Chapter 1: Shark Attack
“What the fuck is so funny, Cadet Chain Smoker?!” screamed a drill instructor in a young man’s face with the name tag B. Helios.
Brinus stood amongst screaming drill instructors shouting at recruits in the cadet mustering area. The petty officers shouted insults, spit flying onto the faces and necks of three dozen other squad mates. Brinus’s tension softened as he recognized the orchestrated chaos. He shifted towards his fellow recruits. This here is home. He cracked a slight smile across his face for a moment before he regained control. Just like the syndicate, no emotions. The Navy’s shark attack hazing ritual felt just like the syndicate’s basic training.
“Terra Cat, got your tongue? Sound off, Chain Smoker!”
“Sir, it’s just like home, sir!”
“You’ve got a fucked up home life, kid.” The petty officer walked off to another recruit.
Brinus could smell the body odor of the other cadets in the mustering hall. He could hear the crying and whimpering of the young men and women. He felt the pleasant heat of the room, so he knew, while it was pleasant to him, it must be miserable for everyone else.
Brinus looked around to get his bearings after being dragged out of his cell at midnight on his 19th birthday. In fact, he was still in his prison orange scrubs and prison shoes. The mustering hall had beige drywall and smelled like a locker room. In the window behind him was the planet they orbited, Otis Datis. The giant swamp region on the mega continent shone through the window.
Brinus noticed his hands had a slight tremor. Shit. It’s been 20 minutes since my last cigarette.
“Cadets! Stand at fucking attention when you’re being addressed by a superior officer! The squad commander will address y’all shortly!” yelled one of the petty officers in a smoker’s rasp.
He went up to the face of a crying cadet. “What’s the matter, young man? Can’t handle the Navy? Sound off! Now!”
“I want my mommie! I want my mommie!” The cadet put his hands in his face and began crying.
“You’re a navy man now! Quit crying and suck it the fuck up!” yelled the drill instructor in the cadet’s face.
The cadet cried even harder.
The petty officer looked at two crewmen first class who helped out. They removed the cadet, and he yelled out, “Anyone else wonna have a fucking mental breakdown? We are a navy of one! Weakness is not tolerated!”
Damn they ain’t playin’ around. They must’ve put him in a decompression room.
The master chief petty officer looked directly at Brinus, who looked back at the DI. He went into Brinus’s face and then unloaded a barrage of rage. “Cadet Chain Smoker, did I say you could look at me?!”
“No, sir, drill instructor, sir!”
“Then don’t fucking stare! Drop down and give me twenty!”
“Sir, yes, sir!”
Brinus dropped to the floor. The first five push-ups were easy. However, the heavy smoking in prison caused his heart rate to increase and his muscles to wear out fast for the next ten. His heart began racing, forcing him to control his breathing. The last five push-ups were his hardest. He almost couldn’t do the last one. However, he pushed through the pain and stood up.
“Sir….this recruit….” He had to speak through his panting, “Has…Completed…the exercise!
“Good job, cadet crewman. Maybe we’ll make a crewman out of you yet!”
Brinus fell into the tripod position, breathless, but he gave the DI a thumbs-up.
“Carry on.”
The petty officer passed a bottle of water to Brinus, handed to him by a crewman. He sucked it down in one gulp.
As Brinus recovered, crewmen removed two more cadets who had breakdowns similar to the first cadet. The drill instructors swarmed the other cadets like hungry sharks swarming a school of fish in a feeding frenzy. They were out for blood.
I made it. He thought as he snapped to attention, as he caught his breath, staring directly ahead. Brinus had light blue eyes, thick blond hair, and was a beast of a man at 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds of muscle. He had a Tarken Tea cigarette tucked behind his ear, and his uniform fit him perfectly.
A drill instructor came up to him and then spotted a barcode in syndicate ink with numbers on his left wrist. It began with the letters NH, followed by the number 80, and then a serial number. “So, 80 years at Newhaven?”
“Yes, sir. This here recruit…”
The drill instructor jammed his face into Brinus’s left ear, and spit flew onto his neck. “I did not permit you to speak, Cadet crewman! I don’t give a fuck what you did to get 80 years in Newhaven! You’re in the Navy now, and we are a Navy of one! Understand cadet crewman?!”
“Sir, yes, sir!”
Two tailors entered the mustering hall, rolling in a bunch of uniforms custom-made for each cadet at the recruiter. They freshly issued the uniforms from the laundry department. Finally, I can get out of my prison orange. They’re so itchy! The tailors measured everyone one by one and then made the final adjustments with each cadet.
The DIs then forced everyone to change in the public dressing rooms. They took the five young women to a separate room to change into their navy blues. As Brinus looked around the hallway at the various posters, one caught his eye. It was a poster about chronic smoking and how the Navy tolerates a maximum of one pack a day. Seriously, one pack? Only one Pack? He sneered as he rolled his eyes in disgust.
The instructors lined him up against the wall with ten other young men.
