The check-in process was simple, she presented her ID band to the clerk who handed her a smooth, silver bracer with an oval screen, and speaker. The bracer computer, nicknamed the Personal Utility Computer or PUC, was a standard piece of military hardware. It allowed soldiers to communicate, identify flora and fauna, connect remotely to the Military Imperial network, the standard imp net, connect with various hardware, and create, use and store a variety of programs. The clerk took Kiera’s commpad and scanned her for anything else they examinees weren’t allowed to bring into the exam with them. The PUC was to be worn at all times and would help guide the examinees through their tests. He wished Kiera good luck, and she walked out of the building to the staging area.
The exam staging area was packed. Every eligible citizen in the empire met at the testing grounds to determine if they could apply for a spot in one of the officer academies, or enter into the service with a higher rank; those that didn’t bother to show up usually just enlisted. Most of the participants were human; Kiera did spot a pair of orks, one male and one female, and one aasimar; a redhead with copper skin, the golden halo gave her away. Some of the examinees were chatting, others were stretching or preparing themselves with closed eyes. Two years ago this crowd would have made her nervous, but now it made her excited. A loud whistle silenced the crowd, and all attention went to a dark skinned human male in the silver and green combat uniform of the army, including a dark green beret that had his unit emblem on it, who climbed on a platform so everyone could see him.
“Good morning, examinees! My name is Sargent Ward and I will be one of your proctors for today’s physical exam. Throughout the day you will see other proctors from several branches. They all have the same authority that I do, so listen to what they tell you. Insubordination is a good way to fail this exam.
“There are five different components to today’s exam. They are the obstacle course, the fitness test, the ten kilometer run, a combat trial, and the swimming test. We will be breaking you up into groups and the test will be completed over the next two days. All of you should have received a PUC when you checked in. All group information will be sent to you on that PUC, including your test schedule and location.”
Sargent Ward paused to look over the crowd, “At the end of the day you will be assigned barracks. All meals will be determined by your barracks. Your barracks group may not have the same examinees as your exam group. In the morning we will have inspection, dismiss you to breakfast, and send you to finish your exams. Each part of the exam will be explained by the PIC. Are there any questions?”
Two options appeared on Kiera’s PUC: Yes and No. Everything seemed pretty straight forward. It was odd that there was nothing mentioned about spending the night; the swimming test was also unexpected. They were only told to bring their ID bands and leave everything else at home; there was no mention of sleepwear, toiletries or swimming suits. Now that she thought about it, their information packet listed nothing about the exam, it only told them where and when to arrive. There was nothing she could do about it now, all her things were on Albion. She pressed No.
A light on the PUC turned blue, as one of the girls spoke, “Um, there was nothing in the instructions about bringing sleepwear or swimming suits, was that an oversight?”
“It was not,” Sargent Ward said.
The answer caused some murmurings that were quietened down when the light turned blue again. “How many of these tests do we need to pass to be admitted into the officer’s academy?” The voice belonged to a boy who sounded bored.
“A better question would be: why are you testing for an officer position if you did not plan on completing every task?” Ward didn’t bother hiding his irritation at the question.
“What Pee Eye See?” a gruff voice asked, each letter spoken slowly.
“Person in Charge,” Ward replied, “The proctor for the event,” Ward said.
“Sir, may I offer a translation?” was the next question.
Ward frowned, a look of confusion on his face. He glanced at his own PUC and the confusion faded.“Go ahead, examinee.”
What followed was a constant heavy language with several words that sounded growled rather than spoken. No one else spoke and there were no further questions. “Excellent,” Sargent Ward said, “Coming over your PUCs is your schedule for the day as well as your group number. You are dismissed. For the Emperor.”
“For the Empire,” hundreds of voices replied, including Kiera’s. She caught a couple of bewildered looks; if they didn’t know the call and response then they would have a difficult time with the written portion of the test. She looked at her PUC as she moved through the gate with the others, Group A-1 first event ten kilometer run. There were signposts that pointed to the individual events, Kiera made her way through the crowd joining everyone else along the path that led to the running course.
A burly man in an army uniform stood at the starting line of the course which started off in a forest. People began to stretch as they waited for the proctor to begin the test. A red light appeared on their PUCs and blinked out as quickly as it came.
“Good morning, examinees!” the uniformed man called, “Welcome to the start of your ten kilometer run. I’m not sure if you’re the lucky ones or the unlucky ones. This is a simple course, all you need to do is follow the indicator on your PUC. There are red flags that will also mark the course. My first group of twenty-five, Group Alpha one, come to the starting line!”
