Chapter Five: First Run
26th May, 2533 (UNSC Calendar)
Ninth Age of Reclamation, 8th Solar Cycle (Covenant Calendar)
Eayn, Y'Deio System
That night was one where you don't remember whatever dreams you had while asleep. If I had any dreams, that is. That my mind might have just entered a domain of nothingness, devoid of form or memory, is an equal likelihood.
My point is that the whole period between going to bed in the North-East barrack block of the Vara Training Grounds and the morning afterward was nothing but a timeless blur. It seemed like only a few seconds between falling asleep in that bunk and waking up. It was just as well - if I had been stuck in a fantasy of my own making while asleep in that place, I would not have been as well prepared to rise as I had been.
"Hey nestling! Wake yourself, quick! The Major's coming!"
For a moment I looked around the bare walls surrounding this hard, very non-homelike bed and forgot where I was. That feeling only lasted a second or so - thank Chu'ot.
"Trau! Get out of bed, quick!"
To my surprise, the timely warning came from none other than my new neighbour Par Vil - it took me a few seconds to recognise his voice. A little bit of that vaunted comradeship was beginning to emerge at this early stage. That had to be a good sign. He had even used my name this time - though this was most likely because he didn't want our good Major exploding right next to him. We'd have to take some time to see if we'd become friends.
I wish to make a quick clarification before continuing. Our batch of recruits were all from the Han City area; but not everyone from Han bears the same clan name despite the whole territory being under the control of the Fac clan. As I've said before, multiple clans were brought into our umbrella during the age of Han the Navigator; many still share our territory. The Vil clan was certainly one of those and I knew there were also members of other clans who had immigrated more recently. There were dozens of clan names in our barracks alone.
One might be tempted to think that being a member of the ruling clan made me special - except I knew it wouldn't, because the military ignored clans altogether. We were referred to only by our birth names while serving. All were equal as fodder here.
Anyway, I took the hint from Par and swung my legs out from under the covers, my whole body with them. My feet quickly touched the cold, tiled floor, and I straightened myself as best I could.
Sure enough, Major Nix and those same two young Minors who had sworn at us to get our clothes off the previous evening were coming straight for us. They were proceeding down the aisle of the dormitory, yelling and prodding recruits with their bu-vao staves to get out of bed. The Major's sharp, snarling voice thundered throughout our block.
"Every recruit out of the beds and on my deck!"
His use of the term 'deck' was traditional; our people have been seafarers since the dawn of our civilisation, and from the beginning our warriors were nearly always pirate crewmen or marines. Henceforth, to this day Kig-Yar soldiers commonly refer to any ground or floor they stand on as a 'deck'.
"Get your asses up!" Yelled one of the Minors, using his stave to whack the backside of one sleepy recruit for good measure.
Fortunately both my bed and Par's were at the far end of the dormitory, furthest from the entrance. We had more time than most to escape the mighty storm of reckoning that was Major Nix during waking hours. I wouldn't be in his line of fire this time - hopefully.
It was definitely very early morning, judging from the view outside the barrack windows. The sky was still cloaked in darkness with no sign of the burning face of Y'Deio - but an approaching twilight told that daybreak was near. As you can imagine, we weren't well suited to waking up at such a time - it was made even worse by the fact that we were already jet-lagged by the time differences between T'Vao and Eayn. So it was to be expected that we didn't all get out of our beds as quickly as Nix would have liked. It was also even more inevitable that the moaners started to surface.
The Major marched down the aisle, frustrated by the stumbling, bleary-eyed raw recruits struggling out of their beds, twisting bed sheets in their wake and weak on their feet like new-born livestock. He urged us all to get on our feet, faster and faster.
"Wake up you dogs! Stand at attention!"
It was the recruit on the other side of the aisle - a short, jumpy youth on the bed directly opposite of mine - who made the fatal mistake of speaking his mind.
"We're going as fast as we can..." he muttered, not as quietly as he'd hoped.
