After spending a few minutes twiddling* your thumbs, mulling over what to do, you decide to spark up conversation with the other recruits. Since there are no indicators on each recruit of their job you find it hard to locate any other pilots but after a few more minutes of searching and asking questions you find a small group gathered near a vendor. Most of them are sharing drinks and stories.
After approaching them they initially seem hesitant to accept you into the group, but after you tap the patch on your jacket which holds the logo to your former place of work and the word pilot next to your last name the group accepts you in. Most of their tales are obvious exaggerations of sketchy transport missions that they accepted or times that their ships went haywire while in flight. Though some are true, one you recognize from a news article a few years ago, he had crash landed a ship that was damaged on re-entry. His tracking equipment was out of date and not working making him have to survive on an island for several weeks. The ship was quickly found after the crash because it sank but the pilot had drifted many miles away.
He was a strange case but he did survive. The interesting thing was he was the least boastful of his story than all the rest even though he was the only one with a legitimate story to tell without needing to exaggerate. As for you, you share a couple slightly exaggerated stories of when you had to haul a food shipment to another planet not too far away, actually close enough that you had to travel the slow way instead of the usually relativistic speeds used for long hauls. You spent two long months with the most annoying crew you have ever met in your life.
After mentioning the relativistic hauls you would have normally done a few of the pilots gave signs of respect, most don't get to control ships in those speeds. Though at that point a pilot more or less makes sure the ship isn't falling apart and not actually controlling it.
After about an hour of getting to know these new people a voice takes control of the area's intercom system. A steady, deep voice begins reading off instructions:
New recruits, gather in the processing hall. Designated building AF-114.
Directions can be found posted on the walls of most buildings, or if you can not find a sign any employee in a red Fleet shirt, black pants, and black Fleet dress hat with red stripes on it will be able to direct you where you need to go.
Please finish any final arrangements, the boarding ceremony will begin in a half hour.
Final boarding will be in exactly one hour.
The message repeats several times before the intercoms go quiet and most people are headed in a herd towards the processing hall.
Ten minutes of walking and you have lost most of the pilots you were talking to but you are still with one of them, he was least talkative though. You don't remember if he even said his name.
The herd of people is gathered in the massive hall where a stage fitted with bright red flags sits at the front and center. You can make out a figure that walks to the podium on the stage after exchanging formalities with other figures on the stage. After calling a sound check a young woman's voice echoes in the hall.
"Hello new recruits, I am Kaitlyn Hahn, though most people address me as Admiral. You will be serving the next twenty years of your life on my ship. I expect you all to act as the recruits that you have vowed to be. You will be divided by job classification upon boarding, you will be leaving any friends that you may have met while waiting to board, you will begin training for your new careers within the next three days, you will receive your uniforms upon boarding, and you will follow all orders from your superiors."
With those words the Admiral exits the stage and a man takes the stage, his voice is the one that gave the orders to rally at the processing hall earlier. He gives instruction on what to do during processing and to follow all orders given as you are introduced to your new living and working areas.
A band plays a drum roll as a ceremonial unit of soldiers perform the change of command from officers and chiefs that are leaving to those who are staying with the ship filling in their rolls. Finally a bell rings to cue the processing to begin.
You prepare to proceed,
A) You follow instructions to a T and go through processing and follow the orientation staff.
B) Follow instructions but make sure to stick with the quiet pilot that you followed to the hall.
C) Ignore orders and explore the ship after processing.
D) Completely ignore orders and go through the incorrect job processing areas and see how long you can get away with it.
*
The fact that twiddling is an acceptable word amuses me...
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Topic: Starfairing Tale: Love, War, and Politics (Choose Your Own Adventure) (Read 1931 times)