The academy drifted through space, locked in its perpetual orbit with the planet Earth. It passed closer to the moon now, marking the night for those within and the artificial lighting dimmed. It was impossible for the academy to be in some sort of time zone and so it had created its own, with automatic changes in the lights as it got closer and further from the sun to reflect day and night.
It was a shame that those within could rarely see outside as the place was not filled with windows and most classes were towards the middle anyways, surrounded by nothing but more and more wall. It was within these metal corridors that the squad from the battle of Easley, the top six students in the entire academy, wasted the day away.
"That's impossible. She'll never fall for it." Ardwen placed his arms across his chest and leaned back.
"Just you watch Ardwen. Nobody can resist Chase when he asks girls on his patented rocket ride around the moon." Chase's smile gleamed in the room. The two had gotten together to discuss their plans for seducing Nami, so as to make sure neither one was breaking the rules they had set up earlier. Raul was sitting between them as the judge.
"If I had to spend even one minute in a small space with you and no escape I would surely kill myself."
"You're not a girl, you wouldn't understand the allure."
"Well if she's still breathing when you get back, I'm taking her to the solarium to go over the three-dimensional viewing of the star cluster in the A-36 region."
Chase pretended to fall asleep at hearing this and a little snot bubble grew and collapsed as it hung from his nose. "Wow that sounds really fascinating. Make sure not to put her in too deep a coma alright?"
Raul nodded that neither was breaking the rules and so the two exited his room to leave him to meditate There was a momentary stare down as neither charmer knew what to do in the time after leaving before Chase finally broke away to go fetch Nami for his planned date. Ardwen snorted in his contempt and left to finalize his plans.
* * * * *
Nami tapped her finger against the window of the tiny ship, a little cruiser designed for two or three people at most to make mini excursions and returns. It couldn't hold much else on it so you couldn't really go anywhere far or settle where you travelled but for zipping through space it was usually quite a blast.
Nami was looking out at the stars and wondering exactly what had happened to get her to this point. So she was trying to make Porter jealous by having Chase date her. That was fine. Why was Ardwen involved? Or was she making Ardwen jealous so Chase would be? When did Porter start liking her though? It wasn't useful if he never actually saw her out with these guys. Hopefully Chase would brag about it around her little love, enough to get his interest.
In the meantime, she would sit back and enjoy the free ride. Perhaps Chase would actually keep quiet to focus on driving the ship around. Then Nami wouldn't have to bother listening to his made-up stories about how great he was. After this she would try to suffer through a potentially boring lecture from Ardwen about something she cared little about and be done for the day.
The rocket took off and lifted into space with ease, thanks in part to anti-gravity technology and small boosters along its hull. Then the rear engines kicked in and it shot forward and out of the hangar, giving Nami a few bumps before she braced herself better.
"Ahh," Chase sighed. "Smooth as silk this thing is. Did I ever tell you how I got this ship?"
"No Chase, you didn't." Nami put her chin on her palm and leaned against the window in disinterest, waiting for a story. There was only silence on the other end.
"You know I can just turn around if you're really not that into this. I can always just try to find some other girl." There was a genuine tone of sadness in Chase's voice and Nami forgot that she had to at least pretend to like him to keep this working.
"Oh no Chase this is fun! I was just...looking at all the different stars. They're so pretty." That ought to hold him, she thought.
"Well alright then, if you're sure." The old false sadness routine, he thought as he told the story. It works every time. The two rode around to the other side of the moon and Chase turned off the jets to let them drift in silence and prepared for the next few lines he would use on the girl.
"Chase, were you scared during the fight?" Nami inquired with her innocent-looking eyes.
The young man was stopped in his train of thought, feeling the cars derail and collide in a fiery wreck. "What?"
"Like when everyone was disabled and Ramirez was going to cut all our suits open. Or when he said he had the bomb. Weren't you scared?"
