CHAPTER 9 KAT
TWO DAYS later, Kat and Lee filed into Mission Assignment and Briefing to accept their latest directive.
They hadn’t seen Commander Blanche since their debriefing with the council and General. That day, their Commander had possessed an air of defiance, an impenetrable fortress guarding her cadets as General Narron lay siege to their testimonies.
But standing before her today, their Commander was the red-headed dragon. Her nostrils seemed to breathe out smoke as she addressed them in tight, clipped tones.
“Good afternoon, cadets.”
She was either having a really tough morning…
Or she wasn’t pleased about something in Commander-land.
It would have to do with the turn things had taken with the General, wouldn’t it?
Something to do with his supposed ‘recourse’ actions or whatever?
She couldn’t remember the exact phrasing Command had used in their raid reports the other day.
Kat observed each flared breath and harrowing blink as their Commander gave her and Lee their resource sustainability mission.
She had pardoned them. Their part in that was over.
But even though they were being released once more to go collect matter from a local moon, it didn’t stop the doubt from creeping back in or the feeling that they’d made everything that much worse for everyone.
“…There will be a time allowance of four hours to support the mission,” Commander Blanche said.
“We expect you back here within that time. Any questions?” The Commander gave them about a half second before she was already steamrolling on.
“Academy Secretary Nolan will go over the details. Good luck cadets.”
And then she was out of there without a backward glance, ecru-heeled boots drilling into the grated floors like the spikes on her tail as she flew. The dragon was gone.
Kat stood a fraction taller and straighter as Nolan took over for the Commander. She hadn’t even realized just how sweltering it had been, almost like Commander Blanche had gone and taken the tension with her, leaving behind only stale questions.
And Nolan.
“…Raid files for your squadron have been added to the hub. You will be notified when your ship has been assigned and scheduled for departure. You are dismissed. Now if you’ll excuse me,” Nolan said, already making for the door with quick steps.
Both he and the Commander were definitely on something today.
But they weren’t the only ones who’d been having a tough time of it lately.
She was probably going to regret this later…
“Hey, hey hey,” Kat said, breaking formation, as she chased the Commander’s secretary down. “What’s going on?”
“Matters that do not concern yourselves,” he said, barely bothering to turn his head.
“Come on, Nolan. You’ve got to give us more than that. You owe us after that last debriefing,” Lee said, sliding in a half-step behind her with a manner which clearly announced: we’re doing this, then. “‘Be on your guard?’”
The Commander’s secretary seethed, an innate amount of impatience rippling across his bland features as he stopped just outside the door.
He glanced up the hallway again before speaking.
“You have to pardon Commander Blanche. Our General, it seems, has been quite busy since leaving the Academy. I trust you saw the reports?” Nolan said.
So it was trouble in Commander-land.
“Busy… Like how, busy?” Lee asked, slowly.
“Let’s just say he’s got a style.” And for a moment Nolan looked like he might say something else, too.
But then he buried his words, resigned, a burly silence taking over.
“My apologies, but if there is nothing else, I do have somewhere I have to be.” And then he was moving once more.
They were still on lovely terms, it seemed.
For the second time that day, Nolan left her and Lee blinking in the fluorescents.
“So it’s true, then. The General’s officially gone,” she said faintly, gazing after the direction where both sources of authority had disappeared.
“So it seems,” Lee said. She dragged her eyes back over, meeting his. But she didn’t feel the relief she thought she’d feel at the closure. She just had more questions.
Kat had far too much suppressed anxiety for the Hideaway, and Lee—pacing energy. So instead of bunking it up in one of their dorms, after grabbing their holoblocks, they took up a spot down in one of the empty training levels.
“‘He’s got a style.’ Nolan,” Kat grumbled, tearing at the hair of her ponytail. “So what, he likes his charcoal-greys on Sundays?”
Lee shot her a bemused look as he crouched down on the floor by his bag. She definitely regretted going after the Commander’s secretary.
While Lee dug through for something to eat, Kat drew up the latest for them on the pipeline.
“What about this recourse has kept you so busy, Mr. General sir?” It took her a minute to sift through dated and irrelevant material, the zings from the blaster range in the room next door ricocheting off the wall at her back.
