Eric Olafson, Fleet Cadet 08

Chapter 8: Master Alamea

Everyone thought it would get easier after we got used to the stress and workload, but it did not, our instructors pushed us even harder.

I was sent for 24 hours into the no light lock up for having a bad shave after returning from a 75 kilometer force march through the Jungle in just my underwear and a combat knife. The instructor argued that the knife was perfectly usable to perform a shave before reporting back.

Narth did not fare much better and was send washing dishes by hand for the whole camp, having a mud stain on his robe.

Our martial arts instructor was an old Saresii and the general consent was that he knew every fighting technique and martial arts known to the Galaxy. I had trained our brand of wrestling and brawling but he was beyond everything they taught on Nilfeheim.

For some unknown reason he loved to demonstrate his skills on me. Narth told me that he was well shielded and it was even for him impossible to anticipate the next move.

I lost count as to how many times I left his class room on the stretcher of a Med-bot with a broken bone or a serious concussion. Master Alema never expressed apologies for what he did; when I was laying on the mat with a broken limb and almost passing out with pain. He merely pointed out the flaws in my attack or defense to the class and showed them the slow motion recording of my errors.

After we graduated we could get skill implants that would give us instantly the skills of a wide choice of martial arts, but the Navy insisted that we learned the Navy standard Style hand to hand combat the old fashioned way. It was so we were told the amalgam of the fighting techniques of thousands of cultures and civilizations honed and mixed into a technique and style very unique to the Navy.

Of course Master Alamea did it to other cadets as well (at least to those Cadets that could break bones), he even sent Limbur more than once with injuries to Sick bay and Limbur was three times his mass and much stronger. I just had the impression he picked on me more than the others.

One Sunday afternoon we had a few hours to ourselves and I thought I would use that rare free time to go swimming. Camp Idyllic had several swimming pools and bathing in the nearby lake was fairly safe but way to warm to my taste. The survival and diving pool was the largest and deepest and they usually kept the water much cooler than the others and that’s why I liked it best. The water was still too warm for me, but it was clear fresh water and it was forty meters deep.

Usually this pool was deserted outside of training exercises those other cadets that used their free time to swim preferred the warmer water pools or the lake.

So I was surprised to see Master Alema there. He was sitting at the highest diving board in the lotus position with closed eyes.

I cursed under my breath. I didn’t want to go to another pool, especially since I didn’t have too much time, but I really didn’t want to run into that Saresii Transvestite.

All Saresii appeared to be female and stunningly beautiful, but some of them where men, made up do look like women. In class we learned that the Saresii were among the oldest species with a continuous civilization. They had been traveling space for much more than million years. Some event millennia ago wiped out all their colonies except their home world It was blamed on male aggression. So the Saresii banned everything appearing male. At first they had a matriarchal society, like the Saran’s but it changed and developed differently. Why all Saresii men decided to dress and appear like women and make this aspect the core of their civilization I did not know. Saresii joined the Unites Stars relatively late. Their technology was considered to be among the most advanced within the Union.

Saresii were most famous for their Psionic. It was believed, very Saresii was a telepath of considerable strength, some had telekinetic powers. A well known legend told that the Saresii rearranged the eight planets of their system into perfect orbits using their combined psionic powers. There had to be truth to the legend since the eight planets where arranged in such a way.

Narth was not impressed by the Saresii Psionic abilities and he told me that Narth considered the Saresii to be like children who just managed to walk.

Master Alema appeared to be a woman in every visual aspect. She could have been any age between 25 and 200. The face was very female with much larger purple colored eyes than humans, long lashes and beautiful shaped lips. Saresii ears where pointed and usually hidden under their long hair, but I could see the tips of his ears between the strands of the long silvery white hair.

The Saresii readily adopted Terran and Saran make up fashions and used this ancient female art to enhance their faces and appearance. Almea’s hair was straight and fell below the shoulder blades. It had the color of shiny silver. The only way we knew he was not a biological female was because Commander Letsgo always referred to Alema as him and we had to call him Master.

I turned and wanted leave but his voice caught me at the door.

“Come up here cadet.”

