by Eva Brandt
“The recent Grand Tartarus Tournament has shown that our new generations have a lot of potential. But there’s also plenty of room for improvement. It’s unacceptable for someone to rely on tachyon swords in this day and age.”
I suppressed the urge to flinch. He didn’t look at me when he said the words, but he didn’t need to. The weight of the sword dangling from my hip threatened to drag me down.
So much for having a teacher at the academy who didn’t loathe me.
Chasing away my bout of self-pity, I maintained my stance and steady gaze. The other students weren’t nearly as disciplined. Behind me, someone chuckled. “Hey, Terran, maybe you should leave the class. We wouldn’t want you to blow yourself up. The prince won’t like having a mutilated whore.”
I ignored him. As long as they didn’t touch me or tried to hurt me physically, I wouldn’t engage in any kind of fight with them, verbal or otherwise. I had enough problems to worry about their bullshit.
Tachyon Firearms was one of the most important classes in this term’s curriculum. Last term, I’d been excluded for it, but now, I had started to progress and had been given permission to join. I’d wanted to make a good impression on my new teacher, but I’d already failed.
I’d just have to try harder.
Fortunately, my fellow students didn’t get the chance to badger me further. Professor Savage pressed a button on his wrist and our tablets chirped. “You’ve just been transferred a file—the first of many tests you’ll have to take. It will not be graded, but it will determine the category of qualifications you’ll be placed in. Begin.”
I wasn’t surprised by this development. My lovers had told me Professor Savage liked to be accurate and pop quizzes weren’t unusual in his class. I’d read up on possible questions beforehand, but I suspected it wouldn’t be enough to convince him I wasn’t useless.
When I turned on the tablet, I noted with surprise that the test only contained three questions—all of which were much too difficult for me to properly address. How the hell was I supposed to know the exact chemical compound of the tachyon conductors that made such weaponry work? The information hadn’t been in any of the books I’d read.
The second topic was outright mocking. “Why can’t Terrans wield tachyon weaponry? What kind of weapons do they use?”
The third question was fairly direct, but it would also make me more of a target than I already was. “In your opinion, what is your best weapon?”
I didn’t even have to think about what I wanted to type down. The response came easily. ‘Tachyon blade’. I’d have mentioned my chimera, but Sphinx was a person, not a weapon. Besides, I felt irked by Savage’s earlier comment.
Tachyon blades were perfectly usable in combat, thank you very much. Fuck him and his stupid prejudice.
We only had fifteen minutes at our disposal for the test, after which we were instructed to sync the file with the professor’s system and shut down our tablets.
He didn’t look at our answers. Instead, he retrieved his own phaser and started to take it apart.
“Watch closely. Understanding a weapon is the first step to wielding it.”
I watched until my eyes hurt. The tachyon conduits that ran through the weapon were unstable and could explode if not used properly. Seeing Professor Savage handle the insides of a phaser with his bare hands was both terrifying and a little humbling.
Not for the first time, I wished my circumstances had been different. If they hadn’t hated me so much for my gender, I could’ve learned a lot from these people. Instead, this was yet another lesson where I’d be seen as an intruder, where I’d likely have to watch my back for any potential attack.
Despite my apprehension, the lesson was fascinating and passed quickly. Before I knew it, Professor Savage was putting the phaser back together and dismissing us. Well, dismissing everyone else. I wasn’t so lucky.
“Acting Pilot Renard, stay behind,” he commanded.
Wonderful. Why was I not surprised that I was being singled out, yet again? I’d have liked to have one day, a single day during which I could be treated fairly. But apparently, that was too much to ask for.
I didn’t get a say, so I obeyed and waited as the other students trailed out of the room. Some shot me satisfied smirks. Others licked their lips or mimicked sexual acts which I’d presumably perform with the teacher.
It was disgusting, but I was used to it by now. I ignored it, although I did find myself wondering what would happen if Professor Savage saw it. Right now, the angle was all wrong, since the door was behind him. Would it bother him that his integrity was being questioned or would he agree with them and expect me to give him sexual favors? The thought sent shivers down my spine.
Fortunately, the professor had no intention of approaching me in such a way. As soon as the door slid closed behind the last student, he turned toward me and said, “A lot of the treatment you’ve received at the academy has been unfair, and my son tells me the final stage of last term’s tournament was brutal. I take it you’re not going to let that thwart you.”
Distantly, I remembered that the person who’d won the tournament had been Clay Savage. I didn’t know the man, but clearly, he knew me and had been talking about me with his family.
“Of course not, Sir. I’m a Grand Chimera tamer and I need to fully qualify for my position.”
Professor Savage nodded. “Understandable. I’ll be honest with you. I don’t think you should be here. Women aren’t soldiers. They should be at home, raising children. But you’re not like the women I’m familiar with, so I’ll give you a chance.”
Was I supposed to thank him? Maybe. He hadn’t acknowledged my worth as a chimera tamer, but he hadn’t called me a sexual plaything or asked me to have sex with him either.
“I appreciate any help you could provide, Sir,” I offered neutrally.
