by Kal Spriggs
“Hello, entrants,” he rasped, stopping in the precise center of the floor to stop and look at us. He seemed to sweep his gaze over each of us and I didn't miss how his gaze paused on me. He knew me. Or at least, he knew Vars. I kept my expression calm, even as I hoped that he wasn't planning on having me killed.
“Welcome to the first day of Second Screening. First Screening was to weed out the weak, the slow, the ones who don't have the strength to become officers,” his voice was dry and dusty. I found myself leaning forward to hear what he was saying, because I could barely hear him.
“This phase is aimed at weeding out the incompetent, the lazy, and the unlucky,” he went on. “While some entrants who showed promise will be given opportunities to redeem themselves if they failed First Screening, those of you who fail Second Screening will not survive the experience.”
Well, I heard Shadow's voice in my head, he sure doesn't pull any punches, does he?
I couldn't argue with her there.
***
Chapter 4: Of Course, It Can’t Be That Easy
Our fearless leader went on, “My name, is Commandant Suvorov. I am in charge of your education and training. Some of you may wonder at the hardship, at the cost you have paid so far. This is necessary.” He said that as if to dismiss the beatings, the injuries, the entrants who had fallen from the edge of the spire.
“The Drakkus Imperial Space Korps is the premier fighting force in the Periphery and it is better and stronger on any even metric than even Guard Fleet,” Commandant Suvorov told us. “We train harder, our ships and equipment are more modern, and our people must be stronger, faster, smarter, and more capable.”
“For those of you who survive Second Screening, you will be on track to graduate from the Institute. We cannot have weakness, we cannot afford hesitation, and most importantly, we cannot tolerate failure. The men and women you will lead into combat go through training making them the most effective fighting force in known space. I will not disappoint them by graduating inferior officers.”
He looked around the room again, and this time he seemed to be identifying particular entrants. “Some of you may think that because you come from powerful lineages, that you will be given some lenience. That is not true. The Imperial Military Institute is totally impartial. We do not give lenience. We do not give free passes. You earn your place here. You earn your right to lead. Failure in the various phases of Screening will lead to the same consequences as other entrants.” Shadow pulled up profiles on each person as he looked at them, painting them in my vision even though I hadn't asked. It would have been distracting, except she split off part of my attention at the same time, speeding up that part of me so that I had time to hear her words and see what she was showing me all in the handful of seconds that Commandant Suvorov looked around: Agari Rashida, daughter of a Captain, older brother is a Commander, scion of House Rashida here in the Heart. Nasir Kemal, eldest son of Captain Kemal, scion of House Kemal. Princess Kiyu Kur Drakkan, daughter of Prince Ryujin Drakkan, granddaughter of the Emperor of Drakkus.
Wait, I stopped her, she's here? In this sped up state in my head, I had time to look at her, noticing her for the first time. I was fairly sure I would have noticed her if she were in one of my groups. She stood out, even in this group. Her blood-red hair was cut shorter, a spiky mass that stuck out in what I'd heard described as a “pixie cut.” She had a smudge of dirt on her nose. She looked cute.
Careful, tiger, the copy of my sister spoke, your girlfriend will get jealous.
She painted another image on my brain, pointing out the last person he'd looked at, this one down near the front: Jonna Hayden, daughter of the late Admiral Hayden, Scion and Heir of House Hayden.
Heir? I asked. I hadn't noticed Jonna up to this point either. She must be in one of the other groups. I wondered whether they would break us all out again or if this group was my new one, or what.
I can't access the planetary network right now, they've got blockers in place that, while I could get around them, it would probably set off some kind of alarms and we don't want them investigating too closely, right? She answered me. But yeah, from what I can tell, your friend is the rightful heir to House Hayden, right here in the Heart. I would guess, given what you told me of their military service requirements, she can't inherit anything until she completes her mandatory service?
That wasn't quite how it worked. If her father had completed his service-- or died in the process-- then she would be a citizen. But I didn't know how that worked with the Houses. I hadn't realized how connected she was... and I figured that knowledge like that was dangerous.
