Of Hearts And Stars (Classic Editon) (The Cadet Starship Chronicles) (15 page)

“
What the hell!?” Swift raged at the video game screen.

“
Hm?” Revy asked.

“
You- you button mashed me! That's so cheap! There's like zero skill in that win!”

“
Uhhh...I'm just playing the way you taught me!” Revy smiled. In fact it was almost an insincere smile. There
had
to be something else there. Then she added “Looks like you taught me how to win. Easily. Without effort.”

There it is! She was gloating! That was the smile of a bragger!

“
What!? Are you saying that was easy? Of course it's
easy
when you button mash!”

Revy couldn't help but giggle. She had indeed remembered all of the combinations and strikes he'd shown her, when to use them, and so forth. However she also remembered that Swift was incredibly cute when frustrated, and that button mashing pissed him off to no end.

“
Let's play Rock City Ransom. They've got a new song list!”

Swift folded his arms and shook his head “Naaah.” he said “I wanna play Time Crisis 13. I got to stage four alone the other day, so I'm sure we can beat it together.”

Swift was the better musician out of the two, and Revy the better marksman. So if one looked at it for what it was, their game choices were rather funny.

“
Okay! I've got an idea. Let's play Marble vs Capcom 3-”

“
Marvel vs Capcom 3.” Swift corrected.

“
Sure. Let's play it one more time, and whoever wins picks the next game.”

“
You're on. You can't keep that button mashing up forever. Your hands must be tired by now.”

Her hands were not tired in fact, not even a little. Despite playing a total of ten matches back to back, Revy still kept up the same blazing alacrity that had previously secured her victory. Their first face off, Dead Pool vs Amaterasu, saw Swift down a character. Through perfectly timed blocks he was able to finish off Dead Pool with a combination of attacks from Akuma and Dante, but both characters had taken damage from the exchange. After some more fighting Revy was down to Ryu with full health. Swift on the other hand had Akuma and Dante left, but with about an eighth health each.

“
Say Revy...” Swift said.

“
Shh, death approaches to claim your mortal soul.” she whispered to him.

“
I just wanted to say that you look absolutely beautiful in that dress today.”

The kicking and punching of Ryu came to an immediate stop, and Revy turned towards Swift. Her face was bright red.

“
I- I-” she stammered.

The stoic look on Swift's face immediately changed into a horrifically smug grin. Revy was still looking at him with dreamy eyes when she began to realize what was happening. However by the time she put her hands back to the controls, it was too late. Dante launched Ryu into a devastating air juggle followed by the switch, the special attack, and the victory.

Revy began punching him in the arm and shouted “YOU JERK!”

“
Whaaaaaa? I was just playing the way you taught me how to play. Looks like you taught me how to win.”he said “What up.”

Revy puffed out her cheeks, but instead of shouting some more she asked “So what are we going to play? Time Crisis 13?”

“
Nah.” he said “I wanna play Rock City Ransom. I heard they've got a new song list.”

After they had finished gaming Revy and Swift went over to the food court to eat. They both sat down with salads, Swift loaded his with every topping he could find. Revy smiled when she saw this, because she thought of it as a wild sandwich in the jungle among the leaves.

“
You know, they'd have given you buns for that if you had asked.” she joked.

“
Eh? I wanted a salad. A
man
salad.” he replied.

“
That sounds gross.”

“
What? Why...aww man that's messed up. Don't say stuff like that while I'm eating.”

“
Me say stuff? You're the one going on about
man
salads and all that macho junk.” she said.

“
Whatev. Today was pretty awesome. I wish dating was a lot more like this.”

Revy nearly spat her drink at him.

“
Huh!? Where's this coming from?”

“
Oh. The guys are having another of those 'Awkward City' meetings down in the boy's lounge. It's where they get together and talk about dating fails.”

“
Wow.” she said “Well me too. I could definitely picture a date going like this.”

Swift squinted and gave her a side long look. He opened his mouth slightly as if to say something. Revy widened her eyes and tilted her head forward. Just then both of their smartphones went off.

“
Ah, the ESC meeting is in ten minutes. We'd better get going.” said Swift after checking his messages.

“
Eh. Yeah...” said Revy. She was annoyed that their phones had interrupted what she considered to be a very important moment. She'd just have to wait until next time.

-
34
-

Gin arrived at Ready Room One and took a seat between Felix and a dozing Jay.

“
You're just in time for Jay's specialty. Guy has turned snoozin' into a science!” Felix said as he jabbed a thumb in Jay's direction.

Just then a rough hand swept past the back of Gin's head and collided with the back of Felix's, knocking his glasses askew.

“
I ain't your guy, buddy.” Jay said, who had in fact woken up when Gin took his seat.

“
I ain't yer buddy, pal!” Felix kicked Jay in the side of his leg.

“
I ain't your pal, partner.” Jay bounced a pen cap off of Felix's forehead.

“
I ain't-”

“
Ohh-kay you two, I'm sure we all know where this is going.” Gin interrupted the pronoun showdown.

“
Yeah. I shouldn't be arguing with this heathen.” Jay said with a big yawn.

