Broker's Lair/Chapter 1: Rookie

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Chapters: Prologue 1 2 3 4 5 Epilogue
==Chapter 1: Rookie==
G.U.N Base Osiris, Emerald Ocean - November 3, 2013, 8:25 AM
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The SUV traveled along two mile long tunnel that led them outside of Soleanna's borders and into the Emerald Ocean. The tunnel was an almost shiny silver, with both normal lighting to let the driver see and blue neon lights to guide the way. Although there was technically no speed limit in this tunnel, the driver had the car at a comfortable seventy miles-per-hour. Eventually, they vehicle came up to another blast door, although this one seemed to operate differently. Driver pressed a button near the handbrake and a voice spoke through the speakers in the SUV.
"You've been identified as G.U.N. State your details and intent," it said.
Jacob leaned forward, "This is Agent Jacob Lawson of G.U.N Science and Intel with a VIP. We're here for a mission briefing."
There was a short pause before the voice answered, "Understood. For security reasons, your VIP will need to be properly identified when you arrive. Other than that, welcome to Osiris Base, Agent Lawson."
The speakers went dead and Astrid seemed slightly panicked. Lawson looked around at her.
"Agent. G.U.N know what I have done in the past. If they find out who I am-" she said, before Lawson cut her off.
"No need to worry. I outrank them, and besides, I have authorisation from the Commander back at HQ saying that I'm allowed to bring you in the base, no strings attached," the wolf assured.
The blast door finally opened, although a bit slowly. Once it was open, the SUV drove into a massive vehicle depot. Most of them vehicles were for use in the sea, but there were still quite a few land vehicles, even a few tanks. The young vixen sighed as they pulled up to a security checkpoint, where two guards stood.
"This is our stop, Astrid," Lawson said, leaving the vehicle. Astrid got out and began thinking of an escape plan, should anything go wrong. A guard waved at her, signalling that she wanted her to go there. She followed the unspoken order. Next to the guard was a machine that looked like a metal detector.
"Step inside here, ma'am," the guard ordered.
Astrid did as the woman said and stepped in. The guard let go of her SMG's grip and begin pressing a short series of buttons on the machine.
"Don't move, please," the guard said.
The machine then projected lights all over Astrid's body, scanning everything from her limbs to the individual strands of hair on her head. After a short while, the lights ceased to shine and the guard walked back to the console on the machine. Her facial expression then changed immediately.
"Alright, stay right where you are, ma'am," the guard said, point the SMG at Astrid.
Lawson walked up, "Hey, hey, hey! She's with me."
"On whose authority, sir?" she asked, still pointing her weapon. Astrid had both of her hands up, still thinking of an escape plan.
"Commander Tower's," he replied simply, showing a declaration document to the guard via his tablet.
The guard backed down upon seeing it. "Apologies, sir. You and your... guest, can move on through. The lieutenant is waiting for you on the other side," the guard said, scowling at the assassin.
"Thank you, soldier," Lawson replied.
The two moved through the checkpoint as the guard scowled at Astrid. The fox gave no response, simply walking past with her arms swaying naturally by her side. On the other side, a tiger, dressed in navy blue military dress and tie and a white shirt, which was almost blinding. The left side of his jacket was covered with various pins and medals. He seemed to be talking to someone a lot younger than he was. She was dressed in a similar outfit to the tiger, though she was wearing a navy blue skirt and black tights instead of the trousers he wore. There was also the absence of a vast amount of awards on her left side, wearing just four. She was also shorter than than the tiger, though compared to most people, he is fairly tall, even taller than Jacob, who stood at five feet and two inches.
The tiger turned and saw two people walking towards him. "Sergeant Lawson, good to see you made it here safely."
The wolf saluted, "A pleasure to see you as well, Lieutenant Kim."
Astrid looked over at Lawson. He took no notice, concentrating more the formalities required of a soldier towards his superior.
"At ease, Lawson," the Lieutenant said.
As he lowered his arm, he noticed Astrid staring at him with a slightly puzzled look.
"What?" he asked, also confused.
"You said you were an agent," she answered.
"As a part of S.I.D, yeah. I'm still a soldier with a normal military ranking though."
The Lieutenant Kim could be seen examining Astrid. Her clothing was not at all modern and very suspicious to him.
"Who's this?" Kim asked, referring to Astrid.
"This is-"
Astrid stopped Jacob short. "I can introduce myself, Agent," she said sourly, "I am Astrid Alessia."
"Lieutenant Jameson Kim," he said holding out his hand to Astrid. She didn't move. This resulted in an awkward silence quickly surrounding the group.
A few moments later, Jacob asked, "And who's this, sir?"
