Academy, How To Survive Starfleet

The dank grass matting the landing pad perimeter made the whole morning seem a lot colder than it was. It was only 04:33, and Dack could barely see the other figure standing across the pad from him. They were wearing the exact same black jumpsuit, carrying the same standard-issue luggage pack and each of them had a pensive look written across their faces. It had been only two hundred days since the whole process had started, and while it felt like this day couldn't have come fast enough, he already felt a longing for his home. The dark skies of Kansas in the early morning roiled with storm clouds, Dack hoped the lander would arrive before it started.

Two hundred days ago he'd announced to his family at the dinner table that he was signed up to take the Entrance exam for Starfleet Academy. His mother had cried, his father had nodded respectively, his brother had patted his back. A good choice, a strong career. His family had always been about work ethic, and in the end it had been decided that if this was where Dack Gamorson could do his best then that was where he should go. The tests had been grueling, some things so simple while others were well above his realm of capabitility. Fifty days ago he'd recieved the acceptance notice. Ten days ago he'd gotten the standard issue uniform and haversack for Cadets. Yesterday he'd said goodbye to his family and started the journey to the landing pad. And now he was waiting.

The other guy across the field looked like a farm kid just like Dack, just a little more slim, a little taller. They could have been brothers, if it weren't for the birthmark across the kids neck, barely visible in the morning light. Pensive was definetly the word for both of their faces. Space was The Final Frontier, it was always said, but right now Dack was barely ready to leave Kansas for the first time, let alone Earth in the future. As the first glimmer's of the Sun began to rise in the east, a slight hum took up as the landing lights blazed on, blinding the two Cadets. Once their eyes adjusted to the new light Dack was able to make out the emblazoned grey hull of the lander just before the hum became a roaring overload of his ears. Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped and left only a hyrdraulic hissing sizzling the air around the grey shuttlecraft.

Dack and the other boy both moved to butt end of the shuttle and watched as the landing ramp slowly lowered, darkness and shadows hiding the interior. The boys looked at each other, then back into the darkness. Pensive. Suddenly and black and red shape came flying down the ramp, startling the two boys.

“Hi there Cadets!” It was, in fact, a bright eyed and beaming red headed woman only about four years older than Dack. Decked out in standard Starfleet uniform and a holding a clipboard, she waved the two of boys over to the bottom of the ramp. “My name's Sherry Ginn, Private Ginn if you want to be formal. Now, are you two ready to hit the road or what? We've got another stop to make before we hit San Francisco and I don't plan on being late!”