The Cadet's Origin

Chapter One - The Day The World Stood Still

"Kenna!" her mother's voice came from down the hall. "It's almost time to go!"

Kenna didn't answer her mother's call. She slowly put things into her bag. She didn't like how easy it was to pack away the past year of her life into her one bag. She grabbed her sketchbook and sat on her now bare bed. She flipped through the pages.

"Kenna," her father's voice came from the doorway. Kenna looked up at her father. "Your mother has been calling you. It's almost time to leave."

"I'm still packing," Kenna looked back at her sketchbook.

"All of your clothes and big furniture are packed away and heading for the interior and everything else is in your bag," her father said as he sat besides her on the bed. "Try again." Kenna didn't say anything to her father. "Talk to me. This isn't you, Sunshine."

"I don't want to go back to the interior," Kenna said as she looked at her father.

"Why not?" her father asked. "We'll be back in the country side and closer to our family."

"But I like it here," Kenna said. "You take me with you when you're working. You're always home for dinner. We get to see Ollie a lot more." She looked back down at her lap. "I want to stay here."

"Oh, Sunshine," her father sighed as he wrapped his arm around her. "I know that you like it here a lot better, but things won't be bad when we head back. You'll be able to see all of your friends that you haven't seen since we left."

"I don't have friends," Kenna said as she put her sketchbook in her bag. "The kids back in the interior were horrible. They always made fun of my hair and of how quiet I was."

"Kenna, can you look at me please?" her father asked her. Kenna obliged his request. "I know that your mother and I have thrown a lot of changes at you within the past year. And I know that you've been a lot happier here in the past year than you ever were back home. After I get back and I present my research on the hydroponics systems I've been developing, I'm going to ask my commander if I can be stationed here permanently to continue my work."

"What?" Kenna's eyes widened.

"Everything you said has been right," her father smiled at her. "I've been able to teach you everything I know here, we always get family dinner, and seeing your brother almost every day has been fantastic. Your mother and I know that this is the best place for you."

"Thank you so much!" Kenna squealed as she wrapped her arms around her father's neck.

"So, you finally told her," Kenna's mother said. Kenna looked up and saw her mother leaning against the doorframe with a smile on her face. Kenna got up and hugged her mother.

"I don't think we were getting her out of the house any other way, Blair," her father said as he stood up. He had Kenna's bag in his hand. "She got the stubbornness that comes with your flaming red hair." He wrapped his arms around Kenna and her mother.

"Don't go blaming me on your daughter's stubbornness, William," her mother laughed. "You're the one who would rather wait for the walls to fall then admit your wrong."

"Name one time I've been wrong," her father teased.

"Are you finally ready to head out and wait for your uncle?" her mother asked as she looked down at Kenna.

"Why does he have to come and get us?" Kenna asked. "We didn't have any guards escorting us when we came here."

"Because your father's work is very important," her mother explained as they walked out of her room. "The military wants to make sure that nothing happens to his designs." They were in the kitchen. Kenna could see her father's work bag on the table. Kenna had seen some of the hydroponic designs her father had made, but that was all he had let her see. There had to be close to ten sketchbooks in that bag.