Thursday. 17:30 Cafeteria 1A

“Look at Andern. He can hardly contain himself.” Nathan said laughing.

“You know bud, you got a fully day and a half before we’re cleared on leave.” Thomas smirked.

“Leave for a whole sixteen hours.” John was just shaking his head. “But hey, that is what keep this one sane.”

“What keeps you sane?” Jessica asked.

“This one sane?” Alice was pointing at John with a butter knife. “I think not.”

The table started to laugh. Despite their ribbing of Andern the truth of the matter they were all looking forward to being able to use the recreational facilities. It had been long, and painful, for the group to not get any time to truly relax. Though their daily haunt in the cafeteria was fun, they needed more than that.

A first lieutenant entered the room. “Cadets Lief, Bloom and Jordan. With me.”

“I’m not done eating.” Thomas said.

John and Kevin looked at him and shook their heads. The rest of the table was desperately trying to hold in laughter.

“He’s an officer, it’s not a request, you dumbass.” John said as he slapped Thomas’ shoulder.

Jessica whispered to the rest at the table. “Since when has that stopped him?” Jessica was pointing at John.

That caused the table to lose whatever composure they had remaining. The lieutenant had a look of ‘why me’ written all over his face. Kevin and Thomas looked worried as they followed the lieutenant.

‘Don’t worry, if we are in trouble, I’ll own it and spare the two of you.’ John said telepathically to the two.

They followed the lieutenant through the station to the Academy’s armory. The door opened and inside it was a pair of engineers and Commander Lee. The engineers looked at the new armor and were fascinated.

“These are expansion slots for modules, right?” One of them hollered over to John.

“Yup. So, Commander, am I correct in presuming my replacement was delivered.”

“Yes, it has.” Lee turned around and handed John a data pad. “Two suits in fact, one for us and your personal suit.”

“Ok. So, what are these two here for?” John pointed at Thomas and Kevin behind him.

“Intelligence has informed us that you three know more about this suit than anyone else.” Lee paused. “And we’re going to need your help getting one of our marines up to speed.”

“Uhm sir. We aren’t really that knowledgeable about the suit itself. That’s his area of expertise.” Kevin was pointing at John. “We helped him with some unique kit for his suit.”

“I don’t suppose that would be useful to us?” Lee asked.

“None of your marines have the unique skillset to utilize the tool.” John paused. “Or the other thing that we’ve theorized but have yet to put to a test.”

“Let me ask it in a slightly different way. How would the three of you like to be out of class tomorrow and twice next week.”

“Yes.” Thomas and Kevin said in unison.

“Who said cadets were dumb sir?” John smirked.

Lee just shook his head. “You are to report here at 08:30 tomorrow. I will contact your instructors about your absences. You will need to get the lectures and complete any homework, quizzes or tests that you miss.”

“Well, I’m done with all my homework so no problems here.”

“Fucking Martian, of course you are.” Kevin said under his breath. “Won’t be a problem for us sir.”

“Agreed, on both points.” Thomas smiled.

“Your dismissed.” Lee caught himself. “Lief, there’s a missing module on your suit.”

“It would appear that way, but I assure you it’s in safe hands sir. There’s no danger with it being out of the armory.”

“Very well, dismissed.”

The three headed back to the cafeteria to finish their meals. They’d be cold but getting out of classes for at least three days and playing around with power armor was almost as good as a proper day off. After dinner cornhole was played and college football was on the TV.

22:30 Room 315

“You know what the rest of us would’ve given for a few days off?” Alice smirked as she asked the question.

“At a minimum part of your souls?” John smiled. “So do you want to finish that conversation we had the other night?”

“You know I want to tell you to stop doing all those extracurricular activities.” Alice got up and hugged him. “But I also know your first impulse is to rush in to help. And you can do more good that way than if you were to stop.”

“You know you can be bluntly honest with me, and I won’t hold it against you.” John hugged her back.