“
Ha! I'm a heathen?” Felix asked while crossing his arms.

Jay nodded his head and said “Yes. Yes indeed.”

“
Oh do tell me why. This'll be good.”

“
Well you see Felix, behind those soulless black eyes lies the unwashed, but genius mind of a madman.”

“
Soulless black eyes? They're not black; they're
brown
, and I do have a soul thank you.”

“
Nope. Nun-uh.” Jay said.

“
What about Swift?” Felix asked and added “He has brown eyes too!”

“
The Captain? Well he does fly like a demon...”

Just then a fist fell upon Jay's head with the fury of five fingers, leaving him smote in his chair.

“
Swift” said Revy as she withdrew her fist from the sizzling lump forming on top of Jay's head “Does have a soul. He may be a reckless pilot at times, but he is bold and courageous.”

She then straightened her dress and said down next to Jay.

“
Sorry Revy...” Jay gently rubbed his freshly lumped skull.

“
Don't apologize to me.” Revy held up a hand and closed her fist, the sound of her knuckles cracking made Gin's spine tingle “Apologize to this lady.”

“
Sorry Revy's fist.” Jay apologized to Revy's fist.

“
All is forgiven.” Revy said and gave Jay a small hug.

After each crew member arrived and settled in Allie handed folders out to everyone.

“
Mission briefing?” Gin read the front of the folder aloud.

“
Aw jeez dude, Swift didn't tell ya about this?” Felix asked as he opened his own mission briefing.

Just then Swift walked in and the ready room fell silent. Felix raised his hand and Swift pointed to him.

“
Dude, why you got Gin up in here lookin' like a stupid noobie?” Felix asked.

Swift waived a hand as if to dismiss the idea “I do not have Gin looking like a stupid noobie anywhere Felix.” he said.

Jay raised his hand next and Swift acknowledged him “But you didn't tell him about missions. That's kinda a big deal.” said Jay.

Swift waved his hands in the air as if it weren't a big deal “I was saving that for the briefing.” he explained.

Revy raised her hand.

“
Yes Revy?” Swift asked.

“
He is savagely unprepared for this briefing though.” Revy stated.

Swift folded his arms and asked “Savagely is a bit rough don't you think?” and then shot Felix a look before adding ”And that makes him an ignorant newbie, not a stupid noobie.”

Zhao raised his hand.

“
Sup Zhao?”

“
Aren't they the same thing?” Zhao asked.

“
No.” Swift answered.

“
Oh. Okay, because I thought they were.”

“
Nope. Not even.”

“
Right, my bad.”

“
Nah, you're good.”

Swift looked around the ready room, and once he was sure that there were no more questions he proceeded.

“
Alright, I'm gonna start by giving a brief rundown on missions...”

After the twentieth year of the war, both imperial and rebel forces had suffered massive casualties. However the rebel forces had an extreme advantage in manpower, so their ranks were always bolstered with new recruits. In contrast the imperial forces had more ships than they had crews to man them. In short they were on the verge of defeat and talks of surrendering surfaced. On April 23
^rd
20XX Emperor Julius Antica signed into action an emergency act that would permit military academies to dispatch crews of exceptional students on low to medium risk missions. The goal of this act was to delegate lesser priority missions to said exceptional students, who would serve in a reserve capacity, while freeing up actual active military crews to accomplish missions of a higher risk and priority. Also it would further prepare academy students for enlistment into the military. The act mentioned no exact age requirement, but parental consent was mandatory. For accomplishing a mission, the participating students are paid the equivalent to an O1, modeled after the United States Navy, based on a percentage decided by their performance and time spent during a mission. Payment is limited to a per mission basis, with the actual amount rewarded after taxes, deductions, and any penalties.

“
So you see, we are those exceptional students!” Swift said dramatically as he tossed his folder onto the podium and asked “Any questions?”

Felix raised his hand.

“
Felix.” Swift said.

“
That wasn't very brief at all.” Felix commented.

“
That ain't no question.” Swift corrected him.

Jay raised his hand.

“
Jayzilla, go!”

“
Word. It was actually kinda longish.” Jay pointed out.

“
Okay dude, that's not even a word.” Swift said as he put his face into his palm.

“
Longinus? Longinor, Lon-ge-vi-ty...” This last word Jay chose to stretch out.

“
Right. If there are no further questions, let's get right to the briefing.”

Felix raised a hand and Swift shot him a murderous glance.

“
Felix.” he growled.

“
Can we call it the longin' instead of the briefin'? It just feels so much more accurate.”

Jay and Felix bumped fists.

“
Really Felix?” Swift asked.

Later that week Felix would arrive in his room to find his stuff missing. After much freaking out he would soon discover his possessions stuck to the ceiling by a makeshift gravity distortion device. It would take him two hours and the aid of three super computers to figure out the algorithm for the password lock and safely return his things to the ground.

“
An imperial ship in the outer orbit of Mars is sending out a distress signal.” Swift said as a map of the galaxy appeared on the view screen behind him “It's relatively close and within The Empire's territory, so we've been assigned this mission. We are to go assess the situation and lend what aid we can.”