Ignition Broker: Chapter 31 Integrated Training

Chapter 31

Integrated Training

“When integrating teams happens, there are two possible outcomes. First the leadership that sponsored the event will prove how invaluable they are when it succeeds and prove why they should continue their career advancement. By contrast, when it fails it is always the subordinates who fail to follow simple plans for success. That is why, when it comes to novel ideas and innovations, assume the worst no matter how things turn out.” -Marcon on innovation

“Listen up you complete wastes for taxpayer dollars,” the Drill Instructor began speaking the moment the standard time for morning formations and exercises began. Hearing the motivational speech Arla automatically knew this would not be something remotely pleasant. The reason for this was that often officers and instructors used such degrading comments to focus ire on them and not on what they were going to say. A fact that was soon proven when the instructor continued his diatribe, “leadership has granted many of you the chance of a lifetime. That’s right, they have worked it out that while there is a tentative peace alliance going on, and that this is somehow the last Military Institution that has not somehow offended the Cerusian delegation, we have been granted a chance at a joint operation with the Cerusians.”

Hearing that speech, Arla instantly understood a few things. First, whatever it was that the Cerusians were ultimately looking for was not found in the other institutions, apparently. While she didn’t know what exactly the Cerusians were looking for, Arla could make a guess, but it would ultimately be futile. Guessing how groups of sentient creatures think and will act was something she was vaguely aware of but never could handle. At least, when it came to what Cerusians wanted Arla never could quite understand, which only made her move on from such tedious acts.

“That’s right, some of you will get the honor and prestige of living the dream. A taxpayer funded all expenses paid trip for you, and an equal mixture of Cerusians to human ratio of soldiers whose sole job is to go out amongst the stars, explore, sweat, and ultimately build relationships with your Cerusian counterparts. While it might not be the way you all wanted, those of you that will ultimately get selected for this operation will get to forever brag about sleeping with a dozen Cerusians.” The Drill Instructor continued, as he spoke, Arla could feel bile rising in her mouth as she realized this Instructor truly thought these were all selling points.

Then again, looking around at the other cadets around her, Arla could tell that these were in fact points worth salivating over. Even Chloe, Arla’s roommate and the person most likely to stab Arla in the back seemed absolutely excited about this possibility. Pausing for a moment, Arla could almost understand Chloe’s excitement, for it was only after their last interaction with a pair of Cerusian soldiers that Chloe managed to find out Arla’s secret. One that would drastically cut her time short and force her on the run. All she had to do was make it through training, where she would be considered a full citizen of the empire, warts and all. She just had to last without being outed as scum before then. While there was the case that if this cooperation between spacefaring races continued, her being a half breed might not be looked down upon as much in four years’ time, but those that live on such hope die fasting.

This was why Arla was already working on contingency plans. The first minor hurdle would be to avoid getting into this so called blended or integrated unit. Knowing that more eyes would be on that group, there were a few things that would happen. If it went well, it was all due to expert leadership, and if the situation failed, well it was due to poor execution by the individual cadets. Not to mention the fact that being that close to Cerusian forces, would invariably cause her to slip up, to make a mistake.

“The way you get into to this elite unit of soldiers is simple, you prove that you are the best of the best. You sign up for qualifiers, you practice with the team, and those of you that make the cut will get accepted. Any questions?”

Hearing that Arla felt a slight breath of relief, though she somehow knew things would not be as smooth as she was now envisioning.

“Drill Instructor, who has the final say on who gets in?” A familiar voice called out from the S-Rank formation. Hearing that voice, Arla couldn’t help but feel slightly annoyed, as that entitled voice was one of her remaining problems that she needed to address here shortly as well. For she was one of Lyria Hylinch’s people, even the way she asked her question sounded of entitlement.

“The final say comes from a joint Academy Instructor and Cerusian leadership board,” the Instructor answered.

There was a pause as the cadet who asked the question clearly beamed for a moment, only to look disappointed the next.

“Were you by chance wondering about being able to bribe your way onto this list?” The instructor asked the one thousand credit question. A question that was all but confirmed the cadet wilted slightly from having her own thoughts flung back at her.

“No Drill Instructor,” the cadet lied, her words so false that it was almost sad. Hearing the bald-faced lie, and the sad tone from the cadet, the instructor just smiled a knowing smirk before replying.

“Look, if you are thinking about bribing instructors to increase your chances of getting into this special unit, then by all means know that you might be able to get your way through half of the selection committee, if your price point is high enough for the instructors involved to give up their credibility, ethics, and morals. But that would still only get you halfway to your goal,” the instructor mocked as he all but called out the seemingly worthless cadet.

To say that the instructors were underwhelmed by the overall level of competency and capability of their newest group of S-Ranked soldiers was an understatement. It didn’t help that the overall physical capabilities of the noted S-Rankers was lacking, and they all appeared to be those born with more credits than sense.

“No, no Drill Instructor, I would never,” the S-Ranker continued to defend herself, but her words seemed to fall short.

“Oh, I never said you would. Must be a guilty conscience there, all I said was that this level of cohesion would all but make bribing impossible. Meaning that while you might be able to find a price point that some panelists would find acceptable to pit their careers and futures against, the idea is that you would have a harder time finding out what made our Cerusian emissaries tick.”