Major Nix stopped in an instant, his heels and wooden stave slamming into the floor with a sharp clack. In an instant everyone in that room fell silent, standing to attention as best we could. That young man opposite me immediately clapped his mouth shut, no doubt praying to every deity or spiritual force he knew of that he would not be discovered as the one who had spoken.
The Major stood just inches from my bed, his predatory eyes scanning this end of the dormitory for the recruit who had dared to backtalk him. My species is well known for its keen senses - sight, smell and hearing. The latter was most useful to Nix in this situation, as he was able to pinpoint the smart-mouthed recruit with ease, thus already knowing who to call out. The fact that he just stood there glaring at all of us within the culprit's immediate radius was probably more for psychological effect than anything else - a display of his mastery over all of us. I knew he wouldn't round on me personally - at least not now.
Even so, when Nix's eyes met mine I almost felt my heart stop dead. I suppressed a sigh of relief as he turned his back to me and paced towards that idiot who should have kept his mouth shut.
"Would you care to repeat yourself, recruit?" He asked, with a smile of mock friendliness. He had his prey right where he wanted.
Yet the fool still didn't think before speaking. Even so, when he addressed the Major I could still see him shaking as he summoned his nerves to speak again.
"I...I was moving as fast as I could, Major! We all were!"
A blood-chilling silence followed. We fully expected an eruption of fury that would deafen all of us, or for the offending recruit to receive a flurry of blows from that dreaded stave. Worse still, the Major might be angered enough to subject all of us to a collective punishment. My father had warned me about such practices, when he'd spoken about the penal code and articles of war of the Covenant Army. In a collective punishment every man in the lance was forced to beat, bite and slash at each other until the lesson had been well learnt by the whole group. If that happened here, the loose-lipped recruit would instantly become the least popular member of the 4th Training Lance.
Fortunately that did not happen. Instead, to our universal shock, Major Nix simply gave a nod and an amused grunt of acknowledgement.
"As fast as you could..." He mused on that point as he paced around, regarding all of us on both sides of the dormitory. "Fast as you could..."
He then started to chuckle. His amusement seemed totally sincere, and just for that moment some of the recruits let their guard down, turning their eyes toward Nix in sheet bafflement. Even the two Minors who had accompanied him stood there looking puzzled at their superior's behaviour.
What was even more shocking was that Nix did not call out those giving bemused looks. Instead, his chuckle turned to a hearty, inexplicable bought of laughter as he addressed us once more.
"Well, how about it boys? Are you all fully satisfied that you got out of bed as fast as you could? As satisfied as this fine young man? Please answer, I love to hear everybody's opinion."
A number of nervous shouts in the affirmative followed one after the other, until gradually every recruit - myself included - answered with a resounding "Yes Major!" After all, I hadn't got out of bed faster in my life than I had just done then. I might as well answer 'yes' as well. Whatever answer I gave, the Major would likely still come down on us. If my answer was different from everyone else's he might just single me out as well; that was something I definitely didn't want.
"Well, I'm glad to see you're all so pleased with yourselves this morning," the Major grinned. Then, in a split-second his smile vanished. I stood attentive, knowing that his wrath would soon rear its head once more. His voice softened dangerously. "But I know of soldiers who can move faster. One group of soldiers in particular comes to mind. Would you like to know who they are?"
Just as that same recruit who had spoken out of turn began to give an affirmative answer, Major Nix came down on him like a ton of bricks.
"Eyes front!"
The youth wisely stood at attention with his gaze straight ahead - along with everyone else in the room. Satisfied that he now had our full attention, Nix continued.
"It might surprise you to know that the soldiers I have in mind are human."
I think we were all surprised - though none of us dared to let it show. Humans were weaklings, cowards, primitives - almost as useless in battle as Unggoy judging from news reports from the front. Surely no human could match a T'Vaoan in speed and strength? Our unanimously pro-war clan leaders would always eagerly say that they could not. Their technology was as inferior as their physical form - we heard this in every San 'Shyuum sermon, every publicised Sangheili field report, every story from soldiers and shipmistresses on the front-lines. The inherent inferiority of the human race was something every average member of the population across the Covenant Empire - no matter their species - knew for certain. Why else were we winning virtually every battle in this war? The bulletins reported nothing but victory.
