It has been more than 70 years since the end of the Race Wars. During the unstable non-aggression that followed, the three empires: the Federated Alliance of Sol, the Ascendancy, and Horizon, have attempted to address lingering racial tension within their own borders with varying degrees of success. Border skirmishes continue to flare up as the empires fight over disputed territory. Unification of the galaxy is, for some, a dream of lasting peace and an end to conflict; for others, the ambition to dominate. A technology exists that was too time-consuming, too costly to implement in the heat of war, and only now, it has begun to bear fruit. A technology that is an uncanny merger of mind and machine, a technology capable of finding unprecedented ways to implement existing science to create novel weapons, a technology that is touted by some to be, "the final evolution of conflict". --- "Will Mr. Eihon, Israfil, please report to Gate B5?" came the monotonous voice over the PA, "Your shuttle is waiting for you to depart. I repeat, will Mr. Eihon, Israfil, please..." Israfil dropped his shoulder bag nervously, as the other passengers in the space elevator train turned to look at him quizzically. A few months ago, he was notified that he had been selected to be one of the first generation of cog pilots. This came as something of a surprise, as he was sure he had failed in his pilot assessment. He was nervous and excited, yet despite that, he had overslept and now he was waiting for the long train ride to take him all the way from the surface of the planet to the attached spaceport, from where he would be shuttled to the carrier upon which he would serve. He hadn't yet seen his cog and wondered what it looked like and how it operated. He expected to find something defective and deformed, expected that some terrible mistake had occurred and that he'd get blamed for costing the Ascendancy innumerable sums of money that he'd never be able to repay. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. he had to tell himself that maybe this was his chance to shine, maybe this was the niche he had been looking for all his life. The train began to slow, and when it finally came to a complete stop, indicators gave the passengers permission to unlatch themselves from their seats. In zero-gravity, Israfil floated forward, guiding himself along with handrails and automated ziphandles that would take him to where he needed to go.

Blythe yawned, leaning against one of the walls of the gate. They were surprisingly early, but she blamed that on Claire, who had been excited ever since she got the news that she was accepted to be one of the first cog pilots ever, and that excitement had only increased when she had heard that Blythe had received the same letter. As a result, Claire had insisted to get up even earlier than actually needed, to make sure they were on time and even then, she had been worried about being late. Blythe turned to look at her sister for a moment, who had fallen asleep and smiled. She was glad they were given this chance, they both deserved it, even though Claire was no fighter, Blythe felt certain that she'd be useful. As for Blythe herself... She would probably have some use too for once, and maybe someone would finally appreciate something she did.

Solomon's train reached the top of the space elevator and he got off, making his way through the hallways and malls of the spaceport. he had arrived a bit early, so decided to grab a drink before heading to his gate. Unfortunately, the line at the vendor booth was unusually long today. He looked at the back of the person in front of him and wondered if the man was Ascended or Wildtype. Solomon grimaced as he thought about how in the past, Wildtypes were required to wear identifying clothing, and how that was no longer the case. If he could know if the person in front of him was Wildtype, he would remorselessly use his mind control to have that person get out of line for him. Of course, Solomon would never admit that so self-centered was he that he was incapable of using his telepathy to read minds, only to control them. Rather than risk trying to control the mind of another Ascended, Solomon waited patiently until it was his turn to place his order. Solomon arrived at his gate well ahead of schedule. He had been thinking of the glory that he would bring to himself in service of the Ascendancy when he noticed two young women waiting at the gate. They seemed to be the first ones to arrive. if they were Ascendeds, then he would say they were probably overacheivers, but if they were Wildtypes, he would say they were overeager sycophants. Holding his drink in one hand and scratching his head in dismay with the other, Solomon missed his purely Ascended upbringing, where confusing Ascendeds with Wildtypes wasn't an issue he had to worry about. At the moment, he wasn't sure whether or not to be polite to every new person he met, so he just sat down, a bit away from the two and kept to himself.

Just after Mike sat down in the train, another boy entered it, causing him to look up. So apperently he wasn't even the last one to arrive, which kind of surprised him. He was usually always the last, but never let it bother him. He figured this time he'd make no big deal out of it, neither, especially not since the boy seemed nervous enough about it already. So instead, he simply sat back in his seat and looked around at the other people for a moment. Luckily enough, the vehicle came to a halt before he could get bored of doing so. He got out of his seat and got up, his left leg making a soft, barely audible, mechanic noise as he got up. It as no big deal, but he would have to fix that later. Looking at the guy who's had got into the train last, Mike got over to him and smiled friendly. "Hey, I just noticed you getting in and figured I'd say hi. My name is Mike." He said with a friendly smile.

