Xandrian Stone Book 2: The Academy Part 1

by Christian Alex Breitenstein

  The Admiral continued: "This next year will be busy for all of you. According to your color you will train and strive to as good a wizard as you can. At half term the best sixty of you will crew three Bricks and go on a round-trip, visiting many of the planets and moons. Everyone who will not yet have a single star will then leave the academy and go home."

  That created mixed reactions. Some cheered, no doubt all those with a star as well as, of course, Lindan. Others were very silent, probably those who held little hope.

  "The second term will be much like the first, but now you'll have the opportunity to cross-train and get User-level ribbons in other colors for your dress uniforms. Every such ribbon will come with a star for your insignia. Cross-training is not required, but a good way to distinguish yourselves. At the end of the second term the best sixty will go on a proving mission, which will be your opportunity to suggest yourselves to the captains as viable new crew members."

  "The other graduating cadets will still have a chance to go to space if you want, you never know what opportunities might arise in the future. All Second Cadets who do not have 2 or more stars in their insignia will go home. Everyone who graduates will be promoted to Ensign, possibly even Lieutenant, and accepted into the Swiss Federal Space Navy."

  Montag looked at me. "That last bit was for you, the First Cadet will be promoted to First Ensign or, if he works really well, Prime Ensign. But you will be Lieutenant, no doubt." I winked at him. "We'll see - a year is a very long time." His eyes grew big, then he burst out laughing.

  Chapter 6: HEALING (pain)

  The beginning of the academy, the next morning, found me very excited and nervous.

  I was up and about again, after a short visit to my quarters refreshed, clean and with a wrinkle-free uniform. While in my quarters I had updated my dress uniform with the Bandaged Leg and had the wall screen take a picture of me in it, to send to my folks back home. Lindan had taken the quarters next to mine, which I took as a good sign concerning our rocky start, but was not home. Probably getting breakfast I guessed. I had taken my breakfast in the infirmary and headed back there immediately.

  When the chief healer brought the cadets to the infirmary to start their training, I was standing there amongst the other healers as if I belonged there. "Prime Cadet Stone, you are Adept Healer. Can you tell us the essence of healing magic, what makes it what it is?"

  "Sir, I guess so. When we heal someone or, for that matter, an animal or a plant, we take their pain into us. Then we analyze that pain, seek its root source and heal that, sir." "Is that really needed?" whined one of the cadets. "Yes, it is. We can dull our own ability to feel pain, but that will also dull our ability to pinpoint the problem and may well lead to incomplete results like crooked legs, joints that ache when the weather changes and things like that. Sorry, sir." The chief had been about to speak which I only noticed after beginning myself.

  "Not a problem, Adept. Have you come across such incomplete results yourself?" "I believe I have, sir. But not because of neglect, it felt like it was because the healer who made the incomplete result was in over their head, sir. That happens." "What did you do?" "I repaired the damage completely." "With that you mean to say that you reopened whatever injury that was, healed the damage caused by the incomplete attempt and healed the original injury?" "Well - yes, sir." It sounded kinda bad-ass if he put it like that.

  "I do not mean to intimidate you, Cadets, First Cadet. I mean to tell you to not take this Adept Healer as a role model or even someone to strive after. You will only make yourselves unhappy. Prime Cadet Stone was awarded the order of the Bandaged Leg for good reason. That is rare even amongst officers with decades of experience."

  "What is going to happen today is this: First I will tell you how the academy works, then you'll start with your healer training." He looked around, then he turned to me and smiled a bit. "Prime Cadet Stone, you are obviously not bound by our schedule. As you are cadet I cannot make you an instructor, and you being an Omni-Wizard means that you will be all over the place anyway. But this morning you are here, so join your fellow cadets, if you please." "Aye, sir." I stepped over to the other cadets, smiling.

