chapter 3

Chapter 3

Will and the others arrived 15 minutes early the next morning reeds was already there waiting for them. " well good you three showed up and you don't look hung over that's a good start" he took a sip of his thermos " if you'll hand me your leave passes please" as will held it out in his hand it dissolved into a liquid. " ahh ten minutes early I knew that batch was off my apologies"  a navy black bus came around the corner " last chance to walk away without any repercussions if you get on that bus and choose to drop out after you'll owe us for the fare". 4 other recruits had gathered in the time they'd been waiting and as the bus pulled to a stop one Turned around and walked away reeds shrugged and took another sip the doors opened he shook each of their hands wished them good luck. Will and the rest boarded the bus filled with other recruits. They were an odd mix some studied some listened to music. some chated Will made his way to the back row where he Raven and Josh sat and began reviewing the manual as the bus started up and pulled into traffic heading out of town.

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Jack montoya captain in the marines and leader of the princesses royal guard had two major headaches. first, this upcoming exercise he'd have 50 personal his unit which had him two lieutenants two sergeants each officer and sergeant were paired off leading a sets of 12 personnel respectively. Setup in three 4 man fire teams with corporals at the head giving him a total unit strength of 29 men combine that with the marine detachment of 20 being lent to him by a commonwealth cruiser that was docked that brought him up to 49 men and women. Logistically bringing these two groups together was a challenge. still all the problems of his ad hoc command was nothing compared to the 50th member of his unit. " my lady again I must ask you to reconsider joining us in this exercise I know it's only simulated combat but there's still a chance you could be injured" a young brunette sat across the table from him.  5'9 athletic build with green eyes the color of grass she was beautiful. if her father wasn't the ruler of 10 star systems and three having multiple inhabited planets and mining colonies she'd have suitors lined up around the block, as it was that small detail however scared many men off. " I'm 20 years old. As of a week ago I can legally make any choice i'd like and I will be enlisting in the royal navy when we get home. Now you can either do the best you can to help me prepare or not that's up to you" Jack sighed knowing he'd already lost, " fine." he waved the ncos and officers into his makeshift office " ok people here's the scenario our vessel has been in battle with the r.s.s. Disaster " one of the lts chuckled " and has been breached by a few well placed shots hull integrity could not be maintained and we need to board the Disaster to avoid breathing space we will secure the engine room and bridge then sweep up any resistance. remember our goal is controlling the ship not eliminating the whole crew if someone's running to an escape pod let them go that's one more shot for real threats" first platoons lt. Raised his hand. jack nodded to him" what's up mitch?"," Sir do we know what resistance were facing?" mitch hemmingway asked. jack had a sip of water before answering " well cover it more in detail during the brief but from what I was told 25 organized marines and 75 fresh recruits " the princess spoke up clearly confused " fresh recruits ,captain?" jack turned to her " yes your highness this scenario is a type of initial selection process and also how they decide what specialty to train there sailors for" the princess nodded in understanding " now if you'll all turn to the standard blueprint we were given i'd like to begin"

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" off the bus now move move move" the bus full recruits just stared at the man in dress uniform yelling " NOW" he bellowed and everyone scrambled to get off the bus " ok kiddies we were nice enough to make this easy on you if you look down you'll see a pairs of yellow footprints on the ground you just gotta walk over and stand on them any questions?" everyone looked around " then go" everyone scrambled to find a spot to stand " good evening everyone one my name is…. Well it doesn't matter because after tonight you'll never see me again you may call me Seargent if you need something more than a title then you can call me God because tonight weather you join this great navy that all you slack jawed good for nothin cogs are no where near good enough for or weather you find yourself back pushing papers or shoveling shit tomorrow is up to me now you will stay in your lines and follow the helpful lanes painted nicely on the ground for you by one of your betters where you will find ship suits, you will strip put them on and proceed to the main hall where we have guess what? more footprints for you to stand on. There is no room for modesty in combat so you will be dressing in front of others though a word to any would be gawkers there will be other sergeants monitoring and on of them sees you paying to much attention guess what they'll do?" the sergeant waited a recruit in front of Will raised his hand " yes recruit you have a guess? " the recruit shakily replied" s-s- sergeant youll discharge them?" the sergeant smiled " oh no i won't in fact that's a good way to guarantee we take you get caught gawking and you won't even need to take the test even. the sergeant will sign you on the spot." he said in a low easy tone then raising his voice " then promptly kick your ass out of the room and drag you kicking and screaming to the base brig where they will hold you till they can haul you to the nearest navy jail where you will live on bread and water for the next 6 months. Now everyone move". Will ran inside found the ship suit and got it on with only minor difficulty and join the others lined up. " ok people listen up since I think this will be of use to a lot of you if you  feel overwhelmed at any point just tap your helmet three times and say I wish I was home" the sergeant demonstrated and had them try "good we have fresh cookies and milk waiting if you tap out feel free to sit and relax and enjoy them and feel free to come back and try again in 6 months because tapping out is as you all can guess a automatic wash out. Now while this is a training scenario and no real weapons will be used you'll see when you go into the big room behind these doors this is a real ship which means real injuries may occur broken legs from bad falls etc. If you have a real emergency say monarchy monarchy monarchy and we will pause the scienro to render aid I can not stress enough that an emergency call for an actual emergency will not get you penalized if the medic deems you unfit to proceed your application will be judged on what you did up to that point. Any questions whatsoever?" no one said a word. then the doors opened and they found themselves staring into a cargo bay. " alright those suits of yours will simulate a actual battle like so" the doors closed and lighting turned red the sergeant picked up a pistol lying on a crate and and quickly shot himself in the head he collapsed and blood began leaking from the suit. two recruits vomited a third taped out and walked out a side door. "Hey you slugs you'll be cleaning those suits out when your done" the voice came from sergeant's body and when we looked back the blood and gore were gone and he was getting back to his feet. " as you can see it does a very realistic job now if you'll excuse me i have thirty seconds to leave before you all lose your balance and lighting good luck oh by the way escape pods are that way" he points to a corner of the room and steps out the door " 3 seconds later two things happened at once. First the lights dropped to sporadic emergency lighting which did not provide enough light. Second the ground shook hard Will like the rest was unprepared and fell his head struck something hard and he hit the ground.