| abstract
| - Lexi Kolzhyestyn looked across the sun-baked green pastures of the Kolkhoz valley. Never before had he seen the sun in such an optimistic light. He had heard not so long ago that finally the Rakata, the Eternal Oppressors, had finally left, humiliated and shattered. He had heard that Comrade Yuiln, symbol of hope to the people of Sviat, was taking over. Now, as he saw the beautiful fields of flowers shimmer under the sunlight, the snowy peaks twinkle, he could feel nothing but hope for the future. He turned around and began walking back down the stony path to his village, sprawled beneath him in the middle of the valley. A collection of shacks, mud houses, and barns, but still home. It had been constructed by those brave enough to flee the Rakatans and flee here to the remote parts of Sviat. How they had managed to stay hidden here for so long was something Lexi himself even pondered. Some said that the Rakata were too few to notice the village, and the other ones of the same type sprinkled around the planet, to do anything. Old Papa Yalstin, cynical as ever, maintained that it was the same principle as a beekeeper who had lost two of his bees—they didn’t care. He walked down the path and through the gap in the stockade of scrap metal parts that served as the village wall, with the guard on duty giving him a nod. Small children ran around playing around the dead tree near the entrance; a man sat listening to a music player that had been smuggled in offworld by one of the black marketers operating in the slave camps. And there she was: Oskana, his elder sister by a year—and like him, medium heighted, blonde and blue-eyed, with a sparkle in her eyes and a smile that in the old days would light up even the most miserable and hopeless-seeming of hours. The fantasy of every pubescent male in the village—and even for Lexi, to an extent, such that he had occasionally worried about incest. A quick visit to Baba Yalstina had managed to help him focus on the other girls in the village, fortunately. Lexi walked over to his sister, watering a small flower. “Hello, sister. Is there anything new?” “In the fifteen minutes since you’ve been?” she said in that beautiful sugary voice. “Some people have arrived from Yuilnokrad to tell us things. They’re in the main square. Come.” Lexi followed her onto the main street and into the main square, marked by a crude statue of the village’s founder in the center. Most of the village folk, even the Yalstins, were gathered there—around two grizzled, bored-looking uniformed men standing by a truck and a large plasma screen they were setting up. “Lexi! Oskana!” called his mother, dressed in a shawl and standing among the crowd. “Come! There are just about to start this pres-en-tation!” Lexi and Oskana joined their mother as the plasma screen flickered into activity. Trumpeting, grand music blared from the speakers to the side of it as the picture focused to display a marching parade of troops in neat uniforms, accompanied by row upon row of vehicles that Lexi could only respond to with sheer awe. “Comrades!” came a cheerful voice over the pictures and music, as the screen displayed a montage of massive factory complexes, orbital shipyards, and massive, towering buildings that Lexi could only presume was Yuilnokrad. “Glory and prestige awaits us all! Our Srav Federation needs you! Why sit dreaming of purpose and fame when it sits in front of you? Join our unstoppable armies!” The screen displayed massed ranks of burly men, and some voluptuous women among them, exercising in a field. “Alternately, come to our galaxy-renowned factories, where you can contribute to glory for your comrades and yourself!” A picture of a huge industrial line appeared. “Only with your contribution, comrades, can we bring liberation and equality to all those who seek it! So why wait? Bring pride to yourself and our people today!” The picture changed to show Comrade Yuiln—even Lexi could recongize him—standing at a balcony and saluting. The music came to a crescendo, and then the screen went black. “Anyone who want to come, please get in truck.” Said one of the uniformed men tonelessly. Some of the crowd stepped forward. Lexi immediately felt the impulse. Surely going out there and fighting for a cause was better than sitting in this village sniffing flowers all day? Yes! He could imagine it—one day he could tell his grandchildren with pride that he had fought for the justice of all beings. And he had heard of the weapons the army possessed—surely there was no force that could stand against those? He quickly made his final decision. He would go and join. “I will go, mother. Please wish me luck.” He announced, and stepped forward. “Lexi? Please! You are only sixteen!” begged his mother, reaching forward. “You are not ready! Please, my baby, don’t—” “I am no longer your baby, mama. And I think I am old enough to make my own decisions. Besides, what can happen to me?” said Lexi calmly. “If only papa were here, he’d show you what a foolish decision you are making!” shouted his mother, tears welling in her eyes. Oskana was also stepping forward. “Oskana! My little flower! Please do not tell me you are going too?” “Relax, mama. I have heard they need workers to make uniforms in the factories. I promise you, I will be back with money and good food in my pocket.” She said, giving that perfect, innocent smile. Mama finally gave an exasperated sigh. “Very well, my children. I only hope that you will return with your heads still on.” With that, Lexi and Oskana gave her a last hug, before boarding the truck as the engine started up. Sitting among the chattering people crammed into the vehicle at the back, Lexi and Oskana waved their mother goodbye as the truck began to drive down the dirt path that snaked down the valley. As the remaining villages shouted goodbyes and farewells to those in the truck, Lexi sat back with a feeling of excitement. He couldn’t understand what mother was so worried about. He would go and do what was required of him, and then he would return here with pride on his chest and stories he could tell his friends for months. And here he was, with his beautiful sister, going to the big city—yes, he had made the right decision. What could he possibly regret about this?
