James stretched his quads while the last cadets filed out of the building and said, "Rizavi, roll call."

Nadia stood and called out loud, "Cadets, sound off!"

James caught a glimpse of the cadets quickly form into their groups and come to attention. Ryan finished stretching and folded his arms. James stood beside him with a cocked hip and asked, "You sure about this?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Ryan, you were shot in the leg less than three days ago. You shouldn't be standing, let alone running."

Kinkaid furrowed his brows and pursed his lips. "I'm fine, Griffin. The bandage came off yesterday and there's hardly a scar. The only way to recovery is pushing through the injury."

James put a hand on Kinkaid's arm before he could walk away. "I'm not asking as your superior, Ryan."

Ryan sighed and glanced sideways. "I know, James, but they need this. I need this. Discipline is all we have now."

James looked at the cadets. Most of the seventh and eighth graders had red rimmed tired eyes, the surest sign of extensive crying. The high schoolers didn't look much better. James patted Ryan on the back and nodded. Ryan nodded in return and they went to the front of the cadets together.

Ryan shouted, "Atten-tion!"

The cadets quickly saluted. James announced, "At ease, cadets. It is now 0900 hours. Our day should have begun two hours ago. Time to stop slacking off. Middle schoolers report to Officer Veronica, freshmen to Cadets Holt and Kinkaid, Sophomores to Cadets Garrette and Leifsdottir, and Juniors with Cadet Rizavi and myself. Meet here at 1400 hours. Dismissed."

Rizavi sidled up to him and said conspiratorially, "You're favoring him despite how he feels?"

James folded his arms determined not to let her change his mind. "Ryan needs to take it easy. Whatever he says, I know the pain still gets to him."

She rocked on her feet. "You're right, but he's probably not going to tell you it bothers him that you put him with the freshmen. You will need to apologize later."

James groaned in response. The juniors circled up in front of him and Nadia and he straightened up with his hands folded behind his back. "Let's start off easy. Twenty laps around the school." He expected to hear complaints, but the juniors just formed long rows. James paced to the other end and called, "Rizavi, set the pace. Look alive, cadets."

She took a few trotting steps like an acrobat starting their routine before settling into a steady jog. She ran at the front left of the group and James took the back right closest to the high walls their enemy's sentinels had erected to contain them. On the tenth lap, James noticed faces at the windows of the school.

He'd been surprised just how many people were being held here. This school had taught close to fifteen hundred kids before the invasion, but he estimated nearly five thousand had been placed here by the aliens. It made him wonder if there were any other schools in the area being used the same way. Thousands of kids taken from their families and they didn't have the benefit of training at the garrison.

They passed the sophomores and freshmen who were now conditioning with their respective seniors. On lap fifteen, Nadia increased the pace from a jog to a full on run with a last push to sprint their fastest the last half lap. When they jogged to a halt, Griffin tried his best to hide his heavy breathing while Nadia seemed almost refreshed. The juniors caught their breath and stretched while they could. Then Griffin called, "Drop and give me ninety, cadets. Sarez, count off."

Sarez, a buff girl from the country, started counting push ups. When they had a steady rhythm, James and Nadia started doing push ups of their own. They kept pace, soon passing the juniors. They stopped at one twenty. Now that they were back into it, James was relaxing. Ryan was right. They did need this.

They continued drilling for three more hours before rejoining the rest of the cadets in the back parking lot. It wasn't much, but they were all sweaty and distracted. Some were even smiling. Success. James signaled his team to fall in behind him and called, "Good work today. Tomorrow, we start at 0700 hours. Head to the cantine and take a well deserved break. You're dismissed."

The cadets broke apart and went back inside. Siblings from different classes reunited and James even heard laughter. He smiled and his chest swelled with pride. Veronica sauntered over and threw an arm around Nadia's shoulders. "Good work, Griffin."

"It wasn't my idea."

Ina insisted, "You still organized it."

Veronica guided Nadia toward the school and they all followed. She doubled down on her statement. "You gave them stability, James. The aliens haven't done anything since we were put here. If this lull continues, the kids will adjust as well as can be expected."

"What were you doing out there?"

James and his team turned to look at a group of individuals closer to Veronica's age than his. They wore casual street clothes in stark contrast to their garrison uniforms. Not only were they college aged, they appeared to be jocks. Their leader was a man over six feet tall with cropped brown hair and a broad chest. He crossed his rippling arms and glared down at Veronica.

James stepped up beside her and answered, "Training."