Kiera moved up with the others, she was ready for this, spent two years training for just this moment. Tamariel’s advice came to mind as she watched a tall boy with curly mousy brown hair in a blue and white tracksuit push his way to the front. It wasn’t just your physical performance they were looking at. Remember what you’re actually trying to achieve. Beside her a blonde girl whose hair had pink tips shook her head, her eyes, like most of them, were on the tracksuit. The aasimar and the male ork were also in her group.
“Begin!” the proctor yelled.
They immediately began to move, the boy in the tracksuit sprinted ahead of the others, three other boys sped up to catch him. An alteran passed them all. Kiera shook her head, it was a ten kilometer run, not a sprint, they would wear themselves out if they kept up that pace. The proctor hadn’t given them any information about what a passing time would be, or if it was even timed. Better to go at a steady pace and complete the run; it was only the first event. A shout was heard in front of them ten minutes later, a couple of people slowed down and everyone went on high alert. Turning the corner a ten foot tall humanoid wearing furs stood on the trail, several rocks on the ground near him and a large club was in his right hand. Kiera recognized him immediately: a jotun. They were from a different galaxy and were known to make raidson imperial frontier worlds. The presence of one here was strange. The jotun let out a war cry and hurled a rock into the woods to their left, a loud shout accompanied the sound of an impact.
Panic took hold of the group. Two boys turned and ran back down the trail, several examinees split off into the forest on their right and left; Kiera saw one guy grab the hand of a girl and pull her along after him. A jotun could be a dangerous opponent, but there was only one of them, if they worked together they could get around him without anyone getting hurt, at least, that’s what Kiera hoped.
“Stay together!” she shouted, “There’s only one jotun, we need to work together to get around him. Keep running towards him and taunt him as loud as you can, overwhelm him with targets so he doesn’t know who to attack!”
There were only ten of them left on the path, the jotun hurled another large rock into the woods to his right, and screams of pain echoed from them. Kiera shouted, and the nine other people started to join; the loudest shouts were from the ork. They weren’t taunts but a battle cry. He charged, catching the giant off guard. The jotun was tackled to the ground, the ork scrambled up his body and began to pound violently on his face.
The others took the opportunity to run by, only the aasimar slowed, “There are injured people over there,” she said looking into the woods, “If the jotun is occupied then we should go help them!”
“Are you dumb?” a boy shouted, “Stopping for someone else will cause you to fail! This is why little girls shouldn’t be in the military!”
Kiera glared at the comment, slowing to a stop. She jogged over to the aasimar, “Sounds like a plan.” The girl with the pink tips joined them.
The injured examinees weren’t far, there were two of them, a boy with a mangled arm and a girl under him on the ground. The aasimar knelt down, “I’m Tamalyn Larenthal, give me a moment and I can lessen the pain and close some of that wound.” She put her hand on the boy’s back. Her halo flared brightly and he stopped bleeding, the wounds starting to close.
Meanwhile the other girl was gathering a few sticks from the ground, Kiera found a rock and cut off part of her tank top, tearing it into strips. They brought the material to Tamalyn and without hesitation she made a splint, “Can you stand?”
The boy nodded, “Yeah, I’m John.” Kiera helped him to his feet so Tamalyn could tend the girl. She was unconscious.
Tamalyn’s halo glowed brightly again, waking the girl up. The bruising on her ankle lessened some as well. “Can you stand?”
“Yeah, just give me a few minutes,” she looked at John, “Why did you think it was a good idea to drag me into the woods?” She had black hair, green eyes and a ridged nose, a kylaxian. They boasted enhanced regeneration and could heal from wounds within minutes.
“Just trying to save you,” John mumbled.
“Let’s get you both back to the exam site then there should be medics that can take care of both of them. My ability to heal is limited, and using it too much on a person can strain them and do more harm than good,” Tamalyn said.
Kiera bent down and helped the girl to her feet, putting the girl’s left arm around her shoulders. The girl shouted in pain as she put her left foot on the ground, “Looks like you’re not running anytime soon. Hop on my back, we can at least get you to the end.”
“I’m half kylaxian,” the girl protested, “I heal faster than normal, although having the full regeneration and pain reduction would be fantastic right now..”
“Imperials don’t leave anyone behind,” the pink haired girl said, “We can carry you until you can stand. I’m Kinsley.”
“Robyn,” the girl said.
