''Cadets of VSRC005, welcome to the SimArena.''
Eva and her squad stand in line in a large, open room, lit by rows of big fluorescent lights casting the floor in a white-blue hue. On the ceiling hang a lot of machinery and robotic arms, and Eva wonders what they do.
An officer stands in front of the squad, and Eva notices he is not the same as the taskmaster from The Well.
''As you can see, we will train with just one squad in this arena, as the training you will get from me is more focused on team effort rather than individual effort,'' explains the officer. ''The training you will get here in the SimArena is an invasion. You will learn how to invade structures from miserable sheds to apartment buildings, and in this arena, we can simulate such things.''
The tone of this particular officer makes Eva feel a bit more comfortable, as he speaks seriously but less strictly. The previous taskmaster she had at The Well took his job very seriously, but this one seems a bit more friendly as if he's less interested in discipline but more focused on explaining things.
''At ease, cadets,'' says the taskmaster. ''Let's get you all a building to invade.''
Eva sighs out of relief as she now doesn't have to raise her chest and chin so high.
''This is quite the difference,'' whispers Ashara.
''I know,'' replies Eva.
Then Eva realizes they are missing a person. She looks around and counts her squadmates that are here. Ashara, Peyton, Roslin, and herself. Then she realizes Ecklund isn't with them, the quiet girl, and Eva misses her twinkling eyes and her shimmering, round glasses.
''Where's Ecklund?'' asks Eva concerned. ''Is she sick?''
''At sniper training,'' replies Ashara, shifting her head to her.
''Sniper training?' asks Eva bewildered. ''That's astral.''
''Yeah, I know,'' Ashara replies. '' Also, do you have a role yet?''
''I'm not sure, but I guess not,'' Eva replies. ''Haven't heard a single thing about my role.''
''That's weird,'' says Ashara, raising her eyebrows. ''It's been like months since we started here.''
''I know, but I think I will still get a role soon,'' Eva responds.
Ashara nods.
The taskmaster grabs a large datapad and turns it on as the squad gathers around him, looking at what he will do.
''Let's see, what shall I build for the first exercise,'' says the taskmaster as he taps on his datapad. ''Let's do a single-storey building. Five rooms, and seven target practices. No time frame, no enemies, no whatever.''
The taskmaster taps on his datapad, and Eva sees he is creating the blueprint of a building, and she sees five rooms appearing. Then Eva hears whirring sounds filling the room, and she sees the machinery and robotic arms at the ceiling starting to move. Then she sees what they are for - the taskmaster designs the blueprint, and the robotic arms build the actual structure.
''Here in the SimArena, we can build whatever we want,'' says the taskmaster. ''A single-storey bungalow, a two-storey house with a basement, a four-storey apartment building, a bunker below an apartment building. Name it and I build it, and I'll teach you how to invade it and clean up the Rebel insurgents hiding in it.'
Eva sees the robotic arms moving towards the outer walls of the Arena. As they move out of the Arena, Eva sees the robotic arms disappearing in a gap in the walls, and after a moment, they come out with wall pieces and ceilings. Eva then understands how the Arena builds these structures. After the taskmaster designs the blueprint, the robotic arms build the physical structure with walls and ceilings.
''Quite advanced for an Academy training,'' says Eva, looking at the robotic arms moving.
''It's an unusual piece of equipment indeed,'' replies the taskmaster. ''In case you've been wondering why you've been training with E-10s, the SimArena's hefty price tag is the cause.''
Was the SimArena's construction costs this high that we have to train with the E-10s? Was this recently constructed or something?
''How do we simulate weather?'' asks Peyton, full of admiration.
''There are some sprays hidden in the ceilings, and on all sides, we have large fans to simulate wind,'' explains the taskmaster.
''That's cool,'' replies Peyton. ''I didn't know the Academy had such advanced training facilities.''
''While you were training in The Well, we were busy constructing this,'' answers the taskmaster. ''You'd be surprised with the things we can do here.''
