Chapter 32: Simulations
Brandan woke up and looked around the captain's quarters, they were one day away from one of the biggest mission attempts in human history within the matrix. He would need to hone the crews' skills today to be sure that all seven of them were ready to take on this huge responsibility. This was also most the first time that they would be all be working with other captains and they would need to prove themselves. He got up out of his bed and got dressed then headed down to the bridge to get stats on where they would need to be for the next mission. He got into the bridge and Dan, Tarra and Colin were sitting in the control seats.
"Report," he said.
"We just about to the co-ordinance you gave me Captain," said Dan. Colin, who was sitting in holographics, looked over at Dan.
"We're in the clear for now I'm not seeing anything within range of the scanners," he explained.
"Good, Tarra has there been any communications activity from Niobe or Soren?"
"They called Parker a while ago and told him that they weren't into position and that they probably weren't going to be ready until tomorrow," said Tarra.
"That'll be perfect it should coincide perfectly with the mission time." Isaiah steps in from behind him.
"Is there any word on what the mission will be exactly?" he asked. Brandan sat down in the secondary pilots seat next to Dan.
"Well all I can tell you is it's an attack on the power plants main frame server. I don't know exactly how it's going to go down and I don't know how they plan on even going about it, but I do know that it's the biggest mission attempt in human history. We will be working closely with the other teams as well so we definitely need to be at our best and you guys know what that means I assume."
"Simulations," said Dan unenthusiastically. Isaiah stood between the two pilots chair.
"When do we get started?" he asked.
"As soon as we're parked, Colin, Tarra, Isaiah you guys go get ready. I'll stay here and help Dan get her seated." Tarra, Colin and Isaiah stand up and go downstairs to the broadcast zone and Brandan stays with Dan to help park the ship.
The three of them walk into the broadcast zone and Saba and Tabatha are looking into the code screen with Parker. Parker points to something on the screen.
"The exiles are really active all of a sudden, I wonder what they are up to," said Parker. Colin walks over to the code screen and looks in.
"Captain says we need to train hard for the next mission, it's the biggest mission attempted in the history of the human resistance, so loader up," he explained. Parker turns his chair around to face the others.
"Did he at least tell you what one?" asked Parker. Colin shook his head.
"Um, no, he's coming right down though, they just gotta get the ship into position."
"Alright then, you guys wanna get the broadcast chairs set up for me?" he asked whirling his seat back around to get the computer ready.
"Yeah sure," said Tarra. Everyone walks over and starts to get there own chair ready to go, setting up the bio readers and the mental scanners. They felt the ship jolt slightly as Dan and Brandan put it into place.
"We must be parked," said Tabatha checking some connections.
"Sounds like it, I don't hear the engines humming anymore," said Isaiah.
Brandan and Dan walked through the door to the broadcast deck.
"Is everything ready?" asked Brandan stopping a few feet away. Dan walked by him and went to one of the seats to start checking it over.
"Everything should be ready to go captain. What do you plan on testing us on?" asked Tabatha. Brandan walked over and looked into the code screen and hit a few buttons on the keyboard.
"I'm going to set up a test to help each of us with our weaknesses within the matrix so we can try to hone our skills a bit," he explained, " I want each of us to be ready to do whatever the other crews require of us, we need to be ready for everything and anything." They each begin to set up a chair and they each sit down. "Actually guys I plan on sending you in each one at a time and doing individual tasks. First I wanna ask you what you each think your weaknesses are?" Brandan stood up and looked at each of them, they all seemed to be dazed by the question.
"Well?" Brandan shrugs his shoulders getting impatient.
"Um well I guess for me it would be my hand to hand combat abilities," said Tarra.
"Very good, anyone else?" Saba took a step forward and looked at the captain shyly.
"My confidence could use some work," said Saba quietly. Colin looked puzzled and stayed quiet as Dan stepped forward.
"I need to work on my speed if anything." Tabatha had a puzzled look on her face as she stood up from her seat.
"I've still never really used my gun I need to work on my accuracy with my handguns I guess," she explained. Brandan looked at her finding it hard to believe what he was hearing, but thinking back, she was right she hadn't been required to use a gun in any previous missions.
"Yeah we will get you set up with that later today. Anyone else wanna step up and take a stab at your weakness?" Isaiah and Colin looked at each other, each waiting for the other to say something. Colin perked his eyebrows at Isaiah.
"Well captain, my weakness has always been my strength, my attacks are really fast and accurate I just need to be able to put a little more power behind them," said Isaiah having a thinkers look on his face. Colin nodded his head at Isaiah.
"Your turn Colin, you're the only one that hasn't gone yet."
"Well I don't really think that I have any problems, I'm fast, accurate, powerful, confident, I don't have any trouble in battle with anyone, except agents." Brandan looked at Colin and smiled slightly.
"Your definitely right about that but you do have one slight problem and I think you will find out later on in the simulator," said Brandan sitting in the operators station, "Alright who wants to go first?" Tabatha stepped forward.
"Might as well be me, no sense wasting any time contemplating." Brandan nodded and sat down in one of the terminals and Isaiah walked over to her and helped her get set up.
"I'm going to load you into the gun training program, its going to give you what you need to know when you load in. Hook her up Isaiah." Isaiah took the jack and slid it into her neck and Brandan loaded her into the construct program.
Tabatha loaded into the construct and looked around, she put her glasses on and the weapons table loaded over to her.
"Did you want me to pick any specific gun or just take one?" she asked.
"Take your weapon of choice." Tabatha picked up the Difesa 092.
