Chapter Six: Welcome to Hell Boot
Harry's POV
He shifted slightly in the plastic hard seat of the atmospheric transport. The silence was deafening, everyone else in the transport was attempting to avoid looking directly at him while stealing glances with strange looks on their faces. He stared straight forwards trying to push it out of his mind and ignore the looks. He closed his eyes for a moment and breathed deeply feeling surprised as his network connection ended before he could dive in. His eyes snapped open as he felt the shake of the transport as the landing gear impacted roughly with the landing pad below it.
The ramp lowered quickly and the sound of harsh footsteps rang against the metal plate of the ramp. "Alright listen up. I'm going to run through a few things you all need to do before I let you off this tub. First, you're going to grab any and all paperwork provided to you in your right hand. Next, you will grab your bag in your left hand. Ladies will exit the ship first then Men." The rough voice called standing at the threshold the campaign hat shadowing the persons face.
"When you leave you will find several Yellow dots on the ground those are the starting points for a line, you will fill those lines and stand at attention. You have two minutes to do this, start now." The man said before stepping off. The flurry of movement broke the silence and he waited in tense silence as the women on the ship exited as fast as possible. "Ladies on the left Males on the right!" Another voice called from outside the ship. He stepped in line with the rest and stepped of lining up behind a lightly clothed man in his group.
"Males face left, first two rows can kneel, ladies face right, same can be said for you." A man called out walking down the gap between the groups a large strangely formed hat on his head, it slightly resembled some old police hats from Canada. "Over your time here you will be subjected to trying times, extreme stress, and you will learn that all of this is to break your old lives and mold you into something better. A soldier." The man said glancing over everyone around. "During your time you will refer to anyone wearing this hat and these insignia on their arms as Drill Sergeant. You will not say sir, you will not say Sergeant." The man commanded harshly.
"Do you understand?" The Drill Sergeant asked. "Yes, Drill Sergeant." He called into the echo of voices. "Good In the next few moments you will move into the building and follow the designated path, during this time there will be no speaking unless you are addressed. Is this understood?" The Drill Sergeant asked getting the second loud report of the day. "When I say go this first line will move after that line has finished the next row will move, and so forth until this area is clear." The Drill instructor explained letting them face forwards again. "Go." The command called making this first line of females move through the doors.
Orientation was a simple afair although it probably could be considered the most boring segement of training. Once he had been assigned to a specific Battalion and given his battle buddy he had gotten a little into the swing of things. Although his fuck up in the beginning could do without being brought up at almost every meal. On top of that, it managed to gain the attention of almost every Drill Sergeant and made a massive target appear on his back. He felt a strange mixture of feelings for the Drill Sergeant's, some of him hated them the other part felt like they were family.
"Today we're going over many of the weapons you will be seeing in the field, on top of that you will be firing at targets to train on accurancy as well as understanding the function and effects these weapons will have on you." The Drill Sergeant explained before grabbing a strange looking rifle. "This is the M662A it's primary designation is a Carbine, along the side is a multiswitch. This switch has five settings depending on the situation, the first is a single shot, second a three round burst, third full automatic, fourth is a single shot of high concentrated plasma, the fifth is a full automatic function for the same plasma." The Drill Sergeant explained holding it out in front of him and pointing to each setting.
"Each setting has their own intended function and use in the field, many of you are wondering why we still use ballistic rounds, kinetic force is your answer." The Drill Sergeant explained making him blink in surprise. "Most basic shielding is intended for energy or plasma weapons, to dispurse the heat and power along its surface. However these shields dont have the phasing to stop a physical projectile, and those shields that provide cover for both demand to much power to be used on anything less than a planetary shield or ship, any energy shield seen weilded by someone is likely to only deflect plasma." The Drill Sergeant explained before laying the rifle down removing the magazine showing the rounds inside.
"These are basic 7.62 Rounds each magazine holds thirty rounds the plasma is is contained in a small inserted canister inside of the grip, each canister contains a heavily condensed amount of gas enough for approximately sixty shots. Your basic loadout for this weapon is five kinetic Magazines and three canisters." The drill sergeant explained showing off the small canister and its markings. "Be careful with the canisters in a pinch they can be used as a makeshift plamsa grenade however if the weapon becomes excessively damaged near the grip and it punctures the canister due to the rate of release of the gas the guns should not explode." The Drill Sergeant said a small grin coming over his face.