*
* Havel rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and quickly sprayed some deodorant into the general vicinity of his apartment. Stretching, he grabbed a slice of kern-bread from his food cupboard as he looked around the small bedroom that made up most of his apartment. The place stank of sweat, fart, and semen, and all the various other things the previous occupants had been graceful enough to leave here. But he was not going to have to put up to this for long. He was going to join the army—but not because he particularly wanted to. No, he had heard that they drafting as many fit young males as possible. And as he met those criteria, he had decided to go and join voluntarily before military police smashed his door in at midnight and dragged him off to boot camp while he was still in his underwear. After getting dressed, he exited his apartment and began walking down the stairway to ground floor. At the bottom, a furry Talz was sweeping the floor, buzzing a tune to itself in its native tongue. Havel gave it a kick as it passed, prompting it to start desperately gurgling apologies. Years of being pushed about by damn scaly aliens—these days he would be doing the pushing. Redharn had decreed that all non-humanoids were essentially to be servants and slaves—and that was something he damned well agreed with. Humans had taken the worst of the damn Infinite Empire; only fair that these ugly little craps played ball. He stepped outside, taking in the surroundings. Not so long ago all there was to see were expanses of scaffold and cranes; now rising into the sky around him were great concrete ziggurats and towers of glass and steel. All the work and produce of humanoids, of course. Sure, non-humans formed the bulk of the workforces, but that was for their own good—otherwise, they’d simply spend their time in purposelessness, wasting their days away. Redharn had made that point strongly and had opened his eyes to it. Non-humanoids would be the key to bringing Necasian order to the galaxy—but they expressed their gratefulness in grumbling and halfassedness. No wonder they were enslaved so easily, with that lack of spine. Walking down the clean streets to the recruitment office, he gave a foul glance to a Dug sweeping a road. He had heard some in his apartment block complaining that treating the non-humanoids like this was inhumane, but look at the results—clean streets, beautiful majestic buildings, and good standard of living. Cars parked along the pavement were clean, windows were shiny, and streetlights were glistening. Yep, it definitely worked. Hearing the sound of sobbing and moaning to his left, he saw some guy he recognized from his block being dragged by two black-uniformed men, their jackboots banging against the concrete pavement. He had heard the guy grumbling that non-humans should be treated better once or twice. Clearly, a neighbour had informed—and a good thing, too. Less whining spineless bug-lovers, the better. As he watched the men drag him away, he finally walked into the recruitment station, a large tent in the middle of a medium-sized plaza. A few other guys were entering the tent as well. As he walked inside it he noted a sign beside the entrance reading: ‘No women’. That was kinda disappointing. He had hoped he’d be able to get a bit of hooch at least. Inside, he found a large desk with a stony-looking man in khaki uniform seated behind it, with posters adorning the sides of the interior. In the corner, a cheap-looking monitor displayed looping clips of vehicles on manoeuvres, burly, muscular troops doing press-ups, and sleek black fightercraft sweeping through a cloudless sky. Certainly looked inciting, he thought. With that thought, he approached the desk. “I want to sign up.” He announced. “Really? And I thought you were here to take a crap.” Sighed the man at the desk, rolling his eyes. “Sign here.” He pushed forward a piece of paper and a pen. Havel signed it. “Now, do you pledge to remain forever loyal to the Necasian Military and the great cause for which it stands, for the eternal flame of our destiny, and to do all that you can to bring us triumph?” he said with all the enthusiasm of a man being told to jump off a cliff. “I do.” Acknowledged Havel, saluting compulsively. “Welcome aboard, soldier.” Said the man dryly, standing up and shaking Havel’s hand. “That’s all there is to it?” asked Havel, trying not to betray the nervousness in his voice. The man smiled, with a knowledgeable glint in his eye. “Yeah, you could say that. That’s not counting your basic training, which will see your skinny weak ass getting whupped true and proper, possible wargames, pol-droc, physical testing...but other than that, nothing else to it.” Havel had a sickly feeling in his stomach, as if he had been eating pebbles. Better join than get conscripted, he reminded himself mentally; better join that get conscripted. Still, best to put on a strong face. He saluted limply. “I’m ready for anything, sir.” He croaked. Damn. That surely can’t have left a good impression. “I’m sure you are.” Chuckled the man. “Wait outside. Truck’ll pick you up in about half-an-hour. Now go and make ol’ Redharn proud.” Havel nodded, and walked outside the tent. He couldn’t help but ignore that nagging feeling in his head that he was going to regret this. Trying to put his mind on other things, he looked up into the blue sky. Looking up at it made him feel so small—just another statistic in the grand scheme in things. Was this all he was destined to be? Just another number to be looked up in a history book from now?