Still, my mind took me back to that last conversation with my father - his battles with humanity had clearly shaken him. He had told me of the battles he fought, given his take on this great war in which we were locked in and told me clearly that we faced a determined foe. Above all, he had made clear that civilians at home were not getting the full story. I had a horrible feeling from the moment I signed up that I too would gradually learn the truth about this war, just as he had done. What I would hear now would no doubt be the first step in that process.
"Yes, human," Nix continued, somehow sensing our confusion. "An elite force of their soldiers. They call themselves...Helljumpers." The alien word slipped awkwardly of his tongue, as if it were inherently poisonous to the vocal chords of our race. "We have come to call them imps in this Army. They specialise in orbital drops. They arrive onto a battlefield with the speed of bolts from a lightning storm. Sometimes you'll see them dropping in full view - other times you won't. They are just as much silent assassins as shock troops."
The Major paced up to that same poor stupid recruit who had first contradicted him. His teeth were now firmly clenched as he spoke.
"I've seen them shoot down files of our kind with silenced gunfire in the blink of an eye. Failing that, they will slit your miserable throat in your sleep. Oh yes - they like nothing better than to kill slothful scum they catch snoozing. I've found so many wretched Unggoy dead in the morning with their throats cut, never to wake from their slumber. On Harvest, I saw the imps slaughter a full regular lance in five seconds. Five. Seconds."
He emphasised those last two words as if he was scraping them against a slab of granite. The unfortunate young man who was the prime subject of this lecture was shaking open-mouthed at this point. I will confess that I was also disturbed by Nix's revelation. I had heard from my father that humans were dangerous - but this sent a chill down my spine.
"Now, all of you got out of your beds in - what time do you make it, Lar?"
"Twenty-five seconds, Major." It was one of the younger Minors who had answered. I saw that he had a hand-held chronometer in his hand. I found it almost impossible to believe that much time had passed as we had cleared our beds.
"Twenty. Five. Seconds." Nix emphasised those words as he pushed his face into that of the recruit he was addressing, his voice dangerously quiet and softened to a hiss. "If imps had dropped in here, they would have been able to kill you all five times over in the time it took for you to get up. Keep that in mind." Then his voice returned to its full terrifying volume. "You will wake up faster! Is that clear?!"
"Yes Major!" The recruit replied with as much volume and certainty as he could. There would be no further insubordination from him, that was for sure.
"Very well." Nix now turned to look at all of us. "Forget phrases such as 'fast as you could' while you are here. Such rubbish will not serve you well during my training. Your best is not good enough, recruits. But fear not - it is still only the first day." That predatory grin returned once more. "So let us begin. Form up in the yard outside! Two rows of six! Let's MOVE!"
We swarmed out of the dormitory without any further hesitation. Nix certainly knew how to motivate us - no-one was going to fall behind or question his authority after that little tutorial on the human Helljumpers.
It was fortunate that we had all gone to sleep in our bodysuits - it was also a point in our favour that the bodysuit was designed to be slept in as well as for everyday wear. And it seldom needed washing - quite a marvel. We all needed a shower, however. Our bodies were already smelling from having got out of bed, and the dusty arrival yesterday. We would doubtless be in even greater need of a good wash after whatever Major Nix had planned for us - but I suspected it would be some time yet before we would be allowed to shower.
Spurred on by the instructors we poured out of East Barracks into the sandy training ground, and began to assemble into a close formation of two rows of six recruits, every man in the first row positioned directly in front of the man behind him.
Soon enough the whole of the first military unit to which I was assigned, the 4th Training Lance of the Vara Grounds, stood at attention in the cool air of the pre-dawn hours. Though the sky was still darkened the whole of the training ground was lit up with plasma floodlights, so we could all see each other. I could see that the other two lances from East Barracks had already assembled into the central ground. The recruits from West Barracks were nowhere to be seen - I later learned that they had been woken even earlier than we had.
