Bruce spent the next three days in his living pod studying for the Eagle exam. He had initially thought that it would just be mostly vocabulary and enemy aerial unit recognition, but there were lots of other things he had never heard of, or even considered. Apparently, there were several other types of aircraft in the SEAF Hanger Corp alongside the Eagle and Pelican. Some craft descriptions stated they were for orbital assault, others were for heavy equipment moving. Each aircraft had different top speeds and fuel burn rates that he assumed he’d have to know. Some information was similar across the airframes such as safe angles of orbital approach, and ammunition payload loadouts. But others such as the Falcon Interceptor didn’t have any safe angles of approach as it was created for zero g fighting and wasn’t ever meant for engagements in atmosphere. The Phoenix VTOL transport had a max load limit that was far and above the payload limits of other crafts, but this one didn’t have any weapons. It was all enough to make his head swim.

  A series of loud crashes against his pod door shook him from his study. “Bruce are you in there?” Andrew screamed from outside the door.

  “Sweet Liberty Andy!” Bruce said as he motioned for the door to open. “You scared the fuck out of me.”

  Andrew walked in wearing that same shit eating grin he always did. “Dude, put that away, we’re going to go watch the Grav Ball game tonight.”

  “That’s tonight? I thought it was next week.”

  “Nope. Tonight. Come on.” Andy said, waving Bruce on.

  “I don’t know man, there's a lot of shit to get ready for the test.”

  “It will be there when the game is over. Besides, you aren’t on drop right now so you can study all day every day. You’ll be fine.” Andrew explained.

  “Alright, fine.” Bruce said, closing the data slate he had open and getting to his feet. His leg had grown long enough that he was able to stand on it, but it was little more than skin wrapped bone at this point. If he held is knee locked out, it would support his weight, but he couldn’t go faster than a brisk hobble.

  “How's the leg?” Andrew asked as they left Bruce’s hexpod to join the stream of people heading to the Hellchute.

  “It’s coming along. The medbay says its on schedule and I should be good to start exercising it again in a few days. And thank god. I’m losing it sitting around the pod while you guys drop.”

  “Don’t worry about us dude,” Andrew said as they got in line for the Hellchute. “We’re doing great without you. Turns out, we don’t even need you really. Candice said you always slowed everyone down.”

  “I slowed everyone down? Mother fucker I run shotguns so I can spray while I’m moving. I’m always coming back for your ass.”

  “Oh is that why? I thought it was because if you used a rifle you couldn’t hit anything.”

  “Get fucked dude.” Bruce shot back.

  “I’ll fill out a CA-1 after the game tonight if you’re interested.” Andrew said as he stepped into the Hellchute and plummeted out of view.

  “You guys are cute.” someone said behind Bruce as he stepped into the Hellchute right behind Andrew. Bruce offered a one finger salute over his shoulder in response.

  While the ride down to the Hellports only took a few seconds, it was long enough for Bruce to get out of his head and feel a glimpse of normalcy again. Aside from some back and forth at the mess deck, he hadn’t spent much time with his squad, and riding all the way down to the Hellports felt real again. He smiled as he slid to a stop. Andrew helped Bruce to his feet and the pair joined Zack, Kelly, and Candice inside one of the Hellports.

  Whenever a Grav Ball game was announced, four Super Destroyers would meet up somewhere out in the void of space, far away from any other planet. The ships arranged themselves in a square pattern with each ship putting their nose toward the rear of the one in front of it. Each ship would then rotate ninety degrees to starboard so their bellies faced the center of the square. From there, Helldivers and support staff alike would pile into the belly of the ship and sit on bleachers erected inside the Hellports.

  “Hey you made it!” Kelly said, waving at the pair. “We thought you’d be stuck in your pod with your eyes glued to the screen.”

  “Well I was, but Andy convinced me to come hang out.” Bruce said as he climbed onto the bleachers.

  “It’s good to see ya man.” Zack said with a fistbump. “How’s the leg?”

