Milius’ eyes went wide in response. “Telsh…” and the pair managed a short conversation before Milius wrapped herself into a fetal ball.
She’ll never be whole again, Blazer ruminated.
Others who’d washed out were there as well, most just looking defeated. But one sat with a guard beside him, his wrists lashed to his bed. “What happened to him?” Blazer asked his nurse.
“He snapped hard, killed one his teammates in the simulation and then himself before they could extract him. He’s tried twice more since. We have him on suicide watch.”
Blazer nodded, surprised that they would tell them so much.
“We’re just waiting on your blood work, but here, you might like to have this.” She handed him a macomm with a video letter from Datt and Treb.
Clad in heavy parkas, the pair stood before one of the giant domes that dotted their frozen world. Datt looked whole and smiled to the camera. “We just wanted to let you all know that we’re home and good. I’m looking for a new job, but Treb’s already got an offer. It’s enough to support us both if need be, so we’ll be fine. The rest of you, just hang in there.”
“We know you can do it. And once you’re finished, come over and visit us. By the time you get here we should have our first little one in a tube,” Treb concluded before leaning in to give Datt a kiss.
Blazer handed the video letter to Zithe as he sat down. It helped to see their smiling faces. There was no sign of Deniv though, no note, no video letter, not even word from the medical staff about where he was, or if he was okay.
Soon their blood work came back, and they were released. Blazer’s stomach grumbled at him, and they all made their way to the cafeteria for the first real food they’d had in almost two decles before heading back to their rooms.
His stomach heavy, exhaustion crept over every fiber of Blazer’s being as he and his roommates stood outside their door. It looked so different now, everything did, and knowing that Deniv wouldn’t be within, he was hesitant to open it. He couldn’t stave off the exhaustion though. Deniv was alive and well somewhere, he would just have to find out where later. He keyed open the door.
At first the fact that the lights were on puzzled him. As he scanned the room however he spotted, sitting at one of the desks doing homework like it was any other cycle, was Deniv.
His eyes wide, he rushed into the room ahead of the others. “Deniv, you’re here!”
Deniv turned and looked at them, masking any surprise he felt. “Where else would I be? What, you think just because I washed out of Special Ops, I’d leave the academy entirely? Come on, this is me!”
They all hugged him.
“Whoa there, guys,” he said, squirming away from them. “I know you guys have been cooped up in that simulation for a while now, but let’s not act like we’re from Zel-Tag.” he joked.
Has he seen the video letter from Datt and Treb? Blazer shook his head. Of course he has, especially the part where they’ll be cloning a child together. It was good to hear his voice, his jokes. “So what are you doing here?”
“Well they haven’t locked me out of the room yet, so I’ve been studying, playing catch up. Shit, when did you guys get out? Did you escape?”
Arion nodded, “Just a few hects ago. What about you, where did they transfer you?”
“I’m in a pure flight squadron now, with a bunch of the other Special Ops wash outs. We’re thinking of calling ourselves the Special Cases. But, that depends on what our squadron lead Dyran and, of course, Commander Pio-Tolis has to say about it. They’re a good lot from what I’ve seen so far, not us, but good enough to stick.”
“I’m just glad you stayed,” Bichard commented.
“Of course I did, big bug, I’ve already got my wings,” he replied, pulling open his shirt to show the Confed wings tattooed on his chest. He had gotten that tattoo before he’d even joined the Mappers Guild. “I’ll be up there with you, and Gavit—you better watch yourself. Now that I’m in a different unit, you and I might come head to head at some point.”
Gavit nodded. “We’ll see, we’ll see.”
“Yeah, and I won’t have to hold back now.”
Gavit just smiled again.
“You guys look like you just crawled out of Sheol, maybe twice.”
Blazer felt that way, even after getting a real shower in medical.
“Look, next cycle, I’m taking you all out and buying you drinks, and you can tell me what went down after I snapped.”
