Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 404: Cerberus Training 2
"Okay, go ahead and stand there. How about you?" Jace looked at a man with an eyepatch and heavy scars that were visible. He was wearing a constant scowl on his face. Normally Jace would assume he was angry, but he could tell that he just seemed tired.
"My name is Lieutenant Jacque. I am temporarily in charge of the heavy infantry division. I will say having the division with tanks be called heavy infantry is confusing." Jacque pointed out as he did a quick salute. "Now where would you like me to stand, sir?"
Jace motioned at a spot. "All of the division names are temporary names. But your division will have tanks but it will also have infantry with heavy weapons and armor. Basically think of yourselves as the shield for the entire unit." Jace explained before looking at the next person.
This one is an Accer with green feathers. He gave a slight head bow before speaking but he spoke and it was apparent that something was translating for him. "My name is Agar, oh great warrior. I am temporarily in charge of the Spacebased Space Craft division. It is a pleasure to be under your command."
"Why did you call him ’great warrior’?" Captain Tyler asked, surprised by the level of respect that this Victorium race showed such a high level of respect to their unit leader.
"That is because of Major Jace’s great reputation. He has managed to become a person that even those stingy government officials recognize as useful." Agar explained proudly before he decided to run right into a story. "The first tale regarding our unit commander that the public heard of was him injuring the personal guard of the High Priestess."
As soon as Jace realized he was about to go into a full story he decided to quickly shut it down. "You can tell stories later, Agar. Let’s finish the introductions first." He went to wave at another when Captain Maxim waved his hand.
"Now hold a moment Major. It won’t hurt to hear a single story from Agar." Captain Maxim pointed out as he successfully hid his entertainment at the situation while the others were failing to.
Jace sighed and waved at a spot. "Okay, you may tell a single story before we continue." Jace decided as he stood straighter and crossed his arms.
Agar shivered in excitement before moving to his position. "Okay, the High Priestess’ personal guard is an accer and our females are infamous for only picking a stronger mate. But when it came to strength no one could top her. Then came the battle of Waterswan. She was sent there to personally assess the Vexical Military and obtain the ancestor- actually the Xenar technology."
He took a moment to breathe and let the translation device catch up before he continued. "Nila the Imperial is a famous warrior, so when she came back with a partially successful mission and still bleeding from her stump of a hand everyone was quite surprised. As was her declaration that she was bested and lost one of her treasured swords. Apparently Major Jace cut off her hand in combat and managed to steal a sword before escaping on a Xenar space craft. People were in an uproar."
"I expected something amusing." Captain Maxim pointed out.
"Ah! But now that he is part of the Victorium he is causing problems because all female accer are trying to find him." Agar declared, "which is a relief for us male accer because most of us do not enjoy their aggressive pursuits."
"Oh? How many female accers do you have to fight off Major?" Captain Tyler asked with a grin.
"Story done. Let’s get back to the introductions so we can get started with training." Jace ignored the question as he motioned at a man in a white doctor’s coat.
He nodded his head and stepped forward. "My name is Doctor Richter Foulm, I am temporarily in charge of the medical division. I have experience mostly in hospitals but I was a battlefield doctor for a few years in my early years. I am actually from the Imperium but managed to escape just like so many others had done." The man gave his explanation and a slight bow which showcased the arm that had been clearly replaced with a cybernetic replacement.
"Thank you Doctor Foulm, you can stand there." Jace pointed to a position and then waved at the last person. "You can stay where you are once you finish your introduction."
The mar’talic nodded and made a few clicking noises before speaking in a broken human dialect. "My name is Ben’ajin, I am in charge of the miscellaneous division of the unit. We are composed of the people who do not really belong in any other division but each of unique specialties. For instance, I specialize in tracking and hunting."
Jace nodded his head and then clapped his hands grabbing everyone’s attention. "With that the introductions are finished." He then brought a hand down and tapped the empty table and a map appeared before a holographic image rose out of it. Confusing all of them immensely, "I will remind everyone that we are in a digital reality at the moment."
He watched as understanding graced their faces before they really started looking at the simulation outline he had pulled up in front of each of them. He was not giving them everything at the moment. Instead they were all working with a gap in understanding. Just like what they would have if they were given a real mission, they would not know everything that could or would happen.
"Today the simulation is just a survival simulation. The entire unit will be scrambled into teams of ten at random. Then we will have to survive against wave after wave for as long as possible. Today will be less about what you can and can’t do and more about getting comfortable. There will be multiple runs before we finish for the day." Jace then snapped his fingers and a timer appeared in the air. "As it stands not even ten minutes have passed in the real world. So we will have plenty of time to do this. But before we get to that I need to talk about a few things."
"This is about what you, Captain Tyler, and Captain Maxim were talking about when we walked in?" Lieutenant Salunise asked, getting a nod in response from Jace.
"That is correct. The first is the actual message which has already been forwarded. Also a notice that it will be adjusted per race. Then there is the fact that if I find any member of the unit is slacking the entire unit will be punished. If another division reports a division for having a slacking member only the division with the slacking member will be punished. Is that understood?" Jace asked, getting nods from some and looks of confusion from others. "You look like you have something to ask Lieutenant Salunise."
"Yes, sir. I apologize but why are you using that method to have us self police?" She asked in confusion. She recognized that it would be detrimental to the trust they should be building within their own unit. In a way it was counter productive because this was such a new unit.
"Because, I do not want anyone to die." Jace answered. Getting looks of confusion. "If they cannot handle the pressure of having to operate under strenuous conditions then they will desire to drop out. It will be better this way because the situations we will be thrown into are not ones that cowards or people who buckle under pressure will be able to stand."
"Basically you are testing to see who crashes out and disqualifies them. But does this need to include medical and production divisions? It is not like we will be in the middle of a fire fight." Salunise pointed out in confusion.
"Except you probably will. I have already seen some of the preliminary assignments that the High Priestess and the Director of MILD are considering us for. They will be reliant on us getting in and causing damage until the issue is resolved. That also means it could be long term assignments where we will need doctors and engineers on staff." Jace explained with a sigh.
Salunise seemed to contemplate this for a few minutes before nodding her head. "Okay, I will see no other questions. But there is a good chance my division will have the most drop outs."
"I expect as much." Jace answered as he spun the holographic building. "Okay, I think that was it. If I forgot something I will send a message to you later and bring it up before tomorrow’s training."
"Will we be briefing our people before going in?" Captain Tyler asked as he glanced at the tent flap.
"Nope." Jace shook his head. "I have set up a system to notify everyone of the basic outline when the simulation starts. Now if there are no more questions..." Jace looked around one last time and saw them shaking their heads. "Then without further ado." Jace opened a console in the air and tapped a few buttons.
Then a countdown appeared in front of everyone. Then K seemed to have noticed something. "Are you joining us for this simulation?"
Jace smirked, "of course. I need my soldiers to be familiar with me as well don’t I?" Then a moment later they all disappeared and appeared in separate simulations.
