Wednesday. 06:30 Obstacle Course

The cadets were running through the obstacle course. They were thirty minutes into a planned forty-five-minute run. This was so much more difficult than the normal runs they did in the gym or on the track. The cadets were required to do at least five laps. John had already done seven. The rest of the group was only wrapping up their fifth.

“Fifteen to go, keep it up.” John hollered as he passed the group a third time.

“Fucking hell, how does he do that?” Theresa was exhausted.

“I don’t know, it’s not natural.” Jessica responded back.

“So, Alice…” Kristin let that statement hang on.

Alice just looked back at the girls and smirked.

“I feel sorry for you, I’m not envious actually.” Theresa laughed as she said that.

The other girls laughed as they passed the finish line. They could see up ahead at the turn that John had already passed the boys. They were hearing a stream of foul language directed at John. Just before the time had expired John managed to lap them again.

“Holy crap, that course is terrible.” John was hurting all over.

“I’d hate to know what it feels like if you really try hard for a change.” Nathan laughed in between taking deep breaths.

Andern jogged up slightly to the group and felt to the ground. “I hurt all over. And you’re a dick.”

“That was a hell of a workout.” John shrugged and started to stretch.

The girls were walking up to the boy slowly. They looked completely exhausted. Alice hugged John. She didn’t appear as worn down or tired as the rest of them. Theresa sat down next to Kevin and was leaning on him. Kristin was leaning against one of the obstacles near Andern.

“Holy hell, those upper classman suck.” Jessica said. “All this because of them.”

John felt that he was no longer sweating. “I need a shower bad. And food. Lots of food.”

With that the group groaned and got up and headed into the locker room for a much-needed shower. Twenty minutes later they were sitting in the cafeteria. They were different combinations of sore and tired, but all were ferociously hungry. John had made a pyramid of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. His plate wasn’t far different from the rest of the cadets that morning.

12:05 Cafeteria

“Honestly man, you would be the worst attorney known to mankind.” John was ribbing Andern.

“In my defense that whole mess was boring as hell.” Andern was eating some fries.

“I’ll second his statement. We should’ve skipped and done homework.” Thomas sat down.

“I’ll give you that.” John took a bite of his sandwich.

“So, we doing anything fun this weekend?” Thomas asked.

“Football team is playing Clemson. Probably homework, cornhole and relaxing in the lounge.” Kevin laughed.

“No leave this weekend or next. Well, except to go to the football games.” Theresa shook her head.

“Mighty nice of our upper classman to pull that prank.” Alice was frowning.

“On the plus side talk of my tribunal immediately stopped and focused on those dumbasses.” John smiled as he took a drink of milk.

“You know, the sun doesn’t revolve around you.” Brian was very snarky.

“Never know, maybe it does.” John smiled as the table groaned in unison.

They continued to complain about the stunt. A group of juniors and seniors thought pranking several professors by controlling the screens during lectures by displaying hardcore pornography. John thought it was sloppily executed but inappropriately funny. Everyone was in agreement that the punishment felt overly penal to those that weren’t involved. But since those involved didn’t initially step forward everyone got the punishment.

The only plus side to this arrangement was everyone was caught up on homework. And any final papers that the group needed to write were well underway at this point. If nothing else, they were setting themselves up for a much easier time around finals. Despite this they continued to complain about the idiot upper classman that screwed up their ability to leave campus. The added PE classes for everyone didn’t help either.

13:00 Armstrong Building, Lecture Room 2B

Today’s lecture was focused on how important the chain of command is. And the consequences when it doesn’t function. The lecture was mean to reinforce the need for command officers to work with one another and know exactly where they were in the chain. And above all communicate effectively with everyone.

The cruiser CNS Athens was a tragic failure in not knowing the proper chain of command and a complete failure of communicating with one another. They were caught off guard and the captain of the vessel was killed during the initial attack. Internal communications throughout the ship were functional, but the chain broke down immediately. Communication effectively stopped between departments and general locations. The second in command was injured and also unable to command the vessel. This left three different officers thinking they were in command, and each had ordered very different things to happen.

While the ship was damaged, she was still void worthy and could still jump into slip space to escape. The actual officer in charge wanted to just that but failed to alert the other parts of the ship and didn’t head to the secondary bridge. While he made the correct decision, no one enacted his order. Another officer on the secondary bridge ordered the ship to make ready for a counterattack. And the last officer that thought they were in charge ordered an abandon ship.

The end result for the Athens was a third of the ship’s crew reached life pods and escaped the ship. They were all captured and returned at the end of the conflict. The fate of those left on the ship was far worse. The officer that wanted to fight when the enemies came back thought the ship was prepared but no one was manning the weapons. The officer that wanted to jump away couldn’t because the commands to do that were transferred to the secondary bridge from engineering.

