Iowa woke with a start. It had been some time since he’s had a good sleep. He looked at his pad and realized what time it was. He was going to run late for breakfast and he hadn't even had hid daily run yet. He rushed to get something on and ran over to the armory to grab his Armour. He ran into the canteen with his helmet in his hand and straightening up his hair. He quickly grabbed some grub and saw North and South.

"G'morning," he said as he moved over to South and North, He sat down with them. "tiring week south?" He took out his data pad and did a quick scan. "Well it's good news, some of the stuff we taught you is still in your brain." he turned the pad towards he showing a graph peaking, ",your Brain stimulation is the highest it's been all week." He took the banana off his tray and gave it to her, "It's high in proteins and it tastes better than those protein pills they give you in Basic training," he took a bite of his sandwich and noted down all of her statistics. "I hope you don't mind, it's best to keep track to make sure I'm not over working you."

Oregon just found it funny, he's not on the board, but one of the people who are couldn't take the rough and tough life. Everyday he made it a point to have a little fun poke at her in the morning, though clearly by looking at Oregon's face (he doesn't like wearing the helmet unless he has to) you could see the tiredness in him everyday as he was mentally breaking himself, forcing himself to continue doing this horrid sleep schedule.

Oregon woke up at 4 am, just like he needed to. Doing his daily routine spending 15 minutes he got himself cleaned up, spent 10 minutes doing his motions, 30 minutes meditating, and from there he got into his armour and messed with South about getting up. He trained his swordsmanship till everyone decided to eat breakfast going in to join them, he noticed Iowa scanning South, "Making sure she's still awake are ya doc?" Grabbing his food, he sat down next to the good doctor Iowa before eating up a storm

Carolina walked over and poked South. "I think we might be killing her, maybe we should give her a day of rest before we double the training schedule?" He joked as he sat down, his plate had nothing but sweets on it, he had doubled his personal training and med bay order him to intake triple calories to help with the stress. "South if wake up I'll give my ice cream~" He said looking at the others. "Seriously if this doesn't work then we may need to send her to med bay, I don't think she would turn down ice cream, even if it military rationed kind." He joked sticking his spoon in his bowl of frozen sugar.

Over the past few days North had grown to like Oregon, he had a lot of good qualities that he liked. He was sure South had warmed up to him too, despite her initial encounter with him. She’d begun to relax around him and he was sure she’d realised he wasn’t as serious as she had initially though. Now they had more of a playful relationship, usually revolving around him making fun of her. He thought it may be what some sibling’s relationships would be like, what their relationship may have been like if she hadn't been sick as a kid.

What it could be like if he didn’t worry about her so much. Though she did make it a point of telling him, in all serious, every morning that she thought him depriving himself of sleep was a stupid idea. As the others joined them South merely mumbled incoherent words in response to the conversations around her. He was glad they’d met the people they had here though. From what he’d seen they all cared about her and he knew she’d be in good hands if anything ever happened to him.

“Maybe we should give her a day of rest before we double the training schedule?”

“What?!” South’s head jerked up off the table and she turned to look at North with pleading eyes as if asking if they were really planning on doubling her training. North merely shrugged slightly, trying to suppress a grin. They were planning on it, but not right now. Neither he nor Iowa believed she was physically ready for it. Looking back down at the table for a moment South then suddenly reached over and took Cal’s ice cream from him however simply stared at the bowl. Oddly enough she’d found her appetite decreasing the more exhausted she got. She had been told this was a normal thing, but she didn’t think she liked it.

Washington woke early on this particular day. He half wanted to hit the gym, but if he was going to be honest he was way too tired. He got up and looked at the clock. it was too early to do anything vigorously active, so he took his time, had a shower got dressed, went to the armory and just did some small firing course.

When he got it back to the dorm he noticed that Alaska was still in bed. He tried nearly everything to wake her calmly but gave up after two attempts He shouted at her, "Hey Sis, you need to get up breakfast is in half an hour." she opened her eyes slightly before raising her head, "Fuck off, i'm staying bed. It's warm and I don't have you shouting at me." Alaska replied sharply. "Suit yourself," Wash added. "But don't blame me if there isn't any food left." Wash said slyly. She groaned as she moved on her side. and got out of bed. "I'd so slap you if you weren't my brother." She said walking towards the bathroom. "I bet you would, I'll see you in the canteen, don't be too long, I'd hate to be the only sibling."

