Light reflected off the folded steel of the katana. Strange what you noticed when you're about to die.
Shin wasn't fast enough to jump away from the swing of the blade, so he dove forward, just making it underneath the horizontal slash.... and tackling the attacker. His assailant was at least 6 foot tall, with a lean muscled frame, but Shin hit him hard enough to knock him down. The man had good instincts though, he tossed the blade before he injured himself in the fall.
"Hahah" barked out Corporal Dale.
"Good job Shin," another young man with blue eyes and blonde hair said.
"Is that all it takes to beat you these days Darrin?" another boy shouted, this one shorter than the others with a noticeable scar above his left eye.
The other 2 spectators just clapped, big smiles on their identical brown eyed, tanned skin faces.
"What kind of crazy moron dives toward a katana!" Darrin called out, now laughing while Shin rolled off of him.
Shin was glad they were all laughing, but he was covered in a cold sweat! When Dale mentioned an initiation, he was expecting spicy food or an embarrassing public display. He stood up and then put a hand out for Darrin, who accepted. When Shin turned to face the group, Dale was facing him, holding the sheathed katana.
"Shin, welcome to the Shimin program. You're going to learn a lot here. This isn't some kind of school club, it's a training program to create exceptional soldiers and leaders. You are going to be tired all the time. I think you'll love it," Dale said with a smile. He walked forward and handed the katana to Shin.
"Thank you, sir. Thank you everyone," Shin said, surprised by how much this meant to him. It was a strange situation, but he felt a sense of belonging.
"This blade represents your admittance into the Shimin program. It is an honour to be able to carry it, and you need to carry it with you at all times. However, this is just a mark of entry. To carry the matched set of blades, and be designated a Shimin, you will have to complete all the challenges." Dale casually rested his hand on the two blades hanging from his belt.
Shin looked around, and noticed that Darrin, one of the twins and the short guy all had two blades.
"I will respect this gift" He paused and then asked, "Uh, so what are the challenges?"
"Don't worry about that yet, you've only been officially admitted for a few seconds!" Dale clapped his hands. "Everyone, square up your uniforms, we are marching out to afternoon classes now!"
------------------------------------------------------------
Captain Ron peered at Shin closely. He wasn't seeing anything special yet, but he had a lot of respect for General Hamish, and knew that whatever this kid had would reveal itself eventually. He put it out of his mind and continued with his lesson.
"As I was saying. This unit, we are focusing on advanced physics. The science we knew a decade ago has been turned on it's head, and education has not caught up. Supers demonstrated powers that seemed outside the realm of science and physics, and we are only now figuring it out. It goes without saying, but the Shimin class will be going wide and deep on this subject. Astrophysics, quantum, macro, electromagnetism, you need to be comfortable with all of it.
"Captain. I know I ask this at the beginning of every new unit, but, for the education of the new recruit, could you tell us why we need to know something like quantum physics?" The blue eyed boy said, who Shin now knew was named Kyle.
"Don't interrupt me, Private!" however, Captain Ron was smiling. "Still, it is a fair question. Every soldier needs to know two things, how to listen to orders, and how to execute those orders. Officers need to know the same, and so much more. A commander can't make the best use of the men and tools at his disposal if he doesn't understand them. In Feudal times, this meant understanding things like arrow range, how quickly a trebuchet fired, how quickly the cavalry could strike, and much more." Ron paused, looking at Dale, then Shin. "Fast forward a few hundred years, and you might be in charge of earth based rail guns that can destroy near orbit craft, carrying multiphase energy weapons that can defeat some Super invulnerability, and relying on projection data from quantum computers. The modern commander needs an exceptional education."
It was clear this one of Captain Ron's favourite subjects, as he continued for quite a while. Shin was entranced at first, but eventually his mind started to wander a little.
[Hello Private Shin]
"What!" Shin was startled and jumped a little. Everyone, including Captain Ron, looked at him. "Sorry," he mumbled.
The message was still hanging in front of his eyes. He knew that this was part of his upgraded ocular heads up display, but this was definitely the first time he'd received a text message. He wasn't sure how to respond, or even if he should. 'It makes sense that text could be sent, but why not an audio call or message? This seems a little old school.' Shin wasn't sure how to respond actually, the heads up display was dormant all the time, so far only used for emergency alert tests.
[I'm your -- student advisor. Assigned because you've gone through a big transition. I'm here to answer questions and be -- supportive. I'm providing you access to text based controls now.]
Shin's eyes tingled a little, and then his ocular heads up display expanded.
[ {OHUD V16.6 ESPIONAGE SUB PROTOCOL: NON VERBAL INSTANT MESSAGING - AUTHORIZED}]
His OHUD scanned his desk and outlined his fingers, within his display he could now see a standard keyboard in raised light. 'I guess no one else can see this,' he thought.
He typed out, {Why? Who are you?}
[I'm an anonymous advisor, assigned with complete confidentiality -- so you may share questions or concerns without any fear.]
{Why would I be afraid?}
[You know, maybe if you missed your old classmates. Or if your new Corporal was hazing you physically and psychologically.]
Shin smiled at this, he wondered if getting attacked with a Katana counted as physical abuse to this straight laced admin type. He wrote instead, {no worries there I guess. I've never heard of anything like this before, is this standard? Do all Shimin have advisors?}
[No! Your circumstances are unique, so the others don't know about this. We've invested in your progress and want to ensure that you successfully integrate into the Shimin program.]
{Ok, well, nothing to share yet. I've been in the program for like 3 hours so far. Maybe something will come to me tonight, after I've been able to process the day ... I guess }
Shin shut down the OHUD with a concerted thought. Captain Ron was still talking away.
"Which is why quantum computing could save your life," Ron said.
'I hope that wasn't important,' Shin thought.
--------------------
Mimi was feeling a little light headed. 'Did I just pretend to be a therapist? What am I doing!' she thought. She pressed her hands against her face, her cheeks felt hot. A little smile tugged at her lips, though she wasn't aware of it.
'Shin said he'd talk to me tonight. Is that kind of a date? Except he thinks I'm a school admin instead of his Corporal.'
She leaned back into her desk chair, stretching out some of her tension. 'What have you started Mimi?'