  "Good. Now that everyone is in their right place," that got a chuckle by most of the cadets ,"this is the plan: In the mornings you will be here, learning the art of healing. In the afternoons you will be outside, being soldierly drilled. That second part is part of being an officer of the SFSN, so I suggest you get your heads down and endure it. Also, this physical and a bit mindless drill will help you focus and make you better healers, even if you won't believe me any time soon." He looked at me. "Hm - maybe they'll believe you?" "Aye, sir. People, what the chief said is true. Healing means to take the pain of another into yourself, and it needs focus to not be overwhelmed."

  The chief healer nodded. "Absolutely. Although, keep in mind, that injuries that are worse than what an Able Healer can heal are rare. You all are Potential Healers, meaning that small cuts and the likes are within your grasp - and that is what we are going to begin your training with." "Sir, you don't mean to cut us now, do you?" asked the largest of the cadets. Not overweight, although he must have outweighed me by quite a bit, no - large as in tall, wide and muscular. A brick of a man.

  And a bit of a wuss, it seemed.

  "Do not fear. Healing yourself is much harder than healing another. The final test will be you healing a bonsai tree. We know that any living being has some level of consciousness, so we only harm small side twigs that the bonsai can live without. We must test ourselves somehow, after all."

  "Training can be done with things as simple as blades of grass. And that is what you will be healing today." He gave a sign and one of the healers went outside while another started shifting a couple of gurneys around, arranging them in a straight line one after the other. The first came back in, holding a box in his hands. He put that on the first gurney in the line and passed small pots to the other healer who placed them along the line of gurneys. In the pots were, total surprise, planted bushels of grass. Then the healers placed small knives next to the pots.

  "Those are your patients today. You will cut the grass blades and heal them again. How badly you injure the grass is up to you, but you will have to heal whatever injury you cause. Let me demonstrate." He took a knife and cut the top of one of the blades of grass off completely, then he handed the top to me. An amputation? Seriously?

  Taking a deep breath and emptying my mind, I approached the mutilated blade of grass. Focusing hard, I touched the bottom part of it and held the top to where it belonged - then I took in its pain.

  Fortunately for them, plants had a different way to feel pain. Unfortunately for me, in order to be able to heal it properly I had to properly understand the pain and that meant translating it to what I would feel. And that was not fun. At all. The entire top half of my body went completely numb and a thin line around my waist exploded in pain worse then anything I had ever felt before. I was never the screaming type, but a loud grunt did escape me. Taking slow, deep breaths I worked the pain and started to feel the single fibers of the grass and how to reattach the severed top half. It worked, and after a minute or two the pain started dissipating. Another minute later I checked if everything was where it belonged, which it was. Then I looked up. "I need a drink."

  My waist was still burning in pain, but it was dissipating quickly. The feeling was returning to my upper body, the tingling of which - as unrealistic as it sounds - was even worse. I had to support myself on the gurney for the moment. The chief healer looked at me. "I meant for yo to explain why that could not be healed, Prime Cadet." Oh now he told me? I snorted. "People, don't try this. Begin with the smallest cuts you can manage, hardly breaking the skin of the grass. When you heal that, you'll see."

  Two of the healers took my arms and steered me to a gurney to lie down. As I was lying, I realized the total silence in the infirmary. Propping up the upper part of my gurney to get into a sitting position, I looked around.
All the cadets were staring at me, with varying degrees of disbelief. "Guys, you got grass to cut and heal. I won't be going anywhere for the moment." I smiled at them. Lindan snorted. "Man, you know that you just reattached an amputation?" "Well - yes." That got everyone to laugh. "What the First Cadet is trying to say," the chief healer helped Lindan, "is that reattaching amputations is nearly impossible. Well, was, it seems. Did you not know that?"

  "Well, sir, I come from the sensor side of magic. I always thought healing to be kinda my side talent, maybe a two-color yellow-green. I was unlocked as Omni-Wizard only two months ago. All of this is new to me." He nodded thoughtfully. "That makes your deeds that much more impressive. Reattaching amputations is said to be on the upper end of Adept magic. What are you all waiting for?" That last bit was directed at the other cadets who were consuming our exchange with curiosity. They lined up behind gurneys and pots, and began gingerly to use the knives on the grass.

