It had been five years since Stannis took the Captain's Test. Now, he was at the Bioroid Training Facility on Valhalla. Valhalla was a human colony world known for its bizarre and erratic seasons, which unlike Earth lasted for years. The time Stannis was there was in the middle of their winter, which had lasted nine years before he arrived. He and Selim were both in the middle of a practice run for their final test: The Citadel. They were on a team of twelve with ten other bioroid cadets assisting them in this practice run of their final test, "Press on." He ordered as he shot at one of the training droids who had almost shot Selim.
Selim smiled at his friend "Thanks brother." Stannis nodded at him.
That was when the automated voice gave them their new orders, "All combatants must reach the Citadel's central tower by the next minute."
A female on the squad with black and white hair and emerald green eyes looked up, "Our orders are to proceed to the Citadel before -"
"We all heard the orders, Echo!" Yelled Caleb Thrines, a pale bald man with a black goatee and mustache. Stannis sighed, 'here we go again,' he thought to himself.
"Stop calling me that!" The girl responded.
"Then stop repeating every order!" Another female, named Yukiko Tamaki, who was of Japanese descent with black hair and brown eyes, yelled.
Selim groaned, "Hey, less talking and more blasting!" He began firing on more of the droids with his VL-57 Assault Laser Rifle. Stannis moved ahead slightly to clear the way, but didn't see a droid coming up behind him, "Stannis, look out!" Selim yelled.
Another male on the squad with spiky blonde hair shot up and used his XR-15 Shotgun to shoot the droid, "Thanks Chester." Stannis said. Chester merely gave him a thumbs up. Stannis looked up at the three observers who were monitoring the test. None of them were human or bioroid: one was a female yang, a red skinned humanoid species that stood around eight feet tall. She had white face paint and white tendrils for hair. The other two were a green skinned woman with tendrils for hair and magenta eyes and a humanoid with dark brown skin and four charcoal black eyes.
That was when all hell broke loose when Caleb decided to break ranks and rush the Citadel, "Caleb, wait!" Selim called out, but too late, Caleb was shot by a training droid. Yukiko yelled in frustration before also breaking formation, "Damn it, Yuki!" Selim tried pulling her back, but it didn't work. She immediately got shot, too. After her, a girl of medium height with black skin and a dreadlock hairstyle black in color except at the ends with were dyed red to match her eyes named Autumn Phoenix got shot.
And once that happened, everything went wrong. Chester got shot next, then Echo, then Stannis. That left Selim with the final five: a pale man with snow white hair named Seifer Kallazar, a petite young lady with magenta colored hair and pale blue eyes named Khoa Lee, a pale woman with long red hair and golden eyes named Hera Thanaklos, a tall olive skinned hairless man with a green hydra tattoo on the left side of his head named Castor Pollux, and a tall tan girl with long brown hair and hazel colored eyes of latin descent named Elle de Leon, "OK Selim, you make for the tower, Khoa, Elle and I will cover you." Khoa liked this plan, so she nodded in agreement. Elle, however, didn't.
"No offense, Seifer, but I'm a better shot than you, why don't you go and I'll cover you." Selim retorted before getting shot twice. Seifer shot one of the droids but soon got shot by the other one, followed by Castor, leaving Khoa and Elle all alone.
Khoa began to panic as she dropped her pistol and raised her hands in the air, "I surrender." She had begun to whimper.
Elle and Hera tried fighting back, but unfortunately, they, too, got shot. Soon, the automated voice returned and said that the test was over.
The team sat up and groaned from the frustration and the pain, "Let's get out of here before maintenance shows up." Stannis said bitterly. Everyone nodded in shameful agreement before following him out. The head of the maintenance crew came in. A bioroid with a hunched back named Hugo. Stannis looked at him with sympathy, "Sorry about the mess."
Hugo shook his head, "It's ok, nice try, guys." Stannis smiled at that.
They arrived back at their barracks and began settling down. Stannis was in the middle of removing his shirt when Echo quietly said, "We could've had it if we followed our orders."
Yukiko scoffed at that, "Or we just need a better leader." Stannis sighed when he heard that.
"That's enough," Selim retorted. Everyone looked at him, "I've known Stannis my whole life, and no one is more qualified for leadership than he is!" Stannis smiled at his friend when he said this.
Khoa blushed when Stannis caught her staring at him before mumbling something, "Care to speak louder, Mouse?" Caleb asked cruelly. Stannis glared at him as Hera placed a gentle hand upon the petite girl's shoulder.
Khoa took in a deep breath, "I said, I agree with Selim." It was Stannis' turn to blush at her words.
"Hear, hear!" Elle agreed. She had just undressed and was standing naked, her body covered in red tattoos reminiscent of the ancient Aztec Empire on Earth.
Echo nodded, "He's trying his hardest. We need to work like a team."
Yukiko laughed, "The only reason Stannis is in the Leadership Courses is because of his 'war hero' father and his 'prestigious' grandfather." She was rather nasty and blunt about her hatred for Stannis. Echo got angry at that and shoved her, Yukiko glared back at the other girl and punched her, which led to a fight between the two.