Eva stares full of admiration too. The robotic arms move slowly with the walls and ceilings attached to magnets. As they move towards the centre of the Arena, they descend from the ceiling. First, the walls are placed down, and then the ceiling is put on top of it. Then the arms retract, and a couple of other arms descend with power drills, and they assemble the walls and ceilings together, ensuring that the structure can withstand a bump without falling down in pieces.
''It's wonderful what the Empire can do for its future generation,'' admires the taskmaster.
''What will be our target practices?'' asks Eva, turning her head to the man.
''DT2-series sentry droids,'' replies the taskmaster. ''You might be familiar with the original DT-series, however, they inaccurately represent real sentient beings with two legs and two arms. The DT2 series is more similar to human-like beings in shape, size, weight, and agility, so the simulation is more accurate.''
Eva nods. She feels excited about using the DT2 series as target practices. She was familiar with the DT-series sentry droids. She remembers them from one of the TV channels she watched back at her home, talking about its duties. Guarding cargo ships and bases, and dummies to practice on with blasters and fists. Hearing that the successor of this sentry droid represents humans more accurately makes her excited about using them in the upcoming training.
As a green dot flashes on his screen, the taskmaster puts his datapad on a stand and activates its holoprojector. A large, blue ground map of the one-storey building they just put together is displayed. The walls are blue with some small sections being white, and there are seven red dots scattered across the map. The squad gathers around the hologram.
''Cadets, this is the building I just scrambled together,'' says the taskmaster and grabs a stick to point at sections displayed on the hologram. ''To clear up some things, the white pieces of the walls shown here are doors, and the dots are the DT2 sentry droids for you to shoot at. In real life, they'd be Rebel insurgents.''
After explaining the visuals of the hologram, the taskmaster then explains to the cadets how to invade this one-storey building.
''Soon, we'll be splitting this squad in half so I can train you all more precisely, and this building is made for being invaded by a team of two,'' he explains. ''For every building that you'll invade, there is an almost universal strategy. When you enter the building through a door, you split up and clear the rooms one by one, and take down any insurgents you come across. For this simple house, the strategy isn't different.''
Eva shifts her weight from foot to foot as she listens.
''When you enter the house, split your team of two, and each person clears a room on its own and you shoot on any sentry droids you see. You both clear rooms on your own until the entire house is cleared. At any moment in the house, you keep your blaster raised and your finger on the trigger to shoot whenever you come across some surprises. Understood?''
Eva and the others nod.
Then the hologram switches from the ground map to a video. Eva can't really make out who is filming and what it's filming. All she can see is a metal wall with the sun shining on it.
''What you're seeing now is the footage of an incursion at a Rebel hide-out on Lothal, carried out by the Stormtrooper Corps,'' explains the taskmaster.
Eva nods and then starts to connect the dots. The footage was filmed by the bodycam of a Stormtrooper, and she realizes they are standing outside the Rebel outpost. As the footage continues, Eva sees through the point of view of a Stormtrooper, busting the front door open with an explosive and clearing the poorly lit rooms with their fingers on the triggers of their E-11s. Their boots echo through some of the dark corridors, and Eva feels the adrenaline starting to pump through her veins.
Within a matter of 2 minutes, they clear the entire building of at least two storeys. Eva gets excited as she sees what she could do when she joins the Stormtrooper Corps after the Academy, and she also feels revenge swelling up inside of her. Busting open the front doors of Rebel hide-outs, and getting them to pay for what they've done to Vaulent Capital, her parents, and Eline.
''That's how it's done,'' says the taskmaster. ''So, after entering the house, each team member enters a room alone and shoots any target they come across until the house is cleared,'' and then he points to the cadets. ''You two form one team and you two form the other.''
Eva looks at Ashara, happy that she forms a team of two with her. Forming a team with Roslin would've been unfortunate, as it could create more tension between the two, and the bigger problem is that Eva and Roslin don't trust each other anymore after the push in The Well.
