Waking up the next morning I was about to begin my normal routine when I remembered I would start on at training apparently.

“Morning, stick with your normal routine and we’ll begin at 0900” I heard Aegis say.

“Right… this is going to take some getting used to…” I commented.

“Humanity has been doing this for many thousands of years, you'll be fine.” She said then closed the connection.

“Right… well shower first then food… maybe I should explore more while I'm in the shower today…” I mumbled to myself.

My morning routine ended up being very similar to the last few days and unfortunately I was unable to build up the courage to explore or experiment… but every day I became a little more interested.

“Alright all done over here…” I said.

“Understood” Aegis replied, then my vision went misty again only to be replaced by what I think was an indoor fireplace range.

“Morning Elena, how did your whole wakeup in your body go?” A still half asleep looking Sasha asked.

“Not too bad, I was able to do an abridged evaluation… being back in my original body wasn't great but I was so distracted that I almost didn't notice.” I told her.

“Morning Elena! Ooh and who is this friend of yours? Hello! My name is Alejandro Rodriguez or Alex for short.” I heard Alex ask from behind me.

“Oh gosh Hi Alex, my name is Sasha. Umm Elena was this the one guy you told us about?” She said then asked me.

“Yes…” I said in a small voice and a blush. I looked around for a possible escape from this situation and found that we had another guy taller, taller than even I was when I was a guy.

“Oh hi, umm who are you?” I asked the very tall guy.

“Oh, hi I uh go by Max…” He said his accent was German I think, he seemed to sort of retreat from the attention.

Then I also noticed my first ever non-human. It was maybe 7 feet tall and bipedal but with arms passing what I thought of as knees, and gray green fur. The feet seemed to have 3 sets of toes, 2 on the front and one on the back where the heel would be. The ankle and knee joints were reversed compared to a human, the torso was not too dissimilar from a human layout. It had what I think was a very squat head sitting on very large shoulders. Two sets of eyes could be seen, one set looking forward the other set looking off to the sides. The last thing I could really make sense of was the long thick tail it had, as well as some sort of brown garment wrapped around its torso.

It noticed me gawking and did a sort of waving gesture… At least I thought it was a sort of wave.

“Umm Aegis? That is an Alien correct?” I asked my AI.

“Yes, they are of the Silvanthian species… or what Humans have been calling them as translations have been quite interesting. By the way their AI is querying me asking about you.” She told me.

“Hi I’m Aerithis of the Silvanthian people. It's nice to meet you.” The alien said to me.

“Oh wow… it's nice to meet you as well, my name is Elena of the Human people I guess...” I replied back, feeling only a little less awkward than 30 seconds ago.

“My AI is informing me that your expression is that of shock and curiosity? By deduction you have likely never met one of my species before?” Aerithis asked.

“Nope I had heard of your kind before but that was back in school. Well, school and I didn't get along very well so I'm still sort of clueless…” I said embarrassed.

“They seem remorseful and amused in their body and facial expressions.” Aegis said, in my mind.

“It is interesting that lack of focus in education can be seen in multiple species.” They commented.

“That actually is quite interesting… I'm… okay I have so many questions now… any time I would normally ask questions particularly in school I would get ignored…" I said, trying to calm my racing thoughts.

“Ah yes I experienced something similar. What kind of questions do you have?” They asked.

“I… hmm I need to make a list… Some of what I'm thinking about has more to do with chemistry I think? I mean you are certainly alien to me and I have no doubt I am alien to you but we still share some characteristics.” I said, trying to explain what I meant.

“Ah, we can actually go over much of that if you would like in the near future.” Aegis told me.

“Ah… well my AI might be able to help with that but I would certainly like to ask you about cultural stuff.” I told them.

“I would like to do that as well.” They told me then they focused on something behind me.

I turned around to see Aegis looking at our entire group.

“It's good to finally meet everyone in the digital flesh. For those of you who have not already met me I am Aegis the Admiral of the Starfront Confederation Artificiosus Core.” She said.

I then realized that I completely forgot to fill in Sasha with that bit of information. I mouthed “Sorry” to her startled expression.

“As everyone here has accepted a position within the SCAC we will begin training today. This will be a mixture of virtual and live fire exercises, for firearm familiarization and safety. Be aware to follow all fire range safety protocols regardless of actual risk.” She continued.

My AI then went over all of the safety protocols which I was actually glad for. I didn't hate the idea of guns; they were a form of tool but an incredibly dangerous one. Once the briefing was completed we were each assigned a station that was able to spawn an array of different weapons and ammo types.

The entire idea of this was to get us comfortable with using these kinds of weapons. Each weapon had instructions we could access digitally that explained how they worked and how to most effectively employ them. We really didn't need to practice with the weapons themselves so much as our remote bodies had built in targeting and aim assist systems. The system was so simple and refined any level of user skill could be turned into at least an average marksman as long as they followed the instructions.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I also discovered that gunfire in an enclosed space was incredibly loud. Well at least the guns that still used some sort of chemical reaction to fire the bullet. Laser weapons were interesting but apparently I didn't need to worry about back scatter whatever that was. The plasma rifle was also quite different even though it was still mostly an energy weapon, the discharge still had kick back and some heat.

Sasha and I also quickly discovered a few different competitive shooting modes. We each started to select different weapons that we found interesting then tried to score the highest. She was clearly a better shot than me even with all the advantages we both had.

