Terran Year: 3301

A human of eastern descent looked around as he walked through the military base, on a colony near the border between the humans and the Eltiranan-Verbanan alliance. He sighed slightly as he knew what he wanted to do, but had no idea how to do it, so he was going to his father, who was the CO of the base. He walked down the hallway and past some soldiers to do it, the man sighed slightly as he continued on his path, wondering what his father would say to him when he asked him about this. He approached the office door and noticed that it was open, he heard a female voice speak up, "Sir, if that is all, I would like to take my leave." The man heard his father's voice speak up, "Go ahead, Lieutenant Murray." He watched as the woman known as Linda Murray walked past him and took note as she looked at him with her violet eyes, he always found her beautiful, but could never work up the courage to say those words.

He nodded and walked into the room where he saw the plate on his father's desk that said, "Gen. Shigeru Date." Shigeru looked at him, "Ah, Hideo, my son. I heard through the grapevine that you have something that you want to ask of me." Hideo nodded, "General, I wanted to form my own elite unit." Shigeru nodded, "Captain Date, I think it is time that I give you your own command, but why an elite unit?" Hideo sighed, "Honestly, you shouldn't, but I would like to be able to hand pick a unit that I would know be capable of protecting our colonies from Space Pirates and preventing people from trying to create bio-weapons. Though they were banned after the Galactic War, this doesn't prevent some people from trying to create new ones."

Shigeru nodded, "You have given me a good answer Captain, or should I say Major. You're in your thirties and you have shown yourself at being a great soldier and a leader." Shigeru took the rank insignia from Hideo's uniform and placed a new one, this one merely being a gold leaf, "Would you like me to give you some personnel files?" Hideo nodded slightly, "I already have a few people in mind." Shigeru looked at him, "Oh?" Hideo looked at his father, "Private First Class Laurie Miller, a trainee that is almost finished with her training shows excellent promise as a combat medic, and Lieutenant Thulani Gamede, who would make a great secondary medic. Also Lieutenant Linda Murray would be a great point man for the squad." Shigeru nodded slightly, "Those are good people, but here."

Hideo watched as Shigeru walked back to his desk and pulled out personnel files, "Here are a few recommendations." Hideo looked at them, "Victor Castillo is a familiar name. Who is he?" Shigeru sighed, "He's a former space pirate that the Verbanan Mercenary, Balthoron Miyamae personally captured at the age of seventeen, this was three years ago. He's an expert at demolitions and is ideal for breaking your way into any sealed room or anything like that." Hideo nodded slightly and picked the file up, looking at the next one, "Tariq Crawford, sir?" Shigeru smiled, "Tariq is a very friendly person, he's recently proved himself as a very capable soldier and is an expert with heavy weaponry. Our plasma machine guns seem almost natural extensions of him when he uses them. I would honestly recommend him."

Hideo nodded and picked up the personnel file, he noticed the files of the three people he had spoke of before and picked them up, another name catching his interest, "Encarnacion Lopez, but why?" Shigeru smiled, "You're going to need an engineer, my boy, keep your gear in tip top shape when you're out on the field or away from base. She's one of the best, and honestly since we're not really in a time of war anymore, I don't hesitate sending her your way." Hideo nodded and picked up the personnel file, checking the others out, "Svetlana Vinogradova, she's a good vehicle operator, and was raised within Verbanan territory, so if we do a joint venture with the Verbanans again, she'll be a great person to have on the team." As he took the file, he noticed one final one to catch his eye, "Captain Olujmi Dubazana..."

Hideo looked at the file, he knew that Olujmi was a cyborg, having lost most of his body as a young adult by being in the wrong place at the wrong time during a battle in a brief Human-Vampire conflict in the former Menschilche territories. He also knew that Captain Dubazana fielded a mini-mech into battle that carried all sorts of heavier weaponry than any normal human could carry, "I'll ask him about joining as well. So far, I think I have enough to have the beginnings of a squad." Shigeru nodded as Hideo took the final file and he put the others away, "I wish you the best, my son. But remember, you're still a military officer, you need to ensure that your men come back alive." Hideo nodded, "And accept the fact that there might be losses, I know. Permission to leave?" Shigeru nodded, "Permission granted, Major." Hideo saluted his father and walked out of the office to go talk to the people whose files he had.

Terran Year: 3303

A Human of Middle Eastern descent looked around at the base that the group had been provided, "I have to say, Hideo, your father did give us a great location, though are you sure the Verbanans are alright with us having a base this close to the border?" Hideo walked past and nodded, "Of course, Tariq, they have one right over there." A dark skinned woman walked in carrying a box, a violet AI hologram next to her carrying one as well, "Say, Hideo, what's up with Svetlana and Ewan?" Hideo turned towards her, "Laurie, Svetlana was born in Verbanan territory, actually quite close to Verbana itself and Ewan was born on the border. They're just glad to be back home is all." Laurie nodded and the violet AI spoke, "Where do I put this box?" Hideo pointed to a corner, "Put it right over there, Melissa. Tariq, where's Sally?"

