RP: United Outer Colonies [Prelude] Beyond these crowded shores...

As they rode the lift down, Tesuro silently examined each of his teammates. There was something unique about each of them, a part of their personality that completely differentiated them from one another. Though he had not even formally met any of them he could already see this. When he looked upon Natsuko, he noticed that her eyes were on him as well, at least for a moment. He turned away.

Upon entering the Ward Room, Tesuro at no point took a seat. He was tired, but knew he would need to be addressed by the Commodore or the Vice Admiral in short order. Of course, he was correct in this assumption, as the Vice Admiral entered soon after they did with the Commodore directly after him. This was his first look at the two that would be his leaders in this mission. Both of them looked tougher than the officers he had had previously, and they reminded him a bit of his officers from basic. Well I suppose the similarities make sense...I was training then and I'm training now, I guess they have to be tough on us. he thought to himself.

Sean returned the salute to his subordinates before taking the datapad from Maya. "Thank you, commodore." He looked down the list.

You should know by now, Maya, that our leaders have a tendency to paint things to look very nice, even when there's a distinct lack of value. Do you have service transcripts for them?

The officer looked down the list of names, already thinking of assignments, still waiting to address the newly-arrived troops. Oh, and the room? It's fucking awesome.

Maya retorted, Hey I got the jaccuzi tub, have fun standing in the shower.

Maya said then aloud, "Cadets stand behind a chair at the table and at attention. Welcome to the Chouteisha Squadron. You are going to be divided into two teams by the Vice-Admiral, you will listen to your initial briefing and then you will proceed to the ship designated for usage by your teams. The White Team will proceed to the UCS Kibou, and the Blue Team to the UCS Jizen."

Xanatos blushed lightly as Ashlyn hugged him from behind. "Hai, ma'am..." he replied as he tried to walk while carrying, or dragging rather, his newfound leech. When the admiral had come within vicinity, the tech sentry politely bowed, but it was difficult while being hugged.

Ashlyn laughed, ruffled Xanatos' hair and clipped ahead of him into the briefing. At attention it was hard to keep a friendly smile off her face, even at attention. The assignment would be exciting! She'd miss her old job, but they didn't give them a lot of options when it happened. Which squad'll we get? The green haired officer in training knew which squad she wanted, and hoped everyone would stay friendly after the exercises were over. She knew that they would be pitted against one another. Officers are like that. The cadet thought with amusement, staring ahead blankly behind her seat.

...except for that smile.

Jason had followed along behind the other's to the ward room pondering the current state of things. When he heard attention, he immediately snapped from his private reverie and saluted the Vice Admiral upon his entrance. When given leave to stand behind a chair. He moved quickly and efficiently finding one off to one side and down some from where he suspected the Vice Admiral would sit and stood at attention behind the chair. 'Hmm, back to training again I see. Hard nosed is the way to be trained in this universe. I wonder if they train any different in any other universe. Probably not. It seems to be one of those universal constants.' He thought to himself.

Natsuko stood up, and went behind the chair she was just sitting in. Silently scolding herself for not saluting when the Vice-Admiral had first come in. Once behind her chair Natsuko stood silently at attention. Splitting us onto two different ships huh...I hope Xanatos, Ai, and I end up on the same ship... Natsuko thought silently. But the odds for that are....low.

Tesuro silently stood up and placed himself behind the chair he was sitting in. It didn't matter much to him which team he was to be on, as he did not know anybody there and thus had no actual preferences. He did, however, figure out that it was Xanatos who he recognized. The name sat far out on the very edge of his mind--Xanatos had served with him on the Yugumo, though he had never spoken with Xanatos much, it was comforting to see another member of the Fifth he knew staying with the UOC.

Kenoki simply picked a chair, she was still new. And as such she had no preference for who she was teamed up with. The way she saw it, there were two ways they could be split up. Either completely arbitrary, or the Vice-Admiral and Commodore had gone over each of their records and set up the teams so that the members could potentially complement each other. In either case, where she chose to sit would have little impact on who she ended up with.

Two... teams? Ai wondered. If they were being divided, whatever happens, happens. She prefered to be with Natsuko and Xanatos, but her preferences and feelings didn't matter. Nyaaaah! Stop... thinking like that Ai! she scolded herself in her head. What could she do to take her mind off of her 'problems' and cheer herself up?

She sighed as she waited for the division, watching and listening intently.

Richter scanned over the datapad a bit more before speaking.

"Cadets!" He barked, "I will now read off your new assignments. Listen carefully. White Team will be," he looked down at the pad again for a moment. "Ashlyn Bonheur, Jason Starlock, Tesuro Urameshi, Xanatos Zarthe. Blue Team is assigned Kenoki Hirahara, Ai Kitano, and Natsuko Hiragi."

2 out of 3. Natsuko thought as she looked over at Xanatos. For a few seconds Natsuko stared at the Yamataian, recording every last second she could. Then Natsuko broke her stare and looked at Kenoki. So....we get the drunk girl on our team. Natsuko thought. Now we know the teams....what will we be doing I wonder. Natsuko thought as she looked back at Richter.

