Tuesday. 18:45 Lounge

“So, when are y’all going to be done with finals?” John asked as he was typing something on his tablet.

“Not till Thursday. Engineering was kind enough to hold off and not let us take one of the finals until Thursday morning,” Kevin looked annoyed, “That means we’re not flying out until Thursday afternoon.

“Medical lets you take the finals whenever which is nice,” Theresa said.

Alice nodded and then got back to working on some last-minute homework that was assigned. Everyone was effectively multitasking in the lounge. Except for John, he was trying to find something good on TV.

“Command has what, three finals John?” Kristin looked up briefly.

“Yup, two group projects, both done, and about eight papers.” John settled on professional bowling. “So many damned papers.”

Andern grunted, “Which I’m sure you're done with all of them.”

“I’m done too,” Kristin elbowed Andern.

“Same, so I’ll be done on Monday,” John set the remote down on the table, “Barring any nonsense that comes up. But we’re not flying out until Thursday, since we can’t leave till then.”

“Turns out they didn’t like it when students were running away from the academy on Tuesdays,” Thomas said.

“Upperclassman again?” Brian asked.

“Well, I didn’t leave before Wednesday, but yeah, once again it was the senior class that fucked us all,” John shook his head, “Plus, them making the mandatory PE session be on Wednesday kinda makes it hard to leave early.”

“Are you seriously done with all your homework?” Jessica asked John.

“Yup, I have three tests to take and that’s it,” John tilted his head and paused, “And then PE to do.”

John received several angry glances in the room. He didn’t pay much attention to it. The group got back to working on homework and preparing for finals. John was still the walking encyclopedia and helped when and where he could. John was also glancing over the combat data and reading intelligence’s preliminary report on the suit. Their determinations were similar to John’s. He still had doubts about whether or not he could beat the twins.

The group continued to do work until the curfew warning rang. There were groans and a general lack of wanting to go back to their rooms. They were slow to get their things together but eventually got their gear together and began heading back to their rooms.

“So, you ready for finals?” John was holding Alice’s hand.

“Yeah, doesn’t seem like there’s any big rush to take tests since we can’t leave campus until Thursday.”

“I hear ya. That was kind of a kick in the balls,” John smiled, “I still want to get done as quickly as possible though.”

“Of course, you do,” Alice smiled, “Are you looking forward to getting the rest of our planning done?”

“I would love to be done by next Saturday, though we have basically a full week off before Christmas to get everything done.”

The couple got to their dorm. John held the door open for Alice. They spent no time getting ready to go to bed once they got to their room. Alice commented about not having sex as often as they did last year. John then asked if she was coming on to him. She snorted as she started laughing. The couple ended up making love that night before going to sleep.

Wednesday. 08:00 Armstrong Lecture Hall

“Good morning cadets. Take your seats, please. Cadet Lief, you’re to head to the commandant’s office.”

“Aye sir,” John slowly got out of his seat.

“What’d you do?” Kristin asked with a grin on her face.

“Dunno, I actually haven’t done anything this week,” John shrugged but Kristin gave him a look, “Honest, I mean it.”

The cadets around John gave him a weird look. Some of them started to chuckle. John just shrugged and headed out of the lecture hall. The commandant’s office was naturally on the other side of the academy.

08:20 Commandant Melnyk’s Office

“Good morning, Cadet, you can walk right in. He is expecting you,” the secretary behind the desk said to John.

“Thank you, ma’am,” John nodded and walked into the office.

He walked just behind the chairs, stood at attention, and saluted.

“At ease son, take a seat.”

John finished the salute and then walked around and sat down in a chair, “I don’t believe I’ve run afoul of the rules here so I’m kinda confused why I’m here.”

The commandant smiled, “So, about that stunt last week…”

“What stunt?” John played stupid.

“Yeah, I’m sure there are lots of people out there with a death wish to hit a mafia family,” Petro let out a mild chuckle, “Well makes no matter, I’m sure your aware that in August the senior class gets assigned to their academy ships.”

“Yes sir. At the end of the fall semester, the class is broken up and in the spring the juniors supplement the crews.”

