Chapter 13: Who's the Rat?
It has been three days since the departure from Earth. Life in space was a lot more interesting seeing it on a movie screen instead of real life. The past two days had been more of a relaxation period for everyone aboard the Slipknot and Vindicator than days of training.
The only people that were training were the ones that didn't need an instructor to guide them due to an absence of every high-ranking officer. According to some people aboard the Slipknot, they saw a large group of officers head up to the briefing room about sixty-three hours ago, close to three days, and they hadn't left yet.
Rumors floated around the two ships saying things like they were coming up with a way to surrender without casualties, or they found the mole and are torturing him to get intel. Ryder didn't care for any of the rumors. He figured that they were just thinking of a strategy of what to do next.
Unless he was sleeping in his room or eating in the diner, Ryder was constantly in the library reading his new books on lightsaber forms. He thought that he should just read them in numeric order, so he began with "Form Two: Makashi."
He had already finished reading the whole book from cover to cover; it wasn't very long. Ryder flipped back to the opening page to review the basic principles of this form.
The opening line of the book was a quote that summed the form up well. "Makashi is a technique that helps the user resist the Force attacks of an enemy, and is also excellent for lightsaber combat. It does more damage, but it leaves you vulnerable to other attacks. Use it against others wielding the Force or lightsabers, but not against anyone else." This quote came from a Jedi named, Kreia.
The book further said that the form served as a counter to Form One by relying on precision swords play to counter Form One's sweeping movements. Ryder made a mental note of that. The more he studied the movements and steps of Makashi, the more he felt as if it was an art form the way the user had to keep balance while parrying and maintain footwork. The only downside to this form was the lack of momentum. Since Makashi focused on precision using jabs, parries, and light cuts, it prevented the user's ability to generate momentum in both offensive and defensive maneuvers.
Ryder felt his stomach growl, telling him that it about time to eat. He looked down at his watch and realized that it was two hours past the designated lunch time, and hopefully, the serving droids hadn't cleaned up the food yet. He closed the book and put it in his backpack that had the other two books in it as well. The Form Four book was a bit thicker than the Form Two book, and the Form Five book was even larger than the Form Four book.
After he zipped up his bag, he ran straight to the dining hall. He ran down the hallway and took a quick right where a sign that read, 'Cafeteria – This Way' hung from the ceiling. The dining hall's double doors were the only doors on the right side because of how large the room was on the inside. He busted through the double doors looking around for something to eat. The only thing he saw were droids cleaning the tables, so he went into the kitchen area hoping that they would have some leftovers.
"Hey, do y'all have any more food. I got side tracked and missed the normal lunch time," he told one of the droids.
The droid didn't stop staring at him as if Ryder just ruined his day. The droid finally turned around and made his way to a heating box.
"Stupid Jedi can use Force powers, but they can't keep track of time. What good are magic abilities when you don't even know what time it is," questioned the robot in a sassy manner?
It opened the door and pulled out a plate that was loaded with mac 'n cheese, lima beans, and a Cheeseburger with lettuce, a slice of tomato, and two strips of bacon. Ryder's eyes lit up as he saw the robot head towards him with that hot plate. This was by far the highlight of space so far. Three of his favorite foods all in one meal.
Ryder reached out and grabbed the plate disregarding how hot it was and yelled, "Thank you!" as he scurried to one of the tables. Ryder could sense the robot rolling his eyes, that is, if it had any.
He sat down and took the saran wrap off the plate and began chowing down on the delicious food. As he was eating, he noticed how dead this whole ship was. The only thing that was going on was the constant work in the mechanic shop and a few classes that were still going on for the people that weren't very skilled with their power yet.
Ryder missed having his friends around. He missed Nero and Ziggy the most, but he knew that they wouldn't be able to come over to this ship until the officers finished using the shuttle. He wondered what they were doing over there. If they were training, just having fun, or even relaxing to keep their minds stress free.
The majority of the soldiers were on the Vindicator because that was the ship that everyone got on when they left Earth. The only people that were on the Slipknot were the mechanics the President brought from the shipyard in Detroit and the novice soldiers that didn't have enough knowledge or experience in the power to fight Khilor's army that invaded.
Ryder finished his burger and began thinking about his Force abilities. 'I haven't honed my Force abilities in a long time,' thought Ryder.
He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind. He opened it to the flow of the Force. Ryder heard the racket of hammers hitting nails, welding torches burning through steel, and droids whistling back and forth to one another. He heard the creaks in the ship that showed its age and experience in space battles. He listened closer as he could barely hear a group of people speaking. Ryder listened closer and noticed that what he was hearing was the meeting between the high-ranked officials.
