Orbital AcademyChapter 17
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"Jackson, why'd you bring us to Pivot? What about Orbital Academy?" Preston reached across Missy and flicked the cruiser's autopilot off, beginning to manually pilot their cruiser in line with the other squadmates'.
"Rookie Preston, please cut the comm chatter, we wouldn't want to crowd Orbital Pivot's comm channels," Jackson's voice crackled into the small space. The message was clear; We're being listened to. I can either trust Jackson or come up with my own plan. Preston and Missy exchanged looks, and she nodded, her brown ringlets bouncing with the motion. Preston shrugged. He probably would've trusted Jackson on his own, but he trusted Missy at his core. Pulling up the fine-navigation controls, he prepared to land the craft.
Although he had seen it before a handful of times, this was the first time he was actually landing a ship in the hangar bay. Orbital Pivot's hangar was much larger that Orbital Academy's, containing expanded bays to allow Pivot to supply ships to every Orbital in the orbit. Although it was easier for Preston to move the ship in, the smooth and practiced action was unsettling. It feels wrong somehow. The ship settled down behind Alex's heavy cruiser, and Preston did his checks of the gauges without thinking about it. It wasn't until the canopy swung upward that Preston realized how many people crowded the large hangar bay. The normal scrub teams were moving in to hook up fueling lines and coolant cells, but there were more small groups scattered throughout the hangar. Jackson was already climbing down from his cruiser at the front of the line of ships, and the largest of the groups were waiting for him. Preston helped Missy down and they walked forward to join their squadmate, just as the man in front of the group spoke.
"Good evening Rookies. I'm General Hunter, and I'm in charge of this orbital. I checked over the flight logs before I came down, and I wasn't informed of any ships scheduled to dock today." The General was tall and muscled, with salt-and-pepper hair in a short buzzcut. Despite his slightly suspicious tone, his stare seemed focused and attentive rather than aggressive. He's a military type, Preston decided, hoping Jackson had also picked up on the vibe, strict protocol, law and order type.
"We're unscheduled sir," Jackson answered for the group as Li, Aimee, Marcus and Alex joined them, "we've just returned from the surface. From a rescue mission, in fact, to retrieve our squaddies that were left behind on a planetary. We managed to save all but two." The General raised an eyebrow, while behind him two of his men immediately began typing into their screens.
"I haven't ever heard of a rescue mission being undertaken, much less successfully," he commented, holding out a hand, "nor was I aware Academy was sending rookies down to the surface these days." One of the men behind him placed his screen into the General's waiting hand, which he glanced at briefly before returning it, "I see the Planetary authorized, but not the rescue mission."
"It was ... unauthorized," Jackson admitted, "but we have reason to believe there are members of Academy who didn't want us to live through the Planetary. That's also why we landed on Pivot rather than Academy"
The General looked back and forth between the faces of the squadmates, his face neutral. The silence stretched, and Preston noticed suddenly how many of the people around the General were carrying heavy assault rifles and non-lethal riot pistols. His view on the scene suddenly shifted. Fuck ... we aren't a group of rookies facing a slap on the wrist here ... we could be in as much trouble here as on the planetary. He took another, more specific headcount now, noting the composition of the group in front of them. Flanking General Hunter were his two henchmen with the screens, but the four men and women surrounding them were heavily armed and armored. Preston hadn't ever been in a situation where someone might view him as an adult threat, not just a mischievous child. His hands were at his sides, and he moved his thumb subtly to make sure the pistol Missy had given him was still stuck in the waistband of his loose pants.
"Why don't you keep your hand away from that weapon, son," the General said quietly, without turning his head, "it'll make this conversation a little easier I think." The guards with weapons shifted at his words, raising weapons carefully but quickly, and Preston put his hands up slowly.
"General," the man on Hunter's left handed him the screen, "it's General Auspus from Orbital Academy for you sir." Preston's stomach clenched.
"Yes," General Hunder murmured, "I thought he might want to talk to me."
"General Auspus," Hunter held the screen in front of his face with his left hand. Missy's fingers dug into Preston's arm as their General's calm voice came from the screen.
"Hello General Hunter. I understand some of my rookies landed in your hangar bay a few minutes ago."
"They certainly did Auspus, we have them in the brig right now," General Hunter fixed them with a stare as if challenging any of them to say a word, "anything I should know about them?"