"Should not explode, Drill Sergeant?" Tora asked nervously. "Should not, its exceptionaly rare that it happens, but still take care with this weapon, it can either be your best friend or worst enemy." The Drill Sergeant said simply before turning to a massive rifle. "Next we'll be going over the KMG-77, SKMG-36, and PMG-200." The Drill Sergreant explained pointing at each weapon. "The KMG-77 is a Kinetic Machine Gun, due to its weight class it can only be operated as a fixed weapon, or with a heavy class Exo-Armor. The rounds fired are old world styled 12.7x99mm Anti Material Rounds. When mounted in place the recoil is diverted vertically. It is also quite powerfull." The Drill Sergeant said pulled the large box magazine off the underside of the gun.
"Each Magazine carries a max capacity of three hundred rounds. Even with the Heavy Class Exo-Armor, many will need to brace themselves in order to wield it." The Drill Sergeant sprouted out getting noticable bored with the explination. It was clear he did this almost every week and it always resulted in some idiot not paying attention and fucking up along the way. "The SKMG-36 is a Squad Automatic Weapon, its rounds are kinetic and it fires a 7.62 old world style round its max capacity is one hundred and fifty rounds. Finally the PMG-200, this weapon is a plasma machine gun, optimal use is mounted on a vehicle or stand, however like its kinetic counterpart it can be carried. The max plasma round output is five hundred bolts per canister, the canister is mounted underneath just in front of the trigger." The Drill Sergeant explained easily flipping the heavy weapon.
"Training on Anti-Tank and Anti-Air weapons are to be done tomorrow in section 8 of the training fields using dummy vehicles, grenade training will wait for a few days." The Drill sergeant explained before gesturing to the nearby firing range. "You all were assigned a range and target line, get to them and ready up!" The Drill Sergeant ordered making everyone scramble for the range. He laid down quickly and charged the slim simple M662A. "Fire at will." The Drill sergeant exclaimed making the sound of sixty weapons call out and deafen the hills nearby. The sight of the target getting a new hole at close range was easy enough but as he moved further down the line and to targets farther away it became more difficult.
On top of that, he didnt have enhanced eyes so he couldnt just zoom in to the target and had to be careful with his shots. "Cease Fire." THe order rang out and quickly the sound stopped. "As it stands all of you have to work on your aim, but as that is something we will be working on over the course of the next two weeks you will all become very well attuned to your weapon and be able to aim very well. At the end of this training is qualifiers and a test, if you pass this test with a score higher than eighty points you could potientially awarded a commendation." The Drill Sergeant explained.
He grimaced lightly before schooling himself, he still had some reservations towards the idea of fighting and even though its possible it would be a necissary thing he didnt feel like it was something he wanted to do, he may have killed someone once or twice but to be in a warzone where that possibility is constant he wasnt exactly sure that was something he could do. On top of the fact that this place was on the outer edges of their territory, they were already on edge due to the pricarious area they trained in, but this was the only system that had virtually every type of planet they could end up fighting on, and with inter system transport the long training survival and field training for those worlds wouldnt require a ship to go to another system with it all here.
He turned back and marched quickly with the rest back to the barracks trying his best to avoid any attention, not that he ever really succeeded since his position was basically the most eye catching thing and he had fucked up on the first day. the moment the got back to the barracks he felt relief especially since he finally got to sleep for the night and even though the cots were perhaps the most uncomfortable thing he could imagine sleeping in it was still better than the floor or even the dirt ground outside. This training was only the beginning too. Next week its Exo-Armor training and survival in hostile world types.
"Hey Potter, what is it that made you jump into this thing?" Taro asked taking a seat next to him and leaning back against the foot of the bunk. "What do you mean?" He asked looking at the guy with a raised eyebrow. "Oh come on, I'm your battle buddy after all, you can tell me why you jumped in feet first into the army, after all, you are the commander so wouldnt the higher ups be all about locking you away for safety?" Taro asked making him shift nervously in his seat as the conversation seemed to agrner a lot of attention from everyone around them. "Well, I'm sure that they probabaly did want to do that. Howevere im not exactly one to be locked away, I mean if I'm literally going to have an army under my command, no matter how forced it is, I should probably be able to do the same things they can, especially since I will be expected to command from my ship in certain battles. It would kind of suck if i didnt know how to command and the largest most powerful ship we had got destroyed because I didnt know anything." he said blandly looking at the guy and getting a small chuckle.
"Yeah thats true enough but I mean, You dont really have a stake in this right? They just found you and dragged you back saying 'hey guess what your our leader now deal with it'." Taro said making him cough slightly at the comment. "Well yeah, dont misunderstand I probably havent had it hit me all that much still, but I can really just deny what they ask of me, I mean this is all I have left of the life I had before and on top of that the outside galaxy doesnt exactly scream out friendly. I mean sure based on some data we have some places are but we also have some very xenophobic races out there." He said getting a small nod from the guy. "So yeah I'd rather be prepared." He said shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah I can understand that, ah well, your stuck here now with all of us so you do your best to keep us alive and we will do the same." Taro said with a small grin getting him to smile lightly and nod in agreement.