Tera headed to gate B5 and saw three people sitting in the waiting area, one of whom was sleeping. She gave a subdued smile, first to Blythe and then to Solomon as an initial greeting. She could tell that something was clearly bothering Solomon, but Blythe was a little harder to read. But Tera wasn't going to push herself on them and sat down equidistant from both the sisters and Solomon. "...hey..." Solomon began a bit weakly, but then refilled his confidence, "Hey! You guys Ascended?" He couldn't take it anymore, all this having to guess. Anyways, he figured that if someone was Ascended, they should say so proudly, and if not, then they'd better answer because they were being asked by an Ascended. Tera looked at Solomon with a bit of apprehension, and answered "...Quantum..." Solomon had tilted his head in Tera's direction when he heard her, but lazily rolled his head away with a quiet, "pfft", after actually hearing her answer. He glared at Blythe, waiting for her response. --- "Ah!...uh...Hi...Mike. I'm Israfil...d-did you need something?" Israfil replied as cordially as he could muster, wondering if he had done something to offend this person. It was unusual for someone to come and greet him simply out of politeness. He then suddenly remembered that his name had been shouted over the PA only moments ago, making him feel embarrassed at giving this person his name.

Blythe looked at the guy who had asked the question and shook her head. "We're both Wildtype." She answered shortly, figuring she might as well answer for Claire too, seeing as she was currently asleep. Personally, she didn't see why it was so important to the guy to know what race the others belonged to, like that made any difference. She would most likely dislike him anyway, or anyone else, for that matter. That was just the way things always went for her. ---- Mike looked at Israfil and shook his head. "No, I just thought it would be nice to get to know someone." He explained. That, and there was something cute about Israfil's stuttering, but he decided to not mention that for now. He hadn't come here to flirt, and the poor boy looked nervous enough already just like this. And sure, a bit of innocent flirting wouldn't hurt anyone, but he would save that for later, to cure his boredom.

Solomon glared daggers at Blythe after hearing her response. He opened his mouth, about to say something offensive when a voice cut him off with the finality of a guillotine. "Quantum." came the third reply to Solomon's question. The answer came from Lieutenant Junior Grade Sion RHS, who had just arrived at the gate himself. "It should be time to board soon," he continued, derailing the topic with brute force, "but we're missing someone." He walked over to the gate attendant and said something to him. The attendant pressed a button and moved his mouth closer to the microphone attached to his kiosk and made the following announcement, "Will Mr. Eihon, Israfil, please report to Gate B5? Your shuttle is waiting for you to depart. I repeat, will Mr. Eihon, Israfil, please..." --- Israfil's face lit up a bit against his better judgment, "Oh...I-it's a pleasure to meet you." His face suddenly darkened. Someone introduced himself just to be friendly, and they'd have to part ways soon, never to each other again. "W-well, I'm heading over to gate B5...I'm already late enough as it is. I...I hope you have a safe trip, wherever you're going."

Blythe noticed the look Solomon gave her, which was quite hard to misunderstand. Something she said clearly bothered the guy, and as she had only said one thing to him just yet, it wasn't hard to figure out what exactly bothered him so much, though in all honesty, she couldn't care less about it. She listened to what the other man had to say, when she suddenly heard someone yawning, and noticed that Claire was starting to wake up again. ---- "Actually, I have to go to gate B5 too." Mike said, seemingly happy to have some company. "Well, I was supposed to catch yesterday's flight, actually, but I sort of missed it, so now I'm going today instead of yesterday." He explained, starting to head towards the gate. "Anyway, I guess that means that you're one of the cog pilots?"

