Aggressive Negotiations (Renaissance Series, Luke & Leia spin-off)

Arrival

"Hey, switch me spots."

"What?"

"Switch spots with me."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Leia groaned but moved out of the way to let Luke into the window seat. He immediately crawled over and craned his neck, looking out the window. She glanced over his shoulder, but she didn't see anything other than the tree coverage they had flown over for the past half an hour. "What is it?"

"I've seen this spot," he whispered, pointing in front of the train. "That clearing, right there, next to the mountains."

"Seriously?" she asked, trying to get a better look for herself. "How do you ever see this stuff in your visions?"

"You see stuff all the time."

"Yeah, but it's always current stuff. It's never about the future."

Luke shrugged, not very bothered. "Huh. Each to their own, I guess."

She twisted her neck, popping each side. "At least we're getting off this train. I've been sitting for too long."

"Wait, we're here?" 

The twins turned around and were met with a girl their age who was sitting behind them and had accidentally overheard the last sentence. After a pause, Luke pointed out the window. "Looks like it. Unless you know someone else who lives in the middle of the forest."

Sure enough, the tops of buildings could be made out in the clearing. A few other cadets noticed and started looking out their own windows, and the news spread throughout the entire train car. They had arrived at their home for the next two months. The fun was about to begin. 

The hovertrain descended out of the air and slowly pulled into a small station. It only had one platform. The only trains that stopped here were federal trains dropping off supplies or the train that picked up and dropped off cadets. This station wasn't listed on any public transportation networks. Only people who needed to know about the station knew it by name. This was Camp One, the cadet training campgrounds. Other training courses were conducted at different campgrounds, but this one was busy for two months, with short breaks between each wave of cadets. 

Across the planet, school districts had just concluded their school year and set a fresh wave of newly-graduated teenagers loose. Some of those teenagers wanted to join the Security Force, and now that they had finished the amount of schooling required by their parents, they were free to do so. This class would be the largest class of cadets for the entire year, forty large. Those not approved to train in this class were already signed up for the next session in two months. Camp One was extremely clear on this point: the maximum number of cadets in any given class was forty. 

The cadets were almost silent as the train slowed to a stop, coming to rest at the station. A robotic voice announced over the PA system: "Welcome to Camp One. Cadets, you will receive your cabin assignments at the tables in the station lobby. Please gather your belongings and exit the train now."

They didn't need telling twice. Leia popped up quickly, grabbed her bag and handed Luke's to him, and waited for everyone else to do the same so they could get off. People scrambled to collect their things, and before long, forty cadets were flooding out of the train doors into the station.

Luke and Leia didn't move further than a meter from each other when they stepped off the train. In front of them, the three exit gates were labeled 'A-H,' 'I-P,' and 'Q-Z.' Next to the gates, an officer was barking at the cadets: "Line up according to your last name! Last names, pick your line!"