"This one will be good, it's got a clip that holds fifteen rounds so it'll last fairly long." Tabatha looked around as a room loaded that was full of pillars and places for things to hide. Her instructions loaded into her, she wouldn't be able to use anything to stop her enemy but her gun. She would only be able to use physical force to keep them away from her. Brandan's voice could be heard all around her.
"Alright Tab are you ready to start?" he asked. Tabatha cocked her gun and took one last look around.
"I'm ready when you are captain," she said, flicking her hair back. Just as she finished speaking she could hear movement begin all around her.
Just then a man became visible to her right, Tabatha quickly responded and turned to shooting him between the eyes. Another man came from behind her and fired his gun. As the bullet left the barrel of his gun time began to slow down. Tabatha bounded into the air back flipping backwards several times in mid air as she fired another round from her gun going right through the top of the mans skull. He fell dead and several more men appeared in the area around her as she jumped off one of the near by pillars twirling around in the air as several bullets whisked by her. She began to fire and knock down the men one by one as she spun in the air. Tabatha landed on the ground and a man put a gun to her back. She focused as hard as she could, bent over forward and kicked the man in the stomach she then twirled around and grabbed the gun from him then shot him three times in the stomach. Tabatha suddenly sensed a bullet coming behind her and did a back flip sending it between her legs. Balancing herself on one hand she shot the shooter with her handgun right in face.
"Is this all I've gotta be able to do," she said jumping back to her feet. Suddenly she felt a gun being pointed right into her back and a man put her arm around her neck.
"Now I've gotcha little girl," he said.
"Really are you sure?" she said. The man started to pull the trigger on his gun but before it went off Tabatha quickly whipped around and backhanded him in the face knocking him to his knees. "Sorry but you don't quite have it on me bub!" She kicked the man in the stomach sending him twirling and then to the ground, she knocked him in the stomach and he slid across the ground dropping a shotgun. Tabatha did a cartwheel and grabbed the gun on her way by just as the man was getting to his feet. She landed back on the ground and shot the man in the abdomen throwing him away several feet. Tabatha cocked the gun and took another look around. "Is it over Captain?" she asked.
"You're doing really well, but you're not out of the woods yet keep it up," said Brandan, "These guys that your fighting are only the equivalent to an average building security guard I'm upping the difficulty level to three."
The men that Tabatha had disposed of disappeared and she could hear more movement in the area. A man stepped into view dressed in a black and white swat uniform and holding an assault rifle. The man took aim and opened fire, Tabatha quickly reacted by running up one of the pillars as the bullets whipped by her. She bounded off the pillar and twirled in the air as the bullets quickly flew by her as she spun and landed behind the man and shot him in the back. Several other men appeared around her and began shooting, Tabatha did several back flips to avoid the shots fired. She dodged as much as she could until she got behind one of the pillars. She cocked her gun and did a cart wheel between the pillars firing two shots hitting both men with ease. Tabatha new that as long as she held her focus she would be all right. She put her back to a pillar and listened. "I know you're there," she whispered to herself. Tabatha quickly looked around pillar and ended up staring down the barrel of a shotgun. The man pulled the trigger and time slowed down as the bullet moved through the barrel. Tabatha tilted her head back and dropped to the ground as the bullet whisked by her, she did a back flip and kicked the gun out of his hand. She stood up straight and raised her gun smiling at the man as she pulled the trigger sending a bullet to his head.
"Ok Tab here comes the big one lets see what you can do," said Parker.
Just then an agent stepped into view and several of the pillars vanished to give her room to fight. Tabatha's eyes widened as the agent straightened his tie, she took a near bye gun from the floor and reloaded it. She took to running at him with both hand guns firing at him, the agent began dodging with ease as the bullets whisked by him. Tabatha got with in arms reach just as the guns were empty. The agent reached for her but as he did, Tabatha moon-saulted over him and did a cartwheel grabbing an assault rifle from the ground as she rolled. Tabatha quickly turned around and ran back at him doing another moon-sault and firing down at the agent as she floated over him. Several of the bullets hit the agent knocking him down, Tabatha landed on the ground and dropped the gun as he fell to the ground.
"Dealt with." Tabatha stood as the area around her transformed back to the construct program.
"Well done Tab," said Brandan, "we're pulling you out now."
Tabatha closed her eyes and opened them again to be look up at Colin as he pulled the jack from her neck.
"Good job Tab," he said, "Captain who's going next?" Brandan looked around at each member of the crew as Tabatha walked over and stood beside him. Colin shrugged his shoulders and stepped forward.
"I'll go," he said. Isaiah walked over to a chair and Colin followed him and sat down.
"You think your ready for what's about to happen, Colin?" asked Brandan. Colin smiled.
"Just get me in there." Isaiah shoved the jack in and Colin closed his eyes as he was loaded into the program.
Colin opened his eyes to the white zone of the construct.
"Alright Colin get ready this won't be easy," said Parker. Colin stood up straight as the rooftops loaded around him. A hunched over man with a strange look on his face appeared at the other end of the rooftop.
"Who's this guy?"
"This is a simulated version of an exile that has been giving the rebels trouble since before Neo was around. His name is Cujo and he works for the Merovingian, no one that has encountered him has been able to beat him to this date," explained Parker.
"Thanks for the info, I doubt that will be true after this, is he an exact replica?"
"You got it the program is starting." Cujo looked at Colin and smirked.
"This is ending here," he said and walked toward him.
