Defender of the Empire: Cadet #1

by Catherine Beery

  THERE IS A CONNECTION BETWEEN YOU, SO YES. YOU FELT A SHADOW OF HIS PAIN. Luna told me gently. I paled at the thought that that mind burning pain had been nothing but a taste of what Kylesst had felt.

  YOUR FRIENDS ARE CALLING FOR YOU TO WAKE. Scrae informed me.

  Wake up? I asked. As soon as the words formed the empty world vanished along with the two shining Spectrals. WE ARE WITH YOU. Luna’s voice echoed as my perception went up into nothing.

  “Come on, Rylynn, wake up. Nurse Meghan says you should be able to come around now.” Jason was telling me.

  My brow furrowed and I opened my eyes. I was on a hospital bed in what I can only assume was the medical building on campus. Jason and Nurse Meghan were standing on either side of the bed. Jason willing me to wake up and Meghan checking some fancy computers. Westley was also there, leaning his tall frame against the far wall. All three smiled when they noticed my opened eyes.

  “Finally!” Jason said.

  “Do you feel any pain?” Meghan asked me as she turned away from the machines.

  I shook my head. And I wasn’t lying either. I felt pretty good, especially compared to the pain I had been in before everything went black. What I did notice was my mouth was kind of dry. “Water?” I asked. My gravelly voice attested for my need of liquid. Meghan poured me a glass and I sat up to accept it. I waved away the helpful hands that came my way. I didn’t need them. “What happened? I asked in a stronger voice.

  Jason blinked at me. “You collapsed in your chair and started shaking so hard you fell to the floor. And if that wasn’t bad enough you started screaming.”

  My face flushed. “I had a screaming fit in the lecture hall?”

  “You had a seizure in the lecture hall.” Meghan corrected. “A bad one. We couldn’t get it to stop.”

  It’s like the first one… I thought.

  “First one?” Jason asked me in shock. I guess my thought had been aloud.

  I nodded. “This isn’t the first seizure I’ve had recently. Though it is the second.”

  “Was the first as bad?” Meghan asked.

  I shrugged. “They couldn’t get it to stop on the Hail Mary. The pain struck just before they transported me onboard. The next thing I knew I had woken up twenty four hours later…” My eyes went wide. “How long have I been out?”

  “Not that long.” Meghan smiled reassuringly at me. “It has been just over an hour since they rushed you in here.”

  I sighed in relief.

  “So if it hadn’t been for the transporter you would have been at the Telmick’s mercy.” Westley murmured from his place at the wall.

  Jason and Meghan frowned. I met Westley’s gaze and said simply. “They don’t have mercy. The seizure may have been the one thing that decided for them whether to torture me or just kill me. Killing me quickly is about as merciful as they get.”

  “What?!” Jason stared at me and I could tell that my calm was disturbing him. Meghan too. They could look at me like that if they wanted I saw no need to explain to them what had not happened.

  Since I was still wearing my uniform I threw the covers off and sat on the edge of the bed. I was fine, I didn’t need to take up room. “I am better now, thanks.” I told Meghan. Turning to the guys I asked “Did the speech happen after I was rushed out or did they cancel it?” I was kind of hoping for either one.

  “They continued with it after you were taken out.” Westley said.

  I couldn’t keep my relieved smile hidden. I hid the true reason for it by asking a really important question. “I didn’t miss dinner, did I?”

  “You didn’t.” Westley smiled slightly at me. Jason was glaring at me for some reason. I figured he really wanted to know why I had been so calm about what would have happened to me if the Hail Mary hadn’t picked me up. Unfortunately for him I wasn’t going to get into it. It was in the past and done. I thanked Meghan for taking care of me. She invited me to visit her whenever I wanted but would I please refrain from needing emergency medical help to do so? I had promised that I would try.

  “Now, where do you think you are going?” A stern woman’s voice said from the doorway. I looked over to see a dark skinned human doctor. The nametag on her left breast pronounced her Dr. Clayton.

  “Dinner?” I said hopefully.

