Chapter 8

Pov

Annie

”Finally…” I mutter under my breath. Finally this useless exercise is over. It’s part of the training to know what our future subordinate job descriptions are so we are to act as corporals in different kind of positions. And of course my father made sure that I’d be stationed in the J.A.T.F. headquarters with the most boring orders imaginable: Guarding detainees.

I had to act all proper and disciplined in the base and especially so in my father’s base.

I think about my friend James, who got stationed to the base in Florida. That would have been a nice place to finish this training. Or Nata who got stationed in the Irak base. I wonder if she got to see any action…

I’m sitting in a military Humvee heading towards the academy. I’m with Calla, who’s face is glued to the window. I wonder what she finds so interesting.

I’m to help get her settled in the academy but there isn’t much that I can do. She’ll be in the operator training so that means she’ll stay in the Omega building. That’s the place where the operators stay. Access to the Omega building is restricted so I can only show her there.

“Are we there yet?” She asks me when the car takes a right turn.

“Soon.” I simply answer. The academy is pretty near the base so the car ride doesn’t take long.

I Study the face of Calla. The scar on her forehead is healing nicely. It may leave a mark but it’ll be hard to notice. She has such a pretty face that it’d be a shame if the scar couldn’t heal properly. Now that I think about it, she looks kind of like Nata. Nata’s hair is little darker than hers and her eye color is not as deep as Calla’s

Calla was brought to the base just two days ago and father already sent her to the academy. It seems a bit rushed in my opinion but I know very little about the operator training so there must be a reason.

Our car now drives through the gates of the academy. I can see the shared training grounds to my right, and the cadets quarters to my left. They are concrete buildings of different shapes. Behind them are forested areas used for training and other buildings. To our front is the academy’s main building where the administration of the academy is, with the large lecture halls. Next to that is the canteen building and behind it one can see the Omega building in the distance.

Our car comes to a stop in front of the main building and I thank the driver while we get off.

“I’ll need to report to the front desk and after that I’ll take you to the Omega building.” I inform Calla.

“Omega?” She looks at me questionably.

“That’s the building where you will be staying with the others who got in the operator training.”

“Others?”

“Yes, the others. Don’t worry. They’ll tell you when you get there.” I say to her while heading to the door of the main building.

Inside is a large hallway. There is the receptionist desk straight ahead and a cadet is sitting behind it. First year cadets takes turns to man the desk, and while behind the desk they have the authority of 4rd year cadet.

“Cadet Annie Raven reporting back to the academy.” I say to the freshman. He writes down my time of arrival in the books.

“Has James Elvin or Nata Verusha come back yet?.” I ask, hoping that my friends have returned.

He looks through his books searching if they have reported back yet.

“Cadet Verusha has returned.” He says. I nod and turn around to leave. I exit the building finding Calla surrounded by a group of first years.

“What is a girl like you doing here?” A boy asks

“Perhaps she is a daughter of someone?” Another one answers.

“That doesn’t give her the right to be here” The first one answers.

Calla is wearing black college pants and white T-shirt, courtesy of me. There weren’t any normal clothes that would have fitted her in the base and we couldn’t give her a uniform or the training clothes of the operators as she isn’t a part of the academy officially yet. She will be when she gets to the omega building.

“Answers us or we will take you in to custody!” A boy yells. I think he’s forgetting that he is a first year. If she didn’t have the authorization to be here then that would be a problem for the MP’s.

“And what gives you the right to do that?” I ask and look at the boy with a blanc expression.

The group snaps in to attention when they notice my presence.

“And she is with me. Do you have something to say to that?” I look at them menacingly. I’m a 3rd year cadet so I am their senior and they have to treat me like an officer of higher rank. But I think they are more intimidated by the fact that I’m the daughter of a general. That is well known in the academy.

“No ma’am” They answer in unison

“Dismissed” And as I say that they all turn around and leave without another word.

“Are you okay?” I ask Calla. She just smiles. I know she is strong but from what I gathered she isn’t much for social situations and her expression when she was surrounded looked like it was a matter of seconds before she teaches the group of cadets a lesson in hand to hand combat.

“Annie!” Someone yells. I turn around and see Nata smiling and walking towards me.

“How did your assignment went?” She asks.

“Hey Nata. It went well. It was boring most of the time but at the end things got interesting.” I say and glance towards Calla. The two of them really look alike.

“Did you get to see any action?” I ask Nata. She was in Irak so that’s a possibility even though she was on security detail in the base.

“Nah. Just once, but the military police were quick to react that time. Someone tried to enter the premises for some reason but the MP’s arrested him before he could do anything. There were attacks on our convoys and our troops did raid some hide outs but I wasn’t there when those happened.” She finishes, turning her gaze towards Calla.

“And this is?” She looks towards me.

“This is Calla. I’m to take her to Omega and help her where I can so she can settle in.”

“She looks too young to be an operator candidate?” She observes her.

“Yeah but she has special circumstances.” I carefully say. I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say about the information pertaining calla. I think Nata notices my dilemma as she changes the subject:

“Well you still have two hours before she needs to report in so let’s do something while we still have free time.”

Our training resumes tomorrow but there isn’t anything scheduled for today as people are still coming in from their assignments and first years are still getting their gear and finding their way.

We decide to give Calla a brief tour around the academy. She barely talks, and only studies her new surroundings with interest. Although she seems oddly wary about the people who are roaming the area. I guess she isn’t used to masses of people.

