FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Saber's War

Chapter 2 - Testing, testing...

By Goliath Wildcat

The humanoid gray wolf leads James and Jeff down a dim hallway and stops in front of a door. Turning to face them he motions towards the door. "Since you two look to be friends, I hope you won't mind sharing an apartment. Inside you will find two bedrooms, a small kitchen area, a bath, and a communal living space. While you two are settling in I'll run down to supply and pull something for you to wear." Giving them a brief nod he continues down the hall and turning a corner vanishes from sight.

Jeff looks at the door and places his hand on the palm reader. It tingles as it reads his palm print and records it in the database. The door opens with a quiet hiss of displaced air. "Come on James, let's check out our rooms." He steps through the door as James takes one final look down the hall before following him in.

Just inside the door is the living space. James lets out an appreciative whistle at it. "Not bad, bigger than most places I've stayed since I joined the service."

Jeff looks down at him with a raised eyebrow. "This is big? It's smaller then my bedroom back home."

James nods his head as he lets out a gentle sigh. "That may be, but welcome to life in the military. If you want it or not, I think we are going to be spending the rest of our lives here."

Jeff casts a dark look at James. "I don't know about you, but I have plans for the future," he raps his knuckles on the metal wall, "and this isn't going to stop me."

James rests his hands on his hips and cocks his head looking at Jeff. "And just how do you plan to get out of here? I know we haven't looked around much, but this is obviously a secure military installation."

Jeff looks up at the ceiling and takes a deep breath before answering as he stares at the ceiling. "I don't know, but somehow we'll get out of here."

James pats him on the back. "Sure we will bud, sure we will. But for now, we need to stay calm and play our cards right. Tomorrow things might just turn in our favor."

***

Thirty minutes later there is a knock on the door of the apartment. The two felines look at each other before turning to look towards the door. With a soft grunt James stands up and walks over to open the door.

The wolf that showed them to the room stands there with two duffel bags. "Hey boys, settling in nicely I see." He easily tosses one bag to James and throws the other across the room to Jeff who catches it effortlessly with one hand. "Go get dressed you two, I'm tired of the strip show." He settles onto one of the small couches and spreads his arms across the back, "Then we can talk more comfortably."

They both take their bags into their bedrooms and quickly get dressed in the shirts and shorts provided. Soon they return to the common room and the wolf waiting there for them. He nods at them as they enter the living room and he pulls off his hat to show cropped gray hair that matches his gray fur.

"Now that you two are clothed properly we can have a chat about why you are here and what is needed of you now," he says casually.

James takes a seat but Jeff crosses his arms across his chest and leans in the doorway to his bedroom. "I am not a member of the military. Why was this done to me?" His voice drops to a low growl, "And just where the heck am I?"

James motions to the spot on the couch next to him. "Come on Jeff, have a seat and take a load off. I'm sure our friend here will explain everything he can."

Jeff casts an evil look at James, but takes a seat on the couch, crosses his arms over his broad chest, and grumbles too low even for the wolf's sensitive hearing to detect.

The wolf gives him a nod. "Now that we are all comfortable I guess we should start with introductions. The name is Lupe, I'm the commander of this base, and yes, I was military before I was changed. Now I know who you two think you are, but I have to tell you to forget it. Forget your past, your friends, and your families. By now they will have all gotten notices of your deaths."

Jeff stands suddenly making the room ring with his shout, "Deaths?!"

Lupe nods sadly, "Unfortunately yes, on Earth your deaths will have been recorded and an appropriate excuse given to have closed casket funerals."

Jeff looks at the floor and drops back to the couch making it creak loudly under his bulk. "This can't be..."

Lupe looks over at the silver cat to see he's taking things a little better, but not much as he simply stares at his hands resting in his lap. "Your past might be gone, but your future is here and now. You will be allowed to keep you last names at least, they aren't used much around here anyway, but your first names must change. Sorry boys, but you're no longer human, and sadly there is no way back."

Jeff gives a slight growl, his hands clenching into tight fists, the tips of the claws there digging into his palms. "I never wanted this, why me?!"

Lupe scratches the side of his muzzle with a furry hand. "Well, I can tell you I had no choice either so I do know some of where you are coming from. I can guess during a physical your DNA was examined and determined to be changeable. So they drafted you the way the military has drafted everyone it has needed over the years."

