Richard took a moment to glance around at two hundred and fifteen other faces as confused as his.
“Very well, I can see you’re all experts in quantum relativity, so you should do well in your third-year classes,” Chief Instructor Winslow said with a grin. “But to answer the rest of cadet 240’s question, magic is something the Empire’s military does not use. Some of the Empire’s races have the capability, but it’s too wild and unpredictable for large-scale military use. However, some of our enemies have used what you probably refer to as magic. Like wizard scouts, creatures that use magic have Power reserves. Unlike wizards, magic-using creatures cannot directly use the Power in their reserves to make things happen. Instead, they use verbal or visual spells to convert the Power in their reserve into a useable form of energy. That energy is then used to perform their magic. You will be trained to detect and defend against magic as well as standard Power attacks. Does anyone have any more questions?”
When no one raised their hand, she asked, “Then I have a question. Which of you is wizard scout cadet 832?”
Two hundred and fifteen sets of eyes turned to Richard.
“Ah, I see you have a fan club, 832,” she laughed. “Well, the reason I ask is because you have the dubious honor of having access to the smallest Power reserve of any scout cadet ever accepted to the Academy. Did you know that?”
Richard knew all too well. TAC Gaston Myers never allowed a spare moment to pass when he did not let Richard and everyone around him know that he had the smallest Power reserve of any past or existing cadet. Richard had a quick vision of TAC Officer Gaston Myers also informing him that he would never wear the golden-dragon insignia if he or any of the other TACs had anything to do with it.
“Sir! Yes, cadet 832 knows, sir!” Richard responded automatically as he jumped to his feet and stood at attention.
“Ah…, I see,” she said sympathetically, “and please don’t shout. I’m sure your TACs pointed that little feature of your profile out to you on your first day at pre-Academy. But, don’t let that bother you. The size of the reserve doesn’t matter. What matters is how efficiently you use the Power in your reserve. You’re lucky in that your reserve is a sole-access reserve. You alone are responsible for keeping your reserve as full as possible.”
Shifting her attention to the entire class, she said, “I mention the limited size of 832’s reserve to stress how important it is to be efficient with your Power usage. I don’t care if you have sole access to the largest Power reserve of any scout in the Empire. If you use it wastefully, you will eventually empty your reserve. Then you won’t be able to utilize any wizard ability until more radiated Power accumulates in your reserve. Do you understand?”
Chief Instructor Winslow looked slowly around the room. “No, I don’t think you do, because your TACs have turned you into little robots unable to think for themselves. We’ll change that given time, but for now, let me put it this way. Currently, the Empire has only six hundred and forty-two active wizard scouts. Even during the best of times, only a hundred cadets a year receive their golden dragons from the Academy. We are barely able to keep pace with wizard scout attrition.”
By attrition, Richard knew she meant combat deaths.
“Some politicians are under the impression that maintaining a force of wizard scouts is too costly,” said Chief Instructor Winslow. “They think tele-bots could be used to perform deep recon instead of wizard scouts at a much lower cost. Who can tell me why the Empire needs wizard scouts?”
Richard’s time in marine recon had made him very familiar with tele-bots. They were microscopic drones capable of gathering video and audio data. They could send their data through the Empire’s tele-network to a central intelligence computer for processing. Due to their small size, a hundred thousand tele-bots could be teleported light years behind enemy lines to a target location. Even if ninety-nine percent of the tele-bots were destroyed by enemy countermeasures, enough often remained to provide at least some useful information. Since the tele-network allowed data to be sent from one end of the galaxy to the other almost instantaneously, tele-bots were definitely useful tools when used correctly.
Silence enveloped the classroom for a full minute. When it became obvious Chief Instructor Winslow was not going to continue until someone answered her question, Richard did the unthinkable for a military soldier. He raised his hand and volunteered.
“Yes, 832?” said Chief Instructor Winslow.
Richard, who had sat back down, jumped to his feet again and hit a stiff brace. “Sir! It has been this cadet’s experience that the farther the tele-bots are from the receiving computers, the easier it is for the enemy to manipulate the data in order to feed our commanders false information. This decreases a tele-bot’s usefulness for deep recon. Additionally, except for short-range communications, tele-bots are unable to interact with their environment. They are too small to carry weapons or explosives. Wizard scouts on the other hand are connected to the tele-network via their battle computer, and they can wrap their data with Power to make it theoretically impervious to enemy manipulation. Additionally, while a wizard scout’s primary mission is observation only, they can, and have, won battles by being a force multiplier when they have been at the right place at the right time. The capture of the Carsoloian fleet three years ago is a classic example. Sir!”
“Very good, 832,” said Chief Instructor Winslow. “I always enjoy having cadets with prior military experience in my classroom.”