  Now I was watching with curiosity. The first ones had nicked a blade of grass and touched the patient. What came next made me frown. It was not that hard, after all. But they made it look like it was worse.

  There were grunts, yelps, knives were dropped on the floor, people jumped back and one high pitched scream accompanied by a loud crash. The brick of a man had knocked his gurney over, along with the pots and patients of 3 other cadets. That moment would be used to tease him throughout his career, and he took it all with good humor. He retired as a Master Healer. But back then he just looked chagrined as some of the officers righted the gurney and placed new pots on it, for the cadets to train on.

  He looked at his bit of grass with terror, so much so that I got up and positioned myself opposite of him. He looked at me with a start, and went into something akin to an "at attention" posture. "At ease. Tell me what happened?" "Sir," he rumbled in his normal voice which got him looked at from all sides, "I was surprised by how much that hurt." "Honestly, I am more surprised by that sound you made." I grinned, everybody laughed and his head turned a shade of red. He tried to say something, but nothing seemed to come to mind leaving him looking like a stranded fish snapping for air. "Easy, mate. I suggest you repeat immediately, so that you don't get afraid." I meant that as friendly advice.

  He took a deep breath, shot me a look that said "Me, afraid? Not in this life." and steeled himself visibly. Then he took the knife, nicked one blade and put the knife down. Then he touched the blade, took a deep breath and focused on the blade of grass. His eyes turned green, he grunted and the blade healed. He took a step back, massaged his left hand and shivered a bit. "Divine, this is not easy." I nodded. "But you completely healed the patient. That's all that matters." The chief added: "That is right. Son, why don't you sit for a short while to collect yourself before healing again?" The brick nodded, walked back to a free gurney and sat gently.

  For the rest of the morning a lot of cuts got made and healed, the brick - whose name was Darian Smith - joined in as well and healed several more superficial cuts. Compared to his beginning, that was a significant improvement.

  Chapter 7: THE DRILL-LIEUTENANT

  After lunch we all gathered on the parade ground. At 13:00 sharp the Drill-Lieutenant positioned himself in front of us and thumped his foot. I took the hint, stiffened myself and yelled "Officer is present!"

  I know I was heard across the field, because everywhere groups of cadets stood at-attention. Lindan ran up to me and stood behind me, while the mass of cadets behind me started falling silent. Then Lieutenant Radaean McGlennan proved why he was known as "The Drill-Lieutenant": He thundered "CADETS! Ateeen-TION!", and all remaining sounds ceased.

  The Drill-Lieutenant looked at us. "Magic is wonderful. But what if you run into a situation where your magic does not help you? Healers: What if you need to get to a patient 10 kilometers away as quickly as possible on foot? Weapons: What if your opponent is stronger than your magic and you need to resort to good old hand-to-hand methods? Sensors: What if you need to perform your duty while under fire and on the move?

  He took a breath. "I will tell you what: You will FAIL! You will not get to the patient in time, you will not win, you will not perform! That's where I come in. I will mold you, I will shape you into OFFICERS OF THE SWISS FEDERATED SPACE NAVY!" He was truly awesome to behold. "Prime CADET Stone! Step forward MARCH!" With a start, I stepped forward stiffly. He spoke softly: "Am I amusing? Do you want me to get you some cookies and milk?" Controlling my face vigorously - cookies and milk did sound like a good idea - I answered in as strong and militaristic a tone I could manage: "No, SIR!" I could incorporate yelling too.

