Free Guardians of Eden by Matt Roberts Page A

restored to pristine condition leaving him fully fit and able to attend the morning training session – much to his relief, naturally.
    Each of ISO’s four squads had access to its own training room on Deck Five of HQ with every one consisting of an individual ‘ Holopad ’ for each Operative. Much as the name implied, they were small platforms – about the size of a boxing ring – which generated holographic opponents for close quarters combat training. Combat was seen by ISO as the best way to develop the strength, speed and reflexes that were needed by an Operative and so, without the facilities to simulate realistic mission scenarios, Holopads were the primary mode of training.
    By the time the medics had managed to force Owyn out of his bed O’Brien and Shaw were already hard at work. “All fixed up, Carter?” O’Brien said as she faced up to her latest opponent.
    “I might even have made it here on time if you hadn’t left me with five broken bones and a concussion.”
    O’Brien ducked out of the way of a lunge and knocked her opponent to the ground with a swift blow to the back of the head. “There wouldn’t be anyone to hold your hand if you took a hit on the field. Why should there be here?”
    Owyn squinted at her – not that she was looking. “Yeah. Perfectly reasonable logic.”
    O’Brien shrugged nonchalantly before launching into her next fight.
    “You still favour your right side more than you should,” Owyn pointed out. “I’ve told you, it’s a weakness. We can’t afford to have weaknesses.”
    O’Brien continued to lead with her right, swinging a shot into the ribs to stun and a chop through the legs to finish. “Focus on your own weaknesses, Carter. You’ve got plenty enough to keep you occupied.”
    “If you have a problem then it puts the whole team at risk, not just you.”
    O’Brien finally turned around to face him. “Fine. If you’re so worried then come and show me how it’s done.”
    Owyn hopped up onto his own holopad and stepped back into his corner. “Give me a chance to warm up at least.”
    Opposite him a man appeared, heavily armoured from head to toe and equipped with a blade in either hand. O’Brien watched on with both hands planted on her hips. While his opponent set his stance ready to pounce, Owyn stood up straight.
    His opponent charged straight at him and Owyn waited until the last available moment to shift to the side, using the momentum of the charge to hurl him over the side so that he disintegrated into a million crystals of white light that quickly vanished into thin air.
    O’Brien shook her head in disapproval. “Maybe you should start taking training seriously before you try giving me advice. Cheap tricks don’t do any of us any good.”
    “I don’t like to keep you waiting, that’s all.” Owyn stepped across and readied himself.
    “Alright,” O’Brien said a drawn out breath. “Get it over with then.”
    Owyn held back to his corner, closely monitoring every detail of O’Brien’s stance and movement. As he had expected, she had moved her feet to give extra protection to her left leg. In doing so, she had pushed herself a touch further onto her back foot and muted the sting of her right-hand attack. She gave a good enough effort to mask it, but Owyn knew that it allowed him to launch a full offensive without fear of a counter. She would have to lower her defences eventually, opening herself up for a finishing strike.
    Owyn moved sharply into an attack, but rather than playing defensive, O’Brien aimed a swipe with her left leg, dealing a heavy blow to his hip. He stepped off slightly to reassess his approach. The impact had numbed his right leg. He moved across to protect it.
    O’Brien circled around, gradually pulling him around before dipping and launching a fist towards his spine. He dodged successfully, but unwittingly offered up his weakened side to attack. An impact to his underarm left him with no means of defence. O’Brien