Chapter Text
The dock of the Orion naval base was flooded with sailors of all different ranks, running around and moving machinery. It was rather unexpected to see, considering that the fleet was only doing training out at sea.
The war was at its peak, and it was clear that the Solstice was dominating. Orion had desperately been looking for new recruits, and only now did they start to get more. Today would be their first day training while at sea.
The man who would be training them, Chief Petty Officer Noah Jackson, stood over the deck where the recruits would be trained. As much as he disliked having to train people who have never seen a gun in their life, it was the one thing that would eventually lead Orion to victory.
Noah gazed down upon a small group of newbies on the deck who were practicing their aim. And honestly? It was pretty shit.
Noah groaned and leaned over the cold railing. Having to attempt to train these people was going to be hell.
“Are you alright there, Jackson?” A voice came from behind. Noah lifted his head and turned to see his admiral, Michael Ford. “You look bored” he chuckled.
“Yeah, one of the newbies almost shot themselves. It’s going to take a while to train them enough so that they wont accidentally kill themselves.”
“I see. Well, I’m sure they’ll get there. You’re a great trainer, Jackson.” Ford smiled and patted Noah on the shoulder.
“I’m not, really…if I was, we probably would be winning the war right now. Maybe somebody else should train them…”
“Don’t say that about yourself, Jackson. It’s not your fault we’re failing, it’s…” Ford trailed away from finishing his sentence and looked down with a slightly irritated expression.
“Sir? You were going to say something?”
“Ah, sorry. All I’m saying is that you’re doing great, Noah. Don’t beat yourself up, okay?”
“Sorry, sir. Even so, I’ll still train them to the fullest.”
“That’s what I like to hear. Now, I think you’d better go down to them now before they hurt themselves. Good luck Jackson!” Ford then turned away and disappeared into the crowd.
Noah looked back down at the recruits. “Guess I’ll have to teach them sooner or later.” Noah sighed and made his way down onto the deck and stood in front of the small group. Noah raised his hand and shouted, ordering them to stop before they did something stupid.
The recruits looked to Noah with confused expressions. “Oh…uh, are you our trainer?”
“Indeed I am. And you should put down that gun, it’s obvious you don’t know what you’re doing.”
The newbie quickly put down the gun and placed his hands behind his back. “Sorry chief.”
Noah sighed and shook his head. “Whatever. Anyways, today we’ll just stick with the basics. I think learning how to use a gun will be best for you to learn first.”
Noah pulled a gun out of his holster and presented it in front of the recruits. “This is a standard pistol, the C34. It’s meant to be used for self-defence if you are ever attacked. Use it on weak targets.”
Noah then marched across the floor and stopped right in front of a recruit. “Do you know how to operate a pistol, newbie?”
“Uh-uhm…n-no, chief…”
“Luckily for you, that’s what I’ll be training you for today. Now, since there are hundreds of other people on this ship, we wont be using actual bullets. I can only imagine the type of chaos you lot would cause using actual bullets.”
Noah proceeded to show the recruits each part of the gun, and it’s purpose. While they were confused and reckless at first, the newbies eventually managed to use the gun without hurting themselves or others.
While training the recruits, Noah did not notice that Ford was watching from the above deck, leaning against the railing. He watched every move that Noah made, and seeing how the trainees would follow him.
After an hour of watching the training session, while lost in thought, another admiral came along and leaned next to Ford.
“I don’t understand why Jackson doubts himself. He believes he is at fault for our failures…” Ford muttered.
“I admit, I find it odd that he blames himself. He is nowhere near that of an admiral, he has no major part in our battles with the Antareans. If anything, it is our fault, no?”
Ford sighed and shook his head. “To be honest, it isn’t really our fault either. The Antareans…they have a prodigy amongst them, don’t they? I would not be surprised if that is our reason.”
“Indeed they do. Most of the admirals here find it to counter him, and those Hantus aren’t making it any easier for us. I fear that we may not be able to…get rid of him…during battle.”
