Xandrian Stone Book 1: Beginning of a Legend (5 page)

"The jump to being an adept healer is then a very significant one: Where masters can heal, adepts can regenerate. The difference is that an adept can take something destroyed, like a hand that was squished, and make it whole again. Master healers can only repair the soft tissue, the completely destroyed bones will never heal to their former forms. Eyes are another great example for that. Master healers will almost never be able to heal an eye, as when an eye gets hurt it will most likely require regeneration. Master adept healers can heal and regenerate even the most gruesome wounds. If you were to get blown to pieces but your brain was still intact and alive, a master adept could take your head and regenerate your body completely. There are even rumors of some in the past who were able to go even further then that, but those are just rumors. Listen, I have heard some wild story about a young man at Classification Day who allegedly regenerated both eyes of a classification officer?"

"Um, well, the classification rod had exploded in his face and I just reacted, sir." His laughter made me speechless. Why was he laughing at me? I think that I did nothing wrong back then. Strike that, I know that I did nothing wrong back then.

"Cadet, I am laughing because you seem defensive? Let me give you some numbers: Potential healers are very common, about 1 out of every 10 wizards is a healer. 99 out of every 100 healers is of potential rank, has no pips. 1 out of every 100 potential healers is, in fact, an able healer with 1 pip like me. 1 out of every 100 able healers is a master healer with 2 pips, like you have but I suspect that you were placed wrong. 1 out of every 100 master healers is an adept healer with 3 pips, which I believe you are. 1 out of every 100 adept healers is a master adept healer with 4 pips - there is no master adept healer alive at the moment. some 50 years ago, the last master adept healer, captain Lisa Thorne, died age 203. So, 1 out of every ten thousand healers is a master healer and 1 out of every one million healers an adept. That's how rare you are, cadet."

Now those were some numbers. "Now you understand why the captain hired you on the spot? While there are a bit less than half a million officers employed in the many barracks across the system there are only about thirteen thousand of us in the fleet. There are only 2 master healers in the fleet and no adepts. In fact, there are about 1800 master healers in the whole navy, and at present 17 known adepts. As there are a bit less than 7000 barracks across the system, meeting one is very unlikely even there. Captain."

Captain miller stood in the door, looking at me with big eyes. "Adept?" I looked at him. 'Look, sir.' and I opened the memory of the accident at Classification Day for him. "Astounding. Especially that nobody seems to have noticed, you'd never have made it here otherwise. They'd have given you a special promotion to lieutenant on the spot and kept you there otherwise." He smiled. "Lucky us! Now let's keep this under wraps as long as possible - I am no friend of those special promotions. Creates somewhat arrogant officers who are not really useful outside of their specialty." "I agree, although a special promotion would have been nifty I must admit. Sir." "Hah! Don't you fear. It will come out, probably sooner rather than later. You might find yourself out of the cadet accommodations real quick." He thought something over. "I should not say this, but even being a master healer would guarantee your promotion anyway. Being white would do the same, no matter how strong, even being an able sensor most likely would. Provided, of course, you don't manage to get yourself thrown out of the academy before it's over." "I'll give my best, sir." I grinned just a little bit. He snorted and left.

"Seems that I'll be calling you 'sir' in the near future. Until that time, let me shamelessly use my superior rank and order you all over the place?" I grinned. "Sir, the future is never really set. We know what is now, the rest will come one way or another." He nodded. "Good point. Now go, make the medical rounds." He sat again, starting to lie down. "Um, rounds, sir?" He smiled at me. "Exactly that. The medical officers go around the ship from time to time, to check if any healing is needed. Breaks the boredom we have otherwise and you'll get to know the ship and her crew." On an afterthought he added: "And they you. Now go, I do not expect you back until just before supper." Looks like I was just given the rest of the day off, basically. "Aye, sir. Thanks." With that, I walked out of the infirmary.

Not two steps into my first round, right at the door to the infirmary, I felt the urge to stop and wait for commander Praotoan who was closing to me from behind. I had chosen to walk left, towards the ship's back and the large training area. "Doing the rounds, cadet?" "Yes, sir." "Do not fear, everyone knows that medical officers usually have a very easy job aboard a ship. That is until some healing is needed, and everyone knows as well that healing is one of the painful disciplines. That you are ready to help even in the most painful cases has become common knowledge here. How the crew learned of your addition or your already impressive deeds I do not know - but nothing stays secret for very long aboard a ship." 'Your third healing pip does for the moment' He added telepathically. "Aye, sir." 'To both' I answered.

