United World University for Space, United Korea Branch

Seoul, South Korea, United Earth Alliance

[Time Frame: ‘97 line + Vivi docked at Seoul UWUS. Space Cadet babies have roughly a week left until UWUS graduation.]

/

D-7

Sharp breaths came in and out of Hyunjin’s nose. She was used to this by now, the burning in her legs and lungs. It was almost comforting, really.

Her eyes were focused on the obstacle course ahead. She had to, their instructor thought it’d be a good idea to whip out the flaming tires again. Not to mention the mud pools. Sheesh, didn’t he know how difficult it is to clean off dry mud?

Hyunjin ducked quickly, narrowly missing the burning tire that swung back and forth.

She ran ahead, jumping off the platform and using her momentum to easily swing across the monkey bars.

The next obstacle involved the mud pools. She had to get down and essentially army crawl through the net. The mud did its job of slowing down the cadets. She knew this was a test of endurance, not speed. Still, she hurried along, wanting to get out of the mud already.

The last obstacle was an imposing 10-foot wall. Hyunjin had to crane her neck up at it, it did its job in being an obstacle alright. A few of the cadets were having trouble climbing, due to some slippery mud that clung onto them.

Hyunjin sprinted towards the wall, jumping at the last second and using the wall itself to spring herself upwards. She secured her grip on the wall after getting a good couple feet of air.

C’mon, keep climbing. She reminded herself to breath properly.

The wall was usually placed last to test the cadets’ stamina. It made the cadets fight against gravity and their own strength.

Hyunjin was almost to the top by now. A cadet next to her was trailing behind. His hands shook as he tried reaching for the next hold. The mud on his arms didn’t help either, only making his grip slippery and his balance unstable.

Finally getting a grip, the cadet tried lifting his leg up to the next hold. While focusing on his leg, his shaky hand lost its grip. He began falling backwards and screwed his eyes shut, bracing for the impact.

When it didn’t come, he opened his eyes. Hyunjin had grabbed his forearm in a tight clasp. Her legs were gripping the top of the wall while her body dangled almost upside down.

“You do not want to fall from this height. Trust me.” She puffed out a strained breath, “C’mon now, swing!”

The cadet snapped back in action. He kicked at the wall, using it as a platform to propel himself up into the air. At the same time, Hyunjin used the momentum to swing him upwards in an arc.

He managed to get up and over the wall with their combined strength.

But…

Hyunjin forgot that their forearms were still clasped together, so the momentum sent both of them flying over the top of the 10-foot high wall.

“ Holy shi —TUCK AND ROLL!”

Hyunjin luckily remembered basic training. The two of them performed the basic maneuver and managed to avoid cracking their skulls upon impact.

She and the cadet were hunched over, hands on their knees as they gasped for air. The absurdity of the situation caught up to them, making them crack up.

“Hahaha! How did we—”

“That was some huge air!”

Hyunjin was too busy laughing to notice Haseul up on the second floor’s spectator area, watching her whole spectacle with an amused expression.

/

D-6

Chaewon slapped her gun together, assembling the parts quickly and efficiently. It felt natural. She was always a hands-on type of person.

The rest of the class went at their own pace; some fast and some slow. There was one cadet, however, that was the slowest. The parts in his hands never seemed to align correctly.

Chaewon watched the cadet out of the corner of her eye. The cadet seemed to be getting more flustered by the minute.

The class instructor also noticed him. He sighed rather loudly and shook his head.

Chaewon furrowed her brow when she noticed the action. Uh, hello? Are you gonna help or not. Aren’t you the teacher here??

She watched the instructor do nothing for a couple more minutes. Right as the instructor was about to do something, Chaewon moved to the struggling cadet’s side. The instructor blinked, taken back by surprise.

“Do you need help?”

“No… I—uhh...”

Chaewon noticed him fidget a little more, eyes wandering around the room instead of looking at her.

“It’s alright to ask for help, ya know. Your comrades are there for you to lean on as well.”

The cadet finally looked at her after processing her words. He nodded, seemingly getting over his embarrassment but still a little nervous. “Yes, a little help would be kind of you.”

Chaewon flashed a friendly grin and proceeded to guide him through the process, making sure to explain each step in an easy-to-remember way.

Vivi was perched in the corner of the weapons range, her leg crossed gracefully over the other. She smirked at the scene of Chaewon patiently helping the cadet through the exercise. On the other hand, she spared a brief glare at the instructor, making sure to remember his name. What kind of instructor was he anyways.

/

D-5

The practice room was silent and tense. The cadets were seated and waiting with bated breath. Their eyes were locked on the instructor and the two cadets preparing to spar.

The instructor waited a beat before ringing the bell.

The two cadets eyed each other before engaging. A flurry of kicks and punches were thrown. The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed throughout the room. A loud thump resonated across the practice mats, followed by a groan of pain.

The bell rang again, this time indicating that the match was over.

