[Private Shin, come to the Medical Bay immediately.]
The message popped up on Shin's OHUD, unobtrusive, but unignorable.
"I'm sorry Dale, I just got summoned to the infirmary," Shin said, standing up from the table the Shimin class was all sitting at.
"Confirmed Shin, I just received the notification for you too," Dale said. He looked unconcerned, but, as the leading officer of the Shimin, he was copied on all official requests to the Shimin students. 'He probably knows more about me than I do,' thought Shin. Though there isn't much to know about Shin, other than he was a Super-Apocalypse orphan and now attends military school.
Shin grabbed his sword from behind his chair, tucked it into his belt and was about to leave when Darrin, the tallest Shimin, says "We are practicing for the Grading Battles after lunch, and you need more practice than most of us."
Everyone laughs, even Able a little, but he has been withdrawn since the death of his brother, Cain. 'I know what it's like to lose a family, and I can't even tell him that he'll feel better with time,' Shin thought. His guts gave a little twist of pain, just thinking about his family. He used to only feel anger at their senseless deaths, but anger gave way to resentment, and lately he just feels sad.
"Whatever, I think I'm ahead by two matches Darrin. You need the extra practice." Shin calls over his shoulder as he leaves.
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Shin was getting tired of being in the medical section of the Academy, it seemed he'd spent half his time here lately and it brought back unpleasant memories. His focus on martial arts and training partly came from never wanting to be in a hospital he suspected.
The overhead lights gave off a brilliant white light, it felt sterile though and cold. "Shin, thank you for coming. I need your help with my patient," Dr. Grey said. She was serious, but calm.
"Sure Dr., why me? Who is the patient?"
"Your old Corporal and class rep, Mimi. She was injured during the class grading battles earlier," she said. Her hands made a twirling motion in the air, subconsciously, and she moved them to smooth her hair back behind her ears. Shin thought the gesture made her look very young, or at least closer to his age. "Well, actually, she wasn't injured at all. That's the problem you see. Ever since you rescued her from that attack, I haven't been able to figure out how she was uninjured."
"That sounds like... it isn't a real problem Dr. Shouldn't you be focusing on people who are really hurt?" Shin said, his voice coloured by the wide smile that broke across his face.
"You don't understand, there is something happening to her, and I don't know what it is. It might seem good, but what if it is more serious than miraculously avoiding injury?"
"Miraculously? I know the attack was intense, but I didn't hit her with my sword, and I think I was more injured by catching her." Shin said, a little confused.
"Look at this Shin," Dr. Grey said, as she came up beside him and turned on her holographic display. Shin couldn't help noticing her warmth when she was this close. Was that the scent of lilac coming from her? The Academy was filled with pretty girls, but there wasn't a single one who could compare to a woman like Dr. Grey. She looked up at him, "Are you paying attention, Shin?"
"Sorry, what are we looking at here?" He could see now that he wasn't distracted. It was Mimi's medical charts, and a series of pictures showing the large hole in her battle armour, and the smooth unblemished skin that should have been injured by whatever had cracked through. "Wow," he said. "What managed to break the field armour during a class test? They shouldn't be allowed to use any heavy weapons, right?"
"It was a sword. Combination of a lucky strike, a fault in the armour, and the fact that it was Corporal Debbie she was fighting."
Shin whistled low. "And Debbie somehow managed to stop the strike without even scratching Mimi. That girl is amazing, everyone always says so."
"Well, that is the story Mimi gave me. She thinks Debbie was able to pull back at the last minute. I spoke to Debbie though, and she was shaken up. Debbie tried to stop the strike when she saw the armour buckle, but she is sure the sword pierced Mimi a few inches at least."
"But no wound on Mimi. What about the sword?" Shin asked.
"No blood on the weapon either. Shin, I've done every test there is. I've even sent a sample for her HPA to be re-evaluated to see if it has somehow changed. The point is, I think she knows something. I need you, her friend, to find out what is happening so we can keep her safe."
