"Vis? Why don't Kaminoans ever smile?" Sights asked as he walked beside Vision.
"I suppose it is because they are dignified and we are their inferiors." Vision replied, "Sometimes professionalism requires a straight face."
Sights smiled, "But smiles would be nice every now and then, like how Adrenaline is almost always smiling."
Vision laughed, "True, but truthfully speaking, Ad will never be professional." He smiled, "But I find that a good quality about him. He's our bundle of energy to cheer us on and keep us striving toward perfection."
Adrenaline, as they spoke, was skipping and smiling at everyone around him.
Vis looked back at him, "Emphasis on the energy." He added back to Sights.
Sights chuckled, "There's truly no one like Ad!"
Upon reaching the mess hall, Adrenaline blew past the rest of his squad to get near the front of the line to eat.
The rest of the squad walked over, chuckling.
When Adrenaline saw what was being served, he wrinkled his nose, "Ew... Salad... At least we have meat substitute."
"SALAD?!" Vision gasped with a smile, "Non-toxic, earth-grown, freshly imported salad?"
"Oh, wow, guys- the one food that won't 'poison' Vision." Patches snickered.
Adrenaline chuckled at Patches' joke, then nodded, "Yep. Salad... There's meat substitute and rice as well."
Vis smiled, "Let's make a deal, Ad. You give me your salad and you get my... chemical-replication of what is supposed to be meat."
Adrenaline filled his food tray, "Deal! Thank you!" He smiled.
"I'm glad you two could work out a bargain." Sights chuckled, "You seem really happy, Vis."
"That's because I am." Vision grinned widely.
When everyone had their food, the cadets went to a table to sit down. By this time, Vision and Adrenaline were already making the exchange.
Sights sat down and began to eat his rice. He remembered his question in class and asked it again, "Vis? Now that we are at lunch, could you tell me what Talon meant by 'climbing the ranks?'"
Vision's smile faded once he heard this. He finished the "transaction" with Adrenaline before sitting down slowly and answering, "Well- We didn't want to break this to you so soon... You see, the way our training is set up encourages competition between different squads, divisions, companies, and so on. These competitions can drive cadets mad, since scores are very vital to success. Low-scoring cadets basically doom themselves to never seeing battle. Higher-scoring cadets are more prone to being promoted or put into advanced programs to become elite units. Talon and his brothers are a very competitive bunch... They want top slots in the point rankings to become elite troopers someday."
Sights listened, "Oh- I get it... Why didn't you tell me this sooner, guys?"
"Because," Subtle began, "You just began in the program with a passion for learning and we didn't want to extinguish that with burdens of competition." He explained, "But now you know, just do what you've always done. Strive to do your best."
Sights nodded slowly, reflecting on all this new knowledge as he ate his salad.
Circuit chimed in after he finished his meat substitute, "Sub's right. Don't worry about Talon. He's always fought with our standing, trying to top us. It's not new news around here." He began to eat his rice.
"Okay, if you say so." Sights nodded, "I love trying my best anyway, so this will be easy peasy!"
Circuit was pleased with Sights' confidence as he continued to eat with his brothers.
Adrenaline bounced in his seat as he ate.
Zs, who leaned against him as usual, appeared weary as he tried to eat a spoonful of rice. He tried to eat the spoonful but missed, dumping the rice on his uniform. He sat up straight and looked down at his rice-covered lap. He then turned to Adrenaline and gently whacked his cheek with the back of the spoon, "Cut that out. Look what you made me do."
Ad stopped his bouncing with a laugh and a cheerful "okay." He looked at Zs' lap and snickered, "Sorry."
Zs grunted with a nod, cleaning his lap with a napkin before eating again.
Flashback laughed and shook his head, "That almost resembles the time yesterday where Ad-"
Subtle covered his mouth, laughing, "Shhhh- Keep him oblivious."
"Huh?" Zs asked, looking up, exhausted.
"Nothing, brother. Flash is just being silly with his stories again." Patches smiled.
Zs shrugged, continuing to eat slowly.
Circuit was now finishing his salad. He loved the grown food compared to the processed ones. He was happy to eat it.
Suddenly, the mess hall grew quieter than it had been.
This change caused Sights to look up and try to see what was happening. Leaning back on the bench that he sat on, Sights twisted another dial on his visor to control the zoom. He gasped softly, "Brothers? Madam Lafa is coming this way..." He said, a slight tremor of discomfort in his voice.
Circuit looked over at Lafa Re as she strode down the rows of cafeteria tables. A lump of dread formed in his throat, and he hoped that Lafa wasn't coming for any of his squad. He began to formulate scenarios on why she was here. 'Did she find out about Ember's accident yesterday?' His heart began to race as a worse reason came to mind, 'Or what if Owl Eyes flagged my behavior when he left breakfast this morning... Maybe that is why he didn't answer me-' He stared up at the Kaminoan woman as she stopped at his table.
"I need you, CT-2353. Your free hour of whatever you had planned has been terminated for something else. Please come with me." Lafa ordered sternly.
Circuit gulped and tried to remain calm, "Oh? What am I needed for? Where am I going?"
"Don't question me right now, just follow." Lafa spoke. She clearly wasn't going to give a clue as to why he was needed.
Getting up slowly, Circuit waved "bye" to his squad before following Lafa out.
Talon smirked as he saw Circuit being escorted out of the cafeteria, but that smirk dropped quickly as Lafa Re stopped at his table too.
"CT-3845, please come along. I will show you which halls need to be cleaned." Lafa said, a bit loud so that other cadets could hear if they listened.
"Yeah, Talon. Get to mopping those floors! I wanna see my reflection perfectly as I walk down the halls." Geo laughed.
Talon turned red with embarrassment, "Can we just go quickly now?!" He asked Lafa, looking down at his shoes.
Lafa found amusement in this, "I suppose... Come along..." She led the two cadets out. "I'll drop you off first, CT-2353."
Circuit followed stiffly, his head still swirling with anxiety. He tried taking some deep breaths. He nodded, then looked at Lafa Re, "Excuse me- could you maybe use my namesake instead of my trooper number?" He requested timidly.
"Use your namesake?" Lafa repeated, "Don't be ridiculous. It is easier to recall trooper numbers on file than names you all come up with. Besides- I will encounter many cadets in my lifetime. What should your alias be to me?" She replied flatly.
"It's not an alias." Circuit returned quietly, "But I understand."
Lafa remained quiet as she walked.
Circuit looked over at Talon, "Do you have any knowledge of where I'm going?"
"Don't know, don't care." Talon replied, "All I know is I have janitor duty." He replied sharply.
"Okay- cool..." Circuit looked down at his feet as he walked.
Lafa Re finally stopped and pushed Circuit into Sala Te's lab before escorting Talon to his "post" to clean for the hour, while muttering about why Sala couldn't just get Circuit herself.
Circuit stumbled as he was pushed in. He looked back at the door, which closed behind him, and glared before turning to Sala. "You- needed me?"
Sala Te rose from where she sat with a nod, "I have gotten diagnostics of your success, and you have been selected to perform a little experiment all for the name of science. All you need to do is take a short, impromptu test."