Star Force: Headstrong (SF72) (6 page)

That was beyond her prevue though, so she was
determined to do what she could in support of those that would be going out to
fight. Already there was a small number of advanced Protovic teams fighting
alongside Axius, but the bulk of their limited military was still involved in
permanent training to get them ready and establish a core group that others
generations could build upon. Everything here had been built from scratch, and
while they did have all the wisdom and experience of Star Force and the
leadership of a trailblazer, some things still had to be earned with time and
the Protovic were no exception.

But they were earning their keep and learning, which
was why Naisha was so excited to be here and be a part of it, finally, after
getting passed up so many times for transfer. She loved the community on Onyx,
but now that she was here she realized this was truly where she belonged.

Another added bonus was that the Veliquesh that had
tried to kill her and the others were now stuck in a prison facility in another
system entirely, rather than being right next door. They couldn’t get out
unless they earned their way out, but the fact that a lot of them were still
alive and unrepentant was a disturbing thought. She knew that wouldn’t last
forever, and even if Star Force isolation kept them alive longer than they
would have been in their former decrepit society, they wouldn’t last forever unless
they attained self-sufficiency, which Naisha knew required a lot of training
and the willingness to analyze and rework a person’s interior.

Veliquesh didn’t do that. They prayed to the Nash to
aid them rather than trying to do it themselves. She’d already heard that some
of the prison facilities were being torn down and the materials recycled as
they were no longer needed, for the prisoner count was diminishing with each
year. A few would earn their way out, but the rest were simply dying off from
what had mistakenly been considered old age in the past. Now she realized it
was really physical and mental degradation.

In short, the Veliquesh that didn’t learn from Star
Force and become Protovic were going to have their sick culture kill them
through an alternative means…stagnation. The tools were there for them to use
and learn from, but if they didn’t they’d eventually die off. All of them
would, and that thought comforted Naisha. Not because of their failure to
change, but because the nightmare of the Veliquesh would, some day in the
future, be completely erased from the galaxy, and the ongoing deconstruction
efforts of the prison facilities meant that day wasn’t too far away.

Here though she didn’t have to worry about that, or
see it. These were all Protovic, as she was, and they had a bright future ahead
of them if they were willing to work at it, and she was, for while she was
going to be working in the cafeteria she was also taking additional maturia
courses at a slow pace attempting to create new skills. Right now that was just
a basic, all around training program, but if she showed aptitude in anything
she was going to pursue it, for while she was helping Star Force in a tiny way
she wanted to do more.

And even if it took her 100 years of training to get
to the point where she was able to do that, she was ok with it. For now that
she was self-sufficient she had all the time in the galaxy, and no matter what
meager achievements she was able to make going forward she would always strive
for more. Because that was the Star Force way and, above all else, she wanted
to repay them as much as she could, knowing that debt could never fully be
repaid. They had saved her from darkness and given her a place in the light…and
she was going to defend and support that light in any way, shape, or form
she
could, in perpetuity.

6

January 3, 2880

Aphat
System (Bsidd
Region)

Nym

Jenran took a deep breath and set himself, eyeing the
target at the end of the run-up. When the tone sounded he took off running, not
at full sprint, as he’d learned previously, because while he needed speed he
also needed control and accuracy. He had 55 meters to work with and got up to
decent speed in half that, then transitioned into a ‘floating’ stride as he set
himself into a forward lean, finishing with his last few strides sending him
into a partial lunge forward.

He hit the target head first with his body at about a
40 degree angle to the ground then bounced off it and landed haphazardly to the
left. The Protovic flipped around into a tri-point stance and shook off the
momentary disorientation with a twitch of his head, then ran off to the side to
touch a finish pedestal. This challenge was two part, with the level of impact
being measured as well as the recovery time, and as soon as he hit the pedestal
with his glowing red/green hand his score was displayed above it in holo.

Jenran frowned. His combined score had gone up 16
points, but his kinetic impact had decreased 7. It seemed that no matter what
he tried he always lost ground in some way.

He hit the reset button on the side of the finish
pedestal and walked back to the start point, set himself again, then took off
running. He hit the wall in a similar manner, impacting it with the exoskeleton
cap on his head where a Human would have had hair, but if one of them had tried
this they’d knock themselves unconscious or snap their neck. Jenran didn’t have
to worry about either because when he impacted his exoskeleton ran down the
back of his head and connected to his torso, so as long as he held his form
there wasn’t going to be any bending involved.

The bounce coming off the wall was uncontrollable and
somewhat random, but others had learned how to at least predict it so they
could stay on their feet and get to the pedestal almost instantaneously. His current
bounce sent him
neither left or
right, but rather
returned him directly opposite his momentum path…which was a rarity. It bounced
him back half a meter and he fell flat on his face.

