Gabriel wrapped his arm around his sister and stumbled when the contact increased her draw on him.
Trey laughed as he moved to help K’aia support Alexis and Gabriel. “We’ve got you. I sure as hell hope they’re recording this.”
The specialists were bumped out of their path by the shield as the team approached the endpoint.
Alexis disentangled herself to grasp the flag, ending the exercise. She waved it above her head, then sank to her knees with exhaustion as the specialists ceased fire.
Specialist Childers walked toward them with a smile. “Congratulations. You just earned yourselves a day’s liberty.” He waited for the cheers to die down. “Don’t get too excited. You also just set the record for most candidates to complete the exercise. I want you in my office first thing the day after.”
Chapter Seven
Zenith Station, Specialist Headquarters, War Room (two days later)
The holoscreen was paused on the image of the ten candidates walking through the perplexed specialists as though they were taking a pleasant stroll through Devon’s bazaar on a Sunday morning.
The panel of high-ranking specialists had watched the video of the whole exercise from the team’s point of view, and most just looked at them with astonishment.
Alexis and Gabriel listened as Torrence whispered his recommendation to the panel.
He wants us to skip ahead? Alexis wasn’t sure how she felt about being separated from the unit.
They can’t split us up, Gabriel replied. It would cut our efficiency as a team.
Specialist Childers laced his fingers on the table and fixed the twins with a conflicted look. “The two of you are putting me in a difficult situation. On the one hand, you’re outstripping every learning resource we have. On the other, your unit still has ten months of training to get through before I can promote you.”
Torrence snorted softly. “I told you they were going to be trouble,” he murmured.
Childers gave him a sharp glance. “We don’t need your opinion, Staff. This is a serious matter.”
Torrence nodded respectfully and sat back in his chair. “You’re right, but you know my recommendation. It’s time they knew the whole truth about this war.”
Specialist Childers pursed his lips. “That may be. However, this unit has no experience with live combat, so I cannot in good conscience send them into battle against the Kurtherian menace.”
“Then prepare us,” Gabriel requested in a low voice that nevertheless carried around the room. “Our reason for being is to take the fight to the Seven. They owe us blood.”
Alexis got to her feet. “What he said. If you’d told us that the enemy was the Seven in the first place, we would have been even more motivated to get through the course.”
K’aia and Trey added their agreement and sat down again. The others made similar statements, pledging their willingness to do whatever was in their power to take their vengeance on the destroyers of their homeworlds.
Specialist Childers waved down their enthusiastic promises to wipe the Kurtherians from the face of the universe. “I see we have something special with you ten. I hesitate to send you to your deaths. Return to your quarters and prepare for today’s training. We will confer on your futures and call you back in when we have come to a decision.”
Zenith Station, Candidate Quarters
Linda was waiting to pounce when the team arrived at their shared quarters. “What did you say to Indar and Draimond?” she demanded as Alexis came in behind the others.
The males in question were nowhere to be seen at that moment.
Alexis brushed Linda aside and walked over to her bunk. “If I were you, I’d be more concerned about how you treat them.”
Linda followed her, seething visibly at the dismissal. “Humans!” she cursed. “You think you’re so much better than every other species.”
“Do you see us subjugating each other for kicks?” Gabriel asked.
Alexis noted a flash of guilt on the Torcellan’s face before the supercilious mask dropped again.
Gabriel saw it as well. He caught Alexis’ eye and tapped his temple with a finger before taking a seat at the card table in the rec area that split the room in two.
“I know humans talk endlessly about honor and have very little of it,” Linda ground out between clenched teeth. “What right do you have to strip me of what little protection I have in this place?”
She flounced off to her unit’s side of the room without waiting for a reply.
Alexis got Gabriel’s meaning. She tuned into the Torcellan’s inner thoughts, and her annoyance faded as she stumbled on the reason for Linda’s acerbic nature; she was half-human and had been raised by only her mother. “Oh, crap,” she murmured. “Couldn’t you just be a standard asshole?”
She shared her findings with Gabriel, who winced as he realized what her early life would have been like for a Torcellan with an absent human father. I don’t know. Maybe we should try harder to work her out. Eve wouldn’t have given her the backstory without a reason.
I just wasn’t expecting a side quest that involved talking an NPC through her traumatic childhood, Alexis countered. What does that have to do with preparing for battle?
K’aia left her conversation with Sibil and patted Alexis on the back. Life lessons. They aren’t always where you expect to find them.
Alexis frowned and set off in Linda’s direction. She ignored the sour look Linda gave her and took a seat on the locker at the end of her bed. “This is stupid. We should talk.”
Linda scoffed. “About what?”
Alexis rested her chin on her hand and sighed. “We’ve got to get past this enmity. It’s going to get us killed when we go to war.”
Linda peered at Alexis, trying to work out if she was pulling something shady. “Why make the effort now? You’ve been pretty clear about not liking me.”
Alexis bit back her retort. “It’s not about personality clashes. It’s about having the backs of everyone we’re going to rely on, whether we like them or not.”
Linda hesitated. “I don’t work with humans.”
