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As Sara entered the Mess Hall, she let her eyes pass over the crowd. She noted Toby's nervousness, and wondered what had happened to him. Her thoughts wandered... The time must have been wrong on Alex's desk. It had to be at least 18:00, probably later. Most of the other kids were already eating. As Toby sat down, she went to the line and got her food. The food looked and smelled unappetizing, but this was Battle School, what could she expect. How she longed for the rich colors back on earth... That was reality--those rich colors, odors, tastes, and textures... This was all artificial... All of nature had been poked, prodded, smashed, crushed, and molded into whatever shapes people thought would be most efficient for life in space. How she hated it! On earth she had hated the cities--this was ten times worse.
Sara's reverie was broken by the sound of Berric and Rafhiu's voices. How she wished there could be harmony within the launch. This sort of strife would make life here even worse. She sat down near Toby, and began to eat her food without enjoyment.
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Having cleaned his plate with a speed born of long practice, Jimmy pushed his tray away from him. He hadn't taken much part in the conversation, but he had been listening, even if it hadn't appeared like it, and now he was slightly dismayed.
Jimmy's little speech had been intended to forge bonds, friendships, build a little team with others that he respected. He classed both Berric and Rafhiu as being in the "Independant and initiative" class, but Berric had interpreted himself as a sheep while Rafhiu had taken the role of a bossy ego, and now both seemed a bit riled at him.
"Berric, I think we need to take a step back a bit here, look at it from a different angle", Jimmy said. "What Nava said bothers us all, but we can't let it bother us personally, as individuals. We are, or need to be, a team, and if Nava starts causing friction and arguments it doesn't just affect you or me, but all of us. It stops us being a team. It's a problem for the team, so we need to solve it as a team. I think we might even find that if we just confront her as a team and ask that she co-operate as part of the team, she might just agree, rather than be excluded, no matter how superior she may want to feel she is."
"Oh and as for trying to shoe me into launch leader position, I'm too small and I don't know how to naturally command respect. I would just end up getting into fights with team members who didn't respect me that might fracture and would definitely weaken, the team."
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Walking in behind Toby and Sara, Ryan piled his plate full once he’d managed to get to the front of the line with only a few elbows digging into his sides. Sitting opposite Toby he saw the hurried glance over at the Rabbit army bench and felt the same rush of fear that Baron or Mandrake would come over to finish the conversation they’d been having earlier that day. Not seeing them around Ryan breathed a little easier.
“Oh and as for trying to shoe me into launch leader position, I'm too small and I don't know how to naturally command respect. I would just end up getting into fights with team members who didn't respect me that might fracture and would definitely weaken the team." Jimmy said, which made Ryan look over at him.
“Jimmy’s right guys.” Ryan said. It felt good to be able to work together rather than having to listen to the constant arguing that had been going on in the barracks. “Maybe Nava is acting the way she is because we keep disagreeing with her or,” Ryan said looking directly at Cole. “Or deliberately trying to anger her with wise crack remarks. Has anyone actually spoken to her? Has anyone actually tried to be nice to her and perhaps even tried to be her friend? I’m not blaming anyone because I know I haven’t either, but maybe it’s time we did.”
“But Nava isn’t our only problem. We now have a number of older soldiers looking to give us a hard time because of the things we’ve done in the last few days. It has to stop. Now. We can’t afford to get into any more trouble with these guys because sooner or later we are going to attract the attention of either the teachers or the armies. I don’t know about you lot, but I don’t want my reputation to be tainted by the fact that I was a member of this launch to stop me from getting into a army just because some of us can’t stop getting into trouble.”
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"Personally, I don't intend to get into trouble. I don't intend to keep anything up with this feud, except on a joking basis. Any threat is on the inside. Like I said, we've got to be a group that can't be broken apart, ne? I say make peace. Make peace with the armies, make peace in our launch." Rafhiu spread his arms wide, then let them drop. "Berric, I don't intend to fight with you. But I will say what I think, you know. Let me just tell you real quick: you can't make me angry or draw me out. I don't work like that. Sorry."
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Cole stopped chewing his food as Ryan pointed him out to have been provoking Nava. He opened his mouth to shoot back a retort but Ryan continued on without waiting which was a good thing since Cole couldn't actually think of anything to say. He just looked stupid sitting there with his mouth open full of food until he quickly closed it again.
"Give it time Raf, I bet I could make you so angry you'd want to kill me." Cole said chucking his utensils onto the table and standing up. "This food is crap! I'm getting some jello. Anyone else want some?"
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"The food's all we've got for the next decade. I figure I numb my tastebuds as quick as possible. Any flavor from the jello or anything and it'll ruin my training." Rafhiu stood up. "Still, I don't want to feel like a blob around here." He looked back and forth, drawing closer like a football huddle. "Come on, they're not gonna ice someone for checking things out a bit. They really haven't told us any rules like 'don't go where you're not told to'. I say we spend whatever free time we have slipping around. Get to know this place better than any student in Battleschool, ne? I bet there's been lots of students who have done things--hacked the computers, maybe, or found old rooms nobody uses anymore, maybe found a way into a storage closet that's supposed to be locked. Everyone finds one thing, probably, but does little to nothing with it. Look, there's seven of us here. We each find things, bit by bit. Things that are useless on their own. But we put it together . . ."
He laughed. "Of course, for now that's just a pipe dream. But while we get the chance, why don't we start combing the halls, see what we can do?"
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OOC Oops, you posted while I was typing, Rafhiu. Don't think it will contradict or not fit in with anything in mine. OOC
"You missed . . . let's see . . . minor plotting, a few jokes, and Berric storming off in a huff. That boy pitches fits like a prima donna, ne?"
Toby rolled his eyes. Minor plotting. He didn’t have a clue whether it would have been connected with what had happened to their barracks or with what had happened between them after it had all been discovered, but either way it probably wouldn’t bode well.
"Hey just because I'm willing to play their game doesn't mean I'm a prima donna,” rejoined Berric, appearing back at the table minus his tray. “A prima donna would want control, and that's you buddy, me I just like revenge and right now Nava has drawn my ire."
So that cleared up that little problem. There was no reason why revenge had to be sought. That would only end up with Nava seeking revenge of her own in counter, which would lead to more revenge in turn and so on. What they needed to do was accept that the past was past and get on with finding a way to get along. He was about to open his mouth to suggest so when Jimmy beat him to it.
