After a nice nap, Zeke gave me a nudge. We got up together and then walked to the Briefing Room. All of those that had been out and about earlier in the day had returned for the meeting, and the room was bustling with activity.
Zeke and I stood in a corner, just regarding the scene. Many males, and some females, milled about, catching up on the day's adventures as we just stood there and waited for the day's events to begin. I looked at Zeke and saw some discomfort on his face; he clearly wasn't used to being in huge crowds. I was a bit more adept at reconciling such situations - people tended to naturally gravitate toward me. I was something to be stared at, an anomaly.
"Yo," I heard someone call over to me, waving. It was the dude with the undercut from earlier, and he was waving over to me. He was standing next to the man who was most certainly his Navigator, a tan, lithe guy with a two-toned mop on his head. I grabbed Zeke and walked over.
"Hey dude," I intoned. "First day?"
"Yup," he smiled, his teeth glinting. This guy seemed full of exuberance, whomever he was, his light eyes mesmerizing as he looked me over. "I recognized you from the line earlier, thought it might be smart to stick together since we're all new on the ship. I'm Helios. And this is..."
"I can speak for myself, Helios," the Navigator interrupted, sticking out his hand and smiling. "I'm Selene. Nice to meet you."
"Cool, dudes. I'm Chanun." I shook both hands, secretly proud of myself for being able to finally pronounce the name correctly.
"I'm Zeke," my partner chimed in.
"Awesome, nice to meet you guys," Helios said with a smile. Damn, his fucking eyes. I was melting a little bit, although I was able to keep my composure. I remembered what I had discussed with Zeke earlier; I'd control myself. At least for the time being. More dudes like Helios, though, and it would be difficult to stay pure and chaste.
"So, what brings you all onto the Sleipnir?" Selene asked, his voice crisp, almost like a radio DJ's.
"We were both drafted," Zeke answered. "You?"
"Same," Selene said. "This one volunteered, though."
"Really?" Zeke asked, looking at Helios with a bit of confused appreciation. I was surprised, too.
"Yeah," Helios said nonchalantly. "Here to serve and protect." I could tell from the slight shakiness in his voice that there was something else there, a secret that he was keeping, but I wasn't going to press him on it. Not now, anyway.
"So you're not Stateside, then?" Zeke inquired.
"Nah, I'm from The Colonies," Helios responded. "Selene's from The Southwest, though."
Selene nodded. "Yup."
All of a sudden, we heard a buzzing sound and a hush come over the room. Everyone began to scramble for seats. Our quartet stayed together, sitting in a corner of the room as a group of men ascended to the podium.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the oldest of the group boomed over the mic, "silence please." The room immediately quieted down, and the man grinned.
"Good afternoon, all, and to our new shipmates, welcome aboard the Sleipnir. Myself, Commander Bering, and this man on my right, Encke, are your lead fighters." He gestured to the dark-skinned man with intense eyes on his immediate right. He seemed intense, I thought. It might be tough to live up to his expectations.
"These two are Commander Cook and Keeler, your lead navigators." Bering gestured to his far left, too two men with blonde hair, one older with a closely cropped cut and specs, the other younger with a long braid and smiling eyes. I recalled Zeke telling me about Cook; he must have been the one to lobby for my Navigator to keep his glasses through his deployment.
"For those new members of the ship, you have been enlisted to help with our battle against the Colteron threat," Commander Bering continued, his eyes holding the attention of everyone in the room. "Thank you for joining us - we are thrilled to have you aboard the Sleipnir. If you need anything, feel free to reach out to us or your fellow soldiers. We're family here." He paused and there was a light smattering of applause. I looked around and saw eyes going everywhere, clearly trying to fixate on the new people. I caught eyes with this one blond with wild-eyed hair sitting next to a fighter with an eyepatch. He grinned at me and then turned back to the podium, where Bering was set to continue.
"New recruits, you will receive schedules detailing your mandatory regimens tonight on your coms. For the rest of you, we hope that you enjoyed your breaks, but tomorrow it's back to the grind. We have some new intelligence that the Navigators will need to be analyzing tomorrow, so it'll be all hands on deck. New recruits, I'd try and find a buddy so you're kept up to speed on what's going on. I'm sure one of the current Navs would be happy to help."
I looked over at Zeke and saw his eyes light up. Information was his lifeblood. I knew he'd keep me in the loop if anything crazy was going on.
"Fighters, just keep on training. We may be layering on some new methods in the next couple of weeks, especially since we may have discovered some new Colteron colonies in some...well...less than desirable locales. However, for now, it's business as usual."
