Melbourne finished lunch and followed his HR teacher with the rest of the class across the campus to building S, the Strategy and Command Training Building. This building only had three stories, but length and width of the base were much larger.
As with the gym, Lieutenant Lavender left the class to enter the building and go to their assigned rooms. Melbourne's first test was on the first floor.
Within the classroom that they entered, naval officers walked across rows of virtual reality headsets.
"What is this, a gaming arcade hall?" muttered Melbourne quietly to himself. "It looks an awful lot like one."
"Welcome, cadets!" announced an elderly blonde-haired woman with curly hair. She looked to be in her late sixties or early seventies and wore Lieutenant Colonel insignias on her shoulder. "My name is LTC Kara. While I am a Lieutenant Colonel, you may address me as Colonel or Ma'am given my officer designation. Now that First Sergeant Lioni has tested your bodies, I will test your minds. What you see before you may remind you of popular arcade halls found throughout Mars and in other settlements on Phobos and throughout asteroids. I assure you, however, that these virtual reality headsets are not for gaming. What you will do within them may feel much like a game, but the simulations are designed to test your ability to handle command situations intelligently, quickly and efficiently. Today, you will be tested on your aptitude for various positions, simulating common battlefield tasks of squad leaders for ground assault and space-based dogfighting. It will also test your ability to handle larger platoons and significantly higher positions. You can think of it as a first person RTS strategy game, but your results will help to determine your starting position in the academy next week. I would like to tell you that this is not a competition and that you should just focus on doing your best, but it really is a competition. The top performers of this assessment will be the most likely to be selected as a cadet squad leader beginning next week and will have a much easier time impressing the staff and the top brass of the military in the future for faster promotions going forward. Know that squad leader is the best promotion you could hope to achieve next week, and only one out of every five of you will achieve this position."
"How are we expected to perform well if we've never had any prior training in military strategy?" protested one student in the crowd. "It's not fair to have tests you haven't even prepared us for affect our grades."
Colonel Kara grimaced briefly, mildly annoyed at the interruption.
"Cadet, this is an aptitude test. We are looking for cadets with the greatest natural talents. Rest assured, your results today will not affect your overall GPA at this school. Also bear in mind that if you do not perform well today, there will be future opportunities to excel and prove your ability to learn by taking similar tests again. It is not unheard of for people who fail this initial exam to go on to be generals or admirals in the Martian Armed Forces. Success here only makes future success easier by a small margin. Failure today will not completely ruin your life. Does this satisfy your worries, cadet?"
"Yes ma'am!" exclaimed the student.
Kara smiled. "Good. Now, I want every cadet in the room to take a seat. You will be put into a VR simulation and your nervous system will control a virtual body. The limitations of your physical body will be removed from the virtual one as you are not being tested on your physical fitness right now. You will start as a squad leader in a marine outfit and then move on to higher command structures. This is a standardized army test, but it is used for measuring future naval military commanders as well. You have not been trained to pilot yet, so piloting will not be part of the test. Any radiant simulations that might involve flying will be a simple, unrealistic ship interface that doesn't take much to learn. For the uninitiated, radiant missions are procedurally generated by a computer program and follow various rules and parameters while incorporating pseudorandom variables. This makes every experience different for each cadet and makes cheating virtually impossible. You can't just memorize the answers like with some standardized test and retake it for a better grade without actually improving your strategic mind. Such a situation will be testing your adaptability and ability to command troopers, not your technical abilities."
Melbourne sat in a chair as other cadets began to sit as well. A haptic system wrapped around Melbourne's body as a visor lowered on a linear actuator over his eyes.
Melbourne found himself within a long corridor reminiscent of the ones found in the torus structure of the space hotels of the Martian Gateway. The décor was quite different, however. Automatic turrets littered the ceiling and security cameras were all over the walls. A siren was blasting, causing troops to run in one direction frantically.
Upon his virtual NCU on his chest was a corporal insignia, the rank he would be simulating for now despite his lower rank in the real world.
A communicator buzzed on Melbourne's virtual watch.
"Yes?" asked Melbourne.
"Corporal Acliate, mining station Alpha-Simata 0001 is under attack by rebels from the Astroman Alliance!"
The word clicked in Melbourne's mind immediately. This simulation was based on the Astroman War of 2378. A group of rebels had seceded from the Martian Republic in that year and took over a large number of space stations and mining colonies that produced important resources used by Mars. They even hijacked several Martian frigates and a cruiser. The war lasted from January of that year until February of 2379, but the war involved a lot of bloodshed. It was considered one of the bloodiest space-based wars in Martian history. If the quests given in this test were radiant, would Melbourne's peers be given the same testing ground or would they receive different settings? Melbourne shook off his curiosity as he realized he had no time to lose if he wanted to get a great score.
"Acliate, are you listening?" demanded the voice on the communicator. "I need you to go collect your squad and report to elevator room 3 as fast as possible to intercept the invading rebels! If you don't know where to go, consult the map on your watch for information. The blue dots represent the location of your squadron. Any white dots represent other allies whose positions are verified and fellow soldiers not under your command. The green cursor is you. Red dots will represent enemy soldiers. You should seek to neutralize any of these in your vicinity."
Melbourne pulled up a hologram on his watch which showed a map with a green cursor in the center of it. Four blue dots in a room not very far away were highlighted, indicating he should go to that position to meet his squadron.
[Analyzing…
Connecting…
Integration complete.]
The map now showed up in Melbourne's vision on demand, the Aclito having integrated the virtual reality quest within itself.
[New Mission: War Games
*You have been instructed to conduct a virtual aptitude test to measure your strategy.
*Objective: Complete the trials and achieve among the highest ranks possible.
*Optional Objective: Achieve first place in the games to receive and additional reward.
*Reward: +50 XP, +1-5 Intelligence]
Melbourne smiled at the opportunity for more XP and charged down the corridor on his mission with newfound determination.
He entered into what appeared to be an armory where five troopers were putting on kevlar vests and loading their weapons. As they saw him, they stiffened up and stood at attention.
"Reporting for duty, Corporal!" said the squad members in professional unison.