"What do you mean, changeable?" asks James.

"Well, you see, not everyone is able to survive the changes that the body undergoes when they play around with your DNA. They aren't certain why, but it seems most of those who can complete the change all have one small gene in common. I would guess that if you weren't in the military, and they thought they needed you anyway, they would do what they did. All the advice I can give you is to enjoy it and just play nice for now."

Again, Jeff gives a low growl as he slams a clenched fist into his open palm. "This deal is getting worse all the time. I don't really like it, but I will play nice, for now."

Lupe shrugs, "That is all I can ask for lads."

James gives a nod to his friend. "Trust me Jeff; this isn't that bad a life, at least we're not still in cryo-sleep." He turns back to Lupe and scratches behind his ear, "As for changing names, I guess I'll take my call-sign for my new name. Call me Saber."

"If I have to change my name I guess I might as well have it descriptive, call me Goliath," says Jeff as he sits there with his arms crossed over his chest, a dour look on his face.

Lupe nods, "Interesting choices." He leans forward on the couch, "Now for a little information about what we do here. Primarily, we are a research station. We design, build and test new weapon systems."

"What about star craft?" Saber asks enthusiastically as he brightens at the thought of getting back into space.

Lupe shakes his head, "Nope, not for us anyway. They tend to test all fighter craft at the star-base in Earth orbit. Until it is released that we even exist, we must stay on base. The closest we have is an old frigate the tech boys are working on in the hanger, but it's not slated to fly for some time yet." He chuckles softly to himself, "Heck, its engines are still in about a million pieces."

He sighs as he leans back and drapes his arm over the back of the couch he's on. "The Brass doesn't want a press leak that could happen if we routinely left the base. Heck, anyone that doesn't directly have something to do with this base doesn't even know the base is here much less what we do here. Many of those who do come here still don't know that we morphs exist; they are watched and kept isolated from the rest of the base. This base is totally isolated from the outside world."

He guffaws softly, "Course we're also the most protected base in the solar-system too. We're currently almost two klicks under the Martian surface with hanger doors designed to resemble the surface so not even orbital scan can locate our base. The hidden batteries and weapons could hold off an armada while the rock and layers of armor over us would keep us safe."

Saber's muzzle is drawn in a frown and his ears droop slightly. "Mars? What a waste."

"What was that son?" asks Lupe as he sees the droop in Saber's demeanor.

Saber looks back up at him. "I am a highly trained test pilot. Flying was my life. I can withstand more G's than anyone else in the military. Here I am on Mars, where some of the most advanced technologies are being developed, and now I'm grounded. What am I going to do?"

The wolf nods his head in understanding. "I know where you are coming from son, and I am sorry, but for now, you are grounded. But, I think I know a few things we are working on that you might like."

Saber sulks down in his seat and crosses his arms over his chest. "We'll see about that, there isn't much that can replace the freedom of pushing the body to its limits as you hit the throttle. Or the feelings of pressure building up as you pull yourself, and your fighter, through a tight turn, taking it all to the limits and sometimes well past them."

"We'll see son, we'll see." Lupe slaps his legs as he stands up. "You two get some rest. I'll be by in the morning to get you two and start you on an orientation of the base and to get your preliminary proficiency tests done. Then the day after that we will start the fun stuff." With that he leaves the room and the door closes behind him with a soft whoosh.

The two friends look at each other before getting up without a word and going into their bedrooms for the night. The morning looks like it is going to be the start of a busy day.

***

A buzzing sounds through the suite and both bedroom doors open. Two sleepy feline heads poke out and look towards the main door.

Saber looks over at Goliath and shrugs. "I guess that's Lupe, here to show us around." He walks out of his room, still in just his fur, and answers the door. Unfortunately, it isn't Lupe who has been ringing the bell.

A trim female arctic fox with long black hair pulled back into a ponytail stands in the doorway instead. She is dressed in a pair of red camouflaged shorts that end at the knees and a trim gray halter that doesn't do much more then cover her chest. It sure as hell doesn't hide her curves any.

When the naked panther opens the door in full view of her, she lets out a small gasp and looks away, a soft blush appearing through her fur and turning the inside of her large ears a deeper shade of pink. Saber ducks behind the doorframe and gives a slightly embarrassed grin. "Sorry ma'am, but I was expecting someone else to be banging on my door this morning."

