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4.2 - Old Hands
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0600 - Hoki awoke with near second-perfect accuracy before promptly beginning her morning routine. Today was likely to be an important occasion. She made her way to the washrooms before having a light breakfast and heading back to her quarters.
Her uniform today was a sight for sore eyes. IAFS, being a collation group, didn't have an overly formal dress sense, with it being easier to allow x-soldiers from the likes of TSU and Remembrance to wear parts of their old attire instead of trying to regulate things too stringently. Considering her previous life as 'TSU Vijaik Cadet Hoki Bachika,' her dress sense had little difference in this regard. Wearing for the most part an edited TSU uniform, with all its old insignias delicately removed; in their place instead was the IAFS logo.
One would be forgiven for thinking IAFS, an ad-hoc rebellion group, would be without a mass-produced logo - However, despite the organisation's lack of some fundamental structures like an admiralty or country of origin, their largest financial backer had insisted on having a logo. A simple affair of a rectangle portraying the four letters that stood for 'Independent Alliance of Free States' in embossed writing on the back of a plain metallic background.
These lapels were handed out ad nauseam, and while Hoki was undoubtedly glad to have something presentable for her gear in lieu of her old official markings, there was a very commercial air about the priority given to branding. This was especially prevalent now as Hoki finished straitening out her best dress uniform. It had until recently seen regular use when she had been an instructor and spokesperson for the organisation - Now an official pilot, it was the first time she'd had cause to don it in some time.
A slick get-up, from a high-rimmed collar all the way down to a lengthy dress skirt, buttoned with serene silver catches up the torso region to contrast the black of the material - With a similarly silver belt of sorts around its centre point. All finished off with a pair of smart jet-black boots and a military-issue cap.
Even with the somewhat odd IAFS logo dotted about it, the uniform conveyed a sense of poise and formality that, if anything, made Hoki a little uncomfortable as she looked over herself in her room's large wardrobe mirror.
It wasn't that it didn't suit her; indeed, she was almost painfully aware that it suited her perfectly. Rather, she disliked the fact that it was such a stellar match.
Combined with her hair, now tied in an appropriately short, single brown ponytail, her narrow yet well-formed face, along with her tall stature - And Hoki looked the picture of a perfect up-and-coming military military-officer.
Sighing again, she straightened the edges and messed with the cap's angle a little more before exiting her room.
****
0649 - Hoki's room was held within the officer's block of the warship, like all the pilots.
She had at first been displeased at being given a room easily large enough for three bunks, all to herself. But as had been pointed out to Hoki, if she was the only pilot to sleep in the barracks, that would likely make her stand out even more than getting the single room.
In fact, aside from Una (who herself only had a single roommate), all four of the ship's other pilots resided in this one corridor, a narrow lane of blank metallic walls with periodic doors into rooms and a roof height little more than said doors. All along, every one of these pale surfaces was a symmetrical lining of visible rivets, ever present to remind everyone whom walked those halls that they were on a spaceship and not some nice hotel.
Hoki's room was at the far end of this corridor. To its right lay Scarlet's room. Separated by only a narrow wall, both Scarlet and Hoki had (subconsciously or otherwise) made a point of stacking furniture against them. Across the hallway from where she now stood was an identical door belonging to some Junior officer she had never been adequately acquainted with. One more beyond that, to its right, stood the door to Kolme Niles's room, which she now made her way over to, standing at attention to one side of the door.
Although she had only been inside a half-dozen times to deliver reports and what-not, Kolme's room tended to leave an impression on people. It had the regular officer's bed with a large suspender field and a reasonably regular office desk and indented wall terminal. There was also a relatively normal storage unit for clothes. The rest, however, stood out a bit more.
