Anxious muttering filled the room as the recruits eyed Evie warily, their gazes darting from her crest of horns to her multicolored wings and then her scaly tail. Ignoring the stares and whispers, Evie calmly walked onto the stage. She turned to face the crowd, and she could tell from their varying expressions that they were not very happy with the fact that there was a dragon in, of all places, the military. Some of the recruits were as pale as paper, with expressions of terror and pure horror plastered to their faces. Others looked simply shocked. A few looked amazed. But most of them looked angry.
Evie knew why. Dragons had been the Terra Research Lab’s science project, and when powerful specimens like Evie were created, and then escaped, the Labs would do anything to stop their name from getting blotched. So they made a law so that it was illegal for dragons to be in public.
But there were exceptions. And here Evie was, commander to possibly the last dragons in the world. She raised her chin definitely at the crowd, as if to say, here I am, a dragon in the military. What are you going to do about that?
“Why is there a dragon here?” Some brave new recruit said from the back of the room.
Evie met the boy’s defiant glare. He was young, maybe only nineteen, and he had long brown hair and sky-blue eyes.
“I have earned my place here just as all the other captains have,” Evie said calmly.
“Right, but why are you a dragon?” The boy asked again.
The General cleared his throat. “It is not the time for arguing over details that will not be changed–”
Evie switched her gaze to the General. “I can take care of myself, General,” she said.
The new recruits gasped in horror, but the General just smiled. “Always so feisty, Evie. Handle it yourself if you want.”
The Gamma captain whispered to the Beta captain “…aaaand only Evie can get away with talking back like that…”
“…because she’s Evie.” The Beta captain finished.
Evie turned back to the boy. It took all her self-control not to hiss as she said, “I am a dragon because I am a dragon, and I can’t change what I am. Happy now?”
From the back of the stage, the Alpha captain mouthed to the boy, don’t mess with her.
The boy, who took the Alpha captain’s advice, nodded and said to Evie “Happy now.”
To avoid more drama, Evie went to the back of the stage with the other captains, and then the welcoming continued normally, with the rest of the Squad Captains introducing themselves and telling a bit about their Squad before letting the next Squad Captain present, and only a few recruits glanced nervously in Evie’s direction.
After Omega finished her presentation, the General walked forward. “Now that you know how the individual Squads work, it is time to assign you all to your new Squads! We’ll go in alphabetical order again…”
Evie didn’t pay attention to this part, as no one would be assigned to Delta Squad. Instead, she got lost in thought, until she noticed the boy from earlier was staring straight at her.
She snapped back to attention as the General said, “Alright, you know your Squads now. You will find a dorm that has your name on it on the third floor. Training begins in the Training Room at 9:30.” And then the General walked off, leaving a crowd of confused recruits to wander off, with no idea how to reach the third floor or where the Training Room was.
“Which recruit is going to find the stairwell and the Training Room first, you think?” The Mu Squad leader asked no one in particular.
“I think that Damon, the boy with the long hair, is going to quit the fastest. He’ll never want to fight again once he pisses Evie off!” The Psi captain laughed.
Evie frowned at Psi. “You know very well I don’t attack new recruits. Also, 9:30? How come the new recruits get to sleep in and we don’t?”
“The recruits have had a long day,” the Theta captain said. “They need a long nap. They have a big day ahead of them tomorrow.”