I'm screwed. What was I thinking making that deal with Director Walsh? I have to get out of it somehow...
Damon was lost in his lamenting thoughts when Soraya came up behind him in the TF-1 Common Room. She approached Damon at the table where he was mumbling to himself, by himself. Luckily, the Common Room was still empty because classes don't resume for another day.
"Um... C-Captain..." Soraya tapped on Damon's shoulder.
"Hm, what is it Soraya?" asked Damon slouched on the table, mumbling through his folded arms.
It took a long moment but eventually she spoke again, "I-I don't think you should've been so hard on Lilith."
Damon grumbled, "Is something wrong with her?"
She shook her head. "Physically, only a minor concussion..."
Damon sighed, "Mentally, Lilith has the mind of a child so I'm sure she'll bounce right back."
"Captain!" Soraya's anger made Damon sit up and face her. Her usual white cheeks are flushed and her green eyes are ablaze. "Was it really your intention to fight Lilith knowing full well that she's never engaged in real-life combat?"
Damon blinked, suddenly hit with such verbal truth and his mouth fell open to say something, "How'd you know that?" was the first thing that came to mind.
Suddenly Soraya fell back into her meek disposition. "Uh... well... I... I have to go..." she said before taking off full stride out of the Common Room.
Damon watched as she fled and then turned back to the table.
How did she know that? I should be the only one with information on each teammate. Unless she read our medical files... but that shouldn't say anything specific to each person's skill set. Hmm... Soraya... you've intrigued me.
There's one thing Damon knew for sure, he needed to learn more about his teammates and he's already decided to start with Soraya.
"Ralston... Ralston... I know I've heard that name somewhere..." Damon mumbled as he walked to the academy central library. "I'm pretty sure I can find something on the name Ralston."
He stopped in front of the library. "Oh, that didn't take long..." Damon read the plaque of the bust of a handsome bronze man. "To our greatest contributor and most valued ally, William Ralston." Could it be a coincidence? "Excuse me!" said Damon, flagging down a passing librarian. "Do you have any information on the Ralston family?"
"Of course we do! They're the school's greatest benefactors!" replied the woman. "Have a seat at the table. I'll bring the holodisks to you."
Damon made his way to the table.
It didn't take long for the librarian to come back with a cart-full of holodisks. "This is everything we have on the Ralston family." She said, leaving the cart next to Damon. "If you need anything else, Captain, just ask."
"Thank you," said Damon already rummaging through the holodisks.
He spent a few hours scanning through the disks, getting a brief history lesson on the influential Ralston family. From what he pieced together, the wealthy Ralston family owns and operates Ralston Technologies… the same technology that all the MMA mechas are built and constructed around. What's more, the family has long-standing power and position in the different military corps, not just the Mecha Military Force.
Is Soraya really related to this family in some way? She doesn't seem to fit the typical Ralston stereotype.
"Excuse me," Damon called the librarian again. "Do you have anything on the current Ralston family? The most current I've found was up to David Ralston who died fifty years ago…"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you knew," said the librarian with a slight frown. "All information regarding the current family is confidential."
Damon leaned back in his chair with a heavy sigh. So this could be some other Ralston… I guess this is a dead-end.
"Captain Damon," said a boy's voice. Damon turned to find the same RS operator from yesterday holding a small package for him. "From Director Walsh."
"You're the RS operator from yesterday," said Damon taking the package.
"Yes, Sir. I'm Director Walsh's personal operator."
"How'd you get that dubious honor?"
The boy glanced at him nervously before admitting, "I… lost in the annual Operator Grand Prix."
Damon chuckled, "Leave it to that old man to take on a loser." He can see the boy bite his tongue as he shifted slightly in his attentive stance. "Don't get too irked about it, that old man trapped me too."
On the boy's chest, Damon eyes his nameplate. "Wilson, is it?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Do you have a pen and paper?" The boy stuck a hand into his breast pocket and gave Damon a notepad. Damon scribbled something on the paper and handed it back to Wilson. "Give this to the Director the next time you see him."