The person in question was the cat, who still stood by the Lieutenant's side. She stepped forward and salute Jacob.
"Private Katherine Treske, sir," she said, holding an almost immaculate posture.
"You can drop the formalities around me, Private. Never really liked 'em," Jacob responded, folding his arms and smirking.
The private lowered her hand and relaxed a bit after what Jacob said. The Lieutenant then took out a datapad and showed it to the agent.
"Here, everything you need to know about her," he said.
"Need to know? What do you mean?" Jacob asked, confused at why he was being given this information.
The Lieutenant sighed, bracing himself for the next response he would receive.
"Private Treske is going to be your new recruit," he stated, with eyes closed.
Jacob squinted at the Lieutenant, "I'm sorry, sir, but, what?"
"The Private is your recruit, or partner, if you want to look at it that way."
Lawson continued to squint at the lieutenant. The wolf was angry, though he was hiding it exceptionally well. Astrid, Kim and Katherine all looked at each other.
"I see," Lawson finally answered.
"I've been ordered to accompany you on your next mission, Agent Lawson," the Private stated.
"Yeah, I gathered that, Private," the Agent snapped.
Katherine went from looking confused, to slightly offended. "Is there a problem, sir?"
"Lieutenant, you know what happened the last time I had recruits under my wing," Jacob warned.
Roughly four years and eight months prior, Jacob, who was a Lance Corporal at the time, was leading a squad of new recruits on a mission to take down a terrorist leader, along with a handful of other squads. During the mission, all of the squads were stuck in a seemingly non-stop firefight for three hours. During this time, a number of friendly soldiers died, including two from his squad. He and the three other members of his squad had become quite good friends during their training. The deaths of two of his friends resulted in Jacob completely cutting all ties with any others, new and old, only keeping his mother and father close to him.
"Yes, Sergeant, I read the report. But now, you have experience and S.I.D believe that you are ready to train the newest agents, starting with Private Treske," the Lieutenant replied.
Jacob sighed and closed his eyes, "I don't like this."
The cat looked at the Lieutenant, who shrugged his shoulders, then at Astrid, who said nothing with her body language. She then turned her head and looked at concerned agent.
"Sir, I'd just like to say that I performed at the top of my classes during training. According to my Drill Sergeants and the statistics, I'm one of the best," she said, placing her hands behind her back.
Lawson sighed once more. "Fine," he said.
The cat smiled, excited to be placed under the wing of one of the most respected agents in Science and Intel.
"Well," Lieutenant Kim began, "I have some important documents I need to attend to, so I'll leave you to prepare for your mission, Sergeant."
The cat quickly straightened her posture and saluted the Lieutenant as he walked away. When he was gone, she then calmly walked over to Agent Lawson, who sighed once more. He seemed seriously concerned about his new recruit going on the mission with him.
"Have you been briefed, Private?" Lawson asked, opening his eyes.
"Yes sir, I have," the secretly excited Private replied.
Lawson looked up at Katherine with a dead straight face, "Any screw-ups and you're finding yourself a new partner. Got it?"
The cat looked at him with a slightly shocked expression now. "Uhm, yes sir."
"Good. I'm gonna gear up. Meet me in depot one-one at oh-nine-hundred."
As Lawson walked away, Katherine couldn't help but wonder why her fellow agent was so hostile towards her. From what she knew, she'd done nothing wrong. She walked up to Astrid and began to talk to see if she can get a better understanding.
"Hey, um, Astrid?" she asked, trying to get the assassin's attention.
Astrid turned and responded with a simple, "Yes?"
"Is Agent Lawson always like this?" she asked, folding her arms and watching Lawson as he walked off.
"I have yet to find out. We have only just met," she responded, in a slightly monotone voice.
"You've only just met? You trust him that much already?" the cat asked, shocked at Astrid's response.
The vixen sighed and remembered the conversation that she and Agent Lawson had before they departed Soleanna. "No. Not at all," she responded, "But I am hoping that by assisting him, I can gain the trust of this organisation."
Katherine didn't know anymore about Astrid than she'd learned in the last few minutes, which lead her to have many questions about this strange girl. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"You are quite inquisitive, Private Treske," Astrid responded, showing a smirk.
Suddenly, Katherine found herself stuttering. The cat was never really too good at deliberately trying to find out what people were like. "Well, I-I-um... You don't have to -uh- answer."
Astrid unfolded her arms and rested a hand on Katherine's shoulder, "It is fine," she said, "I can tell you about myself. You do not seem to know a lot about me anyway, unlike most people here."
"O-oh, okay," Katherine replied, "Let's walk and talk. I need to get ready."
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