Recap: Jaeger chose Fiona as his training partner and Kevin Mask agreed to train with Eskara.

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Chapter 3 – ABC 123

“Good morning group C, welcome to the Hercules Factory, my name is Terryman, and I will be your guide for the next six months.”

Jaeger sat upright in his seat, intent on paying close attention to anything Terryman could teach him. He was looking forward to advancing his knowledge base as he wanted to do his very best as a soldier, and Eskara had told him he would need a good education to achieve that goal. They were sat in a large lecture theatre, with a semi-circular stage at the front where Terryman stood, three large whiteboards behind him and an enormous projection screen above that. Facing the stage were seven curved rows of desks, lined with folding seats, which was where Jaeger and Eskara were sat. Eskara had insisted on sitting in the back row, where the lighting was at its poorest, leaving them under a substantial shadow; which Jaeger still found to be an odd desire on Eskara’s part.

“By now I’m sure y’all have noticed we have three classes each of around twenty students here this term,” Terryman continued. “When you applied to the Hercules Factory, we assessed you based on physical ability, educational achievement and any previous proven experience in warfare. You were grouped according to how you ranked into either group A, group B or group C. In some cases, the choice of where to put you was obvious. In some other cases, it was difficult, and some of y’all here today are almost at group B standard, likewise some of group B are close to group C standard, so bear that in mind when you’re studying and training: a little hard work, and you could be moving up a class after the mid-term assessments.

“Now let me explain to anybody here who doesn’t already know what the ABC system really means and how it works. We expect students in group A to graduate with top marks in all areas, which means we expect them to join the ranks of the Elite Squad. We expect group B students to finish around the middle, making them best suited to the ranks of the Intelligence Squad, and we expect group C – that’s all of y’all – to graduate at the bottom, which means y’all ought to join the ranks of the Roughnecks. Now being in the ranks of the Roughnecks ain’t nothing to be ashamed of, the famous General Kinniku and myself both served as Roughnecks for most of our careers. The Roughnecks are the ground soldiers who work on the front line in direct combat with the enemy. Intelligence work behind the scenes, sometimes infiltrating enemy camps to recover any information that may give us an advantage over our enemies, and the Elites make the decisions on tactics and typically fight from behind the lines, either from the air or as an emergency back-up to the other squads if they get themselves into any serious danger.”

Jaeger quietly nodded his head, glad at last that he understood the significance of groups A, B and C. He turned to Eskara to gauge his reaction to what they had just been told, jerking on the spot as he found Eskara slouched over the bench in front of them, his eyes closed and his mouth open, the slow and steady rise of his shoulders indicating that he had fallen asleep. Jaeger turned back to Terryman sharply, tensing as he wondered what he ought to do. He wanted to wake Eskara before he was caught sleeping through class, but he was worried that he would either be reprimanded for not paying attention as he tried to wake his friend, or else Eskara would make some sort of noise from being awoken suddenly and alert unwanted attention to them both.

“You got three simple assessments you gotta pass,” Terryman continued, oblivious to Eskara’s snoozing form as he was obviously hidden amongst the shadows. “First of all, you gotta pass what we call general competency, and y’all get tested on that at the end of your first six weeks here. Your results will be posted on the public noticeboard in the main hall, but will have no immediate effect on your current ranking. At the end of your sixteenth week we have everybody’s least favourite assessment, the full battle simulation. All three groups will be put out onto a simulated battlefield where they gotta fight against each other in their respective disciplines: for you guys that’s as Roughnecks, out in the field. After your second assessment, your grades will be posted again, and by the end of week seventeen, the Hercules staff will let you know if you’ve done well enough to move up a grade. Please remember that for every group C cadet who moves up, one student from group B has to move up or down to make a place for you. It’s not unheard of for a student to move from group C to group A after the second, or mid-term, assessment, and likewise, it ain’t unheard of for a group A student to end up in group C. At the end of your twenty-sixth week, you will have two weeks of testing in all areas that will ultimately decide where you are ranked. If for any reason you fail the mid-term or final assessments or cannot complete them, we will review your performance in the first assessment and second or third and base your grade on that. And that doesn’t mean that you can put in a good performance in the first assessment and not bother with the other two, you must sit at least two of the assessments, and you must pass all three. If ya don’t pass all three, you will be expelled from the Hercules Factory. Anybody got any questions about any of what I just told ya?”

Jaeger had several questions, but did not want to draw Terryman’s attention to himself and the napping Eskara. From the corner of his eye, he saw Fiona – who was sat down in the front row – eagerly raise her hand.

“What’s your name, soldier?” Terryman asked her.