"Berric, I think we need to take a step back a bit here, look at it from a different angle,” he began. "What Nava said bothers us all, but we can't let it bother us personally, as individuals. We are, or need to be, a team, and if Nava starts causing friction and arguments it doesn't just affect you or me, but all of us. It stops us being a team. It's a problem for the team, so we need to solve it as a team. I think we might even find that if we just confront her as a team and ask that she co-operate as part of the team, she might just agree, rather than be excluded, no matter how superior she ay want to feel she is.
“Oh and as for trying to shoe me into launch leader position, I'm too small and I don't know how to naturally command respect. I would just end up getting into fights with team members who didn't respect me that might fracture and would definitely weaken, the team."
Toby blinked in surprise and promptly forgot everything he had been going to add to the argument. As for trying to shoe him into the launch leader position! What did he mean by that? He slapped himself mentally. Well, obviously it meant that the launch leader position hadn’t been filled yet. He glanced across at Ryan. From the way he had been acting from the moment he had met up with them when the station had been acting all bizarre, he had just assumed that he was the launch leader. And now apparently he wasn’t. And people still seemed to be jockeying for the post. It was all very odd to him. From his point of view there could only be one person qualified for that role and it was the one he had assumed already held it. He had been calm when everything was going wrong and looked as if it might become dangerous, had organized everybody well, and seemed also to reason things out pretty objectively. And on top of that everybody had naturally done what he had suggested, which proved that he had their respect.
"Give it time Raf,” said Cole suddenly, throwing his cutlery down on the table and standing up. “I bet I could make you so angry you'd want to kill me. This food is crap! I'm getting some jello. Anyone else want some?"
Toby gave another start. Jello? Now? What was he on about? Realising he was just getting more and more confused he decided to try and reenter the conversation and hope nobody had noticed. Searching back through what scraps of the conversation he could latch onto to sound as if he had been listening, he decided to add to the comments regarding getting in trouble with older soldiers as an ideal jumping in point.
“You’ve not elected your launch leader yet?” he blurted instead, and mentally slapped himself again. What was he like? In a group of such intellectuals that much should have been evident, and was evident from the conversation. He could have just let it go and gone on as if the news wasn’t particularly special, or even as if it were no news at all. There had been absolutely no need to make a fool of himself like that anyway.
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"Nope. Well, if we did, I missed the memo. Fine job of communication, that." Rafhiu pulled out his desk again and logged in. "How about I send out a general message to the launch suggesting that maybe, you know, it could be wise to get a start on that? Just a thought."
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Sara ate in silence, trying to push the thoughts of home from her mind. She half heartedly followed the conversation, but she didn't want to get into it. She didn't really fit in with these kids. Sure, she got along ok with Ryan and Toby, and there was the beginnings of friendship between them, but somehow she still felt isolated. When Nava started trouble in the barracks, it reminded her of her school back on Earth. There she just stayed out of their way and played off by herself. She was able to get alone with nature and with the animals... Here she was stuck with all these other children. She had to make the best of it, she had no other choice... Computer games never appealed to her when she was at home, but it might not hurt if she sought solice in them when she returned to the barracks...
Suddenly she was jarred back to the present as Toby asked “You’ve not elected your launch leader yet?” She felt his pain and embarassment. Why should he be embarassed? He asked an honest question hoping to get more detailed information.
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"Sounds like a plan, Raf", Jimmy said, "I vote for you". He grinned widely in what he thought of as his tiger grin.
"I'm not sure about your idea of combing the halls solo though - too easy to get into trouble. I think groups of three would work better. I'm also concerned about what some of the others might get up to. I think the first thing to do is try and form us up as some sort of launch, a mini army, before splitting us up to explore. We need to walk before we run."
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"After everything we've been through Jimmy me ol'boy, and you wouldn't vote for me? I'm hurt." Cole said casually as he sat back down with a plate full of red jello.
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Looking up at Toby when he blurted out his question, Ryan smiled. He guessed what he thought would be going through his mind as Toby had been with them almost the entire morning during the problems with the school. Ryan had led his little group to relative safety and coordinated the rescue of the others trapped in the barracks. One was bound to have assumed that he was the Launch Leader already. In response, Ryan simply raised his eyebrows at Toby giving him the clear "Go figure" message. Ryan knew that he was the best and most obvious choice for Launch Leader and had no doubt that the others knew this also. He didn't have to make grand statements that bolstered him up in front of the others. He had already proven himself beyond doubt and they knew it.
"Okay, how about we do this." Ryan said. "Get everyone together - probably back in the barracks before lights out and talk about this with everyone present. There's no point in us making decisions without the consent of the entire launch. I agree with you two completely," he continued pointing at both Jimmy and Rafhiu. "We need to bond as team and I figure the best way to do that is to work together on something."
"We all liked practice in the battle room didn't we? How about if we ask Miffland for more battle room practice? For one thing, that would show initiative and maybe put us in a better light with the old man, and secondly, we get to work together planning tactics and stuff. And it's fun. We can start having competitions on best hit ratio or kills or the person with the least deaths or whatever." Pointing to the big scoreboard that ran along the entire length of a wall Ryan added, “We can have our own one of those since we can’t be on that one yet.”
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Alex walked into the mess and looked around for the launch. Spotting them he made his way over to where they sat taking a quick mental headcount. Moving over to the table he rapped on it to get everyones attention.
"Where is everyone else" As soon as the words were out of his mouth Alex realized that he knew were everyone else was, almost everyone else anyway. And suddenly there was urgency in his voice as he realized the real problem with the situation. "Where are Nava and Shaun?"
He looked around at the rest of them hoping that someone had at least an idea where the other members of the launch had disappeared to.
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Seeing almost everyone at a table Alaina headed over to them.
"What’s for eating today?" Alaina said while brushing her hair.
Placing the brush at the spot she planned on sitting at went over and got a tray of food and sat down. After taking a bite makes the comment, "Ahh, that much better" Snifs around, "you guys stink."
Then continues to eat, severing each taste.
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Papa came back into the Mess. He walked straight to where the launch sat. As he walked over there, he saw Alex looking frightened about something. 'Did they find out what he did already?' thought Papa. 'Well hopefully he won’t think it was me who snitched. He got to the Mess before me.'
He walked to Ryan and sat next to him. He turned to him and asked, "Have you already elected your launch leader yet?"
Hoping that the answer was yes he said, "I can't wait to get this over with. It's really a waste of time choosing a leader. Would that person even have any major responsibilities or something? Seems to me that we don't really need a launch leader."