"Yes, Sir." Wilson saluted before taking off.
Inside the package are a holodisk and a slip of paper. He opened the folded paper.
Destroy after reading.
Damon put the paper back in the package, shoved the package in his chest pocket and went out the door.
Back in the team room, Damon found it empty. He reopened the package and examined the holodisk. He read, "Soraya Ralston Medical File". It really annoyed him that the Director had already anticipated what he would look for. Although it wasn't that hard to deduce, it only bugged him that the Director had access to more information. He was grateful, however, that the Director trusted him enough to divulge the confidential information.
With the team room door now locked, the Captain of Team Fail took a look at the confidential holodisk of Soraya Ralston's personal information.
It was true. Soraya really was an heir to the Ralston Technologies conglomerate, not only that, she was practically forced to join the Mecha Military Academy by her father and current head of the company, Kasen Ralston.
Damon groaned, remembering full well how it felt to be forced into a corner. The file didn't delve into the details of her history and so he went on to her skills analysis reports. At first glance, he was taken aback. Her skills analysis report was more surprising than finding out she was a billionaire. Could this be true? Could someone have falsified her files? No. Why would they? There's only one way to know for sure.
Thud! The loud bang at the door startled Damon. He quickly closed the holodisk and shoved it in his chest pocket.
"Ow! Geez! Why is the door locked?!" came Lilith's muffled voice on the other side of the door.
As soon as Damon opened the door he's greeted by Jax and Lilith who's now nursing a bright pink nose.
Lilith giggled through her cupped hands covering her nose. "I'm not even gonna ask what you're doing alone here with the door locked… Captain."
"Good," said Damon, ignoring her insinuating comment. "Have you seen Soraya?"
Lilith looked at Jax who shrugged. "Not since training."
"If you see her can you let her know I'm looking for her?"
"No prob, Cap'n." said Lilith climbing up to her bunk and sprawling across her bed. "If she appears in my dreams I'll let her know."
Jax was already reading a book on his bed when Damon turned to him.
Guess I'll look for her myself…
Damon was about to leave through the door when he suddenly turned back and asked, "Lilith, how's your head?"
There was no response and Jax flipped a page. Damon sighed before leaving the room.
Before looking for Soraya, Damon decided to head to the team garage. He had only heard about the place from his meeting with the Director. It was supposed to be the team's workspace, complete with various machinery for future class projects. However, Diesel has been hiding out in it for the past few years during his role specialty classes. Damon figured he could use the forge to destroy the confidential holodisk from Director Walsh.
The sun was already setting by the time he reached the garage, and to his surprise, it wasn't empty.
"I didn't think I'd find you here," said Damon, making himself known to Soraya. She was reading a holodisk on an unkempt couch in front of a brick fire pit before he interrupted.
The spacious garage was nothing like he imagined. It looked more like Diesel's living quarters for the past twenty years. On one half is every kind of lounging furniture you can think of, along with a brick fire pit in the middle. There are used plates, opened food cans and rations scattered throughout the garage with a layer of grease and dust to cover it all. The only thing that looked remotely clean was the other half of the room where the jungle of polished silver machinery didn't have a single speck of dust on it.
He hoped to run into Diesel here, but Team Fail's mechanic was still nowhere to be found.
"Captain…" Soraya tensed as she closed the holodisk.
"Relax," said Damon, walking over to an armchair on the other side of her. "I just want to talk."
He can see that she's still hesitant as she stares into the fire but he continued anyway.
"Why did you join the Mecha Military Academy?" he asked.
Soraya mulled over an answer, keeping her eyes on the flames.
"I wanted… to make a difference…" she started off confident, but then her voice trailed off.
Damon paused before his next statement. "I've seen your medical file. In fact, I have a copy right here…" he said, pulling out the holodisk and waving it in front of her.
She didn't seem surprised or fazed at all.
"I take it Director Walsh gave you a copy?" she asked.
