“Down this hall, and then they're out there waiting for you,” said a man wearing a Seynian military uniform. He gestured towards a steel door at the end of the hall.

  “Alright, got it,” said the man he was talking to, turning and walking away from his superior officer. He passed several other doors before reaching the one at the end of the hall that led outside. He gnced back once more, but the other man had already left.

  Slightly nervous, he scanned his ID and the door opened, letting in a cool breeze. He walked out onto the concrete ptform before descending a short flight of steps. Before him y a rge dirt field surrounded by a tall fence. Parts of the ground were still muddy from the rain a few days prior and were taking a while to dry because of the cool weather and cloudy skies. Beyond the fence, he could see the unkempt grounds of the small base he was stationed at, and past that was the forest they used for training.

  Standing in formation were the twelve soldiers who would make up his new squad. Three women and nine men stood at attention, waiting for their new squad leader.

  He walked across the muddy ground and stopped directly in front of them, then turned to face them. He raised his right fist to his left shoulder. After saluting in proper Seynian form, he addressed his new squad.

  “Soldiers of the 112th Ptoon, Squad Four, I’m your new squad leader, Victor Day. I look forward to working with you!”

  Starting at the end of the row of soldiers to his left, each of them introduced themselves with their name and rank. There were two pairs of brothers; the Chins and the Kleins, all with average looks and short hair. There was a boy with bck hair named Derek Desmond, and another who was almost bald, named Ati Armstead. The other three boys; Chester Brownfield, Kir Markov, and Ian Sincir all looked rather ordinary as well. Of the girls, one had dark red hair tied back in a single, slightly messy braid that fell down her back, and was named Raliha Inder. Another, named Ashly Ceirvon, had dark, straight hair that fell slightly past her shoulders, while the st girl, Brinley Cooper, had blond hair tied back in a bun.

  After introducing themselves, Victor announced that they would start training tomorrow, and had the rest of today off. Given that it was only mid afternoon, most of the squad members decided to hang out in the only recreational center at the base until dinner. Brinley Cooper was the only one who opted to retire to the barracks early, as she had no interest in the other activities. After a while, Derek and Ashly left the others to take a walk around the base.

  “Think they’re gonna go get lovey-dovey?” said Chester Brownfield, smirking.

  “What, are they dating?” asked Ian Sincir.

  “Pretty sure. They weren’t in my previous squad, but I think I heard about them,” said Gin Chin, turning to his brother, Harry.

  “I guess. Doesn’t really matter,” Harry said.

  The four boys were pying Billiard in the rec room because there wasn’t much else to do. The few electronic games were either broken or unimaginably boring, and the only two-pyer game was being used by the Klein brothers, who were a year apart and had identical light blond hair. Ati Armstead and Raliha Inder were each sitting in a reclining chair, watching something on the devices connected to their armrests. Kir Markov was reading something, although he looked like he was about to nod off.

  “What, are you jealous?” asked Gin, mockingly. “I’ll bet you’ve been single your entire life.”

  “Shut up, of course that’s not true,” said Chester.

  “What about the other girls?” asked Ian, as the ball he hit almost fell in.

  “Dunno, but I don’t think they're with anyone,” said Gin, taking his turn and managing to get two balls at once.

  “Inder is kinda good looking,” said Chester, watching in dissatisfaction as Gin knocked another ball in.

  “Yeah, I don’t think you got a chance,” said Gin, finally ending his turn.

  “What about Cooper?” asked Ian.

  “Never met her before, but she seems a little antisocial,” Gin said.

  “By the way, which of you is the older brother?” asked Ian, watching Harry adjust his position as he eyed one of the balls.

  “We’re twins, but Harry’s older by a minute or so.”

  “You were both in the same squad as the Klein Brothers before, right?” asked Chester.

  “Yeah, the four of us came over from the same squad. They had us together because we’re converters and the Kleins are containers, so the pairing is convenient,” Gin said.

  “Wait, you guys are converters? I don’t think I’ve spoken to one before,” said Ian, taking interest.

  “Really? There’s a lot in the military,” Gin said.

  “Well, I am somewhat new. This is the first squad I’ve been assigned to, and the town I grew up in didn’t have any converters that I knew of. Although, there was one dy who said she was a container.”

  “That’s not surprising. You’ll probably meet more in the military, especially if you get assigned to a rger base. Harry and I aren’t very powerful, we’re only around low mid-level, and the Kleins are around our level in container terms, so it’s convenient to have us in the same squad,” said Gin. “If we stay in long enough, we’ll probably be assigned to one of the official converter squads, which’ll give us more benefits.”

  “Crap!” Chester said, as he accidentally knocked the 8-ball in, ending the game. The final score put Gin at the top, followed by Harry, Ian, and finally Chester.

  “Good game,” said Harry.