They exchanged nervous glances at that one. They’d been ordered not to discuss the simulation with anyone outside of the program.
“Look, I know you’re not supposed to talk about it, but I was in there too, and it helps to talk. I spend about a hect every cycle with Milius, just talking. At her mostly, but I did get her to have breakfast with me this cycle, before I went to classes. Man, another couple cycles, and I could have made it.”
Blazer shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t beat yourself up about it.”
“I’m not, but dang. To snap in the first cycle, that sucks, man. All right, now you guys get some sleep. Oh, and I left you some presents in the fridge,” he said, picking up his macomm. “I’m going to let the others know I’m alive. I’ll see you next cycle.”
UCSB DATE: 1001.030
Star System: Classified, UCSBA-13, Dorm Room 305
Only Blazer’s rumbling stomach woke him the next cycle. The chrono on the wall told him they’d slept through morning chow call, but he didn’t care. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d slept in like that. He climbed down from his bunk, pulled on his jumpsuit, and noticed a call light on his console. His jump suit only half on, he reached over and tapped the screen.
The Admiral’s secretary appeared. “Good, you’re finally up. I will inform the Admiral and you will report to Mendrick’s for breakfast.”
Blazer looked around the room, where the others were stirring too. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, and inform the rest of your unit. You appear to be the first ones up.”
Blazer hesitated, unsure about waking the others.
“The Admiral is a busy man, so get them up,” she snapped. “Standby, I’m reading movement in two more rooms. The Admiral will see you for breakfast in thirty pulses.”
The link cut out, and Blazer shrugged on his uniform as the others climbed down from their bunks.
UCSBA-13, Mendrick’s Bar and Grill
It was a grand breakfast, better than anything they’d ever eaten, even back home. Blazer had no idea Mendrick could produce such delectable dishes. Bichard feasted on the array of fruit and honey smoothies prepared for him. Blazer would have loved one, but Bichard only shared them with Chris.
About halfway through breakfast, Railet barged in, took a seat, and joined them. He hadn’t slept in his room the cycle before. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that you’d escaped. I was, um, busy elsewhere,” he said, casting a sidelong glance at a young female cadet in the doorway.
“We were afraid that you’d dropped,” Blazer commented. After all, they hadn’t seen him since they’d gone on break after the battle.
“No, I just dropped out of the Special Ops and flight training programs. I’m still a cadet. I can’t stay long, though. I have to get to my next class.”
They all nodded, and Blazer got to his feet as Railet stood. “It’s good seeing you again, Railet.”
“You say that like I’m going somewhere. I may not be in the squadron anymore, but I’ll still be around,” he said looking over the team.
They all exchanged glances in response. Blazer locked eyes with Zithe for a moment and considered what was to come. Did Seri leave him her recommendation, before her death?
“I’ve been given a brief rundown of what happened prior to the sims, and I requested a full debrief, so we’ll discuss that later. For this cycle, as I am sure the Admiral and Commander Tadeh Qudas have already stated, I recommend that you rest and recuperate. I have not been idle and I have all of
your class notes recorded, annotated, and placed on the squadron stitch. It’s my gift to you all.”
Gokhead nodded. “I saw that last night before I got to sleep, thank you very much.” Railet then turned and rushed out of the bar, followed by the female cadet. The Admiral checked his macomm and nodded to Tadeh Qudas a short time later. “We had best be going as well, commander. You know who’s up for interrogation next.”
Blazer rested a hand on Marda’s, felt her shudder. The memory of the torturous interrogations was far too fresh in all their minds. Did he have to say it so bluntly?
Tadeh Qudas closed the small port in the front of his death helm, put his drink aside and stood. “Yes sir, we should get going.” The Admiral and Tadeh Qudas left without ceremony. No ranks existed at Mendrick’s, not officer, enlisted or cadet, so no one saluted.
“Do as your ex-squadron commander instructed. Get some rest this cycle, then get caught up on your classwork. You have an advantage the other units won’t have when they’re released.”
