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His first impression of the RKN Meerkat_was one of being in awe. Despite having already served in the military for a few months, having gone to initial training, and travelling on a certain enormous troop transport known as the _Indomitable, Chris Masterson had never seen anything quite like this spacecraft before.

It was smaller than the behemoth barge he'd used to get from the training to his first unit, but it was of an entirely different style - fast and deadly instead of lumbering and harmless like the Indomitable. The scout ship ran at several hundred metres long, easily capable of sustaining a crew of at least one hundred. He spotted an enormous cannon mounted on the top of the vessel, along with at least half a dozen smaller turrets scattered strategically across the rest of the ship - he even spotted what looked to be a the openings of a few torpedo tubes at the bow of the ship when the shuttle carrying him made its turn to come up along the bottom of the Meerkat towards the landing bay. As that large bay loomed in front of him, the sun caught the vessel in full profile, the stunning red-and-gold silhouette it made against that distant star making his breath catch in his throat.

And then the shuttle touched down and the moment was over, the thud of landing making sure he'd have to quickly focus himself again as the ramp opened up. The first impression as he stepped out onto the grey metal deckplates of the _Meerkat_was of bustling activity - deck crew running this way and that, settling is borrowed ship back into its home here, refueling it and resupplying it for whatever its next mission might be. A bulk cargo-lifter moved the shuttle out of the way, parking it over next to a sleek, black-painted vessel, but before he got the chance to inspect that in more detail, he noticed the person he was supposed to meet, and once more his breath caught.

Even outside of his battle armour, Staff Sergeant Anthar Veridus cut an imposing, heroic figure, standing almost six feet tall but appearing much more imposing than that thanks to his muscular bulk and the enormous span of his feathered wings. The veteran gryphon's dress uniform of deep, arterial red was clean and neat, with his countless awards and medals from his near thirty years of service displayed in a fruit salad across his broad chest. The mechanical orb crudely sutured to the remains of his right eye socket whirred quietly, tracking Chris as he approached.

Not sure what he was supposed to do in this kind of situation, and with only his initial training experience to go off of, the wolf recruit stopped within a respectful distance of the legendary figure, dropped his bags to the floor, snapped to attention, and saluted. "Private Masterson, serial number eight five one nine three zero, reporting as ordered, sergeant!" He started to bark out, before his new squad leader's upraised had stopped him in his place.

"First, you do know you that you don't salute an NCO, is that correct?" The veteran soldier asked this question with a wry little smile, but it bit into Chris's pride nevertheless.

"Uh.. yes, Sergeant. It just sort of seemed right, what with your, uh, experience and all, but I.. yes, sergeant" He responded, cringing internally at the fact that he'd just screwed up in the first five seconds of duty here.

"And secondly," the gryphon continued calmly as if Chris hadn't responded, "there's no need to be quite so formal or proper here. It's not how Talon operates, you'll see that pretty quickly. You can just call me Sleek."

Utterly stunned by this seeming breach of protocol and the sheer difference between this hardened warrior and the respect-starved NCOs of his training cycle, it was all he could do to just nod before Veridus began to speak again.

"So go ahead and grab your bags. Follow me, and I'll get you set up in your new quarters, then I'll hand you off to Tech, that way she can get you all geared up - I'll make sure Doc gives you a quick exam too, make sure you're not too broken or anything."

Wow, but they really did move quick and smooth way out here. Not only did it sound like he was getting his own room instead of a bay, but he was getting a free exam on his first day too? This was too good to be true. Wait...

"Uh... She?"

The gryphon shot him an amused look and nodded slightly. "Yes, Private. She. We have four females in the squad, more in the crew, and they're all competent, just don't get on their bad sides or you'll regret it." He said this a little dryly, but something in his manner made him wonder if the squad leader was really joking or not.

The idea of serving beside female soldiers suddenly made him that much more nervous, especially with that last warning, but he forced himself to nod again and followed Sleek out of the shuttle bay.

A short walk out of the shuttle bay took the pair down to the elevator, whereupon Veridus stepped up to the control panel and tapped the second deck icon and then activated the intercom piece built into his uniform's high collar.

