Basic Training - Part 1

Deakka leaned against the wall of the spaceport, watching the slow trickle of traffic. This colony was entirely devoted to the military; everyone he could see was in uniform. Still, the sight of his long red tunic made most everyone pause and salute him. He was used to it by now, and didn't even bother returning the salutes.

In the three months since Bloody Valentine's, ZAFT had stepped up their war efforts to a massive degree. Deakka himself was part of a top-secret program to train the best pilots for a new type of mobile suit.

He had been the first to arrive - he'd been stationed only a few colonies away. He was now waiting for the team's second member to arrive. The other man, Yzak Jule, had been on one of the warships that had just returned to the PLANT colony area. Deakka wondered what, if anything, Jule had been told about his new assignment. Deakka had simply been handed transfer orders and put on the first shuttle out of his colony, with no clue where he was going or why.

At last he spotted the distinctive silver hair from the photo he'd been given, and made his way forward. "Lieutenant Jule?" he asked as he stopped a few feet from the other teen, just to be sure.

Yzak glanced around as he heard his name and nodded at the dusky-skinned blond boy who was approaching him. "That's me," he said, hitching his dufflebag a little higher on his shoulder. He had an arrogant air about him, a coldness in his eyes, as he glanced at Deakka's rank insignia and found that it matched his own. He didn't bother to salute, or even smile.

Deakka was sizing him up at the same time. He saw a thin boy his own age with sharp features and an aggressive expression. "I'm Deakka Elthman, your new teammate. I've been assigned to bring you back to the base."

Yzak nodded, a smirk twisting his lips. "Then let's get out of here," he said. "Lead the way."

Deakka shrugged, and turned to exit the port, still ignoring the salutes of everyone around them. Yzak's attitude rubbed him the wrong way, but he wasn't about to get worked up over it. There wasn't much he DID get worked up about, except fighting the Natural bastards.

"Do you need to get any luggage?" he asked.

"No, I've got everything here," Yzak said, hefting his dufflebag and moving to walk beside Deakka. He'd changed into his new uniform on the transport and was glad he had, the number of people saluting them was incredible - though he was careful to emulate Deakka's unconcern about it. The last thing he needed to do was look like a kid who'd just been promoted - even if that WAS what he was.

Deakka hardly even saw the salutes anymore... even though he'd arrived not that long ago, he was already bored with the novelty of it. "Our car is over here," he said as they left the building and entered the parking garage. He unlocked it and slid into the driver's seat, waiting for Yzak to settle himself.

Yzak shoved his bag into the back seat and sat in the passenger seat, sitting with an unconscious grace and arrogance that might have looked posed if it weren't so natural. "How long does it take to get to the base from here?" he asked, glancing out of the window.

"Twenty minutes to the first gates," Deakka replied as he put the car in gear and pulled out. "Another ten or twenty after that to the actual base, depending on whether the security people are dicks or not."

Yzak glanced at Deakka. "Security people are always dicks," he said, his lips quirking in a smile. "That's their job."

Deakka laughed. "This is true. They'll probably stop us today, since they won't recognize you. Mostly they just wave me through at this point though, unless they decide to be anal." He shrugged. "There are some advantages to rank and privilege, I guess." He glanced at his new companion. "What did they tell you about this assignment?"

Yzak was a little surprised to hear that they had such high standing that they were just waved through security without a check, but he struggled to keep it from his face. At Deakka's question, he shrugged. "Nothing, really. They said it was a promotion and a top-secret mission. Something in piloting, so I guess it's an upgraded Jin or something, right?"

"Something like that," Deakka agreed, glancing at the other teen again. "Of course, I'm not supposed to tell you anything before you get your official debriefing from Captain Kruez." He smirked slightly.

Yzak eyed him significantly. "Yeah, I know you're not supposed to..." he said.

"Of course, it's not MY fault if you happened to have already heard the scuttlebut that's flying around the whole damn colony," Deakka continued, his smirk widening. "Gods know the rumours are wild enough that some of them are actually not that far from the truth."

"Exactly... and I certainly wouldn't be able to remember exactly who'd told me the rumour, even if it was you," Yzak replied, warming up to the game.

