Cadet: Star Defenders Book Two: Space Opera Adventure

by Pamela Stewart

  “Don’t worry. Stay where you are. I’ll take care of everything.”

  The holo went dark.

  She’d acted so mature and had thought to contact me at only seven. Kids had to grow up fast in the Hub, but I’d hoped to protect them.

  I pushed up in bed and scanned the rest of the dorm to make sure no one was watching or listening to my conversation. Snoring echoed but no movement. Good. I needed secrecy to escape.

  I slipped out of bed and pulled on a standard-issue jacket that was part of my uniform. It was dark, and I hoped it would hide me from the vid sensors.

  Maybe I would be lucky. Why would anyone want to leave? I sighed. I wouldn’t be that lucky. I had to be realistic. Not only was the perimeter guarded but alarmed and under heavy surveillance. I pretended I was going to the head. The narrow hall was dim and smelled of melted metal, someone probably soldering. Then it hit me.

  The lowest level connected the Mil-station to the axis, where the Hub was located. Long transfer lines bridged the gap with trains, transports, and supply ferries. There had to be some service tubs for maintenance. And service tubes were usually unguarded.

  At the end of the hall, near the lift, a patrol officer watched a vid clip and chuckled. Getting past him would be the first test.

  My go-to strategy was to wing it, so I did. I strolled down the hall even though my legs burned to run, but I held my deep space chill.

  “Hey,” I said, not sure of his rank.

  The man looked up, a deep frown on his worn face. “Damn, Squab. Address me as Sergeant Piler.”

  “Hey, Sarge. I can’t sleep. Can I go down to Engineering? I’m sure they need more hands.”

  His eyebrows both rose, and he pursed his lips. “You want extra duty?”

  “Yes, sir.” I stood a bit straighter to seem like I was completely gung-ho.

  “Sign here.” He waved his hand, and a duty sheet appeared. “Be back before reveille, or the squad leader will have your guts on a plate.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He returned to his vid clips.

  I got in the lift and tried to breathe. I could do this.

  The lift doors opened, and a wall of heat greeted me. I jogged down the hall into the main chamber.

  The night crew was sparse, less than half of the day crew. I climbed the ladder to the upper levels and soaked in the partitions and alcoves.

  I was no Amelie and didn’t have every detail ingrained in my mind, but I was good at figuring things out, like why an alcove was in the position where it was and what it did.

  The lieutenant on duty raised a scanner that I placed my hand on. It blinked green with my name.

  He pointed to the upper floors. “Work up there,” he grunted and went back to instructing a new batch of workers. Not as go-team as the captain from engineering had been, but he got the point across. I climbed the ladder and reached the top floor a bit too fast. If I acted strange, someone would notice me, report me. So, I made a point of moving slowly, and then I worried if I was moving too slow.

  And there was no controlling the high cam rev of my heart. Beads of sweat dripped down my back, even with the temp controlling suit.

  I hadn’t done anything yet, so I shouldn’t have been so wired. Chances were, this was a far as I could go, and I’d have to find a different way to help my sisters. But the image of Sade's face pierced my typical ease.

  Getting out and quick was my only option.

  The crew at this level were dirty and looked like they’d been working for a while. Mostly male and all brawny, older, probably not recruits. It was what happened to the recruits after a few years of pushing axle—dull eyes and slumped shoulders. Some looked like they couldn’t straighten fully.

  Queasiness clenched my innards, but I swallowed and took my place beside one.

  “Come just in time for supper break. Figures.” The graying man to my left snorted, scowling.

  I kept my eyes fixed on the walls and the alcoves. If I wanted to get to the Hub, I had to go OE East. Ten feet higher than me, I saw a small tunnel, but it was low. I’d have to crawl until it connected with the main lines. Then maybe I could hop a train or transport to the Hub.

  Now, if I could just get away from my duty station. As if a real celestial angel was watching out for me, siren screams shook the air. I jumped. My coworkers must've been expecting it because they stopped pushing and shuffled off toward the left and the stairs.

