Chapter 15: Front 9; Old Hands

0600 - Hoki awoke with near second-perfect accuracy, before promptly beginning her morning routine - After all today was likely to be an important occasion. She made her way to the wash rooms before having a light breakfast and then making her way 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 differences in this regard, wearing for the most part an edited TSU uniform with all its old insignia's 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 of 1 inch by 2, it portraited the 4 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 at nauseum and while Hoki was no doubt glad to have something presentable for her gear in leu 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 as well as spokes person for the organisation - Now an official pilot, it was the first occasion in some time she'd had cause to don it.
 A slick get-up, from a high rimmed collar all the way down to lengthy dress skirt, buttoned with serine silver catches up the torso region, to contrast the black of the material - With a similarly silver belt of sorts around it's centre point.
 All finished off with a pair of smart jet black boots and and 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 rooms 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 perfect 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 & coming young military-officer.

Sighing once more she straightened the edges and messed with the cap's angle a little more before exiting her room.

****

0649 - Hoki's room, like all the pilots was held with-in the officer's block of the warship.
 She had at first been displeased at being given a room easily large enough for 3 bunks, all to herself but as had been pointed out to her, if she was the only pilot to sleep in the barracks that would probably make her stand out even more then 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 everyone 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 in some nice hotel.
 Hoki's room was to 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, as though to form a makeshift barricade - Though neither was aware that the other had done such a thing.

Across the hallway from where she now stood was an identical door belonging to some Junior officer she had never been properly acquainted with. One more beyond that, to its right stood the door to Kolme Niles's room which she now made her way over too, 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 large suspender field, as well as a fairly regular office desk and indented wall terminal. There was also a fairly 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. In a room maybe 5 metres long by 3 wide, 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 all 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.

Said opening sat on the right side wall and had an... interesting purpose.
 The room next up from Kolme was Sabban's and apparently one evening (Or so Sabban himself told it) Kolme had decreed he was tired of having to exit his room and walk slightly down the hallway whenever he desired Sabban's attention or to borrow tea making supplies.
 As such he had re-appeared shortly after this statement with an array of janitors and maintenance tools and proceeded at some length to burrow an opening through the walls of the two rooms, an entrance large enough that one could potentially crawl through it - All via a wall that for safety purposes was almost a foot thick.
 Following this and mysteriously around the same time as a cupboard in the break room had had its door stolen, Kolme had added similar (Though he swore unrelated) doors to this new opening.
 So now whenever you entered the man's room, if it wasn't the furniture that caught your eye then surely the bizarre gateway of permanent Sabban access would.

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 10 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 7 a-clock.
 At an hour before the meeting proper began, it would give them ample time to go over the agenda in more detail as well as arrive with plenty time to spare. That had been what he had suggested atleast....

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 speical instructor to x-cadets like Sabban and Una, aswell 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 was when it had gone array, her father and his people arrested, with only her and a handful of TSU secrets and just two 'retainers' managing to escape into space.

Well 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 pudgy 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 then 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 being informed by the higher ups that she was by no possibly 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 Scarlet out of the picture as a leader and having been made aware the ship's actually 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 of course but almost all the one's 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."
 Well to say 'a' request was putting it lightly. According to the records she could find, in the months since the war's beginning the man had requested a transfer off of the Tradech atleast 4 times a month, every-month.

Even more interestingly his most recent letter (And they were bizarrely physical letters) had included an extra stipulation that a "Crewman Sabban Vint" should also be allowed to transfer.
 It was Sabban's name that had initially caught her eye, as one of her best former student she had already planned to have him join the team but now she had 2 volunteers.

Further this 'Petty Officer' had all the qualifications she could of asked for.
 Around a decade of combat experience in Vijaiks, a veteran of 'The First War' and the 'Remembrance Incident', aswell 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 little more then 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 member of the squad, she would need to continue her search for a suitable command figure.

Yet during the first interview between Kolme, herself and the Captain, Nate had taken an immediate liking to Nilas, 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 had proved to be not quite as unsuitable as she had first thought.

