(Ark Council building)
In a large office on the fourth floor sat a silver haired woman. She was seated behind her desk, tapping her fingers into the air. Her hands were controlling an interface that only she could see. It was a bad habit, for most things were controlled by thought on a Net-link. Veronica Butler had sent a request to Griffon City Construction to gain temporary access to thier internal monitoring system. While she was a councilman, Veronica couldn't do as she pleased. Gaining access to the company's private security through her position would have taken a long time, so she sent the request directly to Finley Griffon. Which he had approved not to long ago. Veronica was now bringing up the security cameras for the private training facilities of the GCC. On the screen before her Came a group of youths firing at moving targets on a shooting range. Veronica singled out a boy who had black hair with silver streaks and hazel eyes. He was tall for his age at 6'0 with time still left to grow. Veronica looked affectionately at her son as she transfered the feed to a physical screen that showed the video with much greater clarity.
Veronica had just put the feed up, when a beeb came from her link, indicating her secretary had a report to make. She absent mindedly gave her approval as she continued to watch her son and his friends train.
Upon entering Councilwoman Butler's office Fredric Kingsley found his employer lost in thought staring at footage on the big screen of her office. Fredric watched for a few moments recognizing his boss' son amongst the individuals on the screen.
"Ma'am?" he called asking permission to speak.
Veronica looked at the screen a few seconds more before turning and saying "So what do you think? Hes doing pretty well for his first time with a weapon." She said with a trace of pride and aversion. Happy he was doing well and appalled that he was wielding weapons.
"He looks like a fresh recruit of The Ark Security Forces. He could use a little work on his marksmanship thou. He's missing 60% of his shots. At Least from what I've seen. replied Fredric with all honesty.
Veronica looked at the feed for a moment longer before nodding her head in agreement with a sigh. "What did you have to report"
"Our investigations have seen some results. Your opponents for the position of council overseer are making moves, and despicable ones at that," reported the secretary.
The look of a doting mother lifted from Veronica's face and was replaced by one all her political opponents and allies were used to seeing. "How so?" she asked. All warmth having left her voice. It left behind a chill that permeated the room. At this moment she hadt the bearing of one in authority.
"Well for starters one is your daughters current boyfriend, he said before pausing to see if there was any reaction. There wasn't so he continued. "Per your request we have done a background check on anyone who enters your families life and we have some evidence that this young man Jason Trinbrex has been in contact with some people of means. These individuals mean Haven and you no good. Jason is a third generation descendent of the terrorist Alec Trinbrex. That put the entire ark in jeopardy when he tried to destroy the life support systems. His claim was that humans weren't meant to live in space. He wanted to force us to settle on a planet.
The councilwoman rolled her eyes and replied. "I don't hold the crimes of his family against him. You know that so what's makes him a threat."
" From what we have put together thier meeting seems to be orchestrated by a third party. Also Jason's mother who has been sick for most of his life has been receiving new interest by renowned doctors, who have the potential to heal her. They are offering to operate pro bono. Jason has been working to pay her medical fees and taking care of his two sisters Since He was 14.This glaring tail that could easily cause him to be manipulated, led us to investigate his home and belongings. Where we found a psychological profile on your daughter. There was also a untraceable card with enough credits to live comfortably for 2 life times. The last thing we found was more disturbing. aphrodisiacs and fertility drugs."
"While its still possible that this Jason a Tier 4 citizen is looking to secure a future for himself by entrapping the young miss. We have reason to believe that its more of a political attack. We believe as long as he succeeds. The plan should be to turn the young man himself into a terrorist. Making your daughter the lover of a terrorist and to even carry his child. It would be a big enough stain. We have been promoting you as a councilwoman that is all about family. That the Arc is your family. It would be a stain on you if your daughter ran off with the decedent of a terrorist who became a terrorist himself.
The councilwoman rubbed her brows. "I see your point" she said looking angry with a hint of sadness.Haven's life was being intruded on. Her daughter was becoming a victim of her career. "To catch them, do we would have to let them go through with thier plan?."
"That would be ideal ma'am we would let them think that she was pregnant so that they would move into the second phase of thier plan. We will be watching then, and they would at least expect us to. To go with this route your daughter would sacrifice a little, but nothing she wouldn't recover from. She doesn't have to know about Jason at all and they could end up breaking up after a pregnancy scare. She wouldn't be hurt more than usual for her age, and would even be more wary of the men in her life from now on." Fredric stated in matter of fact tone. He didn't expect the councilwoman to go through with it thou, not because she was a loving mother, but because her husband wouldn't stand for it. He was a nice man, but as the head of Starlight Weapons he was anything but a push over. 65% of the weapons on the ark defense grid were made and updated by his company. If he found out about this heads would roll, and probably his own if it was found out he had suggested this.
