“Did you turn notifications from the Academy off?” Amber asked.
He checked immediately and realized that he had when he’d tried to lessen the number of notifications he received in his anticipation for a reply from Laurie. “Dammit.”
“I had…misplaced my tablet and left it at my abode,” Genos admitted. “I intended to get a replacement once I checked in at the dorm.”
“Well, it’s a good thing we came to get ya.” Marlo chuckled. “Grab some travel cups and let’s move. We’ll probably be late as it is.”
Kaiden looked over to the bar and Julio caught his glance. “Hey, Julio, do you have some time?”
“What do you need?” he asked.
“A lift.” The proprietor rolled his eyes but nodded and told a couple of the other bartenders to cover for him before he went to the back room.
“It looks like we’ll be fine,” the ace said and picked his drink up once more. “But to be safe, I’d better down this in one.”
“Are you going to the ceremony buzzed?” Amber asked. “I’m sure that’s smart.”
“It’s our last year,” he replied, the bottle at his lips. “We can be a little irresponsible now, can’t we?”
Chapter Three
Dear Kaiden,
I wanted to leave a message to let you know that plans at the Academy have changed. They are holding our opening ceremony tonight. At first, I was concerned that this was due to our actions on some level, but Cyra assures me that timetables have been adjusted due to the influx of both new initiates and transfers this year. I only found out myself because I came in early to drop my gear and supplies off. As you aren’t here yet, I assumed you had not received the memo. Please try to not be late as the others are already on their way.
We’ll have to find the time to celebrate the new year later.
Chiyo
“Well, at least I wasn’t the only one caught off-guard,” Kaiden noted, turned the tablet off, and put it away. He leaned against the dropship wall and peered out the window for a moment at the forest they skimmed over.
“Okay, since we have some time…” Amber began and drew the ace’s attention. “Didn’t you say you would tell us what happened during your finals last year?”
“Huh? I already told you it was boring. It was only a retrieval mission for a device Laurie wanted that he couldn’t be bothered to fetch himself,” he replied and tried to avoid her gaze.
Flynn chuckled. “Come on, mate. Cameron said he saw you come back with Officer Wolfson and the commander, all of you with busted armor. That doesn’t sound like a ‘boring’ retrieval mission.”
“It was a very…intense retrieval mission?” Genos interjected and Kaiden shook his head.
Marlo folded his arms. “If you don’t want to spill the details, I assume there must be a reason.”
He nodded. “There would probably be some accomplice charges if you knew too much.”
Flynn whistled and looked away, as did the demolisher. Amber laughed before she called to Julio in the cockpit. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything, would you Julio?”
“No—or rather, I plead the fifth,” he yelled in response.
She frowned and leaned against the wall. “You guys must have really been involved in something deep.”
“Again, it’s better for your own interests if you don’t pry too much,” Kaiden repeated.
“I concur,” Genos added.
The medic rolled her eyes but smiled to show she wasn’t upset by their evasion. The ship began to slow and Julio called, “We’re reaching the Academy docks and have the all-clear. Get your stuff together and be ready to get your asses off my ship.”
Marlo laughed as he stood and took his bag out of the compartment above him. “I’ll give him points for speed and a smooth ride, but customer service could use some work.”
“Did you buy a ticket?” Julio retorted and the demolisher snickered.
“I guess he heard you, Marlo,” Flynn teased as he took an EI pad out.
His large friend nodded as he craned his neck. “I guess I’ll hurry and get my ass off this ship.”
The vessel circled the landing pad slowly and descended as the landing gear extended and the side door opened. Marlo made good on his word and leapt out before the ship even landed fully.
“Thanks for the ride, Julio!” Flynn yelled as he and Amber jumped out.
“Take care,” Julio responded and waved to Kaiden and Genos as they prepared to exit. “Make sure to stop by soon.”
“No worries. We gotta make up for not having drinks today,” the ace promised. “Have a good one, Julio, and don’t do anything too irresponsible.”
He merely waved as his last two passengers dropped out. The door closed behind them as the ship ascended and banked sharply to return to Seattle.
Kaiden watched it for a moment before he looked at Chief. “Hey, send a ping to the others so we can get together. We’re all supposed to be here by now, right?”
“It looks like someone beat ya to it,” the EI announced.
“What?” He followed Genos to the stairs and when he looked down, his gaze settled on Flynn and the others greeting the rest of the group at the bottom.
“Flynn already alerted the others as we pulled in,” Genos explained and slung his pack over his shoulder as he went down the stairs.
“Ah, well, you tried. Now get down there and remember, eye contact shows confidence.”
The ace rolled his eyes and smiled as he slid down the stairway railing to greet his friends. He fist-bumped with Mack and Cameron and clapped Silas on the shoulder. “I’m glad we’re all here. When’s the ceremony?”
“In a couple of hours,” Silas replied. “I’m surprised Durand was able to come up with something, considering he can’t do his whole ‘next level’ speech now that we’re still all technically masters due to tradition.”
