Reclamation

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I woke up on my feet looking for a weapon, out of breath and in a panic. Slowly everything started to come in to focus, taking the edge off.

"Alice what was that?" I say more aggressively than I intended.

"Don't worry Andy, you are safe. The implants are designed to stimulate certain memories in preparation for more advanced training. This cuts down on having to train military personnel in their basic functions all over again." She explains aloud as I sit down, rubbing my hands over my face.

"A little heads up would have been nice." I say barely fighting the urge to lash out.

"I will keep that in mind for the future." she replies.

I swear that she was being a little snarky there. Looking at the station time it's only about an hour until I was supposed to be awake anyway, so it's not worth trying to go back to sleep. Guess Ill spend some time getting to know my armor better. It was set up modularly which makes it endlessly customizable. There is no way the higher ups will leave it that way, probably putting out some sort of standard for us to use. We are starting the training on our power armor today and I need to meet up with Johnson for coordination on the logistics.

"There is an update to your personnel roster for your platoon." Alice announces over my implant.

"Oh thank you. Is it the replacement for Lopez?" I ask with my attention in the drawer.

"Yes. The replacement will be waiting for you at the dining facility. Andy, is it difficult for you to lose your platoon sergeant?" she says inquisitively.

That takes me a little off balance, and not just because I haven't had coffee or a shower either. The AI over the last few weeks has seemed to have less of a robotic tone and I think it's because she has been interacting with the humans in its care. It's still a little weird getting to witness the development.

"Well we did spend a lot of time around each other since we got out of the cloning chambers." I say for some reason like I'm talking to a child.

"Why does that matter? She was a subordinate." She responds innocently.

"That's a difficult thing to explain Alice. It doesn't matter with humans if there is a hierarchy attached to the interactions between us. It's a hardwired thing for us to be social, despite how some people want to set themselves above other people."

"Is that why the regulations for the military say that two members of unequal ranks can't couple?" She said with a neutral tone.

"Because of trying to be superior? No it's actually the opposite in that case. One part is to keep a superior from abusing their power, and the other is to keep couplings that don't work out from destroying unit cohesion."

"I have to remember that people don't act rationally." she says a bit less robotically.

"That is true, we don't make sense. Sometimes we can make things work that shouldnt though." I say a bit defensively as I start my shower ritual.

Alice doesn't reply to that and lets me get ready in peace. Walking to the dining facility I noticed I got so distracted by the questions that I didn't ask any questions about my new platoon sergeant. I could contact her and ask on the way but life is boring without a little mystery, even if it's not a big one. Heading toward the dining facility, I'm going over the possibilities.

"Your new platoon sergeant is in the back left of the dining facility." She chimes in as I enter the room.

Without acknowledging I walk that direction. I kept my head up as I made my way to the very back of the room, dodging people enjoying their breakfast. I can't even explain how what I saw next made me feel. Sitting at the table was a five foot nine woman with light brown hair and hazel eyes. She had only a coffee, and was now a Sergeant First Class. She seemed just as stunned as I felt because as she saw me her mouth hung slightly open. I momentarily forgot how to use words and she didn't say anything either.