Miyumi's POV
"I want an update on his progress." She ordered calmly to the nervously fidgiting general of the training command. "Well thats just the thing, While his training is exceptional and he hasnt really hated anywhere it seems that his presence has caused some nervousness out of his peers, they havent bonded as well with him knowing he is going to be the guy ordering them into combat and hell." General Sinclar explained shifting in his seat. "I knew that would be the case however we expect someone to have stepped up by now." She said getting a small sigh. "It's the way we knew it would be, but it isnt totally bad, if he were to be overlly attached it is entierly possible he would have neglected his duties as a leader to keep them from seeing what may be a necissary evil." General Sinclair expalained.
She stared at the man and let the silence grow by the second. "Still, I wouldnt like another more detailed update as soon as possible as I would like to ensure his mental state is satisfactory. We did after all drag him into a vastly different future and essentially tossed him to the wolves, even if he has our support its not exactly our best move in the world." She dryly bit out getting a small nod. "From what has been seen he is adapting well, but it's entirely possible he is using the training as a block from facing his worries about his past and what happened as well as the no doubt heavy shock he got coming into this new world. Or at least thats the report form the chaplain, he's scheduled meetings with every recruit to get a good view on their mental state. If it werent for the commander being in this class he would have had a hell of a time getting approval." General Sinclair expressed getting a small nod and relieved smile from her.
"Well at least someone is looking out for him in that place." She said with a small sigh before a small alert broke out on the tablet she held. "The Auturnia Empire has been getting restless to make some form of communication with us, and ever since we turned over control to the COmmander we cant really begin negotiations for anything without him here." She said getting a small frown from the General. "Havent we expressed to them that our leader is currently unavailable?" General Sinclai asked getting her to nod slightly. "The problem beeing that tensions between them and the System Coalition are breaking down and both are scrambling to get as many major powers on their side and with how large our armies and fleets are its obvious we are a first choice for anyone to ally with." She said getting a small nod. "Thats true but it ends up creating an issue for us, we were hoping to slowly ease him into his job but with the galactic stabilty falling like this he's going to be thrown into what could possibly be a galactic war with barely any preperation." General Sinclair said rubbing his eyes.
"That's true, but Harry seems to be someone who adapts quickly and from what Kira has said he is someone who doesnt give up on anything when he puts his mind to it, at least the review of his memories when he was connected to the network express that much, however psycological analysis through memories is never a reliabel science and you and I know this." She said getting a small chuckle. "It's the best we have at the moment we cant just pull him out unless their was a national emergency." General Sinclair said before closing his mouth with a small click getting a slightly annoyed glare form her. "Now whay would you say that with his luck that could literally be what happens." She said with exasperation in her voice getting a slightly sorry look from the General. "Either way the point waits until he's done if we can. I need to speak with the Security division about the secondary safe worlds." She said getting a small frown and nod before the General stood suddenly.
"I'll take my leave then, good lucky with whatever moves you will be making, I still need to inform the other General's of our most recent collections of troops training." General Sinclair said before leaving the room quickly letting her relax into the chair with a small sigh in annoyance. The small growing headache was a probelm she had been fighting through the entire conversation and it seemed it wouldnt be letting up any time soon. The door slidding open quickly behind clued her into the fact that she most likely wouldnt be getting even a moment to compose herself or ward off the headache. "What exactly do you need to speak to me about Miyumi?" The controlled voice of Smith called out behind her. She turned quickly to the man and stared at the black out sunglasses that did exceptionally well at blocking the mans reaction to her less than pleased stare.
"I need to speak with you about the security detail for the future graduation of Amry Basic Training, while the class still has twelve more weeks of training even if they are four weeks in, it's important to have a base line for this type of thing." She said getting the man to simply take a seat before her. "Most of the graduation will be taking place in the primary graduation promenade, the location cant be changed but the security divison has already formalized a plan, and the Home fleet has been charged with providing space coverage over the planet." Smith explained making her spit out the small pull of tea she had taken. "They what?" She yelled out in surprise getting a quiet stare from the man. "The Decision was heavily suggested by both Admiral Angela Blake and Admiral Anastasia Pushkov. They seem considerably worried for the safety of the man who will be leading their fleet." Smith said making her smirk at the thought.