Alema had noticed me despite the fact; he was sitting on the ten meter tower with his eyes closed.

I sighed and kissed my afternoon goodbye but I climbed up, stepped on the board and saluted.” Cadet Olafson reporting, Sir.”

“You think I pick at you more is that not so?”

“It appears to me that way, yes.”

“I do demonstrate on you more often than the others, because you have great talent and you never give up. I like that.”

I did not know what to say so I remained silent.

Alamea continued and asked: “You are from a water world?”

“Yes Sir.”

“I believe they call you Neo Vikings. A culture modeled after an old Terran tribe of warriors.”

“Yes Vikings, Nordic peoples—Danes, Swedes, Germans and Norwegians—who raided and settled in large areas of eastern and western Europe during a period of Scandinavian expansion from about 800 to 1100 Terran.”

“Do you fight others while you in the water?”

“Yes we fight in every environment, and in the water, against each other and pretty much everything that lives in the ocean of Nilfeheim.”

“Fight me in the water.”

Alema jumped and I dutifully followed right away. I was planning not giving this experienced master of all martial arts much time to adjust. This was my element and I was a good water fighter, even for Nilfeheim standards.

I was right after him. I impacted feet first directly on him, buried my heels with force in his back and pushed him further down. I did this many times during fight class as others did it to me whenever possible. I had to admit I also was more than just annoyed to have my few few hours ruined by that sadist and acted much more violent than I perhaps should have.

My eyes where much better adapted to see under water than those of standard humans and I hoped Saresii eyes where human in that regard. Also I had another advantage, no matter how good he was, I had a virtually unlimited oxygen supply and did not need to pay attention to my oxygen supply.

He had to hold his breath and had air for maybe 2-5 minutes at best. Part of his concentration had to be diverted to that. My gills opened and the cool water rushed in me. It was always a wonderful experience especially after being on land and dry for a long time, being in my most favorite environment stimulated me always.

Water fighting with the intent to kill was completely different from fighting on dry land. Water put tremendous drag on everything you did, swinging chops or even straight punches where almost impossible and lost much of the damage inflicting energy. Hitting something fast was similar difficult. Instead it was better to use the entire mass of the body just like a missile and in close combat short kicks and straight stabs to soft body areas where much more effective.

Alema was good, he wasn’t fighting under water for the first time, but I had trained with Gustav Aikson the unrivaled Champion of my world. It was no real contest and after burying both heels into his stomach. I saw bubbles rush out of his mouth and the expression of pain on his face.

I suddenly realized I was about to kill him. If he tried to inhale, he would drown. I rushed after him and pulled him to the surface and had to perform CPR. A gush of water came out of his mouth and he started coughing. I was rushing to the next COM unit to call for help.

Alema coughed and spat water. “Don’t call for help. I will be fine.” He coughed once more and took a deep breath and sat up. “Why did you not press your advantage? You clearly had me and your style of fighting shows you do not fight for sport but to kill.”

“Neo Vikings don’t do much for sport, expect perhaps bashing skulls, killing others and drinking. But I am not on Nilfleheim. I could not let you drown, Sir. That be murder.”

“I caused you much pain and humiliation in my classes. You could have killed me out of revenge. The records clearly show it was me who ordered you to fight me.”

“You did nothing to me that would deserve killing, Sir. I dislike your classes yes because I never get used to the pain that goes along with breaking bones and I do feel you are selecting me more than others but I will not seek revenge for that. I accept this as part of my training and rite of passage.”

He pushed himself up and walked to a bench. Seeing him walk like that I couldn’t believe he was a man. The black skintight bathing suit clung to a very female body and I became quite jealous.

Sitting down one one of the warmed pool side benches, he held his stomach and coughed again. Then he said. “You are honorable. But are you willing to kill?”

“Sir, if I am asked to kill an enemy in the course of battle, during war or conflict. I am prepared to kill. I will resort to lethal force if I have no other option or defending my friends, but I won’t kill for sport and most certainly do not derive pleasure from it.”

“You killed before.” Alema said this in a matter of fact, not as a question.

