As Jake had expected, the week of leisure and team bonding First Lieutenant Gwyra had promised them had turned out to be anything but. In fact, Jake was certain that this had been the harshest week of training yet, and it kept getting worse.
“You’re all way too slow, cadets! FASTER, I SAID! HAWKINS, QUIT FUCKING AROUND!” First Lieutenant Neilr shouted at Jake and the other cadets.
On the first day of their departure, it had been revealed that the cadets would be going through special training under their commanding officer’s direct guidance until they reached their destination. As a result, each squad had been thrown separately inside a gravity room and subjected to the harshest training regimen of their lives for 4 hours every day, only to keep training inside their dorms once their turn was over.
Inside the gravity room, the First Lieutenant had increased the gravity by over three times, pushing the squad into a hellish training program that made the recent weeks look like a leisure trip by comparison. While the training area was a lot smaller than the Academy’s training hall, there was still more than enough room left for each squad to fight some duels amongst each other, do some callisthenics and various other conditioning exercises, and go through the usual combat training, which had proven itself impossible for Jake as his weapon of choice was already close to 200 pounds under normal gravity.
As expected, their training officer hadn’t taken the fact that Jake couldn’t complete combat training inside the gravity room with great enthusiasm, as it sufficed to say the Kreigen wasn’t a particularly soft — or well-spoken for that matter — training officer if there even was such a thing.
“HAWKINS, GIVE ME 100 MORE, NOW! You’re plain GARBAGE! How the hell are you going to pretend you’re a soldier and be unable to carry your little stick by yourself, HUH?” The officer shouted.
In the end, the four hours of training had been more than enough to leave the cadets many times more exhausted than after their usually much longer days of training, and while Jake had been loathing the day they’d reached Genova on the day of their departure, he now couldn’t wait for their vessel to reach the planet. Surely being thrown into a frontier planet’s wilderness for weeks on end to fight off some blood-crazed creatures couldn’t be worse than what they’ve been put through by Officer Neilr, could it?
On top of all that training, they’d also been ordered to practice their biotic skills at any given time their energy had recovered enough to do so, from the moment they woke up to the moment they fell asleep, which had ended up causing a lot of improvements amongst the cadets, even for Jake.
Status
Name: Jake Hawkins
Rank: Cadet
Energy Core: 54/65
Recovery Rate: 0.325
Base Attributes
Strength: 12
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 11
Recovery: 11
Perception: 15
Cognition: 20
Specs
[Basic Reinforcement | Lvl. 8 | All attributes +8, Core +40]
Skills
[Basic Telekinesis | Lvl. 1]
[Basic Biotic Reinforcement | Lvl. 3]
In the last week, Jake had finally managed to bring his Basic Reinforcement Spec to the 8th level. Along with Ryan, Owens, and Micheal Kirk, he knew he was the only other cadet to have reached that level yet, with the rest being stuck at the 6th or 7th level. Most cadets in their promotion didn’t spend nearly as much biotic energy into improving their spec, after all, as they instead chose to focus on improving their skills instead.
Although it should usually have taken quite a lot longer for Jake to reach that level, the particular spec they’d been given by the Alliance had the particularity of progressing faster when physically training one’s body on top of supplying the spec with biotic energy. It was one of the main reasons the Alliance chose to teach this spec first before anything else, as it would benefit twice as much to inexperienced cadets.
Furthermore, his Basic Biotic Reinforcement skill had finally reached the third level, which put Jake’s maximum strength stat when activating his armour and strengthening skill at an impressive total of 16 units. The reason behind the skill’s rapid growth compared to telekinesis was most likely that Jake’s speed of biotic energy recovery — excluding the bonus from his amulet — had gone from 0,1 to 0,325 since his awakening, meaning the amount of energy he could spend toward improving his skills had increased by a lot since his early days trying to practice telekinesis with the marble. For now, he’d almost given up on trying to improve his telekinesis spell, as he couldn’t see himself reaching a level where Telekinesis would become useful anytime soon. Telekinesis was a very simple spell, but it was also pretty costly compared to his reinforcement skill, which made it hard for someone like Jake to use it to its full potential.
Now, the cadets were all folded in half, panting, with around half of them — including Jake — throwing up their lunch on the floor. They were used to it by now, as that was how every single session inside the gravity room had ended this week.
“Ahh, humans. I can’t say I’m not disappointed once again, but at least most of you showed some guts again today, literally.” The officer said, thoughtfully looking at the cadets still hunched over, coughing.
Jake, like most of the cadets, let out a small frustrated sigh at the officer’s comment but still ended up saluting the officer like everyone else after wiping the corner of his mouth.
“Yes! Thank you, sir!” They all echoed out.
“Go get changed, we should be landing anytime now, and I want everyone to be ready in fifteen minutes for the final briefing before landing.”
“Yes, sir!” The cadets answered, before making their way back to their room.
