I had almost immediately started training when we arrived. I was introduced to numerous amounts of people, their names just ended up blurring together in my head. I had been given a change of clothes for my first part of training, which basically consisted of different cardio and strength exercises. Nothing I wasn't used to. My dark blonde hair had started falling out of place as I trained, the ends of each strand curled from being held in such a tight bun.

I was being watched constantly, something that set me on edge, and made it harder to perform in properly. But I was eventually able to brush it aside and focus on that task that was given to me. What I didn't know was that all my training was also being recorded.

It wasn't until several hours had passed that Will put a pause on my training. "I'm sure that you're starving right now. I can take you to the cafeteria, besides, it's almost my lunch time, too."

I wiped the sweat from my brows with my forearm. "Sure, food sounds great right about now,"

He chuckled and let me change into some lighter clothes that would allow me to cool down, the clothing of choice being leggings and a cotton tee. I left the change room and met Will back in the training room. From there we walked into the cafeteria, and lined up with trays to get our food. I was quite pleased to see that the food choices were healthy and balanced, and not at all like the high school lunches we had grown to hate. I piled my plate with a garden salad, and pieces of grilled chicken that I would later cut into smaller pieces to mix into the salad. While Will continued choosing more food, I went to find us a table to sit at. I sat down and began eating, and Will joined me shortly after.

He set a water bottle down on the table. "Got you some water,"

"Thank you!" I exclaimed, snatching the water bottle off the table and quickly twisting off the cap. I drank as much as I could in one breath, and sighed when I set the bottle back down on the table. Ah, hydration. I then continued eating, thinking of a topic to discuss. "So how's Sarah and the baby girl?"

His face lit up instantly. "Great! Our little girl is growing up so fast, you know? She's crawling all over the house now. It's a lot of work for Sarah though, and she's doing an outstanding job. It's hard, not being able to see them as often as I want...it is what it is though, and we're making it work."

"Well I'm glad to hear that everything's going well for your family. I can't wait for your baby girl to hit her teen years," I said, winking.

He shook his head. "Nu-uh, I don't want to be thinking about all that quite yet, Maria. Or like, ever,"

I laughed and shook my head. "Only teasing, Major."

"Well maybe I should return the favor," He said, smirking. "How's your love life going, hmm?"

"Love life? Oh God, I definitely don't have one, that's for sure. You know, guys get all impressed that I'm in the army but as soon as I have to actually do my job, they leave. I've just given up on the whole love life thing. I'm planning to adopt 57 puppies instead."

Will snorted from sudden laughter, and people glanced in our direction briefly. "Good luck with that one, Captain,"

I chuckled. "I'm totally serious!"

"Hah, yeah right,"

"Well, maybe not, but I made my point,"

Smiling, he said: "Yeah, I would say." He paused. "How're you finding the training so far?"

"I have to say, this first part of training is like a repeat of one of my years as a Private." I said. "I'm only expecting it to get harder."

"Well it depends on what the Au-the commanding officers think of your performance. They're the ones that determine if you'll work well here,"

I raised an eyebrow at his mess-up. "And who are these commanding officers?"

He waved a hand casually. "You'll meet them soon enough,"

Through the observation of his behavior, I noticed his defensive body posture, and the difference in how he held his shoulders. He was hiding something, that I knew. However, no amount of psychology studying would be able to tell me exactly what he was hiding from me. There might be techniques to pry it out of him, yes, but I could never do that to someone I was close to. Especially over something as serious as this.

When we had finished our lunch, we placed our trays where the dirty ones belonged, and made our way back to the training room. Apparently I wasn't close to done. At this point I was given different exercises that were beyond hard. They were the kind that required a whole lot of motivation to complete, and the thought of being denied acceptance here fueled me right until the end.

General Morshower held up a hand, signalling that I could stop. I wiped the sweat from my brow, and wiped my arm off on my shirt. I was soaked in sweat, and I was panting heavily. "You've done quite well, Captain. Better then any of us could have asked for."

"Thank you...Sir," I said in between heavy breaths.

He smiled. "You're free to go. I'll take this time to speak to other commanding officers about your performance. Major Lennox, that includes you,"

Will nodded, and waved slightly as the two men left the room. I smiled, thankful that I could take this free time to shower and clean myself. I headed to the change room and stripped down, leaving my clothes on a bench before heading over to the showers. I turned the water to cold, and let the water run down my body, the cold droplets soothing my hot skin.