*
* “Comrades! We are almost there!” Lexi sat up from his daydreaming. His back hurt, and his bottom felt like it had been repeatedly whacked with a metal shovel. Oskana was slumped beside him, asleep, looking adorable as usual. He decided not to bother waking her—that would annoy her. For the last several hours they had been driving along, with the driver of the truck apparently hellbent on driving over every stone and rut on the way. He remembered when the vehicle had finally emerged out of Kolkhoz valley, and he had been swamped with the realization that this was the first time he had actually ever been outside the valley. For the first time in his life, he was getting a chance to see the rest of the planet, the rest of the galaxy—yes, this decision felt better every time he looked at it. And now, he would take his first glimpse of the outside world. Poking his head out of the back of the truck, he immediately found himself being hit in the face by the wind—which had a strange smell, like the odour of the truck’s engine mixed in with rotten soup. Looking around, he noted that the truck appeared to be driving along a mountain road—then, looking up, he finally saw it. Sprawled in the distance was a vast skyline of the biggest buildings he had seen in his life—angular, majestic towers reaching into the grey sky, with roadways and rails moving between them. He felt priding swelling in him as he realised that this was all the produce of his people—if there was one thing they had learned from the days of slavery, it was how to build. For him, a person who had never seen a building that wasn’t a shack made of scrap metal and brick, the sight of the city and its massive blocks did nothing else than fill him with awe. “Welcome to Yuilnokrad, comrades!” came a voice from the front of the truck as others poked their heads out, producing similar awed reactions. “All the vision of our great leader Jasef Yuiln! Quite a lot more than the little huts you’re used to, eh?” Murmurs of agreement rippled throughout the vehicle. Lexi continued taking in the sight of the city as the truck drove down the road and onto a level plain, clattering along a tarmac road heading straight for the metropolis. Dotted around the plain was the occasional missile battery, pointed up at the sky—just a friendly reminder that there were other people out there in the galaxy too, Lexi thought absently. As they finally approached the city border, the truck passed a row of poles, each one having a mutilated, twisted corpse stuck to it, causing Lexi to blanch at the site. Beside the row was a simple wooden sign that read: ‘COLLABORATORS’. With that image etched into his mind, Lexi looked up as the plain transited into buildings. Wheezing, the truck came to a halt, and the occupants began to file out. Moving stiffly, Lexi and Oskana got out and looked around. What immediately hit Lexi was the smell—it stank worse than the truck, like carbon monoxide crossed with who-knows-what. On every wall he saw were various posters, encouraging the reader to ‘contribute to our unrivalled industry’ or ‘enlist in our invincible armies’. He noted that on quite a few posters was a strikingly attractive yet serious-looking woman in a tight leather uniform, brandishing a very large and lethal-looking sniper rifle. “Who is that?” he enquired to a passer-by, gesturing at the poster. The person chuckled. “Where have you been hiding, country boy? That is Nataska Vergulva—our greatest hero. She made hell for the Rakata in the old days. I heard she can shoot a beetle on a leaf from 400 meters with that rifle of hers. Quite a nice shape too, don’t you agree?” The old days. Already people were acting like it was ancient history—not that there was anything wrong with that. “Come on, Lexi!” said Oskana, tugging him by his collar. “Such a big place, don’t you think?” “Oh, yes.” Mumbled Lexi absently as they walked down the street. Across the street, militiamen in thick coats and fur hats, brandishing large rifles, pulled down their gas masks to have a cigarette. In the distance, a speaker tower announced: “Comrades! Report unproductive persons immediately! Parasitism should not be tolerated!” An engine rumbled as a large four-wheel drive with blacked-out windows drove past, a machinegun on the top swivelling robotically. He could not shrug off this vaguely dissatisfied feeling; was it the air? The smell? The grime? He couldn’t place it. “Lexi! Stop daydreaming and come!” giggled Oskana, as she began hurrying down the street. Lexi shrugged off his thoughts and followed her. For the first time in his life he had ventured out of the Kolkhoz valley; he wasn’t going to waste this opportunity to see more.
