"Cadet! You there! Stop right where you are. Do not move a muscle". The cadet pulled hard on the breaks of her bicycle, knowing without having to see who was shouting at her that this was going to be a bad morning.
She rapidly dismounted and looked around to see who had caught her using an unauthorised vehicle. Such a stupid rule - no bicycles on base?! Hidden between The Camp's unused storage bunker (known as Maritime Lodge No.3284 to the initiated) and the small copse of trees that usually sheltered her covert bicycle usage from prying eyes, she could see some movement. Slowly as her eyes adjusted to the shade cast by autumnal leaves, she saw a whole platoon crouched down around a member of the training staff. A colour-sergeant or staff sergeant most likely.
"Sorry Colour-Sergeant, err, Staff Sergeant, I didn't expect ... " she started, trying to seem confident. Immediately she was cut off as the entire platoon froze and the training staff strode forward "WHAT did you call me?!" he snarled, a face of rage striding towards her out of the shadows. His epaulettes showed the signature Crown and crossed swords of a Sergeant-Major. THE Sergeant-Major. Who must be addressed as "sir" at all times, not by his rank. This was definitely going to be a bad morning.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
It had been only 18 months prior when Katherine Suzuki, Cadet Suzuki to the staff and Kat to her friends, had decided to apply to become an officer with the Space Force. She had never been particularly militarily inclined, coming from a mixed race family, she was never sure she would be welcome in any branch of government service, never mind one as nationalistic as the military. War had always been a far away thing, sure her uncle had been in the Air Force and served in the Middle East... or was it Central Asia? And her grandfather on the her mother's side had served in the Navy in the West Africa campaign, but those were just stories from times past. They weren't real in the mind of a twenty year old chemistry student.
Until, of course, the unexpected happened. Until The Object was discovered and the first true space race began.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Staff Sergeant Bramo, 19th Orbital Artillery, looked up from his sparse desk, placing the phone down carefully. Even in these modern times, physically hardened and magnetically shielded phone lines proved to be one of the most secure methods of communication. Cadet Suzuki was standing to attention at the regulation distance inside his doorway. He was a calm man. Fair and worked hard for his cadets. Not like some he could mention.
"At ease, Miss Suzuki, at ease. Now. Tell me. What are you going to do about this bicycle? I told you not to get caught with it."
"Yes, Staff Sergeant! I was late for parade and thought if it was more important that I... "
"Late, eh? Well, you should know better than that, you pass out in a month's time, you've been here long enough to know we have to uphold these rules even if we don't agree with them."
"Yes, Staff Sergeant!"
"Well, it is out of my hands, the Camp Sergeant-Major seems to be taking this one personally, you'll have to report to his office for punishment duty this evening at 9pm. I wouldn't make any plans for the next few weekends either."
"Yes, Staff Sergeant!"
"Right well, I wouldn't worry about it. Take your punishment, for God's sake keep your head down in a few week's you'll have your commission and you'll out rank the Sergeant-Major and myself... technically."
Kat worked hard to keep any flash of amusement from her face. It had been a good gamble. She'd found that old bicycle in the mech-yard and been using it to nip around the base for weeks. Okay, so she'd been caught once, and would be punished. A fair trade. More than fair in fact.
Waiting to be dismissed, Kat followed the ritual that had been burned into her mind in the last 11 months "Leave to carry on, Staff Sergeant!?" she asked in that shouting military way.
"One more thing Miss Suzuki. I understand you have applied to the Orbital Proximity Regiment. Are you sure this is where you are best suited? Someone with your academics would do well in the Survey and Mining Corps, and, of course, in Orbital Artillery."
"Thank you Staff Sergeant, Orbital Proximity is what I want. No disrespect to any other corps or regiments. I want to be close to the... "
"Action?" the artillery Staff Sergeant raised an eyebrow.
"Close to the front, Staff Sergeant, I want to be able to see it."
Staff Sergeant Bramo returned to his orderly desk and sat down. "Leave to carry on, Cadet." he stated loudly and crisply. Then, seeing United Kingdom Space Force Officer Cadet Katherine Suzuki bring herself to attention, turn and briskly march away, he let himself sigh as he frowned. Lodge Leader Bramo picked up the old fashioned telephone, dialed the sacred number and spoke, "Tonight. We do it tonight".