Pirate Assassin

Page 44

"...and I present to you the brave individuals who stood true to their training and showed their loyalty towards their benefactor and the organisation they represent. Let these people be known to you!" and Supreme Commander Flounder read out the list of names he was given Zack was standing next to Elyss, whose injured arm was encased in a plaster cast. He was lined up, together with a few others, who had stayed behind. Some of the names called were absent, lying peacefully in their graves. Zack noticed that there were only one or two UGG born cadets present. He wasn't surprised. He had seen them push or trample others down to run to safety. Fletcher was among them in the line and when he caught Zack's eye, he grinned. "These cadets shall be an example to what it means to be a Galactic Government Peacekeeping marine, to protect those who cannot protect themselves." Zack wondered whether any of the UGG born would realised the double-edged meaning in those words, which were condemning their cowardice as an inability to fight. "Shall we give these young heroes a round of applause?" and there was a thunderous ovation.

Zack saluted and shook hands with the Supreme Commander, as did the other three of them. They were meeting privately in his temporary office. "So I called you all here for a reason. Obviously, nobody wants to continue the Academy Tournament since it reminds them too much of the tragedy that just occured." The four agreed. "Since you were one of the only teams whose members fought during and well after the evacuation, all the other teams voted that you should be considered the winners... except for one, until I pointed out the fact that all their members did was order 'filthy outsiders', as they put it, out of their way and told them I could well punish them severely for that," he spat, freely expressing his disgust. His face resumed its impassivity and he asked, "So what would you like me to do for you? If it is in my power to do it, it shall be done for you." Zack, Corby and Elyss looked at each other with a grin. Carvin, oblivious since he was seated a bit forward, started, "With all due respect, sir, we would like..."

"Carvin Tolander to be transferred to the Ship Engineering Department," Corby said and Carvin looked at him in confusion.

"And that you would kindly make a personal visit to his parents to break the news to them," Elyss piped in and Carvin turned from Corby to her, disbelief growing on his face.

"And finally that he be taught by the best tutors in an accelerated course." Carvin finally turned to Zack, his face a comical mix of disbelief, confusion and wonder. Supreme Commander Flounder laughed long and loud. Still chuckling, he said "It shall be done, except for the last request, that is for the faculty to decide though what I CAN do is shortlist him." He laughed again and put a hand on Carvin's shoulder. "You're a lucky man, Carvin Tolander, to have friends that wouldn't spare a thought of witholding your dreams for you." Carvin smiled with tears in his eyes. "Yes sir," he sniffed, "I couldn't ask for anything more."

The next day was an Endsday and the Tolander family had the honour of welcoming the Supreme Commander into their humble temporary lodgings. Carvin's parents and relatives had long given up on ever seeing him receive any honours, placing their hopes instead on his younger brother who was two years Carvin's junior. However, he and his brother had an amiable relationship; his brother had seen the larger amount of attention he got but did not egg his brother about it. Carvin was thankful, so he did a few favours for him, like fixing his weapons and other things. Thus, he inwardly smiled with malicious pleasure when he saw his aunts' and uncle's utter bewilderment and his parents' flabbergasted expressions when he walked into the house with the Supreme Commander of the GGPU. It was a good thing after all that they had a family gathering today. Supreme Commander Flounder sat with Carvin's parents and told them about Carvin's transfer and that it was not a demotion, but rather an honour. Because, Flounder had reasoned, if every cadet was a marine, who would be responsible for taking care of the ships. He told them that he had seen that Carvin's talent lay in other things and that it would serve the UGG better in the named field. Therefore, confident that the Supreme Commander was right (which he was) they eagerly accepted his terms and the next day, the First of the month of Trius, Carvin Tolander was moved out from Sgt Troffs squad and put into the Engineering Department where his talents were quickly seen. The faculty wasted no time in placing him under the tutelage of the best and an accelerated course where he excelled. He would still meet with his old group of Elyss, Corby and Zack, much happier and confident but sometimes he would be around his new friends in the engineering side. The three did not begrudge him, also because Fletcher now joined them so the group grew to five.

It was late at night when Zack felt a stab of pain from Elyss. He tiptoed out of his room, though Corby probably wouldn't have heard anything due to his loud snoring, and accompanied her to the medical centre. Though it was late at night, the medical centre, which was basically a hospital, was by no means the dark and deserted place with long eerie corridors so commonly portrayed on television. True, the lights were dimmed to allow patients to sleep, but the place could literally be considered as bustling. Nurses, doctors, parents and even patients themselves were walking, or sometimes running, to and fro. Zack, however, felt as if he was being watched, but in such a crowded area, he dismissed it from his mind. Anyone of these people could be watching him and many more were hidden behind sheets which were obscuring them from plain sight. The two of them went to the Examination Centre and Elyss happily got her cast removed; the momentary pain being the final mending of the fractured bone. She was skipping joyfully back to her room and Zack couldn't help but share the feeling as they talked or just walked in companionable silence. They parted at the dorm lobby and Zack now traversed the dark staircase to his floor. Zack Ying liked the darkness, but this time, something felt strange. There was nothing but the gentle snores of sleeping people and a few whispers and murmurs of rebellious gossips. Yet, Zack felt very uneasy and he quickened his pace, leaping up three steps at a time till he reached the door of his floor. As he twisted the doorknob, he was struck by an overpowering wave of watchfulness. He whirled around to find.....absolutely nothing. Nothing but black darkness but this time, it wasn't cool and amiable, it felt hostile. Zack hurried to the corridor and reached his room. He turned the knob and stopped. A bead of cold sweat trickled down his neck. There was a presence behind him, and it felt alien, eeriely so. He didn't know what possessed him to, but he turned to face it, trembling violently. There it was, hovering over the ground with small flapping wings. It looked completely unthreatening. It had a smiley for a face, two lines and a perfectly bracketed smile which was plastered on a ball of a head with two legs which looked like lines at right angles. All in all, it strongly resembled some kind of cartoon character, being the size of his palm, yet the aura around it was positively terrifying. As Zack stood there dumb with fear, it spoke in a curious halting manner with a hissing voice, "Yesssss. You are. The one. I sssssserve," and with an unearthly screech, the little ball smiley exploded into black goo and enveloped his face, entering every opening available - eyes, nose, mouth, ears. Zack couldn't hear, couldn't see, couldn't breathe and the last thing he felt before he passed out was Elyss' screaming in his head.