RP: Fort Ready Class 3 - Another Beginning

[Aria]

The day has come, thought Kiyoshi, riding on the bus to the spaceport on Nataria. He had been with the instructors for the past few months, training for an instructor position. Well, still just an assistant, but he still had a nice role in the Fort Ready training program.

The bus ride over to the spaceport was rather dull, most of the other instructors on board fell asleep. Rain that had started to fall not long ago already ceased, giving the ground a small taste. All that was left was the clouds in the sky. He didn't know why, but seeing the sky covered in clouds always made him feel at ease.

"Space port arrival in 5 minutes," the driver said. Most of the instructors sat up and yawned. "Here begins another few months of work," one said with a sigh. "Hopefully we won't be cursed and attacked again."

***

As the bus reached the port, the ships carrying the recruits started to land. There were relatively few ships needed to carry the forty recruits so the bus did not have to wait long for them to all arrive.

"Fort Ready Class Three, form up outside the bus pronto!"

 

[Kai]

Kail Tarrim, the Armor instructor, yawned as the bus driver made his announcement. "Why do we have to come meet the recruits again?" She asked rhetorically. Stretching and looking at the clouds outside the window. "Hey, Kiyoshi-hei, don't look so optimistic, it ruins the sense of foreboding we like to instill on the recruits" She joked, noting the instructor-in-training's enthusiastic demeanor on the first day of the job.

 

[master9147]

"What am I doing here" was all that Maya Yoshihara could think of during the whole trip as the the shuttle she was on was beginning to prepare it's landing cycle. Shed been going over it again and again in her mind why she was going here of all places instead of a ship assignment. She was a standard NH-29 Combat Arms Nekovalkyrja produced from the mass cloning facilities from some top secret location that even she was not privy of to replace Nekovalkyrja lost in the current SMX conflict.

She had thought she had received all the necessary basic knowledge and training she would need for her role but was quite surprised when she learned that instead of being assign to active combat duty with the rest of her batch, she was singled out to receive a more through training regiment from the instructors of Fort Ready on Nataria with nothing but the clothes on her back. "What more could they possible need to teach me?" she thought as the shuttle began to enter vtol mode into the space port.

"Well Maya look on the bright side, at least it will be your first time planetside." she quietly said to herself as she got in line with the other recruits to exit the shuttle. As she walked off the loading ramp she took a deep breath of fresh air but clutched her chest and began to cough a little. After being stuck on space stations and there clean sterile environments for most of her young life she was beginning to feel a little lightheaded. "Well this is going to take a little getting used to." As she looked around the concourse of the space port she saw a group of recruits outside lining up in formation in front of a person who look like a drill instructor yelling at everyone to move it. She also saw a bus with a sign mounted on the side that said "Class 3" on it. "This must be my new unit." Maya said as she ran into formation somewhere in the front column.

 

[mya]

Yumiko Madoka looked through the window from transport shuttle that was taking her down to the surface of Nataria. She saw huge forest – one of many on the planet, and was amazed with its beauty. Then she looked back to the sheet of paper she was holding in front of her. It was her orders. She’s been never so proud of herself before. Everything was going just fine during her short life and now she even got an opportunity to stay in Fort Ready – the place she longed for from the moment she first heard about it! “I can’t wait to see it”, thought she cheerfully.
When the shuttle landed, Yumiko got to the line with other soldiers and walked out. Her last whisper inside was: “Fort Ready, I’m all yours”.

 

[Kai]

Before long, all the recruits had arrived and lined up outside of the last shuttle, which soon took off, leaving the new soldiers to their 5 week training course. The instructors now exited the bus and stood in formation, too (though much more neatly than the recruits). once this was completed, the Instructors introduced themselves one by one, stating their name, rank, and what they would be teaching.
***

When it came to be her turn, Kail straightened herself proudly, and clearly said "I'm Kail Tarrim, Nito Heisho, And I'm your Armour instructor. Since much of our fighting is done In Power Armours, you can be assured of seeing a lot of me."

***

Once all the instructors had introduced themselves, the recruits were ordered to enter the bus for travel to the Fort and their barracks, where they would spend the rest of their first day, and where they would be staying much of the next few weeks.

 

[master9147]

Maya fell in line with the other recruits to get on the bus, as Maya was about to enter she looked up at the sky and it looked like it was getting a little cloudy. "Great,, looks like it might rain." Maya took a seat near the front of the and took a moment to look out the window trying to observe her surroundings. The base was absolutely huge, she estimates it must get several thousand recruits a week from all over the empire for training.

Maya then took a moment to think about her new instructors. The only one who stood out in her mind was that armor instructor Kail Tarrim, she was obviously a veteran, train to kill despite her somewhat cheery deposition to the other instructors. The other was the one who calls himself Kiyoshi, he looked a little too optimistic for a drill instructor who are supposed to break your spirit and and bring you back up again so he must be brand new. Still thats was no reason to underestimate him, who knows how many people he may have killed or the reasons for him to a take what is essentially a teaching job.