Like all the other cadets, Jake made his way back to their dorms and stepped inside the shower for a quick clean-up before putting on a clean set of his academy uniform. Afterward, Jake made his way back to his bed, next to which laid his sword and sniper, which he both grabbed and sheathed seconds after having activated his armour. Truth be told, he would have preferred to keep the armour off for as long as possible so he could continue to put more biotic energy into improving his spec, but Officer Neilr had been clear they would be expected to wear their armour at all times for the duration of this assignment. Moreover, it was way easier to carry his weapons when his armour was activated and he could put them back in their sheath.
[Look at you, all ready for your first assignment. Jeez, they grow up so fast.]
Jake ignored the implant as he made his way back to the common area, where the officer was already waiting for them. A few minutes later, every cadet had finally arrived at the area, all of them fully decked out with gear, and the officer spoke up in his usual grumpy tone.
“Our only objective today is to make our way to the settlement’s executive headquarters and get briefed on the situation. Depending on what they say, we might depart immediately or stay at the settlement for a couple of days. Do not expect me to babysit you during this assignment, I will tell you where you’re going, what you’re doing and when you’re doing it, and you will shut up and do exactly that. Is that clear, cadets?”
“Yes, sir!” The cadets answered.
“Oh, and one more thing. As soon as we take the first step through these doors, every one of you cadets will be responsible for their comrades’ lives, as well as their own. Do not fail me, and more importantly, do not fail your squad. Understood?” The officer added.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Yes, sir!” The cadets answered.
Then the officer got up, and the cadets all followed in the First Lieutenant’s footsteps as they made their way to the ship’s entrance. All around them, the four other squads of cadets, along with the other commanding officers we’re all standing up next to them, waiting for the exit door to open.
As soon as it did, barely a few seconds later, Jake was blown away by a wave of heat and humidity that immediately seemed to choke the air out of him. From the corner of his eye, his implant was currently displaying some information about the outside temperature and weather, and he almost shouted when he saw the numbers.
[ 41 ºC | 79% Humidity | 110 km/h wind | 1.3x Earth’s gravity ]
“What the hell? It’s only 0900, how — ” King started, but she didn’t get to finish as their commanding officer’s deadly stare was enough to cut her right off. Then, they finally stepped foot on Genova, and Jake couldn’t believe what he was seeing with his very own eyes.
To put it simply, the planet looked nothing short of a giant piece of deserted rock, with its surface being devoid of any plant, tree or bush in all directions. In the distance, a gigantic mountain elevated far beyond the rest of the landscape, over which rested a moon that looked at least a few times larger than the one Jake had seen on Earth during his stay at the academy. Next to the moon, a gigantic sun that emanated a bright red light seemed to taint the entire landscape with a hint of blood, giving the planet a strange atmosphere. On the horizon, swirling bouts of intense winds were swaying around giant clouds of sand and rock, muddying the planet’s atmosphere.
After a moment, Jake’s eyes finally came back down from the sky and landed straight into the bustling little settlement that made up his whole vicinity. Everywhere around him, small greenish creatures were going about in all directions, with most of them transporting various metals or ores in one direction or another.
[Goblins: Small creatures originating from the 23rd sector of the Alliance, and known for their cunning, as well as their large amount of businesses and megacorporations. Most of them choose to make a career in trading or other business ventures rather than as a soldier, but every single goblin awakens naturally as soon as they reach 5 years old.]
Buildings of various sizes made out of something akin to stone or clay completed the look, with tons of heavy metal machinery sprouting everywhere in between. One weird thing was that the structures seemed worn down and battered to the point of wondering how they were still standing, with most of them being layered with multiple impact marks and cracks. Moments later, he also noticed that a few of the goblins were sporting various injuries, most of them looking rather serious. Then, a quick look all around him revealed that almost all of them had some sort of gruesome injury like a missing arm or leg, and he couldn’t help but wonder what had happened here.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get much time to ask any questions as a few important-looking goblins appeared in front of the four training officers. Like all the others, they were all in pretty bad shape, and one of the oldest-looking ones stepped up in front of the officers.
“Greetings, officers. I am Elder Ark’reak, leader of this small operation, and I am more than thrilled to finally see you after waiting for so long. Hopefully, your trip went as expected?”
The goblin was so old that he was practically hunched over, making him look even smaller than he originally was, and he had one of his arms in a weird-looking cast.
“Thank you, Elder Ark’reak, our trip went well indeed. Would you mind giving us a rundown of the situation as soon as possible, we are eager to help.” Officer Gwyra responded, in a tone that was so polite Jake wondered if it was the same officer he’d known for the past weeks.
“You are months too late to be eager, First Lieutenant. However, we will give you a rundown of the situation. Please, follow me.” The goblin answered, this time with a less-than-polite tone.
Still, the officers followed the few goblins that seemed to consist of the elders of the settlement, and they finally arrived in front of a large structure, into which small doors — barely large enough for a human to pass through — looked to be the only entrance.