"Tech, it's Sleek. New guy's here, go ahead and meet us in the security room to get his shit set up, we'll be there right after he drops off his gear in his room." Having said his piece, he closed the link by tapping his collar, not bothering to wait for a response.

The elevator's doors opened with a soft chime as they arrived at the second level of the ship, and they both stepped out into the living quarters, which consisted of a long hallway with doors on both sides, ten on the opposite side from them marked with names in gold paint. Before he could get a chance to really look at any of them, Sleek simply turned to the door right beside the elevator and opened it, motioning for the lanky wolf to enter.

"Just set your stuff down for now, and we'll go get you equipped as a Talon operative should be. You can unpack now." The gryphon explained in that low, rumbling tone of his.

He didn't answer at first, too busy admiring his new housing - the room was big, probably as big as his old childhood room back home, but more... stark. Red rug on the floor, bare metal walls, with a Rogue Kingdoms sigil etched in gold on the far wall. A nice, neat bunk bolted right to the deckplates, with standard-issue tan sheets and black blankets sat nestled against the wall. The other furniture included a large metal dresser, a bookshelf, a small closet area, and what even looked to be latrine and shower area in an adjacent room.

Shocked by the luxury and comfort that was being offered here, a happy little grin spread out across his lupine features as he set his duffels down in the middle of the floor and rushed back out again.

"Enjoy your new quarters, I take it?" Sleek asked wryly as Chris stepped out of the doorway, and he made an effort to hastily wipe the stupid smile off of his face before responding.

"Uh, yes serg-, er, that is, yeah, Sleek, it's pretty nice." He said once he'd finally managed to recover his bearing.

The gryphon didn't bother to correct his mistake, just chuckling deeply and motioning for him to follow along down the hallway, allowing him to read the names on the doors now as he passed them by.

The names slightly confused him until he realized they were just team nicknames - Ghost, Tech, Stalker, Breaker, Smash, Doc, Sleek, Creep, Boom, and Whisper. Ten members of the squad, with him now too... and four of them were female.

Thankfully, he didn't have any more time to dwell on that, because they were out of the living quarters area, and their short walk down the rest of the hallway took them along a right turn in the metal corridor, where he saw a simple steel bulkhead labeled "Security".

"Go ahead, Tech is probably already waiting for you, I'm gonna go get Doc and get the lab set up for your medical." Sergeant Veridus said, turning towards him and clapping him on the shoulder before stepping off to go find their medical officer.

With a nod made apprehensive by the thought of meeting another member of his new squad, Chris hit the opening panel of the bulkhead and stepped through it into the Security office, finding it to be a much larger area than he'd expected. Right in front of him was a large desk with a built-in terminal, and behind it the room sprawled - the heavy vault door of what was presumably an arsenal in the very back, a few clear-paneled containment cells, an enclosed interrogation room with a two-way mirror built into the side. In the heart of all of this confusion sat the security control area itself, which was a fully self-contained bunker with a few turrets set into the heavy metal and concrete structure, a hint of countless monitors and terminal systems glimpsed through some of the firing slits in the bunker's sides.

Multiple security troopers in Rogue Kingdoms crimson and cream uniforms bustled about on this task or that, but it was the figure standing back by the arsenal that caught Chris's eye as he was waved in by the trooper at the front desk.

She was just a little shorter than he was, he found as he approached, but this "Tech" was not someone he would want to pick a fight with, and that didn't have anything to do with her gender. It took him a few moments to realize that she was a hyena creature, lean and tomboyish, with brown, black-spotted fur and a black Mohawk framing her piercing amber eyes. She currently wore a unique, slightly cut-down version of typical Kingdoms-issued battle armour, black in colour, but still almost obscuring the crimson fabric of the uniform beneath it.

"You're the new guy, huh?" She began brusquely, setting a data pad on the table next to her. "Well, I'm Tech." She didn't give him any chance to respond before stepping forward, bringing her right hand up to seize his muzzle, tilting his head around to look at him, and he realized with shock and sympathy that her right arm was missing from the elbow down, and had been replaced with a crude metal construction of bolts and artificial joints. "Looks like you might just make it after all. Just don't get too much blood on this shit I'm about to give you, if you do happen to get blown away. It's worth more than you are right now." Finally, with that said she let go of him and stepped back, tapping on her data pad to open the arsenal.

