Chapter 2
After a couple of days of settling in, Melody and Sapphira were on their way to their first class in the academy: science.
"Why did it have to be this?!" Sapphira whined. She hated science and anything to do with it with a burning passion. She remembered when her mother, Elsa, had tried to teach it to her when she was little; she had gotten very confused by it.
"Don't worry, Saph," Melody said reassuringly. "I'm here. I'll help you out. And besides, it's only our first day. I'm sure it'll be easy."
"Can you use your telepathy to give me good thoughts during the hard questions?"
"Saph, I'm an empath, not a telepath. But I'll be sitting right there next to you the whole time."
Sapphira groaned. "I pray to the spirits that this is easy."
"Saph, for the love of God, relax."
"I'm trying, I'm trying." Sapphira's tattoos glowed faintly blue and she breathed slowly.
"Easy, Saph. Easy. I'm right here with you." Melody patted Sapphira's shoulder comfortingly.
Sapphira smiled. She then noticed the cadet uniforms that she and Melody were wearing. They were a plain blue jumpsuit with white highlights. "I think my uniform might be a bit too big."
"You'll probably grow into it, with all the hard work and good food you'll be eating here," Melody replied.
"I suppose I will."
"All right. Looks like we're here," Melody responded as they arrived at their destination. They went into the classroom and sat down beside each other.
Sapphira noticed that the girl who had led them to their room was sitting on the desk near them.
Sadako was reading a book at that moment. "Hello, Sapphira," she said without looking up.
"Hello again, Sadako," Sapphira replied.
"I'm glad you two are in this class with me."
"Do you have trouble in here too?"
"Not at all; I'm just happy to see friendly faces."
"Oh, okay." Saphira looked down. "I'm worried this class might be stressful for me. Science was more of Melody's thing than anything else."
"All will be well, Sapphira. If it's any consolation, I once felt the same thing when I first arrived in the academy, so I'm sure it will be alright for you."
"I hope so."
Soon the class began. The teacher, Lieutenant Meer Campbell, was a bright and happy young woman. The way she conducted the lesson sent a wave of positivity towards Sapphira, one that both Melody and Sadako could sense from miles away.
"And remember to stay smiling," the teacher bid everyone farewell once the class had come to an end.
"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Melody remarked as she and Sapphira left the classroom.
"No, it wasn't," Sapphira agreed. "I never expected the teachers here to be so happy."
"Hey girls!" Sadako called to them. "You got another class right now?"
"No, not for a few hours," Melody answered.
"Wanna come down to the cafeteria with me? They're doing Agarian Pizza today."
"Sure, why not?" Sapphira accepted.
xXx
The three girls went into the cafeteria. Sadako smiled. "They always have something delicious on the menu."
"I wanna try that pizza you mentioned," Sapphira stated.
"Well, go right ahead. Get yourself a tray and go get some." Sadako pointed to the large stack of trays near the food replicators.
Sapphira got a tray and pressed a button on the food replicator. The machine hummed and created the pizza from thin air.
Sapphira leaned down and smiled, the warm smell of the pizza filling her nostrils. "Mmmm, delicious."
"I know," Sadako said. "It's one of my favorite things they serve here:"
Sapphira took the pizza back to a nearby table. Melody had got herself an ice cream and Sadako herself had got some sort of weird dish that looked similar to sushi.
Sadako sat down beside Sapphira. "I know you're wondering what I have here. It's called a Keldena roll. It's similar to the human dish, sushi. However, rather than using fish, this uses the meat of the Keldena. It's like a spider, only bigger, and with four legs instead of eight. They're fairly common back home on Matanui. Just don't eat the spinners they shoot from their backs; they're covered in venom."
"Did you just read my mind?" Sapphira wondered.
Sadako nodded. "Yes I did."
Sapphira gazed at her coldly. "You do know that you can't read another person's mind without their permission. They might not like it."
"If it helps, I don't look at anything that I know you might not want me to see."
"It would be better if you didn't look at anything at all," Sapphira remarked.
"Would it help if I said I was sorry?"
Sapphira sighed. "Yes."
"Well, I'm sorry."
Sapphira smiled. "It's okay, all is forgiven."
"So, what class do you have next?" Sadako asked. "I have history."
"I've got psychology," Melody said. "Shouldn't be too difficult with my abilities."
"I've got engineering," Sapphira groaned.
"Oh. Well, I've heard that the instructor is very competent, and is pretty easygoing as well."
"Is she as nice as Lieutenant Campbell?"
"It's a he, and I honestly can say I don't know. I dropped engineering; I'd rather be a communications officer."
"You'd be good at it with those telepathic skills."
"I know. That's part of why I chose it." Sadako smiled. "Have confidence, Sapphira. You're more talented than you realize."
"That's good advice, but whenever I see tech that needs fixing, I'd rather leave it to the expert."
"Hey, you never know. Maybe you'll end up being the expert!" Melody encouraged. "Think of it: you could be a chief engineer on a starship, flying through the cosmos."
"Yeah, yeah," Sapphira dismissed her.
"Excuse me," a calm voice said from behind Sapphira. "I heard you saying something about engineering. I'm planning on being an engineer; maybe I could help you out."
