Page 13 of Nova Academy

He wasn’t wrong, but he was well off the mark. ‘I’ve never heard anything about what that was. In fact, I was just thinking about talking to my father. He hadn’t mentioned anything, but that doesn’t mean he’s lacking the information.’

I wanted to snap back at him for the way he was directing his ire at me. I had no clue where it stemmed from to be so severe so soon, but this news was clearly triggering him for some reason. I let it slide, choosing to be the bigger person and reassure him instead.

‘I don’t know what’s going on, but if I can find anything out I will,’ I vowed.

He relaxed marginally at my words, but they didn’t do anything to take back what had been overheard. Something big was happening, and it soundedbad.

???

Arty greeted us by the door when we finally caught up, but none of us so much as acknowledged him in return. He frowned at the reception, and then wiped all emotion from his face and turned from us to lead the way as if he didn’t care. I felt guilty for treating him so poorly, especially when I heard my mother’s voice chiding me in the back of my mind about how a prince should behave, but I was too caught up in the new information we had acquired to care too deeply.

I wasn’t sure why he was leading us around like we were incapable of finding where we needed to be on our own, or why we allowed it and followed along like babies toddling after their mother. It didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it was simultaneously insulting and a comfort not to have to use so much brain power because it was someone else’s job. It gave me the space I needed to process the information I had accidentally gleaned and decide how to proceed. I needed to inform my father, just in case he didn’t already know. In all likelihood, he was more informed than most of the Intergalactic Union. As our people’s King, it was his duty. What I did doubt was him involving himself in such a matter. He may have been a king, but he was a good one that ruled with fairness and compassion. He would never stand by and let people suffer for any reason.

Furthermore, the highest-ranking officer on this vessel, and the easiest to contact, was Captain Hironimus. The possibility that he already had the information regarding whatever illegal program was being discussed was high, especially with way the officers had spoken about it as if it was already a hot topic. But on the other hand, was he high enough up the food chain to warrant taking action against such rumours? He was taxiing cadets to a from an academy, not roaming the stars fighting battles and policing the IU.

Was it worth bringing him into it?

No, probably not. The Intergalactic Union’s Board of Officials clearly knew what was going on if even their lower ranked militaryofficers were in the loop. There was no doubt in my mind that they were actively working to shut down any illegal experimentations. Particularly if my understanding from what I’d heard was correct and they weretorturingpeoplein the process.

That just left speaking with Father, which I would do as soon as we reached the academy grounds, and I had access to methods of communication.

When we reached our room, Arty left us to our own devices, setting the holo-tab on in its place at the foot of his bunk. A white light blinked to confirm it was charging, and then was promptly ignored by Arty as he kicked off his shoes, climbed under his blanket and faced the wall.

If that wasn’t a dismissal, I didn’t know what was. I worried for a moment if we’d offended him or hurt his feelings, but he didn’t strike me as the type to care about other people’s bad moods. Though, he did come to my defence against our previous roommate whose name I had discovered was Tarren Christianson; a name I would actively avoid if I ever heard in the hallways.

It was starting to annoy me how I couldn’t get a read on him. Everything he did was so contradictory that once I thought I was finally figuring him out, he would do something that would completely obliterate my perspective of him.

Foryk squeezed my arm as he followed Arty’s actions, climbing into the bunk above his and curling up as small as he could make himself. If anyone else saw him like that it would be a strange sight to see, such a large man wedged into such a tight space and making it seem even smaller. But I knew better. Foryk preferred cramped spaces when he was feeling overwhelmed. He once told me it made him feel like he was being hugged, and that helped soothe him enough to let him fall asleep. Why he needed to feel that sort of comfort I had never learned, but I wasn’t about to ask him. That wasn’t how our friendship worked.

When we were on Burnos, I often curled myself around him asmuch as I could manage to help him when he struggled. He had a lot of pain and suffering in his past that would give him nightmares and make whatever sleep he managed restless and fitful. I hated seeing him like that, so I did what I could to help. Now, though, I didn’t want to clue anyone into the depths of our friendship or give our teammates the wrong idea. Foryk and I may have shared a lover between us a few times, but that didn’t mean we were lovers ourselves. Our relationship was purely platonic and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It was one of the main reasons why we worked; he didn’t try to get into my pants like everyone else.

Too many times I had people, both men, women, and others attempted to seduce me for the fun of it. I was just another notch on their bedpost, a dare or bucket list item to check off. Not only would they experience fucking a famously amorous Griknot, but aprinceto boot. The last thing I found attractive was being somebody’s one-time kink.

My ability to trust others’ intentions had depleted significantly until I’d met him.

Reece settled in his bunk on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling and caught up in his thoughts. I curled up in my own bed, mulling over the day’s events. I would have to wait to speak to my father, but that couldn’t be helped. Captain Hironimus was a wild card and probably of no use anyway, so that was out.

Right now, the only thing I could do was sleep, so that was what I did.

CHAPTER 7

Alexander

Iwanted to punch something. I wanted to punch someone. I wanted to pummel the assholes who were trying to destroy my career solely for the purposes of ensuring my silence.

Blackmail. That’s what this was. Babysitting the green beans. They’d learn soon enough that entitlement and arrogance wouldn’t get them far and they’d fall in line. But until then, they were making a circus of my ship, and I wasnothappy about it.

Addy was constantly trying to make light of the situation, teasing me for my inability to tolerate the newbies and attempting to bring a little levity and peace of mind back into my moods. It wasn’t working. She managed to get a small reaction from me here and there, especially if she was gossiping at the expense of some of the idiots currently on my ship, or when she was feeling snuggly, but it didn’t solve the problem at hand

Something nefarious was going on in the dark underbelly of the Intergalactic Union, and not enough was being done to extinguish the threat. It wasn’t even being considered a true threat, and that was just pissing me off even more. I could handle the death of my military career if it meant putting an end to the horrors I had witnessed. What I couldnothandle, however, were the men and women in charge turning a blind eye, tossing the issue into a dusty file in the darkest recesses of their unused record rooms. It wasn’t even a priority for them. People –children– were being kidnapped, held captive, tortured,murdered, and they didn’t even care. They just handed the case over to the general and told her to deal with it, and she, in turn, tossed it to someone else who didn’t care

Sure, they shut down the laboratories they could get access to, but those were the labs that were producing necessary medicalenhancements and discoveries. Those were the labs performing experiments legally and at the behest of the IU and its military. Shutting those down was not only doing more harm than good, but it didn’t solve the issue in the slightest. All those scientists that we hadn’t caught? They were hiding away, sequestering themselves in the hidden locations of their secret labs, continuing their testing on unwitting and unwilling live subjects.

People. They were experimenting on people they hadabducted. People that no one would notice were missing. Some had even beensold, like an old piece of clothing no one wanted anymore.

It was like trying to weed out a needle in a million different haystacks. There was simply no way to find them all without going undercover. My mistake was suggesting doing so myself a little too forcefully. And perhaps… accidentally insulting the colonel in the process. Not my finest moment, I was ready to admit, but it was born out of desperation. Seeing with my own eyes what those monsters were doing to those people… it was the most horrific thing I had ever seen, and I had fought many battles; seen planets destroyed.

The last I heard of it was when one of the subjects from their secret locations had managed to escape and throw everyone into a tizzy. A woman who had received all the upgrades successfully, turning her into one of the most dangerous beings in the entire IU. I wasn’t sure of her specific abilities, but I did hear she was one of the first to have effectively adapted to the medical nanites created by the legal branch of The Program. They gave her the ability to not only block her pain receptors almost immediately after an injury, but to completely heal any injury within a matter of clicks.

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