How do you set the initial value of a variable to an objects current position in unity?

I am scripting in c# and I can't seem to find a simple way to set the value of some variables I made, X, Y, Z to the position of 3 spheres I made in unity. I will be manipulating the position of the balls using the script and keybinds but when I run the program I want the balls to be where I put them in 3d space within unity, not at 0,0,0. I tried not assigning a value to them upon declaration and instead doing it under the start method because it won't allow me to use transform.position.x where the variable is declared (at the top just inside the class and before the first method). This gives an odd result where they seem to be in the right relative positions but not facing the same way relative to my camera, as if they were all rotated together. I suppose that's something to do with world vs local axis, but I shouldn't have to worry about that so I'm using the wrong strategy.

Thanks.

 float throttle = 0f, count = 1;
     public double mass = 1, throttleCoeff = 0.25, Y, X, Z, adtGravity = 0;
     double gravityF = 0, Vy = 0, Vx = 0, Vz = 0, adtThrust = 0, accelywg = 0, accely1 = 0, accelx1 = 0, accelz1 = 0, accely2 = 0, accelx2 = 0, accelz2 = 0, accely3 = 0, thrustF;
 
     // Use this for initialization
     void Start ()
     {
         Y = transform.position.y;
         X = transform.position.x;
         Z = transform.position.z;
     }