Maja’s Adventures 2
Location: Magicon Empire; Armortec Duchy; Cintman System; Peacekeeper Academy
It doesn’t take long until the room is packed and every single occupant from the Estrella has entered. Maja hears the door closing far behind her, then another one at the front opens and a man steps through. He wears a white dress uniform with lots of shiny pieces affixed to it. On top of his head is a hat with a golden ME at the front. He is followed by another two men who wear the same uniform. The only difference Maja notices is the different number of golden stripes on their shoulders. The man at the front has four, while the other two only have two.
That’s a Commander and two Lieutenants… Probably the station’s commander with his two aides.
Said commander claps once, and the sound reverbs through the room. Slowly the communications die down. It still takes about two minutes until everyone fully faces the Commander and pays attention. He just keeps standing there the whole time with an impassive expression. Maja notices a slight twitch on one of the Lieutenant’s faces behind him.
That’s never a good sign.
Finally, the Commander opens his mouth. He just utters a single word before being silent again. “Pathetic!”
The single word slams down on everyone with its full weight. Curious expressions around Maja turn to shock, and all smiles vanish. The Commander nods once. “Good. Now that I have your attention, my name is Commander Marcus Fletcher. You will call me Commander Fletcher or just Commander. What I see before me are the faces of people who don’t know what it means to be a Peacekeeper. But you’re here to change that. That’s commendable!”
He stops for another moment to let the words sink in. Then he continues, still punctuating every single sentence with a short pause. “You’re now probably asking yourselves what I mean by that. So let me explain this to you. You all are now Peacekeeper cadets which means you have to act in a certain way. Remember who you represent in the future. You’ll be part of the greatest military force the galaxy has ever seen. This means you have to show DISCIPLINE!”
He literally explodes saying the last word and before anyone can react to this, he continues shouting. “WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO LET A SUPERIOR OFFICER WAIT FOR TWO FULL MINUTES WHEN THEY ARE ADDRESSING YOU?”
The words hang in the air again while most of the young people around Maja lower their heads in shame. A few even mumble an apology. Suddenly, the Commander looks in Maja’s direction and she follows his gaze. She notices the short guy from earlier look back at the Commander. There is no trace of shame on his face, and he stares forward defiantly.
“You,” Commander Fletcher starts, “what’s your name?”
“I’m cadet Steven Chen, Commander Fletcher, sir.”
“Cadet Chen, you’ve got some spine, don’t lose it. This goes for all of you. If you don’t do anything wrong, you don’t have to feel ashamed for it.”
His gaze moves through the room and lingers on a few faces. Maja and Ellie included. Maja rewinds everything that has happened in her head again.
Oh, those are all the people who immediately paid attention to Commander Fletcher. Steven Chen was the only one who didn’t lower his head after the Commander’s outburst though… That’s either a crazy good perception from the Commander or good AI support.
“Now with this out of the way, we can finally return to the actual topic of today. First of all, welcome to Peacekeeper Academy, cadets. In case you don’t know, you’ve entered the Academy the moment the MES Estrella left the wormhole.”
He stops again, clearly awaiting another outburst. This time everyone stays silent though and Commander Fletcher nods once. “That’s better! And yes, before you ask the staff later on, let me confirm. The whole Cintman System belongs to Peacekeeper Academy and will be your home for the following years. This includes the planets. In fact, you all will be visiting one of the planets during your first assignment that starts tomorrow after you’ve got your uniforms.”
He stops again and indicates the two Lieutenants who take a step forward. “To get those, you have to follow Lieutenants Smith and Yang. The Mages among you are with Lieutenant Smith,” he indicates the taller Lieutenant to his left who nods once. “Everyone else is with Lieutenant Yang.” This time the smaller, but more muscular Lieutenant with Asian features nods.
They both turn around and walk to two different doors that had just opened. Still, no one moves, everyone keeps looking at the Commander. A slight smile finds its way on his face, and he nods. “Cadets, you are dismissed.” He vanishes with a purple flash, then the new Peacekeeper cadets make their way to their respective exits.
Maja sends a quick message to her three friends wishing them good luck, then she follows the tall Ellie toward the exit. A line forms quickly, with Ellie and Maja in the middle. This leads to another period of waiting until they finally reach Lieutenant Yang.
“Names?” He asks.
“Maja Yarin, sir,” Maja replies, introducing herself.
Ellie is quick to follow. “Eleanor Zekic, sir.”
