Chapter 5: Azayal Assessment and Training

As they walked out of the portal they looked out over the expanse of the campus. The campus was spectacular and was built into the side of the foothills of the mountain below the palace. It did not look like any War College that Jason had ever seen. On the one side was the sea and on the other side was the mountain. There were cliffs to the sea and inactive, small volcanic mouths leading a procession up the mountain. The gardens were beautiful. Jason saw the college buildings on increasingly steep gradients with sheer cliffs behind them. To his right was a very old bridge crossing a waterway which had houses of clashing colors squashed together on top of the bridge. He could see the docks beyond with an old liner with colorful funnels and next to it an impressive sailing ship. Nothing that he saw shouted here is a society of advanced technology, yet they had traveled to the college through a portal. The gardens were impeccably maintained. The buildings were in pale blue pastels or were in ruddy brick. The buildings were rounded with external stairs rising in a spiral. Many had spires with gold domes. It struck him as the last sort of architecture he would’ve expected. It was reminiscent of a fantasyland than what he imagined the buildings of an advanced people to be like. He saw many children playing in the gardens.

Pardela saw where he was looking. “Jason, I see where you are looking, those are not children. They recognize you are new here and they pretend to be playing. They are the maintenance bots and double as guards. They are heavily armed and are the first line of defense of the college along with hidden automated cannon.”

The path meandered upwards until they reached wide stairs leading to an impressive building.

“This is the administration and assessment center. As with everything, what you see on the surface is a tiny fragment of what is below the surface. My father has gone to great lengths to pretend to be other than what we are. My grandfather pushed development while cultivating the importance of the arts. He was equally paranoid about our enemies.

“I will accompany you up the stairs and to the reception area. In the reception area there is a portal. When you had your upgrades, we gave you your DNA identifiers. They allow you free passage through any Azayal areas for which you have clearance. When you leave here to the left you can see the arch of the portal to take you home. When you are approaching the portal think of the palace first and then the location near the dining room. The portal will understand and transport all of you to the correct location. You are not permitted visitors or contact with the outside world for the first three months. They want you to fully involve yourself in the campus environment.

“Our people are very competitive and you will not find them friendly until they get to know you and you are as good as they are or better.

“My father is doing everything he can to prevent Wensta and Grefis discovering where you are. His cyberwarfare people are creating a false trail to one of our other planets. It will take a lucky coincidence or three months at least for them to find out where you are. It will also cost them a lot. Wensta is a cunning sneaky bastard, but he is also very persistent and he will not let go. We have found Grefis knows people who produce the assassin fungus. They cannot as yet tie him to a specific contact. All the specimens are accounted for.

“At some time in the not-too-distant future Grefis will know where you are. You have not faced your last assassination attempt. Expect sabotage and other sneaky acts. Check your equipment. Wensta will be under surveillance, but he has years of experience learning how to evade observation. He is difficult just for the sake of being difficult and he is a nasty and vindictive individual. He will blame you for his girlfriend’s disappearance. You are responsible in his eyes for him being under surveillance. He does not take personal responsibility. I assume the maid is a Ghoul. He is not worried about the Ghouls, so it may mean he will sell out his father and all of us.

“You may of course guess I’m as paranoid as the rest of them. I have lived a life being part of machinations within my family. This is the first big threat we are facing together.

“That arch to our left is the portal I mentioned that you will need to use, to make your way home, when you are given leave. The reception is directly ahead. This is as far as I’m allowed to go. I wish you all the best of luck. Remember be ruthless and relentless and remember being merciful will get you killed!” Said Pardela, turned on her heel and walked through the portal.

As they reached reception the man seated at a flat desk, pointed to the nearby corridor.

“Follow the green flashing line,” he said looking exceedingly bored.

“As we walk along, there is absolutely no sound from the floor surface,” said Razza.

Heinrich jumped a few times.

“It feels springy and soft, but none of our shoes sink even the slightest amount into the floor,” said Mandy, bending down to watch Marsin walking in front of her.

The green, slowly flashing sphere was at Jason’s eye level and floated a couple of yards in front of him. He could see no source for the hologram anywhere. If he slowed the light slowed. The walls were bare. There were no doors along their route. Finally, they could see a pair of large double doors in front of them. As they moved closer the doors opened and they went through to one of the biggest gyms Jason had ever seen, though the equipment was unfamiliar. He could see people working out.

The green light continued to lead Jason and his group onward until they reached the other side of the gym where there was a table with six or seven people.

