The X Pathogen

Chapter Five

Agent Kyo glared at the exam scores slowly appearing on the screen. Most of the other agents were excitedly discussing applicant's chances or arguing over who had the best shot of getting in. About ninety-nine percent of the time, agents were eager to become educators and looked forward to choosing their cadets. Agent Kyo, on the other hand, was less enthusiastic. Quite frankly, the only reason he'd let his superiors talk him into it was that agents had to spend at least one year as an educator before moving up to senior agent.
Which meant Kyo would be stuck with two to four inexperienced cadets for the next year.
He sighed and finally started paying attention to the scores. Most of them were fairly average, right where everyone was expected to be. A few did stand out, though not all in a good way. One or two applicants' scores were extremely low, so any chance of them getting in was shot. But there were a few impressive scores. A kid named Gus Kiren had done remarkably well on the first stage of the exam, but had failed the pilot and combat exams spectacularly. Kyo shook his head ruefully. Gus probably deserved to get in based on intelligence alone, but Kyo figured he didn't stand a chance with such low scores on the other two exams. A waste of potential in his opinion, but he certainly didn't want to get stuck training the kid.
The first score that really caught his attention was a boy who'd done relatively well in the first stage, and extremely well in the final stage. Kyo noticed something a little strange about the section on GISA policies, the kid had missed most questions that weren't about law enforcement or criminal activity. He shrugged it off and checked the pilot exam scores. Decent score, but he clearly made a mistake in the second half. His combat exam scores were a little all over the place. He was a good shot, but seemed to have won on a technicality rather than merit alone. Chaotic results, but he did well enough.
The next few applicants weren't very impressive, and Kyo was about to swipe past another name when he noticed a note attached to her file.
"Note: applicant participated with broken leg"
Kyo's curiosity got the better of him. He pressed her name and began reading the girl's results. With the exception of languages, she'd failed the first stage miserably. That being said, her language skills were truly remarkable. She made it through the section without missing a single question. The pilot exam was far more impressive, she'd managed an almost perfect score, only making one or two mistakes that cost her a few points. As expected, given her injury, she'd lost her match during the combat exam. Still, her moderator had made note of her agility and quick thinking, which Kyo found interesting.
Further down the list was a kid from one of the sanctuary facilities. Kyo didn't know much about the program from personal experience, but he'd heard that cadets from the Chairman's Academy often excelled. Sure enough, they'd passed the first stage of the exam. They seemed to have struggled with language a bit, but other than that, they'd done well. The pilot exam caused a few bumps in the road. This kid was no ace pilot, not by a long shot. Of course, Agent Kyo had seen much worse pilots get into the program, so they still stood a chance. They'd won their match in the combat exam, but their overall score wasn't very impressive. When he checked the details, Kyo realized why it was over so quickly. There was a chance the kid was an amazing combatant, but they didn't have a chance to prove it against such a weak opponent.
Another agent appeared behind Kyo and cheerfully asked, "have you picked out your squad yet?"
Kyo turned off his reampad and shook his head, "nope. Honestly I don't see why we have to do this to move up a rank."
The agent looked a little surprised, "I think it's a good idea, but don't worry, I'm sure your cadets will grow on you."
"Sure," Kyo rolled his eyes. The last thing he wanted was to be stuck with these kids for more than a year. In the meantime, he really did need to pick out applicants for his squad.