2 months later

Officer Brak sat on a chair outside of the barracks, it was a day before the grades would be tallied up to see if the unit could progress to the next part of the phase. Of course he was dozing off in the long, empty hallway. He couldn't help it, they had been stationed outside every night for 2 months straight without any event happening, the Elf was paranoid, maybe even envious that someone could "out dedicate" themselves to the Council, no more, no less. However, maybe not...for Officer Brak was too deep in his sleep to notice Ropo walking past him on his way to the bathroom..and when he would return, it would be 1 thing that would give him the power to do exactly, what his deepest desire was: to serve the Council.

Sidko jumped up quietly, doing a victorious pose, he whispered,

"Again, I win, caught it up Oreon" he whispered as he extended his hand, Oreon reluctantly gave his high prize snacks to his better,
"That luck is going to run out one day"
Zzarr snickered,
"I doubt it, if it does, that'll be the day he's good at anything" she said as she ate some snacks,
"Alright my turn" she added.

Everyone suddenly turned as the sounds of footsteps echoed through the bathroom, down at the end, Ropo stood there, bug eyed, staring at them all,
"I'm here to correct a mistake before it infects the Council" he said quietly,
Oreon groaned, he stood up and walked towards Oreon,
Sidko noticed something different about Ropo this time, as did Zzarr,
"Oreon wait, th-"
Oreon turned to Sidko as he walked,
"What it's nothing, it's ju-"
As he turned, he was cut off by the barrel of a gun, aimed right at him,
Oreon froze, his eyes widened, Sidko got up, everyone did, but Sidko began to slowly walk to stand next to Oreon,
Oreon gulped,
"Hey there, uh Ropo, what are you doing, that's not....real is it?" the echoed words faded, overtaken by the silence,
"I'm here to correct you" Ropo said,
"Ropo, come on, this isn't funny" Sidko said,
"Y-yea Ropo, it's not...it's not like this is serious..."
Ropo stared them from a distance, he then screamed,
"Shut up, I will correct you!"

The entire unit woke up. Just outside the barracks, Officer Brak shot awake, he got up and quickly went inside the unit, recruits murmured, whispering, followed by another shout from the bathroom, Officer Brak spoke sternly as he made his way to the source of the yelling,
"Back to your bunks now!" he said.

Officer Brak entered the bathroom,
"What the hell i-
Ropo turned the gun on Officer Brak, and instantly, a brawl between the two broke out,
The recruits watched on, Oreon stepped forward,
"What are you doing!?" Sidko shouted,
"Someone's gotta -"

Suddenly Sidko felt a slight ting on his forehead, a piece of metal bounced off of him, he blanked for a moment as he saw a strange liquid running down from a orange spot, strangely, this is where Oreon's eye ought to be, but it wasn't there anymore, Sidko's brows squeezed together, his ear rang. The trainee's body suddenly dropped to the floor. An alarm went off, unauthorized discharge, the base then went on lockdown. Drones began to fly and surround the building, a drop ship was dispatched,

Aradi shot up out of bed right before the alarm did, she ran outside the officer's resting quarters on the floor above. As she hit the stairs, she performed a somersault over the railing and fell an entire floor, and by no means was it a floor by regular standards, it was at least 4 stories high, she landed on bare feet, she felt the burn under her foot for just a moment, she then ran forward, turning the corner, more gun shots ran off as she turned the corners, there were recruits standing outside, they were shocked to see what looked like a human running at such blinding speeds.

More bullets rang out, Aradi entered the bathroom, immediately assessing who was the threat, Officer Brak and a recruit were shot dead, 2 recruits fought over a pistol while others watched, Aradi kicked Sidko in the face, aimed down her own weapon while holding the murder gun in her hands, she looked at Officer Brak and the other recruit, Sidko looked at her in astonishment, there she was, finally making an appearance. Aradi looked at Sidko for a moment before seeing Ropo,
"Ropo...."
Ropo smiled in relief, a true servant of the council arrived, now things would be set right,
"Lieutenant, y-"
She emptied her magazine into his body. Ropo's body jolted a bit from the rounds being blasted into his body, Aradi wasted no round, overkill was her preferred reasoning.

Aradi ejected her mag, she then went on the walkie,
"Lieutenant Aradi here, Target neutralized, clean up, 2 KIA" she said as he holstered her weapon, she held on to Officer Brak's weapon, she turned to the other recruits, glaring at them, she then looked at Officer Brak's lifeless body as well as the recruit, Oreon. She read Sidko's name tag, her eyes pierced his very existence, the command she brought with her took over the entire room despite the events that had just transpired, her voice brought authority, and immediate obedience,
"Sidko, you and your unit live to see another day, be humble. Now, to the hallway, now"

Aradi stood by the door while the recruits exited one by one, she saw the little party they were having in the back, she then looked at Ropo's body, orange liquid running from his own clashed with his victims, creating puddles in the bathroom from all 3 bodies,
Over an infraction as simple as this, unbelievable, did this happen

Officers walked into the bathroom,
"Oh - oh my - it looks like the NC district up in this b*tch, Council have mercy" a Kien said as he held 2 tablets, he quickly looked at both of them, Hazmat wearing Protectorate officers walked in, they started vacuuming up the blood, a large disposal unit was put outside. Aradi stood by, an officer approached her with a tablet, she was given a digi-pen to sign as the one who called in the clean up units.