The light led them to Zerna Parengus, the chief instructor of the school as her badge stated. She was unsmiling and frowned as she cast her eye over the students. “I believe I have the dubious honor to help this group shape up. Come with me to the test machines.”

She placed half of them on a similar machine and the other half of the group on a different machine. The machine displayed a hologram of instructions and a video about the operation of the machine. Jason placed his hands where instructed and soon found himself sweating with the effort of pushing and pulling as the machine instructed. The direction of pulling and pushing constantly changed as he reached his limits in any particular direction. He could not recall ever being pushed so hard during any previous exercise session.

By the time that he felt that he could do no more, instructor Parengus returned to him and placed him on the other machine which did the same with his legs. When he was finished, he could barely stand. She returned and looked down at her brain.

“You barely qualify boy; do you do no exercise? I think I may be wasting my time with you foreigners. You have a long way to go before you are competent. The rest of your group have shown themselves to be equally unfit, it is pathetic. You’re going to have to work very hard,” Parengus said with a sneer, “but I doubt any of you will get through this program. I don’t like you boy, so you had better not get in my way. Don’t think that because you have royal connections that you’re going to have a free ride. Perform poorly and you are out just like anybody else. Your connections just guarantee a tougher experience for you.”

“Thank you, chief instructor, I will do my best to improve,” said Jason politely while thinking that armies don’t ever change.

“Now I will assess your fighting. I will pair you with one of the other groups. Make your way back to the desk while I collect a similar sized group,” said Parengus shaking her head with her mouth turned downwards.

Jason found himself paired up with a young man of similar size who looked at Jason with disdain.

“Listen carefully, I will tell you the rules once only. Both groups are at the start of your training. Everything is part of your assessment and counts toward your final scores. The winning team receives three points. Each individual that wins receives three points. In order to graduate your team has to score 7000 points annually for you to graduate. Each individual has to score sufficient points to graduate. If you lose, you score nothing. You are scored according to the effort you put in to your gym, your fighting, your academics and your performance in simulators and in mock battles. You will learn to fight on the land, to fight in the water, to fight underground and in spaceships. You will learn how we board ships as individuals and as groups. Every single exercise you do of any kind goes towards your final scores.

“You can strike anywhere on your opponent’s body but you have to pull a death blow. Crippling blows are permitted. If you have to, you can tear your opponent apart. You can use any and every part of your body as long as it is a natural part of your body. If I suspect that you are not putting one-hundred percent of your effort into a fight, I will score you a negative three and add a bonus three points to your opponent. In this bout you are not permitted to use your powers. That only applies today as we wish to assess your base fighting ability. I want to know what skills and abilities you acquired before training starts. Before you begin, I have asked two of the seniors who are competing for first place in their year to demonstrate how you need to learn to fight. Parengus beckoned to two young women who were standing nearby.

“Fight!”

Both of their faces transformed to show fearsome battle masks. The one sported a pair of short thick black horns, while the other showed she had long canines that slid outside her cheeks. Both of them had thick talons that looked at least two and a half inches long. They tore into each other. The one raked her nails across the chest of the other almost tearing one of her breasts apart, while she dived behind her opponent. As she dived the other fell back sticking her horn into the shoulder of her opponent and then tearing upwards wedging her horn into her opponent’s jaw. Her opponent grabbed her horns with her hands and attempted to grab the other’s body with her legs so she could break her neck. The one with horns quickly turned breaking free of her opponent’s weakened right arm which began spurting blood. She hooked her horn into her opponent’s neck tearing the jugular.

“I concede,” said the one with long canines holding her neck with one hand to block the bleeding with her damaged arm and held her torn shoulder with the other.

The paramedics ran up and quickly walked her through a portal.

“Now I hope you understand when I say full effort. During training we expect to resurrect you when you die. Most will die at least once a year. Try and not die too often, it doesn’t improve your reputation,” said Parengus callously then nodded at Jason and his opponent. “Fight!”

Jason changed his face and as he did so he feinted that he was moving one way and moved the other. He attempted to punch his opponent with his stiletto fists, only to find his opponent had already moved and was behind him and held Jason with claws first tearing his abdomen and then raking his claws across Jason’s eyes. Jason felt absolute agony as one of his eyes popped. He turned towards his opponent striking deeply into his side with his elbow spurs ripping him deeply before tearing into his neck with his stiletto fist. His opponent lost consciousness and fell to lie comatose on the floor with blood pouring from his ripped neck. Jason felt blood dripping from his face and abdomen and his damaged eye was agonizingly painful. He was bustled through a portal and shortly after he saw his opponent being rushed through on a stretcher. The medics placed Jason on a bed.