Washington arrived to the sight of everyone chowing down. "Good morning all." he said sitting down with his food. "Ice cream for breakfast, what kind of messed up universe is this." He added chuckling. "So, a day of rest, who'd of thought it." Alaska hurriedly entered the canteen and grabbed her usual fruit and yogurt, then proceed to sit down across from wash. "I don't see what you see in the yogurt. Sis" "Morning all, You wouldn't i think it's too healthy for you." She said sarcastically tapping his chest. "Hey, this is a figure." wash replied playfully, "Speaking of figures, whats on the list of training for today?" Alaska asked.

Cal laughed as the second set of siblings entered. "Well as for training I'm not, I got a cll from the chief engineer. The tanks guns screwed up the gun calibration and now it can't hit the broad side of a barn. Plus beside's that some idiot threw a frag grenade in the engine bay so I'm fixing that to." He said trying to take his ice cream back from South. "See these guys can build this shit but they never drive them so people like me have to do the repairs, those who did them before when the shit failed in the field." He gives up and just pulls a chocolate bar out of his bag eating it. "I was tempted to make South be my crane for lifting stuff but she's been working hard." He laughed taking a bite. "Oh and I got the best news, apparently I'm allowed to go down there in my armor, so I'll be doing the job in jumpsuit like all the other joe's." He grumbled as he finished the candy bar. With that he got up and headed down engineering calling back to them. "Anybody want to help come now!"

It had been a long four days, Agent Pennsylvania decided, a long as hell four days. He had gotten pulled, hard, from the training sim for, and he was quoting the brass on this one, 'Additional Advanced Advisement'. In other words, since he had ranked as high as he did on the scoreboard, he had been pulled for additional briefing, training, explanations, and a whole mess of things that had utterly and completely absorbed any free time he had, even eating had been done on the fly between briefs and training sessions. It was all very clear in his head how the last four days had progressed before the brass finally had let him walk off, having finished their training regiment to the satisfaction of whomever had dictated, and was no doubt supervising, the whole thing. Whoever it was had not deemed it necessary for Penn to know the why of the training, only the material within the training was valid information for him to know.

First day had been psych evaluations, which Penn had expected to see happen. Going full suicidal for a training sim might invite that kind of scrutiny. The questions and research did not go along as the Agent had predicted they would, seeming more concerned about various other scenarios and possible mental instabilities BESIDES the apparent tendencies towards critical existence failures. Apparently whatever he had going for him appealed to the brass, since after that they green lit him for the next three days of high intensity, high yield training. Day one had ended with being cleared by the various medical authorities, and day two expectations and briefings before being sent to a holding unit rather than his own quarters. Probably didn't appreciate him debugging the room.

Day two was physical and mental stress tests, in both simulated and real space. Maximum carrying capacities, lift limits, top speed, resilience to mental and physical fatigue, the sims allowed for warped time perception, getting far more done in a single day than would normally be possible. It was strenuous and went to the very limits of his abilities, which was to be expected from stress testing, really. Several of the 'no win' scenarios irked him, because they had run along the same vein as the final simulation that placed him at the top of the ratings board that others had placed lower on. So it was probably insuring that there had not been a fluke in the training, something unusual that had gotten him through where he shouldn't have. There wasn't, but it was a rare case of not being able to blame the brass for double checking their assets.

Day three and day four consisted of advanced technical instruction in ordinance class weapons that he had, in some cases, never even heard of, let alone ever dreamed of getting his hands on. Intelligence briefs on various environments and locations that he had not personally operated in, but had the potential to be deployed to. It was the good stuff that made Penn decide it had not been a waste of his time, even if the isolation aspect of it had not been terribly interesting or welcome to deal with. But it had finished by the evening of the fourth day of his isolation, and he was cleared to go resume normal duties and stand by for further assignment and mission tasking. Penn had quietly retired for the time being, passing out for however long he had, getting proper rest to digest the past few days events more fully and make his conclusions.

Eventually the doors to his quarters opened again, and out came Pennsylvania again, fully armored with his helmet tucked under his arm. He wasn't hungry, so for now, he wandered the hallways and spaces without a destination in mind, waiting for the call that he had a sneaking suspicion was not far away now. But he wasn't planning to run into anyone, though he would probably recognize them if he crossed paths with them, so it was not too much of a concern if he did. For now, though, he reckoned it was a good idea to figure out what was going to happen in the short term, especially after his rather unusual past couple of days.

South sat there staring at the ice cream, looking up as Cal got up and walked away before she pushed the bowl away and rested her head back on the table. North frowned slightly and nudged her breakfast towards her. “Come on, you gotta eat something.” However the girl simply shook her head slightly and let her eyes close.

“Not hungry.”