“Okay, here’s something with his name on it.
” She adjusted the placement of her holoblock on her lap, Lee peering on over her shoulder.
“This one was announced just this week…” She hummed while she scanned the field report for the keywords of interest. “In addition to receiving new funding allocations for the Intergalactic Trade and Security Administration, General Narron also signed new agreements with the Bureau of Planetary Land Management… False alarm,” she trailed off, disappointed.
“The timeline seemed so good, too,” She pouted, swiping out of that holofile to see if she’d missed anything else. But it was all more of the same.
“The trade and security administration tracks,” Lee said, finally emerging from his pack with a protein bar.
She held out her hand, and he dropped it into her waiting palm, before scrounging up a second. Peeling back the foil with her teeth, she flicked back up to the top of her feed.
“So in retaliation for his malefactors getting away, he goes and doubles down on galactic security?”
“He’s relentless,” Lee said simply. He’d risen to his feet, but stood staring down at the wrapped protein bar in his hand.
“More funding would mean more shadow market busts. More cease and desists, and more monitoring the small energy startups… But there’s got to be more to it than that. That’s all old news.”
Kat took her time chewing a bite and forcing it down. “You don’t think the General expects this to happen again do you?”
“I doubt he finds another spaceship in the rubble…” Lee said.
But she could see the spiraling affirmative in his eyes.
It would be another mission. Another people.
Another barrier. But the General wouldn’t hesitate to do something like this again and again, and again, so long as he believed they were a threat.
The whole idea of General Narron toting his ships and firepower about the galaxy left a bad taste in her mouth that had nothing to do with the protein bar in her hand.
He had unlimited resources, and apparently an infinite supply of funding.
He was unstoppable. A force to be reckoned with.
And if Commander Blanche hadn’t figured it out yet, Kat wasn’t sure what either of them could do about it.
Lee seemed to come to a similar conclusion.
Pocketing his protein bar and brushing his hands against his pant legs, he extended a hand for her.
“We’ve got a squadron to form.” She could see the grim determination in the lines of his mouth, and the hesitations roving through his head.
But she accepted his hand. Pushing her holoblock off of her lap, Kat stood up with Lee.
She crammed the rest of the protein bar into her mouth while she followed him over to the dart lane.
“Nice to revert back to the old ways,” she said, still fighting against the uncertainty and the helplessness of their situation. She flicked the glowing case open at the base of the lane, skimming her finger over a set of plasma-darts.
She picked up a couple, feeling the warmth in the shaft as she tossed it between her hands. There was something comforting in feeling the familiar weights nestled against her fingertips.
Lee drew up a holoscreen target at the end of the lane, complete with a full listing of their Academy cadets’ names, years VL and higher.
They each took a few test throws, Lee’s lips quirking up in the corners, before they collected their darts, taking their places back at the start of the lane.
“Standard Academy mission. Low range, low risk,” Lee’s voice rumbled from beside her, the familiar timbre making her blood spark. “Shall we assemble the team?”
She couldn’t help her answering grin. They’d been through a lot up to this point. Even if she wasn’t entirely convinced they were on the right raider track, she couldn’t deny that getting outside of this ship for a bit would do them some good. They could use the fresh air—metaphorically speaking.
She lifted the first dart in her hand, again weighing it on her palm, before rolling it between her fingers.
“No peeking,” Lee reminded her.
Closing her eyes, she took her time, imagining the most mousy and meager VLs she could.
She needed quiet and low-stress—someone naive enough to have evaded the ship’s petty politics and juiciest gossip thus far.
Someone in need of a little corruption, a little Gamma-staining by their name.
And letting karmic synergy do its thing, she tossed her first dart.
A mirroring thunk told her Lee had done the same. She vaguely wondered who Lee’s ideal cadet would be. Also a VL?
Immediately Levy’s face swam into her head, making her wish she hadn’t played the make-believe game.
She wasn’t jealous of Levy anymore, not in that way. She knew the “relationship” she’d had with Lee had ultimately ended platonically. But the girl’s innocence was something Kat would never have going for her. No, Kat had, for better or worse, always viewed the galaxy from very open eyes.