January 15th, 2302, UNPC universal calendar.
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"Take a look at this," Anton says, plopping the binder-clipped set of documents onto the metal table.
Kate picked up the set of papers, and quickly read it.
"Why?" Kate says, Sarah snatching it out of Kate's hands.
"To maintain a state of readiness..." Sarah reads aloud, trailing off. "This is fucking stupid" She said abruptly, placing the papers back atop the table.
"I agree, but it's not my choice" Anton said, "We just have to follow orders, effective immediately"
"UNPC bureaucracy at its finest" Kate says, standing up and walking over to the massive ten foot wide and five foot tall hardwood dresser Anton had long ago made during a lapse in deployments, and opening a drawer to find one of her Life Support Suits.
"Can't wait to spend an unknown amount of time shoved into an open bay barracks room with a bunch of other augments, sounds like a good time" Sarah said, sarcastically.
"Could be worse, I lived out of a osprey for three months with ten others" Anton said, grabbing his own LSS out of his drawer, Kate dropping her black sport shorts and underwear, sliding her LSS over her legs and around her waist, leaving her torso bare and wriggling her toes to right it's "socks"
The soles of the LSS reminded Anton of those weird Vibram shoes, yet were remarkably comfortable inside a combat boot, and kept your feet bone dry.
"How long are we supposed to stay like that?" Sarah asked, doing the same as Kate as Anton drops his shorts.
"It says 'until further notice', I'd say a year, maybe" Anton said, "Maybe I'll see some people I haven't seen a while, could be fun, at least for the first few months"
"I guess you're right, it's a little depressing seeing the same four walls all the time" Kate replied, finding her boots and slipping into them, and building her armor up off them.
"I don't know how to feel about this" D8 said, "On one hand I want to meet most of the other augments, but on the other I like the way everything works now"
"It's temporary, hopefully" Anton told D8, "You'll be fine"
"Let's just make the best of it, make some new friends, meet some old, have some fun" Sarah said, nodding. "Besides, we're probably going to be deployed most of the time"
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The C-5 galaxy cargo plane, along with fifteen other augments not counting the quartet and Varg (their large furry companion), landed, being subjected to the trademark "navy landing" which hit shuffle with everything inside the rear portion that had the misfortune of not being strapped down.
Everybody piled out, unassing the airframe, and was met with the repurposed aircraft hangar they'd be staying at for most of the foreseeable future.
"Well it's not that bad" B2 said, shrugging, carrying her large pelican case of possessions in her left hand.
"Could be worse," A9 said, ducking under the frame of the small side door that would serve as a main entrance. Stepping inside, the four were met with a sea of beds, large footlockers, and several armory stalls. A9 ran a quick count, there were eighty beds.
"Wait, Triple A, twelve B series, fourteen C series, thirty D series, what's with the fourteen extra beds?" A9 asked, scanning the room.
"E series" D8 said matter of factly. A9 seeing what D8 was talking about immediately after the words had left her lips.
Strung about the room were fourteen augments with perfect high and tight haircuts, some with statures akin to his own.
"Go figure" B2 said, shaking her head.
"Let's steal some beds by each other before the others get them" A9 said, walking along the "lanes" of beds. "Here's fine" he said, plopping down his two pelikan cases, vaguely aware of murmurs and points from other augments as he did.
"I'm gonna go steal one of those tables, come and get four chairs" A9 told D8, motioning towards the west wall of the hangar that was lined with tables and chairs.
They picked up a table, and moved it to the middle of the eight foot wide lane between the rows of beds lengthwise, leaving enough room to walk by without issue.
The four set their things atop it, and carried on getting settled in.
Which entailed pushing their four racks together and connecting them together with zip ties so they wouldn't just spread apart as one of them rolled over, placing their pelikan cases underneath the structure, and rotating all four of the mattresses 90 degrees to the left, as to sleep perpendicular to everyone else in the hangar, having to discard a mattress under the structure as it was no longer wide enough.
"Looks good" D8 said, just after moving the table to sit against the prior "foot" of the bed, giving more space in the lane between beds.
Varg hopped atop the twelve foot long contraption of sleeping arrangements as A9 took a drink from his reservoir.
"Who are you?" A voice behind him said rudely. A9 then turned around to meet an augment who was about 4 inches shorter than him, and had their arms crossed.