Smiling, the Commander led me back towards the front of the ship, away from the training area. "The captain feels that it is best if you get acquainted with the nerve center of a Brick. So, I'll walk with you on your rounds and show you around at the same time. Usually, a medical round starts at the bridge as all information gets bundled there." We reached the T-intersection and he turned us left. He padded the left wall. "That's the back wall of the captain's quarters, the only two-room quarter on the ship. Only the captain may enter, and whomever he invites. Today, that does not include you. He meets with the crew one at a time, to discuss if they have any ailments. Being the latest addition, you take the last place on the list as it stands today." He grinned. "Just after me, I was in there yesterday."

We continued a couple of steps and stood before a wide door that said "Game room". "What the label says. In there we spend the part of our off-time that is not used for training. Many consider training to be more fun than playing - except the passengers of course. Their quarter is on the other side of the game room. The three other cadets we picked up with you bunk in there." Looking right, I saw that the Drill-lieutenant was still marching Johnson and Akiku. "If they get their marching skills up to speed." The commander chuckled. "Yeah. You looked very militaristic, along with that other kid." I felt some concern from him. "Yeah, the Drill-lieutenant was my first official contact with the navy on Classification Day. I learned there that he likes precision."

Pointing, the Commander said "To the left is the epitome of any naval career - the bridge." He pointed through the door to our left at yet another wall. "That wall is there in case we get boarded - the enemy cannot shoot into the bridge directly. If that wall was not there, we'd be looking right at the captain's chair across the bridge."Which we entered.

The captain and I nodded, as there was no-one else in the bridge. Otherwise I'd have saluted. To my right, on the inside of the anti-shooting-while-being-boarded wall (which proved to work just fine later, but at the time I could not imagine that ever happening) there was a large floor-to-ceiling screen, black and inactive at the moment. The rest of the bridge was dominated by 3 pedestals, about one and a half meter high, with ball-shaped tops. I had read a lot about the control rods, but I'd never seen one face-to-rod. The rods were white, to indicate that any wizard could use it for their specialization. I'd read that the rods would glow in that wizard's color.

The captain's chair was also white and I'd read that it was also a control rod - made to look like a chair, to ensure that the captain could influence any part of the Brick that fell within his colors without delay. The captain patted it. "Once you get your own you'll be able to assume total control over the Brick, operating it all by yourself. That's what your training will prepare you for. That's also why it is imperative that you try to generalize. Your healing abilities aside, there are strong specialists if you need something done. You'll be the commanding mind, telling the others what to do." I may have looked a bit uncertain right then. "Do not doubt, you'll be made captain of a Brick in no time - maybe as little as fifteen or twenty years." That would be really quick. With an average lifespan of about 135 to 145 years, and entering the navy at eighteen, I would likely have a career of 80 to 100 years ahead of me. Getting a command after 20 of these years (even if only at the rank of lieutenant) would be, as I said already, really, really quick.

Captain is a rank, but also the label of the commanding officer of a Brick. A lieutenant who is made captain of a Brick will automatically be promoted to prime lieutenant, so that they outrank other lieutenants in the crew to make the chain of command clear.

After the little chat with the captain I was dismissed to go on my rounds. So I left the bridge and headed to the game room first, for it was closest. Entering it was a bit of a shock, honestly. First, it was huge. Almost square, some 20 meters wide and maybe 18 or so meters long it was mostly empty, except the stockpile in the edge. Walking over there I saw dancing mats, stacked monitors with game controllers, a disco ball (of all things) and lots of other things to have fun with. "New guy! liking our stuff?" came a friendly voice from behind me.

Turning around, I faced a weapons wizard ensign with 1 pip. "Yes, sir. I did not expect the game room to be this large nor this well stocked, sir." "Forget the 'sir', mate. You are one of the Brick's healers, you only 'sir' the bosses. 'Sides, I see that you are master healer, so I won't be outranking you for very long." This friendly attitude was common in the fleet, after all it was a safe haven and an easy job at the time and everyone was happy to be a part of it. Healers were a weapons wizard's best friend, because in their training they had little accidents all the time. Especially in the hand-to-hand combat training. I smiled. "Okay, mate. How is this room being used, if I may ask?" "Sure you may. Every evening, after supper, the crew comes together in here to bond and generally have a good time. Mostly just the benches are being used, with card games, dice games or just to hang out and talk about stuff. Friday night is chaos night, everyone takes what they feel like and this becomes a madhouse. Those of us who prefer more quiet usually get together in the mess hall that night, so everyone gets what they want and have a good time."