Jenran climbed to his feet and jogged the few steps
over to the finish pedestal on the right, for there were two to accommodate
which way you bounced off the wall. He’d been screwed by the reverse direction
immediately, and as a result his score ended up being junk…yet his kinetic impact
had gone up 21 points from the previous run.

“Having trouble?” a voice asked from nearby.

Jenran turned around and saw
Kleeva
watching him. “I can’t get a handle on this.”

“Your head is more rounded, so it’s going to be harder
to apply a predictable hit,” she said, walking over to him and hitting the
reset button on the pedestal. “All males are.”

“They don’t have the same difficulty that I do,” he
complained.

“Watch me,” she said, running back to the start and
reversing direction with a single foot plant that turned into a light sprint.
When she hit the wall head first her flatter cranial dome rolled her to the
right. Her shoulder hit the wall, then her body rolled across it and she landed
on her feet already moving towards the finish pedestal. She slapped the button
and got a transition time less than half of what Jenran had been scoring on his
best runs.

Kleeva
tilted her neck to
the left, with a soft pop sounding as her exoskeleton readjusted. “See what I
did?”

“You stayed on your feet.”

“No…well yes, but that’s not what I meant. I turned my
head a fraction prior to impact so I knew which way I’d be bouncing.”

Jenran frowned. “Doesn’t that reduce your impact
score?”

“Not when you only do it a fraction. I can measure it
out better because of my flat head, but I’ve seen some males do it better than
me so I know you can.”

Jenran looked down at his shorter friend who was also
going through commando training. All females were smaller than the males by
about 12% mass, but aside from a slightly flatter head and a few other small
cosmetic differences they were every bit as effective as the males, though in
the case of this training drill they were better because of that cranium
difference.

“I’ll keep trying, but my scores aren’t even at the
minimum yet.”

“I’m only just over it,” she argued.

“You’re lower mass, so that’s to be expected.”

“I have to hit the same scores as you, regardless.”

“I’m just saying your technique is better, and I don’t
know how to train myself a better one other than throwing myself at this stupid
wall a bazillion times and hoping to accidentally improve.”

“You know, when we get into actual combat we’re going
to have helmets and targets that aren’t flat walls.”

“Exactly my point. We have to adapt and I can’t figure
out how to do it here on the easy, predictable, non-moving challenge course.”

“It’s all in the angle of impact.”

“I can’t feel it enough to control it.”

“Then slow down.”

“My score tanks from the lack of impact if I do that.”

“But you might need to in order to learn the control necessary.
You can gradually up it until you find the break point, then fiddle with it
there.”

“I have to learn this at speed.”

“And you will…after you learn it at slow speed,” she
insisted, pulling him by the arm. “Come on. I’ll pace you.”

“We’ll run into each other on the bounce.”

“Afraid of a few bumps?” she said, citing the now well-known
endurance that the race had compared to the others in Star Force. With their
exoskeletal
patches and almost Gumby-like flesh elsewhere,
the Protovic could take a lot more pounding than others could without getting
injured, so much so that it was rumored that their trailblazer patron had
designed this and other collision tactics specifically for their combat
use…things the other races couldn’t do without hurting themselves.

“Fine,” he relented, walking with her back to the start
and taking up a position alongside the shorter Protovic.

“Mimic me,” she said, walking forward at first then
transitioning into a slow jog that she added to at the very end with a lunge
forward into the wall. Jenran made for a sloppy shadow and hit a fraction of a
second after her, with both of them rolling to the outside and away from each other.

“Try to match me closer. I’ll increase slowly,”
Kleeva
said, walking back to the start.

“I feel like a youngling,” he complained, glancing
around at the other identical courses being used nearby. Those Protovic weren’t
going anywhere near this slow, and most of them were hitting scores that he
hadn’t even come close to.

“You are one,” she said pithily before giving him a
countdown with her left hand, dropping it as she took off. This time he held to
her pace better and they both impacted the wall at nearly the same time, then
they reset and began to repeat the binary attack on multiple run-throughs,
increasing their speed gradually as they progressed and per
Kleeva’s
choice…which was a much slower rate than Jenran preferred.

They were up to their 21st repetition when he hit and
bounced the wrong way, slamming into her left elbow as she rolled across the
wall. He dropped to the ground and didn’t get up while she did, recovering and
transitioning over to the pedestal. When
Kleeva
tapped it and turned around she saw him still lying on the ground clutching his
crotch.

“What’s wrong?”

“What do you think?” he groaned.

Kleeva’s
hand rose to cover
her mouth as she laughed. “You weren’t closed up?”

“Apparently not,” he said, embarrassed.

“Why the hell not? You know I didn’t do that on
purpose.”

“Doesn’t really matter at this point,” he said,
getting to a knee but rising no further.

“But why weren’t you closed up?” she asked,
referencing the pelvic plates on the males that covered their genitalia when
not in use. Females had internal organs and merely an aperture that was not
protected, but very hard to hit. If a male got caught with his plates spread
and hit there with even the slightest bump it was said to be extremely painful.

