Chương 5: The Adversity

Academy Hill, Vidako Imperium Stellarum August 12, 2847"Easy." Arc felt an enormous hand on his back, steadying him, and a glance over his shoulder showed him that Pika was there, solid and unmoving as a tree trunk. We've hardly known each other for a couple hours, Arc realized. The Alu'kan who shared his bunk didn't have any real reason to get involved, and yet here he was. Arc resolved to remember it. Cassie, with another girl on each side of her, faced Cadet Van Camp with absolutely no fear.

It didn't surprise Arc—how could she possibly be intimidated by some random cadet, when her father was the emperor of the entire Imperium Stellarum? —but one of the girls at her elbow was clearly terrified. She was an Alu'kan, like Pika, but she must have been half the size, and the way she curled in on herself and wrapped her arms around her torso made her look even smaller. The way Cassie stood next to the girl looked downright protective, Arc realized.

"Is there something you need, sir?" Cassie asked. Van Camp's face twitched, as if he were struggling to suppress a simmering anger.

"I wanted to apologize," he finally said, and the words sounded about as sincere as a truant child who'd been dragged up in front of the class by their teacher.

"I shouldn't have addressed you by your title in front of the other cadets." His gaze shifted past Cassie, into the crowd of students who'd slowed or stopped to observe what was happening. Arc followed the older boy's gaze and saw that the first-class cadet who'd taken the girls under her wing earlier in the day, Cadet Ọlatẹru, was watching. She nodded silently but didn't walk away. For just a moment, Arc thought that Cassie was about to let Van Camp have it, anyway: her eyes practically burned with contempt.

But instead, she simply nodded.

"Apology accepted, sir. Think nothing of it. Was there anything else?" Van Camp and Ọlatẹru exchanged another glance, and then he shook his head.

"No. Good evening, cadets." With that, he turned and strode off into the crowd, toward the dormitories. The moment he was safely away, the Torean girl on Cassie's other side bounced on her feet and let out a warbling noise halfway between a raspberry and a jeer. Her cerulean crest of feathers bounced in the air.

"What a jerk," she exclaimed.

"Are you alright?" Cassie asked, turning to meet Arc's eyes.

"We all saw him push you."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Arc assured her.

"Pika here made sure I didn't faceplant or anything. Um, Cassie, this is Pika, my bunkmate. Pika, this is —""Cassie Sabran-Solaris, cadet fourth class," Cassie said, stepping forward and extending her hand. It was practically consumed in Pika's enormous grasp, but the big Alu'kan must have been very careful of his own strength, because Cassie didn't even flinch.

"This is Vee Nightjar," she said, once their hands had parted, and made a motion to indicate the Torean girl.

"And Rain Makani. We're all in the same dorm room. Girls, this is Arc Sandhurst—we met on the elevator down."

"Hello, boys!" Vee flitted over to Pika first, and then Arc, offering her hand briefly to each of them. When Arc's turn came, he was astounded at how delicate the girl felt. He wasn't strong by any means—in fact, the only physical exercise he'd ever done was the kind that was forced upon every student from primary school through secondary. But he was absolutely positive that if he'd simply squeezed, he could have broken every bone in her fingers as easily as snapping a twig.

The Alu'kan girl, on the other hand, didn't approach any closer, didn't offer her hand, and in fact hadn't even raised her eyes. When she spoke, Arc had to lean forward to be certain he caught her words.

"Hello." At Arc's side, Pika stirred.

"An interesting name," he rumbled.

"Ole'Alu doesn't have the human 'r' sound. You're of mixed descent, I'd guess? Born off the ringworlds?" Rather than answer, Rain hid behind Cassie. The motion was furtive, frightened, and one glance at Pika's face was enough to tell Arc just how much it not only shocked the big man, but hurt him, as well.

"Could I —" Arc hesitated. If someone had told the Arc of only a standard month ago that he'd be saying this to a princess imperial, he'd never have believed it.

"Could I talk to you for a moment, Cassie? Maybe on the way back to Tycho Hall?" Even using the nickname felt as if he was intruding somehow, assuming an unearned familiarity that would have half a dozen imperial guards emerge from the shadows and tackle him.

"Sure," Cassie said.

"Vee, can you walk Rain over?"

"Can do!" The Torean cadet practically snatched Rain Makani up by the arm and dragged her off. To Arc's surprise, the Alu'kan girl didn't flinch at the touch, and practically fled the scene in relief.

"I will catch up with you at the dining hall," Pika said.

"Perhaps we can find our dorm-mates, as well." He hurried away, following the two young women at a deliberate distance.

"He seems nice enough," Cassie said, watching the big man leave.

"Yeah," Arc agreed.

"He seems like the kind of guy who likes to watch out for the people around him. Did you catch how surprised he was when your friend flinched away from him?" Cassie nodded.

