A/N: this time a short one, but I didn't want to spend much time on the boot camp.

"Who left the rifle in the head?!"

The moment she heard the voice of the Drill Instructor Max knew she was deep in shit, because it was her rifle in the head. She hadn't done a lot of mistakes, but they were unavoidable under heavy pressure. Everyone had been on the bad side of a DI at least once. In most cases more than once. No-one could do everything right… But leaving a weapon in the bathroom was probably the worst thing she could have done. The day went from bad to worse.

"Sir, I did sir!" Max shouted.

The next moment he was in front of her, holding her rifle.

"Is the head a proper place for a weapon?!"

"Sir, no sir!"

"Then elucidate why the fuck do you take your weapon to the head?!"

There was no point telling him that she had been too tired to think about the rifle after a long hike with a heavy pack.

"Sir, I don't know sir!"

"Did you leave your brain there too?!"

"Sir, no sir!"

"Take the rifle and get your scrawny ass running around the building. Now!"

"Aye sir!" she replied and ran.

"Run faster you maggot! Faster I said!"

Could be worse. I guess, he's in a good mood.

She had known that it would be difficult, but she had still underestimated how demanding the boot camp was. Screaming had begun the moment she had stepped out of the shuttle and keeping up with other recruits had been almost impossible. All of them were at least four inches higher and had a lot more athletic build than her. Her only advantage was her weight, which was twice as small in some cases. Lifting hundred ten pounds was easier than two hundred thirty pounds. However, when it came to lifting weights, hiking with a heavy pack or sparring against her fellow recruits, her weight was a disadvantage too.

While she was doing the tactical running around the building, the rest of the platoon were doing tactical push-ups and most likely cursing her silently.

Hand-to-hand combat training's going to be fun today. I'm so not looking forward to it.

Diary. Entry 1.

August 30, 2173

My first entry. It's crazy here. They give us ten minutes to write messages to our family and friends, but I didn't have any strength left to write anything. By the end of the day I'm just dead to the world. It's the sixth week and I think I'm beginning to like it. I know it sounds strange, but so is my life. I didn't like DI screaming in my face and it was hard to not break under pressure. Like really hard. But I adapted. The only shit I hate is my weakness and a few assholes among the recruits. Like Taylor Reyes who reminds me of a typical school bully.

I understand David more now. He's like a DI. Most of them care for us in their own way (there is one who's just an ass), but it's easy to forget about it, when they start screaming like they want to murder you the moment you do something wrong. It's a pity that Chloe didn't give him a chance.

Well, time is up.

"Your task is to follow navpoints… Baumann, did I say to switch off your HUD?"

"Sir, no sir! There ain't no navpoints, assumed it was a glitch, sir!"

"Did I allow you to assume anything?"

"Sir, no sir!"

"Then do not assume a fucking thing!"

"Aye, sir!"

"Shut the fuck up and switch it back on! Now!" Drill Instructor Ellison screamed through the radio inside their helmets. Then he continued, "You goal is to follow navpoints. As soon as the door opens, you'll receive the first one. Move there asap and you'll get the second one. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" the whole squad replied as one.

They were wearing body armors equipped with kinetic shield generators, but she still was afraid to leave the safety of the shuttle. It was hard to believe that she wasn't on Earth. The way to Titan had been short and eventless. She hadn't seen or felt anything. An hour ago she had been in Brazil and now she was on the Saturn's moon. Fucking crazy.

The door opened.

"Move out of the shuttle you pusillanimous slugs!" her Drill Instructor screamed. "Faster! Move faster!"

The atmosphere was so dense that she couldn't tell which way the sun was. She stood rooted at the shuttle's door, looking at the alien sky and couldn't believe her own eyes. She was on Titan. She was on TITAN! She was…

"I said move!" he screamed and kicked a recruit next to her in the ass. "You think you can goldbrick here Pierce?! Stand up and get your ass moving!"

Max wasn't about to get kicked like Pierce, so she rushed forward, getting slowly used to Titan's much lower gravity. Their armors were equipped with mass effect field generators, which although could compensate lower gravity, were only working at the quarter of their full capabilities and so walking on Titan was akin to walking on the bottom of a lake. Sluggishly and clumsily. Max stumbled and fell.

"Caulfield! Did I tell you to take a break?! Get your ass back up now!"

Max hated hand-to-hand combat training. Although she had gained some weight and muscle over the weeks, there was only so much room for a change with her height. She was the platoon's weakest. The hand-to-hand combat instructor had told her that she had to use her height to an advantage, but there had been some skepticism in his voice. Max knew that he simply wanted to encourage her to do better. But she was lighter, weaker and had a short reach. The only way to defeat her opponents was to be much better than them… But there were no slouches in her platoon.

Max sidestepped a punch and tried to execute a hip throw, but the attempt failed as the opponent was fast enough to counter it, taking her into armlock. She wasn't any less skilled than her opponent. Reyes wasn't that good, but she was twice as big. Try to fucking throw something twice your weight! Reyes let her go, but not before pushing a bit harder as if trying to break her arm. Asshole.

"Good job, Reyes," an instructor said. "Again."

Max rubbed her arm. Probably injured. She was tired of losing and she loathed Reyes, who had hated her guts from the day one. Max had no idea what her problem was and preferred to ignore the bitch. She didn't matter. Max's plan had always been to be just good enough to avoid failing. However, as the time went by, her priorities gradually shifted. It was very hard to always be looked down upon. She wanted to get stronger.

She was so lost in thought that she almost missed Reyes throwing a punch in to her gut. The time stopped. Literally. It had happened before. Her power would act on his own in moments like this, but she had never made use of it. But each time it got a bit more difficult to convince herself to ignore her abilities. Besides, freezing time wasn't an option. It would look like teleportation which would raise very difficult questions. But what if she could slow time down instead of freezing?

It should be possible. Just this one fucking time.

She focused on her power and time sped up, but not all the way to its normal speed. It was still a little slower. Max was surprised that it was actually easy and much less exhausting than full time freeze. She dodged the punch and danced around her opponent, who couldn't even touch her. Max felt excited and for the first time a hand-to-hand spar thrilled her. Finally, she threw Reyes off balance, forced her to the ground and trapped her in an arm lock. Max let the time go at normal pace. That felt good.

"Very good, Caulfield," the instructor said as Reyes yielded. "What the hell were you doing all the time if you can move like this? Keep it up."