“But that is not all,” O’Donnell’s voice rang across the room. “While I usually like to keep team roles a secret until the end of the semester, I am facing an unusual situation this year. Never before have I sensed a leadership presence so early in the academic year. To add to my humble surprise, I have discovered not one, but two extraordinary young people who have what it takes to inspire, to transform, and to view the big picture without losing track of individual tasks. Those two, I dare say, extremely rare characters will have the chance to dazzle us all very early on when they take Apollo and Artemis on their first missions.”
He paused, during which the air in the room felt heavy with anticipation. Yalena’s heart beat fast against her chest.
“It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you the Apollo crew leader, Yalena Russo, and the Artemis crew leader, Eric O’Donnell.”
The room exploded with applause and encouraging shouts, but Yalena stood frozen. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t be happening. Her gaze wandered in search of Eric’s face until she felt him grab her elbow from behind. His face was pale and his eyes tense when he looked at her.
“Ah, look at them! So modest. They probably didn’t see it coming at all. Come on, you two. Get up on stage,” the commander prompted, his voice amused and playful. “I’ll have you know those two are the closest of friends. Probably hoped to be together on the same crew. Ah, the naiveté!” he continued, happy to entertain the applauding and laughing audience.
Eric strode forward, but held onto Yalena’s elbow and peered back at her. She was still unable to move. She summoned every fiber of her presence to nod and managed a few paces toward the stage after him. The crowd was wild with applause, but Yalena’s ears seemed to somehow muffle the sound, making it feel distant. As they got on stage to shake the commander’s hand, their friends and classmates disappeared into a faceless crowd.
“But that is far from all for tonight!” O’Donnell raised his voice over the noise again. “A leader is nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, if he or she doesn’t stand up for those they lead. Let’s see who you’ll be leading!” The crowd roared and applauded again, while Yalena shot a pained look at Eric, who also seemed completely unable to speak or move.
“Please welcome the telecommunications officer for team Apollo, Nico Flynn, and for team Artemis, Stefanie Bay!”
Yalena gathered just enough strength to clap as Stefanie and Nico came out of the crowd and shook hands with their respective team leaders. Yalena felt her body shake when the powerful realization washed over her—O’Donnell was making the teams. Now. It was public and irreversible, and they could never turn this around the way they had wanted to.
When the commander announced the security, engineering, equipment, and chemical officers of each team, Yalena shook hands with Sebastian, Dai, Michael, and Carmen. They all lined up to her left.
“The great honor of the science officer position falls to Natalia Khanna for team Apollo, and Victor Duncan for team Artemis!” O’Donnell made his next announcement, and Yalena had to fight the sounds of exasperation threatening to burst out. Natalia approached her with a wide grin and said in an awfully self-contented manner, “Hi, boss,” as she shook Yalena’s hand.
“We’re nearing the end. Welcoming, with great pleasure, the medical officers, Theodor Orlov for team Apollo, and Jennevier Reynolds for team Artemis!” The commander continued, followed by polite applause for Theo and Jen. The Moonie shook Yalena’s hand, filled with pride, while Jen jumped straight into Eric’s embrace. At least someone saw the bright side of things.
“And now,” O’Donnell gestured to the audience to quiet down once again. “Oh, I know, it is the moment of the utmost excitement for our Academy students. If you ask me, this next post rivals the team leader position, so far as popularity is concerned, at least.”
Someone in the crowd made a loud “woo-hoo” sound.
“Yes, yes, you guessed it. It’s time to see who made this year’s first and second pilot for each team!”
The roar that followed the commander’s words was so loud, it could have broken glass, but it stopped as suddenly as it had erupted. His hand was held up, signaling that he was going to make the announcement any second.
“I am extremely proud to announce team Apollo’s first pilot, the young man whose results have been off the charts. He ranked so high that he is, as of today, officially the best pilot at STAR Academy. Come on up, Alec Rado!”
