Ghost Bird... Do You Copy?

Pulling Rank

Chapter Fourteen

Pulling Rank

(playlist – Vanguardian by Steed Lord & EOEO by Uniq)

Thank you to both of my beta's whom I could not do without. Also thank you to my husband on this chapter as he is military and helped so much. <3

Gabriel's POV:

We headed to the front gates, and as we reached the gate, a guard came out. "What do you need, boys?"

"Uh, we are reporting for duty." I looked at Kota after speaking, then watched the guard walk back into the shack. I don't know how we just did that to her without breaking down, but we did. "Wait here."

"Man the fu*k up."

"What did you say, Gabe?" Kota asked.

"Talking to myself. That just didn't go quite as planned did it?"

"Nope. I would say it was a monumental fail. I just hope Sang doesn't stay mad for too long for our brothers' sakes." A short, balding man on a golf cart pulled up. "Give me your orders, and take a seat." Very professional. He and Mr. B would get along wonderfully.

He drove us to the administrative building and took us in. The duty officer then looked at our orders that Sergeant Hutchison had handed him. "Duly noted. 'Bout time you have reported for duty. Sergeant Hutchison, please take them down to supply to get everything they need."

We were off to another building, with a lot more guys. "Oy, Kota. Just think of all the fu*king makeovers I could do here. This sh*t would go viral. I would be a household name!"

"Gabriel, it's all drab for the unforeseen future. Green and khaki. That is your palette. When you make a green and khaki tuxedo, and it goes viral, I will be the first one to buy it."

"Challenge accepted," I said chopping him in the head.

"This, boys, is the supply area. Please take off all personal effects with the acceptation of your wedding bands, and place your articles into the storage bins labeled with your name. Take the underwear you have on, and trash them. Down the line a ways, we heard someone whining, "But these are my lucky underwear. I paid $80 for these French silk leopard prints." Then a sweet reply from Sergeant, "I am sure the trash man will appreciate your donation. Please put the boxers on, then your jumpsuit. We will chalk it and worry about hemming later."

"Coleman, Lee. Remove your necklaces."

Kota stepped up. "Sergeant, Sir. Our wedding was last night and this was a gift from our wife. I request to please leave it on."

"Lee, if I let you leave it on, then everyone else is going to want to leave their jewelry on. Off, now!"

"Yes Sir." Kota removed the necklace with a straight face, and placed it in his bin. I know it was hard for him. I took mine off slowly. Sergeant came over and took a look at my necklace. "Love, Trouble." Then he walked over to Kota's bin and picked up his necklace. "Love, 10. You said both of you got married last night?"

"Yes sir." I hadn't let go of my necklace yet.

"These necklaces have the same moniker on them." He gave each of us a questioning look. I looked at Kota.

"It's complicated Sir. I don't think our marriage life is meant to be discussed here when we have more important things to take care of, Sir." He shrugged his shoulders in agreement, dropped his necklace back in the bin, and continued on down the line.

Fu*k it all, it has been a long day, and we never got to eat lunch. I was so happy we were finally headed to our racks. They were giving us a bit of time to get stuff put away and mingle. "Oy, Kota. I call top bunk!" And up I went.

"That's fine Gabe. Get your stuff put away quickly. We need to do a sweep of the place before everyone gets in here."

"Kota, you really think we need to in here?"

"Gabriel, what happens when we get lax? Bad things happen."

"All right. Sweep first, put things away second then. Let's go." We went over everything we thought we needed to before we had too many people in sight, then worked on getting things put away.

We were whisked off to the barber shop then. I was definitely not looking forward to this. "Kota, don't let them fu*king cut my hair. It looks perfect right now. It's bad enough with the drab and khaki nightmares, but..."

"Gabe, quite being a baby. I'll pull my rank on you right here and now. There is no whining in war."

"Kota... sometimes I hate you. Just letting you know. I love you, but I hate you. I love Sang more, but I love you too, but right now I hate you."

"You sound like a mad man. Turn around and don't kill the barber when you hear the clippers buzz right in your ear." I know he was doing that to me on purpose. He had been far too quiet all day. A quiet Kota, no a super quiet Kota is either a deathly Kota or a worried one. At this point, did it fu*king matter?

I sat there and gritted my teeth while my head was shaved. No more hair. I hated this. Although, it would bring out my exquisite cheek bones and eyes.

Kota did the same routine, and back to the racks we went to rest for a quick bit.

"When did you get called in?" said a kid on a top bunk to my right. He looked tall, and very built. His head was shaved clean, and his ebony skin was as dark as midnight.

"Nine-OOF! KOTA! What the fu*k was that for?" I leaned over the edge ready to grab him. He looked at me. His eyes told me to shush. Sh*t, oops. "Just got the text last night at our wedding."

"Our as in both of yours? I mean I don't have anything against that and all."

"No. He and I both married our Sang, I mean our girl. Never mind, it's complicated."

"So I heard. Man that sucks. Names Charles. You?"

"Gabriel. And the Arsehole below me is Kota." I saw a hand shoot up to shake hands.

Charles continued speaking. "You from around here I'm guessing then."

"Yeah. You?" I asked.

"No. I am from Louisville, KY. Trying to catch a flight out of there was crazy. I have a buddy of mine in here." He looked around the room. "Well, he was here a moment ago. He is good at disappearing. He's like a freaking ninja."

Kota and I laughed. "Oy, we have one of them too. Maybe someday Luke and your friend could meet and they can do American Warrior Ninja."

"Somebody holler for me?" Said an oriental looking man. "I entered it two years in a row and got all the way to stage three and fell on the same apparatus." Taking a closer look at him, he had green eyes instead of the brown I would have assumed he would have. "Jihoon Kwon. No I don't know a lick of Korean. I was born in South Korea but was adopted by American parents right after I was born; I just like to play ninja."

We introduced ourselves to him, then the company CO came in. "Fall in, boys."

We each stood in front of our respected bunks and listened as the CO spoke about what was to be expected while we were here. Basic training 6 weeks, then basic flight training 6 weeks, then whatever our specialized training was to be in, that depended. Times for chow, where to sit, how much time to eat, when to sleep, yada fu*king yada. I wanted to fall asleep. "Second Lieutenants' Coleman, Kwon, Lee, and Whitt. You will start basic flight training tomorrow. Everyone else, you will address them as such. Do you understand?"

"Sir, yes Sir!"

All I could think was "What the hell? Second Lieutenant?"