Xandrian Stone 4: The Academy Part 3

Xandrian Stone Book 4:

The Academy Part 3

A shortbook

by Christian A. Breitenstein

[email protected]

Twitter: @Ch_Breitenstein

Legal things:

This work of fiction is released and is available exclusively on amazon.

Everything, including all people, places, organizations and historical events in this publication are pure fiction. There is absolutely no connection between anything in this book and the real world.

Text copyright © 2016 by Christian Alex Breitenstein, the cover was made with the kindle cover creator.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Chapter 1: THE CEREMONY OF RECOGNITION

This was the morning I had been waiting for the second most. The end of basic training! The first half a year of the academy was over, today would be the first Ceremony of Recognition. I felt a bit weird, honestly - I had gotten used to rotating all over the place, mostly getting my ass kicked in close combat training - but also training the other colors. Hector Johnson still focused on weapons only, though after being made Adept Weapons Wizard his hatred for me seemed to have cooled off a little. He had his pip, so he was sure to make it into advanced training. Being an Omni-Wizard, he was going to have to look into the other colors as well, mostly because it was mandatory but also because his uncle had put down his foot and told him so.

But before that, there was the round-trip for the best 60. We were all gathered on the parade ground, facing the training wing, standing still and looking quite soldierly honestly. I felt the weight of my ribbons on my shoulders - a total of 25 pips across all 9 colors were a comfortable pressure on my shoulders. It honestly felt like shoulder-guards - almost like armor. Well, 20 pips and a large plate really - that I was of inconclusive strength in shield magic got my shield ribbon stared at all the time. By myself as well, honestly - but most likely for other reasons than the other people had. But the Prophecy would start coming true soon enough - let's focus on the matter of the day, shall we?

The Admiral came out of his office and walked up to his position on a small stage right in front of us. The instructors that were also standing there, facing us, went into an "at attention" position. The Drill-Lieutenant filled the air with his overwhelming voice: "Cadets! OFFICER ON THE DECK!" We all snapped to attention like one. We had been training this for two weeks now, and it was showing.

The admiral, standing at his position, looked over us. "Cadets! Basic training is over. The instructors have submitted the best cadet they had in their respective colors. I will name them, not to make them special - but to motivate the rest of you to do better and be named after advanced training."

"We will go through the colors alphabetically. Healing: Prime Cadet Xandrian Stone." They had small, silver medals that could be hung around your neck by a soft band. They were not official medals or orders, but the best cadet of his class would get the Order of Recognition after the full training. The Order of Recognition was a silver medal inlaid in a golden one, making it look like a silver medal with a thick golden rim.

I walked up to the Admiral, which was not a long walk. Being the highest ranking cadet I was at the front of us after all. The Admiral hung the medal on its nice dark green band, corresponding to the color of healing magic, around my neck and shook my hand. "Congratulations, Prime Cadet."

"Thank you, sir." I walked back.

"Next, Communication: Cadet Andriin Gordon." A short, wiry young man walked up to the Admiral, who hung the medal on its brownish-yellow band around the Cadet's neck. Gordon thanked the Admiral, turned and walked back to his spot.

"Next, Engines: Prime Cadet Xandrian Stone." I walked up to him, and he hung the medal at its blood-red band around my neck. Personally, if I could have chosen, I would have picked blood-red to be the weapons color. But that's just me. Why the colors were as they were nobody knew and this is a mystery to this day.

I turned and walked back. the two medals clinked slightly on my chest.

"Next, Navigation. Prime Cadet Xandrian Stone." In the past few weeks I had been able to increase two colors by a pip compared to the first week I described in the last diary: Navigation, I was Adept there now, and Sensors to Adept as well. So I walked right back up and received my medal no its yellow-green band. Walking back, I clinked a bit more.

"Next, Nutrition. First Cadet Gustav Oel." A large, strong young man walked up to the Admiral. He was almost as tall and wide as Darian Smith, the brick of a man I had met in healing magic. When he was standing in front of the admiral, I saw that he was a Master Adept Nutrition Wizard. The ribbons were as well visible from the back as from the front, after all. Given my experiences with that color I suddenly respected First Cadet Oel immensely. He had to bow deep for the admiral to reach over his head and put the medal around his neck.

When he turned and walked back to his spot, the medal dangling at its bright green band (as opposed to the rather dark green of healing), he looked happy. His future was clear: with that much magical skill he was as sure to pass the academy after the advanced part as I was.

"Next, Sensors. Prime Cadet Xandrian Stone." I clinked to the Admiral, who hung the medal on its nice bright yellow band around my neck. Walking back, I held the medals to avoid their clinking and was becoming conscious of the many colors around my neck. A bit rainbow-like.

