by Kal Spriggs
I flashed him a cold smile, “I was just faking that to provoke you. Honestly, I can't stand her either, but at least she had the self control not to fall for something like this.”
Ladon's face flushed with rage and for a moment, he tensed, almost as if he were going to lunge at me again. The moment passed, though, and he turned away without another word.
As the door shut behind them, I turned to face v. “Well, now,” she said, her voice dry, “care to explain?”
“I had reason to believe that he was planning on attacking me,” I told her calmly in return. “Therefore, I deliberately missed a question on my celestial navigation exam and then made sure everyone knew I'd be retaking it on my own.”
“And you said that you wanted observers to make sure no one thought you did so unfairly,” Star Commandant Athena cocked her head. “Why didn't you tell us the truth?”
“I wasn't sure you'd believe me,” I answered. “And even if you had... well, you would have done something to break it up before-hand. That might have worked to stop him this time, but if he really wanted to hurt me, he'd try again and be sneakier about it. Where-as this way...”
“This way you have created something of a diplomatic incident between Erewhon and Drakkus,” Star Commandant Athena interrupted. “You have placed us in the position where we have little choice but to lean more towards our 'alliance' with Century, or else pay reparations to Drakkus, which will make us look weak in their eyes, and therefore vulnerable.”
I hadn't really thought that part of it through “I didn't--”
She held up one hand, her expression hard. “Whether you intended it or not, that is the deeper consequences of your actions. Perhaps if you had trusted us, we might not be in a situation. You would have given us options, options we might have used to prevent Prince Ladon from attempting to hurt you. You never considered the fact that part of the point of having Century, MCA, and Drakkus representatives in this course was to perhaps see if there's a way to work things out without conflict. Instead, you presented us with a situation in which we could only take one action. We are forced deeper into this alliance because of one girl's actions. An entire star system, a planet with billions of people... headed into a war because you didn't trust us in the first place.”
I couldn't help but wilt a bit at her words. I hadn't really thought about that part. I'd thought that the Erewhon Defense Forces would dislike Drakkus as much as me. The very thought of trying to work things out... Only if Crown Prince Abraxas faces punishment for what he's done. That angry thought made my back go up. “I'm not about to forgive and forget what Drakkus has done to my world.”
“I didn't ask you to,” Star Commandant Athena snapped back. “And they've done far more harm to Erewhon than you realize. But there are greater threats, Armstrong. Larger problems, and a war, no matter how satisfying, will weaken us all.” She shook her head, “But the die is cast. That ship has left port.” She looked away. “I'm not removing you from the Officer Training Course. You'll continue as you were. However, I will have to mark down that you did not successfully retake the Celestial Navigation exam, so your previous score will stand.”
I stared at her. The five point hit from the one exam was a rather petty thing to do, in my opinion. “In the future, if I ever find out that you manipulated the courses of my school to get what you want, I will deliver an appropriate punishment. Do you understand?” There was a dangerous edge to her voice, one that suggested her response to Prince Ladon had been lenient... and she wouldn't be so lenient with me.
“Yes, ma'am,” I answered.
“Good,” Star Commandant Athena snapped. “Dismissed, Cadet Armstrong.”
***
Princess Kiyu was waiting for me just outside my quarters, her female, armored bodyguard at her side. She gave me an evaluative look, “That was well played,” she said, not moving out of my way. “Though I had hoped you would take a rather less confrontational method.”
“You and your father may not have been the ones behind Crown Prince Abraxus's attacks on Century, but you sure didn't stop him. I don't want to be your friend and I don't care if you like me or hate me.”
She gave me an ever so slight nod of her head. “Agreed. We did not stop the attack on Century, or the attack on your family. Nor would we have, not with the stakes of this 'game' as you put it.” She shook her head. “Nor, Armstrong, do I think I want to be your friend.” She said the last with a cool tone to her voice. “Respect, however, is something I think we should both have. I risked something of myself to warn you, after all.”
