Saving the academy a sho.., p.1
Saving the Academy: A Short Story from the Brad Mendoza Chronicles, page 1
Saving the Academy
The Brad Mendoza Chronicles
Skyler Ramirez
Persephone Entertainment Inc.
Copyright © 2023 Skyler Ramirez
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Cover design and illustrations by: Persephone Entertainment Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
Published by Persephone Entertainment Inc.
Texas, USA
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Foreword
Illustration 1: Midshipman Brad Mendoza
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Illustration 2: Midshipman Anita Klipfel
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Illustration 3: Midshipman Carla Oliphant
Chapter 12
Books by Skyler Ramirez
About The Author
Foreword
This short story is the first of the Brad Mendoza Chronicles, a series of companion stories to the Dumb Luck and Dead Heroes series, set in the universe of The Worst Ship in the Fleet. The story you're about to read can be read and enjoyed with or without a reading of the larger series.
I think it's important to note that I've never been in the military (I very much wanted to join at one point in my life, but my asthma prevented it) and this story is about a group of students at a naval academy far in the future. I've done a good amount of research to try and get the experience right, but I would ask my readers’ forgiveness for anything I get wrong.
Enjoy!
Skyler Ramirez
Illustration 1: Midshipman Brad Mendoza
Chapter 1
“Brad, why are you such an idiot?”
Ouch. When the prettiest girl at the Promethean Naval Academy calls you stupid, it somehow hurts a lot worse than when your buddies do it. Anita Klipfel, all 180 centimeters of tan, toned perfection under a shock of soft blond hair, stares at me from her baby blue—and currently very annoyed—eyes and makes me feel like I’ve forgotten something.
Which I actually have. I forgot my notes; the ones I was supposed to give Anita so she could study for tomorrow’s test in Astrogation 101. And since dinner just ended, this is the last time I’ll see her today. In fact, in about five minutes, the rest of the plebes—Academy first-years—and I will be separated by gender and marched back to our quarters for study period and then lights out.
So, Anita is ticked, and with good reason. She’s been helping me all semester by sharing her notes from Jump Drive Mechanics 101, and the only thing she asked in return was to borrow my Astrogation notes for the midterm tomorrow.
Silently, I curse Professor Tillman for refusing to let us keep our notes on our implants. He’s paranoid about cheating, even though everyone knows implant-dampening fields prevent that during test periods. Still, he actually requires us to write our notes down on paper! So archaic.
I don’t respond to Anita's question about my intelligence because there’s nothing I can say. I’ve already told her six times how sorry I am, but it does no good. She turns and stalks off, her posture ramrod straight and her butt looking quite nice in her service uniform trousers. I watch it for a second… or maybe five.
“Boy, there goes any shot you had with her,” someone quips from behind me, distracting me from my study of Anita.
I turn and regard Midshipman Robert ‘Skelly’ Skelgin, my best friend, with a sour expression. But I can’t even pretend to be mad at him for his comment for more than a few seconds. I blush and shake my head. “I know; so stupid, right? How could I forget those notes?”
He laughs. “Well, if it makes you feel any better, I doubt you had much of a shot with her anyway. Midshipman Ice Queen has her nose stuck so far up her books that she probably hasn’t even noticed you’re a man yet.”
I frown. “Don’t call her that, Skelly. She’s not that bad, really.”
Skelly smirks. “Not that bad? Last week, she told Garrison no when he asked her to the Interstellar Ball. Just ‘no’. No explanation of any kind, looking at him the whole time like she was annoyed he even thought to ask. Garrison! As in, Duke Garrison’s son! Heck, I’m straight, and I’d date the guy if he asked.”
Shaking my head and returning Skelly’s smirk, I chuckle a little at his comment. Midshipman Laraby Garrison is the golden boy of the plebe class this year. Rich, smart, fifteenth in line to the throne, and handsome in that too-perfect way that makes guys like me jealous. The man really is the total package, and if he struck out with Anita, there’s no chance she’d ever date a guy like me.
Maybe Skelly is right about not letting today bother me, but it does. Because even if I have zero chance with Anita Klipfel, I did make her a promise. And I’m going to keep that promise, whatever it takes.
“Uh oh,” Skelly says, suddenly wary. “I don’t like that look on your face. That’s your ‘I have a really stupid plan’ face.”
I smile at my friend and shrug. “Oh, Skelly Boy, this plan goes beyond stupid.”
Chapter 2
The last note of Taps plays over the PA in Whittaker Hall, and the lights throughout the whole building turn off at once.
I lay quietly in my bunk, the clock in my implant keeping the time for me. At exactly four minutes thirty seconds after lights out, I hear footsteps in the passageway outside. I wait until the sound fades in the distance. At six minutes and forty-seven seconds passed—he’s fifteen seconds early tonight—I hear the footsteps come back in the other direction.
