The assessment went exactly as planned.
Which is to say, I performed at roughly eighty percent capacity and pretended it was my maximum. Commander Reyes watched from behind reinforced glass, making notes on a tablet while two junior analysts tracked my vitals. The combat simulation threw progressively harder challenges at me. Holographic enemies. Environmental hazards. Timed objectives that required split-second decisions.
I passed everything. Not spectacularly. Not memorably. Just well enough to justify my ranking without raising flags.
The tactical seminar proved more interesting. Reyes walked us through the upcoming A-Rank Gate operation in excruciating detail. Formation rotations. Communication protocols. Contingency plans for seventeen different failure scenarios. I absorbed everything, filing it away for future reference.
