Cadet Wars
Chapter 1
~ War Begins ~
The Earth Federation had been around for so long that when
it finally crumbled, it did so rather quickly and fractured into so many pieces
that the smaller ones were quickly gobbled up by the larger of the pieces.
The Empire quickly arose and became one of the more dominant
parts of the former federation; taking over an area of space furthest from
Earth. The Earth Federation itself had stood for hundreds of years, spanning
from the nuclear wars of 2055 right up to its fall at 2550.
What was left of the Federation was now called ‘Earth Gov’,
a small collection of systems including Sol, the home of Earth and five of the
surrounding sectors that had stayed under their control. Other smaller factions
managed to survive; The Kolat Republic, The Rorakan Empire, the Morsan Monarchy
and the Solland Kingdom. The other systems either left out of these superpowers
either became smaller states or indepenant forces that allied with the larger
powers in a mutual agreement.
The Solland Kingdom, more commonly called ‘The Kingdom’ was
not that expansive like its brethren nations but had sustained the civil war
relatively intact. Its military had been efficient and the Kingdom had secured
a lot of the former Earth Federation’s shipyards in the fracturing.
It was over two hundred years since the fracturing and the
last shot of the war had been fired shortly before an Armistice was secured and
the military budget was being cut left right and centre by the current Kingdom
administration. Twenty battle-cruisers had been decommissioned over the past
five years alone.
‘Why the hell are we even on the ship if they’re just going
to decommission the next ship we’re going to be on?’ Cadet Weapons Operator
Franklin Dawson sighed as he picked up his mess tray and began to walk over to
the rows of tables with fellow Cadet Weapons Operator Hector Richardson.
‘Because we can get our degree’s with the universities,
serve many a year or half a year before being on a decommissioned ship, getting
let off and then go get a real job rather than spending our time sailing the
borders and dealing with any of the shit that only goes off during peace time.’
CWO Hector spoke firmly as he sat down, sniffing the lump of goo that the
chef’s and their cadets called food.
‘I guess you’re right’ CWO Franklin shrugged and dug into
the meal without letting his tongue touch it, it looked bad and probably tasted
worse.
‘So where’s Harlan’ Hector asked as he washed down his own
serving with the jug of water set out for each table.
‘Probably inside Cassandra’ Franklin chuckled.
‘Wasn’t he with Ebony?’ Hector asked before they looked at
each other for a moment.
‘I thought I saw Jeanie with him earlier, but she’s in
Operations at the moment… it has to be Cassandra’ they both let out a soft
chuckle before getting back to their meal.
In fact, Cadet Operations Watch Officer Harlan Landry was
inside Cassandra, then out… then in again. To say Harlan was a bit of a ladies
man was an understatement, there were more than enough female officers in his
little black book to get him discharged for disorderly conduct towards fellow
officers enough times to warrant some sort of medal. Harlan just had that way
with women, all he usually had to do was flash a smile and they would be hot
under the collar almost instantly.
Cassandra, or Cadet Medical Technician Cassandra Bentley was
his latest catch, having met her when a routine round of check-ups for the
cadets went around. Space was an unforgiving place after all. Cassandra’s dark
black hair flung over the pillow as the small mattress inside the bunk rocked
back and forth; the sound proof walls hiding any noise the pair let out; more
precisely Cassandra let out as she moaned like a pressurization warning siren.
When they were finally finished, Harlan sat up and picked up
the bottle of soda from the side, sipping a little before handing it to the
panting Cassandra, finding her soft asleep, he leaned down and pecked her lip
before making his way to the shower.
They were aboard the Kingdom Defence Battleship ‘Loyalty and
Honour’. To say the Battleship was old was an understatement, The Loyalty and
Honour and served during the Fracture and made its way through the service with
honours; finally being decommissioned and instead of being sent to the scrap
yard where it was sent to the Navy’s training division for the Cadets to
practise on.
All the technology on the ship was just about a hundred
years old but still worked on the same concepts that the current technology on
basic starships worked on. Some new technology had been installed on the old
girl but it was still at least 30 years behind. The Kingdom wouldn’t outfit a
decommissioned battleship with its latest technology when its own main line
ships were suffering cutbacks.
Harlan made his way to his quarters and passed out on his
bunk, only to be woken up an hour later by his roommate Cadet Navigation
Officer Brian Hardy.
‘Harlan, Get the fuck up! You have to see whats happening on
the Home system!’ Brian told him, shaking him awake and turning to the computer
console screen on one wall and using a few button presses turned it onto a
Kingdom News channel.
The channel showed a large section of a planet covered in a
dark cloud as several small lights darted around in the orbit of the planet.
The news caster began to explain that the Empire was on the doorsteps and had
sent the declaration of war against the planet shortly after they launched a
nuclear attack on the largest continent.
Harlan had yet to realise it was the Kingdom’s home world
until he saw what continent had been hit.
‘That’s our home!’ he blurted out and stood up.