When the enemy fleet finished its orbit of the planet, they noticed the ship closing on them. The ship was then destroyed in a rather short engagement. The black box was recovered a week later when the battlegroup retook the system. It was not a good look for the navy and its officers. All ships were quick to solidify their chains of command and instruct everyone who was in it.

“Talk about a depressing lecture.” John said as he was walking out of the lecture hall.

“That was just a colossal clusterfuck. What happened with those that were taken prisoner?” Kristin asked.

“Nothing good, they were drummed out. Makes sense, the military doesn’t like seeing its own being taken prisoner, especially during a complete breakdown in the chain.”

“But that doesn’t always happen.”

“But this was an exception to the rule, not the normal action.” John shook his head. “There wasn’t an official order to abandon. You can’t do that unless it’s confirmed by two officers. I’d agree that the enlisted and officers that did abandon got a raw deal, but it wasn’t a dishonorable discharge.”

“So, the long and short of it is when we’re in command we damn well better know what to do and how to do it. Our decisions can affect the lives of hundreds or thousands of lives. Make a mistake and…” John let his sentence hang.

“So, this is what we chose.” Kristin let out a light laugh.

“Could be worse, we could’ve tried to be doctors and need to perform surgeries.” John held the door open for Kristin.

“Tell me about it. I’ll take depressing orders and the weight of the world.”

The pair found their seats and got read for their next lecture. They still had another two hours of lectures ahead of them before it was dinner. This lecture wasn’t going to be interesting, but it was going to reinforce the importance of knowing what to do, when to do it, and how to do the things they are asked on ships.

16:00 Greenhaven, Maryland. May’s Fish Store

The store closed early, but the parking lot was suspiciously full. A group of men had been assembled and were sitting in the back of the dimmed warehouse. This was not a meeting of the minds or a wholesome activity. An attack and kidnapping were being planned.

“So, the attack on the academy is going to be focused here. Away from the lecture halls. We’re going to there looking for this Cadet.” The man, seemingly in charge of this motley crew, pointed at the screen to his right. “Patrice Vernon”

“The pay on this job doesn’t seem appropriate.” One of the underlings grumbled.

“The attackers are the ones making the money. They will be drawing the heat away from us. Our job is to kidnap this cadet.”

“So, the intel says he’s in this building between eight and ten in the morning. Do we know what class or classroom?” Another man asked.

“He’ll be in one of three classes. The attack won’t begin until we have eyes on the target.”

“You think we can do this safely? This job stinks.” Another man wasn’t convinced.

“Once again, the attackers will be taking all the heat. Confed protocol is for the cadets to head to the bunkers. We’ll snatch him there and force him into the waiting car.” The leader sounded confident.

“You bother asking the why?” Another one piped up from the shadows in the back.

“Would that matter at all?” One of the previous men asked.

“Call it curiosity.”

“His sister was set to marry into a friend of our employer’s family. She bailed on the wedding and ran off. They were very put off and want an example made.” The leader was smiling.

“Hold on, so we’re killing the little shit?”

“No, he is not to be harmed. We are using him as leverage to get the family to make the daughter get back on the right road.”

“Ah rich people, what a fucked-up bunch of people.”

That elicited some laughter amongst the men. The leader of the group joined in. He made a gesture to one of the men in the back of the room to turn the lights on. The men’s eyes hurt as the lights came on.

“Messed up as they may be, they are the ones footing the bill. Ok, study up on the plan. We’re leaving here at six in the morning tomorrow.”

The store was still a hub of activity amongst the men. They were looking at the map and talking between them. Some of the men weren’t happy with the plan and began talking with their leader about minor changes. Minor modifications were made. About forty-five minutes after the meeting was adjourned the men left the building.

19:00 Lounge

The group was working on some homework. Andern was surprisingly ahead of schedule with his homework and decided to ditch studying and playing cornhole with John. The rest looked at the pair with a combination of loathing and apathy.

“John, where do they store all your gear?” Andern asked.

“The suits? In the primary armory.”

“Right, where is that though? Never seen that.”

Everyone stopped and looked at John. There was a fair amount of gear that the academy had but the armory wasn’t exactly out in the open.

“Serious. Y’all don’t know?” John scanned the room.

“Yeah, we don’t know. So, where’s the swag?” Kevin asked the same question.

“The main armory is in the third basement beneath the gymnasium. Every other building has a small armory near the bunkers.”

“Dare I ask why you know this?” Alice smirked.

“Let me guess. On the campus maps y’all looked at that wasn’t marked?” John received blank stares. “Really, they aren’t marked on your maps?”

The group started laughed. It was commonplace or natural for John to know things that most wouldn’t or shouldn’t have. Then again that extra knowledge has given an edge to all things that was useful.

“The problem of course is accessing the armory. Not like they want to hand out arms and armor to anyone and everyone.” John shrugged. “Especially me.”

