''Signs of hypothermia?''
As Eva sits on the bed with her legs curled over each other with her training helmet lying next to her on the bedsheet, she quizzes Ashara to help her prepare for a medical exercise tomorrow. It's morning and soon the usual training in the Simulation Arena will start and they'll have less time to study. Eva reads the questions out loud on Ashara's datapad she received from the Academy.
Ashara stares into the distance to think, her golden tattoos shimmering on her cheeks. ''Wait, give me a second or two to think.''
Eva nods, waiting patiently for Ashara to answer as she ties her hair up in a bun.
''Shivering, fumbling hands,'' Ashara sums up. She then struggles to sum up the remaining signs of hypothermia.
''Skorvit,'' curses Ashara. ''I really don't know the others.''
Eva chuckles. ''Shivering, exhaustion, confusion, fumbling hands, memory loss, slurred speech, drowsiness, and feeling very warm in extreme cases,'' she sums up.
''Oh, right,'' says Ashara. ''Shivering, exhaustion, confusion, fumbling hands, memory loss, and what were the others?''
''Slurred speech, drowsiness, and feeling very warm in extreme cases,'' repeats Eva. ''There are more signs of hypothermia than there are Rebels with a brain.''
Ashara giggles. ''Right, right. I'm not sure if I can memorize all of that by tomorrow.''
Eva lays down Ashara's datapad on her lap. ''I'll make sure you do.''
Ashara smiles, and Eva feels happy to help her out, but also that she has a friend from an alien species.
Non-human species have always been seen as the inferior group since the establishment of the New Order. And rightfully so. Humans have always been the top species, the apex predator of the galaxy. The xenophobic culture is clearly visible as not many alien species are let into the Academy. It's rare seeing even the most near-human species, and though Eva thinks the human race is still the most superior, having a Pantoran friend makes her interested. Seeing an alien living in a xenophobic culture is rare, but seeing one loyal to the Empire just like her makes Eva curious. Are there more species who are this loyal to the Empire?
''Hit me with the next question,'' says Ashara.
''Sure,'' replies Eva, and she reads a question on Ashara's datapad out loud. ''What's the effective way of treating a blaster wound?''
''That one's easy,'' says Ashara. ''Assess, control bleeding, cleanse and dress the wound, and provide pain relief.''
Eva smiles. ''You got it all right.''
''I knew I would. Alright, next question.''
Eva looks at Ashara's datapad and reads the next question. Question 17: How is pain relief administered directly into the blood vessels of a wounded individual? The answer: jabbing a medspike in the affected area of a wounded's body.
''Hey, Eva,'' says Ashara, pulling Eva out of her focus.
She shifts her head up.
''How are you and Roslin doing?'' Ashara asks, nearly whispering
Eva puts down her datapad on her lap and looks over her shoulder, seeing Roslin sitting on the bunk bed on the other side of the barracks talking to Peyton.
''Not great,'' whispers Eva, shifting her head back to Ashara.
''Why? I thought you apologized like weeks ago.''
Eva sighs. ''She's not willing to apologize for the punch she gave me, and honestly, I'm not ready yet too.''
''Why not? There's a reliability issue in the squad now. We can't have that when we're all going to serve.''
''I know, but I guess it needs time.''
Apologizing to Roslin is something Eva is still struggling with, but I guess it just needs time. Roslin is probably still too angry about everything to accept an apology, and she's too hostile for me to feel the joy of working together with her. She's still obnoxious.
Eva is then pulled out of her thoughts as she hears the buzzer going off. She puts down the datapad onto the bedsheet and stands up from the bed as the door of the sleeping dorm slides open. As Ashara stands up, ACY-4 enters the room with its metal body shining in the fluorescent light.
''Girls, today is day 87 at the Academy,'' says the droid with its monotone, female voice. ''Like the previous weeks, you will be training at the Simulation Arena. However, the next week is going to be different, as you will prepare for a special, interim test. Your taskmaster will provide you with the remaining, necessary details. Please follow me towards the Arena.''
As the droid turns around, Eva picks up her training helmet from Ashara's bed and puts it on as she follows the droid out of the dorm room. As they walk through the corridor, Eva wonders what this special, interim test will be and what will exactly be tested. What will this test be? Since we've been training in the SimArena for a long time now, will that be tested, invading a building?