"Right," Deakka nodded, now grinning outright. Maybe this guy wasn't going to be such a prick after all. "Well, rumour has it that the Earth Sphere is developing and building an answer to the Jinn... an advanced mobile suit that is supposed to turn the war around in their favour." His eyes narrowed. "Supposedly they have armour that can't be penetrated by bullets, AND some new type of energy weapons that will slice through Jinn armour like a hot knife through butter."

Yzak felt his throat close. If Earth really DID have something like that, it could turn the tide of the war in their favour. "That's...a pretty crazy rumour," he said slowly. "Is it true?"

Deakka shrugged. "Rumours get pretty wild," he replied, but at the same time he nodded grimly. "Rumour ALSO has it that these new suits are being built in Heliopolis."

"Wow..." Yzak muttered. "So much for Orb's fucking neutrality." He made a fist and punched the dashboard, cursing.

"Of course, all of this supposes that the Naturals are actually capable of FLYING something like that," Deakka added, his smirk returning. "That's where we, supposedly, come in."

Yzak raised an eyebrow, his attention focussed fully on Deakka now. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, IF, for example, we were able to steal those suits out from under the Naturals' noses," Deakka said smugly, "They wouldn't have a hope in hell of winning the war. Even if we don't get all of them, none of them can fly worth shit, anyway."

Yzak gazed at him for a moment, then a smile slowly spread across his face. "That...sounds like a plan. If anyone can get those things out from under Orb's noses, it's us, after all," he added, shrugging. "And the normals won't know what hit them!"

"So, now you know the wildest version of the rumours," Deakka said. "IF the Naturals really are building advanced MS, and IF Orb really is helping them, and IF ZAFT was going to send someone in to appropriate them... well, it would only make sense to train their best pilots for the job, right?"

"And IF all that is true," Yzak replied. "Then we're it. How many others are there, Deakka?" he asked, his face more expressive now that he was growing excited. The chance to strike such a decisive blow against the normals was thrilling to him.

"There will be five of us, once we're all gathered from where we were stationed," Deakka said. "Supposedly, there are five MS being built. I was the first to arrive, you're the second."

Yzak nodded. "So I guess it's a while before we'll be able to carry out the operation." He looked a little frustrated that he wasn't able to just leave today to go get them. "Then again, we want to make sure the things are finished before we take them, right?"

Deakka laughed. "Yeah, that would be good. We'll probably have a very narrow window of opportunity - after they're finished, but before they get moved out. But it won't be for months yet."

Yzak nodded. "Months, eh...these will probably be different from Jinns, but I'm sure we can adapt." He flashed a grin at Deakka. "I'll kick your ass in the simulators later," he said, a light of competition flaring in his eyes.

Deakka snorted, his eyes half closing with a lazy, predatory look. "You wish," he replied. "Nobody's beaten me yet."

Yzak snorted. "Me neither," he replied. "And no one's going to." He smirked at the other boy. "Certainly not YOU."

"We'll see," was all Deakka would say. He slowed the car as they reached the first of the security checkpoints. "You got your badge?" he asked as he fished his own clearance out of his pocket and flashed it.

"Yeah, just a sec," Yzak said irritably as he fished around in his bag to try to find it. He hadn't realized the time had passed so quickly, and had intended to pull it out long before now. He held it up for the security guard and suffered through a long pause while the man compared the badge to his own face. Finally his badge was returned and they were waved through. "What a pain," Yzak griped, clipping the ID card to his label.

"Once they get to recognize you, they'll mostly leave you alone," Deakka repeated. "It doesn't take long. This part of the base is very restricted - there aren't a lot of people here, so we get to know each other pretty fast." He grinned. "On the plus side, our quarters are DAMN nice. Only two people to a room, and they're not even bunkbeds."

Yzak's eyes widened. "Really?" he asked. "That sounds great. I've been in space so long, I don't remember what a real bed is like!"

Deakka laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean." He paused as they went through another security checkpoint, then continued dreamily, "We even get REAL food here, sometimes. Not often, but sometimes."