The Lieutenant’s eyes lose focus for a short moment, then a slight smile enters his face. “You’re both command track, huh? Congratulations. Just follow the hallway and turn left at the next intersection. Then your destination is the third room on the right. The Commander will personally take care of you once everyone is there.”
Ellie nods. “Thank you, Lieutenant.”
Then they both continue down the hallway until they reach the indicated room. There are already a few people waiting inside, including cadet Chen, the guy who caught the attention of Commander Fletcher. He nods in greeting when Maja and Ellie enter, then he returns to standing ramrod straight in the middle of the room. There are 16 other people inside the room with a slight majority of young men. A few stand just as straight as cadet Chen, while all the others are way more relaxed and talk to each other.
Maja and Ellie mostly stay by themselves and only exchange a few pleasantries with the others. Every few minutes a new person enters the room until it closes behind the 49th cadet.
“Guys, we can’t mess up this time, we’re the elite class, so follow my example once the Commander enters,” cadet Chen calls out.
He’s right. He also seems to be one of the few who have a clue what’s going on.
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Maja and Ellie exchange glances, and they both nod slightly. Then another door opens, and Commander Fletcher enters the room.
“Attention! Commander on deck,” cadet Chen calls out, stands somehow even straighter, and puts his right palm to the forehead to perform a salute.
Surprisingly, all the cadets follow his example. The Commander looks visibly pleased. “That’s better. Thank you, cadet Chen. You may be at ease.”
Everyone relaxes their postures, while most start shuffling around and relax their whole bodies, cadet Chen still stands somewhat stiff with his hands behind his back. Commander Fletcher gives him a nod in appreciation and Maja quickly follows cadet Chen’s example. A few others do so as well.
Commander Fletcher starts chuckling. “There’s no need for the correct postures right now. You’ll have enough time to learn them in the following weeks. Now, I welcome you all to one of the most prestigious tracks within Peacekeeper Academy. You are the best of the best. Look at your neighbors. These are the faces who will be commanding starships and whole fleets in the future, freeing up our Mages to concentrate on their magic. I expect greatness from you. Don’t disappoint me. Your training will start tomorrow. You’ve got the rest of today at your convenience. I’ll be sending you your room numbers where two sets of uniforms will be waiting for you. You are responsible for those uniforms. The one you are wearing needs to be impeccable at all times. You have to change into your uniform before further exploring the station. Good luck cadets, dismissed.”
He disappears again and Maja intercepts another signal that tried to connect to her interface.
He seems to like disappearing on us… Also, here’s my room number. Rather annoying with the uniforms though. Good thing I don’t sweat.
“What’s your room, Maja?” Ellie asks. “Mine is 03-76.”
Maja doublechecks her own number. “I’m in 03-75, so I guess we’re not roommates anymore.”
“A bummer, but hey, at least we’re still close. Shall we?”
Maja nods, and they exit the room. Their room numbers luckily came with a map of the station, so they are very easy to find. As expected, Maja and Ellie have their separate rooms next to each other. They decide to meet each other again in thirty minutes in the hallway, which should leave them enough time to put away their things, freshen up, and put on their uniforms.
The door closes behind Maja after she enters her room. This time there isn’t a bathroom included, just a single sink right next to the entrance.
Hmm, even more utilitarian… I guess we won’t be spending much time here. Good thing I don’t need to use the bathroom… Ah, there’s the uniform.
Said uniform lies neatly folded on the small metal bed at the back of the room. There are two of them, next to each other – just like Commander Fletcher said. Maja grabs the top piece from the left stack of clothes. It’s a black, skintight shipsuit that works as a general protection against breaches aboard a ship or station – a must-have for pretty much everyone besides Maja. She also notices a signal emanating from the shipsuit and connects to it.
Ahh, it can be made see-through at the arms and legs, just like the ones Sara is always wearing.
Maja nods to herself, strips down, and puts on her new shipsuit. She puts her old clothes beside her backpack and makes the shipsuit mostly see-through. Now only the important parts are covered by the black color. Dark grey cargo pants and black boots complete her lower half, while a simple black shirt and a dark blue jacket finish the rest.
That’s very different from what the Commander and Lieutenants were wearing. I guess I’m now wearing what the Peacekeepers wear while following their normal duties? Not that it matters… I better pack away the other uniform in case they surprise us with an unannounced deployment or something. Hmm, I’m probably not allowed to keep my own backpack. Is there a new one?
Ah, there it is!
Her quick search ends when she opens the small wardrobe next to the bed. A backpack in the same dark blue color as her jacket stands at the bottom. She grins when she finds a note inside that tells her about a hidden compartment for her magical battery. She quickly proceeds to empty her old backpack and puts the battery inside the hidden compartment. Then she puts away most of her other things and puts the second uniform up top. Closing up her new backpack she tries it on and nods. It fits perfectly.
