NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11: Clusterf*ck
Brinus is running his first live fire drill with Simmie, who is running his fourth. Simmie, an acting lieutenant, commanded 120 Navy Trooper recruits, with Brinus as his second in command. They are currently at one of the many of the Navy's proving grounds on a three-day excursion. There were no problems until day two when they hit the fortress.
In the meantime, the Federation is paying the syndicates to disrupt training operations for officers and enlisted personnel. One such method is to pay for syndicate assassins to snipe out officer cadets during live-fire exercises.
The Navy Proving Grounds at Caltor Prime 0630 Hours Intergalactic Time:
In the early morning sunrise, the hills of the rolling grasslands sprawled across the foggy low mountains. Beams of light poked through the fog as it swirled over the hills like smoke. Brinus and Simmie brewed morning coffee with their morning cigarettes, while around them, the sergeant major and his men did the same. The air was crisp with morning mist and had a particular bite in the frosty air. Brinus wore White Navy Trooper armor with the Bronze asterisk indicator for the rank of midshipman. Simmie's Navy Trooper armor had a brass lieutenant's ribbon on his chest. Everyone could see their breath as Brinus looked through his binoculars to gauge the situation.
He threw his cigarette butt into the campfire and yawned as he'd been awake all night doing watch. "Hey, Simmie, love, are ya' ready fer the attack?"
Simmie flicked some ash into the grass, tilting his head back and taking a draw, blowing smoke into the air. He then looked at Brinus with a Stern Look. "We're in the field, and I am an acting lieutenant for this exercise. Technically, I am your commanding officer."
Brinus jumped on top of Simmie and rolled in the tall grass in their Navy Trooper armor until Simmie pushed him off. "Brinus! Behave! We can do whatever you want after the mission!" he growled, nipping at Brinus' ear and laughing.
Brinus smirked and leaned down to kiss him, "Sure, love. Whatever you say."
They both laughed maniacally and kissed passionately for a moment while the squad watched. Several people rolled their eyes and made comments.
The Sergeant Major approached the two young men, one brow cocked. "Are you two done? We have to attack the enemy base at 0700 hours!"
"I'll get ready." Brinus and Simmie both giggled like schoolgirls bonding over a dirty joke.
"Sir, am I going to have trouble with you? I told my commander yous guys shouldn't be in the field together."
Brinus put another cigarette in Simmie's mouth and snapped his fingers, unconsciously igniting it. "Relax, sergeant. Nothing will happen. It's just a training exercise." Brinus and Simmie laughed.
"Romantic partners shouldn't be in combat together. I never served with a same sex couple, so I assume the same rules apply. If my men are threatened by you two, I will not follow orders. I want that known."
"You will do as you are told, Sergeant," snapped Simmie as Brinus glared at the sergeant.
"Sir, you two are comprised. I put the safety of my men and women above all else. I said what I wanted to say, so that's it." The sergeant walked off into the encampment.
The troops retreated to their tents to put on their armor: white dura-plastic breast, leg, arm, and joint plates, a matching helmet with built-in comms, black gloves, and pristine white boots. All carried standard-issue flash pistols at their sides.
The men set out, marching uphill, until Brinus could see two police droids protecting a Federation flag on a hill around 400 meters ahead. Nearby, two more police droids with dummy guns guarded a fortress nestled in a valley near the river. Security droids manned the perimeter guns placed on top of sandbags.
Stimmie came to stand shoulder to shoulder with Brinus. Reaching up, he took his binoculars and looked toward the fortress before giving them back and pointing toward a concrete bunker. "See that scope flash? There is a sniper in the hills."
Brinus brought the binoculars back to his eyes and turned to where Simmie pointed. Sure enough, there he was. Dressed in a bad gilly suit with a spotter sitting nearby in fingerless gloves, and a camo shirt and pants. "Yeah, I see them. I don't think they're ours." Brinus looked through his binoculars a second time and saw the sniper in infrared view.
"You want me to take them out?"
He growled and grabbed Simmie's leg. "Those snipers are not with us, nor are they part of this here exercise. Let the command deal with them." He snarled.
Brinus knew he would have to call in the unauthorized snipers, and then a professional strike team would take them out. At this point, the exercise was over.
Simmie stood and said, "I will take them out now." His priority was Brinus's safety and not the mission. As soon as the snipers appeared, any desire to finish the exercise went out the window.
He attempted to knock him down. "Simmie! No! Please! You'll be killed if you go out there!" he grabbed Simmie, but it was too late. He didn't care about the mission; he only cared about his boyfriend.
Simmie ran forward with Brinus hot on his heels. At this moment, the months of military training, the months of discipline, and the months of basic training went out the window. Simmie only cared about Brinus and not the mission.
The other men stared at the two boys, glued to the ground and with open mouths as Brinus and Simmie ran after each other, screaming at him to get down. Then, a sniper shot rang out. Despite the blaster bolt moving at the speed of light, Brinus could see the bolt approach Simmie. On pure adrenaline, he ran into the bolt and took a chest full of plasma, and it obliterated his armor. It incinerated his thermal underwear shirt and left a large cut on his chest from the breast plate, but no burns. His arm had a piece of armor sticking out of his left forearm.