Ford thought hard for a second, and his eyes narrowed while in thought. “I doubt it. I’m sure there’s another way, we won’t surrender that easily.”
Ford looked up to the sky and saw that dark storm clouds had started to form around them. “A storm is coming, we should probably start making our way back to shore now.” He rushed up to the control room and charted a way back to shore, taking whatever route would keep them clear of the storm.
Only a few minutes after planning a route, the rain had begun to pour down. The wind howled through the fleet and the waves had become so high and powerful that the deck had begun to flood. Lightning painted the sky with blinding flashes of light, and thunder crackled through like fireworks. It was not long until the fleet had become trapped within nature’s cruel embrace.
Meanwhile with Noah, him and the recruits had gotten caught in the wind and rain. Noah tried to get the trainees to shelter, but no one could see through the thick and heavy rain.
Ford had seen their struggle from the control room and rushed out to the above deck. “JACKSON! GET THE RECRUITS TO FOLLOW MY VOICE AND GET INSIDE!”
Noah nodded and turned to where the recruits-or, where he was guessing- were. “YOU HEARD HIM! FOLLOW HIM INSIDE!”
The sound of heavy boots clanking against metal suggested that the recruits had heard him and were navigating their way inside. Noah clung to the barrier on the side of the ship until he was sure that everyone had made it safely to shelter.
The wind suddenly picked up more force, causing the waves to thrash the ship violently on the water.
The barrier had become slippery from the flooding, making it extremely hard for Noah to keep a firm grip. The shaking of the ship instantly caused Noah to slip from the barrier and be thrown overboard into the freezing water.
Noah choked on the water filling his lungs and felt himself fading into unconsciousness from the impact of being thrown into the sea.
The last thing Noah saw before fading into black was the waves above crashing violently against the vessel. He wondered if everyone else would survive.
+++
Noah woke up to a pounding feeling in his head and a bright light above him. That bright was the sun, Noah had deducted after realising he was not dead.
He felt that a strip of rope had bound his hands behind his back, and a thick cloth covered his mouth. He wriggled his body around and managed to sit up to observe his surroundings.
He noticed that he was on a small boat-most likely a fishing boat-in the middle of the ocean. His clothes were now completely dry, meaning that he had been on the boat for a while now. He let out a muffled sigh and leaned against the side of the boat, wondering how he even got here in the first place.
“Oh, yer awake now.”
A deep voice came from Noah’s left. He looked to the source of the voice and was met with a tall, rugged man, who appeared to be a fisherman.
“We found ya almost dead floatin’ in the sea. Dunno how ya survived, but here ya are.”
The fisherman went up to the front of the boat and started speaking to someone. After a few minutes, he came back with another fisherman following behind him. The second fisherman pulled the cloth away from Noah’s mouth roughly.
“So tell us, what happened that caused us to find you in the middle of the sea?”
Noah recollected all of his thoughts in an attempt to remember everything that happened before now.
“Well I…I was on a ship, but then a storm came and knocked me overboard…”
“A navy ship?”
“Uh…yes. How’d you know?”
The rugged fisherman pointed to my uniform. “Yer wearin’ the onion uniform.”
“Oh…uh-oi! Call me an onion again and you’ll see what-“
The fisherman put the cloth back over Noah’s mouth again. “Don’t care. And don’t get too comfortable, we’re almost back at shore.”
The second fisherman turned to the other with a confused look. “Uh…what were we supposed to do with him again…?”
The first gave the second a slap on the back of his head. “Idiot. We take him to the navy people, he’s an onion after all. And we might get some money from it as well…”
The two fishermen walked away as they talked about the reward they might get from bringing a prisoner to the navy.
Noah head started to pound again as he thought about what would happen to him as soon as he was handed in. He’d heard about the horrible things the Antareans had done, and he was not eager to be a first hand witness to it.
+++
After a few hours of sailing seemingly endlessly at sea, the fishing boat had finally docked on the shore when night fell. The fishermen came back to Noah and dragged him off the boat and onto the dock, being met with three Antarean officers waiting for him.