“Kiera,” Kiera squatted down so Robyn could climb on her back, “All right, let’s get going. We should probably pull the ork off that jotun.” They returned to the trail to find the ork waiting for them, the jotun was unconscious.
“Let me,” he said in a familiar gruff voice and surprisingly clear imperial as he walked up to Kiera and held out his hands. He had half a foot on Kiera and was thinner than Kiera thought an ork would be but he was extremely muscular and covered in scars.
“I’m alright for now, but you can hop into the rotation,” Kiera said. She quickly made introductions as they resumed running.
“Gargax,” the ork said.
They picked up the pace once Kiera got used to the weight, John lagged behind a little, so they made sure not to leave him on his own. The group in front of them had slowed down, moving much more cautiously after the encounter with the jotun. Three kilometers later the group started to relax, when a snarling came from the woods. Robyn was riding on Gargax’s back and the ork’s head whipped to their left.
“Kargs!” he shouted, "Make hole! Circle wounded!” He didn’t wait for the boys in front of him to react. Scooping John into his arms, he forced his way into the group, the girls closed in around him.
A group of gray skinned dog-like creatures burst from the woods. They had wide, elongated heads with fangs and teeth sticking out from their top lip and a pair of tusks sticking up from their lower jaw. Each one was four feet tall at the shoulder with stubby ears and tails. The Karg pack lopped alongside the group of ten, snarling and growling. Kinsley scooped up a rock from the ground and flung it at the lead Karg. It struck the karg’s knee causing it to stumble, the ones behind it slammed into the leader causing them to fall into and the trailing kargs to crash into them. Only one karg managed to avoid the pile up, but it only pursued the group for a few seconds before turning away.
The rest of the run was completed without any issues. Robyn was able to resume running after the kargs lost interest. The trail led them back to the exam site where Kiera’s small subgroup took the two injured examinees to the medical tent. Tamalyn insisted that Robyn be checked out as well, limited regeneration ability or not. They both expressed their thanks again.
“There was a jotun on the trail,” Keira reported, “Gargax knocked him unconscious.”
“We received the communication from Examinee York,” the medic said, “and have been expecting these two.”
Kiera internally winced, communicating with the proctors should have been the first thing she did before moving to engage. But they should have been observing them, and a jotun on Albus was an abnormality. It must have been part of the exam, were the kargs as well or was that just a random coincidence? Kiera shook her head, there was no time for those kinds of thoughts, she needed to focus on the next event. The boy in the tracksuit and one of the ones that had sprinted after him were watching the others work through the different stations of the fitness test, Kiera didn’t think it was a coincidence the trail ended here; it was likely their next event.
The second group began to trickle in; first a group of three boys, then a group of five. Another seven arrived a few minutes later. After a group of four arrived it became apparent that no one else would be coming. The exam was quickly weeding people out. Kiera just hoped those who didn’t make it were still alive. A green light appeared on the PUC with the words “Fitness Test” appearing on the screen. Kiera walked over to where a woman in a navy combat uniform, camouflage red and blue, stood looking over the group. She glanced down at the tablet and then back up at the group as everyone assembled. A few minutes passed and the PUC light turned from green to red, then blinked out.
“Good morning, examinees. It seems like not everyone from your group was able to finish the run. This is the fitness test. Behind me we have five different stations. You will be divided into groups of five with one group of six. When you reach each station you will receive further instructions on your PUCs. Upon the completion of each test, your PUCs will instruct you where to go next”
The examinees’ PUCs revealed their groups and beginning stations. Only two of the stations had any kind of equipment: one was a chin up bar and the other was a pair of walls ten feet across from each other. The other three just had a sign post. Kiera’s first task was pushups. ive stations meant there would only be twenty-five people active, were the others just standing around?
She walked over and was joined by Tracksuit, one boy from the group she ran with and two from the other group. “Hi, nice to meet you all, I’m Kiera,” she greeted.
“We’re not here to make friends, we’re here to win. I didn’t know there was a services corps that had officers, or is this so no one thinks you just screwed your way into a position?” Tracksuit sneered.
“That’s funny, I was thinking that exact same thing about you. What are the odds?” Kiera sniped back. Tracksuit’s face turned red and he sputtered an unintelligible response before turning his back on Kiera.
Kiera smirked and checked her PUC. At the bottom of the station was a belt with a sensor, put the belt on, sensor facing the ground and complete as many pushups as you can in one minute. One of the other boys had already retrieved the belt and was looking it over when Tracksuit stormed over and snatched it from his hand.
