A large, blue sphere floated before Kikata and Richards eyes. A green square slowly rotated around the planet on the cockpits hud, next to the square in green letters read the name Atlantis. It was given this name by the corporation who took the once mostly ice covered planet and reset its conditions, melting away most of the ice to turn it into an ocean world. There were a few islands about the size of the continental United States that housed settlements, but the vast majority of the planet was covered with an ocean hundreds of times larger than the Pacific on Earth. 

The new cockpit was much larger than that of the Nova Guard ship. And this one did not simply bolt Richards chair onto Kikata's dashboard. No, this time Richard sat upon his own moveable platform that clung to the side of Kikata's seat. It was a circular platform about ten feet across with a fully functional control computer. Kikata still preferred to do the flying, but Richard was capable of holding his own now. 

"Now entering planets gravitational pull. Proceed with designated coordinates?" A feminine voice asked, the ships computer personality. It was a new system of A.I that had not been integrated with ships before this point. Computers with enough power to mimic a living brain were old news, though personality did not come so easily. The researchers behind the ship told them that eventually the ship would begin developing signs of an artificial personality. 

"Yes, thank you Richata." Kikata said, smirking slightly as she did. Richata was the name of their ship, and therefore the name of the ships A.I. 

"You're welcome." The ship replied, a new, smaller green square surrounded a small green patch on the surface of the blue ocean below, their destination. "We will be arriving in fifteen minutes and forty six seconds." 

"I still can't believe we named our ship Richata." Kikata whispered to Richard with a giggle. 

"I think it's perfect." Richard said, "Remember how awful Kikard sounded?" 

"Yes. But we seriously are horrible at naming things. Nova Force? Are you kidding me!" Said with a laugh. 

Richard shrugged, "I thought it was clever." 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

"Welcome to the Academy of Universal Defense and Defense Technologies!" A male voice called as Kikata and Richard exited the landing ramp into the main campus. Richard sat upon his royal seat, otherwise known as Kikatas right shoulder. 

"Dah alordia!" or translated to english, "How lovely!" Kiakta said, admiring the massive campus. There was no doubt that it was designed by human architects, though the scale rivaled any Neko college. And it had to, being a hybrid settlement. Large buildings towered over them, their walls coated with massive stones and their roofs held up by massive pillars in the ancient greek style. However beneath the stone lied only the most advanced building materials, and even deeper within the walls you would find the pinnacle of modern schooling. Most general studies courses were done on the students own time online. They would only come in to the class for special tutoring or hands on lectures. In fact the majority of college students never stepped foot on the campus that they were enrolled in. Taking the online classes to get a degree was more than enough to meet the requirements of many jobs. 

"I'll say. Are you sure this is the right school? This place looks high class." Richard said glancing around as he gripped Kiaktas hair. 

"That's government financing for you." Kikata replied as they made their way along a wide stone walkway. The college, as its name hints, specializes in various schools of defensive technologies and occupations. These can vary from cyber security, a booming market in the modern universe, to ship security personnel. The classes Kikata and Richard will be teaching were actually designed for those who have already graduated from schooling and are ready to enter the new Hybrid Guard that Kikata and Richard are enlisted in. 

Kikata made her way inside a building named "Technology 1" and proceeded to follow the hallway until she found her way to their class room. They will be teaching a class of twenty individuals, each individual would be paired with their future partner. So each class would have ten teams. 

"Hello everyone!" Kikata said cheerfully as she entered the room, her eyes scanning over her pupils eagerly. She helped Richard down onto a wide table at the head of the classroom where he would find his own computer and work station. On what looked like another table nearly touching their own sat ten desks filled with the Scale Four students. Behind them sat the larger ones at their own desks. During lectures they would be kept separate, however during field training they would be partnered up almost immediately. 

"I am Instructor Ya'amo." She continued. (Ya'amo is Kikatas last name). "And this is Instructor Bromwell." She said holding her hand next to Richard, "You may call me Kikata." 

"We know." A feminine voice called from the back of the room. A Fela girl with fierce red hair smirked at her own comment, glancing around at the other students before folding her arms and leaning back in her seat. 