She looks back to see only his head and shoulders peeking out from behind the doorframe. "I can tell. Lupe told me to come get two newbies from this room and escort them to the chow hall. I would guess that is you and your friend over there."

Saber turns to see Goliath dressed in the clothes they were given last night. It is a similar outfit to what the vixen is wearing, but with a tank top instead of a halter. "Uh, Goliath, can you keep our guest occupied while I find my clothes?" He makes a dash into his room with his tail low to cover anything viewable from behind.

Goliath gives a chuckle as his friend runs back into his room and shuts the door. "Sorry about that there miss, but it seems my friend wasn't ready for you to be the one banging on our door this morning. But then, neither was I for that matter."

The vixen gives a quiet giggle. "I guess not."

Goliath steps out of the doorway and waves an arm inward. "Please come in while he gets some clothes on."

The vixen timidly steps into the room and takes a seat on one of the couches. "That was not what I was expecting to see first thing this morning."

"And just what were you expecting first thing this morning?" asks Saber as he exits his room in his fatigues. "Just one question real quick first. Where are my shoes?"

The vixen extends her leg to show a digitigrade leg like the two felines. She wears no shoes and her pants end at the knee, almost shorts really. "When you got legs like these they really don't make standard footwear to fit. That is also why our uniforms end at the knee. Turns out it is more comfortable like this. There are still cases when you'll want to wear protective clothing covering your legs and feet, but most of us go around barefoot."

"Really, I thought they were just giving us shorts, but you say that this is the actual uniform here huh?" says Goliath as he plucks at the material of his pants.

She gives a cheerful nod. "These are the uniforms for morphs at least. You will find the less you wear the more comfortable you will be. Our fur doesn't like to be under clothing much, rubs it the wrong way sometimes. It isn't pleasant at all, but we all learn to make do with it. After all, we can't all run around naked."

"What about the humans on base?" asks Saber.

"Oh, they still have to wear standard regulation uniforms. And yes, there are some who don't like it that we get special treatment in this area of regulations, but most of them accept it." She stands up and gives a stretch. "Well, now that you two are dressed. How about we head for the mess hall and grab some breakfast?"

The two cats stand and motion for her to lead them out. She leads them out into the hallway and turns an immediate left. As she leads them down the hallways, making turns seemingly at random, Goliath is soon disoriented and lost.

"So, how do we find our way back to our rooms?" he asks.

Saber looks at him and grins. "No worries bud, I can get us back there easily."

The vixen gives a slight chuckle and smiles over her shoulder at them. "It might take some getting used to, but you will learn your way around quickly, or be lost half the time. But anytime you need direction you can always do a query at any data terminal." She points out one of the plain looking consoles on the wall as they pass it.

Goliath gives a quiet growling sound deep in his throat so quiet it almost avoids their sensitive ears. "For some reason, that doesn't reassure me."

The rest of their trip goes in quiet as they walk down the hallways to the mess hall. Goliath getting more confused as they walk. By the time they reach the hall outside the mess, he is well and truly lost.

***

When they enter the mess it is packed with a good portion of the base staff. The vixen leads them over to a table where Lupe is having a quiet chat with a human. When the three approach the human stands and excuses himself with a polite nod to the gray wolf, which he returns.

Lupe waves to the seats in front of him at the table. "Thanks for guiding them here Shadow. Do me a favor and grab them some grub while I have a little chat with our rookies here."

"Sure thing Lupe," she says with a smile before she turns and heads for the food dispensers, leaving the three males alone.

As the two sit down a voice can be heard in the crowd behind them and their ears rotate to focus on the words, "Great, two more pussies in here. Don't we have enough of those beasts running around loose? Why do we need two more?"

Goliath and Saber turn to try to identify the speaker of the sentiment but can't distinguish a single person as the one who said it as several people, morph and human alike, are looking their way.

Lupe taps the table with a blunt claw, drawing their attention back. "Yes, I heard it too. Some of the humans here don't like us very much. They see us as freaks, lab experiments, but they usually don't try to do anything. After all, they have to follow orders like the rest of us. And someone back on Earth obviously has a lot of clout to keep this operation going and under such secrecy."

