Three Weeks Later, Friday. 19:00 Surgery Recovery Room

John was sitting in a chair and waiting for the doctor to come back. The stitches in his shoulder were itching like crazy, but that was a small price to pay for the removal of the metal plates that were formally in his shoulder. It was a net improvement at the end of the day.

Because of the stitches he was on light PE for the weekend sessions. Wednesday of the following week he’d get one last checkup. Barring anything unusual happening he’d be cleared for full duty. There was still significant soreness but generally speaking John was feeling on the mend. The doctor figured he healed roughly five to seven times more quickly than a normal person.

John shrugged that last bit of information off and just thanked whatever cosmic circumstance made him what he was. He was sick and tired of being treated with kid gloves during their PE sessions. Though the annoyance he had with that was nothing compared to when he got to see his armor.

19:45 Academy Armory

“So let me get this straight John. The chest and leg armor plates along with the armored boots were salvageable.” Thomas was looking over the armor. “The backplate is in three pieces, is missing a sizable chunk and has part of the gun welded to it. The armored gloves would have been salvageable, but they permanently bonded with the underlayment. That applies to the left arm armor plates as well. The right shoulder pauldron and arm plates are just gone.”

“Dude, the kinetic shielding device was fried so violently it fused with what’s left of the backplate.” Kevin was holding one part of the harness. “And this harness is just useless now.”

“On the plus side the amplifier and helmet are fine.”

“No, that helmet isn’t fine, you’re lucky those cracks were any worse, that would’ve been bad.”

“Yeah, I got a redesigned helmet for you, using that new alloy.” Thomas handed over a data pad.

John looked it over and smiled. “Nice work. I’ll requisition a of this stuff.”

“You look like hell still.” Kevin noted John’s haggard look. “You sure everything’s alright?”

“Muscles were healing until they cut through them today to get the plates removed. Still have two or three weeks till the bones are one hundred percent.”

“You haven’t told her how close it was, have you?” Thomas leaned back in his chair.

“Yeah, I haven’t said anything, but she understands the physics of what happened well enough. If you get hit by a ship sized device. That’s usually deadly.”

“I didn’t use the amplifier if that’s what you were implying.” John took a deep breath.

“No, I wasn’t implying that, I was asking if you had told her that you were an ant’s dick away from death.” Thomas asked the question again lacking any emotion.

“I haven’t, and I’d appreciate if the two of you keep this between us.”

Kevin and Thomas looked at one another and gave a shrug as they agreed to keep it to themselves. They did push John to at least come clean to Alice. It would be easier to do that now rather than waiting to do that down the road. They all knew that she didn’t like being lied too or had parts of the story purposefully obfuscated from her.

Terra Geminus System. Location unknown

“My lord. We have completed testing the most recent batch of babies born in the artificial wombs.” A scientist said.

“The results?” Dr. Norman was sitting at a busy looking desk.

“To be frank sir the test results are aggravating. Baseline humans produce telepaths at double the rate superiors do, and over fifty percent more than pluses.”

“Dr. Reed how long have we been working on this project?”

“Seventy-five years.”

“That cadet is everything we want our species to become. And yet through all our efforts we haven’t succeeded. Why did the Confederate program succeed while we have failed?”

Dr. Reed sat down. “We’ve scanned his DNA sir. I’m not convinced they succeeded in the strictest sense. There isn’t anything different with him at a genetic level from other superiors that we can detect. We obviously don’t have any scans of his brain, but even with that I’m not sure how we can induce those talents into people.”

“Perhaps we need to try those trials again.” Dr. Norman stopped and looked at his lead scientists. “Maybe our theoretical was flawed. What if performed the necessary adjustments on the fetus?”

Dr. Reed looked incredibly uncomfortable. “I must remind you that the last time we tried that the Union told us we’d lose all our funding or worse. There were too many viable individuals that were lost, damaged or maimed.”

“Perhaps it was our methods the last time. Get a team together and start planning and working on the technical side of things. I would prefer we can sell this experiment to the Union.”

“I’ll do as you command my lord.” Dr. Reed bowed and began leaving the office.

“Oh, please send Lex and Lisa in.”

Dr. Reed shook his head in agreement and then left the room. Dr. Norman turned his chair to look down at the floor of his industrial research building. The failures of his eugenics program would be taken by the government and typically made to be members of the military. The rejects would be turned into laborers or sold off to the different corporations for whatever tasks they needed.

Money equated to power in the Mercantilist Union. Hard work was respected but pulling a legal fast one on a business partner or rival was respected even more so. Violating the spirit of the law was fine so long as the violation adhered precisely to the written law.

“Why are we not going after him? He’s weak.” Lex spat out the words.

“Young man, that station’s security has been increased to a degree that even we cannot breach. The opportunity has been lost.”

“Brother, by the time we could be there he’d be back on Earth. And he’d be fully healed either way.” Lisa sat down in the chair.