"You know our HPA scores Dr.? I thought that information was highly classified, they don't even tell us," Shin's eyes opened wider and he moved a little closer to the Dr. His hand gently touched hers, near her wrist cpu. "Could you pull up my file here? I'd love to see what the Academy knows about me."
Dr. Grey turned towards Shin, and now they were so close they were touching a little. He was fairly tall, so she had to look up a little to see his eyes. Then she poked his forehead, startling him back a few feet. "Focus Shin, we are talking about your friend here. Will you help me, to help Mimi?"
"Anything for you Dr.," he said, rubbing his forehead.
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The room was massive, every wall was an indestructible version of Glass-crete that let the occupants look out in the dark expanse of space. In the centre of the room was a large round table, the seats all empty except one.
'The attacks are coming more frequently. 2 this year already,' Galaha thought to himself. He spun his chair to look into space. He was comfortable in the seat of his empire, orbiting the Earth. Let the other Supers try to make something of the Humans, he would worry about where the threats are coming from. He had personally taken the primitive Earth technology, re-architected everything and trained enough people to build the planetary defense grid. It took 10 years, but now he was here, and they had a chance to protect this fragile rock in space.
'10 years is a long time for humans, but not even a blink in time for their enemies. How can they hope to compete with the patience and power of the timeless?' Galaha shook his head, still amazed at humans and their fragility. "It's time. Aria, please connect the holo projectors and begin the meeting."
"Yes Sir Galaha," a melodic voice said around him. 'Ha, she called me Sir... haven't heard that in a few lifetimes,' he thought.
The other chairs were suddenly filled with green and blue holo presences, bringing the full 13 together around the table.
"Thank you for coming everyone. I wouldn't normally hold a full table meeting, but we need to reaffirm our strategy after the latest attack. Bedrive handled it without issue, but I think you should hear the details," said Galaha.
The shimmering blue holo of Bedrive stood up, and, with a gesture, a 3D projection started in the centre of the table. "This ugly mother was the originator of that world destroying energy signature I intercepted. It was the real deal, loaded with a significant amount of dark energy, and fired from Jupiter."
"Why fire from Jupiter? That is so far we had lots of time to intercept," a serious looking man said, his green holo projection turning towards Bedrive.
"It's a fair question Kay. I fought this monster, and the kind of power that was launched at us was not something he was able to do at will." Bedrive looked around the table, seeing his old companions and knowing that, despite their differences, they were all of one mind about saving Earth.
"I think he spent a long time charging up that blast, maybe years, I don't know. I do know that Jupiter is far enough away that our scans wouldn't pick up a humanoid in orbit, even one as big as this guy. He may have started gathering energy before we had the station and defense grid operational... which would explain why he was cocky enough to stage from there. Even at the speed of light, it took almost an hour for it to arrive," Bedrive said. The implications of that thought were scary. The defense grid has only been operational this last year. They spent nearly 10 years preparing since the Super-Apocalypse, and were barely ready from an intra-solar attack.
"Plenty of time for us to prepare," Galaha said. He smiled, knowing that fighting for this space seat was the right call. "Everyone, if you're doing the math, we weren't ready for an attack like this 2 years ago. Earth could be lost anytime. We will endure, but what of our mission?" He paused to look each of them in the eye. "We have been aligned on our desire to protect Earth, but not how to go about it. I have heard of the skirmishes between your subordinates." Galaha slammed his hand down on the table, a boom shattering the peace of the space. Despite his Super level strength, the table's shining wood surface was completely unmarred.
"What would 'He' say if he knew we were fighting amongst ourselves?" Gertand said, his eyes staring directly at Lancel's holo projection. "The humans aren't ready to help protect anything yet, so we either need to slow Earth's enemies down, or speed up the humans' development, right?"
The room was silent, but Galaha could feel the shifting of their emotions and thoughts, this was a pivotal time. "Come, members of the round table. Taking turns defending space is not enough. We need to come together like the days of old. We are greater than our parts."
As one, they all recited "Perpetuum sanguinis equites levisque".