Rebellion in the Shadows

Even stranger than the announcement was the room our calcumats led us to. It was a large, open area with a giant pool in the middle. The room felt heavier than the halls as if it were weighed down with. As soon as we were through the door, I could taste the salt they used to keep the water clean. Notawa stood next to me near the entrance, breathing heavily from our quick walk. Men in white lab coats caught my eye.

“Who are the guy’s in the coats?”

““The FFSA has several specialized departments not familiar to the regular ranks, but that is not your concern right now, focus on training instead.”

“Should I focus on training? I thought maybe during training class we would focus on eating.”

“No that would be chow time,” she said. We shuffled past the many people looking our dire;[./+ction. The murmurs and whispers sent my teeth grinding. At least at my old unit, they didn’t gape like this, even if it was four people.

I looked at her again, and asked, “Nalanda, why do you want to be my mentor?”

“It’s Notawa actually, and I was chosen based on a personality analysis.”

“Don’t you have enough to do?” I asked.

“It is considered an honor to mentor the next Master Guardian,” she said, her face spreading into an even wider smile.

“Does everyone know?” I looked back at the people in lab coats, they were as focused on me as everyone else in the room. She nodded.

Other Reconists, and Privy Mates were along the other side quietly talking in groups of two or three. The entire company of about thirty people all turned forward when a noise in front caught our attention.

“Please file in order. No need to salute, let’s just get started.” Feet began shuffling all around the

room until everyone was organized by rank. I stood in my normal spot, but Notawa jumped in front of me.

“Talaya, you are no longer a Third Reconist!” She whispered with some urgency. Several people around me snickered. Embarrassed at my mistake, I jumped forward two rows to my new position as a First Reconist. Each noise behind me made my face flush more. It was torture trying not to turn at every mumble of my name.

“No, Talaya here!” Notawa pointed to the top spot, the one reserved for the person in charge of all the Reconists. Prime Reconist was a highly coveted spot.

I had just been promoted three ranks in less time than it took to change out a memory crystal in a calcumat.

I moved without arguing, shoving in between several rows of angry people. That proved it; I wasn’t the only one that was upset about the promotion. Notawa joined the other Privy Masters towards the front of the ranks. The light from the ceiling reflected off the calm surface of the nearby pool, holding my attention until Arwago began to speak. The sociable Privy Master from the hall was easy to recognize with his bun high up on his head. It made him look like a brown geyser was shooting out of the top of his head.

“Rochley, can you come up to the front? Help straighten the lines?” He walked from person to person, helping everyone align perfectly in their spot.

“Su’jee! No talking!” His yell was directed at a short, stocky girl who was pointing me out to her neighbor and whispering something that sounded like, “ridiculous,” which made them both snickers.

“Everyone listen up. We are a group of combined rates. There are Reconists, Admins, Corpsman, Technicians and even some Coordinators. It’s gonna be a little rough. I went through some of the items on our list, and I am a little sore.” He looked towards the other person at the front and they both laughed, “Only advice is; Don’t end up in the pool.” The laughs that rang through the room brought a smile to his face.

“Let’s get started. Everyone good?” he asked while tightening the bun on the top of his head. My hair had been halfway down my back when I had reported this morning. My hand shot up to feel what was left of it, I hated it.

“I’m good,” Su’jee said loud enough for everyone to hear. Several people laughed, but Arwago wasn’t impressed.

“Admin! PT time! Begin!” He had dropped his voice an entire octave to shout at her. That stopped her laughing. She didn’t hesitate, quickly springing up into a jumping jack before dropping down to a push-up.

“Damn. PT punishments? What is this, basic training?” I whispered to the Reconist next to me.

“Physical fitness is an important aspect of space training,” she said without moving. “Now quiet before he makes us do them.”

“Kiss-ass,” I mumbled under my breath.

“Talaya! PT!” Arwago stomped over to me. Su’jee had just finished her set and stared at me, stifling giggles between panting. My body protested each drop down and each jump back up. It had been months since I done anything like this. It wasn’t that I didn’t exercise. Most days I went on morning walks and a couple days a week at the base gym kept me trim, but these were a special kind of torture, designed to make me hate myself, I was sure.

