“That also means be ready when you step into that circle, because as soon as you’re both in it the one powering the circle can start it at any time.

  “The tryout is based on a double loss elimination. Once you’re defeated twice, it’s time to move on, try another club, play a sport, or go do whatever else. When there are only nineteen of you left, twenty including me, the club will be complete. We’ll have some time to do some more dueling and I’ll give some pointers, while we wait for the tryout time to run out. Anyone making the club must stay until the timer runs down.

  “About a quarter of each class is here right now, so others may come to try out after failing their first choice, assuming they signed up to do so as an alternate before last Wednesday night. So those nineteen might change as late challengers trickle in. Lastly, the quartermaster mage is here to fix our uniforms good as new as we leave, and will do so after every practice, so we don’t all need to go to supply every time we have a duel, as our uniforms will be damaged. Any questions?”

  There were none, and a moment later a walking path appeared in her augmented reality, that led inside one of the circles. Well, someone had to be in the first group.

  She gave her friends a smile, then headed that way.

  Mitchel Cromwell, though she didn’t recognize him, and guessed that was probably because he was a second-year student. Her implant fed her his name, but not much else other than his platoon and year, as the wide shouldered man looked back at her aggressively as he stepped inside the ring. Like Crandall, the guy was towering and all muscle, probably well over two hundred pounds of lean muscle.

  She guessed he would go straight for the kill given the look in his eyes, and she was also betting she was faster, as the world slowed around her by about twenty five percent. That would give her a small edge, her sped perceptions and lightning reflexes would make it easier for her to dodge spells, but it wouldn’t make her cast a quarter faster than everyone else. But she was intelligent, nimble of mind, and fast on her feet as well, and that might give her a split second advantage in spell casting speed as well.

  She considered the idea of using sever, despite her planning to use blunt force. Sever was a bright incandescent white and slightly curved arc, it was very easy to see coming. Blunt force wasn’t invisible, but it was much harder to see, as all it did was slightly distort the air as it travelled through it. As such, it’d be harder to dodge. That said, he was a very big man and could probably take a handful of them on his armor before it would take him down, his weight alone would ground him well enough not to be pushed over or pushed out of the circle by a power level one spell.

  Drawing first blood would make far more sense, but she changed her mind again at the last second.

  The shield dome went up and she used levitate on him, which had no visual component so was almost impossible to dodge without an active detection spell which was illegal in duels. It was also virtually instant, less than half a second since she’d mastered it. It wasn’t easy to master a spell, it’d taken her over two years of almost constant practice to master levitation and telekinesis, so she suspected no one on the junior team, in their first two years, could’ve mastered a combat spell. No doubt instant combat spells would be a thing in the third and fourth years’ advanced dueling club.

  Of course, her setup move was a risk, it meant she’d have to dodge at least one of his spells. Any split-second speed advantage she might have had in casting had been spent and then some with the half second spell.

  She started casting the blunt force spell, and about halfway through she started dodging left, then literally just fell to the ground into a sideways roll, and she was rewarded by a sever spell splashing against the shield dome behind her. She’d anticipated his spell cast time and release perfectly, and he’d missed.

  She finished the roll and came back up to her feet, and then released the blunt force spell.

  He tried to dodge, but he had to be careful. He knew he was weightless, and that to step too powerfully would make him leap right out of the ring. He didn’t manage the awkward dodge in time.

  It struck the side of his chest, and if he had been braced and grounded, he’d have easily absorbed it. Except, the levitation spell had made him as light as a feather. The spell struck his chest, and he was violently thrown backwards and up into the air, through the shield, and he kept going until she released the levitation spell. He landed gracefully enough in a breakfall roll, but it really didn’t look like she’d just made a friend. He was furious, and stalked away with a single loss, and she left the circle with a win.

  She moved back over to the side, looking over the other duels, half of which had finished as quickly as hers, while others had shielded and were still going.

  One of them was continually casting shield, and continually getting hit which took it down a split second later. A never-ending cycle that at first blush would just make the duel a draw and no-sum game, at least until she finally managed to dodge an attack, and went on the offensive with a sever spell that nailed her opponent’s left arm by the shoulder.

  Not a bad tactic, defensive until successfully dodging, giving them the initiative to take a shot without worrying about the split-second timing of the return shot, which took down the cadet’s shield but didn’t harm her a bit.

  That wasn’t the only decent tactic she saw, but she was going to stick with aggressive, depending on her speed and enhanced reflexes to make that first and final dodge successful, if necessary, without a safety net. She’d just have to stay unpredictable in how she did it, otherwise eventually someone would anticipate that dodge after seeing enough of her duels.

  “Good luck,” she said, when Ella’s and Stacy’s turn came on the third round. Thankfully not against each other. She didn’t think the system would do that anyway, pit roommate against roommate, until there was literally no other combination choice left available. Given there were nineteen slots open, that moment would never come.

  They both smiled in return, Ella confidently, and Stacy a bit nervously if with the usual pep in her step as they walked off. She shifted slightly so she could keep an eye on both their rings.

