RIP those who have died in the attacks in Norway. Deepest sympathies from the UK, and I dare say from across the world as well.

Yo Durecel here, turns out the back problem healed up quicker than I expected so you guys won't have to wait until next year for an update. Ain't that great?

In other news, I've worked out that this story should be finished at the end of chapter 20, which in theory could be here as early as late October.


Chapter 8: Exam Trouble

After Zane knocked Rat out cold, he was moved onto the next test; Academics. The test he was given was two hours long and included some basic language and maths skills. The language questions were relatively simple, but as Zane progressed he understood why he had a scientific calculator on the desk.

Some of the maths questions were simple and had a mark saying no calculator allowed. These ones ranged from simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, along with a couple of surds questions and even a few quadratics thrown in the mix.

Whilst trying to solve these questions, he heard some noise from the dojo. But the most memorable sound was an almighty smack when Zane was trying to solve x2-40x+14=0.

Over the course of the two hours, everyone else came through into the test hall, with varying degrees of injuries, and completed their exams before Zane finished his.

Finally with the two hours up; Zane finished his exam.

He was moved to an office with Zara Asker in, as well as a chicken in a cage. As soon as Zane saw the chicken, he knew exactly what this test was.

"Do you like eating chicken Zane?" Zara asked with the most monosyllable voice that Zane had ever heard. It put his version to shame he thought.

"I know exactly where this is going Mrs Asker, so no; I'm not going to kill the chicken." Zane replied.

"That's not answered my question Zane."

"Fine, I'll go along with it. Yes I like chicken."

"Would you like to eat this chicken?"

"Not really. I'm not keen on the taste of feathers."

"I'm not sure I can argue with that." Zara said as she sat back defeated, or so Zane thought. "But I'm now telling you to kill it." Zane just let out a dejected sigh before replying.

"No."

"Are you refusing to carry out a direct order CO Wilkins?" Zara asked with supposed anger in her voice.

"Yes."

"Very well Zane. You can now move on to the next test."


The next test was an obstacle course that started on the ground and finished in the trees about 20 metres up. It was a basic escalation course, which were far easier than obstacle courses.

Zane stepped most of the gaps that were under a metre wide, and had a go at stepping the metre and a half wide gap at the end. Halfway through it he decided that it wasn't a smart idea and jumped it instead.

After looking at the distance he now had to plummet, Zane took a deep breath and pushed off the wooden plank. Zane looked at the mat he was going to land on, that was when he realised how fast he was going. He landed on his feet, bent his legs and finally rolled to the side and back onto his feet. Test four done.


Zane stood at the edge of the pool. He wasn't supposed to have seen anyone go before him, but he had caught a glimpse of Baird dumping a brick on the pool's edge before getting out. Zane had hoped for a bit of a challenge. He was sorely disappointed.

"Dive in, retrieve the brick, and swim to the other side." Zara told him as he looked at the brick through the water. Again Zane let out a sigh, not a dejected one, just a disappointed one.

'If this is the sort of shit they're going to put me through in Basic Training, I may consider hanging myself.' Zane thought to himself as he took his shirt off. He dived into the pool, and headed down to the brick. He thought about showing off before thinking that he should just get on with it.

He grabbed the brick, spun so that his stomach was facing the surface and then ascended to it. He reached the edge of the pool and dumped the brick on the ground.

Now all he wanted to do was have a bit of a swim around. He quelled this urge by getting out of the pool slightly depressed.


All five martial artists stood in Zara Asker's office, where Zara sat behind her desk with the results of the tests. All five had passed the tests with an average of 96%, the highest anyone had passed with.

Needless to say; the five were chuffed with the result, some more than others but that were beside the point. They didn't have the option to refuse acceptance and so the five were shown to the rooms that they had been in the previous night(s).

As they waited for the lift to take them up to the rooms, the five chatted about the entry exams and what they thought of them.

"Yeah, how come you were in the exam hall longer than anyone else Zane, and why'd you have a calculator?" Christian asked Zane as the elevator dinged for the third time.

"My exam was two hours long and had bits of A-Level maths in, so if you would like to solve three to the power x equals eighty without a calculator, be my guest." Zane said jokingly at the end. He stopped laughing when his phone began to ring. He checked it and found that it was a text from Adrian Smith, the father of Karla and Baird. The message made for grim reading. (*)

Adrian Smith

Location: Heathrow Terminal 3

Sit Rep: Contact with UNKOWN X-Rays

CQB

"Shit. You guys, go to your rooms now." Zane ordered as he pocketed the phone before sprinting back to Zara's office.

He burst into Zara's office, and told her what was wrong. As soon as he finished he started barking orders.

"Zara, you need to lock the compound down immediately. No-one gets in or out until I give an all clear. Get cleared military personnel to guard the compound. Anyone or anything suspicious turns up, stop-search 'em. If they've anything undesirable on them; arrest or shoot 'em." Zane instructed as he checked the room. Zara was surprised by the change in Zane as he rhythmically searched the room. "Also, I need the keys to one of the Evo's." Zane stated.


The Evo's were a pair of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X FQ-360's. Zara hesitated but gave him a set of keys for one of the rally cars.

Zane thanked Zara before dashing out of the room and headed towards the car park. He hit the unlock button as he dashed towards the brand new 11 plate Evos. The indicators flashed on the one he'd unlocked, he went to the boot of the car and took a ballistic vest out and hurriedly put it on.