“You have received Azayal medical treatment and as you have no previous records with us, I have established a new medical record for you which will be available in any Azayal hospital. This record will follow you while you are in the kingdom. Your eye has been replaced by a cybernetic implant. A new more robust eye with a protective membrane is being grown for you and will be implanted in you tomorrow night. Your other eye has been provided with a similar membrane. You are fully fit and ready to go. Your time in treatment was fourteen minutes. Follow the green orb to your class which is due to begin in ten minutes. You will find a dresser along the wall.”

Jason felt disoriented for a moment, then found himself standing upright on the floor. A green orb appeared in front of him, blinking but motionless. He felt no pain in his face, his abdomen or his eye. Everything looked exactly as normal. Jason’s cybernetic eye was not distinguishable from his original. He found the dresser at the back of the ward and joined the rest of the group in the next class.

None of them looked the worse for wear. “How did it go after I left, Razza?”

“We would never have been able to win any of our fights a week ago. We all won except for Brenda Barros who drew against her opponent in a battle of attrition. Her opponent was a martial arts champion from another world who ranks second to your guy. Brenda gave as good as she got and both are in hospital in a bad way. Everyone fought martial arts champions. The whole group we fought is made up of champions. The guy you fought is the Inter-World Youth Champion of the Azayal and is a nasty piece of work. I think he cheated. He got behind you too quickly. I think he did several micro-jumps to make it look like he was moving.

“That Parengus creature set us up for a nasty fall. We had a chance to compare notes before you arrived. She was a royal prime bitch when she spoke to each of us about our strength and workouts. I heard her say the same stuff to you. We have our results on our brains and we are as fit as the best of them. I am pleased we had a week to practice with an instructor before we came here, it made all the difference. The sleep learning technology is a quantum leap ahead of the Coven and the Collective even without considering its unique physical skill development. We all agree on that.

“I heard the background of the other group from one them who is very disgruntled with the guy you fought. Your guy has in the past bullied all of them mercilessly. They have competed against him in many tournaments. He picks on anyone and everyone he possibly can. He has no friends in his group,” said Razza.

“How did Parengus react after the fighting? “ Jason asked.

“Parengus stalked away muttering. It wasn’t what she expected to happen. She thought we would be slaughtered by their ‘superior fighting ability’ and then we would be proven incompetent. She behaved as if we were a waste of her time and we were taking up unnecessary space. She is going to take some convincing. Those spurs and the stiletto you have proven to be nasty weapons!” Said Razza.

Jason looked across at the group of his friends. Most of them were grinning and looked cheerful. Jason smiled. He could not see his opponent in the room.

A smartly dressed heavyset man made his way to the center of the room and onto the raised stage.

“My name is Semlond Perand and I am the head of the school. I welcome you to the most famous War College of the Azayal. For only the second time in our history we have admitted foreigners and I am pleased to say they are the only foreigners to have lasted this far. They come from an Empire two galaxies over from the galaxy where we originated. One of the group comes from the same galaxy from which we came, from a planet that has not yet achieved interstellar spaceflight. Congratulations young man I understand you managed to adapt to more advanced societies. Some of the others come from a society that mastered spaceflight sixty-two thousand years ago and the others are from a much more ancient society, not quite as old as we are. I welcome all of you and I hope that you will be able to cope with our training,” said Perand with his words sounding supportive but his tone was patronizing.

Jason felt his hackles rising.

“They join you, the elite of our people. This is a tough training. Ten percent of each class will die several times during training. Twenty percent will fail before the end of the first year and twelve percent will fail the examinations. You are fortunate to have the best of our medical care or many more of you would be maimed by the end of your training as did our ancestors. Many were scarred for the rest of their lives. Those of you who will succeed will become the leaders of our fleet and our Armed Forces. Three quarters of all of the elite general officers came from this college. If you can pass this course you will be in a position to enjoy the best our society can provide. Most important doors will open for you, but you need to prove can develop the necessary skills here.

“You will spend the rest of the day being assessed in our simulators. We have millions of years of experience in assessing candidates. In the simulators you will face combat situations of evolving complexity, beginning with the most simple units. You will work with small squads and move at your own pace all the way through to multi-fleet combat. During this assessment you can earn a maximum 200 points. The highest that any candidate has achieved in the past million years is 75 points. The simulations will provide you with the necessary understanding of the resources available to you before you begin. You will be given training by the simulator how to use of the ships and weapons at your disposal. We have some of the most advanced weapons and ships of all the ancients.