He heard someone say, "Okay, did we miss anyone on the list?"
A reply came quickly as he heard a familiar voice say, "No, sir. I've checked the list twice. Making sure we didn't forget anyone."
Suddenly, the voices stopped.
Ryder concentrated harder to see if they had begun to whisper or what was happening. That's when he heard a voice in his head. It had a weird accent that was recognizable by the first word.
"You better stop listening to this meeting. You can get into serious trouble if others knew what you were doing. The meeting will be over soon, so please just stay out of it." The voice stopped. He knew it was Doctor Rogers reading his mind. He must've been able to tell that someone was using a power to listen in on them. They sure do seem very cautious right now, but damn, I don't blame them at all.
Directing his thought to Doctor Rogers he said in his head, "Yes, sir. Sorry about that. I didn't realize it was y'all until you said something."
That was the end of their conversation.
Ryder opened his eyes and what he saw nearly made him jump out of his seat. Katie was sitting on the other end of the table just staring at him as if he just asked the most stupid question ever. Ryder was surprised that she even snuck up on him while he was listening to just about everything through the Force.
"I'm assuming that you were just using the Force," she said. She continued before Ryder could say anything, "You know, you make some strange faces while doing that. Whatever it was." She carved away part of an apple's skin and took a bite out of it.
"How long have you been here?" asked Ryder.
"Long enough to get a full series of strange facial expressions," she said with a laugh.
"Well, those were because Doctor Rogers just caught me trying to listen to their meeting up in the briefing room," said Ryder as he ate a fork-full of mac 'n cheese.
Katie perked up when Ryder mentioned the three-day long meeting that was happening up in the briefing room. "So, are you going to tell me what they said?" asked Katie.
Ryder looked around to see if anyone was nearby. "Don't worry, I won't tell a soul," she said as she raised her pinky with smirk.
Ryder raised his pinky and finished the pinky promise with her. "Okay, I heard someone say, 'Did we miss anyone on the list?' Then someone else responded saying, 'No, sir. I've checked the list twice. Making sure we didn't forget anyone.' Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure the second voice was Jerry. It sounded a lot like him."
Katie made a disappointed face and said, "But what about that list? What's it for?"
She was right. Ryder hadn't even thought about what that list could be. "I'm not sure," he said and then continued, "It could really be anything."
Ryder ate some more mac 'n cheese and even offered Katie some, but she turned it down. "No worries, that's more for me," he said.
Ryder was about to stand up and put his plate at the dishwasher window, but the intercom sounded. It started with a screeching sound. Ryder looked at Katie and said, "I think this is it."
"Can I have your attention please. Everyone, please pay attention."
There was no doubt in Ryder's mind that this was Mrs. Janice, the intercom queen.
"This takes priority over anything else right now. Just so everyone knows, this message is being transmitted to both the Slipknot and the Vindicator. This message also pertains to the long meeting that President and his board have been having. Here is, President Reed." A quick shuffle of the microphone was heard through the speakers.
"Hello, everyone. President Reed here. Three days ago, we were ambushed at our own academy. Our home. A location that only we knew about. We are sure that the target of this ambush was the holocron that one of our teams had retrieved from an ISIS convoy earlier that week." He paused and swallowed a sip of water. "Along with the destruction of our academy, the army's numbers have dwindled significantly. We had one-thousand, four-hundred and forty-eight students, but now we are reduced to only six hundred and twenty-one. The eight-hundred and twenty-seven friends and students abandoned us and left with the enemy. However, due to the attack, everyone left here, is officially a soldier for the United States of America. No matter our skill level, we will All, including myself, fight for the country we lost. Since our number have dropped significantly, we can no longer try and beat ISIS with numbers. I'm sorry for all of this. We MUST beat them through strategy and skill. In our meeting, we decided to let soldiers, with a rank of "B" and above, research and read anything that we retrieved from our archives. We used the ninja ranking scale to determine your rating, and from bottom to top, the rankings go as follows: 'D' rank for Genin, the 'C' rank for Chuunin, the 'B' rank for Jounin, the 'A' rank for Anbu, the 'S' rank for Kage, and finally the 'SS' rank for Beyond Kage. There will be no limits on what you will be able read. All we ask is that you use this opportunity wisely and do not take it for granted. If you do not qualify as a B-rank soldier, do not worry. With practice and the honing of your skills, you will be able to reach it in no time. Don't get me wrong, this will not be an easy journey for those who are under a B-rank, but the reward is well worth it. The job of those learning from the archive is to teach what they've learned to others as well as mastering it themselves. Now, listen up. We are going to begin reading off the names who have qualified, starting with the highest rank."