  Stacy was fighting against Lawrence, and she saw her roommate take a deep breath and turn frosty with focus. Not a moment too soon as the shield dome went up.

  Ella’s went up close to the same time, as she faced a wiry brown-haired lad she didn’t recognize.

  Just under three seconds later, Lawrence shot a blunt force spell. She gasped in a breath when Stacy didn’t move an inch, and in the half second it took to shoot across the ring, a frisbee sized piece of earth was torn from the ground and rose up in front of her chest.

  Which, was brilliant, she wished she’d have thought of that, because with her enhanced reflexes it’d be much more reliable than dodging alone.

  The blunt force spell slammed into it instead of Stacy, sending dirt flying everywhere as the frisbee exploded, but controlling earth was a duration spell. So Stacy didn’t have to recast it, she just pulled it back together with a focused thought all while casting her next spell, the exploding dirt reforming a discus. Granted, she’d have to intercept his spells with her small shield which was the compromise for an extended spell at a weak power level one, but at the same time without needing to recast it she could move on the offense immediately and stay there, as long as a portion of her mind remained on the discus shaped earth shield.

  Her eyes moved to Ella for a split second, to see Ella release a sever spell even as she was taken in the chest by a blunt force spell. Instead of leaning into it, Ella bent her back and did a backwards hand flip to bleed off the momentum of the spell, but Ashley could tell Ella had felt the hit as her eyes were wide with pain. Regardless, her match was over as the wiry guy was barely nicked in the lower leg, just above his boots, a small drop of blood staining the cut in the uniform.

  Ashley’s eyes snapped back as Stacy exploded the discus into a thick blinding dust right at her opponent, and simultaneously pulled a new glop of dirt from the ground to form a new shield. Then Stacy raised her hand and waited.

  Lawrence dodged wildly, out of the blinding dust, no doubt expecting Stacy to follow up the dust throw with an actual spell, which is when Stacy actually released her spell, expecting that dodge and even counting on it.

  Damn, the petite sprite was a tactical genius, how did Ashley not know this, and why the heck had the girl been so nervous?

  The force spell took her opponent right below the knee joint, and since they were still recovering from the dodge that was enough to blast Lawrence’s feet out from under him. The spell wasn’t powerful enough to knock him out of bounds, but it didn’t have to. He crashed to the ground on his back while clutching his knee.

  She waited patiently for them to get back, and said, “I’m so stealing that discus shield idea.”

  Stacy chuckled, clearly thrilled with the win, “I was worried I wouldn’t get the spell off before I was hit. Once it was up, I was fairly confident I’d win, between a regenerating shield and a cheap dust in the eyes trick, it really is a good tactic. Of course, it won’t take long for someone to come up with a counter now that they’ve seen it.”

  She smiled, “You did great too Ella.”

  Ella smiled, “I’m lucky he didn’t go for a sever.”

  The tryouts continued, and she did adopt the discus defense, adding it to her own dodging defense. She could cast faster than everyone she faced, between a tenth of a second to a quarter second, out of the three second casting average for a force one basic spell. She suspected she’d be even faster, but it was a programmed limitation of the implant to deliver the spell schematic rather than her own mind, which should be a quarter faster than everyone else, not just a thirtieth to a twenty fifth faster.

  Which was fine, at least it pushed her to her limits to win, and made it a challenge of focus, tactics, and reflexes. Still, a part of her wanted to be able to tweak the implant speed, if only for when she was in true battle, and every little bit of advantage would help. Of course, going too fast would probably harm the brain as much as trying to cast a spell with a Solis value beyond her limit, so maybe she should just leave it be.

  Two of her opponents countered the earth discus defense with attacks. One tried to duplicate her own first trick, making her weightless with levitation, which was a spell she couldn’t see to block, but she managed to take them out, and block the follow up strike, before they could capitalize on it. Another person used a water spell, literally and constantly water blasting her reforming shield, making it a wash, but her backup dodge and a sever spell ended that opponent as well.

  She of course, had a secret tactic that would be all but impossible to beat, at least for first and second years, but she hadn’t had to use it and was reluctant to anyway. Both levitation and telekinesis were mastered. So really, within a second of start she could realistically levitate the enemy and just shove them out with TK, but she was saving that surprise for a particularly troublesome opponent.

  Her and Stacy went undefeated, and Ella lost one match. It was pretty clear Stacy may have wanted to fly more, but that she was also a hell of a duelist. Her petite friend’s dueling skills and flight, no doubt more than made up for her average performance in hand-to-hand fighting and marksmanship. By lunchtime, they were all in the club, and getting to know their captain.

  Crandall had also let her know via implant comms that he and Daniel had made the hand to hand sparring club.

  Katherine said, “Good job everyone. We’ll practice here, every Sunday, seven to noon. A full third of us are first years, seven of you, which is actually a really good sign. Usually there’s only two or three dueling savants that can take out all the second-year competitors trying out, which means we’re stronger this year and I’m looking forward to taking another win. We have just ten practices to hone your inborn skills and tactics, I’ll be working with two of you personally for over two hours, each week.”

