"Dammit! How did I fall for his trick?" Damon cursed in the empty hallway.
After learning his assigned combat specialist has absolutely no combat experience, the Director was quick to shoo him out of his office claiming his next meeting was about to start. There was no time to argue as the Director smashed the four informational holodisks into his chest and gave him a gentle but firm shove outside.
He sighed, pocketing the small round disks into the breast pocket of his standard gray military outfit and ran a hand through his unruly black hair.
It's the beginning of the first year of his new team formation classes, which meant he would no longer be in the dorm building with the other captains-in-training for role specialty classes. Instead, he'll be in a dorm with his new team, but only for the next year since he still had every intention of winning the performance tournament, even with this new hindering development about his combat specialist.
The walk to his new dorm room takes a lot longer than he's used to; the team formation classes take place on the outskirts of the Academy grounds where it's easier to access the mecha hangers and large empty fields where the training takes place.
There are four clear walkway tunnels, high above the ground, leading from the Admin Building into each respective team formation year building. Being a Year-One TF student, he only has access to the Year-One building. It's his first time walking through the clear tunnel to his new dorm and he watches as the sun sets behind the massive hangers in the distance. He doesn't want to be awe-struck, especially at this place, but he can't help but be mesmerized by the beautiful blend of colors created from the refraction of fume emission drifting above the repair hangers and the last of the sun's rays visible only during this time of the day.
"Hey, watch it!" said a feminine voice from behind.
Too late. Before he knew it, Damon's arm was clipped and the driver of the small, two-wheeled passenger buggy spun out of control and crashed a few feet in front of him.
He sighed again and rubbed his arm as the two idiots driving a passenger buggy indoors untangled themselves in the hallway.
"Aw, dammit!" the girl spit as she dusted off her slacked pant legs. The gold trim on her uniform indicated her standing as a combat specialist.
"You're the one who wanted to drive it indoors," the male companion mumbled, also dusting off his uniform with a red trim, an operator specialist.
Just from first glance Damon knew who these two were. They fit their description perfectly.
"You got to drive it to the Admin Building!" said the girl flipping the small buggy upright.
The boy's voice was nearly a mumble, "I literally got it five minutes ago. I said you can drive it tomorrow."
"I don't want to wait that long."
"Obviously"
By now, Damon wass in front of them and the girl looked up.
"Come to apologize?" she asked, jumping on the buggy.
Seriously? The nerve of this girl.
Damon's mouth opened but nothing came out and the two stared blankly at him.
"Well, since you're a Captain an' all, I'll let you off the hook this time." With that said, Lilith Reid started the buggy as Jax jumped on behind her and they zoomed down the tunnel into the Year-One TF building.
Damon watched the passenger buggy zigzag around other tunnel occupants and out of sight. He ignored the murmurs and stifled laughter of the other first years that happened to witness the collision and was about to continue down the hallway when a hand landed on his shoulder.
"Excuse me, Captain Damon?"
Damon turned to find a boy holding a neatly-folded paper. The red trim and single gold bar pinned to the grey collar of his freshly pressed uniform told him this was a second-class operator specialist still in role specialty school. Second and third year RS operators have the glorious honor of also being the school runners, an outdated program meant to keep operators "sharp and fit" by giving them menial mailing tasks. He figured the only good side to that was that third years got their own personal buggy to deliver their packages and the fact that they had clearance to go almost anywhere on academy grounds, including off campus.
"Yeah, that's me," he said, taking the paper.
Once his message was delivered, the boy gave him a nod and took off running in the opposite direction.
Damon, I forgot to tell you, since your five-man crew exceeds the student limit this year, your team dorm is located on sub-level 4. The door is next to housekeeping. You can't miss it. Good luck with training!
-Director Walsh
Damon sighed once he finally reached his destination. Not only was their team room located far from the rest of the other teams, but their living condition couldn't get any worse. All five team members have to share and sleep in the same large room.
There are three cots which he assumed were for the boys on one side and a small metal bunk bed on the other for the girls. Other than five closets squeezed along the back wall, there was nothing but a single, dim light on the center of the low ceiling.
The four other occupants were already unpacking their uniforms into their respective closet as Damon studied the room.
"Hi! You must be our Captain!" said Lilith as she tossed the rest of her items in the closet and gave it a shove closed.
"Hello," said Damon, looking to the others for a reply. A girl with long, silky brown hair glanced once at Damon before hiding back in her closet and Jax was already lounging on his cot. "Um, you must be Soraya, Lilith, and Jax." He added as he glanced at each person when he called out their name.
"Yeah, yeah! How'd you know?" asked Lilith with a raised eyebrow.
"Intel from the Captain's briefing," answered Damon. He walked to the back of the room to his assigned closet right in the middle of the five and placed the informational holodisks on the top shelf.
When he turned back around, Lilith was staring at him.
"You look familiar…" she said with a furrowed brow.
"Don't think about it too hard," said Damon brushing past her and walking up to the digital whiteboard.
Jax mumbled something from his cot.
Lilith snapped her fingers, "Ah, that's right! You ran into us in the tunnel! Wow, you're our Captain? I don't know how I feel about having a Captain with such slow reflexes. Are you sure you passed your role specialty classes to be a Captain?"
"Actually…" said Damon finishing up on the whiteboard, "I failed them. Just like everyone else on our team."