Caleb hollered with laughter, "Get her!"
Chester and Seifer laughed and began chanting 'Yuki' over and over again as Stannis and Autumn tried to break up the fight. That was when their door opened and entered one of the five instructors at the facility. He was the tall brown skinned four eyed alien. His species was known as the belkorians who were native to the lush, tropical world of Belkor, "What the hell is going on!?" He was not one to toy with.
"Odask!" Khoa gasped before standing at attention with her whole team. Yukiko and Echo stopped their fight immediately.
Lieutenant Odask Bregbogar was his name. He looked around at them all before shaking his head, "You're all a joke, a bunch of dead weights who'll only get yourselves killed." They all frowned at his words as Hugo and the green skinned woman with the tendril hair and magenta eyes named Niina Pesave entered. She was a siploid, a monogendered race of humanoids with various skin tones and tendrils for hair. Odask sighed before pointing at Hugo, "That hunched freak has better sense than you do, and he's part of the maintenance crew."
Hugo frowned at that, "Sir, you don't give them enough credit." He said quietly.
Odask scoffed, "What do you know about it, hunchback?" Even Niina looked appalled by this, "If it were up to me, you'd all be considered failures and would be sent out, but sadly, I don't get the joy of making such a decision." Autumn balled her hands into fists. She wanted so badly to punch him.
Niina turned to him, "That's enough Odask, it's our responsibility to make sure they pass." Odask just scoffed again before leaving. Niina looked at Stannis and his squad before sighing and taking her leave as well.
The next day, they had their official final test. All of the recruits had gathered in the central hall as the three observers introduced two others who would be the final observers of the test. One was a tall, masculine humanoid who resembled a white feline dressed in light green armor, and his face was marked by a black symbol that looked like some winged creature. He was a togothian, and he was introduced to the recruits as Flavius Gavdos. Stannis recognized that name but couldn't quite recall from where, "The 'War Lion' is here!?" Khoa Lee asked in a whisper.
"This seems like an odd place for him to be." Echo agreed.
Stannis finally recognized him. He was a decorated war hero from the previous war against the Dominion. Unfortunately, much of the details about what he did were classified. The next individual introduced needed no introduction. Everyone in the room knew who he was. He was a tall, muscular, human looking figure with olive colored skin, no hair, and blood-red eyes. He was dressed bronze colored armor and had a white cloak upon his back. Resting on his hip was his beamsaber, a weapon that only gifted soldiers amongst the Alliance were given. He was General Siberius Dorn, a bioroid in charge of the 500th Betallion, also known as the Void Scorpions. The general and his betallion were legendary amongst bioroids everywhere, "A pleasure to meet you all my fellow bioroids, I look forward to seeing each and every one of you prove your worth." Siberius said in a jovial manner. Stannis had to admit he liked this guy.
The first squad to take the test was Alpha Squad, an all female squad led by a tall woman with short red hair named Charlie Roe, "Let's watch, this might be a good learning opportunity." Selim suggested. Stannis nodded in agreement and led his squad to the observation lounge. It was like watching the valkyries of Nordic myth in battle. These ladies were skilled. Insanely skilled.
Echo whined slightly, "Oh, why can't we be that good!?" She asked. Khoa, pat her back kindly. Alpha squad soon passed, and next was Beta Squad, led by a blonde haired man with golden eyes. He was around seven feet tall and was almost impossibly attractive. The girls on the squad all swooned the moment he appeared and hung on his every moment. Seifer, Castor, and Chester just gaged.
"Macen Kaetus...." Caleb muttered darkly. Stannis watched Macen closely and honestly couldn't see whatever the ladies saw, Macen seemed more interested in other things than the test. One by one the twenty-four squads all passed the test: Gamma Squad led by Negun Glenn, Delta Squad led by Remen Luss, Epsilon led by Clementine Buckthorn, and onward up to Psi Squad led by Tytos Flynn. Now it was Stannis' turn and his squad, Omega Squad. The group got ready and made their way down to the arena passing by Psi Squad as they did so.
Tytos' second in command, a tall man named Oscar Havoc, laughed, "Check it out guys, it's time to watch some dominos fall." The rest of the unit laughed at his joke with the exception of Tytos himself who elbowed him sharply.
"You're not allowed to be proud of yourself for that stupid joke." Tytos remarked.
Stannis smiled at Tytos' kindness before frowning when Chester spoke, "We're gonna fail." Stannis wanted to hit him for that. However, he couldn't exactly fault him for thinking like this. The alarm began, signaling for the start of the test.
So far, everything was going well. They even got farther than their last attempts, but anything could happen, "Ok, you cover me while I move forward and assist Stannis and Selim." Khoa Lee said to Chester.
Chester chuckled, "Take it easy, I'm on your side." He said before laughing, "Get it, your side?" Khoa looked at him in confusion.