"Next, Shields. Prime Cadet Xandrian Stone. This is the first time ever that any academy class had an inconclusive wizard." I started walking up to the Admiral, quite self-conscious, when suddenly cheering erupted among the cadets. The other shields were voicing their support of me, the healers joined in after a moment. The painful disciplines were showing their connection, they understood.

The instructors had some trouble getting order re-established, but they were not trying as hard as they might have. After a couple of moments things quieted down again, and the Admiral hung the medal around my neck and whispered: "Don't you dare bowing now." I winked while we shook hands, straightened my face and clinked back, allowing the shield medal to dangle freely on its beautiful, dark orange band along the others. The faces of the cadets were like night and day: All the shields and healers were grinning widely, most of the others were keeping a straight face and a group of the weapons were glaring. Most of the weapons, however, were also grinning.

In the last half a year I had formed some friendships amongst the weapons. They had ample ammunition to make fun of me, as a weapon I truly sucked. But my strongest colors - healing and shields - were beneficial to weapons, directly or indirectly - so they also respected me. That mixture of respect and making fun was the perfect ground for friendships to grow.

Knowing that my strong colors were through I settled in to watch the rest of the ceremony.

"Next, Storage. First Cadet Stephanie Dyson." A Master Adept Storage Wizard walked up and received her medal on its bland, gray band. When she turned around, it became obvious that she was a storage wizard with heart and soul. She kept a straight, controlled, business-like face and walked back in that swift but not hurrying speed that indicated that she had things to do and places to be, but was in perfect control over her schedule. I was impressed.

"Next, Weapons. Cadet Hector Johnson."

It would have been a total disappointment if Hector had not been the strongest weapon, given that he was an Omni-Wizard and focusing on weapons only. It was a disappointment that he was not a Master Adept Weapons Wizard, but I held the hope up that after advanced training he would achieve that.

In fact, that he was still only cadet and not at least first cadet was a disappointment in and on itself. He evidently thought that he was the greatest, as always. He strutted to the admiral, chest puffed up and a haughty expression in his face. The Admiral hung the medal around his neck, at its nice, purple band, and shook Johnson's hand. Johnson strutted back and to his position.

The Admiral looked over us all. "That concludes this part. The best 60 Cadets will go on a round-trip in 3 Bricks, 20 Cadets in each. You will be supporting the crews of those Bricks, under the supervision of experienced officers. Make no mistake, this round-trip is not a pleasure cruise. You are being given the opportunity to learn and make contacts, to facilitate your search for a crew later on and to facilitate the advanced training."

"Also, this is the last day for those of you who have not been able to get one star for their rank insignia. Know that the Navy does not look down on you, nor will we just let you hang in mid-air. Yes, you will go home, but you will remain in reserve duty. When something gets available near you you will get contacted to see if you wish to work for the Navy in a non-magical function. Until such time and even if you decline that offer you will be, as reservists, on quarter-pay for your initial term of service."

There was an audible sigh going through the ranks. That quarter-pay thing surely was a great relief for those who'd be leaving. That would make the transition back into a civilian life a lot easier. Then someone lost his self-control: "Thank you Navy!"

Some cheering followed, until the Drill-Lieutenant said out loudly (he did not scream): "Cadets."

The cheering immediately died down, most of the concerns of those who'd be leaving alleviated. The Admiral looked about again. "Cadets, the best 60 will have a private message of me on their quarter's monitor, as do those who will leave and everyone else. Those messages will explain what is planned for you over the course of the next few days. Dismissed."

Everyone relaxed, there was congratulating, cheering, joking - everything one would expect from a bunch of cadets who have been given good news.

Chapter 2: THE ROUND-TRIP

When I reached my quarters, it was not really a surprise to see that the letter from the Admiral was headed "Congratulations, Prime Cadet Xandrian Stone."

I sat on my cot and read the letter:

Congratulations, Prime Cadet Xandrian Stone.

You are one of the best sixty cadets in the 498 academy 4 on Eden 6-1. You have been assigned to an Omni-Control-Rod on the bridge of the Brick on Landing Pad 2, under Captain Sandra Oriakova.

The duty of an Omni-Wizard on board of a Brick is to stand ready and support the Brick's crew wherever that may be needed.

Being an Omni-Wizard and Prime Cadet you will henceforth be trained for command. That means first and foremost that you must know the different stations aboard a Brick. At the captain's discretion you will perform the tasks of the different stations of the Brick at the Omni-Control-Rod. The experienced officers in their color's stations will observe and correct if needed, providing feedback at the end of each task.

