Travis woke up at 0330, got ready and headed to the car waiting for him in front of the hospital.
"Good morning Sergeant Smith."
"Good morning Private Miller."
Smith's reply caught Travis off guard. It must've shown on his face because Smith laughed lightly.
"You'd better get used to hearing it, as of today you are a part of the Republic Armed Forces."
"Wait so you mean Tay can boss me around and I have to listen?"
"Well, you are a Private, and she is a Sergeant First Class, so she out ranks you by a wide margin. In short yes, you have an obligation to obey any lawful order she gives."
"Fuck."
○○○
At the airport he got out of the car and thanked Sergeant Smith, before heading to the reception desk, where he saw a man waiting.
"Hello sir! How can I help you today!"
The man, whose name tag identified him as Kevin, startled Travis with his bright and cheery attitude despite the fact that the sun had still yet to rise.
"Um, yeah. I need to check in for my flight."
"Of course! If I could get your ID real quick I'll get it all taken care of!"
Travis handed over his ID, and Kevin scanned it then typed into his data pad for a bit, before handing the ID back.
"Oooooh, so you're headed off to basic training huh? I don't know why though since you're already built like a tank!"
As he made the joke his smile widened just a bit, almost as if waiting for Travis to laugh at his joke.
"Yeah, Im headed that way."
"Well, thanks you for your service! Here's your ticket, if you head down the hallway to your right, you'll want to look for gate 35A!"
"Okay, thank you for your help."
Of course! Good luck with your training!"
And with that, Travis headed down the indicated hallway, eventually finding gate 35A. Sitting in front of it, he saw about 50 people waiting for the flight to start boarding.
He sat down, and the guy next to him, a man who looked to be in his mid twenties, with short brown hair and brown eyes, turned, intending to start a conversation. When he saw Travis his eyes went wide and his mouth hung open.
"Holy shit, dude you're massive!"
"You know, last I checked, thats not how you say hello."
" Oh my bad man, Justin Turner, nice to meet you."
Justin extended his hand for a handshake. Travis accepted it with a firm but not overpowering grip.
"Travis Miller, pleasure to meet you, and yes im tall."
"Tall?? My man youre built like a brick shit house!"
"Thanks, I think?"
"It was a compliment man, how tall are you?"
"7'3", and before you ask I weigh 300 lbs."
"Dude, what's your pre-workout, uranium?"
"Ha ha ha, if you want to be like me you need more than uranium."
Then a woman approached. She was tall, maybe 5'10" had long black hair, slightly tan skin, and her eyes, my god her eyes, one was silver and one was gold. Both were captivating. She looked at Travis silently for a moment, as if appraising him.
"Did you say your name was Travis?"
"Yeah, Travis Miller." He paused for a moment then added "And you are?"
Her eyes seemed to peer into his soul. "Kiara. Kiara Campbell."
"Well Kiara, are you going to stand around like a weirdo or are you gonna sit and join the conversation?"
Her eyes widened, not dramatically, but certainly noticeable. Then she laughed. A loud hearty laugh that cut through the conversations around them.
"HAHAHAHA, I'm not sure if you're dumb or funny, but sure ill sit."
At that she sat on the chair right across from them, an amused look on her face.
"So Kiara, where are you headed?"
Justin smacked his arm lightly.
"Dude, you really are dumb. This plane is only headed to one place, and we're all here for the same thing."
"Oh. My bad." Travis could feel himself blushing from embarrassment, but he hoped neither of them had noticed.
Kiara turned towards Justin.
"Well im glad one of you knows whats going on here, I would be disappointed if you were both hopelessly uninformed."
"Hey, its not my fault!"
"No? Then whose fault is it, and dont even think about blaming your recruiter."
Kiara suddenly looked at him coldly, like he had insulted her.
Travis thought for a moment, wondering how much to share. Although he felt like they were good people, Justin and Kiara were in actuality, complete and total strangers.
"No no, nothing like that. I was in a coma until a couple days ago. I was only out for 4 years, but I feel like so much has changed."
Kiara stared at him, perhaps gaging whether he was telling the truth. Before she could say anything though, Justin whistled appreciatively.
"Man. You just woke up and they already conscripted your ass?"
"Its not that bad, my little sister is already in, so the faster I get through this, the faster I can get back to her."
Kiara looked genuinely intrigued. "You have a younger sister who was already conscripted? How old are you?"
"I'm 27 now, how old are you guys?"
Justin answered first.
"I'm 25."
"Im 23." Kiara said "But if you were in a coma for four years you would've been 23, how come they didnt draft you earlier?"
"Well you're 23 now so I could ask you the same thing, but to make a long story short my siblings were still minors, and I was their sole caretaker and only family. So they decided to wait until they could get all of us at once."
If it was possible for Kiara to look more intrigued, she did.
"You said siblings, do you have more than one?"
"I had a brother, but he was killed defending Hawaii last year."
Before either could respond, the call to board was issued, so reluctantly the three of them got up and boarded the plane, nervous and excited to be starting their military careers.