Team Building with Jack Landors (SPD, A Squad, #3, K+)
characters: SPD's A Squad (Kat)
prompt #3: somewhere in between
word count: 1500
rated: K+
summary: Cruger forgot to mention that he was playing Santa Claus, and Charlie's team pays the price.
Team Building with Jack Landors (somewhere in between)
by *Andrea
They were leaving the base when Kat’s morpher went off. It didn’t even wait for her to acknowledge before Jack’s voice said, “All on-base squads to the residential level. Repeat, on-base squads to the residential level.”
“What--” Cruger was cut off. Her hand had barely made it to her morpher to acknowledge before the allcall came alive. They didn’t have time to do more than glance at each other, and he might look irritated but she didn’t think this was a joke.
“All cadets to the residential level.” This time it was Sky’s voice. He didn’t sound as stern as usual, and only after the fact did she realize that it was because Jack had sounded so harsh. Sky sounded calm by comparison. “All cadets, report to the residential level.”
That was when the Shadow morpher went off. It didn’t speak until he activated it, and then she could hear Syd’s voice saying, “Commander Cruger. You’re needed on the residential level, sir.”
“Status, Cadet,” he snapped. They had already turned back, and he was leading the way at a pace that bordered on a run. Clearly Sky and Syd had convinced him that this wasn’t just one of Jack’s whims.
“Non-violent, sir,” Syd’s voice relied cryptically. “So far.”
Kat was pretty sure that wasn’t what he’d been expecting when he asked for their status, but it was enough. She beat him to the lift easily, holding the door while he skidded inside. “What have they done now,” he muttered, slamming his morpher back into place and glaring at the doors while they closed behind them. “B Wing.”
She shot him a sideways glance as the lift started to move, and he caught it. “Whatever’s happening,” he said, with utter certainty, “B Squad is in the middle of it.”
Recent history wouldn’t contradict that assumption, she thought.
The silence that accompanied the lift’s climb was tense and heavy. Kat was checking her mental list of personality conflicts among the cadets against the sound of Jack’s voice when he’d called for reinforcements--and that against the fact that he’d had two members of B Squad handy by when he’d done it. It clearly wasn’t an issue with one of his teams. Her companion was watching her do it.
It was a testament to her distraction that she didn’t realize he was staring at her until the lift had already started to slow. Catching his eye, she gave him a curious look, and he shook his head once. “It’s always something,” he muttered, possibly by way of explanation.
She decided to take it as such whether it was or not. “I told you,” she said, smiling up at him. He was sweet when he was impatient. Especially when it wasn’t over something she was supposed to have finished five minutes ago. “I can wait.”
He might have been about to say something, but there was noise through the doors and she was already straining to identify it. The whine of the lift was soft but came at exactly the wrong frequency for her ears, making her shake her head in annoyance when she tried to listen through it. Human voices, that much she knew. But too quiet even for her to hear through the walls.
“Non-violent,” the commander muttered, with a grunt that spoke of skepticism. The doors slid open and she gave him a warning look that he paid no attention to as they pushed out into B Wing.
Where there was no one. The noise was coming from around the corner, the great room that itself opened on to each of the cadet wings. A quiet rustle of people and whispered conversations and she didn’t like the atmosphere even before she saw what they were walking into: the low-pitched shuffle of so many people trying not to make any noise was deafeningly ominous.
“What is going on here?” Cruger demanded. He strode into the crowd like he was breaking up a fight, and cadets parted before him without a word. “Cadet Landors. I want a situation report!”
She sized up the “situation” with a single glance: on one side, Jack, Sky, and Syd, with Boom and Bridge emerging from the main lift even as she watched. On the other: Ruby, Caleb, and Hiyaki of C Squad, an orientation level cadet named Rayman with his D Squad mentor, Chi... and no fewer than six armed security guards. All with their weapons drawn.
