by Kal Spriggs
“Now then,” Mackenzie said. “You all have one hour to rehearse the commands and physical fitness regimen as squads and as a section as a whole. After that, Cadet Instructors will evaluate your progress.” I could hear a note of challenge in his voice. “If you are to standard at the end of that time, then we can move on to more important things. If you aren't, well then we can see what punishments Cadet Instructors Salter and Hilton can think up in that time for how you embarrassed them out here this morning.”
***
Chapter Ten: Okay, It Is Worse Than I Thought
We didn't get trained to the standard that Salter and Hilton had wanted. Instead we spent the rest of the morning 'exploring' the obstacle course. On a world where water is as precious a commodity as silver or gold, I was surprised to find that the obstacle course included water features. This was, needless to say, not a good thing.
I don't swim well. I'm wasn't exactly afraid of the water, but I wasn't about to dive in with a shout of joy. Maybe if I had some time to actually realize the size of it and depth, I might have handled it a bit better. I didn't have that time, though, and so my day got indescribably worse.
I didn't have time to really even see the course. One minute we were running as fast as the Cadet Instructors could drive us, the next there was a cargo net in front of me and someone was screaming in my ear to follow the lines.
If I had any illusions that climbing that thing was easy, they were dashed as I struggled up the bouncing, resistant, and clinging ropes. It was something like wrestling with a tangle of nylon ropes possessed by the spirit of a man-eating python.
Finally at the top, I was told to jump. It wasn't a long fall, but the impact still rattled me and made me stumble to my hands and knees, only for one of the Cadets to grab me by the back of my belt and shove me ahead.
That was actually a good thing, because Peterson, from Third Squad, didn't jump, he fell. He hit the ground right behind me and I didn't need any kind of medical training to recognize the sound of breaking bone as he came down with both hands outstretched.
I heard that sound in my nightmares, later that night. The shrill scream he gave was enough to make me run, even if the shout of the cadet in my ear wasn't. I saw someone pulling him out of the way of the people behind, even as I rushed forward into the next obstacle.
This one was a balance beam and I scampered up it quickly even as I fought the nausea in my stomach as Peterson continued to scream. The beams rose high, three meters or more as it went forward towards what looked like scaffolding. On the beam next to me, someone gave a shout as they slipped and fell. I froze, half expecting another sharp crack and a scream.
Instead I heard a splash and a shout. I looked down and my fear turned to terror as I saw the murky, black water underneath the balance beams.
That was when Dawson ran into me from behind. The bigger boy nearly bowled me over but he caught me by the shoulder as I teetered. “Come on, Armstrong, get a move on!” Hilton shouted at me. Easy for him to say, I thought, he's safe on solid ground. I forced myself to step forward even as my instincts screamed at me to stop.
Even so, I moved through the rest of the obstacles, my heart in my throat. The splashes as someone fell, sometimes punctuated a shout or scream, drove me to move faster. When I finally stumbled out the other side, my hands trembled with exhaustion and fear.
There was a small cluster of us, only six or seven, who had completed the course, while a larger group, those who had fallen into the water, gradually gathered, many of them shivering with cold. Cold was something that few of us were familiar with.
I saw that Marris and Mackenzie had arrived and the two of them had Hilton in an intense conversation. I couldn't guess what that was about, but none of them looked happy. Salter had disappeared and I saw no sign of Peterson. I had to assume they had taken him away while the rest of us continued training.
As I stood there, I saw that most of my squad was in the group that was wet. Sashi and a few of her squad made up most of the rest of the dry people. Even Alexander Karmazin was dripping, though the scowl on his face and the set of his shoulders made him look frightening rather than pathetic.
What really got me, though, was seeing Takenata. Her shoulders slumped, she was shivering, and the look on her face was such utter dejection. She looked worse than I felt... and I couldn't look at her and not do something to help her. I was her squad leader, she was my responsibility... but it was more than that. If she was worse off than me, then what kind of person would I be if I didn't help her?