"Quit clowning around!" Castor yelled. Stannis pushed Chester and Khoa out of the way as a training droid took its shot and hit Stannis, but something felt weird. He felt pain from that shot as he reached up and touched where he had been hit in the shoulder and saw that his hand was covered in the white blood that flowed through the veins of all bioroids. His eyes widened, and he wanted to scream. The droids were using real ammo.
Khoa noticed it, too. She threw herself on top of him and dropped a holo-shield so that they couldn't get shot while she used her tech to patch him up, "Someone turned on their lethality mode!" She cried out. Selim and Echo growled angrily at this before looking at the observers. Stannis turned to them and saw that they were all thinking the same thing he was thinking before looking to Khoa, who had a similar look of mixed anger and worry on her face. In fact, everyone in the squad had the same look on their faces. One of the observers did this.
Meanwhile, up in the observers' booth, there was equal confusion, "What just happened?" Niina asked. Odask had a cold smile on his face, and the other three were equally confused.
Chester groaned, "We can't just sit here and wait for the shield to drop and those machines to kill us!"
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Chester." Echo replied.
"Me too," Autumn agreed, "God I feel like I need a shower to feel clean again."
Stannis soon stood up and readied his weapon, "You guys go on ahead, I'll hold them off." Everyone looked at him in shock, "Just forget about me and pass the test." He continued. He could feel tears beginning to stream down his face. He genuinely wasn't expecting to survive. He didn't think he'd ever see his parents or his little sister again.
Yukiko and Caleb obeyed his order before heading off to clear the front with Seifer following close behind. Selim, however, refused to leave, "I'm not leaving you!" Selim yelled. Stannis wanted to yell at him, but he got shot again this time in the gut.
"STANNIS!!" Echo cried before Elle dropped down another shield.
"Fuck...." Stannis groaned. Khoa began patching him up while Chester and Selim each wrapped one of Stannis' arms around them and helped him up.
"Up we go, compadre." Chester said. Echo and Khoa both looked at him in confusion they had never seen Chester actually be serious they've only ever knew him as a joker and prankster. They liked this side of him. Autumn bit her lip seeing Chester save his comrade.
"Why?" Stannis asked in a slight raspy voice. They all looked at him and smiled.
"You're our friend." Echo said cheerfully with a happy giggle.
Khoa nodded in agreement with a blush, "We love you." Her blush got darker at that.
"And we never leave a friend behind." The boys added.
"Ever." Elle said with a grin, to which Autumn and Hera each gave a single proud nod while Castor did something he rarely ever did he smiled and gave Stannis a thumbs up.
Stannis smiled at that, "Thanks, guys." The boys helped him across to the tower while the girls provided covering fire. Seifer, Caleb, and Yukiko managed to take down several of the tower's wall mounted laser canons so Stannis could rest against the wall while Khoa kept working on him.
"Ok, prep the ascension cables we're scaling this tower!" Selim declared. They all nodded and reached for their belts in order to grab their cables, but they were missing, "The hell!?"
"Where are the cables!?" Chester asked.
Echo searched her belt frantically, "They're not on our belts!" They all looked at each other and realized that they might fail the test because of this.
Yukiko growled, "We can't scale the tower without them!"
Stannis looked at the observers, "Someone up there really doesn't want us to finish this test, but it's time to get creative." He said before looking at Khoa, "How well do you think we can climb if we use the guns?" He asked.
Khoa thought for a moment and cradled her chin in her hand, "We could do it, but someone will have to keep the droids off the climber." She revealed.
Stannis smiled, "You're our best climber, so you do your thing. Selim, Chester, and Hera you provide her covering fire since you're our best marksmen." He ordered. The trio nodded, but Khoa seemed unsure since she still had to tend to his wounds, but Echo said she'd take over for a bit.
"I'll disable the guns." Elle said as she readied an electro-grenade. She soon threw it at the tower, disabling the tower's defenses.
She nodded and began her climb.
She used to climb the seaside rock cliffs back home in order to harvest some orka berries for her mother, so she was used to doing this. He's and the boys were good on their word and provided covering fire for her, once she reached the top she giggled happily and actually squealed as she ran to the flag they had to capture in order to pass the test and lifted it high into the air. The test was over. Selim, Chester, Seifer, Caleb, Elle, Autumn, Castor, Hera, and Yukiko all cheered happily and group hugged while Echo laughed happily and accidentally slapped the back of Stannis' injured shoulder, "Gah, I thought you were trying to heal me woman!" He yelled. Echo wouldn't stop apologizing after that.
Khoa heard the pained cries from Stannis before declaring that if Echo hurt her 'patient', then she'd come down there and strangle her, which was odd. Consider how shy and timid Khoa usually acted. Stannis was rushed to the medical wing and had his wounds tended to. It turned out that Odask was the one who had messed with the lethality settings on the droids and took away their cables. He had been stripped of his military rank and was now on his way to prison. Stannis still couldn't figure out why he'd do such a thing, but he was still glad to be graduating.