Two weeks later Saturday. 14:00 Retail District, Downtown Annapolis

Alice dragged John downtown to go shopping. Not quite kicking and screaming but it was close. John was given only one rule. He couldn’t buy any watches, naturally this was not what John had signed up for. He stomped his feet for a few steps until Alice laughed and hugged him. She still insisted that no watches be purchased today.

The first store the couple visited was an upscale clothing store. John looked like a lost puppy in the store. He didn’t understand high fashion at all. Case in point was what he was looking at. In front of some swimsuits that weren’t meant to get wet.

“Honey, I don’t understand this at all. What good is a swimsuit if you can’t wear it in the water. That’s what makes a swimsuit a swimsuit.”

“Yeah, I know, but that’s meant to wear around a pool.” Alice was well aware of John’s complete lack of high fashion and didn’t want to explain it to him.

“I get that, by why call it a swimsuit. Why not loungewear. That makes sense. But calling it a swimsuit that you can’t wear it in water makes no sense.”

Alice began to have regrets bringing her boyfriend with. “It’s high fashion.”

“I’m going to just say ‘Oh’ and then move on because none of this makes a damn bit of sense to me.”

Alice smiled and led her boyfriend away from such a confounding item of clothing. “Tell me, which of these outfits do you like better?”

John looked at the two mannequins then looked at Alice, then back to the mannequins. “The left one is classier and more upscale. The right one is more party girl. You’d look better in the left, but you’d like wearing the right more.”

“I’m impressed.” Alice caught herself with her mouth open.

John’s statement was pretty much exactly what she was thinking. He was a very insightful image, but John tried to play down that strength of his. But then Alice caught herself, was that because of his telepathic abilities?

Alice leaned in and whispered. “Was that because of you peaking in my mind?”

John just shook his head. “Nah, just my opinion is all. I think I’ve kinda got your sense of style figured out.”

The couple went to the shopping center across the street and bounced between the stores. They stopped at a jewelry store and looked at engagement and wedding rings. John was watching Alice’s reaction to the rings she was looking at and trying on. There were two specific styles of engagement rings that she seemed to be drawn too and really liked. The rest she didn’t seem to enjoy nearly as much.

John smirked as they walked out of the shopping center. Alice hadn’t caught that though. John had an ulterior motive for going into the store. It wasn’t a matter of if he’d propose to her anymore. He’d been certain of that for some time now. But when he should ask her is another story entirely.

Plus, he hadn’t purchased a ring yet and didn’t know what kind of ring she would like. He slowed himself down and told him to get back to step two. He had now determined what rings she likes. The next step would be to buy one when she’s not around. John was also wondering whether or not he should reach out to her father before he asked. John’s smirk turned into confusion momentarily. There was a lot more than a few check boxes he needed to resolve before proposing.

Saturday. 22:00 Feisty Frigate Bar

“Andern, I’m telling you; life will go on.”

“Dude, I just froze the fuck up and couldn’t talk.” Andern shook his head.

“That’s because you’re an idiot and overthink things. Just ask her on a walk or for coffee. I know of at least three other guys in our class that want to ask her out.”

“Yeah, but she’s turned down like a dozen.”

“Well, you either make it a baker’s dozen, or you’re the guy that makes the previous dozen envious of.”

“You make it sound so damned easy.”

“Because it is.” The two sat down at the bar. “Pair of Guinness’s.”

The two continued to chat about Andern’s horrid love life and overthinking it. Andern said he’d ask Kristin out after PE in the morning. A man and woman entered the bar. Both of them noticed them enter the bar.

“Jesus, her tits are practically falling out of that top.” Andern coughed as he tried to drink his beer with his eyes bulging out.

“It’s not nice to stare jackass.” John just shook his head, but he wasn’t wrong though.

The two got back to talking about random things. They ordered a second beer when theirs were empty. The baseball game on the TV just finished. The Yankees won in the bottom of the ninth inning with a grand slam on a full count against the Twins.

“Fucking typical. None of my teams ever win shit against the bigger teams.” John’s favorite teams had a tendency to underperform.

Just then they heard a commotion behind them. The man that walked in together with the woman was screaming at her. Then there was a loud sharp smack. He had slapped her hard.

John bolted into action. He had grabbed the man’s arm when he reached back to strike the woman again. He pulled on the arm and pulled the man off balance and put him to the ground.

“Settle the fuck down.” John looked over at Andern and shouted. “Andern, call the cops.”