“Stay here, cadets. All of you.” Officer Gwyra ordered the fifty cadets that currently stood right behind her, and they all answered back at once.
“Yes, ma’am!”
The four commanding officers all made their way inside the building, and it was only half an hour later that they stepped out, this time without the goblin elders they’d entered with. Officer Neilr, like the other commanding officers, quickly made his way toward his respective squad, and all of Team B was soon stationed a few meters left of the building.
“Things are a lot worse than we’ve expected, but our mission remains the same. We’re heading out in five minutes, be ready.” The officer declared.
Half an hour later, the cadets were all facing the enormous wall that encircled the whole settlement. It was large enough for the goblins — or humans for that matter — to be able to stand on top of it and shoot down any invaders trying to make their way inside the camp, which was one of the main reasons why the settlement was still standing after so long.
Now that they stood right in front of it, however, Jake realized the wall was damaged in a lot of areas, and multiple holes littered the rock, creating breaches where enemies could infiltrate the camp. Overall, the fortifications looked ready to fall down at any moment, and Jake wondered how they still stood in their current state.
With Officer Neilr at the front, the entire squad passed through one of the fortifications breaches and ended up outside of the walls, in front of the huge mountain range that stood on the horizon. Then, their commanding officer finally turned around and produced ten small backpacks out of thin air.
“Inside this bag, you’ll find everything we might need during this trip, including a portable shelter, a sleeping bag, as well as various other equipment, and it’ll be your responsibility for the duration of this assignment.”
It was hard for the cadets not to smile at the thought of a sleeping bag and a shelter. Most of them had been getting used to the idea of sleeping on the ground during the last few days, so the backpack was indeed a welcome surprise.
“As for the assignment itself, our radars have picked up unusual underground activity around 250 km north from here. Usually, such a distance wouldn’t be a problem, but I doubt we’ll be able to make our way there without a fight or two, so always be at the ready. Understood?” The officer added.
“Yes, sir!” The cadets replied, and they started their march.
Walking for 250km over a few days hadn’t sounded like much at first, but Jake quickly found out that their commanding officer had no intention of walking there, nor did he have the intention for their trip to last a few days.
Only an hour after they departed from the settlement, every single cadet was completely exhausted, and Officer Neilr was forced to call for a halt.
“You guys better toughen up, otherwise we’ll never reach the nest at this rate.”
The cadets, still trying to catch their breaths, managed with great difficulty to cough up a reply before they fell to the ground, panting. They’d spent the last four weeks getting in shape for this assignment, and thanks to their spec, their attributes were now much stronger than the average human unawakened. The problem was that the harsh climate, as well as the small increase in gravity compared to the Earth’s, were all contributing to the cadets' fatigue in their own way. Jake especially had a hard time carrying over 200 pounds of weaponry on his back under Genova’s increased gravity.
Jake was about to get up when something caught his attention to his right. Thanks to him diligently working on his specs all the time, his perception attribute had greatly improved since the day of his awakening. While this improvement had been far less noticeable than his strength or dexterity for example, he could tell there was a slight difference in his ability to perceive his environment, especially with his five senses. His eyes could see slightly farther, and his ears were sharper, even his nose and mouth could smell and taste with more accuracy it seemed.
Jake closed his eyes for a second and focused on his hearing. He could hear the rustling of the violent gusts of wind against the sand and rock, as well as his comrades' ragged breaths, but something else was there as well. Something that didn’t belong, that made him feel on edge.
Suddenly, a roar echoed somewhere to his right, and a huge creature appeared in front of the squad. The beast let out a horrifying cry and pounced on the cadet it was the closest to in under an instant, as Jake’s implant flared up again with a prompt.
[ Vertaerax Crawler — Gigantic insectoid creature from the Vertaerax species with razor-sharp teeth and claws. Its entire body is covered in a thick exoskeleton that is not only hard to pierce but resistant to biotic energy. The crawler usually acts as the Vertaerax nest’s primary line of defence and is in charge of collecting food for the nest. If you’re reading this, you’re the food.]
But Jake was already on the move, he’d already activated his suit of armour and reinforcement skill, as well as unsheathed his sword. It was like his body had pushed his mind away and took over for a second as he appeared right in front of Micheal Kirk.
A moment later, Jake was sent flying for over two meters as the beast’s massive claws made contact with the left side of his entire body, slicing through his armour with incredible ease.
His mind went dark for an instant until he felt his body landing brutally on the ground after what had no doubt been a majestic flight.
He quickly got up, ignoring the pain that afflicted his entire left side, only in time to see Officer Neilr teleport right in front of the beast and deliver a swing so powerful the beast’s head was pulverized in one blow, leaving a giant morbid hole where it’s head had stood moments ago.
Every single cadet froze at the amazing display of power, and none of them even dared to make a sound as the training officer grabbed the beast’s body by the plating on its back before he made his way back to the cadets.
“Found some lunch.” He said, nonchalantly, and the cadets simply stood there, mouth agape.