Waiting for an answer, he turned to Alex. He still looked a little frustrated about something. Aly on the other hand was calm and cool with everyone. 'Time to make him sweat a bit,' thought Papa.
With a grin on his face he said, "I have done what you told me, Aly. The LB has been besmirched. Your evil deed has been carried out."
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As Ryan raised his eyebrows at him, Toby shook his head. Incredible. He’d have thought the decision would be unanimous, no questions asked, but then not the whole launch had been with them after they had broken out of their locked barracks and had been trapped in other parts of the station, struggling to get by in different ways until they had nearly all come together again in the mess, and he didn’t really know how the group had got along together before that.
A rap on the table caused him to break thought and look up. It was Alex.
"Where is everyone else?” he demanded. "Where are Nava and Shaun?"
Toby looked around and realised he couldn’t see them. They had left the barracks before he had but he remembered noticing them standing just to one side of the door when he had left himself, talking to one another.
“I’ve no idea,” he said. “I remember passing them on the way here but I just assumed they’d catch up after they were finished talking. Where else would they go?”
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"There's not that many places they could go." Ryan said. "Maybe Shaun took her somewhere so that she wouldn't get an ear bashing from us? There’s the game room, the library, the gardens or they could be just walking around. If they've got any sense they'll stay away from the army corridors."
Ryan wanted to make sure that Nava wasn’t going to be subject to a flood of verbal abuse because of the things she had said back in the barracks. Everyone was entitled to their own opinions even if most of the others didn’t agree with her. “Remind me again why you’re all so pissed at her for? Calling you babies? Telling you she didn’t think we should come to the mess? Acting as though she’s superior to the rest of us? I can’t think of any of us, myself included, who hasn’t done the same thing at some point the last few days. Maybe worse. So just get a grip and don’t get so worked up over nothing.”
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Alex listened as Ryan tried to calm the launches mood towards Nava, heading off that dragon was probably a good idea. Besides individual egos were going to have no place in the next few hours, even if everything did turn out alright. Though his next words were going to bowl right through what Ryan had just said.
Alex took a deep breath as he realized that no one really knew where Nava and Shaun were, and that was a bad thing. They needed to act fast. A hundred different things could be going wrong right now, and Alex had to act as if none of them had yet. They were going have to be at the top of their game tonight.
"Alright we've got two missing and every minute counts. Lion Army is probably satisfied with hitting us earlier but no-doubt Raven is still on the warpath. We can assume they are alright, and wait for them to turn up. But I'm not sure that I'm ready to risk that yet." Alex let that sink in a little bit, this was information they already knew. Making it fresh in their minds would go a long way.
"Look every minute Nava and Shaun are out there alone is bad, and right now we can't afford to lose anyone." Alex looked around the table recalling everything he had learned about his fellow launch members over the past few days,, and then he focused on Ryan. "Ryan, this is gonna be tough, but it's going to require your cool head. Take two others with you and check the Game Room. There will no doubt be Raven and Lion Army soldiers on the prowl, so be careful."
His mind working faster than ever he quickly looked over at Raf. "I hate to do this to you Raf, but it needs your touch. Take two more and hit the Army Halls. It's to dangerous for us to assume that they just wouldn't go there. If you get caught, play the lost angle if you can, if that doesn't work I have confidence you can come up with something that will."
Alex quickly gauged the looks on everyones faces. He knew he was taking a big gamble by giving out orders like this, but there was neither time nor opportunity for second guessing his instincts. "Those are the most dangerous possibilities so you two had better get moving fast. And for all our sakes be careful. NO ONE SPENDS TONIGHT IN SICKBAY"
Alex had more to say, and he couldn't let Ryan and Raf leave before he said it. The responsiblity was his, and he would bear the full brunt of whatever punishment the launch had handed down to it. As for the rest it was early, and he had no choice but to do it now. "And before you hear anything else. It was ME who trashed the barracks. Now isn't the best time for an explaination, but trust that I have a very good one and will provide it if you ask. But realize that every minute I stand here explaining things to you is one minute longer Nava and Shaun are out there exposed."
His muscles were tense and he was as alert as he had ever been. "Now unless anyone has any questions we need volunteers to check the Gardens, The Library, and the rest of the Launch Hallways."
As Alex finally stopped he looked at the rest of the launch hoping he could pay for his arrogance later, when he was sure everyone was safe.
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Toby tried to keep from smiling while Alex was giving his speech. He knew he was trying to be serious about what he was saying but the moment he started ordering people to split up and search different areas it all started to sound so funny that he couldn’t hold back any longer and a big grin spread across his face. Every minute Shaun and Nava were alone out there was bad? Where did he think this was? Some kind of war zone, or safari park where everything outside the mess was the lion enclosure?
Yes, they had had some difficulty with a few of the older kids so far, and yes, he was still a bit wary and apprehensive when he was around them after a few of the incidents he had been involved in so far, but really, what was the worst they could do? It wasn’t as if anyone was going to get killed here, and the risk of a beating for getting caught in the wrong place at the wrong time was hardly going to stop him walking the corridors alone, else he would never even use the bathroom. Besides, Nava and Shaun could look after themselves. As long as they didn’t go out of their way to antagonise any of the older kids, he didn’t think they would be likely to get into too much trouble. When it boiled down to it, the few times they had got into trouble were usually after one, or all of the launchies had acted against the older kids first.
"Those are the most dangerous possibilities so you two had better get moving fast. And for all our sakes be careful. NO ONE SPENDS TONIGHT IN SICKBAY"
Toby finally gave a little chuckle, but fortunately his mouth was full at the time so he was able to turn it into a coughing fit and pretend he had been choking on a piece of carrot which he promptly spat out of his mouth onto his plate to add to the effect. That line was priceless, it really was. Somebody had been watching too many vids, that was for sure. He quickly scanned round the table to see how everybody else was taking the speech, but then Alex quickly brought his attention back to him with his line, ‘it was ME who trashed the barracks.’ Then, almost as if trying to gloss over that particular piece of information, he skipped back on to the ‘crisis’ involving Nava and Shaun. Toby, closed his mouth that had dropped open in surprise.
“You trashed our barracks? Again? After we’d just straightened them out for the second time? And after we’d cleaned up the Lion barracks in between? But. . .but. . . .”
He was forced to close his mouth again, unable to put into words exactly what he wanted to say. Why would Alex do that? What did he hope to achieve by it? And then to boldly come out and tell them that it was him who did it? Now some perspective was brought to the words he had spoken before that. He was nuts, that was what it was. It was the only possible explanation.