"I did. Rain's—well. She doesn't seem very comfortable with men. Shall we walk?" Arc nodded, and stepped off, pacing himself at her side. For all the confidence with which she held herself, now that they were neither seated next to each other, nor preoccupied hauling luggage, he was surprised to find that he was just a touch taller.

"It feels awkward to say this right after Van Camp, but I wanted to apologize," he said. It was terrifying, but he pushed ahead without stopping so that he could get all the words out before he ran out of courage.

"I didn't—well, I guess you probably guessed that I didn't have any idea who you were. I hope I didn't do anything to upset you."

"You really, really didn't," Cassie said.

"I didn't come here to be treated like a princess, Arc. I came here to be a mech pilot. The entire idea of being a part of fleet is to be treated just like everyone else, for once."

"I'm not sure that's possible," Arc admitted. Overhead, lights flickered on, casting pools of white light down on the paths which wound through the campus.

"Not now that asshole blurted it out to everyone," Cassie grumbled. Arc winced.

"They all already knew though, didn't they? Or at least suspected—that's why the only empty seat on the elevator was next to you, wasn't it."

"Maybe. Still, it would have been nice to not have it blow up in my face on the very first day," Cassie complained.

"But none of that's your fault, Arc. And you don't need to worry about having offended me. If I'd wanted to be treated like I was at a state dinner, I would have presented myself that way. I didn't, and I don't."

"Good—I'm glad," he said.

"I was worried that, you know, I'd maybe made a single friend here, and then already messed things up." The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Cassie nodded her head to the shadow of Pika's body, far enough ahead of them to be indistinct, large enough to be recognizable at a glance.

"I think you might have made two, actually."

"You know, I think I might have," Arc said, with a smile.

"You think we can get all of them to sit down at the same table and get to know each other?"

"I bet that we can." 𝝮 It ended up being a table of six—or, more properly, six people clustered around the end of one long table. Arc, Cassie, Pika, Rain, Vee and, somewhat to Arc's surprise, Delvan Beck, took their trays through the buffet-style line at the dining hall and then claimed space for themselves. Arc caught a glimpse of Cal Madine at another table, already having found a group of cadets who already sported short, fleet-style haircuts, just like him.

He'd asked about Cassie's fourth roommate, but the only response had been a scowl and a grumble. The differences between what each of them heaped onto their plates was illuminating. Avataran Shahar was a spaceport and a planetary capital, which meant that the city had its share of food from all over the Imperium—but Zurah V remained, when everything was said and done, a fairly recently colonized and undeveloped world.

Arc hadn't exactly known any Toreans or Alu'kans growing up, at least not as more than casual acquaintances around the port. Pika heaped his tray with fish. Some of it looked like Terran species which had been engineered to live in Vidako's oceans, but Arc was certain that much of it was native as well. There were strange shells, long and thin and glossy black in color, which his bunkmate's enormous fingers easily cracked open to reveal uncooked, slimy innards.

There were seared and spiced cuts of something that looked almost like tuna and rolls prepared sushi style. Some of it was topped with tiny, brilliant scarlet eggs which Pika consumed with evident relish. Rain, on the other hand, ate entirely human food. She'd taken more fried chicken, pasta, fresh, steaming bread, and mashed potatoes than Arc imagined she'd ever be able to fit into her tiny body.

On top of that, she'd grabbed not one, but two slices of chocolate cake, which she guarded jealously while the others carried the conversation and she stuffed her face. Vee Nightjar had grabbed a bit of everything, from fish, to chicken, to a variety of fruit and heaps of what she proudly informed Arc and the others were salted and fried Centauran crickets. Every time she crunched one between her teeth, Arc couldn't help but shudder.

She was also, once the ice had been broken, far and away the most talkative of them all.

"—the ark fleets are always looking for pilots," she went on, talking so fast that Arc wondered how she was able to get any food down at all.

"So, the senators are happy to fill their quotas every year. They figure if we send half a dozen cadets, we might get lucky and keep one, instead of losing them all to the imperial fleet."

"A lot of the dukes are the same way," Cassie pointed out.

"Though they don't take chances with it. Most of them have contracts that bind their cadets to a term of service with the planetary guard once they've finished their commitment to fleet."

"I'm surprised that's legal," Arc said, in between bites of lab-grown rib eye. It was a little overdone, and he almost wished he'd gone for the fish, after all.

"They're not allowed to prevent anyone from reenlisting in fleet," Cassie said, once she'd washed a few bites of salad down.

"The senate was very clear about that. But they are allowed to maintain their local forces, and it would cause a knockdown, drag out brawl if we tried to limit them any more than we already do."

"It's interesting to hear your point of view," Delvan said. He'd only eaten half of his own food and didn't seem to have any intention of finishing.

"Rather different than the kind of talk I'm used to at the dinner table." And she wants to be treated like everyone else, Arc thought, and decided to step in before Delvan could put his foot in his mouth.

"So, what brought everyone here?" he asked, though he regretted the question as soon as it left his mouth. If he'd had a minute more to think of something, he'd never have opened up the topic.

