A tall man was walking down a corridor, the light from the military base just in front of his compound barely passing through the special windows, giving him an ominous detective look. His leather shoes making clacks on the pinewood floor. Jayden Pierce was currently walking towards the living room of his mortgaged mansion, payed by his monthly salary. As he was walking through the corridor, he suddenly had a feeling he was gonna get a headache soon, and he trusted it; any psychic always had some sort of sixth sense. It was expected, though, due to the... special squad he was assigned to lead. Once he got out of the Imperial Academy, he was immediately called by it's principal, Marshall Davenport, on an 'important matter'. Davenport, a middle-aged Aryan, had apparently covertly assigned him to lead a particularly problematic Nova squad, and he apologized, which Jayden accepted. This squad was on the verge of getting its budget cut and its members disbanded, how they still managed to stay afloat for more than a decade, even he, Head of the Department of Education, doesn't know, which was ironic. 'Why is the squad metaphorically dying?' Jayden asked, to which
You see, it wasn't because they were incompetent, or lacked enough resources to do proper missions, no. It was because most of the members had problematic mindsets that made anyone who leaded it, faint from stress or overwork. At that time, Davenport gave him a manila folder consisting of the aforementioned personalities.
In chronological order, it was as follows: a psychopath, social recluse, another social recluse, a stutter, a 'person who gets angry easily, yet is oddly docile in some instances', a pyromaniac, a proto-nationalist, a sexual deviant, and a depressive medic. Jayden paled upon seeing the sitcom-level diversity on the folder, he looked up and faced Davenport, thinking this was some elaborate joke. It couldn't be, right? It was absurd, almost comical, he, one of the highest of his batch, relinquished to this extent? To his horror, Davenport had a serious expression on his face, tentatively awaiting his answer. Past Jayden gulped, but he couldn't refute it, this was probably a test of endurance for him, he heard about it before; the highest in their batch get hardest jobs, while the lowest get menial jobs, respectively. It was how this hierarchy worked, and it worked well.
He reminisced his small flashback for a moment, bathing in its bittersweet nostalgia, before continuing onto the lobby. The mansion had two floors and a basement, the floors were large, enough to house at least 8 small rooms, but since they were Nova, they had the privilege to have more lavish rooms. The first floor was for the guests and the recently joined, while the the second was for the seniors and where the office of the leader lay. The basement? You will know soon...
An oak door with strange carvings lay in front of Jayden, after about a minute of walking. He could hear, faintly, chatter coming from the room beyond the door. He massaged his temples, expecting for the worst. This was not the first time he encountered this and it certainly won't be his last. He slowly opened the door...
And was assaulted by a cacophony of noises, mostly angry screams. There was two people, a red-headed man, and a particularly tall woman, yelling at each other expletives, slurs and other content. The man had dark red hair, wearing an equally dark red polo shirt, with next to no patterns on it, was wearing brown jeans, and had a faux hawk hairstyle. All in all, he looked unsettlingly casual, a stark contrast to the tall girl. She had light caramel coiffure, and was wearing tight leather clothes, accentuating her bulging bosom and impressive rear. She was the biggest of the entire batch she was on. She looked like she was seeking adventure, further supported by the unkept belt hanging off of her. What 'adventure' is she seeking for? Jayden may never know. The room was in a mess, innards of the sofa were strewn about everywhere, and the pool table was on its side.
They were Flameheart and Kanae Von Remi; the pyromaniac and the sexual deviant, respectively. Of course, no one would name their child Flameheart, that would be weird, that was instead his codename since he hadn't said his real name, and he gets really angry when they inquired about it, so they gave up. Plus, he seemed to like the name more than his previous, whatever it was.
"STOP MOVING, COWTITS!" Flameheart yelled, trying his best to grapple the surprisingly agile girl. In return, Kanae just winked at him and avoided another one of his attempts by skillfully spinning out of the way.
"YOU WILL REGRET CALLING ME A SHORTY!!" Flameheart responded with more zeal, unrelenting in his somewhat irrational pursuit. "Hehe~, catch me if you can, shorty~" Kanae said teasingly, her smug mouth reminding Jayden of his pet cat. They continued this game of cat-and-mouse (HA! GET IT!?) until Kanae counter-attacked and delivered an axe-kick to Flameheart's left collarbone. Flameheart stumbled down, clasping his left arm, before glaring at Kanae, his earrings ringing with each action. The deviant, however, was not amused by this development, in fact, she looked disappointed.