Leaving the steaming washroom, I held my military clothing in my arms. Once I had reached my barracks I quickly took off my workout clothing and traded for my military wear. I opened my suit case and pulled out my phone. There were some messages from friends, but they weren't of any relative importance. I sighed and set my phone on the nightstand. Just then, there was a knock at my door, and I smiled when I opened it.

"Hey." I said.

Will smiled. "Hey yourself. Come on, some commanding officers want to speak with you."

"Are these the mysterious ones you won't talk about?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.

He shook his head. "No. Come on, it'll all make sense in a bit,"

I chuckled and stepped out of my room, closing the door behind me. "I hope so."

He led me to quite a distance from the barracks and the training room, and we went upstairs even. He opened a tinted glass door, and I stepped into a large meeting room, with a round oak table, and a group of men sitting around it in leather chairs. I tensed and looked back at William. He smirked and went to stand near the end of the table, away from me.

I recognized General Morshower as he stood. "Captain Roskowick."

I saluted respectfully. "Yes, Sir."

"I must say, Captain, I am quite impressed with your training. Even within this short time you have shown improvement. I think it is safe to say that my fellow officers are just as impressed as I,"

There were nods and mumbles of agreement. "Thank you, Sir. I make a point to put in all the effort I can to succeed."

He grinned slightly. "And I think, Captain, that is exactly what we need here at NEST."

I furrowed my brows together. "Excuse me, General, I'm not sure I understand. Am I being accepted?"

He glanced at a few of his colleagues then nodded. "Yes, you are." I couldn't stop myself from smiling. Let me tell you, hard work pays off. "Major Lennox will be the one to debrief you on what it is we do here, as per his request."

I saluted once again. "Thank you, Sir." I forced myself to look at the men at the table, and smiled slightly. Will rested a hand on my shoulder and led me out of the room and down the hall. "That went well."

"Yeah, that's for sure. I didn't even know they were going to accept you today. They're really holding you to high expectations, Maria."

I laughed. "That's nothing I'm not used to." I paused. "Do I finally get to meet the mystery team now?"

He glanced at me sideways as we walked. "I need to debrief you still. Plus there's the paperwork."

"Ugh. You're joking."

He opened the door to another room. "Wish I was," Just like he said, there was a small stack of paperwork waiting to be read and signed. I sat down in one of the leather chairs and William sat beside me.

The debriefing began, and while he talked, I signed the necessary papers. He spoke of the complete secrecy of the operation and the dedication I would need to be kept here.

"I've put a lot of work into NEST, Maria. The last thing I want is to have to shut down."

I nodded and shoved the stack of papers towards him. "Alright, Major. Everything's signed."

"Welcome to the team. There'll be an office set up for your psychology business. But we have something important to do first," He smirked and stood up.

"Ah, the main event," I replied, standing as well. Will said nothing in response and instead led me out of the room and down a hall, then down a set of stairs. We came to a stop before a locked door that required some sort of code. Will entered it, and the door unlocked, allowing us entry. We entered a ground level garage looking part of the building, there was a landing above us were some soldiers were hard at work, typing away on highly advanced computers. A large group jogged past us and I smiled, remembering my time as a Private. William led me up the metal staircase to the landing, and we walked for awhile before coming to a stop at a section that was built almost like a porch on a house, as it stood away from the landing.

Will rested his hands on the railing. "Well Maria, you said that you had mentally prepared yourself. So I hope you're ready."

"Will, what's going on?" I asked hesitantly.

"This operation, NEST, it's something the government has never taken apart of." He paused, chuckling. "NEST even stands for Non-biological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty. There's a new threat on Earth called the Decepticons...and these guys aren't just some terrorist group. They're alien."

I glanced away from him and furrowed my eyebrows in thought. Alien? No, that's not possible. I was a special forces officer, I would have known about this before now. I looked back up at Will. "Show me."

Will nodded then leaned over the railing. "Hey! Epps! She's ready, get them in here."

I saw Robert nod and run underneath the landing and behind some plastic looking curtains. After a moment I heard the revving of engines, and several different types of vehicles drove out from behind the curtain and to the front of the landing. I cocked an eyebrow in question. What was going on? There was a Peterbilt 379 semi-trailer truck that seemed to be at the front of the other vehicles. A black GMC Topkick parked close to the Peterbilt. There were two Chevrolet Sparks, one was a bright green while the other was a black and orange one. I also took notice to an ambulance truck.

I shook my head and turned to Will. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand. What's with all the vehicles?"

He grinned and brought his fingers to his lips, releasing a loud whistle. I rolled my eyes, but my attention was brought back to the different vehicles as I heard the grinding of gears and metal. My eyes widened as I saw that these vehicles were...transforming? How is that possible?!