Exam Day

(Sorry for the shitty and short chapter. I was really tired while writing this. It was also really boring to write.)

All eight of us that were enrolled in the course were standing at attention as General Kroos paced back and forth in front of us. As he passed by each person, he would inspect them, making silent judgements on their physique and from the individual reports of each player.

Timo stopped in the middle, facing towards us. "Trainees, we have almost reached the end of the course. After this, I expect that most of you will become Captains and take command of a legion of troopers. The skills you learned here will be integral to our effort against the Sith Empire. Let's begin the exam."

"Yes, sir."

We all replied in unison before turning in place and walking towards our designated spots. This exam would also make use of the head-gear. They obviously wouldn't trust us yet in a real combat scenario with lives at stake.

A few minutes later, my vision went black accompanied by my senses leaving me. Like last time, they quickly came back. This time, I would be in full control, every decision and piece of knowledge my own.

Looking around, I found myself in an office. I was sitting at a desk in a chair that wasn't too comfortable. I started shifting around in it but then got distracted by what was on the desk in front of me.

There was a stack of datapads with one of them being a document outlining a mission. The rest of them were files on soldiers. According to the mission briefing, the mission was going to take place in a city. There was an insurgent group found and the location of their base of operations was listed.

The method of completion was open ended with it being up to my discretion. However, there were some details listed that hinted otherwise. For example, the location was only a city block away from the main avenue that cuts through the city and it would be packed with people at all hours. Another detail was that the insurgent group was heavily fortified despite them hiding in broad daylight.

Putting the briefing down, I looked over the selection of troopers I could bring. There were 7 of them and 4 of the 7 were specialists. I needed to choose 4 of them to come on the operation with me. Of the 4 specialists, there was a dog handler, a demolitions expert, a hacker, and a combat engineer.

I started thinking out loud. "Hmmm, definitely can't bring explosives since civilians are close by, and what use is the dog handler if we already know where they are? I guess it just solved itself."

Putting those two specialists and one of the normal troopers aside, I selected my squad. As I did so, my vision went black again. Suddenly, bright lights started shining around me. Looking around, I found myself standing in a large crowd of people. There was something weighing my shoulder down and I noticed that it was a large, black duffle bag.

A voice came from in front of me. "Cap, you good?"

I looked towards the voice and noticed that it was one of the men I had picked for the op. He was the engineer. I nodded, quickly following them again. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just get this done."

The man nodded and kept walking. We were quickly navigating through the crowded sidewalks. Speeder cars were moving slowly down the street just a few feet above the ground. There were more speeders moving faster but they were higher up in the air.

After a few minutes, I saw a street sign that said the name of the street that our mission objective was on. We ended up turning down it and walking into an alleyway on the other side of the street from our destination.

In the alleyway, the five of us geared up. In my bag, I found a blaster rifle, a chest plate, a visor, a mask, a few flashbangs, zip ties, a knife, and an earpiece. After putting all of this on, I was ready. Looking around, my team was waiting for my orders. According to the briefing, the building plans for the target had conveniently disappeared before we found the location.

Looking around, I noticed a welcoming looking front door that led into an abandoned lobby in the building we needed to get into. I shook my head, not even coming close to falling for it. I then noticed fire escapes in the alleyway we were currently in. "We go up."

My vision flashed again and I found myself at the top of the building. The question now was how we would get across. Fortunately, the roof of our target building was lower than this one. I looked back and saw an air conditioning unit. I pointed to it. "Let's get a zipline setup and breach from the roof. No noise."

Once again, my vision flashed and I found myself on top of the building in question. I turned to the hacker, already having a plan in my head. "Can you get the power off?"

He nodded and started pressing a few buttons on his wrist mounted computer. He then stopped and we all waited in silence for a few seconds.

*Vuuuuuu…*

I somehow just knew that this noise was the sound of the power going out. I was even able to hear some muffled shouting from inside. Without waiting any longer, I moved towards the door, pressing the button on the security panel.

Then, I smacked my forehead. The fucking power was out. "Engineer, get this door open. Everyone else, activate night vision."

Everyone pulled their visors down, including myself, as the engineer took out a laser drill and quietly obliterated the lock. The door slowly floated open as soon as he finished.

Being the leader, I went in first, waving two fingers forwards to signal everyone to follow me. The hacker went last.

I swept around the bend of the staircase with my blaster up. While the shouting was getting louder, I wasn't able to see anything yet. Suddenly, a man came walking around the corner. Due to it being pitch black, he was feeling the walls to navigate. Looking closely, I noticed that he was armed so I didn't hesitate.

*BYUM*

He fell backwards, sliding down the wall and becoming a corpse on the floor.

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?"

I raised my hand and waved it in a circle. We were to spread out to clear the floor.

*BYUM* *BYUM* *BYUM* *BYUM*

The insurgents dropped like flies without wings. The operation was going extremely well with no incidents occurring. It only took a few minutes but the floor was almost cleared. I was reaching the last room on the side of the floor I was on.

The door to the room was slightly ajar. I took out a flashbang, primed it, and rolled it through the slightly open door.

*PANG*

I swept the door open with my foot, checking out what was inside. As soon as I did, I was glad I had used the flashbang. There were three insurgents inside.

*BYUM* *BYUM* *BYUM*

Three shots, three kills. It was a bit easy though since they were blinded right after being in the dark for a few minutes. It was then that I heard sniffling from the corner of the room.

I quickly turned, aiming my blaster towards the sound. According to the briefing, we were to kill everyone in the building. Upon close inspection, I noticed that it was a woman holding a child. The woman looked horrified and the child was crying.

I shook my head. I wasn't going to execute an unarmed woman and her child. "Get on the ground with your hands behind your back. The kid too."

She followed my instructions without hesitation, quickly crawling over and dragging the kid. She laid down and put her hands behind her back. I took out a zip tie and secured her wrists together. I also did the same to the child. "Don't move."

I stood back up and left the room. By the time I reached the end of the hallway we started at the other end of, my team was waiting. "Clear?"

Everyone nodded. As I turned to lead everyone down to the next floor, my vision went black.

A feminine voice called out to me. "Soryn, Soryn, wake up."

Opening my eyes, Omira was standing in front of me. She had already taken my head-gear off. Looking around, I saw the other players standing around waiting. It would appear I was the last one out.

When I looked towards the front of the room, Timo was smiling at me. I wasn't entirely sure what this meant, but maybe I did well?

A few seconds later, all of us were lined up before the general. He looked at us. "Trainees, I'm a bit disappointed. Out of the eight of you, only six passed. Of those six, only one of you got a perfect score. If you did fail, you're welcome to retake the exam next week but I'd recommend spending some time in the simulators. You know who you are, so leave, now."

Two downcast looking players turned and walked out of the room. They looked as if someone had just executed their dog. It wasn't the end of the world, they just failed an exam.

After the door shut behind them, Timo shook his head. "I honestly expected more of you to get a perfect score but there really was only one. Nonetheless, congratulations on passing the course. You have two days to get your things in order before you ship out."

As he was speaking, I felt a pair of eyes boring a hole through me. Turning to my right, I noticed that Violet was staring at me. She must be convinced that I had gotten the perfect score. Unfortunately, that train of thought was interrupted by the quest notification for the course.

[Quest Completed]

[+5000 exp, Tactician Professional Certification, rank of Captain in the Republic Army, +100 reputation with Old Republic]