RP [Yamatai] Star Army Recruiting Center (YE 42)

"What the hell are you talking about? Training from who? The Star Army doesn't train people who haven't enlisted in the Star Army, period," Guerrero growled in annoyance. "And if you call me Ken one more time I'm gonna reach across this table with this hand and slap the taste out of your mouth. STOP. The only thing I want you to call me is chief." On the application form he simply wrote science guy in one of the boxes.

Meanwhile Stella glanced over at her boss Guerrero meekly. She was having trouble trying to place Brynhildr in an occupation since she couldn't use power armor. "Security...hmm..." she bit her lip and squinted at the list of training programs. "Would you say robots like you are basically equivalent to a person in power armor?"

Brynhildr grinned widely, "I'd certainly like to think I am, ha! Armor is up there with Nepleslian P.A. models, even, but I don't generate a Combined Field for protection and movement, of course. ...Although, that's likely a possible upgrade. I was made by NovaCorp, after all, so Emrys components should fit just fine, like the inertial system from the J-2. There's probably even an off the shelf adapter."

Her chin and lips scrunch in though a moment before she offers, "Custodian forearm weaponry is equivalent to the Ke-M2-W2910 Forearm Pulse Cannon, but it uses HEX technology instead of scalar pulse." She leans in and adds, quietly, "I was uh, never decommissioned, by the way, so they're all active, along with the Keel system. No reactant spheres, so no ammo for the cannons." Bryn snorts a laugh, "I probably could pull the arms off of a Daisy, though! Maybe!"

She then leans in even more closely, using her enormous hand to hide her mouth from view and muffle the sound, "I think your associate is having difficulties with the Tanken Riezon over there. I had to use multilingual semantic matching with dialectical analysis and audio spectrum analysis to figure out what was going on."

Venetian blinked. That was... an outburst. Why did Guerrero not believe that he trained...? Venetian took a moment to think. Probably need to clarify that it's SSS training... He thought that was already known, as he let Guerrero know he was in the SSS... Ugh. Time to make things clear.

"Ah... Ah trained through the Liaison program, with the SSS... not with the Star Army, ke- chief! The courses such as Star Army history, ranks, military protocol, and emergency procedures. Ah didnae mean that Ah trained like the Star Army did."

He glanced over at Brynhildr and Stella a bit enviously. Sure, that conversation went down smoothly... Not mine. Here he was, trying to weather a sudden storm. He wasn't even expecting this irritation! He continued to stew internally for a few moments, before shaking those thoughts off. He tapped his thigh with his index finger a couple of times, before speaking to Guerrero again. "Ah hope that clears things up?"

"Oh, Why didn't you say so," Guerrero said. "Okay, so that concludes the interview. You've been approved. We just need to administer the oath of enlistment. Admiral Hanako is visiting today so if you want to wait a second I'll go get her so she can do it. Bit of a celebrity around these parts," he explained, before ducking out of the room.

"I will put you down as infantry then, if that is alright," Stella told Brynhildr.

In a moment Guerrero reappeared with a woman with aqua-colored hair and big golden eyes and Chujo sleeve stripes, prompting Stella to stand at attention with an "Attention on deck!"

"Carry on! Today is a great day to join the Star Army," Hanako grinned excitedly. "You two come over here with me, hold up your right hand, and repeat after me."

Wait. Oath of Enlistment? Venetian came here to get an assignment for a ship, not be recruited in the Star Army. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he watched with mortification as Admiral Hanako walked in, and excitedly told them the oath. This... this isn't good.

After a slight pause, Venetian awkwardly spoke: "Ah, uh, came here to get an assignment as a Liason... Ah was told this was how tae do it.." Curse Joseph. He WAS laughing at Venetian. Venetian could just bet it. When he got back to the dorms, he was going to strangle Jospeh. Right now, he had to survive this.

He gave a quick glance at Guerrero. He was rather afraid of the Ittô-heisho blowing up on him again. But what terrified him even more was that he had no idea how the admiral would react. Crap. Crap. Crap.

Joseph was a terrible friend.

"WHAT?!" Guerrero's eyes filled with burning rage. He actively and visibly struggled not to unleash a flood of profanity in front of the admiral.

"Wait, what?" Stella asked, visibly confused. "What just happened here?"

"What," the military police officer at the door said with an exasperated facepalm.

"What?" Chujo Hanako blinked in confusion. "You are not enlisting?"

"What?" the freshly-enlisted Melanie Spurling said from the hall as she passed by the doorway. "Fo' real?"