“You did it as much to provoke your cousin as anything,” I snapped back. “You wanted him to embarrass himself. Probably so he faces some consequences back home on Drakkus, I'd guess.”
She gave me another slight nod. “And also because if he had succeeded in killing you, it would be a jagged divide between our systems that we could not overcome.”
I stared at her. “A divide? His dad, your uncle, had my family killed. You think I'm going to forget that.... that the Admiral will forget that?”
“By 'Admiral' I assume you mean your grandmother, Admiral Victoria Armstrong?” She asked. “No, I don't think she is the forgiving type either. But to kill you, I think she would definitely oppose any attempt to make peace between our worlds, or any bargains that my father would try to make to settle things.” Kiyu shook her head. “I had hoped to head that off... and to take your measure. Which I have.”
“Whatever,” I growled. This wheels within wheels stuff gave me a headache.
“You are direct, Jiden Armstrong,” Princess Kiyu smiled, “you are clever, and devious, but you are painfully direct. Your intention was to stop my cousin from hurting you, so you dealt with him in a fashion that removed him from the picture. I think under other circumstances you might have tried to kill him... but again, directly. It is something I was curious about, whether it was unique to your brother, or whether it is a family trait.” She gave me a nod, “Farewell, Jiden Armstrong, good luck with your future endeavors... so long as they don't cross mine.”
I didn't really process her words until after she'd stepped past me.
I spun, then, “Wait... did you say my brother?”
Kiyu paused and looked over her shoulder, giving me a slight smile, “Did I? Perhaps I was mistaken, I must have meant your grandmother. Your brother is dead, isn't he?” Then, as I stood frozen with shock, she walked away.
I found myself back in my quarters, my head spinning as I replayed the conversation, over and over, trying to parse out the hidden meanings. Ted Meeks had told me that my brother had set up the pirate Wessek back on Drakkus. That Wessek had been killed in the process.
Just as clearly, Princess Kiyu had encountered my brother, had seen or knew something of his actions. Prince Ladon mentioned Wessek's lab, that she stole data from him... Ted had said that the pirates assumed him and my brother had been killed in the fire and explosion of their escape. Just as clearly, Princess Kiyu knew my brother was alive, possibly knew where he was... and she'd wanted me to know.
Was my brother a hostage? Was he a prisoner of her or her father? I found my hands clenching and I trembled with a sudden rage. I wanted to do nothing more than storm down the hallway and grab the woman and shake her until she told me what she knew.
I fought that impulse down, realizing that she'd provoked me just as much as I had provoked her cousin. This was either a play by her to get me to overreact, maybe to get her bodyguard to intervene on her behalf... or it was another test.
Trembling with the reaction to my emotions, I could barely hold my datapad as I pulled it out. I stared at it for a moment, then tossed it on my bunk and closed my eyes. I activated my implant, encrypting a message for my grandmother and attaching the recordings of all my encounters with Kiyu and her cousin, plus a write-up of what had happened after my confrontation with Ladon and what I suspected that Kiyu meant. It was a big message and I wasn't entirely sure that the Erewhon Defense Forc
e wouldn't try to decrypt it.
The fact that my brother might be a hostage, that Princess Kiyu might be trying to blackmail me and maybe even the Admiral, with his life as a bargaining chip, that worried me. I knew the Admiral wouldn't betray Century, not even for my brother or I, but our allies might not understand that. I stored the message away. The Admiral was on assignment with the Hanet Mercenary Guild. It could be weeks or months before a message got to her, carried from Erewhon to Century and then presumably on a civilian ship as regular traffic, carried back to Guard Space by whatever route the civilian freighter or transport might take. When I got back to Century, I'd be able to put it on a Militia courier ship headed straight to Hanet. One more month, I thought, this information can wait two more months.
Chapter 9: I Learn About The Woman Behind The Curtain
“I have one announcement to make, before we continue with our next set of evaluations,” Star Commandant Athena told us the next morning as we'd assembled for our next set of classes. “Unfortunately, our two members from the Drakkus Empire will no longer be joining us. One of them violated the rules of this course, and as a result, they have been sent home.” She looked around at us, her gaze not lingering on me and she didn't point me out, either.
