Early the next morning, Garrett dialed up the number of the Hunter's Guild on the phone that he had taken from the ship. He decided that he needed to have constant access to the ship, and that the least costly way to do that was by getting a hunter's license. He found out that the next course was starting later that day. The lady, a different one this time, told him to bring the five thousand and that he didn't need to bring anything else. Jackie would also need access to the ship, so Garrett said that he was signing up two people for the course. The lady asked which way they were going to go. Garrett decided that he would take the ranger course since he wanted to get done quickly and since he was already highly trained in firearm use. Jackie, however, wanted to take the hunter course since she already knew how to use guns and wanted to do something different.
Later that day, Garrett and Jackie showed up at the Hunter's Guild. They each had the armor which they had taken from the ship, as well as everything which was stored inside the armors' storage systems. Once they were inside the reception area, they noticed that the people were separated into three groups. Most of the people were younger; they were only children in their teens and twenties. There were also the much older instructors. Garrett was able to point out the three groups, because each instructor was dressed differently, as were the four people who had formed the rescue party the earlier. Garrett went to his group, with the ranger instructor.
"So you're one of the people from another planet?"
"Indeed I am."
"You are probably not too knowledgeable about what we have here."
"I'm in the dark about a few things, but I've understood everything I've seen so far."
"Well, that's what I'm here for. You are a bit older than most of my students, though."
"I wasn't born and raised here like most of you were."
"No one here was born here."
"How is that?"
"Pioneer Two has been seven years in coming from our old planet."
"You mean Earth?"
"Is that your planet?"
"Yes, but is it yours?"
"No, it is not. And now I have to get this class started."
Garrett noticed that the two other groups were leaving the room. He fell in with his group and followed them into a classroom. There, the instructor introduced himself as Cole. He gave a basic introduction of what would happen through the course. He started with the weapons, picking up a small gun hanging on a rack.
"This is the handgun that you will be starting out with once you pass the course. It uses basic photon technology to fire a weak bullet. It has good range, but its range isn't greater than the perception range of most enemies unfortunately."
Cole returned the handgun to the rack and took down one of the rifles.
"This is a rifle. You can't use these yet since you need a greater accuracy than that which you have now. However, you can strike enemies from farther away than you can with a handgun with this. The rifle is also more powerful than the handgun and is more accurate."
Cole now took out a much larger gun.
"This is the shot. It uses these two spreader bars to spread five shots out. It is effective when used against groups of creatures. However, it requires a lot of accuracy to use it and is inaccurate in return. To prevent overheating, each of the individual shots is not very powerful as well. This is the weapon that I will be using in the field to bail you out in case you get in trouble."
He returned the shot to his own inventory and took a pair of handguns from the wall.
"These are mechguns. They are also not very powerful or accurate, but they can fire a total of nine shots before having to cool down. These are for the people who have a high power, since they will be doing nine weaker attacks as opposed to three stronger attacks. This is the last type of gun that I have to show you. However, there are also stronger classes of these types of weapons that I am aware of. You can visually tell by the different photon colors that they will have, and on your inventory they will show up differently. There are also blades and clubs that are used by the hunters and forces. You will be trained in a few of the blades, but since you wish to be rangers you will not be trained in most of them."
Cole also gave a quick rundown on the uniforms and armor, but Garrett didn't pay attention to this since he already knew about the armor. He was interested by how the armor used an electronic point shield system to disperse the power of an attack, and how it could be recharged in battle. Shortly after this a receptionist walked into the instruction room and silently gave a message to Cole.
"Okay, the hunters have returned from their preliminary training in the forest. Please line up to receive your things."
Everyone filed into a line and Cole handed them a uniform and armor for them to change into. Garrett, however, already was wearing armor, as well as his old camo from his days with the Green Berets, and did not accept the armor or uniform.
"I already have armor under this camouflage."
"You may keep your armor, but you need a uniform."
"Going out amongst hostiles in that bright colored piece of crap? I think not! I'd rather have this, my old uniform from the army."
"The army?"
"I was in the military back on Earth."
"Oh. What types of weapons did they have there?"