I keep waiting. Outside, a dog barks, right on schedule. After that, the bright spear of a flashlight’s glare through the window reflects off my dorm’s bulkhead.
Then darkness returns, and with it, silence.
I roll out of bed quickly, already dressed. If I’m caught outside after lights out, I’ll be brought up for disciplinary action. But if I’m caught outside without my uniform at the same time… well, then I might as well just quit the Navy, because such an offense knows no forgiveness.
“Good luck, idiot,” I hear Skelly mutter quietly from the bunk above mine.
“Don’t forget your part,” I hiss to him.
“Sure, I got it,” comes the sleepy reply—not very confidence-inspiring.
Still, I make my way to the window and reach out open it.
“Brad, forgetting something?” Skelly’s voice startles me so badly that I jump. I turn and glare at him in the darkness, then…
I sigh at my own forgetful stupidity and creep across the small room to my desk, grabbing the hand-written notes for Astrogation 101 and shoving them into my uniform pocket. “Thanks,” I whisper in my roommate’s direction. Then I’m back at the window, opening it carefully and quietly.
A minute later, I’m outside, standing on a narrow ledge that runs along underneath the second-story windows of Whittaker Hall. I just as slowly ease the window shut once I’m through, and then I carefully leap down to the soft soil of the building’s landscaping, bending my knees as I hit and catching myself with my hands to keep from soiling my uniform, which would be another nearly-unforgivable offense for a plebe.
A light cuts through the darkness in the distance, working its way around the corner of the building. Staying low, I run across the moonlit grass until I’m at the kissing tree, named long ago because it sits halfway between the men’s and women’s dorm halls. Once there, I jump up and grab the lowest branch, pulling myself up as quickly as I can—again, without ruining my uniform in the process—and climbing high enough that the thick branches and leaves will hide me from anyone not looking directly at me.
Now comes the riskiest part. I reach into my pocket and withdraw the piece of roasted meat I hid there as Skelly and I left the chow hall earlier tonight. I drop it so that it lands right at the base of the kissing tree’s wide trunk. Then, I settle in to wait.
The light is around the building now and making its way along the side of Whittaker Hall. As it comes closer, I start to hear the most terrifying noise a midshipman out of his room after hours can hear: the gentle chuffing of a very large dog.
I watch through the leaves as the light nears the spot of ground underneath my window, willing it to keep moving. But it slows and stops, and I can hear the junior midshipman talking softly to the dog, first in annoyance, then in curiosity.
The thing has my scent. Great. Now, the light turns in my direction, sweeping across the short strip of grass between Whittaker and Hooper Halls, illuminating the base of the kissing tree before moving on to sweep the rest of the grass and then coming back to the base of the tree.
It’s a lot closer now, and I can hear the dog sniffing as he picks out my tracks from the other scents in the grass. Then, the animal is at the bottom of the tree, and I can just make out the dark outline of t
“What is it, Rufus?” the midshipman asks the dog in a low voice as the light comes within centimeters of my feet.
The answer, to my supreme relief, is a slurping noise.
“Seriously?” the annoyed midshipman snaps. “What are you eating now? Stupid dog, I thought there was someone in the tree.”
The light moves down and illuminates Rufus pawing at the ground where the piece of beef from my pocket was. The dog starts to look up toward me, but the midshipman jerks on the leash and pulls the animal away.
Rufus doesn’t go quietly, barking a few times and whining as he tries to pull his handler back toward the tree, but by the way the midshipman is swearing quietly at the dog, he’s more worried about the animal’s racket drawing the attention of one of the instructors, or worse, one of the firsties. About a minute later, the midshipman and the dog are back on their normal route, and the light disappears again, going around the corner of the building toward the backside of Whittaker Hall.
I drop down from the tree and, again keeping low, quickly make my way across the remaining strip of grass to the next building, Hooper Hall, the female midshipmen’s dormitory. I count the windows as I run, finding the tenth from the left, and make my way over to it. And then I almost chicken out.
What if I get the wrong room?
What if Anita is annoyed with me?
What if she reports me?
I almost turn and go back, but I force myself to take a deep breath; then I reach up and knock lightly on the window.
I hear a muffled gasp and movement inside. Then nothing. I knock again.
I’m about to knock a third time when the window practically flies upward, startling me and making me fall back and onto my butt.
A very annoyed-looking but pretty brunette is eyeing me incredulously through the open window. I breathe a sigh of relief. “Oh, hey Carla. Is Anita here?”
It’s a dumb question, and the look Carla Oliphant shoots me confirms that. How would Anita not be here, in her dorm room, with her roommate, after lights out?
Carla looks like she’s going to tell me just how stupid I am, but another face appears, looking equally annoyed.
“Brad?” Anita asks. “What in Hades are you doing?”
