by Kal Spriggs
I didn't meet their gazes, “Well, what makes you feel this is related to me?”
“Come on, Jiden!” Ashiri threw her hands in the air, “Three months ago you uncovered Isaac Champion selling military equipment to smugglers and they nearly killed you... then two weeks ago someone took a shot at the skimmer you were in? You think the two things couldn't possibly be connected?”
I looked down at the floor. “Maybe you guys shouldn't be looking into this.”
“You don't want to drag us into it?” Alexander asked.
I shrugged. I didn't really know how to answer. The Admiral had only given me hints. I didn't know if I'd be breaking some military regulation by passing on what I knew. I didn't know if I'd be endangering them or putting them in the line of fire. Someone had tried to kill me, and they'd nearly killed an entire skimmer of people in the process.
“We're probably already in the line of fire,” Ashiri said, her voice soft. “As your friends, whoever attacked you will probably assume you’ve told us everything. Besides, shooting down a skimmer isn't exactly a precision attack.”
I snorted at that. “Yeah... neither was the bomb.”
“Bomb?” Alexander asked.
I bit my lip as I realized what I'd said. After a moment, I sighed, “Yeah. There was a bomb on my original flight.” I hoped they didn't ask why I'd changed flights, so I went on quickly, “When I changed flights, they sent someone to shoot me down, instead.” I'd been thinking about all this for the past two weeks with no one to talk with about it all. Now it all came out in a rush, “The military is conducting a full investigation... but they suspect that there's a military officer involved, someone who had ties to the smugglers but who didn't get picked up when they took them down.”
“Why go after you though?” Ashiri asked. “I mean, revenge is one thing, but killing a whole skimmer full of people just to get you?”
Alexander frowned, “He might--”
“She,” Ashiri interrupted, “remember, they never identified the woman that Jiden heard talking with Isaac Champion.”
“Fine, she might think you know enough to identify him,” Alexander finished.
I nodded, “But I don't know anything. I've already told the original investigators everything I knew. They had a couple military investigators interview me last week, but I couldn't tell them anything new. They seemed pretty frustrated by it all.”
“I bet,” Ashiri nodded. She cocked her head, “Do you think the train is safe?”
I blanched at that. I hadn't even thought of an attack on the train. Still, I shook my head, “The Admiral and the investigators both told me that whoever this was, they're going to be laying low. If they attack me again, so soon after the last one, they risk being caught.”
“Huh,” Ashiri said. “I suppose that's true.”
“The train is a harder target, anyway,” Alexander said. “It is military infrastructure, designed for transporting military personnel and equipment across the planet, especially in times of war. Most it is buried thirty meters below bedrock, it's hardened to withstand near-misses by nuclear weapons.”
We were in a mostly-empty passenger compartment. The handful of windows just showed darkness outside. I didn't know much about the train network. I supposed Alexander was right. It would be hard for whoever wanted to get me to get me here. “Okay,” I said, “Well, once we get to the Academy, I should be safe enough.”
Ashiri and Alexander shot one another solemn looks. “Maybe,” Alexander said, his voice heavy with discomfort. “But if this is someone in the military, then he--”
“She,” Ashiri corrected automatically.
“Whatever... she could have pulled strings to get transferred to the Academy. There's always a high turnover of instructors. Reservists rotating through, active duty militia taking a term as instructors while they wait for their next position...” Alexander sighed. “It would be easy for an officer to get a transfer there.”
My stomach sank. I had hoped that I'd be safe. Well, perhaps not safe, but at least I'd be able to focus on classes, maybe even be able to be a normal person. I'd nearly been killed, twice now. Three times if you counted the bomb. I just wanted a chance to live my life without looking over my shoulder.
“Okay,” I said, “I'll have to keep an eye out.”
“We'll help,” Ashiri stated. “We've got your back.” She grabbed Alexander by the shoulder and while I felt an ache in my chest at the familiarity they had, I also felt almost pathetically grateful for the fact that they were going to be there for me.
