0003 Hope

I want to win, even if it means I need to kill my own.

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We look at the ceiling, while the droid stomps about, this is interesting to me, it's a simple combat test, why the drama? Why the build-up? Sleep? I have to sleep to not get beaten the crap out of a droid?

Thinking logically, this is a combat class droid, it has long limbs, its rank is not mentioned on its body, we are being trained for how to deal with ambush attacks and how to ambush simultaneously, HA! How smart? I really need to meet this years Evaluation Officer, sleeping simulates going for the ambush, the anonymity of the enemy simulates the event of being ambushed. Essentially this is a textbook case of how to deal with or conduct an ambush.

I look to my left, Nairobi's out... For today at least, Denarius is out, hopefully forever. Only 5 are left including me.

The droid said it was high ranking! That is why its speech is off! It is designed to give clues. It took out one opponent for the sake of making it an equal playing field, thinking logically at least one person must be in the room and if the droid is very weak then we will have a complete team untouched, some teams in the other dorms think they are lucky to have survived this night by having a low ranking droid but they will face the consequences in the consequent days to come.

The droid is not a Berserker class obviously they are usually stronger than an Augmented Captain (IV) 1and very expensive, at least for my clan it is. Hmmm.... Must be a Stormer Class.

I can test it, Stormer classes are designed for stealth and speed, usually used for ambush. Yes, it makes perfect sense. It seems strong because of the speed and the ability to hit the right places precisely, it aimed for the chin when it attacked Denarius and Nairobi. All I have to do is cover my chin, groin and liver. Stormer class droids are made with extremely light material hence they don't hurt as much. 

I get up and get into an ancient martial-art stance, called boxing, I believe they call this the peek-a-boo, what a stupid name? Lets hope this works, the droid screams "I SAID SLEEEEEEEEP!!!" While lunging towards me, it aims for my knee, seeing I covered the most vulnerable places, I lift my knee and grab it from behind the neck and get it into a head lock while I try to grapple it to the ground, everyone realises this is a chance to secure points and assists in subduing the droid.

The droid kept trying to get out of our locks, Izumaki and Garuda grabbed the legs, Zorya and Ka'er had the arms, I put the droids head in a triangle lock, "GOOOO TOOO SLEEEP!!!" It kept screeching, then after a minute or so it completely turned off.

***screeeech*** [ATTENTION DORM 13, YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY SUBDUED YOUR DROID, YOUR RANKING WILL CHANGE ACCORDING TO THE EFFORTS AND RESULTS, YOU WILL BE REWARDED WITH A GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP]

I checked my watch I was now ranked 300, Ka'er and Zorya looked disappointed, probably because their ranks didn't change, one lunged too late the other was already ranking too high and didn't make a substantial difference. Ka'er looked at me with fury, I averted her gaze and looked at Garuda, he said "I am 90 now, what about you?", "300" I say. I look towards Izumaki, he was the first to lunge in, he makes eye contact and says "45". 

"Lets get to sleep! we have a big day tomorrow" I say, trying to assert dominance and display leadership.

"We should have one person on look out" says Ka'er, I look at her, thinking she must be stupid, before I could say anything she says "We cannot trust that the announcement is in our favour, the droid can also get up at any time." she says with her pixie haircut and hazel eyes, she had really pink lips which were plump, if only she did not sound like a stuck up aristocrat. She is making me curious about her clan, she is playing politics now, she can't let me have the leadership role, she just lost her position in the hierarchy she can't afford to be seen as useless, how close is she to the empire to play politics this well?

"I agree!" Says Garuda in acknowledgement, The remaining members who are conscious also nod in agreement, Izumaki is playing it safe, his rank his high and he did not reveal any of his skills, the Fujiwara clan is extremely powerful, they lead a faction within the empire comprised of 7 clans including them, the leaders, they are in charge of administration, even the empires royal family don't dare insult them in any manner, there have been rumours that the faction is becoming restless and is yearning for more power, I could use him. Sh*t, now I have to suck up to him. He let his clan be known, now everyone is going suck up to him anyway.

"Okay, I will stay awake first, it is 1086/1600 right now, we will take intervals of 117 Decca-minutes." I say, everyone states affirmative, they all want to be the first on look-out, as every action will reflect the ranks, but they are way too tired to actually suggest being first, I have no issues though, the adrenaline from tackling a Stormer Class droid kicked the tiredness out of me.

Izumaki says, "I will be next then."

"Me after Izumaki" says Ka'er.

"After Ka'er" says Garuda.

"I will be last I guess" says Zorya. She is extremely mysterious, a commoner coming this far? She actually got up before Izumaki if I am not mistaken but she was not as fast as him. She seems highly suspicious.

Everyone walks towards their spot and lied down, I go back to my corner and sit cross-legged. 

Time is interesting on our system, Due to us being a two star system every 3 days there is an increment of 200 Decca-minutes but on every 4th day it comes back 1600 Decca-minutes a day, a Decca-Minute is like the ancient concept of "hour" but it is highly outdated, after the time we discovered the radiation of quantum planks, we found out that time is highly relative to the gravity being experienced by a body, and the gravity experienced by us relative to two bodies which are the largest stars in 500 light years and a black-hole just 70 light years away, we needed a more accurate standardised system than the ancient "second", it's hard to forget language though, we still say things like give me a second as part of our slang, it managed to hang on till now, that is the respect we give it . We call Decca-minutes D-mins in short, we need only 300 D-mins of sleep to call it adequate, anyway in times like these, a third of that would not hurt. After I complete this thought I move to the next.

Who has it the easiest here, at first you would think Izumaki, he comes from a good background, he isn't the most handsome but he is not bad-looking either, he is taller than me, (I am just average in height) but not as tall as Kaal. He has a good lean physique, his body is toned, he has been trained to fight well too, descendants of the Fujiwara are highly trained in the Sunbringer an extremely strong saber heated to the temperature of the surface of a start that can shoot plasma as well as being used in close-combat. It all sounds good until you realise the stress the descendants of that clan go through, they have to be greater than their ancestors, who once single-handedly raided two star systems simultaneously and the Inter-galactic Confederation did not even dare question them. How can you meet these expectations? It's stupid. I guess that is why I am so average. No one expects anything great from me, I can barely even get by with these simple Reconnaissance Squadron Exams.

Just as I dwell deeper into my thoughts, Izumaki taps my shoulder and says, "times up champ, I will watch out now." "Thank you" I say as I get up and lie down in the corner.

I see Izumaki squat where I was sitting, then it gets blurry and I fall fast asleep.

The ground is hard, but I have never been in such solace, I am at peace, I did something today, my rank got better I jumped instantly to 300, I don't know what the criteria for climbing the ranks are but I did it.

I have been given something beautiful...

I have been given hope.

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