In the library, Nida found a mystery novel that kept him occupied until noon, at which point he ate a quick lunch and spent some time in the training center. At around 15:30, he headed back to his room to change into his uniform for the exam.
As he was heading back to the directory area, he caught sight of a blond girl in a SeeD uniform standing by the hall to the garage. "Hi, Lauren."
She smiled at him. "Hi, Nida. You ready for the field exam?"
Nida grimaced. "…Maybe?"
That pushed her into a grin. "Knock 'em dead out there. I'm gonna be one of the SeeD participants, so I'll have to bail you trainees out if you screw up."
Nida forced a laugh. He knew she was joking with him, but he wasn't in a particularly funny mood at the moment.
"Hey, relax," she said, clapping his shoulder. "I'm sure you'll do great. Didn't you ace the written test, too?"
Nida shook his head. "Ninety-four."
"In Aki's class, that's basically perfect. I barely cleared an 85 when I took the exam…and I even had to get this underclassman to help me study." She nudged Nida teasingly. "Seriously. Just keep your head, and you'll do fine."
"Thanks." He glanced in the direction of the main entrance. "I should…."
"Sure." Lauren nodded him away. "I'll see you after."
The directory area was filled with students, clumped into groups and chattering excitedly to each other while instructors took turns calling out the ones who were actually taking the exam. Nida couldn't make heads or tails of the commotion, so he hovered near the edge of the crowd, hoping to hear his name.
He spotted Seifer, still wearing his trenchcoat instead of the uniform. Fujin and Raijin were still following him around, even though they weren't even in the SeeD program. Also with them was a young instructor with long blond locks framing her face, apparently lecturing Seifer on something while he pretended to ignore her. Instructor Trepe was barely a year older than Nida, but carried herself with a sort of deliberate poise that masked the fact. She looked more serious than usual today, Nida thought, missing the little smile that suggested she was quietly amused by almost everything.
While Nida was watching the scene, he nearly walked straight into a middle-aged man in a red vest and poorly managed hair. Headmaster Cid was facing away from him and deep in discussion with Xu, one of the senior SeeDs; neither one of them seemed to notice his presence.
"So far, SeeD hasn't had a single gunblade specialist," the headmaster was saying. "Now there were two candidates eligible in a single year, but one of them won't even take the exam. It's like fate is toying with us."
Xu shook her head. "We should have expected something. Those two can barely get along under normal circumstances."
"Yes, I suppose." The headmaster sighed. "It seems odd be placing our hope in Seifer for another year."
"Squall's only 17. He'll have another chance." Xu shrugged. "And Seifer might surprise us this time."
"Nida!" A middle-aged instructor with a handlebar mustache whom Nida had never taken a class with had called his name. The man was standing about seven feet away, and looking almost right past him. "Nida, are you here?"
Nida raised his hand so that the instructor would spot him. "That's me."
"Oh!" he said, blinking. "Sorry about that; I didn't see you." He went back to scanning the crowd of students. "Tobias! Over here!"
Nida winced. Tobias Valgrave was 19, but as far as Nida knew he'd never taken the SeeD exam before—probably because he'd been having so much fun running the Technical Committee like his own little empire. He'd been caught at least twice using school equipment to pirate HD videos off the net and selling them to students, but the instructors always went easy on him because they said he had potential. Nida had quit the Technical Committee after less than a year, and joined the SeeD program, partly to avoid getting bossed around by guys like him.
"I'm here." If Tobias remembered Nida at all, he gave no sign of it, instead ignoring Nida completely as he walked by. "Hay, Instructor."
"Good to see you again, Tobias," the instructor said. "I'm glad you're finally taking the exam. SeeD could use more members with your technical skill."
Nida sighed. It sounded like the man wasn't even joking.
"Yeah, this'll be a breeze." Tobias shrugged. "We ready to get this started?"
"There's one more in your group," said the instructor. "Is—"
"Heeey!" A girl bounced up next to them, looking around with such enthusiasm that she ended up spinning in a half-circle. "Am I late? Where's the field exam?"