  Bruce explained to the squad what he had previously explained to Andrew and reiterated that he couldn’t wait to get back to diving.

  “Just make sure you can keep up when you get cleared again.” Candice said.

  “HA!” Andrew laughed, leaning back with a shit eating grin on his face.

  Bruce sighed and looked down at his feet.

  I really wish they would stop asking about it.

  “Citizens of Super Earth!” A male voice boomed over the speaker as the blast shield began to lower. ”Grab your harnesses and pledge your oaths — because it’s time for GRAV BALL! Broadcasting live from somewhere in the universe, four of our mighty Super Destroyers have linked graviton fields to forge tonight’s arena of honor, velocity, and barely-regulated violence! I’m Major Rex Gallant, joined by retired Helldiver Commander Petra Vale!”

  “Always a pleasure, Rex.” Another voice joined in, this time a female. “The field’s stable, the containment field is humming, and the med-evac pods are prepped. You can almost feel the patriotism in the air — or at least you could if there was any air in there.”

  When the blast shield was fully lowered, Bruce could see the other three ships spread out against the blackness of space. Glowing yellow gravitation fields created the slightly visible walls of the arena while bright white spotlights illuminated the players on the inside.

  “Today’s match is sure to be interesting Petra,” Rex continued “The blue clad Dawn of Conviction team will be facing off against the fiery red Fist of Family Values. I hear the DOC has just returned from a rotation at Meridia, Petra. Do you think that will have any effect on their performance tonight?”

  “I don’t think so Rex, I had a conversation with the LC of that ship a few minutes ago. He said the divers on his team have had solid success liberating Meridia, and they’ll be bringing that confidence into the void today.”

  “The other side of the arena is between the green Colossus of Midnight and the yellow Halo of Freedom. The Halo of Freedom of course being a newly commissioned ship led by the freshly promoted Lord Commander Sarius Drachen. Sarius of course...”

  Bruce turned to his squad ignoring the commentators for the time being, “Did any of you guys ever play?”

  Andrew and Candice shook their heads. Zack shook his head too but explained “I went to tryouts for our team but I couldn’t figure out the zero g piece. My fuel management was awful, and I kept getting fouled for charging. I didn’t make it to day two. Kelly made it pretty far though.”

  “You went to tryouts!” Candice said “I would have gone with you.”

  “I didn’t go on purpose really. I saw some guys heading toward the gym and I followed them.”

  “Creep.” Andrew teased.

  “Shut up, they were hot.” She pushed him playfully. “Anyway, I got into the gym and the team captain shouted that I was the last one to join. Before I could leave, the doors to the gym slammed shut and the captain formed everyone into lines. Next thing I know, they push thrusters into our hands, turn the gravity off, and we’re doing movement drills.” She shrugged. “I just did what everyone else was doing.”

  “How far did you make it?” Bruce asked.

  “I made it into day three. It was crazy. There were like forty people there. Half of them were gone by the first break because they couldn’t fly.” Kelly explained, looking at Zack.

  “Flying is hard!” Zack said in defence.

  “It is hard!” Kelly agreed. “Once you get the hang of it though, it’s not so bad. At the end of the first day, we were down to fifteen. On the second day they had us mess around in each position to see where we’d fit best. Initially they wanted me to play Scout since I was good at flying, but I couldn’t read the other players well enough to understand their passes. Our team has a great Pilot and a good Anchor so they didn’t need me for those either. I’m not big enough for Enforcer so I went up against this other girl for Striker.

  “You went up against Mariana for Striker?” Andrew asked, “No wonder you didn’t make it.”

  “No. No way, could you imagine?” Kelly said, “No it was someone else. She ended up making it, but then she didn’t make it back from a drop right after tryouts.”

  “Oh...” Andrew said, looking around uncomfortably.

  “Yeah.” Kelly sighed, “Anyway, I could outmaneuver people pretty well but that fucking ball does whatever it wants in the gravity field. It’s hard to be a good goal scorer when you’ve got terrible ball control.” She shrugged. “So in the end, I didn’t make it.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Crazy you made it that far.” Andrew said.