The man puffed up and said, "I wasn't talking to you, pipsqueak."

Kinkaid and Rizavi fell in beside him, but Veronica rolled her eyes. "Let's go, guys. The admiral is waiting."

James cracked his neck and took the lead. The jock called after them, "When you're tired of the kids, come find us."

James hid a smirk as Veronica flipped them the bird. "Real mature, V."

"Don't tell Iverson," Veronica joked with a wink.

They found Iverson and Sanda in the front office. A group of twenty older adults was crowded around the reception desk. The senior class stood at the back against the wall until Sanda was done speaking. From what they'd been able to gather intelligence wise, the aliens had taken every human male between the ages of twenty five and sixty and every female between twenty eight and fifty five to work camps. It seemed a mistake had been made in Iverson's case. He was the youngest of the elders by nearly twenty years. If what the alien had told them was true, the adults were supposed to take care of the rest, making them some kind of renewable work force.

When the elders left the office, Iverson gestured them closer with a nod of his head. Veronica asked, "What's our status?"

Sanda leaned on the table. "Not good. We have minimal rations of our own food. Apparently, the first prisoners arrived just hours after the attack. There was a lot of disorder at first. Little coordination was had and a lot of resources were lost. The only luck we have is that the invasion happened during the school year so the school was well stocked prior."

"Even still, we should find a way to scout out the surrounding zones. I asked the librarian to find any schematics that might be in the library. She found some old maps. They will give us a good start. Garrette, were you able to reroute utilities?" Iverson asked.

Hunk shrugged. "Water was easy. The building has it's own well since it was originally built beyond city limits. Electricity is harder. The generator took a nasty hit. I'd probably be able to get it up and running with parts, but there's still the problem of fuel. If Pidge can figure out how the aliens harness their energy, I could probably create a workaround."

"Right. Good work. Katie, how's your end coming?" Sanda asked.

Pidge scrunched up her face in thought. "I have the same problem Hunk does. There's just not much to work with here. I've made a crude radio from the parts I scavenged off the sentries before we left the garrison, but it only links to the robots. It'll give us a heads up if they receive orders, nothing more."

Ryan pointed to a spot on the map. "This is the east district shopping center. If we can get there, we'd have access to resources and tools."

Ina looked at the ceiling. "Perhaps we risk an excursion?"

Iverson said, "It's risky, but it might be worth it."

Sanda shook her head. "Not yet. We need more Intel. Holt, I have a key to the workshop instructor's office. See what you can find there. Strip wires from the building if you have to. Garrette, help her out any way you can. Griffin, arrange a rotation to keep eyes on the walls at all times. Kinkaid, Leifsdottir, let's see if we can find a safe route to that mall. Rizavi and McClain, spread out and learn what you can."

"Sir," they all said as one and left to follow their orders.

James went to the cafeteria to find the cadets. The halls were crowded. His fellow prisoners were a mix of small kids clinging to young parents and adolescents ranging from grade-school to college. Everyone was trying to stay calm. Two weeks had passed since the initial attack and it showed in everyone's faces. Morale was low.

It was refreshing to actually enter the cafeteria and see the cadets were still smiling. A group off to the side had joined a bunch of strangers in a game of hacky sack. A couple juniors were up on a table as a makeshift stage in front of fifty gradeschoolers. James joined a line of twenty-something moms and dads to listen in.

"... and even though we were all scared, our leader made sure we were safe. He challenged the aliens, the galra, at every chance. They called him the alpha. We called him Keith. He was fearless."

The second junior lifted a bag of food goo. "Keith put his life before everyone else. The galra doctor came to see us and told us to eat their strange food. Without hesitating, Keith took the weird food in his bare hands," the junior mimicked the hero of the story, "and ate it!"

The kids squealed as the junior shoved the goo in his mouth. The other junior held out a finger and the kids all grew quiet. "We feared he would die." The junior who had eaten the goo fell to their knees dramatically and grabbed their throat. The kids all gasped or shouted in alarm. The narrator went on, "It was an odd experience, but he lived! Keith, the bravest of us all, risked death by goo and triumphed. So remember, if he could eat the goo, you can too."

The kids all clapped as the juniors on the table bowed. The other juniors went into the group of kids and handed out rations. James smirked at the cleverness of their story. One of the mothers next to him whispered to the woman beside her, "Should we stop them?"

James answered, "Nah, it's harmless. They'll have to get used to it anyway. Until the admiral finds a way to make this school self sustainable, we're at the mercy of our galra overlords."

