Axira Episode One (16 page)

I kept staring at that same section of wood.

“
You’re questioning why you’re still here, aren’t you?” He
asked perceptively. “You’re still here because you can’t run away
anymore.”

I looked up at him now.

“
You have your first taste of what it feels like to protect,
and it’s going to be like a drug. It will be the only thing that
controls the demons in your mind,” his eyes blazed as he
spoke.

I held his gaze. I shouldn’t have. I knew I shouldn’t have,
but I didn’t drop it. He didn’t take it as an insult. He smiled, a
section of his top lip crinkling into his slit-like nose. “You
missed your combat class this morning, but let’s say tonight made
up for that. Tomorrow,” he leaned forward, planting his large hands
on his desk, “Your real training begins.”

I didn’t blink. Nor did I look away. “Real training?” I
asked.

I was envisaging more combat training. Perhaps the stuff they
reserved for the elite forces.

I was wrong.

“
Tomorrow you begin learning how to control
yourself.”

I couldn’t control the tension that spread across my
features.

“
That’s scaring you, isn’t it? Two Kore assassins can’t rattle
you, but the prospect of learning to control yourself scares you
senseless, doesn’t it?” He took a lot of pleasure in what he was
saying.

I didn’t speak. Did I have to? My answer was etched in every
worry line digging into my cheeks and brow.

“
You will report to me in the morning. First thing.” He leaned
back and crossed his arms.

That was clearly my invitation to leave.

I didn’t.

Something kept me riveted to the spot. A question slowly
burning in my mind. A question that had been burning since my
incident in combat training yesterday. Slowly I let my lips draw
open. “Why are you doing this?”

“
I thought I made that clear: to make you the best recruit I
can. That’s my job.”

“
No, why are you really doing this?”

“
Because I can see right through you. I don’t know anything
about your race, but I don’t need to. I had you pinned the second I
saw you. Do you know much about my species?”

I nodded. I had fought countless Ravang over the
centuries.

“
We are warriors. Proud, disciplined, honorable. But we’re
still warriors. Our inclinations will always be to fight. Now, we
can either fight to kill or fight to protect. Over the history of
my race, it was always the latter rather than the former. Ravangs
were kidnapped by the Barbarians, by the Kore, by anyone willing to
use our strength and speed for their own nefarious purposes. Even
when we joined the Coalition, we were always used as soldiers.
Because that’s what we’re made to do. And even in this Coalition,”
he stabbed a finger at his desk, “The soundest, most just, most
worthy group in the galaxy, there are still people who will use
you. If you prove yourself to be a competent soldier, they will use
you to fight their wars. Your hands will be asked to kill for them,
while your mind and your morals will be shunted to the side. Don’t
get me wrong, I’m not blaming the Coalition. I understand this is a
hard galaxy now, and we have to fight to live. But I know what it’s
like to be a mindless soldier. And even in this Coalition there
will be people who take advantage of that fact. Do you want to be a
mindless soldier?” He suddenly questioned me.

I couldn’t answer. My mind was awash with memories. Memory
after memory of killing, destruction, of serving master for 450
years.

I made no attempt to control the glazed, horrified expression
crossing my face.

“
I have a feeling you already know what it’s like.”

Again, I couldn’t answer. Which was answer enough.

“
I have a feeling you don’t want a return to that dark place.
I’ve been there too, and I know the only way to stop yourself from
sliding back into that place is to learn the difference,” he
suddenly rumbled, “Is to keep your head on your shoulders. But most
of all, is to protect. The culture of my race is steeped in the
myth of a warrior. But the problem with warriors is they always
need an enemy. Without one, they’ll do anything and follow anyone
who will lead them to the next foe. But you need to get rid of the
idea that you’re a warrior. You are a protector, a guardian. When
you realize that, everything will change. You’ll stop looking for
people to fight, and start looking for people to
protect.”

I no longer had any idea how I appeared. I’d lost all ability
to feel my expression, to even feel how stiff and rigid my body was
as I stood there in front of him and I concentrated on his
words.

I could have subspace jumped at any time, gotten the hell out
of here for good. But I couldn’t and I wouldn’t. His words were
like the strongest force in the galaxy. It was like encountering
magnetism for the first time; it locked me on the spot.

“
Alright, Cadet, dismissed.”

I saluted, but it wasn’t as stiff and perfect as usual. I
couldn’t control my body for some reason. With a stumble, I turned
and walked off.

I caught a glimpse of the lieutenant’s expression in the
shiny panel of the door.

He wasn’t staring at my back with hatred, even though that
was the most common expression you’d see on a Ravang’s face. Rather
he considered me with something that bordered on
compassion.

That made me walk faster, in fact, once I hit the corridors,
I ran. People had to dart out of my way, and I didn’t slow down
until I reached it. Not my room, but the roof above. After checking
there were no witnesses, I subspace jumped out onto the lip of
concrete beyond the safety fence, and I let my legs fall out from
underneath me. I sat heavily, crumbled my hands into my lap, and
let my eyes close.

What was happening to me?

The Coalition Academy was meant to be easy. This was not
easy. This was torture.

Yet I was still here.

I was enduring it.

And I would continue to endure it, I decided as I lifted my
head and stared at the sparkling cityscape beyond.

Because tonight I had made a difference.

I brought my wrist up and considered my subspace
scars.

I would continue to make a difference, I suddenly decided
with a firm determination that cascaded through my body, stiffening
my posture and lifting my chin even further until I stared up at
the stars above.