In any case Maya was still little uncomfortable about her whole situation but decided to make the most of it and try to make her instructors proud.

 

[mya]

Soon after her instructors introduced themselves, Yumiko lined with other recruits to enter the bus, which was supposed to take them all to the barracks. “I wonder what my new home will look like” though she, while walking under the cloudy sky. When on the bus, she sat down and watched other recruits’ faces – trying to remember as many of them as possible.

 

[Aria]

About half an hour into the ride, one of the recruits noted a tapping at the glass. When they looked over, nothing different was there, so the neko dismissed the thought. Just then, the right side of the bus lurched downwards and the bus swerved to the right, into some trees. The bus drove over a bush, down a five foot drop and landed clearly off the road.

One of the older instructors stood up, shaking off the shock of the encounter. "Everyone off the bus, double time!" The instructors lead the way off the bus and into a clearing a few yards away. "Line up and report!" shouted one of the instructors, a tall Yamataian with short black hair, which stood up on its own except for small section that fell on his shoulders. His rank pin was covered by his jacket, but he had the look of an experience fighter, probably in his late twenties.

 

[master9147]

Still feeling the shock of the impact when the bus crashed, Maya, still seated in her seat was beginning to come to. Finally realizing there situation, Maya examined herself for injuries, she looked and felt okay all things considered. "Good thing I was wearing my seatbelt." Maya then heard one of the Yamataian instructors ordering everyone off the bus into a small clearing a few yards away. Maya lined up with the rest of the recruits and reported she was fine and uninjured so far.

Maya then began to think to herself what had just happened. She recalled overhearing someone say something about hearing a tapping on the windows from the outside, then a minute later the bus just swerved violently off the road. Hopefully the bus still had a first-aid kit we could use to treat any wounded and that the radio still works. Even if it didn't we should still be in the perimeter of the base so once someone at the barracks realizes were late, emergency services should arrive within a few hours.

Maya not wanting to get in the way took a deep breath and took a seat on a nearby rock. Maya looked up and the clouds were beginning to look a little gloomy. "I hope it doesn't rain and will be out of here before nightfall." Maya then took a last look at the nearby forest and can't help but shiver at how creepy it looked and can't shake the feeling that something hiding in that forest was staring right back.

 

[mya]

Moments after the crash, Yumiko couldn’t concentrate on nothing, but holding tight to her seat, even when the bus wasn’t moving any more. Then one of the instructors stood up and everybody onboard jumped on his feet and tried to get outside as fast as possible. “If this is regular army ride, I’ll better sit closer to the emergency exit next time”, said Yumiko to herself, while she was getting off as well. She followed the leading instructor couple yards away and then lined up with other recruits.

It was about this time, when she realized, some of the recruits were anxiously looking towards the woods. “If someone did this to us on purpose, it would definitely leave some marks on the bus”, thought she. Then she saw the tall instructor right in front of her and silenced this idea.

“I’m not injured sir. And I’m able to help treating those who are”, she added quickly.

 

[Kai]

Remaining straight-faced and rigid, the Drill instructor answered yumiko quickly "Every one is fine, Recruit, the other instructors and going around trying to figure out what happened, if you wanted to know" he said, before going silent once more. He stood, stone faced, watching the recruits, That's all he did. If one of them even moved he was on them quicker than a Neko on a fish dinner.

***
After ten minutes, no one returned. The tall instructor began to look around, as if concerned about something. Before long, he walked over to the bus, called the driver, then turned to class three and yelled a quick "Stay here, we're going to investigate" before the two walked off, down the road, leaving the recruits to their own devices.

 

[master9147]

Maya just sat by watching until the two disappeared in the distance. "Great now what are we suppose to do? My first day here and now this crap has to happened." Well an orders an order and besides where would she go, she doesn't know anything about the surrounding area and she was starting to feel cold and hungry plus it will be dark soon in a few hours.


"Well if I have to stay here I'm not going to freeze my ass off doing it." Maya then took the initiative and began searching for some dry wood for a fire. After a little time and preparation Maya finally got a small camp fire going. Maya then looked at her fellow recruits and yelled "Your all welcomed to the fire if you want." Maya then sat down in front of the fire in a slump and then began randomly poking at it with a small stick muttering to herself.

 

[mya]

Yumiko sat down next to the neko who lighted a camp fire. “Thanks, I could use some heat now. Especially when we don’t know how long we’ll have to stay here. Hell of a start on Nataria, don’t you think? Do you have any idea, how far the Fort might be?”
“The name is Yumiko, by the way.”