Brynhildr had already begun to leap to her feet and snap to attention before Hanako's entrance was announced, as her skin vision had seen and correctly identified Hanako. Salient data outated or not, it nonetheless included Ketsurui Hanako. She hesitated to announce, running on her backup biological brain she could be unsure of what to do as she was not currently Star Army personnel, and thus Guerrero beat her to it. Inefficient though it was, Brynhildr spent a lot of time in that literal head-space (it was in a different physical location) since gaining sentience. And before that, even, her penchant for it was likely a contributing factor to her attainment of sapience.

She was just following along with the Chujō to receive the oath when the virtual 'record scratch, freeze frame' sundered the solemnities. The Custodian AI was narrowly designed, and her kind attain sentience through depth, rather than breadth, and by dint of their biological auxiliary systems. She, like her as of yet sub-sentient brethren, didn't experience the gamut of social awareness as did more human consciousnesses. The idea of "awkward" or "humiliated" didn't really compute. She was merely relieved the situation had reached a resolution.

After a few beats of the stunned silence that followed, Brynhildr opined, "That's good Kleos!"

Mikael can't help but lean into the door after hearing the Itto Heisho the first time around. He was not disappointed with the amount of SAINT approved entertainment going on. He just facepalms at the Elysian.

"..So, uh, ah assume this isn't the place where...ah...get my posting for Liaison work?" Venetian slowly shrank, folding his wings in to make himself as small as possible.

"Now is not the time to shrink, they can still clearly see you." Mikael said, officially making his presence known. Venetian clearly needed some moral support. "Something clearly was not understood, so stand your ground, own the misunderstanding, and explain the situation. SAoY personnel will respect you far more as a SSS liaison."

"No," Hanako said, rubbing the back of her blue-haired head. "We can find you a ship, though." She turned to Brynhildr. "Let us resume," she said, reciting the oath for the android to repeat.

Brynhildr raised a meaty (figuratively, as it was synthetic) hand, and intoned in her booming contralto,

I, Akuro Brynhildr, have truthfully, honorably, and voluntarily enlisted myself as a soldier in the Star Army of Yamatai for the full length of my commitment. I vow to protect the peoples of Yamatai, to follow the orders of the Empress and the officers appointed over me, to live by the Star Army Creed, to obey Star Army rules and regulations, and to destroy the enemies of Yamatai.

Lobby

It was done. He'd ceded control of his company to an authorized agent with decision-making authority, though he still owned it. All of his other affairs were in order. Some clients were angered by his decision, but soothed by the fact that the same people and systems were in place as before. He'd contacted Hanako Chujo about getting a decent assignment. Something where he could put his expertise to as both a world-class engineer and team leader to good use for the Empire, but with a little more action than a boring R&D lab tucked safely away from the front lines. That would basically be like the life he was already living, but with bad food and no Miss Nepleslia in the penthouse.


Jax was finally escaping the hell of luxurious corporate life and returning to the luscious heaven of droning machinery and military bunk rooms. Whatever scenario he faced from this point on would actually be a challenge. Something that mattered. He was coming home! Though, looking around, the nekojin couldn't help but feel like the odd one out. For starters, he was about the only one who was actually calm. He looked around at the sea of bug-eyed kids nervously waiting their turn, not yet fully comprehending the journey they would embark upon. He'd been there once, almost a decade ago. He'd sat in these very chairs as a scrawny, scared teenager with whatever belongings he'd managed to grab after that last big fight with his dad, all stuffed into a school backpack. With a head full of dreams and more engineering knowledge than the average 18 year old, granted, but completely ignorant of what military life entailed. Yes, in that respect, Jackson Howard was very out of place.

It might have also been due in part to the fact that the minkan was wearing a custom, wool suit that cost about as much as a MINDY power armor. He'd come here straight from his lawyer's office. Little did they realize that every reason they had shouted at him to reconsider had only motivated him to walk faster.

Then, he heard nervous whispers from some nearby kids about the possibility of coming face to face with the Hanako! Jax couldn't help but smile. He'd had his moment of hero worship as well, but that was before he'd seen Hanako naked and covered in Rixxikor guts. Good times. Now, he just needed someone to call his number so he could hop on a ship and GTFO.