At that the instructor paused long enough for everyone to let those words sink in. Then just as it almost seemed that this would be all for this little speech, the instructor continued.

“But to help you all realize how Cerusians think, and stink, we have agreed to joint workouts with our Cerusian counterparts. That’s right, I hope you all bathed, otherwise some of you might have ruined your chances with your Cerusian counterparts before they even had a chance to bloom.”

At that comment, the formation of Cerusian students came marching forward in near perfect unison. There were subtle things about the formation, minor things that someone without keen observation skills, or lacking the ability to see Cerusian energy fluctuations might have missed. But for Arla she saw it all. She saw the slight blue orders of command playing out, all but keeping everyone on one constant rhythm that allowed them all to move with near perfect precision.

Yet, even with the magical impulses, Arla could see that a few of the cadets had either a resistance to the impulses, or were not as accepting of it, making their steps a fraction of a second slower than the others. This delayed reaction time was not much, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye, yet to Arla it was a glaring confirmation that apparently not everyone was on board with the programming. At least that is how Arla chose to interpret that slight delay and hesitation to fall in line with the others.

Good to know, Arla thought to herself as she watched the group seamlessly march forward. To no real surprise, the instructor that taught Cerusian on their first day of classroom integration was the one leading the formation of Cerusian cadets now. However, while she stopped and pulled up next to the Drill Instructor who had been giving out the lecture earlier, her formation began breaking off seamlessly. The closest two ranks fell in line with the S-Rankers. The next two lines of soldiers fell into Arla’s A-Rank squad. While the last two fell into the B-Rank squad.

Looking at the breakdown, Arla saw that their bias was in full effect as the C-Rank on down platoon, or the catch all platoon was apparently beneath the Cerusians’ dignity to join. The message was clear, even if they were seen as exceptional, those who were rated as C-Rank or below would not be considered for this joint operation. A fact that they all seemed to instantly pick up on as their posture reduced slightly from the overt gesture.

Meanwhile, Arla felt her own discontent raising up, as she wondered why she didn’t try for the C-Rank or catch all platoon. Thinking back, that was where she originally had planned to go, and ended up getting her goal of becoming accepted as a full citizen of the Empire, but at a major cost to her dignity.

Seeing the challenge that was now before her, a challenge that was represented by no less than ten Cerusian cadets that were to be part of her morning exercise platoon, Arla wondered why she wanted to stand out, as it was clearly not worth the hassle.

At least so far, she couldn’t see any true benefit from having taken advance placement classes and being marked as an exceptional A-Rank student. Now it seemed that she would need to hold back, then just as she had this thought, she instantly dismissed the notion, as holding back was not in her blood. At least not holding back to the extent that would be needed to avoid scrutiny. Besides, she had already done too much to stand out even now, especially as she noted the one Cerusian wearing her modified pendant standing proudly in the S-Rank squad’s formation.

No, right now, her trying to hide her abilities would cause her to stand out more than she already was. With that in mind, she decided not to hold back, but to just not apply for this position. From her understanding, acceptance was based entirely on how well their application was received. Meaning that if she did not put in an application, then there was no need for her to get accepted.

Mentally, Arla calculated her options and found that by standing still and avoiding the application process she would ultimately be overlooked. Given the overall impression she got from the various squads before the Cerusians arrived, it was clear that nearly everyone would apply, meaning her application, or her lack of an application would easily be overlooked.

***

Chloe watched as her roommate and fellow A-Rank squad member looked on and seemed to have a calculating aura about her. While everyone else looked eager for the chance to do just as the Drill Instructor suggested, sleeping among the start with a blended platoon of hot Cerusian models, it was clear that her roommate had no such machinations.

Knowing her roommate’s past, it was clear why the normally diligent student would want to avoid such an incident, that’s when a smile formed on Chloe’s lips as she decided to fill out an application form for her shy roommate.

As soon as she had the thought, Chloe instantly paused, wondering if she would receive the psychic feedback that she had been so accustomed to feeling recently. These were of course the psychic attacks that caused anything from minor nose bleeds to full on trauma if she pressed too hard to push a certain agenda.

After a few minutes of having the same thought about helping her friend overcome her anxieties, and nothing happening, Chloe realized that this would work, as it did not directly break the geas that been enacted against her.

Smiling to herself, Chloe realized that this just became a whole lot more interesting. For the geas prevented Chloe from betraying the trust directly, and apparently didn’t have any repercussions against trying to get her roommate to out herself in front of fellow Cerusians.

Then when she was eventually outed as a Cerusian, Chloe and her fellow workers would be there to welcome her in with open arms. Especially as she was all but confirmed to be the daughter of the famed instructor, this legendary Marcon.

While Chloe was not impressed with Marcon, at least not as much as her handler and the other higher ups were, Chloe couldn’t help but realize this would help resolve her one mission that she had as her reason for being here.

For Chloe knew that she herself was on a timer as well. The longer she stayed here, the more likely it was that someone would eventually find out that she herself was not the true Chloe that she now pretended to be.