"You don't know how right you are pal," said Colin cracking his knuckles and starting to walk toward him. Cujo jumped into the air and landed right in front of Colin, beginning a series of powerful blows hitting him hard. Colin blocked the majority of the attacks successfully then kicked him back and began his own series of attacks finishing with an uppercut.
"Not bad for a human!" Cujo was knocked into the air and landed flat on his feet. "Now lets see how you handle this." Cujo landed in front of Colin so quickly he had no time to react and struck him once in each side the slapped him across the face with both hands knocking him down.
"Holy shit where did that come from I can see this is gonna take some serious concentration."
Colin got to his feet quickly as Cujo ran at him, he focused and time began to slow down. Colin attacked Cujo relentlessly striking at him with his fists and feet flying.
"Let's see how you like this!" Colin jumped in the air and did a round house kick hitting Cujo in the chest and sending him to the ground. Colin quickly ran over and kicked Cujo across the floor. Cujo laid on the ground for a few seconds as Colin stood ready for him. "That's what I thought." Colin stood up straight and cracked his neck.
"Is that all Captain?" There was no answer, Colin walked over to the body and looked at him. "Hmm." Colin went to bend over and Cujo jumped up kicking him in the chin, Colin did a back flip and landed on his feet. Cujo flew into him with both feet hitting him in the chest and knocking him into a near by utility shed. Colin's nose started to bleed and Cujo grabbed him by the neck.
"You foolish human you think you can get me with a pitiful attack like that?" Cujo squeezed tighter and tighter around his neck as Colin grabbed Cujo's arms.
"Your not doing as good as you think vampire!" Colin kicked him in the side several times trying to get him to release his neck. Using the wall as grounding Colin lifted his feet and pushed on Cujo as hard as he could sending him away from him.
As Colin continued to fight inside the computer Brandan and the others looked on from the outside.
"Captain, what is the point of this test?" asked Saba.
"Saba Colin needs to learn when to give up in situations like this, he doesn't seem to realize that he inside the matrix he is not always going to be able to win," said Brandan.
"I see, well how far are you going to let it go?"
"Don't worry Saba the program can't kill him, it can definitely give him a good thrashing though." Tabatha walked over and looked at him in his chair.
"He could definitely use one of those I think," she said.
"Parker let's give him a little more competition I don't think he realizes that he can't win just yet." Parker nodded and hit a few buttons on his keyboard.
Back inside the program Colin had just hit Cujo away from him and was getting his composure back two more exiles appeared and jumped onto the building. Before they could respond Colin ran at them and tore into them with a combo knocking one of them off the building and hitting the other one to the ground. Colin felt a fist sink into his back and he fell forward.
"God damn it how am I supposed to do this Captain? I don't understand." Colin held himself up on his hands and looked at the ground as he thought for a second.
"Are you ready to give up human?" asked Cujo walking over to him with a knife in his hand.
"I think I get it now." Colin jumped up in the air and landed on the other side of Cujo kicking him in the back with a horse kick, then took off running. As he came to the edge of the building time seemed to slow down as Colin focused his hardest as he bounded into the air between the buildings. He landed on the other side and looked back drawing his gun. The exiles were running at him and as they jumped into the air to follow him Colin drew his gun firing at both of them knocking the underling to the ground below, the bullets collided with Cujo's chest and blood sprayed but he stayed on track. Colin turned to run again and took off focusing his hardest of staying ahead of the creature that wasn't far behind him. He jumped into the air and his phone rang, he grabbed it and quickly put it to his ear.
"What is it?"
"Get to the phone Colin," said Saba on the other end. Colin put his phone away and he could hear a phone ringing in the distance. He landed on the ground and quickly scanned the surrounding buildings for the sign of the phone. He spotted the utility phone four buildings away and took to running again just as Cujo hit the ground. Colin pushed himself as hard as he could focusing his speed to as much as he could muster. Colin began moving so fast that he became nothing but a blur to his enemies and made the last jump to the building the maintenance phone was on. Colin turned around to be starring Cujo right in the eye.
"Foolish human, you need to learn to never look back." He swung at Colin hitting him several times in the chest then grabbed him by the jacket and through him of the building.
Colin was now falling to the ground below but was luckily able to grab a hold of a flagpole sticking out of the side of the building. He flipped around on it several times and threw himself back toward the rooftop landing his feet firmly on the ground. Colin ran at Cujo and jumped over him landing several feet away out of reach of his long arms shortly reaching the phone and being taken to safety.
Colin sat up in his chair as Tabatha pulled the jack from his neck.
"What the hell was that?" he asked.
"That was a test to see whether or not you knew when to give up, and you passed," said Saba.
"Whew," Colin stood up and walked over to the computer,
"See I'm even good at retreating."
"Maybe so . . . Saba your next have a seat." Saba took up a position in her chair and Colin walked over and jacked her in kissing her on the lips.
"Good luck babe." Saba smiled and closed her eyes as she was loaded in.
"What should we do for her captain?" asked Parker.
"We're gonna send her into a situation that she can come to the top in. Load her into the training dojo and make her have to deal with three enemies at once all at her level of skill." Parker nodded and loaded her in as the captain ordered.
Saba opened her eyes and she was in the training dojo in full battle uniform. Suddenly three large men walked into the dojo from three separate entrances.