Saber catches the note of warning in his voice. "What do you mean by usually don't try anything?"

Lupe shrugs fractionally and gives them a poker face look, "This is an R and D base after all. Sometimes things happen and someone gets hurt or killed."

Goliath leans in closer to the wolf his voice dropping to a whisper and a soft growl forming in his voice. "I don't like the sounds of that."

Lupe waves his hand dismissively and tries to calm the big cat, "Don't worry. We have never lost anyone yet, just a few accidents, nothing that couldn't be written off as a pure accident."

The cougar grunts as he sits back, his tail flicking, "You mean nothing that can be proven to be sabotage."

The wolf gives a short nod as the vixen, Shadow, returns with four trays. She sets two down in front of the two cats, sets the third down in front of Lupe, and sets the last one down in front of herself as she sits down next to the wolf.

Lupe gives her a nod of thanks and a brief smile, "Now that we are all seated. Boys, this is Shadow, my second in command." The two cats nod to the vixen. "If you have any problems you can bring them to her. If she doesn't bring them to me it is because she has already taken care of it and filed the report where I can see it if I need to. She is my shadow after all." He chuckles softly at his little joke about her name.

He points towards their plates as he picks up his silverware. "Better get eating boys, we can talk more on the way to evaluation."

With that all four dig into the food. They eat quietly and quickly, the two felines eating quite a bit more than they normally would. Once they finish eating Lupe walks them over to the tray disposal and guides them out into the halls once again. As they travel down seemingly random halls and take a lift down even further Goliath gets more disoriented and lost.

Saber is the one to break the silence that hangs in the air. "What are these evaluations you were talking about?"

"Oh, nothing major. Just a few tests so we can see where you two will fit in the best. Mostly just tests of how strong you are and how fast your reflexes and hand eye coordination are. It's nothing medical since we already have your medical evaluations from when you were morphed." He gives a laugh as he states the last.

Goliath grumbles under his breath in response. "I hate tests."

The walk to the evaluation room would have gone well and uneventful if one thing had not happened. A human walking down the hall shoves Goliath as he passes. Turning with a snap he shouts. "Why don't you watch where you are going you big dumb fat ass throw rug!? We would be a whole lot better off if you would just jettison yourself out an airlock like the rest of the garbage. We don't need any more of your kind!" To punctuate his remark, he takes a swing at the big cougar.

His fist doesn't make it that far though. With a movement too fast to register to the eye, Saber grabs the human's arm and is holding it in a vise-like grip. Planning to stop the punch from landing, knowing his friend's history of a short fuse in a fight and guessing he still has it even if he isn't fully human any more. But Goliath has already reacted too.

His arm had also snapped into motion and is now holding the human up at arm's length by the neck, his feet dangling two feet off the floor. The man's free hand is clutching the thick tawny-furred arm trying to break its hold but he might as well have been a fly against a battle cruiser. His weak pounding on the muscled arm shows no sign of weakening the iron grip around his throat.

Saber releases the arm in surprise when he realizes what his friend is doing, the man in his hand gasping for breath. "Come on man, let him down. I think you showed him who the boss is." Saber can see the fire burning in his friend's eyes and the snarl on his muzzle, his fangs showing in a clear threat. He is royally ticked off, not a good thing for the poor fella in his grasp. Saber needs to calm him down fast before he does something he's going to regret. "Come on man, you don't want to do anything drastic just because this little piece of shit wants to pick a fight. I think everyone here knows you could break him into a million pieces as easily as you can punch through a sheet of paper. Let him go and he'll scurry back to whatever hole he crawled out of."

Slowly Goliath brings the man closer to his face, the look of horror clearly planted on the man's features as he comes face-to-face with the cougar's bared fangs. In a voice so quiet, the two morphs standing there can hardly hear he speaks to the man in a voice dripping with contempt and barely controlled anger. "If you ever take another swing at me, or any other being on this base, I will tear your limbs off while you watch and then shove them all down your throat one-by-one." And with almost casual ease he throws the man down the hall where he lands, sliding to hit against the far wall and just lay where he finally stops, stunned from the impact and staring at the huge cougar.

