STORY

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Interplanetary Combatives Academy

Rio de Janeiro

 March 10, 2271

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The door to the briefing room slid open, allowing Lt. Commander Carol Davison to enter. Screens lined all four walls from chest height to almost the ceiling. The table sitting close to the opposite doorway had a monitor and keyboard for all six seats. Second Lt. Catherine “Cady” Heron stood at attention in her combat armor, one arm to the side while the other held her hood adorned helmet. After a brisk exchange of salutes, the Commander stopped in front of the trainee. Cady swallowed hard in anticipation of the challenge to come.

 

“Lieutenant. Welcome to your first attempt at the holographic combat exercise. The goal is simple - make it to the end without being disqualified by ‘dying’ in the simulation. However, the exercise can be repeated until you pass. I’m sure you’ve heard plenty of stories, not that it would help given that each trainee is given a scenario based upon their command and psychological evaluations.” 

 

The Commander touched a spot on her omni-tool, and the screens on the walls containing both doors filled with an image Cady had seen numerous times throughout her lifetime. 

 

“I’m sure this is quite familiar given the stories passed down to you and the vids you’ve seen. It’s one thing to hear about the Grissom evacuation. Quite another to re-enact what happened without the help of anybody from the Alliance.”

 

Cady stifled a smile as her mind’s eye recalled a vid of her great grandmother sitting in a rocking chair. Her gray, waist length hair lined with a brown streak hung over the back of the chair. Forearms which bore every color of the rainbow and then some held a three week old infant lookup up to a grin which spread from ear to ear, ‘Hell yeah. I can see it in her eyes. This bitch is gonna be a badass some day.’

 

Fingers danced across the omni-tool, and one of the empty screens came to life as a display containing numbers which represented Cady’s physical and mental state appeared. “Unless there are any questions, lieutenant, you may enter the simulation and activate the program with your omni-tool when ready.”

 

Cady shook her head, “No ma’am. I’m ready.”

 

The Commander nodded, “Then good luck. You can activate the exercise from your omni-tool when ready.”

 

While walking into the combat simulator, a hand rested itself on Cady’s shoulders. She turned around to meet a surprisingly softened expression on the Commander’s face and an unexpected gentleness to her voice.

 

“Catherine. Anyone would be hard pressed to follow in the footsteps of a legend. Those who came before you struggled. A few never overcame it. I can’t even begin to imagine what that’s like, but I can envision you stepping out of those shadows.”

 

Formality returned to the Commander’s voice, “Good luck, Lieutenant.”

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