He then jumped on Simmie and covered him from a second sniper shot. The sniper threw a grenade and ran, but it failed to explode. A blue plasma shield appeared around Brinus as he wrapped himself around Simmie to protect him. The other men watched the two boys in the field.
Brinus yelled, "I fucking told you not to run out into the field!" He smothered Simmie in kisses and hugs.
The sergeant major snorted and turned to the sergeant of the company. "This is why couples shouldn't be in combat together, sir."
The company sergeant took off his helmet and sighed. "I agree. I knew this would happen. I told them yesterday what would happen. It's almost like they set them up on purpose."
"It does feel that way."
"Do you wanna call this in, or should I?"
"I will, sir."
One hour later, on The Victory, Brinus stood at attention in the captain's office. Captain Plato, the commandant of the naval academy, and Commander Theodore sat in a row. Brinus was in uniform with his chest wrapped in compression bandages and his right arm in a sling wrapped in gauze bandages. He had just gotten out of the emergency room at the VA hospital. After a couple of seconds of silence, Captain Plato spoke. "And that is your full accounting of the event?"
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"Yes, sir. I give my statement for the official record," said Brinus, looking directly ahead.
After a moment of silence, Admiral Nelson spoke. "Were you aware you had magic before joining the Navy?"
"No, sir. The magi were interested in me, but nothin' came of it. Although…"
"What, Stinkball?"
Brinus shifted his feet and looked down and then up. "I remember 'bout a month before I was arrested fer the police shootin' at the Tea House, I woke up in my bedroom in severe nicotine withdrawal and no memory of the previous twenty-four hours. Saul, the syndicate lawyer, said the magi kidnapped me and did a stress test. Then, another time I was locked in the hole at juvie fer tryin' to commit suicide by cop after my boyfriend Harper was killed. I ain't got no memory of the followin' three days, but I woke up in a new jail. The guards seemed terrified of me and gave me a wide birth. No one told me what happened in the other jail, and it was like my memory was erased."
"You were in Newheaven Juvenile Facility, right? Before you were sent to the Juvenile unit of Saffron Maximum Security National Prison?" asked Commander Theodore.
"Yes, sir. I was bullied because of my sexuality, but they never seemed to take my cigarettes, which I thought was weird."
Admiral Nelson's pupils dilated, and for a moment, everyone was silent. Then the admiral spoke with a shaky voice "I heard that the facility was destroyed in an explosion and everyone there was killed. The Magi have the files locked down."
Commander Theodore asked, tilting his head and crossing his arms, "Why didn't you tell anyone? Clearly, something happened both times. You should have notified the ship's librarian of this information upon recruitment.
"Obviously," Brinus snapped as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Brinus is down to 68 cigarettes a day, last time I checked. Isn't it possible that cutting back caused his abilities to surface?" asked Captain Plato.
The commandant scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Heavy smoking of more than 70 Tarken Tea cigarettes a day does suppress magic, according to the magi agent I consulted before this hearing. After 75 cigs a day, magic becomes impossible to detect. It's because of the AA nicotine in the cigarette. It's why the Magi ban smoking in its members." The Commandant rolled his eyes and snapped, "Were you aware of the risk of uncontrollable magic use during the live fire simulation?"
"No, sir. As I stated previously. I was aware the magi were interested in me, and I had weird memory gaps. But no. I was not aware I had magic, sir."
Captain Plato looked over at Brinus' medical file. "It says you're down to 68 cigarettes a day after basic training because you get terrible withdrawals if you go any lower. I will ask again, is it possible that reducing your smoking is what made your magic surface? Yes or no?"
Brinus sighed and rolled his eyes. "I don't know much about magic, sir, but if it says so in my document, then it obviously is true."
The Commandant leaned back into his chair and cussed, "I'm issuing standing orders that you and Simmie are not to go together on future battle or live fire sims. You two will only be allowed in psychiatric exams for the purpose of testing. I am also going to ask the magi's permission for use of their fire temple; the sooner we can start training you in magic, the better. Furthermore, I am putting you and Simmie on academic probation for two years for insubordination. You both endangered your own lives as well as the lives of your men and women under your command. And Brinus, if you mess up on this scale again while you're an undergrad, you will be given a bad conduct discharge from the Navy and sent back to prison. This is you're final warning."
Commander Theodore spoke. "Is there anything you wish to add to the after-action report? You have permission to speak freely."
"Simmie is my first serious relationship since Harper, sir. I want to marry him someday, and I love him. I think it would be best if we didn't go into combat together in the future because he would be a distraction, and this situation would happen again."
The three officers looked at each other, nodded in agreement, and then Captain Plato spoke. "Agreed. You and Simmie will no longer be on battle simulations while you are at the academy. Dismissed, Midshipman Helios."
"Sirs." Brinus saluted and left.
30 minutes later:
Admiral Nelson and Captain Plato sat across from each other, both with drinks of whisky in their hands.
