It got hotter, and heaviness dragged at me, pulling me hard toward the floor.
Two of the other girls tilted forward. One fell to her knees.
“Here. We are all equal. And in the final test of admittance, no one will have an unfair advantage. Planetborns with added strength or other abilities will be adjusted to even the playing field. You must choose your team, reach the flag, and retrieve it for maximum points. All cadets will have a point rank given at the end of the exercise—a minimum of 500 to maintain a position. Choose your teams of 3-5. Go.”
Amelie joined me but kept searching the crowd.
The weight gnawed at me. I was already weary, and now I just wanted to lay down. Pressure compressed me, smashing me down, and I still had another test. Screwed wasn’t a strong enough word. My knees wobbled, and I almost dropped.
“This isn’t fair.” I pulled back upright and tried to stand straight, but all I could manage was a hunch. “Why aren’t we allowed to use our natural assets. I feel like I’m back on U170 only worse.”
Amelie tilted her head like a confused gato. “How are they doing it? They must have changed the molecular density of your suit so it would match your home planet. Therefore, you would feel like you’re— This isn’t the best time to explain, is it?”
I shook my head. Amelie was learning. Slowly, but learning. “And I still can’t find Dax.”
“Amelie. Just find someone to join us before it’s too late.” I struggled to stand and think of a solution to my problem. I’d lived on U170 for most of my life for Sol’s sake. The extra weight shouldn’t feel so bad.
But I’d gotten used to my strength and leaned on it. What was I without it?
The officer cleared her throat and shouted, “Let the games begin.”
Chapter Six
Ethan
We sat in the Space Bar nursing our drinks. The second tumbler of sev whiskey didn't burn as much as the first. It went down smooth. For the first time in weeks, I felt my muscles uncoiling. And for the first time in weeks, I could talk candidly.
The bar hummed with activity, as did anyplace with alcohol in the Hub. Thugs, gang members, lifters, and general drones crowded around tables, eyeing us warily. Gleason was big and hairy and moved with the swagger of a man who would destroy a person without thought or hesitation.
No one approached us.
“I should have known, Gleason. Price acted strange from the first moment I interacted with him.” I shook my head.
Vines and flora covered the whole place. Creating oxygen was one of the number one goals of every station, especially the Hub. Every available surface that could grow something did. But the demand always exceeded the supply.
“Kid, don’t blame yourself. No one would’ve suspected Price. I know you went to investigate, but a betrayal at that level has never happened. No twenty-year veteran has ever turned on the Axis-Mil. Ever. I thought maybe he was double-dealing, making some money on the side from the mining camps.” Gleason tilted the tumbler in his hand, swirling it in the dappled green light as if it were a fine wine. He tossed the liquid into the back of his throat, closed his eyes, and muttered a low groan. “Same as always.”
“The finest in the Hub.”
I didn't know why Gleason had brought me to this Hub spot, but it felt comfortable if not exactly nostalgic. My life in the Hub had been a horror vid clip with my arrest as the capstone memory.
“Tell me more about the girl.” Gleason gave me a sly smile, a sidelong glance.
Vega was just another one of my failures. I wanted to stop thinking about her, but I could tell he would dig until I caved. Gleason had flint in his eyes that canceled out the smile. When he wanted something, he wouldn’t be denied.
“Nothing to tell.” I kept my body language muted, and my voice steady. “She saved my life and the lives of everyone on board.”
“There's more.” He used the voice he pulled when he was calling me out on my BS, the voice he'd used that night when he'd pulled me from the wreckage of my stealth shuttle Redeemer and talked me into joining the Phantom Corp.
“What can I say about Vega? She's—different.” I'd been friends with girls back in the Hub and dated a few. But no one like Vega. I'd never met anyone like her.
But that was done. I had to put it behind me. She hated me, and there was no altering the facts.
“Ah. I get it. She was a pretty little thing. It's hard to believe the reports, the strength, fighting a band of pirates, and taking the bridge of the Lazarus.”
“Believe the reports. She's amazing.” I realized I'd said too much from the eyebrow raise and added. “So are Amelie Dupree and Dax Smith. We worked well together.” I was talking too much and revealing too much. In the Ax-Mil, I'd learned not to expose myself, even to Gleason. My training told me to keep the persona up at all times. Keep my real reactions in check. It was still hard. “I failed them.”
I took another sip from my refilled glass but kept it minimal. I needed my wits about me.
Gleason pushed his seat back and swiveled to look at me fully. “Ethan, it was your first real assignment. You flew a damn Class A Destroyer. It wasn’t supposed to be a high-risk mission. I couldn't be happier with the results.”
I perked up a little and swirled the amber alcohol remaining in my tumbler. A small smile crept to the surface before I could stifle it. “Really?”
I couldn't say that I hated Gleason's praise, but there was usually a catch.
He put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed.
“You have even more potential than I thought. Speaking of potential. Have you seen what’s going on out there? The posters and propaganda?
On the people mover in, I’d noted 3-D moving billboards shouting, “Join the Corp!” and “Save Us from the Alien Threat!” with big friendly lettering and pop-ups with details on joining.
