"Cadet Kelras, at any time during the day, did you witness Cadet Higgs interacting with any other cadets that would indicate familiarity between them?" the same woman, a commander by the looks of her uniform asked, and I furrowed my brow in thought.
"No ma'am, not that I can recall. He did select a bunk with Cadet Milner, but I believe his selection was by chance and not familiarity with the other cadet."
I answered several more questions about what had occurred during the day of are arrival at the basic training facility, and soon Mo arrived, escorted by a security officer. He zoomed towards me and crooned, doing a back flip. I felt my cheeks flush a little with embarrassment and quickly activated his fleet mode protocol. Fleet mode was the behavior mode I had set up where he would behave more like my grandfather’s AI and act much more serious.
A drone flew down from behind the officers and hovered in front of Mo.
"Cadet, have you AI provide access to Del98."
I nodded in response to the order and directed Mo to allow the other AI drone to access his data files. After a few moments, the drone flew away from Mo and I watched as the admirals all looked down at the table in front of them. They must have had screens or datapads, as I could hear the audio faintly and knew they were watching the confrontation from the hall.
“Cadet Kelras,” one of the Officers, whom I recalled my mother called Barlem, spoke, drawing my attention. “The girls in this footage, Cadet Raina in particular—can you tell me about your interactions with her? Do you have any footage pertaining to any other interactions with her?”
“Yes, sir. Mo has some footage of a confrontation with Cadet Raina during our first day. There is also some footage from the next morning,” I said before going on to explain about the incidents in the lecture hall and during the inspection. I also told them about the girls being woken by Lt Moore the following morning, and how I had been the one to bring them to the obstacle course.
“Captain Barlem, what significance does this have to the current investigation?” Fleet Admiral Willeim asked once I had finished my explanation and the officers had reviewed the footage.
“Sir, the matter is unrelated. However, upon seeing Cadet Raina in the footage, I recalled that I had recently received a formal complaint from Senator Raina about his daughter’s dismissal. He has also put forward a complaint of misconduct about Cadet Kelras, claiming she acted in a manner that resulted in his daughter’s removal from the academy. I had already addressed the matter with Lt Moore, though considering Cadet Kelras herself was here I felt it would be pertinent to see what she had to say on the matter of the girl’s behavior.”
Senator Raina? Cadet Raina’s father was a senator and had made a formal complaint about me? I swayed slightly, feeling suddenly dizzy.
“I do not see any fault in Cadet Kelras’s conduct,” the female officer who had spoken to me earlier said to a series of nods from the others. My mother, unlike the other officers who had devolved into a discussion on the girl’s behavior, was instead staring down at the screen before her. I could almost feel the anger radiating from her stiff posture, and I shifted nervously, unsure what I was meant to do.
"Sir, I believe we have heard all we need from Cadet Kelras," my mother suddenly said, directing her gaze to the fleet admiral who nodded in agreement.
After being formally dismissed, I quickly strode out of the room, ignoring the low murmur of the officers’ voices behind me. I was rather surprised that the coroner’s inquest hadn’t been as intimidating as I’d thought it would be. I was also confused as to why my mother had been there, though it may have something to do with the recent rumors I'd been hearing.
There were rumors going around that Fleet Admiral Willeim would be retiring this year. Everyone was already assuming it would be my mother who would replace him. The fleet admiral was entering his late hundreds, and most people tended to live until they reached about two hundred. My mother was in her sixties, my uncle Julian was forty-nine and my father was fifty-seven. I had never had the courage to ask my grandparents or mother for their exact ages. Most people didn't look as old as they truly were, and many preferred not to admit their real age.
I was alone on my trip back to the campus, only the transport’s pilot returning with me. The pilot dropped me off at the gates leading to the basic training facility, and I slowly made my way back to the green squad barracks with Mo lighting up my path. My four friends were all awake and waiting for me as I entered. I could see the concern and curiosity on their faces, but I simply shook my head in response to their looks.
