Orkos, Radec, Aren, Deris, and Lorlo were the first ones to arrive at the docks. With the five of them released from the detention center at the same time, it made sense to complete all they needed to as a group. Late afternoon, the fiery pilot would still be in the middle of celebrations and gathering her own items. She wasn't bound to arrive until late at night. With a general ingress of supplies and machinery into the cargo hold and the hangar, the ship wasn't short of any activity.
As dictated and ordered, their checklists were fulfilled. Each was overladen with Spec Ops standard-issue gear and equipment…but a complete lack of a combat uniform…odd. The Commander had stated they would receive additional gear once aboard…perhaps they were in inventory? Like fresh-faced recruits to their first unit, they stood out of the way, watching as the dockworkers continued loading crates and supplies into the hangar of the vessel. An awful lot of supplies for a single Spec Ops team…
Fresh from Fort Viilan and a supply depot, clad in his Scout Sniper uniform rather than the unit's, with a number of boxes in hand, Kazak stopped to look at the group. "You the new guys?"
Orkos looked to Kazak, snapping to attention and saluting. "Yes, sir, Lieutenant."
The other four followed suit per protocol once made aware of Kazak's presence as a superior officer.
"As you were, relax." Kazak replied as he looked around. No sign of the Commander or the Captain? Weird. He looked around for the two of them and not an antenna in sight.
The Lieutenant's casualness was mildly off-putting. Their interaction with Vult and his subordinates earlier in the day led them to believe this was a strictly-disciplined unit. The members-to-be glanced at one another with a hint of uncertainty of how to proceed.
"Hm…" No sign of them, may as well get them on board at the very least and have them wait rather than meander about the outside. "Well, don't just stand here looking like idiots." He motioned for the five of them to follow him up one of the loading ramps into the hangar. Certainly bustling with activity with crates and machine tools delivered left and right.
Aero, the same Lieutenant from earlier, was hard at work playing warehouse foreman. The dockworkers, much like the rest of the Empire, dared not challenge the authority of someone so impossibly tall, yet lowly-ranked. The less they knew, the better.
"What is that?" She pursued, squinting as she leaned in to read the labeling of the metal crate before gesturing with her stylus. "Over there…and for Irk's sake keep the chemicals separate!"
Kazak, playing mother goose to the procession at his rear, reached into one of the boxes and withdrew the promised officer's visor cap and its removable insignia. "Hey, Aero!" He called out to the mechanical technician turned officer as he waved both items in the air. "Look at what I snagged for you! Compliments of the Captain! Also the FNGs are here!"
The pink-eyed Irken tore away from her controlled chaos, eagerly approaching the group with sparkling eyes. Her request was granted! Eagerly accepting, the eccentric Lieutenant promptly placed the peaked cap on her head, sticking her tongue out as adjustments to the angle were made. There! Perfect.
"Well? How do I look?"
"Looks like you were made to wear it." The sniper gave a thumbs up of approval.
She grinned in appreciation, her attention drifting to the new faces behind him. "Who are they?"
Realization.
"Oh! Right…the…evaluations. Sorry, been super busy all day down here- HEY! Uh-uh, I don't think so!" She interrupted her train of thought, getting the attention of a particular dockworker. "You know what's in that crate, don't ya? It leaks into the one next to it, BOOM! I want them as far apart as possible."
Returning her attention back to Kazak, she tugged at her uniform in annoyance.
"...as you can see, I may as well be herding varsaaks down here."
"Say no more. Just let the boss know the FNGs are here. I'll bring 'em to the conference room for him."
Her brow furrowed, perplexed by Kazak's terminology.
"Eff…In…Gee? What's that mean?"
"Shorthand for fucking new guy."
She frowned at that. A Vortian swear growing ever-increasingly popular among them.
"Be nice. I like 'em! We let you in here all the same too."
"...Point taken, especially since I know you can break my back."
"Careful, you're learning," She teased with a snicker, straightening up with a clearing of her throat. "...dunno where the Captain and Commander are at, imagine he'd wanna have a chat with 'em before cutting them loose throughout the ship…guess they can hang out in the mess hall? That's where I'd want to wait. There's food and stuff in there!"
"Probably a better idea than the conference room. I'll bring them there then go look for one of the two. They can't be too far away." He gave Aero a pat on the shoulder with his free hand. "Enjoy the hat. I'm serious, it looks good on you." He motioned for the rest of the cadets to follow him as he led the way to the mess hall.
"So, uh, who are you?" Orkos spoke once they left the cacophony of the hangar. Part of him hoped for some clarification to clear up the confusion.
