I’m not entirely sure how long I had been in bed, when I heard the heavy footfalls of Hotoe as he came stomping into the barracks along with several others. I knew it to be him because I had picked up my head from my pillow as soon as I heard boisterous voices echoing at the entrance of the long room. Until then, it had been blessedly silent in the barracks since I had come back here from speaking with Pledge Tau-mine.
I’m not sure how much time had passed since then, but it had to be several hours, and I had drifted in and out of sleep. I had not intended to sleep, but I must have been tired. And even though I really hadn’t suffered from heat exhaustion, I was finding the heat draining and welcomed the rest.
The plan was to wait for Pledge Tau-mine to let me know when to leave, but I had no idea when she would show up. I might as well relax so I was ready for whatever came next. I was nervous about that. I wasn’t exactly sure how this would play out, but I knew it was time to leave.
Part of me was sad about that. I had liked my time at the College, and even my short time as Jasper Ruloc. Certainly, I would miss the relative freedom to move about I had as Ruloc compared to being a Zahn, and most especially the more lax socialization. But more than all that, I would miss the friend I had made in Hotoe.
The big man grinned down at me as he came over to our section of the barracks. He slid off the pack he had been given for the trip into the desert. Sand cascaded off his shoulders and the top of the pack, spraying the floor, and even my bed and myself with the grainy particles.
“You are looking better, Jasper. I guess that treatment really did you some good,” the Hotoe said as he plopped right down onto his bed, his uniform still covered in sweat and sand.
I nodded, “I feel better. It’s amazing what a little rest and a lot of water can do. How was the assignment?”
I had to admit that I was curious to know if they discovered anything out there. I didn’t expect them too, but I also remembered that feeling I had about going out to the desert. Though, I supposed that if I didn’t go, then whatever was meant to happen wouldn’t have, if anything at all.
A frown came across the other man’s face. “It was a disaster from the beginning. And you weren’t the only Cadet that had to be taken to the Repository. Two people in my team dropped right after you left the field, so Winters decided my team and yours would be combined and we would search the largest of the caverns. That should have been our first clue things were going to go sideways.”
“Oh?” I said, suddenly very interested in this new development.
Hotoe shook his head. “First, my friend Kenri stumbled into a patch of washi cacti that torn him all up. It had him bleeding everywhere, especially his face, because he stumbled face first right into the cluster. The funny thing is, Kenri claims he was pushed, but everyone thinks he was trying to save face for making such a blunder. His whole upper body was a bloody mess and Pledge Pezeri had to slather medical-sealant all over him while we waited for a shuttle to evacuate Kenri back to the College.
“And if that wasn’t enough, we then get to the cavern we were supposed to search to find it inhabited by a nest of scorip hoppers that sent the whole lot of us screaming for the exit after Disciple Wy-lin accidentally stepped right in the middle of it. Poor Cadet Cedi must have tripped on his way out, because he ended up falling off the steep drop near the mouth of the cavern. Pledge Pezeri did what he could, but we aren’t sure if he’s going to make it. It was a hell of a fall.
“That’s awful. Did anyone else have any problems?” I asked, trying to hide the feeling of suspicion running through me. Both of those Cadets had been a part of my group.
Hotoe shrugged. “Not that I heard of. It seems only we had the bad luck. I was talking with two other teams that came back with us, and they were fine. They had just finished their search early. But last I heard, there are five more teams still out there.”
I nodded. “Well I hope that they are alright.”
“I wonder if they will have any more luck than we did in finding the Heir?” Hotoe wondered as he took off his boots.
“Maybe,” I said, knowing full well that they wouldn’t.
The big man stood up from the bed. “They gave us special permission to get a shower tonight to help wash off all the sand. You going to be good to go tomorrow?”
I nodded. “Yes. I just needed to rest this evening and tonight. I should be back to normal in the morning.” But I didn’t tell him that I’d most likely be gone by then. I really was going to miss my new friend, and it sucked that I couldn’t tell him the truth––not yet at least.
“Good. Then I will see you in the morning. I’m going to go wash the desert off me.”
I smiled weakly as I watched my friend walk down the long aisle between the beds. After he left, I turned my back to the rest of the room as those who had come in with Hotoe had grabbed their clothes and gone to wash up too. That left me alone again. It was still early, so most people were probably either enjoying their free time or their last class for today.
