Arluna system...Cadet Apprentice Debra Jane MacAulliffe's big brother flies big fighters for the Arluna Naval Reserve's 11th Squadron. At Sixteen, she's still too young to attend Coventry Military Academy or enlist in the LCAF.
But the Horde will sign you up if you can pass the written and the physical, assuming your parents will sign the waiver, and she could pass both.
The verbal interview? well...
"Attention on deck." The Black-helmet Training officer's voice was calm and level. "MacAulliffe, Front and center."
She scrambled from her seat to snap to attention in front of the T.O., an Orc.
"These are your test results." he said, holding it up, "You've passed the top ninetieth percentile in maths and technical aptitude. Your physicals are within eighty one percent of peak human for your age and build. You will not be boarding ship for Basic Training."
"But whah???" she was shocked.
"You failed the verbal." he said it in front of the other applicants. "you're going to be given one of two options when you walk through the door behind me. Option one, is delayed entry program at the Giap Island Residential Academy where you will be drilled and trained in Rhetoric and elocution. Option two, is to head back to Folsum County to return to your civilian life, you are not to make this decision until the board officer has explained what is involved in each of your two options fully, and you have had a chance to discuss this with the Staff Chaplains." He regarded her with dark, purple eyes, and waited a breath. "Do you understand?"
"Ayeh." she said, crestfallen.
"Proceed." he said, and gestured to the door at his back.
Debra squared her shoulders, and walked past him.
"Rickson, Gregory Gerald!" he was already calling the next candidate up as she hesitated for a moment at the door.
hesitantly, she reached out, and turned the lever, opening the hatch and stepping through...
***
Lt. Commander Anh Cu'ong was from the Spider Moon itself-a born rockjack, with mostly human ancestors. She'd served with the Advisory Command Arluna since '65, and she'd been put in charge of the Recruiting office here in the Arluna system this year because it was her turn at the short straw.
The redhead in front of her, was Hillfolk, and Hillfolk made good infantry recruits, but the kid's scores were, in Anh's simple calculus, far too high to put on the ground as a grunt infantryman, too high for a tanker either. she shuffled papers, glancing at the girl in silence for several minutes.
"MacAulliffe." she said, "Do you understand why your enlistment was rejected?"
"No'm ah den't." Debra said.
Anh laid the papers in a sharp-edged stack in a tray, and closed the cover to keep them from drifting. "You signed up for Mechanized Infantry training." she said, "We did our evaluation. You're not a good fit for self-propelled sandbag."
"Mayam?"
"You heard me. My god your accent is atrocious in english as it is in German..." Anh shook her head, "you scored
upper ninety ninth percentile. Gifts in Mathematics and number theory, a natural candidate, Kids like you are why we put recruiter stations in out of the way areas on planets. If you accept the offer I'm going to extend, you'll have to commit for a minimum ten years, with five of those being school." Anh told her, "Unlike the enlisted, once you sign that contract you can't resign for ten years."
"contract?"
"Officer's training, MOS will be Navigation and command, and that means you have to take Elocution and Deportment, along with speech therapy-which extends your training period. You'll be under Shipboard discipline for your entire career, MacAulliffe, that means leaves will be scarce and short, and demands will be high." Anh told her, "if you have any hesitation about that, you need to head out the blue door." Anh gestured, "Because once you go through the Red Hatch, you're in the Horde and you can't leave until your term is up. If you accept this, you'll come out the other side with Spacer's Guild certification, a Nest Egg and the possibility of partial ownership of a ship...and if you go through the blue door, you will return to your home, your life, and your family."
"kin ah ask mah Ma?" Debra inquired.
"No." Anh told her, "You have to make this choice on your own, joining the Horde as an Officer Trainee requires you to grow up
now. Your parent will have no say in what happens to you from the moment you sign your name and walk through the red door...which is why we offer it this way-you can go home, finish high school, apply at a Lyran State Academy and the letter of recommendation from this office will get you into the school of your choice, especially with these scores...but it's a choice
you have to make."
Anh laid out the two PADDs, one was a letter of acceptance, the other, a recommendation that would get her into
The Nagelring.
Debra's mind ran through the options, wheeling in confusion.
"Take your time." Anh told her, "we've got all night. Would you like to speak with a chaplain before making your choice?"
Debbie swallowed.
she reached out...hesitated.
She imagined what it would be like, being Hillfolk surrounded by the sons and daughters of nobility, the mockery and the teasing, worse than she'd had to deal with from the city kids in Folsum.
she took the padd. looked at it. read the contract, and then, she read the letter of recommendation, and then she read the contract again.
she applied her thumbprint to the contract, and signed, "Ah'm readah." she said.
"No, but you will be." Anh told her, "Dismissed Cadet."
Debra went through the red door.
