"I can't believe this is happening." Mark muttered to himself under his breath as he filled the duffel Commander Morrison had handed him with uniforms and other necessities to last him for weeks since he had no idea how long he'd be gone.

Commander Morrison was pacing behind the men with his hands clasped behind his back, carefully watching them prepare and occasionally interjecting to help them understand the difference between what they needed and what they wanted.

"You'll be alright." Thomas assured him with a small smile as he shouldered his bulging bag.

"We'll be alright." Mark corrected him.

"Yeah..." Thomas trailed off, his expression betraying his uncertainty as he adjusted the strap of his duffel to avoid looking Mark in the eyes.

"You guys ready?" Bob spoke up as he crammed one last uniform into his duffel before zipping it shut.

"Ready as I'll ever be I guess." Mark sighed nervously.

"Alright boys, time to load up!" Commander Morrison abruptly boomed, startling the soldiers in training.

Mark looked over and watched as Matt took a photo out from behind his pillow and hastily stick it in his pocket before Commander Morrison could see it.

"Here goes nothing." Wade mumbled loud enough for Mark to hear as he walked over to Bob.

Together Bob, Mark, Thomas, Wade, and Matt followed everyone else to the coast to board the Dreadnought.

"Welcome aboard the Dreadnought boys." Amy greeted the five as they walked up the gangplank, winking at Mark.

"Dude she's totally into you!" Thomas whispered excitedly once she was out of earshot.

"She probably just had something in her eye." Mark argued, although he didn't quite believe himself.

Mark and Thomas went below deck with everyone else, setting his duffel down on a hammock in the corner while Thomas placed his stuff next to Mark.

"Hey Mark, wanna play a game?" Wade asked as he walked up to Mark, a deck of cards in his hands.

Mark exchanged glances with Thomas before shrugging and following Wade to a table where Matt, Bob, a strange with brown hair, and the guy Mark remembered was named Nate was already waiting for them.

"What's the game?" Thomas asked as he sat down on the stool to Bob's right while Mark sat on the other side of him next to Wade.

"I was thinking poker." Wade shrugged as he slapped the deck of cards down onto the table.

"We don't have poker chips." Mark pointed out with a small frown.

"Who says we don't?" The brown haired stranger countered as he pulled a handful of red poker chips from his pocket and dropped them on the table.

"Where did you get these Matt?" Nate laughed as he counted them out and distributed between the group.

"There's two Matts?" Mark chimed in.

"Yeah, but I go by MatPat to create less confusion." The brown haired Matt clarified.

Thomas shuffled the cards before handing them out, then placing the remaining cards down on the table.

"Deal me in."

Mark turned around to see Amy sauntering in with her usual confident smirk as she pulled up an extra stool and took a seat next to Matthias.

"Who's commanding the boat then?" MatPat asked.

"Commander Morrison is taking over for me for a little bit so I can get a break and talk to you boys." Amy explained.

"We're not boys." Mark protested defensively.

"Prove it then. Loser has to clean the deck." Amy countered tauntingly.

"And the winner?" Thomas interjected curiously.

"You'll see once you win." She promised.

As the game progressed, all of the men were dismayed to see Amy easily beating them until the game was finished.

"Ha, Wade has to clean the deck!" Bob exclaimed in relief.

"You guys suck anyway." Wade pouted sourly as he folded his arms over his chest.

"Here, I'll do it if it'll make you stop whining." Mark volunteered.

"I'll see you out on the deck later tonight then." Amy told Mark, caressing his face with her hand briefly as she stood up and walked away.

Mark couldn't help but watch her leave, his mind and body frozen as he tried to process what had just happened.

"Ooh, someone's got a crush." Wade teased.

"Says the guy that's making eyes at the lunch lady." Mark shot back.

"Girls girls you're both pretty, now quit arguing." Nate interjected.

"Well I dunno about you guys, but it's late and I want sleep." Matthias spoke up as he stood up and stretched his arms high over his head.

"Old age is hitting you hard." Thomas joked.

"Yeah yeah, shut up. Besides, I'm not that much older anyway." Matthias pointed out.

"Whatever you say." Mark rolled his eyes playfully.

Matthias shot the group mock glares before going over to his hammock and instantly falling asleep.

"Im gonna go get dinner." Bob decided, the others following him.

While they ate dinner in the mess hall below deck, Mark went up to the upper deck and started his job.

It was apparently now raining even though Mark hadn't noticed from down below.

Millions of drops of water rained from the dark gray clouds above, rapidly soaking Mark's clothes and splattering on his glasses so his vision was blurred.

"Up here!" Amy called out.

Mark looked up in the crow's nest to find Amy standing on the edge of it, holding onto the beam with one hand for support.

That was when a bolt of lightning cracked down from the sky and hit the main beam.