It wasn’t too long after Hotoe disappeared that I felt a pressure on my bladder. All that water I had drank earlier was wanting to make its presence known. So I rolled out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. As I took care of business, I could hear multiple showers going, and Hotoe singing at the top of his lungs. It made me smile as I finished up and made my way to the sink.
Once there, I turned on the water and looked up into the mirror to find Pledge Pezeri and Disciple Wy-lin entering the the bathroom, which was enough of a surprise. But before I could wonder what they were doing in a new recruit bathroom, Pledge Gunther step in right behind them. I blinked in the mirror at the three of them as blood froze in my veins and realization flooded my brain.
They were the ones looking for me. I had already assumed Gunther would be someone to watch out for based on his visceral dislike for me. But Pezeri and Wy-lin were a bit of a shock. I had only a possible suspicion that my special assignments had been used to get me to out myself, but now as I saw the three men enter I was sure of it, especially after what Hotoe had just told me of what happened to the two Cadets in my group. My heart skipped a beat as I watched them move toward the bank of sinks and where I was currently standing, my brain fumbling for a way out.
I had no weapons. There was nothing to grab for. There was just me, the sinks, the air dyers nearby, and the clothes on my back. And I very much doubted yelling for help would work, because of the noise of the running water and Hotoe’s strong baritone echoing through the room. I was on my own.
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The water had grown ice cold over my hands as I had them still under the steady stream, so I turned off the water. It wasn’t until then that I saw the bump on my wrist, reminding me of the beacon there. Hope radiated through me, but then I was paralyzed for a moment as I tried to remember how long to press and hold the beacon. Was it three seconds? Or five? Or ten? I decided to just press and hold for ten and hoped for the best.
By this time, the three men had placed themselves in a half moon around me, blocking me on all sides. None of them said a word. I figured I should stall for time until my protection team showed up. So I moved to the dryer right beside the sink. I nonchalantly as possible placed my hands underneath and waited the five seconds for the heat to evaporate all the water clinging to my hands. Once it was through, there was nothing left for me to do but to face the three men patiently waiting for me.
“Ummm… hello?” I said, not having to pretend too hard at feeling uncertain and intimated.
It was Pledge Pezeri who was closest to me and to my right who spoke. “You seem to be looking better, Cadet Ruloc.”
I nodded. “Yes, a treatment and rest has helped greatly, thank you.”
“That’s funny, because I asked Caretaker Yoshi, and he said he never saw you come in this afternoon,” Pezeri stated.
It felt like my stomach had dropped through the floor and I licked my lips as I desperately searched for an acceptable excuse to explain that away. I just had to stall until Tau-mine and Kiev could show up, which I hoped was very soon. I then remembered the message Pledge Tau-mine had recorded. I tapped my unity ring, highlighted the video message, and then held out my wrist to tap Pezeri’s.
“Well, I have this message.”
The Pledge eyed me hard as he reached up his wrist and tapped it to mine. He took a moment to pull it up and watch the message. He then turned to the other two men with a “now what?” expression. That was when Gunther stepped up with a sneer.
“Enough. He’s playing games with us. It’s him. I know it is.”
“We actually don’t know it is,” Disciple Wy-lin replied in a nervous tone. Out of the three of my confronters, he looked the least sure that he should be here and like he might bolt out the door any moment. I could feel his nervousness and even though I was managing to keep my invisible barrier up so I wasn’t consumed by it, my own nervousness was strongly mirroring his.
“Well it wasn’t Cadet Wesz or Cedi, and this was the only other one that was flagged. So it has to be him,” Pledge Pezeri said.
Gunther took another menacing step towards me. His eyes were burning with hatred and I responded by stepping backwards and bumping into the sink behind me.
I held up my hands to try and convince them I wasn’t a threat. “Look, I don’t know what is going on, but I’m sure whatever it is, doesn’t involve me. I would like it very much to get back to my bed. I am under bed rest like the message I showed you just said.”
I attempted to walk past Gunther, hoping he’d let me go, but he struck out with his left hand and pushed me back up against the sink with a little shove.
“I think you are a liar. I don’t think you had an episode of heat exhaustion this afternoon, and I most certainly don’t think you are Jasper Ruloc.”
I managed to muster as much indignation as possible and said, “Excuse me? Who do you think you are?”
At the same moment Wy-lin spoke up. “Gunther slow down. If we aren’t right, then he could get us in a lot of trouble.”
Gunther gave me a smirk. “Well, there is one foolproof way to find out.”
