Hybrids

Discharged

Rez's time in the hospital was up and he was free to go. His arm had healed up nicely and as was his side. Although he had been told to go easy for a little while at the very least.
As his foot stepped over the threshold of the medbay door, thoughts began to fill his mind. How much training did he miss out on? Is he even still part of Jacks' team of recruits? 

He sighed and held the side of his head as he thought about his current options, his fluffy black tail swayed side to side subtly before he figured that he should go and see if he's still training to be a soldier.
But that would mean coming face to face with Jacks, the Dragon of the Asteroid Belt. During the Solar Civil War, the Pro-Independence forces from Saturn and Pluto would need to go through the Asteroid Belt to reach Earth, Venus or Mars. This gave the UPA an advantage.  Giant mine fields were set up, long range artillery batteries were built into inconspicuous asteroids and asteroids were fitted with engines to ram them into Pro-Independence ships.
Jacks was in charge of the Asteroid Built for most of the war, and she gained two titles. Jacks the Treacherous, for her brutal and almost cruel tactics in the Asteroid Belt. And The Dragon of the Asteroid Belt, which stems from her flagship, the Dragoon. 

All of the cadets were tasked with studying the Civil War before even beginning physical training, and Jacks was one of the topics that was studied. After learning about her, it was safe to say that they were a bit intimidated by her being their teacher.
She was strange and a bit terrifying, but she was an effective teacher. Any class she taught always had the highest scores out of the classes throughout Ironclad.
Although Rez was concerned for the state of Ironclad if a class with him in it had highest marks, but Yui convinced him that it was something to be proud of and not to worry. 

With a bag of get well soon gifts in his right hand and a can of coke in the other, Rez had to make sure that he was still part of Jacks' class.
After a quick detour to his room to drop the gifts off, he quickly got to the military district aboard the Forge. 
The military district runs along the whole length of the ship on the upper decks, with quick access to all vital areas and hangar bays. The 'Academy' as some students jokingly call it is an area near the stern of the ship, where all the training halls and teachers can be found.
Taking one of the many tram lines across the ship, Rez was there in no time.

As he stepped off onto the station, he exhaled as made his way up the stairs out of the station and onto the main deck. The military district was always busy, with people in uniform constantly moving around, moving papers between rooms, attending meetings. It had a very strict atmosphere. 
But Rez pressed on, weaving through the hallways of people to get to Jacks' office. Although the amount of stuff going on overwhelmed Rez just a bit.
The constant clacking of fancy suit shoes on the smooth floor, lots of talking voices but none of them coherent or the mere aura of the district sending chills up Rez's spine. It was a lot for Rez's heightened senses. He covered his ears as he continued moving on, ducking and weaving through people. Jacks' office was just at the end of the hall he was now on, he thought as he turned a corner.
Although his train of thought was brought to a quick end as he accidentally bumped into someone, his shoulder hitting into the other persons'. 

"Oh, I'm sorry" he said, turning to face the person he bumped into. Only to be met with a punch in the face and to be pinned against the wall hard enough to knock the wind out of him. It was all so quick Rez didn't even get to react, but he felt the stinging pain on his face, and he got a good look at his assailant.

The person holding him was an older looking Asian man in a officers uniform with a synthetic eye, which somehow portrayed the rage that his real eye was showing. Despite his age, the man was quite broad and muscular, and had little trouble holding the smaller Rez to the wall.

"You clumsy, disgusting freak. Don't you dare disrespect me like that again!" he yelled out angrily. The whole hallway went silent and watched, much to Rez's anger. A hallway of soldiers and officers and nobody was stepping in to help him from this deranged old psychopath. 

The angry officer wasn't done however, delivering another smack across the face and kicking Rez to the floor "You animals shouldn't even be allowed to breathe let alone be up here where all of us real people fight"

Bleeding from his mouth, Rez looked up at the man with a glare "You ever actually go into battle? I don't see any medals on that saggy tit of yours"

Rez could swear he saw a blood vessel burst in his eye, and he was ready to stamp right on Rez's head until he heard his saviour. Or possibly someone worse.

"Enough, Karuno!!" bellowed out the voice of either God, or Satan.

The crowd dispersed, showing a path to the speaker and confirming Rez's thought. Jacks stood there with a scowl powerful enough to cut through glaciers, and a stare more focused than a pixel perfect laser.
She began to step forward, her boots clacking against the tile.

"You dare assault one of my students?" she asked, almost too calmly as she approached.

Karuna scoffed and gestured down at Rez "He pushed me, could have ruined my uniform. You know how these halfbreeds are with their claws and disgusting growths."

Jacks' lower eyelid twitched, she was face to face with Karuno. She stared at him down and all the while Karuno was trying to back away from the situation.

Noticing his pitiful retreat, Jacks stepped forward and clenched her fist tightly, her knuckles cracking as a result. She swung her arm back and charged up her punch, and sent it flying right into Karuno's bottom jaw, sending him flying into the ceiling. He hit the ceiling with enough force to knock out one of the lighting fixtures, then fell back down and laid still as blood pooled out of his mouth and nose.

Jacks merely grinned "Oh, did you bite your tongue? Aw, maybe you'll learn not to run your mouth then" she scoffed, before kicking him in the gut, then looking to Rez.

Rez's internal cheering for Jacks vanished instantly as Jacks watched him for a few short moments, then extended her hand down to him to help him up.

Swallowing his fear, Rez reached up and took her hand. Hoisting him up off of the ground, Jacks began to walk towards her office, gesturing for him to follow. He of course was quick to listen and followed, taking one last glance at Karuno's still form. His breath was shaky as he groaned, but Rez wasn't about to share any sympathy.

Once the two were out of earshot in Jacks' office, Rez took a look at the room. It was a big room with a lot of stuff scattered throughout. Her shelves of medals and awards, to photos of friends she had in the war. It wasn't what he expected, but at the same time he wasn't quite sure what he should have expected.

Jacks sat down at her desk and sighed, her chair creaking as she leaned against the backrest "I'm sorry about that. Karuno is..." she struggled to find the words, then simply gave up trying to sugar coat it.
"He's a human purist. He despises Hybrids and has quite openly rallied for the purge of you all" she stated bluntly.

Rez knew there were people against Hybrids across the Solar System, but he didn't think they would be within the Ironclad military. He seemed a bit shocked.
"Good to know that I might be put in the command of someone who would send me to my death"

She shook her head "No, don't worry. I may be retired from active duty but I have more influence than you might think. I'm working with Coco to make sure Karuno never gets any Hybrids under his command, and if I can scratch a few backs, get him discharged from the military"

Rez nodded slightly, before sitting back "Well, thank you." he exhaled, then looked around the room for a moment. But he soon remembered why he had came in the first place
"Oh, right. Sorry, I came to apologise for what happened... And if I'm still part of your class." he asked with a bit of uncertainty.

She nodded and sighed "Yeah, you are. I thought about that day for a while and I realised it might have been unfair of me to..." she closed her mouth and began racking her brain for the words.

Rez lifted his hand up to her and smiled "It's alright." he interjected, knowing her talent is with her actions and not her words.

But then he gave her a laugh and said "You could treat me to dinner, if you want to make it up to me"

Jacks chuckled and nodded "Alright, fine"