"We're forming groups now," said the instructor. "And you'd be…Selphie, right? The transfer student?"
"That's right!" She made a very bouncy nod. "Nice to meet you!"
"Perfect. You'll be here, in Squad A. I'm Instructor Garren, and I'll be the Instructor in charge. Tobias, you'll be the squad leader. Congratulations."
"Sounds good to me," said Tobias, grinning. "Thanks, Instructor."
Nida tried not to groan.
Instructor Garren nodded. "Now, your team probably doesn't know each other well, but do your best. Working together is important on the mission, so teams often succeed or fail as a group."
Nida listened neutrally, thinking about what he ought to be thinking about. He still had no idea what the mission was, so trying to plan for it was pointless. But it was hard to think about anything else, and not thinking didn't come easily to him. Typically, about one student in three passed the field exam. Nida's own Garden history had been pretty unexceptional, he didn't know a thing about the transfer student, and he didn't have much trust in Tobias' leadership, so those were pretty bad odds.
"Everyone here?"
Nida's head jerked around at the voice. Headmaster Cid was stepping in front of the Directory, peering over his glasses across the assembled groups of students. "It's been a while, everyone. How's everyone doing?"
No one replied. It wasn't entirely clear to Nida whether the headmaster had expected them to.
"This exam will involve 11 members from Squads A through D," he continued. "You will be proceeding to a real battlefield. Obviously, the battles are for real." He spread his arms, as if preparing a sermon. "Life and death, victory and defeat, honor and disgrace…Each of these go hand in hand. There's only one way or the other." He scanned the students again. "How 'bout it? Are you still up for it?"
Death. Defeat. Disgrace. Nida was not feeling particularly inspired.
"You will be accompanied by 9 SeeD members. Should you fail, these members shall get the job done. They always do." He nodded. "Well, that's one less worry on your mind."
Death. Defeat. Disgrace.
Cid raised his arms grandly, nearly managing not to look comical. "The pride of Balamb Garden! The elite mercenary force, SeeD! Learn from them, obey their commands and accomplish the mission. Prove yourself worthy of becoming a member of SeeD. Best of luck."
With that, he mad a formal nod, signaling the end of the speech.
"Come on," said Instructor Garren. "Our car's out front."
Their transport was parked right in front of Garden's main gate, and it started as soon as the back door closed behind them. The rear of the vehicle was windowless and spartan, with only a pair of benches running along the sides to sit on. Nida had never been especially claustrophobic, but the vehicle was doing a good job of making him feel isolated from the world.
"Hey, Instructor," said Tobias. "Did the news ever say who's going to be in the hockey finals?"
Garren nodded. "I saw an update just before we left. Looks like Garden beat Timber, so they'll advance, but the Winhill-Galbadia game is still going on."
"Well, I figured Garden would be going on to the championship; Timber always chokes when they get to the semis. What was the Winhill-Galbadia score?"
"The report said it was 5 to 2, with Winhill in the lead."
"Winhill?! You can't be serious!"
"Ooh, Galbadia?" asked Selphie. "They're the ones with the team full of monsters, right? I really wanna see them!"
"Yeah?" Tobias asked. "I saw them play in Dollet once. It's totally unfair, though. They'll even use magic in the middle of a game."
Instructor Garren shrugged. "Demi-humans are allowed to play according to league policy, and using magic is just like any other foul. Galbadia's been pushing it, though."
Nida didn't know much about hockey except that you played it on ice, so he just focused on checking over his weapons. He used a pair of medium daggers, which weren't exactly high-maintenance, so this didn't really take his mind off anything.
"I guess Winhill has been playing pretty well this year. And after they edged Dollet out of the finals, I'll believe anything."
Instructor Garren chuckled. "Now, that was one hell of a game."
Nida sighed. No matter what happened on the exam, the waiting was going to kill him.
When they arrived at the docks, Instructor Garren led them onto one of Garden's transport skiffs, whose engine was already running. Nida was barely on board when the entry hatch swung shut and the skiff pulled away from the dock.
