THE RING ACADEMY: The Disappearance, Part 4

IV. The Team

Imogene stopped at the edge of the Game Fields. With a hand against a shiny dark Mycyte Pillar around the perimeter of the Grove, she scanned the crowd of first ranks for her friends, but also for Kade. Each cadet dressed in their black and white workout uniforms made it difficult to discern one from another; they contrasted with the vibrant green of the grass stretched like a carpet until it met the far boundary of the opposite side of the Mycyte pillar perimeter. The Game Fields, made up of several spaces for competition, the Grove, the Arena, the Winnow, and the Basin, were where the trials would take place.

“Imogene!”

She turned to look. 

Jenna waved. She was stretching out with Tsua, and Vempur. 

Imogene  jogged over to them, squelched the disappointment that tapped against her insides when she couldn’t locate Kade, and dropped to the soft grass. “Hi,” she said and  focused on stretching for the long distance run.

“Are you in great trouble?” Tsua asked. He leaned forward.

Imogene shook her head. “Clean up in the stables again.”

“Was it worth it?” Jenna asked. “Missing protocol?” Her question was layered. Imogene knew Jenna wasn’t interested in whether Imogene regretted missing protocol; Jenna wanted to know if she’d been successful.

“Yes.”

They all knew better than to talk openly about their exploits, there were ears listening, waiting for the chance to undercut them with their commanding officers. Ring Academy was cut throat, and it was set up that way for a reason. The Federation needed the best recruits for deep space exploration, colonization and management, all perilous missions that risked life.  Up until today, she’d always thought Malcolm was one of those threats, but now, realizing perhaps he wasn’t, hadn’t ever been, she couldn’t be sure about threats. They needed to be even more cautious.

“I wonder who snitched?” Vempur asked.

“Kade?” Jenna reached forward dropping her face to her knee. She looked up. “Rumor was he was called in too. Was he your accuser?”

Imogene shook her head. “He was there, but he wasn’t the accuser. Someone accused us both.” 

“What?” The shock on Tsua’s face, already pale, thinned out further with his shift in thought and the green veining of his blood routed to his brain. Imogene knew he was moving chess pieces in his Mnemon mind. “Curious.” 

“So your accuser wasn’t present?” Vempur’s human-like Astra brows drew together communicating his confusion. 

“Nope.”

“That’s sobering,” Jenna - a human just like Imogene - sat up. “If Glyn is willing to call you in without presenting the accuser. Isn’t that against protocol?”

“Glyn threatened me.”

Her three friends froze in their various stretching positions. Their faces announced their shock.

Vempur was the first to speak and his anger made his usually vibrant and deep voice thin.“What?”

“He all but said that if I don’t win the trials, I’m being sent to Carnos.”

“He can’t do that.” Jenna’s muscular arms flew out to her sides.

“I’m afraid he’s got enough power to do whatever he wants. Imagine me there as a guard - the rest of my days.” It was an awful thought. Carnos, the prison planet, was at the edge of the solar system. While civilization existed in pockets of the livable places on the planet, all of it existed to support the inmate population. It was a dead end for anyone who lived there. 

“Stars,” Jenna swore.

“Stretch,” Imogene said and then whispered, “Tonight?”

All three nodded resuming their warm-up routine before the run.

She needed to tell them about Kade, but it stuck in her throat. For years she’d held her animosity open like a book for anyone to read. Of course, she’d vented to her friends more often than not about the competition between her and Malcolm, so they were going to be shocked. “I’m going to invite Kade.”

“What?” Vembur shook his dark head. His red Felleen skin was lighter than most of his full blooded counterparts but his human characteristics afforded him the ability to mask some Felleen traits. The one he couldn’t mask was the click in the back of his throat which sounded off. He was angry about Carnos and now about Kade. Annoyed with his tell, he shook his head and started his words again. “He’s your number one enemy, Imogene., and probably the snitch.”

“Yeah. For school and competition, but he was named too. Why? That’s important, somehow, I think.”

“Can we trust him?” Jenna’s gray eyes drooped with concern at the edges. 

Imogene shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m willing to give it a try.”

“I think it’s a good idea.” Tsua not really looking at anyone nodded. His eyes were a swirling green when he looked at them.

“You can’t be serious.” Vempur’s tone was incredulous. Protective of Imogene, he was her oldest friend at Ring. Two outcasts drawn together by common struggles. Hers because of her traitor parents. His because he was an Astra - mixed species - so he’d been ostracized by full blood of both.  She could always count on him to worry about her.

“I am.” Tsua’s eyes shifted toward blue, indicating his thinking was evening out from active thinking toward understanding. “Hear me out. Kade’s smart. He’s physically strong. He’s nearly even with Imogene in all rankings. What is it a differential of five overall points? Suddenly an unknown accuser has named him too?  If he’s out to get Imogene, wouldn’t it be better to keep an eye on him? And if he isn’t, he’d be a good ally against whoever is.”

Imogene liked that Tsua echoed her thoughts. After a few moments to consider it,  both Jenna and Vempur nodded. 

“I’ll invite him tonight,” Imogene said.

“No.” Tsua held up his claw, the four digits curved with sharp points. “Let Vempur. Better to maintain the norm with you and Kade. Whoever is watching will notice.”

