the barrier surrounding the battlefield.
"Good job to the new recruits and well fought on all accounts." Heine's face appeared on the screen, a proud smirk touching his face. "That was quite impressive. I had heard some rumors from above about your skills but you truly exceeded expetations."
Oruga's face appeared on the screen sporting his own grin, though the tilt of his suggested narcissism. "Of course we won! Did you actually think a bunch of greenhorn punks could actually challenge experienced soldiers?"
"What was that?", another face appeared on screen. It was a boy about Crot's age, maybe a bit older. Black hair drifted over blood-red raging eyes in uncontrolled wisps, all a part of dark face which seemed to have pondered the shadowy parts of life late at night as sleep drifted out reach. His teeth ground against each other to the point of emitting sparks and brow was furrowed, its potentially smooth broken up by both the creases and a bulging vein. "Who are you calling a 'greenhorn'?"
Oruga responded with a prideful scoff. Crot agreed with Oruga on this. These were just a bunch of snot nose brats compared to them. They had been pampered in a junky little academy when they had been putting their necks on the line invading Orb and ZAFT. They were nothing and Crot wasn't about to keep his opinion to himself, "You're inexperienced, get over it!" Crot shot back with only a slight sneer, keeping at least some of his arrogance in check. "We have fought on actual battlefields! Survived where thousands died! You just can't measure up!"
The kid snapped his mouth in almost a biting motion as he spoke, "Who do you think you are, you little s---!"
"That's enough!" Heine broke into the argument and both sides quieted down, though the ZAFT cadet didn't have the pride not to mutter obscenities to himself. It only made him look more the fool.
Heine gave a curt nod after he was sure both sides were finished. "Alright. Both sides head toward the eastern storage building to drop of your GINNs and I will debrief you on the exercise."
Crot groaned, such a bother having to take his suit all the way to some crappy hanger. The suit he had taken done had its power restored and immediately headed toward the warehouse they were supposed to go to. Probably didn't want to stick around at the place of his shaming. So with that thought bring a bit of a smile to his face, Crot headed toward the warehouse.
Moving out of the sunlight and into the shadows of the warehouse, Crot guided his suit to one of the docking slots. When his suit was fully back into it the bracers locked into place. There were three slots on each side, Crot took the left most one on his side, Shani took the center, and Oruga the right. Their opponents took the slots on the opposite side of the building.
The platform descended for them to get off their suits. With a press of a botton, the main screen of the mobile suit turned of and moved up out of the way as the steel it was attached to opened for him to get out of the suit. Once outside he saw Oruga already walking towards him and Shani was very slowly getting out of his; not seeming to care enough to rush. Having congregated they climbed a ladder down to ground level and headed toward the large gate that led out of the warehouse and into the main building. Heine stood their waiting for them.
Across the gulf of the central portion of the storage building they could see the three cadets they had fought. Lagging towards the back with his hand hanging at his sides and his head sunk into his shoulders was the annoying kid from earlier. Crot could feel the punk's eyes trying to bore holes into him. In front was a blond boy. Hair fell over most of his face and stopped only as it rest on top of his shoulders. His uniform was full button and without a crease, unlike the other boy's who had his half unbutton and looking well worn. The last was a girl. Her red hair seemed to set of the green of her uniform with its short black skirt that came to her knees. White stocking rose from her shoes up past her knee and into the recesses of her skirt.
The uniform of all three was green and white with a small insignia to the upper right of the heart. They were fairly plain with a high straight collar unlike the bent ones that the EAF used. As Crot had come to know, the ZAFT collars cut of circulation when fully buttoned but could be used to stash small things and compensate for the uniform's complete lack of pockets. God he hated not having pockets. Why would ZAFT design a uniform without pockets! He sighed turning his thoughts back to Heine who was giving a friendly smile to both sides.
As the two sides approached each other, Crot and Oruga cast a glare at the shadow-haired pilot who gritted his teeth and returned it in kind. That's when he noticed the girl was glance at Shani. Had they met? Or did she just find Shani attractive? May the world be spared if it was the later.