He smiled, a barely there twist of lips that could have meant anything at all. “For the moment, I can’t help you much, not more than His Royal Highness can. But I will give you a little piece of advice. Keep an open mind. Even things that seem horrible happen for a reason.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from providing a scathing reply. This had been a constant argument between me and most of the men at the academy. General Rhodes had told me something similar, during the conversation we’d had when he’d let me know that I’d have to return to Terra.
My mother hadn’t been open-minded in the slightest during our lesson, but I couldn’t accept the way women were treated here just because she’d hurt my feelings.
“You don’t believe me,” Professor Savage said. “I don’t blame you for it. That’s all right. You’ll learn.” Scanning me from head to toe one last time, he strapped on his phaser and finished, “Dismissed.”
Befuddled by his behavior, I saluted and left the classroom. I didn’t understand what that had been all about. Why did people here have to be so cryptic?
I felt better when I found Knox already waiting for me outside. He was leaning against the wall and studying the display on his tablet. It was an old-fashioned model, like the one Brendan often carried. When he sensed me approach, he looked up at me. “Hey, beautiful. Did the class go okay?”
“Well enough,” I replied. “It could have been better, but it could have been worse. Where are the others?”
Because of the disaster at the tournament, Brendan had pointed out the need to stick together during the school year. We had yet to find a solution for me beyond the use of Tiny Typhon—which wasn’t possible now due to the damage Typhon had received to his heads.
I could accept and admit the necessity of these precautions, but at the same time, I was more worried about them than I was about me. As much as I hated the way people at the academy were treating me, no one had tried to physically assault me. August had been the target at the tournament, and we still didn’t know who was behind the strange shutdown of the Charybdis.
“August and Pollux are in Chimera Tec
hnology and Brendan has that stupid Leadership elective this morning,” Knox finished.
Ah, yes, the famous Leadership elective. It was something Brendan had to take this semester because of King Philip. He’d said that, for the moment, the lessons weren’t perfectly lined up and had to be arranged according to his father’s instructions. He was not looking forward to that, or to any part of it.
It sucked, because that meant our schedules would be even more cluttered, to the point where we’d have trouble seeing one another on a regular basis. But complaining would just make it worse, so instead, I forced a smile and asked, “What about you? Are you skipping class?”
He shrugged. “I’ll take you to yours and make it there just in time. It’s no problem.”
It was probably true. He was the fastest out of our small group, and he’d be able to return to the hangars before the lesson started. I still hated being a burden for him.
I opened my mouth to tell him I didn’t need to be protected so closely, that I could handle my own affairs. I didn’t get the chance to utter a single word. An explosion sounded in the distance, making the tachyon lights in the corridor flicker. It was coming from the direction of the hangars.
I instantly understood what was going on. There could have been a million reasons for such a blast in a place like our academy, but I somehow knew none of them were the right one. “August,” I whispered.
Knox cursed under his breath. Without another a word, he grabbed me in his arms, draped me over his shoulder, and started to run.
It wasn’t the most dignified method of transportation, but I couldn’t have cared less about my dignity right now. “Sphinx, what’s going on?” I asked my friend through our connection.
“The tamers from the Harpy Squad remembered that they needed to be taught a lesson. Your lovers are giving them a hand with it.”
She sounded pleased, but that didn’t make me any less concerned. At the end of the day, she was a chimera. Wise as she might be, she didn’t have human sensibilities and didn’t always like following the rules. In that sense, she and I were very much alike, but I also acknowledged the necessity of not starting violent fights unless we had to.
“Hurry,” I breathlessly told Knox. “We have to stop them. It’s much too risky for them to fight now.”
He didn’t point out that he was already hurrying. Maybe he realized why I’d deemed it necessary to make the request.“I know.”
I should’ve given him more credit. He crossed the academy in record time, making his way through throngs of confused, agitated students. No one was evacuating, which seemed to indicate the incident wasn’t serious. But I’d already determined that people at the academy didn’t have a lot of sense, so I couldn’t rely on that alone.
My worst fears were proven correct when Knox burst into the hangars. He deposited me down, at which point I realized August was in a worse situation than I’d thought. There had clearly been another clash between him, Pollux and the Harpy Squad, because the members of The Lower Chimera Unit had been thrown back by the blast I’d heard. None of them were unconscious and their wounds weren’t too severe. Even so, I knew it was only a matter of time until the situation escalated.
It would be so easy for August to kill them. I could see it in his eyes, in his stance. In fact, he’d have already done it had Pollux not been there, holding him back.
But Pollux could only do so much, and it was my turn to help him, to help them both. I didn’t know what could have determined August to lash out like this, but I did know one thing. I would not let August throw his life out the window, not while there was still breath in my body.
* * *
Pollux
The day had started well enough. We’d woken up together in our quarters and indulged in a quickie with Selene. After that, we’d grabbed breakfast in a rush and had run off to our respective classes.
Astronomy had gone well. Dr. Achebe had an interesting syllabus for us this semester, addressing some of the questions I had about more distant galaxies. It did make me wonder if The Grand Judiciary had plans for another jaunt in apsid territory, but I hoped that they knew better by now.