They nodded.

At the sound of the buzzer, they all assembled with the rest of their graduating class for the training run.

Later, situated in Imogene’s room, Jenna and Tsua were arguing about the merits of electronic readers over physical books. A knock interrupted them, and Vempur stepped through the door. Malcolm followed behind him. The door slid shut once he was inside. Imogene noticed he looked around, cataloguing her space. It made her feel over warm.

“Kade,” Tsua greeted him.

“We’ve only got sixty snaps,” he said, “before Baleen looks for me for lights out.”

“Imogene told us you were called into the Sirkhul’s office?”

He nodded and his eyes met hers. “Someone named me. Since I was at Protocol, someone put themselves on the line. You guys set the fireworks didn’t you?”

“No comment, but I’m sure you can deduce. You’re smart,” Tsua said. “Look, we’re not sure if we trust you.”

Malcolm’s eyes narrowed. “Likewise.”

“Perfect. Imogene, what did you get?”

Malcolm’s eyebrows drew together. “Get?”

Imogene stood from her cot and drew the AI from a pocket of her shirt hanging in the closet. She tapped it, opened the reader, and pressed project. It illuminated a 3 dimensional screen amidst them. “I was able to get their records including contact information, commendations, recommendations, class records. Everything.”

“You broke into the Sirkhul’s office?”

Imogene looked at Malcolm through the projection. “As you put earlier, it looks like I’m the prime suspect, Kade. Are you surprised?”

“Kind of.”

“What’s the that ancient earth saying: the best defense is a good offense?”

“Did you go through it?”

“Haven’t had time yet.”

“Let’s get started, then,” Tsua said. “We’re down to forty-five snaps.”

Thirty snaps later, and no closer to anything, Vempur sighed and stood. “I think this is useless. There’s nothing here.”

“I agree with Vempur,” Malcolm said. “Different species, different genders, different abilities, different weaknesses. The only thing they had in common was their unit and you as their ranking officer, Imogene. I don’t think this is about them. I think it’s about you.”

“But why?”

“Can you think of nothing?”

Imogene ran through all the reasons someone would have it out for her. Who was she after all? No one. An orphan on the goodwill of Sponsorship. Her performance was nearly perfect aside from her caught mischiefs that got her into Sirkhul Glyn’s office. There was only one real outlier. “My parents?”

The team exchanged glances.

“But why?” Imogene asked. “Because they were traitors? I barely remember them. I was five when it happened.”

“You don’t know?” Malcolm asked.

“What am I supposed to know, Kade?”

“Do any of you?” He looked around. “Stars, Imogene. Your parents weren’t just traitors, they were the leaders of the rebellion during the Dark War. That makes you a very interesting person to the Federation. Why would Carnos be a place to send you? Think about it - Prime Placement with the Federation where you can be watched, or a placement at Carnos where you can be controlled. Mess up your trials and they insure it.”

“Or better yet, frame her for crimes against fellow students and guarantee her admittance to Carnos as an inmate.”

“We don’t know that.” Imogene stood and paced biting at her thumbnail. “Jorgie and Gayleen are just missing, right? They could come back? We don’t know where they are.”

“Could,” Jenna offered her a rope with her word, “but what if they don’t?”

Silence flowed around each of them, their thoughts caught in their own minds. 

“Ten snaps,” Vempur said. “I’ll go first.” He stopped at the door, nearly as tall and wide as the entry. He paused and turned to look at Imogene. “Don’t lose tomorrow, Imogene.” He glanced at Kade, and then disappeared through the doorway.

“I know it doesn’t need to be said,” Jenna grabbed her electronic reader and slipped it into her bag since they were technically studying, “but we have your back.” She left the room.

“Give me the AI,” Tsua said holding out his four digit hand. 

Imogene placed it in his palm.

“I’m going to study this a bit more and see if I can find anything else.”

“If anyone can do it, you can,” she said.

Tsua nodded, slipped his bag onto his shoulders, and disappeared through the doorway.

Only she and Malcolm remained. 

Imogene’s heart had picked up speed. “Well. Thanks for joining us.”

“Thanks for trusting me,” he said.

She nodded and then turned away to busy herself with something inane and unnecessary. 

“Ima?”

She tensed at the nickname and glanced at him. He seemed to want to say something, his dark eyes observing her. His gaze was unnerving, and welcome, and… Imogene shook her head to clear it of her idiocy. Allies. A team for a common reason. That was it. “You’re down to about five snaps to get back to your wing.”

He nodded but didn’t move and glanced down at the floor. His hands were shoved into his pockets. 

“Was there something you wanted to say?”

He looked up at her again. “Yeah. There was, but it doesn’t matter.” He backed away. “I like your room.” Then he smiled lightening the mood around them. “Tells me a lot about you.”

“Like what?” She asked and found it infuriating because smiling flirty Kade was even more enticing that the moody Malcolm she didn’t understand. “Just a place to sleep.”

“Hmm. Sleeping.” He nodded with that infuriating smile. At the doorway he paused a moment. “Win tomorrow,” he said. “It might be a matter of life and death.”

“No pressure then,” she said.

“That’s how you work best, Ima,” he said and then disappeared through the door. It slid shut behind him.

TO BE CONTINUED. . .Next Monday: The First Trial

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