Year 3506 of the Leron calender. The evacuation effort is moving slower than I feared. The winter was worse than ever, and despite it being spring, there is no sign that the snow is melting. As an ambassador of our clans, i plead with our allies, begging for aid. It is a futile effort, not because they are unloyal but because the wheels of bureaucracy move far too slowly. The politicians need to hurry up, but even in desperate times, they drag their feet. We prepare for the worst, our science core devoting their time to designing a terrible weapon to kill the thing.
author Vergil Tasar.
(Callie)
Callie waited in a massive cargo bay designed by the Tallax military for training aboard the frigate. The training equipment could be adjusted for the Tallax or for the alien human use, telling her humans fought in the Tallax navy. Or the Tallax engineers were just thoughtful like that.
Captain Shimmer looked displeased at being INVITED to the training, but Callie had insisted. After all, the human Ned and the Tallax Purdin didn't need Shimmer watching over their shoulders during the boring five day wait. It took about ten minutes for all the crew to arrive, dressed in soft suits, and armed with rifles.
She was weary of a room filled with armed untrustworthy pirates, but she was confident in her chances of winning. Especially since they only had stun rounds. She had actually double checked the armoury and confirmed there wasn't any live ammunition aboard the ship. Shimmer had apparently sold it all to keep the loan sharks from breaking her paws, or worse.
Callie gave all of her new crew a too friendly smile. Maybe the humans thought she would be more lax with them?. That was probably why two humans were late! " You two, what's your names?" Callie asked, gesturing to a short man and his even shorter, wiry companion. They looked terrified to be called out like that, but the woman responded first.
" I'm Kayla, and this is my friend Bertram."the short woman said, shrinking back from Callie's glare.
"Well, since you two decided to be late, I'm giving you both the first opportunity...You will both put on these comfortable and stylish backpacks. Then you will run the obstacle course, shooting the targets that pop up." Callie said, hefting one of the fifty-pound packs in question.
They both hesitated, eyeing one another, the packs, and their new commander. Callie ignored the rest of the onlooking crew, who were snickering at the two's misfortune. She kept a look of disinterest on her face, her expression cold and uncaring.
"Before we start, I will give you all a demonstration of how to complete the course. Once you cross that white line, the timer will start. Your overall score will depend on speed, accuracy and how many times you are hit."Callie said, gesturing with her chin to a wall with a holographic scoreboard.
Callie leaned over, easily, hefting a backpack stuffed with random weights onto her back. She approached the training course, and the display lit up, registering a challenger. The floor plating shifted, rising and falling to make a comprehensive obstacle course. There were even holograms that looked disturbingly real in front of her..
Rifle in hand, Callie ran the course. She rushed through the holographic maze of tight corridors and pincer corners, her rifle held against her shoulder. With a flash, two holographic targets sprung to life, aiming weapons at her.
The holograms were a combination of Tallax and human with their respective weapons. Each was on a three second timer and would shoot her with stun rounds if she didn't kill them in that time. It was pitifully easy on this setting, but she doubted the pirates would be able to handle it at this difficulty.
She would need to test herself later, use this training aide to hone her skills when they were done with practice. She shot the holograms with one burst each before scaling a rope. Her pack, heavy from overloading, tried to pull off her aim, but she was prepared for it.
She scaled the rope like a monkey, crossed some long thin beams like they were a wide path, and shot five more holographic enemies while doing it. She repelled down the far side so as not to break her ankles on the fall.
Taking even breaths, she darted through a section of holograms, keeping behind cover as her enemies tried to keep her pinned down. The simulation created lifelike enemies, and walls that were opaque to anyone inside the training grounds. The holograms were not on a high difficulty so their aim wasn't all that great. Even so, it took her several long seconds to fight her way through the holograms and their traps.
The pirates watched their new commander. Most of the pirates were bemused, thinking it couldn't be so bad. After all, their commander made it look easy. Commander Ark-an completed the exercise in under two minutes. She made it look more like a walk in the park than a training exercise.
