1 The go-ahead

"No Neuralink divergence, no increase in the neural charge either. No fever or increased heart rate... But I'm not surprised." Dr. Amanda Hall said, lifting her dark eyes from the board, a small smile on her face.

The man in front of her smiled back, feeling at ease now that the last check-up was over. He took his light brown T-shirt from the table beside him, getting up from the metal litter he had grown used to by now. After putting the T-shirt on, he took his badge from one of his pockets and dropped it around his neck.

"Thank you, Dr. Hall." His polite smile wavered, feeling an itch again under the scar on his neck. He didn't move, though.

"Make us all proud, young man. Now go, I still have a bunch of brats to attend to." She hurried him out, dropping his tests results in his hand to deliver them to the Chief General.

She was a sweet woman in her mid-forties. Always warm and approachable, caring and motherly. One of the few people you could get attached to in that shithole of a base.

He walked out of the room and headed straight to Chief General Morris' office, right on the other side of the facility. The heavy thud of his boots echoed through the halls, a sound he started to enjoy not long after he got there ten years ago.

He turned right towards the main hall, joining the river of people coming and going like working ants in a hive. Each had a reason to be there. Each had a place they belonged to there, being efficient and practical the things that mattered the most in that place. And right at the end of the hall, he spotted the blonde that made her way up to the Tsys pilot rank just as he did.

Bianca Nolen.

A rather lovely name compared to her actual personality. He frowned involuntarily, but didn't stop his march towards her. She was walking his way, her calculating eyes also noticing him from afar. They were not close. Actually, the opposite. She seemed to hate his guts, and after some time of trying, he just accepted they were not going to get along.

"Blaydd." She greeted with a military salute.

"Nolen." He saluted back. "Going back from the CG's office?"

She crooked a smile. "Yeah. Nothing better than kissing the boss' ass before the ceremony."

"We have to present the last medical check-up for his signature to finish the paperwork."He had to make an effort not to roll his eyes. "It's not adulation."

"Of course, since our best contestant says so..." Her smile widened. "Not that I'm expecting anything else from you than becoming one of their guard dogs."

His eyebrow twitched. He really, really couldn't stand her.

"Even after ten years I still don't know what your problem is." He snapped, regretting it the moment her eyes brightened by his mood swing.

"Exactly my point." She stepped forward.

She was more than a head shorter than him, yet you could feel how she looked at him from above. He looked down at her, not even flinching when the tip of her nose almost touched his. There, she whispered:

"Even after ten years you're still the same. Covering your cowardice with righteousness, and as blind as a mole." Her eyes narrowed a little, tasting the words she was going to say next. "You're not going to be our hero. But our doom."

Bianca didn't let any chance to reply, as she stepped back and walked away in a second. Not that he actually has anything to say to her. Not even after all those years, he could think of something to say back at her.

He turned to see her leave, only resuming his own walk after her frame disappeared on the other side of the hall. It only took him a couple more minutes, when he knocked on the big, wooden door.

"Come in." A throaty voice replied from the other side of the door.

He made his way inside the office, the smell of rustic wood and metal quickly reaching him. Standing right in front of the huge, black desk, he saluted the big fat man sitting at the other side.

"Private Alec Blaydd, sir. Badge number S30240809-1, sir."

"At ease, Private." The fat man eyed him up and down. "Last time I saw you was during the final trials. Incredible job. Risky, but certainly made an impression with the upper ranks... Even myself."

"Thank you, sir." He bowed a little. Without wasting any time, he offered his tests results.

"I need your signature, sir, to finish the paperwork for the ceremony."

"Right. Private Nolen just left." The man smiled, revealing his yellow tinted teeth. "A piece of art, isn't she?"

Alec again felt the urge to roll his eyes, remembering the brief encounter from before.

"You could say that, sir." He agreed.

The man finished signing, throwing a warning stare towards him; even though he had a slick smile on his face. "Intimacy among comrades is strictly forbidden. But I'm sure a role model like yourself already knew that."

What? Alec thought, his mind spinning around, thinking where he got so lost.

"Of course, sir." He quickly replied, not showing any sign of distress.

CG Morris handed Alec the signed papers. "She's still a piece of art, though." He winked, his lewd stare lost somewhere behind Alec; already away in his thought.

Alec felt his neck itching again.

"For freedom..." CG Morris saluted with a dismissive movement of hands.

"... Shall our souls be sacrificed." Alec saluted formally, darting out of the office.

That was, in fact, the first time he was in that kind of situation. Never he had been in any kind of altercation with other comrades or any rumors of dating inside the ranks.

Intimacy among comrades is strictly forbidden. He repeated the CG's word to himself, disgusted, shaking his head no after the memory of her swaying hips threatened to blur his better sense. Who in their right mind could actually want to intimate with that... Woman.

He rolled his eyes, finally, making his way to the administrative building.

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CG - Chief General