Chapter 9

The Academy Central Computer, referred to as Central, led me to a small office the Senator had been assigned to use. It was tiny, containing only a metal desk and two rather plush chairs. One chair was situated behind the desk which faced the door, and the other was set right next to the desk but sideways to also face the door. This left almost no room to get behind the desk. The room had no window, but I could make out an emergency hatch on the back wall. The light was the usual bright ceiling kind found everywhere else in the academy.

I found Celina pacing back and forth in the middle of the room. She was speaking out loud in a very serious voice. A display in the middle of the desk had a long string of text on it, new words appearing as she spoke them. She saw me walk in, so put her finger to her lips as she continued to dictate. Celina then pointed to a chair as if to say I could sit. I shook my head and silently closed the door with a wave of my hand.

Celina turned to the display and stared at it for a long moment. “Move new text to section eighteen, format.” The text on the screen moved and shifted. She read it for a long moment, then looked at me over her shoulder and asked, “What do you think?”

I looked at her and then at the text she had highlighted, but didn’t even bother to read it. “I don’t know anything about politics,” I told her. “You asking me about a speech is the same as me asking you to fly a shuttle.”

She nodded sideways at me. “Point.”

“Are you almost done?” I asked. I was hoping it didn’t sound like I was rushing her, even though I was.

She flicked her eyes over at me and smiled. My heart skipped a beat. “I think so. Did you talk to the Senator?” she asked as she continued reading. “He rushed me off before I could tell him anything.”

“I did.”

“What did he say? Will he try again to get us on the case?”

I couldn’t believe she could read and hold a conversation at the same time. “No, but he is going to order Valkyrie and me to Mercury.”

“Pause readback,” she said and the text stopped scrolling. Then she turned to me. “Red, don’t joke about that.”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

For a long time, Celina and I stared at each other. She had changed her hair so it was pulled up in a braid that ran down right behind her left ear, with no hair at all on her face. I liked it. But I also thought how weird it was that I was having those feelings toward a woman I had known for over half her life. That was a totally new experience. My mind suddenly decided that it was not going to stay on topic and started trying to figure out where the feelings had come from. The first time I noticed them was in my car, when we were going over the transcript. So what was it that triggered my heart? Celina was half dressed, but we had showered next to each other in the same locker room more times than I could count, so that wasn’t it. We had previously been a lot closer physically too. During her Senatorial Council training I was the one pressed up chest to chest and face to face with her in an escape pod. So our proximity couldn’t have done it. So what had it been?

“Red?” Celina said, as if she had said it several times.

I shook my head. “Sorry,” I replied. “I’m thinking about the mission,” I lied.

“Understood,” she said in a breathy voice and looked back to the display. “Lucy,” she said to it in a commanding voice, “transfer file, ‘Speech One-Eight-Seven-Seven’ to Senatorial computer aboard Kappa-One.” The computer beeped twice and the display disappeared. She turned back to me. “What I asked you was what the Senator’s plan for you is. Are you still flying Kappa-One or are you leaving right now?” Then she started gathering things and putting on her suitcoat.

“No. Valkyrie and I will be piloting the shuttle. I would assume the Senator will need to come back here and secure a couple fighters for us. Who knows how long that will take? Probably a couple hours at least, then we’ll be able to head out after that.”

From her profile I could see her fight off a smile. “Sounds good. I want you two on protection duty for as long as possible.” Somehow I doubted that was the whole story. It was nice to know she was feeling something too. I guessed if she felt the same way I did, she also was worried about the same complications I was, like our careers and current assignments. “Do you think you will just take a Razor class?”

I nodded. “My guess would be we’ll probably get an Edge.”

She finished the last button on her coat and looked up at me. “Edge?”

I held up one hand with two fingers. “Two seated Razor. That way we will both be there but we’ll use half as much fuel.” Celina walked toward the door and I fell into step beside her after waving the door open. “As far as communication and whatnot, it wouldn’t matter, but with all the pirating of fuel freighters right now, saving fuel on a mission like this would be pretty well received by the populace.”

Celina laughed. “I thought you weren’t any good at politics,” she said, smiling up at me. She leaned into me mid step, forcing me to reach out to the wall to stabilize myself.