He got in the car, started the engine, forced the gearstick into drive and drove out of the car park as if his life depended on it.

As soon as the blue rally car was out of sight of campus Zane floored the accelerator. The cars hadn't had any performance upgrades fitted; however they didn't need it; 360BHP and 360 lb-ft of torque more than made up for it. The cars had been fitted with flashing blue lights, siren, blacked out windows all round, and even had a firearms locker in the boot.

The speed, coupled with the lights and sirens, got Zane down to Heathrow's T3 in remarkable time. It wasn't remarkable enough though.

The Evo came to an abrupt stop outside a police cordon. They'd completely closed off the airport, both normal traffic and air traffic had to be re-directed to stay away from the incident zone.

He was let through the cordon before he gunned it down to Terminal 3. As he got closer to the entrance, he slowed the car down until he came to a total stop outside the terminal building.

Zane opened the firearms locker and took out an FN Five-seveN pistol along with a Heckler & Koch MP7A1, both with suppressors. He hooked an ID tag onto the ballistic vest before he proceeded in.

He saw bags and suitcases just abandoned in the check-ins. There was the odd firearms officer dotted about. They directed him to the location of the shooting; it had started in customs before it went to the baggage hall in the arrivals part of the building.

"There hasn't been any shots fired for a while, and we're searching the building for the people who started the whole episode." One of the sergeants informed Zane. "Apparently the first shooter was dressed as one of us."

"Great, just what we need." Zane let out before he began giving orders. "Stop any and all vehicles from leaving the cordon. Search every vehicle that tries to leave, take all occupants out of the vehicles, cuff 'em and have an officer with an MP5 aimed at them. They make a sudden move; shoot 'em." Zane told the sergeant before he left to search the building too.


Upon entering the baggage reclaim, Zane almost wanted to drop his MP7, the room was total carnage; there were bullet holes everywhere Zane looked, as well as spent cartridges. The worst thing of all; were the seven or eight bodies of people who had been caught in the crossfire. They'd been covered up with white sheets, but the pools of blood that dotted the ground still made for a sore sight.

Zane went to one of the smaller sheets, briefly removing the white cloth, to reveal a girl who couldn't have been any older than five, there were still streaks across the kids cheeks from where she must've been crying. Zane replaced the sheet before looking at another victim. This one hit home hardest. Underneath it was a girl who couldn't have been much older than Zane.

"What a shame, all this life unnecessarily wasted." Zane said as he replaced the cover and moved off to continue his search.

After a few hours the search was called off so the investigators could get in and begin an inquest into what had happened. Suspicious vehicles leaving the sight were searched, and about three arrests were made in the process.

All in all; five people had been arrested on terror charges, eighteen civilians had been killed in the crossfire, an unknown number was in hospital with varying degrees of injuries, two firearms officers had been killed also, three more were in hospital with GSWs, and Adrian Smith was MIA.

The day couldn't have got much worse, but it managed it. Zane got a phone call from the Intelligence Minister, telling him to get down to Brighton General Hospital ASAP.

Zane sped down the M23 on blue lights, at one point hitting 140mph. When Zane turned into the hospital; he felt like he was in Baghdad, not Brighton. The front of the building had been blown to bits by a hell of a lot of explosives.

Zane was greeted by the IM as well as the Chief Superintendent of Sussex Police. They went into the safest part of the building, which was the IM's main concern; it was the trauma unit which had been where the senior Vulcan officers had been resting after the RTC.

The beds that had been occupied by the Vulcans were now empty. Someone had abducted them.

"Zane I'm sorry that I have to be the one to break this news to you, but both your parents and the parents of the new Vulcans have been abducted." The IM informed Zane with utmost respect and sadness in his voice. "The only VFM that hasn't gone missing; is the infant girl, she's still in the infant trauma unit."

"So Demy Smith is the only one who is still here? Fuck." Zane collapsed onto the floor totally dejected by what had happened today. Someone was going to get it in the neck; there would be media frenzy unless the intelligence services could implement a cover up, and all senior Vulcans were MIA, as well as the other halves/mums and dads who had been abducted too.


Zane left the hospital and drove, far more sedately than he had the rest of the day, to a viewpoint near Beachy Head. It was somewhere that he went to, if he could, to think over previous/future events and just relax as well.

He got out of the car and sat on the bonnet. He pulled his phone out and looked through his contacts. He found the number he was looking for and hit the dial button. He eventually got through to the answer machine of the person he was ringing. Zane half listened to the voicemail instructions before speaking.

"Hey Dan, it's me. Listen mate I just need to talk to someone who knows the whole soldier game shit, but how to be a normal person too. Call me back as soon as you can mate, see you round." Zane cut the call there. At least he wasn't the only person in the world having major problems.


Chapter 8: done.

Glossary:
Sit Rep = Situation Report
Contact = In a fire fight with enemies
X-Ray = Bad guy
CQB = Close Quarter Battle
BHP = Brake Horsepower
Lb-ft = Pounds foot of torque
RTC = Road Traffic Collision
VFM = a family member of a Vulcan officer

The character mentioned at the end (Dan) belongs to NoSorrow13.

Hmmm, this could've gone better I think but hey-ho. I've spent all day on it, and it hasn't come out as it went on in my head but hey shit happens.

Also in case you misread the X in Evo X, it's a roman numeral.

Yeah that's about it, next update coming soon.