Off to the side of where we stood, I saw a rack of towels. For a moment, I hesitated. What if it gets me in trouble, I thought, I just need to keep my head down. Yet a glance at Takenata banished that thought. I turned to my squad, “Everyone get towels and dry off.” We hadn't brought a change of clothes, which was either some calculated cruelty or negligence. Either way, it brought my anger to the surface, a hot and violent anger. This kind of thing wouldn't fly at Champion Enterprises, I knew. They were true professionals. Enough money depended on their actions that they knew they had to take care of their people.
This kind of treatment was unacceptable.
I waited while the rest of my squad had taken towels. I saw Sashi and her squad staring at us, and I saw her shake her head. Clearly she disapproved. Well, she was the one who had kept secrets and she was the one who cared about how well she scored here, not me.
A moment later, to my surprise, Alexander Karmazin spoke up, “Everyone get towels.”
His squad moved up and did so and he came over to stand near me while he waited on them. “That was stupid,” his voice was low, but I could hear the simmering anger.
“What?” I hissed back, pushed beyond anger. “I'm taking care of them like they should be taking care of us,” I said as I jerked my chin in the direction of our Cadet Instructors. They were still talking in low voices, but I could see Hilton was red-faced with anger.
“No, you did good,” Alexander Karmazin said, his handsome face composed but his voice hard. “They are the stupid ones. An obstacle course like this, first time run without any kind of familiarization, we're lucky only Peterson was badly hurt. They should be taking care of us a lot better than that. This kind of thing is unacceptable.”
My mouth dropped at that, I was shocked that he had echoed my thoughts. I'd assumed he was angry because he'd gotten wet and ruined his perfect hair or something. The last thing I had expected was that we both agreed on anything much less our treatment here. It took me a moment to register his words, too, for he had suggested that he was familiar with obstacle courses. That didn't match with what Sashi had insinuated to me before, that Karmazin probably had some kind of juvenile criminal background. “How would you know that about an obstacle course?” I asked, before I could help myself.
He looked over at me, his eyebrows up and his face looked suddenly vulnerable. “I, uh, have a bit of experience with that sort of thing,” he said lamely. It was clear, whatever his past, he didn't want to share it with me. If felt a spurt of anger at that, our moment of agreement suddenly forgotten. If he doesn't want to share, I thought, then fine, I don't care, anyway. The jerk had probably used some of the money his mother won in the paternity suit to pay for some training or something, I'd guess.
“Whatever,” I snarled and turned away. As I did so, I saw Hilton spin away from the other two Cadet Instructors and stalk away. A moment later, Marris and Mackenzie headed towards us. I saw that Sashi's squad, half of them still dripping wet, the other half dry, had already formed up. “Second Squad,” I called out, “Form on me.” I hurried into position and the rest of my squad followed, most of them still bore towels.
Behind me, I heard Karmazin's squad join the formation.
Over Sashi's shoulder I could see Mackenzie move to stand in front of the formation. “At ease,” he said. As we relaxed from attention he spoke again, “Now, this isn't normally how you're supposed to be introduced to the obstacle course.” There was
an edge to his voice, despite his calm tone. “Unfortunately, with Peterson's injury, there will have to be an investigation. I'm going to have to order all of you, right now, not to have any conversation with Cadet Instructor Hilton until it is completed.” The very idea was ridiculous, I thought. It wasn't like any of us were going to chat him up or anything.
There was a long pause, “That's an order, so I want to make sure all of you understood.”
“Sir, yes, sir!” I responded with the others.
“Good,” Mackenzie said. “Now, I arrived in time to observe the latter half of the course.” He paused and when he spoke, his voice was cold, “Candidate Karmazin, I saw that when one of your squad fell into the water, you ordered the rest into the water, thus your entire squad failed.”
“Sir, yes, sir,” Karmazin answered and I could hear a note of challenge in his tone.