Suddenly the hall is full of guards in full body armor with weapons quickly being trained one the huge cougar that has crouched into a fighting position. His ears lie flat on his head as his lips pull back into a snarl and wickedly sharp claws spring from his fingertips as his hands tense subconsciously. His tail whips behind him unconsciously in agitation as he faces the armed security force with nothing more than his natural weapons. Some of them are human, most are clearly morphs, but they all have weapons leveled at the hulking cougar and their armor can stop bullets and knives, never mind simple claws. "You are under arrest for assault of base personnel. Will you come peacefully or will we be forced to fire?" A muscular male ferret asks Goliath as he stares down the barrel of his oversized pistol.

Before Goliath can say or do anything to aggravate the situation Lupe steps between him and the guard who spoke. "Captain, you are to arrest that man," he points to the man still lying dazed at the end of the hallway. "I witnessed him try to assault this morph. He was only defending himself as anyone is entitled to."

The ferret looks at the prone figure and motions for two of his personnel to take the man into custody with quick hand gestures before he lowers his weapon, the others doing the same. "Sorry Lupe, but from what I saw from surveillance it looked like he had gone rouge. I couldn't risk the chance and just let it slide."

The wolf claps him on the shoulder. "I know Deadeye, you were just doing your job. But please don't piss this guy off. From what I just saw he might be able to take you in hand to hand combat." Lupe looks at the rest of the security detail as they holster and sling their weapons, "And maybe the rest of your teams too in a pinch, I'd hate to see the outcome of such an engagement. A wild guess tells me I'd have to visit too many of you in the hospital, armor or no."

The ferret gives a chittering laugh. "We'll just have to see about that some time." He nods his head to the two felines as he holsters his sidearm and follows his men as two of them drag the unconscious man down the hallway.

Lupe turns to look at Goliath and Saber. "That was close. First time I have seen that happen, but I knew that man didn't like our type. I almost feared this would happen one day."

Saber still has a worried look on his face as he watches his friend. Goliath's eyes still burn with the rage of a fight and his ears are still flat against his head. He is watching the hallway the guards took the man down. 'What would have happened if he hadn't of calmed down when he did,' Saber thinks to himself.

Reaching up to rest a hand on his large friend's shoulder he gives a gentle squeeze. "Hey, big guy, you okay?"

Goliath shakes his head and looks down at his friend, his eyes clearing of the rage that had been there only moments before. "Yeah, just great," he answers with a hard edge of sarcasm in his voice.

Saber rests his hand on Goliath's shoulder for another minute before he pats his back. "Come on man, let's go."

Lupe looks at the two friends standing there. 'That was too close,' he thinks to himself, 'I need to get them down to the evaluation room without anything else happening. That big guy could probably punch his way through a solid bulkhead.'

The wolf waves for the two felines to follow him, "Come on you two, we got miles to go before we sleep."

The two friends turn to look at the wolf addressing them. Saber pats the cougar on the back again, urging him to follow the wolf. Without a word they continue down the corridor again.

The rest of the walk goes uneventfully and soon they enter a plain room with several doors leading out of it. "Here we are boys. Shall we begin?"

Saber looks around the empty room and shrugs his shoulders. "What kind of evaluation can be done here?"

Lupe scratches the back of his head. "Well, the tests are done in the rooms adjacent to this one. I'll leave you here and your testers will come and get you when they are ready." Without another word he leaves the room, the door almost closing on his tail so fast that the two cats can't ask him anymore questions.

They turn to look at each other. Each asking the other what was next with a look.

Suddenly one of the doors opens and a buff tigress with shoulder length blond hair in a pair of the red camo shorts and a workout top steps out, calling, "Goliath?" Goliath nods in response while Saber points at him. "Come on," is all she says as she turns and leaves through the door she had just entered from.

Goliath gives his friend a grin before following the buff tigress. Saber keeps his eyes on Goliath until the door closes behind him. He didn't even get a good look at the room on the other side of the door, but it looked just like another small empty room.

Another of the doors opens and another large fem wearing a similar outfit walks out, but this one is a lioness judging from her tail and coloration with short blond hair.

"You must be the one they call Saber?" He gives a brief nod in response. "Come on then, let's get started." She turns and reenters the door she had just come out of. Saber follows her and sees that he is now in just an anti-chamber to a much larger room.

