The next day was not much different. Zim woke them up, and they ran for an hour. People generally did better with running as various chemicals, and training skills took effect. They fought and then ran some more. They would work out for a couple hours, eat or drink something, and while they recovered, Zim or another Sergeant would lecture. They learned about the military codes and traditions, essential unarmed combat fitness, and life on the ships.

Apparently, there were private enterprises that some players ran or participated in. Only about half of the players were part of the military government. The government owned the ships, but the private economy provided the resources for living on some of the larger vessels. This was a cruiser that was primarily military and protected the larger ships. Some ships could hold tens of thousands of people. The military would protect these businesses as they gathered resources and got a cut. It was a whole ecosystem; it had issues, they admitted, but it worked well enough.

At dinner that night, Bexy pulled Sevs aside and carved out a little place where they could talk. Jason went to sit with them, but a glare from her warded him off as well as everyone else. They both put their food tray’s down, and Bexy leaned in close so they could talk a bit without making too big of a scene. Looking around, Sevs realized how futile that was. Everyone was looking at them, trying to listen in. He sighed. There wasn’t much point in keeping this secret, but whatever made her happy.

“So, what do you want to know?”

Bexy paused for a second. Gathered her thoughts. Then asked. “How many basic skills do you need?”

“Depends.” Sevs smiled. “That’s going to be the answer to a lot of questions. Unless you tell me what you are trying to do.”

Bexy grumped. “At first, I was thinking about being a mage. I wanted to wade through battlefields where none could stand before me. But, given this setting, I don’t think that will be an option.”

Sevs didn’t add how hard it would be to get to that level, even as a mage. Most worlds didn’t even have anyone close. It wasn’t a bunch of bots you were playing against. The only times he had managed to do that was with a lot of help from several other beta testers and a ton of planning and recovery after. “Okay, so combat and overwhelming power?”

“Yeah, that would be nice.”

“How is your dexterity?”

Bexy grimaced. “Not great”

“Pilots are unlikely. INT DEX builds are rare anyways, so don’t rule it out.”

“DEX is probably the more important one, though, and WIS might work for a pilot as well.”

“True, but these can be overcome. How does demolition sound?”

Bexy grinned. “Like fun.”

“I think that’s your best option.”

They spend the next half hour talking about Demo builds. It wasn’t his most vital point, but he knew more than her.

***

The routine continued.

The lectures were interesting and relatively informal. Questions were allowed and regularly asked. However, they never touched on the enemy, tactics, or the war. Any questions related to that were met with assurances they would get to that after basic. And on the sixth day, this changed a little. After their morning run, they stopped back in the barracks. Zim had them get their plasma rifles. He spent several minutes getting each of them to hold it right at rest. They then marched out to a shooting range.

They didn’t actually get to shoot their weapons at the range; they were given blanks that worked with the simulation. Zim explained they used plasma rifles because while they did good damage against softer targets, it was unlikely to damage a ship. Of course, there were weapons for that, but they wouldn’t learn those till he trusted them to quote, “Not turn this place into a floating coffin.”

While the rifles shouldn’t damage the ship, it didn’t mean that they couldn’t. Also, they didn’t want people hurt if they didn’t have to.

They drilled for hours. Zim and two other instructors helped them. Unlike in physical combat, they were much more patient, and everyone got the help they needed. That first day they must have each shot what felt like a thousand rounds. After that, the routine changed.

The first half was the same, running and physical combat though the lectures were less frequent. By that first week, everyone could do at least nine laps in an hour and a half and could make it the entire way. Sevs could still beat all the other students, but they started to get better. Zim taught Sevs just as much as he taught the others, but it was a lot more about adjusting his style to work with and against light armor. In return, Sevs acted like a second instructor.

The second half of the day, they were in the range. Each day they constantly shot from lots of positions. They shot kneeling, standing, prone, and in groups. This was actually a fun part of the day for Sevs and everyone else. They had competitions for everything. Ten shots challenges, trying to get the best score from each position. There were prizes too. Real ones. Extra food, skipping an exercise, or fifteen additional minutes of sleep in the morning if the group did well enough. Push-ups were also a common punishment for the loser.

After a couple days, the simulations changed. First, the targets started moving. Then they would blink out if you were not quick enough. Maybe they would require multiple shots. After several days of this, they were given vest to put on before training, and that was when the targets started shooting back. They were just simulations. The vests were to give you a shock when you were hit. This made things a lot harder. They began to have to move while shooting. They learned how to use cover and provide distractions for allies as they repositioned.

They started to learn how to work as a team. Then they were pitted against each other.