“Fiona Sir,” she replied, standing from her seat and saluting him.

“At ease. What’s your question?”

“Sir, what happens if a student in group C does badly on all three assessments?” she asked. “Other groups move down a group, but what about us? Are we automatically failed if we do badly?”

“Good question soldier, sit down,” Terryman replied.

Fiona obediently sat back down, sitting forwards eagerly to hear their teacher’s reply.

“The answer is yes,” he said bluntly. “There’s no room for error here, and I expect anyone in group C to be working even harder than the student in groups B and A, because you guys have got everything to gain and no safety net to catch you if you screw up. Any more questions?”

A tense silence had befallen the room after Terryman’s words, and looking down at the front row, Jaeger could see that even Fiona looked nervous after hearing the answer to her question.

“Moving on then,” Terryman said, his voice echoing a little around the unnaturally quiet hall. “For the next sixteen weeks, unless you do something stupid and fail your first assessment, all twenty of y’all will be spending a lotta time together, so it’s important ya get to know each other. We expect all twenty of you to ultimately graduate as Roughnecks, where y’all will be working real close together, and y’all will probably be in the same squad for the duration of your careers. These people around you ain’t just a pack of strangers no more, these people are your brothers and sisters, and you gotta learn to look out for each, support each other and work as a coherent team. With that in mind, I’d like y’all to introduce yourselves to the rest of the class going along the rows this way, starting at the front.”

Terryman pointed at Fiona, who stood from her seat, turning to give a small smile and bow of her head to the rest of the class.

“Hello everyone, my name is Fiona, I’m from Romania on Earth, and I came here to stop the injustice that’s happening all over the world back home,” she said, before bowing her head again and sitting down.

Terryman pointed at the next student who stood to introduce himself. Jaeger glanced nervously back and forth between the front row and Eskara, silently wondering what he ought to be next. Would Terryman be angry with him for not waking Eskara? Or would it be worse if he was caught waking him and not paying attention? Jaeger chewed on his lip, one foot quickly jittering against the ground as he tried to reach a decision, his throat becoming dry with nerves as the students introduced themselves at an alarmingly quick rate, Jaeger’s turn – and ultimately Eskara’s turn – drawing worryingly closer. As Road Rage stood to introduce himself, an idea finally occurred to Jaeger, and he waited for Hydrazoa to stand, his body blocking out Terryman’s view of Eskara. Jaeger hurriedly kicked Eskara in the shin, drawing an angered growl from him that thankfully was largely drowned out by Hydrazoa’s voice. He lifted his head, squinting up at Jaeger with an irritated frown, but Jaeger ignored him, rising to his feet to take his turn introducing himself.

“Hello everyone,” he said, feeling a little nervous as his own voice echoed back at him and the other students around him all turned in their seats to look at him. “My name is Jaeger, I am from Germany and I came here to become stronger so that I can protect the people who are suffering back home.”

Jaeger sat down, glancing at Eskara with wide eyes. Eskara gave him a small smile and nodded, rising to his feet and doing nothing to disguise the still sleepy look on his face.

“Yeah, hey there, I’m Eskara,” he said casually. “I was born in Italy, but I’ve lived all over the place. I came here to join the IMF so that I could destroy the bastards who are raising hell back on Earth.”

Eskara started to sit back down but Terryman held up a hand, halting him mid-way.

“Stand up again Eskara,” he said.

Eskara straightened up once more, watching Terryman expectantly.

“Boy, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but there are two important things I want you to know,” Terryman began. “First of all, we ain’t here to learn how to kill. In your assessments, more points are always awarded to those who find solutions to problems with the minimum of fatalities. Our enemies may be lethal, they may even be killers themselves, but we can’t bring about peace by copying the actions of evil-doers, so nobody is gonna be destroying anybody, ya hear?”

“Sure,” Eskara said, with a small, unenthusiastic nod, before adding “Sir” as an afterthought.

“Second boy, if I catch you sleeping in my class again you’ll be answering Sir Robin Mask himself, is that clear?” Terryman added darkly.

A fleeting look of panic passed over Eskara’s features, leaving him looking suddenly a lot more alert.

“Yes Sir,” he agreed.

“Alright, sit your ass back down and pay attention this time,” Terryman told him.

Eskara dropped back into his seat with almost enough force to make Jaeger topple out of his own seat. Jaeger turned to Eskara, but his friend was grinning, apparently unaffected by his reprimand. Jaeger was unsure Eskara was a good person to be associated with during his studies at the Hercules Factory; but he was still a lot more knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the training facility than Jaeger was, and he was still one of Jaeger’s room-mates, and so avoiding him was clearly going to be an impossible task. Jaeger smiled back, and turned back to the front of the class, his smile quickly fading as Eskara slumped over the desk in front of them again and closed his eyes.

