Starship: Rogue

Chapter Nine

 By the end of her first week in training, Adlai had found that her favorite time of day was in the evening, when the Aquamarine training group faced holographic enemies in the Sim Room, or when, like on their first day of training, they mocked up battle scenarios against other teams.

After the strength training and the run of the first day, they spent less time on basic fitness training, and endurance training consisted of marathon-length runs carrying either weapons or weights that hung from their shoulders meant to simulate the strain of carrying a gear pack. Strength training became pauses during their runs to use tree branches for pullups and grass for sit-ups, pushups and planks.

Then came actual combat training, which they alternated between the outdoor shooting range and the indoor arenas for hand-to-hand practice. Though Adlai was by no means bad at hand-to-hand, she excelled with anything that went bang or boom, and found herself outshining every other trainee and some soldiers with her accuracy, both up close and as a sniper.

And, at night, they played their netball games. An unspoken agreement had been implemented among the Aquamarine cadets, and they never played recreationally, winning against other training groups nine times out of ten. After the first night, there was only ever one team fielded from their group, giving anyone who wanted it a respite or a chance to fit in more training or catch up on classwork.

At the end of their first week, Aquamarine had dropped a little in the rankings, and the cadets' personal rankings had shifted, too, but their group was in the top five, and the cadets all ranked within the top fifty.

In the group itself, Adlai was ranked third, Walker second and Solberg had climbed to first, proving himself the best unarmed fighter in the group and the second best overall, and his grasp of strategy and tactics was impressive, even though Adlai always outshot him and excelled in history and geography. To everyone's surprise, Ilse proved the best at survival skills, despite having lived on one of the wealthiest planets, and Adlai and Jeremiah were right behind her.

On the first day of their second week, Adlai awoke seconds before the alarm went off and followed the routine they'd established. All around her, the other cadets did the same, without the grumbles that had accompanied the first few mornings. Even Darcy didn't need water dumped over her, for once.

The cadets slowly trickled into the mess hall, bleary-eyed, and grabbed their breakfast trays, and, by ten to seven, they were all clustered around their assigned table. Conversation was, as usual, limited, as everyone started to wake up, but Adlai thought it was nice to have some company, all the same.

After breakfast, the cadets reported to the training arenas, as usual, but, to their surprise, Major Kramer wasn't already there. In the other rings, two training groups were already at work, and the remaining space was being used by soldiers brushing up their technique.

Adlai found herself huddling closer to the others, and realized that they were all clustered rather closer together than necessary. A change in their routine couldn't mean anything good.

They waited for another ten minutes or so, and then, finally, Major Kramer strolled out from the direction of the outdoor shooting range, hands in pockets and all but whistling with good-naturedness.

"Okay, everyone," he called when he was halfway across the arena. "Today, we're going to do something different, so head to the excursion room, gear up and meet in front of the shooting range in fifteen." He clapped his hands together. "Dismissed!"

The cadets rushed for the excursion room, each palming open their lockers, almost in sinc. Adlai stared into her locker, wondering just what to take. Major Kramer hadn't told them what to expect, so she didn't know just what kind of op they were embarking on. She decided to err on the side of caution, and put on the lightweight, bulletproof armor issued to every cadet–not just the vest, but the whole suit, a less dense version of kevlar that protected her body from ankle to neck from being shot or stabbed. Of course, it wasn't impenetrable, but it could withstand almost anything. She armed herself with a standard issue laser pistol and a stun gun, and then, at the last minute, she decided to grab the plasma rifle she'd developed an affinity for in the last few days, and slung it over her shoulder.