Then again, she was dangerous. If I got time, I would make contact with her. Assuming she and I both survive that long...
Shadow snapped my consciousness back together and time seemed to resume its normal flow.
“Some others of you have come here based upon hard work,” Commandant Suvorov told us. “You earned your places here through excelling in studies and showing leadership potential. That potential means you may work towards greater things. Not all of us are born of the Houses, not all of us will be Admirals or Korps Commanders. There is Honor to be had in Service, in Duty, in living a life dedicated to protecting our people, our beliefs.”
Protecting, is it? Shadow growled in the back of my head. They weren't there to do protecting when they tried to invade Century.
Commandant Suvorov's gaze went to me. “Some of you bought your places here through service to a powerful House. There is something to respect for loyalty, no matter how vile the deeds undertaken in that loyalty. But we must remember that dogs can be loyal, but we do not let dogs lead our people in combat.”
I chewed on those words as he looked away, dismissing me. Was he suggesting that I wouldn't pass the Screenings or was he saying that I shouldn't be allowed to? The one was something I'd be happy to disprove; the other was likely to prove fatal. Either way, Vars got his pass here through doing Crown Prince Abrasax's dirty work. It probably means he didn't make friends along the way...
“The hardship, the cruelty, this has its place, here,” Commandant Suvorov finished. “Remember why it is we do this. We have a duty to spread our strength to other worlds, to curb the weakness, the many failings in those other peoples. Humanity, if we let it, will wither and die and we cannot allow that to happen. Remember that we must be strong. We serve Emperor Drakkan, we serve the Empire, we serve Drakkus. Long live the Emperor!”
That was a cue that even I couldn't miss. I was on my feet with the others, joining the rumble, “Long live the Emperor!”
“Senior Drill Instructors, take charge,” he snapped. “Entrants, you are dismissed.”
***
The drill instructors ran us out, split us off into smaller groups again, and within a few minutes we were back in our open bay barracks.
“Entrants,” our senior drill instructor rumbled, “today is the first phase of Second Screening. You've been issued your weapons and your armor has been adapted to your bodies and calibrated to your minds. You will be separated, now, based upon our evaluations of your abilities, and you will be assigned to a Flight. This is not an evaluation of any kind of ranking,” he almost spat that word, “for you are not worthy of any ranking yet. You are Entrants who might one day be Initiates at the Imperial Military Institute. We are breaking you down based upon the potential we see in you and where that potential can best be directed.”
He gave us a cold smile, walking up and down the ranks. “Sometimes that means putting you in a position where when you fail, you will cause the least amount of damage to other cadets with higher potential. Especially in the final phase of Second Screening.”
I swallowed at that. If Vars had enemies, if this Commandant Suvorov didn't like him, he might have given orders to put me in with a group of other entrants expected to fail. Can you see any info on that? I asked of Shadow.
I'll see what I can find, she told me.
“Entrants, at this time,
you will gather your issued clothing and gear, you will strip your beds, gather your linens, and you will fall in on the instructor who calls your name. They will lead you to your Flight. You will train with them for the rest of your time here at the Institute. They will be your family: you will sweat, bleed, and possibly die with them.”
“Entrants!” He bellowed. “Fall out!”
We rushed to obey. The instructor who called out for Vars was a short, lean-face man. Unlike our other instructors, he wore officer pips on the collar of his black uniform. At a glance, I saw the other instructors calling out names did as well. Interesting. I didn't have time to ponder it, though, as soon as he had collected a group of six of us, he spoke, his voice carrying well despite the noise and shouting elsewhere in the bay. He looked around at us. “I am Dekkas Richardson. Follow me.” I pulled the rank from my implant, it was a mid-level officer rank, one assigned to officers here at the Institute who were in charge of up to a hundred or more entrants or initiates.
