COLD FEET

(Indonesia, February 2134)

"Feels good to be close to home," commented Eddie, checking out their new dormitory in a camp at Kalimantan, situated along the coast facing the Pacific Ocean. There are only 80 cadets now after the first month at South Africa.

"27 degrees Celsius now, higher than that of South Africa," commented Sean, looking at the rain outside. "At least if we were to get wet, we will not freeze to death."

Louis settled down on his bunk, waiting for the lights to cut in half an hour's time.

"I feel weird still," he said, "something does not feel right."

"After today's obstacle course and PT drilling the instructors actually prepared a gourmet dinner for us, quality matching that of 4-star hotel buffets, and there was no catch this time like with the bugs…" he said.

"I agree with you," said Sean. After all their daily intake of calories normally is just barely enough to keep them through the arduous training, not to mention being food-deprived and sleep-deprived from time to time.

Albert groaned, "cut it out, you 2 had been suffering from persecutory delusion since dinner was served, you guys barely touched your plates, though I really appreciated that as your generosity allowed the girls, Eddie and I to get extra servings. Besides, so what if it is really a ploy? At least we have filled stomac—"

The emergency gathering whistle interrupted him. The 4 of them immediately sprang out of bed, changing into uniforms and grabbing their assault backpacks, charging out of the dormitory into the gathering area. The rain mercilessly peppered on them. The rainfall itself is not heavy, what made it appear so is the strong wind, sending all of the loose straps on the cadets and their hair swaying wildly.

Instructors Reza, Nanami and Maia waited for them, dressed in Exo-suits.

Reza looked at his watch. "Head to the armoury, get in Exo-suits and full gear! Move!"

The cadets headed into the armoury, equipping themselves. Sean put on a set of soft body armour, then stepping into the Exo-suit, which then enclosed around his body, covering up his torso in armour plates that can stop a full powered rifle cartridge no matter the distance. His limbs are covered by plates that can stop pistol rounds and shrapnel. The entire Exo-suit is flame proof and protected against night vision. The hydrogen fuel cells went online, powering up the exoskeleton, allowing Sean to maintain a level of agility. A back module magnetically locked onto his back, consisting of his assault backpack, a grenade launcher module and the weapon bay which he can store up to 2 main weapons in. Sean then put on the front enforced armoured plate, allowing the Exo-suit's defence capability to rise up to be able to take a direct hit from an armour-penetrating anti-material rifle cartridge. The front plate also included his magazine and tool pouches.

Grabbing his rifle and slotting his pistol into his holster on his right thigh armour plate. Sean checked the gear on his waist sections, consisting of the grappling hook and ascension cable module, emergency medical pouch fixed on by a belt with Molle strips, and a gas mask filter bag/oxygen tank mount fastened onto the belt too by Molle strips.

Sean put on his helmet, rated against pistol rounds and shrapnel, as well as functioning as a pressurised helmet, the HUD activating spontaneously.

The cadets finished gearing up and re-assembled. The instructors led them into a cargo plane, which took off among the heavy rain and occasional thunder and lightning.

"Parachutes and oxygen tanks?" Ariel exclaimed, finding them under the seats.

The instructors remained silent throughout the plane ride, ignoring any questions posted by the curious cadets. Sean looked at the altitude meter, finding to his shock that they are flying at an altitude of 10,700m. He peeked out of the cabin window, finding them flying above the clouds in the dark night, with occasional lightning.

"Alright!" announced Nanami. "It's now 00.00 hours. Today's training begins! The first segment, HALO jump!"

"WHAT?!" exclaimed the cadets in shock. HALO jumping is an insertion tactic for armed forces to deploy stealthily, in which aircraft will fly at heights above the reach of anti-aircraft batteries and radars, then parachutists will free-fall at terminal velocity until reaching a low altitude at around 900m, the opening their parachutes.

"So, this is the catch," mused Sean. To do such an extreme training after a fulling dinner is real torture.

"Ma'am, we have just eaten, are you sure we are going to HALO jump?" asked a cadet.

"If you can't do it you can quit!" retorted Maia. "Anyone who gets cold feet is eliminated!"

"Your jump coordinates are in your HUD already, follow the instructions. Herbert is waiting for you all there. You will be scored and ranked based on arrival time!" continued Nanami as the instructors wore their parachutes and oxygen tanks.

"Check your oxygen and parachutes, we will decompress soon!" ordered Reza.

The cadets grabbed their parachutes and locked them onto their back modules magnetically, then pulled out the hose from the oxygen tank, connecting it to their helmets, and then mounting it on the slots.