The officers spoke with the fishermen and took Noah off of them, although he was too tired to pay attention to their conversation. The officers then pushed Noah into a car and drove away from fishing dock in silence.
As the car kept driving along the shore, Noah saw a large cluster of lights sitting on the edge of the land and sea. As they drew closer, the lights eventually formed into large battleships. Noah realised that the cluster was a major Antarean naval base, and is where the officers were taking him.
The area surrounding the base was mostly empty but heavily guarded, most likely to keep normal civilians away. Guards armed with guns patrolled the area, questioning anyone who tried to enter.
The officers driving the car, however, did not need to be questioned. The guard at the main entrance looked to the number plate and then the driver, and gave a nod.
The car continued and drove through the base and passed the buildings containing large weapons and planes. They came to a halt at a large and grand building, where sailors and officers came and left.
The officer that was sitting in the back seat with Noah grabbed him roughly by the arms and pulled him out the car.
The building was equipped with a large staircase divided into two that led up to the main door. In the middle of the staircase was a small but fancy fountain, with a stone scorpion sitting at the top. The large wooden door was adorned with lights and carvings of scorpions. At the very top of the building was a large Antarean flag that flew proudly in the wind.
Noah was dragged past the doors and into the building, which was surprisingly flooded with people, despite it being almost midnight as the large clock sat on the wall read.
A large man with the uniform of a captain came up to the officers and started speaking to them. He saw that they had Noah with them and his eyes narrowed.
“So, is this a prisoner of war?”
“Yes and no. Two fisherman found him nearly dead at sea, so they captured him and brought him here. According to them, he was thrown overboard from an Orion ship after a storm.”
“I see. Well, he will have to be taken to an admiral so they can decide what to do with him. I’ll look and see if any of them are available right now.”
The captain turned and left, while the officers dragged Noah into an empty room nearby. They tied him to a chair and stood around a table speaking with each other.
+++
After what seemed like hours, the captain that had spoken to them earlier came back.
“Good news, one of the admirals can deal with him now. Bad news, it’s Admiral Grey.”
“Oh, really? He’s going to have a field day with our onion right here. May as well say his final words.”
Noah started to panic as the officers untied him and led him out of the room and up multiple staircases until they reached the top floor.
The top floor was much fancier than the previous floors, where all the high ranking officials worked and temporarily lived. Portraits of Antarean war leaders from years ago scattered the walls.
The officers stopped in front of a large door and knocked. Another officer opened the door and let them inside.
The room was spacious, with maps decorating the walls in between windows. Outside the window was a view of the ships lined up on the water.
In the middle of the room was a large circular table, with multiple chairs sitting around it. At this time, only one chair had someone sitting in it.
The man wearing an admiral uniform, with blonde hair and pale blue eyes, sat at the end of the table doodling on a blank bit of paper. He looked up and smiled smugly when he saw Noah.
“My my, what do we have here? I wasn’t expecting an Orionite officer to be standing in front of me. A pathetic crewman, perhaps. But this is new…”
He stood up from the chair and glided around the table with his hands behind his back until he stopped in front of Noah. The admiral eyed Noah up and down, observing every anxious twitch he made. He stood up straight and spoke to the officers.
“So tell me, why did you bring him to me? I have more important duties, you know…” The admiral glared at one of the officers.
The officer swallowed and spoke with a shaky voice. “Um…I’m terribly sorry, sir. We didn’t really know what to do with him, so we brought him to you, since you were the only one available…”
The admiral sighed and leaned back against the table. “I see. Well, you now know that I don’t really care for this. If anyone were to make a decision on this, then go to Arden. Nathan, can you go take them to Arden now? I have other things to attend to.”
Nathan, the officer who opened the door earlier, looked to the side and fidgeted with his hands.
