Axira Episode One (11 page)

...

Jason Singh

Babysitting wasn’t a duty I could get used to. When I joined
the Academy – especially after spending a life with my mother – I’d
assumed it would be all adventure, all dashing through the stars,
saving planets, protecting the weak, and keeping the galaxy safe.
Well right now I was standing in a bar with a mindair trying to be
dutiful and keeping a watchful eye on her while letting my mind
wander.

I had a lot to think about, a lot to do. I was getting
nowhere with my mission, and that fact should be commanding all my
attention, yet it wasn’t. My thoughts kept twisting back to
her.
Christ, she’d
barely been at the Academy a few months, but it seemed as if she’d
been here as long as I had.

I watched Hendra walk lithely through the crowd, her long,
elegant body swaying this way and that as her golden robes dragged
over her bare feet. There seemed to be some unwritten rule that all
mindairs had to be drop-dead gorgeous. Hendra was no exception.
There was something uniquely beautiful about her gaze – fragile in
the same way a glass statue was and yet at the same time you knew
if it broke on you, it would shatter and cut you to
pieces.

I tried to let that be my distraction, but it wouldn’t last.
All too soon I found my head tipping back as my eyes scanned the
crowd for her. She should be here, right? This was a gathering of
team Omega, and I’d known from day one which team she was
on.

Before I could shirk my duty and start pushing through the
crowd to find her, Hendra stopped abruptly in front of me, her face
contorting with pale cheeked concentration.

“
What is it?” I approached the mindair, smiling in a
comforting way. “You look worried.”

“
I ... am thinking.” She pressed two elegant fingers into her
brow. “I ... someone’s memories are resurfacing.”

“
What are you talking about?” I frowned in
interest.

“
From this morning – from the class. That woman.”

My back stiffened as nerves leapt across my skin. “Cadet Em,”
I supplied, knowing immediately who she was referring
to.

The mindair nodded, her fingers still pressed into her
brow.

With a darting look, she tipped her head back and surveyed
the bar. It was clear she was looking for Em. She started to push
forward, and I was forced to walk by her side, lest I lose her in
the crowd of babbling, chatting recruits.

It didn’t take long to find Em. She was always such a
statuesque figure, rising above the recruits even if someone was
taller than her. It wasn’t her height – it was everything else,
from the way she held herself to the look in her eye. It was clear
she wasn’t some simple recruit.

As soon as Hendra spied Em, she walked right up to her.
Rather than tap her lightly on the shoulder, she reached out and
clutched Em’s wrist. I’d seen my sister do the same, and I’d seen
Em’s response – a quick, almost violent tug to the side to release
the painful subspace wounds gouged under her skin.

Fortunately Em didn’t yank Hendra off her feet. Em’s body did
stiffen though, and I watched as her eyes slid towards Hendra, that
same cold dead expression escaping over her face that I’d seen this
morning in class. “What are you doing?” Em asked through gritted
teeth.

“
Cadet, I am continuing what you did not allow me to finish
this morning.”

Em stiffened even more. I didn’t think it was possible –
she’d already looked like a rigid poll, maybe some reinforced smart
metal you use to hold up a ship, not a person.

Em didn’t say anything. She was seconds from tugging her
wrist back, I reasoned, maybe seconds from walking out. Then Hendra
said something. She looked up into Em’s eyes and she asked three
little words: “Who is master?”

Em stopped. Her face froze into the coldest, hardest
expression I’d seen her show.

The room fell silent. Em’s exact expression and body language
commanded attention – they practically sucked it towards her like a
black hole.

The mindair kept hold of Em’s wrist.

“
This master – he has been significant in your life. The
memory of him has a great psychological hold over you. You must
challenge that hold, find some way to move on. No matter your
experience—”

I reached forward and slowly pried Hendra’s grip from Em’s
wrist, then I pulled her back.

Em did not move. She didn’t even breathe. She hadn’t said a
word either. Her face looked locked in the coldest emotion I’d ever
witnessed.

For a mindair, Hendra seemed clueless. She might be able to
read minds, but she clearly hadn’t paused long enough to actually
look at Em.

I looked up at her, trying to make eye contact with Em as I
continued to pull Hendra back.

Em remained frozen for several more agonizing seconds, her
expression still as deadly cold. Then she snapped out of it, her
gaze snapping around to the silent crowd as they stared at
her.

Without a word, she walked out.

Hendra moved to follow, but I kept hold of her. “Leave her,”
I said.

“
She has a psychological wound,” Hendra protested. “She kept
it blocked from me in class, but now I feel it. If she wishes to
pass this test and become the best recruit she can be—"

“
Drop it,” I counseled in a hoarse breath, eyes darting up to
stare at the closed door.

“
All her classmates went through the process this morning. It
is transformative,” Hendra countered.

Transformative? Perhaps for some. Dredging up the past and
conquering the memory of deep-rooted fears and traumas worked for
the lucky few. If your past was filled with too many monsters, the
battle to conquer them would take a life, not a morning.

“
Just leave it,” I said one last time, finally dropping
Hendra’s wrist.

Slowly the crowd around us started to relax, almost
immediately bursting into conversation about what had just
happened.

I tuned them out and turned to the windows, hoping to catch a
glimpse of Em outside. She wasn’t there.

I’d give her a few hours to settle down, then go find her to
check on her.

Despite the fact I had my own mission to attend to, all my
time these days seemed occupied with her.

...

Jason Singh

It took me all night to find her. She was on top of her
dormitory roof, sitting beyond the safety railing, her legs
dangling down, her blue and black tendrils flaring behind her in
the wind.

