ON: Star Base Ayenee
Jack Miller was all smiles. The corridors of Star Base Ayenee were buzzing with the activities of countless engineers and technicians. Many stopped to salute the Nepleslian captain in his fresh green officer's suit. That only made Miller's smile widen.
Looks like they know who I am.
The captain rounded the corner and entered through the massive door into the docking bay. There were four people already there, most likely his crew. He could tell from their duffle bags and because these people weren't anything near engineers in their appearances.
"Pretty fuckin' nice ship, eh?"
Fian Vel Steyr's eyes widened at the sight of the high ranking officer, although the man's approach was casual, only the upper echelon could eschew formalities and get away with it. "Sir!" Fian shouted, and snapped into attention.
Turning around, the young cadet took a moment to glance over the person who spoke up. The first thing he noticed was the green uniform of the Star Army of Nepleslia, pretty obvious even for someone who stared at a computer displays for a living. Next thing, the young Lionheart noticed was the man's appearance. He could tell the man was tried to keep himself well-groomed....although the stubble beard sort of dashed things. But then, the shoulder rankings caught his eye...a rank that sent Matthew back to the academy he just graduated from. With the precision that had been drilled into him for the past few years, Matthew's body came at attention and his right hand flew to his brow.
"Sir, Cadet First Grade Matthew Lionheart, reporting sir!" he snapped quickly. Maybe he spoke a bit too soon, reporting like that, but it was quite possible that this man was supposed to be their commanding officer. The young Lionheart only wished he could have hacked into Personnel to confirm his crewmate's identities before coming here.
Jet looked at Miller, immediately thinking he was a boisterous dumbass. But he'd keep that opinion to himself as he saluted the other man and looked him over judging physical ability and such. he at least had on the black shirt visible under the red coat with the rank symbols on his shoulder with his other hand holding his rucksack at least 4 holsters with pistols in them visible or partially. "Sir." he just said looking annoyed a bit. He was waiting for someone.
"At ease, men," Miller said, returning the salutes with a nod. "I'm not gonna bite your heads off." He quickly recalled the details of each soldier's personnel file that he had stored in the electronic sector of his brain. They're so young. Good and bad in that, I suppose. The handsome Nepleslian smiled, musing on thoughts of his own ambitious past. He glanced at Jet's duffel bag, the many guns blistering out of it. Looks like we've got a Rambo here. Fun. Miller ignored his rudeness for the time being, thinking it rather ironic. He extended his hand to each soldier. "I am Captain Jack Miller of the Star Army of Nepleslia. I will be your commanding officer for this ship you see before you. That reminds me, isn't she a pretty fuckin' nice ship?"
" Even a rose has its thorns sir, pretty, but a femme fatale. I am Soldier 3rd Class Fian Vel Steyr, pleased to meet you." Fian said as he shook the commanding officer's hand as he un-tensed himself. "Absolutely can't wait to take her out for a spin."
Matthew immediately moved to parade rest out of habit as the Captain introduced himself. Well, at least my hunch was correct, the young man thought before blinking in surprise as the man held out his hand. Not one to be rude, the young man at least took Jack's hand in a firm grip and shook it before he glanced over at the prototype. "I'll leave my opinion about it open until I can check out its computer system," the young man replied with a hint of inadequacy in his voice. Socializing wasn't really his forte, it was wise to keep his comments short for now. He wanted to test the waters so to speak in an effort to keep his foot out of his mouth.
Jet shook the captain's hand with a hard strong grip but still looked relatively unphased by it. "I'll tell you my opinion of it later after I see the interior," he said non-chalantly. "Sub Lieutenant Jet Endurain." he said in introduction.. "Sorry if I look annoyed but I was hoping to see someone here but they haven't shown up or are already on board.'
As he shook each crewmember's hands, Miller looked at them, almost as if sizing them up. The first man was incredibly young, as indicated by his rank pin of soldier 3rd class. The soldier's three moles on his left cheek helped to enhance his youthful look as well. But that single white hair that seemed to jut out of the forest of his unkempt hair really stood out to him.