  Dr. Clayton shook her head. “I think not. You have just suffered a severe seizure and we don’t know what caused it. And until we know why, you may not be able to continue as a recruit.”

  I stared at her with stricken eyes. I have been here only two days and I was threatened by seizures that had only started within the last several weeks… how could I explain to the doctor that the source of the seizures was an imprisoned, tortured spectral that I had somehow connected to without sounding crazy? I wondered helplessly.

  “What can we do, doctor?” I asked her. Westley and Jason shared my worried glance.

  The woman sighed. “I need to run some tests.”

  “Tonight or can I come in at a later time?” I asked. I really wanted to eat dinner with my friends and study for the tests tomorrow.

  Dr. Clayton must have seen my determination because she said in a stern tone. “You can go for tonight, but you must report here tomorrow after whatever tests you have tomorrow. Until I say otherwise, you are not to operate any crafts or other delicate machinery.”

  I could feel hope unfurl within me. “I understand ma’am. I will be here right after classes, I promise.”

  “Good.” The doctor turned to Jason and Westley “I expect you two boys make sure that she does.” Unless I was mistaken, she gave Westley a look that made me think he may not have listened to her in the past. Westley flushed slightly and nodded. Jason gave a quick nod as well and the doctor sailed out of the room after a pointed look at me.

  “I don’t think she trusts me.” I muttered as I slipped off the table.

  Meghan smiled. “Dr. Clayton knows how reckless some cadets can be.” She cast a knowing smile at Westley which made him flush a little redder.

  Interesting. What rebel past did Westley Trin have? I wondered. I would have to investigate in my spare time…hopefully before I forgot what ‘spare time’ even was.

  “So what did the admiral say about that challenge thing?” I asked as the three of us left the room. There was a single empty chair in the hallway that… I don’t know why I even glanced at it. We talked as we walked to the dining hall.

  “Well, he started by talking a lot about how the Fleet needs more determined individuals. Also discussed a lot about leadership and teamwork.” Jason answered before rolling his eyes. “A lot of the leadership stuff I had heard already from my father.” He brightened slightly. “In light of getting more ‘determined’ recruits who can both lead and work together he announced what the competition is. There will be three progressively harder challenges in the next three weeks. Those who want to participate will need to form teams of three to four, preferably four. Winning the competition would grant the winning team the opportunity to meet with the admirals and gain potential placements on any ship they want upon graduation.”

  “That is, of course, if you don’t fail your classes between now and then.” Westley saw fit to put in.

  Jason narrowed his eyes at the older boy. “Of course we wouldn’t fail. No one would want to fail after putting in all that hard work to win. Especially not with such an opportunity waiting at the end.”

  “So are the three of us a team?” I asked.

  Westley grimaced. “Since I have already graduated I technically can’t. I will have to talk to the professors in charge of the competition to see if I could participate anyway, but some teams might see that as an unfair advantage.”

  “If we can show them that all of us are pulling equal weight in the challenges they might overlook the fact that you are no longer a student.” I thought aloud. An idea came to me. “We may be able to pass it off as training for when you can return to your duties on the Hail Mary.” I said.

  “We w
ould make a perfect team.” Jason added. “Ship and piloting experience.” He said indicating Westley. “Living calculator.” He said indicating himself “and our strategist.” He said with a gesture at me.

  “We will have to see. Again there may be issues with unfair advantage.” Westley cautioned.

  Jason snorted. “It’s not like the older students don’t know how to pilot. The only thing you have on them would be real ship experience. Even so, they could get the same with internships.” Jason pointed out.

  “We’ll just have to see.” Westley returned.

  I tilted my head to look at Westley who stood to my right. I don’t know how, but I had ended up in the middle of our little group. “Do you not want to participate?” I asked him.

  “I want to participate.” He said with a startled look at me. “I just don’t want to get my hopes high in case I am not allowed to.” He took a breath. “And if I am not allowed to participate you two will need to have someone in reserve. We’ll need another anyway since the preferred number is four.”

  Jason and I shared a look before turning back to Westley. “That may be easier said than done.” I pointed out. “I’m the dirty Colonist and Jason is the low born Citizen who is stained by my mere presence.”