 

[master9147]

Maya, those green eyes of hers still focused on the fire in front of her looked up at the slender, dark haired Nekovalkyrja that had just took a seat next to her. She then smiled, trying to look as optimistic as she could without making the situation look worse then it should be. "Heck, you got that right sis! I get the feeling bad things happened to new recruits here all the time." Maya said laughing a little.

"I wish I knew to tell you the truth, maybe the bus has a map? But still we should still be in the confines of the base perimeter so someone at the barracks will notice were missing sooner or later and emergency service's should arrive. I just hope that instructor knows what he's doing. Oh..., sorry for getting ahead of myself there, Maya Yoshihara normally I'd bow if we were in more civilized conditions but I guess a simple handshake is just as good." Maya said smiling, holding out a three fingered hand.

 

[mya]

Yumiko gripped Maya’s hand firmly and looked into her eyes. “I guess, we all hope, he knows what he’s doing”, said she and moved her head slightly towards the rest of the recruits. “You’re right about the map, there could be one on the bus. Though I like to watch rain through the window, I absolutely don’t like the idea of staying in the rain for the whole night.” She raised her eyes and watched the clouds silently for a while.

“I’ve heard some stories about officers testing their new crew … but this looks serious to me. Can you remember anything suspicious before the crash?”

 

[master9147]

Maya looked at Yumiko in sudden surprise. "Test there new recruits? I don't know I mean isn't this a little, well... *EXTREME* for a bunch a green recruits." Maya now looks a little annoyed and raises her voice a little. "Besides if getting me almost killed in a deliberate bus crash is there idea of a training exercise then I'm going kill that driver and his buddy, the instructor, court-marshal or no!!!" Maya takes a few minutes to blow off some steam before continuing.

"Sorry about that, I tend to feel better if I just let it all out. Anyway I really don't think this is someone's idea of a sick joke, I recall someone mentioning that they heard a scratching on the outside windows and for moment I thought I heard them too but that was when the bus suddenly crashed for no reason as far as I can recall."

Maya then got up and sat as close to Yumiko as she could so none of the others can hear what she is about to say and started talking to Yumiko is a hushed voice. "Now I don't want to jump to any conclusions or worry anyone but wasn't there an SMX attack on Nataria a while back because if so could it be possible that there could be one or two stragglers around running amuck?"

 

[Kai]

As the two Nekos began conversing, more and bore recruits began to gather around the warmth and glow of the small fire. It was indeed getting darker, and no sign of any instructors had shown itself for several hours. Many of the recruits began muttering about something called a 'bear' or 'ghosts' in the woods, but those stories were mostly shrugged off as crazy fairy tales. As the fire began to die down, a couple recruits went of into the woods in search of more firewood.

A scream. Blood-curdling, heartwrenching. The most terrible scream any of the recruits had ever heard, followed by a "HU HU HU" in the backs of the recruits minds. One of the recruits ran back, alone, sobbing "It.. it.. took her, just came, it was ... horrible, the tentacles just... grabbed, her, blood.. Ohmygosh!" and broke once again into tears. that's when the rest of the recruits would notice the blood glistening on her uniform, and the large hole in her arm.

 

[master9147]

Maya jumped up in a fright at the sight of the bloody girl and screamed. "AHHHHHHHH!!! DAMMIT!!! I HATE IT WHEN I'M ALWAYS RIGHT!!!" Unarmed and with no weapons to protect herself with Maya jumped immediately into a Yamataian combat stance and trying to use all her senses to desperately find there attacker.

The mere mention of tentacles was enough to make her skin crawl. "Ehhhhh *tentacles* why did it have to be *TENTACLES* I HATE TENTACLES!!!" Her adrenaline was already going into overdrive at the mere mention of that word. In that moment Maya prepared herself for what was about to happened.

 

[Aria]

One of the recruits leaned against the tree while the fire was being made, with his semi-long black hair blowing in the breeze. Once the shriek and the laughter were heard, the recruit jumped and scattered the fire, enveloping them in darkness, with only moonlight coming in through the branches. "We can't leave ourselves that exposed, run to the trees!"

Just then, a pair of tentacles grabbed the wounded neko and quickly pulled her into the woods, giving a scream that was quickly silenced. A second scream from his left caused him to question his strategy. He ran to where the two next to the fire ran off to. "Alright, new plan let's stick together. The base has to be close, we can make a run for it." He started to run off, but stopped after a step. "Oh, the names Kazuma, nice to meet you two. Let's hurry, we should be able to reach the base by following the direction the bus was taking!"

 

[master9147]

After hearing Kazuma's suggestion and wighting the odds of trying to beat a Mishhu unarmored and unarmed that already killed two recruits, a strategic escape is perhaps the best option.

"Uhhh you know, on second thought thats a good idea!" Maya then began running towards the direction of the road, following Kazumas lead, screaming the entire time. For a second she almost felt the Mishhu have a quick grope at her behind before getting away