Eva and Ashara form up, standing on both sides of the house's front door with their backs leaning on the wall. Although there is no timeframe, and the sentry droids don't shoot back or move, Eva can still feel her heart racing in her chest as she holds her E-10 blaster rifle tightly in her hands.
''We should be using E-11s for this exercise,'' says Eva, inspecting her rifle before they enter the building.
''Why?'' asks Ashara curiously, her golden tattoos twinkling on her cheeks.
''E-11s are suitable for room clearing. E-10s are not,'' replies Eva.
''How do you know that?''
''My father worked at BlasTech.''
Ashara nods. Eva sees she wants to ask her something, but then the taskmaster interrupts her.
''Hey grandmothers, are we going to invade or what?'' he asks.
Eva and Ashara chuckle.
''After you,'' says Eva with a smile, gesturing her rifle towards the open front door.
''Oh so you're throwing me into the Rancor's pen?'' asks Ashara, smiling. ''Alright then.''
Ashara turns around the corner and enters the house. As she walks through the open door with her rifle raised, Eva follows her and enters the house too with her rifle up and her stock in her shoulder. With her heart racing in her chest, Eva and Ashara enter a small corridor, and they split up to clean up the rooms on their own. Eva splits off of her and walks on until she finds the first door, and it's shut.
Eva walks to the side of the door where the button to open it is located on the wall. While she holds tightly onto the handgrip of her rifle, she lifts up her elbow and hits the button. The door slides open into the wall, and Eva turns around the corner and enters the room. She sees a single DT2 sentry droid in the room and pulls the trigger and hits it on its torso. The firing sound of her blaster echoes through the room. Eva scans the room with her rifle raised, and sees another droid standing still in the corner, and hits it.
After she scans the room one more time, Eva leaves through the door and proceeds to clear out the remaining rooms, and after less than a minute, she and Ashara managed to hit all the sentry droids in the house.
As they stand outside while Peyton and Roslin clear out the house, Eva and Ashara gather around the hologram with the taskmaster pointing out what they could do better. The hologram replays Eva and Ashara's invasion, with two blue dots moving through the corridors and entering the rooms.
''You two took a long time scanning the rooms,'' points out the taskmaster. ''I want you to do it quicker. Go in, shoot the first target you see, scan the room for further targets and shoot if necessary, and go out. At the end of the day, I want you to do this in less than five seconds.''
Eva nods, knowing what to improve.
As the day progresses, Eva and the rest of her squad keep getting better at invading this singular house. They manage to invade it quicker and more efficiently and to make it more complicated, the taskmaster decided to activate the DT2 sentry droids to get them to move and shoot back at the cadets. Eva is hit numerous times in her chest, arm, leg, and on her helmet. Fortunately, the sentry droids shoot with stun, and each time she's hit, she feels her muscle go limb and she falls onto the floor without the ability to move, leaving Ashara to take out the remaining targets on her own. After a minute, Eva is able to get up and staggers out of the house as she's supported by Ashara.
Although it's training, each time Eva staggers out of the house after being hit, she can see the distrust in Roslin's eyes increase.
''Eva, how many times have you been hit?'' asks Roslin, with a hint of distrust in her eyes.
''Shut it Roslin,'' hisses Eva. ''I'm doing the best I can.''
''Only Ashara and Peyton have been hit one or two times,'' says Roslin, her jaws chewing on her usual package of gum. ''You've been hit 8 times.''
''So what, this is training.''
''So what? So put more effort into it. You're reckless, just like how you were in The Well.''
''Eva, your team leader has a point,'' says the taskmaster as he comes between Eva and Roslin's bickering conversation. ''You're failing because you go too quickly, so slow down, take your breath, and be careful. Speed is key in an invasion like this, but it's a curse too, and you should find a balance between the two.''
Eva remains silent.
''Understood?''