The day went downhill from there. Brendan had to go speak with his father, and although he swore up and down that The Grand Judiciary hadn’t made a decision yet, I wasn’t too reassured. Knox offered to pick Selene up from Tachyon Firearms and escort her to her next class, which left August and me to head onto Chimera Technology alone.
We shared Chimera Technology with the students from the Harpy Squad, as well as a couple of other young men who were being considered as possible pilots for chimeras. After Jared’s death, the Zephyrus had been left without a tamer, and several candidates were already lined up to take his place.
In hindsight, that should’ve been a warning that something would go wrong. Originally, there had been rumors that August might pilot the Zephyrus until Charybdis awoke, but The Grand Judiciary had changed their minds.
It didn’t occur to us to dwell on it, not until we entered the hangars that day. The other students were all already present, and when they turned toward us, their hostility settled over us like a physical weight.
Our chimeras weren’t present, but I still reached out to Scylla, exasperated. “They’re going to give us a hard time, won’t they?”
“They’re going to try. But I’m confident you can stand up to them. They’re insignificant insects anyway. I’ve always believed the Harpies choose their tamers out of sheer sadism, to make everyone else miserable by forcing us to share space with a maximum amount of idiocy.”
That made a lot of sense, and it would explain some of the dumber exchanges I’d had with the Harpy Squad over the years. The harpies were certainly petty enough to do something like that just out of spite.
Scylla was right, though. These assholes were no threat to us. We’d pretend to be civil, and once the class was over, we’d go back to ignoring them.
Since the teacher had yet to arrive, we didn’t bother interacting with the Harpy Squad too much. We nodded silently, acknowledging their presence while still keeping our distance from them.
The other tamers weren’t nearly as wise. Vincent Glass took a step forward and made a beeline for August. “Cavallero, I’m surprised they still let you in the hangars. Haven’t you done enough? You’ve already killed the Charybdis. Do you want to take out all of our chimeras with your incompetence?”
The idea that a piloting mistake had caused Charybdis’s dormancy had been circulating in the school—and outside of it—for a while now. The official statement from The Grand Judiciary cleared August of all blame, but that didn’t mean everyone believed it. I’d just never expected them to throw it into his face like this.
“Shut your mouth,” August snarled at Vincent. “You don’t know anything about me and Charybdis.”
“I know plenty. She was your chimera and you failed her.”
August didn’t flinch, but the twitch in his brow told me that had hit a nerve. “Charybdis is still August’s chimera,” I said. “That hasn’t changed. She’s gone dormant for now, but I have no doubt that she’ll come back.”
Encouraged by our lack of physical hostility, Scott Argyle joined Vincent. In the past, he’d been a little more cautious in his behavior toward us, but today, he seemed to have lost all sense. “She won’t return. Your boyfriend well and truly fucked up, my lord Donadieu. But then again, what can you expect from someone of Terran origin?”
I wanted to throw something at him. This was the last thing we needed now, when we were on the brink of disaster because of the recent orders Brendan had received. August’s parentage had never been an issue, since countless people were recruited by The Grand Judiciary through the Terran Star Fleet Program. It was stupid to fixate on it.
Scott almost seemed to agree, but it changed nothing about his attitude. He smiled at me, an unpleasant twist of lips that gave me a bad feeling. “Then again, it might not have been you. Maybe it was your pretty Terr
an slut. I bet you’re all so distracted by her pussy that—”
Tachyons rushed out of August in an outburst that would’ve undoubtedly thrown me off my feet had I not been next to immune to his power. Vincent and Scott were violently thrown back, straight into the crowd of students.
I grabbed August’s arm, keeping him from continuing his attack. Tachyons were already dancing around his body in a furious, infernal rush. It reminded me of the sun’s corona, and I knew it could burn him as badly as it burnt other people if he wasn’t careful.
“Breathe, August. Don’t let them get to you.”
“You heard what they said, Pollux. I can’t just let them get away with it.”
I couldn’t blame him for it, but if he blew his lid here, he’d be the one to pay the price, not Selene. I was also worried about what would happen if someone started to look a little more closely into our activities.
We never had found out why August had seen Selene kissing that mysterious apsid on Mercury, and the thought haunted me.
We were already hovering on the edge of a precipice, and if we fell, we might not be able to drag ourselves out.
Thankfully, Knox and Selene must have realized what had happened. They burst in before I was forced to do something we’d all regret.
Knox set Selene down, all the while scanning the room with keen, dark eyes. He stepped between August and the group of Harpy tamers. “You really have a tough time learning your lessons, don’t you, Glass?” he asked.
Now that Knox was in the way, August couldn’t attack the other pilots again. But his tension hadn’t vanished so I was very relieved when Selene padded to our side and hugged him. “I was so worried about you,” she said. “Please be careful. I don’t want to lose you.”
August froze. It obviously hadn’t occurred to him that he was in any danger, or if it had, he hadn’t deemed it important. With Selene there, it was no longer so easy to disregard his safety.