This is another chapter from Up's point of view. Please tell me how you like it, or if you like Taz's stuff better. Should I do more from Up's POV, or continue just with Taz? Thanks for the reviews!
"Come on, Marx. Why not?" The tone in my voice wasn't whining, or begging. I was challenging. The Commander couldn't resist a challenge; that was one thing I knew.
Commander Marx and I were walking along the view window of another indoor training gym. Inside the gym, were twenty or so trainees standing around a circle, watching one of them take on a training droid, a simple robot that, thanks to a strong inhibitor chip, couldn't produce any form of thought or speech, but could whip out a good fight for training. They were dumb things, but they were strong, and usually it took two first-year trainees to take one down. But, inside the gym, everyone was watching one little Hispanic girl fight one-on-one.
Marx's eyes were still on the battle inside when he responded. "She's too young. Not prepared."
"She was just barely fifteen the first time she took on robots, if you'll remember," I reminded him.
He nodded. "Yes, I recall. We've had her on file for a long time." He shook his head still. "But it's simply out of the question. She's not ready to go."
Inside the room, the spectators had exploded into awed cheering as the girl leapt onto the droid's back, and ripped off its head piece. It smashed into the ground, and its headlights flickered off.
"Taz just took down an attack droid single handedly. How can that not be ready?"
"Captain Up," Commander Marx said. "It's a miracle you've earned a spot on this squad as it is. Now you're asking me to bring along a rookie teenager with less than a year's training, simply because you think she's tough enough? Usually, we'll grant early graduation to worthy trainees after two years of training as opposed to the full three year course. But she," he nodded in her direction, before turning to lean on the window sill, facing away from the gym, "has had barely four months."
I looked him square in the eye. "You've talked to the other Captains, Commander. Everyone knows what she's capable of. What are you so scared of? The wars here on Earth are going to continue—But what we need is a strong ranger base in the outlying planets. She can give us that. Just give her a chance. Send her up for a mission."
He was silent for a moment, and then said, "Rangers aren't just robot killers. They have to be ambassadors for mankind. They have to be diplomatic—"
"Yesterday she talked down a protesting group of Sympathizers who had gathered out in front of the Academy," I told him, "and they disbanded without a drop of blood spilt."
He shrugged. "A pity about that."
"Well," I said, not agreeing or disagreeing.
Inside the gym, another practice droid was brought out, and this time, Taz was partnered with another trainee to take it down. The other one, a blonde boy with disgusting burns up his arm, took the form of a sort of bait, letting the robot follow it around, while Taz attacked it from behind. It only took a few moments for this one to go down in a rain of sparks and more cheering.
"Alright," Marx said after some time. "How's this. She'll get a test. There's an early graduation test given to those who show promise. But since people usually don't pass it, we don't offer it very generously. But, if Taz is as deserving as you say she is, then fine. She'll have her test. If she passes, then she's ready and can accompany the team. If not, then she will complete her time at the Academy like any normal Starship Ranger."
"She'll pass, Commander Marx." I said, thrilled that I'd gotten Taz a chance. " I know she'll pass."
"I can't believe I didn't pass," Taz said, leaning up against the wall of my office, practice test in hand. It was only a few days until her assessment, and, while she had the physical aspects down pat, she was disastrously trailing the academic ones.
"Let's see how the damage is." I took her practice test and looked over the results. She seemed to be doing fine in most of the academics. Not very well, but enough to pass above average. However her math grade was next to zero. It seemed she just could not grasp any of it.
"I hate calculus," she said. Her accent got more noticeable when she was angry, I'd noticed. And she was pretty frustrated. "Jou know I won't pass, and this will all have been for nothing."
"Judging by this test," I said, "You don't even know the first thing about calculus. Have you been showing up for class at all?"
She wouldn't meet my gaze when she responded, "I… might have missed a class or two." I sighed, and stifled a laugh. She looked up, and began to laugh too.
I picked up a pencil, and began to explain the first question she missed. She nodded, and said she understood. I raised an eyebrow, and she blushed, and asked me to repeat it again. Well, commanded is more like it. Good Old Miss Tasia, getting angry over math. Poor thing, just couldn't understand it.
"Listen, Taz," I said, frustrated at the pace I had to slow down to in order for her to follow. "I want you to pass. You need to. You're better than the people here, and you should be working in the field already."
"Jes, I know." Modest as ever.
I rubbed at my eyes, and said, "How about, in addition to our extra practice sessions, I tutor you as well?"
"Jou'd teach me calculus?" she asked, as if she couldn't quite understand the concept.
I nodded. "Anything to see you as a real working Starship Ranger."
From then on in, I'd help her with combat training, followed by a tutoring session in my office, leading up to her test. Sure, we would have to study late into the night, well after time we should both be sleeping, but it made me grin to see the progress she was making when she simply applied herself. The exhaustion was all worth the prize, especially when Taz's test results came in from the testing office. I didn't tell Taz, though, when I got the results. I took them straight to the Commander.
I took her folder and marched through the campus to the dining hall. Commander Marx was eating lunch when I found him, at the table with other Captains and Professors and other staff. I threw the folder down in front of him, and he looked up at me, surprised. He opened it up, and read the results.
"Well then," he said, almost begrudgingly, but overall pleased. "Looks like there will be a new Starship Ranger joining us on our mission."