"Well I mean..." Chase was stuck. The tough guy act would be hard to pull off in this case. How could you lie enough to prove that when you were trapped on the ground with a maniac holding weapons above you that you were feeling confident you'd survive?
"Come on Chase, not even you could tell me you seriously thought we were going to come out of there alive with ease. You couldn't move, I couldn't move, nothing could be done!"
"I know alright!" Chase snapped back. He had lost himself going through that memory again, of lying there in the cockpit and thinking of all the things he hadn't done in life. He had been so scared then, unable to even speak, shivering in his seat. Now he was there again, brought back to it by Nami's questions. "I know what happened and where we were. I was...I was scared." There was a little tear shakily travelling down his cheek. "We can't all be confident all the time. I just...I didn't want to see anybody die while I was...so helpless."
"Chase, I'm sorry, I mean I was just asking because of how I felt and-"
"-no you wouldn't know. You don't really know me anyways." Chase turned away from Nami and looked out at the large dark shadow of the moon. "When I was young my mother was...she was..." Chase paused until Nami placed a small hand on his shoulder. "She was beaten by a gang..to death. And I was there and I couldn't do anything because I was so weak. And now I...I mean I have to be strong Nami, the strongest, so that nobody else can be hurt around me. My dad left my mom when I was young. You guys, this school, it's the only family I have. I have to protect everyone in it by being the strongest in the entire universe."
Nami blinked. It was the only thing her body seemed able to do. She couldn't move or speak or even process what was happening. Chase had feelings? And when did her hand get on his shoulder? Then she felt the tears come to her eyes and she pushed out of the chair and wrapped around Chase in a big hug and for a moment while they sat in the silence of space, she thought that she might not just be embracing Chase because she felt bad. Maybe she felt something else too...
* * * * *
Ardwen sat on a bench in one of the hallways. He had heard the ship come back and now it was his turn to impress. From out of the door he saw the two exit, with Nami giggling and Chase looking proud, though a bit tired. Ardwen could only wonder what had happened out there in the tiny space they had occupied but he doubted Nami would have been able to stomach Chase's attitude for very long.
Chase stuck his tongue out at Ardwen as he went another way and left Nami to him. There was an awkward bit of silence between the two as they thought about the stupidity of the game being played. "Umm, did you enjoy the moon Nami?"
"Oh, uh, yes it was very...pretty?" She struggled to come up with an adjective to describe a large rock in outer space. She hadn't even been focused on it when they had gone up there.
"Well maybe I can show you something that will peak your interest a little more!" Ardwen grabbed Nami's hand and pulled her down the hall towards the solarium. The two slid through the doorway and it shut tight with a little hiss.
The auditorium they entered lit up with holographic projections of planets and solar systems and Ardwen led Nami down to the circular platform in the centre of the room where the images hovered. "You know, I told Chase I was going to show you some star clusters and things but I'm sure you're not too interested in that," Ardwen explained. "So I rigged the computer to allow it to display a few different models of Goliaths."
Nami's eyes went wide with wonder upon hearing this, and with a little command from Ardwen her favourite classes of Goliath were flipping through the air. "Wow Ardwen this is really incredible. I mean, to be honest, I thought you might bore me with a lecture about the stars or something."
Ardwen tugged at his collar a little and gave her a nervous smile. "Uh yeah, that'd be a terrible idea. So boring." Behind his back he tore up the little cue cards he had made for just such a presentation and dropped the remains.
The two of them took seats in the front row and watched the various Goliaths go by. Nami would stop the projection every so often to explore certain aspects of parts or weapons but for the most part she tended to ignore Ardwen in favour of watching the machines. For a moment he was depressed at the thought of losing to Chase and figured if he was going out he would prefer to go out with a burning question in his mind answered.
"Hey Nami, can I ask you something?"
"Sure Ardwen, go ahead," she mumbled as her attention was devoted solely to the images.
"Do you think...I mean this is going to sound kind of dumb but...do you think I did the right thing? I mean strategically, when Ramirez had the bomb. Should I have told Porter to stand down or go for it? Did I wait too long?"
