Raven

Chapter One

Raven was standing in front of the small mirror against the wall, crumbling under her breath as she tried to fix her hair for the third time this morning. "Blasted alarm", she curses at the mirror as she slaps the brush down onto the table. Her alarm has failed to go of on one of the most important days in the compound, the day that the new General is starting, and rumour has it, he doesn't tolerate tardiness.

The intercom system goes off once more sounding the call for all cadets to be in the training hall asap. Raven grunts in frustration and starts to head out the door. in the hall way it is dead quiet, so quiet that if Raven hadn't known better, she would have thought the apocalypse had descended upon them for the second time. She looks left and then right down the hall, and began jogging up the hallway towards the training room, in the hope that she won't be late.

At the door to the training room she suddenly stops, "argh" she groans, everyone is already there, and she is late, very late. Through the small window in the door she can see their Brigadier was standing in the front speaking to the cadets, she quietly slipped through the door and stood behind the last row of cadets, hoping that no one saw her.

Standing at halt like all the rest, she looked up and was wondering what old coot they have brought over from sector Six to train her unit. When her eyes fall upon the stranger in front next to the Brigadier. 'My, my'... she thought . 'that's no old coot!'Standing at a halt like everybody else stood this six foot three behemoth of a man, buff in all the right places to make it known that he is a warrior. Strong features set against white hair, with a scowl on his face, and ice blue eyes, which where piercing a look right at Raven. Oh no he has seen me! Raven starts to panic. Not a very good impression for the first day. Once the Brigadier finished his ramblings, he continued to introduce the new General to the cadets. "Cadets! This is General Slade formerly from sector six, he will be taking over our special units training, and leadership position, left open by the passing of General Oswald" the new general Mr fancy pants, steps forward as if summoned and shakes the hand of our beloved grouchy Brigadier. he turns to address the cadets. "Good Morning Cadets!" O this is torture I thought, that voice... strong, deep, mature like velvet, good enough for every female in the compound to melt into molasses. I was sure I heard a few sighs in the crowd. ....."I expect you to give more than your best in training." he finishes up his welcoming speech.

The crowd disperse, and the special task force has to stay behind, we have the training hall all to ourselves for the next three hours, or until we are called upon to eradicate some demon threat from the rift. All 18 of us gather around Gnrl. Slade, waiting for his instruction. "You all know who I am, so now I get to know your names, lets start this side, and introduce yourself along with your rank and tactical expertise." Right next to him stood Genna, she's our technical specialist and while she rambles off her credentials I couldn't help but notice that the Generals gaze kept falling to me every now and again. When it was my time to introduce myself, all eyes fell to me. "My name is.." I began and got interrupted by the General "Late!" he barks out. "why where you late for this mornings meeting?" He questions me, with an oh-so-matter-of-fact look. I stood up a little bit taller and set my stern gaze right upon his. "My alarm failed me this morning Sir!" I stated. "And why is that?" he enquires. "I forgot to set it after I came in this morning!" He gestures for me to go on with my introduction. " My name is Lieutenant Raven, and I am in charge of the stealth division and covert operations."
Mr. Fancy pants seems impressed, as he stood there, eyebrows raised. "And what is you were doing so early this morning, that made you forget to set an alarm?" he flatly asks me. I look at him and state that I was on a solo covert mission, scouting out the scenario at the rift, like a good, no great Lt. should. He nods his head at me and turns his gaze to the next cadet, thereby continuing the introductions.

After introductions, we got straight into training, sparing of against each other while the General got and idea of how we worked together, I of course headed straight to the weapons stand and picked up my set throwing knives and started throwing them at the board on the wall. I was in the zone, never missing my target. No one came close to me on any weapons skills, or hand-to-hand combat. I was the reason there was an elite task force. The Brigadier didn't know what to do with my skill, and I was to advanced to be an ordinary soldier, so he created the covert elite task force and made me the Lieutenant, all special skilled cadets got placed on the force with me. I was so into my training that I didn't notice the General when he stood behind me and almost knocked my elbow into his chest when I reached back for another knife to throw. "Why aren't you training hand-to-hand with the other cadets Lt.?" You have to be kidding me, what is this guy?, daft or what?, didn't he read my file? " I outmatch all the elite cadets, it is no use for me to train against them, they are not a challenge for me anymore!" He lifts an eyebrow, and seems to smirk at me, "Well then" he says "maybe I should give you a run for your money little girl", Oh he did not just call me a little girl! I hate it when people refer to me like that, just because I am petite, doesn't mean I am weak. "You are so on General" I challenge back.

We walk out to the middle of the training mat, everyone stops what they are doing, and steps out of the way. In fact they move all the way to walls. "Sir I wouldn't take her on if I were you!" one of the boys called out. "Lucky I am not you cadet" the general replies. Crouching in a fighting stance we start to circle each other, who is going to give the first blow, but before I could finish that thought, General Slade launches at me and delivers a punch to my face, which I barely get time to deflect. He's strong!. I counter the attack and sweep my leg out to catch his and throw him of balance, but he jumps back and comes back around with a round house kick to my head that lands on my shoulder blade and knocks me off my feet. Bloody Hell! That was some kick, My shoulder feels tender, something no other cadet could do has just happened, this man is a worthy opponent, which gives me the right to unleash all that I have on him. I jump up in a fancy ninja style maneuver, and once more I am standing in front of him. He comes at me again, but instead of landing a blow to my check, I step forward prematurely and make use of his stance, I step onto his knee and flip myself up and over in a somersault, while giving him a good and just kick with my opposite foot, right under his chin, sending him careening to the floor. Flat on his arse. The crowd gasped, I just kicked the Generals arse. Mr fancy pants will now understand not to mess with me.

We are cleaning up and taking showers, while I put my gear in my locker and finish tying my wet hair in a neat bun on my head, I see in the little mirror, that General Slade is approaching me, wiping the blood from the little nick I gave him during our sparing session. "You have some kick there young lady" he looks amazed, like a boy who just won a prize in a carnival game. I turn around to face him. "I told you I am a match for no one worthy of my skills". He cocks his head sideways, and looks me up and down. "Where did you learn to fight like that?" he asks. " No where" I reply, He grins. "You can"t let me believe you haven"t trained under someone, who was it?" I look him up and down, step right up to him and look him straight in the eyes. "I am this good because I want to be, no one trained me, I trained myself, and I far out classed and out smarted all these cadets before they even could enter Cadet School".

Just as I thought He was about to say something, the compound intercom system goes off. "ALL ELITE TASK MEMBERS REPORT TO THE COMMONS ROOM ASAP! THIS IS A REAL WORLD EMERGENCY!"