“Care to explain?” Makenzie asked
“Sir, if one falls, we all fall, sir.”
Mackenzie cocked his head, “Well spoken, Candidate.” There was almost a smile on his lips. I could see his gaze go to Sashi. “Candidate Drien, you completed the course, but some of your squad did not.” He paused, “Care to explain?”
There was a long pause before Sashi spoke, “Sir, no excuse, sir.”
“You're right,” Mackenzie said. “There is no excuse.” He looked around at all of us. “The coursework and hours are hard enough, already. If you haven't noticed, we will push you all to the breaking point, as it is. The only way to make it through the Prep School, much less the Academy is to give help to those who need it and to take it when you need it, yourself. If you think of your classmates as competition, you are missing the point. You will have to work together, even on events that seem like they are individually-based.”
His gaze went back to Sashi, “Five points deducted from First and Second Squads.”
I didn't groan, but I heard several of my squad do so.
“Candidate Armstrong,” Mackenzie said, his voice cold. “You had your squad get towels to dry off, despite no orders to do so.” He let me stew for a long moment before he asked, “Care to explain?”
I snapped to attention, “Sir, it wasn't right that they sit there shivering, sir.”
I could see him cock his head, out of the corner of my eye. “That's... an interesting choice of words. Who are you to determine what is right and wrong... or what the purpose of the training is?” He didn't give me a chance to respond. “But you showed initiative and took care of your squad, first and foremost.” He looked around at us, “Five points awarded to Second and Third Squads.”
I could see Sashi's jaw clench. This wasn't how it was supposed to be, I thought. I didn't do it for points or to look good. I'd done it because it was the right thing to do. Somehow, I knew, that didn't change the fact that I'd made Sashi look bad, again.
“Now,” Mackenzie said, his voice cheerful, “Cadet Instructor Marris and I will walk you through the obstacle course and then you can all take another crack at it.”
***
“Just what are you trying to do?” Sashi hissed at me as we were polishing our boots just after lunch. We were seated outside our room, archaic tins of shoe polish, rags, and boots in hand.
“I was just taking care of my people,” I responded tiredly. We had run the obstacle course three more times, until every muscle in my body trembled with exhaustion. I wanted nothing more than to close my eyes and sleep. Yet Cadet Instructor Schomp and Ingvald paced the hall and they'd already yelled at Summers for keeling over snoring. Now he had to polish his boots while standing and holding them out at full extension. I could see his arms tremble from where I sat.
“You embarrassed me,” Sashi hissed. “My squad doesn't respect me now.”
I didn't care what the others thought about me, but clearly Sashi did. I ground my teeth and hissed back, “Then earn their respect.”
“You don't understand,” Sashi said. “We're going to the Grinder in only a few days. They'll need to react to orders and work together, but they don't trust me now...”
“They didn't pull you out of the Squad Leader position,” I said tiredly. “That means that you didn't screw up enough...”
“I didn't screw up at all!” Sashi snarled.
“Candidate Drien, do you have anything to share with the rest of us?” Cadet Instructor Ingvald called out, her voice cold. The tall, young woman stalked over, her boots abnormally quiet on the tile floor. I had grown adept at hearing the other Cadet Instructors as they prowled the floor, I could track them by sound. Not being able to hear her coming made me unsettled.
“Ma'am, no, ma'am,” Sashi said. “I was just asking Candidate Armstrong to pass me a clean rag.”
“Well, that's too bad,” the tall Cadet said. “I'm getting bored here, so how about you all entertain me? I want to hear where each of you are from, something unique about your home or yourself, and why you want to be a Cadet at my Academy. If I don't think your reason is good enough, I'll have to think up an appropriate punishment. Since you felt like talking, you can start us off Candidate Drien.” I bit my lip at that. If Sashi was first, that meant I would be next.
Sashi stood up and began to brace, but Cadet Instructor Ingvald waved a hand sharply, “None of that, you're talking to your section mates just as much as me. Take a seat.”