Jetta still looked ready to try her hand at interrogating me, but Fiona stopped her. I showered quickly and got ready to get some sleep for the next day. I slipped into bed, though sleep did not come. With a sigh, I rolled over to grab my datapad. If I couldn't sleep, then I might as well study.
Connecting my implant to the datapad and forwarding my interface controls onto it, I noticed a message from Zander and wasn’t able to prevent the smile that crept onto my face as I read what he had written.
‘@Aristeia Kelras—So how was your first real meal in a week?’
‘@Zander Altair —What makes you think we won?’
‘@Aristeia Kelras—Because I know you wouldn't lose, not when fresh food was the prize.’
I grinned. He knew how much I loved fresh food. Growing up on rehydrated meals had taught me to appreciate just how amazing fresh food was. I had sent Zander a very long message complaining about having to eat RMPs a few nights ago. He had been unsympathetic to my plight, as he also had to eat the rehydrated meals.
‘@Zander Altair—True. Dinner was amazing. No dessert, though, which was disappointing.’
I was still a little put out by the fact that there had been no sweets in the officers’ dining hall. I was desperately craving sugar. I had grown used to being spoiled by my grandmother’s cooking. She would make a different dessert almost every night and was always giving me little treats. My grandfather had said that she was spoiling me, and I now realized just how right he had been.
‘@Aristeia Kelras—Only seven more weeks, then you can raid your grandparents’ fridge.’
‘@Zander Altair—I’m looking forward to it. I wonder if I can convince Grandma to make her cheesecake again. How have your classes been? What's command school like?’
‘@Aristeia Kelras—Interesting for the most part. I don't know how I'm going to survive the year in a barracks with cadet Felione though. If we were in space right now, I'd shove her out of an airlock.’
I frowned as I read Zander's message. What had the other cadet done to make Zander so annoyed?
‘@Zander Altair—That bad?’
‘@Aristeia Kelras—I'll tell you about it when you get out of basic. Any crew potentials so far?’
Reading Zander's response to my question, I realized he must not want the instructors who would be monitoring my communications to see what he said about the other cadet.
‘@Zander Altair—Maybe. Won't know for sure until we start first year, and we can see how they do in their programs. I'll send you the files I have on the ones in my squad, I've had Mo spying on the other squads and picked a few to watch from those, too.’
I sent him the files for the four cadets in my squad, along with the file for Jetta's cousin Lars Paulson. I didn’t have a file for the other two I had been considering but sent him what information I had managed to gather with Jetta’s aid.
The first cadet I had been observing was Janus Dowe, and he was also in the pilot program. Janus Dowe was in the red squad and we had talked on several occasions. He was smart and his father was an enlisted shuttle pilot while his mother was a space station communications officer in Marlu system. He was quiet and a little timid, but he was extremely intelligent and just as passionate about flying as I was. We had talked at length about hyperspace theory and the navigational calculations required to safely navigate hyperspace. Compared to the other cadets that I had observed that were also in the pilot progra
m, I felt like he would be the only one I would be able to tolerate as a co-pilot. The others were a bit too much like me and very self-assured of their own ability. If I teamed with one of them, then I felt that we would always be in a battle for the helm.
The second was Peter Mills. He, like the red squad leader, had tested into the academy after having gone through enlistment training. Cadet Mills missed the academy exams last year when the ship he had been traveling on from the Riv'ari system had been attacked by pirates. He had enlisted in the security and tactical program and would be specializing in ship security.
While pirate attacks were rare in more populated systems, the Riv'ari system was located on the outer edge of Federation-controlled space. The news of pirate attacks in Riv'ari and its surrounding systems had been increasing over the past year. It had been a rather popular topic with the cadets in my squad, many arguing that the fleet should be deploying more ships to the system, in order to deal with the pirate incursion.
