Sean helped Louis up, while looking at the other cadets. He noticed Carl staring at him with a smug "I told you so grin". Carl had teamed up with Clara, Giorgio and Erika. The 4 spend the least time to finish the land navigation course, and apparently even broke a record. Like the 3 of them, the 4 had encountered false civilians played by the instructors, but Carl had seen through the ruse and opened fire on the spot, ruthlessly "killing" the "civilian" before the other 3 realised what was going on.
Just then, a jeep rolled in. Onboard were the instructors who disguised as civilians. Sean, Louis and Ariel recognised the black and Hispanic man.
"I believe some of you have met them?" laughed Franz. "Come, let's have your new friends introduce themselves."
One by one the human instructors introduced themselves. When it got to the 2 who punked Sean's group, they stepped forward with smug grins, looking at Sean, Louis and Ariel.
"James Rogers, Lieutenant. Instructor and a**-whooper. Good to meet y'all—especially you three," he added with a wink at Sean, Louis, and Ariel.
"Santos Garcia Flynn, Lieutenant," said the Hispanic man. He nodded once, briskly, before stepping back without another word, his hands neatly clasped behind his back. He acts as if his words are worth 100USD per sentence.
Sean rolled his eyes, this feels childish to him, almost like going back to secondary school where boys with pent up energy play stupid pranks on one another.
"At ease!" yelled Jay, wrapping up the training for the day. "Today's training is so-so; I will ask the kitchen to put an extra gallon of water at your dorms tonight!"
"Sir!" yelled Eddie.
"Speak!" said Franz.
"We have not eaten one bite at all today!" he said. All the cadets looked down, hungry.
"This is why there is more water! If you are hungry, fill up your stomachs with it!" replied Franz.
"Sir! How can we train with no energy replenishment?" asked Clara.
"Consider yourself lucky to have water," said Jay. "Here is not the place where you will be looked after by your Squad, Platoon and Company leaders."
"If anyone of you can't take it, feel free to quit!" yelled Franz. "Anyone quitting?"
The cadets stood in silence.
"Then we will announce who's leaving!" yelled Franz. "Number 55 step out!"
A cadet stepped out. "The course is over for you," said Franz curtly.
"Sir! My skills aren't lacking; I was just too hungry. Please give me a second chance!" begged the cadet.
"The enemy won't give us a second chance," said Jay. "We have different physical conditions, not everyone can make it, need not feel inferior as a result," he comforted.
The cadet reluctantly put down his helmet and number tags at the flag pole, tears raining down.
Sean sighed, wishing the cadet all the best in his future endeavours silently. He then noticed that Louis is still dejected. He gave him a gentle tap, whispering, despite it being a breach of discipline to be talking to each other when falling in.
"Don't worry. You will be fine; you are still not washed out."
Louis nodded quietly, managing a faint, grateful smile at Sean's reassurance. Despite his friend's words, he felt the day's embarrassment like a heavy stone in his chest, unwilling to budge no matter how much he tried to ignore it.
After all, he made 3 big mistakes today: from his lousy shooting to falling and losing the map to getting duped by the instructors disguised as civilians.
"Everyone dismissed!" Jay shouted. The cadets dispersed slowly; exhaustion evident in every step they took back to their dorms. Louis silently walked at the back, keeping his eyes to the ground, still replaying the shooting exercise in his head. Ariel noticed his mood and slowed her pace, matching his.
"Louis," she whispered softly, "it's just one exercise. Don't take it too hard."
He glanced briefly at her, appreciating her gentle approach but struggling to face her directly. "Easy for you to say," he muttered quietly, "you performed exceptionally. You're practically born for this."
Ariel gently shook her head. "Everyone has bad days." She paused briefly, as if considering whether she should continue. "Trust yourself. You're here for a reason."
He glanced up at her earnest expression, her words slowly beginning to chip away at his self-doubt. Louis finally gave her a small, sincere nod. "Thanks, Ariel."
At their dorm, Louis sat down heavily on his bunk, sighing deeply. He barely had energy left to move. The room was quiet, each cadet silently processing the exhausting day. Albert and Eddie are busy gulping down water, trying their best to quell their hunger. Sean noticed Louis still deep in thought, so he reached into his backpack, fishing out a chocolate bar he'd carefully hidden, against regulations.
"Hey," Sean whispered, gently tapping Louis on the shoulder, discreetly handing him the chocolate. Louis looked up surprised, quickly hiding the chocolate from sight.
"Sean! You'll get into trouble if someone sees this," Louis hissed nervously.
Sean smiled mischievously, "That's why no one's going to see it, are they?"
Louis hesitated for a second before peeling the wrapper carefully, taking a small bite. The sweetness seemed to instantly lift his mood. He looked back gratefully at Sean, "You're risking trouble just to cheer me up. You're really something, Sean."