A chief petty came out of the mustering hall and stared down at the squad. “You are our convict recruits. I believe only one of you was recruited directly from prison, and the rest of you are serving sentences. You are all Navy men now, so remember, all of you are on parole, so if y’all mess up, y’all go to prison. Understand!?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” yelled everyone in unison.
A man whom Brinus recognized as a chief petty officer walked up and down the ten men, looking at the ragtag group of young criminals. They were all in their navy blues with hair cut and styled.
“Welcome to The Starship Victory Military Basic Training and Shark Attack Facility — the pimple on God’s ass!” he bellowed in his drill instructor’s voice, which was loud, had a slight smoker’s rasp, and carried across the mustering hall. “We are in the Navy now, and you chose this life. We do not care who you are or what you were before you joined.” He looked at the cadet to Brinus’s right, whom he recognized as the second-born son of the maquis of subdistrict four of district twelve. He was a chronic troublemaker, and the news extensively covered his DUI last month. “I do not care if you’re a peasant, a nobleman, a furry, or delta region trash!” He looked directly at Brinus with hungry eyes after that last insult. “In my eyes, you are all equally worthless until you prove yourselves! The next three weeks, you will be given your Tarken Tea rations, medically assessed for health problems and dental work, and then you’ll be sorted into the NCO track, crewman track, skilled worker track, or officer training! Some of you will wash out of Shark Attack!” He looked directly at Brinus and licked his lips. “Now! Let the games begin! Take a ten-minute smoke break and regather here. Nonsmokers! Take a water break!”
Brinus felt better after the smoke break, as he was last back in formation.
Once everyone was back from break, the DIs went into each cadet’s face and screamed:
“Fresh meat!”
“You’re here because your momma didn’t want you!”
“I like my cadets smoked like a piece of fish!”
A master chief petty officer and two petty officers went into Brinus’ face. Every drill instructor screamed and shouted a string of insults as Brinus was the only cadet who was nonresponsive to the chaos. Everyone else smiled, nervously laughed, with two female recruits crying. I know this here tactic too well. Y’all tried this shit on me when I was in the syndicate.
The other drill instructors swarmed Brinus like they were English nobles fox hunting.
“What the fuck is your problem, cadet?” yelled the first drill instructor.
“What’s the matter? Terra cat got your tongue?” screamed a second in his right ear.
“Are you slow in the head or got snakes in your head?” shouted a third DI in his left ear, jamming his finger into Brinus’ chest with every word.
Still, Brinus gave no reaction, so the insults and yelling increased I really need a cigarette. Spirits, I hope we get a smoke break soon. He was shaking and covered in sweat as he’d gone an hour without a cigarette.
“What the fuck, cadet? Are you mentally ill?” screamed the Master Chief as he walked up to Brinus and went up into his face, bellowing like a wounded animal.
Brinus looked straight ahead with a deadpan look as the other cadets pointed and laughed at him
They must’ve noticed I’m the only one not showin’ emotion. Brinus stared dead ahead and just stood there, stone-faced, while his hands developed a slight tremor. Oh my god! Seriously?
The Master Chief screamed in his ear while jamming his finger into his chest with every word, “WHAT THE HELL? WHY THE FUCK ARE YOUR HANDS SHAKING? DROP DOWN AND GIVE ME TWENTY! NOW!”
The other cadets laughed, but then one of the DIs turned to the other recruits. There was a moment of silence, and then he barked out in his loud, raspy military voice, “Since y’all think us smoking cadet chain smoker is funny, why don’t y’all join him for twenty pushups? Not so funny now, is it?” Everyone became dead silent and looked at the DI. “Drop down and give me twenty! The last person still standing is washed out of my program right now! In the Navy, teams live or die by the weakest link! We are a Navy of One!”
Every drill instructor began screaming out the completed number of push-ups once everyone had finished a push-up as a group. They also swarmed the weaker cadets who struggled with push-ups. The insults continued to fall on the recruits like hailstones in a hailstorm.
Brinus felt a warm, fuzzy feeling in his stomach that rose to his chest. I’m so proud! He couldn’t help but crack a slight smile.
“What the fuck is so funny, cadet?”
“Yo momma, sir!”
Everyone laughed.
“So, cadet chain smoker. You’re a bit of a joker, ehh? I want everyone to do ten up-downs after the push-ups.”
“Sir, yes, sir!”
There was a tense silence as everyone stewed in rage.
Everyone struggled with the push-ups. I didn’t realize how much I needed this. I can do this! I can do this! I CAN DO THIS!
The DIs swarmed Brinus, but they took a different angle
“Come on, cadet, be a man! Make it to ten!” encountered the first one.
“You got this! Don’t be a worthless weakling! You just got five more!”
Once he got down to two and struggled.
“You got this, cadet! Make me proud!”
I want this. I need this. Brinus was out of breath and struggling after completing the last push-up. His muscles vibrated as if with electricity. He also had a tremor that made it difficult to coordinate. The DI’s helped him up.
“Alright, everyone! Now for the up-down thanks to Helio’s disrespect! And then we take a fifteen-minute smoke break before we get our Tarken Tea Rations and do the medical exams!”
