“So what do you guys think?”

Jacks asked his old squad after instructing Seth to acquire equipment and proper clothing for tomorrow’s trip.

“He seems like a good kid. Can’t say much more then that since this the first time I'm seeing him,” Dan answered.

“Yeah! He seems too nice to be hanging around here. Can’t say much else since this the first time meeting him.”

“Yeah, he looks a little too pure to be here.” Bertha said.

“He’s not too bad, at least from what I can tell. If he hangs out with you lot, then I'm sure that foul mouth of yours would rub off on him. But that’s not the reason why I asked for your thoughts. You know what I’m really asking about Dan.” Jacks said.

“I’ll answer your question if you answer mine,”

“Fine. Shoot.”

“Where did the kid pop up from? “

“ Don’t know. All I know is that one day I was told was that the two new interns were hired to help me. Where they came from and how they were found, I have no clue. Your turn.”

“I’ll be straight then. We don’t run a babysitting service. If we had a problem with bringing him along then I would stopped you right there when you asked the kid if he wanted to join the survey. If you hadn’t stopped us before, we would have attacked the boy.”

Jacks nodded in agreement. He had realized Seth had the uncanny ability to kill of his presence. Most of the time, Jacks had not been able to sense Seth coming until he was at the door. Ironically it was Seth knocking on the door that announced the kid’s ability to be so stealthy. It was most likely out of habit that Seth killed his presence, but it had taken a while for Jacks to get use to it. How a high schooler learned that kind of skill was one of the top questions he had for Seth.

His old squad were still raw from the field, their battle instincts still active. Knock or no knock, the act of hiding his presence was a threat and his old squad did not take kindly to threats. Jacks had been expecting Seth and had learned to barely sense his Seth’s presence. When he had arrived in front of the door, all the squad members had all tensed up and prepare to assault the door the moment it opened. How Seth would react to that confrontation would have been an interesting sight to see, but Jacks had signal them to stop before things got out of hand.

“I was only given a few footnotes about him so I can’t say much. All I know is that he was trained by some hidden master. He is a martial artist so he should be able to take care of himself if nothing major pops up. I ran a few test on him to see his ability, and so far everything checks out. Steward have also tested his physical capabilities and Greene had done a few of her own test. He hasn’t done anything worth noting, but that also mean we havent’t proven that he is not a martial artist. We are also monitoring his Federation account, and he is quite studious. He spends a lot of time exploring the database.”

The talk of Seth abilities had elicited a reaction from everyone in the room. Echor had looked up briefly before going back to typing. Hunter narrowed his eyes as if he had found a new prey to hunt.

“No way, the kid is one of those inclusive martial artists? The only one I know around here is that old hag who runs the dojo! They’re no joke, but they’re stiff as sticks and arrogant as hell. The kid didn’t seem like that.” Bertha chimed in.

“You and I both know ability and skill are completely different on the field than what’s on paper. Well if his ability to hide himself is a part of his skill then I don’t see a problem with taking him. Just for confirmation, this is a test to see Seth’s skills while at the same time check for suspicious movement. Is that correct?”

“Yes, the higher up are interested in anything you discover. Personally I think they’re thinking too much about it. I would like to see what the kid can do, but I’ll leave that to you. Also tell me how the other intern does.”

“Sure, but the other intern is a different story if you want me to bring along since I haven't seen them yet. I wont bring unknown factors if they can't take care of themselves,” Dan replied.

“Yeah, understandable. This other intern is a bit more troublesome, but he isn’t as mysterious since he’s pretty much an open book. He’s a bit more rebellious and a bit dumb. I suspect Sheila is trying to educate him a bit after he played hooky for a week. Afterall, Dumb ones don’t survive long on the field.”

Nods of agreement went around the room when Jacks mentioned about dumbness. They all had seen the consequences of stupidity.

“Someone has the balls to play hooky?” Bertha exclaimed.

“Yep, skipped out after the first day. Had to sic the IT department on them. Let me explain what their newest project for this guy was ….”