Jason Singh and the rest of the Academy would be unable to
find out what the Kore assassins had been after.

Nothing could stop me.

They were spreading Academy secrets. I was going to find out
what they were, and I was going to bring a stop to it.

Chapter 10

Axira

I walked to class the next day, focused. Not on my studies,
on my self-appointed mission.

I was still filled with the certainty that I could do
something – make a difference

It gave me the will I needed to hold my head high and ignore
the stares. Though I was sure information on my exploits last night
would not have spread too far, I was equally certain a watered-down
rumor had spread. My classmates may not know exactly what had
happened, but they knew something was up. The fact I was pulled
from class several times over the day to debrief with various
admirals was proof enough.

As I walked through the corridors, sunlight streamed in from
the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows that lined the wall. They
showed an unrivaled view of the city beyond. If you cared to, you
could let the sleek white and grey buildings pulling down to the
water distract you.

I ignored the view.

Holding several datapads, I kept my head straight and my gaze
straighter. I fixed it on the floor as I thought of my next
move.

Though I was determined to help find the information leak at
the Academy, I also knew I had to be careful. I couldn’t
immediately start zipping around the place, doing subspace jumps or
pulling my energy weapon from my subspace pocket.

I had to be subtle.

Grasping one hand into a fist, I walked past a group of
cadets who were discussing something animatedly amongst themselves.
As soon as I approached, they changed topic. They’d assumed I was
out of earshot – they were wrong.

They’d been discussing me – as almost every group of people I
passed were.

For someone who’d tried to stay inconspicuous and silent, I
was turning out to be one of the most talked about topics in the
Academy.

As I marched along, my footfall always measured and precise
as my tall form cast a long shadow towards the wall, I noticed the
extra security. I felt it too. Not only were there more thin-lipped
officers scouting the halls for trouble, but there was a distinct
new hum in the air – no doubt the sound of the Academy internal
sensors operating at full as they continually scanned the grounds
for more trouble.

It wouldn’t work. They didn’t know who they were dealing
with. I could guess.

I knew the capabilities of the Coalition. I knew how hard it
was to pry past their defenses. There was a reason my master had
never pushed into their space – it wouldn’t be worth the risk. Get
a good, unflappable crew with a good ship, and you could take on a
spacer.

Master was content to lurk in the shadows, deep within Kore
space, biding his time, only ever selecting jobs that secured his
further dominance, not risked it.

Despite his prudence, Master was one of the most powerful
forces within the Kore Empire – if the most shadowy. So the mere
fact that someone within the Empire had the gall and resources to
run a successful, undetected reconnaissance mission right in the
heart of the Coalition – at the Earth Academy – was deeply
worrying.

There was only one group I knew who’d try it – the Caste. A
group of desperate, powerful, resourceful warriors situated deep
within the Empire. They were one of the ruling forces of the Hole
Sect. They were also adept at creating willing, mindless
soldiers.

Utilizing everything from brain-washing techniques to
mind-control to complete cybernetic refitting, for every soldier of
the Caste you took down, two were created to replace
them.

I reached the end of the hall, and turned to the left, down a
staircase that would lead me towards the recreation
floor.

I had no reason to use the facilities.

I should be heading to class, yet I calculated my current
detour wouldn’t make me late.

I had five minutes to get to class. It would take me two to
do what I would do next.

...

Jason Singh

“
We’re running out of time,” Admiral Forest said, her voice a
hurried hiss as she stood in the middle of the room. There were no
windows, and the walls were reinforced with inch-thick
carbo-steel.

It was a room designed to keep things in. Currently it had
four inhabitants, and only two of us were alive.

I took a step forward, forcibly keeping my gaze locked on the
Admiral rather than the two dead assassins secured in containment
fields behind her.

Blue light flickered through the room in time with the
pulsing, humming shields. It washed over the cold gray floor and up
the drab walls, it even played against the side of the Admiral’s
jaw as she angled her head towards the assassins. “We don’t know
how much data they managed to send before you interrupted them.”
She shrugged her shoulder at the assassins on the word
them.

I cleared my throat and straightened.

“
This is deadly serious,” she said in an ominous tone that
matched the cold, dark room perfectly.

I knew that.

God did I know that.

“
Admiral, I’ll try—”

“
Lieutenant, I don’t want excuses, not now.
I want answers. I don’t care what you have to do and what you need
to do it,
but find me that
leak.”

I didn’t recede in the face of her blunt anger, but I should
have. It felt like standing in the path of a spewing
volcano.

I knew the Admiral wasn’t directing her belly-shaking rage at
me – it was the impossible, unsolvable situation.

The lives of everyone hung in the balance here. They had no
way of knowing how much information those two assassins had managed
to glean and send to their masters before they’d died.

It was like knowing you’d hurt yourself, but having no idea
how badly. The Academy could have sustained a light wound or a
fatal blow.

I gulped, my throat pushing against my tight collar. “Have we
managed to learn anything about the assassins?”

The Admiral shook her head curtly. “Nothing. Their memory
circuits were scrambled the moment they shut themselves
down.”

He hung his head.

“
Don’t blame yourself, Lieutenant,” the Admiral commanded, her
piercing eyes blazing like twin blasts, “If you hadn’t brought down
those assassins, they would have sent even more information. They
could have gone berserk and taken down a section of the city too.
You did the right thing.”