C82 Wolfpack Rising

Her stomach twisted as she watched her perfect arrangement crumble in seconds.

"This is the kind of sloppy work that gets people killed!"

Darius shouted, his voice thunderous. The sheer force of his anger reverberated through the room, causing some of the other recruits to flinch, though they dared not look.

Yin's face burned with humiliation, already knowing what was coming next. She steeled herself.

"Get down and give me ten push-ups! NOW!"

Darius bellowed, towering over her like a storm as he dropped to his palms.

Without hesitation, Yin dropped to the cold, hard floor and began doing push-ups, her muscles screaming from the morning PT session.

Beside her, Yang and every other female recruit had already dropped as well, mirroring her twin sister's movements in perfect synchronization.

Their arms trembled as they pumped up and down, but they kept counting aloud.

"One! Two! Three!"

Darius watched them closely, his eyes never leaving their struggling forms. His face remained an unreadable mask of authority, but there was no mercy in his gaze as he performed the push ups In perfect synch.

"You call those push-ups?"

He snarled.

"Get lower! If you can't do them properly, you'll be doing them all day!"

Yin's arms burned as she pushed herself harder, the floor seeming to press up against her with each movement. Her breathing came in ragged gasps, but she didn't stop. She couldn't. Not with Darius watching.

"Four! Five!"

"LOUDER!"

Darius barked, his voice filling the entire room.

"Six! Seven!"

Each word left her lips with more effort than the last. Her arms felt like they were about to give out, but she kept going. She had to. She wouldn't give Darius the satisfaction of seeing her break.

After what felt like an eternity, Darius finally growled.

"Get up."

Yin and Yang staggered to their feet, their bodies trembling from exhaustion. Sweat dripped down their faces, but they stood at attention, their hearts pounding in their chests.

Darius stood over the mess he had created, his eyes narrowing again as he looked back at Yin.

"You've got five minutes to clean this mess up, or I'll have all of you running laps until you puke,"

He said, his voice low and menacing.

"You want to be part of the Iron Fenrirs? Then start growing some fangs already."

Without another word, he turned on his heel and stormed out, the sound of his boots echoing in another room as he made his way to the next unfortunate recruit's locker.

The moment he exited, Yin dropped to her knees and began frantically organizing her belongings, her fingers trembling as she stuffed uniforms and supplies back into her locker.

Yang knelt beside her, helping as best she could with the other recruits, the urgency in the air palpable.

"Five minutes,"

Yin muttered, panic rising in her chest as she struggled to fix the mess.

"We can do this, we can do this."

They worked quickly, barely exchanging words, their focus solely on getting everything back in order before Darius returned.

But the sound of Darius' rage echoed down the hallway as he tore into another recruit's locker a few rows down.

The crashing of equipment being thrown to the floor, the harsh commands, and the desperate grunts of other recruits struggling with their push-ups filled the barracks.

"Push-ups! NOW!"

"That's how you make a bed?! You've got to be kidding me!"

The chaos spread through the corridor as other battle brothers stormed through each section of the barracks, inspecting lockers and tearing apart anything that wasn't up to their brutal standards.

Yin's hands moved faster as she shoved the last of her clothes into her locker, her heart pounding in her ears.

Finally, with barely a minute to spare, she stood up, her body tense and ready for the next onslaught.

She, Yang and everyone else shared a brief glance, both of them breathing heavily, but at least they had fixed the mess in time.

It didnt take long before Darius stormed back in, his eyes scanning the room.

He paused at Yin's bunk, giving the locker a once-over before grunting in satisfaction.

"Good enough."

Without another word, he moved on to his next victim, leaving Yin and Yang standing there, their hearts still racing, but a wave of relief washed over them.

They had survived another test. But deep down, Yin knew this was only the beginning.

...

MC POV

The Invicta' bridge was massive compared to our old corvette. Where the corvette's bridge had been cramped, barely enough room for us to move around, the frigate's bridge was a fully outfitted command center.

The control panels, holo-displays, and consoles stretched out before me, all linked to the frigate's advanced computer and systems. But as impressive as it all looked, the truth was glaringly clear, we were short on crew. 

The ship's interface constantly reminded me of the need for a full staff to run this beast properly.

My battle brothers and I could manage the essentials, but anything beyond basic operations required a full bridge crew, and we were still weeks away from our new recruits being anywhere near capable of filling those roles. 

For now, it was just us.

I stood in the center of the bridge, my hand resting on the back of my command chair. The holo-displays flickered with data as I reviewed the ship's status, the quiet hum of the fission reactor reverberating through the walls.

Behind me, the sound of footsteps echoed, and I didn't have to turn to know it was my battle brothers joining me.

"Got the ship ready to fly yet, Drac?"

Paul's voice cut through the air with his usual lazy drawl.

"Or are we still figuring out what all these buttons do?"

I grinned without looking back.

"It's ready and we already have take off clearance just need to stop babysitting the system diagnostics and let this beast loose."

Paul, Darius, Julian, Airid, and Robert filed into the bridge, each of them taking a seat at the various stations.

They looked like a bunch of overgrown mercs playing starship crew in a holovid, but I knew better, these guys had been through hell and back with me, and they'd make this ship hum even if we had to run it short-handed.

"Big change from the corvette, huh?"

Darius said, sliding into the pilot's chair and running his hands over the controls.

"Feels like we could fit five corvettes in here."

"No kidding,"

Airid added, his eyes flicking across the screens at his station.

"You sure we don't need a f*cking diploma in starship engineering to operate this thing?"

I chuckled.

"Don't worry. The computer got most of it covered, at least the hard stuff. The rest we'll learn as we go."

The frigate's computer a far more advanced version of the one we had on the corvette, lit up as I tapped into the ship's central system.

The mechanical voice, cool and professional, echoed in the bridge as data scrolled across the holo-screens.

"All systems are nominal. Awaiting commanders command for departure."

Julian took his seat at the weapons station, running his fingers over the panel.

"This thing's armed to the teeth. Can't wait to see what she can do at full power."

"You'll get your chance sooner or later,"

I said, sliding into the command chair.

"But for now, let's focus on getting the hell out of here and into the S*l system's gravity wells edge"

I pulled up the launch protocols, sending a command to the computer to prepare the ship for takeoff. 

The chemical thrusters, massive compared to the ones on the corvette, hummed to life, vibrating through the ship's hull with a low, powerful rumble.