ShipCore

USD: 11 Days after the Arrival to MIL-1A

Location: Van Biesbroeck’s star, Meltisar, Fort Glisson Recruit Receiving Area

Alex was one of the first onto the bus, but seeing no DI she decided to risk things. Instead of going to the back she sat down near the front for a moment. The second Rachel passed by, Alex slid back into the line. Luck was with her, and Alex slid into the seat beside the other girl near the middle of the bus.

“Hey!” Alex whispered.

Rachel looked at her from the window seat, eyes widening in recognition. “Alex! You… signed up? I didn’t know!”

“Yeah, pretty crazy?” Alex smiled.

Alex settled her bag, and the bus door hissed as it came to a close. The buses in front of them took longer to fill, and then the column of vehicles moved out. It wasn’t far from an intersection where they split off going in different directions.

Alex noticed almost immediately that their bus turned off a less lit up road.

“And you’re in S Company, too? I didn’t know you were a genie.” Rachel said.

“Wait, you’re a borg?” Rachel looked at her again, like she had missed something before.

“Can qualify for both.” Alex answered.

Alex wished she’d studied more about cyborgs and genies before they arrived, since she realized that she was going to need to pretend to be one during training.

“Wow. Normally I pick up on that kind of thing. I can’t hear any servos from you at all. You must have some advanced stuff.”

Alex laughed weakly.

Rachel’s eyes widened a bit. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to pry, really rude!”

Alex felt a bit of confusion before she understood. It made a bit of sense though. Asking someone about their body parts might be taboo.

“No worries.” Alex smiled back.

The two girls chatted quietly for the rest of the trip about what they had been through so far. Rachel revealed she was nervous that she wouldn’t be able to keep up with everyone else.

Despite the trip into relative darkness surrounded only by the gas giant lit snow topped pine trees, it didn’t take all that long for them to arrive at their destination. A Drill Instructor came on the bus and got them moving again. They lined up in a real hurry on the same type of lines they had earlier.

There was no punishment for being slow this time, and somehow they emptied the entire bus in only a few minutes. The disappearing sun and plunging temperature made it feel twice as long, though.

Males and females were separated again, and after a brief lecture by the DIs they were led into the building in front of them. It wasn’t exceptionally tall, but it had a lot of indoor space. They moved through a gymnasium first, then through a corridor that had multiple corridors with a dozen rooms branching off from them.

The DI leading them gestured toward a door and they entered a large classroom.

“Listen up. You will all be trading your paperwork for your PT gear. You will give up any and all personal items that are not written in red on the bulletin board. Your items will be kept in storage or mailed back to your home for the duration of basic training.” The Drill Instructor barked.

At the front of the classroom were several piles of boxes labeled by numbers.

“There are four rows. When your last name is called, you will go to the Petty Officer who called your name. You will hand them your orders folio. They will then ask you what your adult MELTISAR shoesize is. You will answer and receive your PT gear. You will then move to the back of the room, where you will sort out any non-approved items. Then, you will bag them and label them for storage or shipping out.”

The process moved at a brisk pace, as no one wanted to risk the ire of the Drill Sergeant. There were a few snags as nervous young men and women made mistakes. One recruit had even been stupid enough to bring some type of contraband in his bag and an angry DI hauled him out of the room.

Alex was glad she had brought only the very minimal number of items with her.

Her relief was demolished when a DI homed in on her.

“Recruit! Do you think we are blind or that bit of camouflage would hide it? What the fuck do you have in that second bag? Open it up! It’s going back or you are!”

Alex was so shocked she couldn’t think of what to say or how to explain.

“No, Drill Sergeant!”

There was a moment of silence as the man stared at her, as if her refusal was a personal affront. “What?”

She wasn’t even sure he had meant to spurt out the question, but she launched into a very fast explanation. “I have a special medical dispensation from the admiralty to carry this bag on me at all times, Drill Sergeant!”

He stared at her for another second, then snarled, “Go get your folio, recruit, and bring it back here.”

Alex ran back to the PT gear station and begged for her orders back. Upon returning, the DI read it. After a moment, he handed it back to her and had her return it. A bit later, everyone was finished, and the DIs had everyone line up.

“Listen up. I am Instructor Hills. I will be your Cadre DI during basic training. As far as you are concerned, I am god. Behind you are your assistant Drill Instructors. You will answer them by ‘Petty Officer’ or ‘Drill Instructor.’ You will listen to their orders as if I was giving them to you. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Drill Sergeant!” echoed through the room.

“You are all part of Company S, 1st Cadre. Some of you might have even realized that Company S stands for ‘special’ but the only thing special about you is you are all special needs. Every single one of you here is a genie or cyborg. The powers that be have even blessed this cadre with a GAI for whatever reason.”

Instructor Hills gaze fell on Alex and she felt a cold chill.

“Normally you would all be dismissed to your rooms to acclimate to your new environment. Recruit Myers! Step forward!”

Alex felt paralyzed for a second, but another DI has stepped up behind her. “Do it now, recruit!”

She bolted to stand at the front where DI Hills indicated. When she arrived, he continued.

“Recruit Myers has reminded me that all of you have special medical considerations. To help the entire class, you will run PT tonight. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Drill Sergeant!”

“You will find a number written on top of your PT gear box. This is your bunk number. The male and female bunks are on opposite ends of the building. You are forbidden from entering the bunkhouse area of the opposite gender at any time. You have 10 minutes to find them and change into your PT gear! Leave your bags and other items on your bunks. You will not sit on or lie on your bunks! Do it now!”

There was a slight hesitation in everyone as they thought about where to go, but the assistant DIs started calling out.

“Females, over here! Move! Move!”

“Males, over here! Let’s go!”