"Real food?" Yzak repeated in a tone that made it sound like he thought Deakka had gone crazy. "Are you serious?"

"It's because of Captain Kreuz's influence," Deakka explained. "He's got connections all over the fucking place, and he's not afraid to use them."

Yzak nodded. "So what's the Captain like, anyway?" he asked curiously. "I've heard a lot of weird stuff about him, but I don't know how much to believe."

"He's... eccentric," Deakka said slowly. "It's hard to describe. He's a GOOD captain, he's got an incredible mind for strategy, and he doesn't throw his troops away like so much ammo. But the mask is creepy, and... I don't know, he's just a little weird, I guess." He laughed, though the sound was tinged with nervousness. "I guess all the best pilots are weird, right? People probably think we're odd, too."

Yzak laughed, though he frowned a little. "Probably. I guess any genius looks weird to other people, right? Maybe that's what it is."

Deakka nodded. They approached another security checkpoint, and he groaned. "Oh, great. Zimmerman is on duty. I guarantee he's gonna make us get out while he searches us and the car."

Yzak growled as the saw the man approaching with a smirk on his face. "Does he have it in for you or something?" he asked, brandishing his ID tag again.

"Me, yes... and you too, probably," Deakka confirmed under his breath. "He's a Jinn pilot, and he thinks HE ought to have been selected as part of our team. Since he wasn't, he seems determined to take it out on us."

"What an asshole," Yzak said just before the man came into earshot.

Sure enough, the older man ignored their security badges, waving them out of the car. "Found a new friend, eh Elthman?" he said snidely as he motioned for them to put their hands against the wall so he could frisk them. He put a nasty emphasis on the words, and it wasn't hard to tell wha the was implying.

Deakka just gave him a lazy look. "Jealous, Zimmerman? At least I don't have to pay people to spend time with me."

Yzak bristled visibly at the older boy's words, his eyes narrowing. "Just what the fuck are you implying?" he snarled, balling his fists. "I don't have to take crap from you, you know."

Zimmerman's eyes narrowed, and he smirked down at the younger man. "Threatening me, lieutenant? That fancy uniform of yours doesn't mean dip-shit to me. You don't outrank me, whatever strings your mother pulled to get you in here."

"I didn't threaten you!" Yzak protested. "And my mother has nothing to do with this. Now why don't you do your JOB, so we can get out of your face and do ours, or do you just like wasting people's time because you're lonely out here on this sentry post?"

"Hey, at least I got my job on my own damn merits!" Zimmerman shot back. "Now put your hands against the god damned wall before I decide you're resisting and shoot you, so help me."

"Yzak, enough," Deakka warned in a low voice. "Just let him do and say what he wants so we can get the hell out of here. It's his only pleasure in life, and that's pitiful enough that I bloody well don't care."

Yzak reined in his rage with an effort, slamming his palms against the wall as he waited to be SEARCHED. His face burned with anger and humiliation, his fair skin making it obvious.

Zimmerman was in no way gentle, and left a few bruises behind in some tender areas. Deakka winced but bore the treatment silently, having long since learned that getting angry at jerks like Zimmerman got him exactly nowhere.

Finally even Zimmerman couldn't think of another pretext to use to cause them discomfort or inconvenience, and he had to let them go. He stepped back into his booth as Deakka slid into the driver's seat once more.

Yzak slid into the passenger seat, fuming. "I think he felt me up on purpose," he snarled, glaring at the man in the booth. "What an asshole. We have to go through this every fucking time?"

"Only when he's on duty," Deakka replied as he pulled out. "Which, thankfully, isn't all that often. And yes, he did feel you up on purpose, because he knew it would irritate you." He glanced at his new teammate. "Are you always this high-strung?"

"What do you mean high strung?" Yzak snapped, then blinked and made a visible effort to calm himself. He glared out the window and clenched a fist. "I just have a temper, that's all," he growled.

"And if you lose your temper like that every time anybody taunts you, you're going to last about three seconds on the front lines," Deakka replied grimly. "If you're going to be watching my back, I want to be able to count on you DOING it rather than zipping off after the first person who insults you."

