Kaia’s heart raced as a fierce wind swept into her, catching her off guard as she traversed the rope suspended between towering structures. The gust tore her cramped hands from the rope, leaving her dangling upside down, feeling the relentless pull of the planet’s heavy gravity. Below her, like the gaping jaws of a hungry beast, lay a sandbox, poised to swallow her aspirations of joining the Division.

Her legs faltered causing her pulse to spike.

She gritted her teeth and forced her exhausted legs to tighten their hold on the rope. No way would she tap out on just the fifth day!

Summoning her last reserves of strength, she hauled herself back up and gripped the rope firmly in her hands. Only then did she allow herself to exhale deeply, feeling a sense or relief. However, the victory was short-lived as she saw she still had thirty meters to go.

The exhaustion from the past few days fed and watered her growing sense of failure. Things had been getting progressively worse since the opening day’s PT test. Yesterday, she had fallen from a ladder and lay unmoving on the ground as Khaazsa’s cronies taunted and laughed. Not her finest hour.

But today was another day. She narrowed her focus on the spot just in front of her and inched along. The rain-soaked jute rope squelched with each grasp of her hand, drenching her clothes and turning them into a dead weight that dragged against her aching limbs. Time crept along, the temptation to quit warring with her resolve.

When the end finally arrived, it took her by surprise. She hung there, unsure of what to do next. The rope had consumed her entire world. Giving herself a mental shake, she dropped onto the platform.

Collecting herself, Kaia looked out from the tower at a cluster of buildings set up to mimic a small town. She quickly memorized the layout, then slid down the ladder and unhooked her rifle from her webbing. Moving with cautious speed, she began hunting for targets. She didn’t have to wait long.

The first target appeared in the general store’s empty window, a wooden cut-out of a human male wearing a black shirt, holding a pistol. The target took Kaia by surprise and she lost precious seconds before downing it with two shots to the chest. Cursing her sluggish pace, she broke into a run. The cadre had warned them that the obstacle course was timed, but that was it. No hint of the time to beat. She hated guessing. So instead, she just pushed herself to her limits.

She rounded the corner of a small outhouse and dashed to the adjoining barn. There, she paused to catch her breath and check her surroundings. In the distance, she could hear the whistle blowing as another candidate started the course. She bit back a curse. At this rate, she was going to be lapped! Why in the inferni were they running around with guns, anyway? What did that have to do with commanding a starship?

She pushed herself off the wall, her mental clock ticking. Just then a cut-out of a green Jiuda appeared from behind the barn door next to her. She raised her rifle to fire but caught herself when she registered the child hostage. She skidded to a halt, dropped to one knee, and took careful aim. The shot hit the Jiuda square in the head. Before the target hit the ground, she was up and moving again. She was almost at the exit when she heard the grinding of gears from behind her. She spun around as the third target popped out of an open garage. She hit it with a precision shot.

Confidence bolstered by her successful shooting, Kaia ran to the next section of the obstacle course, a barbed wire crawl. She hit the ground, making sure to keep her rifle barrel clean, and dragged herself forward with her elbows, thankful for the recent rain. It made the ground just moist enough to not spray dust in her face, as long as the wind didn’t pick up again.

She hadn’t gone more then half way when a low section of barbed wire ripped at her hair and skin. She jerked away too hard and her face smacked the ground, hard. Kaia cursed her distracted mind and struggled to focus on the task at hand. A trickle ran down the side of her face. She pushed the pain away and continued the crawl. She finally cleared the last wire curl and stood, nodding to the waiting cadre member.

“Blue Four, checking in,” Kaia said, using her code for the day. She wiped at her cheek and her hand came away smeared with blood.

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“Proceed to the range.” The cadre member motioned to the left, oblivious to her injury. “This is an accuracy exercise. Every miss contributes to your course time. Have a good one.”

How was she supposed to have a good one when her head was bleeding? Cursing under her breath, Kaia decided the sleeve of her fatigue wasn’t too dirty and pressed it to the wound as she made her way over to the range. Small circular targets were situated one hundred metres away. She eased herself onto a reed mat and gave her weapon a once-over. A box of preloaded clips sat next to her. She checked the round count and loaded it into her rifle. Five rounds, five targets.