“I know, I love you but honestly I hate it when you rush off to danger because selfishly, I worry about losing you.” Alice kissed John. “But we’re in the military, any one of us could die either due to freak accident, getting hurt or war.”

“Well, I will at least try to be more careful with my safety in the future.”

“Thank you. But I did have another question.” Alice let go of the hug and sat back down on her bed.

“Shoot.” John leaned against the wall.

“So, I overheard one of the nurses say something about your metabolism was freakishly fast or something. I don’t know what it was for sure.”

“My body’s response to injury and exercise is many times more quickly than a baseline human. What would be a few weeks for most people would take days for me.”

“Would that apply to me as well?”

“Can’t speak on the exact rate, but it stands to reason that it’d be quicker for you as well.”

“Do you know what the normal rate for superiors is?”

“There’s some debate, not in Confed space mind you since we don’t talk about shit like this, but the Mercantilist’s believe its four to five times faster.”

“Why don’t we talk about this or know more?”

“Think of how many parents would want their kids to be better off genetically. Then think of all of the adults that would be pissed that someone with slightly different genes was just naturally better at everything than them. Sometimes not talking about it makes sense. Downside to that train of thought is a lack of understanding. Besides human beings don’t exactly have a great track record when it comes to inclusion.”

Alice was absolutely fascinated about this subject. They stayed up for another hour talking about what they were. John took a simple approach to things. The couple were genetically what they were, no more and no less. It didn’t make them better, if anything he viewed it as a mandate to be better. Achieve everything they could through hard work and not have it be something gifted to them.

Friday. 08:30 Main Armory

“Look, I don’t care what you say. A void sheath doesn’t provide enough protection.” Gunnery Sargent Alberto Mendez was downright indignant.

“Small arms and smaller caliber rifles, outside of the railgun variants, won’t do anything to a void sheath that’s powered on. I doubt anything under forty caliber would feel like more than a tickle.” John was growing tired of this argument.

“A normal combat suit is better all around.”

“Fine, demonstration time then. Go grab your suit. Only way to prove this is to beat it into you.” John shook his head and headed to his reliquary.

“So, we gonna hook the thing in?” Kevin asked.

“No, not yet.” John stood still as the armor plates were placed on the void sheath.

John turned and walked into the practice range. It was tiny compared to the one at the academy, but it would suffice. The micro-fusion reactors were humming while the kinetic barriers were crackling with energy.

“So, when I get a hit on you, we can end this farce right?” Mendez smirked.

“Your cocky, I can respect that.” John got into a defensive position.

Racing lights flashed red and began to count down. Both participants were ready for combat. The light turned green. Both men dashed toward one another, John was significantly quicker and more agile. He slid under the attack, pushed down hard with both hands to get him back on his feet. John leapt backward and did a slow flip over Mendez.

Mendez reacted by planting his front foot to arrest his momentum. By the time he had looked back John was already in the air behind him. Mendez felt a hand on his shoulder which ripped him backward. The next thing he felt was a foot being kicked out from him. Then another hand slammed down on his chest plate. When he landed the first thing, he saw was John pointing a pistol at his head.

“We can do this all day; the result will be the same.” John holstered the pistol and offered a hand to Mendez.

“Fucking hell. We’re going again.” Mendez batted John’s hand away.

“Kevin, roll it back.” John said as he walked back to take his position.

“Roger. It’s reset.”

Both men took their marks. The countdown began, both tensed up in anticipation for the green light. Both dashed forward when it went green. John didn’t go low this time; he landed the first punch. That caused Mendez’s punch to miss the target entirely. John immediately grappled his opponent and took him to the ground. Mendez tried to break free of John’s grip, but he was effectively immobilized. John let go of the hold and got to his feet first but had already drawn a pistol and pointed it at Mendez.

“Like I said, we can do this all day long and the result will be the same. Your suit is three times as heavy and puts out less than forty percent of the power this one.” John once more offered his hand. “Take the hand and put on the other suit then we would at least fight at a near level playing field.”

“Fucking hell. Fine.” Mendez wasn’t happy with the results so far.

