Steel walked into the room led by the Sergeant. The other cadets had decided to join them. They heard delicious food and signed right up. As they walked in, Steel saw the captain really did have a larger room. It was the same size as their crew quarters but dedicated to only his usage.
Mendez was in the kitchen and he seemed to be finishing the dish. "Welcome cadets, get comfortable at the table. I will bring out the plates in a second. You see, I like to talk and get to know my crew, especially the new recruits. It is a way to remind myself that everyone is valuable and not expendable."
Steel sat at the table and looked around at the fancy bread. The bowl of green balls that looked wet. The slather of butter that looked like a lighter yellow then the usual yellow he was used to. Another bowl full of mashed potatoes with bits of green and red things. Then there was another smaller bowl with a spoon of what looked like gravy, but it looked less murky than anything he had seen before.
"Sorry, it is not too fancy. I want to know a bit more about all of you. Let's start with cadet March, you arrived here from the Talus system correct?" The captain asked as he brought out plates with some bread crusted meat.
"Umm… certainly sir, I am actually from the station orbiting Talus Prime. I have two younger brothers and my mothers are actually ship engineers. Talus Prime is only recently populated so my class was one of the first ones to graduate…" March talked about her family while she and the others ate.
Steel could only think about how this was not considered fancy in the captain's book. Then as the other cadets went through their stories he realized that most of them had full lives with connections with other people.
Steel on the other hand had only gone through life one day at a time. Never planning longer than that, the only exception was the military. It was strange to imagine planning personal time a week out.
"Finally Cadet Jace Steel, I am sure you have some interesting stories. I mean my technicians can not stop talking about the modifications you helped them make to the ship scanners." The captain asked.
"Nothing too interesting sir. I grew up on Kamot Prime in the slums. So I mostly lived my life by trying to survive everyday. But I will say aside from the rations and cafeteria food this is definitely the cleanest and nicest meal I ever had." Steel answered as he nudged a piece of bread crusted meat.
The captain seemed to become nervous while Sergeant Cornwall broke out in laughter, "no wonder it seems like you have eyes on the back of your head. As well as your constant need to do something."
"Sir?" Steel asked quizzically.
"During our service we have seen a number of orphans, and those from the slums usually either went two ways. They either got lazy because of the luxuries compared to the slums or they went the other direction and became exceptional soldiers and ruthless commanders." The captain explained.
"Does the empire have a statistical probability for slum born orphans?" Cadet March remarked in surprise.
"Well yeah, it was just something interesting that was noticed over time." Sergeant Cornwall shrugged, but Steel had a feeling there was more to it then he was letting on.
"Well regardless you are already shaping up to be a remarkable soldier. But you should find a way to relax, you will need a hobby." The captain suggested.
Steel went to say something when Cadet Charlie cut in, "it can't be tinkering. You need something that can not be work related. So you would need something that… you will not be able to turn into a work activity. Have you tried gaming? It is what most people go to."
"Yeah, it was too easy. My roommate at the academy tried to get me into it until martial law went down and internet access was restricted." Steel reminded her.
There were chuckles before the captain cut in. "Books, sports, cooking, there are plenty of hobbies you could pick up. Honestly I prefer cooking myself, but you should find something that might interest you."
"Yes sir. Sir you had us talk about ourselves but you haven't talked about yourself. Nor has the sarge." Steel responded, causing a murmur of agreement from the others.
"Well…" The captain started.
A few hours later he was changing out of his formal uniform. He glanced over at the officers who were all sitting around a table. They were playing cards, he had seen and played the games plenty of times before.
"Hey Cadets, care to bet your first paycheck?" Steel smirked and walked over to join them. Who needs a hobby? He will just do his best and enjoy himself while he does it.
The next day Steel was sitting on a crate in the hanger bay. He was trying to stay out of sight of the senior officers. He had fleeced the officers from his squad of all their paychecks. They were pissed, not enough to do something stupid. But angry enough to try to pull a prank on him. He was wearing his armor at the moment because that was the standard for when was not in formal uniform or working out.
He was putting his finishing touches on his scanner at the moment. Well at least the blueprint for the scanner. Vibrational shockwaves were-
Suddenly the entire bay's lights flickered before it went out. The shield's went out as well, but before all the air was sucked out of the bay the metal doors slammed closed. But several objects and people were pulled towards space so he slid across the floor.
Steel looked around and the engineers and pilots seemed just as confused. Then someone called out, "get to your battle stations!"
Steel raced out of the hanger grabbing his armor's helmet as he moved. As he ran out the door he sealed on his helmet, but as he was passing an airlock he did a double take.
On the other side of the airlock was a ship-to-ship connection; through it he caught sight of several heavily armed soldiers in green armor. He slid to a stop and focused his hearing on listening, which is when he heard it.
"Hurry up and get the door open, our warp bubble collapsing knocked out their systems but that will only last for so long. We need to find the location of the artifact ship before they-" The man was cut off as the lights on the ship turned back on. While all around them the ship came to life. Systems booting on and unfortunately for Steel the doors opened up.
"This is Captain Mendez to all the crew we are under attack by the Crystoph Federation, they are boarding our ship. Treat any non-ship personnel as hostile." The Captain went on talking but Steel had to ignore it.
He quickly loaded a magazine in his Pyre-21 and fired at the Crystophian soldiers. The shots were loud and rung true. He fired three single shots back to back. The first one hit the leader in the head, causing an explosion of red as all that was left of the head was his helmet, which did not help in this situation.
The second shot was aimed at the data pad of the soldier that was splicing open the door. He missed, forgetting to account for recoil. It must have been the excitement or the panic. So instead the shot hit the man's hand blowing it to smithereens as well.
The final and third shot went to another man's throat. This time it just went through but the man collapsed similarly dropping his gun and bringing his hands to his throat. Causing the last two unscathed members of this group to become shocked for only a moment before firing their weapons.
To be fair he probably could have gotten another shot off but he had to be careful. "Sergeant Cornwall this is Cadet Steel, I am by airlock P07. I have hostiles entering the ship, they said they are looking for intel on the location of an artifact." He kept it short and did not specify since Cornwall would likely understand.
"Understood Cadet, backup will be sent to your location. But we are being boarded from almost all of our portside airlocks. It seems they timed their arrival with the declaration of war. We are also now under War Scavenging Rights, so take as much technology as your heart desires." The Sergeant's answer actually washed away the nervousness and made a surge of excitement enter his body.
The shots that were chipping away at the corner he was hiding behind suddenly stopped and he heard cursing as they started reloading. He turned around the corner seeing and hearing one of them gripping his stump and moaning in pain while the two others were caught in the middle of reloading.
Pop pop. Two more shots fired. Two more shots hit. He aimed for the heads again despite the mess it would make. It was not like it would bother him, he had seen worse. His aim was true and he hit his targets.
Steel was surprised as he walked into the airlock connection. Just beyond it he could see the ship and there was a clear lack of support for this group. Meanwhile the one who was bleeding from his throat was pawing at Steel's pant leg. While stumpy was still whining. Without even blinking he holstered his sidearm.
He first walked up behind stumpy and quickly snapped his neck. A crisp snap like he was opening a pack of crisps sounded. It would be noticeable if he did not bring silence to the previous whining and begging. He then lifted his foot and brought it down on the other one's head, causing it to explode as well.
He then picked up one of the rifles, they were laser weapons instead of solid ammunition. It was also cheaper to produce, and weaker. Honestly he could have taken a few shots and only gotten slightly singed.
He listened to the ship as he moved around moving the guns and anything else he found interesting to the Border of Downfall's side of the ship. Scavenger rights were in effect after all.