'Hmm, maybe that part of what we will need from him wont be too hard, what with Kira already ready.' She thought to herself before nodding to the mans statement and leaned back into the chair hoping to mull over it some more. The small clearing of the throat brought her attention back to the man seeing he was leaning forwards. "The biggest concern is his movement from Army Basic to Navy Boot Camp, the route needed to take puts his transport fairly close to the Casian Cloud. Even though regular military patrols are done near the Cloud, its possible a small pirate instilation is inside the cloud and if his transport were targeted..." Smith said trailing off and making her grimace at the thought and realization. "The military would be almost overzealous in his retrieval possibly even pulling key fleet formations from their posted locations and after that inviting our neighbors to attempt an attack." She said getting a slow nod.
"The reports of several scouting patrols popping up more and more on our borders hasn't gone unnoticed and it's making many of the Admirals tense, as well as Military Intelligence." Smith explained getting her to sigh before draining the rest of the tea hoping it would help her relax. "What can we do to prevent that possibility?" She asked getting the man to shake his head slowly. "With the rate everything is going there is no stopping it, why do you think the Admiral's and General's were pushing for a meeting so soon, if the commander hadn't considered joining the Basic training of the Army and the Boot camp of the Navy both sides would have heavily pushed for him to do it." Smith said simply. "It isn't just the advantage of having a military inclined leader either, they are gearing up for possible war, and they want a leader that will make the tough choices in a situation involving conflict, who better than a military trained commander?" Smith said getting her to sigh and slouch in the chair.
"At least he actively made the choice it would have been much worse off if they forced it on him, I still can't help but worry about the result though." She said getting a small shrug. "Ma'am, my job is simply his physical wellbeing, but from what I noticed the boy is a fighter, will the training and war change him, most definitely, however, I doubt he will take anything laying down." Smith said standing quickly and moving to the door leaving her to her considerably dark thoughts about the future and her commanders' mental wellbeing.
Harry's POV
He bolted up as the sound of music blasted through a nearby speaker box. "Up and at em!" The Drill Sergeant called making everyone spring into action. It was in only a few short moments that everyone found themselves dressed in their uniforms and lined up at the door to head down out to the training pitch. "Line up, Basic stretches!" The drill sergeant called after they left the bunkhouse. The quick movements as they shifted into the correct positioning went mostly unnoticed and everyone moved quickly to the simple rhythm the cadence put on them. He breathed softly as his hands brushed against his shoes for a moment and stood up straight again stretching out his arm's quickly. While he hadn't been the most athletic person in the world, he was certainly better off than most of those who were in Hogwarts, he never failed a PT test so far, and he had a fair feeling most of those in Hogwarts would have failed horribly in the training.
Next came the running and even though his lungs didnt burn like they should have didnt mean he wouldnt be breathing hard. The slight burn of his legs in motion was something he had been used to when training for quidditch, but that was a long time ago in his eyes. He shifted around a slightly slower moving person and kept it up till the sprints were called out. It was the same training in the day to day cycle, physical training wasnt a changed thing the only new thing in each day were differences in classes and what was to be taught that day, but the familiar motions through the day did help some people adapt. The feeling of hunger kicked in and he knew quickly that phsycial training would be ending and breakfast beginning soon. 'At least Basic wont last forever, it's nice enough to be just another grunt though.' He thought to himself in mild amusement.
A/N: So, long time huh? Not really got an excuse, this chapter was hell to type, I certainly don't feel it's my best work around but I grew slightly satisfied near the end as everything became a little smoother for me to write and it didn't feel like I was slamming a car into a brick wall. Writer's block can really suck ass. This is only the smallest peak of what Military life is like, and it really doesn't do the actual experience much justice, while it'd be easy to literally tell you of the day to day activities it wouldn't make for a very entertaining read. The next chapter will deal with the survival training on a nearby ammonia world, A little right of passage for those going in the training, on top of a necessary move since its always possible some of the enemies they may face could live on those worlds. The next one should be easier to write but thats a guess at this point since I havent even started it, I literally completed this work in the doc managed due to the fact that it will tell me my word count per save and Grammerly is available when downloaded to check the work for gramer issues. I'm not the most perfect writer in the world after all and the program has literally saved my bacon more than once with writing. With what you all no doubt expect I want to deliver the best possible work I can manage to produce and it can be slow going coming up with something to push things along gently without literally free writing it. While that can turn out very well sometimes it can also lead to issues later with backing yourself into a corner and causing this work to die slowly due to unescapable writers block. To anyone who plans to start writing, or to anyone who has been inspired by my own stories to start writing, becareful with that type of thing, as it can be hard to get out of. In any case good luck to those who do start writing. I'll attempt to post the next chapter at a somewhat decent timeline, hopefully, it wont be months but you never know.