This morning, Jake woke up and immediately activated his suit before he picked up the sniper lying next to his bed.

Last week, he’d finally reached the sixth level of his Basic Reinforcement Spec, which had granted him an additional 5 units in maximum core capacity, for a new total of 55 units. As a result, he’d finally been able to try out the sniper for the first time, and he’d been extremely pleased with the weapon’s performance. While he hadn’t expected much from a weapon meant to be wielded by cadets, he’d been proven wrong the instant he’d used it, as the sniper seemed able to fire off a small blast of energy so condensed it would easily pierce through his biotic armour if it were to be fired at him. The weapon was a testament to why cadets usually chose to use biotic guns instead of their skills, as they offered unprecedented performance for a very small amount of biotic energy, without having to train their skills for years on end.

As of yesterday, Jake had also finally managed to reach the seventh level of his Basic Reinforcement spec and now had a base strength attribute of 11. Along with the bonus in attributes that came from activating his armour, as well as the one that came from using his Biotic reinforcement skill — which had very recently reached level two — Jake was finally able to swing around his sword during combat training without looking like a complete madman, although fighting with the thing was still off the table.

STATUS

Name: Jake Hawkins

Rank: Cadet

Energy Core: 60/60

Recovery Rate: 0.3

BASE ATTRIBUTES

Strength: 11

Dexterity: 13

Constitution: 10

Recovery: 10

Perception: 14

Cognition: 19

SPECS

[Basic Reinforcement | Lvl. 7| All attributes +7, Core +35]

SKILLS

[Basic Telekinesis | Lvl. 1]

[Basic Biotic Reinforcement | Lvl. 2]

Ever since he’d received his new reinforcement skill a few weeks ago, Jake had spent every spare biotic energy he had using the skill, although what was left after he’d used most of his energy into improving his spec was far from enough to see any rapid improvement. As a result, he had spent the last two weeks using the skill any chance he could, and in the end, he’d finally managed to reach level two in proficiency with it. Once active, the skill now provided an extra two units in each of his strength, dexterity and constitution attributes, at the price of 10 units of biotic energy per minute. Along with the bonus that came from activating his armour, that meant his strength could now reach a total of 14 units for around five or six minutes, during which he was able to swing his sword somewhat decently, even though he was still far too slow to even believe he wouldn’t instantly get killed on the battlefield.

Still, he’d made a lot of progress recently, but he was still far from being Ryan or Owens’ equal in either biotics or even fighting with their respective weapons. Jake had seen the both of them practice with their new weapons, and he didn’t doubt for a second they would both mow through swarms of enemies with their abilities. Ryan especially, who had chosen a gigantic axe almost as big as Jake’s sword as his main weapon looked terrifying as he swung the thing around with remarkable speed and technique. Furthermore, both of them had enough biotic energy to use their abilities without having to worry too much about their expenditure in the short run.

Speaking of Ryan, the cadet had just appeared through the doorway that led inside Jake’s room.

“Ready to go?” He asked.

Ryan, just like Jake, was dressed in the black and red military uniform of the academy as usual. However, unlike his normally calm and composed appearance, he looked nervous this time, and Jake could understand the feeling better than anyone else. He had proven more than a match for any other cadet in this academy during both the team battle and the duels, but he couldn’t help but feel like he was far from ready to be sent on his first assignment. In a week, Jake would be standing on an unknown planet and facing many unknown dangers, which would most likely lead to his untimely death, and getting that out of his head proved to be more difficult than he’d thought.

The thing was, he’d spent a lot of time training with the sword during the past week, and he realized that even if he could swing the sword around, the weapon was so slow he would most likely not be able to hit anything, on top of the fact that he would tire out in a matter of less than a minute.

Still, Jake finally put his sword back in its sheath, next to the sniper, and he thanked the universe for his improved physical attributes as he made his way to the Academy’s spaceport with almost 250 pounds of weaponry placed on his back, along with Ryan and Owens.