"You don't know me?" A9 asked, squinting at the augment through the visor of his helmet.
"No, I don't" the augment said, his expression masked.
"What's your name?" A9 asked simply, growing tired of their attitude.
"E4, Aiden Howell, and that's Sergeant to you" they replied.
"Oh?" A9 asked.
"Yeah" The augment stated matter-of-factly.
A9 brought his right hand up in a swooping motion, flipped the helmet up and off of the augment, and followed it up with a sharp smack to the throat with the knuckles of his left hand.
E4 dropped to their knees, their helmet making a ker-plomp sound off behind them as he clutched his throat.
"Who the hell do you think you are talking to random people, let alone other augments like that?"A9 said, looking down at the augment.
"Stand up, and fuck off, you're a UNPC trained augment, act like it for fucks sake" A9 scoffed, shaking his head.
"I see you're getting along well with the new recruits" a familiar voice behind him said, A9 spinning around to meet them, but already having laid eyes on their face with his cameras.
"Doctor raine" he said, "very nice to see you"
"Likewise, but I have to make this short as I have work to do, here, just take this, instructions are provided" She said, holding out a shallow black briefcase to A9.
"Thank you, I can only assume it's something good" He said, taking the case.
"Don't have too much fun with them" Dr.Raine said, turning on her heels and walking away to tend to other matters at her home installation.
The other three circled around him as he opened the case, and saw four small blue plastic clamshell containers.
"Huh" he said, eyeing a small metal square near the handle of the open case, the telltale data storage square that commonly accompanied new equipment.
He held his hand over it, and downloaded the instruction manual of sorts, quickly reading it.
"They're contacts, but have all of the optics of our helmets" A9 said, intrigued.
"Wow" C7 said simply, B2 and D8 mirroring the sentiment.
"Well, I guess I ought to put them in, '' A9 said, removing his helmet, and putting the contacts in, something he'd done over a hundred years before.
Which stopped after he got lasik on the UNPC's dime.
"Holy shit" A9 muttered, looking around the room. The contacts gave him all of the usual things his helmet gave him, a hud, a WMD projection, motion sensor overlay, thermals, digital zoom, etc. The only thing missing was the 360° cameras.
"She's finally outdone herself" C7 said, looking around the hangar.
"I'm going to have a lot of fun with these" B2 said, looking at A9's face, squinting as to engage the optical zoom automatically, something that would take a lot of getting used to.
"I've never realized how pretty your eyes are" B2 said, blushing slightly.
"Same color as my hair" A9 replied, looking over B2 around the room at the north wall in front of him, which had a set of double doors marked "LOCKER ROOM" which would doubtless contain the trademark UNPC zero privacy shower & bathrooms.
"Hey" A small voice said off to A9's left.
"Aren't you that guy-" the voice continued to say.
"Huh? Oh yeah" A9 said, turning around to face them.
"Yeah yeah, UNPC cross" A9 said, shaking his head.
"Your armor gives you away, it's very pretty" E2 said, "I love its colors"
"I'm Lira Echo Two Corby by the way" E2 said, her FOF (friend or foe) indicator hovering over her head from A9's point of view.
"I get that a lot" A9 replied, walking with E2 over to their shared area.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Nice to meet you, I see that you've already heard about A9" B2 said, extending her hand to the augment, who accepted the gesture.
"Nice to meet you as well, you're a lot less scary than he is" E2 said, smiling, and running her left hand through her slightly long, black high and tight hair.
A9 stepped away, letting the two social butterflies exchange niceties, catching C7's eye while E2 was petting Varg who was laid atop the bed.
"She's nice" C7 said, eavesdropping on their conservation.
"She ought to get along well with B2, they're practically the same person" A9 said, smiling.
"Hey, don't say that!" C7 told him, "You're being rude"
"I'm being realistic," A9 replied. "Same person, just like a foot shorter."
"You're being an ass" C7 said, "though she does have a nice one..." she trailed off, contorting her body to see around A9
"What are you two talking about?" D8 asked, walking up to the two.
"None of your business" A9 replied, "don't act like you didn't hear"
D8 held up their hands in a mock gesture
"I dunno what you're talking about," they said.
"Mmm-hmm" A9 hummed, something behind D8 catching his eye.
"Go get that box" A9 said, pointing at a box in the northwest corner, marked "MRE's" in large black letters upon the cardboard.