“What do you think you are doing? I will be going first, after all I’m the Crown Prince of Dalimar, the rest of you are unwashed peasants.” Tracksuit put the belt on and lowered himself to the ground. He began to complete the exercise, his form was terrible, hands too far apart, butt in the air. His movements were slow.
“Put your hands closer together and straighten your back, you’ll have a better base and be able to complete the push ups faster,” Kiera advised.
“I don’t recall giving you permission to speak to me, bitch,” he snapped back, not bothering to take her advice. A beeping sound came from his left arm and he pushed himself up to the ground. He removed the belt and threw it at the boy who had retrieved it. “The bitch goes last.”
Kiera closed her eyes and centered herself. This was just another challenge, how she dealt with an insufferable, misogynistic narcissist. She’d encountered several when Nobles would bring their children with them for their audiences, but none of them had been as bad as Tracksuit. Or if they were, Emily kept them in line. She opened them again as the second boy was lowering himself into position, his form was excellent. The PUC on his arm showed a one minute timer that began as soon as he started his first pushup.
“You’re doing great!” Kiera cheered, “Keep it up, you’ve got this! The boy started to push himself faster, encouraged by Kiera’s cheers. Tracksuit had his back to them. The boy’s timer expired and he flopped on the ground, panting a bit.
“Thanks, Kiera, I’m Isaac,” he said, taking off his belt. He started to hand it to Kiera when another boy grabbed it.
“Hey, you heard what the prince said! We could get in a lot of trouble if we don’t obey him!” He bent down into position.
“Are you from Dalimar?” Kiera asked.
The boy looked up, his brows wrinkled in confusion, “No, I’m from Pax Three, why?”
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“Then he’s not your prince. The only prince that you would need to be worried about disobeying is one of the Imperial Princes, and none of them are here.”
The boy shook his head, “He’s nobility and could make hell for me. He’s going to make hell for you.” He began his push ups, his form just like the prince’s. Kiera debated about cheering him on, and decided that it was better to fight this kind of bullying with relentless positivity. This time, Isaac joined in. When he was finished he handed the belt to the last boy in their group.
He wordlessly put the belt on and got into position, his form mirroring Isaac’s.“Be quiet while I’m performing this task,” he snapped, glancing up at Kiera with a glare.
“Your form is wrong,” the other boy said, “It’s supposed to look like the prince’s! A prince would know how to do them!” Silence ignored him and began his push ups, going at a moderate pace; Kiera shot Isaac a look. Other shouts of encouragement could be heard from other stations. When the boy finished he took off the sensor and tossed it at Kiera who deftly caught it.
She put the belt around her waist, cinching it up, and got into position. A timer and a counter appeared on her PUC screen, the timer activated as soon as she started to move. Isaac immediately began to cheer her on and it made her want to push herself harder. She had trained for this, she could do it! The time flew by and she felt like she could keep going when the timer ended. She stopped and looked at the counter, but all it showed was a strange symbol before disappearing. She took the belt off and replaced it at the bottom of the stand. The commlink stated to move to the next position, sit ups.
As she was approaching she saw Gargax heading to the pull up station, “Hey Gargax! I’m sure you rocked the sit ups, dominate the chin ups!”
The ork turned and flashed her a toothy grin, “Heard cheers, cheer for I!” He winked and jogged over to his station.
The instructions for the sit ups were a little different, the sensor was on a choker that went around their head, and the PUC gave instructions for their form. They were to lie on the ground, cross their arms on their chests and raise up to touch their arms to their thighs. Another participant would hold their feet down. Fanboy retrieved the sensor and held it out to Tracksuit. The prince sneered at it, “This is covered in ork sweat. There must be another one.”
“That’s the only one in there Your Highness, and nothing to clean it off with,”
“Can we stop wasting time?” Kiera asked
Tracksuit threw the sensor on her, “Feel free, mudder.”
It took all of Kiera’s will to keep her composure, it was one thing to be called a bitch or imply that she would sleep her way up the ranks, Tamariel warned her about that, but this insult was too far. It was used by people who detested interspecies relationships, the child of such a union was often referred to as a mudblood. He had a lot of nerve to make such an assumption, especially since she was just being friendly to an ork who seemed like a good guy. He was nothing like she’d read about in school. Kiera put the sensor on and laid on the ground, her anger boiling just under the surface. She’d burn it off with the situps.
Isaac knelt down and held her feet, “Ignore that asshole. The only reason we can see his head is because he has it so far shoved up his own ass it has nowhere else to go.”