An orange AI hologram appeared suddenly next to Tariq, "Hello, Major Date." Hideo smiled, "You can call me, Hideo. I would prefer if we don't deal with ranking in this group." Sally nodded, "Okay, Hideo! Is there anything I can do to help, I can't move far from Tariq, thanks to the emitter being on his person, but I can do what I can to help!" Hideo smiled, "Well, we're currently furnishing the base that was just finished. Since we're an elite group, we can afford certain luxuries, though we are still a military unit, so don't expect silk bedspreads." Tariq laughed as a brown haired, blue eyed man walked into the room, wearing a suit, the man smiled, "Aye, me friends, it's good ta be back. I was born here and spent my time as a wee lad around here." Sally giggled, she liked Ewan's accent, but Hideo sighed, "Ewan, help with unpacking, please."

Before Ewan could speak up, the clinking of metal against metal was heard and a dark skinned man wearing a khaki sweater and khaki pants walked in carrying several boxes, "Hideo, where would you like me to put these." Hideo sighed, "In the other room, Olujmi, also please don't overwork yourself, just because you're a cyborg. You're still a person and we care about you." A white AI hologram suddenly appeared and spoke up, "Captain Dubazana is perfectly fine and the weight is within the operational limits of his cybernetics." Olujmi sighed, "Thank you, Paden." Hideo shook his head, "Regardless, I would hate for you to damage yourself, Encarnacion is the only one that can repair you at the moment until the facilities are properly set up. Speaking of Encarnacion, where is she?"

Paden spoke up, "Chief Warrant Officer Lopez is in the lab area, she is working with her AI, Johnny." Hideo nodded slightly, "I'll go check on her, Tariq, you're in charge while I'm out." Tariq nodded and Hideo walked out of the room and started to walk down the hallway when he walked into a black haired male of obvious southwestern descent, "Oof." The man looked at him, "Ese! Watch where you're... oh, Major Date." Hideo sighed, "Pleasant as always Victor, if you don't mind, I'm in a hurry, can you and Midge help with the unpacking?" Victor nodded, "Of course, commander." Hideo sighed, "That's a naval rank. We're Army Spec Ops." Victor sighed, "You are our commanding officer." Hideo nodded and continued towards the labs.

When he walked into the labs he saw a dark skinned woman sitting at a computer, "Mary, have you seen Encarnacion?" Mary looked up at him, "I could hack into the security system and try to find her." Hideo sighed, as hacking into military systems is how Mary wound up nearly going to military prison as a civilian. She was only saved by that fate by him intervening and giving her a specialist role. Mary sighed, "That was a joke, sir. Robert is currently with her in the other room in the Lab." Balthoron nodded and walked towards the door, which opened for him, allowing him to see an AI hologram based off of a dark skinned human, a yellow AI hologram and a woman of southwestern descent, "Hello Robert, Johnny and Encarnacion."

Encarnacion turned towards him, "Hello, Hideo." Hideo smiled slightly, "Is your work space adequate?" Encarnacion nodded slightly, she brushed hair out of her eyes, "This place is amazing, how old is this base?" Hideo smiled slightly, "It was just built." Encarnacion nodded slightly, "This is absolutely amazing." Johnny looked at him, "This work space has a ninety-eight point five percent efficiency rating for allowing Encarnacion and I to work." Hideo pointed to Robert, "What's he doing here then?" Robert turned towards him, "Simple, I'm here to help out, I can access many different things within the military database and pass them on to Encarnacion so that she can build and modify weapons and armor for us." Hideo nodded slightly and turned around, "Alright, good to see that this is going well."

He turned around and left the room to see a Red AI hologram standing there, "Shaelyn, but Vesna isn't anywhere around here..." Shaelyn sighed, "I'm sorry, Vesna decided to leave my emitter here." Hideo nodded, "It's alright, I don't have an AI of my own, would you like to accompany me?" Shaelyn nodded slightly, and Hideo picked up the emitter, "Hopefully in a few months, this place will be in tip top shape and be fully functional, what do you think?" Shaelyn sighed as she walked forward, forcing Hideo to do the same, "Well, it's a nice place, just I wish we AIs could explore this place on our own." Hideo nodded, "The military is working on allowing that to happen, Shaelyn. It's less a technological issue and more a legal one." Shaelyn sighed, "Do you consider us people?" Hideo nodded, "I do, that's why every one of you are unofficially Privates in rank." Shaelyn smiled slightly as she looked out the window, "That's good to hear."