“Yes I have. We are all raised in a very old fashioned way where honor and defending it means more than a life”

“Why did you leave your world?”

“To join the United Stars Navy and apply at the Academy.”

“But you are the first born. Would you not inherit all and become patriarch of your tribe?”

“I am technically still in line tp inherit the family’s wealth, name and all holdings, yes but the position of chief can be challenged and one has to fight and most likely kill for it. I am glad my sister is taking on that responsibility.”

The man woman looked at me and she said. “Tell me the truth. There is another reason, the real reason you had to leave.”

I blushed and looked away. “I can’t. It is a private matter”

“This is nothing to be ashamed of. It won’t affect your career. What you think is your deepest secret is well known to all of us who can access your personal file and was of course detected at your psychological examination on your first day. It is as you say a private affair and because it is not considered harmful or counter effective to your career or duty no one ever mentioned it to you. But trying to keep it a secret can make you vulnerable.”

I just listened, my secret so openly exposed caused me much distress.

The Saresii instructor said. “I am just curious. I sensed something a little earlier. Something we Saresii are used to because we are, but are very uncommon now among Terrans and Colonial humans these days.”

I looked around to make sure we were alone. “I am not sure what is wrong with me, but sometimes I wish I would be a girl. Not a man at all.

“There is nothing really wrong with you. I am simply surprised to see this form of Gender disorder in a human. Nowadays it is as rare as homosexuality. The genetic predisposition has been eliminated in many families and if it does surface is usually adjusted via prenatal DNA surgery long before birth.”

I sighed. “They did some genetic repairs in our colonies past to counter the problems of a small gene pool. But as far as I know of, no genetic manipulation is done on Nilfeheim. There are certainly no pre-conception exams and kids come the natural way, no Arti-Wombs or anything like that.”

The Saresii put a hand on my thighs. “Don’t think of it as disease or handicap. You see in the old days before Earth became a galactic civilization it was perfectly alright to be that way. The public and official opinion It changed in 2200 during the ‘Fist and Iron period’, when everything out of the norm was considered weak and undesirable.

Then around the year 3000, gender change became very popular and there were individuals changing it a dozen times. It caused severe psychological problems in some cases and that practice became regulated until today but to this day it is nothing unusual.”

“I know I researched this myself. I wanted to know what was wrong with me and what my options are.”

“What are your options?”

“I heard about Psycho surgery. They can take the desire out of me for good. They say it is perfectly safe and can be done in a few minutes, but somehow I am afraid of that option.”

“Could it be that deep down you think this is not what you want, to get rid of it I mean.”

I shrugged.”Mostly it is my fear that I will not be able to complete this journey to become a Fleet officer. I am also not sure about myself when it comes to this. It feels right at one hand and I know it is wrong at the other hand. I am against psycho surgery in general. I don’t like to have my very own personality changed to what some Psycho surgeon thinks I should be.”

“So you joined the Navy to proof you are a man?”

“No not at all. I proved that when I killed my first Tyrannos. One of my teachers also wanted me to leave, because of this desire. Nilfeheim is changing very slowly but it is changing to the better. However if my problem comes to light, it would cause much harm to my society. This is why I left Nilfeheim, but I joined because I really want to be a star ship captain ... Of course I know now that my chances are slim at best and that there are decades of service ahead of me, but the chance exist.”

“Neither your career nor your citizenship would be affected if you decide to try to live as a woman.”

“It would not?”

“Don’t be afraid of being what you want to be, but one day you must make a decision. Otherwise you will never find inner peace.”

I sighed.” Perhaps I try it after basic training is over.”

“If you ever need to talk about this come to me, we Saresii have built a civilization around this subject.”

“Thank you. I think I will.”

--””--

R&R

Limbur came into the dorm right after lunch with a big smile on his broad face. We had learned to eat fast and use the remaining time to polish boots, do small repairs on uniforms or equipment or to catch up on some required reading. “I have awesome news guys.”

Narth floated above the floor, his legs folded underneath him and his arms tugged into the sleeves of his robe. A book floated before him. Olia as always fussed with her hair (if it wasn’t her nails) and used a sickly sweet smelling product she liberally sprayed on her blue dyed hair. Somehow she always managed to get her hands on some kind of hair or nail product, no matter how many Aurelius confiscated.