Though, as my grandfather had explained when I'd asked him about the subject, the fleet had to be careful about deploying too many ships to that particular system. The Riv'ari planetary system, was in truth only half a system with the other half called the Madden system, which was governed by the Gallarino Alliance. If the Alliance saw the Federation deploying too many ships so close the border, it could cause more tension between our governments. The war between the United Astrum Federation and the Gallarino Alliance over the Mero system, which bordered Riv'ari had ended almost fifteen years ago, and there was still considerable friction between the two governments.
Chapter 29
The next morning, we arrived at the obstacle course to find it had changed slightly. There was one more obstacle added to the end of the course, and more would be added each week of training. The first of the new obstacles was a large tube which was spinning in slow rotations. It took me almost a dozen runs before I managed to work out the correct foot placement to make it through without losing my balance.
The classes for our second week were focused on basic weapons training and emergency procedures on the ship. We watched footage of various scenarios and actual battles where ships were evacuated or boarded. This week, we shared our classes with the blue squad, and I was able to spend some time speaking with Jetta’s cousin.
Unlike Jetta, Lars had a reserved personality and was continually lecturing her on conduct. Only once had I made the mistake of asking him about his chosen field of study. If I had seen Jetta’s frantic look and head shaking, I probably would not have done so. My question had resulted in Lars lecturing me for the duration of our lunch break about the various methods of oxygen generation used across the Federation-governed systems. Science-based subjects were not my best, and I quickly found myself unable to keep up with the boy’s explanations.
We ended up losing the second week's squad challenge, much to my anger and disappointment. The challenge required the entire squad to stand with their arms linked at the elbows. We stood on a long skinny pole that ran horizontal to the ground, and to win, the squad as a whole needed to remain on the pole longer than the other squads. We had lost when one of the few remaining girls on the squad decided to separate herself and jump down.
I had been furious at her, and even more so when she refused to give me a reason for her actions. The last squad standing had been the red squad lead by Cadet Marcelo, who had become somewhat of a rival over the past week. The man was infuriating, he always acted as though he was better than everyone else here due to his having passed enlistment training.
Seated on my bed in the barracks, I was silently fuming over our loss in the morning’s competition, when Jetta approached me with the others.
"Hey Ris, can we go somewhere and talk?" she asked, shooting a look across the room towards the other cadets.
Her gaze narrowed as it landed on Cadet Zaren, who had caused us to lose the competition. I nodded and the five of us left the barracks, walking sedately together around the training grounds. Jetta glanced around to make sure there were no other cadets nearby before she spoke.
"So, apparently Cadet Zaren has a thing going on with Squad Leader Marcelo. That's why she gave up the challenge, it was so his squad would win," Jetta informed me, holding out her datapad.
Clearly displayed was an image of Cadet Zaren in the red squad barracks curled up against Marcelo's side. I scowled, and Luke spat out a small curse as he also looked at the image. I stared at the datapad for several long moments, unsure of how I should handle the current situation. As we continued walking, I did my best to tune out my arguing friends and tried to think about what to do.
I couldn't keep a saboteur in my squad. I needed to win challenges and get a place in the gold squad. The gold squad was almost always made up of the basic training squad leaders. We were made squad leader because we were the highest-scoring cadets in the exams, but being squad leader in basic training didn't mean we would automatically get a place in the gold squad. We had to stay the best and prove our ability as leaders. This would show the instructors that we had what it took to be the first officers of our cadet crews.
‘@Zander Altair—I have a saboteur in the squad.’
I decided to send Zander a message regarding what had happened with Cadet Zaren. I hoped that he would know how to deal with her insubordination. He was the one who was going to be captain, after all.
‘@Aristeia Kelras—Details.’
After getting Jetta to send me the image of Cadet Zaren, I sent Zander the image with a rundown of what had occurred during the challenge. Biting my lip, I waited for what felt like ages for him to send me a response. Surely Zander would have a plan, he always had a plan for everything.
‘@Aristeia Kelras—Initiate Sol R4.’