“So what? All we need is to get us onboard the station.” Lex was not listening to reason.

“Lex, restrain yourself. He is not to be killed. I need him alive and viable. Unfortunately for you, he is vital to our grand plans.”

“Father, are the rumors true?” Lisa leaned back in the chair.

“And what rumors would you be asking about?”

“His suit was siphoning some of his power to enhance its capabilities.”

“That’s bullshit. We fought him to a standstill. We almost had him.”

“Lex were it not for your sister's extremely timely intervention you’d be dead right now. We believe the psychic hood, or whatever they call the device, was reducing his psychic potential.”

“So, he wasn’t fighting us at his full powers.” Lisa squinted.

“Yes and no. I don’t believe you should put either of yourselves down. You handled yourself well. You’ve never fought another alpha level telepath before.”

“Whatever, I’m going to wreck him next time I see him.” Lex stormed out of the room.

“He will need your help focusing. Please do that for him Lisa.” Dr. Norman smiled.

“Yes father.” She got up began walking and stopped. “I believe he’s not just a telepath. I swore I saw him throw something. But it was so chaotic it may have been the explosion that caused that.”

“Begin planning and practicing for the contingency that he is, but we’ve gone over the battle data that the two of you shared. There was no clear-cut evidence he had those abilities.”

“I will do that father.” Lisa left the room.

“Interesting, perhaps their training needs to be adjusted to account for this.” Dr. Norman began writing some notes. “Let’s have Dr. Octavius work in some anti-kinetic practice. But how do we convince him we’re right.”

Dr. Norman began walking around his office. He looked out at the city skyline. The first sun was setting, the second sun would set in twenty minutes. The light always took on a beautiful shade of purple. He walked towards a nondescript part of the wall and pressed his right hand on it. Part of the wall turned into a door as it pulled in and away from the wall.

He walked into his panic room and began looking at some of the research projects he had worked on over the years. There were fetuses, malformed children, adults, biological implants and unique psychic weapons they had developed. He smiled and grimaced at some of his past successes or failures.

At the center of the room was a woman, no more than twenty-five or twenty-six years old. She was clothed in a grey gown. She floated in the green hued fluid of unknown nature. Dr. Norman placed a hand on the tank.

“My dearest Evelynne. It has been too long since I’ve talked to you. For that you have my apologies. Our twins our amazing, they are even more powerful than you. I believe I’ve found the link. Oh, how I wish you were here, I know you’d be able to turn him to our side.”

Dr. Norman leaned in and kissed the tank. He wiped the kiss off the tank with a handkerchief. He was smiling as he turned and left the room.

“So much work to do. So much to do.”

Saturday. 12:15 Cafeteria 1A

“John, you look like hell.” Jessica said as she sat down.

“Yes, unlike the rest of you, your bodies aren’t rebuilding bones that were sheared off where they were supposed to be.” John looked like he was forcing himself to eat.

“Well, at least we’re done with classes today. And we’re off tomorrow, but still no rec access.” Brian was smiling.

“Yeah, what the fuck is up with our rec access.” Andern was pointing his fork in the air randomly.

“Control that fork idiot. Heard next weekend we get limited access. Two weeks later is when we get full access.” Nathan was eating some pasta salad.

“So, we get access to the rec room six weeks into a twelve week stay.” Kristin was running the weeks through in her head.

“And we only have three leave days where we have unlimited access to it.” John said.

Alice was rubbing John’s back. “The limited access is a tour of the facilities.”

“Oh cool, that’s exactly what we need.” Andern laid the sarcasm on deeply.

“Well, I’m gonna watch the hockey games and play some cornhole. Who’s game?” Kevin asked.

“Me. I’m in.” Andern picked his tray up and brought it to the return area.

“I’m going to take a nap. When I wake up, I’ll join you lot.” John got up and brought his tray back.

Alice looked at the group and followed John. “I’ll be back.”

She was a dozen steps behind John and followed him to their room. John was climbing into the top bunk when the door opened. He looked back at Alice and smiled.

“I’ll be alright.”

Alice stopped smiling. “Quit the bullshit. How close were you to dying?”

“Closest I’ve ever been.” John put his head on the pillow.

“That’s a shitty answer and you know it. I wasn’t asking when I said quit the bullshit, I fucking meant it.”

John rolled over onto his unbroken side. “If I was hit any harder, I could’ve been sent out of orbit from the station. If I was closer to the station the recoil of the whip likely would’ve killed me.”

“Fucking hell John.”

“Oh, it gets worse.” John took a deep breath. “If I was any closer to the frigate I’d been irradiated by the engines if I got out of the umbilical. Or barring that I’d been wrapped up in it as the frigate blasted away.”

“John…”

“Twelve feet closer to the station the helmet would’ve cracked and begun venting atmosphere. Yeah, definitely the closest I’ve came to dying. That makes nine times I was a pubic hair away from dying. Each time felt similar and yet different all the same.”

