Deployment

Training

Varya left him in the hall after waving her hand to the crew, she was not suffering from the lack of sleep. People welcomed him warmly this time. Fabien got him to write his birthday in an old-fashioned calendar while giving him the details of the fort birthday gift custom. After a while, Varya took him to the R&D wing. The lab was pristine and only two people were there. A woman shook his hand while looking at him in detail. The man was unimpressed with him and coldly greet him from afar. The engineer was a happy little brunette with blue eyes. Her jumper was dirty, wore welding goggles and a drone was flying near her.
"Is it true? Can you move things with your mind?"
"You should say hi first, Hayase." Varya interrupted with haste. "You are lucky that Kyashi is busy, she wanted him all for herself."
"Ah, sorry. Doctor Takemura Hayase, pleased to meet you, John. Everyone is talking about you since yesterday."
"Stop bothering the man, sister." The man approached him to shake his hand.
"Don't act so cool, bro." Hayase said at loud. "You wanted to meet him too."
"He is a busy man." Varya added. "Yesterday busted a trafficking ring with just his binoculars."
"He doesn't talk much..." Hayase was too close to him.
"Pvt..." John interrupted himself when he felt Varya's gaze over him. "I'm John, I apologize for not coming to greet you yesterday. I ended up running a marathon."
"He can run. The twins oversee the equipment of the fort."
"And everyone else too." Hayase added with a smile.
"We don't want any of you get hurt with faulty tech." The man calmy added. "I'm Shingo, by the way, you are taller than expected."
"Everyone is taller than you, bro. Get over it." Hayase jokingly said. "He used to be tall in Sendai, now is short like me."
"These Europeans are giants..." Shingo loudly replied.
"He is not European, he's from Argentina, you should pay more attention. So, welcome to the fort, John. We'll take care of your gear, and we oversee the fort vehicles too. Ships are under the wing of Lt. Rossi in the port."
"You'll like him, John. Is silent like you."
"Your AV is ready, Varya. Try to avoid the bullets from now on... I updated the shield, maybe that's enough." Shingo said with alacrity. "We need your gear, John. It's fresh from logistics."
"We'll properly calibrate it and put that weird software that Kyashi wants."
"She's studying his brain; she says that is awesome. You should move something, John. Just to clear the air."
John brough a wrench to his hand to show his abilities. It was too clean for a shop like that.
"Thanks for the demonstration, Jonh. You are always welcome in the shop."
"It's a lab." Shingo clarified.
"It's too clean for a shop and to dirty for a lab, boys." Varya joked while looking at him. "Let's go, John. We bring your gear later, you'll need it now, we're doing a combat tour. I want to know if I can trust my back to you."
Varya greeted someone in the distance while going through the door. The crew was in formation when they got to the backyard, he just entered the formation to wait for orders. The group marched to a training building that reminded him to the training course in Titan. His HUD indicated the gravity of the planet was 1G but for reason he felt heavy, probably was the lack of sleep. He got a text from Kyashi. She wanted him in biokinetics after training. John did the solo run after a few of the other soldiers. He locked the automatic fire in his rifle before kicking the door. The first target was in front of him, the bullet was on point. He saved the hostage after a quick sweep of the room and dashed through the building shooting targets. He threw a flashbang just before the last room to clear it with just two shots. Varya was clapping happily. She grabbed his arm to take him away from the rest, near the colonel.
"You're well trained, Valentine." Arthur carelessly commented. "Quick reflexes, good judgement and... you are the only one in the crew that remembered to turn off the autofire."
"He is one of Akandu's boys, Arthur. He probably trained him to death." Varya added. "You are doing the next round with me, John. I'm going to show you how it's done."
"Yes, ma'am." Replied the soldier.
"Ma'am? And I was thinking that you were a little bit less dense today..." Varya joked at loud.
"You can't change him, Varya." The colonel said without paying attention to them. "Anything to report?"
