The Island Closest to What? [PA/Action]

[commanderzabala]

[At 0800, the intercom chimes to life.]

Good morning, Balamb Garden. Congratulations to finishing another quarter of classes.

As of yesterday, Balamb Garden has docked as far northeast on the Esthar continent as possible. For those of you unfamiliar with our geography, we have come to the closest point to the Island Closest to Heaven as possible. I am afraid we will be having a working break, this quarter.

Over the course of the break, the Ragnarok will ferry cadets and SeeDs to the Island. Once there, you will find yourself in conflict with the local monsters. You will find these monsters to be almost completely unbeatable; the purpose of this break is to teach you teamwork, perseverance, and tactics in the face of an overwhelmingly powerful opponent.

I will not deceive you: it is also to teach you about pain management and the protection GFs give you against an otherwise mortal wound. You will not come to any permanent harm as a result of these encounters; I, and any other SeeDs who possess the ability to defeat these monsters, will ensure that any person dropped to an unconscious state receives paramagical care immediately. This will merely be incredibly unpleasant in the short-term, as most learning experiences are.

Traveling to the Island Closest to Heaven is mandatory for all SeeDs and all cadets capable of Junctioning a GF. You must travel to the Island at least one out of every three days of the break. That is an order.

To provide some recompense for this misery, all SeeDs who do not possess either an instant-kill attack or an otherworldly power that would essentially guarantee the defeat of these monsters will receive one rank increase for challenging these monsters. Should you succeed in defeating one with at least one team member surviving, all members of the team will receive a three rank increase for their effort.

All cadets who participate in this will receive a 10 point bonus on their SeeD exam. Should any team of cadets defeat a monster with one team member surviving, without the use of otherwordly powers to guarantee victory... we will think of an adequate reward. I promise you it will be worth your effort.

Any SeeDs who have the aforementioned capability to defeat these monsters with comparative ease, please report to my office for assignments.

We will begin at 0800 sharp next Monday. Make what preparations you feel are necessary. I, the SeeDs, and the Instructors will be available for any help or assistance you feel you need.

That is all. Good luck.

[The intercom clicks off, as the Commander returns to her paperwork, awaiting the arrival of the SeeDs.]

Comments

[curiouseyes]

[Sorry, there's one more person and she's not very happy either. Not a SeeD, but a very upset cadet. She's been essentially brooding since the announcement and is visibly shaking, trying keep her emotions in check. She stands outside the door for a few long moments, visibly tense if anyone were to see her.

Finally, she knocks, probably a little harder than she was intending to]

[commanderzabala]

Enter.

[Yes... she definitely needs to get a secretary...]

[curiouseyes]

[She enters the office after taking a deep breath. Really, she is showing remarkable control all things considered. She does like it here and she doesn't want to mess it up, but at the same time she has to talk to her.

It does take her a moment before she salutes like she's supposed to]

Commander, I would like to speak with you.

[commanderzabala]

Very well. Please, sit.

[She gestures to the chair opposite her desk.]

[curiouseyes]

[She walks over and sits down with a small "thank you". She was quiet for a long moment, both to get the words she wanted and to make sure she was as calm as she was going to get]

I wanted to talk to you about... the mandatory mission.

[She purposely adds the "mandatory" since that was her issue with it]

[commanderzabala]

If it had been anything else, I would have been shocked. [She smiles, if with a lopsided cast.] Please, go on.

[curiouseyes]

[She takes another deep breath, trying to keep her temper in check. She's still having trouble keeping it from showing in her posture]

It- that its mandatory puts me in very bad position. I swore to myself after... [She trails off for a moment, not sure what to say there, how much she wanted to admit. Finally she settles with] After I got to Earth that I'd never let anyone get hurt. Well, if people don't want to go but they have to then I either ignore it or I try and even though I don't know how strong they are for myself, I will eventually fail.

[Implication being she thought she could take on whatever monsters were on the island and stand a chance at least for a while]

[commanderzabala]

[The Commander nods, abstractly, thoughtfully.]

I understand that sort of vow. I can appreciate the reasoning behind it, whatever it might be. One of the hardest things to do is to allow someone else to be hurt, when you have the power to stop it, and the desire to.

But that's something you need to learn. [She lifts a hand to forestall an objection.] Don't mistake me, I am definitely not asking for you to simply stand back and let someone else get hurt for no reason, especially not someone who can't handle it or shouldn't be involved. But your fellow cadets, and graduated SeeDs, are not in that category.

