Xandrian Stone Book 2: The Academy Part 1 Read online

  Xandrian Stone Book 2:

  The Academy Part 1

  A shortbook

  by Christian A. Breitenstein

  [email protected]

  Twitter: @Ch_Breitenstein

  Chapter 1: ARRIVAL

  Chapter 2: LIKE A TURKEY

  Chapter 3: THE ACCIDENT

  Chapter 4: THE BANDAGED LEG

  Chapter 5: INTRODUCTION

  Chapter 6: HEALING (pain)

  Chapter 7: THE DRILL-LIEUTENANT

  Chapter 8: SENSORS (focus)

  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: ARRIVAL

  We were approaching Eden 6-1, a moon classified as "Half-Half-Terran". From what I read half of it was relatively dry and cold, with some, but not much vegetation which came mostly in the form of sturdy bushes. Trees were there, but only in little copses or even single, gnarled, old trees. The backside was a dark, frozen hell. The moon was rotation-locked, with one side always pointing towards the planet. It was that and not a frozen snowball because Eden-6 was a high temperature gas giant and warmed half of its closest moon to mostly habitable temperatures.

  Still much better then the arid deserts of Eden 2 or the endless frozen snowfields of Eden 5!

  I was in the front-center weapons platform, courtesy of Emil and his friends, Weapons-Wizards and fans of me.

  Not very surprising, as I was an Adept Healer and as such mixed well with Weapons-Wizards who always seemed to have some small wound to heal. Their training was rather physical, after all.

  "There, the academy." Emil was pointing forward. I got my first look at the academy, where I'd be spending the next year of my life. It was - kinda underwhelming. The complex looked square, with a large space in the middle and a roughly "C" shaped building hugging it from three sides. The fourth side was mainly made up of Bricks. To the right of the square complex there were what looked like landing pads for Bricks.

  "Not what you expected, eh?" "I don't know what I expected. Then again, looking at our ride, I should not be surprised. The academy looks very streamlined, to the point. How do you say it... Ah, efficient." "Yeah, that it is. More than 800 people can be crammed in there, with each having their own cabin. Privacy is not much of an issue, if you find some free time." I snorted. "Free time won't be something I'll have in abundance. But, I signed on and let's do this." "That's the spirit, mate! Good luck down there, watch out for cadet-internal politics. Not everyone will graduate, while some" He looked square at me, "are guaranteed to graduate. That will create envy unfortunately." Envy? We were headed for the greatest jobs in the Eden System! I must have frowned though. "Believe me, some jobs are more sought after than others."

  Hm, we were a crew and had a Brick. That which most of the others would dream of for the rest of their careers. "Maybe it might be wise for me not to rub my fortune into the other's faces?" "Aye, mate. That would be wise to avoid stirring unease." Emil nodded. "Now look outside, son. Won't get to see this again anytime soon."

  The academy had grown significantly in our view. We were veering off to the right of it, and I saw my suspicion about them being landing pads confirmed. "What are those Bricks doing there?" "Those are training Bricks. They are usually stationary on the ground, used for training exercises. But the mid-term round trip and the end-term proving mission will be flown with them. Each of those flights is reserved for the very best cadets, and we all expect you to fly both." "Ah, nice to see that there is no pressure there." I grinned to make sure that Emil understood the joke. He did, proving it by loud laughter.

  We leveled out above one of the landing pads and set down so softly that I could hardly feel anything at all. If there was not the motion sickness that made me aware of every single move of the Brick around me (and, in this case, its complete ceasing) I could not have told the difference. "Time to go. Guys, it was a pleasure flying with you and it will be a greater pleasure coming back here!" I waved and left, receiving lots of smacks on my shoulders, grins and well wishes.

  Once outside of the reach of the guys I straightened the uniform, flung my pack over my shoulder properly and marched the 5 steps over to the entrance of the airlock. There, I peered inside the lock and saw no one - so I positioned myself to wait for the Drill-Lieutenant and the other cadets. In stead of them the captain appeared from the depths of the Brick and came to me. "The others are leaving through the back door. Walk with me."

  We left through the airlock. "There are 20 landing pads here. Look up." I saw several other Bricks on landing approach. "Each of those is bringing a couple of cadets from all over the system. You outrank them all, you are the only Prime Cadet here. Everyone else are Second Cadets. Also, you have the most pips of all the cadets and, in fact, the instructors here. The Admiral is a 4-pip Weapons-Wizard, but she is fair and not overmuch biased towards weapons magic." I nodded. "I guess a bit of bias towards your own color can be expected, sir?" "Aye. Not from you, though." That was very true.

  We reached the outer fencing of the Academy, which was a hip-high wooden fence. Without trouble we vaulted it and entered the academy grounds. "Captain, why is there a fence around the academy?" "Good question as it is really not needed. Frankly, I don't know." "Maybe aesthetic?" "May be." He shrugged. We walked between two of the training Bricks now, I noticed their airlocks being permanently open. When we reached the large central space the Captain chuckled. "I expected lots of questions back there." "I was already informed that those are training Bricks and to be used in the mid-term and end-term flights." "Spoken like a true spacer." The captain pointed to our right. "This part is the cadet's accommodations. 695 Second Cadets can be crammed in there."