True he seldom dressed like an officer, or talked like one and his paperwork was haphazard at best...
 And yet In spite of it all he was an attentive leader, he made sure to keep everyone on their toes, always came for the more important 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 - .............

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0744 - .......

0745 - "Alrigth 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, rose one fisted hand and knocked with 4 perfectly symmetrical beats against the light metal roadblock.

THUD!

 

----

To fall out of a bed in space is harder then one might imagine, for one it requires you to be in the minority group that owns a suspender field, the sources of artificial gravity aboard space-craft.

 Secondly you need to of made 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 suspender 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 as to whether or not she had just caught her supior 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 open.
 What greeted her was the view of a bombsite. Clothes that had presumably been stacked atop something 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 of been toast between his teeth.

The 'Uniform' Lt.Nilas had opted for made Hoki feel positively over-dressed.
 It was for the most part an old TSU uniform - The black trousers and a pair heavy boots which he had yet to get to.
 Though 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 insignias, a cap or the IAFS logo.

Getting back to his feet 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 - That the man had most definitely been asleep the whole time she had waited in the corridor.
 The finished result of the uniform weren't much better, though atleast 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.

Despite all this, with a quick glance in the mirror, Kolme nodded to himself and seemingly happy with his appearance, indicated for Hoki to lead the way.

0756 - They were of-course not early for the meeting any more, 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 was entering whom Hoki recognised as officers from a warship called the 'Rinie'.

 Just behind them was none other than Commander Nate himself. To Hoki's dismay Kolme called out to the man, who in turn called back;

 "Kolme old chap! Thought you'd gone and skipped out on me!" The man said, his voice more that of a boisterous rugby player then a ship's Captain.

"Ha, like you been 'ere more 'an 5 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 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 than this single enemy, not a Casnel mind you, just a regular enemy, blows the whole thing up! Ho, I'll tell you that gave me a start this morning!"

For his part Kolme's expression had changed a little as Nate told this strange and abrupt story. His tone too seemed more serious, though still clearly playing along with the 'lads' persona;

 "That so Sir? You've been checked for a Magi ratin' 'igth?"

Nate's faced ellipsed into an even bigger grin then before, "No worries there pal, 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 of started at.

'It's going to be a long day...'

0804 - Once Nate and Kolme finally finished their gossiping, Hoki at last found herself following the two into the briefing room. A few things immediately caught her attention, the officers from the Rinie that she had seen entering the room foremost of all.

 They sat in the front row which consisted of a line of 10 uncomfortable looking retractable chairs, matching in colour drearily to the metallic floor and walls.

 Of the seats two to the leftmost side of room were left empty, obviously there for Kolme and Hoki.
In the third seat from the left was a tall well built, impressive looking man - Next to him a young woman who stood out for her unusually bright white hair and facial features.

But more imposingly than those two was the woman next to them, whom sat staring searing bitterness as the trio entered the room - 'Commander Batty.'

 Hoki recognised most people in the front row to look at but Commander Batty was by far the most... infamous.

Thought not fond of the phrase herself, Hoki knew no more apt a description for her then that of a 'cantankerous old battle-axe'. A woman in her late 50's who's 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. Batty was known for having a grudge against just about every other officer in the organisation.
 Like Scarlet and Kolme, she was a survivor of The First War, however unlike them she had mostly opted out of an event known as 'The Remembrance Incidence' a few years ago.
 This along with the fact she had once been a TSU commander 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 she had taken the first opportunity she could to join up with IAFS, hoping it to be her opportunity to climb up the ranks.

To her dismay however, her reputation had seemingly held her back and despite her large amount of experience she still found herself in the position of Captainship over the same vessel (albeit heavily retrofitted) that she'd had for a whole decade now.

 Her aggression famously seemed to focus in 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.

Whatever the case, from Hoki's perspective, as she watched Nate physically wince upon seeing Batty's expression - It could only mean this would be a most rocky discussion.

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