  “Where did you hear that?” Jason asked in surprise.

  I raised an eyebrow at him. “You would be amazed to hear the many things that I do.”

  “Doesn’t it bother you?” Jason inquired.

  I shrugged. “Of course. The trick is not to let them know that it does. And when I get close to breaking I just remember where I came from and it doesn’t seem so bad anymore.” I saw the questions in his tri-colored eyes. I shook my head. “It really doesn’t matter now.” That got Westley looking at me in surprise. I guess they were getting to know me pretty well because of course what had and was happening on Colony Lenti mattered. But at this point I couldn’t do anything yet. So I prayed for them at night and tried not to dwell on it during the day. Besides thinking about home was like picking at a raw wound in my heart. My beloved aunt was dead. The only home I ever knew was long since destroyed. Both acts covered up by the battles with the Telmicks that the rest of the empire saw as raids. A mystery I had no way yet of solving was why the two events had been so close together. Was it just coincidence or had it been planned?

  I was never so grateful to open the doors of the dining hall and be stared at as I was then. It distracted me from my thoughts and my friends from what I had said. “Oh, and let us not forget,” I muttered to Jason and Westley, bringing us back to our earlier line of conversation, “I am the girl who just had a screaming fit in front of the whole school. Who is going to want to work with a nut case?”

  The universe who hates me apparently felt the need to answer that particular question of mine. I’m still not sure what I think of the answer.

  Chapter 12 – A Talk with Spectrals

  It’s true, Marius thought in wonder, no matter how long you live you still see things that surprise you. Which was good. It made living interesting. Now he just had to figure out what it all meant and if it had anything to do with his investigation.

  YOU KNOW THE LIKELIHOOD OF SOMETHING BEING COINCIDENCE. Zara, his currant panther Spectral, muttered.

  What is this coincidence of which you speak? He thought back with a snort.

  Zara chuffed a dry laugh as Marius followed the small group from the lecture hall. Not far ahead of them was the medical building of the Academy. He kept seeing the unthinkable again and again. And to think moments ago he had only been hoping to report something useful to his commander.

  Marius had arrived planet side last night after talking to Officer Sanders. Since he was on the same planet as the Shade Commander for once during a mission, he decided to report in. The Commander had been a longtime friend of his. Hell, the whole Blackmore clan had been. The Blackmores had been honorable leaders for so long that Marius figured it was nurtured by the mythic Spectrals the clan attracted. Their character was such that they took it personally when those under their protection were harmed. So Marius had visited with Commander Sam Blackmore and updated him on the status of his mission.

  After that quick meeting Marius had arrived at the Academy. Marius had never been one to dive blind into a situation. Following a practice that had served him well for a long time, he waited and he watched. He listened and that was how he had learned about Admiral Knight’s visit. Marius figured that after the admiral’s speech would be a good time to approach the girl. That had been the plan. But the Universe has a thing about following plans exactly.

  The shocking thing had made it impossible to keep to his original plan.

  Just before the admiral could begin a Spectral’s light that only Marius noticed fell onto one of the students. A student he had just realized already had a Spectral. Neither of the creatures were bonded to the girl. From what he could see, the two Spectrals had been looped about the girl like lays on a visitor to the Vacation Isles of Oceannis. And just barely visible through the brilliant links of the present Spectrals was a bond thread to a third, unseen Spectral.

  Neither Zara nor he had ever seen or heard about anything coming close to this before. And so Marius found himself following the small group of medical personnel who had taken the girl to Medical.

  Marius sat down in a chair in the hall just outside the girl’s room. To keep from being questioned, Marius sank into a trance of sorts. As a Gi’eonen half-breed he could make himself go unnoticed by bending the light around him. People could still sort of see him, but not as well. With the gifts of past Spectrals Marius was able to complete the ‘invisible’ trick and become one with the seat and the wall behind him. Now light couldn’t even interact with his molecules, rendering him completely invisible. He wasn’t even a shadow on the wall.