I shrugged at her, “I guess hanging out with the Senator rubs off on you after a while.”

“I guess so.”

We walked in silence for a long time. I kept my hand on my gun and stayed aware at all times. I didn’t see why Lucifer would send an attack against Celina, being the Senator’s right hand or not. I was also of the opinion that it always served a person better to be prepared. Then you would never be surprised. Granted, I was horrible at it in practice most days, the previous day for example and even earlier that day. But I was focused on keeping Celina safe.

“You know?” Celina began in a small voice. “On one hand I’m jealous about not being able to go with you. I want to see firsthand if we were right. I want us to be right so badly I can taste it.” She cleared her throat as we waited for two other pilots to jog by. “On the other hand if you told me I was going with you I’d probably wet myself.”

It was my turn to laugh. “I guarantee you there is no way your Grand- er, I mean the Senator would send you on a mission like this. There’s just too much danger involved.”

“I know,” she said in that same small voice. I had never heard it before and I didn’t know how I felt about it. It made her seem vulnerable and younger than our already noticeable age difference implied, which made me not like it. But at the same time, it was obvious that she was letting me see a side of her few if anyone else had seen which made me love it. “He’s so over protective of me,” she continued. “There are days I am very grateful for it. There are others where it seems to smother me.”

“I can understand that.” I searched my brain for a way to continue this conversation. I desperately wanted to know more about her. Then my brain almost malfunctioned when I realized how long we had known each other while knowing almost nothing about each other. This seemed like a really good opportunity to start to remedy that. I also promised myself that I would berate Erika about it and get her involved somehow.

I cleared my throat and said, “I don’t want to overstep my bounds here, but I guess I’ve never understood why your parents didn’t take a stronger role in your life.”

Celina exhaled deeply through her nose and she watched the ground as we walked. “My mother never liked the Senator,” she began. “She always felt like he was too self-involved. My dad and the Senator argued all the time. He always felt like the Senator would disagree with him just for the sake of disagreeing. Even from a young age I saw that he just expected a lot from my father. He wanted him to be everything he knew he could be but never was.”

“That sounds like Senator Lacy,” I confirmed.

“And that’s where he really came into my life. I told him that I wanted to be the best I could be and the best school in the world was” -I said the next part with her- “Tesserae University.” She laughed. “He had such sway with the Board, I got in. He paid for everything and swore to do a yearly speech to the students.”

I nodded, understanding where she was going. “So you started spending more time with him and now here you are.”

“Exactly,” she confirmed. “I have to admit that I miss my parents horribly, but when they gave the ultimatum to either come home or not ever see them again it wasn’t really a choice.”

She was a girl after my own heart. I hated ultimatums too. I knew most people did, but when faced with one, I usually took the choice that would put the ultimatum giver in the worst possible position, no matter my opinion of the situation. She obviously felt the same way. I could get behind someone who felt that way. I think the only time I didn’t do that is when an upperclassman told me I could either do all his Flight Tech homework for him or he’d release a vid of Melody and I in my bedroom. Since I didn’t want Melody or me to be court-martialed for unauthorized room visitation, I decided just to do his homework for him until I could get back at him.

It didn’t take long. Maybe a week after it started, his roommate sent me a vid of the upperclassman with his boyfriend urinating on Grand Marshall Ho’s desk. We traded vids and never spoke to each other again.

Two cadets collided with us as we turned a corner. They were running full thrust and almost knocked Celina down. I had slammed one to the ground and had the other against the wall with my gun to her head before I even realized they were cadets. The girl up against the wall was motionless. She had black hair, easily visible despite her shaved head. Her skin was pale but had a noticeable caramel coloration. She had dark brown eyes that were almost black. The boy under my boot, however, squirmed like an Enceladusian eel. He too had a shaved head, but only his eyebrows showed a light brown color. His skin was darker but had been recently sunburned across his nose and cheeks. His eyes were a hazel that made them stand out. The boy’s teeth were visibly clenched, with the top row bunched behind his canines and his face was bunched up in aggression and pain. I couldn’t see the girl’s teeth and her face was perfectly calm, almost relaxed.