“I would like to draw your attention to one of the most important principles of the school. We expect your full attention to the task and you undertake each and every task to the best of your abilities. The simulator is capable of determining underperformance. I loathe people who underperform to create a false impression of their abilities. We can pick this up and we will reject you. We want officers who are doing their best every minute of every day. When you hold other people’s lives in your hands you cannot afford to be giving half your effort. If you want to be easy-going about leadership in war go somewhere else. I don’t want underperforming leaders. Every year we compete with every other school. You do poorly, we do poorly. You are judged as an individual and you are judged as a group. A group is only as good as its weakest link. The school is as good as its weakest students.

“If you can’t manage it, come and see me and I will discharge you without any argument. This is a place for champions and elite leaders. Now follow me.” He walked to the next room where there were rows of large simulators. “Step into the simulators and sit down.” Perand said and then appeared on hologram in the simulator. “You will find your seat is very comfortable. As you can see the simulator has switched itself on and has checked your identity. It will teach you how to use it and when you are ready you will move on to the combat exercises. When you have completed all of the simulations or the time has reached 5 o’clock all activity will stop.

“Many of you from off planet collected your equipment last night and are settled in your rooms. Those of you from Merka and others who as yet have not received your equipment and clothing follow the lights at 5 o’clock to receive what you need for tonight and tomorrow. You will stay in your original groups for the duration. You will find your room allocation in your slate messages. Dress for the gym which you commence at 5 AM. You will then have your first martial arts training session and sparring practice before breakfast. Your timetable and room locations are on your slate. Now remember, apply your full attention to the tasks.” Perand finished.

The simulator function was almost identical to combat and learning simulators in the Collective. The first simulation was very easy and Jason completed it in seconds. He continued to work through the simulations until lunchtime. The simulator told him to follow the light to the canteen and return in forty-five minutes to continue his evaluation.

“How are you finding the simulations Perdita?” Razza asked as they sat on either side of Jason.

“I have been doing quite a few of Porquenta’s simulations. I went through all the education from the Collective and I have done a lot of their stuff as well. I don’t know if I’m missing something here, but the simulations are so unchallenging and easy that it makes me worry. As I was walking here, I heard one of the others saying it seemed to be pretty difficult. Most of the simulations take me a few minutes and the simulator moves me to the next. I find it disturbing. We are the alleged primitives. Is there something here that is so profound that I’m missing it entirely. None of the weapons seem terribly special. What about you Mr. Expert simulation doer?” Perdita asked Jason.

“I must say I share your experience. If this is the level of simulation that they are doing, they are going to get slaughtered in space warfare and are not going to do so well on the ground against the weapons we know. I have only just begun the fighter battles, but they are underwhelming,” said Jason. “Let us order and eat, time is marching on.”

Jason was finished by two o’clock. His simulator told him to collect his equipment. An orb appeared and he made his way to the quartermaster who gave him several pieces of equipment he did not recognize and a backpack with trans-dimensional storage capabilities. He was told to use his slate to find what he needed to order the dressers to provide for the gym, class and other activities.

He made his way to find the sleeping quarters but was pleasantly surprised to find they each had a small room with a desk, bed, a small storage box for equipment, but shared a large refresher and dressers. The AI told Jason his room was temperature controlled and he was covered by a virtual sheet. He did not need to make his bed or do any cleaning. He was still feeling a little tired and below par after the assassination attempt, so he lay down on the bed and slept until he needed to make his way to dinner. As he walked along the passageway, he received an urgent message to see the principal of the College in his office together with his group at 7 PM.

He met up with his group in the canteen at 6 PM.

“I think the axe is going to drop on us tonight,” said Julia gloomily. “I just knew those stupid simulations weren’t as easy as they looked.”

“I think he’s going to discover we know much more than they do, but he won’t accept it from the idiot primitives. They are living in cloud cuckoo land and are soon going to be eaten by the Ghouls. He over values what they do,” said Stinger Murphy.

Sergei shook his head and moved his finger as he prepared to make his points.

“We have been living an intergalactic war that keeps us on our toes. They have had millions of years of peace and security and a crazy king who has taken them towards the dark ages. I agree that patronizing self satisfied college head will refuse to believe we can do better than his great Azayal. If we did well he will explain it some other way. It will not go well for us. Razza you need to put a rocket up his backside because if we don’t the Azayal will be sitting ducks for the Ghouls or Grork/Schlogg!” said Sergei Paz.

“I’m going to enjoy this meal, but I am not going to let that ancient twit, get to me. Razza will protect me against all evil. Won’t you my darling?” Jason asked frivolously.