The last time he’d ever been inside the spaceport had been on the day of his arrival, four weeks ago. Since then, he’d spent every day training like a madman along with the other cadets, and he’d grown a lot stronger since. In the last four weeks, not only had his attributes grown tremendously but he’d also gained over fifteen kilograms of lean muscle mass, changing his look completely in these four short weeks. While he’d been pretty skinny before, he now looked as athletic and muscular as any other cadet did, and his previously scrawny features were now sharp and defined, with his face being almost unrecognizable from the day he’d stepped foot inside the academy.

Inside the building, one single spacecraft was resting in the leftmost docking area, in front of which their four training officers were already waiting for them. The building was still as impressive as ever, with large amounts of robots and other machinery wandering its open spaces, doing maintenance on the ship amongst other things. Once every cadet had arrived, First Lieutenant Gwyra spoke up.

“As I mentioned yesterday, there will only be very limited space inside the vessel to fight or do any kind of conditioning, so you will only be given a few hours of basic conditioning and skill training to complete every day. Of course, each commanding officer will be in charge of overseeing their own team’s training during the entirety of the trip. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am!” The cadets answered, with Jake shooting a glance over to Ryan and Owens. If Officer Neilr was in charge of the training schedule, it was fair to assume they wouldn’t be making it in one piece to their destination.

Soon after, the cadets were all regrouped with their respective teams and finally entered the spacecraft. Surprisingly, the entire ship was a lot bigger than Jake had thought, and it possessed multiple different areas, including five different dorms.

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Each dorm was composed of a simple open space with 10 beds and a closed-off room for their training officer, as well as a common area filled with a dining table, lounge chairs and couches, on top of a few bathrooms and showers placed in another closed-off room. The rest of the vessel was mostly comprised of the engine room, the boarding deck, the cockpit, as well as a decently large training area that looked to be around half as big as the one covered in mats inside the training hall.

It had been made known to them earlier that once they left Earth, their commanding officer would give them a briefing on the assignment, including the role of their respective teams, but for now, their only task was to get settled inside their respective dorms and await orders.

Along with Owens and Ryan, Jake made his way toward the dormitory, where he and the other cadets from his squad were all currently settling into the beds. As was common in most military vessels, each wall of their dormitory was embedded with two or three beds placed on top of each other, giving the cadets very little space to sleep.

Jake chose the bed right between Ryan and Owens, and after he finally dropped both his sword and sniper next to his bed and deactivated his armour, they all made their way toward their quarters’ common area, where their commanding officer was already waiting for them, sitting in the common area’s only table, placed in the middle of the room.

The cadets all took a seat at the large, rectangular table and when everybody was finally sat down, the First Lieutenant spoke up.

“First and foremost, I will share with you the details of the assignment through your implant as we wait for this ship to take off.”

In Jake’s mind, a screen opened up through his neuro implant, and lines of text were displayed along with various information.

In resume, they would all be travelling to a planet called Genova, which was part of the Genesis solar system in the frontier of the territory. On this planet could be found a small mining settlement owned by a very large mining corporation called GenoExtractionCorp. This particular settlement had constantly been under the unrelenting attack of a particular indigenous species called the Vertaerax, which seemed to be a kind of mix between an arachnid and an insect. The assignment consisted of protecting the settlement and keeping the inhabitants safe. However, their particular team had been selected to undergo a special mission.

“As you are now aware, most of you here are among the top trainees of this promotion, which is why you have been selected as the Vanguard of this operation.”

Some of the cadets’ faces brightened at the compliment, however, Jake noticed that Owen’s and Ryan’s expressions had darkened like they were expecting bad news.

“As you are all aware already, our squad will be in charge of finding the Vertaerax nest and neutralizing it. To do that, however, we’ll have to venture outside the settlements for weeks, possibly months, until we can finally localize the nest and eliminate the threat.”

Each of the cadets’ expressions darkened at the thought of undertaking such a seemingly dangerous assignment, and Officer Neilr seemed to notice.

“You are right to be scared. Our team’s going to be put at much greater risk than any other for this assignment, and I honestly don’t give a crap whether or not any of you make it out alive. The only thing that matters is that we complete the job.” He added.