I was just about to let them go when Celina squatted down next to the boy and tapped him on the forehead. “What’s your name cadet?” she asked.

“Who wants to know?” he snapped.

The girl kicked at him around me, even though she had no way to reach him. This did not, however, go unnoticed by the boy. “She’s the Senator’s Chief of Staff, stupid!” she yelled. Her voice instantly calmed and became perfectly respectful. “His name is Esparza, Sir. Call sign Tonto”

Celina smiled up at her and the girl clumsily saluted, still dangling. “And you, Cadet?” she asked.

The girl’s dark brown eyes were so piercing I could see a bit of my sister’s fury in them. “Ito, Sir. Call sign Gekido,” she replied, still saluting.

Celina looked back down to Tonto and patted his cheek. “Why were you running?”

“We’re trying to get to the roof first, so we can be in the front for the Senator’s speech,” he told her.

She smiled at him. “You like the Senator?”

It was Ito that replied. “Yes, Sir. We want to be assigned to him one day. Tonto’s family is one of his biggest supporters and I think he’s brilliant.”

Celina and I looked at each other at that moment and then Celina nodded for me to take over. “Central, respond!” I called. Gekido swore under her breath about the same time the computer beeped at me to continue. “List grade average and current demerits for Cadet Esparza. Recognize Red.”

The computer, fastest of the Senatorial Protectorate academies’ AI’s, responded immediately. The woman’s voice was so familiar to me it was like listening to a close aunt. “Greetings, Red. Cadet Esparza is averaging a 9.9 and currently has eight demerits. Would you like to alter?”

I smiled. “Yes. Add two demerits.”

“Added,” Central politely replied. “Please have Cadet Esparza report to Marshall Ho. He will need to serve his detention immediately. Marshall Ho will be contacted of his impending arrival.”

“Thank you. Same request for Cadet Ito.”

“Cadet Ito is averaging a 9.97 and currently has nine demerits, one pending. Would you like to alter?”

“Explain pending.”

“If Cadet Ito allows Cadet Esparza to receive enough demerits for detention, she will receive one demerit. Marshall Ho has been notified. I am waiting for authorization to update. Thus, the status is pending.”

Celina leaned up against the wall next to Ito and looked at the chrono on her wrist. “We can wait. The Senator will be upset that we’re late, but we’ll just let him know it is because of these two Cadets and he’ll aim his anger at the school. That of course will fall down on these two’s heads.”

Sol, she was smooth. I didn’t even need to say anything. If something like that were to happen, both of them would be court martialed and expelled and they both knew it. The Senator would never do something like that though; he probably wouldn’t do more than yell a little bit at us for being late on a day like today. We were nowhere near being late but the cadets didn’t need to know that.

Gekido growled a bit, sub-audibly but I felt it on my forearm. “Central, recognize Gekido.” The computer beeped and she continued. “Request authorization to override the pending status of my demerit.” Central beeped again in response.

“Authorization granted,” Central purred. “Override activated.”

“Smart girl,” Celina commented.

“Central,” I said, “Update the pending status, please.”

“The pending status has been updated. Please have Cadet Ito report to Marshall Ho. She will need to serve her detention immediately. Marshall Ho has been contacted of her impending arrival.”

Celina pushed herself off the wall. “Central, recognize Chief of Staff Lacy.” Central beeped its reply. “Please inform Marshall Ho that, since the infraction occurred against me in the course of my duties, I will be taking the offenders with me to serve their detention.”

I watched as Gekido’s eyes filled with hope and I started to pull my gun down to put it away. Celina touched my arm gently and gestured back at the girl. It was an almost impossible task to keep the smile off my face.

The coms in the hallway clicked on and Marshall Ho’s voice came over it, crackling with age. “Miss Lacy, Marshall Ho here,” she said.

“Good afternoon, Marshall.”

“Good afternoon to you as well. Are you sure you want to do this?” Marshall Ho asked. “Those two are close to expulsion, which is sad really, considering they are both in the top two percent of their class.”

“Top two percent?” Celina questioned.