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Sara sensed the beginning of a power struggle between Alex and Ryan. Ryan had seemed the natural leader of the launch to this point, but it looked like Alex wanted to take over. She liked Ryan and his style of leadership, but she preferred to let the boys fight it out for themselves. She didn't want to get involved with political drama within the launch. She definitely didn't want the launch leader position for herself! While she could organize people and lead if necessary, she prefered to stay in the background and do her own thing. Becoming launch leader would take away her freedom and independance.
Her thoughts once again were interupted as Alex said "Now unless anyone has any questions we need volunteers to check the Gardens, The Library, and the rest of the Launch Hallways." Hearing the word "gardens" caught her attention. "I didn't know there were gardens here" she said. "How do I get to them?" She didn't care about finding Nava and Shaun, but the idea of gardens here in space excited her. Perhaps they would offer a refuge from the busy life of the barracks and other parts of battle school. Perhaps she would be able to escape from people and rest her mind among flowers and trees.
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Alex knew it was coming and even though a small part of him hoped it wouldn't. Toby asked the inevitable question. Why had he trashed the barracks? Well Alex had said he'd tell them if they asked, and he hadn't acquired the respect he'd gained in life by lying. So he wasn't about to start now.
"Alright, I trashed the barracks to buy us an opportunity." Alex let that sink in for a second, and picked the rest of his words very carefully. "There are a few things that we all need to do if we are going to get anywhere around here. The first is to change the way we look at things." As he spoke he circled around the table making sure that he had the chance to look every single one of them in the eye.
"This isn't Grade School, those aren't 'gangs' of 'kids', and we aren't talking about pranks and revenge. This is Battle School, those are Armies of Soldiers, and we are talking about War. If any of us has a problem viewing things in that light then I strongly suggest you remember why we were all brought here in the first place." Alex stopped for a second and took a deep breath before he began the heart of his explaination.
"Lion Army scored a victory over us by trashing our barracks. Right now those soliders are sitting back waiting for the 'spoils of war' to come to them. So what happens if they find out Miffland didn't punish us? Then it looks like we're fighting back, and without Jimmys hard work cracking the Raven code that would be the only option we'd have. Because I'm not about to stand here and surrender, and I don't think I'd belong in this school if I was." Alex sighed, he was trying to keep the passion from his voice but wasn't sure he was doing a very good job. When he began to speak again his voice was a carefully measured whisper, making sure only the members of the Launch could hear him.
"But now we have an opportunity. Lion Army will hear that we got it bad from Miffland for the barracks. They'll let down their guard and give us an opportunity to strike back. We send a messanger to Lion Army showing them the white flag, and tell them that in exchange for peace we'll tip them off to the fact that Raven Army is planning to move against them. At the same time we tell Raven Army that we were acting under duress from Lion Army and that Lion Army really has it in for them." Alex slowed down trying to let the politics of the situation make themselves clear to the other members of the Launch.
"The way I see it everyone around here plays things so close to their chest that neither Army is going to bother checking with the other to confirm our story. And they won't have to either, because the next day we're going to use Jimmys S.O.D. program to put both Armies under siege." Alex grinned at this point, this was the part that he loved the best.
"We can continue playing games, and being a nuisance around here. And at the end of the day all we'll be is just another group of bratty launchys getting in everyones way. Or we can play this game right, and pull the strings on two separate Armies. Thats the stuff legends are made of, thats what we could be remembered for." As he finished Alex smiled, a warm confident smile that had creased his features so many times since coming up to battle school. Down on earth everything was so easy for him, everyone so easy to out-smart. But here, in space, he was surrounded by other people just as brilliant as him. Things were finally starting to get exciting. "Besides... it'll be fun."
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"Brilliant", Rafhiu said. "Absolutely incredible. Except that we'll be knee deep in sewage when the first of those two figures out what's going on, and when the second army realizes it it'll drop us down to our necks. They will figure it out. Armies don't 'move against each other' here. They fight in the Batteroom. When you've beat someone there, you've beat them completely. Lion will check out your story right away." He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Look, don't over-dramatize this. Somehow I doubt that Nava and Shaun are being held captive, possibly in danger, life and death hanging in the balance, so on and so forth. As much as we like to believe we're going to get killed here, I don't think that Raven or Lion is mad enough to rough up a pair of launchies. Not yet."
Of course, he thought, that doesn't mean they're not doing something we'll all regret later. Probably better to find them sooner or later.
"The question is whether we need to keep tabs on every launchie at all times. I don't think so. I also think that for now we'd do better to stay out of the armies' way and get our launch functioning smoothly first. And", he added, "I think Alex owes us an explanation of why our barracks has been trashed. What opportunity, exactly, was that?"
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Ryan was dumbstruck to the point of disbelief. No one had been given a chance to respond to his idea about extra battle room practice before Alex came into the mess late and started worrying about Nava and Shaun, heading the conversation off onto another tangent. They had just been debating whether revenge against Raven and Sphinx armies was the best course of action. They really didn’t have that much to complain about with Lion army. All that had happened was that they’d been pranked. No harm done. Raven on the other hand were a different story. The launch had deliberately angered them by stealing the trophy. It was a matter of pride with them and Ryan didn’t blame them for wanting to get revenge. He hadn’t been a part of the heist, but that wouldn’t matter with Raven. The whole launch would pay for that little prank.
Now here he was sat listening to Alex giving out orders over some made up emergency that Nava and Shaun were in some imminent danger. Ryan agreed with Alex to a point that they should stay together for at least tonight, but that didn’t mean that Raven or Sphinx armies would pounce on any launch member they happen to see. It wasn’t the idea of going looking for them that shocked him, what did was the fact that Alex so casually ordered Ryan off to ‘go look in the game room but be careful’. Who did he think he was?
Ryan just stared at Alex with a blank expression on his face. Not because he was trying to, but simply because he couldn’t work out how he felt right at that time. All of a sudden, Alex had emerged from an almost nonexistent presence to ordering Ryan around as though he was some flunky that couldn’t even tie his shoes without being told to. That galled him more than anything else he had said. Ryan didn’t care that Alex was now showing the same traits as him and taking charge when needed, but at least he should have had the foresight to include Ryan rather than relegating him off on some errand that any monkey could have done. That just showed insecurity on his part or that he was afraid of Ryan and was trying to avoid a confrontation.
