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Former supreme general Ba’kif, now senior instructor at the military academy at Taharim, was used to seeing many strange things in his life. Even more since he joined the academy as an instructor. But, this was “once a decade” strange thing. He was used to his colleagues complaining about arrogant, big headed, undisciplined students. And he had to admit that some of these complaints were valid. Some of them were not. That was the reason why he tended to give his attention to all “troublesome” cases. He didn’t remember anymore how many “troublesome” and “lost” cases he turned into exceptional officers.
He opened the file and started reading. Her name was Irizi'ha’na. He was sure that he heard that name once or twice. Merith adoptive of the Irizi. That was no surprise, they brought in only the best. Former sky-walker, now, this was a bit strange, but they have had multiple cases lately so nobody was raising an eyebrow anymore. And, of course, her study results were exceptional. They were not only above average exceptional, they were definitely outstanding. And the amount of troubles the girl managed to get into was exceptional as well. Slowly, he was getting to the reason this file was brought to his attention. Dear Zihan managed to win an unbeatable scenario. And not only once. After the first result, they let her take another one, just to prevent that the result was a system glitch. She won the second one. And the third one as well. So, the overall conclusion was that she had to be cheating. Let's say that since he joined the academy there was huge progress in evaluating seemingly exceptional students. Unfortunately, some changes among the teachers and instructions were necessary, but at the end, the instructors, who were not capable of accepting that some students bested their teachers, were forced to leave the academy. Ascendancy's resources were thin, Defence fleet chronically understaffed and they couldn't afford to waste brilliant minds because of political games and someone's stubbornness. Which was the main reason why the girl was still at the academy. This and her adoptive family name, of course.
The more he read about her, the more fascinating it turned out to be. He decided that the next logical step would be to meet this girl in person.
When she entered his office, for a few seconds he had the feeling that he moved in space and time and he was his 30 years younger self, meeting senior cadet Ziara when she was asking him for his help with Thrawn's case. Which was, well, impossible. Then, his brain kicked in again and he noticed that there were differences. She was taller than Ziara, she was almost as tall as he was. And she was much skinnier that Ziara as well. Not even the shade of her skin matched his friend's Ar'alani as Ziara went by now.
"Junior cadet Irizi'ha’na reporting as requested."
He made another mental note. Her accent did not match any Blood member of any family. It was very much clear Naporar.
He greeted her and offered her a chair on the other side of the table.
"I read your file and it is pretty impressive," he started. She did not blush after this comment.
Good, it spoke about the fact that she was aware of her capabilities.
"I also read that your performance during the unbeatable scenario was outstanding." He continued. She only noded in agreement.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not particularly, sir," came the answer.
Ok, he thought. She stands on the thin ice and she knows it. So, he pressed the matter.
"You won the unbeatable scenario test three times. I was told that it is not possible."
"Sir, I know what you think, but, I was not cheating. I just didn't know that that was the unbeatable scenario test."
That was true. The unbeatable scenario was just part of war strategy lessons. Students did not get even a slightest hint that this lesson is not as any other. To say it in another words, they never had a single clue that they were participating in an unbeatable scenario, until they lost. All their decisions and reactions during the test were well documented and evaluated later.
But, the way she formulated the sentence took him by surprise.
"When did you realized that you cannot win?"
She gave him a questionable look.
"You won three times. But, you lost the fourth time. The level of all four exercises was the same, but, you won only three times out of four. This seems a bit strange."
She was still looking at him the same way.
"Someone may think that you were cheating. Because you did win the first three? Maybe, you learnt the first three scenarios step by step? And the forth one took you by surprise? What do you have to say to this?"
"Sir, if I may explain."
He mentioned her to continue.
"Sir, I lost the last one on purpose. I realize what was the whole test about and that we are supposed to fail. And because it was the fourth scenario in the row, I figured out that they won't let me stop until I fail. So, I failed the best way possible. At least, according to my opinion, sir."
Looking at her, he was sure that she was telling the true. Oh, no. Not again.
But, there were still some points to clarify.
"And how did you manage to win?"
The look on her face changed from slight fear into genuine interest.
"Sir, there was a pattern which was easy to follow once discovered. The computer use the random generation to set the initial conditions, but, the algorithm works still the same. There are like four steps at the beginning which are different, so, I assume that they are coming from a bigger database. Then, there are two or three steps when the algorithm is evaluating your response for a given scenario and then, it follows the next steps based on the results from the evaluation. So, if you want to win, it is enough to provide the program certain steps during that time and put it in a direction you want it to go. Then, it is easy to beat it."
All that made sense. But, the only thing he could think about was: Oh, no. Not again.
"And how did you figure this out?"
"I run the training scenario ten times, as most of the students and I saw the pattern. So, I went ahead and confirm my theory. It matched so far."
Still, matter of fact reactions. No fear, no nervousness. She was telling the true.
"And I guess that you are able to explain it to the authors of the simulation that they can fix this issue."
She didn't look scared by this revelation. Actually, she looked more that she is up to the fight than anything else. The expression she had, the position of her jaw, the wrickles around her eyes which just appeared there, the sparkles in her eyes. He knew this face more than enough. He was seeing it for over 15 years, each time he was arguing with Admiral Ar'alani
"Of course, sir."
"They will be present on the request at the tomorrow's committee," he reminded her.
"I am aware of this, sir."
"Good, we will see us tomorrow then. I will be in the committee."
She rise up and was about to leave when an absurd question came to his mind.
"Cadet, are you interested in art in any form? Or art history?"
She saw genuinely suprised by this question.
"No, sir."
"Thank you for your answer. It was just a silly idea on my side. I thought it may be funny. Have a good day, Cadet. Dismissed."
She didn't look like that she understood,
But did her best to cover it. She gave him a textbook salute and left his office.
This was just not making any sense. It was a widely known secret that Ar'alani's son was in the last year of his studies. Zihan's birthday, according to her file, did not even match the dates when Admiral took her maternity leave. Then, why was his brain telling him that the young Ziara was sitting in front of him? It was just impossible. With some imagination, he could see Ar'arlani in her features, but, it was more her gestures and mimics which resambled her, not the appearance. So, the only logical conclusion was that she took a lot after her father. Who, given her height must had been quite high, she was almost a head taller than Ar'alani. And, suddenly, his mind came to a full stop. The colour of her complexion, the height, shape of her face. He knew where he saw it before. Ktah. That was not possible. But, if it is, she is up to much more troubles. Much more troubles and many incredible things given her parentage. He will watch her closely and see, if his assumptions are correct. He will wait.