I allowed myself a glance at my comrades. Aside from Par, I hadn't learned everyone else's names yet - we'd all been too tired and confused that first evening to really bother. I suspected that when we got to know each other, it would be today. I could immediately see that we were all a young bunch - the oldest amongst us were most likely in their mid-twenties. Young people are the ideal raw material for an army, as I've mentioned before. It looked like I was by far the youngest, however. That recruit who'd had the guts to answer the Major back while getting up looked to be the closest to my age. Maybe I should get to know him.
But there was no time to dwell on such matters. Major Nix was already addressing us, his sharp tones echoing through the air.
"As the leading instructor of East Barracks, I'll be presiding over this session today," he announced with grim cheer. "So just for today, you all belong to me."
I could see he was not just addressing our lance - he was also talking to the other two in our barracks. That confirmed what he said about being in charge of all recruits this side of the grounds. I could also see that other Major who had screamed at all of us to get off the phantom that brought us here yesterday. I could see he was assigned to the 5th Training Lance, located in the central section of our barracks. Right now he stood to the left of Nix, arms crossed, along with a third Major to his right. The assisting Minors were also ever present, staves at the ready.
"We'll be starting with a little run, boys" Nix declared. "But first, let's change the arrangement here. Those rows of six will now be two lines in a column! Three columns alongside each other! Think you can manage it? Show me!"
We all obeyed. In my lance everyone in the two rows turned forward, and we became two vertical lines in a vertical column. The other two lances did the same, moving into position on either side of our lance. We were harangued by our instructors throughout the whole time - but somehow, we managed to get into a perfect formation with the 4th Lance in the centre.
"So, you know how to follow basic instructions after all," Nix leered. "You're almost as good as Unggoy at this. Almost. Now let's see if you can run, too. Major Krel and I will take you out."
He jogged to the head of our formation, along with Major Krel - that same ill-tempered man from the phantom who headed 5th Lance. He now took over instruction, his gravelly voice echoing across the grounds.
"Follow us closely - anyone who falls out of formation will be pushing up and down for the rest of the day! Ten laps around the whole ground - let's move!"
On his cue, we all got running. Major Krel didn't seem like one to make idle threats, so we all made sure that we stayed in formation. I constantly tried to keep my place intact, eager not to be spending the whole day doing push-ups. We were all able to follow the Majors and keep track of one another quite easily, though; the plasma floodlights saw to that. We were able to make full circuits of the entire rectangle that was the training ground in good time.
As ever, the sand of the ground was heavily kicked up by all those feet and got everywhere. I could even feel some of the grains getting into my eyes and mouth, but I successfully fought to keep my mind off it. By the time we finished the tenth and final lap of the whole training ground, we were all covered in dust and sweat.
Yet this was only the beginning.
"Well done recruits," Nix smiled. "Quite an impressive run you made...considering that was just a warm-up."
Wait...the WARM-UP?!
"This morning, my good friend Major Krel and I will be taking you to our favourite spot around these parts. You get to it via a nice little route you'll be running, past Vara town and the coast." His sadist's grin returned once more. "I'm certain you'll love it. Follow me and find out - Major Krel will be bringing up the rear! We leave via the northern entrance!"
We all groaned and shuddered with dread - whatever the Majors' 'favourite spot' was, I doubted we would share their sentiment.
Krel jogged to the rear of our formation. Nix retrieved a small plasma lantern from his belt, which he clicked on. It emitted a pale-blue light, which was cancelled out by the floodlights of the training ground. On his command, we jogged out through the stone arch of the northern entrance. As soon as we left the lit-up training ground and passed into the near darkness of the pre-dawn morning, the purpose of Nix's lantern became clear - we were to follow its beam as a guide. As another lantern-beam shone through our formation, I knew that Krel had one at hand too - so he could keep track of us and also know where he was going.
It was just those two Majors who would be accompanying us on this run - the Minors were staying behind, no doubt assigned to other tasks.
It was a morning of patchy but heavy cloud. The great mother globe of Chu'ot, her glorious rings and the many orbs and lights that were her moons were all obscured. There was the occasional gleam of illumination in the dark sky that suggested her presence, as well as the far-off light of approaching dawn from Y'Deio - but that was all.
