A few hours later

Sidko vomited in a trashbin in the alley while Zzarr patted his back as a show of support. The Citizen lifted his head,
"I am ready.. for the virts!" He said, Zzarr nodded,

"What're you trying to do?"
"Let's do....Star Shooter" Sidko said. Zzarr pondered a moment as the two walked down the neon lit nightscape of the district,
"Star Shooter? You and Rico have been playing that a lot haven't you?"
"Ever since I caught him playing it"

The two came to a Virt store. Sidko looked through the transparent glass to see the posters of the Virtual sims playing this week, custom virts going up to 5 thousand credits per hour. Star Shooters was there, for about 500 per hour with a clearly planned discount for Protectorate Officers. He smiled,
"We'll do Star Shooters for an hour, then another one"
Zaarr's head barely kept its balance as she turned, her eyes then widened,
"Woah" she said as she looked at someone approaching.

Sidko had to force himself to turn around, his eyes widened,
oh ...shit

He suddenly straightened his posture and stood at attention, as did Zzarr, he burped.....as did Zzarr. The one and only Elf stood in front of the two new officers.
"Sidko, Zzarr"
Zzarr almost jumped as she tugged Sidko's sleeve, she blurted out the fantasy images in her head,
"Name basis, s-score. let's all go to the virts, pound some drinks and call it a night"
Sidko elbowed his fellow graduate,
"Sorry ma'am, we're just.. Just out and about tonight"
Aradi chuckled,
"No need to be so formal off-duty Sidko, if otherwise you two would already be on the ground for a blunder of infractions. I see you two are celebrating by hitting the virts"
"Yes ma'am - I mean, yess...Aradi?"
His response was full of uncertainty of referring to his superior so casually. Zzarr took a step forward, placing herself next to Sidko,
"What are you doing out at this time, Aradi?"
In her mind, Aradi sort of frowned on the confidence of her name being uttered so blankly, she preferred to see the new officers squirm like Sidko, she looked down at the Citizen and responded,
"I couldn't sleep, something I have in common with the entertainment district"

"Oh oh do you want to join us in the virts?" Zzarr quickly asked. The Elf nodded,
"I'm afraid virts and I don't really mix well, otherwise I'd probably take you up on it...depending on what it is" she looked to the posters behind the glass,
"Oh, Star Shooters? That's the game everyone likes right now, is that the one you two are doing?" she asked, they both nodded,
"I've never been into video games much, making sure Council's systems stay intact is my idea of fun"...
Sidko and Zzarr looked impressed as she spoke so casually about her dedication of the Council, the Elf looked at the posters,
...."The Council gives you all this, hard not to try and protect it"
Sidko and Zzarr nodded,
"Right right, that's so true" SIdko said,
"Wow, I can see why you're the best of the best" Zzarr added.

Aradi turned to them,
"Enough of the ramblings of this bag. Enjoy the Virts. Oh, and Zzarr, if you win, Sidko owes me a cup of coffee"
Sidko's mouth dropped, he looked at Zzarr then to Aradi,
"Waa - wai - waa"
Aradi smirked and walked on, she waved bye as the two stood there watching their former commander trot off. Sidko and Zzarr then turned to each other,
"She's a lot different off duty" Zzarr said, Sidko nodded,
"Much nicer, almost feels like a trap" he added, Zzarr snorted,
"Come on, let's see who's better"

The next day.

Sidko woke up on the floor, well half on the floor. His lower body hung to the mattress under the blankets. He put his hands over his eyes, and rubbed his temples, he groaned, he pulled the rest of his body out, not fully realizing where he was, after the thud, a groan emitted from his mouth as he lifted himself up.
"Ahhhghgggg"
Sidko reached in his pocket, taking his phone out, he read the time,
"I'm not late...what a miracle" he uttered. His eyes closed to remember the events of last night. They suddenly popped open and looked around, he then sighed as he let himself fall back,
"I can't believe I didn't ask for a selfie" he managed to say, referring to his former commander.

