Chapter 25
"Suit up!"
The call blared down the hallway. Jossey groaned and rolled over, fumbling for her alarm clock, realized there was none.
She stared at the ceiling, at the bunk above her. She remembered now – with three hours of warning, at 9:00 PM, they'd gone through her living quarters, quickly packed up anything she might need into a standard-issue duffel, and taken her down to sublevel 1, where Patrol apparently lived. She'd managed to grab a few small items of personal value before they'd sealed her quarters and shut off any energy inputs.
At least her uncle had given her an extra week of reprieve for her hand to heal sufficiently before Patrol came to take her on. Her concussion was anyone's guess.
She wasn't sure why they were so particular, why they insisted on packing her bags themselves, but the crisply-dressed agent had told her it was for security. Amazingly, she'd been allowed to keep her knife. But no outside reading material.
Karapartei, she thought. Idea-sharing. Recruiting.
"Suit up!" The call came again, blaring over a loudspeaker. She rolled out of bed. She'd been assigned to a room with two women – Maja and Olivia. Maja was already awake and fully suited – tall, strong, athletic.
And unfriendly so far.
Jossey hadn't met Olivia yet – the woman had already been asleep when Jossey had come in after lights-out. She'd just been told their names, said hello briefly to Maja, who'd let her in, and been told to report to the mess hall at 6:00 sharp.
She glanced at her wrist. 5:40.
Not much earlier than solar crew, she thought. She got up, grabbing for her things. Maja was already by the door. Olivia was in the bathroom. Jossey said good morning to the tall woman. Maja stared openly at her face, at the scar running across Jossey's eye, and barely smiled.
Okay then. Jossey half-smiled, trying not to care. She wasn't here to make friends, she told herself.
They joined a flood of recruits in the hallway and trooped down a set of stairs to an open area. She tried to cover her yawns as she shuffled into a food line behind one of the male recruits. He turned around, started to say hello, then seemed to recognize her and simply stared, openmouthed.
Great.
Maja didn't scoot over when Jossey went to go sit at their table. The tall woman eyed her with distaste.
Jossey stared at her for a long moment, noting Olivia's apologetic smile, then shrugged and walked to an empty table. Food was food.
She sat down and tasted the nasty-looking stuff on her plate, looking around curiously. Most of the tables were full of men; a few women sat in clusters here and there. She didn't recognize anyone; she'd gone straight into Engineering school after the first two years of secondary school, and that had been a decade ago.
She thought one of the bigger men on the far end might look like Eddie, the kid who'd blown up his science fair experiment in sixth grade, if she squinted hard enough.
"May I sit?"
She looked up, startled, to see Caspar smiling down at her.
She smiled. "Good morning. It's been a while."
"Yes, it has. Your roommates aren't here?"
"The tall one – doesn't seem fond of me." She glanced over her shoulder. Indeed, Maja was giving her a death-glare from across the way.
He followed her gaze. "Wow. You make friends quickly."
Jossey poked at the slop on her plate and sighed. "I literally have done nothing to her. I came in after lights-out, I guess? The other one seems nice enough."
Caspar shrugged, taking a giant bite. He seemed to enjoy the food, she thought sourly.
Somehow the Patrol uniform, plus the half-ponytail, made him look even more handsome. She blinked the thought away, annoyed at herself. She didn't have time to think those things. Besides, with her scar, why would he ever –
She stopped thinking, took another bite of food.
At least he didn't seem to flaunt it. Gavin seemed to revel in the effect he had on people, she thought, half-smiling to herself.
Caspar looked at her. "What?"
"Nothing." She smeared some of the...bean paste?...on her bread. "How do you stand this stuff?"
"We ate a lot worse back when I was an apprentice." He grinned, silver eyes dancing. "I think it was fully artificial. Your roommate's staring at you again."
She didn't turn around. "It's probably my scar. I think some people are bothered by it. Not my problem."
He snorted. "Probably the fact that you don't have to prove yourself to the boys. They already know who you are. I guess your commander friend told the entire unit about the security...incident. He was, um, most displeased."
She could imagine. Caspar went on. "My roommates wouldn't stop asking me about what happened in the tunnels, how you fought the Onlar."
Jossey was horrified. "What do you– "
"FIVE MINUTES," a familiar voice bellowed, cutting her off.
Jossey whipped around. Gavin was standing there, in full uniform, hands behind his back.
Only it wasn't Gavin here. She reminded herself she couldn't call him that. Commander Tskoulis. Tskoulis for short. Or just Commander.
She glanced down at her own uniform, where the badge said 2-5.
