Boot Camp

Deven arrived at Fort Spiral on the planet XO-4. It reminded him of Earth. Worlds that were Earth-like were designated as T-class planets (T for Terrestrial). Those were worlds similar to humanity's birthplace, Earth. These planets required little to no terraforming. Unlike Earth, XO-4 was a Demon Beast planet. Categorized as a Td-class planet. It was here that Deven would go through his basic training.

"Excuse me, sir, I'm Deven West, and I have orders to join up with 2nd RD recruits. Do you know where I report?"

"I have no idea, head over to the Recruit Processing offices in the Bailey Command Center, half a click North West of here." The soldier pointed in the direction and left.

Deven carried his duffle bag and walked in the direction the soldier indicated. After he found the place, he went through processing and was given fatigues, a map of the base, and the location of the barracks.

When he arrived at the barracks, he found his assigned bed and transferred everything from his duffle into the footlocker at the end of his bed. After unpacking, he sat quietly for a minute when a short sergeant came in with a pad.

"Is there a Deven West here?" the sergeant asked.

"Sir, Yes, Sir! Deven West reporting!" Deven stood at attention, saluted, and gave a standard military response.

"Good, get your things; they assigned you to the wrong barracks."

Deven paused for a moment and then quickly repacked his duffle bag. It didn't take long. Neither Deven nor the sergeant spoke as they walked to a new area of the base. The new barracks he was brought to looked more like two small cabins.

"Men's barracks is on your left. Women's barracks are on your right. You are not allowed in the women's barracks without express orders from your X.O. No fraternizing with the opposite gender. You will unpack and remain in the men's barrack until receiving further orders. Do you understand?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Devin replied.

"Good man, I like the attitude. You are dismissed." The sergeant turned and left Deven to his own devices.

Deven entered the barracks on the left. Inside, there were six military beds with a footlocker at the end of each bed, the same as the barracks he came from. In addition to the footlocker, he noticed six uprights. These were lockers that typically stored specialist gear. Deven found the upright with his name but couldn't open it.

He wasn't assigned a bed this time, so he chose the bed closest to the back wall. Once again, he unpacked his duffle bag and hoped no one would tell him they had made another mistake.

After an hour, another recruit entered. He seemed confused as he looked at the five beds. Deven came to him and stuck out his hand. "Hi, Deven West, the barracks leader."

The new recruit shook his hand, "Michael Jeffrey Thomas, but most people call me Mike. Let me know if I can help with anything, barracks leader."

"Nice to meet you; feel free to refer to me as Deven until we're official. As far as choosing beds, it's first come, first serve. My advice is for you to take the second bed from the door. Keeping your space neat makes it easier to make a positive impression on the sergeant. The first two beds are the two he sees best." Deven said as he smiled at Mike.

"Oh, thanks for the heads-up, Deven."

"Not at all. If there's something you don't understand, let me know."

Mike nodded and took his duffle bag to the second bed from the door. Deven nodded in satisfaction as he watched Deven take the appropriate space.

Not long after Mike unloaded his duffle bag, another recruit entered. Once againand , Deven walked up greeted him with a warm hand shake.

"Deven West, barracks leader, welcome to our barracks. I'm glad to have you working with me. What's your name recruit?"

"Uhm, Carlos...Regis."

"Pleased to meet you. Have you met Mike? He's a good man. Work with him to help me keep this place running smooth." Mike came over and happily shook Carlos' hand; I'm glad to meet you, I'm Mike."

"Carlos, it's good to meet you, Mike."

"Why don't you take the first bed near the door, Carlos. Maybe you could help me greet people as they enter?"

"I would love to, thank you."

"Hey, no problem, Carlos. Having a strong team is going to be very important during basic. I'm counting on both of you."

Another recruit arrived. This time it was Carlos who met the new recruit. After that, Carlos introduced the recruit to Deven, the barracks leader.

"Welcome to the barrak, Daxton Faris, can I call you Dax?"

"No."

"Not a problem, Daxton beds three and four are available, which would you prefer?"

Daxton looked at the beds but didn't seem pleased.

"What about the fifth bed?"

"I'm afraid the fifth bed is already taken. But beds three and four are free." Devenn smiled gently to Daxton.

After much consideration, "I'll take the fourth bed."

"Great choice, I'll leave you to get settled, Dax."

"Daxton."

"Hmm?" Deven asked.

"My name is Daxton."

"Of course, make sure you change into your fatigues." Deven turned away from the exasperated Daxton.

An hour later Jylan Konrad and Oliver Ocean arrived. Deven assigned Jylan to the Fifth bed and Oliver to the third bed."

Deven advised everyone to change into their fatigues before the X.O. arrived.

After two more hours, a tall sergeant with a large build entered. He looked like he could beat a gorilla in arm wrestling. The men fell into line, each man standing next to his footlocker.

"My name is Sergeant Charles "Chuck," to my friends and Big Chuck to the ladies, Saunders! You aren't my friends or ladies. You will call me Sergeant Saunders, Drill, or Drill Sergeant, do you understand!"

"Yes, Drill Sergeant, sir!" The group answered together.

I'm glad to see all of you in your fatigues because everyone will dress in their fatigues from this point on unless told otherwise.

Get outside and line up!" Sergeant Saunders turned and left the barracks.

Deven was the first to move. He moved with a quick, confident walk, and the others followed his lead. They exited the barracks and lined up like they already knew what to do.

When they lined up, the men noticed six female recruits lined up beside them. The women seemed slightly disordered. The men couldn't help but think the female barrack's leader wasn't half as good as Deven.

The boys and the girls quickly examined one another with interest. Deven never bothered looking at the girl. He cleared his throat, and the men switched their attention to the Sergeant and a female soldier standing next to him.

The Sergeant smiled slightly when he saw this. Next, he had the new recruits line up and march to a new destination.

The recruits arrived in front of a building about the size of a three-bedroom house. Like a line of ducklings following their mamma, the recruits followed the sergeant and his assistant into the building.

Once inside, they noticed a simple single-room design. The room held a waiting area, reception post, three terminals, a bathroom, and an office presumably. The recruits were instructed to sit in the waiting area while the sergeant collected their military I.D.s. As one recruit's information was verified, they were led to one of the three terminals. Each person waited their turn. Once they finished at a terminal, they returned to the waiting area.

All of the recruits were processed in under two hours. The sergeant gathered everyone, and they were led to the office. Except, it wasn't an office. It was an elevator. It was pretty large. After everyone entered, there was plenty of room for another group of twenty.

The elevator descended, and after a few moments, the doors opened and what greeted the new recruits was a collection of laboratories, testing areas, and research sections. The place was huge and stretched out underneath at least a third of the base. Demon beasts were in various places. Some were being tested; some researchers were performing an autopsy on a Thunder Gril. In other areas, humans were being put through various tests. There were humans whose bodies had sections that would look more beast-like.

"I will post your daily schedules to your pads. General physical training, traditional military fighting arts, and weapons training will happen with other new recruits. You will report to the training field at 0600.

Your training here begins after lunch. Your training will include training to be lab assistants, advanced Demon beast taming, weapons research, and whatever you are told to do. This is an elite research unit to create humanity's next level of Demon Beast Human Soldiers called Ursang. Each of you was chosen for a reason. Whether that was to lead a team in new research or serve as cannon fodder, I can't say.

Do your job well, or join your friends at the frontline.