Yzak glared at Deakka. "Hey, I'm not unprofessional!" he protested. "I know what I'm doing!"

"You were about an inch from punching him because he implied that you were my boyfriend," Deakka shot back. "You may know what you're doing, but if you go ballistic every time you turn around, that's NOT professional!"

Yzak vibrated for a moment, then deflated slightly, looking away. "He was out of line," he griped, but with none of the previous heat.

"Yes, he was," Deakka agreed. "Do you know what Kreuz told me when I first complained about his treatement of me?"

"What?" Yzak asked, though he didn't really think it would help. If it would, Deakka would have used it a long time ago, and the incident wouldn't have happened.

"He said, 'Think of it as practical experience,'" Deakka quoted from memory. "If you can't handle one pissy security guard who's out to make your life miserable, how do you expect to handle two thousand pissy enemy soldiers who are out for your blood?' Then he proceeded to lecture me on priorities for two hours," he added drily.

Yzak winced in sympathy. "Practical experience, eh?" he said thoughtfully. "I'll try...though it really helped when you pointed out what an ass I was being. Maybe you could keep doing that? My mother's always saying I need to learn to control my temper anyway."

"Sure," Deakka agreed. "Just don't turn on me for being a 'nag'." He grinned. "And you were making quite an ass of yourself. What you really need to do is have someone tape you when you lose your temper, then show you the video. When you see how dumb you look..."

Yzak glared at him for a moment, but without real heat. "Very funny," he griped. "You should have seen your face when he accused you of being my boyfriend. I didn't think guys with your colouring could blush that much!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Deakka scoffed. "I think the colour of your own face must have affected your vision. I've never seen anybody go that red."

As though to confirm his works, Yzak coloured again brilliantly. "W-why would I blush about that?" he replied.

Deakka raised an eyebrow at him, and smirked. "Well, at the time I THOUGHT it was because you were pissed off," he mused, the glitter in his eyes showing he was deliberately teasing Yzak. "Maybe I was wrong..."

Yzak's blush only increased. "I WAS pissed off!" he cried.

"So why did you blush just now?" Deakka asked, fighting a grin.

"I...I'm STILL pissed off!" Yzak said.

The corners of Deakka's mouth twitched, but he managed to keep a straight face. "Well, that's obvious," he said, biting his lip to keep from laughing in the other boy's face. "You look dumb again."

Yzak's mouth worked but no sound came out for a moment. "And you're an asshole!" he said finally, his eyes flashing as the blush faded. Only the fact that Deakka was driving prevented him from reaching over and punching the boy in his smirking face.

"More often than not," Deakka agreed easily, eyes still gleaming. "I work hard at it."

Yzak growled and folded his arms, turning away and sulking as he stared out the car window.

Deakka had to bite his lip to keep from laughing again. Yzak looked like a sulky five-year-old, but he sensed he'd pushed the other boy far enough.

"We're almost there," he said instead, changing the subject. "Captain Kreuz wants to see you for briefing as soon as we get in."

"Great," Yzak bit out. "Listen, the next time you feel like humiliating someone, leave me out of it, okay? We need to work together."

Deakka gave him a disbelieving expression as he pulled the car into the lot outside the base. "I'd say 'You started it', but I don't want to get into a stupid schoolyard type fight. You really can't take any ribbing at all, can you?"

The silver-haired boy blinked at him. "Ribbing?" he echoed. "You..." He coloured again, looking away. "Sorry," he muttered softly. "It's not really a good idea to make fun of me when I'm already upset...I take it too seriously. I can take a joke, really I can."

"Maa, maa," Deakka sighed, and turned off the car, He stuck out his hand towards the other pilot. "Truce?"

Yzak eyed the hand for a moment, then smiled at Deakka and took it, shaking it firmly. "Truce," he agreed.

"Good," Deakka asserted, shaking back and then dropping his hand. "I'd rather get along than fight. Even if you are fun to tease." He grinned, and got out of the car.

Yzak rolled his eyes and followed, grabbing his dufflebag and straightening his uniform a little nervously. "I'm not fun to tease," he said. "You're just masochistic."

