To say that Lisa was upset would have been an understatement. She was furious and she was letting them know it. Chris had tried to explain how he and Jania were innocent bystanders and that it was all Null and Infy fault but she was having none of it.
"I am sure it was you who put the idea in his head, don't blame the youngest for your own mistakes"
Chris had heard about this phenomenon from his old classmates. Apparently, the oldest sibling is always responsible even if they had no part to play in the misadventure. It was the first time that Chris realised the twins had somehow become his defacto brothers. He decided to accept his fate and let his mum get it all out.
After she settle down, he explained the situation to the adults left on board the golden chariot. They had agreed with Chris's assessment of the situation. It was likely a trap that would either be sprung at the end of the competition or they would engineer competition in a manner to give them context to arrest them.
"Normally I would tell you to return home this instant, but something about Bolat intelligence reports worries me. All the major powers have been shifting R&D into advanced militarization of space. Something is going on and I think this is a good chance to gather first-hand intelligence." Said Lisa, shocking the children. They had not expected her to suggest they stay on mars. Her next statement was also unanticipated.
"Tomorrow, you have to show overwhelming strength during the qualifications round. You need the higher up to realise there will be a high price to pay if they corner you."
Littleman wanted to remind them of some constraints. "You still aren't allowed to use obvious field techniques. Chris and Jania abilities should be fine, Null and Infinity you can't use hybrid mode, no teleporting etcetera. I haven't informed the council of this holiday, but if you introduced advanced concepts to the humans I will have to get involved." They took his warning seriously.
Still, the four of them were incredibility happy, having the others know about the trip had taken a weight off their shoulders and having permission to go all out had made them excited. They were keen to show off their progress. Chris and Jania went back to their rooms and eventually fell asleep.
The next day had arrived and all four of them were excited.
Except Chris was missing not having his AI and suit
"I wish we had our suits and weapons then we could have dominated so much more"
"First we need to dominate before we could dominate much more. Do not underestimate our competitors. Remember I was the lowest of my class group so I and little bro will need to use all our skills" Jania wasn't sure if Chris understood that using stock equipment was a massive disadvantage for them as it was so much worst than they had been using. This meant they would need to make the largest adjustments out of any of the competitors.
They went and collected their standard suits and practice weapons. They couldn't help but gather the attention of everyone as each time they tried to acquire something they had to explain that Null was mute and they would translate for him.
They had heard a few of the snide whispers. "look he's so small and can't even speak. I doubt he even passed the exam. He is just here to be the entertainment". Chris was chuckling to himself 'if they only knew'.
After collecting their equipment they had to register for their specialisation competition. They registered by tapping their badge and then they would be ranked on the large scoreboard by their entrance exam score. Chris and Jania tapped their badges and Chris's score put him in the middle of the bracket for the officer competition. Jania score sadly placed her at the bottom of the solo soldier board.
Null tapped his badge and his name appear at the top of the board with the highest score ever recorded. He had forgotten about that entrance exam, that had been 2 years ago. There was a consistent whisper around the room from people trying to identify who this Null person was.
"It looks like you are big fish here now" Jania came over and put her hand on his shoulder to settle him down she could tell that all the attention was starting to affect him.
"Ready?" asked Chris
"Hell Yes" replied Jania
"Yes, let go have some fun"
They had to go to the assembly hall first for an introductory speech before they would split up to do their qualifying exam. They had found a place in the middle of the group. They were hoping not to attract any attention but they could feel they were being watched.
General Alexander was giving the commencement speech.
"Welcome young contestants to the start of the 2099 Youth Soldier Competition. Normally this speech would be long-winded and explain how you will be the future of our race. This would normally only be platitudes but this year is different. Today before the public competition you are going to learn the truth." This had caused all the contestants to start paying attention, some of them have had siblings or parents that had competed and they never mentioned anything like this.
He continued "The human race is at war. War with an unknown alien race, they had already captured all of our arkships. Their representative has said we have 8 years before a full invasion. I am sure you are all doing the maths and that means it will be you that will represent humans in this war. You will be our future hope and this competition is your chance to show us who we need to invest in. You can imagine how much we would be willing to invest with the human race's existence in question."
There was silence in the room, some couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. The rest were in shock. All that paled compared to the 4 visitors.
"What? Which race has our Arkship? Who is invading" Chris's mind was in a spin. He had so many questions but no way of getting the answers. The three adults on the golden chariot were listening in and were just as shocked.
Unit2317 was shocked, someone had interfered with the humans right under their figurative noses and they had no idea who.
The room started to fill with a slow clap but no one was clapping.
"Encore, Encore, ahh that was a great speech, Sadly I'm not the Elves representative I have my own race. Tis, tis, so rude to talk about someone when they're not around" Phorphoros suddenly appear on stage.
"So these are the soldiers you want to pit against my demons? Geez you trying to make me feel like a bully?" He continued walking around the stage. Null was about to make him disappear but Chris grasped his hand and shook his head.
"No, he baiting us if you do that he wins. You let the council know you breach the rules and humans will witness the use of fields" Chris quickly explained the situation over their mental link. Null put his hand down but was still staring daggers at Phorphoros.
"Oh who do I see here? 4 little chicks very far from home. Hey, what happened to my little helper" Phorophoros had now singled out Null, Chris and Jania. He had a wide grin on his face.
"oh, Silent treatment? But I want to see you throw me away. Come on I dare you! I know you want to" Phorophoros was enjoying himself, baiting the young hybrid. He had come to stir up trouble and he had succeeded.
"Oh, you are no fun. Anyway, you all better put on a good show for me!" and with that Phorphoros was gone and all the security finally broke out of the charm trance.
The General had been watching the whole thing, he noted that The 3 of them knew the alien but the body language showed they were clearly not aligned. 'maybe they are the allies we are unaware of' he thought to himself.
"I hope that has removed any doubt, our existence is at risk and it time for us to stand up and be counted," said The General.