Kiera smirked and channeled her anger into adrenaline as she began the situps. She had practiced this form because this was Imperial military standard. Jac preferred to have his legs lifted in the air; he thought it worked the abs and other stomach muscles better. The sensor band didn’t feel sweaty or slimy at all, or if it was she couldn’t tell because of her own sweat. Isaac’s shouts of encouragement helped her to put aside the negative emotions and focus on the task at hand. She heard others come from Gargax and from a girl at the pushup station.The timer finished and she lay back on the grass in relief. Kiera removed the sensor and switched places with Isaac; none of the other three made any move to take the sensor or kneel on the ground. Once more she cheered and encouraged Isaac. Once his timer was finished he sat up and shot her a grin.
“A guy could really get used to a girl like you cheering him on,” he tossed the sensor over towards the other three members of the group, “Kiera and I have both held another’s foot and did the pushups, your turn.”
Kiera stood up and helped Isaac to his feet and then turned to survey the other stations. She wasn’t going to give any encouragement to the prince, or his sycophants. Gargax stood under the chin up bar, with a hop he grabbed the bar and started doing chin ups like a machine.
“Go Gargax!” she shouted, “You’re a beast!” She was impressed with his upper body strength, he made them look easy. At the next station over she was Kinsley doing burpees; she was likely too far away for Kinsley to hear her but she put her hands over her mouth and shouted cheers for her anyway.. Looking behind her she saw Tamalyn getting into position, she crossed the station to be closer, ”You’ve got this Tamalyn, you’re awesome!”
At some point Tracksuit had left to talk to the proctor, he came back even more irritated with a sneer on his face, “They don't have any clean ones. She told me to use what is available or forfeit. It irks me to have to resort to using my own handkerchief. The military should be more prepared for royalty.” He reached inside his tracksuit and drew a white handkerchief.
Kiera didn’t reply, and neither did Isaac. When they finished Kiera waited for Tamalyn. The chin up station took longer than the others, because it included a minute where you had to hold yourself above the bar; Kiera assumed it was a minute after watching Gargax. “How’d you do?
“Good, I think. The counter didn’t display how many I did, thanks for the encouragement. Slay that chin up bar,” Tamalyn said with a grin. Talking with the aasimar made Kiera realize just how short she was, her face was practically level with Kiera’s chest.
“Rock those sit ups,” Kiera replied, returning the grin before jogging over to the chin up bar.
The sensor for the chin ups was the same as the one for the situps, but was worn around the neck instead of on the forehead. Isaac ended any conversation about going first by picking it up and putting it on. Like the last two tests, they had to do as many chin ups as they could in a minute. Once the time expired they had to hold themselves up above the bar for as long as they could, or a minute, whichever came first. The bar itself was eight feet off the ground, requiring all examinees to jump to reach it.
“Hey Isaac, do you want a boost up? That’s a decent jump,” Kiera asked.
“Not as bad for me,” he said, he could almost touch the bar by extending his hands, “I’m six foot two, so I have at least six inches on you.”
“Too bad he only has two inches to give you,” Tracksuit sneered, “Oh, wait. You’re a mudder, a bisexual mudder.”
Kiera started to bite back with a reply, but steeled herself. This jerk was making a lot of assumptions because she was cheering people on and talking to them. If she was an officer leading a squad she wouldn’t lower herself to engage in juvenile jabs and encourage friction. Instead she turned her attention to Isaac. “I’m five eight, good eye. You’ve got this Isaac! Rock that bar!”
Isaac leapt up and began his chin ups. He kept a steady pace but started to show signs of slowing down, “Dig deep! You don’t have long yet, hang in there!” His timer expired as the words left her mouth, “Literally!”
He laughed and held on for the entire minute. He took off the sensor and held it out to Kiera, only for Tracksuit to snatch it from his hands, “That was pathetic, but I guess that should be expected from a commoner.”
He cleaned the neckband off, scoffed and put it on, letting it hang on his neck rather than wear it properly. He reached the bar easily and mechanically did the pull ups. They weren’t as fast and smooth as Issac’s about as sloppy as the other two events . After his timer beeped he dropped down, smirking when he landed.
“And that’s how it’s done, peasant,” he took the sensor off and lobbed it to Fanboy. He turned his attention to Kiera “I’ll save you the embarrassment of following my perfect performance. I doubt you would last ten seconds.”
“You didn’t hang from the bar,” Isaac pointed out.
“This is a situp station, you idiot. I’m not trying to impress some bedroom ranking whore,” Tracksuit jabbed.