Yerim stood over her opponent, an uncharacteristically solemn expression on her face. When the bell rung, her rigid posture relaxed a bit.

She offered her hand out to her opponent. The cadet clasped her hand, wincing a bit when she hauled him to his feet.

The instructor nodded approvingly before declaring that the spar was over.

Chattering from the class filled the once quiet room.

“Yerim remains undefeated since the year started.”

“He couldn’t even get a single hit in.”

“Wow, I’d let her kick my anyday!”

Yerim paid the chattering no mind. She was talking rather cheerfully to the cadet she sparred with earlier. Her sunny disposition returned after the match was over.

“Hey! Remind me to give you some cream for that! I know I hit pretty hard.” She had a slightly guilty lilt in her voice. Practicing with Hyunjin often made her forget to conserve the power behind her strikes.

Outside the practice room, Jinsoul stood with open in awe. She was observing the class through the glass windows, after a little birdie told her that this class had promising cadets.

Well, the bird wasn’t wrong.

/

D-4

Heejin reloaded her standard-issue Alliance sniper rifle. The thermal clip popped out before she slapped a fresh clip in. She adjusted her safety glasses before peering down the scope.

The instructor initiated the practice round when she gave him a nod. Targets popped up accordingly only to be shot into pieces with deadly precision.

The practice round was finished rather quickly. Heejin stood up from the usual prone firing position, a satisfied look in her eyes. A look that was quickly extinguished at the sound of—

“Heeeey, that was pretty impressive.”

Heejin’s face remained neutral, even though the cocky voice grated her ears.

She turned halfway to the voice, her sniper rifle still clutched in her hands.

A cadet made his way over to her, a sleazy smile marking his arrogant face.

Heejin’s eyes drifted down, a freshman patch marked his standard UWUS uniform. 

Sooyoung was standing next to the instructor, who was an old friend, besides the gun range control panel. She and the instructor were catching up when they noticed the cadet walk up to Heejin. The two watched the scene play out, kinda astonished at the cadet’s foolish bravery. An idea came to her mind, she pressed one of the panel’s button and waited.

A lone target board whirred and appeared. Heejin noticed the motion in her peripheral. 

“Hey, so like why don’t you and I —”

Heejin lifted her sniper rifle, maintained eye contact with the cadet, and pulled the trigger without aiming.

A cracking sound rang out as the target board was smashed by a single bullet.

The cadet turned to face the target and his face paled dramatically.

“Uhh… you know what, I—” The freshman stammered nervously before straight-up running away.

Sooyoung and the instructor struggled to muffle themselves as they witnessed the scene. When the cadet left, the two burst into hysterical howls of laughter.

Heejin let a smirk overtake her face. She turned back to the target with a satisfied look. “Gotta love concussive bullets.”

The single target board remained untouched, except for the groin area. Which was blasted to smithereens.

/

D-3

Hyejoo casually stepped out of the simulator pod. She reported to her flight instructor, who was recording the cadets' scores as usual. The flight data was projected to the school’s official Flight Scoreboard, updated in real-time after every simulation attempt.

“Cadet Son,” She looked up from her datapad with a lazy grin. The motion tilted her aviator sunglasses back a little as it rested on top of her head. “You broke your record...again.”

Hyejoo could feel a smile easily slipping onto her face. She always liked her flight instructor the best out of all her classes, she was always easy to listen to and was pretty laidback. (In a sense, it reminded Hyejoo of her Ma, but she never told anyone that.) 

“Take it easy, will ya. The rest of the cadets can’t even catch up.” Her instructor chuckled. “Well, at least you get them fired up! Everybody was lazy as hell before you and Yeojin walked in and smashed the records.”

Hyejoo brightened up at the praise. It’s not everyday a retired Alliance officer turned UWUS instructor tells you that you’re inspiring. 

“Keep up the good work!”

Her instructor dismissed her. The cadets were only allowed to enter the simulator pods twice in a day. Two attempts was the max limit, something about preventing mental strain.

Hyejoo liked her flight classes the most; all she had to do was pass the required flight score and then she was free to do whatever. She exited the simulator bay, her legs took her in the direction of the canteen.

“Hmmm, I wonder what the rest of the gang are up to…”

Haseul leaned against the second floor guardrail, slightly agape. She was watching over the flight simulations when it was Hyejoo’s turn.

They weren’t kidding when they said she broke flight records on the daily.

/

D-2

“Hmmm…”

Yeojin squinted, her mind was calculating at a rapid pace. She put her hands up in front of her as a reference, trying to guess the distance between her and the water fountain in the middle of campus.

She was about 50 yards away, if she had to guess, give or take a few.

“HMmmm…”

Yeojin staked her slingshot pole into the grassy dirt. A bucket full of water balloons sat nearby.

“Ok, so if it’s that far... then how much power should I…”

She loaded up a water balloon and pulled back the rubber slingshot. She didn’t let go yet, still trying to figure out how hard she should pull back.

