Chapter 5: THE KING OF BAST*RDS part 1
(South Africa, January 2134)
Sean sat in the cabin of the cargo plane, waking up after getting some sleep. He is now wearing a jungle camouflage, body armour with ballistic plates and a full cut ballistic helmet. A number plate is sticked onto his vest and helmet by Velcro, which Sean recognised as the way their instructors will use to address him and his fellow cadets to wipe off all signs of personality in order to mould them, though he could not help to find it ironic that his number is "9" out of everything, as if this number is chosen on purpose for him.
Another cadet sat opposite him, munching on a lobster roll. Seeing that Sean had awoken, he enthusiastically handed Sean another lobster roll from his lunchbox.
"Hi, my name is Louis Fletcher, nice to meet you," he greeted.
Sean looked at the Lita numbered 92 in front of him. "I am Sean," he said.
"Is this your breakfast?" asked Sean.
Louis nodded. "I suggest that you don't eat so much," said Sean.
"Why?" asked Louis.
"Because you will puke," replied Sean plainly. Having experienced the training for Tier 1 before, he already knew exactly what they are going to experience.
"Huh?!" asked a shocked Louis.
"And if you puke, you are kicked out," finished Sean with a forced smile.
"WHAT?" exclaimed Louis.
Just as Louis is going to ask further, the cargo plane landed, and soon the cadets are ushered out of the cabin, finding themselves at the space elevator of South Africa.
"Fall in!" yelled a German Inari instructor. He has feline features, including cat ears and clawed hands. Sean recognised him to be the leader of the UN reinforcement back at Hokkaido. The cadets immediately gathered in formation.
"Hurry up! Did you all not eat?" yelled a South African Angel instructor, evident by his ghostly appearance.
They quickened their pace, and Sean found himself at the first row. A red-haired girl with numbered 31 a few people to his left caught his attention. She is a Draco like him, with pink-red horns.
A few boys in the formation wolf-whistled at her. "Hey hottie, did you mean to go to the model team?" one of them jeered, only for an instructor to yell at them, prompting them to stay silent.
"Sir, all 100 cadets at the South Africa camp present!" reported the South African instructor, saluting the other instructors.
The cadets entered a cabin of the space elevator, Louis turned to Sean, puzzled. "It's just a space elevator to the Moon, nothing scary about it, I have travelled to space on them before. "
Sean chuckled, pointing to an anti-G suit on the seat. "Do you know what is this?"
Louis shook his head. "It's an anti-G suit, to keep you safe from gravity force. See, Tier 1 operators are also required to pilot UNSSD's Mechas as elite strike teams, hence this means that like our comrades in aviation, we need to deploy out in over 9Gs of gravity force," explained Sean
"This is a specially built space elevator, unlike commercial ones, this one doesn't have inertia dampeners," he finished.
"Yikes…" Louis muttered, understanding what Sean means now. Sean sat down on the seat and wore the anti-G suit, finding it still as uncomfortable to wear as he remembered.
Louis followed the pictures on the suit and wore it, sitting down on Sean's left.
The red-haired girl from before sat down on Sean's right side. "Hi!" she smiled in a sweet voice. "I am Ariel Wagner."
Sean turned to her, surprised. "That childhood friend of Phineas is called Ariel…" he recounted.
"I am Louis Fletcher," greeted Louis, shaking hands with Ariel. Sean did the same and introduced himself.
"Are you familiar with a Phineas Wang by any chance? He is from the Hong Kong Police." asked Sean.
Ariel nodded. "He is my…" she said, turning away for a brief moment, embarrassed. "…childhood friend."
"You must be that factory worker friend of his in Hokkaido then, thanks for saving his life," said Ariel, grabbing Sean's hands.
"No big deal," smiled Sean. He recounted Phineas' reaction when he mentioned Ariel and compared it to her reaction when she mentioned Phineas.
""Childhood friend" indeed," he bemused internally. "You 2 should just get married."
A human instructor ranked Lieutenant walked up in front of the cadets while other instructors checked their anti-G suits. Sean's eye darted to his name tag.
"Xu Qing…" read Sean.
"A quick word, if you vomit, get out," said Xu Qing. "And if you do, try not to choke on your vomit," he sneered. "I will not be performing CPR on anyone."
"As the space elevator goes up you clowns will be subjected to over 9Gs of gravity force. Earth won't go easy on you just because you're the best in the Tier 2 units. Check your suits, otherwise you are going home in a little box," finished Xu Qing, sitting down at the control station.
"Preparing to launch," said a robotic voice as safety bars flipped down and locked the cadets in their seats.
"5…4…"
Sean breathed, recounting the breathing techniques to ensure he does not pass out.