"Oh." Kikata said, attempting to maintain her wide smile by the somewhat puzzling remark. She locked eyes with the girls striking golden and blue eyes for a brief second before addressing the class once again, "As you know this class is a part of your Hybrid Guard entry program. In this class specifically we will be covering much of the protocol of interacting with hybrid vessels, settlements, cities. Then we will cover the system for interacting and integrating ourselves with new planets and species. The field training portion of the course will meet in gymnasium two, where we will run through search and rescue exercises." Kikata finished with a deep sigh, "Any questions?" 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

The students filed out of the classroom in a hurry, most walking in a chattering group as they made their way to the dining hall. The red headed Fela who had sat skeptically in her chair between various outbursts lagged behind, though showed little interest of joining the main group. Instead her ears twitched with annoyance as she listened in to the several conversations, one in particular strummed upon her nerves. A Neko Alta girl spoke cheerfully with a Marlek Trugon girl about what a dream it was to be taught by none other than the famous Kikata and her boyfriend, husband, life mate or whatever he was. 

Sangela was her name, her bright red hair hung almost jaggedly down to where it just barely grazed the surface of her shoulders on the sides and then even further between her shoulder blades down her back. It wasn't exactly a trendy look, but Sangela preferred it that way. Her eyes were easily her most striking feature. Her left eye was a bright blue while her right was the same alluring golden color as Kikata's eyes. Her long canine bit into her lower lip and her intense gaze scowled into the back of the Altas bouncy head as she raved and raved about their newest instructor. Needless to say Sangela was not a fan of the famed Nova Force. She shifted her gaze elsewhere, reluctantly following her classmates into the dining hall. She hadn't exactly fit in with the group, not that she had very much tried. 

She split away from the main group finally and quickly grabbed a to-go lunch and a drink. She could still hear the Altas voice ringing throughout the dining hall, her ears fell as she tried to ignore her once again. She smiled weakly at the cashier as she paid for her meal and rushed out of the dining hall as fast as she could without bursting into a run. The silence outside of the dining hall soothed Sangela's ears, and the thought of returning to her dorm room lifted a small weight from her chest. Though she grimaced when she remembered that today she had moved into the new hybrid dorms...and she was to have a human roommate that would later become her partner, if they got along well enough in training. As she made her way to the students quarters she tried to remain preoccupied by reading the label of her drink, mentally she reminded herself that forgetting her headphones sucked. She preferred to remain closed off to conversation as she made her way around campus. She hopped up the narrow flight of stairs and made her way towards her room, lazily pressing her palm against the white pad next to the door, which slid open to reveal her modestly sized new home.

Without much thought she dropped her lunch on the small round table in the center of the common room, which contained a small kitchenette, dining table and area to watch television. She nearly dropped her drink onto a smaller elevated circle on the table only to jump back with a shrill gasp as she saw a small figure sitting upon it. It was a human, male if she was seeing correctly looking back towards her with his own startled stare, perhaps because he had nearly been crushed by a massive bottle of red "fruit juice". 

"Ousa Trak!" She gasped (the neko equivalent to "holy shit") "I am so sorry." She said, a rare apology from her but considering the circumstances she legitimately felt bad for almost killing her new partner, or severely wounding him at the very least. 

"Well that could have turned ugly." His voice called up, a surprising chuckle following his almost too calm remark. 

"Yes I was hardly thinking. Um, so you must be..." She tried to remember the name she had read on her rooming assignment, "Joanatan?" 

"Johnathan, you can call me Johnny." He replied, eyeing Sangela as she slung her single strapped bag to the floor before falling into the massive seat next to the larger table below. "I take it you're not used to the hybrid tables?"

"Not really." She said eyeing him more closely. He was clean shaven with short, typical military style dirty blonde hair. 

He laughed at her response, "Yeah me neither, this room is like a billion times larger than my house back home. That's why I was up here in the first place, exploring my new surroundings. Apparently it's modeled around the ship we'll be sharing."

"Yes that is what I read." She replied, sipping lightly from the almost deadly drink. She unwrapped the sandwich that was her take out lunch and bit into it, not sure how to continue the conversation. 

"So what do you think of classes?" Johnny asked, he too seemed to be sizing up his new roommate. 

Sangela shrugged her shoulders, "Pretty much what I expected." She said, trying to hide her bitterness from the previous class. 

"Excited to be serving under the Nova Force?" He continued.

Sangela's eyes shot towards him and her ears fell back, though she quickly tried to stifle her scorn. She simply shrugged again. She couldn't quite tell if his comment was sincere or sarcastic. 