Attempted murders are an everyday occurrence in E to F class housing regions, but a successful murder doesn't usually happen due to constant surveillance. Aradi would be assigned to those districts about 6 months out of the entire year when needed. This event transpired likely due to how well adjusted everyone was to follow the rules, security likely slacked off on observation, it was unclear how Officer Brak lost his firearm to Ropo, and it's not like there wouldn't be a hiccup, but 3 dead was unusually rare in the Galactic Protectorate living quarters. Aradi exited the barracks to the hallway, the trainees were all standing there, waiting for someone to give them orders, she looked at them,
"Death does not stop the continuation of the Council, you will all be up tomorrow, ready for the last part of the testing. It'll be simulations conducted within the city. Now due to the failure of Officer Brak addressing concerns, you will all have to stand out here until the clean up inside is finished. Then you will resume duties. However I will personally be standing at the door inside the barracks, with my gun at the ready in case anyone else thinks they know the Council's will better than the Council themselves. You will now stand at attention unit the cleaners are done"

Everyone stared at her in silence,
"FACE FORWARD, NOW" she shouted. Everyone turned, facing each other from opposite ends of the hall. Aradi stood at the end near the door, as officers came out, they looked at everyone lined up, one of them turned to Aradi,
"You're the commanding officer right?" The question somewhat stung Aradi, she wasn't the only one, but apparently the only one who doesn't sleep through gun fire and all the racket..like the other officer,
"Yes, at the moment" she said,
"So uh, I don't want to embarrass you or anything, but we need to question all of these recruits in a few minutes, you know, protocol, there's barely surveillance on Galactic Protectorate property, so we have to rely on eye witness accounts"

Aradi's face went a bit red,
"I see"
She cleared her throat,
"Recruits, line up for questioning in an orderly fashion, now!"

The recruits began lining up. One by one they were taken to a room near the barracks for questioning. Light broke the night in the early hours of the morning. Aradi lost not one ounce of energy, a little known achievement that she doesn't boast a lot on is that she went several weeks with no sleep, no food or water, not even a bathroom break, all to binge a new series she had found, talk about dedication.

The recruits were nearly sleeping while standing, it bothered her quite so, but they had just got through questioning, as the last one came out slouched, yawning, the Elf rolled her eyes,
"It seems that none of you have the energy to commit to the simulation tests, which start now. I should fail you all, but I think a reprieve is needed. You may have the weekend to yourselves, check out or stay on base if you wish, dismissed" she said as she walked down the hall.

Sidko was quiet, as was Zzarr, the recruits all sparked conversations as soon as Aradi disappeared, it was a chaotic 12 hours, an Ancient variant sweeping in to save the day from a defected Citizen. Word would have quickly spread, but a message popped up on everyone's phone, preventing them from posting or texting about it, the message read:
"Due to the nature of events that transpired, the Protectorate cannot authorize this message"

And that was the end of that.

Simulation training

Everyone loaded into the off-loading area, it was inside a 1 for 1 rendition of the Galactic Protectorate building. Dropships were in the deployment bay. Classes were loaded into gear caches. Teams were split into 2, One doing surveillance via manual drone control, another on foot, though the operator of the drone may be inclined to also be on foot at any given moment. Sidko and Zzarr were paired up, the two weren’t exactly enthusiastic, but they agreed that passing the sim in the name of their fallen comrade Oreon was the ultimate goal.

Aradi was also plugged into the sim due to protocol, but due to glitch problems, the other officer took to explaining the details, Aradi could be seen lagging somewhat, even phasing through a desk, it was very distracting for the first minute or so.

“Your mission is to collectively arrest 150 defected citizens within 2 hours. That includes confirmed transfers to NC districts and holding blocks, processing data sheets etc. In order to get the best results possible, we’ve turned every NPC into the highest form of threat, which means some of them are armed, intelligent, and dangerous”

Aradi suddenly heard a voice patching in through her ear piece,
“Lieutenant, we’re going to have to pump you with more sedatives, stand by, also we added some medicinal foods to a store down the block, our systems believe once your body recognizes that the intake is via your own will, it should enhance sedation, advising you head there as soon as the mission starts. But be careful” The Elf nodded,
I can’t stand being in virtssssss
A smirk ran across her face for a moment, she then blinked several times and cleared her throat and focused up.

“OK. It’s time to get ready, ETA to deployment is one minute, get to your stations, move it!” she said loudly, extra, loudly.

The sounds of boots dispersed, as the sounds of stomps faded away, the other officer looked at his co-worker, ,
“That bad huh?”
Aradi shifted her gaze, irritated,
“It could get much worse. I’m heading to the store”
He watched her turn and begin walking away to a Hornet that was positioned just outside the building, suddenly his GCID vibrated with a message on the screen,
“Council ethics violation , - 20”, his mouth dropped as he smacked his lips,
“Ah - haaahh come on!”