Exams Part 2

He eventually made it to the ship, he got a good look at it this time and realized it was a Galleon-class spaceship by the look of it. He wasn't focused on it earlier but it looked like the ship had broken into three parts crashing on the planet. Two parts he could see landed in this area, the central area where the crew quarters, armories, cargo bays, and other areas for quality of life were located was the section he was inside of. The second section visible from his location was more than likely the weapons bay and hanger bays, because it was currently broken up into chunks and blooming a large plume of smoke. The third section he realized was the ship bridge along with a small chunk of the middle section. Meaning there was a chance they were secure somewhere else, but that was only a possibility not a guarantee.

Moving to the central part he quietly made his way inside. Eventually arriving at the technicians workshop. Inside he used a still functioning fabricator to make two items. An emergency transponder beacon and a handheld hacking device. The second thing wasn't military issued but rather an item he had improved upon that was originally from the slums.

He designed this one to be waterproof and an attachment to his armor. After he was done he held off on hacking the alien system. Instead he began checking the translation for the chitin aliens, he saw it was almost done.

So he made his way back out of the ship. Walking in a different way from his stash, he soon arrived at the base of a mountain. It would provide an optimal location for the beacon. As well as a place to have a last stand if his initial plan failed.

He began making his way up the mountain until he got a new alert. The translation for the chitin aliens language was complete.

He then read the initial recorded translation. From the conversation he recorded.

[Cray Dolma, prepare to move the humans if need be. The soft bodied bastards won't fire on us if we use the humans as shields.

What about these pink skin people? What if they come for them?

Then we kill them all. They are weak and have armor like the soft bodied, who tried to warn them.]

Well that gave him a better grasp of the situation. As well as making it all the more important that his initial plan works. He started listening to the live communication as he made his way up the mountain.

[Mechanics determined that the nearby plasma fire supercharged the atmosphere causing an explosive lightning strike. They are prepared for additional failures until the plasma fires stop.

Good, check for any other compromised systems and make sure the prisoners are hidden. As long as they are hidden the soft bodies will hold fire.]

Soft bodies must be the other race but the translation can't translate names or in this case a racial name. He was nearing the peak of the small mountain when another communication caught his eye.

[The pink skin people arrived at our rear. Command is keeping the soft bodies from contacting them but make certain you don't lose track of any of them. We might be able to turn the pink skins against the soft bodies.

Understood.]

That was worrying. But good, it means the emergency broadcast will reach allies quicker. It also put a time limit on him before his people acted.

As he reached the furthest point he could easily climb he started hacking through the terminal he left connected to the alien base. Their programming was simplistic and unsecured, they probably lacked the concept of cyber warfare. Which was good for him. Bad for them.

He grinned under his helmet as he hacked through the system. Making a blindspot for the signal he was about to send out. Preparing a planet wide blocking signal for incoming signals. Then having their detection system detect nothing for the time being.

As the sun began shining he realized for the first time that the storm had ended. It also meant it would be harder for him to move around. So the next thing he did was set up the emergency broadcast beacon programming it to transmit a record of what happened to the ship. The current location of the beacon. The translation of both languages and notifying them that the chitin aliens plan to manipulate them as well as notifying them that the bridge section of the ship was missing.

But he didn't trigger the message yet. He kept it prepped so he could trigger it remotely. Then he made his way back down the mountain and toward the ship. This time around it took him a lot longer as there were several patrols of those chitin aliens. Eventually he arrived at the ship which was swarmed with many unarmed chitin taking it apart.

More than likely they would take the time to dismantle and try to reverse engineer the ship. He quickly noticed that they had yet to figure out the secondary entrance that he was using. So he entered through it and moved back into the armory. Once inside he packed a number of weapons and ammunition. Then as he was leaving he set up a laser tripwire for when they got to the armory.

He then wrote a red 'X' on the door marking it with a multi-tool that comes standard with the armor. Making his way out he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks standing in front of him opening the door was an armored chitin alien.

"Kree?" It made a sound of surprise while Steel jumped forward striking in only what he could assume was its neck. Then he grabbed the side of its head and slammed it against the wall. It went limp and fell to the ground. He didn't kill him… at least he hoped he didn't.