“You.”

“Me?”

“I wasn’t concentrating when I hit the wall and I
guess I…spread on accident.”

“Because of me?”

“You are one of the hottest girls here,” he said in
mild defense.

“Oh…really? You never mentioned you had a thing for me
before…”

“I didn’t plan to,” he said, wincing as he got up, then
trying to stand still and let the unbearable pain bleed off. “I’m here to
fight…not mate.”

“You can’t do either right now,” she said, still
smirking. “Wow. Never realized I had that effect on guys.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” he asked, still in
considerable pain that didn’t want to go away.

“I’m sorry…but yeah. A bit.”

“This is why you don’t do tandem runs.”

“No, this is why you keep yourself closed up,” she
argued, still not quite believing that he’d been caught off guard because of
her.

“I’ll remember that,” he said stiffly.

“It really hurts, doesn’t it?”

“You have no idea.”

“How long before you start feeling…normal?”

“Depends how hard you’re hit, and you stuck me good
with your elbow.”

“Actually, it was you that rolled into me, remember?
At least we found your speed limit. Now you can work on gradually increasing it
without losing control.”

“I really hate you right now.”

“What happened?” another commando trainee asked,
coming over to where Jenran was standing with an awkward lean forward.

“Don’t ask.”

“He got caught open,”
Kleeva
told him.

The other male tried to suppress a smirk, then looked
at him with genuine concern. “How bad?”

“Elbow.”

“Ouch,” he said empathetically. “Been there before.
Nothing you can do but wait it out.”

“I know.”

“My condolences,” the other male said, heading back to
his own training drills.

“I’m sorry,”
Kleeva
said
after he’d left.

“Not your fault…but I still hate you.”

“At least that’s one thing girls don’t have to worry
about in combat.”

“Lucky you.”

“Do you want me to find you a medic?”

“No.”

“How about a stun gun?”

Jenran didn’t answer vocally, but gave her a look that
said ‘maybe.’

“Tell you what. You rest and I’ll get back to my own
training. Later on today, or whenever you fully recover, I’ll make it up to
you,” she said, leaning in close to his head and whispering. “Pain now,
pleasure later, all even?”

“No need,” he said, mentally kicking himself for turning
her down but he was in so much residual pain that his subconscious didn’t argue
much. “Just an accident, and my fault. Forget about it.”

“And what if I insist?” she said, gently licking his
forehead.

“Not really in the flirting mood right now,” he said
honestly.

“Oh…right. Sorry. I owe you, though. Guess we’ll
continue this later then,” she said, stepping away and hesitating. “If you
don’t find me, I’ll find you. I want to even up.”

“Fine…later,” he said, sitting back down on the
ground.

Kleeva
cringed and walked
away.

Jenran looked down at his crotch, then up at the wall
where the misfortune had occurred. “Can’t get any worse,” he told himself,
standing up and walking to the start position. If he was going to be in pain he
might as well be getting something out of these minutes than just sitting and
wallowing in discomfort…that and he didn’t want to attract any more attention.

Making sure he was tightly closed up he jogged forward
and very lightly hit the wall head on, rolling to the left and over to the
pedestal. He didn’t even look at the score, resetting it and going back to try
again. With each repetition the pain got less and less to the point where he
was able to start processing what
Kleeva
had been
saying pre-flirt.

Right now he had to go slow, and that restriction made
him realize she was right. He was worrying too much about his appearance and
needed to work this from the slow end up. Now that he literally had no pride
left there was no shame in taking these runs slow and trying to work on his impact
deflection angles.

Turning his brain off to everything else he just
repeated the drill more times than he knew until he accidentally set a new
personal best combined score…and at a lower speed than he had been attempting
before. Frowning, he reset the drill and did it again, getting almost the exact
same score, only 1 point lower. Jenran did it four more times the exact same way,
ruling out the possibility that it was just an accident, then he hit the reset
again and took his start position, the pain of his collision now almost
entirely gone.

He took off at full speed and tried to apply the same
technique he’d been using to this attempt, not expecting to succeed but hoping
to see that something had changed. When he hit the wall he bounced off randomly
again, but he flopped onto the ground and got to his feet well enough and
tagged the pedestal, seeing that the kinetic impact was decent, but more
importantly he’d been able to feel his error on contact. There was no way he
could have controlled it, but he wasn’t numbing up for that moment of impact
like he had been before.

Now that he could ‘see’ what was occurring he knew he
could learn to do it like the others. In retrospect he realized he’d just been
trying for too much and hadn’t allowed his senses to calibrate to the hard
impacts. He’d been mentally flinching with each but now, having let his mind
gradually adjust to harder and harder impacts, he could go through it ‘eyes
open,’ which he tested with several more runs before slowing down again and
picking up from where he’d left off on his gradual improvement, now confident
that he’d be able to get this within the next few days.