Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Prologue
1: Katie Fights
2: Katie Dines
3: Katie Commits
4: Katie Gets Schooled
5: Kate Goes to Work
6: Katie Copes
7: Katie's Close Call
8: Katie's New Mission
9: Katie's Grand Adventure
10: Katie on the Carpet
11: Katie in the Dumps
12: Katie's Desperate
13: Katie All In
14: Katie Outnumbered
15: Katie Endorsed
16: Bon Voyage Katie
Review Request
Appendix A: Courier Scout Ops
Appendix B: Sand Piper a Bird Class Scout Courier
Katie Kincaid
Candidate
Andrew van Aardvark
Copyright © 2020 NapoleonSims Publishing
www.NapoleonSims.com/publishing
All rights reserved.
Cover image copyrights:
Asteroids near planet |114855385 | Sdecoret |dreamstime.com
Girl with braids | 80240505 | Rimma Zaytseva | dreamstime.com
Space ship | 2693698 |Gerhard Janson | pixabay.com
Starry background |Brandon Siu | Unsplash.com
Prologue
"Hello my heavily encrypted diary. And if any rat bastard is reading this who shouldn't be, know you're already cursed and should desist before your fate worsens.
The safest thing would be to not keep this diary at all.
Anyone who reads this before I'm gone after being duly deified is going to think I'm batshit crazy. Crazy, megalomaniacal, and not to be trusted with any important responsibility.
That would nip my plan in the bud.
I finally realized today what I want to do in life.
I want to be a hero.
Not just any old hero, a hero of at least the stature of Nelson.
Unlike Nelson, I don't plan to die on the day of my greatest triumph.
Unlike Nelson I don't want to be just a military success, I want to be one of the Great Captains, like Alexander, Caesar or Napoleon. Only I don't plan to die on the verge of my final success or have my empire disintegrate in short order.
Unlike Frederick the Great, Wellington or Grant, I don't intend to ride my military success to the leadership of my country only to be thwarted in my political goals, my reputation diminished, and most of the fruits of my success squandered.
No, I don't intend to be just any old hero, or Great Captain, I intend to be the greatest hero humanity has ever seen.
It's not going to be easy.
I'm a young girl, the daughter of asteroid miners, without great wealth or connections.
The Space Force is the closest thing to a military force humanity currently has. We don't yet realize as a species how badly we're going to need it, and it's quite small. The only path to its limited number of officer slots is through the Space Force Academy. Positions there are eagerly sought after.
It's going to take a lot of work to get one of them.
But I'm smart and ambitious, and I'm going to get one of those positions.
Do or die.
I'm going to be a hero.
The greatest ever."
1: Katie Fights
Ceres wasn't Katie Kincaid's favorite place. Within Ceres, the tunnels between the Kid's Home Base's gravity rings were one of her least favorite locations.
Too bad like every Rock Rat minor she was required to spend time on Ceres enjoying Earth level gravity. Necessary to proper development, they said.
Too bad that for every kid not lucky enough to have rich parents, or at least ones with good connections, this meant long trips through the tunnels. Trips between the different gravity rings devoted to exercise, education, and living quarters as the case might be.
Too bad that budgets and official indifference meant a high ratio of children to adults. A ratio that left the older children largely unsupervised. Uncontrolled they ran riot almost to the point of being feral. Gangs and bullying were just par for the course. The tunnels were a favorite spot for ambushes and the consequent shake downs.
Katie, as she bunny hopped down the tunnels that only had Ceres' weak natural gravity, was careful to stay alert to trouble. Trouble being anyone else practically speaking.
She heard voices. Loud, hard voices for the most part. "So what do we have here?" "Jumped up Rock Rat from a nice family." "Brown nosing wimp." "Well teacher isn't here now are they?" Mocking voices. Eager voices. Not hard to imagine what was going down.
Katie was very bright. She knew the smart thing was to back off and take another route. Whatever sort of trouble was going to take place, it'd be better if she wasn't involved.
Another different voice spoke. "Rocks to rations, you're a brave one Billy. How come it takes a half dozen of you to pick on me?"
She recognized that voice. Calvin Cromwell, a skinny young man like a lot of spacers, kept too busy with chores to do the hours of exercise needed to have an Earth normal physique. One she'd half accidentally broken the nose of when they were just toddlers starting school here. She'd felt she'd owed him ever since. Felt responsible for him.
She wasn't going to let Billy Boucher and this cronies bully him.
Too bad Billy was big and strong, and that although a likely three to one odds was better than six to one, it still wasn't good.
Worse, she'd just messed up and inadvertently qualified to apply to the Space Force Academy. She did want to go, but it was too soon. She was too young, fifteen going on sixteen soon, and the local Space Force commander's recommendation was a requirement for a successful application. Commander Tretyak was not overly fond of Katie's family or Katie herself. Getting his approval was going to be difficult. Burnishing her reputation as a troublemaker by getting into a fight wouldn't help.
Katie didn't hesitate. She pushed off hard and flew down the tunnel to trouble. Being smart was good. Having the courage to do the right thing was even more important. She'd decided she was going to be a certain sort of person. The sort with courage. Courage enough to do the right thing if need be.