North blinked in surprise and placed a hand to her forehead, even as she attempted to swat him away weakly. “Are you feeling alright?” He asked, worrying that they really had been pushing her too hard. He’d noticed her not eating as much over the past few days but she’d still been consuming the amount a normal human would need. To have her outright refuse a meal. To hear that South wasn’t hungry? He turned to Iowa, looking worried. “Do you think you could give her a look over Doc?” He asked eventually. He had been planning for today to be another training day but now he thought maybe it should be declared a rest day.

“Could the following agents please report to the Briefing Room.” F.I.L.S.S’ voice rang out clear through the room. Announcements like these were being made almost daily now, calling groups to be sent out for who knew what. “Alaska, Carolina, Dakota North, Dakota South, Iowa, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington.” Everyone sat there quietly for a few minutes, listening and waiting to see if any other names would be called. So far those in the top ten hadn't been called for a mission yet. And they’d never called a group this big before.

“Looks like we’re going to have to do that check-up on the fly Doc.” South said as she stood up, yawning and moving off towards the Briefing Room. North watched her with concern before he stood up and quickly grabbed an apple off the table before following her. If they really were being sent on a mission then she’d need to eat something before then.

Penn was not too far off from the briefing room when the announcement came over the speakers, F.I.L.S.S calling the top ranked members of this merry group of soldiers off to some brief. The group was far larger than the normal ones sent out, it seemed from previous call outs and chatter from lower ranked soldiers. Considering he was not occupied of otherwise indisposed at that particular moment, he was able to wander over to the indicated room in rather short time, in his armor as he found a place to sit down, while nowhere specific or near any spots that might hold some significant meaning for one reason or another, and set his helmet down on the table. He leaned back in the chair a fair bit, using the reclined position to relax while waiting for the other members he hadn't seen for some time to arrive. His arms were crossed across his chest, as well as he could over the increased bulk his chest piece had at any rate, and began playing the waiting game, wondering who would actually come walking in after him for the brief.

“Could the following agents please report to the Briefing Room.” F.I.L.S.S’ voice rang out clear through the room. Announcements like these were being made almost daily now, calling groups to be sent out for who knew what. “Alaska, Carolina, Dakota North, Dakota South, Iowa, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington.”

"Well then, guess its time to learn what everyone else has been up to," Oregon said getting to his feet he jogged back to his room to grab his helmet since he never wears it he rarely carried it. After grabbing the helmet he realized he had no clue where he was going, luckily a passing scientist knew where the room was and guided Oregon to where he needed to go. Walking in he noticed someone he hadn't seen to often, but instantly Oregon didn't like him. Something seemed off, a fellow member only being seen really when everyone is called to a briefing and he was just there waiting. "Can I safely assume you're Agent Pennsylvania? I don't believe we've met properly, I'm Agent Oregon."

"Of course I'll get right on it" He said getting up and completing his scan on South, he saved his data and followed North to the briefing room. "She's fine, the dopamine receptors in her brain have stopped being accustomed to food intake, So you won't feel the need to eat as much as more, neither will food give you that Buzz. In short, you'll be fine you just won't eat as much." He entered the Briefing room with Oregon and Penn waiting inside. "Well, Nice to see that you two are introduced" he said taking his own helmet off but keeping his data pad in hand. Iowa was in a good mood today, he couldn't tell why, but he didn't care. Smiling he went to the side of the room and leant against the wall, and plugged an ear piece into one of his ears, linked to his data pad. He loaded up a quick project he'd been working on and waited to be called.

Cal got the call halfway inside the tanks engine, groaning he pulled himself loose and jogged up to the briefing room. He hated missions like this and the worst part was the fact he didn't have time to change. So he walked in half a jump suit the sleeves of the shirt tied around his waist, grease and oil coating his hair and the rest of him. "This better be good, I was in middle of an engine." He grumbled taking a seat in one the chairs.

He was frighted he had a feeling this was a big tough job and were they really up to that, were he and south up to that? They were the weak links here and he knew it, but it scared him more that this could get the others killed. So wiping grease out of his eyes he surveyed the others.

"My vote says Road trip." Alaska said smiling as she got up picking up her helmet but not putting it on. "I'll second that." wash said raising his hand for high five. Alaska looked down and noticed she was still in her casuals. "Wash I need to get changed into my Armour, ill be a few minutes, see you there." The siblings moved out as their hands made contact. Catching up with Iowa and North and south, Wash joined in the conversation. "I hear what he's saying, I lost my appetite through Basic training. You'll need any food you can get though south."