  Break. Perfect. I stepped back and acted as if I were adjusting my handgrips and waited for the floor to clear. Only two officers remained, and they were involved with the mechanisms control panel on the ground floor, not caring what was happening above them. This was my chance.

  I silently climbed the scaffolding and tested the entrance.

  Not guarded. I ran a hand over the door electronics and looked at the screen. Not alarmed.

  Removing my wrist com, I hooked it on the edge of the opening as it would give anyone my location. I crawled inside and shimmied forward.

  The path took a sudden hard turned to the right. I did the mental calculations, and my instincts said I was still going toward the Hub, getting closer, although it was still miles away. The material under my hands changed from hard plasti-metal to a rubbery substance.

  The temperature dropped. My fingers numbed, and I quaked.

  I had to go on. I didn't have a choice.

  The tunnel grew spongier until the surface felt insecure. I propped my hands on either side where I could feel metal or bridging. I had a feeling if I put my full weight on the bottom of the tube, I would just fall through.

  This was a bad idea. Really bad. I was usually the voice of reason. I took things as they were. Accepted circumstances, I couldn’t change.

  But my sisters’ faces pulled me on inch-by-inch. I crept, holding onto the bridges, my arms shaking.

  My shaking muscles started giving out. My grip loosened. I fell against the bottom of the tubing and plummeted into the dark unknown.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Vega

  “Today, you will be exploring your fighters. The ship should feel like a part of you. I know all of you have flown before, but piloting a Stryker is the difference between learning to crawl and learning to run.”

  Amelie hadn’t shown up for physical training this morning. The military limited our coms for personal use, so I was hesitant to use it except in a full-on emergency.

  I figured something had happened to keep her from coming, whether she couldn't get out of the barracks early enough, or some upperclassmen had shanghaied her.

  Woe be unto the upperclassmen who asked her to recite anything.

  I wasn’t too concerned. I would see her later in our hand-to-hand class.

  Ethan droned on about the Ax-Strykers.

  The Strykers could go long distances in space like a full shuttle even though they were about half the size. And unlike a shuttle, two laser-cannons poised on each side of the cockpit.

  “Cadets take your assigned ships. The weapons are not hot, so don't worry, but we will be doing some targeting.”

  I ran a hand on the edge to feel the smooth alloy. I'd never seen anything like this. My brother had holo-pics on his wall of different ships that he wanted to fly someday, and I had not understood it.

  I kind of did now.

  The thought of my brother brought me down again. Where the hell was he? I was desperate to know, but I didn't dare send a message. The military station was surely watching all of our communications.

  I was scared to even think of him and his pirate friends. I hadn’t said much about the woman who had psychic powers, and neither had Amelie. Did Amelie even realize what had happened?

  I’d been too scared to talk to her about it. And the more time that went by, the more I thought maybe I had imagined...no. When I thought about it, I could still feel the weird probing fingers in my mind. And there was no denying the small child-like creature who’d almost blasted a hole in my chest.

 
Nope, they were augmented or mutated or worse.

  I shook myself back to the present moment. The seat in the cockpit conformed to my body. All the controls were within easy reach. About five steps up from the Lazarus shuttle and ten above a harvester, the ship was a fine-tuned, expensive weapon. My chest squeezed,and heart-rate jacked.

  “Pilot Volante, are you in distress?”

  I jumped. The voice came from my helmet. Was it Axis Control? We hadn’t even fired up the engines yet.

  I pressed the com button. “I’m not in distress,” I responded.

  Static on my headset, then I heard Ethan. “Cadet Volante, I’m glad you’re not in distress, but we have not requested a status update. Please keep the line clear for instructions.”

  “What? Then who spoke to me?” I said out loud, scanning the com unit for the source.

  “I’m JS251, your onboard assistant.”

  Onboard assistant? “A damn AI. I hate AI.”

  “Why?”

  I blinked and frowned hard. “A smart-aleck AI to boot.”

  “My function is to ensure your health and safety.”

  I didn’t know if the AI could detect my eye-roll, but I decided not to talk to it. I might encourage it.