Callie strode from the end of the coarse back in front of them, the timer displaying one minute forty-nine seconds. The wall displayed a scoreboard listing her accuracy of one hundred percent, and her damage taken, which was none.
She clicked her tongue, disappointed in her performance. Her time in such an easy setting should have been at least five seconds faster. Dammit, Callie, you are better than that! She thought. There was no excuse for such a sloppy performance.
Next time she needed to clear the hallways at the end with better efficiency, and go for headshots instead of aiming for the torso. Also, she needed to work on being more adaptable, even in unfamiliar environments. Her lack of experience with this training course was no excuse, as she needed to always adapt and overcome..
With her personal assessment finished, she turned to the pale faced Bertram and Keyla. They looked far less certain of their skills than some of the other pirates. "Well, go on. Bertram,you are first!" Callie order, her breathing calm despite the quick completion of the course.
The pirates hesitated, and Callie turned to the others. "Dont think your timing, accuracy, and damage taken doesn't matter. Any pirate that cannot complete the course in under ten minutes will receive an extra hour of Special training."Callie said loudly. The pirates all cringed at that, eyeing their competitors.
The way their commander said Special, didn't sound like it was a good thing.
Bertram's hesitation didn't fade, but he powered forward anyway. He glanced at Keyla, receiving a confident smile. Bertram steeled himself, taking a deep breath. Raising his rifle, the short, stalky pirate crossed the starting line.
Bertram rushed forwards and shot the first two enemies with a spray of full auto fire. He riddled both targets with high energy stun rounds missing at least twenty rounds. In his haste, he took a painful hit on his left leg.
Bertram spasmed, collapsing to the floor with a scream. And that was when everyone present learned that the Holograms actually fired stun rounds back at them. It took him over thirty seconds to recover from the shock and continue the course.
This was when all the pirates reaffirmed that their new commander was a monster. Like who used stun rounds on their max setting for training?
Callie scowled at Bertram's prone form disapprovingly. She would need to help the pirates accustom themselves to pain, as this was embarrassing. The pirate's troubles didn't end there, as Bertram took three more stun rounds. The rounds stagger him while crossing the tightrope beams and he fell ten feet to the mats below.
With a whomp, the air was expelled from his lungs and the pirate twitched in pain for a bit. It took the pirate nearly an entire minute to rouse himself. All the while, he received jeers and encouragement from the others.
Another five minutes passed, with Bertram proceeding with far more caution. The timer reached nine minutes, chiming loudly. Glancing up at the ever advancing clock, Bertram threw caution to the wind. He was immediately shot in the back after rushing to finish the maze.
The centre-of-mass shot made him collapse, and he lay convulsing in pain on the ground. This happened four more times with each round that struck his suit. He lay on the ground, but the holograms ruthlessly shot him once before disappearing.
Bertram had to crawl, but he made it across the finish line. The first test ended, and the room was oddly silent.
Callie felt no sympathy for his pain. If he didn't want to get hit, he should proceed with more caution. It was Bertram's own lack of dedication to training that caused his suffering. All she could do was help him improve and fix his flaws.
Bertram collapsed to his chest across the finish line, his body shaking. He looked drained and pale, but there was a proud smile on his grizzled face. It took him nine minutes and fifty five seconds to finish the course. She smiled. Maybe this one had some potential? Despite the eye watering pain of the stun rounds and sluggish armour, Bertram had pushed forward.
Callie bit her lower lip. Was this too gentle for the pirates? Probably, but unlike her training, they didn't have any master healers to heal gunshot wounds.
Callie walked over to Bertram, but didn't help him rise to his feet. In a low but clear voice, she gave him some advice on how he could improve. "You should really move more cautiously. Instead of charging in from the centre of the hallway, you should move from cover to cover. Also, you really need to fire three-round bursts, and avoid using your rifle on full automatic."Callie stated calmly.
