The Light Burns Brightest In The Darkside

Academy 101

Fond memories, that is the best way that Zykes could remember Imperial Academy, the next significant event in Zykes life. After all these terrible stories you have had to bear witness to, Zykes would like for you to hear a nice story, a time when Zykes recalls only belonging and purpose. He didn't know why, but he felt so special there, it was a place for him to forget about the tragedies of the past and prepare for his new career and the proudest days of his life that were to come, those being: His passing out as a Stormtrooper, having marched through streets of cheering crowds in his wonderful shiny white armour, positively beaming and stood in the presence of some of the best friends he ever did have or would have, but right next to him at pride of place at the front line of the march, was like for a moment a dream, he honestly worried he might wake up, for the Trooper one number before him and next to him to the left was Jax, his absolute best friend those two, along with, he couldn't hardly believe it stood Serx, now not just his brother but brother in arms. The three were inseparable and highly motivated in academy, they spurred each other on and helped one another out. No one fell behind, because if that happened, the others simply took the slack.
The 'magic' of Imperial Academy actually began the very first day and truth be told, Zykes just assumed it could not be real, after all, how could that be possible? Zykes luck to this point in life had been more than predictable, assume things will go horrifically wrong for you and you probably weren't that far off! Unfortunately, to compound this, Zykes never told anyone because he didn't believe in 'nonsense' like that himself, but reality dictated he had a gift, one of second sight, before things happened Zykes usually saw it coming in what he decided must be a type of Deja Vous, after all what else could it be? Being that no one can be truly clairvoyant, after all clairvoyance was just a circus trick wasn't it? Besides, he now had a wonderful career ahead and wasn't about to spoil it by spouting nonsense to some medic who would most likely lock him up if he told the truth! So, as always, Zykes just thought it best not mentioned unless he could gain better insight into the situation.
In academy however, Zykes was young and easily led, especially by his his brother and absolute best friend Jax, the thing with Jax was, he was a good person at heart and strongly motivated by the needs of the group of 3 men which he considered 'Blood brothers' now and frequently reminded the other two of. However, ever since an incident where Zykes was forced to give all of his credits from his account (Now this was a significant amount, inheritance from his family, who were wealthy politicians! It allowed the group certain 'Status' and privileges which were very useful during the early years of academy, but now in officer training, had little real value as there were far richer people here) to a group of unknown criminals, after which Zykes was beaten to near death and left for dead in a freezing cold ditch in the mountain they often used for uphill marches some 13km away. Zykes only survived because he had a commlink on, which was irregular but today he was expecting a call from Serx about an event they were required to attend that evening. When Serx could not get hold of Zykes they were quickly panicked! Zykes ALWAYS responded to a call and he never gone AWOL, nor would he except if someone had coerced him. Serx and Jax decided to see their military police buddies, who quickly agreed they should check the computer and find his transponder, they saw it was in an area on the mountains frequently associated with finding the bodies of murdered troopers, though no one had yet been able to solve them. They granted permission for Serx and Jax to join them and go see what was going on. They brought a medic too. No one said a word on the journey there, unusual again, being as Jax was always cracking jokes at others expense. Instead everyone just sat formally, facing forward and occasionally glancing at each other, each knowing the other was expecting the worst. It was a tragedy, Zykes saw himself as the least necessary of the group and felt he hevily relied on Serx and Jax and that it was those two that made him popular because Zykes himself was boring and clumsy. They both knew he was wrong, it was just so hard to tell him because neither Serx or Jax were not the 'feelings' type, they were sure that Zykes knew from when they responded "awwww get a load of poor Zykes and his clumsiness! Zykes leave it out! your our friend and this crap don't matter!!!" but now both were wondering during the long journey, did he really know? did we make it clear or just mess around?? Poor Zykes! he must have felt so alone and we were mocking him!!