Johnny grinned, "You were the mouthy one in class were you not?" He asked, his grin widening. 

Sangela swallowed slowly as she formed her next sentence, "I suppose...you could say I'm not a fan." She winced as she waited for his reply. She wasn't usually so worried of what one might think of her, but considering that this was supposed to be her new partner she didn't want him to think too poorly of her. In this class it seemed rather taboo to despise the famous duo. 

Johnny laughed again, "So you're in this for yourself then? Glad to know." 

Sangela blinked, "What do you mean?"

"Oh, just everyone in the class seems hell bent on becoming the next Nova Force. I mean they basically worship them." 

Sangela smiled as she heard her very own opinion being voiced by her roommate, "Yes! Exactly!" She said excitedly, "It has been driving me crazy! You know if they were all that amazing you would think they would be out there serving now instead of doing all of those television interviews and teaching classes here?" 

Johnny nodded, "I've always been a little skeptical of their stories. I mean sure there is some truth to it but what doesn't the media over exaggerate these days?" 

"Gosh I am so glad we agree on this." Sangela said with a sigh, "I have been ranting to myself in my head all damn week! I mean how many times do I have to hear the other girls in this class gossip on how they hope they get paired with the cute human. It is like what did you join the ranks for? To find a date? And no offense or anything, I can tell you are a good looking guy, but um...human and Neko? That is kind of gross." 

Johnny laughed, "You know I've thought that. Like waist up sure I will take that ride. I mean I love pussy as much as the next guy but when I say I wana' dive into some I mean it completely figuratively. If I wanted to ride in a big wet tunnel I would go to a water park...erm no offense." 

Sangela's eyes widened as she let out a sort of awkward laugh complete with a snort, "I know! Like how can that even be pleasurable?" She let out another satisfied sigh, her nervous bitterness finally melting away. She chewed thoughtfully for a few moments before asking, "So, you are new to hybrid living too?"

"For the most part. I was born and raised on Earth, and went to college there too." Johnny said, "How about you?"

Sangela nodded, "I am from Erraroth."

"Isn't that a Marlek planet?" Johnny questioned curiously, "I didn't know there were many Neko there."

"There are not." She said with a sigh, "My father moved there for work with my mother before I was born. So I grew up mostly with the Marlek."

"Oh, I see." Johnny said. He wondered to himself if it would have been hard on her but kept his question to himself. He found himself staring intently into her eyes. The blue and gold seemed to clash, but at the same time they were so alluring. "So uh." He started, feeling the strange intensity of such a massive Neko locking her eyes onto him, "Eh never mind." he said, stopping himself from questioning her on her eyes.

"Is it about my eyes?" She asked with an arched brow. It was a question she would normally be annoyed by, but with her new friend she did not mind, though she acted as if she was as she sighed and said, "No, they are not common, and no they are not caused by some disease or disorder. Just genetics." 

"Got ya'." Johnny said, grinning as a smile returned to her lips. "You know I've got a good feeling about us. I was worried I wouldn't get along with my partner. I tend to be kind of competitive." 

Sangela nodded, "Yes same here. Though I wish I could say we had much competition to go against. The other classmates seem like pushovers to me." 

Johnny laughed, "Yeah I noticed the same thing." 

~ ~ ~ ~ 

The next day the students gathered in the assigned gymnasium where they were issued their training armor. Like the Nova Guards, the Hybrid Forces would be issued their own specialized armor crafted to aid them in the field. The training armor was left a dull shade of gray with blue numbering on the various tools contained within. 

"Today we start simple." Kikata began, her own helmet pinned to her hip as she addressed the class. "I realize that many of you are new to hybrid society and have not had any sort of contact with smaller races, especially not physical contact." She glanced down to where Richard was briefing the smaller scale students, "And usually your partners over there will be handling the first aid, transport, communication, and what ever else needs to be done with the smaller races. However there might be situations where your partner is not able to interact with a distressed individual or your partner themselves will be in need of aid." She glanced between the various armored figures standing before her, "Any of you think you could currently handle this situation?" 

"Me." A robotic voice called out. Like the Nova Guard armor, the H.F armor cloaked the voice into a generic, asexual tone in order to prevent unwanted biases in the field due to gender. Though by the way the student threw their hip to the side and raised their hand pressed to their side it was concluded that the student was female. 

"Oh. Well let's see then." Kikata said before taking two small steps towards the smaller students before kneeling down.