D8 did as ordered, and brought back the large box, setting it atop the table.
"Nice, mmm kay" A9 said, slicing open the box with the Ka-Bar Dr.Raine had given him 12 years prior, and tossing a dense green plastic pouch to each of the others, pausing to ask E2 with a look, E2 shook her head, and A9 sat the pouch meant for her back into the box.
The augments sat and ate largely in silence, only occasionally talking amongst each other to propose a trade of meal items.
"Gather everyone at the west wall sorted by series and number, I'll meet you there" the message on A9's HUD read, Dr.Raine having sent it as eight augments carrying cases through the door to the right of the main door as Dr.Raine trailed behind them.
"LISTEN UP" A9 said, addressing the entire room. "Everyone formed an orderly line by series and number" The augments fell into the line, while C7 and B2 moved the tables to about a foot in front of them, the eight augments placing the long black cases atop them.
"Thank you Anton" Dr.Raine said, walking behind him. "Everyone please open the case in front of you, and remove what's inside" Dr.Raine said, walking down the line. "I do hope you are pleased"
Everyone did as they were told, A9 walking over to the start of the line next to B1 and A3, then grabbing what was inside of the box B1 had already opened to take his own out of the long case.
The sleek black CNC machined piece of armor in his hand, he inspected it.
The black paint wasn't the usual variation of the line-x anti spall coating on all of their other armor, this was a light absorbing matte finish.
"New rear mains?" he asked Dr.Raine.
"Yes, but with considerable improvements" she said, "You'll see, but please tell them to have someone affix it"
"Everyone punch in their unlock code, and have the person to their right remove their old, then replace it with the new rear plate, do it now" A9 said, the augments doing as they were told.
"Now place the old inside of the case" A9 said, C7 walking up and taking his rear main off, from under his cloak, momentarily powering down his armor, snatching the new one out of his hands and affixing it quickly, powering his armor back up.
"Thanks" he said to C7 behind him, who already had her new rear main put on.
"Anton, would you be so kind as to draw your pistol" Dr.Raine said, as a message scrolled across the top of his HUD
"trust me" it read.
"Kate, would you please stand here?" Dr.Raine said, pointing to a spot on the floor about ten meters away from A9.
"Aim center mass, and pull the trigger" Dr.Raine said bluntly and without emotion, waking back beside him.
He did, and the all familiar "TAK" of the suppressed 10mm Maxim pistol resonated through the hangar, but an unfamiliar firecracker like sound accompanied it half a heartbeat later, along with a wisp of smoke about two meters in front of C7.
"You are all now equipped with an onboard Trophy system, with the capability to stop up to 800 projectiles" Dr.Raine said, walking along the line of augments. "It cannot stop shrapnel from the detonated projectile, but I trust you all will use this to its fullest extent" Dr.Raine said. "There is more information in the chip provided to you"
"I will leave them with you" she told A9, who promptly holstered his pistol.
"Yes ma'am" he said to her, before addressing the rest of the augments "Put these tables back and then go back to your business" A9 said, walking off to join his former trio, now quartet.
"I expected you to flinch," A9 told C7, smiling.
"I had faith" C7 said, returning the smile.
"I like the way that looks on you, it contrasts the rest of your armor nicely" E2 said, joining the group.
"Hey, they're bringing food," D8 said.
"Good" A9 replied, "I'm starving"
"But you just ate" E2 said, a questioning expression on her face "I watched you"
"I, er, we eat a lot." he replied, shrugging.
"Huh, I heard that you two once cleared out a smaller installation's DFAC" E2 said, guestering at C7 and A9.
"Maybe" C7 said, shrugging
"Hey hey hey, we hadn't eaten in two days" A9 said, jokingly defensive.
"Uh huh" E2 said, smiling cutely at him.
"I'm taken big girl" He said simply, guestering at C7 and B2.
"Wha- I wasn't-" E2 said, being cut off by a much taller C7 who put her hand on her shoulder.
"Don't sweat it little one, I might just take you for myself" C7 chided.
"Is that allowed?" E2 asked, reddening while A9 smiled and nodded.
"What are they gonna do? Tell you two no?" A9 said, smiling.
"You sure it'll be okay?" E2 asked.