Ryder gave Katie a nervous look because he hadn't really shown anything impressive besides winning a battle royale full of rookie recruits.
"Due to the size of the archive room, we will only be able to admit a certain amount of soldiers into the archive at a time. Now, to begin. First, we will start with the S-rank soldiers. Starting off we have, General Hall, Doctor Rogers, Sensei Rodan, and Jerry. Now, for the A-ranked soldiers: Zakee, Jackson, Taylor, Sarah, Clayton, Murdoch, Ridley, Pierce, etc…"
President Reed must've named off at least twenty people in the A-rank classification, but Ryder never hear his name called. He expected this. "Next are the B-rank soldiers. Starting them off is: Nero Slosslane, Bryce Garcia, Tucker Houston, Guy Lightfoot, Katie Harrison…" Katie was nodding her head in excitement. She was ready to see if there were any tips when it came to repairing ships quicker and many other ship related topics.
The speaker continued, "Drex, Daisey Toller, Zolzo, Radak, and Ledru. Everyone else can look on the board posted outside of each dining hall to check out their personal ranking. However, there is an exception to the rule for those that have proven themselves in other ways besides combat. We have acknowledged their efforts in what they did in other fields as well as their own potential with their power. These two soldiers will have access to the archives as well." President Reed paused to drink some water.
Across the table, Ryder could see Katie crossing her index and middle finger on both hands. Ryder joked at her saying, "You know, crossing fingers on both hands is bad luck."
All she said was, "Oh well. Looks like you aren't one of the exceptions then." Ryder laughed as President Reed started up again. The two C-rank soldiers that qualify are: Dirath and Ryder. Everyone who's name was just called, please meet in the dining hall in the ship that you are currently on. We will have the commanding officers of both ships debrief y'all on the rules of the archive. To the soldiers that did not qualify, continue to learn from your teachers and train. Also, please don't be afraid to ask the other soldiers to help you with your training. Don't forget, all qualifying soldiers meet in the dining hall immediately. That is all, thank you." The intercom went silent.
"Bad luck my ass," said Katie, finishing her apple.
Ryder got up and walked over the dish washing window and sat his plate and silverware on the counter. Walking back to his seat he said, "However, I do blame you for everyone meeting in this room."
She replied saying, "That doesn't make any sense. This means we don't have to go anywhere, so no work for us!"
Ryder couldn't argue with that, so he nodded in agreement. Katie was fun to hang around, Ryder began to think. And, she isn't that bad looking either.
The doors began to open and in came a group of a little less than ten soldiers. Katie moved to the seat that was right next to Ryder to get a good view of the presentation. She leaned over and whispered to Ryder, "Do you think that these are all that qualified on this ship? Only seven?"
Ryder nodded and said, "Yeah. A lot of the soldiers that qualified are fighters, and they are on the other ship. I bet their Dining Hall is packed full of people. How many people did he call out?"
Katie began to think back and said, "It had to be around sixty or so. It wasn't too many because everyone has to be able to fit in the archives."
The soldiers came in and found a seat. The doors opened again and in came President Reed, Doctor Rogers, and Jerry. There was an open seat next to Ryder, so he signaled Jerry to come sit by him.
When Jerry sat down and greeted Ryder and introduced himself to Katie. Ryder could notice the dark bags under Jerry's eyes from the lack of sleep while they were compiling this list.
"Holy shit," said Ryder. "How much sleep have you gotten since we've come aboard?" Jerry pointed to the President who was about to begin as he said, "Not much, my man."
The President stepped forward and started off the debriefing meeting. "First off, I'd like to say thank you for your service thus far. It has been a hard week. We've lost friends in battle and through betrayal. However, we are not going to cower in the face of adversity. If you really care about your friends that are now a part of ISIS, then do anything and everything that you are capable of to get them back. This is a main reason why we have started this. So that we will be strong enough when the time comes for us to take back who we love and the land we love."
The President began flipping through a notebook that he had walked in with. "There are some rules and guidelines that you must follow to keep your archive entry status. Rule number one: under no circumstance are you to take any artifact or text off any of these two ships. That means no taking them on missions. This is for the safety and protection of the artifact and yourself. Rule number two: along with being able to learn the knowledge held in the archives, you must be willing to teach the others in what they are currently learning and when the time comes, about what you have learned as well. The third and final rule: LEARN ALL that you can. If you have any interests what so ever, search for it within the archives. Hopefully we will have what you desire, but if not someone else might now what you want. When you leave, Doctor Rogers will get your hand print and do an eye scan. That is how you will be able to get into the archives. Any questions?" President Reed looked at the small group and saw that no-one raised their hand. He concluded with, "Alright, you are all dismissed once you get your hand and eye scanned."
