by Kal Spriggs
Hodges' face paled a bit as he realized what that meant. Woods and his company commander studied together, they went to class together, talked together on a daily basis. If he'd thought he'd be protected because they were in the same Company, then he clearly hadn't considered the fact that his Company Commander and ours knew one anther well.
“Yes, sir,” he bit out. I could tell he wasn't happy with it. He turned sharply and stalked out, his shoulders set and his jaw locked. This wouldn't be the end of it, I knew. Why do I have that idiot in my section...
Even Bollander wouldn't have done something so brazen.
“Armstrong,” Woods said, “thanks for bringing that to my attention.”
“Sir,” I nodded and took that as a dismissal.
I ran into Ashiri out in the hallway. She gave me a raised eyebrow, “The Plebes came out of there like the place was on fire. Then Hodges stalked out like he'd been lit up. Tell me all the juicy details.” I gave her a frank look and she rolled her eyes, “Oh, come on, you were right there, I want to know!”
I sighed. “Fine, I'll tell you, but we need to head to that study session or they'll start without us. I'll fill you in on the way.”
We hurried off, talking quietly as we went.
***
Chapter 6: What We Had Here Was A Failure To Communicate
I'd spent the entire week studying and trying to get caught up for my classes as well as getting to know the Plebes in my squad. I'd managed to get a few hours of sleep, somehow, but I was really looking forward to tackling Drill and then getting some sleep on the rest of the weekend. And while a perimeter position wasn't exactly stimulating at this point, at least I knew what I'd be doing. So of course, Friday night, just before our Saturday drill, there was an Academy-wide message that shifted all our assignments.
“You got to be kidding me,” Sashi groaned as the message popped up on our implants.
I was seated at my desk and I restrained a groan as I sat back. “Maybe they're trying to fix the whole problem with training with different units?” I asked hopefully as I started searching through for my name. The list they'd sent out was a hard-copy scan, it seemed. So I couldn't sort the data on it by name. It listed everything by position and it took me a long time to sort through it, trying to find my name.
“Ugh,” Sashi groaned, “Ammo loading detail at Bunker Seven. I'm not even in charge.”
Not having a leadership position for a drill as a Cadet Second Class was the kind of thing I would have expected them to do to someone who was barely hanging on. Sashi had finished first in our class last year. I felt worry gnaw at my stomach as I continued to search through to find my drill assignment.
I found it, finally, on my second run through the document. I'd skipped over the initial section because I hadn't expected to be there. “Regimental Headquarters... Contingency Response Staff, Assistant Planner?”
“Contingency Response?” Sashi popped her head around the desk partition. “Are you freaking kidding me?! That's awesome!” Contingency Response was the Academy's real-life planning section dedicated to planning responses to natural disasters, industrial accidents, and other unexpected events. Since the Academy acted as one of the main emergency response elements for Century, it was an important position. In the case of an emergency, they'd put into motion the Academy's response, sending orders to the Regiment of Cadets in order to provide support anywhere on the planet within hours of an event.
“Yeah...” I felt off balance. Fischer didn't like me, why would he assign me to such a position?
Normally the Regimental support positions like that were selected by the Regimental Officers. Oftentimes that involved an exhaustive interview process. I checked who the Regimental Crises Response Planning Officer was... Cadet Lieutenant Commander Aguilera. I didn't know her. She was from Dust Company, so I'd need to ask Kyle what he thought of her. For that matter...
It took me a few minutes to find Kyle. Opposition Force Company Commander. My eyes widened a bit at that. It was normally a position reserved for Cadets First Class who didn't have officer positions. That was a seriously good assignment, it meant that Kyle had been selected to direct the attacks against Academy grounds for drill exercises.
“Karmazin is on perimeter response control,” Sashi read off. “And Ashiri is, too.”
“Wow,” I said. Of all of my friends, only Sashi didn't have a fairly good assignment. Hers was terrible. “Maybe they made a mistake with yours?” I asked hopefully.
“Fat chance of that,” Sashi growled. I stood up and went around the desk. She was leaning on her desk, her face screwed up, like she was fighting back tears. “This... this has to be deliberate.”
“If it was, don't you think they'd have done something to me, too?” I asked.
“Yeah, maybe,” Sashi didn't look at me, “but maybe Rear Admiral Fischer didn't do this, maybe it was my uncle.”
“It came from Fischer's office,” I noted.
“Yeah, but what does that mean...” she shook her head. “I should have known...”
“Hey, it'll be alright, it's just a drill assignment for one weekend,” I protested.
“I'm an ammo loader. I'm not even the team leader!” Sashi turned to me with a glare. Her hands clenched and her tan face darkened with anger. “You're at Regimental Headquarters!”
“It will be okay, Sashi,” I kept my voice level. I knew how much this had to hurt for her. I'd been there, with my summer assignment last year. That turned out to be a secret assignment though...
Sashi didn't meet my eyes. She turned away. “I just, give me a little time to process, okay?”
“Yeah,” I said, “of course...”
Someone knocked on the door.
“Come in!” I called.
