Defender of the Empire: Cadet #1

by Catherine Beery

  To verify my reasoning another memory found its way through the cracks. “You cannot bottle up your emotions, Rylynn.” My aunt had said once when she was trying to figure out why I was hiding in my tiny closet. I hadn’t wanted to tell her that Ace and Carden had once again verbally attacked me. It was before they had decided to beat me for fun. The verbal attacks had always been the worse because they cut deeper than anything the boys could do to me physically. Bones and skin heal eventually. A mental wound was easily reopened by just remembering it. You couldn’t defend against it either.

  I had come to the conclusion that Carden and Ace liked to see me cry. So I was trying to keep from crying. I had taken all the hurt and locked it deep inside. Coming home I found that I couldn’t let it out. That I didn’t want to. That I didn’t want my never afraid aunt to see the proof of my fear. It was a weakness that Ace and Carden often enjoyed pointing out to me.

  Aunt Sylvie had sighed. Rylynn, if you don’t let it out it will turn to poison. If you don’t vent, it will cause one of two things to happen to you.” I had glanced at her then. “Either you will meltdown into tears that won’t stop till you are all cried out or you will explode in anger. It will be an anger far more potent than whatever the situation was that set it off requires. Let it out now so you can heal. I’ll hold you.” She had said opening her arms to me. All those years ago I had taken her up on her advice and flung myself into her arms and cried my pain. She held me even though I had turned her blouse into a sopping wet rag.

  That was then, this was now. I had no safe place to vent as I did in her arms or my pillow. I couldn’t afford the show of weakness now. Not until I knew my surroundings better.

  My gray eyes looked around and I forced myself to breathe. As I went the intimidating elegance cut down to just amazingly well-made. After the administration building I could handle it. I eventually came to the barracks. It was still made out of the same white marble, but it wasn’t as high… though looking at the map it was much bigger than the administration building. I don’t really know what it was that made the barracks less intimidating. It was even soothing in the lobby. I think it had something to do with the warm wood flooring. The lighting was soft making everything seem cozy. Off to the right of the door was a desk with wood paneling with carvings of starflowers. To the left was a sitting area. There was no one there.

  A soft foot step had me turning back toward the desk. A young man with blond was standing at the desk. His eyes were hazel and held mild curiosity. He wore a uniform much like the one I held in my hands. A student then. “Can I help you?” He asked in a soft voice.

  I smiled nervously at him. “I hope so. I’m new here and...” I trailed off. I wasn’t sure what to ask him next. Did I need a room key or was it done by password here like on the ship? And how was I supposed to find my room? I knew from what the ensign had said that my room was on the third floor. I found a small sense of comfort in that room numbering was the same here as it was on the colony in the few buildings above two stories. The comfort was very short lived. How do I ask any of my questions without revealing how truly ignorant I am? I hated being ignorant.

  The student behind the desk smiled kindly. “I figured. I knew I hadn’t seen you before.” He looked down at something and I figured it was a computer hidden by the high edge of the desk on my side. “You Rylynn?” He asked. I nodded. And he looked back at the computer. “It says here that you are rooming with Lassie Morgan in room 321.” I nodded again as that sounded familiar. He nodded to himself and did something with the hidden computer. There was a sound very much like the printing noise the old printer at the small library back home made, only with a lot less wheezing. For a couple moments as it printed I wondered about the name of my roommate. The name ‘Lassie’ reminded me of a book my aunt had. It was a story about this boy and his heroic dog, Lassie. It had also been a show on the old world, the long lost Earth.

  The blond guy passed a blank white card to me. “That is your temporary ID. You’ll get your real one after going through the various exams they put new recruits through. Don’t let them worry you, though. They are just aptitude tests to see where you should be placed and what classes you need. You can’t fail them.” I knew he was being kind and trying to raise my spirits, but I had this feeling that I might be the first to fail the unfailable tests. Who knew what they were about? And I knew there were things that were basic knowledge to a Citizen but were unknown to me. Again, that nasty ignorant thing raised its head.

  “Thanks” I said taking the card from him.

  “There is a lift over there that will take you to the third floor.” I glanced where he had indicated before looking back at him. “Your room is in the Diamond Wing. You’ll see signs leading the way.” I thanked him again and began to move in that direction when he stopped me with a question. In his soft voice he asked “Is it true what the computer says?” I turned to face him with confused frown. His polite welcoming smile from before was replaced by a serious expression. “Are you really from Colony Lenti? Not Lenti-solum that had been entered incorrectly?” His voice got softer with each word as if he didn’t want to be over heard.

  I sighed and answered him honestly. “There is no mistake. I’m from the Colony.”

  His hazel eyes searched my face as if trying to figure out if I was kidding him or not. When he realized that I wasn’t joking he shook his head slightly. A mix of pity and awe filled his expression. “I, personally, think it is wonderful that the Legion Fleet has accepted you into the ranks. I have no idea how that could have happened, but I am happy that it did.”

  That was the last thing I expected to hear from him and my shock must have been all over my face because he chuckled dryly.