"So, that's all for today. We'll take off at 2400 so mind the shaky floor then until we get back into orbit." Bering concluded with a smile making its way on his mustached face. "May the Sleipnir stay strong." We all grunted in assent, and then the crowd was loud again as Fighters and Navigators alike began walking around again, now free from their previous engagement.
"So, that was cool," Helios said, yawning a bit as he slapped me on the back. I turned to him and grinned.
"Yup. Feels crazy...we're aboard the freaking Sleipnir and tomorrow begins our training. I should be scared, but I'm not for some reason."
"Adrenaline does crazy things to the brain," Selene mused as we began to make our way over to the mess hall. Subconsciously, it seemed like we had all come to the realization that we were starving. We grabbed some food and sat as a group, just eating and talking about stuff.
"So, Selene," Zeke began saying as he swallowed a bit of an apple. "I was thinking that after we find out our training schedules, we can reconnect and then try to find a Navigator to help keep us up to speed on everything going on with this "new mission." Selene nodded in assent; I could tell that he was totally devoted to the mission as well. He'd be good company to keep.
"I hope there are some other nice Navigators around here," Zeke said, perhaps just a tad too loudly as the room was filling up a bit more. I raised an eyebrow in both amusement and slight embarrassment. Helios caught my look and giggled a bit into his food. "This place feels kind of cliquey."
"We've barely met anyone so far, dude," I told Zeke as I patted his shoulder. "Relax. I'm sure there are some other cool people about. We've already made two new friends, see?" He looked at me and took a deep breath, then turned away. I smiled and moved back toward my food, when all of a sudden I saw another person next to me.
"Hey," my new neighbor said, holding out a hand for me to shake. It was the blonde Navigator from earlier, and now I was able to get a good look at him. He had bright eyes, a mane of hair, and was well-built; not super thin, but fit and solid. He smiled, his bright teeth glinting. "I'm Ethos. You're new?"
"I'm Chanun, and yeah, man. Nice to meet you." He blushed a bit, some red finding its way into his cheeks.
"Heheh...sorry. I saw you from across the room earlier and felt compelled to say hi. I hope you enjoy it here!" His enthusiasm wasn't exactly infectious as much as it felt put-on, but I kept my composure and leaned back a bit.
"Hey Zeke, this Navigator seems cool. Why don't you say hi?" Zeke turned to face him and nodded. Ethos opened his mouth for a second, then closed it.
"You have glasses?" He asked. Zeke sighed.
"Yup, got an exemption to wear them. Eyes are too sensitive for laser or contacts...at least for now."
Ethos looked confused for have a second, but then brightened. "Cool! Commander Cook...he wasn't at the ceremony because he's in the med bay...but he has glasses too. Must be a reason why you ended up on this ship.
Zeke shrugged. "I guess so. I know they're supposed to be stricter about that now, but I got lucky."
I gave Zeke another pat. "Nah, he's being modest. He's a strategic genius, from what I've seen thus far." Now, it was Zeke's turn to blush. I took the opportunity to allow Helios and Selene to introduce themselves to Ethos as well. We all chatted and ate for the next hour or so until we had all completed our meals.
"So, catch me later, OK?" Ethos said as we all walked out. "I have to meet up with my Fighter right now for some training, but both you Navigators find me tomorrow and I'll let you know what's up with this new initiative." Zeke and Selene nodded and both agreed. Ethos turned to Helios and gave him a hug, then grasped me around my waist.
"And if you ever want to talk about anything, Chanun, you can come find me too," he hummed in my ear. "Room 293."
I didn't expect anything like this to happen this quickly, but it really did seem like the Sleipnir rumors were true; there was more dicking on this ship than anywhere else. I knew the effect that I had on some people; even on the island, I was fetishized a bit by men and women alike for my combination of skin tone, attitude, and, of course, build. I mostly just went with the flow, turning down the undesirables and gaining a little bit of experience with some people I felt more comfortable with. I was prepared - and, dare I say, expecting - to meet some cool people on this vessel who I may want to bone.
Still, I remembered what Zeke and I had discussed earlier. Fucking anyone - Ethos or anyone else - would have to wait a bit, at least until after we had gotten acclimated to what was going on. Heck, Astor was still in the back of my mind - he'd been the first one who I'd...allowed to reciprocate, shall we say. I needed some time to gather my thoughts and figure out who was worth it.
I'd still be able to lay some groundwork, though, even if I wanted to stay high and dry for now.
"Sure, Ethos," I hummed back, wrapping one of my long, muscled arms around the small of his back and squeezing right above the nape of his butt, hearing the absolute faintest of moans in my ear. "I'll be sure to let you know if I ever want to chat."
We ended our embrace and my troop walked out, excited to explore the remainder of the ship we would now call home.