"You will be fine" B2 told her, reassuringly, placing her right hand at the small of E2's back, her face turning redder and her neck turning nearly purple.
"You bunch certainly are affectionate" E2 said, turning her smirk into a broad smile, showing her perfect white teeth.
"Let's get something to eat" A9 said, leading the group, moving them to the line for the DFAC. "What do you think the rules are on being topless here?" B2 asked.
"Shit, we can get away with murder with how the UNPC feels about us" A deep ugly voice said behind them, accompanied by a 7 foot tall figure walking past the group.
"Holy shitttt...." E2 said, drawing the word out as the massive armored augment walked past, a sleight shuffle suddenly in her step.
"That's Triple A, he's the hard site specialist, also happens to be on several 'do not fuck with' lists." A9 said. "Nice guy though, don't worry about him"
"I'd say Just to keep your LSS around your waist, the orders say to stay in 'combat apparel' when not bathing, so I think you'll be fine" C7 says to the still speechless woman standing behind B2, C7 in front of her, nearly eclipsed by B2's five inch taller frame, something which A9 couldn't help but laugh at.
"Here you go" a non augmented soldier said, handing him a tray.
"Two please" he said
"Huh?" they asked.
"I said two" A9 repeated.
"But I just gave that guy three," they said, side eyeing Triple A while handing him another tray with a quizzical expression on their face.
Anton shrugged, smirked, and moved down the line.
"I love your hair" E2 said to B2, who had recently dyed the ends of her hair black, leaving her roots blonde.
"Thanks" she replied, "you really rock a high and tight" she replied.
"You've got to be the biggest woman I've ever seen" E2 laughingly said to C7.
"Really?" she replied, "I'm only six six"
"You're also really pretty" E2 said, "More than me at least" she added, coyly.
"Why thank you, though I disagree" C7 said, placing a hand affectionately atop E2's new rear main plate.
"Have you ever been held by someone as big as me?" C7 asked, walking with her tray in her left hand.
"No" E2 replied simply, "Never" she said, shaking her head, tips of her ears reddening.
"Don't mind her, her heart's in the right place, but she has a habit of being VERY straightforward and just getting it all out of the way" A male voice behind them said.
They each turned to look, B2 contorting to look around C7.
Eric "B7" Müller stood behind the group, his helmet off and his high and tight blond hair highlighting his eyes.
A stark contrast to his worn and tattered ECA, which still had ingrained dirt in some places.
"Oh hey Eric" Anton said, Eric just returning a nod.
"Who was that?" E2 asked, acting like Eric couldn't hear her anymore.
"He's the jungle warfare stealth operations specialist" B2 replied as the group moved down the line.
"So you've never cuddled with a woman?" C7 asked.
E2 shook her head.
"Well, you're about to" C7 said, patting her back gently.
The group sat atop the bed to eat, A9 choosing to sit at the table.
Finishing their food, the group one by one returned their trays and trash to the DFAC line, and returned to the bed.
"How can you eat that much?" E2 asked A9
"I guess I'm just big" A9 said, removing his armor and stowing it in a case he'd moved from under the bed to the space atop it where the mattresses couldn't cover.
"You can put yours in here too, I don't think there's any chance of it getting mixed up" A9 said.
"Unlock your armor" C7 said as she moved to behind E2. She obliged, and let C7 deftly and lovingly remove her armor and put it in the same case as Anton's as he walked around the bed and climbed atop it.
"I've never had someone do that before," Lira said, red faced and smiling.
"He did it to me once, and I loved it, so I figured I'd pass on the favor" C7 said, placing her hands around Lira's waist, atop her LSS.
"You've got a beautiful figure" C7 said complementing Lira, her hourglass shaped body highlighted by the tight fitting undersuit.
"Let me take off yours" Lira said, turning to C7 and smiling.
"Alright, have at it" C7 replied, typing in her unlock code.
"Quick question actually, why do you wear a cloak? Is it a sign of rank or something?" she asked.
"No, in fact, let me show you" C7 replied, stepping back and enabling it.
Just after she stood still for a moment, the fabric shimmered, and turned naked eye invisible, though her friend or foe ID was still visible to Anton as he sat atop the bed looking at the two.
"Wow" Lira said, walking forward and touching the cloak, which scarcely even shimmered to her touch.
"How does it work?" she asked.