  Ethan reviewed the flight exercise. Launching and flying in formation. I’d missed the maneuvers lessons yesterday, but Ethan had assured me I’d be fine. It was nice having him on my side.

  Every fiber in me still felt tentative, but he had not lied to me since the Lazarus. Maybe he could be trusted now that his secret was out.

  “Fasten your harness for safety,” the AI intoned in an OE British accent.

  “I’ll put on my belts when it’s time.”

  The ship jerked toward the launch bay. I leaned hard to the side, bumping my head. I had my flight helmet on, so I didn’t hurt myself, but it still smarted.

  “Damn AI.” I breathed and pulled on my belts. I hadn’t realized this portion of the launch was mechanized. The Lazarus’s launch system had been partially manual and was still being upgraded and revamped from a mining to a warship.

  “My identification is JS251.”

  I didn’t roll my eyes this time. Maybe I could figure out a way to turn it off on my next flight.

  Gleason mounted the elevated platform above the ships, watching Ethan direct the Cadets. If I’d had control of the ship, I might have been tempted to blast him.

  Just a stunner. Maybe more.

  I snorted and allowed the ship to continue its prep. I’d done my preflight checklist, and now it was just getting us all into launch positions.

  The planetborn girl—I shouldn’t think of her like that. I didn’t like it when others thought of me like that. McKenzie, the girl who’d used weird karate to beat my ass earlier, was first up.

  The ships lined up. Plasma and magnetic energy lit the back four thrusters in a deep blue glow.

  I wasn’t a science wizard like Amelie, but I did know enough to be impressed with the slingshot energy as the ship zipped into the black.

  Silent and blisteringly fast, I’d never seen anything move like that.

  Our maneuvers were set at Axis-dawn. Few ships cluttered the view or impeded our path.

  The AI must have loaded the sequencing code, so the ships flashed out between the giant whirring connector, tunnels, and transports circling the stations.

  My turn came. The ship coiled and sprang, not like the Lazarus’s shuttles that had the countdown and the drop. The power from behind catapulted me from the deck, and the momentum pressed me against the seat.

  I gripped the yoke and took a deep breath. The console read double—...no triple the speed of the shuttle, and this was just take off. I grinned. This was stellar. Absolutely stellar!

  I couldn’t see the station, but the sensors threw up an image of it directly in the review view cam, so much better than anything I’d seen on the Laz. I picked up my squadron and brought my ship into the formation shown on the screen.

  “Cadets, scramble using pattern Delta.” The voice wasn’t Ethan. Filled with iron, the sound rang deeper. Gleason.

  And I had no idea what pattern Delta was.

  The head ship swooped down, and the rest peeled off into different directions. My hand shook as I adjusted course.

  “Damn it, Ethan. You should have told me I needed to know this,” I whispered. I checked the perimeter and reduced the ship’s speed, not sure what direction to go. The Stryker rocked sideways. High-pitched alarms blared.

  “Evasive maneuvers,” the AI cheerfully told me over the blast of the siren. “Guns armed and ready for deployment.”

  “Don’t fire!”

  I flipped a switch on the controls hoping it turned off the autoresponder. Instead, the cockpit dimmed, and blue fire lit on each side of my ship.

  “JS25...whatever the hell your called...AI computer stop the weapons.”

  “The weapons system has been deactivated. Would you like navigation assistance?”

  “No. Damn it.”

  Another ship nearly clipped my tail, and the force sent me into a barrel roll.

  “Would you like assistance, now?” The voice almost sounded smug.

  “Yes! Yes! Help me stabilize the ship.”

  The stars streamed by above my head. I was upside down.

  I finally got my bearings and rolled the ship upright. My squadron flickered on the viewfinder in a perfect arrow shape. I careened off the display, miles away.

  Vainly searching my monitors, I tried to decipher what the hell I was supposed to do, but it was too late. They completed a complex set of maneuvers while I hovered and watched.

  “All fighters. Report back to the launch pad,” Gleason said in my helmet.