When we walk in the recreational building where the cadets comes to hang out when there isn’t anything in their schedule, Calla freezes in the middle of the corridor.

I curiously look at her. What is she doing?

“What’s wrong?” Nata asks but Calla doesn’t answer. She is just standing there. Then I notice that her eyes are becoming a bit watery, like she’s about to cry. I edge closer to her and repeat Nata’s question while placing my hand on her shoulder:

“Calla, what’s wrong?”

She jolts back to reality when I touch her and she looks confused. She rubs her eyes and looks at me.

“What is that?” She asks.

“What is what?”

“The sound.” She answers.

“Do you mean the music?” Nata questions her. There is a slow song playing from the speakers. It isn’t loud but still audible.

“Music, an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody and harmony…” Calla mutters quietly under her breath. Is this the first time she hears music?

“Is all music like this?” She asks. If Nata didn’t look confused earlier, she surely looks now. I can’t help but to chuckle at her confusion.

“There are many different kinds of music. Some you’ll like and some you don’t. Depends on the person listening.” I say to Calla while brushing her cheek when I remove my hand from her shoulder.

“I like music.” She simply says and I smile to her.

“Let’s get going. We have time to eat here before I have to take you to the Omega. The canteen food sucks so even if it’s free, I’d rather eat here.” I say

…

After that we ate there. I paid for Callas meal and drinks. Now we are in front of the Omega building. The omega building is octagon shaped with 4 floors above ground and as big as a football field

“This is as far I can go. Someone will help you once you’re inside.” I say to her and point at the door.

She looks reluctant to leave me but after I give her a small push on the back she opens the door and walks inside.

“So what’s the deal with her?” Nata asks as we start heading to our quarters.

“Like I said, she has special circumstances. I’m not allowed to say much about her.”

“Yeah I gathered that much, but come on. She has never heard music before? Or at least that’s what it looked like to me. And she looks so young”

“Well Yeah, she has a rough past. I can say that she is well trained so that’s why she is placed to the Omega even though she is so young. I think she is fifteen, give or take. I really cannot say anything more, and even that was too much. My father ordered me to keep quiet about her if the situation allows it.”

“General Raven did? That makes me wonder even more but okay, I’ll stop pestering you about it.

3rd Pov

As Calla entered the building, a young man that looks to be around twenty years old takes notice of her.

“You are Calla? I was informed of you earlier.” He says. He has dark hair that just stops above his green eyes.

“Yeah?” Calla timidly answers.

“No need to be so reserved. Welcome to the Omega, young candidate. Your training starts tomorrow as the day changes. Have you already eaten?”

Calla quietly says yes and the man nods.

“Then I’ll show you to your room. In your room, there are clothes like mine, that you’ll be wearing in your time here.” He says while indicating the clothes he is wearing. They are Black semi loose pants, with thicker cloth around the knees. He has combat boots on his feet and is wearing a sleeveless tight shirt, also black.

He shows Calla to her room. It is the size of a regular class room. There are four bunk beds on either side of the room and a desk at the end of it. Behind the desk is a window. Next to each bed is two cabinets. All of the cabinets are open and without a lock except two.

“Here is your key and badge” The man says while handing Calla the items. “This year there is only one more girl aside from you in your group so you’ll have plenty of room. Take which ever bed you want, but I’ll suggest you’ll choose the one next to your cabinet. Change in to your clothes and like I said, tomorrow your training starts. My name is Kalev Milan, and I’m a gold knife operator candidate.”

“Gold knife?” Calla asks.

“Affirmative.” He shows her his own badge which is leather, the size of a playing card. In the middle of the badge there is a golden knife.

“The badge is what proves our rank as operative. You’ll start out as bronze knife. Then comes silver and then gold and lastly black knife. After black knife come bronze sword, then silver and then gold and finally black sword. When one reaches the sword ranks they’ll be fully fledged operators so usually people leave the operator training when they reach bronze sword.

Some people decides to continue training when they reach the sword ranks if they think they have still something to learn aside from experience. That is pretty usual here in the Omega.”

“What does the Omega have different from the other training centers?” Calla asks while studying her own badge with a bronze knife.

“Simply put, it’s the best. We are trained here for a longer time and with more resources than the others. This place only takes fifteen new trainees a year, so that individual teaching and training is guaranteed. And from those fifteen only a five or so manages to graduate from Omega. The other places have more candidates, so the instructors have no time to individually assist them. Do note though, if you cannot keep up with the training, you’ll drop out of here and be sent to the other training facilities.”

“And about the ranks” He continues:” Ranks bronze to gold knife are akin to a lieutenant and black is 1st lieutenant. The sword ranks basically have no rank, as they are not part of the J.A.T.F. military but the intelligence organization under the J.A.T.F. but you’ll find out more about that in due time. They will explain these thing to you tomorrow also. Now. I have somewhere I need to be so good luck on your training. The other girl should come here soon. And remember, it starts tomorrow so get some rest.” Kalev says.

After that he leaves the room leaving Calla alone.

After changing in to her clothes, exactly like those on Kalev, Calla slumps down on her bed, which is the lower bunk next to her cabinet. She lays there quietly for about ten minutes.

“Haah”

She lets out an exaggerative sigh and sits up. She takes the pillow from her bed and lays on the floor in front of her cabinet. She closes her eyes, wondering what the other girl is like.