If they’d had any doubts the Alliance were sending them to their deaths before, this pretty much confirmed it.

“We will land in Genova in exactly six days if all goes well, until then, you will spend all of your time here either training, eating or sleeping. I do not give a damn about what Officer Gwyra said to the others, if you want to survive your first week, you will use the remaining amount of time available to you to train past your limits.” The Kreigen added.

“Yes, sir!” The cadets shouted back, standing up and saluting the officer at the same time.

“Oh, and before I forget, meet me back here in half an hour, until then, you are free to tour the vessel, we should be taking off any minute now.” The officer added, grumpily.

As per usual, Jake, Ryan and Owens all stuck together as they visited every single room and compartment of the vessel, and they met over thirty cadets who had wanted to do the same thing during their little outing. Talking to a few of them had pretty much confirmed what their commanding officer had revealed to them. Team A and E, which were Officer Gwyra’s teams would be in charge of clearing out the mining tunnels located under the settlement, while Team C and D, Officer Valadis and Officer Breyr’s teams would be in charge of protecting the settlement. All of this while their team would be sent on a months-long chase to find the creepy crawlers’ nest.

After around twenty minutes of the three of them wandering about, they made their way back to the meeting point in advance to wait for the others. They didn’t know the ship very well and wanted to avoid being late for their meeting with Officer Neilr. It seemed that the other cadets had thought as much too because the seven other cadets from Team B were all already sitting at the same rectangular table, although the First Lieutenant was nowhere to be found.

As they stepped inside the room, King was already arguing with some of the other cadets, which didn’t surprise Jake in the slightest.

“I can’t believe we’re getting sent to our deaths on some lousy assignment when we haven’t even graduated yet! They keep treating us like expendables, and I’m sick of it.” Her high-pitched, annoying voice echoed inside the room.

On the other end of the table, Michael Kirk was arguing back in a tone that suggested this little show had gone on for far too long already.

“Shut up, King, you spoiled brat. Nobody asked you to be there, just call for your daddy to come pick you up if you don’t have what it takes, you’ll do everyone here a favour.” He spat back, angrily.

Indignated, the girl was about to answer back when the air in the cabin grew cold and silent. Almost like the air had been ripped out of his lungs, Jake and the other cadets struggled to breathe as the domineering figure of their officer slowly made their way toward the cadets. He looked at King, silently and the pressure emanating from the Kreigen was so suffocating that Jake thought he’d lose consciousness for a second. The officer still stood in front of King, who’d already started tearing up, when the Kreigen spoke up.

“Do you know why the Alliance treats you humans as expendable? It’s because you are. Among the thousands and thousands of new human awakened that go through basic training every year, only half a percent of them ever get to the level of the average Kreigan, Zerkan or Akari Cadet during their entire lifetime. Among the hundreds of species in this galaxy, humans are among the weakest, which is why the Alliance hired us to teach you, and not humans. It is also why they do not give two shits if an entire squad of human cadets dies in combat, as it will take years, maybe even decades for any of you to grow strong enough to measure yourself against some of the higher races’ youngest and weakest awakened.” The officer said, coldly.

Then, he looked over to Jake for a second, and he seemed to think something over for a second because he spoke up again.

“Of course, there are exceptions. Any living being that is awakened has the potential to reach the summit of strength, even you humans, although it usually takes centuries for one of your kind to reach a decent level. However, reaching such a level takes more than simply time, it takes courage, and dedication, as well as a huge amount of luck. As for you, cadet King, you certainly don’t have the first two, so you better pray you’ve been blessed by the heavens because otherwise, your road will end the minute we step foot on Genova.”

Although at the moment, Jake was as scared of the First Lieutenant as any other cadet inside the room, he knew he would have cut off one of his arms without hesitating to see King get shut down like that again, and he had to fight with all his might to repress the smile that crept dangerously to his face. After a few seconds, however, Officer Neilr finally spoke up again.

“As I’ve said earlier, we’re in for a dangerous ride during this assignment, which is why you all will undergo some special training directly under me for the next 6 days. I hope you brought extra underwear because you’re going to need it.”