She found Billy and Calvin facing off in a wider, brighter section of the tunnels, an intersection of sorts.
Billy's boys didn't see her coming. Their first hint of her approach was when she slapped tagged one of them to lose momentum before sliding feet first into a stop. She ended up beside Calvin and in front of Billy. "Hey!" the young man she'd used to slow down yelled.
Otherwise, they all just stared at her in surprise for some tens of seconds. Calvin threw her a look of apologetic thanks. Katie couldn't help thinking that might be premature.
Finally, Billy realized he needed to say something. "Well, lookee here," he said. "If it isn't the red headed bee-atch princess of attitude and snottiness herself."
"Hi Billy, see you're being your normal suave and charming self," Katie replied.
"I was minding my own business," Billy replied to a chorus of snickers. "You should try it sometime."
"I'll remember to start tomorrow," Katie said. "Right now, me and Calvin will be on our ways. Leave you in peace."
Billy looked around at his followers and grinned. "You think so?" he asked. More snickering from his followers. It really was getting tiresome. One spoke up. Marvin Minakowski another long time acquaintance. The remora fish to the shark that Billy was.
Marvin was even skinner than Calvin, and shorter. He looked for all the varied worlds like a human rat. Pinched features, furtive body language, and even a pair of large buck teeth. In exchange for freed
om from too much bullying, Marvin acted as the brains Billy didn't have. Kept him from doing anything too stupid and likely to backfire and egged him on when it was safe.
"We have business with Calvin," Marvin squeaked.
"You can leave," Billy said to Katie. "The sooner the better. We're, uumm, like knights, in shining armor," he said, looking at Marvin.
"Chivalrous," Marvin supplied.
"Yeah, that," Billy said. "No rep in beating up girls. Not even nasty skinny ones that were spawned by a pair of dirt huggers."
"You're the expert on nasty," Katie replied. "You want to hang around and trade insults or can we leave?"
"You can leave," Billy said with an ugly smile. "If you do it quickly. Like in the next ten seconds. Calvin's going to stay here and talk to us."
A chorus of half muttered "yeah"s from his followers. A couple in addition to Marvin behind him, Katie noted, and another couple behind and to the side of Katie and Calvin. Even if she'd wanted to, she couldn't grab Calvin and run.
"You're getting to be an adult, Billy," Katie said. She'd at least try sweet reason. Billy wasn't really helping himself here. Maybe he'd realize that if it was pointed out. Or at least maybe Marvin would realize it for him. "The authorities aren't going to overlook muggings and extortion the way they did bullying the other kids and stealing their lunch money. Bad boy rep isn't going to help you get a good job."
Billy laughed out loud. Most of the rest of his guys followed suit. Marvin's face pinched up some more. Katie would have sworn that was impossible.
"You really believe that shit they tried to fill us with, don't you?" he asked. "All lies, at least for anyone's not a loser. Anyone clever that has the right contacts."
"Look around, there's six of us to the two of you," Billy said. "Sure that means we can rough you up and you can't stop us, but even better it means you go running to the cops and there's six witnesses against two. And you know we're the well behaved offspring of reputable citizens, not the get of hard scrabble Rock Rats. Just guess who they're going to believe."
"You've got a bad reputation that's not getting better," Katie said. "I wouldn't be too sure of that."
"Just shows you're not as smart as you think you are," Billy said. "Brains aren't what they're cracked up to be anyways. Look, my dad is head of logistics for this heap of rock. I've got a job as soon as I want it. The other people running this place are all his friends. Even if they think his kid isn't perfect, they're not going to piss him off by hurting me. Not unless you can prove one hundred percent I've done something really bad. Guess what? That's not going to happen."
"You sure of that?" Katie said. Billy might not be a genius, but he wasn't wrong either. All she could do was hope to seed some reasonable doubt.
"Yeah, I'm sure," Billy said with an evil grin. "You know you're good at getting the right answers on exams and sucking up to the teacher. You know what you can do to someone if you've two or three helpers to hold them down?"
"Feel bad about needing so much help?" Katie ventured. She thought back to strange changes in attitudes some of the girls had developed towards Billy. Eager to avoid him if they could, but eager to please him if they couldn't. Was he a rapist too and not just a bully? A chill ran down her back that she fought to control.
Billy smirked at her. "A lot of things," he said. "Including hurting them in ways that don't show. Not much anyways."
Katie shook her head with as much sadness as she could feign. "You're a piece of work, Billy Boucher. You really don't have the guts to take on a skinny girl by yourself, do you?"
"You think you're smart and I'm stupid, don't you?" Billy asked. "You think I'm that dumb? I know your dirt eating parents run that fancy rig their rich family paid for at full Gee constantly. I know you get real milk and meat. A little bit of luck and you could break some of my bones. Leave a few bruises on me at least. Still wouldn't work out for you, but we'd all be in trouble. Not going to happen, little girl."
Katie didn't know what to say to that. Billy seemed as impervious to reason as he was to common decency. Time for action. Grabbing Calvin and using him as an anchor, she lashed out with a full body kick at where she thought the closest of Billy's bullies behind her was. She didn't hit him straight on. She clipped an arm, and he stumbled back with an oath.