The woman then ran out of the bar. John looked away and caught a glimpse of her heading out the bar. Then he heard the telltale sound of a stun gun and he fell over onto the ground and let go of the man. The man got up and ran out of the bar.

“FUCK.” John yelled as he fell to the ground. “God dammit those fucking things hurt.

The police arrived shortly thereafter. They took their statements but were generally unhelpful. The security cameras weren’t on so they basically said there was nothing they could do. They still gave them the incident number and let the two go about their business. John and Andern decided that they had their fill of civilian time off campus and headed back to the dorms.

Sunday. 09:30 Cafeteria

PE was a hell of a workout that morning. They had to run a timed 10k run once they got to the yard. After that was completed, and despite being thoroughly exhausted, they hit the weights hard. PE lasted about an hour longer than normal. Even John was feeling exhausted

A surprising thing happened on the way back. Andern held back and was waiting for Kristin and her roommate to leave. He asked if she was interested in going out for coffee after breakfast. She happily agreed.

Andern kept that news quiet during breakfast though.

“You have any homework left to do?” Andern was downright shocked.

“Well, it’s the term paper. Gonna get that shit wrapped up today. Alice was going to get working on hers too.”

“Well good luck with that.” Andern finished the rest of his breakfast sausage patty.

The group finished breakfast, broke up and cleaned up. Neither Kristin nor Andern brought up their impending date to anyone. Jessica said she’d join John and Alice in the library. Thomas was going on a date for lunch. Kevin and Theresa were going to a movie. Nathan, always being the odd man out, said he was doing fuck all for the day and relaxing.

13:00 Library

“I hate writing papers. I suck at grammar.” John was rubbing his eyes, but he had finished his final draft on the paper.

“Says the guy that can write a near perfect term paper in under three hours.” Alice scoffed. She was almost done with her first draft. That was saying something though, she probably had two or three more hours and that paper was finished.

“My first draft is done, but I have to find some more sources to support my conclusion though.” Jessica said.

Jessica’s tablet beeped at her indicating a new message came in. She was looking at the message as John was talking.

“I’ll send you a couple links Jessica.” John was messing with his tablet and hadn’t noticed the change in Jessica’s demeanor.

Alice did notice it. “What’s wrong?”

“Andern is on a date with Kristin.” Jessica looked like she was about to tear up.

“What an asshole. Why would he go out with her?” Alice spat.

“Uhm, Alice, like that’s not really fair. Jessica told Andern that they couldn’t be a couple. That was a pretty definitive rejection.” John took a deep breath. “Not saying this should be easy, but life goes on you know.”

“But he liked her so much, he just gave up on her.”

“Thanks Alice, but John’s right. I shut the door on that. I still like him, but I didn’t think I’d feel this way.”

“I still don’t like this. Not one bit.” Alice was visibly upset. “You don’t get to tell me I can’t feel that way.”

“Wasn’t going too. It’s a weird situation. Remember, I suck with emotions and shit. I do well with rational logic.”

“Thanks. I’ll get over this. Have too, right?” Jessica said.

“No one ever said life was going to be sunshine and rainbows all the time.” John smirked. “Plus, during our talk, I told you this was a likely outcome.”

“You are just an insensitive jackass John. Wait, talk?”

“Yeah, over spring break.” John shrugged.

“He is right though.” Jessica smiled, she wiped away the tears. “We better get back to the cafeteria for lunch. I’m getting hungry.”

“Here here.” John said. He attached the document to the form and submitted it for review. One class was done for John.

17:00 Cafeteria

“John, how many classes are you done with?” Kevin asked as he sat down next to Theresa.

“Just the one, rest have finals.” John was not impressed with the lasagna that evening.

Thomas sat down next to John. “Nice work, so how busy are we going to be with finals this week?”

“Busy is my bet.” Nathan answered.

“Less busy as the week goes on. I don’t have any finals on Monday.” John was poking at that lasagna.

“Honey, can you take a look at one of my papers when it’s done?” Alice was smiling at John when she asked.

“Sure thing. Just send it to me when your done with the first draft.”

The group continued their conversation. Everyone was happy that lectures were over, and finals were almost upon them. That just meant the summer term was going to be there quickly. John was the odd man out, he was looking forward to the summer term, but mostly for the wargames. He wanted more of that. Everyone did agree that the games themselves were fun. The problem was everything else around them

John was forced to concede that point. If what he had read was true, the three weeks they’d spend at the training station in Illinois was basically boot camp 2.0. That nonsense he was ok with avoiding, but the basic day was four hours of workouts, chow, focus classes in the afternoon, chow, then more exercising. They would have only about an hour of downtime a day for the first week. There’d be no weekends off, though they’d get the afternoons to recuperate.

