48 hours before arriving at Jupiter Station
Four questions danced around in his mind as he walked along the hangar corridors towards the command section of the ship flanked by his co-leaders. Where will we be staying if not a super-carrier? Why are we going to Jupiter Station? It makes more sense to go straight to Pluto Station. Also, what does the Captain want from me? And the final and most relevant question, How the hell did Redd unlock the alcohol?
Jynma's voice broke into his thoughts, and Kaiza turned his head to look at his two co-leaders. "At least tell me where you hid the locks."
Jynma had secured the alcohol locker with two heavy duty security magnetic locks the previous day. They were expensive, and it was obvious that he was more than a little annoyed that Redd had gotten through them so easily and then hidden them as well.
"Trade secret!" Redd laughed and then winked as they passed a group of female squad leaders. A few laughed but most pretended not to notice, making Redd sigh. "Leave it to Casetta to whip the female Squad Leaders into shape. Cold as ice and stubborn as a mule. Kinda reminds me of you back in the old days."
Redd dodged a kick from Jynma, which only made him more irritated.
"I'll show you the old days are still alive and well if you don't shut up."
Kaiza turned his head back and looked at the group of female squad leaders who were grouped around a single woman. Casetta Hightower was the de-facto leader of all the squads led by female squad leaders, just as he was the leader of the male squads. He outranked her as the senior lieutenant squad leader, and as the commander of the squad unit, but that did not mean he had any less respect for her. She was from a wealthy military family who had helped found the High Tower Academy, whose fortune had been made by having every family member become career politicians when a war injury became too severe to stay in the service. They prided themselves on seeing how long they could stay in active duty before battle inevitably took its toll. Her grandfather held the current record; He had joined the military at 18, and only retired at 51 when he lost one of his eyes to shrapnel during a rebellion in Africa. Kaiza did not have any reason to believe that Casetta was not going to try and beat that record. They had trained together from basic training, through officer school and now they were headed to the Colony Fleet together. Whenever the fleet returned to Earth he knew that she would continue serving in whichever fleet was sent out next, unlike most officers who would retire after a single Colony Fleet exploration with their contracts fulfilled and a hefty retirement awaiting them back on earth. Her family before her had all stayed in the military long past the average, the only difference being that her parents and now her were the first to serve in the Colony Fleets instead of the DRE military. Her family was mostly still an earth-based military family, and her parents and she had broken the mold by joining the Colony Fleets. They were well respected in the family for blazing a new path, but Kaiza was unsure how they fit into the families power structure, as the organization of the Colony Fleets was vastly different compared to the military that was still relegated to earth and its surrounding system.
The DRE's military still functioned as it had for hundreds of years, now most concerned with the safety and unity of Earth, rather than of a single country upon it. The largest branch was the DRE Navy, still called such even though it now sailed through the void of space instead of upon the Terran oceans. The many various armies of Earth had been merged with the DRE Marines, who now operated from the Navy ships in orbit, as the greatest military power was one who could bombard its enemy from orbit, without fear of counter attack. Though there was still a ground based Republican Guard, they acted as the police and enforcers of earth instead of a coordinated military force.
The Colony Fleet Command was organized without any regard to standard historical military protocol. Of course there were still enlisted units who formed the bulk of the fleet but unlike the wars of unity, every single soul aboard had volunteered. A citizen of the DRE was not allowed to be forced to embark upon a journey that would take them so far away from everything they had ever known. This had been such an important part of the formation of the Colony Fleets Command that it was hammered into the DRE constitution as amendment 29.
The High Tower graduates were not exempt from this. Many had been encouraged to attend the institution by family, but weeks 1 and 2 of the High Tower curriculum were dedicated to making sure the aspiring officers understood exactly what they were signing up for. Those beginning weeks ended in a behind-closed-doors examination that made absolutely sure every single attendee was there willingly. Week 3 was the start of basic training.
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Junior Command officers in the Colony Fleets Command also had a very unique organizational structure. Each officer was part of or was leading a squad that was made up entirely of other officers. The idea was that each single squad progressed up the ranks together, and it would culminate in that squad commanding a ship. Together as a squad from basic training to ship command with each member specialized in one area and cross trained in a few others. Each officer would eventually start leading their own smaller group of enlisted, but that would happen after they got active experience in the fleet. A Squad Command Unit was made up of ten distinct squads, each able and willing to command their own ship in a Colony Fleet.
