Brinus sat in a classroom with fifteen wooden desks, each containing an ashtray. The stained wood floor was paired with cherry wood paneling except for the left wall, which had three floor-to-ceiling, eight-paned windows. A holographic bookshelf sat in the back. In the front, there was a hologram projector and an earthy-colored oak wood desk. Brinus wasn’t the only one here. Castillo, Georgia, and nine others filled the room. Five of those people were smoking, while three others took to vaping. For Brinus, the smoke was suffocating to inhale.
“Basically, my mother is fine for now but her mental illness is in a death spiral and we may have to put her in an institution,” Georgia stated calmly. She made her peace with the situation involving her mother long ago, which is why she joined the Navy at seventeen. It was more indifference than anything else.
Brinus walked over to open a window. The smell of vapes and cigarettes was getting to him and irritating his throat. Returning to his seat, he said, “Is that why you joined the Navy? To get out of poverty?”
“Mostly. The Navy has some awesome financial benefits and with the prize money potential, I can buy a low-level title or a knightship after my tour of duty and retire. Isn’t that what they say? A duke’s coronet in every crewmate’s foot locker?”
Both Brinus and Georgia laughed.
Georgia said, “Yeah, everyone wants to be like you. Didn’t the Duke of District 9 start his career as a midshipman?”
Brinus nodded. “I don’t know; I think he was drafted from jail like me and served in the second and third pirate wars.”
The door burst open suddenly, and all conversation ceased. A commander fast-walked into the room. He was a tall imposing figure with battle and rank ribbons from the Second and Third Pirate Wars and from the Second War of Federation Aggression. He had silver hair and a lean, physically fit, physique. The class saluted, their movements in sync with each other.
The commander saluted back and then said, “At ease, class. My name is Commander Bridges. I am your course leader for the next four months. The reason you are in this class is because you qualified for the student war games. However, due to various challenges, you were not cleared. I believe, by the end of this class, you will be ready for combat. Today you will be subject to a series of stress tests to establish a baseline for your stats so we can track your progress and develop individualized training programs for you. Now finish your smokes and your vapes and report to the track. You will be issued a set of workout fatigues. Dismissed! Brinus, report to the podiatrist.”
Everyone stood and saluted as the commander left. The classmates were quiet as no one liked to be reminded of their own failure.
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Brinus was at the commissary’s cobbler as a crewwoman measured his left foot. She whistled and said, “Wow! you got big feet for a human, sir! You’re a size 13 wide on your right foot. I think we will have to replicate you a set of shoes. Your left foot is size 14 wide. I will make you a new set of custom insoles to go with it, sir.” The apprentice cobbler left and came back with a set of replicated shoes and a cast to make a mold of his foot. “Please Put your feet into this foam and stand, sir.”
Brinus was a little surprised. He always knew his feet were big but he didn’t didn’t think they were that big. He did always need cobblers and couldn’t go to commercial shoe shops. Shrugging his shoulders, he just figured it was normal.
Brinus put his bare feet into a foot mold made by the podiatrist. It felt cold and slimy. He stepped out of the cast after the cobber cut it down to size. She poured a soft, gel-like material, let it sit for five minutes, and then layered cork wood on top of the gel, and then glued leather to the cork wood. The cobbler cut it out and measured it to make sure each mold fit his foot.
“There you go. One mold for each foot and your new set of gym shoes. They should last a long time. Just as the podiatrist ordered.”
Brinus walked onto the track with his new shoes two hours later; he had his socks, gym shorts, and gym shirt.
The instructor looked at him and then yelled in his face, “Took you long enough!! Why the fuck did it take two hours for you to get your shoes?! I was about to fucking declare you AWOL!!”
“Sir! I had to see the podiatrist and get a custom set of shoes. I got flat feet apparently, sir!”
“We will have to work on that. Are you scheduled to see the physical therapist?”
“Sir, Yes, sir! I see her tomorrow at 0800 hours sharp, sir!”
Brinus thought it was overkill to see a physical therapist for flat feet. Whatever, he was just following orders.
“Good Midshipman Woodstack! Now that we are all here. There are no gendered standards in my physical course. Men and women are held to the same physical and mental standards and therefore everyone is expected to perform at the same level.” The instructor looked directly at Georgia and two other female recruits and continued speaking. “In my physical course, you fail or succeed on your own merit.” He looked at the two midshipmen, who had less muscle mass than other cadets. “You all are here because you have potential the navy wants to invest in. You are not weak but need extra training for one reason or another. Now run the two-mile run in 15 minutes. Go!”
The two-mile run was a shitshow. Brinus noticed his legs burned with every step within four minutes. His new shoes rubbed the soles of his feet and he was off balance, tripping and falling on his face. He tasted blood in his mouth and as he came up from the track. The mid-morning sun pelted down on his skin and hair as he became covered in sweat. Noticing his lungs didn’t burn, he was still unable to finish the run because he kept falling.