"Uh..." He frankly had no idea to react to this blunt, rapid-fire attack, especially considering it came from a tough, kind of cute looking female. "Yeah, I'm Chris." He finally managed dumbly, though thankfully she didn't bother to respond, just opening the armoury door and ushering him inside with a wave of her mechanical arm.

The arsenal of the Meerkat was a cold, impressive place, with shelves lined with all sorts of weapons lining the walls, their contents ranging from rifles and pistols to machine guns and AT weapons, including types that he'd never seen before, even in his weapon familiarization courses during training. An enormous combat exosuit was crouched down in the corner, currently deactivated, an impressive sight indeed. Several suits of battle armour similar to what Tech was wearing were hung up on the wall, and she briefly looked over at him before walking over to them, taking the chestpiece off of one and holding it up against him.

"Yeah, this'll do, I think." She said thoughtfully, and turned to grab the rest of the suit that the chestplate went to, tossing it his way for him to catch hastily, and taking a form-fitting crimson bodysuit (the suit's under-armour, not a standard uniform after all) and a pair of thick black armoured boots to go with it, adding them to his pile of gear.

"If you need any of it adjusted, be sure to talk to someone else about it. Weapon of choice?" She spoke dryly, glancing back at him as she browsed the ship's weapon stocks, looking for something appropriate.

"Well, uh, I was kind of attached to my rifle, really, but that was just issued for training, so I had to turn it in, but.. yeah, I guess some other kind of rifle, then? One of the old KM-MR-II models, if you have any of those lying around, I used to practice with those back home."

A look of vague surprise and satisfaction crossed her face, but it was gone so quickly that he wasn't sure if he'd just imagined it, replaced by that air of constant annoyance she'd maintained since meeting him. "Into the real old stuff, huh? Well, we don't have any Mark IIs any more, sadly, but we do have a single Mark III floating around here somewhere until we can find you a II. Hold on while I find it.. aha!" She began to browse the shelves and let out a triumphant huff as she stood up as tall as she could and snagged a rifle off the top shelf - the KM-MR-III ha obviously been through hell and back, with most of the crimson paint flaked off to reveal bare metal, he inscriptions and serial number long since worn down by use, the barrel scratched and chipped - even the stock was a replacement, a skeletal wire folding stock instead of the sturdy dura-plastic chunk that it would've originally been issued with.

"A little beat up, but she should still perform. Her name's Skully." She held the weapon out almost reverently, looking upon it with obvious affection. "Treat her well, or if she doesn't kill you for it, I will."

"I'll keep that in mind, ma'am. Thank you." He grinned a little as the rifle was added to his growing pile of new equipment.

She scowled at him suddenly, pushing him gently with that whirring metal arm. "I'm not a ma'am, new guy. Remember that. Now go drop that shit off in your room and get your happy ass to Medical, Doc wants to give you a poke and prod before you can go on duty."

Wincing at how, once again, he'd managed to fuck things up fast, he hurried out of the arsenal, his stack balanced between his arms, then out into the hallway beyond the security office, leaving the quietly fuming hyena closing up the armoury behind him. Walking back into the living quarters, he paused outside of his door as he saw fresh gold paint marring the bare steel of his door.. the word written there was simple, with an elegant hand; his new nickname, chosen by his mysterious, unseen team members.

"Goof".

Sighing in vague annoyance at how fast this team worked, he shook his head and opened the door, making to step inside and drop off his gear when he paused, a flash of white catching his attention out of the corner of his eye. By the time he'd turned his head to look, of course, there was nothing there, just empty hallway. This place was strange...

He dropped off his new weapon and armour, securing them in his closet before leaving the room and checking his time before he quickly took off down the hallway, passing a sign near Security that gave him directions to the medical wing of the ship.