“I would like to remind you all that you are training to be officers. We expect you be professionals and to follow a professional code of ethics. Your actions have consequences and the rules we enforce are a reminder of those consequences. Do not forget that.” Star Commandant Athena's cold gaze swept back across us all, and this time her eyes did linger on me.
“Dismissed,” she snapped, and we all hurried off to our assigned teams. On our way though, Alexander Karmazin fell into step next to me.
Biohazard strikes again? He pinged the thought straight to my implant, across our encrypted private network. His tone was neutral, but the fact that he sent it over that secure a method told me that he suspected that we might be in trouble for what I'd done.
I provoked Prince Ladon into attacking me in the Celestial Navigation simulator. I carefully controlled the emotion and tone of the thought that I sent back through my implant. This was the first time in a couple weeks he'd talked to me, I didn't want to scare him off. For that matter, I didn't want to pass along that I was worried that I might have soured our alliance with Erewhon. I arranged for Star Commandant Athena to be waiting in the room as a witness.
Oh, great. He considered that. Did you possibly consider that it puts Erewhon in a bad situation? They would have no option but to throw them out... which probably doesn't make them happy with us.
Apparently that was obvious to everyone... now that I'd already done it, of course. I hadn't, but I've had my nose rubbed in it, thanks. This time I couldn't help but let my anger bleed through. It might have been easier if I'd had some backup, you know, if you hadn't been avoiding me?
Sorry. He sounded sheepish. Then, to my surprise, he spoke, “Look, Jiden, I really am sorry. About the,” he looked around, “the kiss, you know?”
“Oh, that,” I swallowed. “Maybe you don't need to apologize.” I wasn't sure why I said that, but the words just sort of came out. I coughed and almost choked as I realized what I'd said. “I mean, it's not like we-- I mean, you-- did anything really wrong. It was just one kiss.”
He shot me a look, “I'm not really apologizing for the kiss, just for...” he trailed off. “Well, you know, everything.”
“Dating my two best friends and only telling me you're interested in me when my boyfriend is forty-plus light-years away?” I asked.
Alexander flashed me a wry smirk, “Yeah, that.”
I rubbed a hand across my face. “Look, Alexander, I like you, I really do. You're my friend and...” I swallowed as I thought about it. “If something ever happened between Kyle and I, then yeah, I could totally see that happening, but...”
Alexander made a face, “Thanks, Jiden, the whole I think of you as a friend speech is really not what I want to hear right now.”
“It's not that,” I reached over and caught his hand, turning him toward me. “Look, at one point... yeah, I would have dated you. But you were dating Ashiri and I wasn't going to mess that up for her... and then after that, well, I was seeing Kyle.”
“And you sort of had a crush on Mackenzie,” Alexander noted.
I found myself flushing, “Oh, God, you knew about that?”
He made a face at me, “Jiden, everyone in our section knew about it.”
“Oh...” I face-palmed. “That's so...” I couldn't come up with the right words.
“It's not so bad,” Karmazin admitted, “I mean, Dawson had a thing for Salter.”
“Wait... what?” I asked in shock. “How did I miss that?”
“You did sort of have the whole homicidal killer after you most of Plebe year,” Alexander grinned. A couple of Erewhon midshipman gave us sour looks as they squeezed past us in the hallway.
I snorted with laughter and the pair of them flashed us dirty looks. There I go, making friendships again... The thought made me laugh harder and I shook my head, “Sorry, it's not you guys...”
The girl sniffed disdainfully, “Unprofessional,” and stalked off.
I got control of my laughter. This was neither the time, nor the place for this. “Look, what I'm saying is that if things were... different, then...” I let out a tense breath, “well, you're boyfriend material, for sure. Maybe more.” I gulped as I said that, feeling like I was flushing all the way down to my toes. “And if Sashi didn't think that, well... you deserve better.”