The next man in line appeared a little older, but only barely. What was surprising was his rather monumental leap to Cadet 1st grade. That only told him one thing: that this soldier was a graduate from officer's school. And that meant he was untested. He hoped whatever the school saw in this soldier would shine on the field.
The final man in the line, the rather nonchalant 'I'm-too-cool-for-you' guy, poured off a kind of callous machismo in his words and actions. The captain shrugged inside of his head at this, having grown up all his life around these kinds of fellows. He could tell that this man had some prior connections with the streets, maybe a little paranoia from all those guns he carried. What struck the captain the most, however, were his light red eyes. Indeed a rarity.
"Ok men, now that we've finished with the pleasantries, I want you all to give me 25 pushups. NOW."
It was after the initial pleasantries were dispensed that a man wearing a long red coat over his Nepleslian uniform showed up, distributing his weight between his legs and a black cane in his hand. "Reporting for duty captain." he said while holding out a datapad which contained a copy of his orders and personnel file.
"Well well. Late as usual Wazu." Jet smirked at him looking over his shoulder, but before he was to give miller the 25. "I see you got out of the hospital alright."
Wazu just chuckled at the irony of that statement as he waited for a response from the captain.
The Captain took the datapad from the newcomer's hand and read over it. He looked at the man incredulously before motioning with the datapad to the line. "Form up beside the others. I see with your disability that it would be unfair to give you 25 pushups. I ask for 10."
"You, be quiet until you've finished your pushups," he snapped at Jet. "Damn."
Jet just looked at the captain with concealed distain and nodded and went down to do the 25, of course 25 being nothing to someone who had done well over 1000 in basic.
Wazu just smiled, "I'm afraid with this leg I might go down to do 10 pushups but I wouldn't be getting back up without help."
The captain nodded, changing the statement. "Ok, 10 crunches then. Can you do those?"
"Very well, it would seem that physical activity will not be avoided by this body today." Wazu began the process of lying down and performing the crunches, straining through them more so than the others.
"Well you'll feel better once you get to your computer data." Jet smirked as he kept going, still around 10 though.
"What part of shut up until you are finished do you not understand, soldier?! Aren't you a sub lieutenant!?" The captain glared at Jet.
Heh heh heh. Jet smirked and kept going counting them off in his head as he continued.
"Fifteen, sir. Sixteen, sir," Matthew continued to say as he glanced over at the newcomer. Wow...even the guy with the cane gets to do pushups, the cadet thought in surprise. I guess I better be on my guard serving under Miller. The way he came in all casually and then ask for pushups, maybe he's a guy who just likes physical exertion or having his crew in top form. Or maybe he's a sadist, both are equally possible. "Twenty-three, sir. Twenty-four, sir. Twenty-five, sir." Matthew finished before hopping back to his feet and standing at attention, his expression completely neutral even with the annoyance of doing the pushups haunting the dark corners of his mind.
Wazu finally worked through the tenth crunch and started to stand up, leaning heavily on the cane as he pulled himself to an upright position. "Well, It is good to know that some things are still working like they should." Once upright he remained at the ready, just off to the side from where the other recruits were.
"Remember men, as long as you're around me, unless command says otherwise, I am the person with the biggest cock in the room. You don't question my orders. You don't give me shit outside of a 'yes sir.' IS THAT CLEAR?" The captain seemed to have become furious.
Jet jumped up after the pushups and picked up his bag again and adjusted how it hung over his shoulder. "Yes sir." he said idly. Man it bad been a long time since he had to say that to anyone
Wazu simply said, "yes sir."
"Sir, yes sir," Matthew replied, though, the young man couldn't help but heave a mental sigh at the "I have the biggest cock" phrase. He'd known a few upperclassmen in his day that loved to say that, maybe it was a phrase many people in power said to their subordinates. Well, it didn't really matter, Captain Jack Miller was the CO and his word was law until someone higher than him said otherwise. And besides, the young Lionheart probably wouldn't be getting bored anytime soon.
