David stepped out of the shower and into his room. He felt refreshed after those hours in his suit. The cooling system only did so much, and it had been a rather warm day. Now a breeze was flowing from the Air conditioning system, and it felt good. Apart from the air conditioner itself, there was no other noise in the apartment. That meant that Daniel, the person David shared the apartment with, was currently out. David pulled on some clothes and sat on the bed. His room balanced on spartan, if not for the small stand on his bedtable that held a crystal. The crystal had been given to him by Codee on his first day at the academy, and he cherished it. There were no holo-images of his family or anyone else, nor was there much of anything else, save the necessities of life as an Elementalist. David liked it this way.
Walking to the door to the main hallway, he pressed the panel to open it. It slid into the walls with a barely audible hiss of pneumatics, and he stepped out. The halway was empty, amnd David appreciated it. He was somewhat antisocial, and did not like it when the hall was crowded with people. In fact, he had no real friends at the academy. He was always practicing something or reading something, so he was mch to busy for friendships. THe few people who could get him to talk did so sparingly, and the conversations never lasted long. He always seemed to have an impenetrable barrier around him that prevented him from any socializing whatsoever.
The lift opened at his command, and he felt the gentle burst of momentum as he rode to the briefing room. THis was where he and his team would be rated ontheir performance in today's drill. David dreaded the score, hoping that the defeat of the ambush would not injure his record too harshly. All the extra practice had made him one of the top-rated Elementals, and he wanted badly to keep the position.
"Oh well, there goes the council seat" he muttered, as he stepped out of the lift.
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The briefing room was large nd spacious, but remarkably spartan, similar to David's. The space was primarily taken up with a large briefing table. At each seat there was a computer console, and at the center, a holo-projector. The room had windows on both sides, while on the wall opposite the door, the Elementalist symbol emblazoned on the wall, a clear crystal surrounded by rays of light. At the center, a small circle, depicting the eight elements: fire, water, grass, electricity, stone, ice, steel, and phychic. He felt comfortable in here, despite the fact he might lose his reputation in this very room.
He looked to the people currently occupying the briefing table. Codee, patron of Elementalism, was at one end. To his left Jaydon, followed by Jaydon's squad. The chair to the right of Codee was empty, which meant that it was reserved for him. His team sat on the far right, nervously glancing at their leader as he took his seat. Jaydon had a sheepish-looking grin as David sat, but it was wiped out at once as he looked at David and saw the blatant anger directed at him. At once, Codee stood up.
"Greetings, commanders Jaydon and David. This debriefing is to evaluate and score your preformance during this morning's excersize". Pressing a button on his screen, the holoprojecor brought up a terrain map of the mission area. "Here is Jevon", a green dot apearing towards the center, "and here is the ambush location", as a red dot blinked into appearance in the lower right quadrant. Sitting down, he drew on the screen of his console, a yellow snaking line appearing just behind the pen. "here is the standard course for the teams to travel. Commander Jaydon, would you mind explaining why you deviated from the mission parameters?"
"Of course, sir". Jaydon began snaking his stylus over his console, and a blue line began to form, which went all over the terrain area, almost off it in one spot. "we decided to use a classic trick by making the enemy think we were behind schedule, and picked up Jevon, while lighting a small fire to simulate heat, so infrascopes would be unable to detect a difference. I then sent scouts ahead, who found the ambush. Using the suit coolant at its lowest temperature allowed us to sneak around the ambush and take them from behind".
"A little reckless on your part, eh, commander? The suit coolant had to be turned to much farther than the recommended minimum for that stunt. You risked frostbite, as well as hypothermia of your entire team, thus risking the success of the mission itself. I like the creative thinking, but your goal is to keep your team alive, not freeze them to death in a hot environment."
"Yes sir". Jaydon looked down at his screen, visibly shaken. David noticed the hurt on his face. He had expected praise, but instead had been shot down because of the danger he had almost unknowingly brought to the mission. Codee sat down and turned the projector off, the lights in the cieling returning from their dimmed state. Codee looked at David. "I believe that we can put this down as a simple oversight commander. Nobody would have seen them after what they did. Dismissed."
Both of the teams seemed to jump out of their seats, almost fleeing from the room before any arguments came up. Jaydon was somewhat slower to leave, but David could see the dissapointment as he looked at him. As it was David's turn to leave, Codee called out to him.
"Yes Codee?" he asked, unsure what else to say.
"I need to see you in my office tomorrow, eleven-hundred hours sharp."
"Aye sir."
As David left the room, new hope began to fill him.
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Codee left the room last, turning not to the primary lift, but to the one at the far end of the hallway. As he stepped in, he sighed, and pressed the button for the council chamber. He found it quiet up there at this time of night, and it comforted him as he thought about the mission at hand
When the lift doors opened he was suprised to see Jevon waiting for him there. Merely nodding to his friend, he sat down in his seat at the far end of the room.
Jevon broke the silence. "Have you chosen yet?" he asked.
"No. I am down to two candidates, and I fear that once they go on this mision niether will return without the other fighting him for the prize."
"Is there any real way to solve this? The only way I see is to let them do what they have to do, and if one does return, then your choice will be made."
"Yes, but what if the choice is the wrong one?"
Jevon looked at Codee directly, "We will just have to wait and see".