''Yes sir,'' says Eva.
As they go on, Eva tries to follow up on the taskmaster's advice. She enters the house once again, and she tries to slow herself down, but she realizes it's hard. Her pounding heart doesn't make it easier for her to slow down, but she tries nonetheless.
The SimArena is not to be underestimated in any way, and as training goes on, Eva realizes that. It's not just shooting your way in, it's strategy. Splitting up and making as little noise as possible, and getting into the blind spots of the droids to take them out. At the end of the day, after eating in the canteen, she lies in her bed as the night falls. Eva feels her muscle still ache from the uncountable times she was hit. They ache much more than after training in The Well, and Eva realizes it's going to be even more difficult for her at the Academy. The threat of the Rebel Alliance, her major trust issue between her and Roslin, her struggles with the invasions in the SimArena, and the desire for revenge.
As she keeps her eyes closed, trying to sleep, Eva sees her younger sister in the places she can remember. Peeking out of the doorframe when she was putting on her school uniform, at the dining table, on the tree house they made with wood, each memory of her keeps fueling her desire for revenge. Eva knows she has to withstand the desire for revenge as she remembers what Ashara told her at the medbay, and she tries not to be consumed by it.
In the next few weeks, Eva's training in the SimArena ramp up immensely. She started with invading a single-storey house with Ashara, and now Eva has to invade a two-storey apartment building with the rest of the squad. Eva's heart pounds in her chest as she enters and clears the rooms one by one, opening fire at anything that moves and shoots, and taking cover each time she's fired upon. Each invasion she carries out in the SimArena makes her more experienced. She takes fewer hits and eventually manages to complete invasions without being hit by the sentry droids.
However, each time she sees a DT2 sentry droid aiming its blaster rifle at her, she thinks back to Eline. Each time she hallucinates seeing Eline in the same room as her, Eva feels hatred and the desire for revenge building up inside her chest, and she struggles to withstand it.
12 days into their training in the SimArena, Eva walks through the corridor back to her barracks after having eaten at the Academy's mess hall. It's been a busy day and she had been training for hours, feeling her muscles ache as she lists the things she should do and shouldn't do in a raid. Blaster raised finger on the trigger, eyes on the gunsight, split off, and clear the rooms one by one until the entire building is covered. Of course, she can't forget the most important thing of all: take it easy and don't rush, it leads to errors that could be easily prevented by slowing down a little. Eva repeats the list to memorize it.
''Hey, Eva,'' she hears.
Eva turns around and sees Peyton catching up with her, holding her datapad in her hand.
''Where are you going?'' she asks.
''Back to the barracks, I'm exhausted.''
Peyton nods. ''Are you uh, open to some fun?''
''Fun? What will we be doing then?''
''You'll see,'' grins Peyton. ''Wanna come?''
''Yeah, sure,'' replies Eva, and she starts following Peyton, intrigued by what she's planning to do.
Eva follows Peyton through the empty corridors with here and there some astromech droids driving around and Stormtroopers guarding.
''Where are we going?'' asks Eva, walking behind her.
''We're going to The Well,'' replies Peyton, still holding her datapad in her hand.
''What are we going to do there?''
Peyton giggles. ''You'll find out.''
Eva continues to follow Peyton through the Academy, curiously what they'll do in The Well. They eventually reach the facility, but instead of walking on floor level, they walk over the catwalks suspended high above the floor. They're suspended so high that Eva can nearly touch the ceiling.
''Look,'' says Peyton, gesturing to a grey figure walking on the floor.
Eva sees it's a droid walking below them on the floor, cleaning the facility with a vacuum cleaner after intensive training of one of the cadet squads.
''That's a fifth-class cleaning droid,'' says Peyton. ''Their shiny design might blink out, but their intelligence definitely doesn't.''
Then, Eva makes the connection, and she shifts her head to Peyton with a mischievous grin on her face. ''You're not going to do it, are you?''
