Galactic High

“Due to a temporary reduction in faculty, this form class is to report to Lecture Theatre 823-K.” Alora read the sign on the classroom door.

“Do you think Mrs Shlart got hit?” Sephy asked, worried. “I mean, she’s a bit strict, but she’s never been too mean and she’s helped us out before…”

It’s possible, Chiyo replied grimly, as a few other members of their form class loitered around as if second guessing the sign in front of them.

“Everyone!” Alora called out to their classmates after casting a quick cantrip, taking responsibility as the Class Representative. “I can confirm the sign is truthful. Lecture Theatre 823-K isn’t far from here and we should still have time before school starts, but if you don’t know where it is, you can follow us!”

“How big is it?” Jack asked Chiyo as Alora led the way.

Room for about three or four classes. Chiyo shrugged. Perhaps they’re short on teachers? Not all of them have Form classes, so usually if there’s an absence one of the other teachers covers it temporarily. Maybe they’re merging some of the classes to cope?

“Alora!” a familiar voice called out as they neared the lecture theatre. “Your class got called here too?”

“Hey, Luvia!” Alora greeted the dragon warmly. “How have you been?”

“It’s been dreadful! We’re still making repairs all over the Scion of Wyrmwalker!” She groaned in exaggerated boredom. “And my scales are still growing back! They look awful!”

“Let me see, that’s not so bad…” Alora humoured Luvia as Jack followed Sephy, who had rolled her eyes at the shenanigans and subtly beckoned him and Nika to follow along to avoid the boredom.

“Wait, is Jack not with you?” he heard Luvia ask Alora as they rounded the corner and got out of sight.

“And I thought dragons were meant to be perceptive!” Nika grinned.

“Perceptive about her own scales and selfish desires maybe.” Sephy snorted in amusement. “Sure she pulled through during the Klown’s attack, but holy crap she can be too much sometimes, and after our mostly shitty weekend I could do without that!”

“For the most part I agree with you, though it’s a bit rude on our part. Some time to calm things down even more would be good first.” Jack sighed. “How did you even become friends anyway? I’ve noticed Luvia grate on you more than once, Sephy.”

“Heh, yeah I guess it’d appear that way.” The Skritta shrugged with a slight grin. “She’s always been more Alora and Chiyo’s friend than mine and Nika’s, but she grew on us. Still a pain in the ass but more good than bad, you ever have friends like that?”

“Yeah.” Jack nodded with a reminiscing smile. “Dean was our class clown that wouldn’t shut up, but he was still a cool guy regardless, and kept a happy attitude no matter how shitty things got. Really good banter playing games when he wasn’t a pain in the ass. Is that what you mean?”

“Eh, sort of like that but translate it from guy shit to girl shit.” Nika shrugged as she peered through the window of a nearby door, before leading them into the lecture theatre they had been directed to.

It was mostly empty for the moment, but a few students were there who the trio recognised that stopped them second guessing if they were in the right place. The rectangular room had a vast, sloping floor, with each row of seats positioned higher than the row in front, arranged in a horseshoe shape and facing the front, reminding Jack of a cinema from Earth. Jack immediately saw Nya sitting on her own in the middle, seeming content to relax as Rena made her way over to her, somehow having made it before them. Kritch was playing on his commlink nearby behind them, and he even saw Svaartal right at the back looking bored out of his mind as the unusual drow, Dextra, was excitedly talking to him about something he had no interest in.

“Where are we gonna sit?” Sephy asked them.

“Don’t mind.” Jack shrugged. “Enough that we could all sit together maybe? Are Vanya and the twins going to end up here too?”

“I think so,” Nika recalled. “Rena is Vanya’s Class Representative, And the twins are in Luvia’s form class.”

“Let’s not get seats right at the front,” Sephy decided, leading them up to the side opposite where Svaartal was to take a cluster of seats closer to the back, but they stopped as they passed Nya, who looked up shyly at the group.

“Hey Nya!” Jack smiled. “I’m glad to see you’re alright! How have you been holding up?”

“Hello Jack!” The Stygian girl shyly looked up to him with a faint smile. “I am better now, though I am still quite weak despite the healing by my people.”

She then gave an exhausted sigh, sounding like that single sentence took much of her strength from her, but Nya carried on.

“So, um, thanks for saving my life. Rena told me what happened when I woke up, and I know I owe you.”

“Hey don’t mention it, I’m sure you’d do the same for me. You don’t owe me a thing.”