2 weeks later, Protectorate HQ

Sidko yawned as he got out of the shuttle, he, as many of the new graduates, took after morning tablets to quell the possible headaches from the constant party, to which luckily, he had seemed to be feeling fine. The young Citizen was quite excited to start his first day. The group of officers headed towards an elevator, it was quite large, meant to carry entire platoons. Sidko looked down as he saw the line breaking the boundary between the underground parking lot and the elevator, he stepped onto the platform, with each step every other officer took, the platform would slightly drop then adjust, the springs in action. As they all stood in rows, some of the officers were chatting, others on their phones. Sidko wanted to engage, but he wanted to be the best of the best, there was no time for being a chatter box, he would save that for outside of work. Next to him was a familiar sight, though maybe not as welcomed as one might think. His eyes slowly moved to the left, a First Gen Citizen was looking up at him... Pachki.

The elevator then started to move up, Pachki blew air, her demeanor was that of a seasoned officer. Someone who aimed for the top, who would beat down any one who she even considered to be an inconvenience to the Council...and this is the person that's in the lower end of the highest officers..
"You're one of Lieutenant Aradi's runts" she said, he quickly looked ahead,
"I am. Nice to meet you, as equals - well I mean, I am a private, I didn't - mean too - sorry ma'am"

Lieutenant Pachki nearly bursted out laughing, and the elevator reached its destination: The changing room.

Sidko attempted to pretend his walking speed was rather quick, but he could feel Pachki right on his tail. Other officers noticed her behavior but didn't bother saying anything. It was no secret Pachki was eyeing to take Aradi's spot as the top, but as to why she was looking at Sidko in particular was beyond anyone but her.

Sidko walked into the locker room, he looked at his phone to check his number, as he looked around the corner, many Citizens were changing, some laughing, greeting Sidko. Pachki eyed another graduate, she then saw where her prey stepped too.

In the tiled floor, the lockers were all next to each other, but the rows were not filled up entirely, it was 2 to 5 for every 10 rows, and Sidko seemed to get the buck end of the placement. Pachki opened her locker right next to Sidko, the creaking door she smirked as she locked on to him, removing her clothes.

"Listen, I don't know how you twerps graduated under that loser, but if you're anything like her, you'll be setting up shop and giving perps to the rest of us vets for free. I'll be number 1 in no time"

Sidko didn't utter a word in response, he took out his GCID and carefully placed it on the second shelf underneath the monitor, he logged into the system. A message box appeared, reading: "Welcome Stick-42, and thank you for serving. Please refer to your Protectorate Device for a new objective while staying on base for the next......four, ten, days". He sighed,
Gonna have to tell Fa about this later...
He suddenly felt a slap on his bottom, he turned quickly to see Pachki grinning,
"Welcome to the club, new meat" she said as she stuck out her purple colored tongue.

Pachki then looked around Sidko, a smaller "fry" came into the picture. It was Zzarr. Sidko smiled in relief, his friend waved as she passed by,
"Hey Sidko, my locker is just on the other side, I thought I heard you. Did you check your mission yet? We've been assigned together until a transfer, cool huh!?"
His eyes lit up, the private grabbed his Protectorate device, his finger glided across the new screen, then tapping the assignments, he saw an icon of himself and Zzarr at the top. Their mission details underneath, saying:
"Current Mission: Apprehend a minimum of 10 violators of the Council's peace by the end of your term, maximum apprehension is 50. Exceeding maximum apprehension is rewarded with bonus credits. Tap more details"

"Good luck kids" Pachki said, interrupting the celebration, Zzarr nodded,
"Thank you Lieutenant, sey!" she said. Sidko followed her lead,
"Thank you, sey"

Sidko and Zzarr stood before a tall glass window, their shift started in 30 minutes, but they wanted to take in the sight of the city, they've never seen the city in this manner before, drones flew by, one stopped and took a gander at them, then continued on. Dropships lifting themselves to the sky while others performed landing sequences from transfers of all kinds of backgrounds. In the far distance, a wall stood high, and behind it. The great spiral forest.