“Correct, under normal circumstances that’s what we’d do.”

“So, our class is also going up in August as well?”

“Smart assumption, three cadets in your class are getting commands. You’re an obvious choice but the other two are less clear. I’d like to hear your recommendations for the other two.”

“Patrice Vernon is an obvious choice. I may not like him but he’s a solid candidate,” John paused and thought.

“He came highly recommended. Have another name?”

“Well, I do but I’d rather keep Kristin to myself as my executive officer. Jerry Been is a bit rigid but maybe him being in this position would make him a better commander.”

“Interesting, I thought you despised nepotism and graft,” the commandant grinned.

“I do, but I’m presuming our class will go out again the following year?”

“Yes, but not until the spring semester.”

John smiled, “It’s the academy, group projects are generally formed based on friend groups. Platoon mates bond the closest. That’s only natural to happen. Let her have command when she’s a senior. I guarantee she’ll be the second-best CO from our class.”

“I’ll take your recommendations under advisement, it’s a safe bet that you will be getting command. This doesn’t leave this office.”

“Aye sir,” John stood up and saluted.

“Dismissed.”

John turned and left the office and headed back to the Armstrong building so he could attend his next lecture. Thankfully this change of pace doesn’t ruin their summer plans.

“He said all the names I expected to hear. Curious that he’d deny Kristin a command,” Petrov said.

“John likely knows exactly who he wants on his crew already. That he’d want her as his executive officer is not a big surprise. He can help her grow into a better commander than the others by serving under him,” Aspern said.

“I looked at his jacket, the unredacted one. LeCroix read me the riot act if any of it were leaked.”

“He is ambition and determination given human form,” Aspern smiled.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“His IQ test has been pegged at one hundred fifty every single time he’s taken it. Interesting that he spots the tests and always scores the same thing.”

“He failed to do that once when he was distracted, he scored a two hundred eighty-two. And finished the test in under three minutes,” Aspern chuckled, “That was the only time I recall ever getting one of on the young man.”

“Thanks for the assist, I think we’ll run with those cadets as the captains of the academy vessels. I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

Friday. 18:30 Lounge

John and Andern were playing a game of cornhole. The rest of the group looked disinterested in doing any more studying.

“We’ve got next game,” Kevin said from the couch, “Don’t give me that look, John.”

John tried his best to give Kevin puppy dog eyes, “Shit, fine.”

“Are you actually ready for your finals Andern?” Jessica asked.

“Two of them yeah,” he tossed the bag but was hanging half in the hole, “Damnit. Got plenty of time to study for the rest of the weekend. Since we can’t leave until Thursday it’s not like there’s any rush.”

“So glad I didn’t book flights home, that would’ve been an expensive change,” Brian said.

“Oh, come on, I bet I could get them to waive the fee,” John said as he airmailed a shot without touching Andern’s bag that was hanging in the hole.

“No one wants that kind of help honey,” Alice smiled.

“For five hundred credits I would ask,” John shrugged.

“Yeah, for that cash I probably would look the other way,” Thomas said as the girls looked and glared at him, “Hey, unlike money bags over there that’s a lot of money.”

John was smiling. Eventually, the game between Andern and him finished, which resulted in John trounced Andern. Andern demanded a rematch that evening when they could get back. He had some horrific luck that match. The two ceded the boards and sat next to their significant others.

“There’s no curfew tonight, right?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah, but there is a prohibition on going into other people’s rooms until Thursday. I’d advise against that,” John put an arm around Alice.

“Except for you two,” Kevin squinted as he looked at Alice and John.

“You don’t have to live with him,” Alice laughed as she pointed at John.

The group laughed and continued to study and relax. This semester had flown by. There didn’t seem to be the same hectic pace things went by currently. John had to correct them that it was the same, they were just so much better at handling all the stimuli and projects that were being tossed at them. Just then an email came in.

John smiled as he read it, “Fuck yeah.”

“So, you read that too, does that mean you’re one of the three?” Kristin asked.

John smirked and shrugged. “Who knows. Maybe that was why I was sent to the office this morning.”

