Ivan Kal - Olympus

Tomas looked at her with mouth and eyes wide open disbelieving what he heard, he thought that she must be pulling his leg, but he knew her better than that, she never joked with her work. Living forever, he tried to wrap his head around the concept, it was unbelievable.

“That, that… That is insane.” He finally said.

“Yes it is.” Seo-yun said still smiling.

“My god, what are we going to do?” Tomas asked uneasily.

“What do you mean?”

“This could change everything.”

Seo-yun’s smile slipped at the expression on Tomas’s face.

“How?” Seo-yun asked.

“This could change everything it means to be human. Imagine what it would do to religion, or how it will influence people lives. Or what it would do to Earth if we give this to them. The Earth is already overpopulated, if people stop dying… It could lead to the collapse of our entire race at the worst, at best it will redefine the human existence.” Tomas said gravely.

Seo-yun looked at Tomas, understanding dawning in her eyes.

“We will need to be very careful about how we introduce this.” Tomas said.

Seo-yun started to protest but he cut her off.

“I’m not saying that we don’t share it, I just think that we need to be aware that this will impact our entire race, and before we introduce this kind of an upheaval to our culture, our way of life, we must be ready to face the consequences.” Tomas said.

“You are right.” Seo-yun said, and knew that with this one discovery, more than any other before, Olympus will yet again change the world.

February 2103

Adrian and his teammates waited inside of the training base’s landing bay for the transport ship to dock. Their team had passed the training, after that first stumble Bethany and Adrian managed to clear the air between them and started to work together on tactics for the team battles, instead of leading alternatingly, they led together. It proved to be the right choice, after that first loss they had won every other match, bringing their team to the top spot. After the deadline, Force Commander Pierce informed them that only the top three teams passed, and the third one just barley. The other teams were crestfallen, but the Force Commander informed them that they could stay one more year and try to pass with the next class, that they could keep their ranks of cadet tier 1 and join the fleet at that level, or chose another path in the fleet, they always needed people. Some stayed behind, while others chose to remain cadets, and try to work their way up the ranks through service. From those that passed, only team 9 was told to board the transport that would take them to their new assignment, they weren’t told yet what ranks they acquired by passing the test. The other two teams were told that they would remain on the base for another week. Team 9 had little time to celebrate, they spent only a few hours at the stations bar, and then they had to go to sleep, in order to wake up and be on time to board the transport tomorrow morning. They didn’t even know where they were going.

After the ship docked and they boarded it, they were told that the ship was going to the Mars station where they would be told their assignments and ranks. One of the transport ship’s crew showed them to their quarters for the trip. They spent the next month on the ship as it traveled from the training station to the Moon. They spent their time mostly in the recreational facilities that the transport had, and the rest inside of their room discussing what their next assignment would be. Most of them wanted to be placed on a transport or a cargo ship, with all of them agreeing that a post on a mining ship would be the least favorable. Adrian on the other hand believed that there was a good chance that they would be posted to serve on one of the Olympus’s warships, but the others didn’t even know that those existed, and Adrian couldn’t tell them. So he agreed with them.

After they arrived at the Moon station, they were immediately met by a woman in fleet uniform, with the rank of Adjutant who sent them instructions on where they needed to check in. They were split, with most were sent to the offices in charge of transport ships, save Alexander who was sent to the medical, and Adrian and Bethany who were only given the instructions on how to get to the office where they were supposed to check in. They said their goodbyes and agreed to meet later that day.

“I wonder why we weren’t sent with the others. It doesn’t even say where we are going, just the instructions on how to get there. I hope they don’t plan on assigning us to a mining ship.” She said. Adrian didn’t need to wonder, he knew exactly where they were going, he went there often when he was on a break from the Academy and had the time for the trip to the base orbiting the Moon.

“We are going to the Laura Reiss’s office.” Adrian said.

“And how do you know that?” Bethany asked frowning.

“I was there before.” Adrian said.

Bethany stared at him, but when he didn’t elaborate she gave up and they walked the rest of the way in silence.

When they arrived, the secretary in front of the office instructed them to go in. Adrian entered the office with Bethany following close behind. The office was the same as it had always been. Laura sat behind her desk reading reports. Or rather Fleets Master Laura Reiss, Adrian corrected himself, he couldn’t keep referring to her as he usually did, at least not in public. When she noticed them she stood up and walked around the table to stand in front of them. Both Bethany and Adrian stood at attention, Laura studied them for a moment, and then reached out and hugged Adrian, surprising him. A moment later she let him go, without him even having the chance to return the gesture.

“Congratulations on passing Adrian.” She said smiling brightly. Adrian looked at her and couldn’t help but smile as well. Laura was the closest thing to a mother he ever had, and even though he had forgone the possibility of being adopted when he accepted to come to Olympus, he felt as if she was his family, and even without her last name he felt a close bond with her.

“Thank you.” Adrian said, and then he remembered Bethany, he glanced at her and saw that she had a startled and confused look on her face. She of course didn’t know about his connection to Laura.

Adrian coughed uncomfortably and looked back at Laura, she looked at Bethany and her face reverted to her commanding form.

“Cadet Jones, congratulations on passing the training.” Laura said.

“Thank you ma’am.” Bethany responded tightly, Adrian had no doubt that he would need to explain some things later.

Laura nodded and then turned to her desk where two black boxes that sat there. She picked them up and turned back towards them.

“I know that both of you are wondering why you are here. The answer is simple, I wanted to inform you of your earned ranks and your assignment in person.” She opened the boxes and retrieved two sets of Low Prime insignia. “Both of you are granted the ranks of Low Prime in the Olympus Fleet.” She pinned the ranks on both of their shoulders. They were stunned they never expected such a high rank, at most they would be given the rank of Adjutant. Their faces must have conveyed their thoughts because Laura smiled. “There was much debate over what ranks were to be given to those who passed the training, you have all exceeded our expectations, most the others have gotten the ranks of Station Handlers or Adjutants, but the two of you were the only ones to get the Low Prime ranks. There was a lot of arguing over that decision, some even wanted to give you a higher rank, mostly because your scores in the simulations at the Academy, and those during the past year far surpassed those of our fleet officers. But in the end we decided that while you were impressive at the Academy, you still lacked experience.”