“Alright,” I said, “the bad guys won't know what hit them.”
***
I'd never been to the Academy's train stop before. After graduation from the Academy Prep Course, I'd flown back to the Admiral's house with my parents, then gone straight from there to my internship at Champion Enterprises.
The train pulled into a broad, wide-open cavern, carved out of solid rock. It didn't feel like the lower levels that I remembered. This felt deeper and somehow reminded me of my parent's excavations of the alien complex at Black Mesa.
We pulled up to a platform and the others in the passenger car began to shoulder their bags and move for the doors. I took my one, small bag and followed.
Within a few minutes, I found myself lined up with my section in one of the subterranean parade squares. I had an odd, goofy grin on my face. These were my friends and it felt good to be with them again. By habit, I was formed up as second squad leader. It felt odd, though, to see the shoulders of Mikuluk ahead of me instead of Sashi Drien.
Then again, since Sashi had shot me in the face at the final exercise last summer, she wasn't exactly popular in Sand Dragon Section. From what I'd heard, the other candidates in my section had refused to have anything to do with her.
“Welcome back to the Academy,” a familiar voice spoke. I kept my eyes forward and forced myself to look properly stern as I recognized Senior Cadet Instructor Mackenzie.
“At ease,” he snapped. As we went into a more relaxed position, he gave us his friendly smile. My eyes widened a bit as I recognized the rank on his collar. “I'm Cadet Commander Mackenzie, and I'm in charge of Sand Dragon Company. I hope you all had a good holiday break with your families. Last time we saw each other, you all had just graduated as candidates during the summer Academy Prep Course. Well, I'm happy to say that now you are here as Plebes.”
I swallowed nervously as I realized that while I'd remembered reading the term, I hadn't paid much attention. I'd been focused on the class work that I'd had to rush to complete, I'd just sort of skimmed all the military stuff. That was probably something of a mistake...
“For those of you who didn't pay much attention,” Mackenzie said, “Plebes are our most junior cadets. The term comes from an old earth language, it means 'citizen' or 'civilian.' While all of you have learned basic military procedures, what you haven't done yet is master the skills that will make you valuable cadets in the Cadet Reserve Regiment.”
Cadet Reserve Regiment? I'd read that, but I'd assumed it was just another way to refer to the Cadet body as a whole. The way Mackenzie said it, it was like we were an actual military force.
“All of you know that the Century Planetary Militia has a large force of reservists, men and women who work civilian jobs and who, in time of war or emergency, are called up to serve our planet.” He gestured around at them, “As you might imagine, it takes a while for those reservists to form up, they've got to be ordered up, travel to their drilling centers, and get their equipment out of storage and mobilized. Uniquely, all of us are already at our drilling site and because we train with our equipment on a daily basis, we're ready to go within a few hours if we get called up. What that means is that our cadet regiment acts as one of the emergency reserves for our planet.”
I felt a weight settle on my shoulders as he said that. I knew that the Star Guard limited the forces we could have in our Planetary Militia, like they did with everyone. While they limited what w
e could have on active duty, their restrictions were far less tight on our reserve forces, which meant we could have a lot more people and ships in the reserve. It was supposed to prevent star nations from attacking one another, but way out on the edge of human space, it made me feel like we weren't very well protected.
Officially the Star Guard would come to the protection of any nation attacked. Our active forces were supposed to be just enough to prevent someone from taking the planet over without resistance. But not only were we way out on the frontier of human space, but we also weren't included in the Star Guard charter, which meant we weren't going to be a priority for them to save us.
“The Academy has a squadron of corvettes and several squadrons of warp fighters,” Mackenzie went on. “Each company in the Regiment falls in on our assigned positions. Sand Dragon Company has two squadrons of warp-drive fighters, Firebolt Mark V's. Maintenance and care of those fighters is our duty, just as completing our assignments and coursework is our duty.”