Looking around he sees many pieces of workout equipment with sensors near them, just like you would expect to find, but there are other things that don't look like they belong. Sitting over to one side is what looks like a full simulator of some type, almost like the ones he learned to fly in. And along another wall is some kind of shutter that's closed off another section of the room.

The lioness turns and watches him look around the room for a few minutes before saying anything. "Come on new guy, we got miles to go before we sleep."

Saber's attention is pulled back to her when she speaks. "I've been hearing that a lot here lately." He claps his hands and rubs them together briefly, "Okay, how about for starters what do I call you?"

She picks up a pad and motions for him to step over to a treadmill. "You can call me Temper." She makes a mark on the pad and looks back up at him. "Okay, being as you are regular military, most of these tests should be easy to do and understand. Strip down to your boxers and get on the treadmill."

Saber strips and gets on the treadmill, standing there while Temper gets a handful of hair thin needles from a nearby machine. "Now, I hope you don't mind needles too much, because that is the only way to hook the sensors to you through your fur."

He shakes his head and she starts sticking the needles into him. They are so thin, that he can't even feel them. There is only a slight pressure when the lead is connected to it because of the weight of the wire pulling at the needle.

"Okay, that is the last of them. Ready?" At his nod she picks up a small remote and punches a button. The treadmill starts right up at a leisurely pace.

Saber easily keeps up with it. "This ain't so bad."

Temper lets loose a deep chuckle and flashes him a smile. "Okay, if you say so." She looks at the remote and starts punching in a sequence of buttons. Suddenly the Treadmill starts speeding up.

Saber keeps up easily with the treadmill. He has nothing to judge the speed by, but he is doing a pretty good clip and still not breathing hard or sweating much. As there is no clock in the room he doesn't know for sure how much time passes before she starts turning down the speed, letting him slow down to a walk instead of just stopping it suddenly. Finally, she brings it to a stop and Saber stretches his legs to keep from cramping after such a workout.

He stands there while she unhooks the wires from the needles but leaves the needles in. She notices his gaze and answers his question while she finishes "I'm leaving the needles in so that we can just hook you up again when we get to the next test."

"Sounds like a reasonable idea," he replies.

She gives him a grin and walks over to what looks like a weight bench, but it has no weights on it. "Lie down and grab the horizontal bar." He does as told and soon she is again hooking him up. When all the wires are again connected she steps back and picks up her clipboard again. "Okay now, this is a strength test. When I tell you, push as hard as you can on the bar and hold it till I tell you. Automatic sensors in the machine will tell us how much force you can exert and the sensors attached to you will record how well your muscles are reacting to the strain."

He nods as he takes a deep breath and slowly lets it loose.

"Okay then, go." She watches her watch as he pushes hard against the bar. It doesn't move much, but it does move. He holds it with as much pressure as he can while she checks the monitors. The muscles in his arms start to burn with the strain and his arms quiver slightly.

Finally, after what seems like hours she finally says, "Okay, that's enough. You can relax."

This time he is puffing a little at the exertion he just put out as his heart pounds in his ears. She hands him a towel and he wipes his face. His arms and back feel a little sore from the strain he just put on them, but nothing worse than a normal workout would have done to him.

"Not bad." She makes another couple of marks on her pad before disconnecting him again. "Okay, next test." She motions over to another type of weight style machine; this one looks like a leg press. "Same thing, get in position and wait till I tell you to start."

He sits down on the bench and puts his legs in place as she hooks the wires back up to him. When she is finished she looks at her watch again and hits a button on it, "Now."

The muscles on his legs bulge as he presses with all his might against the plates. Temper keeps an eye on her watch, minutes pass, but to Saber they feel like hours as he keeps pushing with all his strength. "Okay, let up."

Saber let's up on the pressure and is puffing hard now from the strain. Once more she starts removing the wires. But this time she carefully removes the needles too. "We don't need these anymore." She massages his legs tenderly to relieve the muscles as they try to cramp up from the short but vigorous strain he's put them under.

Once all the needles are removed and he is once again standing she escorts him over to that shuttered section of wall. She taps a code into a pad that unlocks a small door to the side and pulls out an assault rifle as the shutters slowly open to reveal a shooting range. With practiced motions she sets out the odd looking rifle and two magazines on the counter attached along the wall.

