With that ability alone, she would be practically indestructible. The perfect weapon.
The IU was treatingheras a threat, actively hunting her down with the intent to destroy her. So if they could consider their victims to be a danger, why,whycouldn’t anyone see that theperpetrators were also a threat.
My goal had been to search for the escaped woman, to recruit her into our cause and use her to take down The Program. But that proposal was shut down almost as soon as I’d opened my mouth. Instead, I had been ordered to mind my own business or find myself suddenly unemployed. When I’d begun to protest, I’d been demoted then and there to babysitting duty as an instructor at Nova Academy. I was officially placed on probation and warned for a final time to keep my nose out of it.
Of course, I didn’t intend to do that. I still planned on finding the woman, though it would have to be in my free time now that I was stuck with the children. If it meant going rogue, I knew my crew would back me. They had seen the horrors of The Program just as I had and were just as eager to spill evil scientist blood and slice into the belly of the beast. It would take longer to get the information we needed, to hunt down each and every secret location, but we would do it. We were a hardy bunch that didn’t give up so easily. We wouldn’t be cowed by politicians telling us no, especially when there was no real reason to object to the mission.
Not unless they were in on it.
I dismissed the thought as soon as it came. There was no use dwelling on it. Even if the cancer had spread too far so quickly, infecting all the way up to the highest of government officials, I had no proof. I would not and could not act on a hunch, which Addy reminded me of on a regular basis. At least until I had the physical evidence to present. Though who I would present it to when I was losing trust in my superiors was anyone’s guess.
Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Addy waltzed through the doors to my personal chambers as if she owned the place, though not without bumping into the doorframe and knocking over my freshly folded pile of uniform pants. I knew better than to make a fuss, so I simply shook my head with a sigh and got to work refolding them.
‘What brings you here this time, Addy?’ I asked.
‘I havesomuch to tell you, bestie,’ she squealed as she bounced on my bed. I winced at the reminder of our platonic relationship before throwing the thought away. I never could figure out where she found so much energy, but she never seemed to run out.
‘Have at it,’ I said, already preparing myself for the bombardment of inane gossip.
‘So, my first greenie shift was withPrince Brommyt Min’Tuk.Can youbelieveit?’ she began, and it was like a record scratched in my ears. There was a Griknot princeling on board my ship and no one had thought to inform me?
She continued before I could start ranting and raving the way I was gearing up to do. ‘And his whole team was, like, so stunning, but each in a different way, you know? I think their team leader was a pure-bred Terran, which is, like,super-duperrare so far away from Earth. And there was thisginormouspure-bred Tornu and a Terran-Yu’Rom mutt that was so damn pretty it was hard to even look at him. I mean, how does anyone reach that level of ethereal? It’s just not fair. Like, how can those people even exist individually, let alone in the same room and the sameteam, amiright?’
I grunted in response, which was enough for her to keep blabbing. ‘And I think the Tornu and the prince might have a thing goin’, ‘cause they kept casually touching each other like it was nothing. I swear, it was so damn sweet it almost made me wanna puke, but of course I didn’t. Wouldn’t want that to be my first impression in front of the greenies, you know what I mean? But they were all so helpful, and they made sure I didn’t get buried and that Arty fellow chose which piles to organise first so I wouldn’t have to and it was just amazing, because after they left they taught the new team taking over what to do so that when they were gone I would be okay and I really like them. I think you should promote them all.’
She hardly took a breath, her words more like verbal vomit thanactual sentences that it took me a moment to process it all. But what I got from that was she wanted me to hand out promotions to an entire team on their first day, and I wasn’t doing that. I’d already promoted enough cadets for an entire solar.
‘Sorry, Ads, not happening. But I’m glad you finally got some help organising that horror show you call a workshop.’
She pouted, but got over it in a blink, continuing on with her verbal onslaught. ‘Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I want to be friends with them, and while I love you and would follow you to the end and all, I need more people like them. You know, positive and kind and helpful and adds value to my life. You’re too much of a grouch these days. Okay, bye!’ she called, plopping a quick kiss on my cheek and waving behind her as she exited my room as quickly as she came. I was left gaping at the closed door and the emotional destruction she had left in her wake.
Did she just…?
She did not…
I dropped the pants I’d been folding and stormed after her, only to discover my moment of stupefaction had allowed her a head start and she was nowhere in sight. I quickly re-entered my bedroom and picked up my holo-tab, hastily tapping her identification number into the search function. A map appeared above the glass in a blue glow, followed by a white blinking dot that was rapidly descending the ship deck by deck. It stopped on deck three, traversed the corridor to the right, and stopped at room seventeen.
‘Gotcha,’ I muttered to myself, and then promptly made my way down in the officer’s elevator. Deck three was as far down as it went before one reached the service decks, and where I would have typically shoved the guests I didn’t particularly like. It was loud and its proximity to the engines created a dull roar that never ceased, ensuring sleep would be hard to find. For most. I was sure any of the students on scholarship would be accustomed to sleeping throughan abundance of noise, but that sent me on another thought spiral where something struck me. I seriously hoped I hadn’t accidentally assigned aprincelingto a crappy room on deck three. After Hurricane Addy’s announcement and then her destination, I had the terrible suspicion that I had done just that.
The corridors were empty when I arrived, and I thanked the stars the none of the cadets were out to watch me on the warpath. It was a personal matter, so they could mind their own damn business if they did step out.
I banged my fist on the seventeenth door and didn’t have to wait long for it to open. There stood the Cadet Corporal I recognised from not only the day before as the first one to understand and respond to my hand gesture, but as one of the cadets I had allowed the use of the officer’s elevator just this morning. Arthur Mercer, if I remembered correctly. A willowy fellow who still had yet to even grow any facial hair. He appeared to be one of the younger recruits. We didn’t discriminate against age when enlisting in the military, but our new cadets typically ranged from the early- to mid-twenties. I just hoped for his sake that he was hiding his strength underneath those baggy clothes and youthful looks.
Regardless, he wasn’t who I was here for. I pushed past him, barging my way into the cramped room. And, low and behold, there sat my supposed best friend, grinning happily from her perch on a bottom bunk beside the Griknot that must have been the prince.
Ah, shit.
‘Hey, Cap! I’m glad you could join us. Why don’t you take a seat?’ she smirked, gesturing to the vacant bottom bunk across from her with a twinkle in her eye I didnotlike. And no, I did not, in fact, take a seat. I crossed my arms and gave her my sternest glare.
‘Ooh, I’m introuble,’ she teased, and I could feel my head about to explode. My pulse pumped so strongly I was afraid the expression would become a reality.
‘Indeed,’ I bit out through clenched teeth. ‘You did not give methe opportunity to rebuke your statement and forced me to chase you to the bottom of my damn ship. Now get your ass back upstairs and we can finish this discussion in private.’
She tapped a forefinger against her chin as she pretended to contemplate the order. ‘Hmm…’ She eyed me up and down, that stars damned twinkle glittering even brighter. ‘No, I don’t think I want to.’
The muscles in my arms bulged and shook as I fought to keep them crossed rather than reach over to throttle her, but a throat clearing behind me drew my attention. I turned and faced the young Mister Mercer and raised a single brow at him with the silent order to spit out whatever it was he needed to say.
‘What is it?’ I snapped when he didn’t immediately speak, and muffled snickering started up from the others in the room. Mister Mercer’s lips twitched as if he, too, were fighting off his amusement, though I couldn’t figure out the cause.