"Remember you can do this," she said to herself. The first of the three men started to run at her and time seemed to slow down as she ducked to trip him then kick him in the chest in mid air knocking him away. The two others started towards her and she ran back at them and quickly engaged them to a quick surprise attack. Saba jumped into the air kicking both of them, one with each foot, then tore into one of them as she landed on her feet. She attacked the man relentlessly until on of the others came up behind her attempting to grab her, Saba did a backwards round house kick hitting the back attacker in the face stumbling him. The man she had been attacking took advantage of the distraction and as she landed hit her in the face. Saba took the hit with grace, back flipping away from him. Saba got her feet on the ground and regained her bearings and the first one she had dealt with had regained his composure and was near her. The man kicked at her and Saba blocked with her forearm, then grabbed him by the leg and threw him into the others who running at her.
Meanwhile on the outside Brandan and the others were watching Saba as she fought.
"She's doing really well, I somehow didn't expect this much from her," said Parker.
"She and I have been practicing with our free time on occasion," said Colin.
"Really shows," Brandan paused and looked at Isaiah who was sitting quietly, "Ok Isaiah get ready you're going in. Parker set up the computer to run two different simulations." Brandan walked over to the chair and beckoned to Isaiah who shortly followed as Parker began setting up the system. Isaiah smiled at Brandan and laid down in the chair.
"You ready?" Brandan slid the jack into Isaiah's neck.
"How ready are you ever for that feeling I still can't get used to it." Isaiah sat and waited for Parker to configure the computer.
"Are you ready yet god, I can't just sit here like this it's itching." Brandan walked over to Parker and looked at the computer.
"What's taking so long?"
"Sorry Captain, the system wasn't adapting right I've got it now though." Parker hit several keys on the across the board and there was a strange noise as the power went up as the computer set up to run on two separate driver systems. The main power came back on and the system was successfully separated.
"Ok can you send me in already!" said Isaiah. Parker hit a few more buttons and Isaiah was inside a separate training simulator.
Meanwhile Saba was still dealing with the three men getting frustrated. Saba jumped into the air as one of the men ran at her and kicked him in the head breaking his neck. The other two men stopped in their tracks and looked at her as she landed on her feet.
"Who's next?" Saba turned to look at them and they each looked at each other, then back to her and began to run at her. Saba jumped into the air and kicked each of them in the face with her feet twirling in the air and landing facing them again. Saba attacked the next one as fast and as hard as she could delivering several blows before he could react. Saba threw one last hard punch and the man fell to the ground as his neck swung around, breaking under the pressure.
Isaiah opened his eyes and he was inside the construct program.
"Ok Cap, what do I gotta do?" asked Isaiah.
"Just wait a second the processor is a little slow loading its not done yet," said Parker. Isaiah stood and watched as the program seemed to load in slow motion all around him. In his vision everything was severely distorted and almost like a choppy old video game.
"Captain are you sure its safe to be doing this, seems kinda choppy or something. It's like a bad video game or something." Isaiah looked around he had been loaded into a carnival.
"What the hell . . ."
"Just sit tight Isaiah, Parker is still working out the bugs in the system we have never used the Navras' computer to do this before," said Brandan. Isaiah sat on a nearby bench and waited for the program to be adjusted. He looked around and everything seemed to phase in and out of virtual reality and was back to normal.
"Ok so now that, that problem is fixed. I bet your wondering why your in a carnival?"
"Yeah kinda." Just then a tent appeared in front of him.
"Inside the tent you will find your test," Isaiah walked into the tent, "It's a pretty basic test just hit until you hit the top." Isaiah looked at the pillars in front of him, there was a bell and a spot for him to hit.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Back on the outside.
"Captain who came up with that idea?" asked Colin. Parker smiled.
"It's an adaptation of a children's program from Zion, I just made a few tweaks to it." They watched as Isaiah began hitting the spot on the pillar sending the bell up it a quarter of the way. "He can do a lot better than that," said Parker.
"I don't understand he doesn't seem to know how to focus on everything at once," said Parker.
"He can but he just doesn't know how to proportion his abilities properly." Brandan looked into the screen at both of the crewmen. "Saba's doing really well."
The simulations went on all night until Brandan had decided that the crew's ability was up to snuff the night ended and they had retired for the evening. Colin and Saba were lying in bed in each other's arms.
"Colin how do you feel about tomorrow?" asked Saba.
"I think if we all do our best we will come out on top for sure."
"We'll be working directly with other teams all of us working as one. What if we can't perform as well as the rest of them and we mess something up?" Colin put his arms around Saba and squeezed slightly.
"Don't worry babe we'll come out on top, we always do. Just relax and try to get a good sleep." Saba laid her head on Colin's chest and closed her eyes.
"I love you Colin."
"I love you too." Colin and Saba went to sleep in anticipation of what was to come.
Brandan was up in the Captain's quarters at his screen having a conference meeting with Locke and the other two captains' that were involved.
"Brandan you, Niobe, and Soren will be working together as a single unit to get this mission done I am uploading the information to each of you. This plan will work but it will be extremely difficult, you must all be at your guard. As such your crew must do the same is that understood?"
"Yes sir," said all three Captains.
"My system is showing that the upload has complete it, I suggest that you and your crews review it thoroughly and begin at 0500 inside that matrix. Commander Locke signing off." Locke's transmission ended and the other two captain's were still on the screen.
"Well boys you better get to bed we've got an early day tomorrow," said Niobe.
"We'll be fine guys we can do anything we put our minds too," said Soren.
"Are we going to be going in as an entire crew?"
"No however your entire crew will be mobilized as my crew only consists of Ghost and myself."
"Alright no problem, I'm signing off I will talk to you both at 0400 good night." The captains nodded and Brandan signed off the system.