“HMMM…” Yeojin had one eye shut and her tongue was slightly poking out. She only had one good shot and her time frame was quickly approaching.

“You might want to pull back a little harder. Don’t forget the wind resistance.”

“HUH!?”

Yeojin was startled by the sudden voice. She fumbled the slingshot in her hands but managed to save the water balloon before it dropped and splattered.

She whipped around, jaw dropping when she realized that it was Commander Jung .

“C-Commander, I—”

“Shhh! I think your target is coming!”

Yeojin turned back around to face the water fountain. There was her target, Hyejoo. Of course she got out of flight class early. Right on time for her little prank.

Yeojin loaded up the slingshot again, this time with 3 huge water balloons. Taking in Commander Jung’s input, she pulled back further than before, stretching her arms and legs against the slingshot pole to achieve maximum power.

Speaking of, Jinsoul just watched as Yeojin did her thing, with a gleeful look on her face. She felt like she could get along with this cadet. Oh, the pranks they could pull on Haseul and Sooyoung.

Hyejoo continued walking peacefully, completely unaware of the coming danger. Yeojin and Jinsoul could barely contain their excitement as each step brought Hyejoo closer to what Yeojin dubbed the splash zone.

“Here we go!”

Yeojin excitedly whisper-shouted before letting go of the slingshot.

Her and Jinsoul’s eyes were trained on the water balloons. The water-filled projectiles soared through the air silently, following Yeojin's calculated trajectory before smacking right into Hyejoo’s upper body with a loud whump! Hyejoo yelped as the force knocked her back, straight into the water fountain with a powerful splash!

Yeojin roared with laughter as she clutched her sides, Jinsoul's own laughter softly chorused with the cadet's.

In the distance, Hyejoo spluttered as she climbed out of the water fountain, dripping wet from head to toe. She heard the familiar laugh and faced the direction it came from with a sharp glare.

“Uh oh…” Yeojin paused in her laughter as she locked eyes with Hyejoo. A shiver ran down her spine. She knew she had to get away quickly or Hyejoo would catch her and beat her with no remorse. 

“RUN!” Yeojin grabbed Commander Jung before dashing away as quick as her legs could carry her.

For whatever reason, Jinsoul went along with it. The two ran away, giggling madly as an angry and wet Hyejoo chased after them.

/

Sooyoung and Vivi walked side by side down the hallway. Haseul had called them back to the ship for some reason.

“Any clue on what Haseul called us for? I thought we were spending the rest of the week observing the cadets.”

“Hmm, I’m in the same boat.” Vivi shrugged at Sooyoung’s question before glancing around. “Where’s Jinsoul?”

“Ahh. Soul said something about grabbing some snacks from the canteen before we head off-planet. Alliance rations are filling but sometimes they lack taste.” Sooyoung stuck her tongue out at the reminder of the terribly bland taste.

Right as she finished, the two of them could hear rapid footsteps coming down the hall.

Jinsoul came running at them, her blonde locks flowing behind her from the speed. She slowed down before slinging both arms around her teammates. The force threw them off a little before they adjusted to the blonde literally hanging off of their shoulders. A bag of snacks hung on Jinsoul’s arm.

“Oh, did you get what I asked for?” Sooyoung began rifling through Jinsoul's snack bag.

“Yup! Got something for everyone.” Jinsoul cheerfully announced.

“Soul, do you know why we’re being called back?”

Jinsoul hummed before replying. “Think Seul said something about potential recruits being off-planet? She definitely said something about moving now since they’re close by.”

“Ooh, that explains it.” Sooyoung chuckled as she opened a small bag of candies, “Haseul’s always planning 3 steps ahead.”

/

Haseul was sat in the Commanders’ shared XO Cabin, in front of the computer terminal.

Counselor Park had just forwarded her a couple files, recommending two more potential recruits for her squadron. She mentioned that their stats were off the charts for a couple of rookie officers.

When she checked the data, she had found that their coordinates weren’t too far from the ship’s current location.

Haseul leaned back in her chair. She hummed a little as she planned the next course of action. The coordinates were close actually. The Gemini Sigma cluster was still in Alliance Systems territory. They could make it there and be back in time for the cadets’ Graduation.

She crossed her arms and looked back at the data, scanning over the detailed report. This new information intrigued her.

Sure, the Alliance had plenty of talented soldiers. But in this case, what was interesting was the rate of progression in such a short amount of time. Haseul mused on the officers’ profiles, Counselor Park sure did have a eye for potential.

The terminal screen projected the rookie officers’ profiles and service records. A lengthy list of recommendations and achievements was presented, despite the short number of years in service. At the top in bold lettering were their names:

Kim Jungeun. Alliance Marines. Rank - Corporal. Currently located at Sathur, under command of Major Ahn, 6th Regiment of the 8th Division.

Kim Jiwoo. Alliance Marines. Rank - Corporal. Currently located at Sathur, under command of Major Ahn, 6th Regiment of the 8th Division.

/