Five hours later we had arrived for our emergency rescue training, at 0600 hours, Alden was not a fan. By this point we had already woken up in the 3rd World and had to come back in our real bodies.

Our instructor, surprisingly, was Zypher. He had just finished a mission and had been told to take over our training this morning, although I suspected that wasn’t the only reason.

“Alright, it’s been awhile but no time to catch up, it’s time for some rescue training. Definitely the most important kind of training you’ll be doing,” Zypher said as he observed Nicole’s cold demeanor towards Alden and I.

“One of the most important aspects of performing an emergency rescue is working as a team and respecting the chain of command. It’s important to work as a team to ensure that you can safely rescue your target without endangering yourselves. It’s also important to understand your team’s strengths and weaknesses. You don’t want to send someone terrible at scouting to scan a debris field for survivors but you also don’t want them to sit idle either,” Zypher lectured.

“This is your first time in this room,” Zypher said, motioning around him at the massive room.

The room was easily as large as four American football fields with a ceiling height of at least thirty meters. The floor and walls were made of a pale blue stone that seemed to hold an incredible amount of quanum within them.

“This is our simulation room. It requires a lot of quanum to function so it only gets used to simulate emergency rescue situations in the instances that we’re unable to utilize a controlled barrier on time, or if it somehow gets broken,” Zypher stated simply.

Zypher swiped the air in front of him and a transparent screen appeared. After some typing and some more swiping, the room shifted to that of a very familiar disaster. It was the very same one that had happened when Alden and I first discovered each other was a guardian.

“I figure this will help you take the training more seriously as you both were present during this event,” he said, and with a couple more presses on the screen, the screaming and shouting began.

It was real, it truly felt like that disastrous day when a quanum manifestation had created a massive blob of a monster that flattened a large portion of the city. It was amazing how quickly the island recovered from the event, but I assumed at this point it was mostly due to Xiphias’ meddling. I glanced over at Alden and was surprised by the haunted and remorseful expression on his face.

“Now then. The first order of business is to survey the area, what should you be looking for first?” Zypher asked, observing each of our faces.

“We should assess the area for any immediate dangers to ourselves?” I asked, slightly confident in my answer.

“That is correct. You can’t save anyone if you yourself need saving. What else should you be looking for?” Zypher continued his questioning.

“Anyone in need of immediate assistance?” Alden asked, nearly as confident as I was in my answer.

“Yes, but not before looking to see if there are any allies that are available to assist,” Zypher acknowledged. “If it were a standard emergency situation, Alden, what you said would be the most correct response, but given that as guardians we’re usually in much more dangerous positions, we want to first form a team. It’s important to form a team as it helps us manage our stress levels and provide better care to the casualties. Our ability to utilize quanum in emergency situations is actually increased significantly when we have other guardians with us. This makes it all the more important to first, make sure you’re not in danger, and second, find out who and where your allies are. Does that make sense?” Zypher asked, once again, carefully observing our reactions.

It was clear to me that he wasn’t only observing for correct answers, but how we arrived at the answers, as well as our ability to maintain control of our quanum in this situation.

“How exactly do you determine a chain of command among your allies?” Nicole asked suddenly.

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“That’s a good question. Typically the highest ranking officer takes command. However, regardless of your rank, unless you’re an Admiral, in emergency situations a level two or higher operator has ultimate authority over an emergency situation,” Zypher stated, nodding towards Nicole for her excellent question.

“Wait, there are multiple levels to being an operator?” I asked, confused.

“There are. The first level gives you authority over combat situations, the second-”

“Wait a minute, the first level? I would imagine the first level would focus on emergency rescue operations, so why is that the second level?” I interrupted.

“The GDF prides itself on protecting lives. First and foremost, we’re guardians of the people, maintaining their security and safety is our objective. The kind of combat we run into the 3rd World is fairly limited and most combat can easily be overseen by a level one operator. Rescue operations are typically much more complex as they usually involve more resources, more people, and more difficult circumstances. That's why you need to be a level two operator to maintain authority over emergency rescue operations. Contrary to what many would believe, the stronger and more experienced the guardian, the more likely you’ll be placed on rescue missions as those hold the greatest importance,” Zypher explained. “That being said, unless you’re a Senior Officer, a level one operator has ultimate authority over people and resources in any combat or emergency rescue situation,” he continued.

“I see,” I said, glancing over towards Nicole whose expression had remained stoney and cold.

“In other words, for the sake of smooth operations, it's best to let operators call the shots regardless of their rank in comparison to yours, up to a point,” Alden chimed in.

“That’s essentially correct. Even an Admiral will take a level one operator's assessment into consideration before they listen to even a Senior Officer’s assessment,” Zypher agreed.

“So why not give operator’s an appropriate rank?” Alden asked in confusion.

“Operators exist outside the regular chain of command as their orders almost always come from a Flag Officer. Operators also generally remain outside combat zones so they can focus on the operations. It may sound silly but good operators are hard to come by, it would be a waste to risk them in situations where we could lose them. That being said, don’t misunderstand, operators can hold ranks, but their operator status supersedes their rank,” Zypher said. “Now, here is the scenario. You’ve just arrived at this disaster, a monster has collapsed buildings and ignited the area ablaze. As a Junior Officer, your job is to assess the situation and commence rescue operations. You will go one at a time and you will have fifteen minutes each to complete the scenario successfully, understood?” Zypher asked, his tone implying that question time was over.

“Yes sir,” we replied.

We each took our turns and by the end of it we were exhausted, or at least, Alden and I were. It took me a good seven minutes to assess for dangers and find allies, nevermind actually performing rescues. Alden, surprisingly, did even worse. Alden had finished his assessment in two minutes, and had gathered allies within another three but he failed to respect the chain of command. While he was effective at the rescues he performed, his lack of respect for the chain of command meant he was only able to save four out of nine casualties. Even I managed to save six, despite how long my assessment took. Nicole’s time was the best out of the three of us, her assessment was over in two minutes, and she had managed to gather her allies in three. Within another five minutes she had effectively commanded her team and had rescued all the casualties.

“Congratulations Nicole, that was masterfully done, you even found the tenth casualty,” Zypher praised.

“There were ten?” I asked, surprised.

“There were. On successfully rescuing the ninth casualty, one of the team members gets trapped, becoming a casualty. Nicole was so swift in her command of the situation that it was rectified almost as soon as it had happened,” Zypher explained, while replaying a recording of the exercise. “I hope that you’ve all gained some valuable insight from this training exercise. I expect a written report by 0800 on what you could have done differently,” Zypher said before dismissing us and leaving the room.

“Nicole,” Alden said, walking up to her. “I’m sorry for how I acted before. I should have taken our defensive training exercise more seriously. I figure Zypher chose this event to remind Cian and I of the importance of having a team to support you. Had we had one on that day…well…anyways, I’m sorry. I should have listened to your assessment and followed your suggestions,” he finished.

“As long as you understand, then it’s fine,” Nicole said, turning to give him a smile.

“I’m sorry too,” I said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I should have given you more support in managing the situation, we’re lucky it turned out as well as it had,” I said, sincerely.

“Enough of that, let's finish this report and go get breakfast, I’m starving,” Nicole said, with a smile.

I could tell she was still upset, but she was happy to at least have our understanding of her difficult position.