  “I’m from Ser-etten. We don’t have any colonies because we see how the others treat theirs. I, like the rest of my people, do not agree that colonists have no rights. Everyone was created by God, thus everyone deserves to be respected.” I had never heard this before, but I could tell he wasn’t lying to me. There was something real about him that I had to believe. It was also nice hearing that someone didn’t see me as less than them simply because of where I was from. Even so, I knew what he was going to say next would be less welcome and more expected.

  “Unfortunately,” He continued as I knew he would, “my view point is not shared by many. Especially Miss Morgan. She is from Coronaius. A noble. She sees those not of her class as less than she. Once she learns that she is rooming with a colonist, she will probably get very… nasty.”

  I sighed. “Thanks for the warning. I kind of expected it from everyone, so thank you for being different. She can hate me if she wants. She can pretend that I am not even there. I’ve seen worse things than a girl who thinks her pedigree makes her better.”

  He smiled at my words, humor lighting his eyes. Putting a finger to his lips he glanced exaggeratedly around before saying “There are worse things than a girl with a pedigree, just don’t let anyone else hear that.” He came around the desk then and offered me his hand. I managed to shift things so I could shake it. “My name is Michel Serra. If you ever need to get away from Miss P,” I grinned at his shortening of ‘pedigree’, “I work the desk every evening. You can come and visit.”

  “Thank you, Michel.”

  I left him feeling better now that I had at least one friend in the whole academy. I wasn’t totally alone. I could face my roommate. I would treat her with the respect another person deserves and try not to think about how she may very well treat me. As I had told Michel, I was prepared for negative reactions. I knew how to let them slide off of me. In recent months I had had a lot of practice.

  Lassie Morgan was a budding Jewel Rose. Statuesque with long auburn hair and golden eyes. If I had cared about complexion, like she obviously did, I would be suffering from awed jealousy. Her skin was a creamy golden color that must draw male attention even though she was still a girl. She was about my age, perhaps a year older at fourteen. Regardless, she was beautiful and I kn
ew that Ace and Carden would have been drooling and wondering how best to get her to work for them once she was a little bit older.

  Yeah, I said those two were honorable. And compared to some, they are. They would wait until she was an adult before selling her contract around. The honor of thieves does not apply to good men.

  And as Michel had warned me, Lassie had looked down her nose at me from the start. And that was before she had asked where I was from…

  “If I hadn’t known that it was impossible for dirt like you to make it through the Admissions Branch without permission I would be kicking you out. And you couldn’t possibly be intelligent enough to slip past them.” Those were the first things she said to me after I answered her questions: ‘who are you?’ and ‘where are you from?” I had wondered at her naiveté because I was quite sure that someone who knew how things worked would have been able to slip through. With a disgusted look she had pointed me toward the far side of the room.

  She was definitely not anything like the heroic character with whom she shared a name. Mentally smiling, I figured she would be happy about that, since the character had been a dog.

  The room had been constructed with two beds and equal storage for clothing and what not. It may have been constructed equally, but my dear roommate had been a single occupancy for some time now. She took up two thirds of the room. She left the other bed alone, but had shoved it into a darkened corner away from the window. The nightstand and light were the only other items of furniture left to me. Lassie had taken both sides of the closet and dressers. What the hell she needed all that room for I never did figure out. But whatever. Looking about my side of the room I found several hooks that I could use to hang up my uniforms. So I did. Under the bed were several drawers. One had some bedding that I took out. Since I really didn’t have all that much (the clothes I was wearing as well as the uniforms and those LF boots I had been given) it really didn’t take me long to settle in. The longest part was making the bed. Once done with that I had donned the uniform since dinner wasn’t that far away.

  I finished just as Lassie’s friends came to the door and they left for the dining hall. I followed them as I was not allowed to walk with them. Being hungry and somewhat lost helped me to ignore the disgusted looks I received every couple moments. I eyed them warily, wondering how much trouble I could expect from them.

  We arrived at the dining hall. It was large with an open floor plan. There was a mix of circular and square tables throughout the room. Windows lined one wall and a serving station the other. Lassie and her friends headed toward a table and one of them put her coat on a chair. My guess was to claim the table. I moved to choose a seat and the three of them glared at me. “I’m sorry,” The girl who put her coat on the chair said in an over sweet tone, “You cannot sit with us. You belong elsewhere.” The other sniggered and Lassie herself smiled nastily. All three’s actions made it very clear to me that they thought that place I belonged was a trash heap. Looking at all three beauties I felt like a weed in the garden.

  I shrugged and turned away. I smiled slightly at the disconcerted expressions of Lassie and her friends. They hadn’t expected to get just a shrug. A weed doesn’t care if it is beautiful or not. It only cares that it survives.

  I LIKE YOU. My invisible mouse companion muttered to me. My smile grew.

  I went to the food line and got my meal. My plate was full and had more food on it then I had seen for a long time. Even on the Hail Mary I had not gotten as much. It was a mix of all the food groups, much of the food I had no idea what it was. But it all smelled good to me. I carried my prize to an empty table near the windows. I sat so I could see outside, the door, and most of the interior. As I ate, my gaze slithered over the students in the hall. More girls and a couple guys sat down at Lassie’s table. Every once and a while one of the new members would glance my way and I just knew that Lassie was telling them where I was from. Sighing I dug my fork into my food.