And somewhere in between, Charlie stood in front of her squad with Rose at her left shoulder. Des and Miguel had circled defensively, keeping Don and his wife Cecilya in the middle. Don’s little boy was pressed between the two of them, watching everything with wide eyes and one finger in his mouth. A paper angel was clutched in his other hand.
None of them were moving.
“Well, sir.” Jack’s voice sounded tight and angry. “We thought you might be able to tell us. Seeing how Charlie’s team is clearly here on your orders, but--and here’s the funny part--no one else on base seems to know about it.”
Three more orientation level cadets spilled out of the arriving lift, right behind the recently promoted B Squad Green, and one of them actually bumped into Dan before she could check her momentum. “Huh,” was all Dan said, surveying the area with casual speed. “This seems bad.”
“Charlie and her team were released from rehab this afternoon with a clean bill of health.” Cruger’s voice was loud and, as usual, brooked no argument. “They have orientation level access on this base and priority admittance to A Wing. I expect everyone here to treat them as the soldiers they are.”
Jack looked furious. Kat was already making her way around the cadets, angling for a spot beside him and Boom. Two more D Squad kids piled into the room and came up short at the sight of weapons that were already being lowered. Someone caught Kat’s arm, gentle but insistent, and somehow Sophie had arrived unnoticed. She pulled Kat into line with the rest of A Squad while Jack called them all to attention.
“Sir!” he snapped. A Squad, B Squad, and the six present members of C and D Squads saluted along with him. The orientation level cadets were belated, to varying degrees, in their emulation of military precision, but their voices were as one. “Yes sir!”
“Hey,” Bridge added, not even waiting for Cruger to acknowledge them before he broke ranks. “You want some help with that stuff?”
The remark was clearly directed at Charlie’s team, who exchanged wary glances even as Boom jumped in. “Yeah, we can help you carry things; I mean, you probably want to set all that stuff down, right?”
“We can help you clean out your old wing,” Syd chirped, coming forward to join them. “I love a good decorating session. Just don’t tell Z, okay? Because wow, what she calls ‘alternative’ is what everyone else calls ‘highly disturbing.’”
The rest of the cadets, still at attention, were sneaking uncertain looks at each other. Charlie and Rose were keeping an eye on them while the rest of their team accepted the Rangers’ presence in their midst, handing over backpacks and even, in Des’ case, clapping Bridge and Boom on the back. “Thanks, man,” he said. “We could use it, you know?”
Cruger was eyeing the other cadets. “Dismissed!” he barked. Half of them jumped, several scurried forward to help the Rangers, and the rest looked nervously after the security guards who were in hasty retreat.
“Commander,” Jack said sharply. He saluted again, which Kat privately thought was a very bad sign. “Could I speak to you for a moment, sir?”
Cruger glared at him. “Certainly. Cadet.” He said it in the tone of voice that meant even Kat wasn’t going to be able to talk him out of firing Jack this time. If he emphasized “cadet,” then he did it in the way that implied this was the last time he would ever say it.
“Kat?” Sophie’s voice was very soft, probably pitched too low for human ears to even register. She tore her eyes away from the two of them as they turned stiffly for B Wing and whatever minimal privacy it might afford, finding Sophie’s expression worried. “What’s going on?”
Jack’s “A Squad” had just reached the end of the line, Kat thought with a sigh. He obviously hadn’t known about Charlie’s team being released, he wasn’t pleased, and he was going to make sure Cruger knew it. He wasn’t totally wrong to do it, either.
Cruger, who really should have more communication with his nominal second-in-command--any communication would be an improvement, really--would use this outburst as the excuse he’d been looking for all along. And without Jack, everyone who currently held an A Squad morpher would be “demoted” and reassigned. It didn’t matter one way or the other to Kat, and she suspected Ally couldn’t care less. But this would go on Sophie and Boom’s records, and she wished Jack had thought of that before he made them Rangers for no reason other than that it was convenient.
“Jack’s just...” Kat trailed off, catching Sophie’s expectant look again. “Being Jack,” she finished with a sigh. “Come on. Let’s help get Charlie’s team back where they belong.”