"Okay now." Heine said as the cadets saluted and the extended took their various poses of nonchalance. Crot noticed Shani slip an earbud from his music player into one of his ears and Oruga take out his book, making sure to keep it out of Heine's line of site as he read it. Damn them both. How, he wished he had brought his game. "First, for the cadets, that was very well fought and though you were beaten I hoped you learned something valuable." The cadets nodded politely, "You will of course be given credits for this towards graduation. You are dismissed." The three walked off but not before the obnoxious one made an obscene gesture at Oruga and Crot. Out of Heine's vision of course.
"Now, that the losers are gone what are you gonna do with us?" Oruga sighed, looking up from his book at Heine.
"Well, I was told to send you along to Captain Talia. She will tell you the results of the testing." Heine replied, "here I'll guide you there."
Shani stood in Captain Talia's and was slouched back a bit, only half paying attention as he stared at the floor. Annoying complications. Talia was an older woman, perhaps in her early thirties, and had light brown hair that seemed to curve around her head like a crescent. Here uniform was straight white with multiple insignias of her rank. Talia went over the test proudly, "You all broke records at the firing range, with special credit to you, Oruga." Oruga smirked with an arrogant grunt of acknowledgement. Great, Shani thought sarcastically with a sigh, feed his ego more…
"Also, I was watching your fight with Shinn, Rei, and Lunamaria, the three cadets, and I must say each of you is incredibly skilled. From listening to you chatter I believe that your teamwork could stand some improvement though" She gave them a serious stare to make sure her last point sunk in then moved on, "But over all it was quite impressive. It will be nice to have dependable skilled pilots around, especially with equipped with those suits of yours. Are mechanics tell us they are quite impressive."
"We get our suits back!" Crot shouted not able to hide his delight at the news.
"Well, they are ZAFT property, of course, but you will be given exclusive use of them." Crot punched the air above him, probably exuberant to have his Raider back. To be honest it would be nice to return to the Forbidden's cockpit but Shani wasn't about to let his air of apathy get ruffled by news so long expected as this. "Furthermore, do to orders from the council, based on political reasons I'm sure, you three be placed in your own squad." Great, Shani thought, we are probably going to get assigned to the academy here or something so that they could be monitored for a while. The council didn't trust them yet for all the fancy greetings. "You will be assigned to this base and will be going to the ZAFT academy for a few minor courses just to make sure your up to date on things pertinent to being a ZAFT soldier." That was just an excuse of course. The Extended already knew all they needed to know. PLANT just wanted an excuse to keep them here. "You'll probably be reassigned eventually to same place more interesting then an academy but try to take the time you have to relax from the war, I'm sure it was hard on you all. Depending on some other factors we may assign some of the cadets to your unit after graduation, your experience would be highly useful to them." Shani sighed, he hoped it never came to that. None of the three were particularly known for their patience. "Well, I suppose all that remains is to tell you the sergeant of your squad."
Oruga and Crot both immediately jumped up and even Shani's gaze was brought back to the woman from where it had been wandering about the room. "What?" both Oruga and Crot shouted, balling their fists in fury to the point that a large vein appeared on the back of each hand, "We don't need a squad leader. We can handle ourselves"
Talia was bit taken aback by the ferocity of their resistance, but smoothed herself out quickly, "Don't worry I'm sure you won't mind the person I assigned to you to much."
Shani groaned for the fifth time that hour as he lay on the bunk. He had never been so miserable. "And so, your sergeant will be… Shani Andras". Oh he had fought her, but she kept arguing with him and he eventually gave in. "You're the most qualified for the position. Your scores on the written exam were beyond exceptional and your awareness on the battlefield was super. You were able to read the opponents move and use the environment to your advantage and the enemies detriment. There is no better choice for the position." Of course, Crot and Oruga had agued against the appointment as well, but eventually it got to the point where Talia was threatening to reprimand them if they continued. And they did. So now his first job as sergeant was making sure those to scrubbed the toilets as they were supposed to.
He hated the thought of all the responsibility of being the liaison between the squad and their superiors, not to mention giving orders to Crot and Oruga, two of the most anti-authoritarian people he had ever met. And then there was the paper work, it wasn't going to be enough to warrant giving him an office but it wasn't negligible either. Not ones to make his life easier Crot and Oruga had taken to calling him sergeant with strong mocking undertones. The only up side was that he had gotten out of two classes at the academy, but that was only a pittance.
Life was going to suck now.