Playlist:

❶ "Follow Me" — The Force Awakens OST

⊘ Silence

Madine and Kiner led Naluma out to the ice-covered obstacle course. The Jedi glanced at the command officers in their snow gear while she shivered in her combat fatigues and lightweight flak jacket. After the relative warmth of the holo simulator, her teeth chattered, and her muscles shivered in the bitter cold.

Colonel Kiner asked, "You know what to do? Anything that's elevated must be scaled, except the weave and the crawl. You have ten minutes."

Naluma positioned herself at the starting point as Kiner yelled, "Go!"

❶ She slid across the icy mud and groaned in pain as she twisted her ankle. Great, I'm not even at the first obstacle. She hobbled across the mud to the parallel bars, swinging over an imaginary swamp. When she thudded to the ground, more pain shot through her leg.

She looked back at Kiner, who was watching his chronometer with vigilance. He held up one finger to indicate a minute had passed. Nine more left.

With her hands held behind her head, every other step through the staggered tires threatened to overwhelm her with pain. Naluma concentrated on her breathing and pulled in the Force to take the low wall in one leap, landing on her right foot.

She hobbled to the medium wall, climbing the rope with upper body strength. When she reached the top, she propelled herself over in one leap, landing again on her right foot.

The next station required her to crawl under barbed wire, pressing herself to the half-frozen mud. Anytime a body part would get too high, the barbed wire shredded her uniform, and a laser canon fired a stun bolt.

When she made it past the crawl, she was frozen, wet, muddy, and numb. She felt her blood trickling down her back in a few places where the barbed wire had sliced her flesh.

Still, she pressed on, hobbling to the net ladder. Grabbing the vertical rope, Naluma pulled herself hand-over-hand to the top, not using her legs at all.

The weave came next. Not entirely difficult, but not easy by any means, Naluma threaded herself above and below the metal bars as she worked to the apex and back down the other side.

Once on the ground again, she pulled herself across a ladder placed parallel to the ground, hand-over-hand. She ended on another balance beam, this one a meter off the ground and at a ten-percent incline.

When she finished that portion, she staggered to the finish line, hoping she had made a decent time. She never wanted to do this course again.

Her mud-stained fatigues stuck to her body, locking in the chill. Her sweat-matted hair clung to her scalp, with chunks of mud smeared across her face. She panted, doubling over in exhaustion.

⊘ Kiner said, "You made it. Only six-and-a-half minutes. But I don't think you'd have made it without the Force."

Naluma grimaced at the colonel. "Yeah, but I don't think you'd have run anyone else through this course in these conditions either, or on the same day as a twenty-click fartlek."

Madine stepped forward. "Yes, but we don't have the luxury of time. With your injury, I think we can skip the sprints, especially after your time on this course. But you still have the water tests."

She sighed, thinking about the fifty-meter underwater swim and the following five-hundred-meter dash, not to mention the dive and rescue of a hundred-kilo dummy from three meters below the surface, all in freezing conditions and all fully clothed. What did I get myself into?

Lieutenant Dia Ly, a female Mon Calamari water safety instructor, met the contingent at the base swimming pool. She had broken up the thin layer of ice that had formed in the last few hours and was now picking out chunks of ice with her hands when they arrived.

When she appeared ready to jump in, Lieutenant Ba commanded, "Shower first. Get as much mud off you as possible. Don't need it clogging the filters."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am." Naluma saluted before she headed to the outdoor rinsing showers a few feet away. The cold water stung as it pierced through her fatigues. Her entire body was numb, and her fingers were blue by the time most of the silt and slime had left her uniform and boots.

With the water at a cool twenty degrees, the first plunge stole Naluma's breath away. The cold water felt like needles attacking her skin as she swam across the length of the pool and back in one breath. Relax. Use the Force. Relax. Stars dotted her vision from lack of oxygen during the last five meters.

Cleansing breaths were an impossibility, so she concentrated on the pain in her right ankle, still in her combat boot. She concentrated on the weight her uniform added. She concentrated on Luke and what she was going to do to him for getting her into this mess—and then she made it to the wall. 

The lieutenant pulled her out, grasping her under her arms and setting her on the deck. Naluma's teeth chattered as Lieutenant Ly pounded on her back, expelling water from her chest.

"Two more tests. Deep-water rescue or five-hundred dash?"

"Dash," she said as she bent to take off her boots.

"Boots on. You have ten minutes."

The Jedi perched on the edge of the pool and dove into the water, using the Force to propel her halfway across the pool before she breached the icy surface. The cold gnawed all the way to her bones as she moved her arms and legs across the pool. Nine more lengths to go. You can do this, Naluma.

Her limbs stiffened on the sixth length. The Force is my ally. I am one with the Force. By the last two lengths, sheer perseverance brought her through—as well as the desire to strangle Luke. Peace. Be at peace. A few more strokes. Kick harder.

She willed her legs to move, even though she could no longer feel them. The half-click felt like five clicks by the time Naluma climbed out of the pool. All that remained was retrieving the dummy from three meters down.

The instructor said, "Jump in feet down. Be careful you don't hit the victim. Clear your ears. If you feel pain, ascend a meter and clear again. You have sixty seconds for this rescue. Ready, set, go."

Naluma plunged, allowing the icy water to engulf her once more. She kicked and clawed to the one-meter depth. Then she propelled herself with the Force to the pool deck, surprising everyone. Next, she started the primary assessment of field medicine until General Madine called her to attention.

The Jedi pulled herself up into the attentive position, using the Force to keep from shivering. She felt a blanket placed around her frigid body, as the water dripped down her face, freezing on her eyelashes and on her cheeks.

Madine said with relief, "Very good. Very good, if a bit unorthodox. Report to my office in two hours."

"Sir, yes, sir," Naluma said with her teeth chattering.

"Dismissed."

Did you know ...

● This portion is based on the US Navy SEALS final obstacle course and final swim.

● The Mon Calamari officer enjoys her job. She comes from an aquatic planet.

● Kiner's name is a nod to the composer of The Clone Wars soundtrack, Kevin Kiner.  

Tell me what you think ...

● Would you have quit at any point before the end if you were in Naluma's place?

● What can we tell about Madine's character from this chapter?