Deakka snorted. "I've been accused of being sadistic on a semi-regular basis, but that's the first time anybody's ever called me a masochist." He led the way inside the building, where they had to stop for one last security check before they could continue towards the captain's office.

"Well, you must be, making me angry like that," Yzak said with a smirk.

"Maybe I just like seeing you riled up," Deakka replied, smirking back at him. "You're cute when you're pissed off, you know."

Yzak blushed again, his hackles raising. For one moment, he looked just like a pissed-off cat - albiet one who was capable of blushing. Then suddenly he let out a breath, clenching his fists, though he didn't look nearly as angry. "Stop doing that!" he cried. "It's not funny!"

"What?" Deakka affected a hurt, innocent look. "What makes you think I wasn't serious?"

Before Yzak could answer, Deakka stopped in front of a door and knocked smartly. From within, they heard a deep voice say, "Come in." Deakka opened the door, then indicated that Yzak should precede him into the room.

Yzak took a long, deep breath and forcibly calmed himself, sparing a fierce glare at Deakka before he schooled his expression and entered the room. "Yzak Jules reporting, sir," he said when he saw Kruez, the masked face regarding him with an expression that was impossible to read.

"At ease, lieutenant," Kreuz replied, saluting back. "Elthman, I want you in here, too."

Curious, Deakka stepped forward and saluted, then joined Yzak at ease.

Kreuz stood and moved around the desk towards them, the icy blue glass in the eyes of his mask glinting in the lights. He was holding something in his hand... Deakka couldn't make out what it was.

Yzak took the at ease stance then gazed at Kruez curiously as the older man came towards him. He sensed Deakka next to him, but kept his eyes on his new commanding officer.

Kruez stopped a few feet in front of them, and lifted his hand. Deakka saw that it contained a miniature recording device. The captain clicked the 'play' button.

"Gods know the rumours are wild enough that some of them are actually not that far from the truth," Deakka heard his own voice say. His eyes went wide as he heard Yzak reply, "Exactly... and I certainly wouldn't be able to remember exactly who'd told me..."

Kruez clicked the off button again, cutting Yzak off in mid-sentence.

Yzak held his breath with the effort to remain calm and expressionless while he waited for Kruez's judgement. Oh fuck. Oh FUCK, we're in so much shit...

When he finally spoke, Kruez's voice was calm. "Elthman, how did I get that tape?"

"You bugged the car," Deakka concluded miserably. Inside he was kicking himself for opening his big mouth.

Kruez laughed, and reached out to pick up something tiny that was caught on the back of Deakka's tunic shoulder. "Actually, I bugged you," he corrected. "This was a test, and unfortunately, you failed."

He turned and walked back to his desk again, sitting and regarding them over steepled fingers. "Do either of you have anything to say for yourselves?"

"No, sir," Deakka replied levelly. There was no point in trying to make excuses, it would only make the situation worse. He'd fucked up, and now he had to own up to it.

Yzak shook his head. "No sir," he echoed. He stiffened his back, waiting with as much dignity as he could muster.

Kruez nodded and leaned back. "Good. I'm glad to see neither of you is the type to whine or make excuses." He looked at them both. "I think a week or so spent scrubbing the Jinn hangar in your evening spare time should drum the lesson into your heads. However," he leaned forward again, "the lesson I want you to learn probably isn't the one you think it is."

Yzak blinked at Kruez. The punishment was...annoying, but it could be worse. Blabbing about a top-secret mission could have gotten them court martialed. "What...what lesson do you want us to learn, sir?" he asked hesitantly.

"I don't care that you were sharing information," Kruez told them. It was impossible to read his expression under the mask, but his voice was serious. "I expect the five of you to work closely as a unit, and as far as I'm concerned, that includes sharing information that perhaps 'officially' shouldn't be shared."

He looked at them. "However, I want both of you to be far more aware of the possibility of bugs, spies, and other such things. Elthman, you didn't give that car even a cursory search for bugs. Likewise, you should do regular personal sweeps, especially if you're planning to talk about things like this project. I'm sure I don't need to tell either of you that if the Earth Sphere gets wind of our plans to steal their MS, we'll lose our chance to get them."