All ten of the soldiers stood up and formed a line behind Jerry who was getting his eye and hand scanned. Ryder was third in line, after Katie.
President Reed walked over to Ryder and tapped him on the shoulder and said, "I'd like to speak to you once you get your hand and eye scanned."
Ryder straightened up and said, "Yes, sir. Do you mind if I ask what for?" He was a little nervous that he was about to get in trouble for listening in on their meeting about an hour ago.
"It pertains to your abilities," said President Reed in a serious tone.
"Next!" yelled Doctor Rogers before he pulled Ryder up to the scanning machine. "Place your hand on the flat scanner and your head into this frame."
The frame was a single bar attached to an adjustable microphone stand so that the height didn't matter. Beneath this bar was an orange pocket that you had to line your eye up with. It resembled glasses in an odd way, only with one lens though. Ryder placed his hand on the scanner while he leaned into the frame and lined his eye up with the orange pocket.
While staying still, he asked Doctor Rogers, "Does the President know about me hearing a bit of the meeting?"
Doctor Rogers leaned down and whispered to Ryder, "He does not, but in return for my secrecy, I will need you to do a favor for me."
That sentence sent a shiver down his spine. Ryder felt like he was talking to the devil himself now. Ryder spoke again, "Just to get the record straight. I didn't purposefully try and listen into the meeting. Right when I heard what y'all said, you took over my thou—."
Ryder was cut off by Doctor Rogers as he said, "I believe you, but with your track record of how fast you've picked up Jedi techniques, some people are suspicious of where your loyalty lies. It would be troublesome if they got a hold of what I know."
Ryder, knowing the scanning was complete, looked up at the doctor and said, "Okay. I accept the terms. Call me when you need me."
Doctor Rogers smile, pushed Ryder towards the President and yelled, "Next!" for the next qualifier.
Ryder walked over to President Reed and said, "Yes, sir?"
The President turned and said, "Ah, Ryder. Yes. Walk with me for a moment."
The two exited the Dining Hall and walked past Jerry, Katie, and few other people who were talking about the archive, but stopped when Ryder walked by with the President by his side.
"The reason I wanted to talk to you, is because that you are the only Jedi we have that has been able to open a holocron." Ryder's face went back with shock because of the random topic.
"When we heard you say that you opened the holocron that called out to you, we were all shocked. Master Jedi such as our own Jocasta Nu, Daisey Toller, and General Lance, the head master of our academy in Greenland, have not been able to open them. Throughout our meeting, my cabinet and I discussed this and couldn't come up with an answer. That's when it dawned on Doctor Roger. He was the only one that remembered that you had three symbols appear when you received your powers from our Roxy. However, you have only been a part of our academy for two months. Granted, since the beginning, you have picked up things quickly, but two months is an incredibly short period to have two lightsaber forms mastered as well as having another lightsaber form molded into your two mastered forms unknowingly. A lot of this is just hard to understand from our perspective. Can you shine any light on it?"
Ryder took a second to go over what the President said and to gather his own thoughts. "I honestly can't say why I have been able to pick up on these things at a fast pace. Whenever I see the lightsaber forms in the book, my body just seems to know the basics of them without practicing for a long time. I know this is suspicious," said Ryder. "But, trust me. I am not a traitor to this country. I served in combat for two years and even agreed to serve in this program to save the ones I love the most."
President Reed took a deep breath then exhaled. "That's exactly part of the problem, Ryder. We have records of you being in the army, sending in your application two years ago, and even sustaining a head injury while in Pakistan, but there isn't a single photo or video that includes you out there with the platoon that's reported on your file. When we asked the officers in charge and other soldiers about you, they all said that you were a brave combatant that would do about anything for them. They even gave us stories about you and your friend, Nero rushing into war zones, leading the other troops as y'all took out camp after camp. However, where your application is in our database. It's marked as reviewed, not admitted. You can see why we are skeptical, can't you? The lack of physical evidence and the issue with your application have a lot of officers questioning who you really are."
Ryder didn't say anything. He couldn't find the right words to say at that moment. "Originally, I wanted you to open the holocrons in front of me and a few cabinet members, so that we will all know what knowledge is contained in our other two. But, with these problems, people don't think that you should be present when they are opened. Now, I do believe you. It's just hard to for others to trust you as much as I do because if you were the enemy, I have no doubt in my mind that we would have never made it off Earth, but we did."