The change in demeanor from the captain was startling. It was like he was angry one second, then calm and collected the next. "At ease. Look guys, I'm really a nice person. I want you all to have a good time on our ship, and why not? It's a prototype that's gonna send fear down the spine's of our foes. But the reality of our current situation does not change. We are military men, and when the pressure starts to build, I expect you all to follow the chain of command. Our survival will depend on it. When we're not performing duties, I don't care what you're up to, as long as it's not causing any harm to the other crewmembers."
The captain looked each soldier in the eyes, his calmness a little unnerving. "But when something happens and I need you, I want your undivided attention and loyalty." He smirked, his eyes having a mischievous glint in them. "I don't care if you're masturbating in the shower. When you hear the signal, you come running, boner and all."
Jet put his had to his mouth to keep from laughing out loud at that but didn't say anything other than a nod of agreement.
Wazu nodded, a slight smirk still on his face. He erased that smirk before he asked, "I would assume that under normal circumstances clothing is not optional?"
This time, Matthew couldn't help but allow his neutral expression to drop as the captain's disturbingly erratic mood swings caused the cadet to look at Jack as if he were an escaped lunatic. It only took a moment to regain his composure though as the captain spoke calmly to his crew. Though the bit with the shower caused the young cadet to smile in amusement.
"I don't think anybody wants to be distracted by dong, Wazu," the captain said passively as he started to walk towards the elevator. "Follow me. We're gonna get on this baby. Oh, and call me Jack."
Where is she...she said she'd meet me here. Jet thought for a moment before starting toward the ship after Miller quietly. "Jack it is."
"Alright Jack," Wazu said as he made his way toward the elevator.
Fian narrowed his eyes upon the erratic captain and maintained a 5 foot distance between Jack and himself as he followed the latter to the elevator. "Do ready me a compilation of the captain's records, Elsae." Fian whispered. "As you wish."
Grabbing his duffle bag, the young Cadet followed behind the Sub-lieutenant and Wazu as he cleared his throat quietly. "I'm hope it's alright if I continue to call you, Captain, sir," Matt replied cautiously. "I didn't even call people by their first names when I was a civilian," he stated as he kept at least a couple of feet between him and the people in front of him.
An engineer met the group in the elevator. He was an older Nepleslian man with wild gray hair and a bushy beard. "Here you are, sir," he said as he handed the Captain a datapad. Jack Miller didn't so much as glance at the datapad as hand it to Wazu. "It's the ship's specifications. Look over it and tell me what you think."
Jet just relaxed waiting for it to lift into the ship and yawned some sighing a bit.
The elevator seemed to creep forever. "So guys, what did you do before the military?"
Wazu nodded. "It is a Nermian ship design so I would expect it to act as such. I wouldn't expect too much finesse from the ship but I would expect it to be loaded with weapons with its internal structure maximized for prolonged conventional fighting." After the question about what happened before the military Wazu simply responded with, "Nothing of interest."
"I babysat" Fian replied, half in sarcasm and half truth.
Matt kept quite for a moment as he listened to see if others would answer the Captain. After two responses had been given, Matt decided he might as well give Jack a proper answer. "I was an apprentice Computer Systems Tech on a civilian transport," was all the cadet said as he fiddled with the zipper on his duffle bag.
"Heh," Jet said listening to the other people on the lift. "I want to know what this baby's armed with"
"The primary armament is an Aether Shock Cannon and that is backed up with various energy beam weapons." Wazu said.
Fian looked at Jet and folded up his sleeve, showing his long forearm scar. "You don't want to know, Jet." He said, jokingly.
Jet whistled. "Nice." He looked at Fian. "Baby with a knife, kid?"
"Two knives, actually" Fian replied, but looking straight ahead, signaling that the conversation was for another time.
"For the uneducated, that means big ass gun," Jack replied casually. The elevator stopped and opened, and the engineer escorted the group down a long ramp that connected the elevator to the ship. As they entered the ship's bay, the captain couldn't contain his joy. "Welcome home, guys."
END