"Yes, It sounds like a good plan but what kind of mother would that make me. One who puts her career over her family, plus my husband wouldn't let it go if he ever found out. My daughters would hate me all thier life if they found out as well, and my son would be disappointed with me. Your plan doesn't seem to take into consideration the people i care about the most," she said trying in a convincing manner, but truthfully this was an opportunity to take down the competition. She was convincing herself not to go through with it. Her career and her family held almost equal parts in her heart. Almost. Her family was more important.
"What does Jason do?" She asked coming to a decision.
"He a Space Walker, " He replied. This was the most likely outcome. Space walkers repair and maintain the hull of The Ark and The Fleet. Ships used to make up The Ark's security and logistics. Accidents happen all the time, it was a dangerous job. It paid well enough that those with no prospects still chose to do it.
"Lets bring thier plan to light. Leave the aphrodisiacs, fertility drugs, a picture of my daughter, and a part of her psych profile in his suit. An accident is likely to happen when he walks. When security finds his body they will investigate. Leave the credits and rest of the profile in his place. Also add some evidence that hints at my political rivals. Nothing concrete just clear hints, enough for suspicion, but not to obvious or it will be seen as a set up. I want to send a message. You cant touch me and my family and come out unscathed." The more Veronica spoke the more fierce she became. 'I might not get the culprit, but someone will pay' she thought.
***
"Dating a T4? What if your parents find out?" questioned Sophy.
"Shhhhh, why are you so loud?" retorted Haven looking around to make sure no one in the busy cafe heard them. " So what if i am. He's handsome caring and we have so much in common. We've been on five dates so far.
"Have you... You know yet? Sophy enquired. Eying her friend with curiosity.
Haven smirked while shaking her head. her cheeks slightly red. Clearly she wasn't completely against the idea. Its just she didn't want to have sex till she was sure about him. He hit all the right points she looked for in a guy but if he was going to be her first he had to go above and beyond. She didn't have low self esteem. Her dad had groomed her from a young age to inherit his company.
"Well when do you see him again?" sophy asked. Slightly envious of her best friends luck with love. Her last relationship hadn't ended well but they were young and had time for all of this.
"Tonight," she smiled. "Hes going to take me outside for a space walk. He wants to show me what he gets to see all the time."
"That dangerous what if something happens to you." she looked at her love struck friend and rolled her eyes. " Your crazy."
Haven sipped her coffee as she thought about what her friend said. She was nervous and excited at the same time. She knew it was dangerous but she trusted Jason to keep her safe. He was protective in a good way. He had told her about his mother and sisters on the 4th date. It had solidified her view of him being a good man. She wasn't the love struck type but she was really hopeful that he would be the one for her. Her dad had married her mom at her age. It would be poetic if she could do the same.
Coming from her thoughts she looked at her friend giving her smile and said simply "I trust him."
****
Kayden was tense as he kept firing his rifle. He was doing poorly. He had refused to use the Targeting software in his link. Unlike his friends who were hitting thier targets over 85% of the time. Kayden was hitting at a rate of 55%. The problem was the moving targets the pulse rifle's plasma bolts were fast and he kept leading to far in his shots causing him to miss. It was a habit he had developed while playing GBO that didn't translate to real life. While Kayden was trying to undo his bad habits. His friends were learning good ones. To the surprise of Lori, Xeno and Lina were natural marksman. They were hitting targets at over 93 and 96 percent. Lori was only at 85% with the targeting software. She wasn't sure what she was doing wrong.
After firing for about three hours the group took a break to talk. They had two hours left till there test.
"Man im terrible at this," said Lori. Looking at the others who were doing better than her. Kayden in her opinion was doing great since he had refused to use the targeting software. He should be near perfect with it on.
"Don't try to compare yourself with my greatness Lori, You'd only get discouraged" replied Xeno With a wide grin. "Im pro shooter in GBO. Kayden only has me beat in everything else, but when it comes to pure shooting ability im better."
"Only everything else?" said Lina as she shook her head at Xeno and looked helplessly at her sister. She was really happy that she was doing well but felt bad that her sister wasn't able to get the results she would wanted. "I can help you ill share my link vision with you. Then you can copy my movements as we aim at the same targets. Did you watch the video on the theory behind shooting?"