“I-” Nya began, but was interrupted by Rena.

“Nya is still recovering,” the Vulsta told him sternly, placing a calming hand on Nya’s shoulder. “You should leave her be until she gets better.”

“No need to be bitchy about it, Rena,” Nika warned the prefect, who dangerously narrowed her eyes in response. “He has the right to ask about her wellbeing.”

“It’s fine,” Jack interjected, not seeing a reason to pick a fight. “It was nice seeing you, and it’ll be nice to catch up once you’re fully recovered.”

Nya just nodded tiredly with a shy smile as they made their way further up the stairs to the side of the seats. They sat down in a good space that didn’t really have anyone else nearby, potentially allowing their friends to join them if they hurried up before someone else got to them.

“Damn. I didn’t expect Nya to be conscious,” Sephy muttered once they had taken three seats next to each other. “Those weird Stygians that took her must have had some really good healers among them.”

“Yeah. I think they helped stabilise Rayle and a few of the other coma patients before they left,” Nika confirmed. “Maybe it’s a natural Stygian Sorcery thing they can do to soothe them or something.”

“To be honest I’m still suspicious of those guys,” Jack admitted in a whisper. “During the attack, Rena showed up right after I faced Dr Grine, only to leave again soon after without a word. I’m not sure what she was actually doing, but I find the idea of her being at a party to be very unlike her. At least from my impression of her.” He shrugged. “Dr Grine had at least one accomplice. Who’s to say he didn’t have more? The way they showed up at the hospital was more than sketchy.”

“That’s a bit of a leap, but let’s talk about it with Alora later.” Nika shrugged. “Speaking of, looks like that’s the others coming in now!” She hopped up, and waved, catching the attention of Alora who was leading the rest of their friends and classmates. Both of the Squa’Kaar siblings were engaging the sad-looking Vanya, who was upset by the fact that Svaarti wouldn’t be coming to school, while Chiyo was floating alongside Luvia, who was acting heated about something Chiyo was talking about.

The lecture theatre was really starting to fill up now, as morning announcements were being made, mostly informing students that form classes were being condensed and schedules were being amended to account for the reduction in teachers.

“Huh, maybe they’re just gonna keep us in here all day,” Sephy whispered to Jack. “Maybe they’ll even put on a few films for us to watch? They’ve done it before.”

“Isn’t gonna be like a movie night though,” Nika cautioned. “They’ll probably be educational, and if they’re dicks, they’ll tell us to take notes and do a report or something afterwards.”

“I wouldn’t mind the chance to just sit down for a while to be honest.” Jack shrugged. “Guess we shall have to see. Hey Alora!”

“When did you three run off?” Alora scolded as she finally reached them, opting to take a seat at the end of the row, leaving a few empty seats between her and Jack.

“Are you that annoyed with us, or are you worried I’m gonna infect you with something?” Jack joked.

“No, I’m not that annoyed with you!” Alora giggled. “I will need to be able to get up and move as our Class Representative, and I intend to say something to the class.”

“Suit yourself.” Jack shrugged as he figured that Chiyo would fill the seats, before a red-scaled form quickly moved in front of the Ilithii, marching down the row of seats up to him.

“Hello Luvia.” Jack smiled awkwardly, as the dragon made her way up to him. He was happy to sit next to the dragon, though with luck he would still be able to relax in his comfortable seat while whatever the school planned happened.

“Hi Jack!” Luvia smiled nervously as she practically bounded up to him.

“Hey…” Jack began, unsure of what was happening as Luvia just stood in front of him, shaking a bit for some reason. “How have you been? I heard you got hurt during the Killer Klown’s attack…”

“Same,” Luvia replied simply, before tentatively continuing. “It’s a shame I never got to see you at that party, at least before the attack happened. I was quite worried about all of you, you know. I saw all the others to safety, but I never saw you, and when I heard you encountered Dr Grine I feared the worst.”

“Well you don’t need to worry anymore.” Jack smiled. “I’m still alive.”

They said nothing for a confusing few seconds before Luvia just sighed.

“My apologies for this...”

Before Jack could even think, the dragon had reached out and grabbed him by the belt with one claw, forcefully dragging him to her, wrapping her arms around his waist as she pulled him closer. As their lips met, Jack felt an intense heat spreading throughout his body. It was almost overwhelming. Luvia’s lips were soft and warm, and as she kissed him hungrily, he could taste the faintest hint of smoke and fire. Instinctively, Jack’s hands reached around Luvia’s waist to hold on for dear life, struggling to breathe until Luvia finally pulled away, his eyes wide in shock at what had just happened.

“WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The entire room whooped and cheered as almost immediately all eyes locked on to the bizarre scene, while Jack fought to breathe again.

“I’m sorry Jack, but I really needed that! You have no idea how hellish my weekend has been and since I didn’t properly see you at the party, I promised myself I’d make that move the next time I saw you!” Luvia gave a single, contented sigh.

“Oh by the way, buy yourself something nice!” She reached into a pocket and placed a credstick into Jack’s breast pocket before sitting down, looking mightily pleased with herself.

Jack turned around, noticing that all of the rest of his friends were staring just as wide-eyed as he was. Finally, it was he who spoke first.

“What the fuck just happened?”

Before any of his friends could even find the words, the last trickle of classmates filed in to try and quickly grab the last remaining seats as their teacher walked in. Chiyo floated past him with a bemused expression as she went to sit next to Nika on the other side.

“Good morning everyone!” the chipper voice of Mr Sparrel loudly announced as the finely dressed, hawk-like avian, briskly walked into the room with his sword swaying at his hip, the interruption cutting through the cheers of their classmates reacting to the surprise dragon attack. “Do hurry up and find yourselves a comfortable seat and settle down, then we’ll get started for today!”

Sephy looked like she was about to draw a gun on the horny dragon as Vanya and the Squa’Kaar filled the seats between Luvia and Alora, however Nika gently, but firmly, gripped the offending hand with the tip of her tail. Before Jack could even formulate the words he was looking for, Mr Sparral energetically clapped his hands as the last of the students found their seats. The Squarri was pacing up and down, though Jack could sense that a lot of it came off as artificial to him. Maybe Mr Sparrel was just putting on a positive face for the sake of his students?

“So, first of all, I likely teach history to most of you, but for those of you who don’t know who I am, my name is Mr Sparrel and I will be your interim Homeroom Teacher,” the avian began. “This latest Klown attack has taken a great toll on many students, members of the faculty and their families, but I am at least glad to see more of you than I expected. I hope our friends not with us today will soon be able to recover and rejoin us, and that we may all heal from this tragedy.”

The class was solemnly silent at that. Many of them knew full well how lucky they were compared with many of their absent friends.

“However this next piece of news may soften that blow just a little bit.” The avian smiled as he adjusted his spectacles. “Due to the lack of teaching staff and pupils, regular lessons will be suspended until further notice, where they will then be resumed from where you left off. Now, before you all find out what we’ll be doing today, we have some announcements to go through first, followed by the usual morning assembly by the headmaster, who will be conducting it in these lecture theatres. After that, we shall be watching a few educational videos that will cover your usual subjects, since I’m not particularly qualified to teach much else academically other than history, which I shall go through at some point to break up the day.”

Mr Sparrel peered around at his attentive students and grinned. “I wasn’t joking when I told you all to get comfortable by the way. I’ve pretty much got you here for the entire day, and probably the rest of the week too. Though I am not your usual Homeroom Teacher, I do take that duty seriously, and so I will periodically call you out individually for a checkup. Incidentally, if any of you have any concerns or anything at all you wish to talk about, please do not hesitate to come to the front and talk to me if you need to.”

Mr Sparrel then looked up to Alora and gave her an acknowledging nod. “And now, if your Class Representatives wish to make any announcements, now is the time to do so.”

Alora gracefully got up and walked down the stairs to the lectern at the bottom.

“Hello everyone,” she began, allowing a slight pause for dramatic effect.

“We all know that disasters can strike at any time, and unfortunately, we have been affected by one such disaster this previous weekend. I want to offer my deepest sympathies to those who have lost their homes, and let you know that my household is here to support you in any way we can if you need it.

“I understand that many of you may have already made your own arrangements, and may wish to join one of the many reputable factions across the city for protection. I know that my dear friend and fellow Class Representative, Luviannestixxx, has offered fast applications to join the Red Legion at the Scion of Wyrmwalker, the local Red Legion Headquarters, and to those who wish to join those factions, I wish you the best of luck during this troubling time. However, for those who need shelter and safe haven but do not wish to join a faction within the city, I am willing to offer you a safe place to stay for as long as you need.”

“Though we are primarily a female household, we are not exclusively so, and we will welcome all those of good reputation and intentions. If you are interested, please do not hesitate to speak to a member of my household and we will make the arrangements.”

