The months of January and February flew by for the cadets. They spent over eight hours a day in classes and then spent another three hours in PE classes three times a week. There was a method to this madness. The Navy needed to get their cadets time to work in zero gravity. But they also needed to balance that by providing these officers in waiting for a quality education. The cadets also needed to be in excellent physical shape so they can work on void ships effectively.
08:00 Cafeteria
The cadets were worn out and exhausted. John, even with his enhanced physiology, was feeling the effects of the compressed schedule. Admittedly, he was handling it far better than the others. John was staring at his plate and forcing himself to eat. John was oddly fascinated with Andern though and his sleep eating. Or what they thought was sleep eating.
“That is horrifying,” Alice was moderately disturbed at what was happening in front of them.
“I’m actually impressed,” John said as he reached over and stole one of Andern’s pieces of bacon.
“I’m with Alice, this is not right,” Jessica was playing with her food.
“No, John is right. I’m taking a video of this,” Kevin added his two cents to this ridiculous conversation.
“So, at 09:30 we’re to report in the gymnasium. What’s going on after that?” Nathan asked.
“Load up into several buses and head to the space elevator south of Richmond. Then I’d presume we get ferried up to the station on the freight elevators,” John just finished his breakfast, “Well, I’m gonna finish packing. Who’s going to take ownership of dumbass here?”
“Not it!” Kevin and Nathan said a hair before Thomas did.
“Son of a bitch,” Thomas was frowning.
The girls at the table just shook their heads and tried to finish up breakfast. Andern was eventually woken up by Thomas when they were finished eating. The group dispersed and went back to their respective rooms to finish packing. A short while later everyone, including a more alert Andern, was waiting at the gymnasium.
“John, what are the chances of spending some alone time together up there,” Alice whispered to John.
“Good, but leave is dependent on how we perform in the wargames, that’s why we spent lots of time together this past weekend,” John said quietly back to her.
“Wait, seriously?” Alice was growing unhappy with what was hearing.
“I got plans for when we get back to terra firma,” John winked as he said that.
Andern was about to say something when the Cadets looked at the north side of the gym. Several officers were walking in towards them. That got John’s attention. He got up and stood at attention. The rest of the cadets followed suit slowly.
“Attention!” the officer said as all the cadets saluted the officer in unison, “At ease. Today is the first day of zero gravity training. Buses are outside the gym that will take you to the space elevator to Armstrong station. You will be placed back into your platoons from boot camp. Each platoon will report to their assigned bus. Each bus will contain two platoons and be your new combined platoons for when we are at the station. Check your tablets for your boarding information. It will be a two-hour drive to the space elevator. Once there you will disembark and follow instructions.”
John looked at his tablet. They were on bus five. He whispered that to the group. If he recognized the names from the other platoon on their bus correctly, they were the ones they fought in the last wargame during boot camp.
“You will be assigned a pressure suit for the trip up to the station. Each elevator will ferry a single combined platoon and their gear up to the station. Once you’ve arrived at the station you will remove the pressure suit and stow it in your assigned locker in the secure locker room north of the hangar. Then you will receive room assignments where you will stay until you receive orders to attend your first class at Armstrong station. You will be staying there for twenty-five days. You may now take your gear and filter out in an orderly fashion.”
The cadets saluted and headed to the buses. John and Alice sat at the midway point of the bus. Most of their platoon was sound asleep. The other platoon was largely awake though they were showing signs of fatigue as well.
“John, this means we’re not gonna be going against platoons up there?” Cadet James McAvoy asked him.
John wasn’t that familiar with James aside from being in a class with him in the fall.
“Wargames are part of the curriculum, so we’d have to. But I have no clue what they have in store for us.”
“What’s it like up there? Never been in zero-g.”
“Disorienting at first. Makes you thankful for anti-gravity tech. Don’t puke, that’s bad news up there, especially when you’re in a suit,” John said nonchalantly.
“That doesn’t really help me any.”
John just shrugged. Alice woke up and the two shared a quiet conversation. John was checking his latest investments, courtesy of Tim Daniels, and how they were performing. Eventually, he dozed off for a bit. The trip didn’t seem to take that long. When his eyes opened again the space elevator was in sight.
When they got out of the bus, they were informed they were heading up on elevator three. That meant they were on the first wave up to the station. Whether or not that meant they were getting a premium dorm or not on the station was up for debate. The cadets walked to the staging area and got their vacuum suits and put them on. It was unlikely to be any problems, but if there were they wouldn’t suffocate due to the lack of atmosphere.