The lines moved out quickly, and Alex almost forgot to check what number she had. #47 was written on the top of her box by a permanent marker.

As they hustled down the corridor, recruits split off to the right down other corridors. Alex recognized silver plates on each hallway that had a number range.

The fourth hall was labeled S-36-48, and she turned to it. The end of the hall led to an open room that had a small communal space and exterior door. Two doors were set into the hall on the left and right and she found her bunkroom on the second door on the left. She was the first to arrive and didn’t waste any time going inside.

Alex found the bunkroom was a narrow room, with two double bunks on both sides of the room. Four lockers were numbered, and Alex hurried over to hers and changed.

The next girl to enter made her freeze midway in peeling her skinsuit off. Alex looked at Rachel with two widening eyes as she realized she’d be changing in front of others. She thankfully avoided embarrassment as the other girl didn’t notice and moved to change as well.

The bra was a sports type Alex was familiar with, and the sweat pants and t-shirt were very breathable. The nippy temperature actually had her worried the outfit wouldn’t be warm enough.

Rachel grabbed her locker door before she could close. “They said on your bunk, not in the locker.”

Alex froze and then nodded. “Thanks.”

“Yeah.” Rachel responded, and then they both moved to stand outside of the room just as the other two girls they would be bunking with showed up.

One was blonde with her hair in the shortest bob Alex had seen so far. The other had shiny silver shoulder length hair. Alex waved at them weakly, but they were in such a hurry they didn’t stop to say anything. The silver-haired girl revealed a set of shining silver eyes and shook her head at Alex’s gesture.

Alex felt a bit put out, but she didn’t have long to dwell on the feeling as a female DI entered the corridor just as the last recruit came out of their room in PT gear.

“Recruits! Attention!” the woman yelled out, the sound echoing loudly in the hall and common dorm. Alex did her best to assume an at-attention pose like the rest of the recruits, but the DI moved between them all and quickly found errors or mistakes.

Those were corrected quickly as she passed down the line.

“This is the at-attention stance! When you hear the order Atten-Hut! You will assume this position. When you hear ‘at ease,’ you may assume the rest position!”

The DI took a moment to let that sink in, then continued. “I am Instructor Riley. All twelve of you are part of group four. I will be your group’s group master and it is my job to make sure you do not turn your habitation into a bloody pigsty.”

She glared at them like they had all offended her somehow with their presence.

“Recruits, move out!”

Alex fell in line and followed the DI through the common room and out the exit doors. The crisp-cold air had her shivering in a few minutes as they walked down a pathway and to a lighted asphalt area. Other lines of recruits from the barracks from all the sections were lining up as well with their own instructors.

When they reached their position, Alex noticed a few other recruits giving her dirty looks and she shifted uncomfortably, tightening the strap of her ShipCore pack under her right arm.

She wasn’t the only one feeling the cold. Just about everyone was finding the evening air to be a bit much. There were a few notable exceptions, including the silver-haired girl and one dark-skinned recruit who stood an entire head taller than everyone else and looked like she’d be able to bend steel bars in half as well.

Instructor Hills walked out in front of all the groups.

“A bit crisp out tonight, recruits?”

“Yes, Drill Sergeant!”

“I’d say this is one of the warmer nights, so you better get used to it. We will do laps around the encampment. Each circuit is four kilometers. We will continue this until all of you are all properly warmed up. Move them out!”

Instructor Riley looked toward group four, a wicked smile on the woman’s face.

“You heard him Group Four! Move out!”

The instructors led them all into a quick jog. Alex had done some training running on treadmills before, but this was her first experience running around such a large, open area.

Despite the late time, the area and path were well lit by tall overhead lamps casting orangish yellow hues on the ground below. She felt like she could easily go faster than the pace set by the Drill Instructors.

At first everyone kept pace in the line, but before they got halfway through the first circuit, quite a few recruits were flagging. They got singled out by their group instructors.

A bit after their first circuit, the line was ragged that the DIs were slowing down to keep pace with the slower recruits urging them on, while the rest became scattered about.

A feeling of energy filled her, and Alex added a bit of speed, taking her ahead of her lagging group mates. To her surprise, Silver-hair did the same, and they quickly passed up the next group ahead of them.

The tall, muscled, dark-skinned female saw them and suddenly added to her own speed to keep them outpaced.

There were no signs of the DIs giving them a chance of rest, and when Alex completed her second lap she was worried about some of them. There were a lot of DIs, however, and they were escorting recruits who couldn’t continue off the field.

When they passed by what remained of group four on the third lap, there were only four of twelve girls left. Alex slowed down temporarily beside Rachel to give the girl some encouragement, but even she flagged and had to stop.

Alex picked up the pace and rejoined the ‘fast’ group of about thirteen that was seemingly keeping pace at a fast clip with no issue.

She wasn’t sure how long they ran. At some point, all the other recruits had disappeared and only Instructor Hills was keeping pace with them, the other DIs having left with the other recruits and taken them all inside. Alex felt a bit of excitement in being at the best performing group.

She had lost count of how many kilometers they’d gone when Instructor Hills called them all to a halt.

Rather than the pleased or congratulatory look she had been expecting, the Drill Instructor had a vicious smile.

“Well, well. We’ve sorted out the real trouble now. Recruits! Forward Rest! Hut!”

They weren’t released to their bunks until well after midnight, and even Alex was feeling mentally exhausted by the time they were herded into the showers. Despite her physical endurance, she found that there was only so much her mind could take. She made it to the end, though, while several others had succumbed to the hellacious non-ending barrage of exercises and cold weather.

She didn’t even have the mental acuity to check on Rachel or anyone else, and she fell asleep immediately the second she landed in her bunk.

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