Tesuro looked around him. Hm, uneven. I don't suppose that'll be a big deal. he thought to himself. He was on the majority team, which to him was a good thing not because he believed they would have some sort of advantage, but because he thought of himself as somewhat of a hindrance--being technically less experienced than the rest. They were part of the Kasairyuu wing, and he was just a lost soldier on a lost ship. He shook off the thought, at least for now anyway, as he awaited the rest of the briefing.

Jason pondered the decision for a split moment and realized that it could have been him by himself in one squad and the rest in the other and he would assume that the Admiral new what he was doing. He new almost nothing about those present. He wasn't even sure who each person in the room was that they called out. He looked around to try and remember the faces of those who weren't to be apart of his team so that he could possibly identify them later.

He turns his attention back to the Vice-Admiral to explain what exactly was to become of them. Teams is fine but teams for what was the question. He knew this was training and they would be assigned different ships but what was going to happen after that he didn't understand at all, yet.

Uneven teams, it was inevitable given the number of Cadets, but Kenoki couldn’t help wondering what it meant that she was on the team of three. What was the Vice-Admiral’s game? Was there some method he was following? She just didn’t know enough about the man to make any guesses. That above all made her feel uncomfortable. Their lives and futures were in the hands of strangers. What’s more, Kenoki was still new to this group, not knowing anybody. She had strangers on all sides, so many unknowns.

She caught one of them looking at her, she assumed it was Natsuko Hiragi since she was fairly sure the other was Ai Kitano, who Kenoki had some sketchy memories of seeing before when she fell and met Xanatos… sort of.

Just as Kenoki locked eyes with her, Natsuko looked back to the Vice Admiral. Just what did she think when she looked at me?

Xanatos was a little disappointed that Natsuko wasn't going to be on the same team as him... again! However, it might be for the better until the mission was over with. If one of our teams should be slaughtered, we won't both die... he told himself, but that didn't make him feel any better.

The Yamataian noticed that she was staring at him and smiled, wondering if she was just as disappointed as him. Natsuko.. he thought to her, Stay safe, please? I can't look out for you... again... but please just be safe... His thoughts were urgent, but they had a caring sense to them as well.

Ai shrugged at the division of teams. Well, she was at least with one person she knew decently well, of course the other in the group she had no idea who that was.

The cadet idly wondered what was with the splitting, was it for training? A mission? Whatever it was for, it didn't help her feel any better. She left the confines of her mind to tune in again to what was being said and what was happening.

Richter began to speak. "As the Commodore told you, your squads are assigned to different ships, White to Kibou, Blue to Jizen. While you're on board those vessels, my vessels, it will be your responsibility to command them, to learn how they work.

"Now, your first mission, where you'll get your first chance to prove whether or not you're just a handful of useless maggots, will be escorting a humanitarian mission to the Nepleslian world of Kennewes. Now, maybe some of you who've been paying attention to current affairs know a thing or two about the big clusterfuck of a war and occupation the Greens are up to. But, in case you haven't been brushing up on the news, the two dominant political factions in the DIoN have been bashing each other over the head for the better part of a year now."

Richter looked down at his datapad, looking through some random documents pertaining to the war. "Now, at the moment, the Greens, the guys we're friends with, have pretty much beat down the Reds, and are staying on-world as an occupation force. Unfortunately, the little spat they have has pretty much left the place a burning hellhole, which is what we're aiming to fix.

"Now the reason you're coming is because there's still plenty of fighting going on there. Plenty of fighting between very big and angry men who want to slaughter each other, and plenty of fighting a couple supply ships don't want to contend with. If things head South, you're there to make sure our guys don't bite it. Any questions, Cadets?"

Wait... we're learning how to run a ship? Ai though to herself, aghast. She could understand being a ship's personal guard or something like that, but running it? She lowered her head and sighed. Well, at the very least, she hoped she didn't completely screw it up, and she had some others who'd be there too, so it couldn't be that bad.

The neko looked to Natsuko, wondering how her friend felt about it.

Natsuko was just about to respond to Xanatos when Richter spoke again. Wait...we're commanding the ships? Natsuko thought when Richter informed them of the new arrangements. How are we supposed to command them? Isn't this something they send you to school for? I mean heck I knew that members of the 17th usually went on to be officers, but I didn't think it would be this fast. Besides, aren't these new models?

This is the first time I've ever been on board a ship of this class. Natsuko though as those and a hundred other thoughts ran through her head at the same time. Natsuko grit her teeth, loudly enough that those sitting close to her could softly hear them grinding against one another. It's not that she was angry, just frustrated and confused. A trial by fire... Natsuko thought as she looked back at Ai.

"Ne Ai-chan," Natsuko said telepathically "You've never run a ship before have you?" Natsuko asked.

Natsuko looked up at Richter before speaking, "Will the supply ships be traveling together or separate?" Natsuko asked. Ideally they'd be traveling together, but if it were more secure for them to travel separate, or they were coming from different locations than conditions would change.