Ryder was thinking of a way to prove that he was telling the truth. Who would be able to look inside my mind that they trust enough and tell them that I'm not lying. Ryder felt dumb for not suggesting this earlier. Ryder spoke out saying, "Why don't y'all sedate me, and let Doctor Rogers go as deep into my mind as he wants. That way you all will get the truth from someone that every officer here trusts. If there is anything y'all want to know, just tell him, so that he can find the answer." Ryder thought this was a good plan to prove his innocence, and he didn't see why it wouldn't work.
President Reed smiled and nodded in agreement. "I like that plan as well," stated the President. "General Hall and Rodan, Doctor Rogers, and I came up with this plan as well, but for your sake, we wanted to you to come up with it as well to help you in your case." A silent pause crept into the conversation.
"When will this happen?" asked Ryder.
"I cannot disclose with you the time or place of this procedure due to implications of you possibly altering your memory for a specific location or time. Doctor Rogers will use his telepathy to communicate when the time is right. However, with this case against your credibility and loyalty in play, I cannot allow you to enter the archives until everything is cleared," finished President Reed.
"That's fine. I already have some books to read anyways," said Ryder holding up the three lightsaber form books.
President Reed smiled in amusement and said, "Make sure you get some rest tonight, and try to keep your mind clear, so that the procedure doesn't take a long time."
Ryder nodded and said, "Yes, sir."
The President gave a final nod and walked back towards the Dining Hall, passed it and got on the elevator. Ryder leaned against the wall and slid down to the ground.
'Why is this happening to me instead of someone that's legitimate suspect,' he thought?
Around a corner about fifteen yards away, stood Danny Granger. His hands were cupping his ears, so that he would be able to hear every single word. Danny had the power to heighten only one of his senses at a time, and for the past ten minutes, his ears could pick up anything in that hallway that he focused on. He had heard every single word said between President Reed and Ryder. He snickered and slowly walked back down his hallway and into his room.
Ryder stood up and began to walk towards the elevator. He needed to clear his mind, and the only thing that would do that would be practicing his lightsaber forms.
He got in the elevator with three other people. Two guys and one girl. He pressed the button that read "Five," and the others pressed the eleventh-floor button.
During the ride down the elevator, the three other students kept glancing at Ryder and moving away from him. 'What's wrong with these people,' he thought? He just kept looking forward and waited for them to get off.
When the elevator reached their floor, the doors opened, and they began to walk off into the hallway. Just before the doors fully closed, one of the guys said, "Traitor" masked with a cough just loud enough so that Ryder could hear it.
This made Ryder mad. Why did other students think this now? He didn't do anything about it because he knew that it would make things worse. He was ready to get this examination over with.
The doors opened up on the fifth floor, and no one was in the proxy, training room. Ryder liked being able to practice without anyone watching him. It made him feel like he could try new things without others assuming that he previous training with ISIS or that he's a traitor.
Ryder walked over to his locker and put on his training clothes. He had khaki colored Jedi pants, a brown training robe, and brown leather boots.
He used the Force to turn on a proxy, and it said, "Good afternoon, Jedi Knight Ryder. Accessing files titled, Ryder Jace." It took a few moments for the proxy to bring up his training files.
"What mode would you like to train with?"
Ryder gave a quick response and said, "Activate Djem So Training Module Number Three."
The proxy stood still and said, "Djem So Training Module Three is Force locked. Please insert key."
Ryder closed his eyes, and using the Force, he reached inside the proxy and began to lift five pads that were pressure sealed within five different cylinders. At first, they didn't move at all, and Ryder knew this. Only someone strong in the Force can lift the activation pads due to the extreme pressure pushing down on them. He felt anger build within him.
'How did that guy know about my case so soon after my conversation with the President,' he thought? 'How many people knew about it?' These thoughts only built up Ryder's anger, so he decided to use it to help him lift the pads.
Focusing on his anger, he used the Force to shove the pads up. Little by little, the pads began to rise quicker and quicker. A click came when all five pads hit the top of the cylinders.
The proxy took a few steps back and said, "Key accepted. Now beginning Djem So Training Module Number Three." The proxy's image slowly faded away and transformed into the image of Anakin Skywalker via hologram. Without saying a word, the hologram of Anakin, the Chosen-One, assumed his battle stance.
A confident, male voice took over the proxy's robotic, monotonous voice. As he was getting ready to lung towards Ryder, it said, "Don't underestimate me." His piercing orange and red eyes sharpened into a deadly glare.
He jumped towards Ryder with such speed all he saw was a blur with a blue light coming closer and closer. Anakin swung his blue lightsaber down onto Ryder's training lightsaber, but the training lightsaber was no match against Anakin Skywalker and his lightsaber.
Thanks for reading! If you have any tips or suggestions feel free to leave a comment or message me!
~Aldon
