by Kal Spriggs
“Interesting,” Star Commandant Athena noted.
“She got lucky,” Prince Ladon sneered. My back straightened and I barely bit my tongue before snapping a response at him.
“You might also say that she made her own luck, creating a hidden reserve that she utilized for an unforeseen event,” Star Commandant Athena noted. “A lesson that perhaps everyone should note, perhaps?”
Prince Ladon flushed, but he didn't say anything further.
“Now then,” Star Commandant Athena went on, “We'll continue with Cadet First Class Karmazin...”
I relaxed a bit as attention shifted off me. I gave out a slight sigh, released the tension that had been making my haunch my shoulders, and settled in to watch Karmazin's engagement.
***
Chapter 7: I Make A Terrible Mistake
Alexander did his mock combat against Jean Paul, the other MCA cadet, and then Star Commandant Athena called a halt to the simulation. About three hours had passed and the Erewhon midshipmen were coming out of their classified session. We saved our settings and went to join them on the next set of evaluations.
Things took on a slightly different tone from that point on, though. I felt like there were more things that the Erewhon midshipmen weren't sharing with me. At one point, mid-way through a tactical scenario, Toro-Hakka started doing a strange maneuver, where his corvette went in on a larger ship, and I noticed the scenario indicated he'd activated his electronic countermeasures. A moment after that, the scenario terminated early and Star Commandant Athena pulled Toro-Hakka out of the room.
He didn't rejoin us for the rest of that day.
Karmazin had been on the opposing team, and he and I compared notes later, in the mess hall. “Interesting, huh?” I asked, after we both talked about what we'd seen. I toyed with a bit of food on my plate. The Erewhon food was... interesting. They had a variety of foods that I was sort of familiar with, but served with spices that I wasn't crazy about. Today was what they called “Taco Tuesday.” The flat bread, ground meat, and vegetables was familiar enough, but the cooks had slapped this chunky tomato paste with some kind of insanely spicy mix on top of it. They called it “salsa,” I think. After my encounter with Phall, I was still pretty leery about anything spicy.
Alexander didn't seem put off by the spicy heat of the food. He just stuffed his tacos, dripping salsa and all, in his mouth, somehow avoiding getting any on his uniform. His appetite didn’t really surprise me since he'd taken to joining some of the Erewhon midshipmen for extra exercise sessions at the gym.
The daily morning session was still brutal enough for me. I had no desire at all to repeat it in the afternoon.
As he finished chewing and swallowing, he spoke, “On my end, it didn't look like one corvette. He did something, and it looked like about a dozen corvette drives lit off.”
“That's impossible,” I countered. Warp drive fields were extremely energy intensive. As a part of that, you couldn't hide one. Once a drive lit off, it released so much energy that it wasn't possible to hide it. Even when a ship when out of phase with the rest of reality, there was still enough bleed-over that sensors couldn't miss the emissions. The corollary, though, was that you also couldn't fake a warp drive. The energy signatures were too strong and the power requirement to create a drive field was too intense. The Weisfeldt-Armstrong-Regan drive we had developed in secret, back on Century, might one day make it possible to create powerful warp drives on probes or decoys that could last and mimic a ship. Some big ships, battlecruisers and larger, had short-term decoys that could last as long as a couple of minutes, but those were extremely expensive, very large, and the energy requirements were far more than anything the size of a corvette could produce.
None of that explained how the single Erewhon corvette had managed to mimic the drive fields of a dozen corvettes.
“I don't think, whatever it was, was even supposed to be online in the scenario,” Alexander went on. “They'd had one of their classified sessions there this morning, then our exercise this afternoon. I wonder if someone forgot to turn off some settings, you know?”
“Huh,” I considered that for a moment. “Maybe it wasn't really Toro-Hakka's fault, maybe one of the cadre left it on on accident.” I frowned though, “Or maybe it was some kind of test, they wanted to see if the midshipmen would keep the secret or if they'd blow it.”