Chris's first impression of the med bay was a good one - that of cleanliness. The smooth white tiles were obviously cleaned and disinfected on a regular basis, given their smooth shine, and the white, red-edged walls were lined with shiny metal cabinets that almost radiated purity. No doubt stored in those were endless rows of medicine bottles and sparkling medical instruments, but they were all secured and off-limits. Three symbols were painted on the wall opposite of the entrance - the Rogue Kindom's inverted trident, a red cross, and twin snakes intertwined about a golden staff in a double-helix pattern. An information desk stood in the centre of the roomer, and around it radiated the other sealed-off areas of Medical - the morgue, operating room, patient clinics, medical storage, and of course the chief medical officer's personal office.

The secretary sitting at the desk was a cute, girly-looking young vixen, who smiled shyly and batted her eyes at him as he approached, all dressed up in his neat, clean uniform.

"Uh, good morning, ma'am." He started out awkwardly. "I was told to come here for a medical exam by Sergeant Veridus?"

The secretary's gleaming blue eyes practically lit up with excitement at that, but she managed to fight down a smile as she nodded and responded. "You're here for a medical? Oh, come right this way then, the doctor will be happy to see you right away I'm sure." She stood up, revealing she was wearing the same uniform as he was, but with a Lieutenant's markings on her shoulder boards. She took him daintily by the wrist and tugged him along towards the operating and examination room.

"Just sit down, Doctor Renson and I will be right back." She instructed him, smiling brightly before disappearing from the room while he took a seat on the warm, padded examination table.

Within minutes, the happy little vixen bustled back in, this time wearing a doctor's white coat, followed by a stern-looking human woman in a similar coat, though with a Field Captain's markings sewn into the shoulders. She had long blond hair, fair skin, with eyes hidden by a pair of reflective glasses, and the mere sight of her frightened him - he was always uncomfortable around doctors, especially military doctors, and this was a _female_military doctor.

"You are Private Masterson, I take it?" She asked the question in a calm, frosty tone, and when he nodded she continued. "Welcome to the Meerkat, Private. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to strip down to your undergarments for the exam."

He froze in shock and horror at the idea of being nearly nude in front of these two women - the doctor herself was cool and detached, but the assistant looked absolutely ecstatic at the idea. He opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off before he could start.

"Believe me, it's as uncomfortable for me as it is for you, especially because I'm the one who has to do all of the watching." She said dryly, motioning with one hand for him to get on with it.

Feeling himself start to blush, he turned away and started to undress, taking off his blouse, then the black undershirt beneath it, bearing his lean upper torso, including the black skull tattoo he'd had embedded in the fur of his back. Next went the black boots he was wearing, and the socks under them. And finally, hesitantly, he unbuckled his belt and let his trousers fall to the floor, leaving him wearing nothing more than his black boxer-shorts as he turned back around to face them.

"Starting the examination, then..." Doctor Renson said blandly as she guided him to a scale and clicked on an audio recorder. "Subject is a wolf, six foot one in height, two hundred and three Terran pounds... name is Chris Masterson, Private, Rogue Kingdoms. Age is... eighteen. Fur colour is grey, hair is brown, eyes.. purple. Major marks include black skull tattoo on upper back, two bullet scars on left side of abdomen, and blade scar on right shoulder and bicep." She paused for a moment, and then clicked the recorder off, glancing at her assistant, who was watching with wide, eager eyes. "Functional movements is next."

Ten minutes later, after several embarrassing failures in his attempt to complete the graceful, almost acrobatic motions, he stood up and took a deep breath while the doctor spoke.

"Alright, Private, we checked your records already, and everything we needed to do here is done. You're all done, go on back and unpack your room. If you need anything else, talk to Lieutenant Myra here and she'll take care of you." She motioned idly to the shyly grinning vixen next to her. "Otherwise, dinner is in th galley at eighteen hundred ship-board hours, the entertainment centre and gym are above the living quarters, and you'll be informed if anything comes up. Have a nice day, Private Masterson." With that said, she turned and glided out of the room, headed back to her office.

"Like she said, if you need anything else, come and get me and I'll do my best to help you out." The cheery young lieutenant said, smiling up at him and then quickly disappearing back to her front desk.

Left stunned, confused, and embarrassed by the constant barrage from everyone on board this ship, Chris slowly shook his head and decided it would be in his best interests to just get dressed and return to his room.