After a short pause to survey the classroom, Chief Instructor Winslow continued, “Most military commanders know the value of wizard scouts. When you consider the Empire is typically involved in two major wars and several dozen policing actions at any one time,” she continued, “it spreads the wizard scout corps mighty thin. Without wizard scouts to perform deep-recon missions, the Empire’s military would be strategically ineffective. Consequently, every wizard scout is as important, if not more so, than the most powerful star cruiser. But don’t let that go to your heads,” she cautioned. “Most of you will probably die within five years of graduation, and most of your deaths will occur because you needlessly wasted Power in your reserve.”
She paused to let that sink in before adding, “Remember the wizard scout priority mantra; ‘technology first, wizardry second’. So help me,” she said raising her voice for the first time, “I will embed those words in every brain cell you have before I am finished. I can’t stress enough the importance of only using your wizard ability when you can’t use technology to perform the same task. Even a single drop of Power with a capital ‘P’ can mean the difference between life and death.”
In spite of Chief Instructor Winslow’s somber warning about the life expectancy of a wizard scout, Richard enjoyed her class. She was knowledgeable and witty at the same time, and the two hours of her class sped by in no time. Richard found himself hoping his other classes would be just as interesting. They were. Richard did not have a single instructor he did not consider top notch. Whatever other faults the Empire had, a shortage of good wizard scout trainers was not one of them.
Two more weeks passed with blazing speed. The weekends still sucked, naturally, but to Richard’s amazement, TAC Officer Myers actually gave their cohort two hours of free time one afternoon. Of course, Richard didn’t get to enjoy the time. TAC Officer Myers decided Richard needed remedial training in hand to hand combat. So while his friends were enjoying two hours of relaxation, Richard was put in the pit with three TAC officers who basically took turns beating on him in the name of training. While it went against his grain, Richard reluctantly had to admit at the end of the two hours he was a lot better at blocking kicks than he’d been when he started.
When Richard got back to the barracks, he headed straight to his room to get his shower gear. He turned into his doorway and stopped short. Telsa and Tam were sitting on his bed with their backs against the wall. Jerad sat on a vacant bunk on the opposite side of the room.
“It’s abo
ut time you got back,” said Tam with a mischievous grin. “You know, 832, you should keep your room a little neater. The sheets on this bed are wrinkled. As your platoon sergeant, I may have to report you.”
“While you’re at it,” said Telsa with a grin of her own, “you should write him up for a sloppy uniform. Rick, you should really try to stay clean when you play with your friends.”
“Funny,” Richard said. “What’s up? I’ve got to take a shower before Myers calls formation or does some kind of surprise inspection.”
“Relax,” said Jerad. “I’ve got it on good authority we’ve got another thirty minutes before any of the TACs come snooping around. Besides, this is important.”
“What’s important?” Richard said. Jerad was not one prone to exaggeration, so Richard was interested to hear what the ex-battalion commander had to say.
“First off,” Jerad said, “we’re going to be fitted for our battle suits tomorrow. That includes battle helmets.”
“Are you sure?” Richard said a little shocked. “We’re just in our third week. I thought that was third year stuff. Heck, the cohort in front of us hasn’t even been fitted yet. Who told you this, Jerad?”
“Never-you-mind who told me, Rick,” said Jerad. “The information’s good. They are going to fit three cohorts at the same time. That’s just shy of six hundred cadets.”
“And that’s not all,” said Telsa. “They’re accelerating the training for the senior cohort. They will be shipping them out for their final internship this week. That’s a full six months ahead of schedule.”
“Sounds serious,” Richard said.
“It’s big serious,” said Tam. “It’s war. The Crosoians have broken the truce. Word is they have partially overrun sector five.”
The Crosoians were a dark race who thrived on combat. The last encounter between the Empire and the Crosioians had ended in a shaky truce sixty years ago. Both sides had taken heavy losses with no clear cut winner. The Empire already had a full scale war going in sector twelve with the Norwedian Federation not to mention the trouble with the Balorian pirates. Committing to another full-scale war would stretch the Empire’s resources pretty thin.
Richard sat down on an empty bunk next to the one Jerad sat on. Originally, four cadets had shared Richard’s room, but with all the D.F.R.s, every cadet had a room to themselves now.
“So, Jerad,” Richard said, “you were a battalion commander. Do you think they are planning on committing the senior cohort to actual fighting? That would be pretty short-sighted. Every senior cadet that gets killed now is one less fully-trained wizard scout next year.”
“Rick, old buddy,” said Jerad. “I think they are going to shove both the senior cohort and junior cohort into action ahead of time. I doubt they’ll send us freshmen or even the sophomore cohort into action. We’re not trained well enough to be useful. It would just be pissing equipment into the wind. The junior and senior cohorts are a different story. They’ve got enough training to actually make a difference.”
“Then why,” said Telsa,”are they fitting us for our battle suits and helmets tomorrow?”
“That’s easy enough,” said Tam. “If things get really desperate, even partially-trained wizard scouts may start to look good. If our senior and junior cadets start taking heavy losses, you can bet they’ll start picking replacements out of the lower cohorts.”
