The Incident I

Emidio walked slowly to his post. Still unhappy with his predicament and still upset with his father. As he walked he looked through a small window he came across in the hallway. A window that gave a view of the emptiness of space. Emidio felt his home drift further and further away with each passing second. He never wanted to be here.

The white-haired boy wanted to be in Nova Occasio, either in his apartment watching TV or in the arcades playing video games. His Walkman beside him so he could listen to his music cassettes storing his favorite angsty rockbands. Not in the cold depths of space, least on a snowy planetoid like NB011 with the killer Kortonians. He was also full of rage at his father for forcing him to be in this stupid academy and on this unpleasant exam or mission or whatever this was supposed to be. Freezing in the unlivable temperatures and shooting those alien bug-like creatures for a week.

Emidio couldn't help but break into tears again. The whole situation felt suffocating to the poor boy.

Right in his worst moment of weakness Ana walked in on him. She was passing through there so that she could get to her post and caught Emidio teary-eyed.

"Are you seriously crying?" Ana scoffed at Emidio. "You can't even take your first mission without breaking down like a little wuss. All the while your father bribes the school to keep your sorry ass enrolled. Let me tell you, you are an ungrateful little brat, that's what you are. You are such a failure of a soldier and a man."

"What do you know about anything?!" Emidio yelled through the tears, his voice cracking. "I never asked to be here! I never wanted to be here! Unlike you, I am not an egotistical cow with a superiority complex whose sole reason for attending Celio's military academy was so she could tell everyone how better she was!"

Lei Mei overheard yelling and ran over seeing the two yelling at each other.

"And you know what?" Emidio continued railing at Ana. "You are the failure here! I am not the best but I never aimed to be so. You waste so much time trying to reach the top and look at where you're at. Instructor Mok chose Brigham as his deputy. Not you. That means Brigham is better than you."

"You take that back! How dare you?!" Ana lost it, clenched her fists, and was ready to attack Emidio. "Looks like I am going to have to remind you how our hand-to-hand fight exam went! Only this time I will knock all of your teeth out!"

Lei Mei grabbed Ana stopping her before she got a chance to throw a punch. "Guys, please don't fight for heaven's sake. The mission has only just begun." Lei Mei said trying to be the peace broker she always ends up being.

"Whatever, I'm going to my post." Emidio shrugged and left.

***

Elsewhere on the ship, Ljubiša and Khalid made their way to the ship's armory with keys given to them by instructor Mok. Inside the armory were stacked AK-47 rifles and Makarov pistols. On account of Nova Occasio's security cooperation with the Soviet Union, it gets most of its weapons from it. Conversely, the Solatium corporation purchased most of the materials for this vessel from the United States.

"Bro we got the best jobs," Ljubiša patted Khalid on the back with pride. "All we gotta do is nothin' while everyone else does all of the hard flying calculations and stuff."

"Ah yeah. That's what I'm talking about." Khalid took out a Makarov pistol from the armory and placed it in his sidearm. "So all we gotta do is just walk around with these until we arrive to NB011." It was standard protocol for the ship's guards to be carrying side arms. They are the only ones armed by the crew and they are tasked with keeping the peace inside the ship.

In wartime, the ship's guards shoot those who attempt to desert and quell any mutinies. Typically a captain appoints guards the most trustworthy members of the crew or those least likely to try to commit mutiny.

In terms of quantity of guns, there were 10 riffles and 10 pistols. The only ones who bear arms on the ship are the guards and the Captian if he pleases. The number of weapons ensures that the crew is able to fend off a boarding party in case of a battle or needs to engage in a land battle. There is such an abundance of ammo that it's hard to imagine running out on almost any standard mission.

"Considering your strength Khalid, I don't think you will need a gun." Ljubiša took a Makarov pistol and loaded a mag. "Yo check this out, I'm like James Bond!" Ljubiša said flailing his gun around like an idiot.

"Watch it with that!"

"Don't worry I'm not a complete idiot, I turned on the safety." Ljubiša placed the pistol in his sidearm. "So who's going to be carrying the keys to the armory."

"Yo man, you know how easily I lose stuff." Khalid raised his hands and backed away. "I don't want anything to do with key duty. Mok is going to kill me if I lose the keys. And you know how many times I lost my apartment keys, I stopped locking the door."

"Fine by me." Ljubiša placed the keys in his pocket. He turned to Khalid with a devilish smile. "Think it's time for operation where eagles dare."

"Wha? I have no idea what you're talking about"

"Dude c'mon the movie we watched. You know the one with the spies in World War II, the cable car fight, Clint Eastwood…"

"Nah. I don't remember. You must've watched it with someone else." Khalid frowned as his mind drew blanks.

"We watched it like a month ago."

"No clue, sorry dude. What does this movie have to do with anything?"

Ljubiša face palmed. "The gift I wanted to give Mei Lei." Ljubiša's cheeks turned as red as his hair as he said her name.