"I'm not allowed to tell you" C7 replied, dropping the cloak which automatically turned to it's usual configurable opaque white, Anton had long ago elected to change his to Black, as he was used to the older one he'd left on the ground somewhere in Arizona.
He didn't care to remember.
"Go ahead" C7 said, walking up the Lira, who not so deftly removed every piece of C7's much larger armor set and put it clumsily inside her case.
"Good" Kate said, unzipping her LSS to her navel and letting it pile around her waist like a jumpsuit, tying the arms together so it wouldn't ride down her hips.
"It's rude to stare" she said to Lira, while B2 removed her armor behind her.
"Would it be weird if I did the same?" Lira asked
"No, why would it?" Kate inquired, leading Lira by the hand over to the side of the bed.
"Here, let me" Kate said, grabbing the zipper near Lira's neck, and asking with a look, Lira nodding, and Kate lowering the zipper in response.
"Very nice" Kate said, taking Lira's arms out of her LSS and tying it around her waist the same way she had done, albeit a tad lower.
"Thanks, yours are nice too" she replied, the rain atop the roof growing from a patter to a clanger, and Sarah moving beside Lira and placing a hand on her bare middle back, prompting a small flinch from Lira.
"You scared me" she said, looking to Sarah's bare chest at first, then up to her face.
"Feel free to stare, I don't mind" Sarah said, sitting down.
"Come" Kate said, gesturing a "come here" to Lira, and moving next to Anton who was staring off into space reading a book through his contacts.
Lira obliged and climbed atop the bed just to be whisked up by Kate under the arms and sat to her left, Kate swinging her legs onto the bed as she did.
"Here, lay down, let me put my arm around you" she said, laying on her left side.
"Hey, you can stare into space with your arms around me" Sarah said to Anton, crawling over to him.
"I'm reading a book" he replied, shifting to his right side and opening his arms to accept her.
"What book?" She asked, sliding into his arms, flushing up with him and placing her rear against his crotch, and her back against his chest.
"Humper Monkey's ghost story" he replied, placing his forearm just below her chest.
He was no longer reading his book, but rather looking at Kate and Lira across the bed, and listening in to their conversation.
"Do you want me to put my hand on your chest?" Kate asked, her left arm extended straight forward, and her right hand atop Lira's stomach.
"Sure" she replied, her face flashing red for a moment as Kate put her right hand atop the left side of Lira's chest.
"Room for one more?" D8 asked, climbing atop the bed in their newer gray LSS, matching Lira's.
"Sure, grab the blanket and throw it over us" Anton said, nodding, and D8 flipping the blanket over them, the group having to readjust slightly.
On a hunch, Anton quickly reviewed the document included with the group's contacts, and found that they can be left in for up to a month without complication.
A stark contrast to the ones he'd used nearly three centuries ago.
"Technology moves fast, er, maybe not so fast" he thought, looking at Kate holding a content Lira, who was toying with the tail of Kate's braid.
"I don't mean to offend, but what's your cup size?" Kate asked softly, as D8 intertwined themselves with Sarah, as they usually did.
"Thirty-two B" she replies, "why?"
"I've never held any this big before" Kate says, moving them gently under her hands, the blanket's hem near their waist as D8 moved to lay face to face with Sarah.
"Move over to them" Kate said to Lira, "put your arms around D8" Kate said, Lira obliged and threw her arms around them.
"Good girl" Kate said, Lira giggling in response as she put the oversize blanket over them
"You guys are great," Lira said, laughing.
"You're welcome to stay with us any time we're here" Anton said, "you're good company"
"Thanks" Lira says, giggling. Varg moved to lay across their legs as he was prior near A9's feet.
"Can I have your braid again?" Lira asked Kate.
"Sure little one" she said, slinging the tail of the lower thigh length quad braid Anton had given her to where Lira could grab it as a thunderclap sounded outside.
"It's 10pm shitbird, you're slacking!" Anton hollered, turning his head to the left to yell it more or less at the roof of the hangar, and not two heartbeats later the lights went out, accompanied by a "yeah yeah get to bed you big asshole" from across the hangar.
A dozen or more people snickered in the darkness of the hangar.
The darkness left just the faint glow from the locker room's LEDs shining through the crack in the double doors, leaving the group in the intimacy of the blackness.
They soon drifted off, one by one to the din of the rain against the tin roof of the hangar.