“And maybe they wanted to give us a peek at it and see if we could figure out what we were seeing,” Alexander noted.
“That's pretty paranoid of you,” I pursed my lips as I considered it. “You think they arranged it?”
“You're not paranoid if people are actually out to get you. It makes sense,” he answered. “We're notionally their allies, but they probably want to see if we can figure out some of their secrets, without openly sharing them.”
“That's under the assumption that we'd pass the information on back home,” I noted.
“I'm sure they suspect we're supposed to report on everything we see,” Alexander answered.
“And assuming they want us to know their secrets,” I pointed out.
“A decoy system that we only saw in action in a simulation, that might not even work, plus it puts us looking into one thing that may not even exist, which keeps us looking into one thing and not trying to dig into any other secrets they may be hiding.” Alexander raised his eyebrows, “Boy, that does kind of sound paranoid.”
All the same, I found myself nodding, “And our holographic head instructor is behind all this?”
He smiled at me, “Now you're paranoid, too.”
I found myself smiling back, “Maybe you're contagious. I guess I should ask Sashi if she picked up your paranoia.” Karmazin and my friend Sashi had been dating for almost two years now.
Alexander's smile vanished. “I guess.” He said it in a neutral voice.
I wasn't sure what I'd said. I considered his reaction, then how he'd reacted after he and Ashiri Takenata had broken up. “Oh,” I blinked, “Uh, did you two...” I trailed off, I didn't really see a good way to finish that question.
“We decided it would be better to... end things,” Karmazin answered in a neutral tone. “She didn't think that the long-distance thing would work, not over five months, anyway. She also didn't appreciate...” he sighed. “Let's just say we disagreed about somethings, and leave it at that, huh?”
“Hock,” I impulsively reached out a hand and patted him on the hand and then giving his hand a squeeze. “Sorry, Alexander.”
He shifted uncomfortably and pulled his hand back. “It's just how things work out,” he looked away. “How are you and Kyle handing things?”
I flushed. I hadn't really been thinking about that. “I've been sending him messages. That last freighter that came through, I got some back from him.” It was weird being away from Kyle. I missed him, a lot. He'd always been there for me, at the Academy, ever since we'd started dating. More than that, we'd been like partners: studying together, learning together, almost like a team. “He's settling in as the Regimental Training Officer,” I looked down at my food as I said it.
“Lots of challenges. I guess Hodges is the Regimental Plans Officer and they keep butting heads.” There'd been some other things he mentioned. Stuff about officers rotating out and a lot of senior officers retiring. I wasn't sure what to make about that. I still didn't know enough about who was who to understand some of what he'd been trying to tell me. I did realize that the changes worried him and they seemed to come back to Admiral Drien taking over the Academy, but I assumed that with all the upheaval after Charterer Beckman's ousting, there would be a bit of things changing.
“That guy,” Alexander made a face. “He's a real pain. He went over to Ogre, right?” He'd finished his meal and saw that I'd stopped toying with the food and stood up. I followed a moment later, the pair of us moving over to drop the trays at the kitchen.
“Yeah,” I bit my lip as I considered it. “He and Bolander are, well, a thing, I guess
.” I realized the topic had come back around to relationships, and I flushed. “Uh, sorry about that.”
To my surprise, Alexander gave a laugh, “Thanks, Jiden, but Bolander is hardly my type.”
I found myself snorting with laughter at that thought. Some of the Erewhon midshipmen looked over at us, but I couldn't help the genuine laugh as I considered the tall, ridiculously handsome Alexander with someone like Bolander. Bolander had some sense of fair play, unlike a lot of Ogres, but she was still brutish in attitude, short of temper, and direct and to the point. Bolander was a big woman, with long arms and a harsh face. She and I had gotten into fights, a couple of times when we were plebes, and she'd manhandled me. We had sort of made peace in the time since, but I'd hardly consider her a friend.