18:15 John’s room

Alice went to John’s room. They were both feeling a little frisky and wanted to get into each other’s pants. It was hard to determine who the initiator was since both of them were on one another before the door had closed behind them. After they finished a couple rounds, they laid on John’s bed basking in the afterglow.

“So would you be disappointed if I got a position on a station instead of a ship?” Alice asked as she rested her head on his arm.

“If I’m honest I’d rather you stay there or planet side honestly.”

“Really, I thought you’d want me on the same ship?”

“That’d be fun, but there aren’t married quarters on military ships. At least not on the ones I’ll be on until I’m a Captain.”

Alice was surprised by that. “Wait, you’re going after piloting the smaller ships?”

“Yeah, easiest way to get recognized by the fleet admirals.”

“But those ships experience the highest losses.” She was worried. “I’d rather you be on those big ships.”

“Don’t worry, if I’m in command I won’t be losing any ships.” John put a hand on her shoulder. “Trust me Alice, this is the way. I have no connections and fighting an uphill battle. This is the only way for me to get a big ship.”

Alice leaned in and kissed him. “Promise me you’ll keep yourself safe out there.”

“I will be safe out there.”

The couple laid back and cuddled on the bed for a while. John tried to assuage Alice’s fears on his preferred path to command. She was right to be worried. But even those large ships can be damaged or be destroyed. Eventually the couple decided to get cleaned up and join the rest of the group in lounge.

20:30 Dorm Lounge

John walked into the lounger and subbed in for Nathan in his game of cornhole. Andern was his opponent. The others were busy with some homework. Andern for a change got fully caught up with his studies the day before so he didn’t need to write his paper or finish up any homework. He had the night free to relax before finals started in the morning.

Alice got up and walked over to Jessica. Jessica looked down.

“Are you sure everything’s alright?” She hugged her.

“Thanks. No, I’m not, but I’ll live.”

A pair of MPs walked into the lounge. This was an unexpected experience.

“Cadet John Lief.” An MP talked over the general volume in the room.

“That’s me.”

“Cadet, you are hereby placed under arrest for assaulting a superior officer. Please come with us. You’ll be booked, have your tribunal scheduled and then released.”

“Hold on, assaulted who?” John played the dumbfounded look card perfectly.

“Yeah, he didn’t assault any officer. The guy he punched was assaulting a woman.” Andern jumped into his defense immediately.

“We’re here to place you into custody. Do not resist.”

“One moment please.” John took his tablet and scanned Andern’s.

He cursed himself, he should’ve done that the day before. It made a copy of his data and sent it to a secure server John had set up. He did the same to his.

“Thank you, lead the way officers.”

John was scanning Andern’s recording of the interaction with the police. It synced up with his so that was highly useful. That could eliminate the falsified police report. But there were more problems. John was concerned about the setup.

“John, I’m going to call my father. Don’t say anything.” Alice hollered at him. She was frantically working at placing a call to her father.

The MPs with John led him away to an unknown fate. His friends in the lounger were worried. Andern swore up and down that John was setup. The problem now was how to prove his innocence. John would be up to the fight, but the timing and suddenness of it made Andern feel like this is a severely handicapped fight.

John was silently fuming as his tribunal was being booked. The whole situation stunk to high heaven. He was certain everything that happened that night in the bar was planned, and he fell neatly into the trap. He hadn’t even seen it that night. He wasn’t sure how he’d get out, or if it was even possible, but right now he was interested in proving his innocence. He began to think of the words old man Aspern and LeCroix told him over the years to pick his fights. John briefly began to regret his propensity to pick fights and be a kleptomaniac asshole. But if John was going down, he was determined to go down swinging.

Monday. 00:30 John’s dorm room

John just got back to his room. He sat down at his desk and pulled up case law and began research all relevant cases from the last two hundred years. An hour and a half later he switched gears and began reviewing military case law. By 04:15 he was done. He squeezed the bridge of his nose. The annoyance that he fell into a trap and didn’t see it coming was still quite present and frustrating.

His first thoughts went to revenge. His bloodlust demanded those responsible to be laid low. But that wasn’t going to fix the problem here. That likely would create other problems for him down the road. He just needed to focus on clearing his name. For now, he needed to sleep. He was exhausted and the coming days were going to be overly busy.