Yzak nodded slowly, sensing Deakka doing the same. "I understand, sir," he said. "We'll be more careful in the future, sir."

"Good," Kruez nodded. "Dismissed, both of you. Elthman, Jules will be sharing your room, so help him get settled in. Report to the head mechanic first thing after dinner tonight."

"Yes, sir," Deakka said, saluting briefly before turning on his heel and leaving the room.

Yzak saluted smartly and followed Deakka out of the room, waiting until they were further down the hall. "My god...I thought we were screwed..." he whispered to the other boy.

Up close, Yzak could see that Deakka was sweating. "No shit," the dark boy whispered back. "Christ, we could have gotten a death sentence for that!"

Yzak nodded, swallowing. "I don't think Kruez has anything to worry about, when it comes to being careful from now on." He glanced at the back of Deakka's jacket, peering carefully in search of another bug.

Deakka nodded emphatically. "I'll never open my mouth without checking for bugs again!" He shook his head. "We'll sweep the room and each other when we get to the barracks," he added. "C'mon, it's almost dinnertime."

Yzak nodded and trotted after Deakka as they picked up the pace. It wasn't long before they reached their room, and the silver-haired boy was amazed at the size. It was still utilitarian, and was obviously built for two - two desks, two beds, everything identical and duplicated. But the beds were real beds, and twin-sized, rather than singles. It was obvious from the clutter which one was Deakka's, and Yzak dumped his duffle on the other one, moving to begin unpacking.

Deakka stripped out of his uniform tunic the moment the door was closed, leaving him in only the pants and thin undershirt. He sat on his bed and started minutely examining every inch of the fabric.

Yzak finished unpacking in record time, then did the same. It was unlikely that he'd been bugged, but Kruez had just proven that anything was possible.

When they were both finished searching their uniforms, they swept the room as well. Finally satisfied that there was nothing there, Deakka collapsed back onto his bed. "Christ. We need to build some kind of electronics detector or something. It'll be too easy for us to miss something, just looking with our eyes."

Yzak glanced at him, shrugging into his uniform. "Okay, let's do it," he said with a grin. "I bet we could."

"It'll be good practice," Deakka agreed. "We're supposed to be studying engineering so we can understand the MS better, anyway."

Yzak nodded, zipping up his zipper and moving to check his appearance in the small mirror they were provided. He grabbed a brush and ran it through his hair a few times to tame it. "I wonder if we could dismantle a Jinn or something, to get a better idea of how they work," he said thoughtfully. "After all, if we're going to be in the field, we'll need to know what to do if stuff breaks down, right?"

"Sounds reasonable to me," Deakka nodded, sighing and standing again to get into his own uniform. "I bet we could convince Kruez to let us have one to take apart. AFTER we finish our punishment, though."

"Yeah," Yzak replied, wincing a little. "So when's dinner, anyway? I didn't eat on the transport, and I'm STARVING."

"Should be..." A soft double-chime interrupted Deakka's words, and he laughed. "Right now," he finished. "That's the bell for dinner. C'mon, let's go - I missed lunch waiting for you at the port, so I'm as hungry as you are."

As they made their way out of the barracks towards the cafeteria, Yzak saw that even people who were HIGHER ranking than they were, were saluting them. He also noticed that the two of them were the only ones wearing this red uniform - everyone else was either in the usual green and white of the enlisted men, or the all-white of the officers. Deakka was careful to return the salutes of everyone who outranked them, but otherwise ignored the gestures much as he had at the spaceport.

Yzak followed Deakka's lead, returning the salutes of those who outranked him, and arrogantly ignoring anyone else. A few people of the same rank as him glared as he turned his nose up to them, but frankly he didn't care. There were two people he was interested in impressing and/or getting along with: Deakka and Kruez.

The cafeteria was relatively small, and even so it was half empty when they arrived. They joined the line for food. Despite Deakka's claim that they sometimes got real food, Yzak could see that tonight's menu was the usual reconstituted space crap rations that were served throughout the ZAFT forces. Though, from the looks on the faces of the diners, it at least tasted marginally better than usual.