She looked back up at Gavin for a long moment. He was scanning the room.
His gaze passed right over her without apparent recognition. She wilted.
Caspar tapped her plate with his fork, and she realized he'd been watching her. She quickly looked away from his gaze.
"Better hurry," was all he said.
"I know." She stuffed another forkful of maybe-beans into her mouth, trying not to breathe.
Maja and Olivia hurried down the hallway ahead of her, bags slung over their shoulders. Jossey was glad she'd at least noticed the bags before going to the mess hall. She pulled hers up higher on her back, hoping her old leg injury wouldn't ache today.
The training area was a wide-open space, she guessed somewhere between sublevels 1 and 2. It was a giant square. Sets of weights and other mysterious-looking piles of equipment were scattered around the perimeter. A series of red rubbery mats was laid out on the ground.
Jossey followed the group over to the mats. Olivia split off and joined a different subunit. The Patrol troops stood in clusters, whispering, as Commander Tskoulis walked to the front of the room and turned to them.
He didn't need to shout, didn't need to say a word. They all went dead silent, standing up straighter, as if by instinct. There was an undercurrent of something in the air – excitement. Fear.
He seemed even taller in full uniform.
"Good morning, troops," he said.
His voice was like gravel. Powerful. Not the friendly, joking Gavin she knew.
"Good morning, SIR!"
Jossey looked around, awed at the response. He'd never used this version of himself on her.
Tskoulis glanced wordlessly at a group of tall men dressed in dark-blue uniforms. They immediately stepped up next to him, stood in a line, shoulders squared.
"In brief. For the new members among us, welcome to Patrol," he went on. "These are the members of my subunit, 2-1. You report to them." He looked around the room, eyes piercing. "I want no reports about you from them. Do you understand me?"
"Sir!"
The room shouted, Jossey along with them.
For just a split second, Tskoulis' eyes passed over her, and she saw a tiny flicker of – something. Then he looked away.
"That is all. You may begin this week with basic training. Remember, failure is an option here. Just not one you probably want." He grinned a little, glanced at his men. "Carry on."
With that, Tskoulis strode out of the training room, taking a couple of his men with him, and she saw everyone else visibly relax. She let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.
"Wow," she muttered to Caspar as she watched the commander go.
He looked down at her, a mocking smile on his face. "Don't tell me you too are overawed by the Tiger."
"I am no such thing." She made a face, feeling herself turning pink at the suggestion.
The mocking smile hovered around his mouth as he opened it.
"Recruits!"
She and Caspar fell silent as one of the subunit leaders strode over to their group.
"Three paces apart. Now." He looked at them coldly. "I want absolute silence on this training floor."
Jossey snapped to attention and stepped away from Caspar. She found herself next to Maja, who looked coldly at her. She tried to smile.
The man stood in front of them, hands behind his back. "My name is Sergeant Henry. I work directly with Commander Tskoulis. When I am not on duty with him, you are under my command."
"Yes, sir." They stood straighter.
Henry was tall, dark hair, green eyes. He had a warm smile, like Gavin, and an air that clearly said he would not appreciate incompetence. Jossey tried her best to look as awake as possible, regretting that she'd only had one cup of what passed for "coffee" in the mess.
He asked for their names. It was Jossey, Maja, Caspar, and three others — Thompson, "Elisedd, Ellis for short," and Wickford.
Thompson was the recruit who had stared at Jossey in line. He kept glancing at her. Ellis looked less than enthused to be there. Wickford looked at ease, but with an air of faint awkwardness, as if he knew he were prone to tripping over his own feet.
Wickford. The name sounded vaguely familiar, but Jossey couldn't place it.
Henry glanced from face to face. "This is training day," he said. "We train every morning, and one full day a week. The rest of the time, auxiliary Engineers work directly with your respective teams on whatever the commander orders."
They watched him silently.
"Now," he said. "Let's begin."
Now? thought Jossey. He seemed serious. She fidgeted.
"Any injuries?" He glanced at Jossey, at the bandage still on her hand.
"My burn is okay." It probably wasn't, but she didn't care. But her head was another story. She needed that fully intact. She pointed to it with her bandaged hand. "Concussion, a couple of weeks ago."
"Very well." He smiled warmly, and she guessed that he, too, knew how she'd gotten her injuries. "Try not to go for Sokol's head until she's healed," he said to the rest of them. "But don't forget. There are no safeguards in the tunnels."
Jossey murmured, "Yes, sir."
She could see Maja looking at her out of the corner of her eye. What is your problem, she thought.
Henry gestured to the bags on their backs. "Let's start with basic self-defense."
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