  "GOOD! Down with you and give me 50 PUSH-UPS!" Okay, he could yell better. I dropped myself, and started pushing. The Drill-Lieutenant helped me kindly: "ONE! TWO! THREE! THAT WAS NOTHING! THREE! THREE!" My arms begun to shake. "FOUR! FIVE! FASTER! SIX! DON'T LIE DOWN! ONE! TWO!" My neck was not wide enough for the air I tried to force down through it. Wheezing fast breaths, I continued. "THREE! FOUR! FIVE! WANNA GIVE UP YET?! SIX!" A coughing fit hit me and for a moment I could only lie on my side, coughing, wheezing, coughing more. With force (and a bit of magic) I stopped the coughing, got on my hands again and restarted pushing. "ONE! TWO! Good, on your feet, Prime Cadet." The last part was in conversational tone again.

  Still wheezing, I found myself only barely able to get up, let alone stand stiffly. "Move around a bit, that helps. Do you understand the lesson?" I nodded, speaking was impossible. "I believe you. Walk rounds, slowly, until I call for you again." I nodded, walked to the training strip around the parade ground, turned left and started walking rounds. Shakily.

  Meanwhile, the Drill-Lieutenant of course had noticed the grins and smirks that many of the cadets were sporting. He addressed them. "Cadets, to you it may look like I punished the Prime Cadet and it may be funny to you. Believe me, when I tell you this: IT IS NEITHER! He now knows that even he needs to look after his body, to get the most out of his mind. SO DO YOU! DOWN WITH YOU! ONE! TWO!"

  I did look, of course. I did not, however, grin or make internal jokes. For one, I was still way too exhausted for that, and I had indeed understood the lesson. In retrospect, I can say that this afternoon saved my life many times over in the future after the events that I am describing in this here diary. In fact, the lesson had been driven home so well, that without thinking I increased my walking speed as soon as I felt it to be safe. The Drill-Lieutenant had the other cadets stand and sit by now, and they looked miserable. I realized that I was no longer wheezing, but indeed breathing more or less normally - so I changed pace to a slow jog.

  "Prime Cadet! Why are you not WALKING!?" "Sir, I feel much better and I feel like I will not improve myself by walking, sir!" "Good thinking. Keep the jog slow, but maintain the speed for now to increase your cardiovascular endurance!" "Aye, aye, sir!"

  Much later in our lives, Rad told me that this was the moment that he started developing respect for me. He saw that I think for myself and am not easily suppressed.

  But back to that day.

  As I was jogging around the parade ground, the Drill-Lieutenant had the other cadets do push-ups and stand-and-sits in alternation until they were wheezing just as badly as I had. Then he sent them on the running strip as well, and soon we were all jogging slowly.

  I was amazed how full the strip suddenly was. Yes, it was some six meters wide and wrapped around the parade ground that was a square whose edges were some 130-ish meters long. But almost 700 cadets filled that. At least, we organized ourselves automatically: the slower ones were on the inside, the quicker ones on the outside.

  That's really all I can tell you about the afternoons in the first term, it was always like this: push-ups and stand-and-sits until we wheezed, then walking and jogging slowly round and round. It might sound boring, but I found it to be wonderful to reflect, think, dream and practice magic while under physical pressure.

  Chapter 8: SENSORS (focus)

  After the first week it was decided that there was not much of a
point in me staying in the infirmary during training hours. There was not much for me to do anyway, and being a cadet, albeit a Prime Cadet, barred me from becoming an Instructor. The Admiral himself investigated that question and found an old article in the navy Handbook of Service that stated clearly:

  "To be eligible for the honor of instructing cadets, one must hold a rank of Lieutenant at least."

  So I was declared "fully trained" in healing magic and freed to pursue additional training as I saw fit. That even freed me from the afternoon exercises, but the Drill-Lieutenant's lesson still stuck and I decided to keep doing them.

  I had begun my magical life as a sensor/healer, and the healing part was sorted. So, the logical decision was to see what I could do as a sensor.

  So, after the weekend that was spent playing in the game-room and exercising (out of boredom) I went to the sensor training area on Monday morning.

  It turned out that the training areas for shields, sensors and navigation were identical to each other: 12 training rooms that were each a bit bigger than my quarters, on the bottom end of the training wing - right next to the infirmary.