*
* Nataska Vergulva glanced through the window at the two blonde-haired siblings in tattered peasant clothes—if dirty rags could pass for clothes—walking along the pavement as the vehicle passed by. Clearly part of the latest batch of rural recruits and conscripts they were pulling out from the remote mountains and valleys. She wondered how they would get used to the fact that now they would be the vanguards of an empire, rather than the drudging slaves of one. Seated in the back of an armoured four-by-four Robaczek enforcement vehicle—she doubted anyone would seriously try to harm her here, of all places, but better be safe than sorry—she sat back and stared absently out of the window. It hadn’t been that long ago, but already the Infinite Empire felt like a distant memory. Its day was over. Those green-skinned bastards, the monsters she had been fighting since she was a little girl, had finally got what they deserved. Now she, poster girl of this new Srav Federation, was to help lead the empire to take its place and bring order and justice to the galaxy. She couldn’t imagine anything better. At nine years old, she had been handling a sniper rifle for the first time—at ten, she could shoot the eyestalk off a Rakata from 400 meters—at eleven, she could render a humanoid unconscious in les than a second. Fighting and combat was all that she had known. And now, she would be fighting for the glory of her own people, for the expansion of Srav ideology—the only ideology worth fighting for—across this new and turbulent galaxy, rather than to throw off evil oppressors. She looked forward to this with every facet of heir being. She looked out through the darkened windows again. Her body and likeness could be seen standing out among every cluster of posters scattered around building walls across the city—of course, she’d never be caught dead in those outfits they kept showing her in—a vest and short pants? Why not have a ‘shoot me sign’ on the chest?—but still, looking at them she could admire the perfectly shaped engine for movement and killing that was her body, and...she checked herself. Narcissism equalled arrogance, and arrogance equalled certain defeat. One nearly need look at the so-called ‘Infinite Empire’ and how its unwavering confidence in its superiority and glory had contributed to its well-deserved downfall. “Comrade Vergulva! We are here!” called the driver. She looked up. The vehicle was approaching the Politikdel—an enormous granite mountain of a building rising above the rest of the Yuilnokrad cityscape, with a fifty-foot concrete statues of herself and commander Ivan Gresev standing to the side of a larger statue of Yuiln in the courtyard of the building. Ironically, the statue of Yuiln looked less chiselled than the real thing, she thought absently. She brushed herself down as the vehicle parked in front of the gates to the courtyard, with the two militiamen to the side of it jumping to attention and saluting as she got out. Now she had to go and meet with Comrade Yuiln, and discuss the small matter of conquering the galaxy.