"Video?" Kayden and Lori replied in unison
Xeno grinned and looked at them before saying, "Yeah i shared it with Lina when i saw it. Thought you guys knew about it.
Kayden threw a water bottle at Xeno for not telling sooner. Then accessed his link to play the training video. Before he started he said to the others.
"In the last hour you guys should get used to shooting without the targeting system. That is what the test is about."
Lori nodded as she also stopped paying attention to her surroundings to enter full immersion mode so she wouldn't miss a single detail of the video. Lina nodded not bothering with Xeno who tailed behind her saying he would watch her shoot first before going himself. She was nervous because without the targeting system she had no idea what her accuracy would be like.
Lina picked up the rifle she had named Hope. She had named the rifle because the video said that a good marksmen would treat their weapon as a friend. She hadn't told the others its just something she did on a whim. Hoping for even the smallest improvement so she would be able to pass the assessment. Thus she named the rifle Hope.
"Lets do this." she said to her friend as she activated the shooting gallery through her link.
Xeno watched Lina as she mumbled to herself. He smiled because the sisters couldn't be any more different. Lina was definitely the cuter of the two in his opinion. Her emotions were always on her face while Lori was more stoic.
After the first three rounds of moving targets Lina hit rate was at a 91%.
"Relax Lina your starting to miss with targeting system on," advised Xeno. "You want to relax before you do the real thing."
Lina blushed and said. "that was the real thing." before turning back to the shooting range.
Xeno looked absentmindedly into space as he processed what he heard. "You turned off the targeting software?"
" Yes," Lina said without turning around. Looking at her results over again equally shocked. Xeno came over and nudged her on the shoulder while saying "Good Job. Finish the a course then its my turn"
After Lina finished her score settled at 87% it was a really good result for a first time shooter in 3/4 hours.
Xeno seeing her results was confident he could do better at best and slightly lower at worst. After try 4 times however his highest hit rate was 80 percent, with his lowest total being 78. while still decent was far to drastic of a change between with and without the software. The video had explained this was a sign of an ameture shooter. The ideal drop off should be no more than 10%. The results left a sour pit in his stomach as he went to Lina to ask for advice. Lina and Xeno had been so caught up in practicing that the 5th hour came before they could regroup with Lori and Kayden to see how they were doing.
Natalie Graham walked into the hall. In the eyes Kayden's group she looked as evil as ever. Like a demon coming forward to decide who would stay and who would go.
"So, She started staring at the group of four. She had a basic understanding of thier marksman ship from the surveillance videos, and had to say they weren't completely hopeless. This made her tone to the youths slightly less frosty. " We will be testing your marksmanship without relying on the targeting software, but unlike what you've been doing for the last hour. The targets you'll be firing at this time will be firing back. she said observing thier reaction.
Lori looked unsurprised and Kayden just smiled. Xeno and Lina looked the most nervous. 14 members of Griffon security entered the hall not long after. They lined up awaiting orders from Ms. Graham.
Natalie operated her link and connected to the obstacle course customizing it into a battle zone. She put up buffers and defendable positions to make the fire fight much more interesting. The groups would go through the course encountering no more than three opponents at a time and starting off with just two. The guards were told to take it easy because the teens lacked training but would still be assessed on how well they avoided enemy fire while dishing out there own.
Kayden became more relaxed as he saw the course modified before him. It would just be another round of GBO. His accuracy suffered but his battle acumen was still there. Hed do his best. Lina talking to Hope in her heart hoping that her weapon would help her get through this one. While Lori only saw this test being in between and her first hyper jump she was so amped that she told Ms. Natalie that she would like to go first. Xeno volunteered to go second. He had a feeling if he saw Kayden perform he would be under more pressure. Kayden volunteered to go third and Lina was happy to go Last so she could see how the others handled this so she would have a chance to do well.
After the course was set up. Lori headed to the begining of the course.
When your ready Ms. Phenton spoke Natalie.
After a deep breath Lori took off from the starting line. She came the first T intersection veering right. at the end of the passage was an open area. Inside this area were makeshift look out points one on ea. her side of the entrance. There were alloy rocks the size of a small family transports in between her and the guard stations upon entering the the open area the guards opened fire Lori didn't slow down and dived behind the rock less than gracefully. She wasn't hit and that's all that mattered. she wasn't a soldier. or even an enforcer but to get to go on this trip she was willing to go through the training of one. She lifted her rifle over rock and fired.