He waited patiently for me to finish, standing close with his hands on his hips. I noticed a tan line on his forehead. He probably spent a lot of time outdoors. It wouldn’t have mattered if I lived outside, my skin would remain pale as milk, just like my mother.

He gave me one last disapproving glance when I was done, then walked to the front of the room. At least now no one else would interrupt the class.

“Physical conditioning will fit into your schedules every day. You will be paired within your rank based on body size, weight, and personality compatibility as referred by the Command Central Computer. Please refer to your calcumats for pairing assignments.”

All the wrists in the room began to beep. My partner was a man that held my old rank. Kirtis Xanbuhly. His picture was projected as a small hologram above my calcumat. He was my height but heavier and his light brown hair was buzzed. His scars were what made him stand out from the other men.

It was the same man from the plane. Jagged, pale pink lines branched from one point on his cheek spreading over half of his face and running all the way down his square chin. The scars were distracting at first, but they did nothing to hide the brilliance of the dark blue eyes that stared at me from the calcumat. Quickly reading through his stats, I noticed many awards and special mission ribbons. He was a few feet away when we spotted each other simultaneously. He cut me off before I even got my name out.

“Yes Talaya, I know. Everyone knows you. New Rank?”

“I didn’t ask for it,” I said.

“Of course not. Let’s get started.” He gave one loud cough and those dark blue eyes rolled to look at his calcumat.

We projected our instructions onto the ground along with a square border we weren’t supposed to leave. The directions were straightforward, but something became very clear to me right away.

“This isn’t what I thought it would be,” I said to Kirtis as we read the instructions.

“No? What were you expecting?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe push-ups or stretching?”

“Just try to keep up. I am trying to move up and some of us have to work for our rank.” That stung a little but wasn’t totally uncalled for. I would have been angry had anyone else been promoted like I was. As it was, I couldn’t say I was thrilled it happened to me.

We had been trained in personnel restraint and some self-defense procedures as part of the World Flying Force’s Reconist program. We were the police of the planet, not that it mattered much. We were made irrelevant by a lack of crime. Most of the time, we were just there to break up small fights between neighbors and shuttle people or cargo around the planet. We never even carried weapons aside from a small can of protective spray. This was different. It wasn’t about physical conditioning or restraining, they were teaching us to fight.

“Privy Master?” Su’jee said from a few squares away.

“What Reconist? Why aren’t you beginning your maneuvers?” Arwago asked from the front. He was leaning against the wall with five other Privy Masters, including Notawa.

“You want us to fight?” She looked at a few others, unsure about how to question his authority.

“Not fight; Spar. Physical fitness is one of the most important aspects of becoming a Galaxian with the Flying Force Space Academy and sparring is the best way to build lasting musculature.” People glanced at each other, hesitating even with his explanation. His voice grew to a roar, “What are you waiting for? Get a move on!”

Silently, we went through the complex series of movements, pulling arms, twisting them, locking wrists, kicking the backs of knees, striking at the nose or throat. We practiced them all for hours.

“You ready to try them out for real?” I asked when the movements had become fluid and dull.

“Sure. Why not?” He stretched one arm over his head, then the other. His back cracked when he twisted. I imitated his motions, he looked like he had done this before.

“Wanna try the arm lock?” I asked. He nodded and kept stretching.

Before I knew what was happening, he had my arm locked against his chest, the shoulder ready to pop free of its socket.

I called out, “Yeild!” within seconds. The group next to us, two small females, looked over terrified.

“Sorry,” he said with a smirk.

“Definitely looks like it,” I mumbled back. I rubbed at my shoulder and reset the move.

Each time he went farther with it. Somehow, I ended up on my back the third time and my temper finally broke.

“Kirtis! That’s too hard, you are going to hurt me!”

“Then don’t let me hurt you. Isn’t that the whole point of this?”

“The point is to learn the moves asshole, not break my arm.” My palm rubbed where the fresh charley horse was throbbing.

I was more than exhausted. Kirtis on the other hand, didn’t look tired in the least. The scars on his face gave his irritating smirk an off-center appearance. There was no sweat on him, just amusement radiating from his eyes. The same group of girls moved farther away from us, their eyes wide with fear.