They entered the elevator and stowed their bags. There was a large metal container in the area where John’s bag was.
“John. What’s in the box?” Jessica asked.
“Let’s call it an insurance plan,” John smiled.
“You do seem to be a magnet for bullshit, so I suppose we’ll thank you for bringing whatever that is with,” Andern laughed as he said that.
A buzzer was heard, then the lights changed colors in the elevator, “Cadets, take your seats. Doors are closing. Seals will be engaged. Helmets are to be put on now.”
“Tally ho,” John said as he sat down in his assigned seat.
“How long does this ride take?” Thomas asked.
“Ninety minutes,” Alice answered.
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“One hundred fifty minutes to be more accurate. Freight elevators move more slowly than passenger elevators. Gonna be a boring ride but should have a pretty view once we get halfway up there,” John was way more relaxed than the rest of the cadets.
“What happens if the cable snaps?” Nathan asked.
“We’re probably properly fucked at that point,” Kevin sat down next to Theresa and buckled in.
“What he said,” John was yawning, “Well, at least I don’t have to wait to get my shit when we get up there. It’s right there!”
“Three flights are not that bad,” Alice shook her head.
“It’s not just three flights, it's every… single… flight… No one believes me.”
The group started laughing as John went into great detail about how every single airliner on Earth and spaceliners place their bags on the carousel at the end. His diatribe and follow-up arguments shaved off ninety minutes of their trip. The rest of the trip was fairly boring but once they got to the edge of space the views of Earth really were magnificent. John woke Alice up when they were three-quarters to the station to show Alice the view. John smiled as she sucked up the beautiful view.
When the elevator reached the station, it locked into place and the doors exited. They were now in a vacuum. The hangar their elevator was in could be pressurized at times, but because they were ferrying students up there, there was no atmosphere in it for now. Their suits had a reserve amount of about sixty to sixty-five minutes of oxygen. Far more than they would need to get into the pressurized area of the station. Their suits had magnetic locks which made walking a little more normal.
John grabbed his bag and the metallic case and exited the elevator following behind several other cadets. They went through an industrial-sized airlock ten cadets at a time. John was in the third group to get into the station. The hangar had activated its anti-gravity plates but turned down to half a g. The container had gotten noticeably lighter. This was one of those times he could use his telekinesis without anyone knowing.
A voice came on the intercom, “Cadets, get out of your suits and follow the lights to your temporary dorms. They are color-coded to your platoon number.”
“We’re three, so we’re following the green lights,” Alice shouted over the noise in the locker room.
“Looks like first on means first to classes. But we’re also first to eat so there’s that,” John was getting a little hungry.
“I swear that man thinks with his stomach and dick,” Jessica whispered to Alice.
“You’re not wrong, but he has come up with some good ideas with both body parts,” Alice winked at Jessica.
Theresa overheard that and laughed. That caused the boys to ask what the girls were giggling at. No answer was given to them.
“Well, welcome to our new home. Dorm C4-36, Academy Barracks. Common room. There are two shared bunk spaces. Private bathrooms for the men and women,” Kevin said.
“Patrice, you get that message?” John didn’t really want to talk to him any more than he needed to, but this was necessary.
“Yes, looks like they want the same student leaders from the boot.”
“Ladies' choice left or right. Men, we get whatever isn’t picked,” John shouted as he directed his focus back to Patrice, “You’ll be second in command; I’ll have the other platoon’s student leaders be squad lieutenants. We won the last game so we’re in charge.”
“Roger,” Patrice moved off and grabbed a bunk.
The girls took the left room. In truth it didn’t matter, they were set up the same. The dorm had space for up to forty people. The guys took the right room and got their gear situation. John pulled up the training schedule and shared it on the main display screen in the commons room. There was lots of commotion in the barracks
“So, we’re in class for two hours starting at 13:00 and go until 15:00, chow is 15:30 to 16:30. Then there’s PE from 17:00 to 21:00. We then get an hour to clean up and then it’s time to hit the bunks,” John was remembering how much he hated boot camp, and this schedule reeked of it.
“Fuckers, they have us basically in class, PE, or in drills for four straight days. We don’t get a free afternoon and evening until day five. And we don’t get a couple of days off in a row until day eleven,” Andern was worried.