-

“I love the rain!”

Jaeger tilted his head curiously as Fiona skipped around in a circle, grinning brilliantly as a crash of thunder resounded above their heads, followed shortly by an almost blinding crack of lightning that illuminated the entire sky.

“Hey Jaeger, you’re not nervous are you?” she asked, playfully punching his arm but again using almost enough force to bruise.

“No,” Jaeger lied.

He could hardly believe that it had already been six weeks since he had joined the Hercules Factory the time seemed to have flown past. He had seen very little of the cadets outwith his own group, but during their training together, he had gotten to know his classmates a little better, and he felt a lot more confident interacting with them. Eskara had continued to sleep through classes and Terryman had continued to catch him, sending him repeatedly to Robin Mask’s office. Eskara would return with a smile and a shrug, and disappear during the night, which Jaeger had suggested to him he ought not to do, as his night-time escapades were doubtlessly the cause of his in-class narcolepsy; but Eskara was apparently a bit of a rebel, and always just laughed off Jaeger’s advice.

Fiona had been a good friend, she had trained with Jaeger after classes every day, and on the one day from seven that they did not have classes, Jaeger would often find her sitting out in the gardens beyond the Hercules Factory reading books and studying various things that were still a little unusual to Jaeger. She had been kind enough to help Jaeger find the best books and she always read over his work to make sure that he had understood the material. She told him she was happy to help him academically because he was helping her physically; although he had found his conscience gnawing at his soul one particular day they had studied together and she had been sporting a particularly nasty black eye, which had been caused by a punch Jaeger had been confident she could have blocked.

But Fiona was quite a playful character, and although occasionally during their sparring sessions she would pout a little and look as though she might cry, she always got back up and tried harder to better herself. She had taken Jaeger’s advice and begun wearing her hair in a long pleat down her back, meaning she was at least no longer hindered by it in combat.

“Do you know, each group is tested separately and at different times,” she said, wiping some rainwater from her face and turning to Jaeger. “Which means we could probably watch the other groups in their testing, just so see what it takes to be in Intelligence or the Elites.”

“People will be watching us during our assessment?” Jaeger asked, suddenly panic-stricken by the very notion.

“Only the teachers here,” Fiona replied. “The students aren’t allowed to really, but you can bet some of them will still spy on us.”

“They could do that?”

“Yes, and we should too! Don’t you want to see how the son of General Kinniku and the son of Robin Mask perform?”

“But what if we get caught?”

“We could go with Eskara. He’ll probably want to watch the others, and if he falls asleep, we can run at the first sign of being spotted, and he’ll take the blame!”

Jaeger pulled a face at Fiona, wondering if she realised just how unethical her little plan actually was.

“The only bad thing is, group C sit their assessments first,” she said, lowering her head in thought. “Which is a pity, I was hoping to watch what some of the other cadets do and maybe steal a few ideas.”

“We’re going first?” Jaeger asked, blanking out Fiona’s second immoral thought.

“Yes, our assessment is from 7am to 10am, group B are assessed from 11am to 2pm and group A are assessed from 3pm to 6pm,” she replied. “But I would still like to see how they all do.”

“Terryman said the results will be posted in the main hall,” Jaeger pointed out.

“That doesn’t matter, I want to see them in action!”

Jaeger laughed nervously as Fiona began shadow boxing, grinning like a little girl. He was curious to see how the other groups would perform, and the idea of watching them did appeal to him; but equally he did not want to get caught in the act and have his grades suffer in any way. Jaeger had been working very hard and believed he had done quite well in classes, and he hoped to continue his good performance on through his three assessments. He decided he ought to advise Fiona against potentially getting herself into any bother by spying on the other groups when he was distracted by an approaching figure, running towards them through the storm, looking and sounding thoroughly exhausted. Jaeger squinted against the rain, realising that, from the direction of approach, it appeared the cadet had just run the perimeter of the complex, which was a little over five miles. He silently wondered what person could possibly want to do such a thing in the awful weather and on the night before their first assessment, when Fiona unwittingly answered his questions for him.

“Hey, it’s Roxanne!” she said cheerfully, waving a hand above her head. “Hi Roxanne!”

Jaeger watched as Roxanne slowed to a halt a short distance in front of Fiona, leaning over and grabbing her hands at her knees, breathing heavily. She was drenched from head to toe in a combination of rainwater and sweat, and unlike Jaeger and Fiona who were wearing their over-shirts, Roxanne was dressed in just her combats and tank-top, her bare arms and face red from the cold.

