Chapter 7

One negative about living on the top floor of the dorms was that the elevator was always full in the mornings. Taking the stairs down every day wasn’t a hassle, but some days I wanted to be lazy too.

Unlike any previous day, instead of my classmates ignoring me, I felt their attention on me and not all of it was benign. There was plenty of hostility behind too many of those gazes.

I resisted the urge to pound the hell out of them and headed to physics.

“Cadet Captain, do you have time to show me how you accelerate from a standing position to a full sprint without stumbling?” I blinked warily at Lea Che. She was waiting for me outside of the physics lab entrance and ambushed me with that request.

“Sure. Hold on.” I checked my persecomp for available paired simulators and reserved one. “Meet me in room 520-15 at 15:00.”

“Thanks,” she replied without smiling. When Lea turned to enter the lab, she didn’t quite completely dismiss me from her mind.

A first.

The problem with sprinting from a dead start in Mechs was the lack of toes. Mech’s feet were solid blocks of armor. Humans used toes to dig in and then the rest of their bodies to balance through the acceleration. Using everything they had learned from birth led to the ability to run. Not having toes or arches and a different center of mass made that difficult.

Mechs didn’t have the same center of gravity as humans, making that transition impossible for some. Supposedly women had it easier than men, because both Mechs and women had lower centers of gravity.

I’d have to trust the teachers on that.

I learned on my mini-Mech. Because of its design and function, it had a partially flexible foot. The designers tried to make that series of mini-Mechs as flexible as they could to supplement their customers, Mech Mechanics, not pilots, ease of repairing their customers’ Mechs. In order to do that, they made those mini-Mechs as lifelike as possible.

Climbing scaffolding without flexible feet would have been hell.

“Hey, you.” A cadet that I didn’t recognize stepped before me as I was on my way to my last class.

“Who are you?”

“Do you really have a stealth Enlightenment? Show me how it’s done,” the unknown cadet demanded of me in the middle of the halls. The students around me all turned to watch the ‘show’.

Using my persecomp, I took an image of the cadet, “Cadet, report to Major Deering for punishment for one: insubordination and two: demanding, not asking, but demanding that an Ace Pilot demonstrate his Enlightenment ability in a non-secure area.”

I stepped around the cadet to enter Human-Mech interface class. I enjoyed Captain Du’s lectures. In fact, it was my favorite class and I wasn’t going to let some elitist asshole prevent me from attending.

“Who do you think you are, commoner? Just because you have a good Mech with you, doesn’t mean shit. My personal one is ten times better than yours.”

“Is that right? Then, after you get done serving your punishment, I challenge you to a duel. You pick the terrain.” I called out with my back facing the idiot, entering through the door.

“I can use my personal Mech?” he asked slyly.

“Whatever, you will lose either way.” He didn’t understand what I meant, but I felt that some around me did. There were very few people like him at this Academy. While most of the students here were close minded elitist assholes, that was only in regards to commoners.

If I had been noble born with the same accomplishments, not one student here would dare to disrespect me. Yet that wasn’t the case. The class differential was too stark for them not to look down on me.

Golden spoon versus wooden spoon.

I had received notification at lunch from Major Ingersol to meet him at his office instead of going to PT.

...

“Sit, cadet. I apologize for the delay in your debriefing. Major Flowers recommended for me to hold off a day to let you recover from the heavy exertion placed on your body from yesterday’s activities,” Major Ingersol led off.

“Thank you, sir.” I wasn’t about to explain.

“I want to thank you. Your actions Sunday were perfect. I never even considered going as far as you did to demonstrate the differences in abilities between Aces and cadets. Yet your point came across exactly as I hoped,” he said relaxing in his chair, smiling. Not necessarily at me, but at everything.

“Normally, I would sit here and question everything that happened yesterday, your thoughts, feelings, actions, how your Mech performed, and how you could improve. I’ll forego that for now and ask you to submit a written report tonight.

“Instead, I have a single question for you. Are you ready for that question, cadet Young?”

