The Spark of Conflict
The Spark of Conflict
The shooting range was a symphony of controlled chaos. The sharp crack of gunfire echoed through the air devoid of smell of burning gunpowder, mingling with the hum of energy weapons and the occasional burst of laughter or frustration from the recruits. Lena stood at her assigned lane, her posture perfect, her eyes focused on the holographic target fifty meters away. She exhaled slowly, her finger tightening on the trigger.
*Bang.*
The shot hit dead center, the target flickering as it registered the hit. Lena allowed herself a small smile. Her marksmanship had improved rapidly over the past few days, a testament to her soul getting familiar with this human body. Her hands subconsciously caressed the virtual training rifle in her hands. If only she had this much practice before the recruitment, maybe she should have gone to higher division instantly….
"Nice shot," a voice said beside her, bringing her out from her idle thoughts. Lena raised her eyebrows in a small show of frustration, as she felt the presence of a human a little later than she would like to. Maybe in this peaceful world her sense of danger was growing dull faster than what she had expected. She was only able to sense him just moments before he really spoke.
Lena glanced over to see Jax, the wiry recruit from her barracks, grinning at her. His curly hair damp with sweat, and his hands playing cool tricks with a training handgun in his hand, but his eyes were bright with admiration.
"Thanks," Lena replied, her tone neutral but not unfriendly. She had begun to feel hunger gnawing her soul by this time though it was not yet at a level where she might pounce on anyone, especially Jax…it wasn't because she was being picky… or maybe it was. But actually because Jax was harmless enough, and his chatter provided a distraction during the long hours of training.
"You're a natural," Jax continued, reloading his own weapon. "I've been practicing for weeks, and I still can't get consistent headshots. What's your secret?"
Lena shrugged. "Focus. And patience." and a little bit of inhumane senses…She added in her mind.
Jax chuckled. "Easy for you to say. You make it look effortless."
Lena didn't respond, her attention already shifting back to the target. She fired another shot, then another, each one hitting the mark with precision. Around her, the other recruits were struggling to keep up, their shots erratic and unfocused.
Kira and her clique were a few lanes down, their melodic chime like laughter ringing out as they took turns shooting. Lena could feel their eyes occasionally landing on her, their gazes confused and alienating. She ignored them, her focus unwavering on her target practice. After all, she had already gotten used to it.
---
The days at the academy had settled into a monotonous rhythm—training, breaks, more training, and the occasional meal. Lena had adapted quickly, her inhumane nature allowing her to navigate the grueling schedule with ease. But the rigid structure left little room for exploration or personal time. The only moments of freedom came late at night, after curfew, when the academy grounds were quiet and still.
Lena had used those moments to explore, slipping through the shadows like a ghost. She had mapped out the facility, noting the locations of key buildings, security cameras, and some patrol routes. She had also discovered a few hidden spots—abandoned storage rooms, secluded corners of the training grounds.
Though Lena had, by now mapped much area of the academy but in reality it was not that valuable information. It was mainly because she wasn't able to reach the center area of the academy due to it being littered with surveillance, no matter how experienced she was - her human body which can't fly or turn invisible was a hindrance for her to infiltrate key areas.
But other than these, Lena had gotten used to these new hunting grounds quickly. It was a training school and true to its nature, everything here was attuned to keep the recruits busy. Even the instructors were only enthusiastic to the extent of their duties, not paying much attention after hours. Thus allowing her to catch the smell of various scandalous activities happening late at night in the direction of Staff quarters.
---
As the shooting session wound down, Lena noticed a commotion near the entrance of the range. A group of male recruits had gathered, their voices raised in argument. At the center of the group was a tall, muscular man with a shaved head and a scowl etched into his face. There was a distinct cyber implant on his shaved head. Lena recognized him as Viktor, one of the more aggressive recruits in their batch.
"You think you're better than me?" Viktor snarled, shoving a smaller recruit against the wall. "You're nothing but a weakling. You don't belong here. With the kind of error in your shooting, I don't know how a wuss like you got selected in here. "
The smaller recruit—a timid-looking boy named Eli—stammered a response, but Viktor cut him off with another shove. The other recruits watched in silence, their expressions a mix of watching a good show and indifference.
Lena's eyes narrowed. She had no love for bullies, but she also knew that intervening would draw unwanted attention. A pretty girl standing up for the weak and intervening between a men's fight, she didn't need to have a succubus soul to guess what it would lead to. Anyone with a rational mind can speculate that such a thing would have the opposite effect of smoothing out the conflict.