Sean shrugged casually, smiling warmly. "We're comrades, remember? We look out for each other."
Just as Louis is going to take another bite, Albert and Eddie stopped him.
"Hey! Where did you get that from?" whispered Eddie urgently, eyes wide with curiosity and hunger.
Sean, noticing the commotion, swiftly reached into his backpack and promptly tossed chocolates at both Albert and Eddie. They caught them instinctively, stunned and momentarily silent at the sudden bounty.
Albert stared at Sean incredulously, his whisper harsh but grateful, "Sean, you sneaky bast*rd! You had these hidden all along?"
Sean grinned mischievously, placing a finger to his lips. "Keep quiet, or the entire squad will swarm us."
"Don't tell me you use my gas mask bag trick? Steady lah!" Eddie whispered, grinning like he'd found a long-lost disciple.
Sean looked away, "well..."
He looked at the 2 Litas and 1 Lin looking at him earnestly.
"...I lifted it from the kitchen..." finished Sean with a forced smile.
Louis, Eddie and Albert stared at each other, realising the gravity of the situation.
"Wah you pro," muttered Eddie. "Mines was family love, yours freaking felony."
"If kena caught, confirm all four of us wash out liao," said Eddie. "But I damn hungry leh, so f*** it.". He tore apart the wrapping and took a deep bite.
Albert looked at the chocolate, then at Sean. "You realise this is a bad idea?"
Sean smirked. "And yet..."
Albert sighed, "So be it." He unwrapped it carefully, like disarming a bomb.
Eddie, meanwhile, sighed contentedly as he savoured his treat, whispering softly, "Eh bro, that was damn solid man. Real MVP!"
Louis felt warmth returning to his heart. Despite everything, he knew he was lucky to have comrades like these by his side, ready to pick him up when he stumbled. Tomorrow would be another day, and he would give it his all again.
"Lights out!" came the voice from the hallway, prompting everyone to quickly settle in their beds. Louis finished the chocolate bar, the sugary taste a comforting reassurance in this harsh environment.
As darkness fell and quiet breathing filled the room, Louis stared at the ceiling, determined. He knew that challenges lay ahead, but he was ready to face them head-on. He wouldn't let today's failure define him. Slowly, sleep took over, carrying away his doubts and worries, readying him to rise stronger with the morning sun.
(The next day)
Louis stared at the coffee in his tin mug, letting the steam fog his vision. His muscles ached. His mind replayed the night before: his fall, the shredded map, and the moment Sean knocked it from his hand. He still felt the phantom weight of those map fragments in his grip.
Just across the room, which has been repurposed into a classroom of sorts, Jay stood with arms folded and an unreadable look in his eyes.
"You all got dropped in the dark and thrown into chaos," Franz finally said, voice cold as the mountain air. "Some of you relied on instinct. Some on teammates. Some of you nearly died for a laminated piece of plastic."
He didn't look at Louis, but Louis flinched anyway.
"That was the point. To break the illusion. You think you know land nav? You think instinct and guts are enough? Starting today, we teach you what it really means to navigate. With precision. With discipline. With your brain—not just your legs."
Herbert pointed at a box in a corner of the room. "Grab your compasses. Get your protractors. We're going to teach you how to see without eyes. Consider this back to school."
Herbert then announced what is to come. After a 4-day instruction period on land navigation, the cadets will be thrown a 40km, individual, multi day land navigation course.
No more buddies. No more chances.
A few cadets exchanged tired and nervous looks. Carl rolled his eyes. Clara straightened further. Giorgio sighed, reassuring himself that he will be fine.
Then Sean, deadpan, raised his hand.
Herbert blinked. "...Yes, Number 9?"
Sean spoke with perfect innocence, posture straight like a schoolboy "Sir, will there be recess?"
Both Herbert and Franz stared in silence for a second. Somewhere at the edge of the cadet formation, Eddie choked on a snort. Vera let out a very quiet "pfft", while Louis tried his best not to laugh.
Franz exhaled slowly. "Very funny, down and give me 25!"
Sean grinned. "Oh right, my favourite subject, Yipee!" he said, as he started push-ups. Franz held back the urge to double down on his attitude.
After all, for Artemis 9, there is no difference between doing 100 and 25 push-ups.
Herbert turned away, muttering something under his breath in Afrikaans.
The mood had completely shifted; the cadets now feel more at ease.
Meanwhile, Nanami and James, who were observing the classroom, burst out laughing seeing how Sean's deadpan humour completely threw their colleagues off.
And with that, school started. Herbert held up a laminated 1:50,000 topographic map.
"Orienting your map is step zero. North must be north. If it's not, every step you take is a lie."
