Survivors

Out

It's not an immediate reaction.

"Thank you for sharing that." Regeit says unsarcastically.

"Cool." Maggie doesn't even look up from her tablet. Jade just nods.

"How Gorfonian?" Wessa asks skeptically.

"Half." I say.

"How long have you known?"

"Since I did the test with Orvain and Peapyd." I answer. My voice cracks a little when I mention Orvain.

"So... maternal or paternal Gorfon?"

"Paternal." I mumble. Her questions are starting to annoy me a little.

"Who's your dad?"

"He doesn't need to tell you!" Xavier protests.

"It's fine." I sigh. "Polois."

"Do you mean Papalois-" starts Maggie.

"You- what?" Wessa looks shocked.

"I know you're used to Gorfonians being the enemy, but Rowan has been nothing but loyal to us for the duration of his stay." Regeit takes a sip of some sort of drink.

"Yeah. I know." She whispers. "It's just... a lot."

"I got a call from Astralis." Regeit says.

"I thought we were the only ones left?" Jade raises an eyebrow.

"Only fleet left." He corrects. "This is from the headquarters. They want to assess you, seeing how you never went through the training program."

"So... boot camp?" Maggie looks unimpressed.

"No. Not exactly. You'll be tested in many fields, not just your physical strength."

"Let's go." She grumbles.

***

The Astralis headquarters are not as interesting looking as I would have hoped. At first we were approaching an interesting violet planet, but then we swerved towards the moon. That's where it is. A small building, not much bigger than my house back on Earth.

We land.

"Helmets on, cadets. There's no atmosphere." Regeit instructs. "Do you all remember the salute? They'll have my head if they hear I didn't teach it to you until today."

"Yes." I take my right hand and hold out two fingers. I put them over my heart, then my forehead, cross them over each other, and hold them out. The salute looks ridiculous in my opinion, but I try not to judge.

"Good." He presses the button to open the door. We step out onto the surface of the moon. It's the weakest gravitational pull I've experienced on a planet. Though I guess this technically isn't a planet. We walk up to the building. There's a sign on the front that has four languages on it. I can recognize the Gorfonian and English titles. Though they also flash a bit to different variations. I can recognize the English flashing to other Earth languages.

"Gertar's Eatery?" Xavier asks. "What type of training to you have in mind?"

"You'll see." Regeit opens the door and walks in.

"Hello, welcome to Gertar's Eatery." Someone says.

"Regeitagei Morvallaris, Astralis Flight Thirteen, Stronghold." He murmurs.

"And these are your cadets?" The person at the counter glances at us.

"Jade Pele, Magri Xeles, Rowan Brooks, Xavier McAllister, and Wessa Nerit." He confirms.