Starship: Rogue

Chapter Fifteen

 Carter started classes at what the Rangers called the Academy, but was really called the Winston Churchill Education Facility and Training Center, a mouthful if ever there was one. Carter definitely understood why they called it the Academy.

She got to skip any basic science classes, being fast-tracked into advanced Biochemistry, Human Biology and Medicine. She also had to take the basic physical training courses, including weapons classes and physical strength work. There were also several other mandatory subjects, including a class on strategy and tactics that went far beyond anything she'd been taught in the navy, a class on piloting starships and other crafts, and a history class that she soon tested out of, on the foundation and maintenance of the Colonial Network.

Then, she got to choose a handful of other subjects, and her schedule soon included an Anthropology class, a basic Xenology class (or the study of extraterrestrials), and an advanced Mathematics and Statistics course that fascinated her.

The final class, that wasn't actually a class but a designated part of her weapons class, was the oddest. Each trainee–because they were called trainees until they were admitted for a four-month probationary period as a cadet on the starship, at which point they would finally become fully-fledged Ranger Operatives. Anyway, each trainee spent an hour a day in what their trainers called exosuits–flexible, malleable suits that amplified movement and allowed for superhuman strength and maneuvers. They had to prove they could perform up to standard in their suits, and could handle the added freedom of motion they allowed.

But Carter's favorite moment of each day was when she and Gerrit met up in the lab they'd been assigned at the Academy, and Gerrit, as her mentor, talked her through any procedures she didn't already know.

It wasn't all Gerrit teaching her things, though. More often than not, the two of them worked side by side on various projects, some theoretical, some applied. It worked out quite well, too, since Gerrit's specialties were engineering, physics, math, and other things that Carter herself was no expert in.

One day, only a couple of days after Rowan left, taking Ripple and Jase in her wake, Gerrit burst into her weapons training course, his eyes glittering with some victory. He sauntered up to her training and announced, "Sir, I need to borrow medic Roe. I need her help with something rather urgent." He grabbed Carter's arm and dragged her away. "So sorry, hope you don't mind," he called over his shoulder.

Carter grimaced. "He's not going to take too kindly to that," she muttered.

Gerrit grinned. "If he takes issue, I'll just remind him that, without us scientists, there wouldn't be things like Aether travel or nice new plasma guns. That should get through to the old blockhead."

Carter smiled despite herself. "What's up?" she asked. "You're unusually cheerful, or, at least, more cheerful than usual. What happened? Did Slate and Jase finally realized they know nothing about science and need to learn? Or did Ripple smile?"

Gerrit laughed. "Better, young grasshopper," he announced.

"Huh?" Carter asked. "Grasshopper? What's...?"

Gerrit cut her off. "It's a reference to an old movie," he said, rolling his eyes. "It means you're my student. Anyway, I have managed to create a theorem that says that not only is it possible to teleport living beings from one place to another, but that the means to do so are not so impossible as people like to presume!" He said all this with the drama of an opera singer, his face alight.

Carter squealed and, forgetting herself, flung her arms around him and hugged. "Show me!" she cried, after she'd taken a step back. She bounced in place, unable to stay still. The implications of what Gerrit had said were huge.