Brandan woke up and looked around the captain's quarters, they were one day away from one of the biggest mission attempts in human history within the matrix. He would need to hone the crews' skills today to be sure that all seven of them were ready to take on this huge responsibility. This was also most the first time that they would be all be working with other captains and they would need to prove themselves. He got up out of his bed and got dressed then headed down to the bridge to get stats on where they would need to be for the next mission. He got into the bridge and Dan, Tarra and Colin were sitting in the control seats.
"Report," he said.
"We just about to the co-ordinance you gave me Captain," said Dan. Colin, who was sitting in holographics, looked over at Dan.
"We're in the clear for now I'm not seeing anything within range of the scanners," he explained.
"Good, Tarra has there been any communications activity from Niobe or Soren?"
"They called Parker a while ago and told him that they weren't into position and that they probably weren't going to be ready until tomorrow," said Tarra.
"That'll be perfect it should coincide perfectly with the mission time." Isaiah steps in from behind him.
"Is there any word on what the mission will be exactly?" he asked. Brandan sat down in the secondary pilots seat next to Dan.
"Well all I can tell you is it's an attack on the power plants main frame server. I don't know exactly how it's going to go down and I don't know how they plan on even going about it, but I do know that it's the biggest mission attempt in human history. We will be working closely with the other teams as well so we definitely need to be at our best and you guys know what that means I assume."
"Simulations," said Dan unenthusiastically. Isaiah stood between the two pilots chair.
"When do we get started?" he asked.
"As soon as we're parked, Colin, Tarra, Isaiah you guys go get ready. I'll stay here and help Dan get her seated." Tarra, Colin and Isaiah stand up and go downstairs to the broadcast zone and Brandan stays with Dan to help park the ship.
The three of them walk into the broadcast zone and Saba and Tabatha are looking into the code screen with Parker. Parker points to something on the screen.
"The exiles are really active all of a sudden, I wonder what they are up to," said Parker. Colin walks over to the code screen and looks in.
"Captain says we need to train hard for the next mission, it's the biggest mission attempted in the history of the human resistance, so loader up," he explained. Parker turns his chair around to face the others.
"Did he at least tell you what one?" asked Parker. Colin shook his head.
"Um, no, he's coming right down though, they just gotta get the ship into position."
"Alright then, you guys wanna get the broadcast chairs set up for me?" he asked whirling his seat back around to get the computer ready.
"Yeah sure," said Tarra. Everyone walks over and starts to get there own chair ready to go, setting up the bio readers and the mental scanners. They felt the ship jolt slightly as Dan and Brandan put it into place.
"We must be parked," said Tabatha checking some connections.
"Sounds like it, I don't hear the engines humming anymore," said Isaiah.
Brandan and Dan walked through the door to the broadcast deck.
"Is everything ready?" asked Brandan stopping a few feet away. Dan walked by him and went to one of the seats to start checking it over.
"Everything should be ready to go captain. What do you plan on testing us on?" asked Tabatha. Brandan walked over and looked into the code screen and hit a few buttons on the keyboard.
"I'm going to set up a test to help each of us with our weaknesses within the matrix so we can try to hone our skills a bit," he explained, " I want each of us to be ready to do whatever the other crews require of us, we need to be ready for everything and anything." They each begin to set up a chair and they each sit down. "Actually guys I plan on sending you in each one at a time and doing individual tasks. First I wanna ask you what you each think your weaknesses are?" Brandan stood up and looked at each of them, they all seemed to be dazed by the question.
"Well?" Brandan shrugs his shoulders getting impatient.
"Um well I guess for me it would be my hand to hand combat abilities," said Tarra.
"Very good, anyone else?" Saba took a step forward and looked at the captain shyly.
"My confidence could use some work," said Saba quietly. Colin looked puzzled and stayed quiet as Dan stepped forward.
"I need to work on my speed if anything." Tabatha had a puzzled look on her face as she stood up from her seat.
"I've still never really used my gun I need to work on my accuracy with my handguns I guess," she explained. Brandan looked at her finding it hard to believe what he was hearing, but thinking back, she was right she hadn't been required to use a gun in any previous missions.
"Yeah we will get you set up with that later today. Anyone else wanna step up and take a stab at your weakness?" Isaiah and Colin looked at each other, each waiting for the other to say something. Colin perked his eyebrows at Isaiah.
"Well captain, my weakness has always been my strength, my attacks are really fast and accurate I just need to be able to put a little more power behind them," said Isaiah having a thinkers look on his face. Colin nodded his head at Isaiah.
"Your turn Colin, you're the only one that hasn't gone yet."
"Well I don't really think that I have any problems, I'm fast, accurate, powerful, confident, I don't have any trouble in battle with anyone, except agents." Brandan looked at Colin and smiled slightly.
"Your definitely right about that but you do have one slight problem and I think you will find out later on in the simulator," said Brandan sitting in the operators station, "Alright who wants to go first?" Tabatha stepped forward.
"Might as well be me, no sense wasting any time contemplating." Brandan nodded and sat down in one of the terminals and Isaiah walked over to her and helped her get set up.
"I'm going to load you into the gun training program, its going to give you what you need to know when you load in. Hook her up Isaiah." Isaiah took the jack and slid it into her neck and Brandan loaded her into the construct program.
Tabatha loaded into the construct and looked around, she put her glasses on and the weapons table loaded over to her.
"Did you want me to pick any specific gun or just take one?" she asked.
"Take your weapon of choice." Tabatha picked up the Difesa 092.