"Cabin decompression in 3…2…1…"

The red light in the cabin changed to green, and the cadets activated their oxygen tanks, for soon there will be no atmosphere to breathe at such a high altitude once the cabin depressurised. The plane then swapped to VTOL mode, hovering.

The door opened, and the cadets saw the booming lightning of the clouds below, all of them subconsciously taking a step back in fear.

Nanami readied herself, preparing to jump. "I need 3 volunteers to start things off with me! Anyone?"

All of the cadets stood in silence. "Then we will allocate! Numbers 9, 92 and 4!" ordered Maia.

Sean feels like he is being targeted against, before he retired HALO jumping was his worst component.

He inched forward to the door, his mood akin to that of a death row inmate heading to the electric chair. Louis and Erika are not any better, their hearts beating out of their rib cages. They have HALO jumped before, but not in such a situation.

Nanami activated her night vision, jumping off the plane. Sean breathed in and out, activating his night vision, seating down at the edge of the plane, trying to push himself off yet his hands stubbornly kept themselves on the plane. He breathed a huge gulp of air, mustering enough strength to finally push off, free-falling into the midnight air of Indonesia. Louis jumped after Sean, while Erika remained frozen, hesitant.

A forceful kick from Maia then sent her off the plane, screaming.

Sean spread out his arms, slowing down and controlling his descent through openings in the clouds to avoid lightning, his eyes also fixed on the altitude meter.

"Altitude, 9000m."

He followed the directions on his HUD, keeping his limbs spread out, reaching the terminal velocity of around 203 km/h.

"Altitude 5000m."

"Altitude 2000m."

Sean turned around, seeing Louis and Erika approaching him. The 3 continued their descent together, directing towards the landing area.

In the meantime, Nanami had reached optimal height, opening her parachute, gracefully guiding herself to the landing area, landing and stopping after a short run.

"How was it?" asked Herbert. Nanami tidied up her parachute. "The usual, the first group should be arriving soon."

"Altitude 920m, deploy, deploy!"

Louis pulled his parachute, to his horror, the parachute did not open. Calming down, he pulled the handle to eject his main parachute, only to find to his horror again that the chord is tied up, he is unable to pull it. Panicked, he flailed his arms, wildly, getting the attention of his peers who stopped opening their parachutes and immediately glided over, assisting him.

Louis arched, getting his body position correct for the cut away procedure.

Erika deployed her parachute to buy time, grabbing onto Louis's legs, while Sean helped Louis with his snagged chord. The warning on his HUD blared loudly as his altitude got lower and lower, dangerously close to the minimum threshold. If he did not open his parachute before then, the parachute will be useless in slowing his fall, and he will fall to his death at terminal velocity.

"Deploy! Deploy!"

"Hurry up!" signalled Erika anxiously. If Sean and Louis are unsuccessful, she will be forced to break off as her parachute cannot slow all 3 of them down.

Sean and Louis grunted, trying their best to untangle the chord.

At the last minute, Sean untied the chord. Louis immediately ejected his main parachute and his reserve parachute unfolded, spreading out like a giant white sheet, while Sean broke off and quickly deployed his parachute in the nick of time. He is rapidly pulled back, feeling as if he came to an abrupt stop in the air. The 3 heaved a sigh of relief, guiding their descent down to the landing area, maintaining their caution, scared that another accident will happen.

Upon landing the 3 of them collapsed onto the floor, breaking out in cold sweat and shaking uncontrollably, especially Sean and Louis, recounting their close call with death.

"My feet is cold..." muttered Sean.

"Literally or figuratively?" asked Louis, panting.

"Both," replied Sean.

"Real droll," replied Louis. "Too…close…" he muttered, gagging and almost throwing up from fright. Sean generated a block of ice and placed it on his hand to calm himself down, with Louis doing the same. The coldness of the block helping to numb their fright and return them to their senses.

Upon recovering, they stood up, removing their helmets to wipe their sweats, then tidying up their parachutes and reporting to Nanami and Herbert.

A while later, Albert, Ariel and Vera landed, taking a longer duration than Sean's group. Upon landing, they threw off their helmets, vomiting uncontrollably at one side. Eating extra servings, heavy motion sickness from HALO jumping together with fear made them sick to the core.

"Should…have…listened to…them…" groaned Ariel, regretting being too naïve. Ariel and Vera uncomfortably packed their gear and reported to Herbert and Nanami. Albert took a longer time to recover and report.

Seeing their friends in such a state, Sean and Louis immediately patted them on their backs to make them feel better, while giving them "I told you so" smirks.

"Who's having persecutory delusion now?" asked Sean, prompting Albert to slap him in the arm.

Vera coughed, leaning onto Albert for support. She glared at the instructors who are looking at them, amused.

"I shouldn't…have…trusted…you…all."