Tales from the Academy

Chapter 31

"Assault Troops? Really?" asked Jer Naddel. For some reason he didn't look as surprised as Anny had expected. She was sitting in the barracks with Jer, Alby and Patric.

"That's a pretty tough group," observed Patric. "Why'd you pick them, Anny?"

"Well, I'd hoped to get out into the Nexus but I didn't like the naval track too much…"

"Well, I can understand that!" snorted Alby, frowning.

"Yeah," she joked, "those guys don't do anything but scrape rust and paint bulkheads. Who wants to do that?" Her friends smiled but didn't laugh. They knew damn well what she really meant, but she had no inclination to discuss it. "Anyway, the assault regiments get the most space duty of any of the ground troops and they also provide all the shipboard troop detachments. My own father was an assault trooper. I've probably got a better chance of getting on a ship with them than I do on the naval track." She didn't add that if she could win the respect of her troopers then she'd have the best imaginable bodyguard if she did manage to get on a ship. No navy man—officer or rating—would dare bother her.

"Makes sense to me," said Jer. "I sure hope it works out for you, Anny."

"Thanks! So what did you chose, Jer?"

"Oh, why I chose… Assault Troops."

"What?" exclaimed Anny. "Why?"

"Oh, I always wanted to get out in the Nexus but I didn't like the navy track—too much scraping rust and painting bulkheads—and I figured this was the next best choice." Anny just stared at him with her mouth open. Jer was smiling. She'd had no chance to discuss her choice with anyone. Jer had just gotten back from Komarr and Patric from South Continent and Alby from his home. A warm feeling filled her at the thought of having him with her during training but what were the chances…? A thought struck her.

"What did you choose, Patric?"

"Well, with my grades I had no shot at the naval track anyway, but I did want to get out into the Nexus. My advisor said that with my size I was a natural for a combat unit. But I didn't want just any old combat unit, I wanted to be with the best. So I looked around and…

"Patric!"

"Oh. Uh… Assault Troops?"

Anny felt a smile coming on despite herself. Her gaze drifted over to Alby. "Don't tell me that you…"

"Hey, I hate scraping rust and painting bulkheads but I really wanted to get out into space," shrugged Alby. "It's a perfectly natural choice, right guys?" The others nodded, trying—and failing—to suppress grins.

"But you… you…" Anny was about to say that Alby was too small to be an assault trooper, but that wasn't really true anymore, was it? The fifteen year old Alby of their first year, who Anny had topped by a full head, had grown up and now he was actually a bit taller than she was. Still skinny as a rail, but he'd fill out, she supposed. But how…? Alby!

"I'm guessing that this is not just a remarkable coincidence," she sighed. "So what did you do, Alby? Hack into the Academy Registrar's database and see what I'd chosen? I made my choice before any of you, so you'd have the chance to see what I did before you saw your advisors."

"Egad! She's on to us, guys!" cried Alby in mock alarm. The others grinned and tried to look innocent. "But hey, I'm also taking a secondary track in electronic warfare and I thought I'd do a little practicing."

"You're all a bunch of scoundrels!" she said, frowning. But then she laughed. "But bless you! Oh, this is wonderful. And thank you, thank you for being such good friends."

"It's what friends are for," said Jer. He was smiling at her and it sent a thrill through her.

"Sure is," said Patric. Alby nodded.

"But are you sure about this?" Her face grew serious. "This isn't like pulling strings to get into the same history class, this is about the rest of our lives in the military. Our whole future careers. I'm flattered that you want to go where I go—more flattered than I could ever say!—but you have to do what's right for you! Are you really sure?"

"I'm sure," said Jer.

"Never a doubt," said Patric.

"All for one and one for all, Anny," added Alby. "Why bust up a winning team?"