“Sir?” I had no clue what he was talking about. Or about to ask.

“I want to ask a question of you. Are you ready for that question, cadet?”

Ohh-boy ... I prepared for the worst, “Yes, sir.”

“On a scale from one to ten, ten being the worst,” he abruptly stood up and loomed over his desk, “HOW FUCKING ANGRY ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?!”

“FUCK OFF! What’s it to you?!” I shot back. We were millimeters away from a fight. If one of us moved suddenly, fists would fly.

I was so mad that I saw stars. Blurry stars.

He slowly retreated and turned his back to me. Opening the cabinet behind him, he pulled out a bottle of something and two crystal glasses.

It was only then that I noticed that I was standing.

“Leon, have you ever had McAffery Scotch?” he asked mildly, placing down the glasses, uncapping the bottle and pouring a thumb full in each glass.

“Never even heard of scotch. Sir.” I snapped back. I didn’t know what his game was, and didn’t want to know.

He picked up one of the glasses and sniffed the contents. “Scotch is a strong alcoholic beverage. With the good ones, you want to smell the aroma first. Trust me, it will burn going down, but with your physical condition, you will be fine.

Seeing as I wasn’t moving, “Go ahead and take a sip. Just a sip.” He took one of his own, smacked his lips and sighed.

Seeing how I wasn’t getting out of here unless I played his game, I carefully sniffed the strong amber liquid. The fumes burnt my nose.

“Small sip,” he repeated.

I gave into temptation and did as he asked.

The strong burning sensation gripped the roof of my mouth. It was okay, I guess, I took a second, larger sip and felt it burn my throat. The fumes made my nose and eyes water. So too did the choking cough.

“Good?”

“It’s okay,” I admitted.

“Take a seat, Leon.”

He waited until I did before continuing, “When I was twenty-nine and a not so young lieutenant serving a terrible Captain, who belonged to a rival house, yet we were both Federation Officers, my unit was ordered to slow a Gray advance. Twenty of us that were remaining versus a hundred of them.”

I grimaced. Grays had wholly superior Mechs compared to Humankind.

“We got massacred, as my superior officer hoped. You see, he wanted me dead and used that delaying tactic as an excuse for someone else to kill me. This way he could say that his hands were clean,” he reminisced.

“I was the only one of my company that lived. Our company started the campaign with ten squads of ten Mechs. After that Captain was through with us, I was the sole survivor. A newly Enlightened Ace who was angry at the world. And most specifically at my Captain who led one hundred good men to their deaths just to kill me.” Major Ingersol took a sip to let the sucky politics of the Federation and the waste sink in.

I mirrored him and choked on the fumes again, but not as much as the first time. It also tasted better the second sip.

“I returned to base, and using my Mech, I stomped on his tent. For three hours.”

“Three hours?” I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to laugh or not, but I couldn’t help but let a small bark out.

“My Mech had no arms, half a head, most of the chest armor was missing, the internals were completely exposed, and the left leg was completely seized. The only mobile part of my Mech that was left was the right leg. I had dragged my left leg the fifty kilometers back to base camp with the sole purpose of killing that bastard.”

The anger radiated off of him. Diminishing my own somehow.

“Each and every one of the men under my command were either dead, hospitalized, or cashiered, and it was all his fault.” He breathed out, calming himself down. A little.

“My fault too for not having the courage to stop him earlier,” he admitted.

“I was set to be court-martialed for murdering the bastard until the board discovered that I had awoken my Enlightenment six years early and with only thirty confirmed solo kills. I suddenly was acquitted and my crime of killing my superior officer too late, was forgiven. If not forgotten.

“But, you see, I had anger issues. And my new commanding officer didn’t know what to do with me.” He looked into his glass and quieted.

“I received an upgraded Mech. Almost a custom one — as much as the Mech corps says that they never use custom Mechs, they come damn close occasionally.

“I was promoted and given a full platoon of newly promoted Aces who Command wanted to keep an eye on, but who were too unwieldy to give to just anyone to lead.