The Colony Fleet Infinitum was large and already had an overabundance of squad units as far as Kaiza could tell. This cruiser was carrying multiple squad command units, enough to command an entire Colony Fleet on its own and he knew the other cruisers around them had just as many squad units within them. He was sure it meant something, and it made him uneasy, but decided the answer would be presented soon enough by upper command. Unfortunately the old proverb of the military, Hurry up and wait, was as true in space as it was on earth. He knew Jynma had already organized and re-organized the squad's documents and Redd messing with his perfect organization of supplies was going to drive Jynma over the edge.
Kaiza looked at Redd. "I know you didn't actually drink any of that alcohol. Give Jyn the locks back and all the alcohol. Before the day cycle ends."
Redd's energy died a little as he complied, reaching into his pack and handing Jynma the two mag locks.
Jynma sighed, exasperated, as he realized how much work it was going to be to re-tune the locks to the sensitivity he preferred, and sighed again as he realized it wouldn't make much difference if Redd really wanted into the storage.
Kaiza looked at that expression on Jynma and chuckled before he turned back around and kept walking.
Redd Bakersson was not born from a wealthy or high class family. Kaiza didn't actually know too much about Redd's early life, but he knew he had been a street urchin destined for a knife between the ribs before he became an adult, until he had been picked up off the street by a baker at 14 to become his apprentice, hence the name. The baker had treated Redd well enough as an adoptive father, but his adoptive mother couldn't stand him. She had never been able to bear children due to a medical condition, and took it out on Redd. The day he turned 18 he applied for High Tower so that he could get as far away from the woman as possible. His father understood and made peace with the decision, according to Redd.
Jynma Saito-Zorinsky on the other hand was the opposite story. His family had made it big during the orbital mining rush of 2157, when the Tear Drive became widely available for public use. His grandfather had sold all of his possessions to acquire a mining ship with a Drive, and carved out a mining empire in the asteroid belts at the edge of the solar system. His family now owned 46 percent of the asteroid belts on the edge of the solar system. Jynma was groomed by his father from a young age to inherit the family business and he had the skills to show for it. It was only when the first Colony Fleets started being sent out that Jynma looked up into the stars and felt the itch for exploration. He told his parents his decision when he turned 16 and they were firmly against it, until his grandfather had stepped in and stated that if he had obeyed his parents wishes he would still be tending a small rural Inn in the backwoods of Japan. Jynma's parents had relented and his sister had volunteered to take his place, more than willing to inherit the Trillion dollar empire.
Kaiza thought back to his family, with his little sister now also attending Hightower, fully breaking their aunt's heart, the cracks in which had started forming when Kaiza had left for Hightower. Kaiza missed his family, but he decided that he wanted to explore space more, and had that High Tower was to be his goal from a young age. His sister had always been close with him, and decided the best way to stay near her brother was to follow in his footsteps. Kaiza's parents had been lost to the void of space when he was much younger, when an exploration Fleet had a few of its ships miscalculate a jump and end up smacking into a planet at just below the speed of light. Nothing remained of the ships or the planet, and the system was now fully dedicated as a memorial site to those lost in space in service of the DRE. The accident had been what had led all future space exploration to have the jumps calculated by a single capital ship. Each ship had their navigation computer tethered to the capital ship, which controlled the entire fleet during a jump. Much less room for error if you only have to worry about one calculation and not hundreds.
Kaiza suddenly realized that they were standing outside the ship's conference room. The Captain of the cruiser he was aboard had buzzed Kaiza's communicator earlier in the morning and told him to come to a meeting. He had not been forthcoming as to the reason.
Kaiza turned around and looked at Redd and Jynma. "Standard procedure. Stay here and wait for me. After this meeting is over we have to go do inspections of the barracks."
Redd and Jynma nodded, and took up a position on either side of the door.
Kaiza turned back around to look at the door, and took a breath. Time to see what the captain wants.