“I, uh, brought you my notes,” I say lamely. Suddenly, my genius plan seems even dumber than it first sounded when I explained it to Skelly.
But I get up off the ground, brush off my uniform pants, and reach into my pocket for the notes. Just as I’m about to take them out and hand them through the window to Anita, a light flashes in my peripheral vision. My heart sinks. It’s a random patrol coming down the side of Hooper Hall straight toward me!
Anita and Carla see it, too, and I hear a frustrated grunt from inside their room. Then a pair of hands reaches out through the window and grabs me by the arms, pulling me towards the building.
“Quick, inside!” I hear Anita whisper harshly. Without thinking, I follow her instructions, pulling myself up and into her window and doing my best not to fall face-first to the floor.
Behind me, Anita slides the window shut, and then we all hold our breaths. The light outside gets closer and closer. If there’s a dog and it catches my scent, we’re sunk.
Closer.
Closer.
The light passes by, and we all wait another ten seconds before breathing sighs of relief. Only then do I allow myself to look up at the two women from where I crouch underneath the windowsill. They’re both standing, arms folded crossly, staring at me the way my mother used to when she’d catch me raiding the pantry after I was supposed to be in bed as a kid.
“Uh, hi,” I say with an apologetic grin.
Carla rolls her eyes, but Anita reaches down and helps me to my feet. “Brad,” she says, “this is monumentally stupid. What if you get caught?”
“What if he’s caught?” Carla whispers harshly. “What if we’re caught with him in here? Of all the stupid, idiotic…” She throws her hands up in frustration and shakes her head with a tight frown.
“You forget heroic, daring, and dashing,” I tell her with a lopsided grin. It doesn’t amuse her.
“Brad, please take this seriously,” Anita urges me, and I turn back to her.
“Oh, yeah,” I say, reaching into the pocket of my trousers and withdrawing the sheaf of papers I’d jammed there. “The notes, my lady.”
Despite the situation, Anita laughs lightly as she rolls her eyes and reaches out to take the notes from me. “Next time, Spacer, just bring them to dinner like you promised, and don’t break every Academy rule to get them to me, OK?”
I just keep grinning and shrug. Now that I’ve recovered from my fright at almost being caught, I’m starting to realize I’m in a women’s dorm room, a room that just so happens to belong to two very attractive girls my age. Things could be worse.
They immediately get worse. Footsteps echo outside in the passageway, and it’s the determined step not of someone on a lazy patrol but of a woman walking with purpose… right toward this room.
“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” Anita mutters, putting her hands to her head and looking around frantically. “If they find you here, they’ll kick us all out. You have to go!”
I step toward the window, but a hand reaches out and grabs my arm, stopping me.
“No time!” Carla hisses, and I find myself being manhandled to the ladder leading to the room's top bunk. “Up there,” she says harshly in my ear and then practically pushes me up the ladder.
I get up on the top bunk unsure of what to do, and before I know it, Carla’s coming up the ladder and pushing me toward the far side nearest the wall.
“Lay down, get under the covers, and hug that bulkhead, Midshipman,” she whispers urgently. Then she gets under the covers and lays down with her back to me.
I don’t even have time to think about the fact that I’m in a pretty girl’s bed before the hatch swings open almost violently.
“Plebes! Atten-hut!” a rough female voice practically yells.
Carla flings the covers off of herself, conveniently so that they cover me even more, and rolls off the bunk and down the ladder. I hear Anita do the same from the bunk below me. Between the pile of covers and the angle, anyone standing on the room's deck shouldn't be able to see me... I hope.
“Watch says they heard voices from inside this room when they passed by,” the rough voice says. “Were you two plebes talking after lights out in my hall?”
“Sir, no sir!” both Anita and Carla reply in chorus.
“Do you know what happens to plebes who talk after lights out?” the voice asks.
“Sir, they are assigned fire watch, sir!” Anita answers.
“That’s right, Plebe. And you and your roomy here just earned it for the next week! And if I hear you talking again, we’ll make it a month. Am I clear?”
“Sir, yes sir!” they chorus again.
The hatch slams shut, throwing the room back into darkness, and I let out a breath I forgot I was holding. Yep, that doesn’t just happen in the novels; I was literally scared into not breathing.
The next thing I see in the dim light is Carla’s head poking up above the edge of the bed. “Get out of my bunk and out of our room, idiot,” she says in a very low whisper that somehow still manages to convey the fact that she is literally shouting at me.
I do as I’m told, throwing one last smile toward Anita, and then I’m outside their window, crouching in the dirt as they slide it shut behind me.
Illustration 2: Midshipman Anita Klipfel
Chapter 3
I practically sprint back across the grass strip, hoping that Skelly has remembered to keep watch for me and lower the line so I can climb back up to the second floor and get inside my room. But just as I reach the edge of the grass, where it meets the soft dirt that surrounds the building’s landscaping, a light spears me.