Stepping out of the ship he snuck back into the jungle and started making his way back to the base. As he quickly moved through the jungle he activated the hacking device and beacon at the same time. There was a high chance that the chitin alien he encountered would alert the others.

Arriving with the military base in sight he immediately noticed the lack of armored personnel. Seems like they moved most of their personnel out to either patrol or to the ship to work on salvage. He didn't have time to stash the weapons he would have to sprint through the base to find the hostage humans.

He sprinted up to the gate and kicked one of the guards sending him flying and smacked the other one with the but of his gun. Once he was past them he stopped by a building that was heavily guarded. But he quickly figured out it was an armory after he knocked aside four more guards. Then he ran to the dungeon, the entrance of which was a metal door. There was only one sleeping guard at the door. He opened the door using a key the door guard had. Sitting inside in a large open room were over a dozen humans.

"Is there anybody they took that is not here?" Steel asked and one of them shook their heads. He was dressed in a mechanic's armor.

Steel set down the bag and pushed it over, "arm yourselves. We aren't killing our way out. But we are not staying here."

He then stepped out the door to see the guard door waking up, he quickly hit him with the butt of his gun. Causing the guard to slump to the ground.

Steel watched the outside as he saw many of their people moving to the front gate in a panic. Glancing around he saw the back gate was unguarded. A few minutes later the survivors came out armed with the knives and handguns he packed. Before he could say anything there was a loud noise overhead. He looked up to see a cruiser-class ship entering orbit with his empire's colors.

He then led the survivors out of the back gate and into the jungle after a mile out he sent a message to the hovering cruiser.

Then as he was getting ready to prepare defenses the world dematerialized and the pod opened. As the spots in his eyes cleared up he hopped out of the pod and was covered in sweat.

After a moment he looked over at Colonel Dakota, "so how did I do?"

The Colonel nodded while both the black armored infantry and general seemed deep in thought. "Good kid, go on and enjoy the rest of your day. But plan on staying at the school over the break."

Steel nodded and quickly left, curious about the general and black armored infantry. But knowing better than to ask questions.

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"So what did you two think?" Colonel Dakota asked after Steel left the room.

"He is definitely a fit for the Special Operations Division. But I don't think he would survive in the Inquisitors with all of its red tape." The black armored infantry, who was only known as the Echo Commander.

"Agreed, but he can't go straight to that division. Just like the others, he will spend a year as a part of a normal squad. But he could skip the special ops school if you train him while he is here." General Phi interjected.

"Understandable, now for the others-" The Colonel was interrupted by the General.

"You mean the ones you have slated for a commander position, an advanced recon, the assassination squad, and the research and development positions?"

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The day ended quickly. After his exam he spent his time in the first year's main lobby. Tinkering with the hacking device he had recreated in the exam simulation. He was modifying it to make it more easy to use. For the moment only people with a complex grasp of programming could use it. But simple infantry or basic programmers? No.

He could also make a pretty good amount of credits if he sold it to the military. As he was sitting in the lobby, more and more people were gathered playing board games, card games, and doing other things as well. While he was sitting down Taylor Hielo, the Ice Queen, came and sat next to him and started looking over what he was working on.

"Hey I heard, you are staying here for the break." Trainee Hielo asked.

"Yup, nowhere better to be. So I am staying and apparently even the Colonel wants me to stay over break." Steel's answer caused her to nod in understanding.

"Y'know, next year I want to work on a project. Building something like you are now." Hielo started explaining, causing him to set down his things and turn his attention to her. "I don't want to share too much but I am going to want help with the robotics and programming for this project."

"Okay, you have my interest. I need to study up on both of those things?" Steel asked as he pulled over an info pad he had lying around and started making a reminder.

"Yup, but if you already don't know you need to start reading up on programming protection and firewalls relating to the Rogue Metal Legion." Hielo pointed to an area of the device where there were exposed wires.

"I see," he fixed the part she pointed out. "So I am programming a robotic AI of some kind." He asked. Hielo only gave a smile before she stood up and left.

The next day the rest of the first year students left to go on break. The only students that stayed were a few of the second year students along with several teachers and the Colonel.