Unlike most aboard the Fluchtig, who kept possessions to a minimum, Kolme seemed intent on leaving no space untouched. Inside a fairly small space, he had added in a large handmade bookcase, a tea trolley along with other kitchen utilises (like a toaster and microwave) - A wide armchair, an entirely useless hat-stand and even a ragged & slightly singed rug, bolted down to the floor to prevent its floating away. This was foremost of all highlighted by ‘the hole’: A window-shaped object like one might have between a living room and a kitchen in an old-fashioned building - Except this one gave a direct window into the neighbouring room of Sabban Vint. Sabban seemed impassive about the whole thing; when Hoki had asked if he felt his privacy had been infringed upon, the young man had simply shrugged, saying he was more used to shared accommodation to begin with and that he believed Kolme probably felt the same way.
It was this man that Hoki now waited for. She had arrived ten minutes early, so she stood quietly outside the door to the infamous room. People passed, sometimes giving her dress uniform an intrigued look, but no one in particular felt the need to strike up a conversation, all busy with their own duties.
At one point, Miss Cally passed, and the two shared a passing nod before the younger woman hurried along to her own destination.
'I really must thank her some time for treating Una so well,' Hoki mused to herself as she continued waiting.
0710 - It had, in actuality, been Kolme's idea to meet for seven.
An hour before the meeting properly began it would give them ample time to go over the agenda in more detail and arrive with plenty of time to spare. That had been what the lieutenant had suggested, at least…
0718 - Still standing in that same hallway, Hoki suppressed an urge to shuffle about on her feet. Things were getting a little more awkward now that a couple individuals had passed by her more than once. That moment when you politely nod at someone for the second time in one day was not lost to her.
'Is this how my students used to feel when I asked them to wait after a lecture?'
0729 - Still waiting patiently in that same corridor, Hoki's mind began to wonder. Thinking about the lieutenant and wearing her best uniform while standing at attention had reminded her of what life had been like up until just recently. She thought back to her time on Abhaile as both a special instructor to x-cadets like Sabban and Una, as well as her duties as a spokesperson for IAFS. The many endless dreadful conferences and bureaucratic functions.
Of course, such a role had never been her intention. Trained traditionally at Eastern Bhaile's premiere piloting academy, the daughter of the Eastern Front's most famous war hero, heir to a line of ancient warriors - Piloting had always been her goal. However, after IAFS was formed, it had gone awry. Her father and his people were arrested, with only her and a handful of TSU secrets and just two 'retainers' managing to escape into space.
After such a dramatic turn of events, it was no wonder no one would take her on as a regular pilot. Everyone was too afraid; the rate of Vijaik-pilot casualties was morbid to say the least, and no ship's Captain wanted to be the person who got 'Thee Hokuai Heir' killed.
That was until a certain square-faced man had appeared.
A man built like a small bungalow, with a blond head of short hair that had already begun balding in places. A man who had looked more like a bodybuilding advertisement for middle-aged men rather than the captain of any warship:
'Commander Nate Novel' - Captain of the good ship Am Fluchtig.
Apparently, the man had no qualms with having Hoki aboard, and before long, she found herself tasked with putting together a dossier of potential pilots to form a new experimental team to replace the Fluchtig's, at the time depleted compliment.
First had been Scarlet, who Hoki had thought a great find... Until she was informed by the higher-ups that Scarlet was by no means to be given any authority following the end of her recent stint in a military prison - Something Scarlet herself seemed to be a supporter of.
So, with the Scourge out of the picture as a leader and having been made aware, the ship's actual team leader, Miss Emilia, was loaned on secondment to the battleship Tradech more often than not - Hoki had set about finding a suitable recommendation for acting squad leader.
There had been many a candidate, but almost all those she interviewed or contacted ended up declining. After all, anyone with experience already had a posting and a squad of their own, with no good reason to throw that all away to join some potentially dangerous test group.
But then, the candidate had seemingly come to her just when her search was growing most desperate. A request from a man at the time known as ‘Petty Officer Kolme Nilas.’
To say 'a' request was putting it lightly. According to the records Hoki could find, in the months since the war's beginning, the man had requested a transfer off of the Tradech at least four times a month, every month. Even more interestingly, his most recent letter (and they were bizarrely physical letters) included an extra stipulation that a ‘Crewman Sabban Vint’ should also be allowed to transfer.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
It was Sabban's name that had initially caught Hoki's eye. As one of her best former students, she had already planned to have him join the team, but now she had two volunteers.