The commander beamed as he watched the crowd applaud, hug, and cheer on Alec. When the number one pilot finally stepped onto the podium, he shook the commander’s hand, quickly exchanged a few words with him, and whatever he said made O’Donnell burst into a brief and sincere laugh.
“Good job!” Yalena somehow managed to smile naturally as she shook Alec’s robust hand. When he took his place on her right, she was happy to admit that she wouldn’t have chosen differently, not regarding her pilot.
“And as for team Artemis, their first pilot is someone who showed an improvement as rare and unprecedented as we have ever seen at STAR Academy. Please join me in congratulating the truly remarkable Heidi Valance!” Beaming with pride, he let the screaming audience explode in support of Heidi.
She got on stage completely beside herself. After manically shaking the commander’s hand, she jumped onto the stage to hug her team leader, Eric, and seemed to even want to do a little “I won” dance with him. As the crowd kept laughing and applauding, the announcement of Reid and Dave as second pilots was lost in the noise.
“YOU LOOK LIKE SOMEONE made you eat caterpillars,” Alec remarked through his teeth. He might have said it in the hope of lifting her spirits, but even though his words were humorous, his voice was even, as if he were simply making an observation.
He twirled Yalena on the big podium to the rhythm of the third-in-a-row slow tune. The commander had insisted that the crew leaders start off the dance, each with their respective first pilot. Eric and Heidi were just a few steps away, but Yalena hardly realized what was happening around her; her mind was still frozen.
“I can’t believe it,” she whispered to Alec.
Cold paralysis ran through her body as she realized how much she cared about testing their theory. She had been the only one capable of hearing something more in the signal, and it had given her an unrealistic expectation that she would be able to see it through; to solve the mystery and bring back the proof O’Donnell needed to convince the board to stop wasting time on First Contact preparations.
As if in line with the grim thoughts and chaos in her mind, the music changed to a darker tune, and even though Yalena’s mind still felt rigid, the words “I wasn’t listening, listening at all” jumped out to her. She hadn’t been listening and she hadn’t been seeing. She had missed the meaning of all those one-on-one conversations O’Donnell had insisted on having with her. She hadn’t seen he had been grooming her to lead, because she had come up with her own rogue plan. And when the two objectives collided, it was hers that would bite the dust.
“How can we go after the coordinates now? We’re divided,” she stuttered.
Alec’s strong hands spun her to the side. “We’ll think of something,” he said. “Now, smile, before the audience thinks I smell.” And as he twirled her again, the small attempt at a chuckle caught in her throat.
They changed partners and danced for a good part of the next hour. Yalena felt dizzy from all the whirling around and the glasses of champagne that everyone kept handing her. The worst part was the pressure from the multiple alumni, who came by to shake her hand and ask her questions about being a team leader. The slim hope of speaking to Eric about all this madness disappeared when she saw he was receiving double the usual amount of special attention. It wasn’t every day that the commander’s son officially got his first leadership assignment.
Hoping she wasn’t being rude, Yalena finally managed to excuse herself around one o’clock in the morning. All she wanted to do was go to sleep, a
s if this whole evening had never happened. Heading for the elevators, she bumped into a rather big crowd, mostly second-years, who had gathered around something. As she approached, Yalena heard a way-too-familiar, spiteful voice.
“Seriously, what a mistake the commander made announcing you! Once that glitch in the system comes to light, it will be very uncomfortable to have to take the first pilot title back from you,” Chris said, his voice fluctuating as he tried to mask the bitterness in it.
“You know very well this isn’t a glitch,” Alec responded, and he sounded ready to fight. “You came in second, and I suggest you get used to it.”
Pushing with her elbows, Yalena made her way through the crowd just in time to see Chris shove Alec, but the Martian didn’t wobble much.
“Oh, yeah?” Chris spat back. “You’ll never be able to hold on to the title. Your head’s swimming with distractions. You’re not steady, young gun...” he dragged out. “Does the crowd need me to demonstrate? I hear things, you know. Talk of romantic nightly walks and such.”