Sashi sat down slowly. She seemed nervous, out of her comfort zone, “I'm Sashi Drien, I'm from Clear Spring, near Crystal Lake.” She hesitated, “Uh, we actually get rain there, it's one of the only places on the planet where that can happen year-round.” She took a deep breath, “I want to be a Cadet and then an officer because everyone in my family has served active duty in Century's Planetary Militia.”
Ingvald walked forward and cocked her head, “Candidate Drien... that has to be the lamest reason I've ever heard. You want to do this because your family does?” Ingvald shook her head. “You're about to go through four and a half years of suffering to maybe graduate on time and get a commission. All that because your daddy and granddaddy did the same thing?” She shook her head. “That's not the reason, that's what you tell other people because you don't want to explain the reason.”
My mouth dropped at the tone of Ingvald's voice, at once both dismissive and yet also encouraging, as if she were provoking Sashi to speak up. She really wants to hear why she's here... which makes it even harder for me to make up a polite lie, I thought.
Sashi's face had gone red with embarrassment, but then her chin went up and I saw a spark of fire in her eyes. “Fine, I want to do this because I'd be the first woman to do it from my family. My father wouldn't sign the papers and both my brothers said that I wouldn't make it through the first two weeks.”
Ingvald nodded slowly, “That, candidate, is a good reason to start out... but a terrible one to continue here. Prove them wrong, yes, but find other things here that call to you. At the end of the day, you should find something inside of you that makes you want to wear the uniform.” Her gaze went to me and she quirked an eyebrow, “Candidate Armstrong...” she glanced at Sashi again, “Roommates?” I could see the surprise in her face, but also a glint of humor, as if she found it hilarious. “Well, Candidate Armstrong, where are you from and are you here?”
It was an effort for me to speak up. “I'm Jiden Armstrong, I grew up at the archeology and weather research outpost at Black Mesa. There are alien ruins there, deep underground, over a million years old is what people think.” I hesitated, I didn't want to lie, but I couldn't just admit to everyone that I didn't want to be here. My thoughts went suddenly to the mural downstairs and to the portrait in the Admiral's dining room, of the grandfather I would never meet. “I wasn't raised in any kind of military tradition,” I said, “but its part of my family's heritage and I’d like to learn more about it.”
Ingvald cocked her head at me and I could see that something I had said had surprised her. She didn't speak for a moment, but then gave a slight nod, “Learning more about your past is
always a good thing. I've a lot of respect for those who come here without any idea of what they're getting into. All the same, that's not enough reason to stay. This place is hard and if you think this week is a challenge, things only get harder. Right now you have minimal responsibilities, but one day you will hold the lives of men and women in your hands... if you graduate. Hopefully you'll learn what you need to know before that time.”
She turned away and I gave a silent sigh of relief. Her words rang true and I agreed more than she could know. I could easily imagine the weight of that responsibility. I wanted no part of it. I just wanted a cushy engineering or research job with Champion Enterprises. I would gladly leave all of this behind.
Rakewood was next and I had to hide a smile as Ingvald dissected her. “You want to be at the Academy because you 'have a natural knack for leadership'? You're fifteen years old, Candidate, the only ones who would follow you around are boys who don't know any better.” Ingvald tossed her head, “No, Rakewood, you really need to think this whole thing through, again.”
Takenata was next and I bit my lip as I saw how nervous she was. The Cadet Instructors seemed to sense fear and I worried that Ingvald would pounce on her. With some surprise, I realized that I felt almost protective of her, now that she was in my squad. “I am Ashiri Takenata, my family comes from the Ten Sisters System, and we immigrated here for better economic opportunities. Ten Sisters is unique because it is a star cluster, my birth world never has a period of darkness, it is a world without night.” I could see her draw a deep breath, “I want to join the Planetary Militia to defend my new home, because back there we were under constant threat from Drakkus and the Guard never helped us. I want my new home to be strong.”
