Incipience

Chapter 4

Rombag paces stands in front of us all with a gun in hand.

"I train my soldiers as if they are in the heat of battle. Over the past four weeks, I have been building up your strength and endurance while instructing you on how to fight like real warriors. On the battlefield, there is no code of conduct, no time outs, and absolutely no backing down. When you fight for the Inovarian Empire, you fight with your all and you fight to win! I have been showing you how to survive on your physical prowess alone. Very rarely will that be enough to subdue your enemies, and so we start our next unit: weaponry. From here on forward, you voxib will begin learning how to fire and fight with the tools in your arsenal.

"I will be showing you all how to operate the weapons I will give you with prime efficiency and skill. Each of you will be given a pistol like the one in my hand and you will keep it on your person until we arrive at Inova or until I tell you otherwise. Is that understood?"

"Yes, understood!"

Rombag gives a slow nod of approval. They take a sleek looking gun out of one of their thigh holsters. "You will be training with new weapons for the next few weeks until I assign you to a specific one that suits you best. Eventually you will climb the ranks of your weapons class until you reach alpha status. An example of an alpha grade weapon is this gun in my hand. These are only given to soldiers who have proven themselves worthy. Under my tutelage, each and every one of you will be making steady progressions toward Alpha Grade skill level. I expect and will accept no less from a capable group like yourselves."

Rombag stands straighter, "Now, you all will be called up five at a time to shoot at the targets. I will be assessing your degree of proficiency with a gun in order to place you in the proper training division. These initial placements will not be permanent. Your groups are subject to changes on a weekly basis. If you score higher or lower than the other members of your team, you will be promoted or demoted accordingly. Are there any questions?"

Rombag is met with a few beats of silence, so they stride over to the shooting area and begin calling the first cadets to go up while the rest of us began running drills to pass the time.

Even though Rombag didn't say it, we all know that the lowest ranking group is going to be trained the hardest and made to do the most grueling tasks. Rombag never fails to mention the pride they take in their trainees, the majority of which are among the army's most elite task forces, so being incompetent in any subject matter is absolutely unacceptable and out of the question in this squadron.

Two hours pass before it's finally my turn. One of Rombag's fellow trainers sets me up with a pistol, shows me how to use it, and sends me off to the shooting range. I'm the last one to get to the large room, so I pick the closest open lane and await instructions.

"You'll be shooting at both still and moving targets," Rombag explains. "Each shot is worth a certain amount of points. Instant kill shots are worth a maximum of five points, deadly wounds are worth four, incapacitating shots are worth three, minor injuries, depending on their placement, are worth one or two points. You are permitted a total of ten missed shots before each misfire earns you a demerit. You have ten minutes to make five hundred points in order to qualify for the moderate skill level. Go!"

The big red clock above the targets begins its countdown immediately. I waste no time switching off the pistol's safety and getting to work. My first shot scorches the dummy's shoulder instead of its chest as I intended it to, but the shortcoming isn't what causes me to freeze for a moment. As soon as the energy blast made contact with the target, the thing made an all too human-sounding cry of pain. The other cadets freeze at the sound of their targets' screams as well.