Peyton giggles. ''Of course, I'm going to do it. Come on.''
She walks back to the doorway they entered the catwalk through, and Eva watches as she plugs her datapad into a computer terminal in the wall, and Peyton is exactly what Eva expected her to do.
''Let's figure out how much that droid's CPU blinks out,'' says Peyton with a grin on her face, tapping relentlessly on her datapad.
The little computer screen at the terminal lights up as Peyton connects with the system.
''For how long did you have that?'' asks Eva, looking at her datapad.
''Since I was seven,'' replies Peyton, shifting her head up to Eva. ''I never had something I adored more than this.''
Eva nods, intrigued by the girl's story with her datapad. Peyton, saying that she never had something she adored more than her datapad seems to imply to Eva that it was one of the girl's few things that kept her running every day. Since she had abusive parents, it seemed like her datapad was one of the very few things that kept her from going insane, turning into a child behaving like her parents.
''I'm in,'' says Peyton.
''What will you do first?'' asks Eva.
Peyton grins as she shifts her head up. ''Well, watch this,'' and she taps on her datapad.
Within a few seconds, Eva notices the fluorescent lights turning off in the facility, leaving The Well behind in the darkness. Together, they look over the railing of the catwalk as they see the droid stopping in its track. After some time of looking around, the droid walks to a control panel at floor level next to an open doorway.
''Now what?'' asks Eva, shifting her head to Peyton.
''Let's see for how long we can fool that droid,'' says the girl.
Eva nods and she shifts her head back to the droid as it walks on floor level. As she barely sees it in the dark approaching the control panel, the droid flips the switch and the lights go on. But as soon as the droid turns around to continue its cleaning duty, Peyton taps on her datapad and turns off the lights again.
Confused, the droid walks back and flips the switch, but as soon as the lights flicker on, Peyton instantly turns them off again, and Eva starts to grin. The droid tries flipping the switch again and again, Peyton turns the lights off so quickly that they didn't even have the time to light up. From afar, Eva can hear the sound of pounding on metal as the droid keeps flipping the switch with force, trying to turn on the lights, and she starts to giggle.
''Can. Not. Compute,'' Eva hears the droid saying.
''You see?'' giggles Peyton. ''They're not smarter than a Bantha.''
Eva couldn't help but giggle, seeing the droid struggle to comprehend what is going on with the lights as it keeps slamming the switch. Playfully, Peyton keeps jabbing her finger onto her datapad, letting the lights flicker as the droid turns them on.
Then Eva stops giggling as she hears the faint voice of a Stormtrooper.
''What's going on there?'' she hears one trooper ask.
Eva's heart skips a beat, fearing that they're caught hacking into the Academy's computer system and abusing it for their joy. Shifting her head, she sees a glimpse of a Stormtrooper who's about to enter the catwalk from the other side of the facility.
Then she feels a warm hand grabbing hers.
''Come on,'' says Peyton, giggling, and she pulls Eva away from the catwalk.
Following her friend into the corridors, Eva's giggles subside, feeling happy to have a friend like Peyton in a serious phase of her life. It makes her lose herself from the disciplined, monotone training, giving Eva some space to breathe, feeling not worried anymore about the problems she still has with Roslin and the struggles at the SimArena. Entering the barracks, she couldn't help but smile. In a serious business like the Academy, a little mischief is exactly what Eva needs.
As Kirbley walks over the catwalks, he oversees a squad of cadets storming a two-storey building. He sees the squad entering the building and red flashes coming out of the windows as he assumes they're shooting their way in. The large fluorescent light on the ceiling casts the Arena in a white-blue hue.
His father joins him and stands next to him on the catwalk. His grey jacket blends in with the grey walls and catwalk of the Arena.
''What squad is this?'' asks his father.
''That's VSRC005, Vaulent Special Recruitment Corps,'' replies Kirbley. ''They've been training for little over two months now.''
''How are they performing?''