Jayden thought that this much was enough, this behaviour wasn't exactly what you'd expect from the men and women who came from the best gene-pools the Imperium can offer. Ever since they were born, they banished the thought of having a normal life, having a family, etc. Although there are some outliers, most carved this thought into their hearts, and most acted like it, too. Not only were they trained from birth, and many years beyond that, they had strict regulations on our gene passing; only someone worthy of our genetic augments can freely pass it on our offspring, effectively making a warrior line.
They were their frontline breakers, their enforces, their most greatest weapon outside of their own.
"Stop." Pierce said, menacingly, immediately stopping the two's actions and they both looked at him in fear. "What did I tell you about infighting?" Jayden tested them. "I-infighting is the bane of all groups; civilizations, collectives and even hiveminds can be exposed to this plague." Flameheart responded, remembering the rigorous training he was subjected to ever since he took command. Pierce's command was simple: Benefit the whole and you could prosper, actively hinder it and you would wither away.
It was simple, yet efficient, based off of the hierarchy of the entire Imperium.
"Then, what happens to those who are exposed to it?" Jayden continued. "Infighting escalates, slowly turning into an revolution, and then, a civil war to know who is right. The war could either bring progress or another age of stagnation." Kanae took the mantle, her demeanor ever resolute, unlike Flameheart, who was visibly panting. "Correct. But I am not a gambler, nor could this fighting ever bring progress, only stagnation. Do you know what to do now?" Jayden questioned, raising his brow. "Yes, sir!" Both of them said swiftly, as if programmed. Pierce clapped his hand and instantly, his menacing aura washed away, replacing it with a neutral one.
"Now, both of you, come with me, we are rendezvousing on the courtyard. ETA 3 minutes. Let's go!" Jayden gestured to his comrades, which they obliged, and now where on their way.
Unbeknownst to them, a lone figure was reading an e-book on his holopad, a hobby he likes to occupy himself with. Looking at the trio with a dumbfounded expression, he had been here for the past half-hour, reading his favorite series of e-books, and avoiding his problematic twin sister. He wore an all-black cloak, his hood idle, showing his fair face, blue eyes, black hair, and a large scar on his neck, resembling an attempted choke.
He was currently sitting on the floor in the far-right corner of the room, shrouded in darkness and gloom. He sighed, it was time to do his unwritten job again. He stood up from the floor and walked to the wooden door left from him.
Meanwhile...
Sirius was walking alone in the corridor leading into the hanger bay, Alistair had agreed to go ahead of him, leaving him behind. He walked, a stern expression on his face, masking his worry within. 'Why were we stationed here?' he thought. 'But, I'm not gonna get my answers just by questioning, I'll investigate this when I have the time.' he surmised. While walking, Rian found Sirius, coming on the same corridor as him, since he was also a Marine. A few minutes later, they finally arrived at the hanger bay, the bay itself was more than 50m in wide, 17m high and 209m long, the hydraulic door into the hangar was roughly 6 meters tall. The boys didn't gape at the expansive size of the hangar, they saw it too much during their deployments to care. The atmosphere was noisy, thousands of maintenance workers going to and fro, making everything ready for the deployment on Forge.
Walking to the Marine section–where they store the landing craft–a pained scream fills the noisy atmosphere, although none paid too much mind, except the boys. The walk quickly turned into a jog, and then a race to see who's first. Evidently, the one who frequently exercised more, wins, which was Sirius, but Rian didn't know, thus the queer was left thinking on how he managed to outrun him. Sirius confusingly stood there idle, having a hard time processing the scene; three young men, probably rookies, lay near Alistair, holding their crotches painfully. The boy next to the left of Alistair, a thin, black-haired boy, looked at her fearfully, and said: "T-that's the Demoness of Boot Camp! I remember now! That child-like face, that brown hair, and those eyes! " he said fearfully, he always scorned his bad memory. The remaining boys paled at the realization. Her, here?! The leader of the group, an average height blonde boy, slowly stood up, his legs shaking with each motion. "I-I'm sorry, ma'am, please forgive me..." he said, his particularly young voice inviting pity from the onlookers. The hanger had an open floor plan, including the Marine section, which only humiliated the boys even more. "Hmmm...Ok!" Alistair replied quickly. All the aforementioned boys were flabbergasted, Sirius, because of how quickly she forgave them, and the blonde, because of the exact same reason as Sirius. Indeed, she not only look like a child, but sometimes acted like one too!
Sirius face-palmed, this was gonna be a long day.