"Wake up sleeping beauties, it's time to get to work!" Commander Morrison barked, startling Mark and everyone else awake.

Abruptly the lights flipped on, earning loud groans of complaint from the groggy men as they blearily blinked their eyes to adjust to the brightness.

"It's like five in the morning though." A tall man with balding brown hair on the bunk next to Mark argued.

"No, it's four in the morning Wade." Captain Scheid corrected him with a light smile that quickly disappeared when the commander looked over at him.

"What are you lazy bastards waiting for, get moving!" Commander Morrison snapped as he stormed out of the bunker.

"Who shoved a stick up his ass?" The guy Mark remembered meeting yesterday named Ethan remarked.

"He thinks that if he's hard on you guys that then it'll make you better and tougher soldiers." Captain Scheid explained with a shrug before leaving the men to change into the uniforms neatly laid out on the end of their beds.

"I think your uniform is a little big." Thomas snickered as he glanced at Mark.

His pants ended far past his feet that when he walked he nearly tripped with each step, his shirt sleeves hiding his hands.

"I'm too short." Mark pouted while Thomas continued laughing at him, catching the attention of a large man with short curly brown hair and rectangular black glasses.

"Here, mine's too small." The man stated as he offered Mark his uniform.

Mark gratefully traded with him, relieved that while his uniform it was slightly too tight for his taste, it fit much better than the last one.

"Thanks, uh..." Mark trailed off since he didn't know his name.

"Bob." The man filled in.

"Mark." Mark nodded as he quickly threw the new uniform on before marching out with everyone else.

"Alright, some of you are going to be cannoneers or manning a tank while the rest of you are gonna be foot soldiers." Commander Morrison declared, gesturing to the cannons set up in the gun shooting field where they were yesterday and a different area with a course and full of giant tanks.

"Cannoneer." The commander pointed at Bob.

"Foot soldier." He pointed to Mark and Thomas.

"Tank." He pointed at Wade.

"Foot soldier."

Ethan.

"Tank."

Matt.

Commander Morrison continued giving the men jobs while Captain Scheid handed out special pins that identified your job until everyone had their role and matching pin.

"Now go get breakfast." Captain Scheid directed the men, watching as they eagerly ran off to the banquet hall next to the bunkers.

Mark grabbed a tray at the beginning of the line and watched as a woman with long dirty blonde hair and caramel brown eyes dumped a scoop of discolored oatmeal onto his tray before sending him off.

"Thanks ma'am." Wade nodded in appreciation as he received his food.

"No problem. The name's Molly." She replied, slipping him a piece of paper with a wink before he left the line.

Mark sat at a long table with Thomas, Wade, Bob, Matt, and Ethan while the others sat at different tables around them.

"Did any of you guys come here by choice?" Ethan asked as he dug into his food.

"Kinda. My older brother was drafted, but I took his place." Matt shrugged nonchalantly as he tried a spoonful of his oatmeal before distastefully setting the spoon aside.

"I volunteered so I could keep my dork of a brother in one piece." Mark teased as he nudged Thomas.

"Hey, do you guys mind if we sit here?" A man with shoulder length chocolate brown hair with a streak of blonde asked.

Standing next to him was a man slightly taller than him with long curly dark brown hair and brown eyes with a short stubble.

"Sure." Bob gestured to a couple of empty seats to his right where they could sit.

"I'm Arin by the way, this is Dan." The shorter man introduced himself and his friend.

Mark introduced himself and his new friends sitting around him with a friendly smile.

Together the eight talked and ate before Commander called for them to come to the gun firing field.

"Listen up! While the cannoneers and tank riders get to know their weapons, everyone else is running fifty laps around the gun practice field before doing forty push ups, followed by squats for ten minutes and one hundred sit ups." Commander Morrison proclaimed.

"Sir, isn't that way too much?" Captain Scheid interjected with a raised eyebrow.

"They need to toughen up." The commander countered tersely.

"Let's go!" Commander Morrison shouted.

No one moved.

Except Mark and Thomas.

Together the brothers faced the challenge ahead of them with grim determination as they kept pace with each other.

"We can do this." Mark whispered to himself as well as Thomas as they ran side by side across the grass, occasionally stumbling through holes or tripping over the uneven bumps.

"We're so going to die after this." Thomas remarked.

"What do you mean after this I'm going to die during this." Mark huffed, earning a snort of amusement from Thomas.

Once they finished ten laps, Commander Morrison motioned for the two to stop much to their confusion.

"At least you two listened. The rest of you need to get going!" Commander Morrison directed sternly.

The group of men exchanged wary glances before taking off at a light jog while Mark and Thomas stayed where they were standing, bracing themselves for the worst.

"Go down to the beach for the day, I'll send someone to get you once lunch rolls around." Commander Morrison directed.

"Really?" Mark gasped in disbelief.

"Go before I change my mind." He replied with a light laugh, giving them a light shove to encourage them to move.

Without further hesitation, the two ran down to the beach to go swim, only to pause halfway to the ocean.

Docked by the beach was a long battle cruiser outfitted with guns and cannons galore like a futuristic pirate ship.

Painted on the side of the ship was two words.

HMS DREADNOUGHT