Chapter 22: Instructors.
"Tsk. Damn it! I got stuck with newbie duty again. So unfair! I've had it three times in a row now!" A tall female blue Mornan with dark messy and tired almond eyes shouted in exasperation.
The mornan, Kate, was the head instructor of the Arctic knight training facility. The only one located on the entire frozen planet.
Currently, she was casting envious and suspicious glances at her colleagues.
She suspected them of secretly conspiring against her.
Laughter from the other instructors filled the room as they all went back to their seats with long straws in their grasp.
Eventually, she simply sighed as she tossed the short straw she'd drawn aside.
The largest Mornan in the room, Ty, laughed boisterously as he picked up another bottle of zone booze.
He was the chief of security at the facility, and the former weapon master instructor.
"Sorry, Kate. I suppose it's a matter of luck. You've never been a lucky Mornan, have you?" he said with another fit of laughter.
"Thank goodness too. I didn't want to deal with any of that hassle today."
"Tsk, don't rub it in, you lazy pi—" Kate let out a breath as she stopped herself from cursing just in time.
She sighed.
"That cursed child, can't even express yourself properly without worrying about dying. So annoying."
Besides the two of them, there were a few more instructors present in the room.
Dutch, the blue Mornan assistant head instructor, who was also in charge of the mental training room.
Harves, a tall slender male Ramarta, who was in charge of the weapons training after taking over from Ty.
Solis, the instructor in charge of the simulation room.
She was also the sole red Mornan instructor present.
And finally Hui, the always quite blue Mornan instructor in charge of the pilot training.
There were three absent instructors who had taken breaks and traveled off world because of the recent attack on Terytl-B.
They were among those who had lost their loved ones on that planet.
Whether they would even return after such a loss, was sadly questionable.
Dutch turned to Kate with a charming and warm smile.
"I can take care of it this time if you want. I know you're already busy with so much recently."
Kate shook her head.
"No, it's all right. I don't need your charity. If I lose, I'll handle it myself. Gotta respect the draw or whatever." Kate grumbled as she walked towards the door of the lounge room.
Suddenly, Harves called out to her.
"Wait, don't you need the new batches information sent over by the other station before you meet them?" He asked as he held out a file he had compiled in the morning.
Kate snorted.
"Who cares about their background, it's the same old thing isn't it? None of that matters in a facility like this. Only their talent and resolve."
Harves shook his head.
"No, some of them are actually really interesting this time."
He rummaged through the documents until he landed on a specific one.
"You should really take a look."
Kate simply waved him off as she walked out of the lounge.
"Hmph, i'll decide that for myself when I see them."
Harves just sighed at her usual carelessness.
"Hehe, looks like you got turned down again," teased Ty as he turned to Dutch.
Dutch let out a breath.
"Oh, shut up. It's not like that."
The other instructors in the lounge held themselves back from rolling their eyes.
Harves suddenly tossed over the files he was holding to Dutch.
"Here's a chance to redeem yourself, Loverboy. She'll be needing these soon, I reckon."
Dutch gave Harves a confused look before going over the files.
For a few minutes he saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Then, his eyes widened as he turned a page.
————
Meanwhile, Kate waited patiently in the hangar for a bit, before the giant doors of the training facility finally slid open, letting in the harsh, stormy winds of Tomber.
Moments later, a large, bright pod glided in and headed straight for its parking station, in a row of other pods just like it.
Its door opened up, as over twenty eight new knights in training, hailing from various parts of the star system and beyond, began disembarking one by one as they glanced around curiously.
Kate watched them silently as she assessed them.
She was surprised to see a member of the Dune family emerge first, but she didn't let it show.
She couldn't help but wonder why someone like her would be sent to a training facility as dangerous as this one, considering her status.
'that'll be a headache to deal with' she thought inwardly.
She was a bit shocked to see another white Mornan disembark the pod a few moments later, but since she had no idea who he was, it didn't really matter.
Kate couldn't help but blink in amazement when she saw Prince Jet of Wales leave the ship last.
She wondered why a Mornan of royal lineage would travel all the way to this star system. And to become a Renegade no less.
"damn it, maybe I should have checked the Files, after all."
"Why are there so many white Mornans?" Kate muttered nervously under her breath.
She had absolutely no idea how she was supposed to deal with royalty and someone that was basically royalty.
She shook her head in indignation as she decided to start addressing them.
"Welcome to the Arctic training facility. The most dangerous training facility for knight trainees in this star system."
"I'm sure you all know why you're here. "
"To graduate and become knights. Unfortunately for you all, we pride ourselves on being the toughest facilities to graduate fro-"
Her speech cut off mid sentence when she realised the doors to the pod hadn't closed yet, despite several moments passing.
Which meant there was at least one trainee still on board.
A second later, her eyes widened as they landed on the last trainee emerging from the pod slowly.
Her mind immediately thought of a single possibility.
'A Reincarnator!'
Almost immediately, her gaze darkened as she regained her composure.
Then, she activated the device on her wrist and sent the facility into lockdown.