He had been so deep in thought that he completely missed his last comment about the barracks. It wasn’t until Toby had spoken up with an unfinished question that his attention again focused on Alex.
Twice in the space of a few seconds, Ryan was floored by the audacity of this kid. Trashing the barracks to purposefully get them into trouble with Miffland was something that even Ryan thought would have been beyond Alex’s capabilities. Although he had spent the last three days in close proximity to Alex and had been talking like old friends only a short while ago, Ryan would never have imagined that his would turn out to be the real Alex. As he listened to his reasoning, and his grand declarations of war between the Battle School kids, Ryan wasn’t completely sure the he was in fact sane. Did he really think that Lion actually expected us to retaliate against them for pulling a prank? It was a prank, not the end of the world!
His logic astounded Ryan. There was no way that any army would assume that they were safe because they’d get into trouble with their launch Mom. That was simply flawed.
Rafhiu spoke up first as Ryan and most of the others were obviously trying to digest what he’d just said.
"I think Alex owes us an explanation of why our barracks has been trashed. What opportunity, exactly, was that?" Rafhui said.
“Are you insane?” Ryan said with a look of pure astonishment all over his face. He hadn't meant to over run Rafhiu's question, but the words just came out. “You made this decision without bothering to ask a single one of us our opinion? What the hell are you thinking? Did it occur to you that maybe, just maybe we might have something to say about this?”
Ryan was now pointing his finger at Alex even though he didn’t realize it. “What Lion did to us was nothing! A practical joke dude! Raven and sphinx have left us alone for the most part and all you’re going to do is stir up trouble and make things worse. Raf’s right. They’re here because they are intelligent and they've been here a lot longer than us! What makes you think their going to just take your word for it? They will talk to each other and then we’ll be in a whole world of bugger crap!” Looking around at the others, Ryan noticed his hand pointed at Alex chest just like his father used to do when Ryan was being yelled at. Closing his fist and pulling his arm back in quickly, he turned back top Alex.
“Sorry man. I just can’t believe you’d do something that stupid and expect us to go along with it.”
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"Man, who are you to tell Ryan where to go or what to do...and I expect you to take full blame for the re-trashing of our barracks, after all it's what a real leader would do, and if your gonna act like one Alex...but as for me, I ain't goin huntin for no one, if they decided to go poick a fight with raven or sphinx then it's their hides and they probably shouldn't be here...I'm goin back to the barracks and start cleaning again whose with me?"
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Rafhiu coughed. Of course, he hadn't come to Battleschool to train for a job in cleaning, but their record implied it would be a fixture of Battleschool life. Good lord, hadn't he had enough of fixing stuff after his brother had broken it in some grand design?
"Personally, before I leave to look for anyone or clean anything up, I'd like Alex to answer me." He'd be a fool if he'd follow this kid's orders. At the moment, Alex seemed to be trying to establish himself as leader, and while Rafhiu took no umbrage at being given orders, this guy didn't seem to have the sense in his head to give good ones. To do what the boy said right now would be unconsciously give him more power than he was due.
"Ryan's right. We shouldn't start a war. Alex, I don't know what you're thinking, but you're too ambitious for your own good right now. There's the initiative and drive of Alexander the Great, and then there's the hubris and overconfidence of Custer. You seem to fit into the second category."
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Since the others ignored her question about the gardens, Sara resumed her silent listening. It looked like Alex, Ryan, Rafhiu, and Berric all wanted to be launch leader. They were posturing in different ways, but she was pretty certain that they were all saying that they wanted to be the Alpha male, and dared anyone to stop them. Sara was tempted to join Berric in returning to the barracks, just so she would have an excuse to escape, but she did not want to place herself under any of the contenders for leadership. She had to retain her independence so that she could actually have some influence. If she remained neutral, all of them would want her support, and might actually listen to her ideas. She would have to be careful though. There was another person she was pretty sure wanted to control the launch, and that person would not care one bit about her ideas. She made up her mind that no matter what, she would fight against Nava becoming launch leader. That would be disasterous!
Ryan was probably the best leader out of these boys, but he was rather arrogant. Alex was creative, and capable, but not necessarily wise--and also arrogant. Rafhiu was sharp and had some good ideas, but he also had a sharp tongue--and he was arrogant. Berric was good at taking initiative, but his quick temper, sharp tongue, and lack of tact--along with arrogance interfered with his reasoning. Sara thought about the similarities and differences between the boys. She had her preference, but they all had drawbacks. Might as well not take sides, and push for anonymous voting.
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Alex breathed deeply, in truth he had expected something along these lines. But one thing that was being said bothered him. That would be the first thing he would address.
"Alright, this is getting to be ridiculous. I could care less which egomaniac becomes 'Launch Leader'. But right now this jockeying for position is doing nothing more than distracting us from more important objectives. I propose we vote on a Launch Leader right now. Only 2 of us are missing, Nava and Shaun. If we need their votes to break a tie then we'll worry about it then, but this issue needs to be resolved before we are going to be able to move ahead."
Alex closed his eyes for a second honestly wondering how things ever got done if all people cared about was who had a meager amount of power over someone else. "We can make this anonymous if you want, but I think it should be made clear now that whoever is elected receives the unquestioned support of the rest of us." That much was one-hundred percent true. It was far better to have a united front using bad tactics than a divided one with a dozen fabulous ideas.
"Anonymous or not my vote goes to Nava, but I'll follow whoever gets chosen." Hiding the frustration from his voice Alex wondered one more time how in the universe humanity was going to survive another bugger invasion if they couldn't get past arguing over politics.
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"Unquestioned? Hardly. Authority is always questionable. A good leader makes good decisions and holds loyalty such that there's no need to question them. Having said that, I think if we vote now we're opening up a whole new can of worms. A public election means those who vote against may be attacked by a spiteful leader. Let's keep our votes private for now." He sighed heavily. "But. You. Still. Owe us. An answer. I will not vote until I understand what's going on. How about you stop drawing attention away from what you've done and own up here?"
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Alex declaration of support for Nava surprised Sara. From the way he was giving orders, she thought he was trying to take control of the launch. Apparently she was wrong. She wondered how he knew what she was thinking, or if the idea had just randomly struck him. She resolved to watch him very closely.
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“Ladies, Ladies. Why are you guys still arguing about it?” Alaina spoke up, “Just start dukeing it out. That way all the armies will laugh at us for fighting amongst ourselves, and let down there guard to a launch that trying to kill itself.”