"I'm glad you took that action. Keeping them isolated is certainly the best option to keep Orbital Pivot safe.They're quite a dangerous bunch."
"Are they now?" General Hunter's expression didn't change, but Preston noted with concern that his right hand moved casually to the butt of his pistol.
"We aren't quite sure what their end goal is, but we suspect they intend to form a rebellion against the Orbit." Preston ground his teeth at the smooth calm with which Auspus mangled the truth, "they dipped into the fog after they left, and we tracked their progress to Pivot, so whatever their story, it will involve the deception that they visited the planet."
"But that's a lie, of course?" General Hunter moved as he asked, his eyes sweeping across the group of rookies as he stepped in among them, "they came straight from Academy to Pivot?"
"Of course," Auspus' voice contained just the right amount of annoyance to sell the story. Out of the corner of his eye Preston saw Missy open her mouth, and he grabbed her hand and squeezed. She stayed silent, with a look of barely concealed rage on her face, as the General stopped directly in front of Preston.
"Hmm." General Hunter said noncommittally, and Preston had to force himself not to move as the aged man reached out and grabbed him by the arm. "You've given me a lot to think about General Auspus," General Hunter mused aloud, rubbing the material of Preston's shirt between calloused fingers.
The Terrans' prison clothes! Preston realized with a start, looking down at the rough and coarse clothes he was wearing, the Orbitals don't have material like this, and Auspus doesn't know the Terrans captured us!
Although General Hunter's expression never changed, his hand moved off of his sidearm as he made his way back to the front of the rookies, speaking into the screen.
"Aren't your rookie squads usually made up of nine rookies and a Captain? There are only four rookies here."
Preston glanced at his squadmates. Missy and I, Jackson, Alex, Marcus, Li, Aimee... he counted before the realization hit him, it's a test. He's only counting the ones in Academy flightsuits ... the ones Auspus knows made it.
"Yes General Hunter, that's correct," Auspus didn't hesitate for a moment, "their Captain wasn't involved in their little rebellion, thankfully, and we were able to safely capture the remaining five of their group before they took off. They're safely detained here in Academy."
"I'm glad to hear it," a hint of expression had finally appeared on General Hunter's face as he surveyed the seven squaddies, an unforgiving hardness. Preston found it encouraging.
"When will you be able to ship them back to the Academy for processing?" Auspus' question was casual.
"I'll have to square things away here first," General Hunter answered noncommittally, "but I'll get back to you." He closed the screen and passed it back to his henchman.
"So..." the General seemed to be mulling things over in his head, "I'm assuming when you said "someone in power, you were referring to your captain and your general?"
"Just the General, sir," Jackson replied, "I'm pretty sure the Captain wasn't involved."
"Well now, isn't this problematic?" The General ran a hand through the stubble on his head and blew out a breath. "If I'm following the letter of the Orbit's law I'd ship you all back in a containment cell before the end of the day." Preston felt the urge to reach for his gun again, but he restrained himself. Shooting people won't help our case.
"On the other hand, it's clear that there's more going on here than it seems," General Hunter growled, "your story might be a lie, might now, but it's clear that General Auspus' certainly is." Hunter stroked his chin for a few more moments.
"I'm not throwing you back to Auspus before I've had the chance to think about this," he said finally, "But I'm not about to give you full run of the orbital either. I'm confining you to cells, and then I'm going to give a long hard think, then I'll talk to a few of you. Does that seem fair?"
"Very fair, sir," Jackson said respectfully. Preston let the guards remove the gun from his waistband before he spoke.
"General, some of us have been separated from loved ones for quite some time. If you would be so kind, if we could be locked in cells together..."
"I don't like the idea of you all in the same place, able to plot and scheme," the General shook his head, "three of you to a cell, max." He made a motion, and Preston found himself being escorted down the long hangarbay. Missy clung to his arm, and he put a hand around her waist protectively, even though he knew the guards wouldn't be rough. He had grown up on Orbital Pivot; roughness wasn't their way.
It was good to be back on Pivot. It felt like a lifetime ago since he had last walked the long hallways, and the tiny luxuries he had grown up with seemed so much more vivid now that he was back. The guards and squaddies' footfalls were muffled by carpeting, and the walls were rich colors instead of the bare metal of the Academy. Where the cold was an ever-constant hardship on Orbital Academy, here the air was warm and pleasant. Preston may have been worried about his future and the fate of his squadmates, but in the meantime it didn't hurt to enjoy the little things he had left behind.