She leaves the backpack in the room and steps outside again to wait for Ellie. It doesn’t take long until her former roommate exits her room while wearing the same uniform. They look each other up and down and grin, then they set off to explore the station and maybe find Thomas and the other Mages.
Turns out all the Mages are long gone. After they walked through all the public places on the station and didn’t find the others, Maja decided to ask one of the other soldiers aboard the station. Apparently, Lieutenant Smith immediately led all the Mage cadets to another starship, and they left right after.
Wow, I didn’t expect to be separated from Thomas, Shay, and Simon that fast…
Ellie tries to comfort Maja, but in the end, they return to their rooms sooner rather than later. Maja’s mood is still down, and Ellie decides to go to sleep early. “Who knows what they come up with tomorrow,” she says after saying good night to Maja.
Maja lies down in her bed and closes her eyes. While she doesn’t need to sleep, she learned how good a bit of relaxation can be.
A few hours later, her relaxation is suddenly interrupted by a loud siren. Maja sits bolt upright. A quick check marks the time at 0400 military time.
What’s happening?
“Cadets, report to hangar 14 immediately. Bring your issued backpacks, nothing else. I repeat, report to hangar 14 immediately.”
Oh, is that one of those drills Ellie talked about earlier?
Excitement fills her, and she quickly gets up. Luckily, she didn’t bother with getting out of her uniform last night, so she’s ready in seconds. Maja quickly grabs her backpack and leaves the room. The station’s map shows her the way to hangar 14. Still, she hesitates and turns in the other direction instead. Five steps later, she stands before Ellie’s door and knocks.
“I’m coming, one second!” Ellie cries through the closed door and Maja sighs in relief.
Good, she’s awake. That would have been embarrassing.
Thirty seconds later, the door opens and Ellie steps outside. “Oh, it’s you. Hi Maja, are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m good. How about you? This gotta be a drill, right.”
“I think so. Good thing we went to bed early. Let’s go!”
They follow the directions toward hangar 14. On their way, they catch up with a few other cadets. They look all dead tired except Steven Chen, who storms ahead with a smile on his face. Maja notices, that some others don’t have their backpacks with them. And one cadet is without his uniform. He only wears pajama pants, nothing else.
I don’t think the Commander would like that.
Maja rushes ahead and taps the guy on the shoulder. He turns around and looks like he is sleepwalking. “Mate, where is your uniform,” Maja hisses.
That wakes the guy up. He looks down on himself and his eyes widen in panic. “Shit! Thank you.”
He turns around and rushes back the way he came. Ellie catches up with Maja and chuckles. “That’s nice of you.”
Maja shrugs. “That would have been bad for everyone. Better we keep the Commander happy.”
“True enough,” Ellie agrees.
A bit later, they reach the hangar and form up around cadet Chen. This time they all follow his example and stand at attention in neat lines 10 wide, five rows deep. Maja looks around and with a few expectations only sees dead tired faces.
A minute later, the Commander enters the room, and everyone salutes him. He nods once, then returns the salute. “Good morning cadets, I hope you slept well.” There is a slight smirk on his face. “Behind me is a shuttle that will bring you down to Cintman 3. There you will get further instructions. Good luck cadets.” After that, he vanishes again.
He keeps doing that…
A door opens, showing the interior of a shuttle. Cadet Chen is the first one to move and enters the shuttle. Everyone else quickly follows. Once everyone has boarded, the shuttle’s door closes, and it departs the station.
Cadet Chen stands up and turns to face everyone. He pats his bulging backpack. “I hope you all have your things packed. I guess that we’re currently flying toward boot camp, which means we’ll have to make do with the thing we have with us right now.”
There are curses all around the shuttle. As Maja had noticed earlier, not everyone brought their backpack. When accusations start flying around, Maja stands up as well and whistles loudly.
“Everyone shut the fuck up!”
All the faces turn to her. “As Steven just said, we probably have to make do with the things we have once we reach the planet. We’re the elite track though, so act like it! I’d say it’s best if we pool our resources once we’ve landed and go from there. Who’s with me?”
Ellie is the first one to cheer and voice her agreement. Most of the others quickly join in. Cadet Chen nods approvingly but before he can say anything else, the shuttle’s captain tells everyone to sit down and fasten their seatbelts. The shuttle is about to enter the atmosphere of Cintman 3
I hope this won’t be too bad!