Israfil couldn't help but smile a bit at Mike's carefree attitude. It was amazing how Mike didn't seem at all nervous at having missed a flight for a military assignment. "I am," Israfil answered in response to Mike's question about being a cog pilot, "a-are you one as well?" he asked, despite hints to the contrary. He felt he was starting off on the right foot this time, making friends with a fellow pilot before they even arrived at the carrier. As they approached gate B5, however, Israfil got the distinct feeling that he was starting off on the wrong foot, because of the look that two of the people already there, Sion and Solomon, were giving him. Solomon, of course, was glaring at Israfil for being late, and trying to guess his race. Sion on the other hand, was trying to gauge whether Israfil's tardiness was due to haplessness or disregard. Sion would prefer the former, as not everyone can choose to be on time even if they wanted to, whereas the latter would imply an insubordinate personality, which would contradict Israfil's assessment. Schedules and plans mean a lot to Sion, so deviations bothered him considerably, though he tried his best not to let it show. This however did not make a good first impression for the team; Sion was foreseeing a lot of friction between the ensigns. "Well, everyone's arrived, I am Lieutenant Junior Grade Sion RHS, you can call me lieutenant 'Reese'. I will be your commanding officer. Please board the shuttle in a timely manner." Sion decided not to add, "we are already late," to the end of his sentence as he didn't want to create any more tension.

Mike shook his head in response to Israfil's question. "No, I'm not a cog pilot, which is probably for the best." After all, the last time he had been in control of a vehicle, it had ended in an accident. And sure enough, he was responsible and a decent driver, but ever since, he hadn't dared to take place behind a steering wheel. It was one of the few things that did manage to still make him nervous and/or stressed, usually both. "I'm one of the mechanics, so if you damage your cog, you get to visit me." He continued. Having listened to Reese, Blythe got up and looked at her twin sister. "Come on sleepyhead, time to get up." She said shortly. The girl was still not entirely awake yet, but that was no big deal. Claire yawned again nodded sleepily, getting up a bit slowly. She hadn't slept at all last night due to her excitement, so this bit of sleep had done her good.

"Ah, I see, I'll be counting on you then," Israfil replied, he was a little disappointed that they wouldn't be teammates, but at least they'd still be working closely. Israfil went up to Sion and apologized, "I'm so sorry for being late, sir."

"Apology...accepted," Sion replied, trying to keep his voice from sounding too short. Israfil expected Sion would say more and when he didn't, Israfil sort of just bowed awkwardly and went inside the shuttle.

Tera got up and went in the shuttle as well. When she passed by in front of Sion, she nodded to him slightly and gave a gentle smile. Sion, who had maintained his stoicism up to this point, smiled back in reassurance, and gave a quick, wary glance at Solomon.

Sion stood by the gate to make sure everyone got in the shuttle.

Mike nodded and headed towards the shuttle, looking at Rheese for a brief moment and deciding it might be best to inform the man about who he was. So once everyone was inside the shuttle, Mike walked up to the man. "I'm Mike Rogers sir, one of the mechanics. I missed yesertday's flight and was told to take this flight instead." The boy explained, looking up to Rheese.

Claire looked at Rheese and gave the man a friendly smile, before entering the shuttle and taking place in the shuttle. She kept a seat next to her free for her sister, who, unsurprisingly, decided to choose a seat as far away from everyone else. Claire let out a soft sigh, but tried to not let it bother her. After all, she knew it was nothing personal, she was just always like that.

Unlike the other two, Blythe dien't show any kind of smile towards Rheese, or paid any attention to him at all, for that matter. She picked out the so far still loneliest seat and took place there, away from everyone else, which was just great to her. If nobody would bother her, than she would behave just fine.

Sion looked down at Mike impassively; he had no personal stake in Mike's behavior or performance so he did not judge his tardiness. "Yes, Seaman Rogers, I was informed that you will be joining us in the shuttle. You are cleared to enter." When Claire passed in front of him, Sion smiled back in politeness, a bit relieved to see that not everyone human going to be difficult to deal with. When Blythe passed him by, he had expected her to behave coldly, given how she had responded to Solomon earlier. Sion wondered if Blythe was aware of the fact that the program only wanted Claire, and only took Blythe on because hints in the twins' cog designs suggested that the two had to go together to unleash their full potential.

Solomon made a show of entering last, testing the limits of Sion's patience. "Hey Lieutenant," Solomon asked lazily, "Besides me, who in our team is Ascended?"

Sion narrowed his eyes momentarily and decided that answering him would be the fastest solution, "Only Lieutenant Encarnacion, who we will meet when we arrive at the carrier."

