A lone shot resonated through the enclosed firing range.

"Two inches high and three left," a male voice muttered, the owner of the voice peering at the paper target through a pair of binoculars.

Corina Chun adjusted her aim appropriately and took another shot.

"Stop hesitating with your trigger pulls, ma'am. You're three inches high this time," the male voice muttered.

"Screw you, Mitch. I don't need firing tips," Corina shot back, pulling her eye away from the scope of the rifle she held to glare at the man next to her.

"I think you meant, 'Thank you, Sergeant Mitchell, where would I be without you?'" he grinned, not moving away from the binoculars. "Take your damn shot."

Corina only grunted in response. She returned to the assault rifle's scope and took the shot without hesitation.

"There you go. Perfect headshot, right between the eyes. Let’s see three more, loose grouping."

Corina took three rapid shots in succession, all landing on the paper target's head. "So I think I killed it."

"That you did, ma'am. You showed that piece of paper who owns this range," Mitch responded, setting the binoculars down on the tray table in front of the pair. "So Lieutenant, tomorrow's the big day. That secret scan and your extra training is finally gonna pull through or something."

Corina shifted nervously. Typically she was well composed and unmoving, but this project she had joined had kept her in the dark for more than a year. Her lines of questioning had all been stopped past two or three levels of authority, and that made Corina uncomfortable. The most she had been told about was that she had participated in a 'cog' scan, and that she'd be piloting one of her own along with a small team of other ‘notable individuals.’ The goals and motives of the project were unclear to Corina, and she did not like that.

Corina recollected herself quickly, straightening her posture and setting the rifle down on the tray table. “You could say that. All I know is that I’m to report to the elevator tomorrow morning. There’s still a lot being kept secret about this project, and you know how I feel about military secrets,” Corina responded, unloading the rifle and switching the safety on. Range safety was menial and boring, but it kept people alive.

“That I do, ma’am. In any case, good luck. Hopefully you don’t need it, but it doesn’t hurt.” The sergeant smirked at Corina before excusing himself, leaving Corina alone in the firing range.

She checked the time; twelve hours until she was to report to gate G3. She reloaded the rifle before her; another half an hour in the range to destress, then she’d still be able to get a decent amount of sleep before she had to get ready to report.

--

Corina arrived at the space elevator exactly an hour before the report time. She had already been awake for three hours, giving her enough time to take a quick cold shower, eat a light breakfast, and take the elevator up to the platform.

As she neared the departure gate on the platform, Corina slowly began to put her guard up. Being military personnel, Corina was allowed to carry a small personal sidearm, but no extra ammunition other than the clip it was loaded with. Anything else she wanted to carry had to be checked into security, not that she packed anything further than her extra set of black and grey military fatigues and a dress uniform. Regardless, she kept her hand close to the holster on her thigh. Just in case.

Corina arrived at the gate, and she couldn’t help but notice the hooded individual lurking a distance away from the gate. They were far enough to be unnoticeable to most, but Corina was trained to spot anything out of the ordinary. She stopped walking momentarily to stare at the hooded figure for several seconds, making clear that she knew of their presence. Corina then continued into the gate, taking a seat. She checked the time; twenty minutes until 0700.