“Uhm…I’m sorry sir, but I believe Vice Admiral Arden is extremely busy right now…”
The blonde admiral groaned and squeezed the table between his hands. “Miller probably made him work overtime again. I guess you’ll have to wait till morning. For now, just lock the onion in a storage room or something. You’re dismissed.”
The officers nodded and dragged Noah out of the room and down a few floors before finding an empty storage room. Noah was thrown onto the floor of the room and locked into complete darkness.
Despite the tiredness, Noah did not sleep at all.
+++
Silas lounged back into his chair after Noah was taken out of the room. He looked at his small doodle of a ship being sunk and giggled.
“You belong in an asylum just by laughing at that, you nutjob.”
Silas lifted his head up to see a tall man with brown hair and eyes, standing across the table with his arms crossed.
“Ah, Admiral Miller. Are you depriving Arden of sleep tonight like you always do?”
“He can manage. Besides, he has Kovac working with him tonight as well.”
“What does Kovac even do? All the little shit does is stand near Arden to make himself look better, y’know.”
“And what do you do, Grey? Have you sunken any ships that aren’t civilian liners?”
“Of course I have.” Silas stood up and walked to a cabinet full of medals. “I didn’t get all these medals for nothing. And you cant really be talking, Miller.”
Silas turned and stood in front of Miller, staring him directly in the eye. “We all know you use Arden to win battles for you. That’s why you haven’t made him a full admiral yet, so you can keep your little puppet. Am I wrong, Miller?”
Miller chuckled and flicked Silas on the forehead. “Very wrong. I’ve known Arden since he was a little boy, I know what I’m doing. He just…hasn’t given me his best performance yet.”
“If you let him get a full night of sleep and told Kovac to fuck off, maybe he will. But you just can’t allow that to happen, can you?”
“Believe what you want to Grey, but you have no say in this. It’s purely between me and Arden. I will promote him when he’s ready, but right now he is not. Stay out of it.”
Miller turned on his heel and left the room, slamming the door behind him. Silas huffed and fell into his chair. “What a joke. Arden is a fucking prodigy for God’s sake, what do you mean ‘he’s not ready’? Do you agree Nathan?”
Nathan had been standing by the door the entire time, and not once did he think to even breathe during the interaction just then. “Uh…yes, sir.”
Silas rolled his eyes and went back to doodling.
“I wonder…Arden is smart enough to see through Miller, so why doesn’t he do something about it?”
+++
Miller slammed the door behind him and marched down the hallways. “Why the fuck does he even care? They all hate each other, why do they suddenly feel the need to get involved in each other’s business?”
Miller stopped at a wooden door near the end of the hallway and slowly opened it. He walked into a small planning room, where Leo and Leandro were sitting at a table with maps and documents spread across it.
Leandro’s head was down resting in his arms, with quiet snoring coming from him. Miller poked his arm a few times before confirming that he was asleep.
“Wow. It’s astounding how you can go days without sleep Arden, yet Kovac here can’t survive a day.”
“Mhm.” Leo mumbled, he was focused on charting a map.
Miller frowned at Leo’s state and held him by his chin, lifting his face up. “You have very dark eye bags. Are you sure you’re alright?”
Leo swatted Miller’s hand away from him. “I’m fine. I can go another day without sleep.”
Miller smiled and patted Leo on the shoulder. “Good. I’ll let you have a small rest tomorrow, since you’ve been doing very well these past few weeks. Your father taught you well.”
Leo nodded as he kept his head down and continued working on the chart. Miller smiled again and grabbed Leo by the arms and pulled him into a hug.
“You’re very special, Arden. Don’t let anything, and I mean anything, stop you from winning this war.”
“I…” Leo paused and buried his head into Miller’s shoulder. “I won’t disappoint you, sir.”
“I know you won’t. Your father would be very proud of you.”
Miller let go and Leo returned to his chair, focusing back onto the chart. Miller stayed until sunrise and pestered Leandro to wake up.
Once Miller left at sunrise, Leo was told that he would have to speak with an Orionite that had been captured the previous night.
At least things were about to get interesting.
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