Unfortunately, Calvin stumbled too and Katie lost her balance also and valuable seconds with it. The second boy to the rear moved to block their way out as the first scrambled to his feet. They weren't getting out that way.
So Katie went into a crouch and then launched herself the other way right at Billy who'd been playing spectator.
Caught him by surprise.
Right under the chin with the palm of her hand snapping his head back and knocking him right off of his feet.
She grabbed him by that head and put him in an arm lock.
She stuck the tip of one thumb right in an eye. Billy started to struggle and complain. "Stay still or you lose the eye," she hissed. Only Marvin had been close enough to maybe intervene and Calvin getting his balance had fended Marvin's half-hearted efforts off.
The rest of the gang stared, uncertain what to do.
"Any of you move and I take his eyes. Want to think what his high and mighty dad will do to any of you that cause that?" she asked.
To a boy they shook their heads and muttered no. Marvin spoke up, his high pitched warbling not doing anything for anyone's nerves. "She's crazy. Better leave her alone. We'll get her later," he said.
"Mighty Mouse is right," Katie said. "Better bugger off. Now."
One of the ones she'd tagged earlier was the first to break. Once he'd run for it, the rest followed. Marvin remained. Katie had to give him a hard glare before he scampered off too.
Once they were out of sight, she choked Billy unconscious and then bounced his head off of the tunnel floor. She was running the risk of suffocating him to death or giving him brain damage as well as a concussion. She had a hard time caring.
Calvin looked on, aghast. "We're going to prison," he said.
"No, we're not," she answered. "You really think he's going to tell the police he got beat up by a girl while trying to mug you?"
"You heard him; it'd be our word against his."
"Yeah, and if it was handled informally between his dad and the Police Chief that might be a problem," Katie admitted. "Something this serious there'd have to be a full formal investigation. Bet you all of those rats would crack. It'd only take one though."
"Guess so," Calvin agreed half heartedly helping her to her feet. "Story is going to get around just the same. Not going to help you get that recommendation from the Commander."
Katie sighed. "No it's not," she had to agree. Her application to the Academy might have just have died. "We'd better get going."
"Yeah. Thanks, Katie."
* * *
Katie was exhausted, edgy, and worried.
She couldn't have just left Calvin to fend for himself, but it was trouble she hadn't needed right now.
Gravity, really centrifugal force, grabbed her as she rode the lift down to the floor her quarters were on. As usual with when pulling full Gees in a medium or short radius ring secondary forces played hob with her inner ear. Katie had seen tourists recently up from Earth or Mars puke in lifts like this one.
Katie herself was an old hand, having literally learned to deal with this sort of transition since before she could walk.
She just wished it was as easy to adjust to being a misfit girl. One who was constantly in trouble simply for standing up for herself. She'd thought when she was a kid that she'd learn to live with Ceres' bullies and bureaucrats. Her parents had assured her of as much. Sadly, as with so much of what her parents liked to think, it hadn't turned out that way.
Practically speaking as she entered her small cabin she realized she had a decision to make.
It'd be so easy to just ignore what had happened. Do nothing and hope it all passed unnoticed. Hope that the trouble went away on
its own.
What she'd told Calvin was true.
Billy, Marvin, and the rest of the boys weren't going to make a formal complaint about the damage she'd done to Billy. Heavens knew what story he'd give to the medics. They weren't going to get into official trouble because of what had happened. None of them.
That didn't mean that the medics and Billy's father wouldn't realize something fishy had gone down. It'd didn't mean that Billy wouldn't be unofficially plotting his revenge. Beans to blasting caps, whatever moonshine confection Billy sold his Dad and the authorities it wasn't going to make Katie look good.
Katie thought the smartest thing for Billy would be to just leave her out of his excuse and forget the whole thing. Fat chance. She'd made him look too bad. He might omit her name with the medics and the authorities they represented, with his father his desire for to get back at her would be too strong.
He'd be putting out some story that made her look bad. A story she couldn't afford to have drifting about blackening her reputation right now.
Normally a Space Force regional commander would be happy to sponsor an Academy candidate from their area. Made them look good by association somehow. Only Katie suspected Commander Tretyak was just looking for an excuse to not sign off on Katie's application. A smear on Katie's reputation right now could destroy any chance she had of a Space Force career. Suck her life's plan right into the crapper and compost it down to its constituent components. Go straight to Jail, do not pass Go, like in that silly Monopoly game her parents so liked.
On the other hand, trying to be proactive and get out in front of the problem might backfire.
The minute she discussed what had happened with anyone, she was confessing to what she had done. You'd think defending a friend from bullies was a good thing. Authorities probably wouldn't see it that way. She'd intervened in a dispute that wasn't hers. She'd hurt Billy. She'd threatened to do much worse. However bad the whole thing made Billy and his friends look, it didn't make her look good either. Not from the point of view of officialdom. Commander Tretyak was certainly a paid-up member of officialdom.
Katie Kincaid Candidate: Katie Kincaid One Page 1