Before I could become too distracted with my injuries, I immediately turned to survey our enemies. “We need to contact Academy security.”
“They will already have been contacted. The coil assassin is no longer jamming the security net. Trust me, the Academy is on its way.”
As if to prove that fact, I suddenly heard an alarm blare from across the city. I knew the pitch and I knew the toneless melody. That would be the citywide yellow alert klaxon. You barely ever heard it. I’d only witnessed a security breach three or four times during my entire career.
“Are we sure they're down?” I asked as I pivoted on my foot to stare at the cybernetic assassin.
It wasn’t moving, and neither was the other one.
“They will not get up again,” she answered.
“What … did you do? How did you manage to use your wrist device against it?”
“Our wrist devices have the capability of being used as weapons. We learnt that in the first week,” she counseled me.
“I know that. But goddamnit, that’s a coil assassin,” I stabbed a finger towards it. “How did you do that?” I couldn’t keep the surprise from reverberating through my voice. It shook and rippled through it like thousands of stones thrown into a once calm pond.
“I modified my wrist device,” she answered, “To send out a strong, repeating electrical field, timed to make it through the coil assassin's rudimentary shielding.”
I stared at her, my mouth open, surprise apparent for anyone to see.
“I don’t know what that means,” I admitted.
“It doesn’t matter. It worked.”
I kept staring at her, as if my eyes had been locked onto her with targeting sensors. “And what about that guy?” I nodded at the cybernetic assassin.
“I managed to get him off guard, and disconnected the primary command circuit from the back of his neck,” she answered smoothly.
I drifted into silence. I couldn’t find my breath, let alone force any more words through my tortured dry throat.
The alarm was getting louder, and now I could hear the steady drumbeat of boots approaching.
“I have no idea how we lived through that,” I said as I fixed the coil assassin with a glassy stare and wiped a hand down my mouth.
“That’s not the question you should be asking. The question you want to ask,” she tipped her head back to stare at the scrap of sky between the two buildings, “Is what an intelligence team were doing so close to the Academy.”
“What?” My brow crumpled.
“Have you forgotten your lessons on the Kore Empire?”
My mouth continued to march its way down my chin.
She pointed behind me at the two downed assassins. “They constitute an intelligence team. The specific grouping of assassins the Empire sends out when it is gathering intel.”
My gaze slowly drifted from her and locked on the assassins.
My mind was coming back to me now as the sound of a security detachment sprinting towards us calmed my nerves.
She was right. The two specific assassins we’d encountered did constitute an intelligence team. The cybernetic assassin could protect the coil and feed it secrets to send back to the Empire.
This was it, wasn’t it?
Christ, I'd just stumbled across my lead. Sure, maybe this intelligence team didn’t have anything to do with my mission – maybe they were gathering secrets about something else. But I doubted that.
Just as the security team rounded the laneway and a cruiser suddenly darted up high between the buildings and shone a light down onto us, I pushed forward and dropped to my knees next to the coil.
“I wouldn’t touch it,” Em suddenly warned me. “If you are looking for the information the coil would have been transmitting, it’s too late. It would have been destroyed as soon as the coil was taken down. They have a backup mechanism, a safety feature to ensure captured coils can’t divest their secrets.”
I swore. I knew that. Everything she was saying was common knowledge.
I planted a sweaty hand into my head just as the security team reached us.
I quickly explained what had happened, and the team secured the area, taking us and the assassins back to the Academy.
I was separated from Em as she was taken to the med bay. I didn’t think she needed to be taken to the med bay. Frankly, I was far more injured than she was.
Still, I was glad she was fine. Ecstatic, in fact. If it hadn’t been for her, I wouldn’t have made it through that. Heck, if it hadn’t been for her, we wouldn’t have taken a shortcut down the alleyway and we wouldn’t have found those assassins in the first place.
But, as incredible as this lead was, was I actually any closer to finding the leak? Both the coil and the cybernetic assassin had wiped their memory banks. There was no information – no clue about what they’d been doing.
Or so I thought.
Chapter 9
Axira
I found myself standing before Lieutenant Ma’tovan.
Considering what I’d just done in that alleyway – how I’d fought off two Kore assassins essentially on my own – I shouldn’t be standing here. I should no longer be on Earth, in fact. I should have taken the first transport to get away. To get away from the rumors that were about to spread about me.
Instead I was standing here, with my hands behind my back, considering a patch of wood on his desk.
“What did it feel like?” He asked staring at me directly. “To make a difference? Jason Singh may be one hell of a lieutenant, but if you hadn’t been there, Cadet, he wouldn’t have lived through that. So what did it feel like to be the difference? The difference between someone living and someone dying?”
The lieutenant already knew all about what had happened in the city. Heck, all the upper brass did, and soon enough, the rumor would probably spread through the cadets. Though I fancied the teachers would try hard to keep on top off it.