He spun on his heel and marched out of the building, the five of us following at his heels. He marched us right out to the parade ground and then into one of doors that lay on the spire-side. Above the door, I noticed a green stone of some kind fused into the black concrete and the word Jade. “The door will respond to your implants and those of key staff, allowed to come inside, such as me.” he told us. “This place is where your Flight will operate out of. It slid open on his approach and we passed through without issue, the door sliding shut right behind me.
There were around thirty other entrants in the room beyond. It was a broad, low room, with rows of bunks on the one side, an open doorway to what looked like showers and toilets beyond. The other half of the room was open, with the far wall being lined by exosuits. I noticed that all the exosuits had been painted the same dark green color. Most of the entrants were in the process of making their bunks and stowing their gear, eying one another and us as we came in. “Join the others,” Richardson told us. “Make your bunks, stow your gear. Be quick.”
We seemed to be the last, which meant we had to find what open bunks were left. I only saw upper bunks. As I was hurrying to obey his orders, a familiar face froze me in my tracks. I saw Jonna and she gave me a slight nod of recognition, but no more than that. I hurried over to the only empty bunk left at that point, a top one, right near the open door to what looked to be the bathroom. The wall locker nearest the doors to the latrines was empty and I stowed my bags and tossed my linens up on the upper bunk. I stowed my two rifles in the weapons rack inside the locker and turned around only to freeze.
Princess Kiyu stood behind me. She gave me a slight nod, “I have the bottom bunk, unless you wish to fight me for it.”
“Top bunk is fine,” I told her, wondering if she recognized me or if she thought I was Vars. For that matter, I wondered if she'd even recognize Vars. She took two steps back, keeping her eyes on me, her stance wary. I made my bunk quickly, keeping an eye on her as I worked. I had to assume we were being watched, so I couldn't tell her who I really was. For that matter, for all that she'd seemed sympathetic to me back at Wessek's facility, she might well turn me in if she realized who I really was.
I can't go somewhere else; the other bunks are taken and it would look suspicious at this point.
I finished making my bunk. Shadow was quiet in the back of my head. I could feel her attention, but she was limited in the risk of being detected and exposing both of us.
“Entrants,” Richardson bellowed, “Form up!”
We all rushed to obey and with where my bunk was, I ended up in the rear ranks of the formation in the clear area of the room.
“Entrants, you have been selected to join Jade Flight. You will remain in Jade Flight from this first day of Second Screening all the way until the completion of Third Screening. Most of you will remain Jade Flight until graduation from the Institute. Any failures you have as individuals, you will share as a flight. Any successes you have, they will come as a flight.” From the back rank, I stood tall enough to see him, and I studied the officer, taking in what details I could. He was a stocky, weathered man, with scars marking the left side of his face. His dark hair was tied back, and streaked with gray hairs, his dark eyes studied us all in turn.
“I am your Dekkas. I will train and guide you all through Second and Third Screenings. The drill instructors will take on a secondary role and will train you in the day to day, in tactics, in the skills you need. I am here to train you in how to be an officer.” His voice was oddly soft and I found myself leaning forward slightly to hear him.
“Jade Flight is your family. You will gain nothing by fighting one another. If you survive, it will come as a result of you working with these others. There are no repercussions for stealing from one another, from lying to one another, from harming one another... save that you will lose that trust. Those you harm will seek to harm you in turn.” Richardson gave slight nod. “Other flights, they are your opponents. You will have to face them, fight them. Your daily food rations will be placed at the center of the parade field. The food will start off with two rations per entrant per day for all entrants. As Second Screening progresses, that will drop to one per entrant per day.” He paused, “Your flight may eat, or not, whatever you are able to bring back here.”
I swallowed as I realized what that meant. We'd need to fight, tooth and nail, for anything. More than that, we'd need to work together if we wanted to succeed.
“Use of your weapons or armor, outside of assigned training events is prohibited.” He paused, waiting, almost as if he were listening to something. A message through his implant.
“Your supplies for today have been deposited outside on the parade ground,” he told us. “Dismissed.”