Anny sat and looked at them. Had anyone ever had better friends? She'd expected a lot of things to happen at the Academy, but she'd never expected this. Inside, she knew that the chances were slim that they'd manage to stay together once they graduated, someday duty would separate them. But there was no harm in putting off that day as long as possible, was there? Then a new thought struck her.

"Uh…" she looked around at the other cadets in the barracks. "You didn't… not everyone chose Assault Troops did they?"

Jer laughed. "No! We didn't let them all know what we were up to! As far as I know they all made their choices without coaching."

"Actually, Denis Fallon did choose Assault Troops, too, but it must have just been chance," said Alby.

"How do you know what he chose?" Alby just smiled and rolled his eyes. Anny chuckled and reached out to punch his arm.

"So how were your leaves?" she asked. "Everything go all right on Komarr, Jer?"

"Yeah, it was great! But Alby, you know that first class ticket you bought me was a big mistake."

"Oh?"

"Yeah! It's spoiled me forever! I mean I couldn't believe how luxurious it was! It was ridiculous, really. Don't know how I'll be able to stand the accommodations on a warship after that."

"You'll just have to make general real quick so you'll have better quarters," said Alby. "Consider it incentive to excel."

"Yeah, right."

"Everything go okay with your family, Jer?" asked Anny. She still felt bad that when Jer and the others rescued her he missed a chance to see them.

"Not bad at all. I think that after three years they're finally coming to accept my decision. Or at any rate they know I'm not going to come running home with my tail between my legs. It went fine, really. How was your brother's wedding, Patric?"

"Good, good. He went through with it and everyone seems happy. Nice girl. And my uniform was a big hit."

What about you, Alby? How are your folks?"

Alby shook his head. "It's amazing how much my father has mellowed. He invited my sister and her family to come and visit while I was there. First time she's been home since she ran off to get married. They've cleared out the whole wing that my grandfather used to occupy to make more guest space. It was kind of awkward at first, but it worked out okay."

Anny nodded. It was kind of a touchy subject so she changed it. "Well! We've got a heck a year coming up!"

"That's for sure," said Jer.

"And our last," added Patric. "Hard to believe."

It was hard to believe. Her journey, which had started with her doing odd jobs for the neighbors in order to make enough money for a bus ticket to Hassadar and that fateful meeting with the Countess, was entering its final stages. Or at least the final stage of the first stage. It was so easy to lose sight of the fact that getting to the Academy was a means to an end, not an end in itself.

"While you were busy tracking what I was doing did you bother to take a close look at what you were following me into?" asked Anny.

"A bit," said Patric.

"Some," said Alby.

"Yes," said Jer smugly. "Assault troops specialize in attacking difficult targets both on the ground and in space. They'll spearhead planetary assaults and they're also specially trained for boarding actions on ships and space stations. Lots of zero-g and vacuum training. Highly specialized work."

"Yes it is," agreed Anny. "And we'll only get the rudiments of it here at the Academy. Assuming we make it through, we'll be looking at another year of training once we're done here before we even get assigned to an active unit. It's not going to be easy." The others nodded, but she hoped they realized what they were getting into. The assault regiments were elite troops. Not the super-elite, covert-ops sort of forces that ImpSec maintained, but the best regular infantry in Barrayar's military. Past militaries might have called them rangers or airborne or commandoes or marines. On Barrayar they were assault troops and they were tough, proud men with long traditions.

"I saw that there will be a substantial training cruise involved," said Patric. "Not like the little jaunt we had last year."

"No, it'll be much longer, maybe three or four months, probably this fall," said Anny. "And that means that we'll have to take our classroom assignments along with us and get them done on the cruise. No way we can miss that much class and still graduate."

"Oh joy", said Alby.

"Hey, you can still change your mind. Go into military accounting or something."

"Not a chance! Someone's gotta stick with you clowns and keep you out of trouble!"

They all laughed but then Anny checked the time. "Speaking of trouble, I have to go check on something."

"Mother-henning?" asked Jer.

"Yup, squared and cubed. See you later."

