A hand-to-hand combat class

The process of uploading data on military regulations, regulations and protocols was noticeably easier, but the class was terribly boring. Major Polifemo followed the same dynamic of questions and answers as his fellow instructor, however his subject was much more tedious, sanctions to other officers, insubordination of soldiers, promotions... At least it would only be one month within his entire training program. Training, these were things they would never deal with again in the five years of the academy.

The cadets' minds were exhausted; two hours of these theoretical subjects was mental training in itself. However, with only a few minutes to eat breakfast and to change into their sports uniform, they would have to head to the physical training room.

This was one of the best-prepared and best-equipped gyms in the entire nation. The cadets would spend many of their free hours practicing in this room, at least while they were still in the academy. One of the news stories that Hector gave them and that came from a good source, according to his father, was that all the cadets would continue their training after the first year on different Navy ships, which is why the academy was supposed to contain about 500 students. Among the five courses that were empty, all the second year students and above had been embarked.

This did not nullify the prize for the best who would embark on the Argos, and that was Aeneas' objective, although now he had to face his Achilles' heel in hand-to-hand combat.

During class hours, the training room followed a self-configuration scheme; much of the training machinery had either disappeared or was located on the perimeter walls.

Aeneas wondered why they hadn't gone to upload the data, schematics, and advanced fighting tactics before class.

Lieutenant Achilles looked at the group with apathy. Would they be able to learn something from him?

The class stood in rows; Achilles didn't even flinch, minutes passed, was Paris who broke the silence.

"Lieutenant Achilles, would you mind if we use the gym machines while class starts?" "It's about taking advantage of the time."

With astonishing skill and few movements, the lieutenant appeared a few meters from the cadet.

"So you want to make better use of your time? Are you eager to get into combat? "Attack me, let's see what you're capable of."

Paris was hesitant; attacking an officer didn't seem like the best option in the world, but it had been an order, right? He put himself on guard and began to cover himself as he advanced towards the instructor, he even launched a direct shot with the intention of hitting the officer, but he was not there; he had passed through the blow, lowering his center of gravity, to directly hit Paris's supporting leg. While he lost his balance, the instructor stood behind him, tapping several points between his neck and the muscles of his back with his finger.

The cadet fell to the floor like a doll, paralyzed and wincing in pain. Lieutenant Achilles returned to his initial position at the beginning of the room and looked at the cadets again. He did not worry about the poor Paris, who was writhing in the room. Floor.

"Can anyone tell me what a Mecha costs? Tell me what you can think of, it doesn't have to be the lowest.

"A state-of-the-art colossus can cost around 2,000,000,000 million kukris," the Telemachus replied.

"Two billion, do you think you can fight in a 2,000,000,000 machine like in a normal schoolyard fight, in an alley with bullies, or even in martial arts? No, the objective of this advanced fighting class is not only for you to learn to fight as if your body were a mecha but with the same care."

"But Lieutenant Achilles, most space combats are not against other mechas or robots; they are normally against combat ships..." This time, it was Hector who highlighted another true fact.

Achilles slowly advanced towards him; when he was about to enter the distance, he took two agile steps forward and ended up hitting Hector in the solar plexus...

"This cadet was expecting my attack; he was even ready, but nevertheless he did not move, and when my attack began, he could not avoid a simple blow to the chest, if you are not able to dodge simple blows like you would dodge a laser that is going to be near the speed of light, or a sonic weapon, you won't even be able to dodge an old-fashioned homing missile."

Lieutenant Achilles stood in front of the class again.

"Very well, today's exercise is simple; put yourselves in pairs, at a distance of one meter, and in turns, one will attack with punches and the other will have to dodge the blows, no stops, blocks and things like that, I just want you to dodge"

After a quarter of an hour, Lieutenant Achilles ordered the pairs to be changed, especially so that we would not get used to each other's patterns, that focused resentment would not be generated, and to get them used to other sizes, forces, speeds or wingspans.

An hour later, half the class had a black eye, a busted lip, or bruises all over their bodies. It didn't matter if you were good at combat or not; at that distance, trying to dodge was almost suicidal, and difficult, very difficult. ...

It was clear that they could not dodge everything simply by moving their heads or moving their bodies away. By instinct, the cadets began to look at their opponent's shoulders to guess where or how the blow would come from. The effectiveness ratio of the blows was reduced, although fatigue increased, so it's not like the cadets felt much better either.

When there was only half an hour left in class, Aeneas felt like he had been really beaten up. He had a busted lip, a cut on his eyebrow, a black eye, and several bruises, although what hurt him the most was his jaw. Ajax almost hurt him. Fell with a blow. At that moment, instead of dodging with his body, he began to try to get out of the path of the blow. That same effect was beginning to happen in the majority of couples; they were not trying to stay in place, thinking about counterattacking, but rather they began to move in circles, dodging laterally or even lowering his body, finally it seemed more like a chase by an aggressor against someone who was not trying to defend himself, just to avoid the blows.

"Very well, cadets. Now that you have understood it firsthand, remember to load the advanced combat instructions into your neural devices tomorrow, class is over, you can go to rest."