Apart from the jogging beams of the lanterns there was scant light to illuminate my surroundings, so I could make out very little of the landscape that we immediately passed through. All I could make out of the road that snaked out from the northern entrance was that it was cobbled, the talons on our feet clacking on it as we ran. We didn't need shoes - my race has evolved tough feet which allow us to forgo footwear in most conditions.
As we left the training ground, the air grew colder. Something about the design of that training arena insulated heat - one we left it the temperature dropped very noticeably. There was also a steady, moderate wind that was beginning to blow in from the sea; even with my skinsuit on I still felt the cold. I was able to cope, though; coming from a moon frequented by storms and icy winds does help.
Occasionally I could see long blades of grass blowing in the wind, or the hulking shape of a tree. Sometimes I could even see the odd stelae or rock pile - ancient markers left for travellers eons ago. Other than that, the first half hour or so of that run were dominated by darkness.
At least another quarter of an hour passed before I began to hear the sounds of the sea, and smelt the salty breeze in the air. Our training grounds were not far from the coast, and Nix said that the road we were taking would be running parallel to it - so now I knew we had to be approaching the coastline.
The Ha'chut peninsular itself juts out from the north coast of Ah'lomet supercontinent, an almost triangular piece of land pointing directly north towards the supercontinent of Ruuht. The Vara Training Grounds lie in the centre, in the area furthest from any coastline. This is not very far, obviously - the Ha'chut peninsular is very slim. As such, it took us only one full hour of running before the north-western coast of Ha'chut came into view.
Sure enough, after we passed another grassy hill the western shore of the Ha'chut peninsular appeared before us. As if that stretch of coast were greeting our arrival, a gap in the clouds appeared. In this gap, a portion of the mighty face of great Chu'ot shone through, causing the sea to sparkle like an ocean of diamonds in her brilliant light.
That sight truly lifted up our spirits - we began to run even faster. You may know that several of the ancient monotheistic religions of our people worshipped the great planet of Chu'ot as an all-seeing, omnipresent goddess; very similar to how I have heard ancient humans worshipped their system's sun as a deity. Common cultural traits can be found across this universe, in my experience.
I personally never really embraced any particular religion, not even the sacred path of our Covenant (I wouldn't go around saying that out loud, obviously). Yet as we suddenly increased our speed at the sight of Chu'ot's glorious face, it seemed to me that maybe we had inherited something from our more spiritual ancestors. Perhaps great mother Chu'ot really was spurring her children on, driving us ever forward.
Anyway, I digress. The road we were running on winded west to the coast until it took a sharp turn to the north, bringing it parallel to the coastline. We felt this turn in the road as we ran, changing our direction with the road. After this, we began to see lights in the distance.
On the western coast of Ha'chut, directly north-west of our training ground, lies the ancient town of Vara. This settlement dates back to the Seafaring Age - in its heyday it was the largest on the whole peninsular. The town itself is still a major port, and I could see the many bright lights of its streets and buildings clustered into a single shining mass on the shore of the sea. The route we were running on would not take us through the town; we would be going straight past it on that same cobbled coastal highway which bypassed it. But we would see another very interesting sight.
This same building was closely associated with our training grounds. The reason for this association was very obvious when we finally approached it on that winding road, as we passed the lights of the town to our left.
It was a huge circular stone amphitheatre, dominating the land from the top of a large hill outside of the town on the right-hand side of the road. The top of the hill had clearly been artificially cut away to form a totally flat plateau. It was on this artificial flat-top that this building overlooked the town in a commanding position. The stadium was illuminated enough from the face of Chu'ot and the lights of the town to make out in some detail. The great stone arena was surrounded by a circle of those familiar bronze pillars that surrounded our training ground, from which banners flapped in the wind. The seating area where spectators would sit was sheltered by a thatched roof, which ran full circle around the arena. The actual arena space itself was left unsheltered.
I'd already guessed that such a building would be close by. The Vara Training Grounds had been the training grounds of gladiators in antiquity - so they would have been originally built close to a gladiator arena. Also, the town of Vara would have been a major population centre in this part of the Ah'lomet supercontinent in those days; nearly all major population centres had similar amphitheatres in the Seafaring Age, especially in towns or cities close to the sea.