Yzak shrugged and loaded up his plate. The promise of real food had been an exciting one, but he was so used to the reconstituted crap that continuing to eat it wasn't that much of a hardship. "All this saluting is a little weird," he confided in Deakka as they took a seat.

"Took me a while to get used to it, too," Deakka agreed, digging into his food. "It's the uniforms," he continued between bites. "The five of us are the only ones who get to wear these, and all anybody knows is that it means we're involved in something really high ranking and top secret."

Yzak nodded and dug in with the enthusiasm of a hungry teenager. He cleaned his plate in record time, too busy eating to continue the conversation.

Deakka didn't seem inclined to prod him into further conversation, for much the same reason. At seventeen, they were both well into the stage where they were never quite full enough.

At last, however, they were both finished. Deakka sighed, and stood with his tray. "I guess we'd better get changed and report to the hangar crew," he said glumly.

"Yeah," Yzak said, sighing. "Just remember, it could have been a LOT worse..."

"Oh, hell yeah," Deakka agreed fervently. "I'm not complaining!" He dumped his tray on a pile of other trays, and headed back towards their room.

It didn't take long for the two boys to get dressed and get to the hanger for cleaning duty, and soon they were up to their elbows in cleaning solution, scrubbing away at the worst of the mess. Most of the cleaning could be done with massive hoses, and was largely automated, but the hard stuff was given to the punished boys to do - though no one there knew what they were being punished for.

"Man, this stuff REEKS," Deakka complained as he scrubbed hard at a rust stain on the wall. "I don't think I'm going to have any skin left on my hands when we're done, either." He sighed. "And I thought he was letting us off EASY!"

Yzak made an incoherant noise of agreement as he continued to scrub. His arms were beginning to ache from the repetitive scrubbing motions and he wondered how they were going to survive a month of this.

Neither of them had the energy to speak further. By the time the bells rang for the watch change, both of them were dripping with sweat and filthy water, hands raw and aching despite the heavy gloves they'd been wearing. "Shower," Deakka declared, staggering to his feet and stripping off his gloves. "Then bed. I guarantee you that sadistic bastard will have us up doing drills at oh-dark-hundred tomorrow morning..."

Yzak groaned and staggered after him, barely waiting until the door to their room was closed before beginning to strip out of his disgusting clothes. "I call first shower!" he announced, his voice muffled by the shirt he was in the middle of pulling over his head.

"Ugh, you and what army?" Deakka wanted to know. "I'm the one that got sprayed with grease when that hose broke over us!"

Yzak snorted. "Fuck you," he said, shoving his clothes in the laundry chute and starting on his pants. "I never got a chance to shower after travelling for 24-hours, and I got sprayed with some of that grease, too!"

"All right, fine... but if you take longer than fifteen minutes, I'm coming in there after you, and you can just deal with it," Deakka warned him. He stood dressed only in his boxers in the center of the room, not wanting to sit on anything because it would only get dirty.

"I'd like to see you try to drag me out of there," Yzak said, shoving his pants in the laundry chute and walking to the bathroom, naked as the day he was born. "I'll take as long as I damn well please."

"I didn't say I'd drag you out, I said I'd come in after you!" Deakka corrected him, calling after him into the bathroom.

Yzak snorted again, wondering what exactly Deakka meant by that and deciding that it was probably an idle threat. He certainly wasn't going to rush just because the other boy made vague threats, after all. He turned on the shower and stepped inside, sighing happily as the water flowed over him and down the drain.

Deakka paced around the room, making a face as his boxers squelched with each step he took. Finally he stripped them off and continued pacing, naked.

When twenty minutes had passed, he moved towards the bathroom and knocked loudly on the door. "You've got thirty seconds to come out, or you're going to end up with company!" he threatened.

Yzak languidly rinsed out his hair. "Be out in a minute!" he called, smirking.

Deakka snorted at the tone in the other's voice. "Yeah, right." It took him only a moment to pick the lock - it was meant only to keep somebody from accidently walking in on their roomate. He shoved the door open and headed for the shower. "Ten seconds, or we get to find out if that stall fits two people."