“Yes, Sir,” Ho replied. “If Ito could keep her co-pilot in order, they could graduate with wings.”

I raised my eyebrows and Gekido. She saw it and nodded. So basically, the boy under my boot was a younger version of my sister and I was holding a younger version of myself up against the wall. “He a good gunner?” I asked her in a whisper.

“Best in the class, Sir,” she whispered back.

Weird.

“I acknowledge your concern, Marshall,” Celina was saying. “Shall we say that if the two of them do not act appropriately we’ll have a Court Martial discussion?”

“Excuse me, Sir,” I interrupted.

“Go ahead, Captain.”

“I think, considering the circumstances, that it would be more accurate to say that if either one of them doesn’t act up to expectations we should have that discussion.” I saw the heat come back into Gekido’s eyes. “It should help them keep each other on task.”

“Agreed,” Celina replied from directly behind me. I was so much taller than her, there was no way she could see the anger in Gekido’s eyes. “Do you concur, Marshall?”

There was a short audible exhalation before she responded. “Very well. I turn over their punishment and their safety to you, Miss Lacy. Good luck.” Then the coms cut out before we could reply.

“Okay, Captain.” Celina waved my gun down and gestured for me to release them both. I did. “Both of you need to be in Dress Greys immediately. You have,” she paused to look at her chrono again, “five minutes. We will wait for you here.”

As the two of them straightened themselves out, Tonto said, “but sir, our room is almost that-“

“FIVE MINUTES!” I screamed. They both jumped and ran full thrust down the hall. They must have been one hundred meters away before their shaved heads turned a corner.

“Where are they going?” Celina asked.

“Looks like south dorms,” I replied and holstered my gun. “It’s were they put the troublemakers. They won’t be back for ten minutes, minimum and that gives them a whole two minutes to change.”

She smiled wickedly and then looked at me out of the corner of her eyes. “How long do we have to wait until we can give them more detention?”

I laughed and Celina joined me. “I take it you know those dorms well?” Celina inquired.

I rolled my eyes at her. “My sister and I were in there from the get go. We had the penthouse suite our final year.”

“Penthouse suite?”

“Yeah,” I chuckled. “There were so many expulsions that year we took down the room dividers.”

“What point did that serve? Did you have a lot of parties or something?” she asked through a huge smile.

“Nope. It served no point at all.”

Celina burst into laughter. I could tell she was trying to stop, but it just made her laugh harder. The harder she tried to stop laughing, the harder she laughed. This, of course, made me laugh. It felt good to laugh. It had been a long time since I had laughed this often. Between Ryan and Celina, I was starting to get smile pains.

Our laughter went on for a long time echoing off the walls around us. When we were finally able to calm ourselves down, we were sitting next to each other with our backs against the wall. Then I reached out and ran the back of a finger down her shoulder to get her attention. “I’d like to get back to our conversation when we have more time.”

She turned toward me and crossed her arms around her middle. “I’d really like that. It’s stupid that we’ve known each other for so long and never talked like this. Maybe we can go out and get some dinner or something when things calm down a little.”

“Sounds like a date,” I said leaning into her, “though I very much doubt things will calm down anytime soon. Let’s just make a time right now.”

“Tomorrow night,” she responded without a breath.

I smiled. “How about Martian’s?”

“Mmm,” she purred, fluttering her eyes shut. “You know the way to a woman’s stomach, no doubt.” Her eyes opened again and looked right into mine. “Pick me up at eight so I have time to get cleaned up.”

“Sounds perfect. I should have plenty of time to get some rack time then too.”

“You know?” Celina began, changing the subject, “I really like that Marshall Ho.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. He’s a kind hearted man but he still has a very firm hand.”

I blinked at her and then burst into laughter again.

“What?” she demanded, cheeks flushing.

It took a lot of work but I finally stopped myself from laughing long enough to say, “Marshall Ho is a woman!”

I laughed on and off, with an embarrassed Celina burying her face in her hands, until the cadets got back in their dress greys, only two minutes late. They followed us, obviously nervous, all the way back to the shuttle. I could also tell that both of them thought my fits of chuckling were aimed at them. I didn’t dissuade them.

Next Chapter: Chapter 10