Though gaining a negative impression of testosterone fueled men would not cause much negative effect on her. Therefore just as she was about to intervene…
A tall girl with black hair coiled in a tight ponytail from the viewing group stepped forward, her movements calm and deliberate. "Is there a problem here?"
Viktor turned to her, his scowl deepening. "Stay out of this, Cassandra. This doesn't concern you."
Lena tilted her head, her gaze finding the brave girl and quickly recognizing her. She was Cassandra, a lone girl like herself who didn't like mixing up with groups. Earlier Lena had taken a passing look at her, and found her to be unassuming therefore hadn't bothered to look deeply into her. But it looked like she had missed the strong character beneath her socially reclusive personality.
"It concerns all of us. We're supposed to be a team, aren't we? Or are you too busy proving how tough you are to remember that?" Cassandra barked straight to Victor, unafraid as she didn't even bother to hide unfriendliness in her eyes.
Viktor's face flushed with anger hearing back from a girl, but before he could respond, an instructor appeared, his voice cutting through the tension like a whip.
"What's going on here?"
The recruits scattered like busy ants, leaving Viktor and Eli standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. The instructor glared at them, his expression stern.
"Save your energy for training," he snapped. "If I see this kind of behavior again, you'll be scrubbing the Mecha junkery for a week straight. Understood?"
Viktor muttered a grudging apology, his eyes darting to Cassandra with a mixture of anger and resentment. Lena watched the exchange with a neutral gaze, her expression unreadable. But even Jax could see that Lena was impressed by Cassandra just the way she had spent more time paying attention to this small fight than any other incident that happened in the past month.
---
Later that evening, as the recruits gathered in the mess hall for dinner, Lena noticed the tension in the air. Viktor and his cronies were sitting at one end of the room, their voices low and their expressions dark. Kira and her clique were at the other end, their laughter louder and more forced than usual.
Lena, who was about to sit alone, suddenly smiled to herself as she changed direction from going towards her usual spot to the specific spot in the hall. Cassandra who was busy on her data pad, her tray of food untouched before her found chair beside her pulled back as a slightly familiar girl with sharp eyes sitting beside her.
"Cassandra, it's nice to meet you. May I sit here?." The girl didn't bother for her reply as she sat comfortably, "The way you intervened and tried to defuse the situation, a big fan…since this afternoon "
Cassandra felt her eyebrows scrunching up as she tried to measure the pretty girl in front of her and for the first time since she had come here, she realized that she can't get read on her. She didn't reduced her unfriendly gaze as she responded,
"Oh aren't you the little Missy of south block. Several men from my hostel block were hollering about a hot recruit who likes to spend her time chatting with any boys."
Lena felt her eyebrows raise up in surprise as she had never heard of this rumor despite her keeping tabs on various gossip floating around in her batch. Looks like she was already being targeted by Kira's group though she didn't mind this level of gossip.
To the surprise of Cassandra, this girl who was sitting beside her with a smile on her face seemingly unbothered by degrading rumors being spread about her. Infact she smirked a little as she picked her fork to start eating her food, "Well aren't boys fun, what do you think? Or am I not reading right about your soft spot for the boy named…ugh, whom you stood up to protect, Eli."
Cassandra rolled her eyes hard but her interest was already piqued up. She replied in irritation, "Oh please! I couldn't care less, it's just that I can't stand bullying. Personal reasons. And if you want to attribute it to boys, It has everything to do with how Viktor rubbed me wrong rather than bullied Eli."
Lena laughed, her laughter like the chime of bells that even attracted attention from nearby tables. She shook her head and began to focus on eating her food while Cassandra went back to surfing her data pad but there was a small smile on her face. Clearly this short exchange was enough in their case to form a mutual appreciation. If they were men, they would have become fast friends by now but alas women don't work like that.
As she ate, Lena's mind wandered to the larger picture. The academy was a stepping stone, but much to her dismay there was nothing substantial in here which she could use to leverage herself up. No superior with unnatural background or recruit with heaven defying talent using whom she can secure a path to ascension. It was all standard, basic and boring here.
Initially the first step when Lena secured a place in the Academy she thought was to establish herself as an exceptional candidate. The second step was to show her talent and rise up to the next step, that is a high level academy of the Empire.
And the third step...
Lena's gaze drifted to the holographic banners on the walls. But she mindfully just thought about it vaguely, not bothering to set her future path in stone as she was currently unaware of how things will play out in the end.
But now looking at the situation at the academy, it seems improbable that any one here could be so important who can promote talents to higher academies. This is just a gathering of country bumpkins from the fringe of the Empire.
Thus if she had to succeed she had to look for other ways, maybe something more radical if the traditional talent route would not work here.