  The Helldivers from each ship drifted into their positions, to wait for the game to start. From one of the Hellports on the Colossus of Midnight to Bruce’s left, a silver sphere launched into the arena. As it approached the center of the four teams, it first glowed red, then yellow as it got closer. Once it passed the center, it turned green and the game was on.

  “And the Grav Sphere is live!” Rex shouted over the speakers ‘Striker Kade boosts off the wall with a clean thrust vector— look at that control!”

  “Kade’s using the old double-pulse technique.” Petra explained “Burn a little extra fuel early for momentum, coast for precision later. It’s a risky move but can pay off if done right. Unless he eats the wall.” A player in green flailed his arms moments before slamming into the invisible roof of the arena. “Taking big risks this early in the match isn’t something I would have done Rex.”

  “I wouldn’t have tried it either Petra, but that’s why I’m behind the broadcast booth.” Rex continued “Enforcer Hroth now goes for an intercept mid-spin—” A bulky Yellow figure burned on an intercept course between two red players. The gauntlet on his left arm glowed, activating a magnetic field that pulled the Grav Sphere toward him. From below, a blue team player slammed into him, sending the Yellow player spinning out of control. “Oh, that’s a crushing tackle!” Rex shouted. Bruce joined the cheers erupting around him. “Hroth’s Grav Harness just flared red, he’s out of rotation for five seconds! Dawn of conviction reclaim possession!”

  “Classic Krizam. That man once punched a turret offline.” Petra said.

  Bruce turned away from the action out in space to continue the conversation with his squad mates. “Did you guys ever make it outside or were you always in the gym?”

  “During tryouts?” Kelly asked.

  Bruce nodded, eyes darting past Kelly to steal a glance at Candice. She sat leaning forward with her elbows on her knees looking intently at the game outside.

  “I think after I got cut they started going outside.” Kelly said.

  “Weird that they waited until that far into it to bring you all outside. I would have thought they’d have done that sooner. It can’t be easy to be out there untethered for the first time.” Bruce thought out loud.

  “Yeah holy shit can you imagine? One wrong move and you’re gone forever.” Zack said.

  “I would assume they have something to come get you.” Candice reasoned, turning her head toward them slightly but keeping her eyes on the game. “There’s got to be some sort of ship that would come get you if you ran out of fuel and floated away.”

  “Yeah I suppose.” Bruce said, “Still scares the hell out of me. One wrong thing happens out in vacuum and you’re done. Plus those vacuum suits they give us feel like they would come apart at any point.”

  The squad nodded in agreement.

  “You guys remember Dennis?” Zack asked.

  “I don’t think they were around when he was here. I barely remember him.” Candice said.

  “Oh. Well either way, he was on our Grav Ball team. He said it took him a bit to get used to being in full vac and zero g, but they were always tethered during outside practice. Most of the time though, they were just in the gym.”

  “Hmmm, probably too much risk to be outside when you can do the same thing inside.” Bruce reasoned.

  Zack shrugged, “As if risk was something SEAF was worried about. More likely, they would be upset they had to waste the resources to rescue someone who floated away.”

  Candice elbowed him in the ribs, “Don’t talk shit man. You know they are always listening.”

  Zack rubbed his side, “Thanks for the reminder.” He grunted.

  Shouts of the divers around them brought Bruce’s attention back to the game. “Dax of the Dawn of Conviction deploys a grav snare just in time! That sphere’s locked in place like a fly in amber!” The announcer Petra shouted.

  “Incredible defensive read!” Rex continued, “Dax tethers, rotates and it looks like he’s lining up for a ricochet. He launches-”

  Bruce watched as the sphere slammed off the invisible wall of the arena, bounced off the adjacent wall at a sharp angle and glowed a bright red from the impacts. The ball angled expertly along the arena and slipped past the red team's goal at the far side of the arena.