I didn't know what to do, so I awkwardly clapped him on the shoulder and hurried off, head down, blushing so hot that my ears felt like they were on fire. Mostly, though I was thinking about Kyle. Talking about all that had been liking opening a box of my emotions and I realized that I missed him with a painful ache. I wanted to talk to him about this business with Prince Ladon. I wanted to ask him what he thought Princess Kiyu had meant about my brother. I wanted to chatter with him about how I hoped Karmazin found the right person for him.
Oh God, I thought, what if Alexander tells him about the kiss? It would be just the kind of stupid, noble thing of him to do. I mean, hopefully Kyle wouldn't think it meant anything, right? The desperate thought raced through my head and I almost ran back to Alexander to demand that he keep it a secret.
At the same time, I owed it to Kyle to tell him. I mean, it hadn't meant anything. Well, sure I'd reacted to it. Even just thinking about it made my heart race a bit... but I'd never throw away what I had with Kyle. We'd talked about a future together, after the Academy. We'd discussed unit assignments, plans, even the eventual possibility of maybe one day starting a family.
Kyle had been there for me when my family had died. He'd been there for me through multiple injuries. I wasn't going to throw that away, he meant way too much to me, not over one kiss.
As I hurried to my evaluation, I made a note that Kyle deserved to have me tell him about it... but in person. This wasn't the kind of thing I wanted to send in a message, I didn't want to risk him misunderstanding. God knew, there'd been enough miscommunications in sending messages back and forth about relatively simple things so far. He'd left me feeling confused as his mentions of changes back at the Academy and on Century got more and more hard to follow. A part of me had started wondering if I were really missing something or if things were changing that fast.
Nah, I thought to myself, surely now that they got rid of Charterer Beckman, things will settle out soon, enough. Kyle's last message hadn't even mentioned any of the changes, he'd been talking about his family, how his dad had been discussing retirement or maybe just a transfer from Active to Reserves. That had kind of surprised me, since his dad had served for something like twenty years, but maybe he wanted more time at home or something.
Everything is going to be fine, I told myself. I just needed to take care of things in front of me.
My emotions somewhat settled, I forced myself to focus on the
evaluation to come.
***
“Uh, what's she doing?” I asked, looking over at one of the Erewhon midshipmen, who wasn't making eye contact with any of the rest of our team. In fact, she was rocking back and forth, her head held at a strange angle, crooning some kind of song or lullaby to herself. “Is she okay?”
Gyrfalcon, still my team leader, looked over at her. “Jenkins?” He asked. “She's fine, she's just stimming.”
“She's what?” I asked, looking at him in confusion. Does he mean she's on drugs?
“It's a process to help her cope, we're all a little stressed out, this is her coping method,” Gyrfalcon replied, as if to someone who were a little slow.
“It's... different,” I finally said.
Something flashed across his face, an expression I didn't really catch. “What, you don't have people like Jenkins back on Century?”
“I don't know,” I answered. “I just haven't encountered behavior like that before, okay?” I held up my hands, “I'm just trying to figure out if she needs help.”
“She's fine,” Gyrfalcon snapped at me. “Just leave her alone, okay?”
“Okay, yeah, no problem,” I answered. Gyrfalcon was escalating things far beyond what I would have thought normal. In fact, I noticed his hands were clenched. Hock, I thought, I really wound him up. I looked over at the others on my team, and to my surprise, all of them wore serious expressions. Apparently, whatever I'd said, I'd set all of them off.
“Look,” I said as calmly as I could manage, “I don't know what I did or said, but I'm sorry, okay?”
“Cadet Armstrong,” Star Commandant Athena seemed to materialize directly behind me and I started a bit. If I needed any reminder that we were being constantly observed, I had it. “Please step out with me. Midshipmen,” she gave them a nod, “carry on.”
I followed Star Commandant Athena out, swallowing a bit as the hatch slid closed behind us. I hadn't realized until the tension in my shoulders released, just how hostile the looks of my teammates had become.