In such places the clans were able to compete or resolve their differences by pitting their strongest champions against one another, thus giving an alternative to war and raiding. Gladiators probably came here by ship from as far afield as Ruuht itself. Gladiator matches were also common entertainment as well - they always drew huge crowds, hence the need for such a huge arena. When such fights and matches were held, they were almost always to the death in those days. There are still gladiator fights to this day - though to my knowledge they are no longer fought to the death, except perhaps in some lawless backwater pirate colony.
This particular arena also served another purpose - one that Major Nix was all too happy to reveal to us as we ran past it.
"A fine sight, isn't it boys?" He mused. "You'll be seeing more of it - we'll be holding hand-to-hand combat matches there later in your training!"
I gulped as I we left the amphitheatre behind us, jogging on into the darkness as the lights of Vara receded into the distance to our rear. I wondered if we would be fighting in front of hordes of spectators - that only added to my anxiety. Some things hadn't changed since ancient times, it seemed.
We ran further and further north down the coastal road, before we made a ninety degree turning onto another road running east at a set of irukan fields, which took us further inland. After this turning, the cobbled stone we had been running on soon gave way to the sand of a dirt-track. Wherever Major Nix's 'favourite spot' was, it was clearly in a wilderness.
Just as we had kicked up dust back in the training ground, the same thing happened as we ran that dirt road. This time, though, clouds of dust were not all we had to worry about. We had been running for nearly two hours non-stop; the T'Vaoan breed of my species is renowned for its speed and stamina, but even we cannot keep running for miles and hours without difficulty. Add to that the fact that we had already been heavily put through our paces on the training ground, we were already worn out by this point.
Sure enough, as we ran up that damned dirt road our formation began to lose its previous aura of perfection. People started dropping out of formation, struggling to keep up with everybody else. Some slipped on the dirt, loose leaves, mud and gravel and fell onto their backsides or worse face-down into all of that crap on the ground. I could hear the sounds of their falls, along with the inevitable growling and swearing that followed.
I even saw one recruit stop to take a break in the rear. He only got a few seconds though – Major Krel rounded on him with a vengeance in the rear before shoving him roughly back into formation. He then marshalled a few other recruits to pick up those who had fallen.
I pushed on, even as my muscles and chest were burning. I had prove myself – all this training was serving a purpose, I knew that for certain. I had signed up for it; as Champion Xen had said, none of us were victims here. That applied to me just as much as everyone else running this track.
We ran and ran, past those fields of waving irukan as they were blown in waves by the wind like an ocean. By this point, the life-giving yellow orb of Y'Deio was starting to rise on the horizon, breaking through the patches of cloud. As that glorious dawn came, our visibility considerably increased. We could see straw hat-wearing farmhands working in the fields, along with harvesters floating up and down on anti-grav units as they harvested more of that crop for export.
Much of the farmland around here seemed to be devoted to growing irukan. This had become increasingly common with much of our farms, given the insatiable source of cheap food that crop was for the whole of the Covenant.
That particular crop was not native to Eayn – it was an import from Sanghelios. The Ministry of Sustenance, under pressure from the High Council, wanted more food produced for the ever-growing Sangheili population. Through the Covenant's semi-command economy they had ordered more grains of irukan to be grown in any space our vast empire could make available. Eayn was judged to be suitable, along with T'Vao. That decree was made decades before this time.
Our farmers were 'encouraged' to grow irukan and other Sangheili foods as a cash crop. I'll admit, a lot of them became very wealthy and well off from growing it. Kig-Yar traders also certainly benefited, as did shipping magnates like Chur'R-Fac who grew fat on irukan exports.
Yet there was also a price that was paid. Besides feeding the Sangheili, irukan was now also used in making the mass-production slop the Unggoy ate, so the demand simply increased and increased. More and more of our land was being devoted to growing irukan over our own crops; forests were cut down and communities were uprooted as huge new fields of the wretched stuff were planned and grown. The increased production of those grains drove their prices lower and lower - now irukan food products were favoured by our own people over our own native foods.