"This is our standard assault rifle on base. Bull-pup configured with flash suppressor, selective firing, recoil compensator, and two thirty round magazines. If you've been through basic you should be able to use this weapon since it works the same as the standard assault rifle, just a bit bigger caliber and shorter overall length."

She steps back from the table and motions him forward. "Pick up the weapon and familiarize yourself with it. When ready, load and prepare for firing."

The silver feline steps up to the table and hefts the weapon, surprised at how easily such an odd shaped weapon fits in his hands. Putting it down again he picks up a pair of earplugs and puts them into his ears. Once more hefting the weapon he slams a magazine into the receiver behind the grip and chambers a round with a pull at the charging handle. Keeping the muzzle pointed down-range he nods to the lioness.

She puts in a pair of earplugs herself and picks up a remote. The lights in the firing range illuminate the open area and the targets scattered through it. "Exercise is simple, put three rounds in each target. Ready?" At his nod she calls out, "Fire!"

Saber takes aim at the nearest target and puts a nice tight cluster in the center-mass. Moving on to the next he squeezes off another burst of three with well-practiced and controlled movements.

Temper watches him continue this way for a few seconds before she enters some commands into the remote in her hands. In the range some of the lights start to strobe. Without missing a beat Saber continues but taking a second or two longer with each burst as his eyes try to compensate for the shifting lights.

Before the last round from his first magazine hits the target he ejects the spent one and slams the second home. Yanking on the cocking lever he lets it slam a fresh round into the chamber before once more sighting along the barrel he picks off yet another target.

Grinning, Temper waits till he's about to fire and hits another button causing some of the targets to start moving. The sudden movement of the target throws his shots wide of their mark. With a soft growl he adjusts and nails the target. With a final click he ejects the second magazine and looks up from the hunched over position he had been firing from.

Temper checks her watch and notes a few things on her clipboard as the shutters to the range close. "That's it for the firing exercise today. Return the weapon to its cabinet and lock it in would you?"

Saber gently places the rifle back into the cabinet with the two empty magazines and with a gentle pat closes the door with a gentle click. He reaches up and pulls out his earplugs, "What's next?"

Temper points over to the simulator like contraption. But before she tells him what to do the tiger that took Goliath into the other room comes in from an adjacent door carrying a data pad. She comes up looking confused and starts whispering in Temper's ear.

The lioness gives her a startled look, "He did WHAT?!"

"I told you, he broke the weight tests, snapped the bars like they were toothpicks. How do I mark that down on the results? And you wouldn't believe what he did to the assault rifle. I thought those things were rugged, in his hands it might as well have been paper."

The lioness lowers her head and starts shaking it. "I can't believe it. That has never happened before. I guess you write down 'off the chart' on them. As for the marksman test, find him something more rugged from the armory."

The tigress gives her a skeptical look with a hand cocked on her hip, "And what if they ask what that means?"

The lioness shrugs, "Tell them the truth."

The tigress gives a discouraged sigh and leaves the room again while the lioness comes back to where she left Saber waiting. "What's wrong," he asks.

She gives him a smile, "Nothing, seems your friend broke the machines for the strength tests. Snapped the welds on the push bars and bent the metal supports like they were nothing more than thin plastic."

Saber scratches his head. "Same tests I just took?" She gives him a nod. "And how much weight should those be able to hold?"

The lioness thinks for a second before answering, "About, two tons or so, probably more. He definitely did something no one else has before."

The statement leaves Saber speech-less for a second. "Over two tons, how can he do that? He's obviously strong, but no way he's that strong."

Again she gives a shrug, "I don't know, I am only rated at about six hundred pounds on that test myself and you scored a good three hundred, but I have seen a few who could score as high as fifteen-hundred pounds or so." She points towards the simulator like device again, "Time for your next test."

He looks over the outside of the box as she opens it. Climbing up next to her he looks in and checks out the arrangements. "Looks like a standard simulator, on the inside at least."

"It is, and it isn't. This is a holo simulator. In this test we will be testing your reaction time as we put you through several distractions and diversions."

"Seems simple enough, basic control layout is similar to an atmospheric fighter." With her help he climbs in and starts strapping himself into the harness. It takes a few minutes to get all the straps secured and adjusted, but finally he's ready.