Yzak jumped as Deakka's voice sounded a lot closer than he'd expected. "All right, all right," he griped. "Just give me a minute. I've got soap in my hair!"

"I gave you five extra minutes!" Deakka told him. "Any longer and this crap is going to cake onto me, and I'll NEVER get it off!" He opened the door to the shower, seeing that Yzak did indeed still have soap in his hair. "Shove over. It's not like we've never had to share showers before - every ship I've ever served on has group showers!"

Yzak yelped and scrubbed at his hair more quickly. "There's no room in here for you!" he snarled. "Get out and wait just a goddamn minute! I'm sorry I took so long, okay? Just WAIT!"

Deakka laughed at his frantic response, and shut the door again. "All right, one minute. Geez, you're touchy."

"I don't want to get dirty again from you jumping in the shower and rubbing up against me!" Yzak snarled back, though not without humour. A minute later, he emerged, grabbing a towel and winding it around himself. "Okay, I'm done!" he called.

He didn't have a chance to blink before Deakka was by him and into the shower, turning the water on full blast. "Christ, this stuff doesn't want to come OFF, does it?" the dark-skinned boy exclaimed, scrubbing at the grease on his skin.

"No! Why do you think it took me so fucking long," Yzak growled. "Use some of my liquid soap, Deakka. It works way better than that regulation shit. That stuff doesn't come off with anything else."

"Thanks," Deakka grunted, reaching for the indicated bottle. Sure enough, it actually started to cut through the grease. "I find it somewhat ironic that we're finding it difficult to get clean after several hours spent CLEANING."

Yzak grunted with agreement. "Well, that's the whole thing," he said. "We're taking the crap off the ships and hanger, so it has to go SOMEWHERE. Why not onto us?"

"Fantastic," Deakka grumbled. "I hope you've got LOTS of this soap."

"I get a bottle from my mother every month," Yzak said, hanging the towel over his arm to take to the laundry chute. "Trust me, we've got enough."

"I dunno," Deakka grimaced as he rinsed out his hair and the water was still running black. "You really think this will last a whole month?"

"God I hope not..." Yzak said. "Though...maybe if we do this every day for a while, it'll stop being so dirty?" he suggested with a note of desperate hope in his tone.

Deakka snorted. "Yeah, right. Have you SEEN the condition Jinns come back in? Even from just training sorties?"

Yzak groaned and headed back out of the bathroom into the main part of the cabin. Shoving the damp towel into the laundry chute, he sat down on his bed and brushed out his hair carefully.

Conscious of the fact that he probably HAD prodded Yzak out of the shower too early, considering the difficulty of removing the grease, Deakka was careful not to take more than about fifteen minutes himself.

When he finally stepped out, with a towel around his waist and using another to scrub his hair, he sighed. "I love being on a colony instead of a ship," he commented. "No water rationing."

Yzak nodded, wearing nothing but a pair of silk boxers as he brushed out his short hair. "Especially on days like this," he said fervently. "I don't know what I would have done if we'd been on rations today."

"We would have gone to bed messy, is what we would have done," Deakka replied, not without some humour. "Then we would have fought over the water ration in the morning."

"And then the laundry staff would have gotten upset at the amount of grime on our sheets," Yzak added. "And we would have gotten just as dirty the next night, so we could do it all over again!" He set his brush aside and flopped back onto his bed. "Thank goodness for colonies," he pronounced.

Deakka laughed. He stripped out of his towel and threw them both down the laundry chute, then crawled naked under his sheets. "Yeah, no shit. I'll take a colony assignment over a ship assignment any day."

"Of course, we'll probably spend lots of time on ships soon enough," Yzak sighed, switching off the light and squirming under the blankets.

"Yeah, but hopefully not until AFTER this cleaning detail is finished," Deakka agreed, his voice already slurring with sleep. "Man, my muscles are going to HURT tomorrow."

Yzak muttered a reply, already half asleep. If it weren't for the impossibility of it, Deakka could have sworn that he'd said something about a massage.

|Part 1| |Part 2| |Part 3|

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