I think calling them ladies should get their attention, I would have used Babies but then I would be murdered.
Seeing most of them shut up and seeming to be listing continued on.
“Alex’s deed has already been done, so instead of arguing about the fact that he trashed our barracks and who should be the leader, lest start deciding what where going to do about it. If we turn Alex in for trashing out barracks the Armies will hear about it and be more on their guard. For why else would a single launchy do such a thing as that what Alex has already explained. The just might punish us more for trying to do that.”
“Or we could just take the blame as a group saying we never cleaned up and be punished. Whether the armies let down their guard or not doesn’t matter. They will probably think we were too tired or we didn’t expect us to be required to clean up a second barracks in the same day or we thought we could do it tomorrow. Either way they should be satisfied that we were too stupid not to get into trouble.”
“If the armies let down their guard, and we agree later we can use the opportunity to get to them. If they don’t let down their guard, then they probably leave us alone for a while since we stupid launchies learned our lessons with getting punished and outsmarted by the armies. Either way I vote for the second option and we should just stop arguing.”
Taking the time to look at each member individually Alaina remembered the urgency Alex had in finding the missing two.
“Personally I could care less about who is leader, that’s not really a problem right now. Priority goes to the situation at hand. We need to decide now what to do about our situation so we don’t make it worse. Alex I doubt you were eargently trying to find Nava and Shaun so we could vote so spill the beans and tell us what you did that makes it necessary for us to declare the Leader now, beside I would rather the voting be anonymous.”
Come on people lets pull together or were doomed, and Alex and Papa you say anything about me being part of it and you life is going to be a nightmare, well it depends on how it turns out so you may get lucky
Feeling satisfied about giving the boys a piece of her mind she went back to eating her food looking expectantly at Alex.
-OOC Sorry I was working on this after Mohaka1 made his last post and i had a meating to go to so it’s a wee bit out dated /OOC
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Alex held back from raising an eyebrow at Alaina. He was honestly shocked that she of all people would misunderstand his intentions. For one he didn't want to find Nava and Shaun to elect a launch leader, he could honestly care less if they ever had a launch leader. To him it was just one more piece of red tape holding them back from accomplishing things. He started to open his mouth again to speak, and found himself pausing.
Maybe it wasn't just red tape. Maybe it was preparation just like everything else in Battle School. Forcing the Lauchys to fight over power and elect a leader would help them further understand the concept. That way they could be prepared for the possibility of a power struggle when they were put in command of real soldiers. Everything here was a test of ability, Alex had figured that out right away. He felt suddenly foolish for overlooking the one thing that he really should have been paying attention to.
In the real world grownups argued all the time about who was in control. If the Battle School students were allowed to progress through school without ever encountering that type of power struggle they would be at a loss for what to do if the subject came up.
For a moment Alex wondered if Alaina was worried about him 'turning her in'. In truth the thought had never crossed his mind. He was resigned to take full responsibility for whatever his actions were. And in the event that the launch decided that he would be punished for what he did he would accept his punishment. He knew he would even go so far as to make sure the launch came out of the debacle better than it had entered.
Somehow his speech to Nava back in the barracks had taken hold of him. It had simply been a tactic to clear the barracks at the time, but for some reason he now felt himself believing the words he had spoken. Why had he waited so long to now speak exactly what he felt about their situation?
"I agree with everything you said Alaina. Electing a launch leader is neither important nor urgent to me personally. I can't help but view it as a needless hurdle towards us being able to accomplish anything. However, if electing a leader is important to the rest of the launch I feel that getting it out of the way as soon as possible is the best course of action." Alex almost smiled as he decided to drive home his original point.
"We could go looking for Nava and Shaun because we plan on insulting them for the next hour and a half for all I care. All I want to do is make sure that everyone is safe and accounted for." Alex sighed and looked at Raf again, it seemed that perhaps he had underestimated him. He had thought that Ryan and Raf were the most capable launch members and had thus decided that they were the best suited for difficult operations. But now Raf was asking him to repeat why he had trashed the barracks, perhaps he'd misunderstood what he was saying when he was whispering.
"Do I really need to go through all of my reasons again?" He asked Raf hoping that he wouldn't have to waste yet more time.
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Berric looks at them. "I say that if we are going to vote we do it later tonight when we're all back at the barracks, one of the reasons I want the place cleaned up, so that we can have order when we're there. I personally have always hated a messy room...I don't want the position of Launch leader I don't have what it takes to lead this many people, maybe a couple of kids in the battle room sure but a whole launch no thank you" With that said, Berric begins his trek back to the barracks to try and start cleaning up.
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"Excuse me guys", Jimmy said, "but how did Alex trashing the barracks suddenly become the focus for a conversation about launch leader, apart from the fact that Alex suddenly decided he was, and also that the rest of us are too moronic to be consulted on anything and fit only for ordering around like brainless robots."
"Now call me a simpleton if you like, but I have a straightforward view of things. I've eaten and soon I want to sleep. The barracks is trashed. Alex trashed it, so I expect him to clean it up. If I had wanted my bed trashed, if I had wanted to have to sort it out ... again ... I would have trashed it myself or agreed to it being trashed. I did neither, so Alex, you ARE going to sort out my bed. And soon, before my bed time. Sleep is important to me."
"And as for this ridiculous launch leader stuff, I figure that natural leaders, real leaders, are naturally elected by simply being there and taking command and gaining respect, not by stupid politicking and democratic elections. Certainly at this scale and in this sort of a community. Democratic elections are necessary when trying to rule whole countries, but a group of 20 or so kids doesn't need it. We've done fine so far, and been lead by a natural leader who saw what needed to be done, suggested it, and was followed by people who were bright enough to see the sense of what needed to be done and so did it. Alex, I don't know what sort of thick lunatic you are, but your 'plan' sucks. And if you expect us to follow you just like that, then you're in for a surprise. We're all intelligent enough to have and hold our own opinions and views, and no one will follow stupid orders just because the person giving them does so with vigour and a deep belief in his own importance. The 'orders' I've followed while I've been here were simply an obvious statement of what needed to be done and the leadership that was taken was only to divvy up the tasks. Everyone there knew what needed to be done, it was just who figured out the best people for the job and got round to organising it all first."
"So my suggestion is that we dump this stupid 'launch leader' conversation for another time, frog-march Alex back to the barracks and get him to clean up the mess he created. If he doesn't, and doesn't do a good job, I suggest we tie him up in the bathrooms overnight. If he does an especially bad job we could even leave him under a cold shower - all night. Frankly right now I'm pissed and I don't care if he dies of pneumonia."