  And so he and Zara waited. And as Zara had reminded him earlier, there was no such thing as coincidence. The girl was Rylynn Sinclair, the very one he was looking to meet. While sitting out there waiting, Marius witnessed something else unheard of in today’s culture. No matter what the nurse or doctor did, the horrible seizure would not end. What did end was the girl’s ability to scream. It was a kind of blessing to no longer have to hear those tortured shouts. After the first couple minutes she would open her mouth to scream, but no sound would come out. There were marks on her pale skin from where her shaking had injured her. Marks that were disappearing before his eyes, Marius noticed in surprise, though considering the two Spectrals looped about her, he shouldn’t have been. The energy of Spectrals could speed up a body’s natural repair process. Could even slow aging by healing the damage done by time. He knew that better than anyone else, Marius thought guiltily with a glance to Zara. Sensing his remorse, the beautiful, star-glossed panther rubbed her lighted head against his hand in an unspoken gesture of forgiveness. No matter how hard he tried to understand, all of them forgave him…

  Eventually, the mouse and wolf Spectral about the girl were able to calm her shaking. The doctor left after fifteen minutes when no further trouble arose. The nurse stayed and a young boy and an older lad came to wait for her to come around. Eventually she had woken with no needs except for water. None of the self-inflicted wounds were present which cause the nurse to keep checking her equipment. Marius guessed the younger boy didn’t notice because he figured the medical staff had healed them. Wouldn’t they all be surprised if they knew the truth?

  Zara slipped from his side to the girl’s. The wolf and the mouse saw her and joined her in returning to Marius

  I WAS WONDERING WHEN SOMEONE WOULD COME LOOKING. The mouse, Scrae, said after introductions were made.

  It was only yesterday that Mara’s body was found. Marius thought gently to the hurting Spectral.

  WAS NICO EVER FOUND? Luna asked. Her anxiety apparent in her shifting paws.

  Marius bowed his head. Luna had just cemented the fear that Nico Cassidy was indeed dead. It had been eight months since the charismatic Shade had fallen off t
he grid. We haven’t found him yet. He thought to her. Where were you and Nico eight months ago? He asked hoping that she could give him a hint as to where to his brother in arms so they could bring him home again.

  WE HAD BEEN ON CORONAIUS COLONY OF SAR’CRES LOOKING INTO RUMORS OF SOME KIND OF MILITANT GROUP WHEN WE WERE WARNED TO LEAVE BY SOME WOMAN OF LEOPARD DECENT. NICO TOOK HER WARNING UNDER CONSIDERATION AND WE CONTINUED OUR MISION. Luna whined HE DIED THAT NIGHT.

  We will send someone to recover his body soon. Marius promised her. He would just have to warn the Commander and anyone that went about the militant group Nico had been looking into.

  Luna looked down at her paws, she then glanced at Scrae and Zara as if wondering if they would judge her for what she was about to say. She then turned to Marius. IF YOU HAVEN’T FOUND HIM YET, THEN DO NOT.

  Surprised for the third time that afternoon, Marius stared at her. Zara did as well. Scrae nodded to himself as if he understood why Luna had requested something so un-Spectral like. Why not? Marius eventually managed to think to her.

  RECOVERED OR NOT, THERE IS NOTHING THAT CAN BE DONE TO PUT HIS SOUL TO REST WHILE THE LOUS-ECI’DALB IS WHOLE. Luna told them with a heartbreaking certainty.

  Today seemed to be a day for impossibilities, but Marius remembered the post-mortem picture of Mara Dane. Her eyes had been flat but not empty. It was like she had still been in there, screaming. It fit with what was known of the infamous Lous-eci’dalb. The cursed blade had been forged so long ago with a long forgotten technology as to seem magical. The Soul Shadows were said to have been behind its creation and that had been the final straw that had led to their imprisonment. Both the blade and the Soul Shadows had become myth over the ages, but there had been far too many stories of late that mentioned something like them that Marius had never made the mistake to think either a myth.

  So who wields the cursed blade? He asked. I am assuming that the two of you know since whoever it was killed your Shades. Marius frowned. And perhaps you could tell me how the two of you ended up with Rylynn because it is obvious that the two of you are not bonded to her.