"If you were to face me if I had any one piece of my old equipment from Earth you would not be coming away alive. I'll have to show you."
Garrett followed the group to the teleporter once they had all changed. While they were changing, which was a lengthy process due to the armor, the hunter group arrived. Jackie was in that group. She briefed Garrett on what had happened. The groups each had to use a saber instead of using any guns.
"How did you do?"
"I was supposed to attack in a specific pattern, they said something about being able to do the most damage that way, but I just went for the fastest hits I could get. Then eventually there were a lot of enemies that had gotten into one room and I had to take out the assault rifle."
"What'd they think of that?"
"It was like they had never seen a gun before." I just put hell into that room on full auto and ran out the entire clip. The instructor didn't really have anything to say about that; I think she was a bit unnerved by the burst of fire."
Garrett's group finally all returned, and before they left Cole handed everyone a handgun. Garrett decided that he would try the handgun, but he wanted to use his larger rifle or Kalashnikov instead. Everyone went down in the teleporter. There were immediately a few enemies in the area. Everyone was scrambling to retreat toward the door, but Garrett was very close to the beast. He didn't have time to pull out a weapon, so he reflexively jumped up and dealt the beast, which was nearly his height, a kick to the face. The beast staggered back a few feet, and Garrett had enough time to select his Kalashnikov. He pulled back the bolt, chambering a tungsten round, and flicked off the safety. The beast was now close to him, so he put the gun to its head and fired. It dropped to the ground and began to rot away. Garrett then spun around and fired a long burst into the two others of the species on his left.
"Well, that is one hell of a gun there!"
Garrett put away the Kalashnikov and took out his handgun. He turned to Cole, who was holding the large spread.
"This was the second weakest rifle I had back on Earth. There were quite a few other weapons I had that would have easily cut that thing in half."
"You mean the boomas?"
"That's what you call those things?"
Garrett followed everyone through half a dozen other areas. Cole held him in reserve since he already knew what he was doing until everyone else had gone up against some enemy.
"You want to try again with your new gun this time?"
Garrett stepped into the area and the booma type beasts in there turned to attack him. He drew his handgun and aimed at the closest one's head. He pulled the trigger twice, both of the rounds glowing and flying out of the muzzle. However, the rounds did not have the effect of led, and merely struck the beast in the head and made it reel back. He fired three more times, and then the beast fell.
"I can't stand this thing!"
Garrett quickly switched to his rifle. He drew a bead on the closer living beast of the three remaining in the area. It was too close to need the scope on the rifle, but Garrett aimed right at its eye and fired once. He adjusted his aim after the recoil and noticed that its eye had been hit and that the eye had ruptured. He aimed at the forehead and fired another three times into the beast. It fell, but Garrett could feel the presence of another living beast that was too close. He turned and saw that one had managed to get within feet of him. It lifted up its arm to attack him in a move that Garrett had seen used on someone else, a simple vertical swipe. Garrett countered by jumping up and kicking the beast in the face. It did not stagger back since it already had forward momentum, so Garrett landed and fired off three quick shots. The booma flinched, and Garrett kicked it back before firing three more shots. There was one more left, but this one was still a far enough distance off that it could be engaged in a conventional matter.
"You know you could have taken the hit, right?"
"Yes, but I also knew I could avoid taking the hit pretty easily."
Cole didn't have a response to Garrett. He noticed that Cole and the students were confused about his style of fighting. Garrett followed everyone through three more areas and finally there were no more of the protected areas. Once there were no more areas to fight in, Cole opened a temporary teleporter and everyone went through it. Once everyone had changed and left, Cole turned to Garrett.
"I don't know what kinds of things are happening on Earth that have bred in you such a fighting style, but I think you can get your license right now. And I don't want you corrupting these kids; I don't think they are ready to be exposed to your style of fighting."
"It's pretty bad on Earth. But it's just completely different from this. There are too many people there. And they don't like each other."
"Is that why you left?"
"Not exactly, but it's a good enough reason."
Cole went into a back office in the guild area and returned with paperwork.
"This is your license. Enjoy it.