Alexander Karmazin opened the door, “Hey, Sashi, I just looked at the drill assignments...” The tall, gray eyed boy wore a serious expression. He shot me a look and I took his meaning. “Hey, I was going to meet with Kyle, I'll see you guys later.” I hurried out and gave my friends privacy. I was still a bit shocked that they were still a thing, but then again, it had blindsided me when Ashiri and Karmazin had been together, too. Of course, that had fallen apart with just as much suddenness...
I pinged Kyle with my implant and he messaged me back with a location to meet. I flushed a bit at the location. It was the Chapel Lounge, which was something of a make-out place, since it was one of the few areas on campus without the ever-present monitors watching our every move.
Kyle and I had kissed there, last year. I felt a flush rising into my hair line as I thought about what it might mean that he wanted to meet there now.
I thought I might catch up to him and see if he meant what I thought he did as I hurried in that direction, but I hadn't seen him by the time I got to the chapel. I took the side door, feeling absurdly nervous as I went past the Chaplain's office and then down the stairs into the basement area. I went past the doors for some of the other faith's chapels, and then paused outside the lounge door. The lights were on, but I still made a big deal of rattling the handle, just in case I was interrupting anyone.
There was a sort of unspoken agreement about that. Not that anyone did anything entirely against the rules down here. Just a bit of kissing, was all, but it was far less embarrassing for everyone involved if there wasn't official notice of it.
I opened the door and Kyle was standing there, only a few meters away. I found myself smiling as I saw him, tall, red-haired, his face locked in concentration as he read his datapad. “Hey there,” I smirked at him. “
He looked up and his green eyes flicked to the side in warning.
I looked over and I found myself flushing in embarrassment as I saw Bollander. The Ogre Company Cadet was looking between us with a furrowed brow. “Yuck, I could do without the image of you two sucking on each other’s faces,” the big woman grunted.
My flush darkened, “Uh, why are you here?” I sort of wanted to kill Kyle for having the woman here.
“Bollander overheard a discussion between Cadet Commander Drien and Cadet Commander Keyes from Regimental Staff,” Kyle said. Keyes was in charge of Regimental Plans. He was also fom Ogre Company originally, if I remembered right. “She came to me because she wanted to pass on some information to you, hopefully without it getting back to Drien.”
“Anyway, apparently they've got it out for you,” Bollander grunted. She shrugged, “They don't much like Cadet Lieutenant Commander Aguilera, your new boss, either, they're planning on withholding information from the Contingency Response section during the next few drills while also cutting them out of the planning process in general.”
“How would Toro Drien be involved?” I asked curiously. I could imagine that Keyes would be in position to do that, but I didn't know what Toro Drien could do to help. Or maybe it's his idea...
“Verna is assigned as his XO this year,” Bollander shrugged, “but his drill assignment is in the communications section. Drien told him to cut Contingency Response out of communications, not for everything, but for just enough that it looks like they're not staying on top of things.”
That could work... It would be enough to make it look like we weren't doing our job, especially if Aguilera's boss had it out for her. “That means that they'll have to either modify the communications log--”
“Which would be an honor code violation,” Kyle noted. “That would get them both kicked out if anyone found out.”
“--or they'd need to send the messages but make sure they're not all getting to where they need to be,” I finished, giving Kyle a nod. The whole scheme could get them kicked out, but only if they got caught and only if it was deemed to be malicious. But if they were careful about how they did it and what they said on the monitors, it could seem to be just a way to test the people involved... assuming they were caught, of course.
“God, you two are way too wholesome,” Bollander scowled. “You're practically finishing each other’s sentences.” I flushed at that and Kyle grinned. “Yeah, I've done my piece.” She headed towards the door and paused, her hand on the doorknob. She looked back at me, “Good luck, Biohazard.”
I straightened a bit as she used my nickname. I'd earned that nickname in a fight with her... so the fact that she used it made me realize that somehow, while she didn't necessarily like me, she still respected me enough that she didn't want to see me undone by something underhanded. “Thanks, Bollander.”
“Don't mention it,” She snorted. “Seriously, don't mention it. Toro Drien is hocking vindictive, he'll run me right out of Ogre Company if he finds out I told you.” Her expression went serious. “Oh, and sorry about what happened to your family.” She opened the door and left before I could respond.
“Well,” Kyle noted, “thank goodness for friends in weird places, right?”
“I don't know that I'd count her a friend exactly,” I answered, turning back to face my boyfriend. I crossed my arms, “You know, you could have warned me she'd be here.”
He smirked at me, “And give away that she was here to warn you?” He shook his head, “You're able to tap into the school monitors. In theory, so can other cadets, maybe even Toro Drien, right?”
I nodded slowly, “Yeah.”
“I didn't want to risk it,” Kyle answered. “As it is, this all feels a whole lot too much like 'conspiracy' for me to feel comfortable with it.”
I thought about the conversations I'd overheard, somehow, though my implant. My impulse was to say nothing. On the other hand, I had been through that before, feeling isolated and alone and with no one to talk to.
“About that,” I said, feeling a little light headed. I took a seat on the couch, not looking at him as I spoke, “I may have found out that a... senior person in our government was involved in the attack that killed my parents.”
