As Delta made his way through the narrow passageways of the ship, his mind was still a whirlwind of emotions. He'd always tried to be the best soldier he could be. He'd always wanted to focus on the mission ahead, defend the base against the threat of the slowly advancing enemy fleet. Being a delta was wasted on his training. He wanted to fucking scream, to hit something.
Maybe the gammas noticed the mood he was in, because they all quickly made way for him when he passed by.
Good, it was better to seem intimidating. Vulnerability would surely be preyed upon. He'd seen it happen in the academy, and he knew it would happen here, especially with the chip keeping him subservient to even these lowly ranking gamma soldiers. He had to keep his composure.
When he approached the doors to the bridge, they slid open, and he could hear voices quieting. The three beta couples were standing with their backs to the door, facing the alpha, who looked up with a mild expression as Delta stepped in.
The alpha motioned with his arm for Delta to join him. But when the beta turned their heads to see who'd come in, Delta stiffened in his tracks.
Among the beta officers stood Mitch and Iris. They'd been his friends back at the academy. They'd trained together, fought together in the practice modules, supported each other. Their eyes widened in shock as they recognized him, and for a moment, there was only silence. Despite his best efforts to keep himself in check, Delta could feel his face burning with shame.
'Delta 7.' Alpha 7 said, slowly dropping his arm. 'Meet your new beta officers; Zoe and River, Olivia and Jack, and Iris and Mitch.'
Delta forced a nod, trying to push down the turmoil within him. 'Hello,' he managed to say, his voice sounding weak even to his own ears.
'You?' Mitch stammered, unable to hide the shock in his voice.
Iris maintained her composure, but her eyes searched for answers. How could he even begin to explain this to her?
Before he could say anything else, the alpha stepped through his gathered officers, placing a hand on his shoulder. 'Delta 7 will be working closely with us on this mission,' he said.
The words felt like a cruel joke. Working with them, his former peers, in this subservient role would be a nightmare. The details of the meeting completely passed him by as he stood next to the alpha, whose hand rubbed the small of his back. He caught himself leaning into it, and pulled away.
Once the meeting concluded, the alpha let go of him, and went over to discuss some details with Zoe and River.
Mitch and Iris came over to him, concern etched on their faces.
'You're...' Iris asked. 'a delta?'
He nodded.
'Are you okay?' Mitch's hand hovered in the air for a moment, as if he was unsure whether to touch him or not. With regret, Delta watched Mitch drop it down to his side again.
'I don't know. It's complicated,' he admitted. He probably would have told them that it had been a mistake now-- that he didn't agree with this-- if the directive hadn't removed that desire from his mind.
But his friends knew. He could see it in their eyes.
'This is so messed up,' Mitch said, his voice tight with emotion. 'How could they decide this? You were the best of us, you are the best of us.'
'Thanks.' Delta said, uncomfortable under their empathy. 'But I can handle this. It's okay.'
'Just-, just tell us when something is wrong, okay? We're here for you.'
A tremor went through Delta's spine. It had probably not even been a conscious command, but Iris's directive conflicted with his alpha's words not to complain about his situation. It wasn't like she could overrule the alpha's higher ranking directive though, so all Delta could do was give her a nod.
'Wait, oh I'm sorry, did I just-?' Iris clasped a hand over her mouth. She seemed horrified. But she didn't take her words back either, Delta noticed.
Whatever. They weren't friends anymore. They couldn't be. It was like Alpha 7 had said. It was nice of them to care about him, but they would never be equals. And there was nothing to do but to get used to that.
* * *
After the introductions were over, Delta was sent away from the bridge. He hadn't been assigned to one specific task force, but found himself passed along between artillery, machinery, and maintenance, tasked with a series of simple, menial duties he'd familiarized himself with during his years at the academy. He scrubbed floors, oiled weaponry and machinery and was sent to the bowels of the whip for stupid ventilation cleaning. Earlier he'd been joined by a gamma or two, but ventilation shafts were small, and for the first time that day, he was alone.
He preferred to be alone, knowing that some gammas might try to compensate for their own feelings of inferiority by asserting dominance over him, someone even lower in the hierarchy. It had gone well today, but he knew their temporary camaraderie was likely fueled by the excitement of their first practice mission this afternoon. The resentment might just come later. He wasn't deluding himself; Delta's weren't respected, and he shouldn't hope for special treatment.
The alpha was different though, way different from what Delta had expected. He hadn't pushed to have sex with him. They'd just... hugged? So, was he frigid, a prude? Not that Delta was complaining, but it was unsettling. Had those stories about alpha's and their crazy hormones been mere locker room talk?
Dragging him from his thoughts, the sound of Alpha's calm commanding tone filled the ship from hidden speakers, echoing through the tight metal vents that Delta was crawling through.
The battle simulation was starting.
Delta looked down at his comm device, and pushed down his frustration when he saw his announcement didn't change from 'Bowel ventilation cleaning' into something more useful. They really weren't going to let him contribute to the war then? Their fucking loss. At least Mitch and Iris should have known they could use him. They were all fucking idiots for keeping him out of it.
With renewed energy, Delta started scrubbing away at the oily layer of dust heaped up in the corners of the air shafts. Fucking disgusting old ship.
Hours later, he was still scrubbing away wildly when a bright flash of light alerted him to a new comm notification. 'Delta, proceed to Bridge,' was all it said.
Comm notifications didn't activate his chip as spoken words did, but it wasn't like he could disobey the order anyway. And he was curious. After hours into the battle simulation, suddenly now they wanted his help?
* * *
When he passed through the door, it wasn't Alpha 7 who greeted him, but the older beta officer he'd briefly met that morning, River.
River grabbed his upper arm, and dragged him in the direction of the chair Alpha 7 was sitting in it, still with the controls clipped onto his temples. His skin looked pale and clammy, drained of color, while a thin layer of perspiration formed beads on his forehead.
'Look what you did to him.' River's tone was full of contempt.
The alpha tried to brush it off with a smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. 'Just a bit tired, River. Nothing to worry about.'
'You barely scored a 30, damn it. 30. You're supposed to be a reliable 40.'