“Ten bucks says he has access or barring that knows how to open them.” Thomas said.

“Dumb bet. Absolutely not taking that bet.” Nathan was the first to reject that bet.

“Getting into the main armory would be doable but sketchy as fuck.” John tossed the bag and set up a block.

“Stop. Seriously we don’t need to be part of some sort of conspiracy.” Jessica shook her head.

The group smirked then got back to working. Andern and John played another two games of cornhole before they sat down with the rest of the group. They stayed there for just under an hour and a half. Everyone was feeling pretty good about how much work they had finished that evening. But everyone needed the weekend. The extra and unwanted PE classes were making a difficult week brutally long.

20:30 Co-ed dorm

“Ok, so we have the bridal party. Mom has two places she wants to show us, though I’m with you and we should have a smaller service.” Alice smiled.

“Who’s the flower girl going to be?”

“My cousin’s daughter is going to do that for us.”

“Sweet.” John was happy. “Man, we’re going to have most of it wrapped during Thanksgiving break.”

“While that would be nice, I bet we still have a few days to spend on it during Christmas Break.

“A man can hope though, right?” John smiled.

Alice hugged him. “That would be really nice.”

The couple stayed embraced for a while. John killed the mood by turning the TV on and changing the channel to the Ocho. Alice groaned then laughed at John. Alice was the only one that truly saw the romantic side to him, none of the other girls believed her when she told them about it. But as quickly as he could be romantic, he could revert to being a dude. She had already made peace with that.

“So, are we ever going to get to live a normal happy life without people trying to kill us?” Alice smirked a little as she asked that.

“Oh, we’ll have a happy life, but I doubt the attacks will end until I make admiral. And then it’s political game.”

“I was hoping that people would stop trying to kill you.”

John laughed. “Maybe I just proactively kill all the bad people, that might work.”

Alice started to laugh, but then she caught herself. “No, no no. You are not going to be a mass murderer to preemptively kill people that might attack you. We’re not going that far.”

John sighed dramatically. “Fine, we’ll just have to weather the attempts at our lives as they come.”

Alice laughed, grabbed John’s cheeks then pulled him closer to kiss him. “It will make me sad if you lose your humanity, don’t do that.”

“I have a damn good reason not to do that now.” John smiled. “It won’t happen in the future.”

Eventually the couple decoded it was time to go to sleep. It had been a long day, and the weekend was almost upon them. Alice was in a clingy mood and invaded his half of the bed and latched onto him. John smiled as he fell asleep, while it may not have been comfortable to fall asleep in that position, there were far worse positions to fall asleep in.

Thursday. 07:30 Cafeteria

“Early morning PE classes are the worst.” Andern was gnawing on some bacon.

“Could be worse.” Jessica said.

“How?” Kevin, Thomas and Nathan asked.

“We could be doing laps on the obstacle course again.” John said as he was attacking his plate of food. “Fucking upper classman. They screwed the pooch big time.”

“The only way PE could be way worse is if it lasted longer than the next two weeks.” Nathan said.

“Yeah, but we’re still paying for the idiot stunt. I don’t get why the rest of us are paying the penalty.” Alice was eating some toast.

“Live as one, die as one.” John said. “May have been a funny prank but shit like that happening at the wrong time can cause a loss of a ship and its crew.”

“In other words, stop with the stupid shit and grow up.” Brian smiled.

“Sounds like it, still not fun for the rest of us.” Nathan added.

“So, what is everyone doing over Thanksgiving break?” Jessica asked.

“Theresa and I are going to my home this year. Family is going to be around this go around.”

“Alice and I are heading to her home. Hoping to get most of the planning work wrapped up.” John was smiling.

“My grandparents want to see me again, so I’m going to go there.” Jessica was smiling.

“I’m going to Brian’s, then he’s coming with me for Christmas. Should be fun.” Thomas joined the chorus.

“Good question, maybe we need to talk about that Kristin.” Andern was aloof.

“Yeah, let’s do that after dinner tonight.” Kristin had meant to discuss this with him but never got around to it.

“My folks are busy, so I’m probably just going to stick around here. Though I do have cousins in Philadelphia, may check with them to see what they are doing.” Nathan shoved the last piece of toast in his mouth. “Not in a big rush to figure things out.”

“Where y’all going for your New Years holiday?” Andern ask.

“Cuba. Got a nice hacienda rental near the ocean. Walking distance to the city center. Not to mention the cigar shops and factory. Gonna be sweet.” John smiled.

The topics switched back to some unpleasant things that were happening. The whining session continued a short while longer before they broke up for classes. Everyone was really looking forward to heading home for Thanksgiving. John was admittedly not looking forward to that as much. Planning a wedding was busy work and that meant less relaxing and goofing off.