Silver Elite: Chapter 18

[penwalla]

Back at it again!

The chapter opens with Wren lurking in the barracks feeling sorry for herself, because she's not allowed to leave. She then does something unbelievably stupid.

Guys, this is the second paragraph of this chapter.

I kill time by searching things on Nexus. I know they’ll be monitoring my searches, but my curiosity has always been a thorn in my side. Unfortunately, the results refuse to sate it. When I say, “Nexus, who is Julian Ash?” all I get are red letters flashing on the screen.

RESTRICTED DATA.

I don't...do you not understand that you can just be taken away and killed at any time? Why do this? What is the point?

Also, searching for her uncle brings up "Restricted Data" but looking up "Cross Redden" brings up "Subject Not Found", and that doesn't make any sense. Why wouldn't it all be one or the other? Cross's existence isn't a secret. Arguably it's weirder that there's not like...propaganda about him available. Puff pieces, etc. For that matter, why isn't there news information about Julian Ash crowing about the triumph of the Empire against its enemies or whatever?

We skip ahead quickly. The next morning Wren hears two of her fellow trainees fucking in the showers. She learns they're going to be running drills, and then it's time for a personality test.

No, seriously, she has a test on her tablet and it asks, job interview style, what her three biggest weaknesses are.

I ponder the question. For once, I opt for honesty. Mainly because I don’t think the truth can hurt me.

Impulsiveness.

Impatience.

Classroom learning.

I wonder if this is like, ammo their teachers are gathering for mock interrogations.

Wren's radio call sign is "Broken Dove" because of course it is.

They get fitted with super fancy comms, then start preparing for their first op.

“Don’t worry. It’s our first mock op. I’m sure they’ll expect some mistakes from us.” Or in my case, failure.

Since I plan to fail.

At this point, I don’t think there’s much I can do to convince Cross to cut me, but it still feels wrong to excel.

It has never occurred to Wren that if she plays loyal and succeeds she could be a spy from the inside. Probably because she's an impulsive and short-sighted person.

They get put into pairs, and Wren is paired with the person she punched for calling her uncle a pedophile. They start their infiltration of a fake base.

Together Kess and I enter the warehouse. Various corridors snake away from the main entrance, disappearing into the darkness like veins in a giant, metal beast. Shit. I can only remember the path toward the stairs. Everything beyond that draws a blank in my brain.

Our footsteps are muffled by the thick layer of dust that coats the concrete floor. Every shadow seems to pulse with potential danger, every corner harboring unseen threats. I know it’s fake, but I get caught up for a moment. Under other circumstances, I would thrive in this training program. My adrenaline is surging.

So she can't remember the layout she was supposed to memorize (and also she was making unnecessary noise on comms a paragraph up) but she has working adrenal glands, so she would thrive here. Sure.

Wren deliberately trips the alarm so that she and Kess will fail the assignment. Then she steals a knife while they're turning in all their weapons, because only the rifles are being scanned in; the blades are just being dropped on a table. That's...idiotic, but whatever.

Next scene. Wren beefs with Ivy, Cross's ex-flame or whatever, who hates her because this is a romantasy novel and women are either the protag's accessories or jealous bitches. Wren pauses, as always, to tell us that the woman she is talking to is hot, but in a weird way that makes it feel like an insult.

She also has to pause to be horny over Cross.

And then the chapter is over.

Dear god, this book is stupid.