Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3), Niall Teasdale [crime books to read .TXT] 📗

lightly. ‘I think I’d want to murder someone by about now,’ she said to Nava as yet another pompous parent pushed their son at Mitsuko. No one was especially interested in some random girl from a small clan from the edge of Clan Worlds space, and Melissa was glad of that.

‘Suki’s actually had lessons in not murdering people at events like this,’ Nava replied.

‘She has?’

‘Sort of. She got some basic instruction in politics and public speaking. Her parents knew she wasn’t interested in getting into politics at all, but they also knew she was never going to be able to avoid it entirely.’

‘And then she stands for student president.’

‘That’s because she had an agenda she wanted to push in the school. She doesn’t have… Hm. Clan Worlds society as a whole suffers from this false warrior ethic. Maybe she should continue after she leaves.’

‘Don’t you dare suggest that where anyone else can hear,’ Mitsuko said. Apparently, she had escaped her latest admirer. ‘Changing things, at least a little, in SAS-squared might be possible. Changing that attitude in the Clan Worlds as a whole will take more than just one person talking a lot.’

‘It has to start with someone.’ Nava held up a hand to deflect any response. ‘I won’t press you into it, however. Spending your long life as the most unpopular person in the Alliance is something you’d need to choose to do. Now, who else wants to have their existence confirmed by feverishly gripping your hand?’

‘Kyle,’ Mitsuko replied.

Nava turned to see Kyle and Courtney weaving through the crowd in their direction. Courtney was in her usual SAS2 uniform with the gold trim associated with some position of power. The black ASF uniform looked good on Kyle. He was a big man; the uniform tended to obscure his muscles, but he was still tall and broad-shouldered. His shock of dark-blonde hair was a strong counterpoint to his dark skin. His uniform was essentially the same as the SAS2 uniform for boys, so it just appeared that his usual attire had been recoloured in black with gold highlights. Aside from the cape: a gold cape sat on Kyle’s right shoulder, hanging over his back and right arm. That made this the dress uniform. Without the cape, it was the operations uniform. Completely replaced by something else, it was the combat uniform; the ASF uniforms were not especially practical until they needed to be.

Courtney was looking smug, and the couple had been missing for an hour, so Nava could guess what they had been up to. Kyle was looking happy, but there was an underlying current of worry to his pleased expression which might require examination…

‘Congratulations,’ Mitsuko said as Kyle made his final approach. ‘What is it now, Cadet Kyle Maynard House?’

‘Cadet through basic training,’ Kyle replied. ‘Then they promote me to officer cadet for officer training.’

‘A non-commissioned officer rank,’ Nava supplied. ‘Then you start service as a second lieutenant.’

‘At which point, I’ll have the official rank you already hold unofficially.’ Kyle lowered his voice a little to make the statement; Nava’s rank in the ASF was, technically, a secret of sorts. ‘How was your training?’

‘Boring. A lot of lectures about procedures.’

‘That’s about what we’ve been getting. An afternoon of familiarisation with the new combat armour provided the most excitement so far.’

‘Ah. I did that before the new year,’ Nava said. ‘My family is moving to the new gear for those who don’t have some other form of protection they prefer.’

‘Is that what that big case is?’ Melissa asked. ‘It came yesterday, by courier. It’s locked.’

‘Yes, that’s my suit. I’m supposed to continue gaining familiarity with it. They’re being introduced for students this year anyway.’

‘A slightly lower-spec version is,’ Mitsuko corrected. ‘The chameleon surface can be configured to show the school colours and logo, but the specifications aren’t quite up to military standards.’

Nava nodded. ‘The protective value is the same, which is what counts for students. We’ll all have a little less chance of scraping our knees.’ She turned her attention to Kyle, fixing his eyes with hers. ‘Now, Kyle, you’ve just graduated from SAS-squared and had sex with your girlfriend, why are you looking worried?’

‘I’m not–’ Kyle began and then he stopped because Nava was still staring at him.

‘He’s worried about me,’ Courtney said. She frowned. ‘I didn’t want to bring this up here…’

‘But now we all want to know what the problem is,’ Mitsuko said, ‘so you’ll be telling us anyway.’

That got a sigh. ‘My family found out about Kyle and they’re not happy. I said they should look at his grades and consider the career he’s likely to have. Then I said I loved him and wouldn’t leave him. And then I said that if that was the way they felt, they could stuff their money.’

‘They’re disowning you?!’ Melissa squeaked.

‘Well, no. Not quite. I’m not welcome at the family picnics until I “come to my senses.”’

‘And they’re stopping her allowance,’ Kyle said.

‘Tuition’s free,’ Courtney countered, ‘and I have some money saved up.’

‘And I said I’d send her money as soon as I’m in officer training,’ Kyle said.

‘And I say again that you’ll need it yourself. I think I can just about make it to graduation. I think.’ Pause. ‘Why are you staring at me like that, Nava?’

‘I’m making an assessment,’ Nava replied. ‘I believe that if you were unable to complete your course due to the inflexibility of your family, that would be a quantifiable loss to the ASF as well as an issue for the school, given your position as captain of the Student Security Force.’

‘Well, I’m going to be stepping down as captain at some point during–’

‘But not immediately. You will be less able to handle your duties if you’re worrying over financial matters. I’ll see what I can do.’

‘What you can do?’

‘And we can alleviate some of the financial burden immediately,’ Mitsuko said. ‘I’ll talk to the administration.’

Looking a little shell-shocked, Courtney turned her gaze to Mitsuko. ‘Talk to… What about?’

‘Well, we have a spare