Bretonian Armed Forces Recruitment Centre (iRP)

[Luke.]

The doors swung open with little resistance as the man stepped into the recruitment centre.

"Woah, probably shouldn't've done that." He muttered, looking up to notice the officer immediately in front of him.

"In a hurry, are we?" Said the officer, staring the man up and down as he approached.

"No I eerr...pushed a bit too hard. Yanno, like you do when you need a massive dump and it requires the extra bit of power?"

The officer continued to stare at him, apparently unmoved by his poor attempt at toilet humour. He reached for his keyboard and looked to the left to see his assistant smiling like she was a fan of what she could see.

"Name? Age? Why you're even here?" He monotonously spoke, appearing to direct his speech directly into the man's soul.

"My name's Halpern. Matt Halpern. I'm 24, bored of feeling alone when at home on Planet Cambridge and I spend most of my days flying alone through Bretonia and it's neighbouring systems. Time for a change I think and...that's why I'm here"

The Officer typed away, occasionally glancing at Matt like he was some inferior being. Halpern felt himself getting agitated. The Officer stopped, tapped his desk and put his hands together.

"Going to need a bit more than that. Elaborate."

"Y'see, it was a lone encounter with two Gauls that really inspired me to get into the ranks of the Armed Forces. They mocked and spat as they usually do. So I took 'em both on. The surprise attack gave me something to work with and though my ship wasn't in the best state, I sent them running. I'd dreamed of doing things like that since I was younger. My parents were born-again pacifists so I defied them too. I had to take my own path because if I didn't, I could be in hiding like they are. Hell, I don't even know where they are right now but there's no way I could sit there in my self-pity and do nothing about it. I'll make 'em proud, even if they're the opposite of fighters."

Again, the Officer typed away, apparently paraphrasing judging by how quickly he got through all of that. He leant back for a second and folded his arms. Halpern had no idea what to do except twiddle his thumbs behind his back. It'd been a long time since he'd felt like he was below someone else.

"Alright. I can see you've got motivation. I hope you can handle yourself out there. A lone encounter is a rare one. There's normally more than two and I know better than you what they're capable of. But you've given me enough I suppose"

Still unable to read exactly what the Officer was thinking, Halpern looked straight at him and uttered...

"Teamwork is key. That's something I haven't found while flying independently. That's why I'm here. I hope you understand."

The Officer glanced at his assistant who was leant against the wall adjacent to the waiting room door. He made a quick hand gesture to suggest she opens it.

"Wait in there. This time, try not to break the door."

"Yes sir" Replied Halpern, slowly walking towards it.

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