Bertram nodded his head, taking in deep, ragged breaths. Callie continued."After the others have finished their evaluation test, I will give you some drills to improve your aim. For now, go over to the treadmill and start jogging. You may remove your weighted backpack for the run. It is your reward for your performance." Callie order, gesturing with her chin.
Bertram's eyes widen at that and he shakily rose to his feet, assisted by his soft suit. He happily removed his weighted pack and strode away. After his pain filled, exhausting test, Bertram was excited for a run. Bertram limped over to a line of treadmills against the far wall and began a limping jog.
The second pirate, named Keyla, completed the course with only nine minutes. Keyla was short and athletic, with speed and grace that helped her along with the obstacles. Where she severely lacked was her shooting skills. Keyla would have finished the course in probably two and a half minutes if she wasn't hit fifteen times.
Even so, she made it through in just over nine minutes. Callie sent her to another of the treadmills without her heavy pack. One pirate laughed a little too loudly, drawing her attention. It was one of the three Tallax and the pirate looked to be sneering at the exhausted Bertram and Keyla.
She gestures that pirate forward, noting his lack of muzzle control. The aliens barrel of his rotary cannon swivel side to side at the level of her throat. Just by crossing the training bay, he accidentally pointed his weapon towards at least five of his fellow crew. It was a blatant lack of discipline that she couldn't ignore.
"Name?" she asked.
"Rendal."He said, his ears flattening in subservience. He sounded subservient, but his dark yellow eyes were glimmering in defiance.
"Since you think you can do better, please go next." Callie offered, gesturing to the training course. Rendal snorted, his snort sounding like a growling huff, and approached the starting line, his agile gate screaming overconfidence.
Crouching down on all fours, Rendal let out a deep growl and rushed forwards. The brown furred Tallax was fast, his lythe form a blur as he darted through the course. The air cracked with rolling fire as his rotary cannon went on full auto, spraying the walls around his targets.
It took the Tallax three seconds to track the agile hologram he was aiming at, and as she suspected, he received a stun round to his side. Just like the first two pirates, Rendal learned that the stun rounds were not pleasant. He then proceded to fall off the beams, and was pelted mercilessly by the holograms below.
Rendal's yelps of pain filled the air as he writhed on the floor. The clock, uncaring of his pain, kept on ticking. Ashamed, his eyes burning with anger and pain, Rendal stumbled across the finish line. Callie strode over and crouched next to the still wincing Tallax. As before, she listed his mistakes, her expression flickering to one of disappointment.
If this carried on, then the next ten hours were going to be a draining experience for her. Pushing aside her annoyance, Callie turned to the others. There were still eight more, and she needed to gauge all their capabilities. She ran all the rest of the crew through the course, leaving only one remaining. By now, all the crew, each having finished in just under ten minutes, were running on the treadmill.
Biting her lip so as not to smile, Callie gesture captain Shimmer forwards. The Captain looked extremely nervous, but Callie was excited to see if the captain could match the rest of the crew. By the end of the captain's run, Callie let out a sigh of disappointment. Oh well, she supposed it made sense. She sighed, a grin crossing her face.
Just like the others, Shimmer climbed aboard a treadmill of her own and began limping along. Callie clapped, drawing the attention of the entire crew. The crew, all exhausted at this point, noted her grin.
"Betram, you look well rested, come on, enough lazing about, it's your turn again!" Callie said, a sly smile crossing her beautiful face. Bertram did not look rested. In fact, he had been on the treadmill the entire time and was drenched in sweat. He was still panting, but had a spark of defiance in his eyes. That was good, as that meant he still had some energy to train.
Bertram stagger to the course to begin round two. "How many more times do we have to do this?" Bertram asked, panting, grasping his knees. Callie smiled, and a chill ran up the spine of every pirate in the room. By now, they knew that look.
"We have five more hours until dinner. No point in wasting all that time!" Callie said, loud enough for all to hear. The pirates one, and all gaped at her, and a jitney of curses filled the air. Callie laughed. Like her instructors always said. If they had energy to complain, they had energy to keep going.