“I hadn't realized you had a type,” I joked. At one point, I'd been interested in him, and then he'd gone and started dating my best friend Ashiri... which had been awkward.
Alexander's laughter trialed off, “Well, I guess you don't know everything about me, huh?” For a moment, he looked so vulnerable that I had to fight the urge to give him a hug. He and I fell into step as we left the mess hall and then walked the corridors of the station, headed to our quarters. I kept glancing at my friend, noticing that his face had taken on a brooding expression.
“You okay?” I asked.
He didn't answer, not until we came up to the door to his room. “Yeah, Jiden, I'm fine,” He had a resigned tone. “Just irritated with myself.”
“Why is that?” I asked. “I'm the idiot that keeps reminding you about Sashi breaking up with you.”
“She didn't...” He trailed off, turning to look at me. “We decided to break things off, okay?” He ran a hand through his short, dark hair and leveled a glower on me, “You're kind of terrible at this whole making me feel better thing.”
“Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “But anyway, I don't see why you're irritated with yourself.” I had little doubt about how things had probably gone down. Sashi had made her decision and she'd probably sat Alexander down and explained things to him and they'd “decided” to end things. She was that kind of type. For just a moment, I kind of hated my friend for that. Alexander was a good guy, he deserved better. Then again, from what Ashiri had told me, she'd done exactly the same thing when she'd broken up with Alexander.
“I'm irritated at myself because Kyle is my friend, okay!” Alexander snapped finally. “And I shouldn't be thinking and feeling what I am, alright?”
“Wait, what?” I asked blankly.
To my surprise, Alexander stepped forward, well inside my personal space. He spoke in a low tone, his voice soft, “I like you, Jiden. I like you a lot.” His jaw clenched. “And you're dating Kyle, who's a really solid guy and he's my friend.”
I stared at him, my cheeks flushing as his words registered. I felt my heart flutter as I realized just how close he stood. “But you...” I shook my head, “You started dating Ashiri--”
“After you told us you weren't going to even attend the Academy,” He answered.
“And then you were dating Sashi--”
“Because you were dating Kyle,” He grimaced, “And Sashi and I had a lot in common and it sort of worked, but...” He shook his head. “And then here we are, you and me, and Kyle isn't here...” He trailed off, staring at me. “I should go.”
I didn't know what to say. I liked Alexander Karmazin. We'd been through a lot together. At one time, I'd seriously considered a relationship with him... but I loved Kyle. My heart fluttered a bit as I thought about what he'd said.
Then, before I knew what was happening, Alexander leaned in. Kissing Kyle was electric, a jolt that always made my heart flutter a bit. Kissing Alexander Karmazin, it was like fire. My whole body felt too warm, too hot. It was rough, and passionate, and as he broke away, my face seemed to burn. I felt light-headed and off-balance.
Alexander stepped back, his jaw clenched. I could see his hands tremble a bit. “I should go. I'm sorry. Goodnight, Jiden.”
He turned and went through the hatch to his quarters and closed it firmly behind him.
***
I didn't have time to talk with Alexander about the kiss, not for the next few weeks. I was pretty sure he was avoiding me, but he didn't have to work hard to do it. We'd been working fourteen hour days, but either Star Commandant Athena thought we had too much time on our hands or they decided that we could take a heavier work load. My implant told me that we'd worked eighteen hours, every day.
The Erewhon Defense Force personnel didn't give breaks for Sundays, either. I hadn't realized how much I missed my quiet time attending services back home, not until two months of constant work with no breaks left me feeling more and more stressed out. It wasn't like I'd gone every Sunday, back on Century, but I'd made something of a ritual of it. The peace, the serenity, of the Academy Chapel had become something of a sanctuary for me... and now, without it, I started feeling adrift.
The evaluations, scenarios, and exams became something of a blur. They shifted our teams once and then again. I didn't really pay much attention, getting to know the Erewhon midshipmen was more a matter of gauging their strengths and weaknesses as we worked together as teams. There were two types in that regard, the normal midshipmen, who were like other normal young adults. We could talk, crack jokes, and relate to one another pretty well.