"OOOOOHH YEAH. She is alone in the mess hall probably making us food. Go get her tiger, now's your chance!"

"The only problem is I can't leave my post."

Khalid lightly slapped Ljubiša's butt in encouragement, "Don't worry about that. I'll cover for ya if Mok asks me anything. He probably won't even notice you're gone. Go, go, go!"

"You are a lifesaver man!" Ljubiša ran off to the mess hall ecstatic to get a chance to talk alone with his crush.

"Still have no idea what that movie about Eagles has anything to do with this."

Inside the mess hall, Lei Mei was behind the kitchen counter chopping cucumbers and preparing a massive meal to feed 10 soon-to-be hungry mouths for supper once they arrived. She was exhausted from all of the fights she had to break up today and found little joy in something she normally did with great pleasure.

Exhausted, Lei Mei listlessly moved across the kitchen fulfilling her assignment. The mess hall area was soon overpowered by a concoction of smells from the various meals she was simultaneously preparing.

"Hello!" Ljubiša approached Lei Mei giving her an awkward wave and a big smile. "How's it going?"

"Oh, it's you Ljubiša." Lei Mei waved back at him. "Shouldn't you be at your post?"

"I should. But I wanted to see you." Ljubiša blushed uncontrollably.

"Oh, that's very sweet of you. But you shouldn't leave your post." Ljubiša's head drops at Lei Mei's seemingly cold response. Just as he wanted to turn around to leave she said: "But I guess now that you're here, you can keep me company for a bit. Want a cucumber?" Lei Mei extended a raw, peeled and unseasoned cucumber to Ljubiša.

"Yes please!" Ljubiša enthusiastically bit down on the green vegetable. "OH! This is the greatest cucumber I've ever had in my life. You are an amazing cook."

Lei Mei chuckled. "I just peeled the thing." She took a bite out of that cucumber too. "Mhm, you're right, it is pretty good, though it needs salt." Lei Mei already made a mental note for the meal she was preparing. "You know Ljubiša, you're alright."

Oh my god, she said I was alright, Ljubiša thought to himself his heart rate accelerating. He felt like it was going to jump out any second.

"You and Khalid are never involved in any drama. I find that very refreshing. The rest of the class is in a worse Cold War than the Russians and Americans."

"Tell me about it." Ljubiša chuckled. "If you want maybe you can hang out with us sometime."

Lei Mei smiled, "I would like that actually."

"Sweet!" With a boost of confidence, Ljubiša was ready to move in for the kill shot. "I have a gift for you!" Ljubiša gave her a mug.

"A mug?" Lei Mei looked at the mug in hand confused.

"It's not just any mug. It's the president's mug. I stole it from him during our lunch with him and I wanted to give it to you."

Lei Mei's happiness disappeared from her face and it turned to anger. "Ljubiša I can't accept this. You shouldn't steal. It's wrong, you're not in kindergarten not to know this. Instructor Mok gave you one last warning, If he finds out about this you will be expelled."

Ljubiša's head dropped in shame. "You're not going to report me are you?"

"No, but we are going to return this to the space station once we finish this exam and you're going to stop stealing. Everyone is talking horrible things behind your back because you are a liar and a thief. Get it together."

"I'm sorry Lei Mei. I thought you would like it."

"Get back to your post, we are about to enter warp speed."Lei Mei went back to the kitchen and Ljubiša left the room in defeat. He went to Khalid for support as the ship just entered warp speed.

"Don't worry bro you'll get her next time." Khalid tried his best to lift up his fallen comrade.

"Bah, I guess I'm just no good. You know man I just can't help it. When I see something shinny that I like I need to steal it."

"We'll get it fixed somehow bro. Maybe you will be satisfied once we pull off a big heist?"

Ljubiša couldn't help but belly laugh at his friend's ridiculous suggestion. "Thanks man. You cheered me up big time! I'm going to go see how Curro is doing and I'll go back to my post after that."

Just as the ship exited out of warp speed, Ljubiša entered Curro's computer room.

"How'd it go down with Lei Mei? Khalid told me you were going into attack mode today. He mentioned something about eagles," Curro said as he was typing out the calculations needed for travel.

"Oh you wouldn't believe it, it was like smooth sailing in the Adriatic sea and she was an Italian ship. It went super well!" Ljubiša's pathological liar instincts kicked in.

"Oh, I'm so happy for you!" Curro tapped Ljubiša's shoulder. "You've had a crush on her for some time and I'm glad you got to courage to approach her."

"Yeah like we hit off so quickly. We are like Bonnie and Clyde, if you know what I mean."

"Don't Bonnie and Clyde die?"

"Don't be such a literal Nancy Curro!"

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Curro had a puzzled look on his face.

The two boys changed the topic and went into a lengthy discussion about video games. Strategies for the arcade, favorite games, the terrible ones, and so on. The discussion went on, until it was cut short with an roaring sound.

An explosion from inside the ship knocked both of them down.