At least their mad ride had done some good for A Squad along the way.
prompt #3: somewhere in between
word count: 1500
rated: K+
summary: Cruger forgot to mention that he was playing Santa Claus, and Charlie's team pays the price.
Team Building with Jack Landors (somewhere in between)
by *Andrea
They were leaving the base when Kat’s morpher went off. It didn’t even wait for her to acknowledge before Jack’s voice said, “All on-base squads to the residential level. Repeat, on-base squads to the residential level.”
“What--” Cruger was cut off. Her hand had barely made it to her morpher to acknowledge before the allcall came alive. They didn’t have time to do more than glance at each other, and he might look irritated but she didn’t think this was a joke.
“All cadets to the residential level.” This time it was Sky’s voice. He didn’t sound as stern as usual, and only after the fact did she realize that it was because Jack had sounded so harsh. Sky sounded calm by comparison. “All cadets, report to the residential level.”
That was when the Shadow morpher went off. It didn’t speak until he activated it, and then she could hear Syd’s voice saying, “Commander Cruger. You’re needed on the residential level, sir.”
“Status, Cadet,” he snapped. They had already turned back, and he was leading the way at a pace that bordered on a run. Clearly Sky and Syd had convinced him that this wasn’t just one of Jack’s whims.
“Non-violent, sir,” Syd’s voice relied cryptically. “So far.”
Kat was pretty sure that wasn’t what he’d been expecting when he asked for their status, but it was enough. She beat him to the lift easily, holding the door while he skidded inside. “What have they done now,” he muttered, slamming his morpher back into place and glaring at the doors while they closed behind them. “B Wing.”
She shot him a sideways glance as the lift started to move, and he caught it. “Whatever’s happening,” he said, with utter certainty, “B Squad is in the middle of it.”
Recent history wouldn’t contradict that assumption, she thought.
The silence that accompanied the lift’s climb was tense and heavy. Kat was checking her mental list of personality conflicts among the cadets against the sound of Jack’s voice when he’d called for reinforcements--and that against the fact that he’d had two members of B Squad handy by when he’d done it. It clearly wasn’t an issue with one of his teams. Her companion was watching her do it.
It was a testament to her distraction that she didn’t realize he was staring at her until the lift had already started to slow. Catching his eye, she gave him a curious look, and he shook his head once. “It’s always something,” he muttered, possibly by way of explanation.
She decided to take it as such whether it was or not. “I told you,” she said, smiling up at him. He was sweet when he was impatient. Especially when it wasn’t over something she was supposed to have finished five minutes ago. “I can wait.”
He might have been about to say something, but there was noise through the doors and she was already straining to identify it. The whine of the lift was soft but came at exactly the wrong frequency for her ears, making her shake her head in annoyance when she tried to listen through it. Human voices, that much she knew. But too quiet even for her to hear through the walls.
“Non-violent,” the commander muttered, with a grunt that spoke of skepticism. The doors slid open and she gave him a warning look that he paid no attention to as they pushed out into B Wing.
Where there was no one. The noise was coming from around the corner, the great room that itself opened on to each of the cadet wings. A quiet rustle of people and whispered conversations and she didn’t like the atmosphere even before she saw what they were walking into: the low-pitched shuffle of so many people trying not to make any noise was deafeningly ominous.
“What is going on here?” Cruger demanded. He strode into the crowd like he was breaking up a fight, and cadets parted before him without a word. “Cadet Landors. I want a situation report!”
She sized up the “situation” with a single glance: on one side, Jack, Sky, and Syd, with Boom and Bridge emerging from the main lift even as she watched. On the other: Ruby, Caleb, and Hiyaki of C Squad, an orientation level cadet named Rayman with his D Squad mentor, Chi... and no fewer than six armed security guards. All with their weapons drawn.
And somewhere in between, Charlie stood in front of her squad with Rose at her left shoulder. Des and Miguel had circled defensively, keeping Don and his wife Cecilya in the middle. Don’s little boy was pressed between the two of them, watching everything with wide eyes and one finger in his mouth. A paper angel was clutched in his other hand.