Nami looked over to see Ardwen with his head in his hands. His glasses were slipping down his nose until they came right off, clattering on the floor below. "Ardwen, I don't know. I mean, strategy isn't really my thing but I think...well we're alive aren't we?"
"By sheer chance! If Grimsley had never come we...I don't know what to do Nami. I mean when I was sitting there I was thinking about my brother, about what he would do but I just didn't know."
"Your brother?"
Ardwen's eyes took on a distant look as he gazed towards the projections. "He was older than me, but by quite a few years. He joined the army just like me, as a pilot. He was a prodigy. He was so good at thinking out battles that he was turned into a general faster than anyone in the history of the country. But not long after that he was ambushed by the enemy in a surprise attack. Out-thought, some say. They killed most of his unit and took him as a hostage. Nobody knows what happened to him since, whether he is alive or dead or still locked away. They don't even know which enemy it was that took him."
"Ardwen I'm...I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
"So I set a goal for myself: that I could become a master strategist, enough to lead an entire army in a search for my brother. To bring him back to me, and to my family. This school, and you guys, all give me the best chance at that. You're all so spectacular that together I think we have the ability to do anything; to win this war and save anyone else who is a prisoner of it. But first I have to be able to command us past one stupid enemy."
Nami found herself in her second hug of the day, but this time her heart was even more confused over how it wanted to feel. Feelings for Ardwen? What about Chase? And Porter. This plan wasn't going like it was supposed to at all. Suddenly the biggest hardheads in the school were just sweethearts inside. She wondered if she should talk to Raul next to see if he was hiding something too but stopped herself. She didn't want to find she was falling for four different guys at once.
Or wait, was she falling for Chase and Ardwen? Did she just admit that?
* * * * *
Rick Deckard dropped down from the ceiling of the hallway, watching the two young students who had just left the solarium. Listening in on them hadn't really taught him anything yet again. It seemed he would just have to make the move on Riya then, as originally assigned.
He crept along the sides of the hallway, passing by numerous students as they milled about in their usual ways through the normal school day. They had yet to notice him but, of course, who would? He was a Circuit Breaker, an elite soldier trained in the ancient arts of ninjas and equipped with some of the most high-tech stealth technology. His Chameleon suit blended in perfectly to every surrounding, little cameras picking up the setting and relaying it onto the fabric of the outfit. Its only downside was the odd flicker of static as the computer processed the information but unless you knew what to look for nobody could see it.
Across his back was his standard issue katana, with its powerful electrical current meant for paralyzing victims for capture while at his waist was a small pistol loaded with tranquilizer darts. Under his left wrist was a hidden satchel of a poisonous gas, which could be released into an attacker at close range, just in case.
The Circuit Breaker pressed himself against a wall as he watched Riya pass by, her face matching the image he had been given. His goggles brought up a little display of the picture and confirmed her identity with it. Beside her was the one called Porter, her new bodyguard.
Rick had been in two minds about what to do with Porter. It was tough to complete the mission with a witness around and yet he couldn't dispose of him and maintain his cover. One student disappearing would be fine but two might really arouse more suspicion than was necessary.
He followed the pair back to Riya's room, where Porter would leave her and stand outside, usually because she was changing or just didn't want to let a boy see her room. This would be Rick's last chance at finishing the mission. It was taking too long going on like this. He would have to go for it with a witness around, possibly meaning disposal if it came down to it.
The door hissed and out stepped Riya once again. She smiled at Porter and the two laughed a little, sharing in some youthful moment of happiness. It might be her last, Rick thought. She better enjoy each one. He gripped his katana and readied the poison for dispensing. Rick Deckard, Circuit Breaker, was ready to strike.
A/N: A little revelation into the lives of your favourite characters! But an unfortunate trip into the mind of a not-so-favourite one! What's in store for Porter and Riya? Has she breathed her last breath?