"Hmmmmm..." A dark skinned male wearing glasses and a blue Earth Alliance uniform carefully examined how he would be able to achieve victory (or at least delay his opponent) in this scenario. 'I think I have a chance for that one... no. The momentum may be too much...'
"Any time now," droned Sven as he watched the scene before him. He honestly didn't want to be a part of this but his companion just wouldn't let up until he had participated in at least one match. He had never been a big fan of this activity anyway and felt that he could make better use of his time instead of playing eight ball billiards in the Alliance base bar and recreation room.
Shams Coza took a breath and announced his move. "Eight ball, corner pocket..." He got into position and applied enough force to the white ball with his cue. The white ball struck the black ball at a certain angle to cause it to go into the designated pocket. "Yes!!"
"Hurray for you," muttered the other young male before handing his cue over to the next person who would play the winner of the match. "I'm going out for some air. The atmosphere's getting dull here."
"Suit yourself," said their lone female companion. Mudie Holcroft accepted the cue and downed the rest of her beer can before grabbing the balls out of the pockets to set up for the next game.
Sven buttoned up the light military jacket provided to them for slightly cooler temperatures before stepping outside. As it was November, the weather had started to get colder on Earth. He didn't really mind it though. He's been exposed to all sorts of harsh environmental conditions thanks to his heavy military training. The time was now 8:27 PM and he would have to be up around 0515 hours to start some new assignments as a member of the Phantom Pain group.
He looked up to see the stars and was briefly reminded of how he had loved to watch the night sky as a child. His parents were kind enough to get him a telescope for his birthday so that he could get a better view of the night sky. At the time, it was his treasured possession. He wondered what happened to it after he had been forced to enlist as a military cadet several years ago. Well, it wasn't like his parents could have helped him since they both perished in an explosion.
**********
This had to be the strangest type of term test that Shinn Asuka had taken but considering the nature of the course, this method of testing was quite appropriate.
The course in question is IPR 200 (Introduction to Improvisation). Basically, people who took this course were treated to several different scenarios with multiple positive and negative consequences that could arise from the choices made. The purpose of the course is to use improvisation exercises to develop quick decision-making skills under pressure (which is a key skill if one is going to become a Commander).
So it was vital that everybody paid attention while in class. During lessons, the improvisation exercises were not too harsh but they were a different story on tests. For the tests, the instructor tended to pick on students randomly after thoroughly explaining a detailed scenario to create a pressure situation (since the student's grade rode on how well they answered). It wasn't surprising to see some students buckle under the pressure and eventually drop the course.
Shinn focused his attention again just as Luna barely finished blurting out an answer to a strange question about how she would take on a mobile suit armed with mechanical slimy tentacles. "That's an interesting answer. Thank you, Lunamaria." The instructor, a man in his early thirties who wore glasses and a green uniform, finished jotting down some notes before launching into a new scenario. "Next question... you're going on patrol duty somewhere near the December City PLANTs when suddenly, your ship gets boarded by intruders who managed to slip past your sensors. Armed with cybernetic implants, they inject them in one crew member who is turned into a mindless drone who could infect others by injecting more implants. Within five minutes, half of the crew is infected and they are now actively seeking to infect the rest of the crew. How do you handle this situation... Shinn Asuka?"
'How does Instructor Madarame come up with these fucked up scenarios?!?' was the boy's only thought before he started coming up with a possible course of action.
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(Posted Mon, 02 Oct 2006 07:56)
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