Wash inspected the training room. He noticed that Oregon was talking with Penn, He considered that it might be a good idea to leave them to it, he had noticed that Penn had become more recluse ever since the training Sim, and if he was being honest Penn was the only one in the team who actually intimidated him, a rare feat. He saw Iowa moving on by himself and decided that it would be interesting to see what he was up to "Hey Iowa watcha up to?"

Alaska got in later. and noticed Cal slumped in his chair. She moved over and sat next to him, "Cal, sorry but i can't take you seriously with Oil on your cheek," She glanced at him, "You look you just had a fight with a warthog and lost." She said chuckling. she inspected him closer The look on his face was one of fear, she got nervous and reached to his shoulder, "are you alright? You look like shit."

Iowa turned to wash with a smile, "Just a little project, An old friend calling in a favor so to speak," He turned his data pad to Washington, "I'm trying to turn my medical knowledge into technical stuff. I'm hoping to change this scanner into a multipurpose tool maybe link it into A.I systems and so on. At the moment it only detects living organisms. But after some improvements it should be able to look after systems, hack into computers and more. It's nothing right now, but soon I hope to test it out in a combat, there is a couple of tools that i find make come in handy." he turned off his pad and turned to face him, "So what do you think this all about, I heard you talking to your sister about a mission, do you think it's our turn?"

Cal sighed and looked at Alaska then laughed. "I'm worried this mission is going to a meat grinder... Weed out some of us who aren't good enough for the live stuff. I mean sure the sim went alright but live mission, well variables change and shit hits the fan faster." He sighed running a hand through his hair. "And I didn't lose a fight with a warthog. I won a fight against a tank. You should see him he's in a million pieces across the floor right now." He laughed making a joke about how he disassembled the thing.

South moved and sat down in the briefing room, waiting like the others, however she was mostly quiet and had become somewhat withdrawn. It worried North, a lot. She’d been in such an odd headspace recently. He thought it may have just been the training, but Iowa said she was fine physically at least. He didn’t have much time to dwell on it, however, as F.I.L.L.S’ voice rang out over the speaker in the room as a large hologram of a ship appeared on the table in the middle.

“Welcome Agents, now that we are all assembled I am able to brief you on your newest mission. This will be an intelligence gathering mission, with emphasis on stealth and lack of casualties. You mission is to travel to the ship displayed, at coordinates that will be pre-programmed into the ship you will be piloting to the location. You will be split up into three teams. Team A will consist of Agents North Dakota, South Dakota and Washington. You primary objective will be to escort agent South Dakota to the main information terminal, located here. The ship hologram rotated and zoomed in on a particular room that became highlighted in red.

“Where she will have to gain access to the data files and extract the information needed. Team B will consist of Agents Carolina, Pennsylvania and Oregon will be in charge of creating a distraction and causing optimal chaos amongst the ship’s ranks should Team A require it. Preferably we hope to avoid the need for Team B, but Team A’s presence and purpose being kept a secret is the main goal of this mission and Team C may assist in this where needed. The final team will consist of Alaska and Iowa, who will be in charge of extraction and ensuring all Agents are to leave the ship in the best condition possible. No agent is to be left behind, dead or alive.”

There was an ominously grim pause after that sentence before she continued speaking. “Agents are encouraged to prepare and meet at the docking bay within the next half an hour. Good luck.”

"That could be useful," wash said inquisitively, "I can think of many situations we might be able to use that, keep up the good work doc. "

"You mean the massive tank thing? you disassembled and tank? you must be mad." Alaska said trying to have a bit of fun, "And hey, Don't worry about it what ever happens I'm sure any member of our team would be willing to help out." as soon as Alaska finished her sentence the table lit up. Both siblings listened closely, each listening out for their name and duty.

As F.I.L.S.S stopped speaking Alaska spoke up. "I'll see you guys at the hanger i need to things ready for our trip." She said leaving the room, on her way out she tapped wash on the shoulder indicating out side. as she left Washington spoke up, "Well, I need to find my old tactical shotgun, it's been to long. I'll see you guys in there." He left to meet Alaska in the armory. "What's up?" Asked Washington. "It's Cal, you need to make sure he doesn't do anything bad, I don't think he thinks he's ready for live combat, just make sure he doesn't kill himself." Washington replied: "sis, Listen, cal is strong he can look after himself, don't worry" He picked up his shotgun and his pistol, spinning the silencer on.

Alaska Grabber her DMR and walked to the Docking bay with Washington She saw her ride and Jumped with joy, "Wash, help me set this thing up for launch, I need the covers taken off the engines whilst I start it up." Wash walked around and took of the covers and waited inside the pelican waiting for the others.