Once more Kiera ignored him. Gargax was just starting his burpees, “You’ve got these Gargax!” Kinsley called. The ork flashed her a grin and a thumbs up before beginning. His movements were slow, like he hadn’t done them before, but quickly sped up as he got his rhythm. Kinsley was rushing between two walls. Kiera called a cheer for her, cupping her mouth so the girl could hear her. Unlike the other four stations, the wall run was by itself across the field. Another cheer went out for Tamalyn, and Kinsley who was across the field running between the two walls. Looking around, Kiera didn’t see Robyn or John.
She kept looking for Robyn and John while Silencer took his turn, again demanding silence. They weren’t on the field at all, and looking around Kiera made another realization. There weren’t any groups just standing around. There were more than twenty-five of them gathered, was there another set of stations she just wasn’t seeing? Any further thought on the matter was interrupted by the sensor striking her head.
“Stop daydreaming and take your turn,” the Silencer snarled, “Another reason why girls shouldn’t be in the military.”
Kiera picked up the sensor and put it on before walking to the bar. Isaac joined her, “Do you need a boost up, Kiera?”
For her it was just over a two foot jump, she decided to try it once and if she couldn’t reach the bar then she would get his help, “Let me try jumping to it and if I miss then I’ll get a boost.”
Isaac nodded and stepped away. Kera took a breath and jumped, her fingers met the bar. Her right hand missed but she grabbed on with her left arm and pulled herself up enough to grasp the bar with both hands. She heard cheers and scattered applause, and then began the test. She moved at a steady speed, much like Isaac had done, she was strong but knew there were still two more stations. The cheers encouraged her to keep going, to keep the same pace; she still had two tests and a minute of holding herself up, she didn’t want to run out of steam.
Her PUC beeped as she lowered herself down. Keeping up the same pace she lifted her head, and the sensor, over the bar and held herself there. She had trained for this, while there were no calluses on her hands, which was strange, she maintained a tight grip. The cheers continued, and for the first time she heard some jeers mixed in. She focused on the positive, she needed to stay there for as long as she could. There was a beeping sound but still she held on, she wasn’t going to lose this, she was going to last the entire time.
“Examinee! Drop down, you’re already over!” came the proctor’s voice. Kiera opened her eyes, she didn’t remember shutting them, and dropped to the ground.
“Sorry, I was so focused on making the time, and ignoring the jeers that I didn’t register what the beeping was for.”
“Target focus,” the proctor said, “Happens to a lot of pilots. Focus is good, but being too focused is detrimental.” She glanced over her shoulder at Tracksuit and the two boys with him. They looked bored as if they weren’t the ones that were shouting for her to ‘just drop,’ and ‘give it up already’
Kiera took off the sensor and waited for the other group to walk over before handing it to Tamalyn, “You’re awesome, Kiera,” she said.
“So are you, slay this beast,” Kiera said with a grin. She walked over to the burpee station where Gargax was waiting for her, he clapped a hand to her shoulder.
“Kiera strong, one hand pull, impressive.,” he said, flashing his teeth.
“Thanks, it really wasn’t that big of a thing, just enough to grab onto the bar,” Kiera smiled at him and watched him jog over to the wall run. So far, her first interaction with an ork had been nothing but positive. She looked at her PUC to see what specific rules they had to follow. The sensor for the burpees was worn on the ankle, it would also use the PUC to track movement to ensure that all parts of the burpee were performed.
As usual, Tracksuit insisted on going first, to “show them all how this exercise was properly done.” Like with the pushups his form was terrible, his hands were too far apart and his butt was too high in the air. Against her better judgment, she pointed out his flaws and was met with venom. She never wanted to serve in any way, shape, or form, with or under someone that had such an inflated ego and vile attitude.
“Hey, Isaac,” Kiera said, getting his attention, “Am I wrong or are there only half of the people that we started with. There’s no one just standing around?”
“I think there’s another field,” Isaac said, “Oh, across from the wall run. Probably didn’t see them because it's across from the other stations and you’ve been focused on encouraging everyone and kicking ass.”
“Oh, now I see it! Way to go Kara, being observant,” Kiera said, shaking her head. The sound of encouraging cheers from the other stations put a smile on her face. They were there to build each other up, not to tear each other down. “So what branch are you applying to?”
“Armored Special Forces,” Isaac said without hesitation “Being an everyman going where I’m needed to help rescue people or perform special missions the other branches can’t do really appeals to me. I’m looking forward to the combat and obstacle course. What about you?”