"Name's Kazak. I'm a scout sniper."
"And you're with these guys?"
"Yes. You got any more questions on what I do, the boss will have more answers for you." Other things were on his mind. "I don't feel like paying twenty questions. I need to make sure this stuff gets dropped off and pick up some of the stuff I have on order from the armory." The door to the mess hall opened. Aside from the Vortian coffee in pots, the food available was mostly Irken but still with some Vortian to prevent any of what they had left from spoiling. "You guys can wait here. Help yourself to some of the food and drinks. I"ll go find someone and let them know you guys are here."
"...If you say so?" Orkos seemed a bit confused.
"You should. You go looking around here, you might actually get shot." With that Kazak left the room.
The door whisked shut behind their escort as he departed, leaving them bewildered after being ushered into the mess hall. A rather standard, nondescript affair often seen aboard Armada vessels. Some of the visible amenities were nicer than what they were accustomed to with a rather wide variety of snacks at their disposal.
A few moments ticked by as they collectively looked about the room curiously before Aren broke the lingering silence. A hand rose, thumbing over her shoulder towards the door.
"So, was it just me or did he come off as a jerk? Hope the rest of them aren't like that or this is going to suck for a while."
"Why just a while?" Lorlo pursued, seeking clarification.
"They're Special Operations. We're a bunch of former Elites…and a Trooper. Prestige and all that junk. We're not "worthy" of their respect yet." The yellow-eyed Sergeant resisted a roll of them, complete with air-quotes.
"He's probably busy?" Deris shrugged, looking at the bean water in the pot and blinking. "Apparently they like the Vortian stuff around here." He grabbed a clean mug from the counter and poured himself a glass, used to the stuff from when he worked in the motorpool at nights. "Whatever it is, we'll earn their respect eventually."
"You'd think they'd meet us here," Orkos chimed in.
"Unless they're busy too," Deris spoke up after taking a sip of his hot beverage. Refreshing after being deprived of sleep by IIA. "I heard about someone named Chavsa that they were doing something special with."
"Already playing favorites an' we haven't even been assigned bunks yet." Radec scoffed, helping himself to the cabinets in search of food. "...beats deactivation, I guess. So…everyone here was snatched up outta the jaws of evaluation, yeah? What were y'all in for?"
"I soiled my hands with "inferior" alien technology to not die." Aren shook her head. Even after salvation from certain doom, the fact it had even come to pass was a bitter pill of stupidity to swallow.
"Got a crash-course in demolitions in-field and forced to do it for so long, I forgot most of my primary assignment's basics." Lorlo summarized, somewhat embarrassed by the fact. "In short…I sucked that bad at my original job."
"Unrealistic expectations and impossible demands of overextended personnel," Deris concluded. "One grease monkey, a mechanized regiment in working order does not make. I have to occasionally grab food and sleep and that was asking for too much."
Aren nodded to Radec as he turned back to join the group, several bags of snacks in his arms. He tossed one each to the others present.
"What about you? How'd you end up for evaluation?"
"I socked my commanding officer right in the mouth," Radec casually responded, mouth full.
"What?! You hit your CO?! IIA didn't shoot you on-sight?!" Deris incredulously asked.
"We were all in the process of being arrested for cowardice after we broke out of that encirclement." Orkos added in. "Commander Turd with his head up his c'hurta."
"Tu-" Aren's perplexed expression snapped into one of surprise at the realization. "Wait, you guys were in the 524th?"
"You sound impressed." Radec smirked at her.
"Don't toot your horn too loudly…still, got to give credit where credit is due. Can't believe Tiln-"
"Turd. Pay that scumbag zero respect." The red-eyed male interrupted sternly.
"...Turd…had everyone charged with cowardice after that."
Orkos nodded. "Everyone with the 524th at least. Couldn't do much about the others not under his command. To them, we were heroes."
"Well, yeah…you saved them from certain death," Deris stated the obvious. "...anyone know anything about this Chasva?"
"Think she's some kind of pilot," Aren answered her new squadmate-to-be. "If it's the one I think it is, IIA tuned her up a lot in the female block. Has a mouth on her and defiance may as well be her name. Surprised they'd want someone like that here."
"They chose someone feisty?" Orkos blinked. "That's definitely surprising."
"That's one word for it…that or masochistic." The female Sergeant shrugged, half-serious. "Either way, she's likely on this crew so it'll be our problem."
"Joy…" Lorlo sighed, turning his attention to Orkos. "Safe to assume you'll be squad lead then?"