The fact a Kore Empire intelligence team had been kilometers from the Academy headquarters, undetected, and clearly running some kind of mission was not one the top brass would like to spread.
I considered his question.
Because that question was the only reason I was still standing here.
How did it feel to have made a difference?
Right. It felt right.
“It felt good, didn’t?” He answered his own question.
I nodded.
“You helped protect the Academy tonight, Cadet. Something none of the other recruits will do until they graduate. You saved Lieutenant Singh, heck, it sounds as if you saved that section of the city too. I probably don’t need to tell you, but if those assassins hadn’t been rumbled, they could have gone on to destroy a good section of the city before self-destructing.”
I kept staring at that same section of wood.
“You’re questioning why you’re still here, aren’t you?” He asked perceptively. “You’re still here because you can’t run away anymore.”
I looked up at him now.
“You have your first taste of what it feels like to protect, and it’s going to be like a drug. It will be the only thing that controls the demons in your mind,” his eyes blazed as he spoke.
I held his gaze. I shouldn’t have. I knew I shouldn’t have, but I didn’t drop it. He didn’t take it as an insult. He smiled, a section of his top lip crinkling into his slit-like nose. “You missed your combat class this morning, but let’s say tonight made up for that. Tomorrow,” he leaned forward, planting his large hands on his desk, “Your real training begins.”
I didn’t blink. Nor did I look away. “Real training?” I asked.
I was envisaging more combat training. Perhaps the stuff they reserved for the elite forces.
I was wrong.
“Tomorrow you begin learning how to control yourself.”
I couldn’t control the tension that spread across my features.
“That’s scaring you, isn’t it? Two Kore assassins
can’t rattle you, but the prospect of learning to control yourself scares you senseless, doesn’t it?” He took a lot of pleasure in what he was saying.
I didn’t speak. Did I have to? My answer was etched in every worry line digging into my cheeks and brow.
“You will report to me in the morning. First thing.” He leaned back and crossed his arms.
That was clearly my invitation to leave.
I didn’t.
Something kept me riveted to the spot. A question slowly burning in my mind. A question that had been burning since my incident in combat training yesterday. Slowly I let my lips draw open. “Why are you doing this?”
“I thought I made that clear: to make you the best recruit I can. That’s my job.”
“No, why are you really doing this?”
“Because I can see right through you. I don’t know anything about your race, but I don’t need to. I had you pinned the second I saw you. Do you know much about my species?”
I nodded. I had fought countless Ravang over the centuries.
“We are warriors. Proud, disciplined, honorable. But we’re still warriors. Our inclinations will always be to fight. Now, we can either fight to kill or fight to protect. Over the history of my race, it was always the latter rather than the former. Ravangs were kidnapped by the Barbarians, by the Kore, by anyone willing to use our strength and speed for their own nefarious purposes. Even when we joined the Coalition, we were always used as soldiers. Because that’s what we’re made to do. And even in this Coalition,” he stabbed a finger at his desk, “The soundest, most just, most worthy group in the galaxy, there are still people who will use you. If you prove yourself to be a competent soldier, they will use you to fight their wars. Your hands will be asked to kill for them, while your mind and your morals will be shunted to the side. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blaming the Coalition. I understand this is a hard galaxy now, and we have to fight to live. But I know what it’s like to be a mindless soldier. And even in this Coalition there will be people who take advantage of that fact. Do you want to be a mindless soldier?” He suddenly questioned me.
I couldn’t answer. My mind was awash with memories. Memory after memory of killing, destruction, of serving master for 450 years.
I made no attempt to control the glazed, horrified expression crossing my face.
“I have a feeling you already know what it’s like.”
Again, I couldn’t answer. Which was answer enough.
“I have a feeling you don’t want a return to that dark place. I’ve been there too, and I know the only way to stop yourself from sliding back into that place is to learn the difference,” he suddenly rumbled, “Is to keep your head on your shoulders. But most of all, is to protect. The culture of my race is steeped in the myth of a warrior. But the problem with warriors is they always need an enemy. Without one, they’ll do anything and follow anyone who will lead them to the next foe. But you need to get rid of the idea that you’re a warrior. You are a protector, a guardian. When you realize that, everything will change. You’ll stop looking for people to fight, and start looking for people to protect.”
I no longer had any idea how I appeared. I’d lost all ability to feel my expression, to even feel how stiff and rigid my body was as I stood there in front of him and I concentrated on his words.
I could have subspace jumped at any time, gotten the hell out of here for good. But I couldn’t and I wouldn’t. His words were like the strongest force in the galaxy. It was like encountering magnetism for the first time; it locked me on the spot.
“Alright, Cadet, dismissed.”
I saluted, but it wasn’t as stiff and perfect as usual. I couldn’t control my body for some reason. With a stumble, I turned and walked off.
I caught a glimpse of the lieutenant’s expression in the shiny panel of the door.
He wasn’t staring at my back with hatred, even though that was the most common expression you’d see on a Ravang’s face. Rather he considered me with something that bordered on compassion.
