“Realistically, how long do they need in the sim?” Zey asked Ezra. They stood in the shallowest part of the trench around the Jotunheim; overlooking the marshes and trail of destruction the ship had left as it spun. At this point, it was only knee high, you were only covered if you sat down.

“Minimum, so I'm happy they have a gun around me? Thirty hours. But becoming a soldier is more than just hitting targets. They have to learn to manoeuvre as team. Use comms effectively. I did say it is best to train people from day one but…”

“Yes, I know. I don’t want to get the civilians involved because they’re fucking terrified, Ezra. I’m only doing this because I have to. It's my crew who will get the flak from them, not you.”

Zey watched the rapidly expanding camp of Mythadians down near the bottom of the hill. More of them were arriving all the time. The Ascendency had sent more troops as well. She sighed.

“The sim is going to be too slow, isn’t it? If we bring them outside, how many can you train?”

“You have the guns to teach twelve people Tironut at a time.”

“Sorry, what?”

“Tironut. Israeli army training. My team trained militia in Kenya.”

“Fine. I’ll talk to the civilians and reassure them first. I’m not looking for an armed mutiny.”

They were interrupted by a Tekeri. Zey glanced down at her tablet and Wodan informed her that this one was Kerchak, the shapeshifter. They asked about helping the wounded in exchange for studying anatomy.

“I will be honest with you, Kerchak. I don’t like the idea of anyone of you impersonating a Human, at any time. However, we could use some help with the wounds our people have sustained…"

Zey had a thought.

“Can you only turn into an exact copy of the things you study? Also, do you study your subjects at the same time as healing them? Or is that a separate process? The reason I ask is that we are going to cremate…burn some of our dead today as a…mark of respect. You may study those corpses, because then we’ll know it's you if you ever shapeshift."