"Here I come, back to that hunk of space-trash we call a school."
"Is she ready for the school?"
"Ready as she'll ever be."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the slick back car hummed softly as it traveled over the road. Wolf looked out the window at the trees speeding by. She didn't like the car. It smelled of leather, and sweaty soldiers. She sat in the backseat, with Graff riding in the passenger seat and a officer driving.

"The launch pad has to be in the middle of nowhere. Otherwise there would be disturbances to the people living around the area." Graff has said this was the reason for the three hour ride. "You'll meet the boys in your launch there, in the shuttle." "Boys?" Wolf wrinkled her nose. "What about other girls?" Graff had shrugged. "Not a lot of girls past the test needed to be accepted." Wolf had snorted at that.

Some where in the gentile hum of the car and her internal thinking, she fell asleep.
She was only almost five.

***
"Wolf." A firm hand shook her shoulder. "We're here." Rubbing her eyes, she stepped from the car. A sleek shuttle sat in the middle of a clearing, cameramen, various cars and powers stations surrounded it. To her left, a men of children laughed and pushed, hyper from the nerves.

Wolf made her way over, brushing off the army green uniform she had been given. It was a one piece jumpsuit, and would have been baggy on a normal sized child, but with Wolf as shrimpy as she was, it was terribly big.

There were eighteen children on the launch. At least, so said one of the officers charged with watching them till the launch said. Not to Wolf, mind you. He had been talking to the other officer. But Wolf overheard. Before they shooed her off, she also learned another useful tidbit. There were four girls on this launch, including herself, the most in quite a few years. 'Take that Graff.' She though smugly.

As the children were headed to the shuttle, they joked and complained. Wolf heard some boys complaining about how hungry they were. At this, Wolf laughed. Sure, they weren't aloud to eat within twenty four hours of the launch, but that was nothing! She had gone for much longer without food.

These thoughts led to one about the life back on the street. These children were so round, so chubby...like porcelain toys. Wolf had put on weight since she had been living with Graff, but she still was much skinnier that these children. And then she realized the age difference.

She was a least a foot shorter than all of them, but she had assumed they were tall. She knew she was small, but still. Then she realized that these children were six or seven, while she herself was just about to hit five.
Strange.
What game was Graff playing?
***
Wolf sat in her seat, figuring out how the stars fort here, here, there... The shuttle was a strange place.

When she had walked into the shuttle, she noticed that the wall on her right was carpeted, as if that were the floor. Then, when she defended the latter to her seat, she noticed the wall under it was carpeted, as if she were climbing down the floor. Wolf giggled.

A girl with shoulder length auburn hair plopped down next to her, rousing Wolf from her musings. "Hi! I'm Scarlett. It's good to see another girl here. When I saw all the boys I was like; oh no! But now I've found another girl. A bit small aren't you?" She looked over Wolf, making her feel a bit self conscious. "What's your name, anyway? And how old are you, three?" She smiled to show it was a joke. It still stung. "I'm Wolf. She pointed to her name badge. "And I'm almost five." Her serious dark eyes met Scarlett's laughing chocolate ones.

"Well I'm almost seven." She said. "And in glad to meet another girl." "There are four of us." Wolf mumbled. "Huh?" Scarlett asked. "Four girls. I don't know where the other two are..."

And as she said that, two kids came into the shuttle. They were girls. They had to have been twins, because they looked almost identical. The only difference was ones black hair was to her waist, and the others hair was died green at the tips and cut in a bob. When they climbed past on the latter Scarlett motioned for the two to sit with them. "Come sit with you fellow ladies. We need to stick to together."

Wolf found her self being stared at by twin pairs off green eyes. She found it unnerving. "I'm Louise Ingall, but you can call me Lou. " Said the one with long hair. "And I'm Samantha Ingall, but you can call me Sam." Echoed green hair. "We're twins." They ended in unison.

Scarlett stuck out her hand. "Scarlett Turner." Wolf turned to face them. "And I'm Wolf." Lou wrinkled her brow. "Just Wolf? What kinda name is that?" Wolf shrugged, but closed her eyes to show she was done talking. She found herself gripping the seat arms. What if the launch failed? What if they didn't want her up at battle school?

Scarlett and the twins continued to chatter, until a vid came on telling them to buckle up and listing rules for the launch. Wolf primarily ignored it. Soon, the shuttle stuttered to life and began to take off. Wolfs last thoughts before the she was jerked backing in her seat were only this; Here we go.