Fire and Ice

Chapter 7 † Kayleigh

I watch the airlock doors whoosh past as I pull my ship to a screaming halt inside the hangar.

"Final checks complete," I say into my comms link.

"Roger Admiral. You are officially cleared for active duty. God speed," the voice back at headquarters practically sings. I hear faint cheering and... crying? in the background before the link cuts out.

I smirk to myself as I undo my safety belts. In the corner of my helmet, I see Ender following the Colonel towards the library. A whole bunch of information concerning you is about to be declassified out of your control a nagging voice in my head sings. You knew Graff wouldn't let Ender remain ignorant for long. I grunt and hop down to the hangar floor, landing lightly in the low gravity. My hand brushes across my ship, and I watch as it quickly folds up to fit in my gloves.

My sprint to beat Graff to Ender begins now.

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Graff leads me quickly away from the window once Kayleigh's ship disappears from our sight. We walk in silence down the twists and turns of the hallway until we reach a set of large double doors. The are ornately carved from wood, much like the kind rich governments have back on Earth.

Before opening the doors, Graff turns around and looks at me.

"What you are about to see is highly classified," he says. Behind him, one door slowly, silently opens.

"I thought everything about her was declassified, sir," I say, quickly avertig my gaze so as not to draw his attention to it.

"Very little about her was ever declassified. I was only given access to most of this information four days ago." Four days? That's just before they brought her out of cryostasis! The door swings open the rest of the way, silent on its old hinges. It nearly hits Graff in the back of the head, and I do everything in my power to not give away that anything is out of the ordinary. Shadows creep from the vacant doorway, seeming to engulf the back of Colonel Graff.

"If it's so important and highly classified, why do I get to know?" Lights flick on eerily from the back of the room beyond the doorway, one by one, down each row until...

"Because you are to be working closely with her. You will also decide what your toon leaders need to know. You two.. must become.. as painful as it is for me to say it... you two must become... friends." As he speaks and stammers, the lights illuminate a figure. More lights flick on to reveal Kayleigh standing just behind the doors. She points at Graff and uses the same finger to draw circles around her ear. This guy's a nutcase she seems to say.

I let a small smile slip through, before I see Graff quickly turn around and jump in surprise.

†††

This guy's a nutcase I mime to Ender, pointing at the Colonel and circling the same finger near my head. A small smile appears in Ender's previously stoic features, causing the Colonel to stop stammering and turn around. He jumps in surprise when he sees me, as if he didn't notice my obvious and not at all creepy entrance. At least Ender had the decency to look at least a little terrified.

"Admiral," he says in a high squeaky voice, pulling sharply into a salute, followed closely by Ender.

"At ease," I say, causing Ender to relax immediately, leaving the Colonel looking uncertain. I raise my eyebrow at him with a slight frown, and he drops to a relaxed position instantly. So you only like me in theory then, Colonel...

"Thank you for bringing Ender to my briefing session." I say calmly. Ender looks at me, then at the Colonel, clearly confused. The Colonel also looks perplexed at my statement.

"What? You think I'm going to let you or your organization tell Ender and his friends all about me when my schedule is perfectly clear for story-time?" Ender snickers a little, and the Colonel blushes slightly. "Don't worry. The gang's all here. You can come too, Colonel. There's cheese and crackers if you would like. Or would you prefer fruit gummies and a juice box?" The Colonel stiffens at my vague insult. Ender snickers still, probably unaware of what fruit gummies are.

"No thank you, Admiral. I, uhh. I'm, uhh, I ... The um, the uhh the person at the uhhh.." he stammers and stutters, trying to get quickly away from me and my threat of Juicy-Juice™.

"I understand, Colonel. Come on then, honeybun. You and your friends need to learn all about me, apparently." The Colonel looks appalled by my nickname for Ender, while Ender nearly skips forward into the library.