Heritage (Under Revision)

Chapter 10 - Elena

“What a mess,” I say to Ethan, who met me on his lunch break in the ship’s storage garage. This is where all of the old, broken vehicles, along with their parts, are stored.

In front of us is a row of ten Krakens. They’re small, four-wheeled, pod-like vehicles, with barely enough room to fit two people, and they aren’t the most modern vehicles the ship has.

Instead of side-by-side seats, they are back-to-front, and very narrow. These models happen to be at least five years old and have been collecting dust in the garage for the past three. They aren’t even equipped with the now-standard touch screen controls.

Krakens are popular amongst the Cadets, as a means of traveling to the ship-town, and most of the older Cadets already own one. For those few students who don’t, however, these were used as loaners at one time. But now, they aren’t in good enough shape to lend out to the Cadets, and they are in various states of disrepair and in need of a serious upgrade.

“I thought up the idea of having a few of the older Cadets in my Technology Repairs class fix them up as a class project, for extra credit, but if I’m honest with myself, there are only two students with the skills to do such a thing.”

Leon and Stella would surely be able to fix these up and have them back in working order, probably upgraded far beyond Kraken standards, in no time at all. Which is why I text messaged Ethan on his TAPs before lunch and asked him to meet me here to discuss the situation.

“Well, I think your idea is great, honey,” Ethan says to me, his arm around my waist and a can of energy drink in his hand. “There’s no sense in letting them go to waste if someone can repair them.”

“Or some ones,” I reply, emphasizing the last word.

“Leon and Stella?” He asks me.

I nod and he cracks a huge grin, kissing me softly.

“I think that’s a brilliant idea; yet another way to dissolve some of that animosity. Are you gonna tell ’em, or am I, because I have some news of my own to share with the two of them as well.”

“Oh? What s that, love?” I ask him as he encircles my waist within his muscular arms.

“Cadet Jameson has crossed the line yet again, and I’ve pulled his Senior Cadet privileges and demoted him back to a standard Cadet. I’ve had numerous reports from his Officer Trainee about HabMods in disarray, demerits for misconduct and uniform and haircut violations. I’m tired of his slacker attitude and his lack of respect for authority, so I’m going to ask Stella and Leon to take over Omega Squad. It needs the most work, and if anyone can whip them into shape, it’s those two stubborn asses,” he finishes with a grin.

“I couldn’t agree more. I’ll let them know today after class about the Kraken repairs, if they want to do it, that is. I don’t think it’ll be a problem though. Stella is always up for extra credit work, especially anything to do with Tech Repairs, and Leon finally pulled up his grade in Terrestrial Creatures class, so he’s now making straight A’s. Besides, I think Stella is finally warming up to him. I’m just glad someone is seeing Leon for who he is for a change.”

“Yeah me too baby. And if he keeps up his A’s for another week, he’ll make the General’s Honors List. He’s not a bad kid. True, he can be arrogant and obnoxious at times, but he’s a seventeen year old boy with a lot of curiosity and misplaced talents. If he could just focus his energy on actually finding a place for those talents, instead of focusing it on misbehaving, then he’d be far better off. But I think you’re right. I even saw Stella smile at him earlier today when I was getting my Fuse from the Mess Hall,” he says, tossing his empty Fuse can into the garbage can in the far corner. I swear he’s addicted to that stuff.

“If you keep drinking that shit, Ethan, your head is going to explode like a solar flare,” I say to him, play-punching his stomach.

“So lady-like. Sometimes I forget how tough you are!” he says, mocking injury and rubbing his stomach dramatically.

“Big baby,” I reply, smirking at him. He turns to me and lifts me off my feet, spinning me around a few times before setting me back down.

“Only for you, love,” he says, smiling before softly kissing me, exuding love and passion into the small gesture.

A few minutes later Ethan and I leave the garage, heading back up towards his office, which is on the way to my classroom. After another chaste kiss, and the promise of a romantic dinner in our module later, I turn down the corridor and head for my class.

When I enter the room, I find Leon and Stella waiting patiently at their shared worktable, a pristine circuit board in front of them. Hoping beyond hope that they didn’t just give up and buy a replacement, I set my bag down to announce my arrival.

Neither of them had been looking towards the door and hadn’t noticed when I came in.

Both seemed to be bickering…no wait, I see smiles…shy smiles…aw, how cute, they’re flirting!

Well…this is definitely good news.

My mothering instincts are telling me to rush over to them and envelope them both in warm hugs, but my military instincts are telling me to address the situation with the circuit board first.

At the sound of my workbag thudding softly against the polished surface of my desk, both of them snap their heads up in my direction. Leon’s face immediately turns a shade of red to rival Stella’s flaming hair, and Stella herself seems a bit flushed.

They both stand at attention and salute me respectfully, and after I return the gesture briefly, they approach my desk, the circuit board clutched in Stella’s hands.

“Commander, we fixed the circuit board. It was the A.I. threading,” she explains to me.

“How did you come to that conclusion?” I asked, interested.

“She’s the one that found the problem, Ma…uh, Commander, sorry. She spotted the tear in the threading and suggested that we removed and replaced it, so we did, and it worked,” Leon tells me.

Him giving credit to Stella for her findings impresses me, and I grin as they exchange sweet, shy smiles. Leon also took the liberty of correcting himself when he called me Ma and that too, shows that he is truly trying to turn over a new leaf. I must say, I’m quite proud of my son and his newfound friend and longtime crush.

“Very good work, both of you; I’m impressed. So impressed, in fact, I’m going to offer both of you a project. You have the option to refuse, of course, but I think you both could really be a big success,” I say to them both confidently.

“What is it, Commander?” Stella asks me excitedly.

“Well, I’m sure you both are aware of the storage garage, correct?” They both nod their heads and I continue. “Well, there are ten broken down Krakens residing in the storage garage, and if you two are game, I’d like you to get them up and running. We used to use them for Cadets who didn’t have transportation to the ship-town, but they are in such bad shape that they’re safety hazards now. They’re in serious need of repair and upgrading, and I’m giving you both full, free rein to work, together as a team and bring them up to date.”

“Wow, Ma…Commander, thanks! I know I’m definitely game, I’d love to work on them!” Leon exclaims, a broad, shining grin on his face.

“Thank you, Commander, I’d be more than glad to help, if Leon wouldn’t mind, that is?” She replies, turning to him and waiting for his reply.

“Nah, I think it’ll be a lot of fun. Besides, we seem to make a great team,” he remarks, blushing.

My little boy is growing up so fast.

“Well, whenever you have some free time, go ahead and get started on them. I’ve keyed in both of your TAPs in so you can enter the storage garage at your convenience. There’s no time limit or deadline on these, it’s simply as a project. You’ll both be receiving extra credit as well,” I add, as they both grin even wider.

After about another thousand thank-yous from the two of them, they both take their seats at their workstation and retrieve their Projectors from their bags.

Despite the fact that Leon’s partner is back in class today, he doesn’t seem to take notice. Not that it matters, because it seems his partner has chosen to work with a leggy blonde Cadet, who is always attempting to flaunt her…assets. It seems that Leon and Stella are now class partners, and I hide another motherly grin at this fact.

Class goes relatively smoothly, with only a minor problem concerning a smoking A.I. Projector, caused by a clumsy Cadet, and soon after I find myself dismissing the class.

I can’t hide yet another smirk as I spot Stella and Leon exiting my room and chatting animatedly with one another.