"First cell," one of the guards thumbed a keypad to open the door and stood to one side, "you heard the General, three max."
"Will you two be alright on your own?" Jackson asked quietly. Preston nodded,
"Orbital Pivot treats their prisoners alright," he said, "we'll all be fine until the General makes a decision. And even then, General Hunter isn't the type to surprise you. We'll know what will happen to us as soon as he comes to a decision."
Preston and Missy stepped inside of the dark cell, and the door closed behind them, hissing as the room was hermetically sealed.
"Now all we have to do is wait," Preston let go of Missy and leaned against the door, "hopefully we won't have to wait for more than a day or two, the General probably has a lot that he needs to take care of- what's wrong?" For the first time he noticed the dumbfounded expression on Missy's face, as the soft lights in the room slowly rose.
"THIS is Pivot's prison?" she asked. Preston glanced around the room. It was about the size of the entire Academy barracks that housed his nine-man squad, although there was only one bed in the corner. Queen-sized, Preston noted, although the cells are probably only set up for one prisoner, so that's not intended as a hardship. A fire crackled in the fireplace on one wall, and on another a huge window gave a picturesque view of the moon that lazily followed the Orbital's progress around the planet. His eyes moved from the high ceiling to the plush carpet on the floor, and he finally shrugged,
"Well, yea I suppose it's a little comfy compared to the Academy-"
"A little comfy?" Missy hesitantly stepped into the room, as if she would break something simply by moving, "this is the most luxurious room I've ever been in. Ever. In my entire life. how is this ... what?" She spluttered.
"Okay, sure it's alright," Preston was starting to grow uncomfortable, "but we've been on Orbital Academy for five months Missy, anything would seem luxurious to us..." he trailed off at the look Missy was giving him.
"Just how comfortable was your life before coming to the Academy Preston? If this," she made a sweeping motion around her, "is Pivot's definition of the barest necessities."
"It was ... fine. It was okay," Preston mumbled. He didn't like the direction this conversation was going, "I mean it was better than this but..." Defensiveness gave his words more of an edge than he meant them to have, "why is it such a big deal? We're all squaddies no matter where we came from, aren't we? And you and I, we're partners who love each other, aren't we? Who cares about what our childhood was like? What does it matter?"
"It matters when I find out my boyfriend was a spoiled rich kid," Missy muttered, looking around her. Preston reddened, but he didn't respond. We don't need to be arguing right now, especially not about something as trivial as this. Instead he turned to the wide window and stared at the moon that drifted in the distance. After a few moments Missy joined him, wrapping slender arms around his waist.
"I'm sorry," she said, "you're right, it doesn't change anything about you. Or us."
"Look at it this way," Preston said dryly, "whatever comforts I might've had as a child, they make it that much harder to adjust to life at the Academy."
"Oh you poor thing!" Missy gasped, and Preston grinned at her tone. He couldn't see her face, but he could tell she was about to tease him. "You mean you're forced to sleep in a bed with only one pillow?"
"Now that's not fair-" Preston began, but Missy turned his head to look at the prison bed in the corner. There were four plump pillows on the heavy coverlet. Preston scowled as Missy burst into peals of laughter.
"Well at the very least we'll be able to enjoy ourselves while the General is thinking about what to do with us," Preston stepped over to the bed and threw himself backward on it. The coverlet enveloped him as he stared at the ceiling. Missy settled next to him and laying her head on his chest.
"Do you think he'll believe us?" Missy asked. Preston played with her brown curls as he considered the question.
"I've always heard Hunter was cool and levelheaded," he said finally, "and Auspus dug himself a pretty big hole with his lies. We've got the crystal, so if he believes us in the slightest we can have his help in deciphering what he's trying to hide."
"I hate him." Missy spoke quietly, but her voice was venomous. "We weren't hurting anyone, we weren't doing anything, and he tried to break us apart, tried to kill you." The anger in her voice was unlike her, and Preston frowned to hear it. He tried his standard tactic of switching her attention; telling a dirty joke.
"Well, I wasn't hurting anything, but I was definitely doing someone," he said, giving a lock of her hair an affectionate tug. He expected a gentle smack on the stomach, but instead Missy just sighed and ran her hand up and down his leg.
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