“But while you know how to study, you don't know your assignments within Sand Dragon Company, or our overall duties within the Cadet Reserve Regiment. That's why you're not full Cadets... you're Plebes.” He smiled, “I'm sure you'll learn your duties quickly. Once your class, as a whole, has proven their skills, then you'll all be accepted into the Regiment of Cadets, as Cadets Fourth Class. In the meantime, you'll fall under our Company Training Officer, Cadet Lieutenant Webster.” He gestured at the cadet standing nearby. “Now, I've got the utmost trust in you. So do me proud.” He nodded at us and then snapped, “Section, attention!”
“Cadet Lieutenant Webster, take charge!”
Webster came up, saluted Mackenzie, and then waited while our Company Commander moved off. As he turned around, I couldn't help but feel there was something ominous about the silence he held us in. After a moment, he barked out orders and marched us off the parade ground and then down into the familiar corridors. He broke us down into a single file line and had us line up against the wall. Just down the hallway I recognized my old room. It was odd to see it, like the whole place had shrunk a little bit.
“Alright, Plebes,” Webster snarled at us, “you may think that because you've graduated the Academy Prep Course, that you're good to go. You can't be further from the truth.” He walked down the line, counting us off, “One, two, three, one, two, three...”
“Ones,” he said, “step across the hallway and turn to face your former section-mates.” He gloated as he said that and I felt puzzled as I watched Ashiri Takenata and others step across the hallway and face us. “One third of Plebes won't finish the year,” Webster snapped. “They'll fail out, or they'll be released for honor code violations or misconduct. One in three... think about that!”
I shivered as I considered it. I'd walked away from several offers at other colleges. I chose to come here, instead. I didn't think I'd fit in at a normal school, not after what I'd been through. More than that, I felt I had to be here. I'd seen how dangerous the universe could be. I'd nearly been killed. My friend and fellow intern, Ted Meeks, had disappeared, probably been killed.
“Two's... step across the hallway,” Cadet Lieutenant Webster snapped.
I stepped across and turned to face my section. “One third of cadets don't graduate with their sections. They either fail to get their coursework completed on time or they are delayed for misconduct or other violations.”
I swallowed as I stared across the hallway. Dawson stood opposite me, and he looked rather lonely. In fact, as I realized that the entire line of my section looked pretty lonely. There were big gaps between each of them. Of the twenty of us, only six remained. That can't be right, I told myself. We'd started with forty candidates. If only six out of forty graduated...
I couldn't understand the amount of effort they went to for such poor returns.
“Ones and twos, step back across the hallway,” Webster barked. As we complied, he walked up and down the line. He had an odd, rushed movement, it was nothing like the confidence of the Cadet Cadet Instructors, it was almost like nervous energy and it left me feeling uneasy.
“Now, since I have you here, I'm going to outline your duties as Plebes. First off, we drill every Saturday. For those of you who don't realize it, that's tomorrow morning. Drill days are intensive. Not only do we have the squadron of Firebolts, we also have a ready platoon who are assigned to defend the Academy Grounds and several Cadets assigned to the Academy's air defenses.”
He stopped opposite me and gave a scowl, glaring at me as if he found my very presence offensive. “Most Plebes are utterly useless for those duties, so we'll start you out doing simple tasks: grounds defense and helping to ready the squadron.”
“The rest of today you'll be going through in-processing,” he looked up and down the line, still standing in front of me. “Medical screening, equipment issue, and weapons draw.” His gaze returned to me, “And since some of you apparently managed to lose your uniforms and gear, we'll do an equipment issue as well.” His glare at me was all the more imposing for the fact that it seemed very personal. It was like he didn't like me.
I didn't understand that. Even the Cadet Instructors had been impersonal about their treatment of us. In fact, as the Academy Prep Course had gone on, they'd become almost friendly... in a distant and authoritative sort of way. For some reason, Cadet Lieutenant Webster really didn't like me.