Let me put an example to you this way: A lunatic with a gun is on a crowded street in Dollet, aiming it at your fellow cadet. If you attack him, you will knock him out, but your partner will be shot. If you throw yourself in front of your partner, she will survive, but she only has a 50% chance of disabling the gunman before he can fire further. Which is the proper course to take?

[curiouseyes]

[She fights back the retort that it depended on if the shooter was faster than her starbolts, but that wasn't the point of it of the analogy]

There's no right course of action in that situation. Either she gets shot or I do. I'd rather take the bullet but she can't stop him, it was pointless.

But this isn't fair! [She looks down] You said yourself that they are almost completely unbeatable. So the point is that everyone gets beat up and almost killed. I already know what that is like, more than anyone ever should, and its not fair that others have to.

[commanderzabala]

There is a right answer. You strike down the man with the gun, allowing your partner to be hurt. You do this because you know that your partner will recover -- with a GF junctioned, the blow will be agonizing, yes, but not fatal. And you can disable the man with the gun, so he can't hurt anyone who doesn't have that advantage.

[She leans forward slightly, waiting for Kori to look back up at her.]

This part -- this part is very important. Taking the bullet for a fellow SeeD, in absence of all other factors, is an insult to that SeeD. Yes, there may be times it is appropriate, such as protecting the Recovery specialist so they can heal the entire team, or protecting the person who can take down the foe when you can't. But doing so simply because you don't want to see them hurt is disrespectful to their skills, their training, and their commitment to the same goals you have committed to.

A team shares the danger, the risk, and the pain.

As cruel as this sounds, it's a very large part of the lesson everyone needs to learn, quickly. Recognizing that you, yourself, will recover from this experience is one part, but recognizing that your fellow cadets and SeeDs will also recover is critical as well. The time will come when someone is hurt, or almost killed and saved almost by the GF, when you believe you could have saved them. At least by doing it this way, you can't blame yourself for failing to save them from an insurmountable force, and seeing them recover will make it slightly easier the next time you have to choose between letting them fall, and failing to do the right thing.

[curiouseyes]

[She's quiet for a few long moments. It was true... it was like with her team back home. They all accepted the risks and knew each other could get hurt. But they just did it. She knew she'd recover. After six years, if she didn't know that yet, she had bigger problems. She knew anyone she worked with would recover too, that if she assumed they couldn't, they would get annoyed at her.

But she never had time to think about something so specific in advance. It just happened. In the moment, she knew to trust the nameless "fellow cadet" mentioned in the scenario. Having too much time had her worrying and thinking too many things and not all directly related to training aspect of this.

Kori nods, slightly more reassured of the method behind the madness, but not feeling much better about it] I understand.

[commanderzabala]

And it does need to be monsters of this strength, because if I sent our forces against anything weaker, someone would find a way to defeat them.

[Her smile is wry, but faintly proud. The cadets and SeeDs of Garden have constantly surprised her in her time here.]

[More seriously, she continues.]

In many ways, I'm doing the same as you -- asking everyone to take a bullet they will recover from, in order to prevent greater harm. I like it about as much as you'd like letting your teammate get shot in order to disable the gunman.

[curiouseyes]

[She nods] I guess so. I've definitely been surprised by this place.

I know people are stronger than they may appear, but... just the idea of seeing people suffer... I've seen it too much.

Back home, we did these things too, but it just happened. We never had advance warning. Maybe I'm thinking too much about it.

[commanderzabala]

A little suffering now will, I hope, prevent more later. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't be ordering this.

[curiouseyes]

I hope it does as well.

Thank you... for explaining the reasoning, Commander.

[Definitely not as tense or upset as she was when she first walked in]

[commanderzabala]

You're welcome. For what it's worth, I hope I am proven wrong in my belief that it's all necessary.

[curiouseyes]

I hope it is as well. And I'll try to help my team defeat one of the monsters.

[commanderzabala]

I wish you luck. [And she means that.]

Is there anything else?

[curiouseyes]

Thank you. [She's not worried]

No, that was it. Thank you.

[commanderzabala]

Then, dismissed.

[She offers a smile to remind the girl that such dismissals are simply part of the code.]

[curiouseyes]

[She stands and gives her a salute before heading out of her office, shutting the door behind her]