Furthermore, this petty officer had all the qualifications she could have asked for. Around a decade of combat experience in Vijaiks, a veteran of The First War and the Remembrance Incident, as well as one of the very first people to be issued the current Neo-Type Vijaik - Supposedly the third none prototype unit to ever have been produced, labelled Unit 03.
That, in a roundabout fashion, was how Hoki had come to meet Kolme Nilas. It was in reality, a little more than a month ago, although it felt far longer. Her initial meetings with him had been, trepidatious. The man was scruffy, loud-spoken and brash. She had quickly grown concerned that while he would be fine as a squad member, she would need to continue her search for a suitable command figure.
Yet during the first interview between Kolme, herself, and the Captain, Nate took an immediate liking to Kolme, putting him forward for the promotion and officially assigning Sabban as his wingman. Hoki remembered how her hopes had sank. She'd been convinced at that point Nate Novel was a buffoon who had picked Kolme solely on his potential as a future drinking partner. To her surprise however, as time passed, Kolme proved to be somewhat more suitable than she had first thought. True he seldom dressed like an officer or talked like one, and his paperwork was haphazard at best...
And yet, despite it all, he was an attentive leader. Kolme made sure to keep everyone on their toes, always came for the more critical weapon tests, participated in practise sessions, knew just about everyone on the ship by first name (which was an achievement in itself considering the size of the vessel) and was generally aware of everything that went on.
'Sure, maybe not a conventional commander, but it could certainly be worse.'
0739 - 'Well, punctuality isn't everything.....'
0742 - .............
0744 - .......
0745 - "Alright this is getting out of hand!" Hoki proclaimed aloud to no one in particular. She glanced at her wrist-mounted screen once more before finally deciding to make a move. Turning to the door, she had now nested patiently beside for so long, she raised one fisted hand and knocked with four perfectly symmetrical beats against the light metal roadblock.
THUD!
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Falling out of a space bed is harder than one might imagine. For one, it requires you to be in the minority group that owns a suppressor field, the source of artificial gravity aboard spacecraft. Secondly, you need to make modifications to your bed, as all regulation cots have large side boards to give occupants a fighting chance of not being thrown out of bed if the ship unexpectedly comes under attack while crewmembers are sleeping.
Of course, Hoki had no way of knowing that Kolme had moved his bed so many times that the suppressor field now reached out over the edges, or that he had long since cut the safety borders off by his own hand…
"Sir! Sir, are you ok? What was that noise? Sir!?" Hoki called with urgency.
Inside, a new set of sounds echoed. Those of someone cursing repeatedly, followed by a rush of draws being thrown open and such-like.
"Just 'ta minute Lass!" Came the reply to Hoki's question. Relaxing, Hoki stepped back away from the door, doing her best to ignore any questions in her mind about whether she had just caught her superior officer sleeping in on the day of a vital meeting.
THUD!
This time Hoki moved on instinct; she reached for the door handle, which she found to be unlocked and threw it open. What greeted her was the view of a bombsite. Clothes presumably stacked atop what Kolme was looking for were strewn across the place. Cutlery had been knocked off a tray, some of it partially floating in the anti-gravity - While pieces of furniture lay carelessly moved out of position.
Half-fallen on the ground was the man himself, part-ways through donning a pair of socks, all while holding what might have been toast between his teeth - No trousers yet on, though thankfully a pair of boxers - Hoki rapidly turned on her heel, face flushed at her half dressed superior.
Following a few awkward apologies from both parties, Kolme finished dressing. The 'uniform' Lt.Nilas had opted for made Hoki feel positively over-dressed. It was mostly an old TSU uniform. Black trousers and a pair of heavy boots, although with an apparent lack of the silver trimmings that Hoki's uniform pertained.
