For a few seconds after Wade stepped away from the platform, Reed had been seated with both hands resting against his knees. The adrenaline had left him feeling slightly detached from the room, as if the oath had been something happening a few meters away rather than words he had just spoken himself. Jessica’s hand previously found its way to his shoulder without asking anything of him, steady and familiar.

“You good?” she asked quietly, leaning closer so she would not carry over the low murmur beginning to return to the cargo bay.

Reed drew in a breath before looking up at her. “Yeah. Just needed a second to let my brain catch up with my mouth. Apparently I make life-changing decisions before breakfast now.”

Jessica’s expression softened into a small smile as she reminded him that breakfast had been over for hours. Reed managed a faint grin in return, the dry exchange helping pull him back into the room. He pushed himself to his feet and squared his shoulders, accepting that the weight he felt was not going anywhere soon. He had signed anyway, and he had meant every word of it.

Beside them, Marn stood in silence with his PADD tucked beneath one arm. The oath had not changed the immediate tactical reality of the ship or the work waiting ahead, but it had changed the structure around it. Blackwatch was no longer an evaluation, or a possibility to be weighed against safer assignments elsewhere. It was now a commitment shared by everyone who had remained standing in that room, and he found the clarity of that useful.

Jessica withdrew her hand from Reed’s shoulder and adjusted the sleeve of her uniform, more out of habit than necessity. She could feel the seriousness of the decision settling in now that the words were over. There would be no public service record for any of this, no commendation that could be shown to family, and no one outside the organization would ever fully understand what they had agreed to do. The work would matter precisely because it stayed unseen.

Solana let out a slow breath and looked down at her hands for a moment. She had remained steady through the Covenant and the oath, but the thought of the implant had never fully left her mind. As medical personnel, she understood better than most how much trust was contained in the simple act of allowing someone to put something inside their body. She had signed, though. She had spoken the words. Whatever anxiety remained did not change that she intended to see the decision through.

Pembroke remained quiet near the back of the bay, the gravity of the oath settling with him in a way that felt strangely familiar. It was not the same as the medical oath he had taken years ago, but it carried some of the same finality. A promise made with full knowledge that someday it might ask more of him than he wanted to give, and that he would still be expected to answer.

While the candidates had been reading and deciding, the far end of Cargo Bay Two had been prepared for the next stage of induction. The temporary platform remained in place, but several of the cleared sections beside it now held compact medical stations: diagnostic equipment, privacy screens, sterile trays, recovery cots, and enough monitoring gear to handle the people who had chosen to remain. The setup was clinical without being elaborate. It did not need to be comforting. It needed to be controlled.

Wade allowed the room another moment before stepping back toward the center of the platform.

“There is one final requirement before you are cleared for active Blackwatch duty,” he said. His voice remained calm, though there was no attempt to make the next part sound insignificant. “The security implants referenced in the Covenant will be administered here today.”

The cargo bay grew quieter again as people absorbed the words.

“Medical has prepared the procedure area along the forward bulkhead. We’ll be taking people in small groups, and everyone who signed will need to form a line at the intake station. You will receive a final medical review before implantation, and you will remain under observation afterward until you are cleared. The procedure itself is brief, but nobody is being rushed through it.”

Wade let his eyes move across the medical personnel positioned throughout the bay.

“Once you have completed your own procedures, all medical personnel will report to the forward stations and assist with intake, monitoring, and recovery. We have a large number of people to process, and I want every one of them handled properly.”

Solana looked toward the prepared stations, finding something grounding in the practical nature of the assignment. Helping with the process would not make her own implant less unnerving, but it returned her to familiar territory: patients who needed reassurance, records that needed to be reviewed, and people who needed to be watched carefully after a procedure.

Pembroke gave a quiet acknowledgment from where he stood. The thought of assisting gave shape to the morning beyond the ceremony. There would be assessments to make, recovery periods to monitor, and people who would need a professional presence beside them while they came to terms with what they had just accepted.

Wade looked across the bay one final time.

“Take a few minutes to get yourselves settled. Speak with one another if you need to, then form the line at the forward intake station and we’ll begin.”

Reed glanced between Jessica, Marn, and Solana, then let out a measured breath. “Well, that seems like a fairly clear next step. I was hoping the welcoming package might include coffee, but apparently we skipped right to the classified implants.”

Marn looked toward him with the same even expression he had worn through most of the morning. “The sequence is medically logical,” he said, then added after a brief pause, “The coffee would likely improve morale.”

That pulled a small, nervous laugh from Solana. Jessica’s expression warmed as she looked at the three of them, and for a moment the space between the oath and what came next felt less heavy.

The decision had been made. Now they would carry it forward together.

Khalil moved toward the med area, "Let's get this done then." Kealen and Jaxom followed as lines began to form.

The process was quick for both Solana and Pembroke. A quick moment of discomfort and the realization of having the implant. While it remained in the back Solana's mind, Adrian simply continued forward in his work, ensuring his new brothers and sisters received theirs as safely and efficiently as possible. Some had a moment of hesitation, causing some annoyance for the surgeon but he didn't allow ot to be visible. He remained as stone faced as ever while everyone went through the process. Reacting to other people's discomfort usually only made things worse.

The rest of the group liked up, Jessica, Reed, and Marn. All remained silent as they went though the line and process, allowing the weight to settle in for the decision they'd made.

Oksana remained a shadow in the room, still observing, still silent. Once the last of them had gone through the process, she finally moved from where she had been lingering, shared a quick glance with Samstone, and then quietly left the cargo bay.

The Captain watched and waited until everything was complete. No one fought the process, no one went back.over to JAG to argue. They knew they were beyond that point.

Once the last of the recovery cots had cleared, Wade returned to the center of the platform.

“Thank you, all of you,” he said. “Medical will clear each of you before you leave this bay. After that, get some rest. You have earned it.”

END