“Hey Roxanne, are you ready for your assessment tomorrow?” Fiona asked her.

“No,” Roxanne replied breathlessly, straightening up and wiping her hands over her face.

Apparently she had been touching something dirty, because whilst she succeeded in removing most of the liquid from her face, she replaced it with smears of mud.

“You’re looking great!” Fiona said brightly.

Jaeger pulled a face at his sparring partner, silently wondering if she had lost her mind that night: first with all her talk of insubordination and now telling blatant lies to Roxanne, who clearly looked quite dreadful.

“Those guys…” Roxanne continued, still fighting for air. “Are just… Leagues ahead… Of me…”

“You’ll be fine!” Fiona insisted. “Hey Jaeger,” she added, turning to Jaeger. “This is Roxanne, she’s one of my room-mates, and she’s in group A!”

Roxanne turned to Jaeger, a look of terror passing over her face. She hurriedly swiped a hand at her forehead again to remove the sweat and rainwater that had gathered there again, leaving another, bigger, muddy smear over her skin.

“Hi Jaeger,” she gasped. “How… How are you?”

Jaeger nodded his head at her, not particularly wishing to voice his reply lest he accidentally tell her what he was really thinking at that moment: Roxanne was going to fail the first assessment and be on a spaceship back to Earth within the week.

“Jaeger’s in my class,” Fiona answered for him. “He’s the guy I’ve been telling you about, my training buddy!”

Roxanne baulked, glancing back and forth between Jaeger and Fiona.

“You?” she asked, pointing at Jaeger. “You’re Fiona’s… Training buddy?”

Jaeger nodded again.

“Oh wow…” Roxanne said, nodding her head. “Guess I was… Wrong about you… I thought maybe… You were a… Sexist pig…”

Jaeger stiffened at her accusation. Although he had really known very little about women before arriving at the Hercules Factory – and frankly he had expected very little of them also – Jaeger had quickly learned during his time with Fiona that women were sometimes not all that different from men.

“Well I should… Get going…” Roxanne said quietly, lowering her head. “Good luck you guys… Both of you.”

She turned to Jaeger, looking directly into his eyes for a prolonged moment before jogging off again, heading towards the main entrance to the Hercules Factory. Fiona began to shake her head, and Jaeger turned to her questioningly.

“She’s pushing herself so hard,” she explained as she caught Jaeger’s eye. “She’s comparing herself against her classmates, which is unreasonable, she could never be Kevin Mask or Jacqueline McMadd.”

Jaeger let out a small snort, nodding his agreement. Although he had only seen Jacqueline in passing since his first day at the Hercules Factory, she was still as radiant and confident as ever, and almost the exact opposite of Roxanne, who was, in Jaeger’s opinion, a long way off from being a good soldier.

“We should get an early night, we start our assessment at seven!” Fiona said, looking at the clock set high in the wall above them.

“Right,” Jaeger agreed. “I’ll see you there. Good luck Fiona.”

“I don’t need it!” Fiona said, grinning and winking at him. “But you sure do, so good luck to you!”

“Hey!” Jaeger protested.

But Fiona merely laughed at his response and ran off after Roxanne, leaving him alone in the rain. He stood where Fiona had left him for a moment, his mind reeling as he tried to remember anything and everything that he might be tested on the next day; but another vicious growl of thunder and almost immediate flash of lightning sent him running back to the main entrance. He ran all the way back to his room, where he found Road Rage already in his bunk attempting sleep and Hydrazoa sitting in his bed reading a book on information handling. Turning to the other bunk, Jaeger saw his own bed and Eskara’s were both empty.

“Haven’t seen him all day,” Hydrazoa offered as he noticed the frown on Jaeger’s face.

Jaeger turned to Hydrazoa, who shrugged.

“He’s always getting himself into trouble one way or the other, but his performance in class has been pretty good, I doubt he’ll miss the assessment tomorrow,” he said.

Jaeger nodded, silently hoping that Hydrazoa was correct. When he was not slacking off or playing tricks on his fellow students, Eskara was quite knowledgeable and very strong, and Jaeger hoped that he would settle down into the life of a soldier soon, because Jaeger hoped that they would graduate in the same class and serve together. Of all the cadets he had met during his six weeks at the Hercules Factory, Jaeger truly felt that Eskara was the one he trusted the most to watch his back in a battle.

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Next Chapter: It’s assessment time for the trainee soldiers, and things don’t seem to be going as any of them had expected. Chapter 4 – All’s Fair.