After a few hours of that we were moved to a live fire range well… somewhere in the galaxy. We then got to do it all over again but it was interesting to see weapons, ammo, power packs and everything just teleported in. Asking Aegis about that I discovered that in general teleportation wasn't really an option except on a small scale like this. It apparently used up a tremendous amount of power.

I also took a few minutes to look at and consider what each of the others were doing. Watching Aerithis was particularly interesting, their bulk meant they were less affected by the recoil even with some of the larger weapons. The truly interesting thing to watch however was when they reloaded or switched weapons or anything like that. They didn't use their forward facing eyes but instead would tilt their squat head just slightly to get a better look, it was sort of unsettling. They were also far more dexterous than I would have guessed, even employing their tail as an extra appendage for stabilization or just holding something.

They had an interesting time watching me fire some of the larger heavier weapons. Sasha and I were the two smallest individuals there and yet firing the minigun that was literally half my weight was something to witness. The entire experience was a bit surreal. The level of destruction I was able to cause from just my personal position alone was staggering and a little disturbing.

“So our first day of training was just fire a bunch of guns for hours on end… I mean it could have been worse…” Sasha said.

“I think it will get worse, the focus here was just to ensure we didn't shoot ourselves. I would imagine we will have to do some skirmishes or something. I'm also going to imagine we will have to fight simulations of the Verdant Nexus at some point in the near future.” I commented.

“Well… I hate to say it but the guns were fun… the raw power I felt like I had…” Sasha said embarrassed.

“It was interesting to watch the two of you use the heavier weapons.” Aerithis said to me.

“Oh I know when I originally looked at the gun with the multiple barrels for a moment I wasn't even sure I could lift it… these bodies are quite interesting.” I said excitedly.

“Yes, agreed but why do you continue to use such small frames? Would it not be beneficial to scale up?” They asked.

“I… I don't like being that big or tall…” I said with embarrassment.

“Ah yes psychological reasons, the one you provided would make sense from a day to day perspective. It is a very fascinating topic as there are so many differences between our peoples but there are cases where they seem to align.” They said.

“I was thinking something similar regarding us being even remotely recognizable to one another.” I said.

“What do you mean?” They asked.

“Well… there are many creatures on Earth and even something like our whales look nothing like us. However, we are still related.” I said.

“Ah yes that has been a fascinating topic from what I understand, I will add however internally I believe both species are very different.” They said.

“Yes, in fact if you all would like we can certainly go over evolutionary theory between the multiple forms of life that have been discovered over the centuries.” Aegis said.

“Admiral” They said in a low tone and did a sort of bow.

“At ease, and please it is not necessary we are a military in definition only.” She said.

“So what’s the plan for the next few days?” I asked.

That earned me some sort of look from Aerithis.

“More of this and other areas of familiarization with advanced technology. Maybe a week in total of this before we switch to team and squad based exercises.” Aegis said.

“So I'm assuming this group is sort of going to become a squad?” I asked.

“Yes, at least for the first 3 months of any deployed work you will all be relying on each other.” Aegis said.

“Wait, we won't have AI assistance?” I asked confused.

“You will have your normal communication channels and such but it will be more hands off. Part of this is to force the new recruits to think and operate on their own for a while.” Aegis informed me.

“Right… umm that's actually a bit more to take in…” I commented.

“Don't worry you'll all do fine.” She told us then disappeared.

“I am very confused. Why did you act so casually with our commanding officer?” Aerithis asked

“Oh umm I sort of see her as an older sister.” I said, and even Sasha agreed with that. Heck now that I think about it my interactions with Argus have been like that as well.

“Hey is Argus in his own… odd way similar to what you have seen of Aegis?” I asked Sasha.

“Now that you point it out, yeah… think we should ask them?” She asked.

“Yeah” I agreed.

“My AI is telling me you are referring to the commander of the entire Fleet as if you are family?” Aerithis asked, very confused.

“I mean I love her like a sister… she helped me get out of a particularly bad spot in my life. And besides, she's my paired AI after all.” I said.

That actually seemed to shock Aerithis.

“Does your race not see this class of AI as a person?” I asked.

“From a professional standpoint we do but not at a personal level.” They said surprised at the idea.

“Does your AI not feel emotion?” I asked.

They seemed to freeze for a moment.

“I must leave. I would like to continue talking to you later if possible.” They said.

“Sure!” I said excitedly, then they just disappeared.

“Well that was interesting.” Sasha and I heard from behind us.

“Oh hey Argus, what's interesting?” I asked.

“I don't think anyone in their species ever really thought to ask one of the higher class AIs if they have emotions…” he commented.

“Oh… wow umm… I didn't just kick off a potential activist movement did I?” I asked Argus.

“I don't think so, their species is still alien, it's still a completely different kind of psychology.” he said.

“I mean you do feel emotions and such right? I even asked Aegis about that and she said yes… “ I asked Argus.

“Yes we do, it's not chemical but we can, honestly there is no real difference between chemical vs electrical other than speed.” He said somewhat distractedly.

“You and Aegis always get that far off look sometimes.” I commented.

“Just memory…” he said then shook himself out of it.

“Hey so I have bodies prepared for the two of you if you want to check out my sanctuary.” He offered

“Oh totally!” Sasha said.

“Sure, and great timing by the way I wasn't sure what to do with myself…” I commented.