Three
Simulation Room 3, United Republic Airforce Academy
Capital City, Novia Prime
United Republic of Planets
Cadet Connor Star looked out of his window shield and saw no sign of the enemy vessel. He peered out of again and noticed that the hypersled that was once flanking his side was nowhere in sight. He lowered his speed to try to locate the missing vessel and realized he was near Falor Nimbus. He could see the blue planet’s large silver rings and felt his heart in his throat. It was truly an awesome sight. To most people one planet was as good as another and stars were something that just blurred by as you went through the Stargate or made the jump into hyperspace in your Starship. He was snapped back to attention when he felt a large bump on the side of the ship. He peered out of his window and saw a very unwelcome sight.
“Asteroids,” he muttered.
Another asteroid hit the side of his hypersled and it rattled ferociously as he braced himself against the control panel. He let out a small sigh, reminded himself that none of this was real and leaned back. He had been in hundreds of simulators since he started his cadet training, but he could never relax in them like his friends. The shaking finally stopped as he looked outside of his port window. He was still alone.
“Where was she?”
He smiled. Knowing Kayla Dylan as well as he did, he was sure that she had taken the most reckless path in order to beat him to the finish line. This was Kayla’s favorite race simulation, that is, when she wasn’t playing him. She had outraced everybody, even her brother Van, who was known as the best young pilot in the fleet. She hated that she couldn’t beat him. She had challenged him to a race six times in the last few weeks and he finally relented. After all, he was graduating and he wanted one last victory for the road. The thought of his impending graduation turned his mood. This time next yarn he would be an officer in the Galactic Republic Airforce. While part of him was excited about his upcoming commission, another part of him really didn’t want things to change. But this was his duty. Star men had been officers in the military since before the Republic was founded. He was going to miss everybody, especially Xayda. She still had another yarn at the academy.
What would happen to them?
He shook his head at his selfishness. If he had learned one thing from his father, it was that duty came before anything, even love. He was literally rattled out of his thoughts as his sled started shaking.
He had been bunked.
“You better keep your nose up Connor,” said the giddy female voice through his com.
Connor smiled. Kayla’s voice was one of the most familiar things to him in the galaxy. “Look who finally decided to join the party.”
“Ha. Ha. At least I wasn’t getting my butt kicked by a bunch of rocks.”
“Those asteroids came out of no where,” he laughed. “You couldn’t have done any better.”
“No? Watch me.”
Connor opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything, he saw her sleek, gray ship head back towards the asteroid field. There were some people in the academy, usually of the male persuasion, that found Kayla’s recklessness attractive. However, they weren’t always caught up in one of her ill thought out schemes. He wanted nothing more than to curb that streak, if for no other reason than to protect her from herself. He saw her weaving and bobbing so gracefully through the same asteroids that had nearly torn his sled apart. His mouth fell open. She had managed to get half way through the field without one hit.
When did she become such a great pilot?
She was almost out and making her way back to him. He didn’t have to see her face to know that a big, smug smile was plastered across it.
“Looks like I’m becoming a better pilot then you,” she replied triumphantly.
“Only in your own mind, Kid,” he replied.
“Don’t blame me because you’re getting soft in your old age,” she laughed.
Kayla was at the end of the field and Connor thought she was slowing down to make her exit. Instead, she maneuvered her way between two asteroids. Connor’s heart stopped. If she stayed at that position for a minute longer, she would be crushed. The asteroids moved closer together. Kayla didn’t move. Maybe something was wrong with the ship. He moved his hand over his weapon console to fire his laser torpedoes. He was a pretty good shot. If he angled his shots just right, he could destroy one of the asteroids from here. He was about to shoot when her sled did a backwards flip at a speed that made Connor very uncomfortable. The ship just missed being squashed by the rocks as the two asteroids collided and crumbled apart. Kayla let out a big whoop. Connor has seen that move before.
“You’ve been flying with Rayne Alcazar,” he said. That idea made Connor very uncomfortable.
“Rayne has been giving me some pointers.”
“I’ll bet. You do realize that a move like that is against Academy regulations?”
“When the rule book doesn’t work, sometimes you have to throw it out and make your own.”
She was now right beside him.
“Really?” he asked, hitting her as she slid away. Kayla knew how he felt about Alcazar and all of his anti-Republic nonsense. Not to mention the fact that his selfishness and arrogance had gotten them in more deadly situations then he cared to remember. Why would he teach Kayla a trick like that? She could have been killed.
“No bunking,” she said, as she managed to steady her sled.
“Rayne Alcazar’s rules remember.”
He heard Kayla sigh. “Would you relax, Connor? It’s just a simulation.”