  “YES RIGHT THROUGH THE GOAL OF THE FIST OF FAMILY VALUES! Ricochet goal confirmed for the Dawn of Conviction! That’s four points for the blue team to bring the score to seven to three!” Petra announced.

  “What a shot that was Petra, using the gravity fields of the arena to build up momentum was a perfect plan. Great work to the blue team for bringing that together.” Rex said, “Just look at this replay! Absolute mastery of inertia. You can’t teach that Petra.”

  The Helldivers watched the next few minutes of the game companionably. They boo’d when the red team scored against them. Clapped half heartedly when the green or yellow teams scored. Cheered and shouted ravenously when the blue team scored or whenever a big hit happened. The game paused for a few moments after a hard collision between the red teams Scout and the green teams Pilot caused the Pilot’s suit to rupture. The green player rocketed across the arena, spinning and tumbling until they crashed into the grav field at the far end. The game came to a screeching halt while the recovery vehicle shot out to the players position. Once everything was in place, the player depressurized their suit, except for their helmet, and the walls of the arena were dropped. The recovery team quickly brought the injured player onboard the pelican and shot out of view.

  “Sorry about the delay here folks,” Rex announced over the speakers, “We’ll get back to the action here shortly. I’m told that Betty is breathing again and is only reporting a few broken bones. Nothing a Helldiver isn’t used to.”

  “That’s right Rex,” Petra said, “Our brave heroes not only fight for our freedoms and way of life every day, they also play for our entertainment. Their sacrifice, while greatly appreciated, is part of the contract that every Helldiver signs. It’s part of what makes our heroes special! We’re going to take a short break. When we come back, we’ll see the climactic conclusion between these four teams!”

  So it’s expected that we break ourselves not only for whatever their plans are for the galaxy, but for their entertainment as well? Fuck this.

  Bruce wanted to say something derogatory, but held his tongue. Saying anything wouldn’t make the situation better, and would likely get back to the Lord Commander somehow. He had a feeling he was already on his shit list for not being able to drop. Acting like a traitor wouldn’t make that any better.

  Once everything was set up and ready. Rex came back to begin the last few minutes of play. “And here we go Super Citizens! It’s the last two minutes of the game and you know what that means! Sudden Burst time. The Grav Ball is unstable. Every ten seconds, an EMP will short circuit anyone within five meters of the ball.”

  “It’s chaos Rex,” Petra said, “The only way to win now is to risk everything!”

  The players shot about sporadically for a bit before diving toward the ball. Green scored against yellow for the win as time ran out. Blue and red teams were tied leading to sudden death. The first team to score out of the two would be declared the winners. Since the green and yellow team was finished with the game, they were free to help or hinder however they wanted.

  “Blue team's Striker is back in, burning a hard line toward the center!” Rex shouted. “He grabs the sphere, EMP pulse incoming. Here comes the throw!” The blue team Striker launched the ball with precision toward the red team's goal. The Grav Ball glowed red then flashed a white hot just as the red team's Pilot went for the save. The EMP blast locked his suit in position causing him to drift harmlessly past the ball. With no one to block, the ball too slip through the goal ending the game.

  Cheers erupted all around the ship. The sound was deafening to Bruce’s enhanced hearing. It all blurred into one cacophony of sound that was both confusing and disorienting. He tried to smile through it but the sound was overwhelming. Visions of the bug on Lastofe screaming in his face and the Behemoth bearing down on him overtook him. He closed his eyes as tight as he could trying to get the memory of Charlie burning away out of his head. It was as if the sound itself was forcing him to relive his worst dives.

  I’ve got to get out of here!

  Bruce forced his eyes open and spotted the entrance to the Hellport. He took a step toward it but stepped awkwardly on his new leg. His vision swam as pain lanced up from his new ankle and he barely caught himself on the bleachers before going down. He took one more step toward the door, this time on his good leg. Somewhere far away, he felt arms around him holding him up. They pulled him into the Hellchute bay where the sound was less intense, but still incredibly loud. Bruce heard their muffled voices saying things to him but he wasn’t able to make sense of them. He pointed toward his ears trying to explain what was happening but his words came out as jumbled nonsense. Trying to correct himself made the confusion worse.

