"Trials and Tribulations" Part 1
March 16th, 2008 Miri Sarawak, Malaysia, Borneo They landed at the small airport in Miri. "Welcome to Sarawak, Malaysia. Gather your gear together and follow us. We'll be traveling the rest of the way to the base by river. This would be a bad time for anyone to discover they get seasick!" It was hot and humid - not the kind of weather Mai would have expected given some of the gear they'd brought along. At least the air here in Miri didn't smell so strongly of sandalwood. That was all they'd been able to smell during their brief stop-over in Kuching. Something about rainforests burning. She gathered her gear, watching as the others collected theirs with various degrees of grumbling. There were eight of them all together. Niall and Helena paired with Mai and Davenport while Aaron, Malik, Benjamin, and Susanne comprised the second team. She'd heard more about them and their lives on the plane ride than she'd ever learned about most of the operatives she'd known in Section. Davenport had contributed to the conversation, managing to appear a part of it without actually sharing any real information about himself. Mai hadn't spoken. She knew that bothered some of the others, but honestly, what would she have shared? She was surprised at the amount of grousing that went on. Granted, there was always some complaining in Section when people were sure Operations and Madeline couldn't hear, but what she'd seen from these people so far was amazing. And they hadn't even been asked to do anything of significance yet. They loaded their gear onto the perahu, the shallow canoes they'd use to traverse the Melinau river up to the Mulu National Park. Three well-built men, clearly used to being in charge, joined them, taking over for the duo that had seen them safely to Malaysia. "Listen up," one of them barked. "We know ya'll are supposed to be real hot shit back where you come from, but I'm here to let you know that none of that means a thing out here. Sarawak offers some of the most demanding and difficult environments in one small area than you're ever likely to find. During this phase of your testing we're gonna have you up on Gunung Api climbing some lovely razor sharp limestone peaks rising up above the jungle. And when we've got you good and tired out from that we'll drag your asses through the rainforest and into the jungle. And yes, there is a difference for those of you too damn ignorant to be aware of that. But I can guarantee you that after you've spent a couple of days hacking your way through the jungle with a machete you'll long for some time in the rainforest again. We'll also run you through some of the scrub on the plains - not quite the desert some of you may be familiar with, but damn unforgiving anyway. "But hey, at least the Iban have given up their headhunting ways. We'd hate to find any of you missing that portion of your anatomy some morning. Our first layover up the river will be at an Iban longhouse. They've graciously agreed to let us use it as our base of operations for a while. Just be careful of their turak - it packs quite a punch and ya'll are gonna want to stay in top form if you've got any hopes of making it through this phase of the testing in one piece. "Sit back and enjoy the ride up river, Ladies and Gentlemen. It's the last break you're going to get." No one spoke much on the trip. Davenport wrapped an arm around Mai, but she couldn't let herself relax against him. Too much was uncertain now and she had the feeling she'd do better to remain on her guard until she had a little better idea of what was expected of them. They were rousted out of bed way too early the next morning after a night spent tossing restlessly in a sort of longhouse on stilts. Between the heat and the humidity it has been hard to get much sleep. Without benefit of breakfast or showers they were led on an intensive round of calisthenics followed by a 10 mile run through what Mai could only assume was the rainforest since there was no machete work involved. It actually felt a bit cooler in the shade of the immensely tall trees, though no less humid. Niall was clearly having a hard time with the heat, and all but collapsed when they were finally given permission to take a brief break. Mai and Davenport stayed on their feet, stretching and moving about a bit to keep their muscles limber and warm - not that there was much likelihood of them getting too cool here. One of the instructors threw a couple of packets of rations at them, which they shared out amongst themselves. Mai ate sparingly, knowing from experience that she had a hard time keeping food down in this heat, but aware that she had to keep her body fueled. In another day or so she knew she'd be adjusted enough that the climate wouldn't bother her, but until then it was better to err on the side of caution. Too soon they were up again for a quick march that took them to the base of some of the most vicious looking mountains Mai had ever seen. There were some relatively simple looking trails marked with red and white signs and sporting a series of ropes and ladders, but other trails - and she used the term loosely - led up to sharp peaks with sheer drops to make things interesting. "This is Gunung Api. The baby trails you see here are part of the Pinnacles. Don't get your hopes up though, they ain't for you. We won't try and take you up that far peak over there, no one's managed to scale that sucker yet, but I can assure you that you'll have plenty of chances to see just how sharp some of those other peaks are all up close and personal-like. "But for today we'll settle for getting you back to our base for a hot dinner. Some sort of stew, I'm told, but if I were you I'd eat it without asking too many questions. You might find out you really didn't want to know what the Iban put into it." The basic pattern repeated itself for several days, interspersing the more physical activities with ordinance and marksmanship testing as well as some more sedentary intellectual testing. None of this was particularly difficult for Mai - Martin's requirements had been extreme even for Section. Nor did she participate in any of the bitching about the instructors or the training or the food or the natives or any of the other hundred things the others found to complain about. She was silent as she'd always been, observing and taking in everything she could, but not a part of the group. She did spend a part of each evening listening to the Iban. Somewhere in the middle of her second sleepless night in the longhouse she'd gotten up to try and find a breath of less humid air and had instead found several of the older natives sitting around talking in a corner of the building. She'd spoken to them in Bahasu Melayu, the official language of Malaysia and one of the more obscure languages Martin had insisted she learn for no apparent reason other than to be able to beat the crap out of her when she mispronounced something. They'd responded in kind and she'd actually picked up a little Iban from them. They found the recruits very amusing and had gotten downright giggly the day they all came back smelling like rotting meat after their run in with a rafflesia, a flower as big around as a coffee table and foul-smelling enough that no one had thought twice about washing off in the river, since there weren't any shower facilities. Some of them even understood a little English and they loved to gossip about what they'd overheard the instructors talking about. For some reason Mai found it easy to be in their presence, easy to talk to them, easy to feel a part of that small group. Perhaps because they still had such a primitive air about them, a shamanic culture with the nature based beliefs their people had always had - minus the head-hunting, of course. Her ease with the natives only made things worse with the others on her team, despite Davenport's best efforts on her behalf. Return