“Class is in twenty minutes folks. We’re up ten levels from our current one. The classroom is 14-350CX. We’re leaving in five,” John barked the order.
John was looking at the schedule and Andern was missing the potential to have half a day off on day ten adding to the time off there. He was missing the half day off on day seven, potentially most of the day if the platoon won a wargame that day. Wargames would be held throughout their time there.
13:00 Earth Standard Time. Armstrong Station Combined Forces Classroom 14-350CX
The platoon was off to class. They arrived at the classroom at the same time as the other platoon they were on the bus. There they were told that the two platoons would be working together in the wargames and training regime. The overall lead of the combined platoons was determined to be John. Patrice retrained for the executive officer role. John asked the other platoon student leaders to be squad leaders. After those decisions were made the instructors got right into their lecture.
Nothing in this lecture was unknown to John. Punctures in vacuum suits were bad. Don’t try to force open locked bulkheads. Don’t fuck around with your suits in the void. Sharp objects are bad, and on and on the list went. They did get an overview of the zero-g training they’d go through. At first, it was going to be just acclimatizing to the environment. Then it would evolve to working together to accomplish tasks, then performing operations as a team. Above all else, if anyone purposefully pierced someone’s suit they’d receive a bad conduct discharge.
Tomorrow morning after their classroom training, they’d be off to an empty hangar that is used for training exercises. They’d spent a few days training with an atmosphere before they move on to training in a vacuum. The next week was going to be busy.
11:00 Temporary Training Hangar 12C
The combined platoon was wearing their void suits with their magnetic boots engaged. Standing in front of them was a training officer and senior enlisted man. They were explaining to the cadets what to expect and how to best get through the obstacle course. Everyone would get time to practice the course today after they got comfortable with moving around in zero gravity. The target time needed to be achieved by the following morning.
“John, are you going for a timed run today?” Andern looked over to his right only to see John floating toward the start of the course.
“Mhmm. I’ll help when I’m done,” John liked the void suits.
He put his helmet on, a surprise but not unwelcome requirement during the training. The com systems in them were reasonably easy to use. Your eyes control the menus and it was easy to add or remove people in a group chat session.
John got to the start and put a foot over the timing button. It’d start when he kicked off the platform. The platoon just slowed and stopped to watch John move through the course. He pushed off from one box and aimed at another. Twisting in the air to position his body perfectly so he wouldn’t waste any time by moving from one point to another seamlessly. John launched himself at the last box and slapped the button as he grabbed another hold with his other hand to swing him around and slow his momentum down. He then pushed himself toward the deck. He re-engaged his boots.
“No shocker there. The son of a bitch broke the course record for freshman cadets by a minute,” Lieutenant Aiken commented to Chief Petty Officer Jaeger.
“Yeah, we were told about him. He’ll help the platoon now making our job easier, so there’s that,” Jaeger chuckled as he said that.
“Cadets, break up into smaller groups and get back to work. Head over to the corner there and you can start practicing changing direction,” Jaeger hollered.
“Lief, a word,” Aiken floated toward him.
“Sir.”
“We expect you to help your platoon now that you’ve completed the compulsory course. You don’t seem to need any help from us.”
“Aye, sir. Be happy to help.”
John saluted, then shoved off to help Alice and Jessica. Within twenty minutes the two were able to switch directions by catching onto three different boxes more efficiently and quickly than they had before. They’d have to do that over fifteen times on the final test course, but they were getting more experienced in the handling of the basics of movement in zero gravity.
To the shock of literally everyone in the platoon, Andern seemed to be a natural at this. This was odd because upon first glance no one would think he was an athletic guy, but his spatial awareness was off the charts. Here he was going through the practice area noticeably quicker than everyone else. He headed up to the course and flung himself through it. All it took was two practice attempts, both of which would have resulted in a passing time before he tried to set an official timed run. He had easily beat the expected time.
“Looks like our boy is a natural at moving in three dimensions,” John was next to Theresa, Alice, and Jessica, “Y’all have any questions?”
They were glad for Joh’s help. He helped explain what the instructors were getting at. Thomas, Nathan, and Kevin swung over and listened in, then watched as John was explained how to kick off and where to aim. They then ran through the practice area several times, getting better and more comfortable in moving without gravity.
By the time their practice time had ended, half of the combined platoon had passed the obstacle course. There were only one or two people struggling still. John figured everyone should hit the target time in the evening practice session they had scheduled at 17:00. It wouldn’t be long until they were simulating wargames here.