*
* Standing to attention in freezing mountain wind, dressed in camouflage trousers, a vest and dog tags, Havel stood to attention in a line of about two dozen identically dressed muscular men. Less than an hour ago, he had been dumped in this boot camp after a tiring journey among unshaven guys in the back of a truck, had been forced to take a shower and strip down into these clothes. Looking down the line, he was pleased to see that most of the other people were of a similar build than him—no teasing that he was such a weakling. However, there were a few burly guys who looked like they could snap a log with their middle fingers, and one or two skinny, starved-looking guys. Wasn’t as bad as he had expected. “Attention!” The line saluted as a dark-skinned officer in camouflage fatigues walked down, eyeing the men in the line. Havel found himself sweating as his nerves pricked up. “Well, well, well.” Said the officer in a snarling voice. “I haven’t seen such a bunch of skinny-ass weakling punks like you pieces of crap. Let me get one thing straight: If you ladies leave my camp, if you survive recruit training... you will be a weapon, you will be a minister of death, praying for war. But until that day you are pukes! You're the lowest form of life in this galaxy. You are not even human kriffing beings! You are nothing but unorganized grabasstic pieces of amphibian crap! Because I am hard, you will not like me. But the more you hate me, the more you will learn. I am hard, but I am fair! I do not favor! Here you are all equally worthless! And my orders are to weed out all non-hackers who do not pack the gear to serve in our mighty army! Do you maggots understand that?” “Oorah!” bellowed the men with varying levels of enthusiasm. “I guess introductions are in order. I am Sergeant Henzal, but you will refer to me as sir or your kriffin’ majesty! And I do not tolerate weakness! If you can’t pass your tests, you do not deserve to live! If there’s one thing history has shown, if there’s one indisputable law, it’s that the strong survive! There is no equality n this galaxy! There is only strength, and will, and if you master both you will be invincible! Your training will be tough, it will be fair, but at the end of it you will finally have the right to call yourselves Necasians!” He paused, and zeroed in on the skinny guy Havel had noticed—a thin bald guy in glasses who looked like he was about to be sick. “You! The kriffin’ skinny crap! What’s with the look? You don’t want to be here, do you? Be honest!” “N-no, sir.” Stammered the skinny guy. “And why is that, may I ask?” “I, I…er…don’t want to fight.” He squealed. “Oh! Isn’t that a pity. Well, that’s too bad. Looks like you’ll have to leave.” He turned around, then suddenly spun around and kicked the skinny guy in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. “Kriffing waste! Damn worthless liberal nerf herder!” He stomped down on the man with his jackboot, driving him deeper into the mud with each crunch. “You are weak! And if you’re weak, you do not live! It is as simple as that!” He then stopped, and stepped away. “But, in even the skinniest thin-assed kriffer is the potential for strength. That’s why I am willing to give you a second chance—but that’s all I am willing to give!” He turned to the others. “You ladies ain’t that much better. But some of you look like you’ll swim through this. Now, you are all to report back here at 1700 hours. Dismissed!” “Oorah!” acknowledged the men. Havel oorahed with them, but only to fit in. As the line began to disperse, he glanced at the skinny guy, covered in mood and blood, staggering up from the ground. He couldn’t help but feel a faint feeling of sympathy for him. And to his own surprise it didn’t take too much imagination to imagine himself there, lying broken in the dirt. Yes—if that sergeant wanted strength, he’d get strength. No chance of him being the one to be knocked into the filth.
*
* Lexi gazed up into the pale angular face of Comrade Yuiln, hanging framed above the desk before him. So, that was how the greatest leader in history looked like, he thought. To be honest, he’d imagined him looking a bit more cheerful. And without an expression that made him look like he had lost the capability to smile decades ago. “Comrade Yuiln is watching you, eh, boy?” chuckled the surprisingly nubile uniformed woman on the desk before him, wearing a black sheath dress with a red beret. Here he was, within one of the city’s supposed many recruitment and conscription sights, surrounded by cross-looking unshaved muscular men who were looking at him like they were barely suppressing the urge to knock him down, or otherwise for him to get a move on, and he was procrastinating about signing a piece of paper. Only know was it starting to occur to him that as a soldier, there was a chance that he might get seriously hurt, or killed. “What? Er, yes. Now can I sign?” stumbled Lexi. “On this piece of paper here, comrade, which I brought to your attention minutes ago.” Said the recruitment woman, indicating a document on the table before her. Lexi picked up a pen, took a deep breath, then signed. “Congratulations, comrade. Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” smiled the woman. “Now, please wait before you are picked up.” Lexi shuffled away from the desk as the man before him moved forward, looking at the multitude of colorful posters covering the walls, displaying minimalist images of soldiers, factories, farms and orbital shipyards, with slogans such as ‘WORK BREEDS STRENGTH’ or ‘EQUALITY, COMRADESHIP, STRENGTH, PERFECTION’. He wondered what Oskana would make of all this, as when they were younger, she, as his older sister, had decided that it was obligatory for her to lecture him that the best thing in life was lazing around and admiring the beauty of things. Of course, he had found it obligatory to ignore her and fantasize about the pretty girls in the village. Now that the last thing he had saw of her now was she boarding a truck along with a throng of other girls and some young men and driving away in the direction of one of the massive factory complexes he now knew sprawled around Yuilnokrad, waving goodbye at him from the back of it, he suddenly realized how lonely and defenseless he felt without the person he had been in near constant contact with for his life. “Little farmboy! Stop staring at wall and move!” Lexi found himself being shoved to one side by a person considerably larger than he was, with bloodshot eyes and a badly shaved lower jaw. “Excuse me, but I…” began Lexi, who despite his best efforts found himself inflicting the vocal tone of a mouse. “You think asking me nicely gonna help, huh? Little whimp like you should learn that only way you gonna get anywhere is if you push back! Or maybe your mama tell you that hitting people bad, yes?” “Oreg!” called another equally-imposing man from the opposite side of the room. “Stop talking to that little Kolkhoz baby, and come over here!” “Be seeing you in training camp, baby boy.” Grinned Oreg, and walked away. Lexi was now pale and profoundly sweating. Back in his village, everyone knew each other, and there was very little reason for anyone to push around or insult the other. Oh, there was the occasional escaped slave from the camps who arrived all perpetually grumpy or angry, but for the most part shoving and bullying was an alien concept for all who lived there. What was the matter with this fellow? Then he remembered. Most of this people had spent most of their previous lives being abused by those above them. Made sense. Well, if this guy was going to be pushing him, then he’d push the next viable person at the next opportunity. Yes, he’d show those petty bullying bastards. “Alright, enough wasting! You children—with me!” Lexi turned around to see a massive man in an officer’s uniform, his face scarred to the point of repulsiveness, entering via door near the recruitment desk. Almost instantly the chatter filling the room vanished into silence as the men filed out through the door outside, into a large yard wedged between two buildings, with bullseye targets adorning a wall on the opposite end. Automatically, they arranged themselves into a line. “My name is Andrei Jalenko, but can call me comrade colonel.” Began the scarred man in a voice that teetered between calm and repressed ferocity. “It will be my responsibility for the next few months or so to mould you all into soldiers capable of bringing utter defeat to all those who oppose our vision for a new galaxy. It will be tough, it will tax you, but by the end of it you will be feared by our enemies and loved by our people. Your training begins now—all of you, give me twenty press-ups.” In the few seconds it took Lexi to process the fact that already he was being forced into hard physical acts after barely signing up, the rest of the line was already down on the ground grunting and wheezing. Quickly he joined in, but not without a sharp glare from colonel Jalenko. A minute later, the men got up, some of them sweating and puffing, and others acting completely nonchalantly. Lexi was bright red and sweating like a sponge. Way to go, he thought, trying to ignore the sniggers in his perfection. “Hmm. Not bad.” Uttered Jalenko. “Now is the second basic test that will define you all for me—your ability with a weapon.” With that, a soldier in a uniform—a large jacket and a fur hat—walked down the line, handing an assault rifle to each man. “Your basic weapon—the KAM-28 assault rifle.” Continued Jalenko. “It is reliable, solid and durable—provided you can use it properly.” He gestured at the targets across the field. “I supposed even illiterates such as you can surmise what you are about to do. Each of you has a target before him. Aim, and fire.” The troops raised their weapons, aimed, and fired. Lexi immediately found himself being hit with the sound of about two dozen automatic weapons being fired simultaneously. Resisting disorientation, he aimed his weapon at the target nearest to him and pulled the trigger. With a rapid backfiring sound, the gun fired, sending spent shells out of it. Across the field, holes appeared peppered across all the targets. After a few seconds, the men lowered their guns, having spent the evidently few rounds inside their magazines. Jalenko walked down the line, observing the bullet holes on the targets, as the soldier who had distributed the weapons took them back in. “Hmm. Not bad. Well, comrades, now that you have passed these two basic tests, tomorrow you will all be shipped to the distant desert world of Hypori. Also…” “Excuse me, comrade colonel, but what about our training?” asked Lexi meekly, before he could think about what he was saying. “That will be your main training. You will be tested on your perseverance in a hostile environment, your skills in weapons and equipment, and above all you comradeship.” Suddenly he moved so fast that he seemingly teleported right up to Lexi, grabbing him by his collar, his voice turning into a snarl. “And went you want to ask a question boy, you wait for me to finish and raise your hand. Understand?” Lexi quickly nodded. With that, Jalenko released him, and continued talking in his usual voice. “You will now be transported to a barracks to await transportation. From there, I will be watching you all every step of the way. And if any of you fail to satisfy me”—his voice become razor sharp—“you may say goodbye to living a life in our great society.” With that, a rumbling sound filled the air as two massive flying vehicles, fixed with spinning blades and clusters of dangerous-looking weapons stuck to the side, appeared from over a building and began to descend into the yard. Lexi felt feelings of excitement and amazement as he watched them come down. Yes—his decision was good. He could tolerate any bullies or brutal officers if this new life brought him to sights like this. Why was he thinking about regretting this?
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