Academy Snippet 1

 So I am moving forward with Academy (finally!) It has been sitting on the back burner long enough.

I actually wrote it earlier this year before Horatio 5. I've been sitting on it for some reason.

Anyway, here we go.

Academy is a series of stories with interludes at a military wedding reception...

Tulip-Camper Wedding Reception, Antigua

 

“You have to admire them,” Commander Gregory Yeggisaid as he watched the newlywed couple with a trace of envy and pity. Envy thatthey’d found each other, pity because he suspected he knew what was coming intheir future.

The 2 humans were having a grand old time on thedance floor. It was their wedding after all, and it was high time to party.There might be a war on but that didn’t mean life stopped. Technically therewere 2 wars going on, the Federation was at war with the pirates in Sigma andother sectors, and the Tauren Confederacy in Tau sector.

At the moment you couldn’t tell that from theatmosphere in the large room. He was grateful from the reprieve of crushingresponsibility, no matter how small a time period it was. In a few days itwould be back to work once more.

He was a chimera, a human with elven, alien, andneo genes. He sported long elven ears, a long slim frame and face, cat likeeyes, and a series of spike horns on either side of his temple ranging backinto his braided black hair. His skin was a golden color unblemished by tattoosor defects.

“How so?” the army officer sitting across from himat the table asked curiously. The wreckage of their meal had been swept up bythe quiet catering team some time ago. Just the usual drinks and personaleffects remained to mark where people had been sitting and may return.

“Sorry, you are…?” the Bekian asked. The armyofficer was a Neochimp male with a bit of a hulking presence. He had noted theMajor at the party out of interest because the officer was in army green notthe usual navy blue.

Their table was mostly deserted at the moment;many of the people were out visiting other people, dancing on the dance floor,or getting drinks at the bar.

The wedding had gone as expected. The blushingbride and blushing groom and all. The wedding party had been replenished informal dress uniforms; there had been only the 1 stand out civilian on the sideof the bride. A lot of the audience had been military too. The antics of thetoddler flower girl and ring bearer had livened up the formal mood. Seeing thelittle kitten chasing flowers and then curling up for a nap had been adorable.

The reception had gone well with the usualspeeches, antics, and photo ops. He had some good shots of his former bossgetting cake crammed up his nose to share with the ship’s company when he gotback on board.

He was heartily glad they were down to the funpart, to relax and enjoy without anymore crap. Just party. He glanced to thegroup going all out on the dance floor. The wedding had a very good DJ andplanner.

His gaze shifted to the center of the dance floorto see the bride and groom tearing it up on the dance floor and snorted.  Dirty dancing indeed. They were breaking outmoves that would scandalize quite a few people.

“Major Louis Chimpsky.” the Neochimp stated as heplayed with his drink idly.

“Ah,” the Commander replied with a nod. “I’mCommander Gregory Yeggi. To answer your question, they found love whilemaintaining a lifelong career,” he said.

The major nodded slightly. Anyone above alieutenant’s rank knew how difficult it was to maintain a work life balance inthe military, especially one at war. It got worse when one person was deployedfor years at a time. If both people were in the military they could be sent tothe ends of the Federation. Throw in the anxiety of not knowing if your partnerwas alive or dead and it was tough. The complexity of having kids eventually aswell just blew all of that into the stratosphere.

Most careerists did not want the problem of apartner or kids; they wanted to rise through the ranks as rapidly as possible.It took a rare set to find each other in these trying times.

“Yeah, it is tougher for you spacers I suppose,”the major said. He looked around the room. There were a lot of formal jacketson the back of chairs. Everyone was loosening up now that the formalities wereover. They would be seeing off the couple soon.

“So, how do you know the newlyweds?” CommanderYeggi asked.

“Ah?” the Major cocked his head. He had a bluffchiseled look to him. No nonsense, someone who had seen a lot.  He flapped his hands after a moment. “Sorry,I’m a plus one.”

“Ah.” the commander nodded sagely.

“What about you?” the major asked.