Solomon clicked his tongue in disappointment. Then he realized that he didn't have to show respect to anyone in the shuttle, except maybe Sion because of his rank. He sat down and reclined, taking up as many seats as he could and pulled his hat over his eyes. he had wanted to pick on someone but maybe he'd save it for later. He didn't feel like getting in trouble just yet, not until he knew he could get away with it.

Israfil, who had entered the shuttle first, sat down and made sure there was a seat next to him for Mike.

Tera meanwhile, decided to sit near Claire, while still keeping Blythe's seat open. "Ensign Tera QAZ," she introduced herself in a quiet, airy voice. Looking at people's facial expressions and body language, Claire looked like the most approachable of the pilots so far.

The shuttle, meanwhile, detached from the station and made its way into outer orbit, where it will rendezvous with the Incubator Concert, the experimental fleet commissioned specifically for the deployment of the cogs.

Claire looked at the girl who sat next to her and introduced herself, giving the Quantum a friendly smile. "Claire Rivers. The grumpy girl over there is my sister, Blythe. We're twins." She said, figuring it was the best to get out of the way right away. That way the girl shouldn't have to find out later on, on her own.

Mike nodded and got into the shuttle. He noticed Israfil had kept a seat free for him and smiled, walking over to the boy and sitting down next to him. There was at least one nice person, which was good to know. Too bad they wouldn't be working together. Still, he'd probably see the boy some times, or at least he hoped so.

"Say if you don't mind me asking, why were you so nervous? I mean, everybody is late sometimes, it's not a very big deal."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Claire," Tera said politely. "I think it's pretty amazing that both you and your sister were chosen to be pilots, I've heard the selection process was fairly rigorous. Was joining the military your goal from the beginning, or were you just randomly selected to take a cog-scan?" The question may come off as odd, but Tera herself was more or less plucked out of civilian life to be a pilot. Perhaps the program thought that, as a machine, she would be obedient. The fact that she just went along with it means that perhaps they were right.

"Uh...ummm..." Israfil was having a hard time answering Mike's question, "It's like...I don't want anyone to get mad at me. I mean, Lieutenant Reese...I think he's not happy right now, and I think it's because of me." Israfil didn't quite know how to put it into words, but he'd felt judged his whole life. His desire to please came out of a need to cover some sort of ingrained defect he felt he had. As far as he was concerned, if he couldn't make everyone around him happy, then there was something wrong with him.

Overhearing Israfil, Solomon chimed in from across the shuttle, "You bet your ass he's angry." Solomon grinned a little to himself. Israfil swallowed thickly and looked down at his knees.

Sion decided not to comment; to say he wasn't a bit peeved would be lying, and trying to explain without hurting Israfil's feelings wasn't exactly something he felt he could do, nor even really wanted to. Israfil was a soldier now, and if this was enough to upset him, then he had no business being in combat. Sion instead checked the ETA and announced, "We should be arriving at the Incubator momentarily."

Blythe overheard the conversation and frowned, looking at Solomon. What he did was unneeded and only made the boy feel worse, and he almost definitely knew that. "Perhaps an angered Liuetenant isn't the worst of our problems. After all, working with a brat like yourself seems much worse." She said in return. She had no reason to be friendly towards anyone at all, and especially not to Solomon, after the look he gave her before.

"Actually, it was my sister's idea to join the military at first and I had no interest in it. But the more we talked about it, the more excited I got." Claire said to Tera. The Quantum seemed nice enough, and Claire enjoyed having someone to talk with, so she didn't mind talking about anything with her at the moment.

Mike listened to Israfil, and had to admit that it was understandable, even though Mike never cared much about what others taught, or at least not anymore. He just wanted the liuetenant to think of him in a good way, and he probably wasn't the only one. "Try not to worry too much about it. Sure, the liuetenant is probably a little annoyed, but I bet you can make up for being late by kicking some ass at the battlefield." He said, again showing a friendly smile. He had decided to ignore Solomon, and had rejected the first thing he had wanted to say. After all, he was pretty certain that Rheese wouldn't like it if Mike told the boy to try to give less of a fuck about what his supervisor thought of him.

Solomon swung his legs down from the neighboring seat that he had propped them on and stood up abruptly, "Watch what you say when you speak to your betters!" He walked into the aisle and tilted his head back a bit, looking down his nose towards Blythe. His mouth widened into a nasty grin, "Time to apologize. Now, kneel!" Blythe was uncontrollably compelled to get out of her seat, get on her hands and knees, and place her head on the floor. Solomon walked up to her and placed his foot on the back of her head. "Now do you understand the difference?"

