CHAPTER FORTY
JAI
Eight Weeks Later
I stood at the front of the classroom in the base’s training facility, watching the dozen members of my first class trickle in the door.
They were a mixed bunch, including humans, Solofs, Denzogals and Wasops.
Their ranks ranged from corporal up to major, and everything in between.
Long discussions with Colonel Henderson and my master meant I knew there were plenty more people that the Alliance Military wanted to put through this course, but for a first time run, we were starting small, so that we could iron out any glitches along the way.
Over at the side of the room, Henderson, Kade and my master were sitting at a table, ostensibly to monitor my teaching style and provided useful feedback.
In reality, they were there to make sure the attendees behaved themselves.
Regardless of the level of skill I’d demonstrated, it could still be confronting to reach the rank of major and find that you still had plenty of things to learn from a newly recruited corporal, and I’d been warned that there were two people in the class in particular who were likely to make trouble.
Finding a workable middle ground between authority figure and new recruit was going to take some effort; I knew my stuff and I had plenty to teach, but I’d been raised in a system that was not the Alliance, and there were both cultural and military procedures that didn’t quite translate.
But the new classes were not the only development in my life in recent weeks.
In light of my admission that I knew I’d been found, not bought, my master had asked Dax to add me to his list of soldiers who needed psychological support, and I’d been assigned to one of the base’s psychologists.
Knowing that my master cared about me was a large step towards recovering from the trauma of my training – something that I now understood was trauma, and not simply my own unwillingness to do as I was told – but simply knowing that wasn’t going to be enough to undo two years of coercive manipulation and abuse.
I was also spending time once a fortnight talking to Dax and Zeke, with Zeke in particular having first hand experience in dealing with the mood swings and flashbacks that came with PTSD.
An odd little development in their own lives that had resulted from that was that Dax had finally admitted to his master that he knew that he, too, had been found and not bought.
Kade and I had given him a few nudges in that direction, and on a purely selfish note, I’d been finding it very difficult to talk about my relationship with my master without emphasising the detail that he hadn’t bought me, and how that related to Dax’s own situation.
But on a far more altruistic level, we’d both felt that the honesty would be good for their relationship, regardless of the short-term angst it created, and in the end, Dax had agreed.
The announcement itself had ended up being rather anti-climactic – Dax had emphasised the fact that he’d known for months, and was perfectly okay with it, and within about half an hour, Zeke had calmed down and accepted the news.
The last piece of the puzzle that was having a hugely beneficial effect on me was my growing friendship with Kade.
He understood me in a way that neither my master nor my psychologist could, regardless of their best intentions, and given that he was also a combat specialist, there were parts of our training that even Dax struggled to understand.
Our master had been firmly encouraging our friendship, to the extent that he’d made it a regular routine that one night out of three, Kade and I got to share a bed, with each of us spending a night with our master on the other two nights.
My master had also been creating plenty of time for Kade and me to be alone together, to talk, or even to go out for dinner now and then, just the two of us.
On one particular night, we’d come home and shut ourselves in the spare bedroom together, with Kade telling our master – in the politest terms, of course – that we would prefer not to be disturbed.
On that night, I’d fulfilled Kade’s wish of having my cock up his ass.
The freedom for us both to explore our desires without having to give constant consideration to our master’s wishes had been liberating, at the same time as feeling like a guilty pleasure we were not supposed to be indulging.
But our master’s open approval of the time we spent together was slowly undoing a lifetime of conditioning to the contrary, and I was becoming more comfortable with the arrangement with each passing day.
Back in the present, the last of the attendees arrived in the classroom, and as I’d discussed with my master, I changed my scales from purple to blue.
Regardless of the fact that everyone here knew who I was, I wanted to make the point very clear that I was a Vangravian, and therefore had been trained differently from the rest of the group.
It didn’t mean I was better than any of these people, just that I was different.
I hoped that that realisation would open my students’ minds to looking at the techniques we were going to discuss in a new light, rather than sticking to the dogma of ‘that’s not how we do it in the Alliance’.
“Good morning,” I addressed the group. “My name is Corporal Jai Hill, and it’s my pleasure to welcome you to the first class in our new course; Advanced Combat for High Risk Situations.
Over the next three months, we’re going to be covering a range of topics including escaping from traps and restraints, complex strategic thinking and advanced combat technology, with an emphasis on bypassing or making use of a variety of devices which are illegal in Alliance space.
You have all been advised to re-read the section in your manuals on acts of terrorism and piracy, and I’d like to reiterate that any use of such devices outside of strict military protocols is cause for prosecution.
“Classes will be running twice a week, but you will gain the most from this training if you take some time to practice these techniques either at home, or in the base’s weapons range.
For our first lesson today, we’re going to begin with ropes.
” I held up one of the lengths of yellow rope that had been laid out on the desk at the front of the room, each one about three metres long.
“Please come and collect a rope each, and then find partners to begin our first exercise.”
I stood back while the class came forward to collect their rope, cataloguing each of their reactions.
Some were eager. Others were wary. The one Denzogal in the room seemed to think this was some kind of joke.
I smiled to myself. He would find out soon enough just how challenging the techniques were going to be.
While I waited, I glanced across to where my official observers were sitting.
Henderson gave me a nod. Kade looked amused, and from the direction of his gaze, he’d also noted the reaction of the Denzogal.
My master was sitting in a relaxed pose, but he was watching everything that happened in the room, attentive to each and every detail.
When I’d first met my master, groggy from coming out of stasis and angry with the entire galaxy, I’d thought he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen, for all that I’d believed there was an ugliness inside him.
Now, with the encouraging smile on his face and the knowledge that he was every bit the kind and caring master I used to dream about, I was even more convinced it was true.
I picked up the final length of rope, unravelling it to begin my demonstration. Perhaps, I thought, as I let the smooth fibres slide through my fingers, my master might allow me to demonstrate my intricate knowledge of knots when we got home tonight. Specifically, by tying him to the bed frame.
It was something I was going to have to ask him later on. For now, I had a lesson to teach.