“Oh, I served with Captain Campers in two tours. Iwas his XO on the cruiser Hudson during our last deployment,” he saidproudly.

“Ah,” the major said idly. “Do I hear a bit of aBekian accent?” he asked.

“Yes,” the commander replied with a wary nod. Somepeople did not appreciate his kind.

The army officer studied him and then flapped a hand.“Nuevo,” he said.

The Bekian blinked. “Ah. I should have known,there aren’t that many army personnel here yet,” he said.

“No, we’re almost at a balance now. New Texas,Avalon, and the rest of the worlds in the sectors have been contributingpersonnel steadily. But the hard green core comes from Nuevo,” he said proudly.

The commander nodded. He thought the same thingabout the navy but there were some who thought differently. There were a lot ofpeople who resented Bekian superiority. He kept his counsel about it just incase someone was in ear shot. There were plenty of people around and some hadhit the bar a lot.

“I heard that they put in for same dutyassignments,” a female voice said. They turned to the human Commander who wassitting 2 chairs down from them. “Sorry to eavesdrop. Commander Katya Budnova,”she said as she indicated herself.

The 2 officers noted the woman as she took herjacket off and put it over the back of her chair. Her left lapel had wings soshe was a pilot certified officer.

“Few,” she said as she took a sip of wine. “I’mhalf blind from the flash photos,” she said.

The other officers smiled in understanding.

“So, they put in to the same duty assignment?” themajor asked. “And BuPers let them have it?” he asked dubiously. “Is that evenpossible?”

“Yeah, I know. BuPers is ruled by low and infernalpeople. Most have a twisted sense of humor,” she said with twisted lips. Thatearned soft snorts from the other officers. “Scuttlebutt has it that one orboth of them went to BuPers to announce their engagement. They don’t share thesame chain of command, so that isn’t a problem.”

“But it potentially could be since both are navalofficers,” Commander Yeggi observed.

“No, Sheila is sitting on admiral Snake Charmer’sstaff as her staff TO and captain Camper is a ship captain as you know,” shereplied with a shrug. “I’m CAG on Decorum,” she said. They blinked andabsorbed that news. She took a sip of her wine and then set it down. “That ishow I know anyway,” she said by way of explanation.

“Ah.”

“BuPers tried to separate them, or so thestory goes. One or both offered up their resignation.” That startled the otherofficers. “BuPers had a sudden change in heart and assigned them to the samefleet.” The pilot smiled a feral smile.

Commander Yeggi blinked and then his lips pursedin a thoughtful silent whistle. “I didn’t know you could blackmail BuPers likethat. Usually if an officer offers to resign they get reassigned or allowed toresign,” he said dubiously. There were ways to get out of an assignment but adirect confrontation usually ended poorly.

“Yeah, but several high ranking officersintervened on their behalf. Scuttlebutt has it that it went up to AdmiralChampion, possibly even to Admiral Irons.” Again the 2 other officers stared ather in surprise. The pilot shrugged. “What can I say? Admiral Sprite andAdmiral Irons have a romantic soft core somewhere.”

That earned a snort of disdain from the commander.

Rumor also had it that Irons favored anyone notfrom Bek. He still held a grudge over the Childress insurrection supposedly. Itsucked, Bekians should be getting their just due, and the Navy should beconforming to their long standing traditions not forcing them into an unwantedmold.

“So, they are in the same fleet? That doesn’t meanthey’ll get to be together,” the Major said.

“Not sharing the same bed nightly maybe, butsharing the same fleet means they can communicate with each other moreregularly. They can share leave together, that sort of thing,” the pilot saidas she ran a hand through her short hair. Like all pilots she had short hair tofit under her helmet. The sides of her head had been shaved. They could see thefaint glitter of implant jacks on either side of her head. That indicated shewas a high level pilot.

Given that she was a CAG on a carrier she was nodoubt quite highly skilled.

“What’d I miss?” another female officer asked ashe sat next to the pilot. She downed her wine glass and then looked around foranother. The small Neomutt looked a little… tired. She panted a little.