"This one will be good, it's got a clip that holds fifteen rounds so it'll last fairly long." Tabatha looked around as a room loaded that was full of pillars and places for things to hide. Her instructions loaded into her, she wouldn't be able to use anything to stop her enemy but her gun. She would only be able to use physical force to keep them away from her. Brandan's voice could be heard all around her.
"Alright Tab are you ready to start?" he asked. Tabatha cocked her gun and took one last look around.
"I'm ready when you are captain," she said, flicking her hair back. Just as she finished speaking she could hear movement begin all around her.
Just then a man became visible to her right, Tabatha quickly responded and turned to shooting him between the eyes. Another man came from behind her and fired his gun. As the bullet left the barrel of his gun time began to slow down. Tabatha bounded into the air back flipping backwards several times in mid air as she fired another round from her gun going right through the top of the mans skull. He fell dead and several more men appeared in the area around her as she jumped off one of the near by pillars twirling around in the air as several bullets whisked by her. She began to fire and knock down the men one by one as she spun in the air. Tabatha landed on the ground and a man put a gun to her back. She focused as hard as she could, bent over forward and kicked the man in the stomach she then twirled around and grabbed the gun from him then shot him three times in the stomach. Tabatha suddenly sensed a bullet coming behind her and did a back flip sending it between her legs. Balancing herself on one hand she shot the shooter with her handgun right in face.
"Is this all I've gotta be able to do," she said jumping back to her feet. Suddenly she felt a gun being pointed right into her back and a man put her arm around her neck.
"Now I've gotcha little girl," he said.
"Really are you sure?" she said. The man started to pull the trigger on his gun but before it went off Tabatha quickly whipped around and backhanded him in the face knocking him to his knees. "Sorry but you don't quite have it on me bub!" She kicked the man in the stomach sending him twirling and then to the ground, she knocked him in the stomach and he slid across the ground dropping a shotgun. Tabatha did a cartwheel and grabbed the gun on her way by just as the man was getting to his feet. She landed back on the ground and shot the man in the abdomen throwing him away several feet. Tabatha cocked the gun and took another look around. "Is it over Captain?" she asked.
"You're doing really well, but you're not out of the woods yet keep it up," said Brandan, "These guys that your fighting are only the equivalent to an average building security guard I'm upping the difficulty level to three."
The men that Tabatha had disposed of disappeared and she could hear more movement in the area. A man stepped into view dressed in a black and white swat uniform and holding an assault rifle. The man took aim and opened fire, Tabatha quickly reacted by running up one of the pillars as the bullets whipped by her. She bounded off the pillar and twirled in the air as the bullets quickly flew by her as she spun and landed behind the man and shot him in the back. Several other men appeared around her and began shooting, Tabatha did several back flips to avoid the shots fired. She dodged as much as she could until she got behind one of the pillars. She cocked her gun and did a cart wheel between the pillars firing two shots hitting both men with ease. Tabatha new that as long as she held her focus she would be all right. She put her back to a pillar and listened. "I know you're there," she whispered to herself. Tabatha quickly looked around pillar and ended up staring down the barrel of a shotgun. The man pulled the trigger and time slowed down as the bullet moved through the barrel. Tabatha tilted her head back and dropped to the ground as the bullet whisked by her, she did a back flip and kicked the gun out of his hand. She stood up straight and raised her gun smiling at the man as she pulled the trigger sending a bullet to his head.
"Ok Tab here comes the big one lets see what you can do," said Parker.
Just then an agent stepped into view and several of the pillars vanished to give her room to fight. Tabatha's eyes widened as the agent straightened his tie, she took a near bye gun from the floor and reloaded it. She took to running at him with both hand guns firing at him, the agent began dodging with ease as the bullets whisked by him. Tabatha got with in arms reach just as the guns were empty. The agent reached for her but as he did, Tabatha moon-saulted over him and did a cartwheel grabbing an assault rifle from the ground as she rolled. Tabatha quickly turned around and ran back at him doing another moon-sault and firing down at the agent as she floated over him. Several of the bullets hit the agent knocking him down, Tabatha landed on the ground and dropped the gun as he fell to the ground.
"Dealt with." Tabatha stood as the area around her transformed back to the construct program.
"Well done Tab," said Brandan, "we're pulling you out now."
Tabatha closed her eyes and opened them again to be look up at Colin as he pulled the jack from her neck.
"Good job Tab," he said, "Captain who's going next?" Brandan looked around at each member of the crew as Tabatha walked over and stood beside him. Colin shrugged his shoulders and stepped forward.
"I'll go," he said. Isaiah walked over to a chair and Colin followed him and sat down.
"You think your ready for what's about to happen, Colin?" asked Brandan. Colin smiled.
"Just get me in there." Isaiah shoved the jack in and Colin closed his eyes as he was loaded into the program.
Colin opened his eyes to the white zone of the construct.
"Alright Colin get ready this won't be easy," said Parker. Colin stood up straight as the rooftops loaded around him. A hunched over man with a strange look on his face appeared at the other end of the rooftop.
"Who's this guy?"
"This is a simulated version of an exile that has been giving the rebels trouble since before Neo was around. His name is Cujo and he works for the Merovingian, no one that has encountered him has been able to beat him to this date," explained Parker.
"Thanks for the info, I doubt that will be true after this, is he an exact replica?"
"You got it the program is starting." Cujo looked at Colin and smirked.
"This is ending here," he said and walked toward him.
"You don't know how right you are pal," said Colin cracking his knuckles and starting to walk toward him. Cujo jumped into the air and landed right in front of Colin, beginning a series of powerful blows hitting him hard. Colin blocked the majority of the attacks successfully then kicked him back and began his own series of attacks finishing with an uppercut.
"Not bad for a human!" Cujo was knocked into the air and landed flat on his feet. "Now lets see how you handle this." Cujo landed in front of Colin so quickly he had no time to react and struck him once in each side the slapped him across the face with both hands knocking him down.
"Holy shit where did that come from I can see this is gonna take some serious concentration."
Colin got to his feet quickly as Cujo ran at him, he focused and time began to slow down. Colin attacked Cujo relentlessly striking at him with his fists and feet flying.
"Let's see how you like this!" Colin jumped in the air and did a round house kick hitting Cujo in the chest and sending him to the ground. Colin quickly ran over and kicked Cujo across the floor. Cujo laid on the ground for a few seconds as Colin stood ready for him. "That's what I thought." Colin stood up straight and cracked his neck.
"Is that all Captain?" There was no answer, Colin walked over to the body and looked at him. "Hmm." Colin went to bend over and Cujo jumped up kicking him in the chin, Colin did a back flip and landed on his feet. Cujo flew into him with both feet hitting him in the chest and knocking him into a near by utility shed. Colin's nose started to bleed and Cujo grabbed him by the neck.
"You foolish human you think you can get me with a pitiful attack like that?" Cujo squeezed tighter and tighter around his neck as Colin grabbed Cujo's arms.
"Your not doing as good as you think vampire!" Colin kicked him in the side several times trying to get him to release his neck. Using the wall as grounding Colin lifted his feet and pushed on Cujo as hard as he could sending him away from him.
As Colin continued to fight inside the computer Brandan and the others looked on from the outside.
"Captain, what is the point of this test?" asked Saba.
"Saba Colin needs to learn when to give up in situations like this, he doesn't seem to realize that he inside the matrix he is not always going to be able to win," said Brandan.
"I see, well how far are you going to let it go?"
"Don't worry Saba the program can't kill him, it can definitely give him a good thrashing though." Tabatha walked over and looked at him in his chair.
"He could definitely use one of those I think," she said.
"Parker let's give him a little more competition I don't think he realizes that he can't win just yet." Parker nodded and hit a few buttons on his keyboard.
Back inside the program Colin had just hit Cujo away from him and was getting his composure back two more exiles appeared and jumped onto the building. Before they could respond Colin ran at them and tore into them with a combo knocking one of them off the building and hitting the other one to the ground. Colin felt a fist sink into his back and he fell forward.
"God damn it how am I supposed to do this Captain? I don't understand." Colin held himself up on his hands and looked at the ground as he thought for a second.
"Are you ready to give up human?" asked Cujo walking over to him with a knife in his hand.
"I think I get it now." Colin jumped up in the air and landed on the other side of Cujo kicking him in the back with a horse kick, then took off running. As he came to the edge of the building time seemed to slow down as Colin focused his hardest as he bounded into the air between the buildings. He landed on the other side and looked back drawing his gun. The exiles were running at him and as they jumped into the air to follow him Colin drew his gun firing at both of them knocking the underling to the ground below, the bullets collided with Cujo's chest and blood sprayed but he stayed on track. Colin turned to run again and took off focusing his hardest of staying ahead of the creature that wasn't far behind him. He jumped into the air and his phone rang, he grabbed it and quickly put it to his ear.
"What is it?"
"Get to the phone Colin," said Saba on the other end. Colin put his phone away and he could hear a phone ringing in the distance. He landed on the ground and quickly scanned the surrounding buildings for the sign of the phone. He spotted the utility phone four buildings away and took to running again just as Cujo hit the ground. Colin pushed himself as hard as he could focusing his speed to as much as he could muster. Colin began moving so fast that he became nothing but a blur to his enemies and made the last jump to the building the maintenance phone was on. Colin turned around to be starring Cujo right in the eye.
"Foolish human, you need to learn to never look back." He swung at Colin hitting him several times in the chest then grabbed him by the jacket and through him of the building.
Colin was now falling to the ground below but was luckily able to grab a hold of a flagpole sticking out of the side of the building. He flipped around on it several times and threw himself back toward the rooftop landing his feet firmly on the ground. Colin ran at Cujo and jumped over him landing several feet away out of reach of his long arms shortly reaching the phone and being taken to safety.
Colin sat up in his chair as Tabatha pulled the jack from his neck.
"What the hell was that?" he asked.
"That was a test to see whether or not you knew when to give up, and you passed," said Saba.
"Whew," Colin stood up and walked over to the computer,
"See I'm even good at retreating."
"Maybe so . . . Saba your next have a seat." Saba took up a position in her chair and Colin walked over and jacked her in kissing her on the lips.
"Good luck babe." Saba smiled and closed her eyes as she was loaded in.
"What should we do for her captain?" asked Parker.
"We're gonna send her into a situation that she can come to the top in. Load her into the training dojo and make her have to deal with three enemies at once all at her level of skill." Parker nodded and loaded her in as the captain ordered.
Saba opened her eyes and she was in the training dojo in full battle uniform. Suddenly three large men walked into the dojo from three separate entrances.
"Remember you can do this," she said to herself. The first of the three men started to run at her and time seemed to slow down as she ducked to trip him then kick him in the chest in mid air knocking him away. The two others started towards her and she ran back at them and quickly engaged them to a quick surprise attack. Saba jumped into the air kicking both of them, one with each foot, then tore into one of them as she landed on her feet. She attacked the man relentlessly until on of the others came up behind her attempting to grab her, Saba did a backwards round house kick hitting the back attacker in the face stumbling him. The man she had been attacking took advantage of the distraction and as she landed hit her in the face. Saba took the hit with grace, back flipping away from him. Saba got her feet on the ground and regained her bearings and the first one she had dealt with had regained his composure and was near her. The man kicked at her and Saba blocked with her forearm, then grabbed him by the leg and threw him into the others who running at her.
Meanwhile on the outside Brandan and the others were watching Saba as she fought.
"She's doing really well, I somehow didn't expect this much from her," said Parker.
"She and I have been practicing with our free time on occasion," said Colin.
"Really shows," Brandan paused and looked at Isaiah who was sitting quietly, "Ok Isaiah get ready you're going in. Parker set up the computer to run two different simulations." Brandan walked over to the chair and beckoned to Isaiah who shortly followed as Parker began setting up the system. Isaiah smiled at Brandan and laid down in the chair.
"You ready?" Brandan slid the jack into Isaiah's neck.
"How ready are you ever for that feeling I still can't get used to it." Isaiah sat and waited for Parker to configure the computer.
"Are you ready yet god, I can't just sit here like this it's itching." Brandan walked over to Parker and looked at the computer.
"What's taking so long?"
"Sorry Captain, the system wasn't adapting right I've got it now though." Parker hit several keys on the across the board and there was a strange noise as the power went up as the computer set up to run on two separate driver systems. The main power came back on and the system was successfully separated.
"Ok can you send me in already!" said Isaiah. Parker hit a few more buttons and Isaiah was inside a separate training simulator.
Meanwhile Saba was still dealing with the three men getting frustrated. Saba jumped into the air as one of the men ran at her and kicked him in the head breaking his neck. The other two men stopped in their tracks and looked at her as she landed on her feet.
"Who's next?" Saba turned to look at them and they each looked at each other, then back to her and began to run at her. Saba jumped into the air and kicked each of them in the face with her feet twirling in the air and landing facing them again. Saba attacked the next one as fast and as hard as she could delivering several blows before he could react. Saba threw one last hard punch and the man fell to the ground as his neck swung around, breaking under the pressure.
Isaiah opened his eyes and he was inside the construct program.
"Ok Cap, what do I gotta do?" asked Isaiah.
"Just wait a second the processor is a little slow loading its not done yet," said Parker. Isaiah stood and watched as the program seemed to load in slow motion all around him. In his vision everything was severely distorted and almost like a choppy old video game.
"Captain are you sure its safe to be doing this, seems kinda choppy or something. It's like a bad video game or something." Isaiah looked around he had been loaded into a carnival.
"What the hell . . ."
"Just sit tight Isaiah, Parker is still working out the bugs in the system we have never used the Navras' computer to do this before," said Brandan. Isaiah sat on a nearby bench and waited for the program to be adjusted. He looked around and everything seemed to phase in and out of virtual reality and was back to normal.
"Ok so now that, that problem is fixed. I bet your wondering why your in a carnival?"
"Yeah kinda." Just then a tent appeared in front of him.
"Inside the tent you will find your test," Isaiah walked into the tent, "It's a pretty basic test just hit until you hit the top." Isaiah looked at the pillars in front of him, there was a bell and a spot for him to hit.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Back on the outside.
"Captain who came up with that idea?" asked Colin. Parker smiled.
"It's an adaptation of a children's program from Zion, I just made a few tweaks to it." They watched as Isaiah began hitting the spot on the pillar sending the bell up it a quarter of the way. "He can do a lot better than that," said Parker.
"I don't understand he doesn't seem to know how to focus on everything at once," said Parker.
"He can but he just doesn't know how to proportion his abilities properly." Brandan looked into the screen at both of the crewmen. "Saba's doing really well."
The simulations went on all night until Brandan had decided that the crew's ability was up to snuff the night ended and they had retired for the evening. Colin and Saba were lying in bed in each other's arms.
"Colin how do you feel about tomorrow?" asked Saba.
"I think if we all do our best we will come out on top for sure."
"We'll be working directly with other teams all of us working as one. What if we can't perform as well as the rest of them and we mess something up?" Colin put his arms around Saba and squeezed slightly.
"Don't worry babe we'll come out on top, we always do. Just relax and try to get a good sleep." Saba laid her head on Colin's chest and closed her eyes.
"I love you Colin."
"I love you too." Colin and Saba went to sleep in anticipation of what was to come.
Brandan was up in the Captain's quarters at his screen having a conference meeting with Locke and the other two captains' that were involved.
"Brandan you, Niobe, and Soren will be working together as a single unit to get this mission done I am uploading the information to each of you. This plan will work but it will be extremely difficult, you must all be at your guard. As such your crew must do the same is that understood?"
"Yes sir," said all three Captains.
"My system is showing that the upload has complete it, I suggest that you and your crews review it thoroughly and begin at 0500 inside that matrix. Commander Locke signing off." Locke's transmission ended and the other two captain's were still on the screen.
"Well boys you better get to bed we've got an early day tomorrow," said Niobe.
"We'll be fine guys we can do anything we put our minds too," said Soren.
"Are we going to be going in as an entire crew?"
"No however your entire crew will be mobilized as my crew only consists of Ghost and myself."
"Alright no problem, I'm signing off I will talk to you both at 0400 good night." The captains nodded and Brandan signed off the system.
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