  What do I even want to say?

  The next thing he knew he was riding up the Hellchute, the deafening sound replaced by the soft whooshing of air as he rode up the lift. The sudden change in gravity messed with his insides causing his stomach to do flips and threaten to purge its contents inside the Hellchute. When the lift stopped and the door slid open, Bruce fell over sideways, landing hard on the grates of the walkway. Strong hands pulled him into a sitting position, then he felt them on either side of his face.

  “Breathe Bruce, just breathe.” Someone was saying to him.

  In that moment, he realized he was hyperventilating. His heart threatened to beat out of his chest, and he shook from the force of it beating. He focused on taking long deep breaths and letting them out slowly.

  “That’s it bud. Keep doing that... Good.”

  Bruce opened his eyes to find himself sitting on the floor with his back to the wall. Candice knelt over him, staring intently into his eyes. Her hands on either side of his face. Some sort of connection happened for Bruce as he looked into her eyes. He was suddenly aware of how close they were to each other. A deep longing to wrap himself around her nearly overtook him as though she was a lifeline keeping him alive. He reached up with his right hand to grab her forearm.

  With one final deep breath he felt himself come back to his mind. “Thanks Candice. I’m here. I’m good.”

  “Sweet liberty dude, what happened?” Andrew said off to the left.

  Candice dropped one hand from his face but kept the other one there, the one he was holding. Bruce shook his head a few times then immediately regretted it. He put his free hand out to the side to stabilize himself, and when the world stopped spinning he responded, “I don’t know man. After we won, everything got so loud. The sound just messed me up I guess.”

  Zack grunted. “Well, ya good now? I’m gonna head back down.”

  “Yeah you guys go. I’ll get him sorted out.” Candice said, looking up at them.

  “Alright, you let us know he needs anything.” Kelly said, turning and grabbing Zack’s hand.

  “Will do.” Candice said, turning back to Bruce and suddenly realizing the lack of space between them. She sat back on her heels, pulling her hand from his face.

  Bruce let her arm fall from his face but grabbed her hand as it passed through his.

  “Are you back to us?” Candice asked, squeezing his hand gently.

  “Yeah-” Bruce’s voice broke and he cleared his throat, “Yeah I’m back. Sorry about that.”

  “Better it happens here then out on a drop. You should tell the medbay about this when you’re there next.”

  “Why? It was just a little noise. I’ll be fine.”

  “I need you back out there with me. The rest of the squad is fine, but I work better when I’m with you. I can’t have you shutting down on a drop Bruce.” Candice explained. “Plus, they might want to know if it’s a side effect of the injector.”

  “Yeah maybe.” Bruce sighed.

  “Just tell them please.” Candice said with a bit more force in her voice this time.

  “Ok I will.” Bruce said. He tried standing up but was at an awkward angle. “Can you help me up?”

  Candice nodded and grabbed his other hand, easily lifting Bruce up to a standing position. “The noise is going to start pouring out of the Hellports shortly. You should probably get back to your hex before that happens.” Candice suggested.

  “Good idea. I have to get back to studying anyway.” Bruce said.

  “Yeah that’s coming up isn’t it. Next week?”

  “It’s in three days. I’ve got so much to cover by then. I’m kinda nervous about it.”

  “Don’t be. You’re smart. I’m sure three days is enough for you.” Candice said with a smile.

  The desire to hug Candice was again overwhelming but Bruce didn’t want to make it weird. Instead, he thanked her again for her help and they walked back to his hex. Bruce walked inside and booted his dataslate. The squad rooting for him helped, but he didn’t think they understood how much it was going to take him to get through this exam. For the next three days, he stayed in his hex and studied as hard as he could. When the time came, he took the Hellchute up to the Hanger to take the exam.