Matt set his empty bowl on his tray and stood up. "Anyone need me to take their things with me?"

Braxton ruffled 628's ears one last time. "I'll get your coffee cup, Matt. We'll grab refills again on the way out."

"Thank you."

The compostable coffee cups were the only dishes that were disposable. Too many mugs had been accidentally misplaced by wandering sleep deprived recruits to be worth replacing. As such, they were also the only dishes allowed to leave the cafeteria; something that was taken advantage of by every caffeine consuming youth.

Matt dropped their trash in the bin before placing their trays and dishes in the return. A long tentacle snaked out and wrapped around the rack to pull it into the back for washing. Braxton handed Matt his coffee cup and steered them towards the large urns near the front of the room.

"Good morning, guys!" Hogarth greeted them from where he filled his cup at the station for the tall stature species. "Isn't today going to be amazing? I'm so excited for my first mission. I signed up to be with some fourth year I've never met, but I think it's going to be a fantastic learning experience. I noticed that one of the guys already signed up is this robot that's in the third years and I've been meaning to get to know him better so I can ask him lots of questions about what it's like to be a robot and how he decided to get into what he's doing and if he'd ever met my iron giant, but honestly, I'm not sure how much time we'll have for talking."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find the time," Braxton replied as he filled his cup to the brim.

Matt snickered from beside the creamers and sugars. "Brax," his voice was supposed to sound reproachful, but they both knew he was too amused.

"Thanks Braxton! I'm sure you're right. I'll just have to get there a little early to see if I can catch him before things start, and I'm sure we can find some time in the mission to have at least a short conversation," Hogarth rattled off his reply eagerly.

Matt and Braxton stood near the coffee pots sipping at their drinks and nodding politely for another few sentences. Glancing not so subtly up at the clock on the wall Braxton interrupted. "Well Hogarth, it's been lovely getting talked at, but we really need to be moving. Our mission is starting soon, and it's not a good look to be late."

"Oh, right! Of course! Go on then, we can tell each other all about our missions real soon!" Hogarth agreed. He topped off his coffee from the urn again before beaming over at the two. "Catch you soon!"

"See ya, Garthy." Braxton nudged Matt towards the exits while they still had a chance.

Matt shook his head. "He's a good guy, Braxton."

"Oh I know that, that's why I only interrupt when he takes a break to breathe, rather than whenever I feel like it." Braxton agreed brightly.

"You are awful."

"And he's got a caffeine addiction."

Matt laughed. "Believe it or not, if you can get him away from the coffee, I enjoy having conversations with him."

"Pity this place never runs out of coffee."

The halls were mostly empty at this time of day on a Sunday, and the boys were able to proceed without interruption. They walked in comfortable silence, alone together for the first time in a while. Matt stole a glance up at Braxton.

"What?" Braxton nudged Matt's shoulder with his own. "You got that look again."

"Are you okay?" Matt's voice was soft as if it would downplay the concern.

"Fine." Braxton straightened his spine and hardened his expression. "Just fine."

"You're a liar."

"I'm fine."

"A bad one at that," Matt muttered. "Brax, I know the date is coming up for you. Are you sure?"

"I'm fine Matt." Braxton sighed softly. "It hurts, but I'll be fine. Fikky said she's sending me something special this month. Honestly, though, I wish people wouldn't make a big deal out of it. It feels wrong to turn it into a celebration."

Matt set a gentle hand on his arm. "I understand. I'm here if you need me, though."

Braxton scoffed and looped his arm over Matt's shoulders. Tucking his friend's head under his armpit, Braxton scruffed up his hair. "You're the one that needs me. You're absolutely pathetic on a battlefield."

"I am not!" Matt protested, squirming in his grip. "You're just unreasonably good!"

Laughing Braxton released him. "Yeah, alright, I'll take that. You're not pathetic. I've worked you well enough you're past that stage."

"Oh, gee, thank you."

"You couldn't even hold a blaster when I met you Matty."

"Yeah well now I could shove it up your-"

"Braxton!" An older boy interrupted them as he jogged over to join the pair. "What are you guys doing here?" Braxton bumped fists with the third year student. The boy winked four of his eight eyes in Matt's direction. "What did Braxton get you involved in?"

"Surprisingly, we're here for a mission, not service." Matt replied laughingly. "Turns out missions can get you out of service days."

"Lucky you!" The boy held out a long slender hand in Matt's direction. "Mox Steel."

"Matt von Mars. Good to meet you." Matt clasp his hand briefly. "Have you seen Zarch Marns?"

Mox raised an eyebrow curiously. "Are you sure you're in the right place? I signed up under Goldfinger."

Braxton nodded. "Checked it ten times. I know this is the right spot."

As if to confirm, Marns and Goldfinger rounded the corner of the hall at the same time. The three boys exchanged glances with each other. This wasn't a situation they had expected. The small group entered the gymnasium together.

A crowd of young men were already gathered in the center of the room. Near the exit doors stood a large structure that had clearly been hastily put together sometime overnight. A few more youth trickled in. At the front of the room a man in a blue coat counted the recruits.

"Twenty two, twenty three, twenty four, twenty five. Alright that's all of you." Petty Officer Nil surveyed the men before him. "As you may have realized, this will be a collaborative mission. Please get into our assigned groups of five. If you do not remember who you signed up to work with, then you'd better remember right now."

The boys scrambled to go and get into their groups. Each fourth year ended up with four boys crowded around him.

Petty Officer Nil crossed his arms and nodded. "Good. As you can see, we have a temporary space ship built for you on that end of the gymnasium. Grab a gun and headset from beside the ship, enter, and have a seat. Once you are seated, put your headsets on, you shall be using them for supplemental details; an overlay on reality. If your headset should get knocked off, continue as you are until you can replace it, it shall not affect things too greatly except for with appearances.

"I shall give you further instruction once you are ready. Petty Officer Disc shall be observing you from the moment you enter the ship until you return. There shall be other officers observing your actions as well. I suggest that you avoid shooting any of the officers in a sudden burst of over enthusiasm, it will be counted against you."

Braxton nudged Matt's shoulder and grinned. "This'll be great." The two boys snagged their guns before they followed Marns into the spaceship. Hopper and Tilfh, their other two teammates, were only moments behind.

Marns took a seat beneath a large number 3 painted on the wall of their sleek spaceship. Braxton and Matthew sat on his left, Hopper and Tilfh settled on his right.

Petty Officer Disc stood away from the segmented teams, a clipboard in his hand. He wrote down notes as the small group of boys settled into their seats.

As the last boy claimed his place, the door to their ship snapped shut. Before they could relax the whole contraption started to shake. One of the recruits fell out of his seat. Petty Officer Disc continued to take notes.

Braxton set a hand on Matt's shoulder absently. Matt flashed him a grateful smile. Braxton shrugged. "If you do anything dumb, I'll do something dumber."

Matt laughed. "I'm not sure that's reassuring."

"Better than pointing and laughing." Braxton replied happily. Petty Officer Disc continued to take notes. The boys sat in silence as the ship rattled and shook. Slowly the tension eased from the room. Small conversations began to pop up. Matt hummed a song softly to himself.

Without warning the entire fake craft came to an abrupt halt. The same boy as before fell out of his seat again.

Petty Officer Disc continued to take notes.