"Yeah, he did. How did you know?"
"Because he gave me everyone's and asked if he could give you a copy of mine."
That conniving man! He gave away my file too without my permission?! Damon cursed to himself.
"So, you read my file?"
Soraya's face reddened as she clamped her hands together. "Yes," she confessed.
It took all Damon's strength to keep as calm as possible when he asked, "Do you… still have it?"
Soraya quickly shook her head and made sure to look him in the eye when she said, "No, I destroyed it and I haven't said anything to anyone."
For some reason, Damon felt he could trust her. Maybe it was her meek disposition, or the empathy he has about her past… no. It's something deeper… something genetic.
"I noticed in your file…" Damon started, making sure to get her full attention again. "That you come from the Calverius species genetic line."
Soraya nodded, "Yes, that's correct."
"Calverius generally have excellent intuition. They can also sense, manifest, and control cigam… right?"
"In general terms, yes, that's correct."
"I also noticed that you were tested to have forty percent cigam potential upon entering the academy, the highest you can possibly have to drive a mecha."
Soraya paused, suddenly getting nervous. "I was cleared…"
"Oh, it's not a problem," Damon quickly added. "I was just shocked to meet someone at the Academy who has a higher cigam potential than myself."
This was the one fact that truly shocked Damon when he read through her file. It's known that the ideal cigam threshold is between five and thirty percent to operate a mecha. Anything above that would require special clearance from the higher-ups, with a strict stopper at forty percent. Even he had to be cleared with a cigam potential of thirty-three percent, not that he was trying to get clearance to join the MMA.
Cigam is an ancient power, usually transferred by genetics, which manifests differently depending on the species. In the humanoid dominate ___ system within the Vo Galaxy, where the populous is either human or a fraction of a different species, having a cigam-empowered pilot is necessary in order to control the massive mechas. However, having more cigam doesn't mean you're qualified to be a mecha pilot. A team whose members each have cigam potential over thirty percent would make the mecha harder to control and could have devastating repercussions.
"Actually... Captain… you have the lowest cigam potential on our team…"
Damon froze. He couldn't have heard that correctly. She must've read something wrong. There's no way the Director would create such a haphazard team who probably wouldn't even be able to operate a smaller mecha, let alone a massive Paladin.
"Are you… sure about that?" Damon whispered, half expecting her to say, "Just kidding! The Director would never allow such a team!"
"Um… yes… Sir," she said instead.
Damon let out a fake, nervous laugh. "That's… interesting…"
What did it matter anyway? He was going to be gone by the end of the year. Was that part of the Director's plan all along?
Wait… there's no way he told Soraya about our deal… right?
"Did the Director say anything else?" He decided to take a risk and be more specific, "About my meetings with him?"
He didn't even notice that he was holding his breath, waiting for an answer.
"Just that…" Soraya fidgeted before pausing again. He thought her cheeks turned a little pink, but figured it was just the fire's heat gently toasting both of their faces.
Just that what??
She mumbled, "I can trust you…"
Her words hurt more than he realized. From accusing the Director of nefarious, underhanded actions to get what he wants, to having the Director praise him and have Soraya on his side, threw him off his game.
Damn that man!
He put on his best forced smile and tossed Soraya's medical file holodisk into the fire.
"I guess I'll head back to the team room," he said, getting up from the dusty chair and wiping himself off. "Classes start tomorrow."
Soraya nodded at him and he turned to leave.
"Oh, by the way," he added, turning back around, "I took a look at your skill stats too. They're pretty impressive. Have you considered applying for the Vice-Captain position?"
Her half-open mouth, blank reaction and paling white face are exactly what he expects from the performance-fearing team medic. He gives her a genuine smile this time and waves at her before leaving. "Just something to think about."
Even though his motivation to win the tournament seemed unethical, he had no intention of lying, cheating or using his way to victory. When they win, he wanted it to be a win for all of them, not just himself. That was just the way he worked. However, after seeing his teammates first-hand… he knew he has his work cut out for him.