We stood there in shock for a moment, but then there was a general rush to the doors. They slid open on our approach and we emerged into chaos.
The entire parade ground was flooding with other entrants. Stacks of food boxes stood at the center, but most entrants weren't getting that far, even. The doors to the individual bays were relatively close together and as flights flooded out, they started brawling, forming up into lines or simply dissolving into bedlam.
Jonna was out near the front of our group and she snapped out commands, three other entrants forming a line with her as she rushed towards the boxes of rations. More fell in on either side, but they hadn't gone far when groups from the other flights on either side of us plowed into us from either side.
A stocky, spike-haired girl came in at me with a kick that I took on my thigh, my whole leg going numb from the blow. I didn't let any scrap of chivalry stop me from throwing an elbow right into her face. She stumbled back, but a big young man tackled me from the side, driving me to the ground. The impact bounced my head off the pavement and I lost track of the whole world for a moment.
When I came to myself, I rolled over, catching a kick to the side, but managing to stumble to my feet. Some time must have passed, brawling figures were dragging boxes away from the pile. I fought to get my eyes to focus, just in time to stagger out of the way of a swinging figure. I couldn't tell who was on whose side any more. Everything was chaos. A figure that I thought I recognized came at me and I shouted, “Jade Flight!”
The young man hesitated, gave me a nod, and then charged a different target.
My shout seemed to break up some of the fighting, as people realized that they didn't even know who they were struggling with. Shouts began to echo all across the parade ground and struggling forms separated, rallying to where people shouted out their Flights. I kept shouting, a group forming up around me. Some of them were dragging boxes of rations and our group took what we had, heading back to the doors of our bay.
We got inside, many of us staggering. I was still having difficulty getting my left eye to focus and my ears still rang. As the doors slid shut behind us, I heard Richardson's voice. “You stand or fall as a flight. You are missing three members.”
“You will form up as a f
ull Flight before you are allowed to eat,” he told us.
I thought I heard someone swear. We had to go back out into that. We stared stupidly at one another. Several of our group had broken noses, swollen eyes. No one had even thought to count heads. We didn't even know what we all looked like.
“Alright,” Jonna barked at us, “those of us with rations, stack it up near the back wall. Everyone who is able to fight, front rank. Let's go this together. Move as a group. Fight as a group.”
She pointed at me, “Big guy, you're up front.”
“How do we identify our missing people?” A girl asked. Even as she asked that, my implant showed her name: Bahn, Jade Flight.
“Implants,” I said, “Names and Flight information are on our implants.”
“Right,” Jonna snapped. “Get our people, get them back here. If anyone goes down, grab them and drag them back. Let's go!”
I moved up to the front of the group and we rushed out through the doors. Most of the chaos had died down, but there were still handfuls of brawling entrants. Shadow whispered to me, pointing out a pair of figures near where the pile of boxes had been. Kiyu, Jade Flight and Osmund, Jade Flight. “There!” I pointed.
They were back to back. A group of about ten other entrants had surrounded them. A big young man, almost as tall as me, lunged in at them, striking Osmund and sending him staggering, the others starting in on them. I recognized Jerral, then, the bully swinging at Kiyu as Osmund fell.
Our group rushed in at them. Someone from Jerral's group called out a warning just as we closed the distance.
Jerral spun, saw us coming in, and lowered his shoulder to meet us. As he turned away from Kiyu, though, she kicked down at the side of his knee. I heard it break, even as I rushed him. Jerral choked out a scream just as I slammed into him. There was no grace, no form to my impact, I simply smashed him to the ground and as he fell, I staggered into the next opponent.
It was over quickly enough. Most of the others scattered away from us, leaving Jerral and a couple others on the ground, unconscious or too injured to fight back. Kiyu and Osmund formed up in our little group. “Thanks,” she panted, though if she were thanking me specifically or the group as a whole, I wasn't certain. “They cut us off as we were moving back to the bay.”