“Ok, you can stop humble bragging,” Jessica laughed.

“Ok so let’s just assume you’re the cap. Does that mean you get to pick your crew?” Theresa asked.

“Nah doesn’t work that way. The cadet that is the captain gets to pick like three or four chief officers, then the rest are randomly assigned,” Nathan said.

“Wait, the commandant told you something didn’t he?” Kristin tossed her book on the table.

“In theory that all makes sense and could be true. I also could have asked for the most nepotistic crew ever assembled,” John’s smirk could be seen from miles away, “To prove a point of course. Though if it fails…”

“So don’t fail. Got it. So does this fuck up your wedding plans?” Andern asked.

“You didn’t read the dates, did you?” Alice rolled her eyes.

“Weddings in June, we report to the academy in August. Pretty sure we got time for a wedding and a honeymoon.”

“Academy uses older frigates, right?” Brian asked.

“Mix of corvettes and destroyers mostly,” Kevin answered, “Don’t suppose we’re going to get a frigate?”

“Haven’t heard if anything has changed, but I’d presume a destroyer. Not sure if they’ve ever given a frigate to a cadet,” John was excited, more so than he had been in a long time.

“Any news why we’re going early?” Theresa asked as she put her books away.

“The best guesses are the Alliance is stirring shit up, which means they need more officers, or the Junior class is way down on numbers. It’s likely a combination of the two,” John grabbed the remote and changed the channel.

“So how does that change our schedule?” Andern asked.

“On the ship from August to the start of December. Then semester break. We have classes in the spring. Then we get back on ships senior year during the summer and fall,” John was skimming through the email again.

The group continued to talk about the news. Nothing was official yet, they still had to get through finals and through the spring semester. But it was one more thing to look forward to for John in the new year. But one step at a time, he tried to keep himself from looking ahead too far. He had finals along with a wedding to finish first.

Andern lost in their rematch before the cadets decided to call it a night and get some rest.

Saturday. 14:45 Primary Armory

“Where the hell are you?” Alice asked.

“Armory. Testing a few things.”

“Still not comfortable.”

John shook his head, “No, I doubt I ever will be until both of them are dead.”

“Alright, well I’ll head over there,” Alice ended the call.

John was testing some of the enhancements he had made. Power output was up while consumption was down. Without a complete redesign, the psychic amplifier wasn’t getting any more efficient. On the plus side, it was noticeable more powerful than it was when he first plugged it in. John could also withstand it running at full power for much longer too.

There were also some new weapons Naval R&D had made that they wanted feedback on. The redesigned twin submachine guns were a devastating weapon, but the ammo box was annoying as hell when hooked in on the lower back. John gave them some feedback to connect around the shoulders on the back. The new automatic shotgun was amazing, but unless you were doing a ship or station boarding it likely would never get used, but in close confines, it would be brutally effective.

There was also a new battle rifle that used a forty caliber round compared to the standard thirty caliber rounds. It also had an oversized drum magazine that held one hundred fifty rounds. It was far too heavy to use without power armor but was incredibly powerful. The drawback to it though was obvious, there was no sharing of ammo or magazines. The ammo was unique to that gun so if you were running low, then that’s all the ammo you’d have to use.

“There you are,” Alice smiled as John ran around the practice arena.

John switched directions nearly instantly and jogged over to Alice, “Hey, what’s up?”

“I was going to go study some more, but I wanted to see you and drag you back with me.”

John smiled, “So y’all need answers, eh?”

“That would help.”

“Alright, give me thirty. I need to shower and then send over a quick report to R&D,” John slapped and squeezed Alice’s ass as he walked by her.

“John, I love you but man you can be a chauvinistic ass.”

John walked over to the reliquary and activated it so it could remove the armor plates. When he turned around, he was smirking. Alice shook her head and walked over to the table and sat down. She pulled out a book and study guide and began reviewing things. John took off his void sheath and then jogged over to the locker room with his clothes in his arms. Alice laughed as he jogged by. When he came back, he sat down next to her and was writing a quick report for research and development regarding the new toys he was testing.

“Are you really still worried about those two?”