“Because of your father.” Alexis waited for Linda to reply. Seeing she wasn’t going to open up, she decided to reach out. “I can’t pretend I understand your life, even if I can read your mind and empathize. It’s not fair that you were judged for your heritage, but you have to see that you’re trapped in the cycle of judgment you’ve been subjected to.”
Linda turned her back on Alexis, folding her arms protectively over her chest. When she spoke, her voice was laced with pent-up emotions. “Judged is right. Maybe…” Her voice trailed off, clearly unhappy with Alexis’ intrusion despite the olive branch she was being offered. “You had no right to read my mind.”
Alexis felt her face redden. “Yeah, well, you didn’t give me much choice. I wouldn’t want to see you dead just because you’ve been an ass.”
Linda sighed, dropping her arms as she faced Alexis. “Okay. Say I work with you. What guarantee do I have that you won’t stab me in the back when it matters? We’re not through the cutting process yet.”
Alexis shrugged. “You’ll just have to trust that my word is good. I’m not here to compete with you or anyone else here. All I want is to—” She paused, seeing an opportunity to build that trust. “How about this? The enemy we’re being trained to face is the Kurtherians. The Seven clans who want to remake this universe in their own image.”
Linda’s already-pale skin faded to ash. “The Kurtherians? How can we fight them? They’re the most powerful species that has ever lived.”
Alexis shook her head. “No, they’re not. They might have power, but they fight amongst themselves for supremacy.” She pushed thoughts of Gödel away. The Seven had not unified under her in the gameworld, as far as she was aware. “I’m the daughter of the Empress. I know exactly how they’re weak. We can beat them if we’re united.”
Linda was silent for a long moment as she processed everything Al
exis had told her.
Gabriel spoke up in Alexis’ mind. Don’t push. She’s going to come around. I can feel it.
Alexis glanced at her brother and nodded minutely. She forced herself to stay calm and wait, despite her burning desire to hear what Linda had to say.
Linda suddenly sprang into action, extending a hand to Alexis with a serious smile. “Allies. I can do that.”
Alexis accepted the handshake with a hard smile of her own. “I’m glad. Allies.”
She returned to their rec area, feeling like she’d made progress in a way that didn’t exactly make sense. But if Linda stayed true to her word like Alexis intended to, she would be satisfied.
Trey leaned over to Gabriel, keeping his cards covered. “I didn’t expect that to go down that way. I thought once females had a grudge, they built a wall around it and nurtured it forever.”
Alexis slapped him upside the head fondly as she passed. “Don’t be so sexist. I don’t see you and Ch’Irzt kissing and making up.”
Trey rubbed the back of his head with a look of distaste on his face. “Yeah, but in the asshole stakes, Linda is a few hundred levels below my cousin.”
“True,” K’aia agreed. “But maybe you could take steps to remedy that.”
Trey grinned. “I suppose I could beat some decency into him when I get out of here.”
Gabriel laughed. “That would be a beginning. Social skills have to start somewhere.”
Alexis sighed and rolled her eyes. “Or, you could try talking him down from his jealousy. He’s a decent fighter, and we’re going to need a crew for the Gemini once we get back to the real world. You only get one family.”
Trey snorted. “You guys are my family.”
Alexis fixed him with a sharp look. “Four people do not make a crew. Don’t you want our parents to feel comfortable about us joining the fight for real? ‘We have a crew and the means to fight independently’ is a much more attractive proposition than, ‘Hey, can the four of us go tear shit up on our own?’”
Trey made a face. “Yeah, but Ch’Irzt? I think I’d rather stay home.”
A message from Eve put an end to the conversation.
Gabriel dropped his cards and jumped to his feet. “Finally! I thought they were never going to call us.”
He left the table and headed for the door. “Come on, Alexis. You know the time difference.”
Alexis followed him, leaving Trey and K’aia to finish their game.
“You’re not going?” K’aia asked Trey.
He shook his head. “No. I spoke to Mahi’ already this week. She won’t be there. What about you?”
“Not my parents,” K’aia told him. “Let the twins have their time.”
Sibil wandered over and took Gabriel’s empty seat. “Deal me in. I have a question. What happens when our unit gets promoted?”
Gorrak heard her and came over. “You think that’s what the bosses are going to decide?”
Sibil lifted a shoulder. “I can’t see why not. They’ll probably have us skip ahead, at least. We’ve proven we’re tight as a unit. I mean, we beat the specialists without any problem thanks to our combined efforts. Why would they keep us here when there’s a war happening out there?”
There was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the unit. They gathered around the table, Pootie pushing her way to the front of the group.
“We are not ready.” Boden’s gentle voice was soothing despite the finality of his tone. “Almost, but we still have a ways to go before we can fight Kurtherians.”
K’aia glanced at Trey. “My concern is which modified species’ they’re using to fight for them.”
“At least it’s not going to be the Ookens,” Trey countered.
“How do we know that?” K’aia argued. “If we don’t get in some practice against the tentacle-fest, we’re not going to be at our most effective when we face them for real.”