Laurie sighed slightly as her AI, Melissa spoke at her, "It looks like we got all of the stuff in here, Laurie." Laurie looked over at Olujmi, "Hey, Captain, do you think that we'll be able to get some down time?" Olujmi looked at her, "That is not my jurisdiction, Laurie. It's up to Hideo, speaking of which, here he comes now." Hideo walked in with a red AI, "Alright, since we're in an era of peace and we don't really have to worry about anything, I'm going to authorize everyone downtime. You're all welcome to go out into the space colony and hang around out there, but remember, do not be complacent as you are still technically on the clock. Just I know most of you wouldn't like to spend your work day doing repetitive tasks around here, and would rather be out there doing stuff like patrols and the like. Linda and Vesna have already left the base, but eh, that's what they do."

Tariq spoke up, "Major, with all due respect, isn't this a bit excessive. Also we should put a fitness center in the base." Hideo nodded, "Well, we are somewhat understaffed at the moment, so I don't believe so. It'll be about another week before everything is running in a manner that somewhat resembles a military base. Keep in mind that you will be required to sleep at this base, but other than that you can go outside the base and do what you want, so long as you are actively patrolling the city and making sure that there aren't any military grade threats going around." Olujmi spoke up, "Sir, how can we do what we want if we have to patrol the city." Hideo placed his hand on Olujmi's shoulder, "I'm saying that you can go out and enjoy yourself, just don't get complacent, and don't go out alone, nor unarmed."

Ewan spoke up as he entered the room, "Sir, with all due respect, what about our AIs?" Hideo shrugged, "It's not like the whole idea of military AIs is classified information, there's civilian AIs, look at Robert." Ewan nodded, "Aye sir, but wouldn't they scare the hell out of them?" Hideo shook his head, "No, now please, go on and head out, I have to do administrative duties, like balance our budget and the like." Ewan looked at a half-dragon AI that appeared, "I think he be scunnered, Marcio." Hideo blinked, "Um... I have no idea what that meant." Ewan sighed, "Sorry, you seem annoyed. Ye need ta keep the heid." Hideo shrugged, "I have no idea what the hell you're on about right now, but whatever." Ewan nodded and turned towards the door, "I'm gonna ask Thulani if he wants to join me out there. Haste ye back!"

They watched as Ewan walked out and Tariq looked down at Laurie and then Hideo, "Sometimes I wonder what kind of common that he's speaking here." Hideo shrugged and walked off, "You have your orders, follow them or don't, it doesn't matter to me at this second, I have to get to work." Laurie looked at Olujmi and Tariq, "Well the Major wants us to go out on the town, either of you would like to accompany me?" Olujmi looked around, "I do not feel comfortable around civilians, I am nervous that they will treat me as being less than human because I have lost a majority of my organic parts." Tariq smiled, "Of course, Laurie, also Olujmi, you don't have to worry about anything, if they treat you less than human, I'll be sure to tell them otherwise." Olujmi nodded slightly, "Thanks, Tariq."

Laurie opened a box and grabbed three pistols for them and took out a single power pack for each, handing a pistol to Tariq and Olujmi, in addition to a single power pack, "The boss said for us to not be complacent and to go out there armed." Melissa spoke up, "Vesna seems to be slightly stressed and Linda is slightly happier." Tariq laughed, "They're probably having a competition. So, where do you guys want to go to?" Laurie sighed, "Honestly, I could go for a nice cold beer, myself." Olujmi looked at her, "You're twenty-one?" Laurie nodded, "Just turned twenty-one a few weeks ago, joined the military in the year thirty-three hundred." Tariq nodded slightly, "A beer sounds great right about now, especially after we just carried those heavy ass boxes into this base without any help, Olujmi, what do you think?"

Olujmi sighed, "You do know that I cannot consume alcohol, correct?" Tariq nodded and placed his hand on Olujmi's shoulder, "Then we'll get you some water, or a soda, your choice." Olujmi nodded slightly, "Honestly, a good book would do just as well." Laurie nodded, "Sounds great, so we go to the bar first and then we go find a library?" Tariq smiled and Sally spoke up, "Oooh, that sounds very much like a plan! We're going to have so much fun!" Melissa sighed, "So you've been given your first mission and you're already going to get drunk?" Olujmi spoke up, "Not drunk, she and Tariq are only going to have a single drink, Melissa. Laurie isn't a lightweight, so I doubt that she's going to get drunk after a single beer." Melissa scoffed and vanished as Sally frowned, "I wonder what her issue is."

Laurie started to walk ahead as Tariq, Olujmi and Sally followed her, "She is designed as a medical assistance AI, she's supposed to keep me healthy, while helping me keep the rest of the squad healthy. A drunk medic is useless to the rest of the squad, so she does technically have a point." The four of them quickly exited the base and Tariq spoke up, "Your AI honestly doesn't have to be like that about it. I know she cares and all, but at that point, she was just being overbearing, almost as if she was trying to be your mother." Laurie sighed, "Honestly, I hope not, I don't get along with my own mother as is, but less said about that, the better." Olujmi spoke up, "So are we going to hit the road any time soon?" Laurie smirked, "I thought you'd never ask, Captain." Olujmi grumbled as the four of them walked towards the city to find a bar.