Uesureyan Fortress / Star Army Recruiting Depot
Military District of Kyoto, Kyoto, Yamatai
Lobby

The recruiting center was unusually crowded today as many citizens of Yamatai we outraged at the Kuvexians for the 3 million or more Yamataians they'd killed in the Third Battle of Nataria. The Star Army had really stepped up its recruiting efforts as well as they had entire fleets to rebuild from the ground up. Some of the recruits were standing along the walls. A woman with raven hair and orange-brown eyes came wandering through Jax's row, looking at all the humanoids and aliens from short to hulking, and finding no place to sit. She was wearing a tiny summer sundress with an elaborate blue and red print on it that looked like it could be a hotel's carpet pattern. "May I sit with you?" she asked Jax, figuring he looked the most respectable in his fine suit.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, sure." Jax muttered and shuffled over just slightly to give the girl a little more space out of courtesy. He set aside his datapad, which still had an incomplete crossword on it. The minkan had once read that one thing highly successful people did was crossword puzzles. So, he started doing crossword puzzles. "You joining up too?"

That seemed like a silly question, Jax thought to himself. She surely wasn't here for the ambiance.

The young woman sat on Jax's lap basically straddling one of his thighs. Her bottom felt rather warm against him. "Yeah. I'm Leila," she introduced herself, looking up over her shoulder at him through her thick black mane of great-smelling hair that was all up in his face now. "I am thinking of applying to be a technician. I want to be a starship mechanic someday and the Star Army has the best training program in the universe."

"That they do, Leila, that they do." Jax muttered quietly amongst the din of conversation around him. "In fact, I was one of those starship mechanics at one point."

Yui, was this really happening? Jax wasn't the same man he was three years ago. He wasn't about to lose his mind at the sight of a pretty lady sitting on his lap. Especially not one that might end up his subordinate. Despite the typical Yamataian views of such practices, he still didn't like the idea of getting handsy with lower-ranking soldiers, especially after a breakup like he'd had with Betty.

"I'm sure you'll do great." said the cat-man as he gently set Leila down on her seat. Gently, of course. He was still a gentleman, and he wasn't trying to cause a scene. "I'm Jackson. Jackson Howard." Jax introduced. "I used to serve at an officer aboard the Eucharis. I was out of the game for a while, but now I'm coming back."

"Oh! An officer?" Leila cooed. "It must be very hard work being so important," she said. "All those big decisions. Oh, I think I'm sliding off, can you put your arms around me to hold me?" She leaned back against his chest. "When to hard work, I'm willing to put it in."

Meanwhile numbers were getting called pretty rapidly and a seat opened up nearby as a large Delsaurian man went to get interviewed. Based on the numbers it wouldn't be long until Jax was called too.

If Jax's arms were free, he would have pinched the bridge of his nose. He was really trying to turn over a new leaf here. Most of his issues during his last enlistment had been caused by his complicated romantic entanglements. He didn't like it, but he had no choice. It was time to put on the officer hat.

"Leila," He whispered quietly, yet firmly. "I have had a very trying morning, and I am just now coming out of a bad break up. You are a beautiful young woman, and under any other circumstances this behavior would be welcome. But at this moment, I am neither comfortable with this nor in the mood. To boot, there is a high chance that I will become your superior. The Star Army may not take issue with such an arrangement, but I do."

Jax straightened his back and looked at her with a calm, neutral expression, ignoring the very physical reaction he was having at the moment. He may have been an up and coming NCO, but he was still a guy.

"Please, get off of my lap." he commanded in a hushed voice, but in a tone that left no room for ambiguity as to his feelings on the situation.

All this time as a CEO and he still wasn't used to acting like this. How would he fare as he rose in rank and gained more responsibility? He assumed it would get easier.

For as long as he could remember, Sonoda Takashi did everything expected of him. Though it might seem like his family always expected more of him, he knew that they expected success and he was capable of delivering it. His grades were in the 90th percentile (why not the 99th?), he had been treasurer of his after-school clubs (why not president?), and he qualified for his high school sports team (why aren't you the star player?), and he was even accepted to his second choice for college (why not first?). Until one day Takashi went for a walk after school and just kept walking. That was a week ago.

Takashi's cracked glasses slid up his nose as he looked up at the fortress in front of him. Nobody would have expected Takashi to enlist, least of all Takashi himself. He had always shied away from confrontation and preferred to seek compromise whenever he had disagreed with his classmates. Takashi's mind turned to thoughts of home, and he clenched his jaw with determination. His gaze descended to the gargantuan brass-clad doors, he brushed his fingers through his messy black hair, and he marched forward. Takashi was eager to find out what the star army expected of him.

After entering the recruiting center, he quickly found himself lost in the crowds around him. Eventually he found his way through the screening checkpoint, into a waiting lobby, where he was competent enough to follow the electronic signs and get himself a ticket number. Takashi sat in an old chair that arguably smelled worse than he did, and he watched a series of informational videos until he noticed that they had begun to repeat themselves. It was only then that the weight of his decisions dawned on him and he felt his chest tighten in anxiety as he waited to be interviewed.