"3…2…1…"
Louis grabbed the safety bar nervously while Ariel confidently cracked her knuckles.
"Launch."
The cabin charged into space; Ariel gritted her teeth at the sheer force driving them up. Equipment in the cabin shuddered and rattled.
Sean breathed, peeking at the monitor showing the level of Gs they are subjected to.
Very quickly the gravity force exceeded 9Gs.
"Breathe! Breathe!" instructed Xu Qing. "Watch your frequency!"
Louis started screaming from the force. Soon more cadets started screaming.
"Scream your lungs out kids!" yelled Xu Qing. "You will pass out in 10 seconds!"
True enough, all of the cadets passed out except for Sean. The smell of vomit came into Sean's nostrils. He sighed, understanding that there are already people eliminated.
The cabin entered space, and soon everyone in the cabin is floating in the weightless environment. Xu Qing floated out of his seat, checking out the cadets sleeping soundly.
"Rest, kids, rest," he said. "You won't get many chances of sleeping from here on." He signalled to the other instructors to carry out those who had vomited.
He floated over to Sean's row, startled to find Sean still awake and waving at him. Xu Qing gave Sean an interested glance, silently noting down his number.
The cabin descended back to Earth once all the of the eliminated cadets are removed, leaving 95 remaining. The cadets are rudely awakened by the sound of machine gun fire, quickly pushed out into the opening again.
"Hurry up you good for nothings!" roared the South African Angel instructor. The lights have been cut, at the cadets find themselves in the pitch-black darkness of the night.
"Herbert, what do you think?" asked the German Inari instructor.
Major Herbert Nkosi threw a condescending glance at the cadets. "Well Franz, I would say so-so."
Colonel Franz Schulz turned to the cadets condescendingly.
"My name is Franz Schulz! Your head instructor, but I don't care what your names are! Because to me, all you are is a number!"
"This turf is my territory! I own the air you breathe and the land you step on! You will definitely regret coming to this place, because I will make sure you'd wish you're dead!" roared Franz.
"If you don't regret bringing your fat a** here, then it's my mistake! But! I never make mistakes! Nanami!"
A Lita with the rank of Lieutenant who is an identical copy of Frederica stepped down from a jeep. Unlike others who can only tell them apart by rank, Sean can easily tell Frederica and her identical twin Artemis 3 "Nanami" apart.
"She is your direct superior! Nanami, check their bags! Confiscate their personal devices and throw away everything else unrelated to the military!"
Nanami complied, gesturing other instructors over and they begin sweeping the cadets' bags. Soon a huge pile of belongings appeared on the clearing.
Nanami then took Ariel's bag, finding to her surprise a framed picture of Phineas and Ariel together. Recognising Phineas, she turned to the cadets with an interested glance, finding Ariel looking worriedly at her. The 2 locked eyes. Nanami looked around to ensure no one is watching and discreetly stuffed the framed picture back into her bag. She then winked at Ariel. Ariel heaved a sigh of relief.
"WHOSE IS THIS?" roared an instructor, holding up a Playboy magazine. Everyone froze, knowing that it is a banned item in the military.
A cadet shakily stepped forward. Nanami took the magazine and walked to him, flipping through.
She smiled at the cadet. "My, my, even I want to get all loving with these girls."
"Say, what do you think of me?" she asked playfully. The cadet gulped nervously.
Nanami grabbed his face and pressed her face close, almost touching.
"If you beg, perhaps I can give you a good time…" she smiled.
The cadet ogled at Nanami, blushing and looking away. Suddenly, she tackled him down.
"Disrespecting your superior, 500 push ups~" she smiled, stepping on him. Sean silently prayed for this cadet, given that he and his siblings weigh 120 kg on average thanks to their titanium alloy skeletons.
Franz kicked the pile of personal items. "Look at how pathetic you are! You clowns might as well bring diapers and pacifiers!"
"I have a nickname given by the older cadets, if you want, feel free to use it," sneered Franz.
"The King of Bast*rds!"
Sean stifled a laugh.
"WHAT'RE YOU LAUGHING AT, PUNK?" roared Franz, charging over to Sean and glaring at him in the eye. "We have a comedian here!"
"You got some balls kid, what's your name?" asked Franz.
Sean rolled his eyes internally. "Sean," he replied curtly.
Franz sneered. "No surname, what are you? A bast*rd?"
Sean laughed. "Sir, I thought you are the bast*rd?"
All the cadets and instructors turned to Sean, stunned. The entire area turned silent.
Franz nodded his head with an amused smile. "Thanks to his wit, all of you are running 20km instead of 10km!" he announced.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone