Read Online The Ecstasy of Tral-Gothica by Victor Hadnot, Amanda Travis - Free Book Online Page B

Force. When she inquired as to why all the branches of the
military, with the exception of the Coast Guard, they told her that
she was training to be part of an elite team. Lucky for Stella, she
was from the rural section, where life was very hard and things did
not come easy. Was she a little rough around the edges, yes. And
for some reason, that made things that much better. Because she
adapted to the quick changes, from one way of training to another.
She started out with a hundred recruits in her party. By the end of
training which took four months, a month for each branch, there
were only twenty five of them, that actually got to keep the
uniform.
    One day, during training, it would
later become Stella’s defining moment. She saw that one of the
people that was going through the training with her, was going to
falter, and falter badly, it was during live rounds training, where
they shot live fire at you, in order to get you used to being shot
at. A frail man, he honestly didn’t belong there, but, his parents
had money, so they arranged for him to be there. While money got
him into training, it wasn’t going to get him through it. At some
point, he freaked out, as the live fire zipped by and the bombs
were going off. He panicked, stood up and began to run in the
opposite direction. This pissed off the T.I.’s who then began to
target the deserter. Stella saw all of this and had compassion on
the man and began to run after him. She was able to save his life.
Her actions, as a result of that were greatly rewarded, as they
made her squad leader. Eventually, everyone in the squad would turn
to her for advice and for comfort, during those trying
days.
    Finally, after what seemed like
forever, graduation day came. And they all marched in a parade
before the Base Commander and faculty and staff. And then, basic
training was over. They all, one by one, person by person, hugged
and shook hands, they were off, to receive technical training.
Stella had scored very high on all her tests and she was picked to
be in Intelligence. Her training would last the longest because it
was the highest of all the training that was given. When she got to
her new assignment, she found out that Frost and Payne had given
her a glowing recommendation. This went far towards establishing
Stella as a team leader. As Stella rounded the corner, one of her
classmates, Falco caught up with her.
    Falco said, “Hey, wait up for
me.”
    Stella looked around and smiled.
“Oh, hi. How are you doing?”
    “I’m doing good. I have a question.”
Falco was a handsome young man, about Stella’s age. His black skin
shown and expressed his rugged features and his military haircut
made him look even more bad-ass.
    Obviously, Stella was smitten with
him, but did a good job of not letting on. “What can I do for you,
Falco?”
    “The physics test that is coming
up...”
    “Ah, yeah, what about
it?”
    “Well. Everybody seems to have
paired up, to study. I don’t have anyone paired with me, so I was
wondering?”
    Stella stopped suddenly and it
startled Falco. She said, “I’d love to, Falco. Fact of the matter
is, I don’t have anyone to study with either.”
    As quickly as they stopped, they
began walking again. Falco uttered. “Great. It’s not that I don’t
understand the material. It’s just that, with help, we both can
pool together our notes and ace the test.”
    Stella giggled. “Ace the test? Hell,
I just want to pass the damn thing. I’ll take a C.”
    “Oh, no. You and I have a future
here, with the Pro-Tolerate. In the military. Me, I want to make
Colonel one day. How about you?”
    “Hmm.
I hadn’t really given it much thought.”
    “Seriously?”
    “Why. Yes. I mean, I suppose it
might be nice to have a career. To know where your next mean is
going to come from. I guess it would be nice. And the jobs that
they have in Intelligence. Well. They do seem interesting and
challenging.”
    “Then what is holding you
back?”
    “I