- Oliver -

  "Wele to Base 45. What are your names?" asked the soldier, his firm voice resonating through the helmet of the Artificial Ranger.

  "Oliver Nameless, Katherine York, and Isabe de Luca," replied Isabe, stepping forward and introdug the group.

  The soldier sulted his holographic device, his fingers swiftly sliding through the luminous projes. "Alright. I've found your records," he firmed, looking up. "Survivors of GL581. grats, especially after being missing for so long."

  The soldier smiled at the group. Internally, he was grateful to have been stationed on h rather thao one of the more distant ps. Seeing the records of these three, he couldn't help but think that, in their pce, he might not have survived.

  "Thank you," Isabe replied, returning the smile.

  "You won't be able to enter with the vehicle," the soldier expined, pointing to the gate ahead. "Once you pass through there, you'll be in the main area of the base. It's posed entirely of a rge ring. You'll find service areas on the first floor, aodations on the sed, and training zones ohird."

  The three nodded, abs the information.

  "Today, there will be a moment when the exam rules will be announced. All of you will be called to the exam ter via yaus. Under no circumstances should you go to the exam ter without being summoned; anyone who tries to enter without an invitation will be automatically expelled. Uood?" The soldier cluded his expnation, awaiting the group's firmation.

  "Yes," they responded in unison.

  "Alright. You're dismissed." The soldier said farewell before moving to the vehicle waiting in line.

  The group quickly exited the enormous SUV. As soon as they disembarked, the autonomous vehicle emitted a farewell message: "Thank you for choosing MiliCorp." It then skillfully maneuvered in the spacious courtyard, joining the stant flow of cars returning to the city.

  [50 credits debited]

  The amount was finally deducted from each of the passengers.

  "What?! That's almost more expehan a trip to another y. What a rip-off," Oliver excimed, asto the amount charged. At the same time, he was still impressed by the self-driving car, but he couldn't stop dwelling and feeling ed at how much he had paid for the short trip.

  "There's nothing we do. MiliCorp is quite abusive with prices, and to make matters worse, we're in or near Las Vegas. The prices are disgustingly high," Katherine expined.

  Oliver was still menting his lost credits as the group ehe tral passage.

  The boy looked around, impressed by the magnitude of the base. The metallic structure of the ring shone uhe intense sun, and thousands of recruits moved like ants, each heading toward their designated destinations. Surveilnce drones flew silently overhead, monit each sector.

  After passing through several enormous steel doors and additional lines of defehe group found themselves in the tral area of Base 45.

  The military base's interior resembled a vast stadium, but its fun went beyoertai. Metal and crete walls curved over the arena, allowing views of the upper floors.

  "It's even bigger than I imagined," ented Katherine, looking around.

  "Definitely," agreed Oliver. "And to think we're going to pete with hundreds of thousands of recruits here."

  Isabe sulted her gau, cheg ret notifications. "Acc to the map, our aodations are on the sed floor ior C. We'd better go soon to secure good spots."

  This initial area sisted of a vast pza with hundreds of shops and services spread along the circle. Tens of thousands of people walked bad forth with their colleagues, looking at each storefront and the avaible offers.

  The group could see shops for ons and armor, some selling Mini Mechas and other ons used by officers.

  "It's like a small city," observed Oliver, amazed.

  "Airely self-suffit," added Katherine. "I've heard they house and sustain up to a million people here if necessary."

  "Hopefully, we won't be that crowded," joked Isabe.

  As they walked, they could hear versations from several excited recruits pointing at the storefronts.

  "Isn't that a TitanTech?"

  "One of those is worth millions of credits. You could take a direct punch from a Red Ork and stay intact."

  Oliver noticed that the boys were practically drooling in front of the store. But that wasn't the worst; they started heading toward the stairs to the sed floor when the ground began to shake.

  A Hexapod, a robot with six legs, passed close by on its patrol. However, this only drew even more attention from the students. "Do not stop; keep moving," the robot's AI kept instrug the recruits who stopped before the enormous mae.

  "How an Ork destroy something like that?" Oliver muttered to himself.

  "Even you destroy something like that. Well, maybe not all the students," Katherine began to expin. "Unfortunately, the most etal alloys we have today aren't resistant to the application of Energy. As soon as a more trained Ork nds a pun this robot, the entire hull starts to explode."

  "But then, how a Mecha fight against Orks? Dozens of them," Oliver asked his colleague.

  "They use a specific alloy that es Z Crystal in its formation. That's why they're so difficult to produce," Katherine expined.

  Isabe had hought about that, but now that she heard the ent, her curiosity iqued. Although not particurly keen on Mecha teology, Katherine knew a lot since many parts were produars.

  Finally, after climbing the stairs, they found the aodation area. Each se of the enormous circle was divided into differeors.

  "There!" Oliver poio the sign markior C. The trio tinued walking until they passed through the sectate. As soon as they set foot ihe area, they were enveloped by a sing system. A beam of blue light sed their bodies while an artificial voinounced, "Identification firmed. Access granted."

  "They really are ed about security," Isabe ented.

  "There are 600,000 teenagers uhe same roof, each specialized in a different type of bat. All battling for a minimal number of spots. I think these precautions are the bare minimum," Oliver remarked. He had already seen how far a recruit might go to secure a spot.

  As they advaoward their rooms, they could feel the tension in the air. Groups of recruits from different ies and academies were spread throughout the spacious area, versing in low tones or petitors with evaluative gazes.

  Reag the designated sector, they found several dormitories filled with rows of aligned bunk beds. Though simple, the enviro was and anized. Monitors on the walls dispyed welessages and instrus for the ing days.

  "Choose a bed, everyone," suggested Isabe. "It looks like we'll be staying here for a while."

  Oliver threw himself onto one of the beds and assessed the fort they'd have in the ing days.

  After settling in, the group sat down to review the avaible information. Anticipation for the annou of the exam rules was high, and curiosity about the format of the tests only grew. However, it took a few more hours before the first notification was sent.

  | Annou will begin in one hour.

  Everyo more nervous as soon as the notification arrived on their gaus. The ay was visible on each recruit's faot just the trio.

  Oliver began pag around the room, looking at the symbol of each recruit entering the dormitory. It was his way to calm down.

  "Mars. Venus. h. Callisto," he ted eae in his head.

  Isabe watched videos on her gau while Katherine seemed to be writing something on one of the holograms.

  Finally, the beep sounded on all the gaus simultaneously, drawing the attention of every recruit.

  The ss and holograms scattered throughout the facility were quickly turned on. For a few seds, there was static, but it romptly repced by the image of one of the officers.

  Oliver couldn't reize who it was, but others more involved in the Rangers' world were impressed.

  "Hello, everyone!" A very charismati appeared on the s, wearing yellow armor with the number 33 on the front. "For those who don't know me, my name is Sebastián, and today I will expin how the public evaluation will work."

  Oliver couldn't identify him, but he noticed the officer's title in the er of the transmission s.

  | General — Yellow Division

  "So he's one of the Generals, along with Quinn?" he thought, recalling the mission on Marea Alpha.

  "For those watg from home, yes, this transmission is live. You access the official NEA el and find hundreds of cameras spread throughout the evaluation facilities. From this moment on, future evaluations will all be ducted openly," the general expined.

  Oliver was nervous but could see the same apprehension on Isabe's and Katherine's faces.

  "So let's talk about how your evaluations will proceed."

  GCLopes