''Mostly excellent. Their guidance droid reports to me about their physical and mental state, and besides a bit of friction between the team leader and a member, they're doing well. Performance-wise, the squad ranks among one of the highest-scoring in the Night Force program. We have 10 squads, and VSRC006 is the third best so far.''
''Excellent. Night Force is working I see.''
''Yeah, and we've just started implementing the first new training sessions. The personal combat training was something we managed to set up right away, but it took us quite some time to construct the SimArena. So far, the hard work seems to pay off, but I'm still worried about it.''
''Tell me about it, son.''
''Usually, there is always a bit of competition in a casual cadet squad outside the Night Force program. But Night Force squads seem to have more competition, just look at VSRC005 for example. The team leader is Roslin Verin and the member this girl has problems with is Eva Young. Both are 13 years of age and have entered the Academy in nearly the same situation. Lost parents, lost house, and unbelievably loyal. The only difference is that Roslin Verin already had a bit of combat experience inherited from her father, while Eva Young had none. It caused friction between the two, and they both had an incident two weeks ago when they had a physical fight over a personal victory at The Well. Though it's something I expected to happen, I fear it's just the tip of the iceberg.''
''Well, time will tell, and as soon as Imperial High Command receives the first operation results, we'll likely receive more funding.''
''That would be a blessing.''
It goes quiet as they look at the squad of cadets blasting their way through the building. Red light flashes through the windows in the walls, and the blaster shots are faintly audible.
''Father,'' says Kirbley, shifting his head to his father. ''I've just gotten a report from Imperial Intelligence on that Rebel hide-out in the city. They estimate 40 Rebel insurgents to be hiding there.''
''Has the Stormtrooper Corps already been notified?''
''Yes they have,'' replies Kirbley, shifting her head back to the cadets raiding the building. ''MI is currently planning the raid.''
His father nods. ''How long have these cadets been training in the Arena?''
Kirbley shifts his head towards his father to answer, but then he realizes the thing his question is leading to and it concerns him.
''You want these squads to take part in the MI's raid?'' asks Kirbley.
''Yes, I do.''
''It's not safe for them to take part in it. They've only had two months of training.''
''An hour of service in wartime is more valuable than a week of training,'' replies his father. ''Having the squads to partake in the MI's raid will get them to gain more experience far more than a month of training, and it will indicate who's ready for the military.''
''Father, I don't want any cadet to die there,'' replies Kirbley, and his frustration starts to increase. ''I'm concerned about their mental state during and after the raid, there are too many things that could bring their safety into jeopardy. As I said before, we've only seen the tip of the iceberg.''
''Do you trust in Carter's training he and his colleagues give?''
''I do.''
''Then you trust the cadets to prove themselves. Let this be an interim test to see whether they're mentally capable of doing the job. Seeing who's not eligible for the harsh military environment will benefit the Night Force program in the long run.''
Kirbley looks away from his father. He's too concerned for the wellbeing of his cadets, but he trusts Carter and his colleagues, and thus he trusts his cadets to do the job, so he agrees with his father's proposal.
''Alright then,'' replies Kirbley, ''but we'll have to monitor their mental state closely after the test, and I choose which squads partake in the MI's raid.''
''That's good,'' says his father. ''I'll discuss further with Intelligence and the Stormtrooper Corps. For now, keep an eye on the squads and keep them training intensively in the SimArena.''
''I will,'' replies Kirbley.
After that, his father walks away at a quick pace, on his way to discuss with Imperial Intelligence and the security forces how to execute the raid on that Rebel outpost together with the cadet squads.
Kirbley turns his head back and sees the cadets have already cleared the entire building in the Arena as they walk out with their rifles in their hands. From afar, he can see a Pantoran hugging a team member. This little, heart-warming moment, makes Kirbley trust the cadets more to carry out the job when it's time. Although there are still concerns, Kirbley is determined to get his cadets to improve and stay mentally sane.