After that came more waiting. They gathered in the ship's small briefing room, which was somewhat reminiscent of the back of the truck, although considerably better furnished. They had a quick dinner of leftover cafeteria food as the other students talked about hockey some more. Then Instructor Garren told them to get some rest, since they'd be traveling through the night and their briefing would come early next morning. He still wouldn't say what their mission was.
Nida doubted he'd be getting any rest that night, but there wasn't much else to do. He hadn't brought anything to read, he didn't really have anything to talk with the others about, and they were in the middle of the ocean with no access to an HD cable, so the rest of the world might as well not exist until they arrived wherever they were going.
When they reassembled in the briefing room the next morning, his fellow students didn't look much better rested, but their air of excitement hadn't worn off.
"I saw lights up ahead!" announced Selphie, who had stolen up the ladder to the ship's gun turret for a look outside.
Tobias treated this like extremely valuable information. "Gotta be lights from a city," he said. "We must be headed someplace on the Galbadian continent."
Since most of the open world's population lived on the Galbadian continent, Nida found that conclusion both obvious and not very useful. "They're probably about to tell us where we're going, anyway," he said.
"This must be a really big operation," said Selphie, as if he hadn't spoken. "Do they always send this many teams on one mission?"
"Who knows?" said Tobias.
Nida did, but the answer was kind of complicated and he guessed they didn't really care.
The transport's door opened, and a SeeD with horn-rimmed glasses and a bob of brown hair stepped into the cabin. "I guess this is Squad A?" he asked. Garren and the three students all rose and saluted. "I'll be briefing you on this mission. Have a seat."
They obliged. The SeeD activated the monitor, and the Garden symbol was replaced with a map that showed the northern Hasberry shoreline. "Our client for this operation is the Dollet Dukedom Parliament," he explained.
"Knew it," muttered Tobias. Nida sighed.
The SeeD ignored him. "72 hours ago, Galbadian forces launched a full-scale invasion of the city of Dollet. The defending forces abandoned their positions in the city after 49 hours. They're currently attempting to regroup in the mountains. The official request for SeeD was made 18 hours ago."
Nida glanced at the other students, who were all sitting up straighter in their seats. The Galbadian invasion had been all over the news, and given the exam's timing there had been rumors going around. Still, Galbadia and Dollet were two of the largest countries in the world, and Garden had never directly intervened in a war before.
The display changed to a close-up of the city of Dollet, with a dotted line approaching from the sea. "We're to make our landing at Lapin Beach," he continued, "where we eliminate all Galbadian forces within the city and liberate it, A.S.A.P. Then, SeeD forces will proceed into the mountains and intercept any G-army forces there; it's believed that opening a new front in the battle will disorganize the G-army until Dollet can mount a proper counteroffensive.
"SeeD candidates will be assisting with the initial stages of the operation. You, Squad A, will assist in securing Lapin Beach from Galbadian forces. Once ashore, your mission is to access Dollet's InfoNet system and gather information about the G-army's activities within the city. Report anything that will be useful to coordinate our attack. Remember that time is of the essence, so be sure the information you collect is reliable, and don't clog the communications lines with too much unnecessary detail." He took a breath. "Now, you may encounter enemies in the city, but do not seek them out. Your squad's mission is to gather intelligence to support our offensive. Oh, and of course the order to withdraw takes top priority. Good luck."
With a nod at Instructor Garren, he saluted and stepped out of the cabin, leaving the students to take it all in.
"Woo…," said Selphie, leaning back in her seat. "So like, we're gonna be right in the middle of the battle, but we aren't supposed to fight?"
"Hey, come on," said Tobias. "We're the primary intelligence unit for this operation. You know they're not gonna let the students see any real action. But WE get to fight with our heads. If we do the job right, we can collect some vital data and blow this operation wide open!"
"Remember not to take this lightly," said Instructor Garren. "First you'll need to find a terminal or InfoNet cable. The Galbadians won't let go of the beach without a fight, and lots of things can happen in a battle. There's a good chance you could land in the middle of a firefight."
Nida closed his eyes, bending over to rest his elbows on his legs. "Joy," he said.