Free Star Force Perseverance (SF81) (Star Force Origin Series) by Aer-ki Jyr Page A

whomever took him in and he didn’t want to be hasty
    about this. Maybe going neutral was the best option for a grinder like him?
    But then there was Clan Westley who specialized in
    bringing the slower Archons along faster, or at least as fast, as others. While
    they weren’t passing up on standout individuals, they were focused on taking
    lower end Archons and turning them into an asset for the Clan. It was a bit of
    a knock reputation wise, and he really wished one of the balanced Clans would
    take his 2.0 average, but his progression had been too slow and steady for
    them. In fact, he was too balanced for them. They expected more variation, for
    a purely balanced Archon would have had a rating of 1.0 which made no sense
    whatsoever.
    “Remember,” Terry said, looking directly at Po, “this
    is a competition, for you to join a Clan as well as for the Clans measuring
    against each other. Pride is on the line, as well as resources for some of the
    larger trials. Find the niche you want, then be prepared to work your ass off
    for it like you’ve never done before. If you wash out of a Clan, and it does
    happen, you can take another slot in another Clan that you qualify for or you
    can go neutral. This is not easy street here. You’re going to have to crawl and
    claw to maintain your placement until you get your levels up considerably
    higher. Some of you won’t stabilize in a Clan for 50 years. Metal Gear Commando
    indoctrination typically runs that long.”
    Po heard someone whistle, and Terry nodded. “Choose
    wisely, and make sure it’s a choice you can live with, succeed or fail. You
    know by now that Archons don’t make it the first time at everything, and if
    anyone has training scores to the contrary please point them out, for not even
    the trailblazers have that clean of a record. When you take on hard challenges
    you’re going to fail, then learn from the experience. Do you want to go that
    route or choose a lesser challenge that you can probably succeed at and cement
    your place within a Clan? It’s up to you, and neither is the preferred way. How
    you progress in your training is a personal choice and it needs to fit you.”
    That stuck with Po, and as he looked at his two
    primary choices he realized he didn’t want to dive into a huge challenge and
    struggle to keep going. He wanted to keep grinding his way up the ranks as he’d
    been doing, and Clan Westley’s basic program was three times as long and
    rumored to be considerably difficult…but it was a way to really get a second
    chance for the ‘slackers’ within the Archons, though that term didn’t really
    apply to any of them.
    Po wasn’t in a hurry to advance, he just wanted to
    keep improving and help out Star Force when and where he could. He wanted to be
    an Archon, not always racing to catch up or outdo others. The higher the
    ranking one achieved, the less one would stay with their basic training peers.
    Archons advanced at different rates, some trained while others did field work.
    Everything got complicated and divergent, with the only important thing being
    what path would Po walk and how would he go about doing it.
    If this was going to be his way, then he’d walk in the
    door with the lowest threshold to maintain his balanced training…and that meant
    Clan Noisy Cricket. He wasn’t going to be a star recruit or on a primary
    training program, but he would work his ass off to earn his Clan appointment
    and devote his loyalty to them. Being an anonymous Archon amongst all the
    others and just going about and doing his thing on his timetable appealed to
    Po, and the more he thought about it the more he realized this was the choice
    for him.
    He thought it through a couple extra times to make
    sure, then he selected the training slot he qualified for within the Noisy
    Crickets and locked in his selection. His display accepted the anointment with
    a symbol of a tiny pistol emblazoned over a silhouette of a cricket in