  ***

  Derek and Ashly sat on a bench along one of the walls of the compound buildings. It was a small, metal, utilitarian bench that wasn’t particurly comfortable, but it was in a quiet pce and faced a field of grass and shrubs past the electric fence, so it was nice to come here once in a while.

  “What’d you think of the new squad leader?” asked Derek.

  “I don’t know, seems nice. Maybe he won’t be a pain in the ass,” Ashly responded.

  “Oh, I got you something yesterday that I’ve been meaning to give you.”

  Derek pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to Ashley. It was a small, red candy.

  “It has three yers, the outside is sweet, then there’s a bitter yer, but the core is sweet. I’ve never seen them before, so I got a couple.”

  “How much were they?”

  “4,000 Seyns.”

  “Together?”

  “Each.”

  “You really shouldn’t be spending that much on sweets you know. Especially since you’re still short on money after you bribed that officer to get us into the same squad again,” Ashly said, but took the candy anyway.

  “I know, but that was necessary,” Derek said, watching her unwrap it and pop it in her mouth. “And besides, you looked kind of happy when I told you.”

  “I did not! I was pretty upset that you hadn’t told me you were gonna do something like that by yourself. We could’ve at least split the money!”

  “I do all that and don’t even get a thank you.”

  “Stop teasing me.”

  “Why? You’re fun to tease. And besides, you tease me too sometimes.”

  “Annoying,” Ashly said, putting on a mock pouting face.

  Derek ughed.

  ***

  At six it was their ptoon’s allotted time to eat dinner, so they lined up at the food distribution center, which was near the center of the base. The members of each squad took the rations that were passed out and made their way into the food hall. Long rows of metal tables were lined up in the rge room, and each squad sat at their assigned table together. The squad leaders sat at a rge table at the far end of the room that was perpendicur to the others.

  Once all the soldiers had been seated, the Base Commander, who was seated at the head of the squad leaders table, called for silence. The 72 soldiers and six squad leaders fell silent. Each military base had a commander that oversaw all operations on their base. One of their duties was to lead the dinner opening ceremony required by Seynian military code. If the base commander wasn’t present, the vice commander would take charge, and so on.

  “Troops, we will now offer our thanks to the Empire for this wonderful food that has been generously provided to us.”

  Victor Day looked at the food on his tray. A nutrient packed food bar that consisted of a grainy, brown substance, some sliced boiled vegetables, a small scoop of red jello, and a cup of water. He couldn’t compin because they got the food for free, but he also knew that many of the people stationed at their base were able to procure additional food by smuggling it in or buying it themselves. He suspected that they were purposely fed this kind of food in order to get soldiers to buy the additional food they provided. Seynian military code required all troops to be provided with at least two free meals per day, but there weren't any restrictions on the military selling additional food.

  A massive picture of the current emperor, Kantz Seyn, covered the wall behind the squad leader’s table. Everyone in the room stood up and raised their right fist to their left shoulder in a Seynian salute before proceeding to chant the Imperial Anthem and Military Creed. After that, they were called to be seated, and dinner was allowed to begin.

  ***

  “You’re a pretty fast eater y’know,” Gin said.

  “I can’t help it if I’m hungry,” Ian replied.

  “I expected that of Chester though.”

  “Don’t expect me to eat any faster just cause I’m slightly chubby!”

  “Haha, sorry. Well I eat a lot too if the food is decent,” said Gin. “But this stuff is usually kind of crappy unless you’re starving.”

  They were talking in their sleeping quarters, where most of the squad had retired after dinner. Each squad was provided with a room filled with the same number of beds as squad members, regardless of gender. Of course, even here, like the rest of the base, they were under constant surveilnce.

  The door opened and their squad leader appeared.

  “Hello everyone,” Victor Day said.

  The squad members all stood at attention.

  “At ease. I wanted to inform you about tomorrow's joint training exercise with Gunter’s squad.”

  “The wasps huh,” said Derek.

  “Oh, that reminds me! We should pick a name for our squad too,” said Gin.

  “A name?” asked the squad leader.

  “Yeah, most squads come up with an informal nickname.”

  “Yeah yeah, we have to pick one before the other squads pick one for us,” Ati said.

  “Hmm… how about something simple, like “The Boys”?” Harry suggested.

  “Too generic, and we have girls here too.” Victor said.

  “Then how about something cooler, like “Fuck Bombers”?” Chester said.

  “I don’t think they’d like that.”

  “It should be something more mencholic,” Gin said.

  “Yeah, exactly!” Ati agreed, and Harry nodded.

  “Why?”

  “It’s a trend right now.”

  “Alright, how about the “Super Mourning Squad”?”

  “Not quite. We want something that absolutely kills the motivation.”

  Victor sighed. “I’d still like something we can put our hearts behind…”

  “How about “The Grey Hearts”?” Ian said.

  “Yeah that sounds great,” Gin agreed, and his brother nodded.

  “Alright, that’s that, then.” Victor said.