Your duty on board will begin today, 13:00. Prepare, have a light supper and report there on time.

Signed, Admiral Peter Sand

The rest of the morning I spent cleaning my uniforms and myself, writing another letter home and generally relaxing.

After a light supper I stood ready in a group of excited cadets at the back airlock of the Brick on Landing Pad 2. Back then, we did not name the Bricks yet - there was no need to distinguish specific Bricks from the others.

At 13:00, a weapon appeared in the airlock. "Cadets, the captain wants you to gather in the game room. Prime Cadet Stone, according to your file you have already served on board of a Brick. Lead your fellow cadets there." He turned around and disappeared.

"Um, okay. Follow me, then." I entered the Brick and turned left in the corridor. Looking back, I saw that the others were filing into the Brick as well and following me. Cool, I could get used to this. So I kept walking, turned right following the bend of the corridor which was a ring all around the Brick. We passed the open training area, kept walking straight into the corridor passing by the shared quarters. Turning right at the next bend (as it only went right there was not really any other option) I led us into the second door to the right.

We ended up in the Brick's game room, which was, as it was inactive, just a big, empty, almost square room of roughly 16 meters a side (256 square meters).

We gathered at one side of the room, because at the other side stood the captain with presumably her second in command.

"Cadets. Welcome on board. This is the round-trip for the best 60. That means that this is not a tourist cruise, I expect you to work and learn. We will visit Eden 4 and see if they need anything there, then we'll continue to Eden 3-1, and finally Eden 2 which is on the other side of the Star at the moment. Behind you is a map of the Brick, find your color and get there. Weapons, you will report to the training room. Prime Cadet, you will come with me. Dismissed."

She turned around and left the room, turning right at the door. I knew that she was headed towards the bridge, so I followed her there while the other cadets oriented themselves and dispersed.

In the bridge, the captain looked at me. "Cadet, I am Captain Sandra Oriakova." She indicated the commander at her side. "This is Commander Mathew Priin." I saluted to both. The captain waved it away: "Forget those formalities, Prime Cadet." She nodded to my shoulder. "You are many times the wizard that I will ever be. Now take up your station."

I walked to the rightmost of the three Omni-Control-Rods in the front part of the bridge, just in front of the big screen, and put my hands on its sphere. I attuned myself, the Control Rod glowed white and I gained access to all the information of all the colors in the Brick.

We were sitting on the landing pad, the Brick was ready for lift-off and the cadets were settling in. "Captain, the cadets are not yet ready, but the Brick is."

"Very well. Engines, take us into orbit. Prime Cadet, watch and learn."

Licking my lips, I focused on the engines and shielded myself from the motion sickness. The Brick left the ground gently and I noticed that my shield was holding well. Actually, in the training it had been worse.

"How are you holding up, Prime Cadet?" asked the Commander.

"Better than in the academy, sir. And I had no problems there."

"Good. Carry on."

The Engines Wizard was accelerating us, quickly reaching orbital speed. When we got there, she deactivated the engines and yelled: "We're in Orbit!"

The Captain asked: "Prime Cadet, can you confirm that?"

"Yes, ma'am. Our orbit is almost perfectly circular at a height of almost exactly 100 kilometers."

"Engines?"

"Ma'am, the Prime Cadet is spot on."

"Good. Same with navigation, Prime Cadet. Navigation, set us a course for Eden 4 if you please."

"Yes, ma'am!" The Navigation Wizard knew Eden 4, his range was not nearly enough to scan for it. Neither was mine, for that matter. But having been there he could find it and plot a course there. I realized that I should be able to do the same with Eden 3-1.

But for the moment, Eden 4 it was. "Course set and ready, ma'am." Reported the navigator.

The captain sounded pleased. "Good. Engines, Rail Drive."

The engine did not confirm, but engage the Rail Drive directly. Fortunately, my shield against motion sickness was automated by now. The instructor had had me drop my shield, and activated any of the engines runes at random and I had to shield myself in time. There I had learned that all the engines runes required a moment to properly activate, and this small fraction of a second had become enough for me to shield myself in time.

The same happened now. My shield was up when I felt us shoot away from Eden 6-1, the moon I had begun to regard as my second home. It was a weird feeling, but fun for the couple of seconds that it lasted. Also, I realized that it felt similar enough to the simulation in the academy that I knew that I could fly this Brick on my own, if necessary.

We entered orbit on Sub-Light Drive and I focused on the planet below us. Scanning it with everything I was worth I made the Control Rod flicker between yellow-green, yellow and yellow-brown for navigation, sensors and communications.