Above these, a ruffled and un-ironed white shirt, only half-buttoned, and to finish the look was little more than his dress jacket, completely unbuttoned and with no sign of his lieutenant's insignias, a cap or the IAFS logo.
Finally dressed, Kolme apologised for his tardiness before beckoning Hoki to take a chair. There was no question now in her mind as she watched her commander finish his haphazard dress regime by clumsily combing his hair and sideburns - That the man had most definitely been asleep the whole time she had waited in the corridor.
The finished results of the uniform weren't much better, while at least the white shirt was now properly fastened, with boots and socks successful on without any further falls - The dress jacket was still unbuttoned, no tie was present, and the whole look was generally scruffy. It even appeared to Hoki that he had failed to shave the stubble from his face that morning, his sideburns bushier than ever, regardless of any fruitless combing.
Despite all this, with one last glance in the mirror, Kolme nodded to himself, seemingly happy with his appearance and indicating that Hoki should lead the way.
0756 - They were, of course, not early for the meeting anymore. They were barely even on time at this point. They rounded a final corridor before spotting the meeting room ahead of them. Outside the fairly non-descript doorway, another entourage of figures whom Hoki recognised as officers from a warship called the Rinie. In particular, was the leader of the group, a woman known throughout IAFS as the 'Battle-Axe', Commander Batty.
A woman in her late fifties, whose face seemed to hold a permanent scowl, as tall as any man, yet with an air of consideration that bordered on aloof. Moreover, the woman's dress sense actually made Hoki, in her own formal attire, feel positively naked. Batty wore the full ceremonial battledress of the former Abhailien Revolutionary Forces - Unlike most, she left on all the lapels of her old units, an almost unique mix of both TSU and Abhlien memorabilia, topped off with a peaked hat that boasted a gold embossed Abhailien logo of the Rinie, and finally a whole range of war medals lined above her left breast pocket.
This almost regal appearance did not disappoint the image of Commander Batty that Hoki had been previously acquainted with. Like Scarlet and Kolme, she was a survivor of The First War, however unlike them, Batty had mostly opted out of an event known as The Remembrance Incidence a few years ago - This along with the fact she had once worked alongside TSU forces before The First War called her back to her homeland - Had all put her in bad standings with her fellow Remembrance members and as such the veteran commander had taken the first opportunity she could to leave them and join up with IAFS,
Her somewhat legendary aggression and bad temper famously seemed to focus on Nate Novel, the Fluchtig's captain. Possibly because of his posting to a large modern battleship, or if rumours were to be believed, because the two had a more personal history.
Speaking of, as Batty stepped into the meeting room, from behind her, Hoki caught sight of none other than Commander Nate Novel himself. To Hoki's dismay, Kolme called out to the man, who in turn called back;
"Kolme, old chap! I thought you'd gone and skipped out on me!" The man said, his voice more that of a boisterous rugby player than a ship's captain.
"Ha, like you’ve been 'ere more than five minutes, sir," Kolme shot back, clapping a hand against the captain's back.
"You've got me there, Ha-ha! Here listen, I had the strangest of dreams today, you know. It was like an, what do you call it? Out of mind? Out-of-body experience, that's it!" Nate decreed with seeming pride;
"It was like I was looking down on the Fluchtig from outside, and then this single enemy, not a Casnel mind you, just a regular enemy, blows the whole thing up! Ho-ho, I'll tell you that gave me a start this morning!"
For his part, Kolme's expression changed a little at the abrupt story. His tone, a tad more serious, though still clearly playing along with the 'lads' persona: "That so Sir? You've been checked for a magi ratin', right?"
Nate's face eclipsed into an even bigger grin than before, "No worries there old-bean, in terms of magi ability, the doc's all say I'm as thick as a brick. No premonitions for me. Hahahaha!"
For her part Hoki awkwardly stood a couple paces back from the two as their conversation continued in much this same fashion, with all too much laughter, while the clock struck ever further past the time the meeting should have started at - From inside the meeting room she could feel the gazes of all the other officers glaring out at them.
'It's going to be a long day...'
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