[hr][hr][center][color=0076a3][h1]STEIN[/h1][/color][b]OBSTACLE COURSE -- TRAINING FACILITY, NEW ANCHORAGE
[sub]MORNING[/sub][/b][/center]
[hr][hr]
[i]3:02[/i].

The time on Stein Kalfox’s digital watch that was set to a stopwatch function was accurate, though it didn’t stop the blonde-haired girl from being frustrated in a fuming anger. She had run similar courses in [i]two minutes and thirty five seconds[/i]. 

[color=0076a3][i]What’s wrong with me?[/i][/color]

With no actual punishment for failing the simulation, Stein had promised to put herself through all of the fundamentals to not only get herself back in physical and metal shape that were satisfactory but also to [i]punish herself[/i]. While she was glad she had failed in a simulation, she was not glad that she failed in the first place. Had she done the same thing back at Volkov she would’ve been reprimanded and disciplined for slipping up— expectations were in place for a [i]reason[/i]. And there was absolutely no reason why she should’ve been not meeting those expectations. 

She blamed herself. There was no other reason then the fault being on her; there had to be no answer but that something was wrong with her. Logically, that was the conclusion Stein had been taught since she was ten years old. The world of quotas, regulations, expectations, schedules, and training; it was really the only thing she had ever known. And since her discharge from Volkov due to reasons unknown and being attacked on the outskirts of New Anchorage Stein really had in comparison been lax by her standards— a fact that she kept thinking harder and harder about since the simulation results. Results that had done something she hadn’t done in a long time: doubt herself.

[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/F1lZ5Em.png?1[/img][/center]

Stein sighed as she braced her elbow against her knee in partial defeat. Her body was [i]aching[/i] yet she wasn’t mentally ready to admit that her hour of rigorous training in the obstacle course was over. It went through all of the motions just like Volkov… except it was solitary. There was… she paused for a moment and nearly laughed at how pathetic her thoughts were sounding. 

[color=0076a3]“There is no one here with me.”[/color] A soft, nearly monotone chuckle left her lips. 

Whilst many people had painted her as a [i]robot[/i], Stein couldn’t have been further from it as she very much still had emotions. Had she not had them she would’ve never been offended when Chief Engineer Kuznetsov or fellow pilot Percy Moore painted her as one. When she had received the insult as a child it had been the worst thing since killing her first target. Her thoughts went back to Captain Vox and her sentiment “to be like stone” to make her move on from her emotional clout. It was one of the reasons she adopted the name of “Stein”— to erase… no, [i]kill[/i] Anastasia Kalfox and bury her without prejudice. But this was something so small… and sure she had been distracted out of the armor since she arrived in New Anchorage. But could that be that she was letting Anastasia rise from the dead? Could it be that she missed her squad and the machinations back at their base in Seattle?

[color=0076a3][i]No, that’s illogical and stupid, Stein.[/i][/color]

She cleared the time on her stopwatch; switching back to universal time. 

[color=0076a3]“11:31.”[/color] She muttered under her breath.

Pushing herself back to her feet after the time in introspection she decided that she wasn’t done and she had done enough doubting and moping. She wasn’t Percy and she wouldn’t become like that shell of a pilot. She cracked her neck in a stretch as she took a heavy breath. She could do six more before cleaning up and heading off to the mess hall for the NC pilot assigned lunch at 12:00— a lunch Commander Graham had made [i]mandatory[/i] to get them on a consistent schedule. She’d get there on time. She was never late, even when crunching courses in.

[color=0076a3][i]Let’s do it correctly this time.[/i][/color]

Stein switched her watch back to the stopwatch function with a confident smile.