Only Blazer and Marda remained after they’d finished their meal, but most scattered individually to collect themselves. Some went to the woods or the farms, others to observation domes or the hangar.
The two of them sat leaning against each other, relaxing. Blazer wouldn’t mind staying like this the whole cycle, just sitting with her, being close, and he could tell she was thinking the same thing too. But he wondered if somewhere else might be better, someplace more private. “Let’s have a picnic,” he eventually said, breaking the silence.
“I’m beyond full, and you’re thinking about food?”
Blazer chuckled. “Yeah I didn’t think about that. Why don’t we just go to the forest then? Go out there and get away from everyone.”
Marda smiled and sat up, stretching her back. Blazer couldn’t help but love the view. Marda noticed his smile and looked back at him. “You know we were supposed to do something over break.”
Blazer smiled and looked down at his hands. “I know, but the regs, and our families.”
She nodded in response.
“It’s odd not seeing the orbs around you,” Blazer commented, not seeing any of the orbs since they’d arrived back at the academy.
She looked around; aside from a stray orb on the other side of the mall she didn’t see any floating about. “Yeah, it’s strange. It makes me wonder if they even know we’re out yet.” Then Marda leaned back and smiled. “Oh yeah, back in medical they told me that they’d given me something to suppress my ability to communicate with them while we were in.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, didn’t they give you something too?”
Blazer thought about it for a moment. He’d been so exhausted the cycle before that he’d zoned out on most of what the doctor had said to him. “They said something, yeah, they said I would feel out of it for another cycle or so while my electrolytic layer recharged.” He had felt less energetic since their release, as if he really had discharged a great deal of his reserves.
“Yeah, they did it for everyone, except maybe Arion’s self-healing ability. It keeps you from using your abilities by accident inside the simulators. For me, it kept me honest, kept the orbs from being able to communicate to or influence me. But it should wear off by the end of the cycle they told me, probably the same with you and the others too.”
“So you’re telling me, we get a whole cycle without any busy-bodylesses knowing any better and bothering us?”
Marda looked back at him a wicked smile. “Yeah, that’s right. Now where can we go that the orbs won’t look?”
Not wasting any more time, they gathered up their things. Blazer snatched up his tactical vest, but grabbed it by a pocket he had bio-lock sealed back on Anul. The Nanos infused in the lock, detecting his biometric signature, unsealed the pouch. He didn’t realize and flipped the vest over before pulling it on. A small, nondescript box fell out before he could notice, but Marda did and, as it bounced off the deck, she kneeled down to scoop it up. “What’s this?” she asked, looking at the ancient jewelry case. “Is this for me?” she asked, her voice hopeful but with an air of menace to it.
Blazer froze to the spot and felt a sheepish grin twist his face. He felt conspicuous all of a sudden and looking up, found several sets of eyes upon them. He took a knee in front of her and palmed the box away from her.
Marda looked him in the eye as he came down to her level. “What’s going on, Blazer?”
“This isn’t how I wanted to do this. I intended it to be a wedding gift,” he explained, his hearts thudding as if he was facing down a predator.
Marda smiled and shook with suppressed glee.
“I come from an old family. The Vaughnt line of long ago were blacksmiths. Before electricity was widespread, we made swords. In times past, the first forged sword of our line was the gift each oldest son would give his wife when they married. That sword has long since been locked away in a museum, but I do have this.” He opened the box and showed her the contents.
Inside lay a ring set with a Starfire Opal. Marda gasped. Starfire Opals were rare, most of them having been destroyed long ago. The few that remained in public knowledge were worth enough to buy a starship.
“This ring has been passed through my family for generations. I love you, Marda Sciminder. I’ve known from the first moment I met you that you were special and, with each passing cycle, I have fallen more and more in love with you. I know that you are the woman I want to spend the rest of eternity with.”
Blazer pulled the ring from the box and slipped it onto her finger, stopping midway. “Marda Sciminder, I give you this as a promise, that the cycle is not long in coming before you and I will marry.”