As Jimmy finished speaking, he looked around. A few of the other launchies, Greg, Aveces, and Miller, among others, were nodding. They looked as angry at Alex as Jimmy felt.
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Alex lowered his head for a second and chuckled. It was mildly amusing to him that they didn't realize how deep his plan went.
"What good would trashing the barracks do if Miffland didn't find it? I made sure to send a very clear signal before I even came here. As far as cleaning the barracks, I doubt I'll get the opportunity. Most likely Miffland will make us all clean it. But I'm sure you can find some sort of fitting punishment for me."
Getting punished for such a small thing by the launch group was unimportant. All that mattered was making them understand the gravity of the situation. Alex had grown up in the fleet, he had heard the grown-ups talk. The words weren't clear but the memories were. When they talked about the buggers they sounded scared. Alex didn't know how far off the buggers were but he had more respect for the threat they posed than any of the other kids he'd met. He was determined to be there when they came again.
Perhaps that was why he felt so strongly about the rest of the launch members. He'd watched them closely ever since the shuttle flight up. They had all been hand chosen to defend the rest of the earth. When the time came these were the people he'd be defending the world side-by-side with. Whether the buggers came during their watch or not was irrelevant. A state of constant vigilance had to be maintained.
It frustrated him to no end that they had to continue to play these games. He saw the relevance to them, but for some reason he couldn't get past thinking about the bigger picture. Jimmy was right he said what Alex believed all along. Leadership didn't need to be elected, and it sure as heck wasn't that way in the military. Leadership was earned through accomplishment, but how did they expect the launchys to accomplish anything if they wouldn't allow them to acknowledge reality?
Jimmys threat didn't bother him it was fear of death that drove him, but not just his death, everyones. He'd read plenty of military history, the library was packed with it. Perhaps he was like Rommel, his brilliant plans always ignored by his superiors until they suffered a bitter defeat. No it wouldn't be like that, he couldn't allow it to be like that. He'd clean boots with his tongue if he had to, but when the time came he'd make sure his ideas were listened to.
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“So, that’s why you were so urgent about finding though two.” Not really speaking to anyone in particular just trying to figure out Alex’s next move.
Suddenly snapping out of it and getting serious voiced herself. “How long have we been here? What ever Alex did Miffland will defenetly been to the barracks and probably on his way here. So let’s decide what were going to do. UNITED that’s what’s important. Once this is done and resolved then we can punish Alex for what he did, if it turns out hurting us. From now on though don’t do things without consulting the others first. That way we can do things United. As an American once put it "A house divided against itself cannot stand." So lets all take the blame and be untied, otherwise were divided and we WILL fall. That’s the one thing we must not do is fall. So pleas, lets stop trying to do things apart. Acting alone at home and school worked because we were smarter than everyone else. Here in battle school everyone is just as smart or smarter than us. They have been her much longer than we have and so have home court advantage.”
Then much softer at the brink of teas said, “The only thing that can go for us is unity, and if we can’t get it………… were doomed.”
Suddenly snapping out of it before she cried, Alaina continued on.
“Let’s vote now. Ether to be unified and take the blame together or we can send Alex to the dogs as an appetizer. I will go with the majority even if it’s not what I personally like just so we can be united.”
“I’ll be the first to vote, and I say lets be unified and take the blame together.”
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Standing up, Ryan was about to turn and leave when he heard Alex's explanation of why he trashed the barracks. Although he was still annoyed that he hadn't discussed it with the launch before acting, he did understand his reasons. But the arguing just kept on going and had now turned into whether they push the full blame onto Alex and turn him into Miffland.
A vote? That's not going to happen!
"I've had just about enough of this!" Ryan said with exasperation. "Here's what's going to happen! We're going back to the barracks now and if Miffland is there we will take whatever he dishes out to us as a group. We sure as hell are NOT going to hang one of our own out to dry."
"There will be no vote over this. We can sit here and argue about this all day but if no one has the guts to stand up and tell you what's going to happen, then I guess I will. It's over! If you don't like it - too bad."
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"Right, let's head back. And Alex, trust me, I understood your reasons well enough. On the other hand, I expected someone smart enough to make it into Battleschool would have better reasons. If you've got more to this than you're telling us, as far as I'm concerned you're no friend of mine. Nobody should be plotting something that could hurt the whole team without running it by the others. Just who do you think you are?"
With that, Rafhiu slung his desk under his arm, brought his tray to the disposal, and stalked out. He was more angry than he'd been in a while, and it surprised him. There was, he felt, an implicit trust in any launch group, and Alex had just violated that. Whatever the boy might say, what he'd done sounded more like selfishly acting pretty stupidly in his own best interest at the expense of the launch. Rafhiu couldn't forgive that sort of thing.
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"You wanna walk back with me?" Cole asked Sara. Sara paused, uncertain of what to do. She didn't want to follow the crowd, but she didn't want to stay here with all this arguing going on either. Various options passed rapidly through her brain. "Why don't we go find those gardens Alex was talking about earlier?" she said to Cole. "If we go back to the barracks now, we'll just have to clean. I think we need a break before we get back to work."
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Jimmy grabbed his desk and tray and followed Rafhiu. He really wanted Alex to pay for what he had done. It wasn't so much what he had done as that the reasoning was so poor. If there had been a good reason for it he could have accepted it, but that wasn't the case. Alex clearly lived in some sort of fantasy land where he was some sort of military genius, able to see so much further than any of them dumb twerps, but the fact was that it was the other way around. Alex's so called 'plan' was so full of flaws that Jimmy couldn't see any part of it that might hold together. So to create all that work for the launch for such a crummy plan that he hadn't even bothered to ask for any advice about; It was too much for Jimmy.
As he walked back to the barracks with the others, Jimmy turned it all over in his mind. Lion army had played what they obviously thought of as a funny prank and were unlikely to start attacking them wantonly in the corridors. Raven had had their revenge, or so they presumably thought, by sticking a virus on the launch desks, and similarly were unlikely to escalate things by viciously attacking other kids in the corridor. Apart from anything it was clear to Jimmy that the teachers were monitoring everything, and any kid seriously beating up another would end up going home. So the desperation in Alex's voice when he talked about being scared for Nava and Shaun's safety clearly indicated a delusional mind. And if he was delusional, that meant he was dangerous. He might seriously injure another member of the launch if he got it into his head that that person was a spy.