My natural navigation range was enough to map the entire planet below, even though we were in an orbit 150 kilometers above the surface. My natural sensors range was not enough to even scan the surface right below us, but I learned that the atmosphere of Eden 4 was lush, maybe a bit high on humidity for my taste. Through the Control Rod I could scan the entire planet, though. The resolution was rather bad, so I did not learn much more than the navigation scan had shown. Communications revealed that it was a large ball of interference. Well, I could have guessed that one and smiled at myself.

"Report."

"Captain, The planet below us is Eden 4, classified as a Half-Waterworld. It is naturally very humid, the surface is about 80% water with the rest being rough land. Most of the land consists of mountains, only few valleys and extended beaches, which are all well inhabited. It seems that everything is in order, though I do not know this colony, so I cannot judge on that."

"Understood. Sensors, navigation, do you agree with the Prime Cadet's summary?" After their affirmatives, the captain continued: "Navigation, engines, set us down in the main barracks for the courtesy call."

This was easy so far! Keeping my senses open, I thoroughly enjoyed our approach and landing and imprinted Eden 4 into my navigation range.

After landing the captain had us remain in the Brick and reported to the local commodore. When she returned, she informed us that everything was in order and that we would directly continue on to Eden 3-1.

"Stone, take us into orbit. 200 kilometers if you please."

"Yes, Ma'am." Taking a deep breath, I emptied my head of everything and focused on the sub-light engine runes. Nudging them most gently, I felt a crisp but weak response from the Brick. We were slowly rising!

Giving the sub-light runes a tad bit of a stronger nudge I accelerated us upward as well as forward, to get the needed height as well as the correct horizontal speed relative to the planet's surface to stay in orbit and not fall back down once we got there. That would have been embarrassing!

It worked nicely, and was much easier than I had feared. "We are in orbit, ma'am."

"Engines, can you confirm?"

"Yes, the orbit is perfectly circular and exactly 200 kilometers."

"Good. Now, Stone, plot us a course to Eden 3-1 but do not yet engage the engines."

"Yes, ma'am." Focusing on navigation magic, I noticed that in my head there was now some sort of a nice, 3-D overview map of parts of the Eden system. It showed Eden 3-1, Eden 6-1 and Eden 4 in what seemed to me to be their present positions. The corridor we zipped through on our way here was nowhere to be found, so I guessed that I should either have scanned on our way here or only fixable targets would be added to that map.

Focusing on Eden 3-1, I imprinted its position into the Brick's short-term memory core.

Wait, memory core? Neat! I had had no idea that that even existed. It could save a bit of data, accessible to everyone. so THAT was how the different colors could work together! Navigation imprinted a destination, engines read that data, adjusted the Brick's roll, pitch and yaw accordingly and gunned the engine runes.

"Well?"

Oh, right. "Um, destination is set."

The Commander chuckled. "Don't look so guilty. We are already ahead of schedule, you are doing very well."

"Navigation, can you confirm?"

"Yes, ma'am. One thing, though: We are aimed at the moon's center, which will make getting into orbit less efficient than it could be."

"Stone?"

"Yes, ma'am. Correcting." I shifted our point of arrival slightly, so that we should come out just right so that the engine would only have to slow us down to get us into a rough orbit. "Now it should be better."

"Navigation?"

"Yes, ma'am, now it looks good."

"Very well. Stone, this trip will not include faster than light training for you - there are specialized Training Bricks for that. Engines, get us there if you please."

"Yes, ma'am." At the same time as my automatic engines-shield went up I focused on our surroundings with navigation magic to see if I could imprint the corridor into my range as well.

The voyage was so fast that I only got a few fleeting images of small objects that we passed by and through. It seemed that the rail drive wrapped us into some sort of a bubble and then moved that bubble to the destination, kind of "bending" space all around us and thereby passing without so much as to cause a ripple. Even solid objects bent all around us and then snapped back into their original shape. I made a mental note to ask about that in the faster than light training in the advanced training.

On an afterthought I got the impression that one of the objects had been changing direction when we were passing by it, but I could not be certain. Probably something I interpreted wrongly.

Still, I mentioned it to the Captain, just to be sure. "Imprint it into the Brick's long-term memory and mark it to be shared with other Bricks when possible, just to be on the safe side." I did that.

"Good. Now land us at the main barracks."

Scanning the moon below with navigation and sensor magic, I moved us to a good point to enter the moon's atmosphere above the main barracks. The rest was easy, gravity did most of my job. The landing itself was less smooth than I would have liked, but it seemed to have been good enough.