Fifteen Years Later...

Republic world of Krigertenkere

Sinn'Are'Sen strides off of the graduation stage and marches back to his chosen seat. By all outward appearances he was just another proud graduate of RPC Stormavsirkel, eager to serve the Republic in whatever manner he could. Inwardly he was deeply perturbed by several things. The nightmares had persisted despite all attempts to cure them. Good sleep hygiene, pharmacological solutions, alcohol, even psionic intervention had failed to produce results. In the end the medical staff had collectively shrugged, marked his records with the 'unlovely memories' notation, and moved on to providing healthy coping methods.

The other reason Sinn was perturbed was the blinking winged eye icon at the far top left of his field of view. He had see it before: each time it had preceded a rapid increase in a skill. The third day of weapons training when pistol drill had 'clicked' into place. The thirteen day of psionic training when he had discovered his personal invocation chant two moths before any of the other trainees. And again on the seventy seventh day after the Hang Fire Incident when his second invocation had emerged.

Sinn braces in his char and prodded the icon with a tendril of thought. As before there was a quivering sensation in the back of his head as a spike of mechanical not-thought installed new information into his brain. Unlike previous times lettering flickered across his sight. Sinn blinks in surprise, watching the unfamiliar lettering play against he back of his eyelids. Instead of the regular blocks of Republican Standard, the letters possessed elegant looping curves that ran into each other to form words.

Sanctionite Psion Training completed. Tier Evaluation: Tier 1 – Iota. Willpower Characteristic ranking: 42 (local: 'four mark'). Available Incantations: Psyniscience (latent), Luck Bender, Healer. Unlocking Psyniscience...

Sinn blinks furiously as a scroll unfurled before his sight, words flowing past and burning themselves into his memory. Sinn retreats his mind into the quiet place he had been trained to construct in order to organize his mind and psychic abilities. Sinn has constructed a reading nook and wrapped a bookshelf about it to place representations of his incantations on. In addition to the two book he had placed there himself, one for each incantation, there was now a third. Satisfied that everything was proceeding as it should be, Sinn returns to the present and listens to the concluding speeches with detached interest. His personal communicator vibrated twice with incoming messages as the speeches droned on.

Run'Auga'Sen, Secretary to the Director of Assignments (RPC) taps his ring finger on his desk as he contemplates what to do with the RPC Stormavsirkel graduates. All but one were neat round pegs slotted into neat round pigeon-holes where they would serve until they died. A few had some physical considerations to deal with. The Hangfire Indecent had left one with notable scaring that precluded them from any public-facing positions, for example.

And then there was Graduate # 85573. Given name Sinn'Are'Sen. Four-mark, mixture of healing and foresight Incantations. Origin: non-Republic. Indications were that the RPC standard behavioral conditioning was not fully in place. This was, to Run'Auga'Sen, both a good and a bad thing. It was bad because it made his job more complex. 85573 could not be place into a standard position and be expected to follow the standard progression path from then onwards. It was good because he had the occasional request for such 'outliers' for non-standard purposes.

The Republic Army was always looking for psi-healers for their pararescue program. Incomplete conditioning was a non-issue for the RA given that they had to undo it anyway to insert their own. Run'Auga'Sen tapped a key and sent that invitation form to 85573. Then there was also the Republic Coast Guard and their need for lifesavers who could think for themselves under adverse conditions. 85573 got that invitation form as well.

Run'Auga'Sen leans back at his desk satisfied that 85573 would take one of the options and fall neatly into service to the Republic.

Sinn'Are'Sen covertly checked his personal communicator as the final speech dragged on. He saw the two standard-form 'invitation to apply' headers and rolls his eyes in frustration. 'Job offers' as the RPC Stormavsirkel instructors had called them, were not to be dismissed lightly as service to the Republic was considered a high honor indeed. The receipt of one or two such offers was a given for PRC graduates. Sinn scanned the message headers and then put his communicator away.

Sinn wasn't so sure of this 'honor' himself. He had noted the conditioning program woven into the RPC training and had simulated obedience to it. Failure to do so would simply result in more unpleasant methods being used after all. Any instructor who managed to see his quiet place would have been horrified however: there was not a single scrap of Republic anything in his quiet place despite all of their 'recommendations' to include such materiel.

As Sinn stands to leave with the other graduates he decided to play the one connection he had to see if there was another path forwards in his life. He pulls out his communicator and taps out a message to his adopted mother if she still lived at the same Republic-issued apartment.