Before Yalena could even wonder if she’d heard Chris right, Alec dove toward him with a clenched fist.
“Alec!” she screamed, but some of the second-years had already hurried to break off the fight and pushed her out of the way.
“You know I’m right, Rado!” Chris shouted back, jerking away from the classmates that held on to him. “Get off me. I’m out of here, anyway.”
“Alec!” Yalena rushed to him when Chris walked away to the elevators. “What happened?”
“Nothing. Just leave it alone.” He didn’t sound like himself.
“You can’t let him get to you and spoil your victory,” she said, softening. In that moment, she was willing to set aside her own confusion and disappointment after the announcement. Alec deserved every bit of the honor that came with being ranked number one.
“It’s nothing,” he mumbled. “I’ll go find some ice.”
And touching his cheekbone, where Chris had managed to punch him, Alec headed downstairs, leaving Yalena flabbergasted.
“Awkward,” a quack-like voice behind her exclaimed. “You’ve got to keep your pilot in check, boss. He’s quite short-tempered.”
Yalena buried her face in her hands. Positive she couldn’t deal with Natalia’s attitude on a night like this, she hurried to get to the elevator and into her room.
As the door of room 210 opened and Yalena kicked off the high heels that had been squeezing her feet all night, she shot a glance at the upper bunk to see if Heidi was already asleep. The bed was empty, and instead of steady breathing, Yalena heard quiet sobs. The bathroom door was closed, but a ray of light illuminated the frame.
“Heidi?” Yalena called out cautiously.
The sobs grew louder, and Yalena knocked on the door, her heart sinking. She had never imagined someone as cheerful as Heidi crying, especially not after seeing her so happy at the announcements. The door slid open, and Yalena had to silence a yelp, finding her roommate on the floor, curled up under the tiny sink in her puffy, red dress. Her strawberry-blonde hair was falling out of the fishtail braid she had fixed it in for the night, and the make-up on her face was coming off, washed away by her tears.
“Heidi, what happened?”
Instead of a reply, Heidi let out another heartbreaking sob. Yalena rolled up her dress so she could sit down on the floor next to her roommate. She reached an arm behind Heidi to cuddle her into a hug.
“It’s D-Dave,” her roommate said in between hiccups, new tears rolling down her cheeks. “H-h-he said I didn’t deserve this...He said it should have been him.”
“He didn’t mean it. He’ll come around,” Yalena hugged her tighter, feeling hot tears wet her skin. With a wail, Heidi fell into her lap, shaking.
“N-no, he won’t. We broke up.”
An icy-cold feeling bit Yalena, and she shut her eyes, wishing to escape it. Of course, the coveted pilot title was going to be that last drop in the glass that had been threatening to overflow all evening. How delusional had they all been, thinking their schemes would magically work out? They had forgotten about their meanest enemy—their own competitive nature.
That enemy had hit home base tonight. It had left them scattered across two teams, brought down by betrayal among those they hoped they could trust, or pushed to the limit by the ones only too happy to cause them trouble. And it was Yalena’s task to bring the shreds back together—a mission that seemed nothing short of impossible.
Chapter 20. Trust
THE SILENCE IN THE room felt heavy. Apart from Yalena, who paced around as if searching for a way to literally walk out of the situation, everyone was sitting down—Nico on the desk chair, Alec on the floor, and Eric between Jen and Heidi on the bed. They had all gathered at noon the day after the Gala, unable to ignore the grotesque way the event had thrown their plans out the window.
“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do now,” Yalena said.
“I think we should still go after the signal,” Alec said, as if nothing stood in their way.
“How?” Yalena knew she was supposed to lift their spirits, not bring down their ideas, but being optimistic required too much effort.
“I say we play along with this team arrangement until the day of the mission, then sneak onto the same ship before the mission launch,” Alec said. “We should just fly off, leave the rest of the team and the whole first-year mission behind, and go do our thing.”