At first, I thought she was getting ready to jump. My heart
leapt into my mouth as I opened the door to see her sitting
there.

As I inched closer, bringing a hand up against the wind, I
saw her expression. It was thoughtful as she stared at the city
below her. If it weren’t for the wind, it would be beautiful up
here. At night, the city was a cluster of gem-like light – a
dazzling sea against the dark grey and black of the land and
water.

I didn’t want to surprise her, so I edged towards her
carefully. Before I could even make a sound, she announced, “I know
you’re there, Jason.”

She hadn’t even looked my way.

“
Come back over the safety railing,” I said in a forced light
voice. “It’s kind of windy on the edge of the roof
there.”

She didn’t say anything.

My heart leapt back into my mouth. When I’d been looking for
her, I’d toyed with the idea of asking who ‘master’ was. Maybe she
needed the chance to unload. Now as I stared at her, her torso a
small shadow against the bed of lights below, I realized I couldn’t
dare utter that word.

This wasn’t a trauma I could deal with. Whoever ‘master’ was,
he wasn’t some petty fear to Em.

I approached, lacing my fingers through the safety fence as I
got as close as I could. I didn’t stop there, though, I started to
climb the damn thing.

She finally turned, eyeballing me as I hauled myself up the
fence.

I comforted myself with the thought that should one of us
fall, the Academy’s sensors should detect the sudden acceleration
of our wrist devices and beam us to safety. I ignored the fact that
didn’t always work.

There was the thinnest lip of smart concrete running around
the edge of the building, just beyond the safety fence, and it was
this lip that Em sat on, dangling her legs into the air as if she
was casually sitting in a chair.

I climbed down the opposite side of the fence, carefully
pressing my foot into the lip of concrete as I turned and sat
down.

A few times I almost fell, but latched my hands onto the
fence in time. Eventually I managed to make it to her
side.

She barely looked at me.

I kept one hand pressed into the fence behind me, my fingers
looped into the metal as I stared at her.

Now I was here, I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to get
her to come back to safety with me, but I didn’t know where to
start.

“
You do not need to worry, Lieutenant Singh – I have no
intention of jumping to the ground from here.”

“
Ha, you could have told me that before I climbed all the way
out here,” I tried for a joke.

What the hell was I doing? I quickly realized now as not the
time to joke.

This woman was on the edge, literally.

Or was she?

Her expression was calm as she assessed the city, not
contorted with pain.

“
You’re a good recruit,” I suddenly supplied, “One of the
best. You’ve got a great career ahead of you.”

It’s not what I wanted to say. I wanted to point out that
Hendra had been way out of line. She should never have pushed the
issue. She should never have confronted Em about this ‘master’ in
public.

“
I’ll be quitting the program tonight,” she said.

“
Wait, what?” What do you mean?”

“
I have realized I am not suited for Academy life.”

“
No, no you can’t quit. You’re great. Ignore what Hendra
said,” I mentioned her name, swallowing as I did. Sweat laced my
brow, my heart beating hard in my chest.

I’d trained for a lot in my career, but I had no idea how to
deal with this.

“
Just ... just come back onto the roof with me and we can
discuss this.”

“
I have told you – I have no intention of reaching the ground
by jumping. That is why you Coalition races invented stairs.” She
stood, swiftly.

I baulked, reaching towards her and grabbing a hand on her
leg.

She ignored my hand, turned, and climbed up the fence. She
was over it and jumping down to the other side before I had a
chance to blink.

I turned, stunned, and followed. I had to concentrate hard
not to fall. I also took a lot longer than Em had to reach the
safety of the roof again.

She stood tall, staring past me at the city.

I clamped a hand on my knee and breathed. I wasn’t out of
breath – I was rattled. I’d just been on the wrong side of a safety
fence.

Soon enough I pushed myself up and considered her. My heart
was calmer now we weren’t on that ledge. Calmer, but not completely
calm. It still beat with an erratic thump as I considered what to
do next. “You shouldn’t quit,” I managed.

“
I am not suited for the Academy,” she repeated.

“
You’re strong, fast, and smart. You’ve also clearly travelled
the galaxy – you’ve got a massive head start on the rest of the
recruits. If anyone is suited for the Academy, Em, it’s
you.”

She didn’t look at me.

I was going to lose her, wasn’t I? I mean, the Academy was
going to lose her. Just one look at the cold, calm determination
spreading over her face told me she’d already made her mind
up.

Well, I wasn’t about to give up. I cleared my throat. “We
need you,” I said bluntly, “A person with your skills could save a
lot of lives.”

Her gaze darted towards me. I hadn’t thought my
chest-thumping, patriotic speech would work, but on the term ‘save
lives’ she focused on me.

“
You could make a difference,” I continued. “You’ve already
made a difference. Ignore ... what happened with Hendra. I’ll
smooth it over with your teachers. Maybe you can get out of that
class.”

“
I thought this would be easy,” she said, appearing
distracted.

“
Sorry?”

“
The Academy.”

“
... It’s meant to be one of the hardest training programs in
the galaxy.”

“
A Kore darma assassin is kept in total darkness for 20 years
and taught to fight in the ice-cold caves of the Markan
System.”

“
Okay, so it’s not the hardest training program in the galaxy
– but the Academy is meant to push recruits to prepare them for the
dangers of space.”

She drew silent.

“
Why ... did you join in the first place?” I asked. If the
most I could do was keep her talking, that was what I was going to
do. I was no counsellor, but I had the feeling she needed
company.