“What the hell is an Ooken?” Pootie asked.
Trey spread his arms wide and waved them in a poor approximation. “Imagine I was a few feet taller and had a bunch of tentacles,” he began to the horror of the group. “I’m not done. They have razor-sharp teeth in place of suckers, and they’re slaved to the Kurtherians’ will.”
Trey and K’aia looked up as the group froze and a shimmer passed over the room.
“What was that?” Trey asked.
K’aia shrugged, unperturbed. “Beats the crap out of me. Ask Eve.”
They received a single line of text in their internal HUDs.
Ask and you shall receive. Game updated to include the Ookens as an antagonist. — xo Eve
Trey cursed heartily as the game was reactivated. “Okay, so we need to be ready for the Ookens. Good.”
Sibil laughed. “What, battling Kurtherians wasn’t enough for you?”
“Not even,” Trey told her with as much sincerity as he’d ever felt in his life. “The harder we’re pushed, the better chance we have of surviving.”
Another message arrived, this one from Specialist Childers.
“We’ve been summoned,” Pootie remarked with some surprise. “That was fast.”
Chapter Eight
The twins rejoined the unit in the corridor outside Specialist Headquarters.
“I’m shaking,” Sibil admitted. “I don’t know whether I want to hear we’re being promoted early or that we’ve got to stay on track and complete the course.”
Alexis lifted a shoulder. “Either way, things are about to get stepped up a level. We’ve proven our value as a unit twice over.”
The door opened, and SI Torrence popped his head out. “Specialist Childers will see you now.”
SI Torrence stood at ease by the door while the candidates filed into the war room, each with a varying degree of nervousness and a vague expectation of some unknowable adventure to be revealed.
Specialist Childers smiled warmly as they entered. “Take a seat, candidates.”
Alexis caught a stray thought that revealed his gruffness to be the mask he wore to protect himself from the burden of leading the program and knowing that the majority of the fresh-faced candidates would die before the end of their first deployment.
She smiled back as she took a seat in the first row of chairs facing the curved table where the lead specialist sat alone.
Specialist Childers resumed his seriousness once the unit was seated. “The decision of what to do with your unit was not an easy one. We feel it would be wasteful to have you continue on the same track as the rest of your intake group. You are clearly a cohesive and effective unit beyond what is expected at this stage of the course, and that your combined strengths and knowledge make a whole much greater than the sum of its parts is clear to us all. However, we also recognize that it would be a pitfall if one of you is lost on the battlefield.”
He paused to let his words sink in.
Alexis read the subtext with disappointment. We’re not being sent to the battlefield, she told Gabriel, K’aia, and Trey. My guess is we’re going to get the promotion and be sent for more specialized training.
“Our decision is that you will be promoted,” Specialist Childers announced. “But that you will spend six months with the recruitment teams instead of the usual two. It is our reasoning that this will give you the opportunity to strengthen your knowledge of each other’s specialties, with the exception of course of the Nacht candidates’ natural connection to the Etheric realm.”
Dimension, Alexis corrected mentally.
Shh! K’aia hissed. This is important.
“You will return to your current assigned quarters,” the specialist continued. “Testing will continue between deployments. We want to ensure the rigors of your assignments are not detracting from your growth as operatives. Do you have any questions, specialists?”
Gabriel indicated he wanted permission to speak.
“Go ahead,” Specialist Childers acknowledged.
“Whose oversight will our unit be under if we’re being ta
ken out of the standard track?” Gabriel inquired.
Specialist Childers nodded toward SI Torrence. “Staff Instructor Torrence has agreed to act in a supervisory role while you are in this…hardening phase.”
Alexis frowned at the phrase. It sounded to her like their experience was going to be every bit as exacting as being sent to the front lines. She raised her hand and received a nod from Specialist Childers. “When will we be deployed?”
“Immediately,” Specialist Childers replied. “There are always planets in need of our intervention, and one we believe will suffice for your first assignment has just come to our attention. You will leave this room and report to Supply. Once you are equipped, you will report to SI Torrence at the Deck Zero transfer bay.”
He swept the newly-minted specialists with a sharp gaze, and seeing there were no further questions, dismissed the unit. “Specialists,” he called as they filed out of the war room. “I wish you all the luck of your deities. May you avoid meeting them for a long time to come.”
Alexis heard the tiredness in the specialist’s tone and turned back to offer him a firm smile. As she left, she sent him her certainty that they would not only survive but thrive under whatever conditions they met.
Open Space, Zenith Battleship ZI II
SI Torrence switched off the holoscreen, ending his recap of the mission objectives as they got within sight of their target planet. “Okay, guys. Does anyone have any questions about what we’re going to do?”
The unit was collectively silent, lending the transport bay they’d been assigned upon boarding an oppressive air. Their orders were clear enough. Land, suppress any negative reactions to their presence, and save as many fit and healthy citizens of fighting age as they were able to while causing minimal physical harm in the process.
“It’s not looking good for them that they have no planetary security,” Gabriel commented as he checked his issued gear.
If All Else Fails Page 6