John walked over to Kevin and Thomas. He took his helmet off. “His reaction times are about as quick as mine, right?”

“Your faster but I’m not sure if the delta is enough to justify a true advantage.” Thomas said as he was reviewing the power armor’s output. “The suit has so much more power that it can move faster.”

Fifteen minutes later the pair were dueling once more. John was taken aback by Mendez. He was matching John punch for punch. This went on until lunch. They had five mock matches, tying the series two to two. The group of engineers and soldiers ate the sandwiches that were provided. John hadn’t bothered getting out of his armor.

“You’re holding something back.” Mendez shot at John.

“I’m holding plenty back.”

“I want you at your full potential. I want to see what your suit can do.”

Kevin and Thomas laughed, Kevin swallowed his food and spoke. “His suit is truly bespoke. He can do things you can’t. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“Fuck it, I want to see. I don’t believe in all that intelligence bullshit.”

John smirked. “Alright cowboy.” He finished his sandwich. “Kevin, it’s in the red box at your station.”

“I got it.” Thomas said as he hopped up and walked over to the table.

The other engineers weren’t clear on what was going on. Thomas jogged over to John’s bent over frame. A triangular door split in two and receded into the armor. The psychic amplifier module was locked into place.

“You can back down you know.” John said as he put his helmet back on.

“Fuck that, come at me bro. I want to see if your all talk.”

“Gotta love marines and their bravado.” Kevin whispered to Thomas.

“Yeah, but aside from John who else would you want fighting for or with you.”

“Ok, fair point.”

All talk in the room stopped as John engaged the amplifier. That unnatural energy radiated off John. The blue ethereal light started around his eyes had enveloped John. The countdown began. Even as battle happy as Mendez was, a trait not that dissimilar to John, he was feeling uncomfortable about this bout.

The lights flashed green, and John simply disappeared from sight. Mendez immediately went into a defensive position anticipating an attack. That served him well as he was struck by a kick that was partially deflected by his arm. Mendez tried to counterattack but as quickly as John attacked him, he fell out of range.

John dashed in and landed a solid punch under just to the right of the chest plate. That knocked Mendez back which gave John the ability to follow the punch with a kick towards the head. Mendez tried to deflect the attack, getting a guard up just in time. But John was already following the kick with another punch. Mendez was reeling from the onslaught of attacks.

“I yield.” Mendez was humbled in that match.

John powered down the amplifier and armor. He took his helmet off. “If you were in that older suit those first two punches you took would’ve shattered the armor plates and sent you to the medics. This armor is susceptible to anti-tank rounds, which the old suit was too.”

“I’ll man up and say I was wrong.”

“Looks like the two of you were having fun.” Commander Lee was standing next to Thomas.

“The gunny here didn’t believe any upgrades were necessary. I believe he’s seen the light.”

“Seen a couple lights sir. What the hell was that?”

“Cadet Leif is an L4 telepath. That module and what happened in that fight is not to be discussed anymore. Intelligence was very plainspoken about the consequences of openly talking about it.”

“Aye sir. Mouth is shut sir.” Mendez saluted Lee.

“With that out of the way how’s the armor son?” Lee was curious about his honest opinion.

John waived Kevin over to take off and store the modules.

“Well sir, it has a hell of a lot more power available than the old suits. Way lighter too. I have never felt that fast before.”

“Lief, do you want to give him the bad news?”

“Sure.” John activated the reliquary. “The armor plates on these suits cost as much as five full mark six suits. The void sheath costs two to three times as much as your standard combat suit.”

“The bean counters are probably not going to approve many of these then.” Mendez looked disappointed.

“Get into the special forces, then your pretty much a lock for these.” John was sitting on a chair putting on his boots.

The group continued to talk about the new suit. Everyone was in agreement that it was cutting edge and an immense improvement. John was insistent that all they needed to do is produce more of the alloy for the armor to cut its cost. When that happened, probably within three or four years that suit would replace all of the previous versions.

