Dr. Henderson looked at the note dully before deleting it. In front of him sat Major Nectal, he was clean shaven, a veteran from the Canadian annexation, he looked about forty but the doctor could never tell for sure. The computer beside him beeped.
"Yes...now for what we have been waiting for" he said, his German accent slipping. They had been anxiously awaiting the data from the first simulation. They had put most of the subjects in fairly easy missions, most of which ended in success, though six groups had been given suicide missions. The major had wanted to put them all in suicide missions and see who made it out the best. Henderson disagreed at first though. So they came to an agreement. The simulation would choose the six best candidates for the missions. And of those six whoever did the best would be established as team commanders. Overall the suicide missions were exactly that. Suicidal, all ended up dead, though some survived longer than others.
The major was not impressed "not a single one even got close to completing the objective. Things are worse than I expected, at least the others finished their missions. But these six... I didn't design the missions to be impossible! The chances of survival were just low. What do you think Henderson?" he was worried, the major never asked somebody's opinion unless he was nervous.
"Major, if there is one thing I have learned in my years of practice, it is that you cannot expect so much of so little. I say immerse them into the combat more slowly. It will take time but I assure you major. You will get your results, it will just take a bit more...encouragement. Continue the training as scheduled; I will design the next simulations. I have a friend in sociology; he will get us what we need." Nectal was not impressed.
"We need these soldiers now damn'it!" he shouted, the years as a drill sergeant gave him a fearful advantage when it came to arguments. "I've got the pentagon breathing down my neck about this project and you want MORE time! The Japanese have just tested a stealth bomber at mach 5 at 90,000 feet. We need an advantage for Christ sake!" Henderson rolled his eyes
"When the soldiers are ready, there will not be an army we cannot defeat, these soldiers will topple empires! They will be invincible, un-stoppable war machines. And if you want your money's worth you will have to wait!" Henderson rarely shouted, his light frame would not allow it. Lightly winded he sat down.
A sigh of forced agreement came from Nectal. "Fine" the words were coming with difficulty, he hated loosing an argument "Take all the damn time you need, are we done here?" he finished, walking out of the office.