He was too angry to reply.
“He’s not all that bad you know.”
The warmth in her voice made him even angrier.
“Why are you always defending him?”
“Maybe it’s because I see his good side.”
“What good side?”
Kayla didn’t answer; instead she did a 180-degree turn and disappeared through the purple stargate in front of them. Connor followed. The Felar system was now a memory and they were in the Berun Cluster. Connor, however, was not done with their talk.
“Now you sound like Akeen,” he said, checking his sledomotor for possible damage.
“Well, Akeen thinks a lot of Rayne and anybody that Akeen likes can’t be that bad.”
“Is that your head or your heart talking?” Connor asked.
He heard her muffled reply and smiled. He, Kayla and Akeen had been inseparable since they were children. The children of the great heroes of the last war, they were the only ones who understood the privilege and the pressure that went along with being who they were. Growing up, they were simply known as the trio and that’s the way he liked it. They were the only two people he ever thought he could truly trust. He always resisted letting somebody into their inner circle. When Xayda, the Dominion Princess, first came to the academy it was his father who forced her into his sphere for political reasons. It had taken him, Kayla and Akeen awhile to trust her as one of their own; once they did they were the “trio of four.” Well, most of the time when he and Xayda weren’t sneaking off to be alone. And now it seemed that Akeen and Kayla were following their lead and getting together. He couldn’t blame Akeen. Kayla had grown into a very beautiful young woman. Her beautiful, big brown eyes, wide lips and black, long wavy hair were all the cadets in her class could talk about. In fact, he nearly knocked Tavis Coltor into the next galaxy when his conversation veered from Kayla’s smile to her slender figure and long, toned legs. He laughed uncomfortably at the thought. He didn’t think he’d ever get use to guys finding Kayla attractive. It did something to him. He just couldn’t put his finger on why.
“Drop it Star.”
“Aha,” he thought, her words bringing him back to the present. He had hit a nerve.
“You don’t see me asking you about Xayda.”
“That’s because she tells you everything.”
Kayla giggled.
“Maybe, I’m wrong about you and Akeen. Maybe you’re still hung up on Jack?”
He could feel her rolling her eyes. Jack Ordell was a lower prince from the Laurel Dominion. As the princess of Laurel, Xayda was legally obligated to marry him at 13, until a set of comical errors, and a dose of Connor and Kayla meddling, put a stop to it. There was some in the Dominion still fuming.
“That was just an infatuation and you know it,” she said defensively.
“So, it is my little cousin.”
“Can we just not talk about me and Akeen?”
“So, there is a you and Akeen to talk about?”
“Connor…”
Connor opened his mouth to speak when he saw the finish line right in front of him. He moved his ship toward his goal and could see that Kayla was right behind him. She was soon right next to him and he bunked her sending her to the tail again. His speed increased. He was almost there…almost there… he made it through just a millisecond ahead of Kayla and turned around just in time to see her hypersled rattle and die. He could hear her yell “dungbeat” through his com. He laughed. Beating Kayla was always a thrill.
“Better luck next time, Kid,” he bellowed out triumphantly.
“I thought you said no bunking.”
“I lied.”
Kayla was right beside him now. So close he could see her smile. He loved that smile. The simulated hypersleds started making there decent and the space around them disappeared.
“I thought Stars were genetically incapable of lying,” she said as they climbed out; taking off their helmets and looking around the now bare surrounding. “Well, beating me in a stimulator is a lot easier then beating me in a real race, as you already know,” she said smugly.
“Beating you period is easy and you didn’t beat me on Cirius 6. I let you win.”
“You did not.”
“One things for sure,” Connor said, tickling his friend and pulling her close to him. “You’ve been good training for the Airforce.”
Her laughter stop and the mood suddenly darkened. “Where do you think they’ll assign you?”
“I have no idea.”
He hoped his voice didn’t betray his anxiety. “Fledglings are usually assigned to patrol units near The Edge. You know that.”
“Yeah, but you’re not just any first yarn. Maybe you could get your dad...”
“Halt right there Kayla,” Connor said firmly, his gray eyes going a shade darker. “You know how I feel about getting special treatment because of who my dad is.”
“I know.”
They looked at each other for a while. Then Kayla hit him on the arm.
“I’m going to miss you, Connor.”
“I’m going to miss you, too.”
“I’m starved, beating you always gives me a big appetite,” Connor said, pulling her to him again as they headed out the room.
“Let’s head off to the Mess Hall and get some of that Tiranian Stew you love so much,” she said, pulling his ear. “It’s one of your last times to have it as a cadet.”
“Mess Hall food, now there is something I’m not going to miss.”
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