The parents all turned to look at him. The woman who had whispered asked, "You're one of those garrison students? So what they're telling them is true?"

James lifted his chin. "Every last detail. Keith was one of my best friends and maybe the most accomplished student to ever graduate from the Galaxy Garrison. He never quits."

"So... where is he now?" a man asked.

"Our strongest fighters were taken into space." James looked over and made eye contact with the man. "Keith was chosen by the galra. He and my other classmate, Lance, are probably causing hell for them." He looked away and smirked. "I can't even imagine Keith or Lance giving up. So neither can we."

He pushed off of the wall and walked to the table. The juniors on top crouched and sat on the edge. Before James could bring up the topic of a scout rotation, one little girl raised her hand and shouted, "Will you tell us about the great escape again!"

"And how you killed the galra aliens!"

The kids began cheering in excitement and the juniors smiled nervously. James raised an eyebrow and held his hands over the kids. "I know you're all interested in our adventures, but I need to talk to my classmates for a bit." He put two fingers to his mouth and whistled. The kids playing hackey sack stopped and came over. "Why don't you all go outside to play on the playground? Freshmen, keep an eye on them."

"Sir."

James watched the kids follow the freshmen. More than a few reached to hold hands. The parents briefly considered before following them out. James sighed and sat on the table. He should have grabbed a notebook.

A couple days later, James was laying on the roof of the building's east side. He could just see over the wall to the ruins of the city beyond. To the west lay desert, mountains to the north. The sun had set hours ago and the brick was no longer warm. He'd set up a twenty four hour watch so the seniors and juniors were spread out to take the night hours. He pulled his jacket closer around his shoulders and rubbed his hands together.

"Cold?" James looked up as Ina spoke behind his shoulder. He shook his head to hide his chattering teeth. She waved him over to the corner and said, "Sit with me. We can watch both sides from there."

He dragged his feet to where she went mostly because his toes were frozen in his boots. When he sat beside her, she wrapped her blanket around them both and reached for his hand. "Brr. See, you are cold. Here." She took both his hands and shoved them between her thighs.

James blushed and stammered, "Uh... Leif, what're you doing?"

She lifted wide innocent eyes to his in the dark. He could see the crescent moon reflected in her irises. Ina asked, "Is it not warm?"

"No! It's, uh, plenty warm. But, isn't it... an odd place to put your hands?"

Ina smiled. "We girls know the benefits of warm thighs, James. Don't guys do this?"

James felt his ears heat up despite the cold and looked away muttering, "No. No we don't." Quicker than he expected, his hands were practically sweating. He asked, "Can I have my hands back?"

Ina made a small noise in surprise and relaxed her legs. James smiled to himself. She was so cute. He reached for her hand and tucked his feet under the blanket. She didn't pull out of his hold. They sat quietly for a time viewing the wall lit with purple light from the robots pacing their routes.

"I don't think I've ever seen so many stars."

"Hmm?" James looked at her. She was gazing at the sky. He lazily pointed out, "We always see stars like this when we do the fall and spring desert trek."

Ina shook her head thoughtfully. With a small sad smile, she replied, "No we didn't. No matter where you go, there will always be light pollution. The cities hide the stars... but now the cities are silent and dark. Humanity is no longer veiling the depths of space. We are forced to look beyond our finite existence and come to terms with how minuscule our imprint truly is." She turned to look at him and shed a single tear. "James, what if... what if we really don't mean anything? The stars, the galra, the earth... our entire biological fingerprint could be removed and the universe would continue on."

James swallowed and his throat locked up. She was in one of her mindsets. He reached out and cupped her cheek. Wiping away her tear with a thumb, he asked, "Do you trust me, Ina?" After a moment, she nodded and looked down. James pulled her toward him and kissed her forehead then hugged her to his side. "We aren't meaningless, Leif. Trust me. We were put here for great things. The galra said they've been ruling for ten thousand years. How old is earth, Ina?"

Her tone became calculating as she answered, "No one really knows, but the general consensus is ten thousand years."

"Exactly," James said with a sense of triumph. He grinned and said, "I don't know how life started here, but if it were to spite the galra, I'd gladly accept the chance to be a thorn in their side. Wouldn't you?"

Ina sighed and leaned more into him. "Thank you, James. You always know what to say to help me."

"Just returning the favor, Leif." He settled against the aluminum vent to support her and they waited to watch the sun rise.

Can I please get a review? Is this story good? Do you like the direction? Is it dark enough for ya?!