"I guess so. Don't see anyone higher ranking than me." He paused to think for a moment and shook his head. "Doubt we're going to be under that sniper we just saw. He wasn't at the evaluations and he didn't really seem to take an interest in us."
"Oooh, so edgy an' mysterious," Radec sarcastically waved his digits. "...ain't met a marksman yet that has good social skills. I kill people too, don't see me actin' all high an' might 'bout it."
"Yeah but you guys typically run in guns blazing with heavy machine guns and artillery while those guys sneak about and knock off Generals before we even have a chance." Deris spoke up.
"Congrats, you killed one guy with a fancy hat an' shiny medals on his uniform." He facetiously countered. "Hard to keep track of mine. Quantity is a quality of its own."
"Will you stuff it?" Aren countered, somewhat sternly. "We've been here five minutes and you don't even know the guy. Stop judging him."
"I mean I happen to agree with Radec. The snipers in our special weapons platoon were rather…stand-offish types." Orkos joined in on Radec's side. "Real cagey."
"...might be the odd man out here then," Deris hesitantly began. "I was stationed in motorpools at forward operating bases. Occasionally took indirect fire, but that was about it."
"You've never been in combat?" Radec was quick to jump at the opportunity. "Oh, Irk, what have we gotten ourselves into…"
"Back off, Radec. Leave the guy alone." Aren made clear.
"Or what?" He challenged.
"No, you back off Aren." Orkos now seemed on edge, "Great, Turd almost gets us killed with a deactivation and now we get this chump Trooper from a motorpool who probably never fired a rifle outside of range qual?! Do you have any idea how stupid that is?!" He facepalmed, frustrated, "That guy's expectancy where we were would be all of 11 seconds. A minute if he was lucky."
"Starting to sound like the Spec Ops aren't the only ones full of themselves around here…" Deris stood his ground.
About that time, the door whisked open again, the familiar face of the Commander earlier in the day that interviewed them all came through. It didn't take a genius to sense the tension and animosity brewing in the room.
"Officer on deck!" The argument ceased immediately as Orkos noticed him come into the room.
Some of them were slow to react. Right, discipline and bearing. Protocol. That sort of thing they conveniently forgot or were lax on after an extended "vacation" at the detention center and somewhat bitter and jaded about the shallow ordeal. Nevertheless, they all managed to drop their gear and snacks to stand to.
"As you were," Vult responded, seeing relief in their straightened backs. "Bit of a hectic mess in the hangar and everyone is busy. Kazak notified me of where he deposited you…everything alright in here?"
"Just…making introductions, Commander." Aren sought to professionally answer her superior.
"Yes, sir," Orkos also added in, "just seeing what the rest of us did before we got here. Little loud but nothing awful."
Suspicion etched Vult's features. He didn't seem convinced, especially the harder looks about Deris and Radec. Neither spoke up or said a word. A mental note to be made and addressed later if need be.
"Right…well, I'll get the preliminary orientation out of the way." The Commander began. "Take notes, commit it to memory, whatever methodology works best for you. Everyone present and Chasva, who will be here shortly, will be designated Green Team. The other officers you met today are my cadre. I am Red Team lead and unit commander. Captain Corr is Purple Team lead and second-in-command of this unit. Red Team's second is Lieutenant Aero. Purple Team's second is Lieutenant Haxx. All of you come from the Elites or Troopers. Ranks are the same and ignore height. Leadership is based on merit and competency here. Any questions so far?"
Deris took a sip of his mug before raising his right hand. "What does the Lieutenant who bought us here do, Commander?"
"Lieutenant Kazak is a detached member of the unit. He is primarily used as a forward scout and observer. Otherwise, assignments requiring a more subtle approach are typically given to him. He is to be treated with the same respect as Aero and Haxx, as his rank implies."
"Understood, sir, thank you." Deris responded.
Orkos looked directly to Vult, "Not to be preemptive, but to take a guess, I guess this makes me Green's leader and Aren my second?"
"Hey!" Radec interjected. "I'm taller than her!"
"...and I just told you that doesn't matter here, Private." Vult sternly reminded before turning his attention back to Orkos. "...and until I'm given a reason to assign otherwise, that is correct. You will be designated Green-1."
"Thank you, Commander," Orkos sounded appreciative of the position. "What's next for us?"
"One moment and I'll come back to that, Lieutenant. Aren?"
"Sir!"
"Green-2. You are Orkos' second."
"Yes, Sir."
"Lorlo."
"Sir?"
"Green-3."
"Yes, Commander."
"Deris?"
"Commander."
"Green-4."
"Understood, Sir."
"Chasva will be designated Green-5, Lieutenant. For the time being, Green Team consists of five members. A full squad is six. This is temporary due to injuries."