“The forty of us were detached, we were then given our own support staff and sent into the most contested zone of the war. To either die or work out our anger issues.

“You see, Leon, Ace pilots are a two-edged sword. We need our passion as much as we need our clear-headedness. If we lose either, then we are only decorated soldiers waiting to die in battle.

“Some passion is good. Too much will destroy us. And damn near all of us awake angry at someone or something. Can you guess why?”

“Anger is a strong emotion?”

“The strongest. Anger and hate. What you displayed yesterday, showed me that you can control your anger. But your anger is too close to the surface for Command’s liking. Anyone’s liking really. And that’s why you are here.

“You were sent to Hephaestus to give you time to cool off. I think it was stupid of them to send you here, there are plenty of better places for a common born pilot to raise their skills and reacclimate to humanity, but they didn’t ask me.

“But I will say this. Imagine how would the students in a commoner school treat you?”

I shrugged. I had thought of that a few times

“They would worship you, or damn near, right?”

“Probably,” I admitted while looking at the amber liquid in my glass. His eyes, I wasn’t strong enough to face.

“Maybe Command might not have made a mistake sending you here. Here, you will have to fight for respect, not be given it from day one. That battle Sunday and the aftermath. The cadets here are treating you differently now, aren’t they?”

“Some,” I admitted.

“It’s a start. Have you made any friends yet?”

“A couple.”

“You’ll need those in the years ahead. Even if they have motives behind their friendship, enjoy those friends. Who knows? You may even develop life-long friends here. But you can’t close your mind to their status, as they will not fully accept yours.”

“I was told that already.”

“Leon, there are also exceptions to every rule. Keep that in mind too.”

I looked up, “Yes, sir.”

“I’ve heard that a number of the platoons have challenged you, is that right?”

“I just know that my Sundays are all booked for the rest of the trimester,” I grumbled.

“If you could have one of your modules freed up, which one would you ask for?”

“I’m not allowed to say, sir.”

“You can tell General White, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then send him a request. Now for the challenge. Did you know that each of our cadets has their own personal Type I Mech on this planet?”

“I heard, sir.”

“And you challenged one of the senior cadets who was being disrespectful, is that correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, I order you to destroy his Mech. Make it so that it is parts and pieces by the time your duel is complete. Just do not kill him.”

I perked up at that.

“I give you leave to figure out how you will accomplish that task on your own, but have at it. I will send you the schematics for cadet Klein’s Mech series later in the day.

“Is there anything else you wish to discuss while you are in my office?”

“Not that I can think of,” I replied honestly. My mind was too confused to even guess at what I should ask.

“Leon, my door is always open for you. Any time you wish to speak, yell, fight, scream or just sit back and have a sip of my scotch and close off the world, let me know,” he offered with a serious half-smile.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Now shoo, and don’t forget the report.”

“Yes, sir.”

I shooed, feeling a little better about me and the world.

And a little less angry.

“Was it wise to give cadet Young sedatives, Rand?” General George White asked over the vid.

“I thought he needed something to help him unwind,” Major Rand Ingersol responded blandly.

“What do you think of him?” General White continued.

“I didn’t sense any hate, just an overabundance of anger. But that anger is directionless. I don’t even think he knows what he is angry at. Other than that, I believe that he’s a good kid.”

“I wish I had your optimism. Leon Young doesn’t belong here,” the superintendent of Hephaestus Academy stated clearly.

“Tough. As much as the cadets and faculty resent his presence, it’s for the best for all of them. Him included. Those spoiled brats need to be shown that their shit does stink.”

“I know your feelings, Rand. You don’t have to repeat them,” George White admonished.

“I’m unlocking the secondary fusion plant on his Mech. See to it that Major Flowers gets the codes after we disconnect,” Major Rand Ingersol ordered his Superior.

“That will give him more of an advantage. Why would you do that?” General White questioned, not at all pleased with further increasing the distance between his students and the rogue cadet he was forced to accept.