The Fight for Freedom (Book One in the EDSOR Military Academy Trilogy)

Chapter 4- Assigning Tasks To Each Department

My dormitory was quite big since I was a key official. My bedsheets were pale blue since that was the standard color for my camp, the ICA Camp The treaty of EDSOR Military Camp began five years ago and the War Council members were all men. I’ve become their first female member last year followed by Lexine then Alyssa. I stayed in a room with Alyssa and Lexine.

I woke up that morning with eyebags under my eyes and only to find out that I forgot to set the alarm clock! Drat! I am ten minutes late! I was wearing my Spongebob pajamas at that time. I get my training gun, shuriken blades and dual swords; and an apple. I rush out of my dormitory to the gymnasium. The War Council was already assigning roles to different people. I saw Thomas and Stephan patiently discussing something as they drew different circles and words I couldn’t understand.

“K-14 goes here but so does A-19. How do the coordinates show that we’ve finally infiltrated….”, Thomas thinks aloud.

“Hey Hope”, a low voice says behind me and clutches both of my shoulders. Instinctively, I turn around and point a dagger at the boy. It was just Marco. Whew!

He inched away and laughed heartily. “Jesse, there’s no need to be paranoid”. In a flash, he took the dagger from me and pointed it to my neck. “You need to improve on defense”, he grinned.

“How’s your Math training?”, I asked. Marco is the captain of the Mathletes team. They haven’t been entering much competitions lately. The blade was still pointed at my neck.

“Oh Hope, its really stressful, balancing Math and Combat classes. I’ll be missing Math for now”

“What’s your position?”, I asked him as I turned around and performed an arm lock on him. I grabbed the knife from him. He yelped.

“Yeow! I was tasked to work with Alyssa in balancing the funds”

“I see. Well gotta go now”, I smile and I dashed to the War Council Room. I can’t believe my tardiness has caused everyone to raise their brows at me.

“You’re late, Co-league”, Trevor says as I shut the door behind me.

“No need to rub it in”, I muttered as I took my place beside him.

Mike faced me as I sat beside him. “We are in dire need of more recruiters. So far there are only five thousand able warriors mostly men because women don’t want to get their hands dirty except for the assassin clan”

“Hey!”, Lexine angrily reacted. The Poveda camp was known for its assassins and mysterious figures. Lexine did not choose to be one of them. She was a track and field athlete, one of the few in their camp society.

“Wh-Why don’t we ask other schools for help?”, Gerard asked.

“They’ve already disbanded”, Trevor said. “I’ve been listening to Radio 5947 last night. So far, we are the only school who is constantly preparing for the Militicians”

“There may be those in hiding”, Peter suggested. “By the way Jesse. Why are you wearing your pajamas?”

I laughed helplessly. “It’s the in thing now”, I lied.

Alyssa shrugged. “Yeah they kinda are. My sister likes wearing pajamas outdoors but I don’t get why they’re Spongebob”

The War Council attire for meetings was a silver crested phalanx armor and cargo pants with silver boots. I was wearing yellow pajamas and white slippers. So embarrassing. Oh god! I forgot to bring my silver lance. Anyway, I’ll let that pass for now.

Paulo was there…that was so weird. He jotted down on a sheet of old paper with a feather the minutes of the meeting. The background looked queer as many students filed messy lines to get their applications. I could recognize a lot of talented people. There was Wesley, a young grandmaster in chess. I hope he would be part of Defense Training. It would be an honor to have him as a chess player/ military strategist. The “Trio” as they are known throughout the whole country as prodigies, where busy discussing amongst themselves about something related to Science.

Kaye, Kristina and Krista all looked alike yet I could tell their differences because of the shirts they wear. Kaye loved pink so she was wearing a pink hoodie with black permanent marker lines drawn on it. Kristina was more of the goth type. She loved wearing black and I swear she pierced her belly. Krista is simple and the youngest but to me, she is the quiet one among the sisters. She is truly living like a Spartan. She has white clothes and a pair of jeans to live by. The Genius Trio recently won the DOST invention contest. They created a hybrid cure for HIV which involved complex analysis and stuff I can’t explain. I think they’ll be assigned to the Science Department to be headed with Thomas and Stephan. Thomas and Stephan are part of the Technology Department and will be combined with Science Department.

“How many departments are there, Mike”, I called. I had to raise my voice since the loud shouts of people made my voice feel so small.

Fortunately, Mike rubbed his eyes and heard me. He stood up from his chair and went to me. He was holding a paper and showed it to me.

“My god! These are so many tasks!”, I exclaimed as I grabbed it from him. “Hey don’t get too panicky. These tasks are for the whole Student body”

There was a long list of jobs. There were messengers, a big bulk of warriors, Council helpers, musicians, entertainers, cooks, computer personnel, athletes, doctors and dress makers who will be tasked to make our warrior uniforms.

I am not looking forward to this war. Defeat is inevitable anyway and I am beginning question the authenticity of my power as a woman. I’d better leave it to the men to do all the work. Perhaps people look down on us girls because we can’t prove ourselves to them. There were a lot of red marks on the paper meaning that people had already been assigned to the job.

“Where will we be stationed?”, I ask, handing back the paper to him.

“I am trying to divide the tasks among us. The teachers and personnel will help out but we will be responsible for the losses and damages caused in war”

“But there will be people who’ll die! We can’t compensate a life for a life”, I think immediately. Of course there was going to be gruesome deaths and sadness. I hate war.

Paulo was documenting everything that we were saying. This was the first time I saw him in action. “Keep talking guys”

Mike raised his brow. “We’ll save that for later, Paulo. Right now, we need to…”

“Hey wait! I am trying to catch up with your speed!”

Mike bent forward to me and whispered. “Weirdo”

Paulo frowned. “I documented that”

Mike shrugged and laughed. “You know, Paulo. You don’t have to write the personal narratives of each person you hear. I hired you to write the detailed story of the war”