Orkos and Radec looked at each other with a sort of confusion. Including Chavsa, there were six of them that were pulled from the facility, Radec would be on the team, logically, but he wasn't. Before he could even speak up, Radec jumped the gun.
"What 'bout me, Sir?"
"Due to casualties sustained on our last assignment, Purple Team has a vacancy that needs filled immediately. The Captain believes you to be up to the task. You will be designated Purple-4 with Lieutenant Haxx being your immediate superior."
Radec grinned smugly at Orkos. Sure, he wasn't in a command position or held authority, but he was on one of the established Spec Ops teams and not next to the non-com. Lucky him.
"However," Vult was quick to regain his attention with assertion. "...should you fail to perform, you will find your way into Green Team and I will find someone more suitable for the job."
"You can count on me, Sir."
"Have fun, Radec. Hopefully you don't find your way into the FNG squad, as it was put earlier." Orkos lightly jabbed at him.
As if on cue, the doors opened again. The broad-shouldered Lieutenant entered with a smirk.
"See none of you got lost," Haxx joked, a casual salute paid to the Commander and returned in kind. "Which one of you's Radec again?"
"I am, Lieutenant."
"Great. Come with me, get you settled into Purple Team. You can come brag to the rest of 'em later."
Oh, he was going to enjoy this. Radec quickly took up his belongings to follow after his new superior.
"Tell me, you enjoy long runs in full battle rattle as a support gunner?" Haxx asked with a shit eating grin on his face.
"Fastest mile in the 524th, Sir. There's the standard, then there's me. Whole other level"
"Good! We're gonna put that to the test!" Haxx led Radec off to what passed for Volx's version of a fun time when she was still among them.
Vult waited until the pair departed before continuing.
"Lieutenant Orkos, your team's dossiers will be forwarded to you in the near future. Unlike the Armada at-large, I am very much hands-off in my command style. Green Team may conduct itself however strict or lax to your preferences, but you will maintain bearing outside of your team. I expect your team to meet unit standards. If your team fails to meet those standards, you are failing them as a leader. Do you agree with that assessment?"
"That will take some getting used to." Orkos wasn't too used to this level of leeway in the Elites. "But I'll do my best to meet your standards, Commander, and see the others do as well."
"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, Sir." Aren mused aloud. "A squad follows the same concept. We are looking forward to the challenge and proving our worth."
"What I like to hear, Sergeant," Vult nodded, gesturing for them to follow him as he turned for the door. "It's been a long day for everyone. An exciting one at that. Gather your gear and follow me. Get you settled into your bunks and a brief tour to familiarize yourself with the vessel's layout."
Orkos grabbed his bag of gear and threw it over his shoulder, the others following suit with their own equipment and following the Commander as he led them about the ship. They got to see the ship, with the exception of the detention level and the bridge. They'd know their way around, where to check for duties on board. Where to go for the simulators, their range on board the ship, showers, other essentials for their duties. Last off was their bunks. Orkos, Deris, and Lorlo joined a room where Radec already left his belongings as Aren was directed to another room. Chasva would be assigned there as well when she arrived.
"Commander, what about that room?" Orkos pointed at another one down the hall that wasn't yet occupied. "Isn't that one empty?"
"It is," Vult replied. "It could be yours, earn it." The Commander withdrew a dataslate with the list of scenarios the team were to run in the simulators as well as a grueling PT regimen. Orkos briefly looked over the PT standards and the Commander noticed his surprise. "Is something wrong, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, sir…I believe this is a typo." He pointed to one of the standards as an example.
Furrowing his brow, the blue-eyed male leaned over for a closer inspection. He wasn't a machine and capable of mistakes after all. Assume nothing.
"Which one…the run time? That's unit standard, Lieutenant."
"It is…oh…" Orkos seemed shocked. This was going to be some very hard work.
"Naturally, I don't expect any of you to reach what the minimum standard is on your first day, but you will meet it accordingly. PT will continue until improvements are made." He smiled.
Deris looked over Orkos' shoulder in some curiosity at the PT standards and appeared to fall into a state of shock as the Trooper seemed to suffer a slight conniption and fell backwards. The Lieutenant nudged the man with his foot, no response.
"...I believe your standards just caused the mechanic to pass out, Commander."
Vult turned to look at the fainted former Trooper on the floor over his shoulder before returning his attention back to Orkos.