He then proceeded to demonstrate how to align the compass edge with the map's north-south grid lines. First, he rotated the map until the needle sits in the orienting arrow. Next, he confirmed the visible terrain features, all done through a 3D hologram that simulated the terrain in the classroom that engulfed the whole room.
"You see that rock formation? That's a good reference point, now you determined where you are, you mark your starting point, let's call it A…"
Louis followed every step slowly, checking and rechecking.
Sean greeted the instructional phase with a grin and a mutter:
"Finally, they're pretending we have brains."
Though already familiar with everything taught, he stayed attentive, not just to refresh his memory, but to watch over the rest of the cadets, especially the new friends he had made. He silently corrected a mistake Ariel made on her map when she plotted the distance between the 2 points with a quick scribble from his pencil.
Albert did it fast, but he soon frowned and started double checking, then triple checking, the quadruple checking.
"Number 74, what is your malfunction?!" roared Franz.
"Sir! The declination of map is two degrees off what's printed," replied Albert.
"ARE YOU SUGGESTING WE GAVE YOU A FAULTY MAP?" asked Franz.
Albert looked at Franz coldly. "If this is about testing our resilience, just say it. Don't insult our intelligence." Franz snatched the map over, checked it, then gave Albert another one.
Clara didn't blink. Her map was aligned before Franz finished speaking. Clara absorbed everything like a sponge, not just to learn, but to dominate and persevere through. But she kept her distance from the "lower performing" cadets, especially Louis and Eddie.
"Eh wah lao eh, why is this wrong?" muttered Eddie.
"Bambina, you wrote one more zero," said Giorgio, pointing to his map.
Carl aligned his map in under 20 seconds, checking declination adjustments and using distant terrain features to confirm his orientation without being prompted, then scribbling annotations as well as plotting a course. "You're supposed to teach this part too?" he muttered just loud enough for Vera and Giorgio to hear.
That did not escape the instructors. Carl had shown himself to be a promising cadet, with talent and potential matching Sean's, but his attitude was a big problem.
And he is not the only one. Erika's marks were sharp, her bearings accurate, her timing consistent. But she hated every second of it. The structure suffocated her. She wanted to go to action, not draw azimuths and measure paces, especially when she already has the expertise.
Soon, it came for some practical application.
The sun was high, wind dry, and the terrain a patchwork of thorny scrub, jagged rocks, and deceptive slopes. Each cadet team was given a simple task: plot an azimuth from their current grid to a ridge 1.2 KM away, then walk the route.
Louis followed the map closely, remembering both his past experiences with land navigation as a Division Recon Marine and what they had went through today. He soon saw instructors Reza and Maia in a SUV, looking around with binoculars.
He excitedly ran up to them, tapping on the window. Reza rolled it down.
"Do you need a medic?" he asked patiently. Louis blinked in confusion, "no, sir, just reporting in."
"This ain't your rendez-vous point," said Reza. Louis frowned, trying to ask him for help.
Maia then rolled up the window. "If you don't need medical help, then f*** off."
A confused Louis soon realised his mistake. He had misidentified his starting point. Hurriedly, he ran back to where he started, recognising the tree formation. He then recharted his course, realising he had accidentally headed west instead of east.
Meanwhile, Ariel and Vera's paths intersected. Vera smiled at Ariel's ranger beads, flashcards, and many other things she had prepared.
"Well-prepared!" she laughed. Ariel thanked her compliments, but then confided that she has been going in circles, because she is having some trouble recognising the terrain.
"This is a saddle. Flat on top, two drops left and right," hinted Vera. Ariel thanked her, quickly adjusting her direction.
(Night)
Back at the barracks the cadets were having a dinner break. As they have been starving for almost a full day, they are wolving down the food, no matter how bad the food objectively tasted. Giorgio remarked that it made yoghurt in Carbonara look like a Michelin chef's handiwork.
Meanwhile, Louis is still studying the map intently. His protractor lay on the map, aligned with a 6-digit grid reference. His compass sat beside his mess tin, which is sparkling, showing how he did not waste any bite of dinner. He was redrawing an azimuth he'd already plotted five times, but he wanted to be sure,
Sean stepped in silently, a towel draped around his neck and damp from a cold wash. He paused when he saw Louis still working.
"Still on that?" Sean whispered, setting the towel on his bunk.
"I know," Louis replied, not looking up. "I need to practise. I know its only day 1 of instruction, but we only have 4 days before the test comes, and I can't afford to mess it up.'
Sean didn't respond right away. He walked over, crouched next to him, and looked at the map.
"Grid 78/935?" Sean asked. Louis nodded.
"Then the azimuth to your attack point's not 186°. It's 192°. You forgot to subtract the declination."
Louis blinked, then sighed. "Putain!"
Sean smiled faintly, pulling out his own protractor and compass.
"Alright. Let's walk through it. One more time. And remember, cram studying is not going to help you, so take it easy."