She sighted down the range and took a deep, calming breath, then gently pulled the trigger on her exhale. The rifle hummed and spat out the slug, which hit the first target dead centre. The black disc fell away with a ping. Another shot, another hit. But the third target remained stubbornly upright, her round chipping paint off the surrounding housing.

Kaia swore. By the Emperor, why did she keep pushing herself so hard? The last thing she wanted to do was fight infantry battles. Let the Legion play in the dirt.

She doubled down on her focus and hit the remaining two targets. Triumphant, she ejected the magazine, winced as she rose from the mat, and returned to the cadre member. He motioned her silently onto the next station.

A sticky humidity settled over the base, thickening the air and making it hard to breathe.

“Fuck this world and its sudden mood swings,” Kaia muttered as she hopped over a series of hurdles. She came to a set of stairs and at the top was a pair of platforms connected by a horizontal ladder. She crossed it, keeping an eye out for targets, and then scrambled down, burning the last of her energy in a short hundred-metre dash to the finish line.

“Sit down, you are done for the day.” A cadre member motioned to the shade of a stunted tree where several other candidates were already huddled. They looked up as Kaia approached, and their hostile glares burned into her. Kaia sat off to the side, just outside the shade, feeling the exhaustion weigh heavily on her as she braced herself for another round of silent prejudice, her sense of isolation growing deeper.

As if the Emperor sensed her need for companionship, Rilleta jogged across the finish line and reported to the cadre member. Sweat soaked her grimy clothes, but she showed no visible signs of fatigue. She sauntered past the cluster of candidates and sat beside Kaia.

“That was fun!” Rilleta said with infectious enthusiasm.

Despite herself, Kaia smiled back. “Speak for yourself.” She pointed up at her head wound.

“Ouch,” Rilleta’s nose wrinkled as she examined Kaia’s injury. “Looks superficial, though. Was it the barbed wire?”

“Yeah.” Kaia touched the wound, wincing. “By the Emperor, do I need a drink.”

***

Two hours and a shower later, Kaia settled into a booth at the Ice Hut with Rilleta and Giana.

“To surviving day five!” Rilleta raised her glass.

Kaia followed suit with her own creamy chocolate liquor swirl and took a drink. The icy liquid flowed down her throat, cooling her body temperature. She sighed in delight, savouring the bitter taste of cocoa.

True to its name, at the centre of the hut, a giant rectangle of ice sat in a wide basin surrounded by a circle of oscillating fans. Crisp air flowed over Kaia and her friends, a welcome change from the planet’s unrelenting heat. Holos of competitive winter sports decorated the walls between actual skis and hover boards. Despite the early afternoon, the place was filled with locals.

“How did you two do in the course?” Giana asked, then shook her head in disappointment. “I’m surprised I passed. I was so slow. Missed three of my targets, too.”

Rilleta shrugged, downing the rest of her drink as she motioned to the bartender for another. “Yeah, been a while since I did one of those. I was part of the Devils back at the Academy. We used to have so much fun on these courses.”

Kaia whistled in amazement. The Devils were the Navy’s premier competition obstacle course racing team. Kaia had gone to see them compete a few times against other divisions and had always been amazed by their athletic prowess. Now she was competing against an actual Devil.

“No wonder you kicked everyone’s ass,” Kaia said. “At least I think my time was better than that bastard Khaazsa.”

“Don’t worry about him. He can’t hold a candle to you.” Rilleta accepted her drink and smiled suggestively at the young waiter before she turned her attention back to the group. “His family connections got him a slot in Qualification, but only his skill will get him into the Division.”

“That’s assuming we even know what we are applying for,” Giana said.

Kaia nodded in agreement. Their initial guess as to a deep reconnaissance squadron had died a quick death. Now they were back to guessing at the purpose and it frustrated Kaia to all inferni.

“Did you ever get an answer from the Commodore?” Kaia asked Giana.

The woman shook her head. “No. What he did was imply that all the Qualification trials were necessary for the role.”

“So,” Rilleta said with a flourish of her glass. “We are down to defeating the Imperium’s enemies in obstacle courses. Fear our racing skills, you Belteshen-Izar bastards!”

Kaia laughed despite herself, feeling herself finally relax.