Then there were the midshipmen like Jenkins. Each team seemed to get one and they all had collar tabs to show that they'd been selected for the Static Defense Forces. They were individually intelligent and capable, but they didn't do the group dynamics. Most of the time, they seemed to have difficulties making eye contact or even conversing. A couple of them were so painfully awkward that they made Ted Meeks look like a social butterfly, even after his ordeal.
I began to notice trends with those midshipmen. They were always slotted with fighters or corvette squadrons, which in my experience, were where most of the sociable officers wanted to go. Fighter squadrons were tight, team-focused organizations. Corvette squadrons adopted a “small craft” dynamic, where everyone worked together to make the ship function. I would have expected them to be headed towards research and development or engineering, but this entire course was command-focused... and it was clear to me that these special midshipmen weren't selected for their group dynamics.
And any time I mentioned it, I got blank looks from my team. It was clear to me that they understood the reasoning, but just as clear that they couldn't—or maybe wouldn't—talk about it.
Our individual match-ups resumed again, soon enough. Alexander Karmazin got matched up against Star Commandant Athena, substituting for the Erewhon Defense Force. It was interesting to watch from the outside. Star Commandant Athena, whether she was a hologram, advanced computer program, or real person, clearly had a tremendous capability. She took two cruisers and two squadrons of destroyers against his mix of fighter and corvette squadrons and while he pulled off some clever attacks, her surviving ships settled into orbit over the planet at the end of the scenario.
I'd watched it happen, and even seeing the entire display, there wasn't much I saw that he could have done to change the outcome. The engagements hadn't left Karmazin time to get his surviving fighters and corvettes back to rearm, while Star Commandant Athena's larger ships could fall back on their internal weapons and power systems that could sustain combat.
Going into the next scenario, it was something that had me thinking, especially since I knew I was up next.
Up to this point, all the battles had been fought close to the planet. Part of that made sense, it was what we had to defend. Spreading out too far exposed the planet, and the destroyers and corvettes didn't have the speed to get back to the planet in time to stop larger ships like cruisers.
The past few engagements, all of our opponents had emerged from strategic warp in the outer system, all in roughly the shortest-line distance from the outer system to the planet. I wasn't sure if that was part of the scenario or if it was
just the natural thing to do as an attacker.
If it was part of the scenario, then I probably shouldn't use that... but at the same time, at this point everyone had seen the setup of the defenders. They had advantages in knowing where we could set up, where we could hide ships... so why not take advantage of the situation?
Instead of placing my fighter squadrons on the planet, I put all of them, with their warp drives down, in the shadow of one of the outer gas giants, just off the least-time route from the outer system to the planet. In reality, fighters would expend around two-thirds of their matter-antimatter power canisters in starting up their warp envelop. That meant that fighters wouldn't have the power to kick their drive back on after getting into position like that and shutting down. If someone complains, I could always say they were towed into place by a civilian freighter or something...
I also staged my destroyer and corvettes to take advantage of the ambush position. If I timed things right, then any attacking force would focus on the warp missile launch... and only get warning about the fighters a few seconds before they launched their attack runs.
I signaled that I was ready and a moment later, the scenario started. Sure enough, my sensor beacons showed the arrival of the enemy force, right where I'd expected them. This time it was a larger ship, maybe a battlecruiser, with a single squadron of destroyers in escort. I selected the larger ship as the priority target, even as I toggled up the drives on my corvettes and destroyers.
My opponent pushed his destroyers forward, even as I launched my warp drive missiles. It was long range, but launching that that range, my corvettes might have time to land, rearm, and return to fight, and I had them doing that, even as I timed things with my fighters.
The enemy formation swept past the gas giant, and I waited another few seconds or so for them to prepare to engage my missiles... and then kicked on the warp-drives for my fighters.