  Ella asked, “You won last year?”

  Katherine nodded, “Yes, it was close though. We’ll have to be our best and not stint on our efforts, if we’re going to beat the spooks and jarheads.”

  They all chuckled.

  Katherine winked, “It’s a friendly rivalry, I respect our intelligence and marine branches, but it is a rivalry. Never doubt that. The better we do, the more we can make up for the shortfalls in hand to hand and marksmanship. The marines breathe the first, and eat the second. Work hard, train hard, and we’ll get along well. I’ll back you every step of the way. Stint… I’ll replace you with an alternate faster than you can ask what happened.”

  Ashley was getting the idea Katherine was extremely competitive, and honestly the older cadet reminded her of Hall, though they looked nothing alike. Not a bad thing, she was there to push herself and get even better, not take it easy.

  Katherine nodded at their reactions, “Good. That said, safety first. We’re here to train to fight the enemy, not kill ourselves training, there will be no dueling practice outside of the club meetings on Sunday mornings. See you all next week.”

  The club broke up then, and they headed back to the house to make lunch.

  Instructor Jake Keenan looked them over in the small classroom that was more a briefing room. He was in his sixties, short gray hair and brown eyes, lean with a leathery face, and he had the bearing of a fleet officer, but he was retired and a civilian instructor.

  There were no desks, just four rows of six seats. It early was Friday morning and the end of their second week, Jake was their instructor for the small ship piloting course and licensing. The small room was just inside the simulator building, and on the other side of it was the entrance to the actual simulators which could simulate both shuttle and fighter piloting.

  The latter was a lot more maneuverable than the former, but the flight systems, navigation, and controls were identical, and the simulator could give them a good idea of how sensitive and responsive they were.

  Jake said, “Today will be our first day in the simulators, which will be in instructor mode. If you haven’t studied the dense material given to you last week, it’s about to be very apparent. The ten-minute prep and short perfect condition flight will be paused each time you make a mistake, and the simulator will correct you. Even those of you that did review the material, will be lucky to finish the ten-minute simulation in the hour provided.

  “The first half of this course that will remain true, as emergencies and how to deal with them will also be taught in instructor mode. The last ten weeks the simulations will just run and challenge you. Those with sufficient scores in the simulator will be afforded the opportunity to fly an actual shuttle on the last day which will be your official flight test with an instructor on board.

  “It’s a good skill to have, but it is an investment that will continue. In order to maintain your license you need at least fifty flight hours a year. That can be simulator time, one hour per week, roughly. My advice is to schedule two hours every other week in the simulators, or even four hours every fourth week. That will make it seem like less of a constant burden and improve your skills more with longer flights.

  “One more thing. You can schedule extra simulator time in the late afternoons or evenings starting today. If you’re having trouble with the course, and you’re serious in your goals to be a pilot, then do what you have to. I’m not here to hold your hand, and I won’t risk lives, yours or others. Let’s get to it, your implants should lead you to your simulator.”

  A walking path appeared in her view that went deeper into the building, and she stood up with the others. The large simulator building only had the small briefing room and an office up front, otherwise it was a large warehouse with twenty shuttle and fighter sized simulators.

  All the students went toward the shuttles, and it looked to Ashley all the fighter simulators were currently in use, with red lights above the doors on.

  She moved inside hers and the door slid shut behind her. It looked just like a cargo shuttle on the inside, save instead of a back ramp door it was a sliding door. She moved through it and got a look at the cockpit for the first time.

  There was a large screen showing the outside and a landing pad, while below that were several touch screens showing digital instruments as well as a menu system. The only physical controls were a flight yoke and lever with four smaller slides on it.

  It was complicated, but it was hardly brain surgery either, as she sat in the chair and buckled herself in. The menu system was even in order, the only way to screw it up was to hit the options in the wrong order, or accidentally skip one. She started the prestart diagnostics, and when they came up green she started the shuttles engines. Then she ran the post-start diagnostic checklist, which basically tested all eight maneuvering thrusters and the main thrusters.

  As expected, it came up green.

  The flight objective was given her, which was a quick ten-minute hop from the base to the city’s small spaceport. The same city she’d taken the tram too every weekend that first semester. Setting that destination was incidentally, the next option on the menu list. After double checking that she did it right, and then looking at the flight path that now showed on the main screen, she submitted it as a flight plan, then lastly requested clearance for takeoff.

  That was it, really. She didn’t know how anyone could screw that up, even if they didn’t read the assigned information, which she had. Granted, that was the easy part, now she needed to fly for the first time.

  The shuttle had two main thrusters that were responsible for high acceleration straight forward or straight back for braking. The four maneuvering thrusters on the bottom of the shuttle were powerful enough for VTOL and were responsible for maintaining pitch and yaw, while two were on the top, and the other two on the starboard and port sides. The latter four were only used manually in space, when trying to match the spin and upright angle of a ship or space station being docked with or landed on. In atmosphere they were computer controlled and only used to prevent a flat spin in case of single main thruster failure, and for turn assist.