“Yeah, recruitment push.”
Gleason grunted. “We’re getting inundated with a bunch of recruits, our resources are stretched, and the new group”—he rolled his eyes and shook his head—“are greener than an Erainian fresh off the planet.”
“You’re back in training? Will you still be my CO?”
“Interesting that you should mention that, son. Let’s go for a walk and talk about your future.”
I just wanted to shift the conversation to the next thing. I hadn’t seen much of the universe except the inside of the Lazarus. It was time to move on.
Gleason paid the tender, and we strode outside into the Hub proper.
Above me, on a thousand different levels, were ships pulling between the stations in an elegant dance. Trains carried passengers to docks that would connect them to the entire universe. We provided the connections and a massive exoskeleton that bound our civilization together.
My left thumb rubbed the deep tattoo of the number I’d gotten as a child when my principles had sold me to the Hub pits.
The Hub was beautiful and terrible and savage. Woe to those who didn't know their way around. In the two blocks that we walked in companionable silence, I’d eyed two lifters, five wav girls, and a few wav boys.
A couple of them made moon faces at me, but I gave them the hand.
Undulating lights twinkled from the buildings and the hovels. Most people who lived there didn't have much, but they did like bright colors, and they did like to show off.
My stomach twisted, and a chill crept over me. My head throbbed with the alcohol.
A large poster displayed an image of a squid-like creature lunging out with a soldier in front of it. Then the caption read: Join or be Eaten.
I snorted, and my gaze cut to Gleason. “Did they finally get an image of the aliens?”
“No. They’re going off your girlfriend’s reports.”
I shrugged off the comment. Gleason loved any reason to rip me. Never mean-spirited. More typical guy stuff, but he knew how to get me.
“Can you just tell me where my next duty station is? My belongings are back at the spaceport, I st
ill have to report to my new CO, and I haven’t slept in over 15 hours.” It came out a bit harsher than I intended, but Gleason jerked his head back as if a puppy had nipped him and grinned.
“This is a big deal for me, kid. I'm moving you up.”
I had no idea what that meant. It sounded good, but with Gleason, there were always small details that he didn't mention. I learned to get the details in our five years of association.
“Vague, Gleason.”
“Commander Gleason,” he said with a stifled grunt of amusement. During casual times, titles were unnecessary. But I humored him.
“Commander Gleason, what does moving me up mean?” We stopped walking, but the foot traffic kept the pace that the Hub always maintained.
Fast. Deadly. Thriving. Especially on game nights. People flowed past us in waves. I ignored them, waiting for Gleason to give.
I crossed my arms, tilted my head. “Tell me.”
“I know you want to go out into the ‘verse, but I need you to do something else for me first.”
A thrill spiraled through me. I didn't like the idea of being Axis bound again, but if that's what Gleason needed. He was like family, and this assignment sounded intriguing.
“Tell me what you need. You know I’ll do anything for you.”
“I know.” He spread his hands as if presenting me with a gift. “You’ll like this assignment. I want you to teach at the Academy.”
Chapter Seven
Amelie
The atrium shifted into a series of steep ramps, unstable bridges, warped walls, and deep pits. I searched for the flag but found nothing. Perhaps the prize lay at the end of the course?
The cadets scattered. Quads and trios of soldiers flowed through the obstacle course as if they knew each challenge in advance. I bolted down an incline and hit the sixteen-foot-high perpendicular barrier first. Multiple ropes dangled from the top. I wrapped one thick strand around my hand and climbed as other cadets sprung past and flew to the next challenge.
I’d practiced a similar obstacle course in virtual-reality and my gym back home, but my walls had never been this high. My upper arms shook and wobbled. Hands aching, upper back clenched, I struggled.
My eyes closed, and I held my breath as I hoisted myself to the apex. Panting, I straddled the top of the fence and looked down.
Vega leaped and clawed at the wall, trying to grasp the rope that was about a foot above her head.
Crap, I’d forgotten she was so short.
“Jump!” I doubled over and reached a hand down.
With her suit set to heavy gravity, Vega was struggling. Maybe even more than me.
“Move, you maggots. We’re timing you,” one of the officers bellowed.
Timed.
My lungs shriveled, and my muscles clenched. Everything in me wanted to jump off the wall and sprint to the next obstacle. I detested losing points. Running at my fastest pace, the remainder of the course would be less than Academy minimum, and that was assuming no more obstacles of this magnitude. But Vega would never leave me. And I wouldn’t leave her. I threw my leg back over the edge and prepped to climb down the rope when I saw him loping toward us from the mouth of the atrium.
Dax.
The tension that had been constricting my chest unbuckled. I swung my leg back over the edge, sitting astride the wall, and watched.
He cupped his hands together, and Vega put her foot into his palms. They didn't need a discussion. Dax was a man of action, not words. Probably one of the things I like most about him.
Grunting, he gave Vega a sizable boost. She grabbed the rope and slowly made her way up to my side. By the time she joined me at the top, she was gasping for breath. We nodded to each other, and I started down the other side.
I lowered myself as far as I could and jumped to the floor. My leg was now completely healed from the fracture on the Lazarus, thank Sol, and the impact didn’t affect me. Vega landed in a squat and rolled to take some of the impact.