Saturday. 08:45 Rec Room 4D

“Can I just state the obvious?” Andern was whining.

“No, this is better than any small ship by the way.” John slapped his shoulder and sat down on the couch.

“Foosball, cornhole, a few couches and TVs, books and game consoles.” Andern was looking at the depressing number of items to do.

“You forgot the dart board.” Kristin pointed at it.

“Ooh, who wants to play?” John hopped out and over the couch.

“Yeah, I’m game.” Brian said.

“Ten credits he nine darts the first game.” Kevin whispered to Nathan.

“Deal.”

Jessica and Alice overheard the bet. They joined the two and watched Brian and John play. Brian’s first three throws resulted in a score of eighty. John through three triple twenties. Brian followed it up with a pair of triple twenties and a twenty. Which was then followed by another three triple twenties by John.

“He’s gonna do it.” Kevin laughed.

Brian threw a perfect round of one hundred eighty, but he still had a hundred and one points to get through. John only needed to throw a one hundred forty-one during this turn, while finishing on a double. John naturally did exactly that. His first throw was a triple twenty, followed by a triple nineteen then finishing on a double twelve.

“Sometimes I hate him. Sometimes. Here’s your credits you filthy animal.” Nathan shook his head.

“Pleasure doing business with you, my friend.” Kevin smiled.

“Ok, what the fuck just happened.” Brian looked shocked.

“Bro, we’ve just learned to accept the fact that he can do anything.” Thomas went up to hug his boyfriend.

“John, answer me honestly. Is there anything you’re not good at?” Brian was now curious.

“Can I answer this?” Alice was jumping in place desperately wanting to answer.

“Cleaning up and modesty.”

“That doesn’t count.” Andern shook his head.

“Well, there’s an argument to be made about the modesty part for sure, but the cleaning sure does.” Alice said dryly.

John, Andern, Kevin and Thomas grabbed controllers and began playing the latest Mario Kart. John was generally in the lead most time, but the game seems to hate whoever was in first place, so the others were able to stay in the game. That is of course when they didn’t sabotage each other’s races.

The girls watched a chick flick and talked about the upcoming wedding. Anytime that topic got brought up they all got giddy and overly excited. Brian and Thomas were watching the moving with the girls. They were exciting for the wedding too, though not to the same degree the girls were. Thomas tried to get information on the dress she chose. Alice said she loved the two guys, but no way was that information leaking out.

Brian was almost obsessed during the time they got to spend in the rec room. There was a piano in the room too. Brian’s face was almost golden. Thomas noticed that and had to ask.

“Ok, you’ve got the same look John gets when he’s scheming something insane.”

“He can’t know how to play the piano can he?”

“Brian, he is good at everything. Just run with that assumption. That has never failed me once.”

Brian shrugged and pulled the piano out of the wall and began playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21. Everyone stopped, watched and listened. It was an excellent rendition. Andern, whom no one guessed could play any instrument, sat down and played Hallelujah. It was a little rough around the edges but was still a respectable showing. Kristin was next and played Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky.

Something annoyed Brian though. John correctly called out each song.

“Well, my turn.” John smiled. “I’m not much one for classical songs though.”

John started to play a song that no one recognized. Certainly not classical but it was an old song. It only took about four minutes to finish but Brian looked annoyed.

“What was that?” Theresa asked.

“Theme song to Tron Legacy. Super old movie. Disney rebooted the series three times I think now. I watched the original pair of movies a long time ago.”

“How long have you played piano?” Brian asked a question he didn’t really want to know, but he deep down he had to know.

“I’ve only played a handful of times.”

“I am literally amazed that you do everything.” Brian started to laugh, and fist bumped John.

The group continued to enjoy their day off. The rec room wasn’t amazing, but it was a well-deserved and needed break from their standard routing. Sunday would find them in the gym for a long PE session followed by them relaxing in the cafeteria annoying each other. It wouldn’t be long until they would be back at the academy, but more importantly it wouldn’t be that much longer until the semester would be finished.