The lioness grabs a helmet off a hook on the inside of the simulator and hands it to him. "Here, there is a radio in this, and just in case, it will help protect your head." She helps him strap the helmet on then closes the faceplate over his muzzle. She taps his helmet and he gives her a thumb up signaling that he is ready.

She steps back and closes the hatch. She gives the side a slap that can be heard inside to signal that it is securely locked down. She then walks over and sits herself behind a control panel and puts on a headset.

"Okay, Saber can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, read you five-by-five."

"Alright, you need to follow the instructions as fast as they appear on your HUD. Now, as you are doing this, I am going to be doing my best to distract you with movements and other such things. Now, are you ready?"

She watches him rest his hands on his knees as he replies, "Ready when you are."

She gives an evil grin and starts sending him the instructions as she causes the machine to start moving around with slow and smooth motions.

Several minutes pass of just the movement. "This is too easy," Saber thinks to himself as he keeps up with the directions on the HUD of his helmet. Suddenly he finds himself upside down and the simulator filling with smoke. "This is different," he thinks as he struggles to keep up with the commands while coughing from the smoke leaking into his helmet. Soon his eyes start watering and he can feel the smoke burn his nose.

He grunts as the chamber shakes as if hit by an explosion. "Come on Temper, give me a real challenge will ya?"

He watches the commands on his HUD start to speed up and his reflexes seem to slip into an even higher gear, faster than he's ever been able to react before his hands dance over the controls and easily keeps up with the instructions.

Bright lights flash and he has to squint to keep them from blinding his sensitive eyes. He grunts as he tries to compensate for the lights as the smoke stings his eyes and burns his nose and throat.

The screen in front of him goes blank as the instructions continue to scroll along the inside of his visor. He blinks as the screen flickers back to life with a picture of a scantily clad woman. Quickly the picture changes to one of a horrendous scene from an unknown battlefield, dead and dying clearly visible in the blood and gore. The picture continues to change, passing through scenes of beauty, peace, war, and horror, even more than a few that are clearly pornographic.

He types answers into a side keypad in response to questions among the instructions on his HUD. Questions that might be about a picture currently on the screen or one that was on it five minutes ago.

Finally the chamber goes black and the HUD starts flashing 'Test Completed' as the smoke is cleared by exhaust fans and the simulator settles into its cradle again. Saber pulls off his helmet and wipes his forehead. "That was definitely the weirdest test I have ever had, and the most intense."

A hiss and cool air blowing in on him causes him to turn as the hatch is opened and the lioness looks in. "You okay in there, soldier?"

He gives her a grin as she helps him un-strap the harness. "That was a test?"

She nods as she reaches in to give him a hand out of the simulator. "And you did rather well. Your focus is superb, beyond anything I've seen."

Saber stretches as he climbs down from the simulator, "I am a trained test pilot. I can keep my concentration on more than one thing at the same time. Called multi-tasking, takes a little practice, but it is worth it."

She scratches her chin, "I'll have to try it some time." She picks up her pad and looks at it as she walks over to where Saber hung his clothing. Picking it up she tosses it to him, "You can get your uniform back on, your evaluations are done for now."

As Saber gets his clothes back on he thinks to himself, "Wonder if Goliath went through the same thing?"

When Saber finally has his clothes back on Temper looks at her watch and sets down her pad. "Time for lunch, and I bet you're hungry too after these last few hours."

He notices that he is and gives a soft chuckle as his stomach rumbles, "Yeah, a little I guess."

She gives a soft laugh and starts guiding him towards the door they came in through. "Okay, come on. I bet you aren't quite used to the base yet so I'll show you where it is." Together they walk out into the hallway, Saber glances over his shoulder trying to see if Goliath is coming.

Temper notices and flashes a grin. "I'm sure your friend will be done in another minute or two. He'll catch up to us in the mess hall probably."

"Sure, just wondering why he is taking longer."

Temper shrugs, "It happens, sometimes one testing takes longer then another. Heck, he might be waiting for us in the mess hall already."

Satisfied with her answer they continue down the hallway to the mess hall, and lunch.

---

James 'Saber' Storm is © his player, RIP my friend. All other characters unless otherwise stated are the property of Christopher Gilman. Story © Copyright Christopher Gilman 2001 all rights reserved mail me and tell me what you think at goliath_cpg[at]yahoo.com