“It makes the fourth-year part mean a little more,” Izzy agreed.
“I have heard that most fourth years are referred to as ‘ascendants’ by the others to distinguish them,” Jaxon interjected.
“That actually sounds less cool,” Cameron muttered. “I’m about to head to the dorms to get everything ready, but what say you guys to a little Animus training after the ceremony? We can get an early start.”
“You probably only want to shoot something,” Mack said mockingly. “Not that I’m opposed to the idea.”
“I have to finish getting my workshop supplies tonight,” Julius said. “And tomorrow, I have orientation in my exotech class.”
“Are you looking into exotech?” Amber asked. “It seems a little late for that.”
“Only to learn the basics. A fair amount of advancement has been made and in the future, they might be the new standard,” Julius explained. “My skills as a biologist will still prove useful, but it’s better to plan for the future, don’t you think?”
“Agreed,” Marlo declared. “That’s why I started taking Rigger workshops last year. Working with mechs goes hand in hand with demolisher work.”
“Don’t worry, Cam.” Kaiden placed an arm around the bounty hunter. “I’ll join you. As much as I like the chancellor’s little speeches, I would prefer something a little more…what’s the word? Oh, exciting.” He looked around the group. “Hey, have any of you seen Chiyo? I had a message that she was already here.”
“It took me some time to make it over.” The ace removed his arm from the bounty hunter as he turned. Chiyo smiled a greeting. “I was working on a project with Cyra. It’s good to see you made it with enough time to spare, Kaiden.”
“Fortunately, Julio is a barkeep with a pilot’s license that should probably have been revoked by now,” he explained with a chuckle. “But it’s good for getting to your destination quickly. How have you been?”
“Quite well. I spent most of my time at Mirai and with my father…” Her voice trailed off but her smile did not waver. “It was nice seeing him again.”
“I’m glad t
o hear it.” Kaiden gave her a nod of approval before he looked around and over to the cafeteria. “I’d like to hear more about it, but I’ve had a couple of beers and flew on a ship so I’m…uh, rumbling a little. Do you know if the cafeteria is open?”
She nodded. “It is. Shall we go?”
“I could use a bite,” Otto agreed.
“And I could use a couple of meals,” Luke hollered. “Let’s eat.”
The group wandered over to the cafeteria as they continued to talk and joke with one another. The first day of their last year was upon them. And, as they would soon learn, so were the machinations of the Arbiters.
Chapter Four
“If the mercenaries do not fall in line, you are to compel them to do so,” General Nolan insisted and scowled at his two subordinates on the holoscreens. “They have been paid. If that is not to their liking, you have spare golems, I am sure. The attack will begin soon and we need the chaos their forces can sow for the mission to succeed. Do you understand?”
The two underlings nodded agreement, saluted the general, and turned their screens off. Nolan spun and left the office to walk out into the docking bay where the master carrier, all thirteen hundred feet of it, was going through final inspection and inventory. Dozens of troops were loading supplies and stock and a team picked a giant cylinder up and attached it to a loop of rings connected to the side of the ship.
Two guards supervised a group of mule droids as they brought the emitter on board, one personally designed by the organization’s technicians based on the designs the EX-10 leader was able to recover. At least they were good for something. Almost everything was in place and for all his failings thus far, he was in his element now. He would make up for them.
“General!” a voice shouted happily from behind him. He turned to be greeted by Oliver Solos, who was dressed in a smart dark suit and a wide-brimmed hat and accompanied by at least four-dozen men.
“Mr. Solos,” the general said with a nod and took another look at the man’s entourage. “Who are they? Your personal escort?”
When Oliver came to a stop, he chuckled and clapped one of the men on their chest piece. “These, my good man, are some of the finest officers in my personal employ. I offer them to you as part of my gift to celebrate the big day.”
“That’s rather generous of you,” he replied and studied the group with new interest. They were certainly well-armed and although he hadn’t seen them in battle, Solos was not the kind of man to low-ball when it came to paying for such violent services. “Won’t you need them for your personal defense? While I will secure our victory, there will still be a period of disorder as we establish ourselves. If you’re not careful—”
“I’ve already made plans to be ‘away’ during all the action,” Solos confessed and interrupted the warning. “I’ll hitch a ride with Byson, Yadira, and Xiulan so there is no need to worry about me, my friend.” He took a few steps forward onto the platform Nolan stood on and stared at the massive ship in front of him. “It is glorious. And it’s amazing that we were able to build it in less than a year. Most projects of this scale take at least fifteen months.”
Nolan gazed at the master carrier. The size of it dwarfed even most dreadnaughts that he had once commanded, and it would soon be filled to bursting with troops and droids to swarm the enemy. If the opposing forces had any competence, they would soon learn that they were outclassed and swing to their side. Merely thinking about it made him hope that his campaign would be quicker than he hoped. But, he reminded himself, hope was for morale, not strategy.
“You have Mr Pope and Ms Rosenfeld to thank for the quick build, as well as Mr Sasaki for paying the council into looking away from our factories,” he explained.