"I wish we didn't have to punish Helios," said Captain Plato.
"We agreed with the commandant that some level of theater was needed. We knew Helios and Tigs would prioritize each other over the mission if one of them were threatened. That's why we put them together and put them in his position. Hell, you helped us plan this!" Admiral Nelson flicked his tail side-to-side slowly and slowly blinked at Plato.
"Still, why even punish Helis and Tigs at all? They accomplished the mission. It went exactly as planned. This feels like setting up two highly capable cadets for failure and then punishing them for behaving as we expected too."
"We went over this. We need to keep central command from asking too many questions."
"He shielded the boy with his own body. If he had died, that would've been on us."
"If he had died, he wasn't worth keeping. This entire test was to expose his magic, nothing more." Admiral Nelson's pupils dilated, and his tail flicked rapidly.
"This is wrong, sir, and you know it."
"You are too attached to his kid." Admiral Nelson made a cat growl but was interrupted by a knock on the captain's door.
"Enter!" yelled the captain, getting behind his desk, thankful for the interruption.
The sniper from the proving grounds entered the office. "You promised payment."
Admiral Nelson leaned back in his seat and crossed his legs. "Do you want it in credit chips or digital currency?"
"Credit chips. We need to launder the cash through some of the businesses. Oh, and the Orin Syndicate said next time you want this type of job to let us know he's a magic user and an ex-syndicate member. We don't like surprises. I want 20% more for the threat level."
"Captain, give him the extra creds for his troubles. I will file this under a job well done."
"Right. Visit the commissary and make sure Helios doesn't see you."
"Yes, sir."
The syndicate sniper turned and left the office.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ship:
Thirty minutes after the meeting, Brinus was at his quarters in a pair of black boxers and shirtless.
After he had crawled into bed, Simmie stirred and took a sharp inhale through his nose and exclaimed, "Hey, love!"
"It looks like we're being separated."
Simmie handed Brinus a note and mumbled. "A courier came after the sniper hit and dropped this off."
Brinus opened the envelope, which said, We have no beef with you, and we did not try to kill you or your boyfriend out of malice. It was just a job we were hired to do, so it was nothing personal. The syndicate told me to tell you it considers the matter closed. You don't need to worry about Long Ho anymore; he was fired after you joined the Navy. Good luck to you, and Medusa told me to tell you to remove your syndicate tattoos as soon as you can.
Brinus took his cigarette lighter and burned the letter. No, the matter was not settled. They tried to kill him and his second boyfriend, just like they killed Harper. One day, he would get even with the syndicate. He was now a duke and would be learning magic. He had power, both magical and political.
Simmie put an arm around Brinus's chest, kissed his ear as he lay down, and snuggled next to him, burying his head into his armpit to inhale his scent. "Can't we worry about this tomorrow? Let's just cuddle."
Brinus wrapped his legs and arms around Simmie in the bed. "Good night, love."
Simmie was back asleep as Brinus turned out the lights.
Three days later, Brinus walked into Plato's office. He entered without knocking and saluted. The office smelled like cinnamon and cloves, burnt paper, and charcoal. There was no ashtray on his desk, which meant someone else was in his office before he arrived. The soft fluorescent lights cast an eerie glow across the room. Plato's tail flicked rapidly side-to-side with his fur poofy and his large, golden, yellow eyes fully dilated.
Brinus saluted and yelled, "Brinus Helios reporting fer…"
Captain Plato howled a cat howl and then yelled, "Never enter my office without knocking! Ever! Now leave and do it properly."
Brinus sighed and snorted, closed the door, and banged on it three times as loudly as he could.
Captain Plato growled again, "Enter!"
He came into the office, but this time wore his screw-you smile. "Brinus Helios reporting as ordered, sir!"
Captain Plato motioned for Brinus to sit in the chair. "The mage will join us shortly. He's going to mentor you."
The mage entered the room, and Brinus stood and saluted him. "I remember you!" he said. "We tested you for magic! I was the medic who oversaw your cases. You then tried to sue us after you tried to kill yourself in prison! My name is Jorge, and I will be your instructor."
He crossed his arms and snapped, "What the fuck? I lost my lawsuit cuz of you! Who the fuck are you to take my case?" Jorge stammered until Brinus yelled, "Fuck you! I don't want you teachin' me magic!"
Captain Plato held up his hand and hissed. "Stinkball, let the man speak."
Jorge sat on the desk and composed himself. "Your abilities are dangerous because you're a dark fire mage. This means you draw energy from the environment around you and can't be burned and radiation poisoning doesn't affect you, no matter what temp or rad units you're exposed to. That's why you have pain and fatigue resistance, or can weld shirtless. Also, it seems like you deflected the blaster bolt rather than actually stopping it. You said in your written report that you ran at the speed of light. But honestly? That is just your fight-or-flight response kicking in and slowing down the perception of time."
He sat quietly for a moment, and thought to himself. That's why the cops couldn't tase me! That's why I never get tired! Wow. I knew I was different, but I ain't never thought I had magic.
"I'm a mage?"
Jorge nodded. "The magi will teach you to control your magic."