“Some basic ground rules before we go over to in-processing. We have the cadet military structure which falls under the Planetary Militia. Cadets First Class often are given positions of authority and rank within the Academy. I'm a Cadet Lieutenant. Cadet Commander Mackenzie is in overall command of Sand Dragon Company. We have several other officers and you'll be expected to memorize their ranks and positions. You will render salutes and greetings to them.”
He began to pace up and down the line again, “Cadets First Class have been here five years, sometimes more. We have all been through what you've been through. We are about to be commissioned as officers in the Planetary Militia. You will treat us with the respect of our experience and rank, regardless of whether or not one of us is a Cadet Officer.”
“Cadets Second Class have completed four years. They act as our squad leaders and non-commissioned officers, or NCO's. They'll carry out Cadet Officer instructions and orders. They typically tell the Cadets Third Class what to do.”
I recognized both of them, they'd been two of our Cadet Instructors. It seemed that they'd continue on in a similar role. That gave me an odd sense of relief. On the one hand, they utterly terrified me, but on the other, both had been fair and even-handed before.
“Cadets Third Class typically are totally focused on their duties and assignments. Most of them are training on their second tier of combat skills, gaining proficiencies in weapons systems, vehicles, and spacecraft. If one of them gives you a direction, you will acknowledge it and obey.”
“When your class, your year group, has learned their assignments and becomes a valuable contribution to the Cadet Reserve Regiment, you will be recognized and you will become Cadets Fourth Class. You'll be given opportunities to display your skills... and unfortunately a great many of you will fail. Military service is not for everyone. Failure is something that you can learn from, but the level of stress, the very real danger that you face in military service, is such that we have to push every one of you to the breaking point.”
Webster looked around at us. “Some of you will break. Some of you do not belong here.” He stopped opposite me, again and this time I couldn't help but flinch back from the vitriol on his face, “It is my job to make sure that we find the weak ones and weed them out.”
My heart sank. I'd hoped that after the Prep Course, things would be easier. Apparently I'd been wrong. I wondered if I'd made a terrible mistake in coming back and as I stared at Cadet Lieutenant Webster, I wondered what I'd done that he hated me so much.
***
In-processing went much the same as it had before, onl
y without all the yelling and shouting. Actually, it was... boring. That left me feeling surprised. It had all seemed so alien before, the brusque treatment, the poking and prodding. Now it was almost soothing in the boredom. No one was trying to kill me. No one was shouting at me. A couple of times, standing in line, I had to fight the urge to nod off.
I fought that urge as well as I could, downloading the various rules and regulations for the Academy and reading up on it all, looking for things I'd missed. It turned out that there were a lot of rules. At first I tried to take them all in, then I just skimmed. After a few minutes, I closed it out. Otherwise it was going to put me to sleep, worse than standing in lines. I just sort of turned my brain off at that point, everything settling into a vague haze.
That was, until I got to supply.
It was the same female Petty Officer I'd seen here last summer. At least, I thought it was her. She had the same pinched expression. The same glower. She looked at her datapad, then up at me. “You lost all of your uniforms and gear? All of it?”
“Uh,” I looked around, “Yeah. There was a skimmer crash, it caught fire...”
“You cadets...” the petty officer growled. “Worse than officers. That stuff is expensive! I can't believe someone signed off on your loss requisition, not with a cockamamie excuse like that. Skimmer crash... yeah right.” She tapped her datapad and the machinery next to her spat out the required uniforms. “It'll be tonight for the rest of your gear, the machine's got a queue that will keep it running all night. Half of you cadets lost some or all your gear. I'll message you when you can pick it up.”
It seemed that not everyone was so happy to work here at the Academy.
Leaving supply, I checked my datapad for my next stop. I frowned, though, as it updated to show an appointment back in the medical section. I thought I'd cleared all the physical and mental examinations at this point. Still, maybe I'd missed one.
I headed back that way, following the directions on my datapad until it led me into a hallway that seemed rather empty. It was strange, everywhere else there had been a line of cadets waiting... but this corridor had no one. In fact, I looked back the way I'd come... and it was just empty corridor as well.