"You must be crazy....." one of the young male recruits muttered to Eva after they had been filed onto the transport and strapped in. He was sitting directly across from her, his eyes fixed on her split lip and the beginnings of a bruise that had started to show.

 

Eva just shrugged at him and replied, "It was worth it. Now I know how far I can push the bastard. Besides," she glanced down the lines of recruits, examining each one briefly as she finished the sentence, "I have the feeling that a smack to the mouth going to be the least of our problems over the next few months....."

 

"Don't get me wrong. Crazy is good!" The young man reached his right hand out to Eva, "I'm <Manic's first name>," he said and then added with a grin, "But everyone calls me Manic, hell if I know why. I heard you say that your name is Valkyrie?"

 

"Eva. Valkyrie is.. was my mother's handle. Mine now, I guess." she replies, taking his hand and giving it a firm handshake, "Nice to meet you Manic. Any idea where they are taking us?"

 

"I heard someone back at the recruitment office mention that we are headed to Gen for evaluation and training."

 

Eva nodded and sat back into her seat. It made sense to be going to Gen. The planet was close to Terra Three and was spotted with various military installations, so it stood to reason that there would be training complexes there also. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Well," she said back to <what-his-name> without opening her eyes to look at him, "Where ever they are taking us, I'm sure we won't have much free time to rest and enjoy the scenery. We might as well rest while we can."

 

Eva was later jolted awake with the transport shaking and shuddering violently, lurching regularly as if it would break up at any moment. "What the hell..." she muttered, glancing around. The looks on the other recruits faces were mixed. Some were calm and seeminly uncaring, others looked like they were about to throw up, others still simply white with fear and then there was Manic, who sat there with a stupid grin on his face as if this was the ride of his life.

 

"Crazy is good, huh?" Eva asked him with a slight smirk. "Enjoying yourself, are you?"

 

"Damn straight," he called back over the noise, "I think they turned down the shielding on re-entry to make the ship shake like this to try to scare us. Either that, or there's a big problem and we're all fucked. But hey, we can't do anything about it so we might as well enjoy the ride."

 

Eva shook her head in response with a faint smile forming on her lips. She had to admit to herself that he had a point. Feint or emergency, until the craft got to its destination or crashed in a firy pile of scrap metal there wasn't much any of them could do about it.

 

The vibrations in the transport eventually settled and the sound of air whistling over the hull could be heard faintly through the hull of the ship. The door to the flight bridge slid open and a UEE flight officer poked his head through and sniffed the air dramatically.

 

"Any 'code browns' back here? No? Well, I guess we'll need to try harder next time." With a sadistic grin he slid the door shut again leaving most of the recruits to stare at each other with incredulous looks.

 

Manic simply winked at Eva, "See?" and spread his hands outwards before him with his palms up, "Just enjoy the ride."

 

The transport tilted and slowed before coming to a hover and then with a soft thud, landed on solid ground. The rear loading door began to open, flooding the transport cavity with light and before it was even fully open Jenkins was there, barking at the group of recuits with his usual charming voice.

 

"Let's go, babies! This isn't some weekend resort! Get out, and line up!"

 

Everyone filed out of the ship and took positions in the same ten by five formation as before, some looking a little worse for wear from the rough landing, but all still standing.

 

"Well, well, well. All still here I see?" Jenkins began pacing from one side of the formation to the other as he spoke, "You are primarily here to see if we can make some kind of decent pilots out of you. Looking out across your sad, sorry faces I find myself disappointed. Half of you look like you're about to be sick! Imagine if you were in a Hornet class fighter in a spiralling dogfight, your senses spinning wildly as you chase your target through an asteroid belt having to roll from side to side, pitch back and forth, up and down, over and over to avoid debris. If you can't even handle a little turbulence how do you expect to survive?"

 

He looked out over the group, eyebrows raised expectantly. At the back of the formation, one of the younger women took a step back out of line, her face white as a ghost. She doubled over, threw up on the ground in front of her and then her eyes rolled in her head and she fell onto her side, passing out. This began a chain reaction with the sound and smell of vomit causing at least a dozen recruits to deposit the contents of their stomachs onto the ground. Of these, nine stepped back out of line to join the unconscious woman, with the others composing themselves and remaining in place.

 

The spectacle seemed to give Jenkins some form of satisfaction and Eva could swear she saw the beginnings of a smile form on his lips before he straightened his face again and just as quickly as it was there, it was gone. Jenkins motioned to nearby men who hounded those who stepped out of line back onto the transport, and dragging the fallen woman along with them.

 

"Ten down," Jenkins muttered more to himself than anyone else before raising his voice again, "Alright babies, it's time to see if you have any measurable skill in an aircraft! Fall in and follow me!"

 

He began a brisk jog away from the group, who broke formation and formed a ragged group behind him as he led them to what appeared to be a nearby warehouse building.

 

NEXT ENTRY: Second Cull