The up-downs were the worst excised he ever did. He almost couldn’t do them. With the muscle weakness and tremors, he had to push through pain. Every ounce of psychological energy was used to tucker on through the pain. One cadet couldn’t do another up-down after the 20 push-ups. He was taken off the ground, and Brinus saw him put into a different unit.
“You just got three more! We know you can make it!”
“Don’t be a worthless weakling! Prove me wrong!” yelled the squad commander.
Sweat covered him, his heart raced, and the floor rocked like a Coast Guard rescue boat in a hurricane.
“You just need one more proof to me you ain’t no swamp rat!”
Brinus’ chest heaved up and down. Sweat covered him, and he had to breathe in through his nose and out of his mouth. I gotta cut back on the smokes.
He collapsed onto the ground after his final push-up, his chest heaving up and down, mouth dry, and covered in sweat.
“Get yo ass up, boy! Everyone! Get to medical intake!” yelled one of the petty officers in his face, helping him to his feet as everyone sprinted to the medical.
After the smoke break, they forced the cadets to sprint to medical. Brinus had to stop a few times and catch his breath. But they gave him no time to rest. Each time he stopped, the group would stop, and the DIs would swarm him like wolves moving in for the kill. They screamed insults and encouragement until he could get back to running.
They always had at least one cadet like Brinus that slipped past medical at every shark attack. Usually, they were either a long-time chain smoker, had a lung condition that slipped through screening before getting on the ship, or had some kind of heart problem that was undiagnosed. Cadets with lung problems like asthma couldn’t keep up, so they were washed out after the medical exam.
The drill instructors began to hang back and follow Brinus as he fell further and further behind.
“What the fuck, cadet? Catperson got your legs?” yelled the squad commander into Brinus’s left ear.
“Seriously? Are you some kind of prison reject?” yelled another petty officer.
A third petty officer came up to Brinus’s right ear. “Why are you here, cadet? Sound off!”
Brinus stopped and then said, after catching his breath. He was in the tripod position for a few moments and then barked out, “I’m here to serve a prison sentence, sir.”
The drill instructors looked at each other. He was an easy target now as Brinus resumed running. They officially had the company whipping boy.
After three more minutes of sprinting and screaming, they sat at the medical exam office at Shark Attack. Medical included fitness exam rooms, archives, and dental.
The cadets stood against the wall in the ship’s archives. The company commander walked back and forth. “Here we are gonna enter your demographic and identifying data into the ship’s database, check and see if you have warrants, and see if you have any health conditions that didn’t show up in the exam, and assess your dental health.”
The instructors looked directly at Brinus with the expression of hungry vultures eying food from a high perch just before a major battle.
Why are they lookin’ at me like they wonna eat me? That’s kind of rude.
One of the drill instructors licked his lips while looking at Brinus.
Shit.
They called each cadet one at a time. After a fifth cadet was called back. Brinus noticed his information scan was taking way too long. Then he came out with his eyes wide and mouth open in a shocked look on his face.
The medical doctor stuck her head out of her office. “You need to change out of uniform and change back into civilian clothes. You will be given a shuttle ticket and sent to a planet of your choice. Next! Helios! Brinus! Cadet code 4546! Step Forward! Now!”
The DIs looked at Brinus with that same unnerving, hungry expression he hated. I gotta show these here fuckers up!
He walked up to the doctor. “Cadet 4546 reporting.”
The woman snapped. “Name, date of birth, and social benefits number?”
She ran through medical records, active arrest, and traffic warrants, and then his criminal background checks were clean despite being a convict recruit. She took a blood sample from him and ran it through the medical database.
“No medical conditions, but your blood AA nicotine levels are off the charts. I have never seen levels this high in a cadet before, and not have a medical problem. How the hell are you able to make it through today and not have withdrawal symptoms?” She looked and saw him shaking and vibrating. Cold sweat also covered him head to toe. “Never mind. Let’s do the cheek swab.”
The archivist then took a cheek swab and a nasal swab. She ran the DNA through the missing persons database, which was just standard procedure.
She’d done this a million times before, but this time she actually got a hit. The DNA belonged to someone who was missing and presumed dead. “Do you know who your family is?”
Brinus shrugged. “I ain’t never met my family.”
“I’m gonna have to notify the captain of this.”
“Notify the captain of what?”
“It looks like your DNA is attached to a 19-year-old high-profile missing person’s case. Something involving a duchess. It doesn’t have details.”
Brinus stood open-mouthed and was stunned into silence.
The librarian snapped, waving her hand dismissively, trying to push him off the exam table. “We’ll let the Magi sort it out. They deal with missing and exploited children all the time. In cases like this, I’m not allowed to comment beyond informing the victim that they are on the Missing Persons List, especially if it involves high-ranking nobility. Next.”
“Hold up, we’re gonna talk about this. Are ya’ sayin’ I was kidnapped when I was an infant?”
“I said next. The captain or admiral will discuss this with you once the Magi are contacted, and then the Magi contact the parents. Now leave, or I’ll call the ship’s security!”
Brinus realized there was no point in trying to get answers. He shrugged and walked off into the smoke pit. I gotta take a smoke.
