Lucky 13 (NaNoWriMo 2017)

Chapter 8: Lucky...

The graduation is like many others. The twin flags of the ITA hang at the front of the airlock, the admiral stands in front of them giving a speech about duty and perseverance, and the cadets are too nervous to pay attention.

Some of them have received their assignments already. A small chunk of them are assigned to the Naval vessels currently in orbit around the moon, some to the TSS Neptune, others to the TSS Ganymede. Most though don't know their assignment. They know they have been selected by NASA, but ship and rank are still in the works.

Near the front, Lexi makes note of the speaker's words. She is certain of her assignment to the Toy Box research team, where else would they send her. She is top of the engineering program, past several of her professors in tachyonic physics, and has already improved the efficiency of warp drive technology. Anyone can fix a oxygen scrubber, only she could calculate exotic matter equations. The techs in ground control would be idiots to assign her anywhere other than a research station.

Near the back, Mark isn't paying attention. Words, that's all they are. They are great for conveying a thought, but unless they are followed up with actions they mean nothing. His eyes start to droop and he forces himself to stay awake. When he got back from leave last night one of the drill sergeants met him at the air lock. The drill sergeant had then explained how he had missed a class. Apparently that was punishable with a night of peeling potatoes. At least the academy isn't going to run out of french fries anytime soon.

Ge'air and Shjorn are two of six Corrins in the room. The two of them know they will be assigned to the same ship. That's just how it is with Corrins, they come in pairs, like shoes or salt shakers. NASA probably assume they're mates, an annoying prospect, but at least it keeps them together. Human's have it tough. They meet, fall in love, and are then torn apart and assigned to separate ships. The two siblings agree, while not in love with each other, they are comforted in the knowledge that they won't be alone.

Reen'een'ee'a stands with the rest of the cadets. She isn't certain what to make of everything. Without her communication equipment she can't receive any messages, so all she can do is lie low until they extract her, but who knows when that will be. For all they know, she's dead. She could die from old age she realizes, without ever hearing from her homeworld again. She just hopes that in NASA she'll be given a chance to send a message back to Myra.

Connor takes in the whole view. With the events of the past six months, he did not expect to be here today. With all the new trainings to harness his thoughts and emotions to manipulate others feelings, he expected he'd be a student forever. Even now, he realizes he isn't going to be a normal astronaut. While the Navy still laughs at the idea of telepathy, NASA is taking it serious and is assigning specialized telepathist to its new ships.

He reaches out with his mind. The voices stopped after a week of training, now he has to work to hear others thoughts, but the upside is that they are no longer an uncontrolled torrent of voices. Now he can pick and chose he listens to, and right now he choses to listen to the the other telepathists in the room. A dozen of them spread across the room, they are made up of many different species, some are Human, others Engea, one is a Corrin, but about half of them are siblings Connor never knew he had.

At the very back of the gathering sits a different group of people. Twenty five newly promoted captains, they aren't watching the admiral, but rather the cadets. These are their new crews. The ones that would fly and fix their ships.

Captain Daniel May's eyes wandered across the crowd. All he can see are the back of their heads, despite this he begins noticing a trend. Multiple people have blue streaks running through their hair. One of them turns around. He glances around and his eyes finally fall on Daniel, staring past his physical features and deep into his soul. Daniel takes a shuddering breath and looks away. Hoping that he will not have to share a ship with this person.