Instead of yelling some more, I lashed out at him before he was ready. He didn’t even use half the moves we were supposed to be practicing and it took all my effort to keep him from hitting me. This wasn’t his first time sparring with someone. I let out a gasp when I hit the ground this time.

“This is the next Master Guardian? What a bad joke,” he said standing over me. Class was almost over, and this training session wasn’t going to end like this. I got up and wiped my hands off on my pants.

Nodding that I was ready to begin again, he sprang at me. Instead of following the projections and holograms, my irritation fueled me.

My arms reached out and my fingers wrapped around his bicep. He grunted, the first frustrated sound he’d made. It egged me on. He pushed against my shoulders and my nails dug into arm farther. He tried to wretch from my grip, thrashing and spinning. He was strong but I had gained a little momentum and it spurred me on. I yanked his arm up and twisted it in the air until he yelped.

“Yield?” I asked with a grunt. He thrashed again, his wrist creaked at the effort.

He was stuck, but not enough to give up. His other elbow flailed, catching me in the gut and knocking the air out of my stomach. I let go of the other wrist and jumped back but before he could get another hit in, I pounced forward.

We tangled on the ground.

“Stop! Stop that right now!” The young girl next to us clapped her hands together, wide eyed and furious.

He was sweating now. I had somehow ended up behind him on all fours with my arms hooking under his armpits. His grunts mixed with the yelling of the girl beside me but neither of us was stopping now. I yanked his arms off the ground and his face hit the floor. A splat and crunch made me wince. Blood poured freely from his nose.

He lashed out in pain, but I still didn’t let go. His arms were straight out behind him high in the air, his wrists bent so any attempt to get free would only cause more pain.

“Enough! I’m bleeding.” The puddle grew larger, but he continued to struggle like he was going to kill me if I let go.

“Is that what all that red stuff is? Then yield if your giving up.” I tightened my grip.

“Dammit. No!” He twisted his body and kicked my knee. It forced me to drop his hands. When I saw his face, guilt pierced me right in my sore gut. The nose was a sickly sight in the middle, twisted and already swollen. The bottom of his face was smeared with fresh blood. My panting turned to shouting.

“Can someone help?” I looked around but no one came forward. Usually Corpsman came running at the slightest paper cut.

Everyone only stared. A few had their mouths hung open. It was my first time in a fight and no doubt, many of the others hadn’t seen one before.

The calcumat was blaring on Kirtis’s wrist. He was bent over, still on his hands and knees making angry sounds and staining the concrete with his blood. He slammed his fist on the ground splatting his own blood and shouted a mix of swears I had never heard before. That, more than anything else, impressed me. I thought I was the queen of swearing.

From the other side of the pool, came an odd sound: clapping. I looked around, ready to scream at whoever it was, but when I saw who was responsible for it, my face went white.

Master Guardian and people were almost falling over in their attempt to salute him.

“Kirtis, go,” he said, staring at me. I couldn’t decipher his gaze but whatever it was, I didn’t like it.

Didn’t he have better things to do than to taunt me?

Kirtis held his nose and scrambled from the training center with a concerning amount of blood still pouring from it.

“Use her moves,” Sidarc said to Arwago with a jab towards me. We all watched in silence as he walked out of the room. Then, everyone started talking, most casting sidelong glances at me next to the puddle of Kirtis blood.

“Enough!” shouted Arwago. “You have your instructions. Watch the recall hologram a few times, then begin with your partner.” He stomped around the front of the room near the pool, glaring at anyone that dared to speak.

The group with the lab coats and tablets moved closer to me. A woman with giant goggles on her head and the frizziest brown hair I had ever seen, was watching me closely.

Out of nowhere, the goggled woman shouted, “Notawa!”

Notawa ran over to her and spoke for a moment. It was obvious they were talking about me, with the many glances and even pointing they did in my direction. A few seconds later, Notawa ran up to me.

“Talaya, we have been excused from physical conditioning,” she said.

“Really? Is it because I already mastered todays lesson?” I was joking, but she nodded.

“Your presence is becoming a distraction for the others.”

She had a smile on her face that I found especially unnerving after all the commotion. All my experiences with her so far had featured that smile. I didn’t think any normal person could be that consistently pleased. Then again, nothing about today was normal.