You never forget the first time you meet your Neo. You don't even get to the point where it's a possibility until you have gone through 2 years of intense physical training and mental and physiological testing. Those boys in the MI think they have it rough, and I'll give it to them, they do. Ask a scout though and they will tell you it's nothing compared to our training pipeline. I'll put it to you this way, if you fail out of NEO pairing, you are guaranteed a spot in the MI unless you choose to wash out, which is also an option. Before you are even considered for NEO pairing you have to have completed scout training. Not all scouts pair with a NEO, but no one who is not a scout is allowed to even attempt to pair. It doesn't take the training to pair, that's done at such a low functioning level that just about anyone has the potential to pair, but once a NEO pairs that's it, they can't be paired again and the only way to sever the pairing is in death.

The instructors used to tell us a horror story, though they claimed it was true, about one of the NEO maintainers who brought his kid onsite to see a NEO puppy. Now of course both the parent and his kid were supposed to be wearing neural blockers which stop the subconscious low level brain waves from emanating which is supposed to effectively stop a pairing. Of course the kids had his turned off and low and behold he paired to a brand new adorable NEO puppy. The puppy was of course immediately euthanized before any real bond was established but apparently no one realized what effect that would have on a child. The seven year old was found dead in his room a few days later of an apparent suicide. His young mind just couldn't handle the severing. We always liked to believe it was just a ghost story meant to scare us, but I later came to find out that not only was it true, but in fact the boy's father had also killed himself not long after his son's death, consumed by guilt at the loss of his child. They instituted a few new rules after that.

We are broken down into groups, and for 72 hours they PT us, pushups, running, hand to hand combat, anything to wear us down. They also give us little food, next to no sleep, and give us written exams. Technically this is so they can weed out anyone who has slipped through the cracks, but usually everyone passes as those who couldn't hack the physicality and mind games dropped out months ago. The point is to get our minds to a weakened state in which they become the most receptive they possibly can be. Then and only then do they bring all of the candidates into a room, put us at attention and we wait. That's it simply wait. Then it happens in an instant. I felt something, it's hard to describe initially, a presence in my mind that wasn't my own. It was scared, hungry, and it wanted, no NEEDED me for comfort. I remember closing my eyes, and suddenly hearing a wailing and a loud thump. I opened my eyes, shocked to think someone in the room had broken ranks, only to realize the wailing came from my own mouth, and the pounding noise was me frantically beating my fist against the steel walls, trying to escape the room, to find the other part of me, help it, give it what it needed. The crazy part about all this is it happens at different times for everyone. The NEO's are kept in the room next door, and they are puppies, who have also been put through the ringer for 72 hours to ensure their minds to are receptive. Only they are babies, who are scared and confused. This is it, the critical juncture. In this state the brain waves of a puppy and a candidate will match, coalesce, and the two will pair. Like I said, the thing is, it is not instantaneous for everyone and not everyone will pair. The general timeframe is 2 hours, if you don't pair in two hours, you are pulled and given another attempt in the future, your second and only chance. In that two hours however those who have paired are left, frantic trying to get to their NEO, responding in a primal way to the pairing, as would anyone in such a physical and mental state. I was the first to pair, and by the time they pulled those who hadn't paired by the two hour mark, my hands were bloodied. Finally once the only ones in the room are those who have paired, a small door is opened and the NEO's rush in to find there partner. Puppies came rushing in to the room, frantically yipping moving toward their partners as if by magic. Kate leapt into my arms before I could even process that she was really there, and I simply held her sobbing for what felt like hours, reveling in the sense of love and wonder, feeling complete as I hadn't before in my 21 years on earth. At some point an instructor had come in, I hadn't as I alternated between sobbing and burying my face in Kate's fur. Suddenly his voice was in my ear, and it wasn't the harsh voice I was accustomed to, but soft, full of compassion and understanding.

"Your job is to love and protect her, and her you. You keep nothing from each other. You are not two separate entities but two sides of the same coin. She will always answer you, and you will always answer her". His voice took on a gravely edge, as if he was talking through a throat whose ability to speak was impaired. "On the day she doesn't answer, you pray boy, you hear me you pray to God that you can save her or that you can bleed out by her side, and get one last gaze into her eyes as you go".

It wasn't until much later I realized the instructor speaking to me was none other than Colonel Duskin, the CO of the base, who had basically been medically retired to desk duty after losing his NEO on Klendathu.

Kate wasn't dead, that much I knew, but it was obvious to me she was unconscious. The only thing I wasn't sure of was whether the Thelpot standing over her had knocked her out in a fight, or whether he had simply lucked upon her as she investigated the crater. Either way I knew her breathing remained steady only as long as the Thelpot kept its finger off the trigger of the weapon currently pointed at Kates head.