Anny trotted down the steps and out the door, humming to herself. She could still scarcely believe that the boys had done what they did. To follow her! And after the way she'd treated them last year! She was still kicking herself for having been so stupid. After her talk with Lord Vorkosigan she'd decided that she was too close to them, that she needed to put some distance between her and them. She'd told herself that it was for the good of the service, so that she'd be able to make the hard decision if the time ever came. But she realized now that she'd been lying to herself. She hadn't been doing it for the good of the service, but for her own good. To try and spare herself the pain of losing a dear friend. Well, she'd been wrong—doubly wrong. There would be no escaping the pain no matter what she did. And by even trying she'd nearly wrecked her company. Being an officer was about sacrifice and there was no way to avoid it. So, she'd do her duty and she'd keep her friends and be ready to pay whatever price that entailed. Lesson learned.

She reached the path leading to the cottage and smiled. The arrival of women at the Academy was not just upsetting traditions and procedures, it had set an ongoing challenge to the Physical Plant Department. The narrow gravel path had been replaced with a paved road, wide enough for vehicles. She followed this and at the edge of the woods she came to a gate in a high metal fence. The sentry at the gate was Cadet Jenna Lempic who came to attention when she saw Anny approaching.

"Morning, Cadet," said Anny.

"Good morning, sir."

"The baby chicks arrive?"

"Yes, sir. Cadet Burn just brought them back from the Quartermaster a few minutes ago."

"Good. How do they look?"

Lempic gave her a lopsided grin. "Young, sir. Incredibly young."

"Just like you did a year ago?"

"Maybe not quite that young, sir." Her smile grew broader and Anny laughed. She nodded to Lempic and passed through the gate. The road went a few hundred meters through the woods and then came to a clearing. The clearing was a lot larger than it used to be. The cottage where she'd lived for two years was still there but just beyond it was a new building, a new barracks.

Anny stopped and looked at it in satisfaction. This, more than anything else, was confirmation that the trail she had blazed was here to stay. For three years the Academy had scrambled to adapt to Anny's coming and then to the arrival of the Second Six (as they'd started calling themselves). They'd exiled Anny to the cottage and then they'd carved a space out of the boy's barracks to make room for her and the others. Make-shift improvisations at best. But the building that towered over the cottage was a real barracks. The Women's Barracks. Twenty-six women would be living there this year, but the place could accommodate three hundred if necessary. The mere fact that it had been built showed that someone believed that someday it might be necessary.

No turning back now.

She'd told Count Dono Vorrutyer that she hadn't come here to change Barrayaran society and that was true enough. But she had changed it. Without intending to she'd opened the door to the women of Komarr, Barrayar and Sergyar… and to Drou's granddaughters. Maybe someday to her own daughters. She'd caused an awful lot of trouble for an awful lot of people, but the Empire would be all the stronger for it in the end. She could take pride in that.

She passed by the cottage. It was unoccupied, but someday it might become the office of some female officer who was in charge of all female cadets at the Academy. The Commandant had explained that to her and it seemed like he was hinting that someday that officer might be her. Well, who knew? Maybe twenty years down the road she might be ready for a desk job. Not right now, though!

She came to the barracks and the palm lock let her through the door. For reasons she couldn't quite fathom, the girls had all been put on the top floor despite the huge building being nearly empty. Did they think the girls might find themselves under siege by a horde of horny cadets and need to dump boiling oil—or just cold water—on them from the upper windows? Probably. Despite everything she'd accomplished, Barrayaran men could still be terribly… Barrayaran.

As she neared the top of the steps she heard Abigail Vorburn's voice: "They didn't make it any easier because of us and they won't because of you. The only thing we can do is try to make sure they give you the same chance as they give the boys. But the rest is up to you! If you can't cut it, don't expect us to save you. We can't and we won't. It wouldn't be fair to the troops you'll be in command of someday."

Anny grinned and went through the door.