They arrived at the location of the transponder and at first no one could see anything, indeed after some searching they got the detector from the vehicle to pinpoint the location of the signal. When the MP found Zykes, the MP immediately signalled to his buddy to keep Serx and Jax back and send the medic, then ran into the treeline and puked violently, he too knew Zykes. Seeing this, Serx and Jax just overpowered the other MP (who was certainly not about to stun them, how could he? that was their family member over there) and raced past the medic who wasn't in any rush, straight to where Zykes was found, in the ditch! It was a truly saddening sight for them, Zykes actually looked dead, how could he be alive, with all that freezing mountain water around him? They both jumped into the ditch and dragged him out and onto the bank. Things, were looking very grim indeed, Zykes wasn't moving at all, he was covered in blood and obviously mortally wounded! They screamed for the medic to get over to him immediately, they were at first, certain he was dead and had already begun becoming emotional. Here was their best of best friends seemingly dead after being obviously beaten and thrown into a cold ditch. Just as Serx and Jax were beginning to feel the total loss of a significant part of their lives, the medic says in an unbelievably inappropriate tone "Hey guys!! chill out will ya! This guy's alive and well apart from being unconscious, throw him in the back of the truck and get him back to base, the Doc. can patch him up, I am sure he will be fine for tomorrow other than the broken ribs and headache", he then smirked in a way which just irritated Jax beyond his limit, after what he had been through. He ran at the medic and tackled him down to the ground, pinning him solidly to the floor, he just about had chance to say; "You stupid little shit! Think that's funny do you? Well I'll show you funny now you...", he raised his hand to hit him but it was too late, the MP's Piled Jax bringing him to the ground, they were not trying to be rough, just save him from committing an offence that would force them to arrest and charge him, neither wanted this at this time, he was obviously just distressed and worried about a mutual friend and the medic probably deserved a smack for his lack of decorum as it were.
Zykes indeed made a full recovery and was quickly back with his friends. Obviously, they took a lot of time making their feelings clear to Zykes, who was more than a bit overwhelmed at this new level of attention. Though it was not entirely unwelcome, it made Zykes very awkward. Truth be told, Zykes was feeling a little ashamed for the fuss he had caused. Though, despite his embarassment, the military police had spent a great deal of time with Zykes and in fact, from the information Zykes was able to give, they were able to quickly catch those responsible as it became obvious they had never intended for Zykes to survive and so were not careful to conceal vital details from Zykes, who was extremely observant and insightful, meaning he was able to give accurate accounts of where he had been and the people who were there.
After this was all over Jax was rather badly hit by the blow, so was Serx, but he chose not to show it as it was just such an awful thought. As a result, Jax changed his attitude completely. He became very concerned with Zykes safety, so much so, he had vowed to himself that in future nothing was going to happen to Zykes and furthermore he was detetmined to get Zykes his money back, despite repeated requests by Zykes that this was not necessary he felt that it was only fair. Also, he now saw everything in a 'us & them' light. He figured that from now on, the only people he would concern himself with were those in the group of 3 that looked after each other and that everyone else could go screw themselves. He realised very quickly how badly Zykes was treated by those outside the group, other peers and instructors alike 'used' him and expoited his abilities for their own gain. Now it was his turn to use them for Zykes's own gain, though Zykes knew nothing of it, after all he would never approve being the 'ever helpful Zykes' and he wouldn't understand it was in his best interest since he never did! Yes, Jax did indeed have plans, very big plans to help Zykes, no matter what the cost. As Zykes was talkng to him and Serx, he looked at Zykes and nodded in agreement at what he was, with a broad knowing grin on his face, obsiously mischeivous, but his helmet conceled that particular intent from Zykes, at least for now, he would know when he was ready to hear it and was far from the present moment and Serx would surely side with Zykes wishes, which were to liberal tgo be fair to Zykes himsef ..........well that's ok, he thought, he would take care of them both, someone had to, and someone had to, someone deceptive, someone like Jax obviously!