"The Migration of Hunters," Pika said, from his spot at the very end of the table, where he had the most elbow room.

"I was too old to stay with my pod for much longer, and I'd been getting into too many fights, so the Council of Matriarchs put my name on the list to get it out of my system. My mother says that once I've done a term of service, I'll be ready to settle down and make a good mate for someone."

"I was designed to be a mech pilot," Delvan said.

"A new genetic recipe my parents had been working on. Stronger heart, better reflexes, everything they could think of to handle g-forces and the neural lace interface. I had my recommendation set up before I was even born."

"Senator Catalina sent me," Rain Makani said. Arc was surprised that she'd even spoken up.

"I'm not going to disappoint her." Across the table, Cassie opened her mouth, seemed to reconsider what she was about to say, and then continued.

"Senator Catalina does good work." She shrugged.

"It's a family tradition to serve a term in fleet, but I didn't want to learn how to fly a carrier. I've been running mech sims since I was a kid. I like it. I'm good at it. So, when I turned eighteen imperial standard years old, I got the legal right to recommend someone to the academy, and I recommended myself. How about you, Arc?" And here it was—the moment he'd been dreading, and he'd done it to himself.

"I, um, I didn't get a senator's recommendation, or a duke's," Arc began. If he only focused on how he'd been accepted to the academy, rather than why he wanted to go, maybe he could still avoid talking about it.

"No, he's a smart one," Pika said, reaching over to ruffle Arc's hair.

"He won the Imperial Tacticalis tournament. This is a future admiral, right here!" The Alu'kan's volume and enthusiasm drew eyes from down the length of the table, and Arc flinched.

"Really?" Cassie asked, and the smile on her face made Arc feel just a bit better. From the way Cal Madine had reacted in their dorm, he'd almost been afraid of what her reaction would be.

"That's incredible, Arc. Every once in a while someone in the senate starts talking about taking that spot away, but my father's utterly committed to it. You should hear him—'If we find a single good commander out of that program in a decade, it will already be worth it." She lowered her voice and mimicked a gruff tone that, Arc realized, was supposed to be an impression of the emperor.

"Was it because you couldn't get a senator to back you, though?" Delvan asked. If the tone of his voice had been at all sharp, rather than simply curious, Arc might have taken it as an insult.

"Did you always plan on going?"

"No." Arc looked down at his plate.

"Honestly, until about six months ago, I'd just assumed I'd work at the silk mills like my father and my uncles," he admitted.

"I never planned on coming to the academy."

"What changed?" Cassie asked. Coming from anyone else, Arc might not have answered." The Adversity," he said.

"That ship that got annihilated by pirates?" Vee said, leaning across the table.

"What, did it awaken your sense of civic duty or something?"

"No." Arc shook his head.

"My sister was on that ship." There was a long moment of stillness—not quite silence, because in the rest of the dining hall, conversation went on without a pause. Forks and knives clinked against plates, and the legs of chairs scraped against the floor. But none of the people Arc was just starting to hope might become his friends spoke.

"The Black Queen attacked on their way in from the gate," Arc continued.

"The first we heard of it was when it hit the local net. I'd been—we'd been expecting her home for dinner," he said, and had to swallow back a sudden surge of not grief, but red-hot anger that threatened to spill up from inside of him.

"The Vespasian was in system, and she went after the pirates," Cassie said.

"I remember my father talking about it." Arc nodded.

"They almost got there in time. Beecher Red Crest told me that another hour —" He had to cover his mouth with his arm and cough.

"He came to the funeral. Went to all of them, from what I heard. Told me he'd got close enough to cut the Black Queen's leg off with a plasma blade, but she managed to get away from him." I can't tell you how sorry I am, the Torean pilot had said, his hand enveloping Arc's while they stood, just to one side of Phoebe's empty casket.

"Did anyone survive?" Delvan asked, his voice quiet. Arc shook his head.

"They got her DNA from a bloodstain in the wreckage, two weeks later," he said. To his surprise, Cassie reached across the table and put her hand on his. Her fingers were so soft, he could hardly believe they belonged to a real person. The touch of them sent a thrill through him, but it didn't even come close to quenching the anger he felt.

"I'm sorry," she said. It was the same thing everyone else said when they heard, and he was sick of hearing it, however well meant it might be. He didn't want pity. He wanted justice.

"Anyway, that's why I'm here, and that's why I entered the tournament," Arc said, doing his best to shake it off.

"I don't want that to happen to anyone else. I don't want any other parents to have to say goodbye to an empty casket. I don't want any other brothers to —" He nearly choked on the words.

"It shouldn't happen. Never again." Delvan and Vee looked away, but Pika reached over and placed a large hand on Arc's back.

"Someone will get those pirates," the big man promised.

"They can't run away forever." Arc nodded. I know—and I'm going to be there, he promised himself for the thousandth time. I'm going to be there, and I'm going to kill the Black Queen of Nepenthe myself.