As they enter the vast Simulation Arena with a two-storey apartment building in construction in the centre, Eva assumes her questions to be answered. ACY-4 hands over the squad to the taskmaster as he lets the robotic arms construct the building, and the cadets gather around him to hear further instructions.
''Cadets,'' says the taskmaster as the robotic arms finish constructing. ''In the following six days, training here at the SimArena will be a little bit different. So far you've been training on fictional buildings coming straight out of my sleeves. However, from now to next week, you'll be training here in the SimArena for a real-life invasion of an apartment building in downtown Vaulent Capital. This invasion will be the interim test to evaluate your skills.''
Eva's heart starts to pound in her chest as she hears that she'll be partaking in a real-life invasion. She's excited about it, but at the same time nervous and afraid too. Her skills will be tested, so she won't be able to afford a mistake.
''You'll get more information later, but for now, you'll be training for the invasion,'' says the taskmaster. ''Thanks to information from Imperial Intelligence, I was able to replicate the same building here in the SimArena, and you'll be training on how to invade it and clear out all the targets that hide in it.''
The taskmaster turns on the hologram, displaying maps of all the floors in the two-storey building. Again, the walls are displayed as blue lines and the doors are white sections of those lines. The taskmaster then repeats the nearly universal strategy for invading this two-storey building. After entering the building, the team of four splits into two separate teams, clear the rooms one by one and takes down any insurgents they come across.
As the taskmaster points with his finger to some sections of the map, Eva then notices something is missing from the map. She can't tell what exactly is missing, and she wonders what it is.
''Sir?''
Eva turns her head and sees it's Peyton who's reaching out to the taskmaster.
''Yes, cadet?'' he asks.
''Why are the sentry droids not displayed on the maps?'' Peyton asks.
Eva then realizes it's the sentry droids that are missing from the maps, which were usually displayed as small dots scattered across the rooms.
''Because like in real life, we don't know the positions of all the insurgents hiding inside,'' explains the taskmaster. ''You have to be prepared for surprises which you'll be trained for. With important information missing, it's up to your skills and instincts to make the right decisions to anticipate the most unexpected situations.''
Eva and the cadets collectively nod as the taskmaster explains.
In the next hours, Eva and her squad rehearse the invasion on this grey, building of two-storeys several times. She splits off of the team with Ashara or Peyton, stays on floor level or goes to the next, and proceeds to clear the rooms one by one. Each time she enters a corridor or a room, she feels her heart pound in her chest and she tries to gasp for air as quietly as possible, nervous about what she could stumble upon. Each corridor and room she enters is a complete surprise. There could be one or more sentry droids, ready to take her out, or the room is completely empty.
However, facing the unexpected is not something that worries her. Eva trusts the skills she developed at the Academy and knows she can rely on her team members. Although Eva's trust in Roslin, and Roslin's trust in her hasn't healed yet, she knows she must rely on her, or else she fails the interim test of next week. It's hard for her to rely on someone who she doesn't like and shouldn't deserve her trust, but Eva has no other option.
For the third time, Eva makes her way to the second floor with Peyton covering her back. They climb the stairs with their rifles raised while trying to make as little sound as possible. As Eva nears the top of the staircase, she slowly rises her head above the floor and sees the corridor is empty.
Eva climbs up the stairs and walks through the corridor. Eva splits off from Peyton as she stumbles upon the first door. She follows what she was taught, and presses the door button with her elbow while she keeps her rifle raised. Meanwhile, Peyton walks on towards the next room to clear.
The door slides open and Eva's gunsight falls directly upon a DT2 sentry droid. Eva immediately pulls the trigger and hits the droid. Within a second, she notices another droid standing on the other side of the room, and Eva aims her E-10 rifle and hits it.
After clearing the rooms attached to the corridor one by one, Eva walks towards the end of it. In the end, the corridor makes a tight turn to the right, leading to more rooms to clear. As Peyton covers her back, Eva walks around the corner of the tight turn while keeping her rifle raised, but her heart sinks. She stumbles directly on a group of three sentry droids and they have their rifles all aimed at her.
Before she could get back to cover, Eva feels her chest hit by one of the droids, and she falls onto the floor with an aching pain. She is stunned as she drops to her knees and falls over with her stomach on the hard floor. Dank ferrik, I've been hit.
Peyton shoots down the sentry droids one by one, and by the time the last one falls onto the floor with a loud thud, Eva manages to push herself off the floor. Peyton runs towards her and helps her stand up.
''Eva, you're OK?'' asks Peyton worried.