Alora indicated to their row of seats, and Nika noticeably sat up to draw everybody’s attention. “We also have food, clothing and utilities to help you get back on your feet,” Alora added.

“Finally, I want to remind you that together we can be a strong and resilient community. In order to overcome this challenge, we must come together, and together, we can provide support to our friends in need. Thank you.”

“Gotta love Alora’s preachy speeches!” Sephy jokingly whispered to Jack, but she still followed the rest of the room who were all politely clapping while Alora made her way back to her seat. Jack gave her a thumbs up as she came up to her row, and she smiled in relief where she had been nervous before.

“Are you mad at me?” Jack asked Sephy sincerely. “I really had no idea that would happen.”

“I know,” Sephy whispered back as quietly as she could, nodding with a sigh. “I’ve calmed down and Alora saw - if she doesn’t address Luvia’s boundary issues then I sure as hell will. Speaking of Alora, I know we all agreed to let people stay with us and all that, but do we have any idea how many people are gonna take us up on the offer? We might have problems of our own with the water, and Nika reckons we might have imminent power issues. We have the physical space, but more people equals more draw. The local utility merchants we use have usually been pretty solid, but this might change things.”

“I think we’ll find a way to handle it, but we may need to be creative,” Jack reassured, having previously considered the issue in the back of his mind while Mr Sparrel awaited the simulacrum of the headmaster to conduct the morning assembly. “Zayle has their water spirit, maybe we can do something with that? If not, maybe I can try and make something to collect rainwater?”

“Not sure how Zayle’s abilities work, but it can’t hurt to ask,” Sephy whispered back. “I’m more worried about the power. If we want to get a fabricator, even a lesser one, it’s going to take a lot of it, possibly more than we have to spare. I’m surprised we haven’t had a brownout yet, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“How do the utilities normally work?” Jack asked, while the other students started whispering amongst themselves as they waited for something to happen. He noticed the warm breath on the back of his neck from Luvia obviously wanting some attention, however he ignored it, at least for the moment, which made Sephy quite happy.

“It’s usually a combination of the lowest risk sections of the Gloom Paths and the District Walls themselves, mostly the latter,” she explained. “The utility companies are able to use divination magic to locate pipes and wires they can fix and use to reroute water and electricity to our district from where they’re pumping it from. Some districts get this stuff by default and don’t have to pay, but since our home was abandoned and sealed for so long we don’t have that privilege, meaning we’ve either gotta pay or find an alternative.”

“What alternatives do we have?” Jack asked curiously. “Would solar panels work?”

“They might help, but they’re expensive,” Sephy pointed out. “Though it would be possible to use a fabricator to make some…”

“Which requires more power,” Jack concluded. “Assuming we’re even able to get one.”

“Yeah, they’re rare to find. I haven’t found any on the Dark Market online, but I’m running a program that’ll send me a ping if one shows. We might be able to get it to run if we just don’t use anything else while it runs, but even then it’s pushing it.”

“So we might need to invest in a system of our own.” Jack sighed, thinking. “Have you found anything from the info you got last weekend?”

He was of course being vague. Mentioning their little ‘heist’ on the Prefect’s Lockup in school was probably not a good idea.

“Yes! I knew you’d want to do it again! I might have found out the sort-of direction where the drone deliveries head to, but not a precise district,” Sephy excitedly whispered. “As for the data I’m going through, it’s like a huge puzzle. Some of it is probably usable but I won’t know that until I get a clearer picture of what I’m actually looking at. I think I’m close though.”

“If not, we can always chase a few bounties,” Nika added from across Sephy. “Might feel good to be the hunters instead of the hunted for a change. There’s also other kinds of jobs that shouldn’t take too much effort to go for, but they’re not gonna bring in the kind of reward that a Run might.”

“Like what?” Jack asked.

“Mostly protection jobs.” Nika shrugged. “Like keeping an eye out for a few hours while the client does stuff and calling them if anything happens, that kind of thing. Usually pretty boring.”

“Well maybe we could do with a bit more boring after everything we’ve had to put up with,” Jack pointed out, as the simulacrum of the headmaster strolled in…

*****

“…and so, despite this great tragedy, it is important to remember that your education is of the highest imp…” the Headmaster droned.