"Can I safely assume you're Agent Pennsylvania? I don't believe we've met properly, I'm Agent Oregon."

Penn looked up from his idle waiting to see an unfamiliar face. The man introduced himself as Agent Oregon, and an easy, friendly smirk replaced the neutral expression on his face from before as he extended his hand to the Agent, as an invitation to shake hands rather than anything else. "You could indeed assume as much. It is a pleasure to meet you, Agent, should be interesting seeing how you work on the field, sure as sure."

The briefing was given, and the role his team was given seemed to almost contradict the initial stealth and recon aspect of things. Then again, Team B was the back up just in case things hit the fan and something loud and noisy was needed to drag away prying eyes. Oh, he could think of quite a few things that could do that, especially on board a space ship. One hull breach could cause the entire ship to drop what they were doing and rush to plug it or, if it was bad enough, just outright evacuate. He could think of some charge placements that would cascade into something of that magnitude, and it would leave the ship damaged, and in all reality, very few people would die from the blast or decompression of the spaces he had in mind. Maybe a handful, if it was being traveled at the time. Penn spoke up, arms crossing over his armored chestplate. "So, if Team B is necessary, are casualties no longer a high concern? I do need to know what kind of explosives to bring, after all."

Once he had his answer, Penn nodded to Oregon and Carolina each before heading out towards the armory. The charges magnitude and power would vary depending on his answer, but his overall loadout would remain just about the same. He grabbed his paired pistols, both suppressed of course, locking them onto each hip for quick access and slung his grenade launcher over his shoulder. He didn't want to have to use it, but the EMP function could prove useful in disrupting and causing chaos. And of course, a grenade launcher was safer to use in a ship combat situation then a out and out Rocket Launcher. Grabbing an ordinance bag, he stuffed it full of a variety of grenades and several demolition charges, slinging that over his back as well before walking down to the hanger and walking up the ramp to the Pelican, an easy smirk on his face before he locked his helmet in place.

"Let's make this an easy day in and out, got plenty of presents for our friends on that ship if we need a distraction."

Cal chuckled at Alaska's joke then looked at South as she entered, he may have joked but she worried him. She was a civilian and she was now critical to the mission. He knew B team would be needed, more than likely during the exit. However as the briefing continued he remembered more of his training, he was in his element.

Cal relaxed when he heard the mission, ship to ship was his specialty, he knew everything about lay out and design mostly thanks to him being a Navy man. Still he had a good idea on how to cause some chaos... Mostly because he knew exactly the best way to distract people on a ship. He left the room grabbing a quick shower before he ran dressed and pulled on his armor. He hit the armory collecting a two SMG's and his assault rifle he also headed down to the motor pool and grabbed two mongooses. He had a great idea for his team... And he couldn't wait to run it by Penn, the Mongoose surprise was by far his favorite tactic. He hooked one up to the other climbing on he drove it towards there ride tow his spare mongoose along behind. Driving it back through the halls rather than straight through the shuttle bay he called out. "Cal's taxi service now heading for launch bay, room for three!" He yelled with a smile as they headed down the hall.

South looked to North as the briefing ended and they both left, heading for their rooms since neither of them were in amour. What bothered him though was that she didn’t look worried or scared. All of this… it didn’t seem like her and the man found himself wracking his brain trying to think of what could have put her in this mindset. What if it was the training? She needed it if she was going to survive but the question was how much was she going to change? Was he willing to lose her in order to help her survive?

He felt something brush against his hand and North looked down to see South holding his hand gently and when he looked at her she was smiling softly at him. He smiled back, surprised how good that simple action made him feel. The pair split for a few minutes and both emerged in their amour a short time later. It was strange, seeing South in amour again. They both avoided it except when it was really needed, so it was becoming a special occasion almost when they were both fully suited up. From there North had to make a few small stops to the armoury and supplies room but he encouraged South to go ahead on her own since they were now cutting it a little close for time.

As South was making her way towards the hanger she heard someone shouting from behind her and was more than surprised to see Cal driving up the hallway with a couple of… little… car things. Like an ATV. She had seen a few of them when he’d been teaching her to drive but still couldn’t remember the names of any of the vehicles. Just warthogs and, honestly that name made no sense to her at all. It kind of looked more like a puma.

Regardless she waved him down and climbed onto the back, seeing as they were going the same way anyway. “Do I want to ask why you’re brining little cars when we’re supposed to be maintaining a low profile?” She asked, thinking how weird her voice sounded over the comm.