The two somewhat squinted their eyes to get a focus on it, the rays of the sun blurred beyond the city limits, Sidko took a deep breath,
"That's the Spiral Forest"
Zzarr looked up at him,
"I'm surprised you know that"
Sidko smirked as he cupped his hand with his chin and performed a very pompous pose,
"I was up late watching random clips on Viral the other night" he said smuglike. Zzarr rolled her eyes,
"So what can you tell me about the savage lands, oh biology expert" she said mockingly.
Sidko paused for a moment,
"Uhhhh"
He cleared his throat.

"Ok, outside, the Spiral Forest, is a natural uh rock formation, giant spiral like rocks going up to the clouds, it's about the size of a small city, locals worship the place, thinking some gods or something built it as they ascended into the heavens"

Zzarr nodded, she pondered a moment before responding,
"I'm surprised they can even make up a story like that. Those wild animals will believe anything other than fact. You wanna go see it?"
Sidko exhausted his breath,
"Take a trip to the savage lands? There's nothing out there, no protection from the Council either - well other than the guard posts and pro-natives"
The smaller companion crossed her arms, her left eye closed as she smirked,
"You're not even a little curious as to what's out there?"
"No not really"
"Good. Anyways, our shift is starting. Let's head to the cruiser, you're driving"

Sidko turned as he saw Zzarr walk off, he scoffed and ran after her,
"Hey you know we're the same rank right?"

As the two stood in the elevator, Sidko looked mischievous as he turned to Zzarr,
"Psst, yo, we should...take selfies. It's our first day" he said in a quiet voice,
"I already took mine before heading out this morning" she said proudly,

"Obviously, But we're a team until whenever"
Zzarr nodded,
"Oh yea that's true, ok. Let's do it. Here, since you're taller, use my PD" she said. Sidko and Zzarr posed and took a photo, as their second pose came around. The Elevator doors opened. Their faces froze, as well as their poses. Aradi stood before them, a superior. A superior catching them in the act of slacking. She slowly raised her hand to her walkie as she wide eyed them without blinking, almost as if she was containing a rage inside her,
"This is Antara-Zero, cancel my break, I'm requesting a ShadowSup" she said.

A ShadowSup is essentially extra babysitting for new officers to ensure their behavior is on par with what a Protectorate should be, the easy way would've been to just dock them. One could suppose this was Aradi's way of being nice, though it might've been easier for them to have their Credits docked.

The Elf drove a van-like cruiser down Gantun, with two embarrassed rookies in the back seats. The van was a Bumble-Crusier 2, meant to provide simple transport. A support drone was assigned to ensure optimal performance analysis after the ShadowSup assignment was done. Sidko looked out the window, attempting to be stealth-like, his Protectorate Device slowly came out of his pocket, and entered photo mode, he looked over to see Zzarr looking at him, who shook her head, looking fearful. Aradi cleared her throat,
"Protectorate Devices are great for documenting evidence and checking mission statuses, Stand Alone Officers like me have ear buds for quick access, we only take out our PDs when needed to document crime scenes and what not" she said, Sidko quickly put it away,
"I was just doing that, ma'am" he said quickly.

Aradi looked at the dashboard centered in the van, there were multiple infractions, but none worth in particular for the rookies, then a call came in. These calls are particularly set for those operating under the ShadowSup,
"I got a report of a pet stuck in a tree, low priority, Pooduu street"
The Elf quickly responded on her walkie,
"This is Antara-Zero, on route"
Sidko and Zzarr looked at each other, thinking the same thing,
Animal rescue?

The 3 stood on the sidewalk, Aradi in front, pride on full display. In front of her, a small park, an old Citizen standing hunched, looking up at a synthetic tree, smaller Citizens ran around the playground that was seated between two tall buildings. Aradi turned to to the two rookies, she pointed at Sidko, then Zzarr,
"You get the pet, and you console the Citizen"