“What?” Kyle demanded. He came over and sat next to me, “You... you're serious, aren't you? How?”
“My implant,” I answered. I didn't want to go into specifics, especially since I still didn't know who-- or what-- had helped me. “I found a conversation, one where a Charterer was discussing the aftermath with one of the perpetrators.”
Kyle didn't say anything for a long while. When he did speak, his voice was tight with worry, “You're absolutely certain?”
“I recognized her voice,” I said, still not giving a name. “And then, later I intercepted another communication, this one between her and Rear Admiral Fischer. She was telling him to get me kicked out of the Academy.”
“She...” Kyle swallowed. His eyes were a bit wide as he realized who I meant. “You're saying that Charterer Beckman, one of the most powerful people on Century, conspired with pirates and enabled them to attack the planet, and now she's planning to get you kicked out of the Academy.”
“Yeah,” I met his green eyes, “I am.”
Kyle had gone pale as he considered all of that. His freckles stood out starkly against his pale skin. “Back when we started dating, my dad warned me that the Armstrong family is dangerous to be around. From everything I've seen over the past couple of years, he's right.” I felt my chest constrict at his words. I half expected him to do the smart thing and tell me he was done. “At least things aren't ever boring. So, how can I help?” He smiled at me.
I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I was holding. “I don't know. Keep your eyes open. Letting me know about this... that was a huge help, obviously. I don't know if Fischer is behind it, but...”
“If he was, then it would explain how Toro Drien knew about your assignment before the whole list came out. Though that might have been his uncle as well,” Kyle sighed. He rubbed at his temples, “You know, this would be a lot easier if we only had to worry about grades and graduation, right?”
“Maybe next year will settle out?” I suggested hopefully. I checked the time on my implant. “I should get back to my studies, and now I have to read up on the Contingency Response section and see what I can do to outsmart Keyes and Toro Drien...”
“You're going already?” Kyle looked a little surprised.
“Well, I should,” I hedged. I bit my lip a little as I stared at him though. I still wasn't sure why he wasn't running away from me.
“You know,” he noted, “anyone who thinks we were meeting here for some, uh, alone time, might be suspicious if you left so soon.”
I felt a flush climbing my cheeks again. “I suppose you're right. But how would you suggest we spend the time?”
He leaned over and kissed me in response. It was the first time in weeks that we'd been alone together. All the worry, all the tension, all seemed to melt away at his touch. As his arms wrapped around me, for the first time in weeks I felt safe, I felt wanted. The kiss washed through me, a mix of excitement and longing and just relief. It was so strong, so overwhelming that I let the sensation roll through me, enjoying the moment, right up until the look on my mom's face, that look of anguish and despair, popped into my mind.
I broke off the kiss, suddenly out of breath and almost panicked. “Promise me, Kyle, that you'll take care of yourself.”
He looked at me, confused, his eyes unfocused, “Uh, what?”
“I don't...” I took a shuddering breath, “I can't lose you, okay? Promise me you'll take care of yourself.”
“Yeah, I promise,” His green eyes softened as he stared at me, “You better be safe, too.”
I'm not worried about me. I didn't say that, though. Instead, I said, “Yeah, I'll be careful.”
I pulled him close, hugging his chest, just soaking in his warmth and his unique smell. The moment couldn't last, I knew. I had lots of work to do and so did Kyle. Sooner or later, we'd have to go. But I took every second of it that I could.
***
The shrill alarms started especially early the next morning.
I had already mapped out where I needed to go on my implant and I was slipping into the R
egimental Command Center before the main rush of cadets. I noted Rear Admiral Fischer's presence, standing on an observation platform above the fray. I also noticed Commander Drien, who stood at his elbow with a datapad in hand.
I hurried over to the Contingency Response section. No one else was there, yet, so I started powering up systems and tapping into networks with my implant, drawing in data and populating it on our command systems.
Cadet Lieutenant Commander Aguilera showed up a few minutes after me, giving me a nod, “Cadet Second Class Armstrong.”
“Ma'am,” I nodded back, “I've set up the systems. This is my first time here, is there anything else I should be doing?”
She looked around and I saw her pause and stare at Cadet Commander Keyes, whose position was at a cluster of tables a few meters away. I wondered if she knew that he had some kind of plan against us or if they had some prior issues or what.
“We should have three more personnel coming in,” she answered after a moment. “I'll brief everyone once they arrive.”
We didn't have long to wait. Most of the main command post swarmed with cadets, many of them hurrying back and forth across the floor. Reports were already coming in for attacks all around the campus. I quickly had the feeling that this was far more energetic than the last exercise. The other three cadets arrived and Cadet Lieutenant Commander Aguilera turned to us, “Normally we'd have a brief on our operations prior to the start of drill, but I wasn't able to pull you in last night due to a prior commitment. Our job is to look off Academy grounds and conduct response planning for the next twelve hours. Part of that is recognizing situations as they happen. Cadet Second Class Armstrong was helpful enough to get our systems going and showed good initiative in piping in news feeds and updates as well. We're tasked with monitoring situations planet-wide, twenty-four hours a day, and continuing to update contingency plans.”