She stood there a moment, then jumped into his arms, the ring pushing itself to the back of her finger as she did so. “I love you Blazer Vaughnt, and when that cycle comes, I will take you as my husband.”
The moment just felt perfect as Blazer and Marda lay on the floor in a mad embrace. As they separated, Blazer saw the staff doing their best to ignore their antics. “We should get out of here.”
“What did you have in mind?” Marda asked, sitting back.
“The orbs don’t know where we are. Even if they think that we’re out, they probably assume we’re with the team somewhere. I doubt they’d check our bunks.”
Marda nodded, a wicked smile on her lips.
“We could make up for lost time, maybe…”
That smile still on her lips, Marda reached down and cupped Blazer’s crotch. “My room, now!”
Location: Dorm Room 316
Heading back to their room several hects later, with the rest of the team, Arion still felt pumped from the final fight scene in the last feature they’d seen. He still couldn’t believe that he had convinced the cadet in charge of the movie theater at the command building to let him run a marathon of his favorite fantasy holovid series. Better yet, the news that the final chapter of the medieval saga would come out at the end of the annura had him waiting for it breathlessly. “This is going to be epic. I just hope that we can get it here.”
Everyone laughed.
Arion knew it was weird for them to see him like this, as he swung an imaginary battle-ax about. “Too bad Blazer and Marda couldn’t join us.”
“Yeah, I wonder what those two could be up to?” Chris asked with a mischievous grin, dressed in her modified PT clothes.
Arion shot her a look. Thanks to the close quarters of the last two decles, it had gotten around the squadron, that Marda and Blazer had not yet consummated their relationship.
When they reached Chris’s room, she hit the key pad to open it, but nothing happened. She tapped the key again, and still the door did not respond. A message appeared, “Room Privacy Sealed.”
“Who would privacy lock your room?” Arion asked.
“Maybe Telsh,” Gavit replied.
Chris shook her head. “No, she and the others said they were going to spend time with Milius th
en the woods, so they won’t be back until late.”
Maybe I should speak to Milius too, Arion reflected. “Probably Marda then, she and Blazer were both seriously exhausted. I’ll bet he did the same thing to our room, to make sure he could get some uninterrupted rest. Right, Rudjick?” he commented, eyeing their elfin member.
“I take offense to that. Quit with the elfish stereotypes, not every elf is a jokester,” he paused for a moment, his ears twitching the way they did when he thought of some mischief. “Well I am, but not every elf is like me.”
The rest of the team chuckled, as their little personnel robot hovered up to them. “This unit can unlock the door if you like, ma’am.”
Gokhead looked down at the squat boxy robot. Aside from breakfast and the marathon, he had spent every waking moment since their release looking for this automaton. “Where have you been?”
“Pardon me, sir, but this unit has just come from robot repair. This unit was only just informed of your release from the simulation facility. This unit is now fully functional.”
Gokhead stared at the robot a moment. “Really? Well, I’ll be checking that story.”
The robot turned back to Gokhead, fixing him with its robotic eyes. It was an unusual move for one of these robots. “You will find that records show this unit was there.”
“Just deal with it later,” Arion snapped, too tired to think. “Open the door, please. We can all do with some rest.”
The robot made short work of the lock, and the door slid open. The room remained dark, save for a single glow panel. Bichard’s antennae perked up and he twitched to get a better view before Chris pushed past him and keyed the lights up to half intensity. “This is my room, Bichard, you can do my hair next cycle.”
Chris stopped dead in her tracks. Blazer and Marda lay in Marda’s bunk, the sheets not even close to covering their sweaty, naked forms. Covering her mouth, Chris backed into the hall.
Arion took a quick look and spotted the Starfire Opal on Marda’s finger. Shreg on a stick, did they get married? He keyed the door shut and looked at the door panel. Marda had engaged the lock several hects earlier, and judging by their appearance, they had just completed a sexual marathon.
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