"May want to rouse him before I send one of the medics in here. He won't like what they do to him to wake him up." Vult smirked at the Lieutenant. "Don't want to overload all of you on your first day. That dataslate outlines everything I covered. Included are credentials and biometric registration. Standard onboarding procedures. Leave those measures in your capable hands. Should you need anything else, there is an intranet messaging application to reach myself or any of the others. Any questions?"
"None, Commander." Orkos leaned over, "Hey! Dummy! Wake up!"
His spell was brief, coming to after being yelled at. "Hu…what?"
Orkos held out a hand for him. "Come on, on your feet. We're all going for a run."
"Misery loves company," Aren added as Deris rose to his feet with Orkos' aid. "...speaking of, Sir…when's Chasva going to arrive?"
"She should be here any moment, Sergeant."
She better be.
A black suited pilot carrying her bag of gear, wearing survival gear over her flight suit, escorted by Hesa, joined the group. "I found your pilot."
"I already love this new flight suit. The enclosed helmet is new, but it's fancy." Chasva grinned. She looked at the others, "So uh, hi guys. Fresh out of an informal graduation with flying a PA570 with the Commander."
"Congratulations," Aren clasped her shoulder with a facetious smile and jerk of her head. "Stow your gear in your rack and find your PT gear. We're going to celebrate with a run. Welcome to the suck, Private."
Hesa just smirked as she watched Chasva's head drop.
"And I already regret having those extra shots Lieutenant Kern offered me…"
Vult gave an approving nod now that their final member arrived.
"Orkos will bring you up to speed, Chasva…after your run, I assume."
"That's the plan," Orkos nodded.
"I…put the PT gear at the bottom of my bag, Lieutenant."
"Then I guess you're going for a run in that flight suit because I don't have time to wait." Orkos immediately responded.
Aren, emerging from the other room in her physical training attire, smirked at the pilot.
"Oh…welcome to Green Team, by the way."
"...Aw…" Chasva looked around. "Where am-" Hesa interrupted her, pointing at the room Aren was in. "Right, thank you. Nice revolver, by the way."
"Come on, Chasva, hop to, double-time!" Aren barked at her, clapping her hands. "First impression, best impression, don't screw up!"
Chasva ran into the room to drop off her survival gear, bag, and helmet before coming back out. "I thought that was what my flight performance was!"
"Oh, that was your evaluation on if you were worth my time or not, Private." Vult reminded her word-for-word what he said on the tarmac earlier. "Now it's time to show me what you can do outside of a cockpit. Sergeant Aren's got the right idea."
He looked to Orkos, offering his hand to shake.
"I leave it in your capable hands now, Lieutenant. Formation and mess times are in your duties on that dataslate. Enjoy your run."
Orkos gave Vult a firm handshake. "I'll do my best, Commander." After releasing his hand he looked at the others, not even out of his own Spec Ops uniform himself. "Come on, you lazy bums! Let's go already!"
The Commander watched the gaggle of new recruits hurriedly take off like a stampede of slorrbeasts, destined for their training facilities. Only after they were out of view did his attention drift to Hesa.
"I've already got the officers' opinions on them…first impressions so far?"
"I mean…I know you were an Elite yourself before so don't take this the wrong way but…they're definitely Regs. Maybe a bit lax because of being in detention but…" she paused, "You know that pilot got a real mouth on her. I kinda like her."
"I cannot believe you would stand there and sully my good name to my face." He facetiously spoke, mock-serious. "...I'll have you know I performed well beyond the Elite standards. That's why I'm in charge…but…you have exclusive perks. I'm willing to let it slide. This time."
She walked over to him with a slight exaggeration of her hips and wrapped an arm around his waist. "You can always take payback out of my ass if it makes you feel better." She chuckled and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek after glancing to see if anyone else was around.
"Corporal punishment…there's a thought," Vult played along, keeping a watchful eye out. Less concern over familiar faces, more the new ones. "Might have to make an example out of you at the rate you're going…later. My bunk or yours?"
"Yours, always prefer yours." She smirked, giving him a hug. "Maybe we can elevate that to sharing a room at some point, hm? Didn't want that to end when we left Vort."
"Perhaps in due time. Something to look forward to. For now…appearances have to be kept, especially with the new blood aboard."
While Vult shared a brief, tender moment with Hesa, his communicator chirped with a notification of a new message. Stepping back from her, he reached into his pocket to procure the device and take a look.
TO: Cmdr Vult
FROM: MO Sula
SUBJECT: INFIRMARY NOW
REM IS WAKING UP.
Snapping it shut, he quickly stuffed it back in his pocket.
"I'll see you later this evening." He quickly informed, taking off at a brisk walk.
"Whoa, wait, what happened?" She yelled to him, concerned.
"A miracle."