  I heard the typical sound of bad lockstep marching behind us. I peered to my right, as covert as I could, and saw the Drill-Lieutenant with the other three cadets marching towards the cadet's accommodations. The cadets looked at me sideways, with a bit of envy, except Lindan. He was the last of the three and nodded ever so slightly. Then he quickly looked forward again. 'That is a good lad right there.' The Captain evidently approved of Lindan. 'A bit weak on the magical side, but he is a Potential Healer. If he gets his pip and makes it to the top 60 by mid-term he'll graduate.' "Follow me, Prime Cadet." That last bit was spoken aloud, and in command tone. I stiffened and we walked to the middle of the field.

  The Captain pointed forward and to the right. "Do you see the door right in the edge there?" "Yes, sir, I think." "Go there, behind that door are the accommodations for the First- and Prime Cadets. Don't panic if you only see six quarters, there are only six." He proffered his hand and we shook. "You are hereby on leave from my crew, to rejoin in a year. See that those shoulders of yours carry more metal by then." He smiled. "With pleasure, sir." I smiled back, we nodded and he turned to go report to the local admiral.

  I turned as well and headed to the small door I could see in the edge of the building. The very large building. If I had to guess I'd say that the part of the building that I could see was at least 200 meters long. The whole academy might be a square of s
ome 300 or so meters length and width. Besides the small door I was headed for the wall in front of me was riddled with doors.

  When I was at the small door which said "Quarters of First Cadets and Prime Cadets" I pushed through and had a very strong feeling of familiarity immediately. The corridor I was in was about a meter wide, just as the corridors in the Bricks. The wall to my left was solid, the one to my right showed regular doors. I walked into the first room to my right, it was open. The monitor flashed with the question "Rank and Name?" "Prime Cadet Xandrian Stone." The monitor went through the same texts that I was already familiar with from the Brick: "Checking academy roster." "Prime Cadet Xandrian Stone found." "Quarters are now assigned to Prime Cadet Xandrian Stone." Then it went black. Smiling, I almost stashed my things away, but decided to see if I was needed somewhere first.

  "Screen, query: What is today's schedule?" The screen flashed to life. "This is the arrival day. During this day all the cadets will arrive and settle in. At 12:00 local the mess hall will open for lunch for an hour and at 19:00 local there will be an orientation by the Admiral. Other than that you have no duties today. Present time: 09:35 local." Cool, I had time to settle in.

  Sitting around in my quarters did not sound like fun, though. I had not packed any of my fun things, because I wanted to use this year to really learn and focus on my future. That had sounded like a good idea at the time. Of course I regretted the decision as soon as I walked away from home, but my pride had stopped me from running back and getting my fun stuff. And now it was irreversible, which was not a bad thing thinking logically about it. Funny that I thought about this only now and not on the trip already - I guess that I'd been too busy on the flight.

  And busy was the solution to the problem. "Screen, query: Can you show me the map of this academy?" The map popped up.

  The Academy was made out of three elements: A large, roughly C-shaped building with a shorter lower arm then the top one, a large space in the middle called "Parade ground" and three Training-Bricks on the right. The lower arm of the C almost touched the lowermost Training-Brick, the other two stacked on top of it (it looked like this on the map), making them a row of three. The topmost Training-Brick almost touched the upper arm of the C from the underside. I hope I am making sense here, the memory is old, sorry.

  The upper arm, called "Cadet Wing", contained the cadet's accommodations, the back-bone of the C, the "Training Wing", all the training facilities along with the 6 Quarters for the First- and Prime Cadets and the game-room and the shorter lower arm, the "Officer Wing" contained the officer's quarters as well as the command center of the academy, complete with all the facilities for its staff.

  "Screen, query: Are any of the training facilities operational at the moment?" "No, this day is reserved for arrival only. Most of the officers are in the cadet's accommodations, getting the cadets settled in." That sentence told me a lot between the lines as well. "I see. Are there movement restrictions in place?" "No." Cool! So I went out and sat on one of the benches surrounding the parade ground, to watch the other newcomers arrive.

  I chose a strategic seat right in the corner where the Training Wing and the Cadet Wing connected, so no other cadet looked at me as they were arriving. Over the next hour or so other cadets had the same idea as me and the benches started filling up - so I was quickly hidden in the crowd.

  Some unrest came up when a group of 5 was led to the quarters. At first glance, nothing was special there - maybe one of the cadets strutted with more pride than the others, but that was not so special either. Then I saw the sleeves of the strutter. They were a very bright gray.

  An Omni-Wizard maybe? The guys near me answered my unspoken question. "See that? That is Hector Johnson, a cousin of the Supreme Admiral! And an Omni-Wizard himself!" There were a couple of oohs and aahs. If I had the emotion of jealousy in me somewhere, it would have had a field day by now. But I didn't, so I just wondered how they'd missed my sleeves and gold-rimmed rank insignia. I did not hide anything, after all.