“Jack?” Luvia whispered, once Mr Sparrel wasn’t looking their way. Sephy had long fallen asleep and was leaning on his shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“I apologise for my actions. I didn’t even see you at the party - where I had plans for you, I might add, and I was worried about you during the attack when I heard you were trapped in its depths. I guess I let the buildup get the better of me, and it just happened.”

“It’s alright.” Jack slightly smiled. “I kinda enjoyed it.”

“Did you?” Luvia grinned as her scaled leg touched his…

“Don’t push it.” Jack snorted in amusement. “You’re still in big trouble.”

*****

“You can wake up now,” Jack whispered to Sephy after several hours had passed, and the headmaster had finally, finally shut up and fucked off. It had been fortunate that Mr Sparrel was the only teacher supervising them, so Jack had kept an eye on the Skritta as she slept. Several sighs of relief could be heard from many students all around the room as they realised their torture was over. They had all just endured what felt like an eternity of boredom. As the atmosphere lightened once again, the students began chatting to themselves while Mr Sparrel magically summoned himself a steaming hot drink, then walked over to the console that operated the overhead projector.

“I thought I was about to join you, Sephy.” Nika groaned, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

“Same,” Jack admitted as he stretched his body in his seat. “I swear that guy could put anyone to sleep with his voice. Maybe we should record it and sell it as an insomnia cure?”

“That’ll definitely pay the bills.” Sephy giggled as she sat up a bit in her seat. “Though speaking of, maybe I can find us an easier job to do during the week? If we need some self-sustainability, maybe we can order a few crappy solar panels with the pay and set them up?”

“Let’s see what we get at the scrap heaps and other dumps first,” Nika proposed. “We’re already going there for stuff to put through a fabricator for the shuttle anyway if we get one, though even if we don’t get one yet we can start fiddling around with the components and do things we won’t need the fabricator for. Besides, we’re gonna need some more shit for the house and I’m leery about spending too much right now since we’ll be taking a few different hits to our funds.”

“I take it that IKEA isn’t a thing here?” Jack quipped.

“Well, I’ve never heard of that, so probably not.” Sephy shrugged. “We can pick up some useful shit for improving the district though, especially if we go further afield where the megacorps dump their stuff and we keep our guard up. Like, if they dump a used industrial power core that’s still got like 0.1% left it’ll be pretty good for us if we can drag it back and hook it up to the mains!”

“We’ll need to plan for that trip, but that’s a pretty good idea,” Nika agreed. “Let’s stick with the close-range sites for now and we’ll bring it up with the others later.”

“Should we make a list of the things we’ll need to find?” Jack asked the Kizun.

“Honestly? For the safe sites close to us we won’t be the only ones going through them, especially when people are facing desperate times.” Nika sighed. “We’re just gonna go and grab anything we can that’s useful and bring it back without getting into a fight - there’s no choosing among beggars. Hopefully we get something we can start some work on.”

Perhaps a trip to the library will also help? Chiyo suggested from where she was sitting on the other side of Nika. I know you guys have your own ideas, but perhaps we all missed something that might also work? There are many books on homesteading…

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “I have some ideas in mind, but I only have them from watching YouTube videos, without actually trying them myself. Having a proper guide or set of instructions would be better.”

“We can’t do everything at once,” Nika cautioned. “Let’s shelf the books for the long-term and focus on what we can do right now in the short-term. We have enough funds to splash out for premium utilities if we need them, but that’ll quickly bring us back into the red unless we are prepared.”

“Taking up a quick job or two might be a good idea then, once we’ve hit the local dump sites,” Sephy added. “Though we can go further afield it’s more dangerous, and taking stuff back will be difficult unless we get a hovercart or something.”

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and find one there,” Nika quipped.

It is more likely that we will need to purchase one, Chiyo pointed out. Though I would at least take a look at the sites further afield to justify the purchase first.

“As it happens.” Luvia turned around from her conversation with Vanya to address the group with a cheeky grin on her face. “The Red Legion may be in need of some 3rd party mercenaries for something.”

“Oh no. We’re not interested in a Run, Luvia,” Nika cautioned. “We’ve been on two Runs in two weekends and we need a break from that shit.”

“We were looking for easier, low-risk jobs,” Jack added diplomatically. “Just for some home improvements and stability without forcing us to break the bank.”

“It’s nothing too major.” Luvia shrugged. “I can put you in contact with the Captain in question and you can always say no.”

“We’ll think about it.” Nika nodded after a few moments, as Mr Sparrel clapped his hands to shush the chattering students before he began the film.