"Not really, John caught the traffickers last night. We just need to follow one of the leaders later. With some more info we'll ready to catch them in their turf."
"I didn't do much, sir. They were using droplines to move de merchandise. What do they traffic?"
"Mosty weapons, but we got some shady tech and meds too." Varya said at loud. "He is like a detective, Arthur. You should have seen him predicting their moves..."
"You don't need to do overtime, Varya." The colonel said.
"You know how it is, you don't get to choose the hour these creeps go out." Replied with a smile. "It's our turn, John. Look alive."
Varya opened the way through the soldiers and change the settings of the course with his holotool. John followed through the door, there were a lot of enemies this time. She took them down in an instant. He was just guarding her back, following her orders. Varya was very tactical about her movements; she knew how to take any corner with grace while covering the view perfectly. John rescued the holographic hostage; in this difficulty the hostage followed the rescuer. The commander was fast and methodical; the course was easy for her. They ended up looking at the display. They were the first in the leaderboard. Everything was a competition in the fort. She was smiling with malice.
"I was hoping to see you in action, John." Said at loud while the next team was entering the building.
"You wanted to know if I could cover your back."
"I was right to choose you." Said after a little walk. She sat in a bench watching the chronometer in the display. "I want to say this now, John. You should be training somewhere else. Maybe in B13 o M17."
"Why?"
He wanted to be a little less informal when they were alone.
"You have some rare qualities. Your focus would be the rarest. You are really good with practice targets, but I want to see you action before judging you. Also, you are really fast and have stupid reactions. You remind me of a valkirian friend. She is the best soldier I ever see. Friend is a big word, but I'll use it. Maybe you know her? Commander Unari Besk, she is one of those famous... what is the word in English? Paladins? Stupid name, awesome soldiers."
"I never heard about them." John said with curiosity.
"I forgot you came from Sol. They are the elite forces in the Galactic Council or Congress, I never know which is the correct term. They do the dirty job of justice in the galaxy. Usually going against powerful enemies that can't be defeated without risking war with the members of the galactic community."
"Like special ops?"
"Nah, those are little babies. A11 would we the Alliance equivalent. You'll learn these things, here we know the news of the galaxy, you probably know everything about Earth."
"They like to talk about it, not with me though."
"You probably bored them with your perfect posture." Varya joked with a smile. "Why are we talking now? Ah... we are alone. I'm going to melt you with my charms, John. I just need a week or two."
John didn't understand why she was so fixated in him.
"Talk. You look like you want to say something."
"Why are you... annoying me?" Blurt out without hesitation. "There are men and women would be a better choice than me if you want someone with more... charisma."
"I don't know. It's your stupid integrity that I like so much and... after your story I just want you to have a good experience here in the fort. That's why I took you under my wing. It's part of the job, too. To be completely honest, I like you the way you are, I just wanna took that stick off your ass and see how much changes you." Replied with honesty. "Besides, I already know these soldiers; you just are made of different material. You didn't hear this from me, but these kids are spoiled children from the colonies. Look at this planet, is a fucking paradise. You got background, you already took some hard decisions and learn some of the hard lessons that life usually took it time to teach."
That was more than expected.
"Too much? Maybe you are just cute." He envied the way she talked and her carefree attitude. "You don't need to be a full-time grunt, John. Probably, you'd look better with a proper haircut."
Arthur was congratulating the second-best team in front of them. He stood beside him to watch him carefully.
"You are dismissed, John. Kyashi wanted for the rest of the morning." Said at loud.
"I should be working with them, sir. I barely get to know anyone yet."
"You'll have time for that later, John. To be honest, I want you to improve your abilities. My goal is to make you proud of that black folder before long. You're going to work with them in the weekend. We are working in the festival as security... if you are free from your duty in the precinct. Your job is important. It makes easy to know what's happening in the city and we make feel the people of town safe with our presence."
"Understood, sir."
"At least is not saluting you in every sentence." Varya said at loud. "Let's go to the twins, you can't escape Kyashi."