  As I ate my gaze continued flickering over the other students in the hall. There were groups like Lassie’s which over crowded their tables and were fairly loud. Then there were a few quiet groups who mostly ate and sometimes talked between bites. Then there were a few students who were like me; the loners.

  HE IS MUCH LIKE YOU, RYLYNN. The mouse said.

  I frowned, looking at my food. Who?

  THE BOY AT THE TABLE IN THE CORNER. I looked and saw a boy who had to be about my age. He looked to be human with long black hair that had been put in a queue at his neck. His skin was a light bronze that spoke of much time spent outside. I couldn’t tell much else from this distance. Something about his posture reminded me of the street cat that Aunt Sylvie fed and nicknamed Kitty Hawk. Kitty would lay in the sun and tap her fluffy ginger tail on the dirt and look so relaxed, but in reality, she was alert to everything. She would go from sun languid to a blur that ended with a spider rat wriggling weakly in her triumphant jaws. The boy was watchful. He dug at his food like I did. Also like me his gaze was watching everyone in the room. His eyes flicked to me. I met his gaze for a moment before looking down at my food. When I glanced up again he was the one to look down, though I think he peeked my way shortly after.

  Throughout dinner I wondered who he was. No one sat next to him. Nor did they sit with me. When I was done and heading out to take my placement tests I decided that if he was alone tomorrow I would sit with him… if he let me. Maybe the loners could be friends. As that old saying says: ‘Enemies were better than those who do not care and friends are better than both.’

  Chapter 7 Knowledge Base

  I headed to Medical, following the line that Ensign A’zarsha had drawn on my map. I paused a moment before entering, eyeing the building. It was different from all the buildings I had seen so far. Instead of being constructed, or at least sided with, white marble it was made of wood so old that it looked more like stone. I had never seen the like before, but Aunt Sylvie had told me once that if a tree or animal had been buried for long enough its form would become stone. Something about the organic molecules being replaced by more robust, inorganic, molecules. Stone animals were called fossils and stone trees were known as petrified wood. At least that was what I had been told.

  Upon thinking the word ‘petrified’ I thought about old, ancient, stories about living things who were said to kill or petrify anyone who dared to meet their eyes. I never understood why the two things were not considered synonymous. Being turned to stone meant you were no longer among the living, didn’t it? I guess that is beside the point… Anyway, the ancient descriptions of these creatures were both horrific and terrifying. There was an ancient culture, the name of which I no longer remember if indeed I ever knew it, told a story about a snake haired woman whose stare could turn men into stone just for meeting her many gazes. Then there were two creatures who were so similar that they had been confused long before the Zar’daka had destroyed Earth. My aunt had books that talked about them: the cockatrice and the basilisk. Both were born from an egg. The cockatrice from a chicken egg hatched under a toad or a snake. The basilisk was a snake egg hatched under a chicken. Both were deadly and could only be killed by a weasel. I have no idea what that is. My guess is some kind of old Earth creature. Eventually death by venom, breath, and gaze had all been attributed to the basilisk; the King of Snakes, the cockatrice falling to the wayside.

  In today’s society, I had heard that myths still walk or slither among us. The Spectrals are all, from the little I had been able to find out, Old Earth creatures and myths. Twenty-one of them are real creatures. Four of them are mythical. The four rare Spectrals are Dragons, Unicorns, Phoenixes, and Basilisks. And supposedly, about as rare were corporeal beings who could join with a Spectral. They were known as Shades. Elusive masters of the shadows… It made that mysterious woman’s death all the more forbidding. After all, the man in the darkness had called her a ‘Shade’. What did it take to kill someone linked to creature of living energy?

  I shivered and mentally sh
ook my head and forced myself out of Aunt Sylvie’s attic library and the station. It was time to return to the real world. After all, just staring at the Medical building would not get me inside. Sighing I approached the doors and entered.

  As with most of the buildings there was a desk. It was a half circle with the back section a mix of shelves with records and a single potted herb plant and filing cabinets. The woman behind the desk looked to have some Avren somewhere in her ancestry. She had very delicate looking hands and her hair was a pink touched blond. She had a name tag that said PORTER.

  Ms. Porter’s eyes were busily scanning the thin screen in front of her. She must have seen me step up to the desk out of the corner of her eye because she said “I’ll be right with you, hun.” I nodded, but I don’t think she was paying attention. I figured if I had an emergency it would have been okay to press her, but since I didn’t I waited patiently. I watched nurses and doctors bustle about behind the desk. There was a hallway there that disappeared past my sight. It connected at least one hallway that opened off to the left of the desk. A door was to the right. The door was ajar and the light was off. My eyes returned to Ms. Porter. She was still doing something on her computer. Her fingers skittered over the keys every once and a while. Fluttering almost, like startled butterflies. I shifted my weight and studied her desk. The base was made of some metallic substance. The desk top and the shelves were both made out of a light wood. The record folders that I could see had colored tags on them. My eyes flicked over them. I was about to see if there were any nurses to watch when movement by the plant caught my eye. My gaze jumped to it and I stared for a moment or so.