Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
Fiona
T he battle schematics hung in the air behind me, ghostly, blue holograms showing troop movements across ancient terrain. As my first-year class filed out of the stadium-style classroom, their conversation animated and their boots slapping the steps, I couldn't shake the feeling that they looked impossibly young. I only hoped they stayed that way.
Last year’s first years looked nothing like the wide-eyed cadets who had just been staring eagerly at me during my lecture. But the past year had been an arduous test that had aged them all.
The maze had been brutal, taking cadets before they'd barely had a chance to prove themselves. At least the academy was finally reconsidering these traditional sorting methods, though sometimes I wondered if every class went through this transformation from wide-eyed recruits to battle-hardened warriors. Was that part of the tradition that turned out such tough Drexian warriors?
The classroom emptied, but then quick footsteps rushed toward me. My pulse spiked. Vyk had a habit of surprising me between classes, his gruff exterior barely masking the tenderness underneath. Who would have thought the fearsome Commander and I would end up together, after starting as enemies? Not me.
But it wasn't Vyk who was hurrying toward me—it was Jess, her face tight with worry.
"You need to come with me," she said, grabbing my arm. "Now."
My stomach dropped as she pulled me up the stairs. "What's happened?"
"There's been an accident."
Fear iced my chest. "Vyk?"
"No, he's fine. Torq went to get him." Jess tugged me down the crowded hallway, dodging around cadets hurrying to their next classes.
"Tell me what's happening," I demanded, but Jess just shook her head, glancing at the corridor filled with cadets.
We rushed through the main hall and under the massive arch leading to the Blades. Only when the cadets had thinned out did Jess slow her pace and turn to me.
"It's Kann and Britta."
I frowned. "What about them?"
"They're trapped inside a holo simulation."
I stopped dead. "What?"
"Keep moving," Jess urged, pushing me forward. "We're not sure how it happened, but Torq went to get Zav, who knows more about the program they’re in than anyone.”
I allowed myself to be prodded as my mind raced. How did they get trapped in a holo simulation? I wasn’t trained in holo technology, but I knew the basics. I also knew that Drexians had been using it for decades and had made it extremely safe. It was used on both space stations that housed tribute brides, and as far as I knew, there had never been a major malfunction on one of them. At least, I’d never heard of a tribute bride being trapped in the simulation of her fantasy suite. Not that anyone would complain much about being stuck inside a tropical paradise or a cozy, Swiss chalet.
“How?” I managed to ask.
“There's been some kind of malfunction. You know when the power went out and everything went dark for a few seconds?”
I bobbed my head mutely. I’d been preparing for my lecture, and the holographic display had vanished as my empty classroom had been plunged into blackness. I’d panicked for all of two seconds, before the light came back on, and the holographic diagram was restored.
“The power surge might have damaged the program or the chamber or the circuit itself.” Jess shrugged. “Who knows?”
“And Britta and Kann are both inside a running simulation?”
“That’s what it looks like, but I don’t know why or which one.” Jess motioned with her head in the direction of the holochambers. “We’ll know more when we get there.”
My gut twisted as I picked up the pace and started to run next to Jess. I hadn’t known Britta long, but she was one of the women who’d arrived with me to integrate the Drexian Academy. She might be a cadet while I was an instructor, and she might be an Iron while I was an Assassin, but none of that mattered. She had become a close friend. She had become family.
When we reached the holochambers, Zav and Volten were hunched over the console, their faces illuminated by the shifting lights of the display.
"No luck," Volten said without looking up.
“What does that mean?” Jess asked.
"Are they okay?" I pressed my hand to my mouth. "Are they alive?"
"They're alive," Zav confirmed, but his tone made a chill skate down my spine.
Volten straightened and turned to us. "The safety features appear to have been damaged in the power fluctuation, as well as some of the operating functions”
I tapped one toe impatiently. “Meaning…?”
“Meaning we can't stop the simulation or get them out without risking their lives,” Zav said, as he continued to work on the control panel.
Vyk and Torq ran up, both Drexians breathing heavily as if they’d run the entire way.
I didn’t bother to hide my fear from Vyk, who pulled me to him as he asked, "What simulation?"
Volten squared his shoulders. "It's one Kann created to test the possibility of using an old academy challenge instead of the maze. The Silent Hunt."
Jess sucked in a breath. “Britta talked about working on that.”
“We worked on it together,” Zav said, his voice a low rumble. “I should have been here with her. I should be the one in the simulation.”
“If you were, you wouldn’t be able to fix this,” I said.
The Taori twisted his head, one black braid dangling in front of his face as he met my gaze. “You are right. I am the only other engineer who knows as much about the simulation. It might take time, but I can get them out.”
“How much time?” Vyk's expression darkened.
“I do not know.” Zav exhaled loudly. “I must be careful if I want to preserve their signatures within the program.”
That did not sound good. I slipped my hand into Vyk’s, seeking comfort as much as offering it. “What are you thinking?”
He squeezed my fingers, but the gesture felt tense. “The ancient academy was even more dangerous, and the Silent Hunt was not as peaceful as its name might indicate.”
I stifled a rough laugh. “I never assume anything that has to do with the Drexians is peaceful.”
My heart sank as I thought of Britta trapped in there. She was brilliant with technology, but this was different. This was survival.
“She’s tough,” Jess said, as if convincing herself more than anyone else.
“So is Kann.” Volten’s expression hardened. “He will not let anything bad happen to either of them.”
Vyk continued to scowl next to me, his entire body coiled with tension.
“What is it?” I whispered. “What is it you aren’t telling me?”
He looked at me, his blue eyes intense. “The rescue mission cannot wait. Not if we want to get Ariana’s sister back.”
If it was possible for my heart to plummet farther into my stomach, it did. I looked at the holochamber doors and then back at Vyk. If Zav could not get Kann and Britta out soon, would we have to leave on the mission without them? How could we go, knowing that our friends’ lives hung in the balance?
“ Grek ,” we said in unison.