“That won’t work,” Eric said. He had almost lost his voice after the previous night, and deep, purple circles hung under his eyes. “They’d send a ship after us before we could get halfway there. I guarantee you.”
“Oh, of course. We should all listen to what mister son-of-the-commander says.” Alec retorted. The bitter sarcasm didn’t suit him. “Sorry, man, but I can’t take your word for it. I think you’re still riding the wave of fame from last night.”
“Hey, give him a break!” Jen was stern. “Cooper must have poured at least two bottles of champagne down his throat just a few hours ago.”
“Jen.” Eric tried to focus as he spoke. “I’m fine, and I assure you, I’m in full possession of my faculties. Now, Rado’s right in saying that we still need to find a way to do this. The tricky part is that we can’t all go.”
“In that case, you’re going,” Yalena said.
“I was actually thinking you should be the one to go.” He glanced up at her, his eyes somewhat unfocused.
“No way. I only have Alec and Nico with me...”
“And I only have Jen and Heidi.”
Yalena felt disarmed. How could she go on this mission without Eric? “This was all...your idea. I can’t do it without you. You even said you’d take care of the extra fuel. I’m not a fool. I know what that means. You were ready to pay for it out of your own pocket.”
“It may have been my idea to work on the signal, but you deciphered it. Come to think of it, you have everything you need. You’re the only one that can hear the signal. This is your theory, and you deserve to go. Nico will work on disconnecting the communication channel to STAR Academy, and Alec has just outperformed Chris in the overall pilot ranking. He’ll get you in and out as quickly and safely as possible.”
Eric regarded Yalena’s crew members as he talked about them. His words made sense, and deep down, she knew she had to go, but it felt wrong to embark on this journey without Eric.
“So, you want us to leave the rest of the Apollo crew on Unifier and depart a few hours before the official mission launch, when no one would suspect it?” she asked to buy some time. Going on this mission without Eric was something she wouldn’t agree to lightly.
“You’re not understanding.” Eric leaned in, his elbows supporting his weight as they pressed against his knees. “If we leave before the mission launch, they’ll go after us and make us come back. The only way to do this is to make it a part of the actual mission. You’d board Apollo with your whole team, make your way to the Jupiter asteroid, just li
ke the mission plan suggests, and then once you are a few days away from here, you’ll just keep going until you reach the coordinates.”
“He’s right, Yalena. It’s the only way to go without arousing any suspicion. By the time they see we’re going rogue, it will already be too late to stop us,” Nico said.
“But I’m positive it won’t be easy to keep this from your team,” Eric concluded calmly, as a storm exploded inside Yalena’s mind.
“You’re not saying I should let them in on it, are you? Don’t forget, I also have the wicked witch of the West on my crew,” Yalena said.
“Natalia’s bark is worse than her bite.” Alec’s statement surprised Yalena.
“She’s not exactly collaborative,” she said, not finding this the tiniest bit funny.
“Please.” Alec studied Yalena. “You’ve been to a dozen schools and dealt with thousands of different people. You must know what makes people like her tick.”
Yalena huffed. Alec was right. She knew deep down that Natalia’s snarky comments and mean attitude were born out of a desire to stand out, even if it was in a negative way.
“You need to put her in her place. I have a feeling you and I will do just fine with her,” Alec said.
“I don’t know how it’s all going to work out,” Eric said. “I’m just sure that from next week on, we’re going to be spending all our time with our teams. I doubt you three can do any planning or preparation without the rest of the Apollo crew picking up on it.”
“If they pick up on it, they’ll tell on us,” Jen said.
“Then it’s settled? We’re going to tell the rest of team Apollo?” Nico asked as if to put it to a vote. Most of them nodded, then Jen raised her hand, like they were in middle school.
“I think there’s a big problem with the plan,” she said, gathering all looks. “We’re one big bunch of gossips. People don’t shut up around here,” she said seriously, but Nico and Alec still cracked up.
The Unsound Theory (STAR Academy Book 1) Page 17