  I also noticed that several of the other cadets sitting and watching had gotten up by now and were flocking towards Hector Johnson. For a moment I thought about joining to see the show, then I decided that I could not miss this for the world.

  So I waited until the people around me were walking, then I got up and went to my quarters and straight onto the cot.

  Focusing and concentrating deeply, I sensed for the other Omni-Wizard. His signature was unmissable, so I found him in time to tune myself in to what was happening around him.

  Chapter 2: LIKE A TURKEY

  In the depths of the cadet accommodations, which was organized in rows after rows of quarters back-to-back, with 2 meter wide corridors to separate the rows, Cadet Hector Johnson was flustered. Another of his group had been shown his quarters first! He muttered his outrage to himself, so that only he could hear it. Well, and myself of course. "Cadet, is there something wrong?" the commander in front of him asked. "No, no. All is well." Johnson nodded and smiled with totally faked goodwill. The commander just looked at him and got a red head. "Sir." Added Johnson at an afterthought.

  The commander whirled around and walked deeper into the accommodations. At an open door he stopped, pointed and fumed: "Johnson." "Thank you. Let me say, that the trip was..." The commander had whirled around again and stomped off, forcing the remaining cadets who were being shown to their quarters to jog to keep up. Johnson puffed his chest up much like a gorilla and muttered to himself "Impolite jackass. I wanted to congratulate his barely adequate ship that brought me here."

  Ship? To my knowledge that was an ancient term that was replaced with Brick centuries ago. Back then they had several types of these Ships that could not stack and were always all on their own. Really, how they managed to do anything meaningful without the ability to stack was beyond my understanding and was one of the reasons I respected our ancient ancestors deeply.

  By now other cadets were flocking to Johnson. "Are you Hector Johnson, the cousin of the Supreme Admiral?" Johnson turned to the speaker. "Yes, I am." Then he smiled grandly and bathed in the gushing attention of dozens of other cadets.

  Curious, I focused on his shoulders and his ribbons.

  Ribbon. Really? One?

  He had a weapons ribbon with one pip. ONE. Accordingly, his rank insignia were flat black - no stars, not even specks of dust. Nothing. That the gushers had empty ribbons was understandable - being born with strong enough magic to merit a pip was rare, but us Omni-Wizards were stronger then those born with one color. A lot.

  So, only one pip for an Omni-Wizard was actually a rather hefty disappointment in my book.

  Then again, I had been called the most powerful wizard in centuries, so I might not be a good example to go by. Also, he did have a pip. In a color in which I had none. Shrugging to myself, I decided to wait and see - training would begin tomorrow after all.

  After some more moments of watching Johnson strut around and being gushed at I got bored and took a wider look around.

  After some minutes of watching the comings and goings in the corridors I sensed a familiar presence. Homing in to that presence I quickly found a young woman with a nice butt walking purposefully along a corridor. She bore one ribbon in a beautiful, bright yellow. Another Sensor!

  She looked up as she felt my presence. 'Eaves-Dropping, are we?' 'No, no - just watching the corridors!' I did not want her to think bad of me, so I gave her a peek inside my mind. 'Prime Cadet? That'll ruin Johnson's day.' 'You know him?' 'Only by his bad reputation. They say he only was accepted into the academy because he is an Omni.' 'Kinda fits my observations.' I showed her.

  She missed a step and almost stumbled into one of the instructors who was coming out of some quarters. "Sorry, sir!" she giggled. Fortunately, it was one of the sensor instructors, so he felt my presence too. He linked up to us. 'Good idea, Prime Cadet. As long as you stay out of the quarters for privacy reasons, carry on.' He pulled out and left, after looking at the cadet. 'May I inqu
ire your name?' 'Annina Henderson.' 'Xandrian Stone.' 'I know.' 'Ah yes, right.' I sent a smile her way and moved on.

  A bit later I pulled back into my mind and promptly fell asleep. This kind of out-of-body scanning sure was exhausting! (But fun)

  By 11:50 I woke to the first soft wake-up call of the monitor. After freshening myself and my uniform up (I really had to stop sleeping in uniform) I headed out to get some food.

  As I came out of the building I entered a stream of cadets heading for the mess hall. In front of me, they were chatting vividly - but behind me I heard a wave of silence radiating out of my position. I peeked behind me with my mind and saw wide-eyed faces, some staring at my shoulders with disbelief. Oh yes, my ribbons and pips. Adept Healers were rare, but much more so as cadets.

  Fortunately the walk to the mess hall was only 20 meters or so, so it really took not long at all. We entered and as soon as I set foot into the mess hall someone in front of me, who was looking in my general direction at the time, said aloud: "The Prime Cadet Adept Healer is here."

  A call for battle-stations could not have gotten more attention. The entire mess hall became silent at once and I stopped, feeling a bit like some lesser mammal in a strong light. "Sorry, sir." Someone pushed by me, gently. That reminded me that everyone else was also hungry so I did the only thing I could think of: I waved, said "Hi!" and turned to the food dispenser. That broke the spell over the mess hall.