“Ah, good old Juro. Did you hear he’ll actually stay planet-side?” Oliver inquired with a mocking smile. “I bet he’s hoping to be reinstated as the WC council leader once we’re done with all this. A puppet position, of course, but a well taken care of puppet.”
“We will need the order once the second phase begins,” the general reasoned. “To bolster the forces and plan for the real threat.”
“It really is a pity that it has come to this. We’ll lose many potential soldiers for the next act. Ah, well, if we find what our leader is looking for at the Academy, we’ll be able to make up for it easily. Speaking of which, here is the other part of my gift.” He reached inside of his jacket, removed a small black box with an ouroboros symbol, and presented it to the general.
He took it and opened it to reveal a small, circular black device. “This is for their training system?”
The other man smiled. “Indeed, Dario retrieved it for me, and I had my technicians make the final touches. I had hoped to have it installed in one of my satellites so we could simply beam a signal into the system before we advanced, but I was unable to get my data and controls from my Normandy company holdings. The bounty hunter I sent to retrieve them failed—or simply disappeared.”
That would have been a significant advantage, but once he had the Academy under his control, he would have access to their mainframe, an easy workaround. “It’s ready to go, then?”
“It may need a few calibrations once installed. I’ll send a few technicians to assist with that,” Solos promised and his expression settled into a toothy smile. “I would recommend using the expendable hostages to test the first few batches.”
Nolan closed the box, slipped it into his pocket, and turned away from the CEO. “That isn’t something to take pleasure in, Solos. Those are sacrifices we must make like everything else.”
“That’s true enough,” his companion said a little too loudly and tried hastily to restore the mood. “I’m merely delighted to see everything fall into place. After all, we’ve worked for almost a decade to bring this all together. And to see the Animus used for its proper purpose will be a treat.”
With a click and a hiss, another large cylinder attached to the group of rings, the last one in that batch. The arms holding the rings swung back and brought the group within the ship before another set circled out to be filled. “They will be our guard when the time comes,” the general stated cryptically. He turned and nodded at the other man once again. “I thank you for your gifts, Solos, but you’ll have to excuse me. I must assist with the final preparations.” He turned to look at the troops the CEO had brought with him. “You men report to Officer Brooks in section C. She will give you your orders and assign you to your units.”
The troops saluted and walked away in formation. They were well-disciplined, at least. Solos watched them go with a satisfied grin. “I’ll leave you to it then, General. I have a private vessel eagerly awaiting my patronage.”
“I shall make sure you and the others are contacted when it is safe to return,” he promised.
The man laughed and waved as he sauntered away. “At such a time, we will celebrate the victory of phase one.”
Nolan watched him go and a feeling of disgust consumed him. Celebrate? He was one of the members who had contributed least to this moment. Still, when he felt the weight of the box in his pocket, he reminded himself that they all had their place in the plan.
Once phase one was a success, however, he doubted that Merrick would be in the mood to celebrate anything.
“Tell the captain to order his troops and battleship over to Samara,” Merrick whispered into the speaker as he watched the admiral golem’s meeting. “That mercenaries have made their way to Russia en masse so something is obviously underway and they need to be prepared.”
He put the speaker down and smiled as the captain nodded and saluted when the golem’s personality settings assumed control. Damyen was already in position, if his Ark Academy troops were even half as ready as he said they were, this would be an easy capture. It would add another battlecruiser to their arsenal and another group of recruits once they’d been properly trained.
The AO leader leaned back and frowned when the golem’s heart rate line spiked briefly and erra
tically before it stabilized. The golems were reaching their limit and would give way soon but fortunately, it would be after they had launched their attack.
He glanced quickly at an activation switch propped up on a black mantle on his desk. Dario had confirmed that he was over eighty percent finished. Soon, the council as it was would change forever. Only a little more time was needed. He took a moment to let the certainty settle in and allowed himself a small smile. He would change the course of history with a few golems, some nanos, and a little camera tampering. One would think it would take more than that.
But they were not done, not yet. There would still be a war, a struggle they would have to face. And while he had no qualms about beginning and ending that war—they had prepared for it over a long period of time—he did hope that it would end quickly.
This was a war for the survival of humanity, after all.
Chapter Five
“From here on, I want you to climb to the tallest part of the mountain, to become something not only your underclassman can aspire to but your progenitors can find pride in and the world at large can see is among the best that humanity can offer,” Durand announced to the auditorium. This elicited some cheers and claps from most of the crowd, some from excitement and others because they thought the speech was over. They would soon be proven wrong as he continued with how he looked forward to calling all those present victors soon. Kaiden was a little distracted when Cameron chuckled.
The bounty hunter leaned back and shared a look with his friend. “He does realize some of these guys will simply go into accounting, right?”
The ace shrugged, although an amused grin creased his face. “You have to admit, they will be kick-ass accountants, though.”
“This has to be one of his longer speeches,” Raul muttered from Cameron’s left. “Do you think he has it all memorized or is there a readout we don’t see?”
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