Galmy and Wintsun played chess and Owar slept as usual. I had my boots on the table and tried to mend a tear with Stick-n-Bond. A razor branch sliced the tough material almost to my toes yesterday during an orientation exercise in the jungle. I wished for real All Terrain boots with those you could walk over a field of razor branches. Everyone, except Owar turned their attention to Limbur and Wintsun said: “Lemme guess, they serving pizza and you managed to score extra pies from the KayPee?”

“Not that this would be a bad thing, but I got bigger news.”

Galmy rolled her huge and quite beautiful eyes to the ceiling: “Maybe it would be best you simply tell us the news. Otherwise we all keep guessing through the entire menu.”

Limbur seemed a bit annoyed: “It has nothing to do with food. Rumor has it we get the weekend off. They are going to fly us to Perryton for some real R and R.”

Wintsun made a skeptical face: “Why would you know about such a rumor and no one else?”

“Because I happen to be friends with the Supply Sergeant and he told me there are no food services scheduled for Friday till Tuesday and he said that means we get a weekend off and Friday is tomorrow.”

Owar who still appeared to be in deep sleep said.” Or it means they send us deep in the Jungle and we have to find our own food.”

Limbur frowned at Owar and said:” You going to owe me a drink and a Pizza when we’re on Perryton for doubting my sources.”

“And you owe me your RICE bar when we stumble around in the swamps and can’t find anything to eat

“Deal.”

Narth waved his hand over the book and closed it. “Eric has always found plenty of nourishment and items that could be consumed.”

“Yes but do we have to remind you of the times we were send solo?” Limbur grunted

“No you do not.”

“Besides to gnaw on something unidentifiable Eric killed and burnt over a smoking fire isn’t exactly what I call nourishment.” Olia sneered.

This time Galmy rolled her big eyes to look at Olia from the side. “If you ask me I was glad it was burned and unidentifiable last time. I don’t want to know what he found to eat in that swamp.”

I spread my arms.” Hey it wasn’t all that easy to catch those slick things and I was glad I was able to start a fire in that perpetual damp swamp.”

Wintsun agreed. “Yes I tried five hours on my own the other day and couldn’t one going and I had a lighter with me. If I ever need to survive out in the wild, I rather have Eric along than any of you and you know how much I wish Olia would finally see what a handsome man I become.”

Galmy blinked at me and said. “I’d have Eric along just about anywhere.” The way she said it made me blush and Narth made the situation worse as he in his innocent direct art said. “Was this a conversation with an innuendo and a hidden sexual signal?”

The rest of us said almost simultaneously.” Yes Narth.”

“One is pleased to begin to understand the finer nuances of interspecies verbal communication.”

It turned out Limbur was right. Because just then the PA system came on and Commander Letsgo’s holo bust established itself over the table and announced:” Listen up everyone. This is the last day of your first seventh month and your basic training is officially over in four more month from now and all of the remaining Cadets have met the study and test requirements for this period. To show you that performance and diligence brings rewards, all of you will be flown to the neighbor system tonight and get some R and R at Planet Perryton until Sunday night.”

We could hear the joyous cheers of the other cadets and Limbur smiled triumphantly at each of us. “Told you so.”

I put the boot down and wondered what Perryton would be like. Narth heard my thoughts and answered. I had gotten so used to him knowing my thoughts that I actually expected him to say something and he sure did. Narth not only could read minds he seemed to have memorized the entire Encyclopedia Galactica.

“Perryton is a garden world colonized over seven hundred years ago, famous for its moderate climate and extensive sugar beet and potato export. Perryton is also located near eight major Navy bases and installations and the planet makes most of its income by providing recreation facilities to off duty navy personnel.” Narth turned his head to me and added: “I have not memorized the entire Encyclopedia Galactica, that be quite impossible but I am making progress. Since that information data base is constantly growing and updated it is impossible to completely absorb all information until all possible information is contained, it does not contain all information.”

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes and I muttered: “I had to