Brinus removed his shoes and socks and sat on a bench as he was the last person to complete the run. They had half a dozen blisters on both of his soles. As he moaned in pain, he put his heels on the bench and screamed because the skin was rubbed off of his left heel. The instructor came up to him and handed him a dermal regenerator from the first aid kit.
At this moment he cursed the podiatrist and the person who sent him to that damn doctor.
“I trust you know how to use this.”
Brinus nodded. He cussed and began running the dermal regenerator over each of his blisters. He laughed because it tickled which only made him let loose a string of expletives.
It took twenty minutes to deal with his feet. The instructor came up to him again. “The podiatrist should know better than to give you new training shoes on training day. I will be filing a complaint about this with his superior officer. You need to get back in formation when we're done but I won't make you ware the shoes.”
Brinus ran the regenerator over each blister for one minute until it healed. It itched horribly and he tried not to scratch the red spots. It took four minutes to regenerate the skin on his heels. The instructor grabbed a sports drink on the table and handed it to Brinus as he healed the last of his blisters. The drink was soothing to his burning throat and tasted cool with the ice in it. His spots were still red with inflammation but the blisters were gone. He rubbed the bottoms of his feet and his heels with his knuckles and cussed because of the itching.
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The winners clapped their hands together and the women hugged each other in a group hug while Brinus slapped the other guy on the shoulder. Everyone who finished laughed and was jovial. Brinus was sad as he didn't compelete the run.
The instructor made notes on who passed, who failed, and where each runner gave out.
“You are all equally worthless in my eyes! Prove me wrong! Deadlift 150 pounds 20 times in 5 minutes! Go!”
Brinus went first. He noticed how easy it was. The weights felt light in his hands despite his sweaty palms and bare feet. He was able to lift it with one hand. The sun moved higher in the sky and was beating down on him. The saffron humidity suffocated him with a facecloth of wetness over his mouth. The sweat stuck to his skin as he lifted the weight, grunting with each lift. He dropped the weight and lifted his hands over his head as everyone cheered.
“Time! Three and a half minutes!”
The lunch bell rang once physical assessments finished up. It took two and a half hours to do the physical tests.
Brinus had a towel wrapped around his waist brushing his teeth in the men’s locker room after lunch. His feet burned with pain and had bloody cuts on them. The locker room was about 100 years old and had out of date sonic showers, white tile floors, walls, and ceilings, and it had lines of chipped porcelain sinks with rusty faucets. The bathroom in the locker room had a slight musty smell about it.
Castillio came up behind him and slapped him on the back. “You don’t need to brush your teeth after every meal. You aren’t a smoker anymore.”
“It’s a habit.” Brinus spat into the sink and began flossing. “What brings ya’ to the locker room?”
“Bro, we have to be at the simulator in twenty minutes. You’re going to be late.”
Brinus threw away his floss pick and then rinsed his mouth out with mouthwash. “I will be ready in ten minutes.”
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Brinus reported to the simulators just on time. He was breathless as he went into the tripod position breathing. Damn my feet hurt!
The simulation room was different from the pods on the Victory. It was a large square room with green walls, a large green tower in the center, and a double sliding door. The room had a no-smoking sign over the door and two ashtrays outside.
The petty officer went in Brinus's face and screamed, "Woodstack! Why do you smell wood like and are called woodstack!?”
"Sir, I do wood burning, sir!"
"Oh, we have an artist do we?! Will you be an artist in combat?!
Brinus smiled and said, "Sir, are you a drill instrustor or a grill instrustor, sir?!"
"Oh so you're a funny man are you? Drop down and give me twenty, now!"
Brinus dropped on the ground and began doing the pushups. What the fuck?! Seriously?! The navy shoes hurt my feet!
As Brinus did the pushups the Drill Instructor went into Brinus's left ear and screamed, “Now I see why you’re in this class, Woodstack! You think because you’re a duke you can do whatever the fuck you want?! Am I right?! You fucking offend me! Now you do forty pushups!"
Once finishing the push ups Brinus almost couldn't stand. Also, his shoes felt wet and sticky and filled with a hot liquid.
“Georgia, Castillio, and Woodstack, You will be first in the simulator. Woodstack! You’re in command; you will be fighting off a swarm of fighters attacking a merchant convoy.”
The other cadets left the holoroom and the program started playing. The particles synthesized and everything formed around them, creating solid formations. The hall was synthesized; the bridge was synthesized; the AI characters were projected from hologram projectors.
The hallway outside the bridge was rubble-strewn. It smelled like melted plastic and burnt metal. Brinus felt his palms turn sweaty, his pupils dilated, and his mouth went dry. Castillio, Georgia, and Brinus felt the ship shake and then the lights flickered.
An AI crewmate came up to Brinus. He saluted and said, “Captain sir, you need to get to the bridge now, sir!.”
Brinus realized he was in a captain’s uniform. He looked at Georgia, who hyperventilated and at Castillio, who chewed his nails and shook with fear.
“Take me to the bridge.”