Meanwhile our farmers had to work harder and harder to turn a profit in growing that cheap crap -they increasingly had to rely on government subsidy. Worse still, some of our farmers were also 'encouraged' to move to Sanghelios and work for its population growing their food there, costing us agricultural manpower in our own home system.
So as a result of all this our farmers were now producing more food for the Sangheili and Unggoy than our own population, and we ended up eating more of that cheap mass-market Sangheili crop than our native crops. It was easy to see why we had so much love for the four-jaws, wasn't it?
Enough rambling, Trau..it could get you into trouble...
We ran and ran. Leaving the irukan fields behind we made a second ninety degree turn onto a winding dirt track that took us back south, this time closer to the eastern coast of the Ha'chut peninsular. Here the land was much less developed, more wilder. It was more wooded and hilly, and now and then I could see wildlife in the emerging light of early dawn - the odd bird flying or roosting, or even a small mammal or reptile racing through the undergrowth. I just hoped we were near to our destination - I was running out of breath and my lungs felt like they had been run through a stretching machine. I'm sure all my comrades felt the same way.
Luck was on our side. We turned once more onto a narrow trail into a deep forest, and continued for another few minutes before Major Nix finally called us to a halt. We stopped at last, gushing with exhaustion and eager to stretch our cramped muscles and expel all that waste air from our lungs. At least were no longer in total darkness - the dawn light was steadily becoming daylight - though the morning was still spoiled by the large patches of grey cloud.
Nix and Krel allowed us to take a breather for a minute or so, before he addressed us again.
"Well children, I see you're all still with us," he grinned, not looking the least bit spent from that cross-country run. No doubt sprinting over such distance was second nature to him. T'Vaoans in the military truly do make full use of our race's natural stamina and speed - that had to be the purpose of this exercise.
As I would find out next, though, it also served another purpose.
"I promised that I would take you to my favourite spot. So scum, welcome to..." Nix stepped aside, gesturing with his talons for us to take a look at whatever was behind him. "...the Ravine!"
As soon as they got a look at the Major's favourite spot in the whole of Ha'chut, my fellow recruits let their jaws fall open in utter horror, their eyes widening in sheer terror, their tongues drooping out in sheer disbelief. Once I saw the reason for their expressions, I soon joined them in gaping at the latest item of twisted ingenuity to emerge from our instructors' sick minds.
As we expected, it was anything but our favourite spot.
Nix was drawing our attention to a great ravine, about three, four metres or more across from edge to edge. That might not sound like much, and I didn't think it looked that bad at first either - until I saw how deep the ravine was. The bottom of that accursed gorge had to go down for hundreds of feet, if not well over a thousand. All I knew was that the bottom was almost completely misted over in the early morning - that was definitely not a good sign. Through gaps in the mist that appeared periodically and revealed the bottom of the ravine, I saw that my initial estimate of over a thousand feet was probably accurate.
Jagged black rocks and dead tree branches lined the sides of the ravine, ready to catch any poor bastard who fell down it and shatter every bone in their bodies. Adding to that, there were great entanglements of thorn-vines twisting across the cliff-edges, with thorns that looked easily capable of impaling a fully-grown Kig-Yar unlucky enough to fall into the ravine's maw.
That might just happen to us - to me. I already had a horrible feeling what Majors Nix and Krel wanted us to do next.
No...please no...damn it, we've already been running to death and now THIS?
It was Krel who delivered the bad news.
"All of you signed up for this - none of you are victims," he declared. "Some of you, however, might not have been as serious as others when you put your signatures to our pads. So, to prove your desire to become soldiers is genuine, we require...what should we call it?" He wracked his brain, before clapping his hands giving a leer of pure, unrestrained sadism. "A leap of faith! An appropriate term, wouldn't you say Major Nix?"
"That I would," Nix cackled with equal leer. "Maggots, your task is simple. To prove your willingness to accept our training - to serve our Covenant in battle - you must all jump the Ravine. All of you. Who'd like to go first?"
