Memory Terminal Classification Omega Alpha KED: Begin Upload
Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve uploaded one of these. I almost forgot how to get it started. It’s… uh, yeah. It’s been a while.
Since the last Omega memory upload, it’s been eight months. Field Marshal Kell was right; it hadn’t been quite one month’s end until we’d gotten a new class of Academy recruits in. For sure, the selection was a bit more rag-tag than previous classes, but so were we. We’d busted our tails for that month trying to rebuild, adjust, and plan for the changes that we’d been assigned to. Everything after that was twice as hard. Before we started, I would have been the first to admit that I wasn’t the teaching type. Even after Holly’s motivational speech after our reassignment – even now, I’m not really sure it was a promotion – I wasn’t confident that we were the right ones. And whatever I was feeling, I think everyone else had the same reservations. Elly was a hothead, Drek didn’t have the temperament for lecturing, and Wendy hadn’t even been through the original Academy. The only person who seemed to thrive at first was Zanti.
But we got better. On Rallen’s orders, we didn’t mention the restructuring to the new class of recruits. They didn’t go through the original version of the Academy, so how would they know the differences? And from what we could tell, news hardly leaked about the attack. What little did make it through to the newsfeeds mentioned minor cosmetic damage in a prank gone wrong, or an error in facility maintenance that led to a gas explosion. Even in a crisis, the Jetstream Agency could throw its weight around to silence the tabloids.
After a rocky first couple of weeks, we developed. We sent out Wendy to recruit academics and teachers from the Core Systems, recommended by all number of Agents from their childhoods or travels. They came in droves, officially to join a Residency program that Sigma and Pi Divisions announced they were holding ‘for the enrichment of Galactic knowledge’. They were sworn to secrecy, and we didn’t have any problems with backouts. Not having to teach directly made my life a lot easier, and I know the others felt similarly.
Yesterday was about seven months into the 24-month training program when I got a knock on my office door. It wasn’t unexpected – actually, the opposite, since I had office hours for the one class I still taught. I straightened up my chair and pushed some papers around to cover up internal memos, then pressed a button on the side of my desk to remotely open the door to my office. I was surprised when Elly walked in.
“Oh, it’s just you,” I said, dragging another folder over some notes I made during a division head meeting, “I thought you were a student.”
“Close, boss,” Elly said as she strode across the office and ground to a halt, “I just got back from beating up a bunch of students.”
“Is that ‘Weapons Training’?” I asked with a grimace. Elly grinned in response.
“So what brings you up here?” I crossed the room to sit on one of the couches in my office, patting the cushion next to me. Elly flopped down, kicking her booted feet up on the short table in front of us.
“I was coming back from weapons training,” she drawled, “And I actually ran into Drek in the hallway. Weird, right? He never leaves his battlestation. Anyway, he had an interesting piece of news that I think you’d like to hear.” She reached for the decanter of water that was sitting on the table and poured herself a glass.
“And that piece of news is?” I prompted, leaning forward. Elly responded by taking a long drink of water. She put the glass down and let out a quiet ‘ahh’ of refreshment.
“Remember those Xanthrel guys from way back when the Academy got attacked? Drek found ‘em.”
I nearly knocked the glass off the table as I stood up.
“We found them? The trail went cold months ago. Delta hasn’t heard of any Xanthrel activity near the Core since they fled.”
“Don’t ask me,” Elly said, standing up to match my height, “Drek’s the one that found them. He just figured you’d appreciate a heads-up.”
“A heads-up? For what? That the Agency knows where Xanthrels are?” I paced away from the couch and circled around my desk. Now that our teams had intel on the Xanthrels, they might be able to find their leader Zentrial and make him pay.
“I didn’t say the Agency knows,” Elly said cautiously, “I said Drek was the one who found them.”
“And he hasn’t told the other Divisions?”
“Well, he hasn’t gotten the time to. He’s busy right now… Prepping the ship.” My eyes narrowed.
“Elly, why is Drek prepping the ship?” She took another cautious sip of her water.
“Well, General, we thought that we could take action on the intel we have. It’s been a while since we’ve done a mission, and Drek and I were thinking that we deserved a chance to take them on again.”
“So you and Drek are going to take on the whole Xanthrel Horde on your own? And you’re here to let me know that you’re going to steal my ship and go on a suicide mission?” Elly stood up, grinding the carpet lightly with the toe of her boot.
“Well, Ked, you know I haven’t really liked this Academy job, and it’s a really big opportunity. So I figured… you’d want to come along too.” My jaw dropped. I managed to compose myself and look Elly in the eye, then someone knocked on the door.
A student, one of the ones from my class, pushed in without announcement, holding a datapad and several pages of notes in one hand, then froze when he saw the two of us.
“Is this a bad time, Headmaster?” I realized we must have looked like we were on the verge of a fight. I was stiff as a board and Elly was prowling around the couch on the other side of the room.
“Yes, it’s a bad time. Come back in an hour,” I said, motioning to the door without looking at him. He backed away slowly, ran into the door frame momentarily, and was gone. I crossed to the room and engaged the lock on the door.
“Okay, Elly. Let’s clarify this. Drek found out where the Xanthrels are, and instead of telling Alpha Team and letting Rallen and my sister bring down the full firepower of the Jetstream Agency on them, and possibly ending the conflict before it turns into a full-out war, you want to abandon your post, quit your job, and tell your commanding officer in the hopes that he wanted to join you?” Elly stood for a moment and cocked her head.
“So are you coming?” she asked slowly, turning her head toward the door but keeping her eyes on me. I stood still, not daring to move toward or away from her. She put her hand on the door to push it open. I willed myself to blink, just to break the stillness. Elly turned back to look at me.
“We need you Ked,” she said. Her voice was soft, but it was clear and it carried, filling my ears. “We’re doing this because we think we can do it. I know you’re thinking the same thing. Nobody will avenge the Masters if we don’t.”
“But Rallen -” I started, but Elly cut me off.
“Rallen’s not going to do a thing!” she half-shouted, keeping her voice just measured enough to not let it echo out into the hall. “Ked,” she tried again, her voice painfully calm, “I know that you’ve been doing a lot of work here in the Academy, but I know you know what Rallen’s been up to. He -”
Upload terminated unexpectedly.
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