Reading the message Zander sent, I grimaced and glanced at my new friends with a pained expression. Sol R4 was one of Zander’s more extreme plans for me to use if I needed to cull cadets from my squad.
"Ris? Are you okay?"
I turned to look at Fiona, who had spoken, her eyes filled with concern. She was always like that, so kind and caring.
"I'm fine," I said with a sigh, unable to meet the girl’s eyes as I stopped walking and turned to face the group who was following me. I looked at the four cadets who stood around me and decided I would be a little open with them regarding what was about to happen. Hopefully, they would understand.
"In regard to what has happened, I am not willing to allow Cadet Zaren to remain with our squad. The issue is that I can't just kick her off the squad. The only way she leaves is if she drops out," I told them, and they exchanged looks.
"So, we are stuck with her?" Jetta asked as she crossed her arms with a look of annoyance.
"Not if she were to drop out. We just need to find a way to get her to leave," Luke said and the others all looked at him in shock.
"Luke is correct, which is why the next few days are going to be rather difficult. I would ask that you do not take my actions personally," I told them, redirecting the groups attention back to myself.
"What are you going to do?" Jetta asked, her face filled with curiosity.
"What I have to," I told her as we started on our way back to the barracks.
"We will talk more later, for now act normal. Don't speak of this to anyone not among us five." Leaving the group, I walked into the barracks.
Sitting on my bed with my earpiece in, I watched the live video stream my uncle had linked me into. In the video, an escort class light cruiser was performing my rock throw technique. It was far smoother than any of the times I had done so, and it was obvious the ship’s pilot was very skilled.
The test was being performed in the Ba'teli system, which was the same simulated system I had used when battling my uncle that last time. It had also been the system I had used as an example in the tactic report my uncle had made me write for submission to the tactics department. While the tactic would be useless in most battles, in systems such as Ba'teli, it was in my opinion
a decent last resort when outsized and outgunned.
Watching the stream, I felt a sense of pride as I heard the pilot declare the start of his third test of what had been dubbed as ‘the Kelras rock toss.’ I had not named the tactic in my report, but it seemed it had been named for me. I didn't sleep that night and passed the time watching various simulated battles. The testing of my rock throw technique had long since ended, and I was excited by the results. They had performed a total of six successful throws with thirty throws in total performed. The throws that had failed were a result of changing the asteroid composition or size in comparison to the ship being used.
At exactly zero one hundred hours, I had Mo set off a blaring siren and raised all the lights to the brightest setting. It was time to initiate the plan to remove Cadet Zaren from the squad.
"Get up Cadets! Move those feet, in formation outside, now," I yelled, watching as they all scrambled frantically from their bunks.
This wasn't the first time they had been woken up in this manner. Lt Moore had done several late-night wake-up calls and marching drills. But this was the first time that it would be done without him. For the next week, I would be waking them up every night. I would hound their every step and make their lives a complete and utter misery. I would make it clear that their suffering was a direct result of Cadet Zaren giving up during the challenge. Slowly they would turn on her, and it would only be a matter of time before she wouldn't be able to take the pressure.
I led my squad around the training grounds, Mo dive-bombing them all as they ran, his lights flashing and siren blaring in the face of any cadet who fell out of line. I yelled at them as we ran, jogging in tight circles around the formation.
"Keep it moving, Cadets! It is obvious you all require additional training if you lot can't even stand on a pole for more than twenty minutes," I yelled at them, causing a few to glance at Cadet Zaren.
We continued running, making more than a few of the other squads sleepily stumble out of their barracks to see what the fuss was about. A few instructors came out of their quarters and watched us for a few moments before returning to bed. I gave Lt Moore a small nod as we passed him, and he raised a brow at me in response. He would have seen my messages with Zander, and while he may not know what Sol R4 meant, it wouldn't be hard to work out.
Striving for the stars (The Kelras Chronicles Book 1) Page 22