“Mechanized Combat Corps,” Kiera said, “Piloting is amazing.”
“You’ve piloted a mecha?” Isaac asked, wonder in his voice.
“Yeah, my brother races them and he taught me how. I also did two seasons in the minors for combat training,” Kiera beamed, “He also helped train me for this, on the condition that I keep his identity to myself.”
“I wouldn’t know who he was anyway, I’m not much of a racing fan. Graveball is my thing, I played all through secondary school.” Isaac crossed his arms as an exhausted Tracksuit handed the sensor to Silencer.
The boy glared at the two of them, “I require silence. Cease your conversation and your cheering.”
Kiera rolled her eyes, her friends wouldn’t be starting on their exercises for a minute or so, they all went third in their respective groups. Even if they were, she wasn’t going to be ordered around by that jerk. She glanced over at Tamalyn, she was looking at the pull up bar with apprehension. This whole thing would be much less stressful if she could exchange Tracksuit and the two idiots for Tamalyn, or Gargax, or Kinsley, or Robyn, or anyone.
“ASF is for losers,” Silencer snarled, “The real men join the Army.” He handed the sensor to Fanboy. Kiera rolled her eyes, ASF was one of the most dangerous branches in the military; they weren’t called “Special Forces” for nothing and used Powered Armor that enhanced their physical capabilities, let them fly, and other things for them to do rescue operations, engagement back up, and other tasks that were only trusted to adaptable elite soldiers. In some ways the powered armor was like being a tiny mecha. The army’s battle suits provided protection but it was nothing like the Powered Armor the ASF wore. Even the Exo-Frames they army sometimes used were closer to a mini-mecha than power armor and those were used almost exclusively for mobile artillery.
Fanboy finished his pushups and handed the sensor to Isaac who passed it to Kiera.
“You have to go last,” the unnamed boy said, “The Prince said so!”
“It’s not your turn, mudder,” Silencer said. Tracksuit just glowered; first at her, then at Isaac.
She ignored them and began the burpees, they were a lot more tolerable without having a pair of twenty pound dumbbells in each hand. She heard both Isaac and Tamalyn cheer her on. She finished the burpees by jumping to her feet, relieved as the timer ended the exercise.
“Have to save the best for last, sometimes,” Isaac said with a wink, taking the sensor. Tamalyn was about to start her pullups. If Isaac had gone first then she’d be going at the same time as Kiera, which would stop Kiera from cheering her on. The ASF definitely weren’t idiots.
“I went first, you moron,” Tracksuit snapped.
“You’ve got this Tamalyn! No fear! Kick it’s ass!” Kiera shouted. She watched Tamalyn struggle to reach the bar, some of her group mates were cheering for her but no one stepped into help. “You’re great, Zac, be back,” Kiera said, running over to the chin up bar. “Hold up, I’m going to cup my hands together and give you a boost.”
“Thanks, Kiera,” Tamalyn said, the look of frustration on her face fading.
With Kiera’s help she grabbed the bar and started on her chin ups, “You’re a rock star, Tam! You’re doing amazing!”” She glanced over at Isaac, “Keep it up, Zac! You’re doing great!”
Tamalyn was steady, not as fast as some of the others but she had a good rhythm. When her timer went off she had just lowered herself from the bar. With a grunt she pulled her head back over the bar and held on, her shoulders trembling with the strain. “You’ve got this, Tam, you’re a strong, powerful woman, you'll make it all the way!” Kiera cheered, “doing great, sweetheart, you’re rocking it, just hang on a little longer.” Kiera’s attention was fully on her friend who started to falter, “Dig deep, Tamalyn! You’ve got this, just a little longer!” The timer on Tamalyn’s PUC went off, and the aasimar lowered herself down so she was hanging from the bar.
Kiera moved to catch her and caught sight of someone doing the same on her other side, someone who was nearly a foot taller than her. Gargax put his hands around Tamalyn’s waist, “Let go, I got Tam,” he said. Tamalyn complied and the large ork set her gently on the ground.
“Thanks, both of you.”
“No problem, you were amazing,” Kiera said.
“Tam did good,” Gargax said, “I touch okay? Did not want fall and hurt.”
“Yeah, no complaints. Thanks again to both of you. I thought that drop was longer than it was and I kind of froze,” Tamalyn gave them a grin.