Sapphira turned around to see a cadet the same age as Sadako. He stood in a very formal position, with his face with a gentle and friendly smile. Whoever he was, he was quite handsome.
"Oh, H-hello," Sapphira nervously replied. "Yes, I have engineering next."
"Like I said, I'm studying to be an engineer. Maybe we can work with each other."
Melody frowned, but didn't say anything. There was something she didn't like about this guy.
"I'd really appreciate that," Sapphira said. "I'm Sapphira. Sapphira Frost."
"Alex Zafarro. Nice to meet you." He held out his hand.
Sapphira shook it and felt a warm pulse coming from his hand.
"I'll see you in engineering, Sapphira," he said.
Sapphira smiled and watched him walk away.
"Alex is one of the top students here at the academy," Sadako commented. "He's really smart, and good under pressure. I'd be willing to bet he'll end up being a captain one day, or even an admiral."
"He can be my captain any day," Sapphira sighed dreamily.
Melody's frown grew even more pronounced. "Meh. He's not that hot."
"You didn't see the look in his eyes, Melly," Sapphira stated.
"What look?"
"The look of look of adoration. The look that tells you that a guy wants to treat you like a princess."
Melody rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
Soon it was time for the next class. Sapphira bid farewell to Melody and Sadako and made her way to the engineering class, the thought of it being made slightly better now that she knew that Alex would be in here with her.
As she sat down, she saw Alex sitting on the other side of the room. He waved to her.
Sapphira shyly waved back.
Soon, the instructor walked in: a stocky man with a buzz cut in brown overalls and boots, wearing goggles. "Howdy, folks," he said, his voice laced with a Southern twang. "I'll be your teacher, Dr. Hatfield. Y'all can just call me Doc, if you want."
Sapphira listened to the instructor.
"Now, the first thing we're gonna learn to do here is how to fix a warp drive circuit board. It's about the easiest thing an engineer will have to do, but it's still a tough thing to get done."
Sapphira saw a circuit board on her desk be replicated in front of her. She felt a sense of anxiety build in her chest.
"I've given y'all all the tools you'll need to do this job right. Have at it."
Sapphira picked up a small welding tool from the tray on her desk. She held the tool in her hand, her hand shaking softly. "Keep it together, Saph." she told herself. She slowly noticed her tattoos starting to glow blue.
She heard the soft sizzling of the welding tools being used by the other cadets in the room.
She held the welding tool close to the circuit board, beginning to panic. Her whole body began to sweat heavily and her tattoos were glowing brightly. "Keep calm, Keep calm," She kept repeating.
Everyone was busy working on their circuit boards, and Dr. Hatfield was reading a book at his desk.
Sapphira began to breath heavily. Everyone was working faster than she was. They were gonna be better than her and she would be the screw up. Even Alex would probably be better than her. She was gonna be a failure and everyone would be disappointed in her, even her mothers.
Suddenly, a jolt of energy fired from her tattoo, igniting the welding tool. Sapphira screamed as the circuit board in front of her exploded in a flash of blue flame.
Everyone turned to look at her, including Dr. Hatfield.
Sapphira was flung to the floor, her clothing was scorched and her skin was covered in burns. "Ahhhhhh!" She screamed loudly as she felt the flames scald her body.
Alex immediately ran over to her. "Doc, get a medic in here! NOW!"
xXx
As Sapphira slowly woke up, she saw Sadako, Alex, and Melody all standing around her.
"Are you okay, Saph?" Melody asked.
Sapphira weakly opened her eyes. "Melody? W-what happened?"
"You're in the infirmary," she explained.
"The circuit board exploded," Alex added. "It was overloaded."
"How did it?... Oh..." Sapphira then realised. "My powers sent it crazy, I remember now."
"Powers?" Alex looked confused. "What are you talking about?"
"I'm half Knydaxian," She explained, gesturing to her tattoos. "They give me powers, but I can't always control them."
"Knydaxian? Oh, right, I heard they found a bunch of you on Mattand III."
"She wasn't one of them," Melody put in. "Her mother was a Knydaxian slave girl, but her other mother rescued her."
"Oh. My mistake."
"Can you all leave for a moment?" Sapphira requested. "I would really like some privacy. Not you, though, Melody. I want you to stay."
Alex and Sadako left the room, and Melody looked at her friend. "What's up?"
She sighed. "I can't believe I almost died on my third day."
"Don't worry. They can fix the burns easy."
"My pride won't heal that easy," Sapphira groaned. "Spirits, what are my mothers gonna say?"
"They'll understand, Saph. You got scared, and you lost control. It's okay."
Sapphira smiled. "Thanks, Melody. I'm glad I've got a best friend like you." Sapphira then pulled her best friend into a tight hug.
Melody smiled and hugged back. Part of her wanted to hug Sapphira more closely, but she was just happy that her friend was safe. "You're welcome, Saph," she replied. "We'll always be best friends, no matter what."
xXx
Author's note: Be sure to keep an eye of Alex. He's gonna be quite important later in the story ;)
Anyway, see ya next time! ^^