A dent folded the flooring beneath her. To handicap her, the Ax-Mil weighted her down to the point where she was damaging the flooring. We both looked up. Dax jumped to the ground beside us.
“Where have you been?” My voice snapped, sharper than I wanted.
I'd been worried. Like really worried. The Academy designed most of the test to weed out the candidates.
“I missed you too, Am,” he said in his warm, slow drawl that always pulled a smile from me and made me forget we were in the middle of an obstacle course.
We took a moment. Vega reached out and grasped Dax’s and my hands.
An emotional zing like an electric current seemed to tie us together.
And seeing Dax was like getting a lung full of fresh O2 after being confined in a smoke-filled room. Bliss.
One of the officers zeroed in on us and marched to where we stood with a manic, too-friendly smile.
Vega, Dax, and I came to attention nervously, glancing at each other.
Sweat dripped down my neck under my already damped hair. I wished I'd rolled it atop my head like Vega. The suit had auto-thermal control, but my body temperature must’ve been changing so fast it couldn't keep up. I kept my back straight and my eyes forward as the officer motioned us out of the way of oncoming soldiers—each of them racing ahead as if a photon blaster had been shoved up their behinds.
“Do you think you’ll get a break on the battlefield, Volante?”
Vega stiffened. Her eyes narrowed, and her hand twitched. I braced for the oncoming storm. From my observations, she struggled to keep her cool with authority. Most likely the result of being raised on the hay belt planet without a great deal of social structure.
She’d never really had to deal with a lot of authority figures. She was a very independent girl, which was both a blessing and a curse. But I knew the look in her eye. It was a look she got before she did something stupid.
“Permission to speak, lieutenant?” Vega asked.
I wanted to grab her and press adhesive between her lips.
No matter what, I'd help her. But why call down Armageddon if you could avoid it? I shifted slightly to see the cadets running, making the points. I wanted to jump back onto the course. Physical exertion was easier than alienating yet another authority figure, but I couldn’t control Vega, even if I tried.
“Sure.” A predator’s grin split the lieutenant’s face. I tried to catch Dax’s eye, but he was smart enough to be looking forward.
“Excuse my honesty, but I’ve been on a battlefield. I would know.”
His eyes widened and dilated.
“I’ve been handicapped with extra weight, and I don't believe this test will provide a fair assessment of my abilities.”
The lieutenant’s blue-gray eyes held no warmth. They reminded me of the rendering of the OE sky before a storm. We never actually got nasty weather. But I'd read about rainstorms, typhoons, tornadoes, tsunamis, and other weather phenomena. Some were unique to OE, and some were unique to—I was getting off track again.
“Wu might have let you slide because she didn't give a deuce whether you lived or died. But I’m here to train you to be a soldier. Expect no leniency. Expect no understanding. Expect no quarter. It will not be given. We are the Axis-Mil Academy, and we turn out the toughest and most unrelenting soldiers in the galaxy. Luck and abnormal strength will not get you through. Training will get you through.” His face turned scarlet.
The longer he talked, the more my stomach turned.
From my psychology classes, it appeared he was taking Vega’s assertiveness personally, and that meant he’d target her. I was pretty good at psychology. My analysis suffered when I attempted to apply it to myself. But that was the curse of understanding a lot of things objectively. The concepts were still hard to implement.
“You will finish this course. You will do it without help.” His eyes twitched as he slung a look at both Dax and me. “You will use the suit that we gave you.”
“I think it's time to take it
up to Level II.” He turned and clapped his hands once over his head. The atrium blackened for half a heartbeat then flashed back on.
“Welcome to the jungle.” The audio crackled and died, replaced by random cawing and whooping. I’d heard such things when I was very young and going through my obsession with biology. I’d spend hours memorizing classifications of all living creatures, their names, sounds, and random facts.
“Whoever reaches the crest of the mountain and retrieves the flag wins,” the officer continued. “Points will be assigned depending on your performance. The other cadets are considered the enemy, but only non-lethal force is permitted.”
Non-lethal force? This exercise sounded painful.
Animal calls rose from the surrounding greenery.
My heart seemed to stop beating, just stopped like a damaged chip reader. I swallowed a hard lump in my throat. Amazing. The room had morphed into a lush, green rain forest. Trees and foliage crowded every direction I looked. I couldn’t see Vega or Dax through the palms that had erupted around me.
I did see the pink-haired girl that had garnered the attention of half the class.
Not a gen mod, I could tell that from a light-year away, but from her age, muscle ratio, and general movement, she had been training since before she left the birthing pod.
If they wanted to crack down on unfair advantages, they should’ve started with her. Of course, they had picked the off-Axis planetborns to target. Humans feared what they didn’t understand.
Sometimes I wished that wasn’t such a true statement. Or that humans would evolve to adopt a more curious, instead of fearful, attitude.
“Vermin. The clock is ticking. Go!”
Chapter Eight
Dax
When the lighting returned, the world had transformed. Amelie and Vega were gone.
Cadet: Star Defenders Book Two: Space Opera Adventure Page 5