“He is a prejudiced pain in the butt, who thinks that he is better than he is. He is going to have a nasty lesson very soon,” said Razza clenching her jaw. “This food is excellent, let’s enjoy it and then we deal with Mr. Arrogant.” She thumped her palm with her fist.

They made their way using the college navigation lights to find their way to the principal’s office. The secretary sat at a workstation outside Perand’s office and announced their presence. They waited for ten minutes.

“Please come through to my room, we have some serious issues to discuss.” Semlond Perand the head of the school said as he invited them into his office. His manner was polite but with a twinge of disbelief.

They trooped into his office confidently.

“The lowest score any of you achieved in the simulations was 190%. This is unprecedented and raises the question of how you could possibly achieve these scores.” Perand said accusingly.

Jason saw Razza flushing. He watched her control her breathing for several seconds before she spoke. He saw Robert Ponza and Trackrof Graf next to him trying very hard not to grin.

“Principal Perand, on what basis do you claim we behaved improperly as opposed to simply performing better than your other students?” Razza asked sweetly. Jason noticed she was clenching her jaw with the effort.

“We have used these simulations for a million years. We know how students perform. You come from worlds far behind us. You could not legitimately have performed as well as you did!” Perand said, his face suffused and thumping his fist onto the desk.

Razza nodded patiently.

“We are foreign applicants as you have noted. We have been fighting in an intergalactic war that has consumed us for some time. You live in an isolated universe believing that your superior level of technology will both hide you and protect you from the real world. This is an illusion. You have been discovered by the enemy and you have gone backwards for a million years. The level of your simulations is far below the level we are accustomed to. Your weapons will not succeed against the enemies we face. We do harder simulations and face enemies far more dangerous than you show on your simulations. The outside world has progressed while you live in the past, enjoying past victories. We have engaged your so-called superior Azayal champions in combat and we have rubbed their noses in the dirt. We have engaged in your low-level simulations and we have slaughtered you.

“You accuse us of cheating or as you have put it improper conduct, this is defamatory and unreasonable,” said Razza winding herself up. “You would not be able to face one single one of our enemies. We formally challenge you and your best to face some of our simulations.

“Be frightened principal Semlond Perand for you are going to become fodder for those who have already invaded your formerly secure sub-universe. Don’t accuse us of cheating because we are better than you and because we face reality while you hide. Your simulations reflect the reality of an ancient time that no longer exists. Before you make a complete ass of yourself speak to Adm. Maron Mergazengis. Beware of making accusations that you cannot support. Contact Adm. Mergazengis while we are here. You are underprepared and complacent,” said Razza confrontationally. “Your people will die unless you modernize your teaching and your tools.”

“This is outrageous, the simulations have been used by us for a million years. They have served us well,” said Perand plaintively. “I will not tolerate such insolence from students and outsiders who know little of us and our abilities.”

“You are facing a new reality and new threats. If your school is going to survive it needs to get with reality. Your simulations are simplistic and your weapons are puerile. That is why we did so well on your simulations. You will not survive in the real world, you are deluding yourselves,” said Razza forging ahead.

“Headmaster if you believe you can perform well in the modern world, we challenge you, your lecturers and senior military the simulations we face. These simulations will reflect both our military performance and the abilities of our enemies. There is an intergalactic war that is going on out there and it is affecting you right now. You are a plump and inviting target of complacency,” said Razza pressing her attack.

“Let us see how you do facing some real competition. Let us set aside tomorrow to face the real world for all of you. You are a War college isolated for millions of years from the real world. The real world has passed you bye and you are far behind the ancients, “ said Razza firmly.

“This is outrageous,” said Semlond Perand the head of the school. “We have fought in the Great War and we were well regarded.”

“No, it is not in any way outrageous,” said Razza, “you may have done well millions of years ago, but you have not moved on. You accused us of dishonorable behavior. You have no evidence we behaved in any way other than with integrity. We say we are used to fighting much harder battles and that is why we perform better than your people. We offer simulations that reflect the reality we face every day. The Azayal, freely admit they have been away from our Universe for millions of years. What you cannot accept until you face our enemies with our weapons is you are behind and that is why we outperform you. If you accuse us you need to face our challenges. We challenge you to do real-life simulations of situations that have occurred during our intergalactic war. I again ask can you prove you are delivering the education that is needed to prepare your people for war?

“We can all see you are delivering an ancient out of date product and then you accuse us of cheating. Your simulations are so easy that any admiral from our galaxy would wipe the floor with you. Put your money where your mouth is and do some real life simulations tomorrow. Get your staff together and if you want to, let your students also see what faces them in the real world.