“But we’re not trained,” said Telsa as if common sense should win out. “You guys have prior military experience, but I’m straight out of civilian life. I’ve never killed anyone. I majored in astral physics for Creator’s sake.”
“It might not come to that,” Richard said. “Maybe it’s not as serious as it sounds.”
“Oh, it’s serious all right,” said Jerad. “My source at brigade headquarters told me some of our TAC officers have already received orders and will be teleporting out tonight.”
Richard couldn’t help but hope TAC Officer Gaston Myers would be one of those shipping out tonight.
“Just so you don’t get your hopes up, Rick,” said Jerad, “Myers is not one of them. I heard he begged the Commandant to give him combat duty, but the old man wouldn’t hear of it. He basically told Myers the cadets needed him, and the only way he would leave is if the Commandant got orders for both of them to leave at the same time. My source said Myers left the commandant’s office red-faced and fit to be tied.”
“Well, too bad for Myers,” said Tam. “And it’s too bad for us. I guess the only way to get away from Myers is for us to get assigned a combat mission.”
“Won’t happen,” said Jerad, “at least not as wizard scouts. We’re not trained enough.”
“What do you think, Rick?” said Telsa.
“Well,” Richard said. “I think tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.”
Chapter 9 – The Fitting
___________________
The next day was interesting indeed. Richard and his fellow cadets were up at 0500 hours as usual. At 0505 hours Richard stood in formation with the rest of the cadets in front of their barracks. A slight drizzle of rain made for miserable weather. As TAC Officer Myers marched to the front of their cohort, the platoon sergeants yelled, “Attention!”
“At ease!” said TAC Office Myers.
In cadet lingo, at ease meant standing at parade rest, which was only slightly less uncomfortable than standing at attention. Still, it was unusual for any of the TACs to give them even a slight break.
“As you’ve undoubtedly heard,” said TAC Officer Myers. “The Empire is now at war with the Crosoian Federation. What you may not have heard is that ten months ago, ninety percent of the wizard scouts were transferred out of districts five and six. They were replaced by tele-bots by order of the Intergalactic Council. As of this morning, the Crosoian Federation controls about twenty-five percent of district five. District six is also being hard pressed. All available wizard scouts have been activated and are being deployed to the hardest hit areas. Unfortunately, some wizard scouts are forced to stay here to babysit you wizard scout wannabes.”
“Attention!” someone yelled from behind the formation.
Two hundred and sixteen cadets along with the seven TAC officers standing with TAC Officer Myers snapped to attention.
The Commandant marched to the front of the formation dressed in his physical training uniform. TAC Officer Myers gave the Commandant a rare salute.
“Join your platoons,” said the Commandant.
TAC Officer Myers and the other TAC officers marched quickly to their perspective platoons. TAC Officer Myers took his place in front of Richard’s platoon.
“As you may have noticed,” the Commandant said, “you have some new TAC officers this morning. Most of your TAC officers were teleported out last night to districts five and six. But I assure you, the TAC officers now standing in front of you are more than capable of continuing your training and motivating you to maintain the standards expected of a wizard scout cadet. Each of your new TAC officers is a retired wizard scout. Like me, they may be old in years, and their Power reserves may not be what they used to be, but their bodies are still young, and they are more than capable of running all of you into the ground.”
The Commandant looked down the line of platoons as if daring anyone to challenge his assertion.
“With that said,” continued the Commandant, “we will be modifying your schedules to better take advantage of every available training opportunity. Your days will continue to start at 0500 hours with two hours of physical training. But instead of marching to the Academy, you will be trucked to save time. I have talked with Chief Instructor Winslow, and she will be extending your Academy training until 2000 hours each evening. That will leave you very little personal time, so use it wisely. Your Academy training will be seven days a week. This revised schedule will stay in effect until further notice. Are there any questions?”
There were none.
“Very well,” said the Commandant. “I don’t have to
tell you the seriousness of the situation. The senior cohort will be getting their baseline DNA testing this week. They will be shipping out as newly graduated wizard scouts immediately thereafter. The junior cohort had their battle suits fitted at the end of their training last year. They will be issued their battle suits this week and begin a modified training program. Unless things change drastically, the junior cohort will complete their training in the next four weeks. Those who can pass their wizard scout testing at the end of the four weeks will graduate early and be shipped out as well.”
The Commandant let his words sink in before continuing.
“And that,” said the Commandant, “brings us to the freshmen and sophomore cohorts. The training for both cohorts will be expedited as well. However, even headquarters knows the younger cohorts are not sufficiently trained to do anything other than get in the way of real combat troops. Consequently, unless everything goes to hell in a hand basket, your cohort, along with the sophomore cohort, will be remaining at the Academy under the watch care of your TAC officers. But, never forget for one minute that your military brothers and sisters on the frontlines are dying to buy you the time necessary to complete your training. I assure you that your TAC officers and I will not be forgetting.”
“TAC Officer Myers,” said the Commandant. “Commence your morning training.”
Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles 1: Wizard Defiant Page 7
