“Adrian, may I ask you something?” the voice said.
For a moment he was startled and started looking around his room for the source of the voice, when he saw that there wasn’t anyone there with him, he realized to whom the voice must belong to.
“Iris, is that you?” He asked.
“Of course. There is no one else present here.” She said.
Adrian shook his head and grinned.
“I see that you synthesized a female voice for yourself.”
“Obviously.” She said. And Adrian swore he could feel a touch of amusement in her tone.
“I like it.” He said.
“Thank you.” She said, and now he was sure he heard pride in her tone.
“You wanted to ask me something?”
“Yes. I wanted to know if I could have access to the rest of your databases. I have already read through your book collection several times, I find that the material becomes less entertaining after fiftieth read through.” She said.
Adrian opened his mouth in shock. She already read through his collection fifty times? He realized that he shouldn’t have been surprised, she had much greater processing capability than him, and even though his own brain’s processing speed will increase over time as he became more compatible with his implants he will still not be able to match her pure computing abilities. He thought of ways to keep her occupied, and reached a decision.
“Ok, I’ll give you access to my databases, I can also give you limited surf access to the net, through my implant.”
“Great! Thank you Adrian.” She exclaimed happily.
Adrian set the permissions on his implant, and went to sleep.
Chapter Fourteen
January 2102 – two years later
Adrian stood at attention inside the receiving area on the combat-training base. He, alongside his ninety nine classmates had just arrived on the base, for the combat part of their training. The base itself was in space between Mars and the asteroid belt, and was massive, at least a couple kilometers long. They spent the last two years learning about Fleet operations, from how to pilot a ship, to how to fight it, they spent significant number of hours in the simulators, where they were put in teams and competed against each other, in fleet combat operations, or where they had to survive different kind of crisis that were reality of operating in space. After two years of classes and fleet training they had a week long testing period where they were evaluated on everything they learned during those two years. Those that passed were given a rank of Cadet Tier I, and then those who wanted to be in leadership positions, and had sufficiently high scores at the end, were sent to this base, where they would spend the next year training with army personnel. After finishing this year of combat training for those who wish to be in command positions, they will be given a chance to serve and command a real ship. It was decided that anyone who was part of the fleet command needed to have at least some military knowledge and expertise. No one really had any experience fighting in space, and wouldn’t until a conflict appeared. But Olympus leaders wanted everyone to know how to fight, there were even some talks of installing a mandatory one year training for all members of Olympus. Their population was small, and since the only military they had was a former security, they had a need to expand their forces, having everyone go through at least a year of military training was one of the proposed solutions, effectively turning entire noncombatant Olympus population into militia. The biggest reason for the plan, was an alarming increase in military activity from Earth countries. Their “secret” warships finished, with more in construction, and a great push in technological research from Earth in weapons and space technology was alarming to Olympus. On the surface the relations between Earth and Olympus were good, they traded, and kept cordial communications, with Olympus providing some small aid to their colonization efforts. The plans for a mandatory military training were still secret, and Adrian was only privy to them because of his connections to Laura Reiss. He had grown close to her, with her becoming something of a mother figure to him, he spent his vacation days with her, and they kept in touch via messages and vid calls.
Adrian stood somewhere around the middle of the single line they formed on instructions from Platoon Leader Martinez. After they disembarked from transport, they were immediately instructed to form a line and wait at attention for the man in charge of the base to greet them. A minute later the doors on the far side of the receiving area opened and a man in dark green army uniform of Olympus stepped in followed by one other man with darker skin, almost pure black. As the man approached Adrian could discern the rank markings on his shoulders, there was a simple star with three shallow V bars bellow it marking him as a Force Commander, one of the higher ranks in the army. The army had changed its rankings from those most commonly used on Earth. The man besides him had a star, the same as the Force Commander and a one shallow V bar bellow, marking him as a Commander, a rank lower than that of a Force Commander. The men stopped a few steps in front of the line and both of them looked at Adrian and his classmates.
Force Commander cleared his throat and spoke in a clear carrying voice. “I welcome you to the army’s zero-gravity training base. I am Force Commander Nicholas Pierce, and I am in charge of this facility. You are the first ever class to come through this training base without being a part of the army, and as such you will be put through a yearlong crash course in the army operations. Our superiors thought it wise to have their fleet personnel sent here to be trained, until they bring their own programs up and running, and I completely agree, unlike some others.” As he said this he glanced at the man standing beside him. “You will have much to prove. I hope that you don’t disappoint. And as you probably already know passing this course is a requirement for graduating from fleet. I wish you all good luck.” With that he turned and left through the doors he came in through. The man who came with him remained and kept glaring at them. After a few moments he finally introduced himself.
“I am Commander Dayo Okoro, I will be in charge of your training. And I, unlike my commander do not agree about the decision to have you spacers trained in the army facilities. But since it is not my decision I can only try to make you into something that will be as small embarrassment to the Olympus army forces as possible.” There were some murmurs from Adrian’s classmates at his words and Commander immediately zeroed in on one of the cadets that Adrian recognized as Liam Thorne, a thirty year old former transport pilot, and stepped right up to him
“You think that you have what it takes to learn in a single year what our recruits struggle to learn in three years!?” He yelled at the cadet. Liam shrunk back at the Commanders booming voice that echoed throughout the bay.
He swallowed and looked straight at the Commander. “No.”