Both Kiera and Gargax moved over to their next stations. Tracksuit was in position and tapping his foot impatiently, “What do you think you were doing? You abandoned your squad to go help some girl that is also here to sleep her way up the ranks! If we were—”
“If we were in a combat situation and a member of another squad was in danger, while my squad had everything handled, I would put my most competent person in charge and go aid them,” Kiera said, “We are here by the will of the Emperor, for the Empire. Leaving someone to struggle is not our way. With Unity there is Strength, with Strength comes Perseverance, with Perseverance there is nothing we cannot accomplish. The litany of the Empire. We’re stronger together.”
Tracksuit glowered, “You will not interrupt me again, you filthy mudder! I am a prince,a Crown Prince, and you are nothing but a whore!” He snarled.
“Your lack of respect is really getting to me,” Isaac said, “You’re joining the Imperial Military, any titles or positions you have are lost while you’re in service to the empire. Right now you’re nobody’s prince, just some arrogant asshole in a tracksuit. If I heard a fellow officer treat a subordinate the way you’ve been treating this subgroup, I’d have you reported. Hell, I’d report you if I wasn’t an officer!”
Tracksuit’s lip curled, “both of you are pathetic losers, commoners! When my father hears of this you’ll both serve the Empire as sanitation workers!”
“Any reason this group has not started on their exercises?” a proctor in aquanaut colors, silver and blue, asked.
“The girl went AWOL and this commoner had the audacity to claim I was out of line when I berated her! These commoners would only bring down the Imperial Military!” tracksuit snarled, “Expel them immediately! I am the Crown Prince of Dalimar, Albretch Daimus!”
“Outside of Dalimar, your title is meaningless,” the proctor said evenly his hard eyes boring into Tracksuit’s, “Order a member of the Imperial Military again, and I’ll have you thrown out for insubordination. Step off the course, your allotted time is up. Next examinee.”
Tracksuit glanced at the proctor’s name and then obeyed, barely controlled rage brewed behind his eyes. Silencer took his place and started running back and forth between the walls, touching them on lit places before running to the other one.
Kiera looked at the information for this test. Participants had to run from one wall to the other, touching the lit up sensors, trying to hit as many as they could in a minute. There was no wearable sensor for this challenge, everything would be recorded on their PUC. After Silencer finished his turn, Fanboy took his. When he was done Isaac stopped in.
“Gotta save the best for last,” Isaac said. Kiera smirked.
“Slap that wall!” she cheered as Isaac began, she watched him jump to hit a sensor and she glanced back down at the PUC. It only said to hit the sensors, it never said how you could hit them. She cheered louder as Isaac slowed down near the end of the minute. “Good job, Isaac!”
Isaac grinned, “Thanks, good luck, Kiera.”
Kiera stepped up to the wall. While watching Isaac she had come up with an idea. The timer appeared on her PUC and next to it was a countdown timer. It counted down from three down to one and she ran across the platform the moment the light on her comm and turned green. The first lit sensor was waist high. Instead of slowing down to hit it, she kicked out her foot, tagging the sensor and pushing off of the wall. The tag registered and the next one appeared on the opposite wall in a similar place. Again she hit the sensor and used the wall to push off of never losing speed. One of the sensors requires her to jump up; she used the wall to push herself high enough to tag in and propel herself backwards.
She slapped the last one and pushed off from the wall as her time ended. She finished the lap by jogging to the other side to slow down and then stepped away from the station.
“That was incredible!” Isaac exclaimed, “I wish I had thought of that!”
“I think everyone does,” Tamalyn said, “You are amazing, Kiera!”
“Definitely qualifies as a genius,” Kinsley chimed in, “Way to think outside the box.” Gargax gave her a thumbs up and a cheeky grin.
“Thanks,” Kiera said, “Any bets on what we have next?”
“Obstacle course,” Tamalyn said, “Or combat trial. I don’t know how long the swim is, but it makes sense that they wouldn’t have the exam include both the swim and the run.”
“We have time for all three,” Kinsley said, “That run took about an hour and a half for both halves of our group to complete. This test took about forty-five minutes. Starting at eight that makes it almost ten thirty. Obstacle course and combat will take maybe an hour each, and the swim will probably be at least a kilometer if not two which would have us ending at around three when you figure in travel time. Tomorrow will be the written test.”
Keira raised an eyebrow, “Wow Kinsley, that’s… an amazing analysis. Ten Kay in the morning and end the test with a swim. Better than doing them back to back.”
Their commands beeped, directing them to the obstacle course. “Tam right,” Gargax said.
They moved together towards the obstacle course,” You ready for this after your wall run domination?” Isaac asked.
Kiera grinned, “Absolutely”