Proving Grounds

This is the humble, and oft rambling, tale of Ian Hauk. He is of not so humble beginnings (by Hive City standards) and his life is of little importance to those who do not know him. It is merely a tale of just one man among the billions of Hive: Primus.

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Once the door had shut behind him Ian took a minute to try and figure out what he needed to do next. Where he was going was not in question as the tunnel he was now in led down hill for some distance. How he was going to join up with any gang, let alone one from “Force Delta”, was still unknown.

With no other path available to him Ian followed the tunnel. The light level was very low making his progress slow. As he neared the end the tunnel the area was lit up with the flashes and sounds of a firefight just beyond his field of view. Ian’s heart was in his throat now. For a moment his fear gave him pause, but then his determination won over. As he checked that his pistol was powered up he inched closer to the end of the tunnel. A bald headed man dressed in a trench coat and another man dresses up in a Van Saar envirosuit were wrestling on the floor. Ian witnessed the Delaque land a viscous blow to the other man’s head causing him to stop struggling. The Delaque stood up, adjusted the dark goggles that covered his eyes, and leveled a stub pistol at the prone man’s head. “And so this struggle ends…”

“AAhhhhhh!” Without a thought Ian was launching himself from his concealed position full bore towards the Delaque assailant with his pistol leveled at his back.

The Delaque’s finger twitched on the trigger causing the pistol in his hand to bark as he wheeled around to face his new adversary. But he was a heart beat too soon. Ian’s squeezed the trigger on his las pistol once, twice, three times and more. One of them found its mark slamming into the head of the Delaque sending him sprawling. Once his opponent went down Ian wasn’t sure what to do. Walking up to him he noticed he was just another juve too. Ian kicked him once in the ribs to see if there was any reaction, but he just laid there. Satisfied that he would not be jumped from behind Ian bent over the Van Saar juve to see what condition he was in.

A savage gash across the left side of his head left his ear tattered and torn. Blood was pouring freely from the wound. ‘Typical of head wounds,’ Ian thought to himself – remembering the medical training from his father’s bionics lab.

“W-w-who are you?” the juve asked weakly

“Ian, Ian Hauk. Who are you?”

“Your n-not supposed to be here.”

“It’s alright. I’m a late addition to the trials.”

“N-no, I know all of the juves in this cycle. Y-your not…” and with that the Van Saar fell unconscious.

Going over to the downed Delaque Ian used his knife and cut several strips of cloth from the man’s trench coat. As he moved back to the Van Saar juve sounds of another fire fight not too far away broke the silence once more. Ian did the best he could to fashion a bandage to stop the bleeding, but he could not linger.

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Ian had found himself in some form of hab structure. The rooms and hallways were a maze. Some walls had been blown through creating additional walkways between hab units. It was a mess compared to Van Saar hab standards, but that didn’t matter since it had become obvious that this hab building no longer housed anyone.

After several minutes he was unable to locate the other gun fight so he had tried to find his way back to the wounded Van Saar juve. But he had gotten turned around and was now lost. The rooms all looked alike and one demolition hole looked like all the others. Then he sensed it… someone was following him. Not wanting to tip his hand Ian turned into the next doorway and once he was confident of being out of sight he took off at a run. Counting doorways he ducked behind the fifth door on his right. Once around the door he slowly lowered himself to the floor and peered around the door jam to watch the way he had come.

His flight had not gone unnoticed as he had hoped as his pursuer was into the hallway before Ian could ready his pistol without being noticed. The man coming up the hallway stood ram rod straight and in his grip was a shotgun. Ian struggled to control his breathing as he fought to keep from passing out. The man cocked the weapon forcefully ejecting some spent cartridge to the floor.

As the casing chimed and bounced off the floor the man called out, “I know you’re in here tunnel rat. You’re not supposed to be here either.” And the hallway fell silent.

Ian was still struggling to maintain his breathing. He knew for sure that his gasping for breath, or the pounding of his heartbeat, was going to betray his position.

“I also know you helped that kid back there. This is a closed session. You best come out before I start blowing holes in the remaining walls. Sooner or later I’ll connect with something other than ferocrete.” The man yelled, pausing between each sentence to allow it to sink in.

Ian sat there quietly. How could he know if the man was being straight with him? Looking around the room there were no other exits. ‘Good job Ian. Way to back yourself into a corner.’

“How do I know you won’t just blow me away?” Ian called back.

“You don’t, but I can tell you that your bandaging of the kid back there has not gone unnoticed.”

Ian let that sink in for a moment. He stood up and stepped into the hallway. As he did so that man with the shotgun also stepped out. He was dressed in a blue, grey, and black pixeled bodysuit and a jet black goatee adorned his face. Van Saar. Ian breathed a sigh of relief. He let the las pistol turn over and dangle from his middle finger.

“Best come with me. Dyrke is going to want a word with you.” The man said taking the pistol from Ian.

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“You were not sanctioned to be here. How did you come to be here juve!”

Ian straightened his back and looked the man in his eyes. “I have earned a right to these trials…”

“You mean bribed your way in,” another man said from the back of the room.

“How I came to be here is not what matters, what matters is…”

“He’s not been cleared by the Union house!” said another.

“I can take whatever trials you can send my way. Besides, I can be of use to you.”

Chuckles erupted form around the room. The man now known to Ian as Dyrke raised his hand and silenced those around them.

“Maybe little rat. You may have saved Gaston’s ear at that. But you still have not proved your worth to the teams.”

Dyrke walked a circle around Ian and then said, “I can get the proper papers signed…” Ian’s heart began to beat faster, “but, you still need to earn a spit on the teams.” The team leader let that statement sink in. “First I want to see how handy you can be. Take him back to the kid and see if he really does have… skills.”

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Ian was escorted to where the other Van Saar juve had been taken. His wound had seeped through the bandages and he was now coming to.

“You again,” was all that the kid could muster.

Ian unwrapped the bandage and winced when he saw the damage. As he went to offer the kid some pain medicine the kid refused. “I don’t need any.” Was all he said.

“You might not think so in a minute.”

But the kid never said anything more. Ian cut away the dead tissue and repaired what he could. The bionics lab was so much more sterile and had an abundance of tools. All he had to work with here was a knife, some antiseptic, and a crude needle and thread. He was still quite pleased with himself when he was through. He was unable to save the ear, and the sutures created a good fifteen centimeter scar line, but it was the best he could do. The worst that the kid would have is a pretty pronounced scar, but at least he will still have his hearing.

“Not bad ‘rat’,” the voice of Dyrke sounded behind him.

Ian turned around to see the smiling face of the Van Saar lieutenant. But the man’s face turned somber. Your skills would indeed be useful, but you still have not earned the right to join the teams. We need to see you in action. Your trial begins tomorrow.

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