That made me walk faster, in fact, once I hit the corridors, I ran. People had to dart out of my way, and I didn’t slow down until I reached it. Not my room, but the roof above. After checking there were no witnesses, I subspace jumped out onto the lip of concrete beyond the safety fence, and I let my legs fall out from underneath me. I sat heavily, crumbled my hands into my lap, and let my eyes close.
What was happening to me?
The Coalition Academy was meant to be easy. This was not easy. This was torture.
Yet I was still here.
I was enduring it.
And I would continue to endure it, I decided as I lifted my head and stared at the sparkling cityscape beyond.
Because tonight I had made a difference.
I brought my wrist up and considered my subspace scars.
I would continue to make a difference, I suddenly decided with a firm determination that cascaded through my body, stiffening my posture and lifting my chin even further until I stared up at the stars above.
Jason Singh and the rest of the Academy would be unable to find out what the Kore assassins had been after.
Nothing could stop me.
They were spreading Academy secrets. I was going to find out what they were, and I was going to bring a stop to it.
Chapter 10
Axira
I walked to class the next day, focused. Not on my studies, on my self-appointed mission.
I was still filled with the certainty that I could do something – make a difference
It gave me the will I needed to hold my head high and ignore the stares. Though I was sure information on my exploits last night would not have spread too far, I was equally certain a watered-down rumor had spread. My classmates may not know exactly what had happened, but they knew something was up. The fact I was pulled from class several times over the day to debrief with various admirals was proof enough.
As I walked through the corridors, sunlight streamed in from the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows that lined the wall. They showed an unrivaled view of the city beyond. If you cared to, you could let the sleek white and grey buildings pulling down to the water distract you.
I ignored the view.
Holding several datapads, I kept my head straight and my gaze straighter. I fixed it on the floor as I thought of my next move.
Though I was determined to help find the information leak at the Academy, I also knew I had to be careful. I couldn’t immediately start zipping around the place, doing subspace jumps or pulling my energy weapon from my subspace pocket.
I had to be subtle.
Grasping one hand into a fist, I walked past a group of cadets who were discussing something animatedly amongst themselves. As soon as I approached, they changed topic. They’d assumed I was out of earshot – they were wrong.
They’d been discussing me – as almost every group of people I passed were.
For someone who’d tried to stay inconspicuous and silent, I was turning out to be one of the most talked about topics in the Academy.
As I marched along, my footfall always measured and precise as my tall form cast a long shadow towards the wall, I noticed the extra security. I felt it too. Not only were there more thin-lipped officers scouting the halls for trouble, but there was a distinct new hum in the air – no doubt the sound of the Academy internal sensors operating at full as they continually scanned the grounds for more trouble.
It wouldn’t work. They didn’t know who they were dealing with. I could guess.
I knew the capabilities of the Coalition. I knew how hard it was to pry past their defenses. There was a reason my master had never pushed into their space – it wouldn’t be worth the risk. Get a good, unflappable crew with a good ship, and you could take on a spacer.
Master was content to lurk in the shadows, deep within Kore space, biding his time, only ever selecting jobs that secured his further dominance, not risked it.
Despite his p
rudence, Master was one of the most powerful forces within the Kore Empire – if the most shadowy. So the mere fact that someone within the Empire had the gall and resources to run a successful, undetected reconnaissance mission right in the heart of the Coalition – at the Earth Academy – was deeply worrying.
There was only one group I knew who’d try it – the Caste. A group of desperate, powerful, resourceful warriors situated deep within the Empire. They were one of the ruling forces of the Hole Sect. They were also adept at creating willing, mindless soldiers.
Utilizing everything from brain-washing techniques to mind-control to complete cybernetic refitting, for every soldier of the Caste you took down, two were created to replace them.
I reached the end of the hall, and turned to the left, down a staircase that would lead me towards the recreation floor.
I had no reason to use the facilities.
I should be heading to class, yet I calculated my current detour wouldn’t make me late.
I had five minutes to get to class. It would take me two to do what I would do next.
...
Jason Singh
“We’re running out of time,” Admiral Forest said, her voice a hurried hiss as she stood in the middle of the room. There were no windows, and the walls were reinforced with inch-thick carbo-steel.
It was a room designed to keep things in. Currently it had four inhabitants, and only two of us were alive.
I took a step forward, forcibly keeping my gaze locked on the Admiral rather than the two dead assassins secured in containment fields behind her.
Blue light flickered through the room in time with the pulsing, humming shields. It washed over the cold gray floor and up the drab walls, it even played against the side of the Admiral’s jaw as she angled her head towards the assassins. “We don’t know how much data they managed to send before you interrupted them.” She shrugged her shoulder at the assassins on the word them.
I cleared my throat and straightened.
“This is deadly serious,” she said in an ominous tone that matched the cold, dark room perfectly.
Axira Episode One: A Galactic Coalition Academy Series Page 11