The alarm sounded on Jim's bedside table. He rolled over, for once wishing he had a reason to be delayed in silencing the irritating sound. His head hit the pillow again with a heavy sigh. No reason to linger in bed this morning, either.
His alarm was still ringing.
Jim swatted the top of his alarm again. The ringing continued. Jim sat up and reached past his alarm to grab the second alarm clock that had materialized on his table. "Very funny, Morph."
His mischievous shapeshifter trilled happily as he shifted back into his usual globular form. Morph wove his way through Jim's fingers, cooing softly.
Jim pulled him in for a quick snuggle. "I love you too, buddy."
Morph spun himself around, zipping into the shape of a frying pan and eggs. He flipped his egg self in his pan self, a realistic sizzling sound emanating from somewhere inside his floating bits.
Jim laughed. "Fine, fine. Breakfast. Let me get dressed."
"Get dressed, get dressed!" Morph, once again himself, zipped around the room.
Jim rolled out of bed and gathered his uniform. He was in his pants and shirt and just beginning to button up his jacket when it hit him. This was his last day of classes. Tomorrow he was leaving.
Jim sat down heavily on his bed.
Morph stopped his erratic flight and drifted over to hover beside Jim's head. He trilled in concern before settling on Jim's shoulder. Jim reached up to absently stroke his pet, his mind still on the future. It almost didn't feel real.
Jim reluctantly stood up again. He picked Morph up and set him gently on his pillow. "Stay here. I'll bring you breakfast before class."
Swiftly he buttoned up his jacket, pulled on his boots, and grabbed his badge before heading out the door. Around him, other young cadets headed through the halls towards the mess hall. Conversation flowed as steadily as the young men. Did any of them know that he was leaving tomorrow? Unlikely. None of Jim's friends were the type to spread that around, and Mellow didn't seem like he had anyone to talk to.
Jim needed to talk to them, though. He had to figure out what he was going to do about Morph. Bring him with on the trip? That was a risky move, both for Morph and for the mission.
Leave him with one of his friends? Braxton or Varian, maybe? But that also came with it's own dangers.
He couldn't ship the shapeshifter back to his mother. There was no way to ensure Morph would be delivered safely, and he was pretty sure there were several intergalactic regulations preventing living creatures from being transported between planets using the governmental mailing system. Especially ones in different solar systems. And for sure it wasn't legal to send between galaxies.
Mrs. Parr seemed fairly sympathetic. Maybe if he went to her and explained the situation, she'd be willing to watch his pet? Or maybe he could talk her into letting Dash and Violet be in charge of Morph. He'd be able to bring Morph home once he completed his mission and was released for summer break, as he'd planned.
Would his mission take all summer?
Jim didn't even know what it was he was expected to do yet. This could be a month long mission or a year long mission. He had no idea. The details he had access to were not very, well, detailed.
"Hey Jim." Aladdin peeled off from a wall and fell into step beside him. "Look, I can't hang around for long, but I promised I'd talk to you. Are you doing okay?"
"Honestly?" Jim sighed. "No. My life has completely fallen apart, and I don't know how to fix it."
"You need anything?"
"Got a way to get me out of this mission?" Jim answered more sarcastically than he meant to.
Aladdin gave him a sad smile. "Unfortunately, I can't really do anything myself. As far as I know, once the Admiral makes up his mind, no one can change it. Speaking of Sy, I promised him I'd give you a message."
"You did?" Jim's heart soared. This was it. This was Sy reaching out. He was ready to latch on.
Aladdin nodded. "He said to tell you that he's going to be alright. And to thank you, for being the best part about transferring here."
Jim realized he was holding his breath when he went to answer. He quickly gulped down some air as he frantically tried to work out what Sy wanted him to get out of the message. Those two simple sentences could mean so many things.
"He's been talking about you from the start. I probably should have realized he had a crush on you way sooner than when he told me you two were together, I just didn't even consider the possibility that he wasn't straight. He's the only guy I've met that likes other guys."
"Um…"
Aladdin laughed. "Okay, you two are. But no offense, I really barely know you. It's not the same."
Jim shrugged. "Fair enough."
"Anyway. From the start, he's always said that you and Mellow made him feel included, seen. The rest of us already had our friendships and our groups, he said he didn't know where he was going to fit in, or how to find a place in established cliques. You just made it effortless. You were good for him, Jim. He's never going to forget that. I know it."
Jim smiled sadly. "Thanks, Aladdin."
"I gotta go." Aladdin hoisted his bag up further onto his shoulder. "I'll see you around."
Jim waved as they parted. He stepped into the cantina and found a place in the breakfast line. He could already see some of his crew at their usual table. Braxton seemed to be running late, Matt was probably with him. Mellow, Varian, and Hogarth were deep in conversation about something, and 628 was just crossing the room to join them.
Things were almost as they should be.
Braxton and Matt didn't make their appearance until about ten minutes after Jim had sat down and started eating. Braxton looked like he hadn't slept. Matt didn't appear much better.
"Been up all night scanning the channels to try and find out anything about your mission." Braxton's greeting was unconventional, but welcome. "There's a lot of chatter between the maintenance teams and ground control. There's two ships heading out tomorrow, but I'm fairly certain only one of them is a student mission. The other seems to be pretty top secret."
Matt grinned. "Which means Braxton has been trying to work out every little detail he can."
"You've been helping!" Braxton defended himself. "You know you're curious too."
Matt raised his hands in defeat. "Guilty. But so far we've got nothing. Any talk about it is extremely minimal. Just confirming supply orders and basic repairs to the ship. Only odd thing was they were loading in a ton of straw and hay to the secret mission. Seems like they're taking a bunch of horses with them?"
"Also, Maximus was apparently in charge of confirming the feed situation. The maintenance team seemed scared of him."
Varian couldn't hide the smile on his face. "He's not frightening, he just has high expectations and always demands the best. Especially for his soldiers. Though he's been known to overlook minor infractions in exchange for apples."
"We are talking about Maximus the horse, right?" Mellow asked hesitantly. "Or is Maximus one of the commanding officers I haven't met yet?"
"No, we mean the horse." Hogarth confirmed.
"He's an ordinary horse," Varian insisted as he always did for these conversations. Around the table people murmured their agreements that everyone knew no one believed.
Jim moved on. "So what have you learned about my mission?"
"Head of student affairs has been heavily involved. His memos were being read over the walkies a lot. The ship is a frigate named The Walter Scott. It sounds like you'll be going to Earth 542, in the Delta 6B system, then completing an escort mission to Ellenwood. Fairly standard and routine. It sounds like you'll be joining a fleet, and that they aren't expecting any issues, so very standard stuff. Shouldn't be more than two or three months."
"So to the end of the school year, with time to be back home before the next one starts." Jim couldn't help but be disappointed, despite the timeline. It wasn't a long trip, but long enough that he wouldn't get to see Sy until the next year.
Mellow softly offered, "I won't be going home over the summer, so you could write me here. If Sy has anything he wants you to know, I'll pass the message along?"
Jim grinned. "Thanks mellow. Let me write down my mom's mailing address."