“Yes, the question isn’t whether we’ll ever run into them again, but it’s when. My main worry is if we can’t dictate the terms of engagement.”

“In other words when all of that doesn’t get to go with you.”

John continued typing, “Yeah, as I said, I’m stronger than both. But combined they are stronger than I am.”

“Are they telepaths? Like can they do the same things we’ve seen you do?”

“Yes, but their skills lay in their telekinetic based abilities, not their telepathic ones,” John pressed send on the message, “Alright, all down here. Let’s head to the lounge.”

Tuesday. 12:30 Cafeteria

“I am so fucking bored,” John was playing with his food.

“At least we’re done,” Kristin said.

“Yeah, but we’re stuck on campus. Thank God we have the cornhole stuff, but that literally is the only thing to do besides sleep,” John said.

“And that is why I spaced out my tests, so I wouldn’t wind up like you,” Andern smiled as he stuffed his face with fries.

“All they had to do was let us go off campus, but not leaving the academy until Thursday,” Jessica said.

“Who wants to bet this is the last punishment because of the upperclassman,” Nathan said.

“Bastards,” Thomas, Brian and Jessica said in unison.

“How have the finals been for y’all so far?” John had finished his lunch.

“An A and a B. Should get an A on the one I’m taking this afternoon,” Andern said nonchalantly.

That caused everyone at the table to stop what they were doing or saying and look squarely at him. Accusations about him cheating were brought up. Thomas and John thought that there was an alien shapeshifter replacing him.

“Stop you asses. Seems like ops classes are simple,” Andern was shaking his head.

“He’s not wrong. Ops isn’t all that hard, or at least the classes we had this semester. I’m sure it’ll be more difficult,” Nathan shrugged.

“The med classes are just a shitload of information to remember. But haven’t been too difficult,” Theresa said.

“Engineering classes are fucking crazy. I think the general engineering course final had like two hundred questions,” Kevin shuddered when he remembered that final.

“Well, we almost made it through another semester. I call that a success,” John smiled.

They continued to talk until the top of the hour. The group broke and several of them headed off to take their finals. John sat in the lounge watching the Ocho. Boat racing was the competition of the day. Kristin was in there too; she finished her finals that morning.

“Hey, how did you guys get in the co-ed dorms?”

“It was easy, I proposed, and she said yes,” John smirked, “Also helped that they had a vacant room.”

“Damn, I thought non-engaged couples could stay there.”

“Yeah, I thought that too. I got a no joy email back from them about that. Things getting that serious between the two of you?”

“Yeah, things just have been getting better and better throughout the semester. We both were getting annoyed that there wasn’t enough real free time.”

“I hear that. Feels like you wake up, stay busy all day, then go to sleep.”

Kristin smiled, “Christmas break is going to be great.”

“That it is.”

Thursday. 10:30 Delta Sky Lounge

“We made it,” Alice was relaxing in a comfortable chair overlooking the active runway.

“That workload was something awful. And is basically going to be the norm for the next thirty or forty years,” John took a drink of a beer, “But we’re one step closer to the goal.”

“So, Saturday morning we’re going to meet with the catering company and figure out the dinner at the wedding.”

“Cool, are we going to be super fancy or stick with a simple three course meal. Salad, main course and dessert?” John smiled as he saw another new plane land.

“So basically, one big main course or two smaller ones. Maybe we check to see with my folks?”

John nodded, “That works. When are you dress shopping?”

“The weekend before we go up to Yeager Station. My mom and cousin are coming to Annapolis during that weekend.”

“Know what you want to wear?” John smiled.

“I have a few ideas and want to get their opinions on my choices. And no, I’m not showing you it until the big day,” Alice said playfully.

The couple sat in the chairs for about a half hour longer. An attendant came over and let them know their flight was about to start boarding. They got up headed down the terminal to their plane. Alice asked John if his checked bag would be the last thing off the plane. She knew that would get him animated, and it worked. John calmed down shortly after he got riled up to a grinning Alice. They made their way down the jet bridge and took their seats. Their flight went without incident. To no one’s surprise, John’s bag was the very last one to be made available on the carousel.