Eva nods. She can still feel the pain aching from the stun and presses her hand gently on her chest to ease the pain, but she's determined to go on, and she proceeds to carefully clear the rooms one by one with Peyton.
After the round, clearing the rooms with her heart pounding nervously in her chest, Eva and her squad members evaluate their actions.
''Peyton, you scanned the rooms too quickly,'' says the taskmaster, pointing to the girl, ''causing you to overlook the enemy and being nearly hit if it wasn't for your outstandingly quick reflexes.''
''Yes sir,'' says Peyton, nodding in acknowledgement.
''You, Eva,'' he then says.
Eva feels her heart starting to pound heavily in her chest from the nervousness as the taskmaster walks towards her.
''You went too quickly around the corner,'' says the taskmaster. ''It caused you to stumble abruptly upon a group of enemies you couldn't handle. Next time, peek around the corner before you proceed. Don't let yourself be surprised. Instead, see the surprise from afar before it gets you. Got it?''
''Got it, sir,'' acknowledges Eva.
Again, Eva is deemed too reckless, and she feels disappointed in herself, knowing she should do better.
''Now you hear it from others for a change,'' says Roslin, shifting her head to Eva.
Eva shifts her head away from Roslin, blushing with embarrassment as she slowly starts to agree with Roslin, the person she likes and trusts the least outside the skirmishes.
Roslin deemed her as too reckless in one of the first exercises here at the Simulation Arena. Eva recalls when she argued with Roslin that she should shut up, but now she starts to agree with her team leader. Eva realizes that she has a hint of recklessness inside of her and that Roslin was right about her. Still, she's an obnoxious girl.
Although it sometimes forms a problem, Eva is sure her recklessness will soon fade away. The exercises at the Simulation Arena to prepare them for the real-life invasion discourages recklessness, as Eva now doesn't know where the enemy is at. A room could be empty or occupied by one or more enemies. She turned too quickly around the corner and thus unexpectedly faced more enemies than she could take, so she was shot down in less than a second.
The reckless mistake Eva made causes her to carry out the exercise slower, even though she's familiar with the strategy from the training she had in the past weeks. The mistake she made got Eva to learn from it, and she's determined to improve herself and get better each day.
It's the night before the test. As the rest of her squad go sleeping early to get most of the rest, Eva remains awake. In the grey sporting room with the fluorescent light casting the floor in a dim white-yellow light, Eva pushes her limbs to her limits.
Placing her hands next to her ears, the fingers pointed to her head, she pushes herself off the floor. Pressing through her hands and her feet, she gently lifts her hips off the floor. Feeling her muscles heat up from the tension, she slowly straightens her arms and legs and presses her chest towards the fluorescent lights. Straightening her arms and legs, Eva sees the room upside down, seeing the rubber floor above her and the fluorescent lights below her field of vision. Shifting her head, she gazes between her hands which are shoulder width apart, expanding her chest and engaging her core. She feels her hands and feet aching a little as all of her weight is divided over them.
Her breath shivers as she tries to breathe as steadily as possible, feeling her muscles ache and pushing them to the limits. Performing the upward bow, she clears her mind to prepare herself for tomorrow. Eva doesn't know the exact details, but she knows it will be a hard test. Clearing the rooms with a real threat makes her heart pound in her chest long before it's going to happen. Feeling her muscles tremble a little as she keeps her limbs in the upward bow position, she clears her mind and shakes off some of the nervousness. Focusing on her shivering breathing, the upward bow makes her feel peaceful before the storm arrives. She can hear the fluorescent lights faintly buzzing, the ventilation shaft inlet softly humming, her heart pounding in her che-
''Don't strain your muscles.''
The ambient sounds of the surroundings disappear immediately as Eva recognizes the voice. She lets out a sigh and slowly backs down to the floor, tucking her chin to her chest and bending her elbows. Feeling the cold rubber mat on her back, Eva sees Roslin standing in the doorway with her arms crossed. What the hell is she doing here?
''Just mind your own business, or something?'' says Eva, tilting her head to Roslin as she lies on the rubber mat.
Roslin sighs and approaches Eva. ''Tomorrow is the great test. It's something we've trained for in the last couple of weeks.''
''I know,'' captain Obvious . The frustration starts to rise in Eva's chest. Is this why she's interfering with what I'm doing, announcing some Bantha fodder I've known for like centuries?
''What's the matter?'' asks Eva.