Jimmy determined that he would wait for an opportunity to talk with some of the other members of the launch that he trusted. He was sure his reasoning was valid, but it was always a good idea to discuss such matters with others, and he respected their opinions.
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"Anything to get out of more cleaning." Cole said as he stood up and held out his hand for Sara. It wasn't something that he did consciously as he’d always held someone’s hand whenever he was going anywhere with someone. The fact that she was a girl made no difference to Cole. He’d had a lot of friends back home and the girls were always doing the same things as the boys and getting themselves just as bruised and battered as anyone.
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Sara took Cole's hand without hesitation, stood to her feet, and together they headed out the door. Sara didn't know how to get to the gardens, but she figured they'd find their way somehow.
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OOC I'm assuming nobody else is left in here when we arrive so if you are, we're not here yet OOC
Shaun entered the mess and looked around. He couldn’t see any of the rest of the launch around so he just shrugged and headed across to the dinner queue with Nava. They couldn’t have been that long, surely? Ah well, he thought, it wasn’t as if they were really needed for anything. They could go back when they were ready and since classes were done for the day, who would really care?
He glanced down at Nava’s desk as they joined the queue. He wished she hadn’t been so relaxed about the issue of making sure her files, or one particular file at least, had adequate protection against attempted hacking. They had already both noted how the group contained a couple of people quite capable of doing so, and for all her carefree attitude it might well matter if somebody found it. It wouldn’t do to have everybody turn against them because they got a bit touchy when they found out what had been written about them. But then maybe Nava did have adequate protection systems set up. She didn’t seem the type of person who would leave any openings for people to use against her, and she had made a bit of a point about ensuring the file had been saved properly.
He decided to give up worrying about it and turned his mind to other thoughts instead; thoughts of the game room. It was amazing how much their minds seemed to work in similar ways it really was. He had already decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to try to make some friends amongst the older, bigger kids, and then Nava had suggested it just as they had left the gardens. It was definitely the way to go, although from what he had seen already it would be hard to accomplish. The older kids in this school didn’t seem to want to associate with the younger ones so much and it might take a bit of convincing of their worth, but he was sure there would be someone; there always was.
“You’re attention please. Would all remaining members of Launch one five five one please report to your assigned barracks immediately. I repeat. Would all members of Launch one five five one report to your assigned barracks immediately.”
At the sound of the words launch one five five one, Shaun jumped a little and looked up in surprise. Aw, just as they were reaching the front of the queue too. He felt a jab in the back.
“Best get going, little shuttle-baby,” sneered the kid behind. “Sound like mommy don’t want you staying up too late before bedtime, neh?”
Shaun scowled but didn’t say anything; it wasn’t worth the hassle. Instead he turned back to Nava.
“Guess we should go see what the problem is.”
As he turned towards the door, he cast one last wistful look at the serving hatch. This had best be something good. If he found out he was missing dinner just because someone had done something pointlessly stupid there was going to be trouble.
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Alex watched the rest of the launch file out of the mess hall one at a time. They were headed back to the barracks, Miffland would obviously be waiting. Things had gone smoothly when he was in control of everything, but as any battlefield commander will tell you. No plan survives contact with the enemy. In this case the Launch was his enemy, their perspective was flawed.
He'd gone his entire life without having to deal with people who didn't see the big picture. On the space station it was easy, because he was always surrounded by IF Personnel. Even though they never spoke with him, he could tell by the way they acted how dire the situation was.
When he was back on earth, it was different. He didn't really discuss such matters with the other kids at school. It all seemed so far away, but coming back to space had made it all come flooding back. Battle School, the center of the universe, it was the one clear memory he had as a child. The adults used to talk about battle school all day long. They would talk about armies, kids, rankings. None of it really meant much to him at the time, but it had always gone hand in hand with discussion about the buggers.
And here he was, right in the heart of it. It was shocking for him to find out that the other kids didn't even seem to have the buggers on their list of priorities. He'd always just assumed that everyone in battle school knew what they were doing here and why they were there. It couldn't stay this way, not for him, and not for his launch.
He quickly ran through his options, and he formulated a plan. It was going to be difficult, and if he tripped up he'd pay big. It was times like these that Alex felt he was making an all or nothing play. The launch needed to know what it was working towards, and he would make that happen. Setting his jaw Alex walked out of the mess and turned walking away from the Launch Barracks.
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Nava hadn’t noticed that she was hungry - mostly because she was occupied with other things. Had food simply been placed down in front of her she would have eaten it gladly, but until the prospect of eating was close, it hadn’t occurred to her that her stomach was protesting for that reason. It was a little uncomfortable, sure, but nothing in comparison to excitement. Come to think of it, she was also quite exhausted. She tried to ignore it, however - things like that went away if you tried hard enough.
She began to contemplate the fine art of eating as being enjoyable just as the two pint sized soldiers got very close to the front of the line - the prospect of food was looking even better than it was a moment ago. Before Nava could consider what she’d be having, however, she was interrupted from her reverie by an announcement.
You’re attention please. Would all remaining members of Launch one five five one please report to your assigned barracks immediately. I repeat. Would all members of Launch one five five one report to your assigned barracks immediately.
Nava just looked at Shaun, and then back at the food, then back at Shaun. Why did they have to make the announcement NOW? Food was SOOO close! She got an aggravated look on her face, blew out some air in frustration, and watched as the stupid older kid did his worst - which wasn’t very bad at all. After they day they had it seemed a joke.
Guess we should go see what the problem is
“Guess we should go see WHO the problem is. This is SOMEBODY’S fault. I’m hungry!” she complained with another huff, obviously more hungry than she thought. She walked back toward the barracks, hoping she could return before the meal ended.
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*Nervously I walked into the mess...I barely know anyone here...I hope I make a few more friends...to bad there's a strong chance they will be from a different army...oh well, I have to take that chance!*
Instead of trying to talk to someone, my stomach did some talking to me...it growled, and man was I hungry...wow! look at that line!...well better get started on moving in the line now...
I wanted to waste some time so I tried talking to the person in front of me in line..."Hello, I'm Scott, Phoenix Army, and you are?"
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Alistair sat down next to Tirath. "you know we never actually got around to, i dunno? TALKING back in the barracks." he said, he sounded angry, but since Tirath had walked out of conversations in the launch this was a routine thing for him. "y'think i should tell Scott that talking to people from other armies is counter-productive?"
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