Brinus left his new friends as he rushed off to the bridge. The ship shook again and a plasma conduit exploded above him, showering him with white, hot drops of energy. Plasma that would normally incinerate most people instantly but would feel pleasant to Brinus. He knew the safty proticol were off and this was real. They could actually get injured or even die in this simulation. He pointed his wand at the fire and it went out.
At that moment, Brinus snapped into attention. He no longer thought but acted on instinct. He pointed his wand at the conduit, shooting flames into his face and shouted, “Repair the plasma conduit!”
“Sir! We have to go!”
He looked at the crewman with a wild-eyed look. “I must repair the damage! The ship will explode!”
Brinus was now on autopilot and not thinking. He reacted and acted on impulse.
Brinus ran off and began repairing damage with his wand. Just then, a computer voice rang out. “Simulation ended!”
Brinus panicked as the Particles disappeared in a flurry of purple light. He began rushing about screaming that the ship exploded and he needed to get to an escape pod. Navy Troopers were called and tried to restrain Brinus.
He fought like a wild bronco as he was given a sedative by an Navy trooper medic.
The lead training officer at the control booth simply looked at Brinus as he calmed down. “Woodstock, I am declaring you unfit for the next stress test. Can you make it back to the barracks?” He asked over the intercom.
Brinus nodded and gave a thumbs up.
The instructors looked at each other in the control booth and realized just how serious Brinus’s problem was. Every year, they get at least one cadet like Woodstack.
The commander of the course shrugged his shoulders and texted the course psychologist on his TriQuarter: We have an Earth Prince.
An earth prince was a reference to someone who came from earth just after the Confederation invasion and acted similar to Brinus in the combat. They eventually trained her to think through her PTSD and use the physical responses to her advantage. In the last two years, she actually won the student war games twice. Her name was Cassie and she joined the Navy 20 years ago but was training to be a chief medical officer.
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Brinus ate supper in the cafeteria after the battle sims. Despite being dosed with a sedative in the holosuite, he looked at his food and didn’t touch it. He blushed and used his fork to move his meatballs around the plate. It was a meatball marinara dish with garlic butter rolls and honey fritters for dessert. The candi honey fritters were a combination of fried dough and off-world hot honey. It was tangy, soft, and spicy.
“You don’t seem hungry,” said Georgia.
“I need a hit off a vape,” Brinus said, staring into his plate.
“What happened in the battle sim?” Asked another midshipman as he sat next to Brinus.
“I don’t wanna talk about it.” Brinus put his food in a styrofoam container and left the mess hall. He went into the barracks vape shop and started browsing.
He noticed various brands of vaping devices with assorted mods. The shop looked like a typical smoke shop. It had a glass container with the most expensive vapes, a cash register, and shelves of vape juices and coils.
Brinus thought about how agonizing the withdrawal symptoms were. The two seizures he had while withdrawing. The vomiting for days on end. He ended up in the medical bay for a week because of dehydration and an electrolyte imbalance.
He also remembered his promise to tangent. Thus far, he kept to that promise. The amount of trouble it caused him was why he wanted to stay clean. If it were normal nicotine, it would be easy to quit. However, these vapes and nicotine products were something else. They were meant to be impossible to stop.
He stared at the pineapple-mango vape juice with a Luffy drawing on it. Since Earth was acquired, One Piece has been popular with teenagers and children; Pre-Disney Star Wars with teenagers; and Harry Potter popular with older crowds.
A lot of Earth culture was unique. Therefore, it was popular in the confederacy.
Brinus picked up the vape juice carton and his nostrils flared. This kind of marketing appealed to teenagers. He remembered his branding class at the Naval Academy. Get them hooked young and have lifelong customers was the motto of the tarken tea companies. He rolled his eyes and snorted in disgust. Putting the item back on the shelf, he left the smoke shop.
Fucking predators. They know what they’re doing to us and don’t give a shit. I should call my husband.
Brinus pulled out his TriQuarter and dialed Simmie. It rang a few times and he answered.
“Hey, sweet pea,” Brinus said with a smile, blowing a kiss into the phone.
“Hey honey! How’s my sugar daddy?” asked Simmie, laughing.
“Oh, it’s been rough. I have an appointment with the podiatrist tomorrow because I got blisters on my feet today. I have to see a psychiatrist for two hours a day and I have daily physical therapy for flat feet. In the afternoon, I have battle sim training with the others.”
Simmie laughed and then said, “You wanted to be in the Navy.”
“I know and I just gotta tough it out. The course is four months. How’s the ship doin’?”
“Oh, Tangent misses you because you seem to have that magic touch with her. I was never good with special-needs individuals. Sociopaths I can handle. Narcissists are easy to deal with. But childlike adults? Not my thing. I was never good with kids.”
Brinus flashed a smile that this time went up to his eyes and was real. “You do you, boo. I love you just the same.”
“Anyways, I have to go. The new drone engines have arrived and I need to catalog them.”
The call was cut off.
He went into his Barracks room and removed his shirt, shoes, and socks. Putting on a pair of black gym shorts, he cranked the AC up to 68 and then laid on the bed. He popped a piece of gum and began meditating.