Seeing the scene, Israfil grabbed his head and cowered in terror, hating himself for being too scared to help. He had been on the receiving end of the supernatural bullying of Ascendeds for far too many times.

Sion shot up out of his seat and yelled angrily, "Ensign Lear! You are to stop that at once! This is an order from a superior officer!"

Tera looked between Solomon and Sion indecisively. She hoped Lieutenant RHS would take care of the situation. She looked at Claire hoping she wouldn't get involved, but expecting she would; after all, her twin was being humiliated.

Solomon stared back at Sion for a tense moment.

Mike seemed surprised by what happened but rather than getting involved in it, he turned his attention towards Israfil again. Considering his reaction, it seemed to bring up some bad memories. "Hey, are you alright?" He asked worried.

"Hey, stop it!" Claire shot up from her seat, looking at Solomon with an angry face. She had expected Blythe to get into this kind of situations and what she said was far from friendly, but still, there was no need for Solomon to act like this.

Blythe had a look of anger and hate in her eyes, though with her head pressed against the ground, it couldn't be seen. "Yeah, I get it, you're a pathetic, low life excuse of a sentient being, who can only feel good by treating others like crap." She said with anger audible in her voice. She hadn't liked the guy from the beginning, but forcing her to do something, especially kneeling, of all things, only made that worse. She had been humiliated and laughed at more than enough already, she didn't need some arrogant brat doing such a thing to her again.

Upon hearing Blythe's defiance, Solomon lifted his foot in rage and was about to curb-stomp her when Sion shouted, "LEAR! That's enough! I gave you an order!"

Solomon seemed to snap back slightly out of his rage. He still fumed, incredulous that a Wildtype would dare speak to him in that manner. His leg hovered over Blythe's head indecisively.

"You are already going to be reprimanded for attacking a fellow soldier, Ensign Lear, don't make it any worse by disobeying me," Sion continued.

"Great," Solomon thought, "Now the Quantum's giving me lip too." Solomon placed his foot down gently next to Blythe's head and shrugged, feigning innocence, "Attacked? I did nothing of the sort. She came and bowed down to me of her own free will." Solomon released the control he had on Blythe's body.

"Don't be facetious, Ensign Lear," Sion continued, "Ascended psychic abilities are not magical. Certain sensors can detect the brainwaves you emit. I happen to be equipped with such sensors, so I can see that you were doing something to Ensign Rivers. Also, a Quantum's memory is not filtered by an objective, human viewpoint, so my evidence is more reliable than any excuse you can come up with, now SIT DOWN!" Sion normally didn't flaunt a Quantum's superiority over humans, but he tended to react to Ascended supremacist behavior with Quantum supremacist behavior, which he knew was wrong, but he also knew it pissed off Ascended supremacists to no end to be reminded of a Quantum's inherent advantages.

Solomon sat back down without a word, but continued to grin; Sion would be right if he presented his evidence in front of a fair and impartial court, but Solomon was pretty certain that the judge would be Ascended, and therefore biased in Solomon's favor, and would overturn Sion's evidence. A part of Solomon was afraid that Sion might actually succeed, but Solomon wouldn't let that anxiety show on his face.

Tera put a comforting hand on Claire's shoulder and whispered, "Let's go see if your sister's OK."

Israfil whispered quietly to himself, "...please, stop fighting..."

Once Solomon had released the control he had over her, Blythe got back up on her feet again and glared at the Ascended, the same expression of anger and hate still visible in her eyes. "I'd never kneel willingly for anyone, and especially not for a son of a bitch like you." She said in return to the excuse Solomon made up.

Mike, who had noticed that it seemed like Solomon was calming down, gently placed a hand on Israfil's shoulder, looking at him. "Israfil, it's okay, nobody is going to fight anyone." He said in an attempt to calm the boy down, feeling sorry for him.

Claire nodded and walked over to her sister, looking at her with a look of concern. "Are you alright?" She asked worried, even though the girl obviously seemed to be alright. "I'm fine." Blythe answered shortly, being honest about it. Her face hurt a little but it was nothing serious, and that was all.