He then tried to reach for the collar of my black shirt, but I was ready for an attack and I blocked him by bringing up my right forearm. I gave him my own little push back, which sent the Pledge stumbling backward a few steps. That just caused the fire in his eyes to grow, and he braced himself to charge me.
“What’s this now?” A loud voice boomed, causing all four of us to turn our heads as one to see a large naked man who had come up behind Pezeri from the showers. Hotoe stood there in all his glory, dripping wet, and looking ready to throw a punch at any moment.
“I think it’s a misunderstanding,” I said as I quickly stepped around the temporary distracted Pledges and Disciple.
But it seemed Gunther wasn’t ready to let things go. He reached out as I passed and tried to grab my shirt once more. I saw him coming and twisted around out of his reach. That landed me directly in front of Pezeri, who lashed out a hand toward me. But Hotoe saw this and brought down a meaty fist to the side of Pezeri’s head, which knocked the Pledge off his feet, and directly into me. Both of us went crashing to the floor.
Light flashed in my vision as pain coursed through me and the air was knocked out of my lungs. All I could do for the moment was to try to catch my breath. But Pezeri’s weight on top of me was making that difficult to do. He did shift off me to the side, but he took the opportunity to grab the collar of my shirt to jerk it down and I heard the ripping of cloth.
The weight was off me, so I braced my right hand to the floor and rolled while kicking out with my left leg. Perzeri was knocked backward into the bank of sinks, and it gave me enough time to get to my feet. I stood up catching my breath and trying to get my balance. I felt a hand grip me from behind and a voice exclaim out loud.
“Ha! It is him! That’s the Zahn mark on his shoulder!”
I looked down. My shirt had been ripped down to expose a portion of my identity modifier, but more importantly, the black family crest on my right shoulder. There was no point in trying to pull the pieces back together. The damage had already been done, and I knew the only way I was going to get out of this was to fight my way out. So I twisted around to the man behind me, and gave him a punch right in the mouth. A surprised Wy-lin fell on his backside to the floor.
Hotoe had been engaged with Gunther and had been pounding multiple strikes into the Pledge, but when he heard Wy-lin’s exclamation and looked up to see the mark on my arm, Hotoe’s eyes widened and he paused in his beat down. Gunther took advantage of the distraction and gave Hotoe a throat punch that had the big man doubled over. A few more well placed palm strikes caused my friend to fall unconscious to the floor.
Then Gunther turned to me. Pledge Pezeri had finally recovered his feet, and I had seen this from the corner of my eye as I was watching Hotoe’s defeat. I was already in the process of swinging around to throw him another punch. But when I noticed Gunther reaching underneath his coat, and I knew he was going for a weapon. So I stopped my swing, planted my feet, and lashed out with the flat of my palm directly into Gunther’s chest.
It took me a minute to realize I’d just delivered a powerful Hand of Death. I hadn’t even thought about it. I had been too concerned with trying to stop Gunther before he’d pulled a deadly weapon on me, so I did what my dad had taught me, and hit him with as much force as I could to stop him. The Pledge’s eyes widened as he stumbled back. His face a deep shade of red as he clutched at his chest and looked like he was gasping for breath. Gunther dropped to his knees, and for a horrible moment, all I could do was stare into his shocked eyes, and then the man collapsed to the floor.
“Shit! I didn’t think I hit him that hard!” I mean yeah, I hit him hard, but hard enough to stop his heart? Jesus.
I instinctively moved to try to help the downed Pledge, but Pezeri pushed past me. Gunther was still gasping for breath, but at least he was still breathing––so far. Pezeri laid Gunther flat on his back, opened up his coat, and looked to Disciple Wy-lin. “Get a Caretaker now.”
Wy-lin didn’t protest as he raced from the bathroom. My eyes rested on Hotoe who was sprawled out on the floor in the aisle where the toilet stalls began and still unconscious. I stumbled over to help my friend only to hear the distinct discharge of a blaster pistol being fired from behind. I attempted to move, but I wasn’t fast enough. An explosion of heat seared right through me. I looked down and on the right side of my chest just below where the torn pieces of my torn shirt had fallen there was now a dark smoking hole.
The pain was so intense that I saw white spots in my vision, and it suddenly became too hard to breathe. I felt myself falling and my body hit the floor, but I was so desperate to take a full breath that I didn’t care. It wasn’t long before a dark abyss came to greet me and welcome me into its somber embrace. The last thought I had was were the hell was my protection team and why it was taking so long for them to show up?