The men knew better than to point out that thepilot was a bit sweaty. Women do not sweat they ‘glowed’. Anyone who thoughtdifferently might get into trouble, especially if they were of the wrong genderwho pointed such differences out.

“Have fun on the dance floor?” the pilot askedwith a knowing grin.

The newcomer rolled her green eyes. “You know it,”she said with an answering grin.

“Going to take anyone home?” the pilot asked witha broadening smile.

“No, he’s taken damn it,” the newcomer said with amoue of disappointment. The pout had the pilot snorting in amusement. “You’reone to talk,” the woman growled. She turned to the others. “So, are you inTenth fleet too?”

“Ah, no,” Commander Yeggi said with a shake of hishead. He had been retained in Home Fleet. He’d thought he’d take over for theskipper but apparently not. He was to take up command of a tin can next week.It would be his first command.

“Obviously not,” the major said dryly holding up ahand. “Plus one.”

“Ah. I’d wondered,” the Lieutenant Commander said.She checked her jacket. The glitter of a cadeaus on her left lapel indicatedshe was a doctor.

“Sorry, this is Lieutenant Commander DorothyGayle, call her Stitches,” the pilot said by way of introduction to thenewcomer. She then introduced the other officers in return.

“Stitches?” the chimera asked as he wrinkled hisnose. It was a common nickname among surgeons but he was curious as to why. Theshort Neomutt didn’t look like a surgeon.

“If she doesn’t crack you up she might crack yoursternum to get nosy and make adjustments to your soft bits just for the funof it,” the pilot said wickedly. The medic opened her mouth to say something inprotest, closed it and then lowered a glower on her partner.

“Low blow crop-duster,” she growled, green eyesflickering in challenge.

The pilot snickered. “Seen any ruby slippers ortwisters lately Toto?” she teased back.

The medic turned away with a sniff as anotherofficer quietly sat at their table. She turned to the commander and noted hisring. “Ring knocker?” she asked with a cock of her head.

He touched his ring and played with it. “Yes.” Hekept the statement neutral. Some people did not like academy graduates. Hishomeworld was not popular among those who were not born there.

“Bek?” she asked as she cocked her head.

“Yes. A problem?” he asked in challenge.

She smiled. It was a warm smile that helped to puthis defensive aura at ease a little. “So, what’s it like? I went to the academyin Antigua…”

“And now she teaches at it. Or did until she wasassigned to Tenth fleet with the rest of us,” the pilot interjected.

“Hush,” the medic scolded, turning her head to herpartner.

“Or?” the pilot asked.

The medic turned a look on her. She held it for along moment and then took on a thoughtful evil look. The pilot put her handsup. “Okay, just teasing. No need to trot out the nuclear arsenal Stitches,” shesaid.

The Neodog just raised an eyebrow at her.

“Seriously, I’ll behave,” the pilot said in asmall voice as she seemed to shrink into herself.

The Neodog snorted as did the others around thetable. “That’ll be a first,” she teased with a grin and ear flick. She turnedher eyes on the commander again. “So, what was the academy like?”

“Well, it was… different I suppose thanwhat it is now…”

“How so?”

“Well, when I went to the academy Carolinehadn’t turned up yet,” the commander said. The others nodded. The light cruiserCaroline had successfully navigated the rapids to get into the pocket ofspace that Bek and Nuevo existed in, isolated and forgotten by the rest of thegalaxy for centuries. Admiral Irons had visited during his time as a juniorflag officer during the first stages of the Xeno war. He had been there to setup the star systems as a last ditch redoubt of civilization should the Xenoswin.

Bek had built a massive navy to protect itselfagainst the Xenos. Nuevo had gone in the other direction, building a massivearmy on its 2 inhabited worlds, primarily to fight a never ending war againstthe worms that infested the planets.

Bek had lost the ability to build hyperdrivesuntil Caroline had shown up. It wasn’t the only thing that they’d lostthough...