The Red Planet, Mars.
Named after the Roman god of war, it was the fourth among all the planets in Gaea's solar system. And true to its namesake, humanity had made it their primary military base and the heart of their military might.
Thanks to Sol being mostly enclosed by Helios, its solar winds could no longer wreck havoc on the planet, and this allowed its frozen waters to melt. Humanity helped Mars' redevelopment along by terraforming it purposefully and restored its atmosphere as it used to be countless millennia ago.
This covered half of Mars with an ocean of water, where its crystalline blue was a strong contrast to its reddened, oxidized earth.
Littered everywhere on the surface were multiple bases and training yards, while the planet itself was surrounded by
This marks the beginning of the second arc - 'The Academy'.
Eva and Chengli had sprinted the entire rest of the way back, and so were red-faced and panting heavily when they arrived. This seemed to have appeased the sergeants, so they continued to the next lesson of the cycle. But not everyone was happy about the 'wonder duo', and a few jealous glares had come from a handful of cadets. Everyone was then ushered into a large sparring gymnasium, where the floor was covered in shock-absorbing mats. But before they could start any exercises, the sergeants instructed all the cadets to partner up and form into duo wings. "Choose well, because it's all about trust," said sergeant Elyn. "You gotta be able to truly rely on each other, 'coz your lives depend on it." It was the single best
The next cycle, the two sergeants came into the bunk to shock all the cadets awake, as was mandatory. They were completely surprised to see Eva and Chengli tidying up their spaces, while already dressed and ready. But that didn't stop the sergeants from flashing the lights and sounding an airhorn. "Get up, cadets!" they yelled. "It's time for your daily run! You got one hundred seconds to gear up. Let's go!" Many of them grumbled as they woke, but still suited up rather quickly. Luckily they only had to go on a run for an hour rather than last cycle's two. Many still stumbled, but they persevered to the end. At the end, they took a very quick shower then switched into their flightsuits and grabbed their pressurized flight helmets. They then headed towards the hangar
The fourth cycle was virtually the same as before. An hour run, followed by five hours of training, an hour for food, and three hours of sleep. The pattern and the habits were slowly being absorbed by all the cadets, Eva especially. She had never had such a demanding schedule in her entire life. In her old life, she woke up whenever she felt like it, and went to sleep when she got too tired to keep her eyes open. She ate, played, and lived to no-one's beat but her own. It was incredibly hedonistic, but ultimately damaging. That lack of care or discipline made her soft, lazy, and apathetic. It didn't help that she didn't have anyone who uplifted her. But this new life, these new experiences, new friends, this academy… They all helped her break out of that old mindset.
When the sergeants roused the cadets on the ninth cycle of the week, they had especially merciless looks in their eyes. This was a special cycle. "Everyone up! Now, now, now!" yelled Sergeant Elyn. This startled everyone onto their feet. The sergeants' energetic cries were far more forceful than before. "Get into your flightsuits on the double!" yelled Sergeant Akim. Eva was taken aback, but quickly slipped out of her uniform and into her flightsuit. She then grabbed her flight helmet and held it to the side before she stood at attention. She didn't realize it, but she also wore a slight grin on her face. It had become a part of the flightsuit at some point, when she wasn't
By the six-hour mark, the cadets had started to feel exhaustion creep into their core. The sergeants had usually dismissed everyone and had them return to their bunk around this time. But things were different, since they were in a practice sortie. One of the cadets hailed the drill sergeants, his voice was dry and raspy. Though it wasn't just because of thirst, but also out of fear. "Sir, ma'am," he said, "we cadets are pretty worn out and wish to request a break. Sir. Ma'am." The two sergeants took a moment to think before denying the request. "Cadets!" yelled Sergeant Akim. "You will perform your drills for one more hour. And then we will see if you deserve to rest." Many
When they were awoken the next cycle, the sergeants skipped the run and allowed the cadets to get cleaned up and have a relatively slower start. They all had endured their lessons incredibly well, and so were afforded this little luxury. Afterwards, they jogged over to the sparring gymnasium, where they once again got into their duo wings and started to spar lightly. The atmosphere was rather relaxed, even though they were all still training diligently. The two sergeants had approached Eva and Chengli, and discussed the matter of their training. Since they were above the rest in terms of raw physicality and talent, they didn't have anything that could challenge them properly. That worried them, as they did not want them to leave less prepared than the others. Great s
Sergeant Elyn helped Eva up from the mat, who was still a bit unsteady on her feet. A part of her felt a little guilty at having to knock her down a notch. But her worries subsided when she saw Eva's grin. "Thanks, sergeant," she said. "I learned quite a lot these past few seconds." Her throat was still sore from Elyn's strike, so her words came out a little strained. But her tone was filled with eagerness. "Yeah?" said Elyn. "Like what?" Eva straightened up, and rubbed her bruises a little. "Don't fuck around in a fight." Elyn laughed heartily, and nodded. That was her number-one rule in any conflict. Don't mess around. Find th
All the cadets around them were wide-eyed. Four of the jealous cadets were pretty much done, their groans echoed all around. Not only that, it had only taken Eva a single strike to neutralize each of them… What a monster. Sergeants Elyn and Akim, too. And Chengli. All monsters. The jealous cadets were all then assigned to Eva's instruction, and then sent to the infirmary. They had gotten a lot of the steam out of their systems, and still had a chip on their shoulders, but they understood what Eva had said about bigger fish. They no doubt had a lot to think about, and now the promise of having to do Eva's repetitive drills presented them with the time to do it. Everyone went