Richard turned and looked up towards Kikata, "What's up?"

"We ready?" Kikata asked, "We have our first volunteer."

"Oh good. Sure yeah." Richard said. He turned towards his own students. They were mostly human, there was one of the smallest reptilian Marleks, whose long helmet was quite distinctive compared to the rest of his class. "Umm...Let's see here..." Richard started, waving his finger randomly before him before stopping it pointing towards a randomly selected student, "You."

"Sir." The student said stepping forward.

"You would be?" Richard asked.

"Johnathan Stepp sir." Johnny replied obediently.

"Alright John. Front and center." Richard said swaying his hand towards the line of giants that had formed before them. 

Johnny nodded and jogged out until he was about thirty yards from the feet of the Neko student who had stepped forward. It was easy to tell the races apart by their helmets. He did his best not to fidget under the tremendous size of the many students who looked down at him, each one a mountain in comparison to himself. 

"Okay John, go ahead and lay flat on your back." Richard called out.

Johnny hesitated for a moment before slowly getting down on his back, swallowing nervously as he stared straight up at the ceiling that was seemingly miles over his head. "Okay..." he whispered to himself. 

"Alright. Now." Kikata started again, facing the student who had stepped forward. "This individual on the ground before you is in need of aid and your partner cannot be reached. How do you handle the situation?"

The student shrugged and dropped to one knee, her hand sliding across the floor towards Johnny's head. 

"Stop." Kikata called. 

"Huh?" The student huffed looking up towards her instructor. 

"What did you do wrong?" Kikata asked.

"I...uh..." The student said, tapping her fingers nervously on her plated knee. 

"I know." Another voice called out from the line of large students. 

"Do you?" Kikata asked, "Please then, show us the proper way." 

The student nodded and stepped forward, lightly brushing shoulders with the embarrassed student who had just failed the first test. "First." They began, "If the conditions are safe I would remove my helmet. And place it between the subject and what ever dangers might be around." The student lifted their helmet off of their head, revealing bright red hair tied back into a pony tail and stuffed down under her armor. She knelt down and placed her helmet down to the left of Johnny. "Then I would ask the subject if they are harmed, and if they would be able to climb into my hand on their own."

Johnny arched his neck to look towards Richard to see if he could or not, "Uh?"

"No, he can't." Richard called out.

"Okay." Sangella said, a small smile creasing her lips, "If he is unable to move, and I do not have access to my A.F.G (anti-gravitational field generator) I would alert the subject to the fact that I would have to lift him manually."

"Good." Kikata said with a nod and a smile. "But you might also want to ask the subject to specify where they were hurt."

"Well...I already asked if they were hurt...so I figured that-"

"Okay, okay." Kikata said, "Just go on. You're doing fine."

Sangella nodded, holding her ears forward confidently. "Next I would remove my glove so I can more easily make sure the pressure I put on the individual is at a safe level." She said as she unlatched her glove before letting it slide to the ground next to her leg. She bit her lip as she cupped her glove hand behind Johnny, then with her bare hand she very lightly pressed her thumb and forefinger to his sides and lifted him. Johnny could feel his arms compress to his sides but did not feel any sort of pain as his back was laid onto Sangellas gloved hand. 

"And that's about it." Sangella said, glancing between her instructors. 

"Very well done." Kikata said, "Now do you all see the precautions we must take with our smaller citizens. Something that might seem natural for us, such as lifting a small object from the ground, becomes much more complicated when that object isn't an object at all. Of course the situation we just saw might be a little more extreme than the average encounter with a smaller race, but you must always be thinking three steps ahead of yourself when you enter any situation. Look for possible danger, be wary of your own strength, and know the fastest and safest way to get that individual into a safer place."

"Should I stuff him down my throat then?" Sangella asked with a grin, her striking eyes staring up towards Kikata's. 

"Excuse me?" Kikata asked, her brow arching slightly at the question. 

Johnny snickered quietly at the remark, "Let's not Sangella." He called up to his partner. 

"You know. Get them to the safest place." Sangella continued innocently. 

Kikata rolled her eyes, but smiled, "Oh I see what you're getting at. Fortunately for you, no. Unlike the Nova Guard armor that I wore during my years of service your armor will come with a personal transport container located on the abdomen." She said prodding her upper stomach with her forefinger. She glanced around the room for a moment, "So. Let's continue shall we?"