"What?!" said Lilith, a little too surprised considering their housing predicament.
Damon moved aside so everyone could read what he wrote. "Welcome to Team Fail," he said displaying the upcoming week's training schedule for the team. "Now, I know we're at the bottom of our class, but we were all given a second chance for a reason. I believe we can not only graduate as a top ten team, but I believe we can, and will, win the Performance Tournament at the end of this year."
Lilith's face brightened with a smile, "You really think we can win the Performance Tournament?"
"Yes, I do and because I do, team training will begin tomorrow morning at 0800."
Her face just as quickly darkened, "But classes don't start for another two days! This is supposed to be our rest and recuperation period!"
"You've rested enough the past three years. If we want to win, we'll need to get serious."
"But-"
Damon held up a hand. "Captain's orders," he said firmly.
Lilith groaned and acknowledged her defeat by retreating to her top bunk.
"I'm sure everyone's had a busy day so I suggest getting some rest so I can evaluate everyone at their peak performance tomorrow."
His eyes caught Soraya's, the only other person who was still actually paying attention to his little welcome speech from the corner of her bed, but once they made eye contact she quickly withdrew by opening a book and burrowed her face into it.
Damon sighed and looked over at the empty cot where Diesel was supposed to be. He took out a pen and the notice from Director Walsh from his pocket and scribbled, "Training tomorrow at 0800. Don't be late. –Captain Damon" before placing it on Diesel's cot.
By 0600, Damon was awake and dressed in his loose-fit training clothes and by 0630 he turned on the light and yelled, "Everyone up! We're starting training early! I need everyone up and ready for transport by 0700!"
The only person who bolted upright and scrambled out of bed was Soraya who managed to run to her closet, grab her training gear, and head for the changing room in under a minute.
Although impressed with one of his teammates, he looked around to find not one, but two empty beds. Not only was Diesel still missing, his note still untouched on his empty cot, but now Lilith was nowhere to be seen.
So far, day two of Team Fail wasn't going as well as planned. Not that he was expecting much in the first place.
The Captain turned to Jax who was still in a deep sleep despite the Captain's new order. "Hey, Jax, get up. We're starting training early," he says, now hovering over his cot.
No response or movement.
Damon's hand only makes it to Jax's shoulder when Lilith walked through the door.
"Whoa, hey! I wouldn't do that if I were you," she said suddenly.
"Do what?"
"Wake him up. I thought you said training is at 0800?"
"We're starting at 0700 now."
"Oh, good thing I came back early."
"Have you been gone all night?"
"Well, yeah." She said casually, in an almost offended tone.
Damon sighed. At least she came back. He placed a hand on Jax's shoulder and gave him a gentle shake.
"Uhhh… seriously, I wouldn't do that…" she added.
"We're turning a new leaf this year," said Damon, still shaking Jax. "You want to win the Performance Tournament, right?"
Jax finally shifted in his cot with a groan. Then his face slowly turned into a grimace as he squinted up at the Captain.
"Right…" Lilith ran to her closet in the back of the room and quickly grabbed a clean set of training clothes. "I'll meet you guys at the training center," she said before briskly leaving the room.
"Wait!" yelled Damon, but too late.
Jax sat upright, rubbed his eyes a moment, and then looked up at Damon with half-cast, obviously annoyed eyes.
"We're starting training early. Get dressed. We'll meet you at the team buggy."
After Jax finally made his way down to the team garage, it took less than three seconds for Damon to figure out why Lilith bailed on their mode of transportation.
At first, Damon didn't think anything of it as he and Soraya waited quietly for their driver. They watched as Jax sulked into the garage and slowly climb into the driver's seat.
The two others followed his suit and as soon as the buggy jumped to life, the rear tires squeal against the polished floor. Both passengers quickly brace themselves. They latch on to the nearest handrail which Damon quickly realized doesn't exist on other buggies which could only mean these handrails were custom made and he can guess the reason why.
"Whoa! Jax!" Damon shouted over the roar of the engine. He's almost certain Jax could hear him, but he made no response to the Captain. If anything, they sped up even more, taking turns at speeds he didn't think possible for the light buggy. "Jax! Jax! JAX!" Damon's voice progressively gets louder as he sees they aren't slowing down upon entering the training center's garage. Even with the large garage doors open, the morning light isn't high enough in the sky to illuminate the dark hanger and out of the shadows inside, another buggy appears at their side, crossing their path to exit the hanger.
Jax swiftly swerves to avoid colliding with the other buggy and both passengers scream as they spin out of control across the garage. When they come to an abrupt stop, it's suddenly eerily quiet.
Both Damon and Soraya take a moment to regain their focus. Soon he can hear someone yelling in a fit at the entrance of the garage. Apparently Jax is well-known around the garages, and not for positive reasons.
Letting his heart calm down a moment, he turned to Soraya at his side. Her wide eyes, pale face and tight grip on the handrails say it all.
"Hey, Soraya, you alright?" he asked, waving a hand in front of her face.
Her green eyes slowly turned to Damon and she gave him a slight nod.
"Well, let's get out of here," he mumbled leading Soraya out of the buggy with a nudge and they wait for Jax to get out. The two glanced at each other when they realize Jax wasn't moving and Damon peers into the driver's seat. Jax was sound asleep with his hand still on the wheel.