“I talked to Director Aspern. He said none of you ever really retire, that you and he will always work for intelligence.”

John sighed. “I volunteer my help because it’s my duty to do so and its simply the right thing to do.”

“What about your duty to me? Am I not part of that calculus?”

“Yes. You are the most important person in my life and I do love you.” John’s general lack of displaying or conveying emotions wasn’t helping him here.

“Then why the fuck would you sacrifice yourself for some suit? Please make me understand because none of this makes a god damn bit of sense to me.”

John rolled over in his bunk and slowly tried to get out of it. He walked over to the terminal and unlocked it. He logged into a secure server and pulled up a pair of dossiers on his birth parents.

“Read it, this is why I must do all of this. Why I am consumed by my duty.”

Alice sat down and began reading. John was sitting on her bunk crouched over and holding his head in his hands. The dossier contained who John’s parents were, their biological make-up, and details about the Confederate eugenics program. The program that was responsible for getting his parents together and ultimately his birth.

The program was discovered by the Alliance and Mercantilist Union through a combination of sheer dumb luck and the untimely defection of two couples to each other power. The action the Alliance took was paying a pirate organization to wipe out the colony. The Mercantilist Union on the other hand took the information and gave it to all of the programs they were funding and keeping a secret from the other powers.

“There’s no way this could have been authorized.”

“What better way to conduct a eugenics experiment by recruiting specific families to move to a new colony with full government support. Mendes 8 was beautiful, and an anomaly on the frontier. Immigration was tightly controlled.”

“But this doesn’t explain you or why you do what you do.”

“On the contrary, look more closely at the genetic templates and how they are classified going back eight generations.”

“You’re a fourth generation superior? There’s been that many already?”

“I know of two fifth generation individuals. But they aren’t telepaths.” John took a deep breath. “Alice, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want us to raise a couple kids together.”

“But…” Alice logged out of the terminal and turned around.

“I rush into danger because that’s what I do. I have to do these things.” John stood up and took a step toward her. “If that suit got into their hands, they’d have a piece of tech that no one else has. Imagine fighting an army of telepaths that are amped up over eleven.”

“But you almost died.”

“I didn’t though. Obviously, I don’t want to die. But I’m not the kind of person to hide or ignore danger, I’m the kind that runs towards the fight. That’s who and what I am.”

Alice hugged John. “When I found out you were in surgery, I remembered that the last time we talked was when I got pissed with you when you called. I was so worried that you’d die and then the last thing we said to one another was not good.”

Alice let go of the hug and kissed John. A stream of tears was flowing down her right cheek. John wiped the tears from her cheek and kissed her forehead.

“Alice, I love you. But I can’t tell you that I won’t rush in again or that I won’t ever get hurt again. I can’t do that. I have to do what I know is right, and that means I will put myself into danger.”

Alice forced a smile. “Get some rest, you look like hell. I want to have another conversation about all of this… stuff.”

John crawled awkwardly back into his bunk. He tried to get himself in a comfortable position, which was difficult because broken ribs make nothing comfortable. Eventually he managed to quiet his mind and get some much-needed rest.

Wednesday. 19:30 Examination Room 3C

“Cadet, you looked like hell last week and the scans confirmed all of it. But it looks like your ribs are fully healed now. I still fail to see how those unique genetics of yours allow you to heal that quickly, but your basically back to normal.”

“Even the shoulder blade?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s a hundred percent yet, but it’s above ninety percent. At your rate of healing, I’d estimated another week, no more than two.”

“Thanks doc.”

“Well, I’m clearing you for full return to normal duties. Just keep a close eye on your body. Don’t push anything. We don’t need you breaking anything or doing any more damage to yourself because your too pigheaded to know your limits.”

“Aye aye sir.”

John got up and left the room. He walked down the hallway and thanked a couple of the nurses that helped him while he was there. Fifteen minutes later he entered the cafeteria. Andern and Brian were playing cornhole. The rest were talking. Only Kristin looked like she was doing homework.

“What the hell? Does no one have any homework?” John smiled as he threw his hands out.

“Says the walking computer.” Jessica rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, so what is with the lack of homework?” Theresa asked.

“There isn’t a lack of homework, it just seems easy?” Alice paused. “Hold on, they are making us more efficient at everything aren’t they.”

“You my lovable young woman, are but a cog in the machine that is the Navy.” John smiled.

“Mother fuckers.” Alice said as she was stunned at her revelation.

“Except y’all don’t have to write paper after paper after paper like we do in command.” John shrugged. “Btw I want next game.”

The group would stay in the cafeteria until curfew. Kristin finished her paper that she was working on. The girls talked about the wedding. As they drew closer and closer to the big day, they all were getting more and more excited.

John beat Andern and Brian in games of cornhole that evening. The group was only two days away from having access to the rec areas of the station. Saturday would be a full day of leave for the cadets. This was the first proper respite from duties the cadets would have since they arrived at the station. It was something that everyone was looking forward too.