We talked a bit more, then he excused himself for training and I left the game room, continuing with my round. Next stop was the neighboring shared quarters, to check on Lindan and satisfy my curiosity... never mind. There they were, marching down the corridor looking miserable. Not the Lieutenant, he looked like he was having fun. Not in the sadistic way, but he was spending his time productively. After they passed me, I snuck out of the game room and into the shared quarters whose door was just a couple of steps down the corridor.

In there I immediately walked to Lindan, who was lying on his cot and watching his tablet computer. "Yo, man! Feeling healthy, or got something to do for the lowest medical slave of this Brick?" I grinned. He frowned. "My dad is a medical officer, don't disrespect them like that please." Talk about a joke misfiring. "Sorry, Lindan, did not mean to. The question, however, was serious. Is all well or are there any ailments?" "For real? You were added to the crew?" Hm... maybe I had misjudged his character. "Yeah, the captain plucked me right off the pad so to speak. Seems that I am a rather rare healer, power-wise." He peered at my rank insignia. "Then why are you not yet special promoted?" "The captain opposes the idea of special promotions. Can't say I blame him, honestly." "Yeah, yeah... You are guaranteed to pass the academy anyway. No, all is well here." The last bit he spoke mainly to his tablet, no longer looking at me. I bowed a little, smiling, and walked the length of the (empty) shared quarters. Then I left them through the side door at the end.

Turning left, towards the back end of the Brick, I was not given any opportunity to ponder about Lindan's behavior, because the corridor widened from 2 to almost 10 meters and I suddenly was in the training area. The first thing I saw was two guys beating each other up with staves and a woman yelling at them to not fight like noodles but warriors and other creative remarks like that. She wore a uniform with the red bands of a weapons wizard, and her ribbons sported 3 pips. Guessing that I was standing behind the leader of the weapons wizards, I waited until the fight was over before making myself known.

Not that that was needed though. As soon as the fight was over, she spun around, I noticed her lieutenant rank, and she started yelling: "Passengers do please stay... in their..." the last bits were spoken a bit uncertainly, so I decided to announce myself. "Cadet Xandrian Stone, assigned to the sick bay, on medical rounds. Is any medical assistance needed, ma'am?" Her face split in a wide grin. "New guy!" She slapped me on the side of my shoulder in a way that she might define as comrade-like, but knocked me half a step away. "Oh, a noodle! You're omni, so you're gonna get hard like a warrior too!" I was not sure I liked that. Then again, she was right: I am omni! And in retrospect, the lessons she gave me the following days did save my life many times over later. So, answering "Aye, ma'am, I will do my best." was the best decision I had ever taken in my life until then.

But first, I had some healing to do. Not my shoulder, I had taken care of the bruise she left there already. But combat training did, as I had suspected, create work for a healer. Nothing wild, bruises mostly. One guy took a hit with a staff on the side of his nose, leaving it standing at an awkward angle. It happened right beside me, the injured being knocked to me. So I gripped his nose, righted and healed it almost instantly and pointed to his training partner. "On you go!" He did as commanded, a slightly bewildered look in his face. After two steps he stopped though, his shoulders rocking in silent laughter. Everyone around us who had seen this laughed not so silently, drawing the attention of the lieutenant. "What's this ruckus?" While I was still massaging my nose, the phantom pain was just going away, one of the bystanders answered: "Boss, Emil here took a hit to his nose. Xandrian healed it right away and sent him back to the fight. It looked hilarious." "How bad was the injury?" "Ma'am," I answered, "it was broken." "Good thing you are a master healer then, eh? Now back at it, everyone! An enemy would not give you pause to laugh, instead they'd attack the healer instantly!" Three of the training guys flung themselves at her, pinning her to the ground while Emil positioned himself between her and me. "Go that way, to the guys waiting there." he commanded in a calm voice. I complied.