While Daniel was practicing his expressions, Andrew was considering which of the eight Sergeants to select.
He'd already decided to pick Sgt. Burr and Gutierrez, both of whom he knew personally and was experienced in using their talents.
He didn't know how SAI had been able to assign specialties to each Sergeant, but they were pretty accurate according to his memories.
Sgt. Ryan Burr was being assembled already, and Sgt. Maya Gutierrez was scheduled to follow.
Andrew was still staring into space when Sgt. Burr stepped off the fabricator. He looked around, and even in a robot form Andrew could tell he was tensing to attack something.
Sgt. Burr's Optical Sensor focused on Andrew, who held his hands up.
"Don't do I-"
Before he could finish, Andrew was on his back with a metal gorilla on his chest, fist raised an aimed at Andrew's Optical Sensor.
"Who are you!? Where am I!? What did you do to me!?"
Since Ryan was also operating an Aani ENTT, they were equal in weight and reaction speed. Andrew struggled under Ryan, trying to get enough leverage to throw the big ape off of him.
"Dammit, you fucking gorilla! Get the hell off me or I'm going to bust you down to E-1 so fast you'll wish I'd thrown you off this ship!"
Sgt. Burr visibly froze. Only his former Lt. was brave enough to call him a gorilla to his face.
Sadly, racism still wasn't fully eradicated in the 25th century, although it was extremely uncommon. Especially since humanity's natural urge to hate others based on physical differences had been turned onto other species in the galaxy.
They'd both been on the receiving end of the derogatory term from small-minded Marines, and had taken to owning the name as their own friendly insult.
"Lt.?"
"Yes, you goddamn Orangutan, now get the hell of me!"
Sgt. Burr scrambled off, quickly standing at attention.
"Sorry, Sir! I didn't recognize you, Sir!"
Andrew rolled to his feet. It was harder to operate a giant robot than one thought, even if you were mentally paired with it. Once he was standing upright, he strode quickly over to Sgt. Burr and blasted him in the face.
Sgt. Burr reeled back ward, barely maintaining balance and avoided crashing into a cabinet. He straightened up and resumed standing at attention.
Andrew winced, wishing that he hadn't reacted so quickly. He could see a visible crack in Sgt. Burr's Optical Sensor.
He was glad he'd also picked the Engineer, Emily something, otherwise they would waste hours on end every time one of his Marines got into a fight. He knew better than most that Marines made a habit of physically working out their problems, preferring to wrestle or box.
Andrew sighed.
"Damn, being on Ice didn't do shit to your temper did it?"
"No, Sir!"
Ryan's voice was so sincere that Andrew couldn't help but chuckle.
"At ease, Sgt. Burr. We have a lot to discuss."
Once Andrew explained their situation to Sgt. Burr, the robot sat down on a metal bench that was along the wall. According to the loud metallic squeal, the bench was not happy with a 500 kg metal man sitting on it.
"Damn Lt., that's heavy shit. I remember most of what you talked about, but it's still odd not being able to remember what I did this for."
Andrew nodded, knowing Sgt. Burr was referring to the decision to go on ice as an engram as part of the Ark Protocol.
"Yeah, it will take an hour or two for it to settle in. We'll wait for Sgt. Gutierrez to get ready, then you two can suggest the last Sgt. we should wake up."
Sgt. Burr nodded, still staring at the floor.
They both were silent for another half hour, the noise coming from the fabricator the only thing to fill the silence.
Andrew turned as he heard the familiar noise of a 500 kg ENTT stepping onto the barracks floor.
The robot that was now housing Sgt. Gutierrez stood up, visibly calm, the Optical Sensor spinning and rotating, taking in it's surroundings.
Andrew had learned his lesson, and he stood with his metal arms behind his back, chest out, in the universal symbol of someone who was going to speak with authority.
"Attention!"
Sgt. Gutierrez's years of training kicked in, and she snapped to attention.
Andrew took advantage of the sudden stillness to look over Sgt. Gutierrez, who was occupying a visibly smaller ENTT. The Aani's built in HUD identified it as a Sphinx ENTT. Where the Aani was built to withstand an ungodly amount of damage and keep trudging forward, the Sphinx was slimmer and shorter, built for quick movement and close-quarters combat.
Andrew knew there was a smaller version, the Bennu, that was built for support classes. He suspected that's what Sgt. Rotterdam was going to occupy.
He returned his Optical Sensor to look at Sgt. Gutierrez.
"At ease!"
Sgt. Gutierrez went to parade rest, cocking her Optical Sensor, wordlessly asking the obvious.
"You've been awakened as part of the Ark Protocol, by the order of Commander Venata of the Nun-Class Destroyer Venator. You've been selected as a Sergeant in 1st Platoon."
Sgt. Gutierrez didn't visibly react, but Andrew saw blue text flashing across her Sensor, indicating she was going through her own process of questioning SAI.
Andrew let her, recalling her habit of methodically taking apart a problem, be it physical or digital, with extreme thoroughness.
He saw her Optical Sensor refocus on him.
"Lt. Lincoln?"
He nodded, and more text flowed across her Sensor.
He waited a bit more, before repeating the explanation he'd given to Sgt. Burr, making sure not to miss anything.
After he finished, Sgt. Gutierrez sat down across from Sgt. Burr, who was staring at her.
"Well, I guess it makes sense, though it's still surreal to have it actually happen. It still feels I just went on ice."
Andrew and Sgt. Burr both nodded.
Suddenly, Sgt. Gutierrez looked over Andrew's shoulder.
The other two followed her line of sight, and were startled to see a human standing behind them.
Andrew almost didn't recognize him, since before he had looked so robotic as a Hologram.
He snapped to attention.
"Commander on Deck!"