Roslin approaches her and reaches out with her hand. Eva sighs and she takes her hand, getting herself from the rubber mat and feeling Roslin's cold hand. What is this? Why is she reaching out to pick me up from the floor? Eva wonders what's going on in the girl's mind as she makes eye contact with Roslin.
''The test of tomorrow isn't one I expected to get at the Academy,'' says Roslin. ''It's raiding a Rebel hide-out with a real danger to our lives.''
''So what?'' asks Eva. We've been training this for weeks,
''So we have to rely on each other, trust each other, and be sure to drag each other out of the building in case the other is injured''
Eva rolls her eyes and scoffs, preparing to walk away as the frustration builds up. Is she really expecting me to trust her with joy after that kriffin' punch she gave me at The Well and the pointless apology afterwards?
''Good luck with convincing me to trust you,'' says Eva, and she steps away from Roslin towards the doorway.
The frustration that immediately built up as soon as Roslin told her not to sprain her muscles made the calmness in this room vaporize instantly. Roslin then reaches out and takes Eva's arm with her cold hand. Eva feels pushed back and instantly shifts her head back to Roslin. Is she seriously holding me back?
Eva's heart starts to pound and her eyes narrow as she makes eye contact with Roslin, wanting to scream at her to let go, but then she notices the girl isn't chewing on her usual package of gum. Roslin always chews gum no matter the time, but when she gets serious, she always takes it out, sticking it to her E-10 blaster or something else. Noticing the gum's absence in Roslin's jaws, Eva realizes something different is at play.
''Look Eva, to succeed tomorrow, we have to rely on each other,'' says Roslin, letting go of Eva's arm.
Eva scoffs. ''As if I feel the joy to trust you.''
''Reliability and trust are two different things. Sure, we don't like each other and we rather don't give each other a helping hand, but tomorrow, we both have to be sure that we can count on each other and not let the other be a sitting Mynock in a Rancor cave. I dislike you and you dislike me, but I want to feel assured that you'll do the job no matter our personal trust problems.''
''You're still an obnoxious person no matter what.''
''Eva, what is it that's holding you back? The test of tomorrow will be a life-or-death situation.''
''Why should you know?''
''Because the squad depends on it. Really, what is it? Anger? Jealousy? Distaste?''
Eva sighs. ''You didn't let me win in The Well when I struggled the most to reach the top three. You punched me in the face when your feelings were hurt. I know I deserved it, I was a pain in the ass too, but afterwards, you didn't even say sorry. I didn't apologize either because of the empty apology of yours. You looked down on me when I was shot so many times in the SimArena when I was just learning to master it. You're handling me as if I'm the problem.''
''And I honestly think you are the problem, the one that's holding the squad back. But we can't keep running around in a circle, we have to break out of it for the greater good.''
Eva rolls her eyes, feeling frustrated and wanting to get out, away from Roslin. ''I might decide to rely on you, but don't expect me to apologize to you for being a pain in the ass.''
''Let the test of tomorrow be an apology,'' says Roslin. ''If you just do your job as told, I might apologize. Prove that you're worthy.''
Eva stares at Roslin. You might apologize? That doesn't sound assuring , thinks Eva, but she knows she has no other choice. The squad depends on their relationship, and getting to trust each other is a must. ''Don't make it as empty as last time.''
''You got my word,'' assures Roslin.
''Fine. Can I go now, commander?'' asks Eva.
''Go, you're dismissed.''
Eva slowly steps away, keeping her eyes enlocked on Roslin to make sure she doesn't change her mind and suddenly announce new details, but the girl remains silent. Turning around, she walks away to the doorway and looks a couple of times over her shoulder, but Roslin remains silent. So she's serious. She's really open to apologising as long as I do my job tomorrow.
Walking through the silent corridors, her footsteps making faint thuds on the floor, Eva thinks back to the conversation numerous times. Because the squad depends on it. Really, what is it? Anger? Jealousy? Distaste? Thinking back to what Roslin asked, Eva knows it isn't just those three. The desire to take revenge for Eline and her parents is something that amplifies them, giving her the extra push in the back. It's this extra push that Eva knows will get her through the test of tomorrow with great results. She knows the desire for revenge is powerful, and she's sure that it will get her to succeed in the test. With a mix of determination and nervousness building up, she puts on her sleeping suit and lies in bed in the dark barracks. Closing her eyes, Eva calms down her pounding heart, and she rests for tomorrow.