  The AI retook the helm, and I didn’t fight it. We came to a perfect landing and pressurized.

  I climbed out of the cockpit. My temper flared hot, but I doused it with a shot of cooling logic. I was in enough trouble already.

  We lined up in rows. Binary and McKenzie stood out from the rest right next to me. They both gave me sidelong looks. McKenzie looked almost sympathetic, but I couldn't be sure. I didn’t know her well enough.

  She had beat the stuffing out of me yesterday, so I had to guess that her feelings about me were complicated.

  Gleason stood in the front of the group with Ethan at his side. I held my breath.

  Ethan avoided looking directly at me. He knew the reason I had performed so poorly. Would he defend me?

  The lieutenant commander walked up the line looking at everyone's name inscribed on their cadet uniforms. He stopped in front of Binary.

  “Binary, your performance was impeccable. I'm moving you up to squad leader for our next exercise.”

  “Sir, yes, sir,” she shouted.

  I waited for the hammer to fall. He marched down the aisles over to me, passing three of the other boys and another female that was in our squad.

  His expression was inscrutable. Too much going on behind his eyes. His cheek tightened like he clenched his jaw, and then he walked on and reached the end of the line.

  He returned to the center of the flight platform and addressed us.

  “Good work, everyone. Junior Lieutenant James will continue the drills.” I nearly slumped to the floor. I allowed myself to exhale slightly.

  He shifted, and we locked eyes. I froze.

  “Cadet Volante, please see me.”

  Finally, the hammer was about to fall, and I would be the nail.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Ethan

  Gleason pulled Vega aside. I approached them.

  I’d thought I was going to run the exercise, but Gleason had overridden me.

  He waved me off with a look that could incinerate titanium. I paused but didn’t retreat. I needed to explain. Vega had missed the lesson, and judging her on her performance wasn’t fair.

  I opened my mouth to intercede but stalled, intervening with Gleason could have very negative results for Vega. He could get vicious, bette
r to let the storm pass.

  The only thing that remained was the class. And he’d ruined most of my clout with the cadets. It was hard enough trying to gain their trust, but now I looked like some glorified assistant.

  “This should just be another standard drill.” I gave each squadron basic maneuvers that they could practice. “Scramble!”

  Most of the squadron started toward their ships. McKenzie and Binary remained at attention, looking forward.

  “Were my orders unclear?”

  “Permission to speak, sir?” Binary asked.

  “Yes? Go on.” I was leery about giving her too much rope. They would just as likely hang me with it as themselves, especially with Gleason within hearing distance.

  “Volante's part of our squadron, and as the leader, I can’t continue without her.”

  A power-play? I frowned—an interesting ploy. I wondered how it would play out. I'd allow it because it might help Vega and would definitely be interesting to see how Gleason dealt with insubordination.

  “Wait here.” I raised my voice for the entire squadron to hear, and everyone paused mid-flight prep.

  I strode to the mouth of the bay where Gleason and Vega stood.

  Vega's face flushed. Her hand twitched as if she was barely stopping herself from decking Gleason. I had a similar response to him when I’d first met him, but in the end, everything he did was to teach a lesson and to improve his squad.

  He snapped toward me. “Is there a problem, James? You need assistance in leading your class?”

  Trust Gleason to turn the lesson around on me. But I had learned the hard way he required someone to face him head-on.

  “The new squadron leader has requested that Cadet Volante be allowed to rejoin her squadron as the team is not complete. I think she has a point.”

  A small twinkle of gratitude flashed in Vega’s eyes, but her fingers still twitched. Either it meant thank you, or I'm going to kill you later.

  With Vega, one could never tell.

  Gleason threw back his head and barked a laugh. He clasped me on my shoulder so hard that I almost fell forward. He sometimes forgot his strength, much like Vega.

  He pointed at Binary. “That's why I picked you as squadron leader—assertive command and protecting your own. I was waiting for someone to come to her rescue. I'm surprised you didn't, James.” He removed his hand from my shoulder and returned to Vega.