The Ensigns - The officers 2

Prologue

Holcum and Mila were relaxing in their bunk in the barracks they were currently in. Each time they had come back from end of term leave they had been assigned a new one. Mila was laying partially across his chest as they were getting ready to fall asleep. Tomorrow was going to be an emotional day. They would be graduating from the Academy with full honors. It had been a long three years and especially that first term.

As he was laying there Holcum let his mind wander back over some of the events. After the end of the first term the lawsuit against the Williamson's had been settled outside of court. He didn't know what it had included, only that it had been settled and sealed from the public record. His mother had met Mrs. Williamson in a private meeting and she had walked away uninjured. That had shocked and surprised him. His mother had refused to discuss it with him which he had expected.

Immediately after the trial Williamson had been transferred dirtside to Leavenworth for an indeterminate length of time. Rumor had it that he was resisting the personality mods for all he was worth. There wasn't any estimated time of release either. That amused him a great deal even though it was wrong of him. The longer Williamson was in the brig the better as far as Holcum was concerned.

The balance of the three years had gone fairly well. His brain had been packed with more information than he thought it could hold. Since all future officers had to attend the academy before they went to their chosen department it was overall training. The following years were to receive specialized training for their new departments. What had been the Navy and Air Force had been joined into the central military. There was an Army but they were predominantly an occupation force. Now the Marines were considered the offensive branch.

That didn't mean the Army didn't have their special forces or assault troops. It was just they tended to end up on troop transport ships. The Marines had the drop troops and heavy armor. Now that the military was unified much of the tech was also unified with slight changes for the branches. Holcum was trying to relax but at the moment he was to wound up to completely relax. Even though this was a Sunday night they were in the barracks since this was their intake or the remains of it. Of the original hundred they were down to sixty. Many had been lost to medical issues but others due to the strain of learning. It hadn't been easy and all of them had been stressed badly.

The two weeks off every six or so months had been greatly needed so they could relax and recover. Nacy and Jace were still somewhat of an item though it might change depending on their assignments. A number of the other Cadet's had been in and out of relationships and a number had relaxed with Mila for comfort. Relationships were hard in the Academy due to the stress. Being that they were human's they almost needed some physical and emotional contact which was understood.

Mila had chosen to take her sports bra off for the evening and was enjoying the contact. Earlier at the hotel had been enjoyable but it had been rather fast and furious. They had been trying to deal with the stress of actually having made it this far. She had been somewhat following her mate's thoughts and wanted to purr. He had grown a great deal in the last few years and she was so pleased. He was growing into what she had seen in him. The section was in a way part of a pride for them.

Since he was having trouble sleeping she slowly started purring in contentment and settled for that. By the time she fell asleep he had as well. They both slept well until the next morning which was nice. All of the section woke just a few minutes early. Last night they had packed up everything except for their dress uniform and they were ready to go. In this case they were going to wear their uniforms down to earth. Since they were going to be officers it was expected.

Holcum was checking the fit of his uniform in the mirror next to their bunk. They had received the final uniforms at the beginning of this term. Those had been the actual dress uniforms. It was still the base black of space but cut slightly differently. It had a wide cream collar which had golden rank insignia. The cuffs were of the same cream and had a thin pipping of gold. Since they were Cadet's currently the gold was the thin band. As they gained rank it would be changed. Once they achieved a certain rank it would be split into two, then three, and finally four bands with some fancy gold. Most of the rank insignia were based on the old American naval rank.