None of them were moving.
“Well, sir.” Jack’s voice sounded tight and angry. “We thought you might be able to tell us. Seeing how Charlie’s team is clearly here on your orders, but--and here’s the funny part--no one else on base seems to know about it.”
Three more orientation level cadets spilled out of the arriving lift, right behind the recently promoted B Squad Green, and one of them actually bumped into Dan before she could check her momentum. “Huh,” was all Dan said, surveying the area with casual speed. “This seems bad.”
“Charlie and her team were released from rehab this afternoon with a clean bill of health.” Cruger’s voice was loud and, as usual, brooked no argument. “They have orientation level access on this base and priority admittance to A Wing. I expect everyone here to treat them as the soldiers they are.”
Jack looked furious. Kat was already making her way around the cadets, angling for a spot beside him and Boom. Two more D Squad kids piled into the room and came up short at the sight of weapons that were already being lowered. Someone caught Kat’s arm, gentle but insistent, and somehow Sophie had arrived unnoticed. She pulled Kat into line with the rest of A Squad while Jack called them all to attention.
“Sir!” he snapped. A Squad, B Squad, and the six present members of C and D Squads saluted along with him. The orientation level cadets were belated, to varying degrees, in their emulation of military precision, but their voices were as one. “Yes sir!”
“Hey,” Bridge added, not even waiting for Cruger to acknowledge them before he broke ranks. “You want some help with that stuff?”
The remark was clearly directed at Charlie’s team, who exchanged wary glances even as Boom jumped in. “Yeah, we can help you carry things; I mean, you probably want to set all that stuff down, right?”
“We can help you clean out your old wing,” Syd chirped, coming forward to join them. “I love a good decorating session. Just don’t tell Z, okay? Because wow, what she calls ‘alternative’ is what everyone else calls ‘highly disturbing.’”
The rest of the cadets, still at attention, were sneaking uncertain looks at each other. Charlie and Rose were keeping an eye on them while the rest of their team accepted the Rangers’ presence in their midst, handing over backpacks and even, in Des’ case, clapping Bridge and Boom on the back. “Thanks, man,” he said. “We could use it, you know?”
Cruger was eyeing the other cadets. “Dismissed!” he barked. Half of them jumped, several scurried forward to help the Rangers, and the rest looked nervously after the security guards who were in hasty retreat.
“Commander,” Jack said sharply. He saluted again, which Kat privately thought was a very bad sign. “Could I speak to you for a moment, sir?”
Cruger glared at him. “Certainly. Cadet.” He said it in the tone of voice that meant even Kat wasn’t going to be able to talk him out of firing Jack this time. If he emphasized “cadet,” then he did it in the way that implied this was the last time he would ever say it.
“Kat?” Sophie’s voice was very soft, probably pitched too low for human ears to even register. She tore her eyes away from the two of them as they turned stiffly for B Wing and whatever minimal privacy it might afford, finding Sophie’s expression worried. “What’s going on?”
Jack’s “A Squad” had just reached the end of the line, Kat thought with a sigh. He obviously hadn’t known about Charlie’s team being released, he wasn’t pleased, and he was going to make sure Cruger knew it. He wasn’t totally wrong to do it, either.
Cruger, who really should have more communication with his nominal second-in-command--any communication would be an improvement, really--would use this outburst as the excuse he’d been looking for all along. And without Jack, everyone who currently held an A Squad morpher would be “demoted” and reassigned. It didn’t matter one way or the other to Kat, and she suspected Ally couldn’t care less. But this would go on Sophie and Boom’s records, and she wished Jack had thought of that before he made them Rangers for no reason other than that it was convenient.
“Jack’s just...” Kat trailed off, catching Sophie’s expectant look again. “Being Jack,” she finished with a sigh. “Come on. Let’s help get Charlie’s team back where they belong.”
At least their mad ride had done some good for A Squad along the way.