Later that day after everyone got situated our instructors informed us we would get a few days of rest. In the coming days, we would undergo the last part of our training: a loaded march exercise through a designated course through the mountains.

“Over thirty kilograms¹roughly over 66 pounds?!” Friederika groans as we all proceed to pack our field-packs with a variety of junk and tools. “And thirty kilometers by sundown… are they trying to kill us?!” Friederika laments once more, “—I’m a dead woman!”

“HA↑HA↓WA↑—” the annoying seagull laugh of Alexandra nearly deafens my right ear, “your friend is quite the drama queen, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, and I’m her king consort,” I reply rather wryly, making sure my backpack met the required weight for the march. I look over at Vinnie, who is next to Friederika and trying to console her—if I have to guess, Vinnie is also likely not physically active. The poor things. Who knows if I’ll manage to be Friederika’s side for the march. She’s no doubt going to have a whopping bad time.

“On your marks… ” The instructor points a flare gun to the air, and it discharges with a pop, “get going!” Right on cue, the column of cadets marches into the starting mountain trail.

Thirty-something kilograms backpacks, a few ammo belts around our necks, and lugging around a fully-loaded rifle. And eighteen kilometers before sunset. “…This is bloody hell,” I agonize under my breath as I make my way past the first checkpoint set up by some instructors, which consists of an open tent, some unoccupied foldable chairs that make my mouth water and knees scream for mercy, and both a portable radio and laptop. One of them, an unshaven man with sleazy eyes, raises his head to me with squinting eyes, “name?”

“Victoria… ha… Hap… Schwarzenberger.” I reply in between breaths, making no attempts to stop my fast walking.

“Vicktory Happy-Shortsenurger… gotcha.” His partner, a fat-chinned baldy, inputs it into his computer, “Vicktory Happy-Shortensburger has reached the first checkpoint,” he says into the microphone next to him.

He’s not worth the energy to get mad at. Instead, I can only afford to place a curse on the fat-chin officer—if I’m lucky, some despicable deity might bless his descendants with triple-chin for several generations. Similarly, I curse my ancestors for sticking to such an outrageous surname and the deities that existed throughout history for allowing them to come up with such ideas.

“Name?” The second checkpoint is occupied by one guy. This time there’s no tent, only a radio placed on a table with a clipboard.

“Victoria… er, Happ,” I say bitterly, trudging past the checkpoint. If I have to hear one more person mess up my surname… blimey, is this how Paul feels when I subconsciously flub his?

“Name?” I’ve only gotten some meters away past the second checkpoint when he asks the next cadet.

“Alexandra Descartes-Dolz…” I hear that walking freckled seagull say cheerfully. I can feel a shiver head down my spine as I realize she managed to catch me in the lead. Leave it to the bonafide M-Drama all-perfect seagull to close the distance between us.“Yoo! If it isn’t Cadet Puke! Or… what did that one instructor say— Happy-Shorts? HA↑HA↓WA↑!!” Her grating laughter rings in my ears like none other.

“You know… I’ve always wondered…” I mutter in between pants for air. Alexandra has nearly caught up to me—that’s kind of terrifying! Unlike Friederika I’ve always prided myself in my running stamina. Never mind academics, other sports, or even war-game simulation—a running race is the one thing I do not want to lose to her! “—Has anyone ever told you you laugh like a deranged animal?”

I don’t even have to look behind me to hear a bewildering scoff that was also… a partially deranged laugh of the sort. “A— deranged animal? Haw… I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not!”

“To be more specific—you sound like a broken, deranged seagull!”

“HA↑HA↓WA↑HA↑HA↓WA↑!! A SEAGULL !? HA↑HA↑WA↓WA↑HA↑WA↓… and you— and you —YOU— YOU have a god awful accent with the worst slang I’ve ever heard!” She says it in such a mocking Australian dialect that it compels me to stop dead in my tracks and reel around right as Alexandra bumps into me—and we both fall on each other. We’re both panting from lack of breath—we were so caught up in our barrages that we lost track of what we were doing and were practically jogging while fully geared.

“You know…” I say after a few deep breaths, “…that’s less of a personal thing and more of an insult to Aussies everywhere, y’know?”

“Even compared to the other natives here—your accent stands out a lot more to me.”

“Er… I don’t think… that’s particularly true…” Alexandra, who’s still on top of me, shoots me a beaming smile consisting of rows of sharp teeth. “Doesn’t that er… kinda mean…” I can’t even bring myself to register what I want to say. “Er… that you like my voice compared to others?” Her smile quickly disappears. Her eyes are averted as there’s a slight red luminescence on her freckled cheeks, a lighter shade compared to her hair.

“No,” she replies a bit too quickly, “I think… you’re getting the wrong idea… maybe?” We lay as we are, unsure of how to make the situation—when there’s a sudden downpour of rain. “Oh blimey…” She says… which I’m pretty sure is a jab at me—or maybe I’ve been rubbing off on her? “You think this part of the exercise? Oh, our uniforms are going to get drenched! ” Alexandra gets off me and makes her way to a part of the wall with a decent haven from the harsh downpour, and I get up and make my way to plop down next to her. Maybe decent was a rather strong word—we’re practically hugging each other in our little shell.

“I guess this should’ve been expected, huh…” I muse observing the rather fierce downpour, and Alexandra only nods in response. “They must want to… uh… drag out the whole ordeal if I had to guess? We’ve already passed the second point… there’s two more, right? So the mud will slow people down. Trying to continue traversing in this mud will be bloody hell for sure.”

“You think they’ll give us collectively failed grades if the slowest doesn’t make it by sunrise?” Alexandra asks while reaching into her backpack to get out a rain jacket, “here, let me hold your pack so you can get your rain jacket out too.”

“Thanks… and, no, I don’t think so. Our poor little Kiki and Vinnie would be scorned by the whole body of cadets if that were the case,” I slip on mine carefully, since we are squished in a tiny area and all.

“Ki…ki?” Alexander echoes, frowning, and not sure what to make of it, “Friederika?”

“Haha… it’s just a nickname I gave her. Pronouncing her actual name is hard.”

“You can’t pronounce free-de-re-ka?”

“Fred-ee-kuh…” I say trying to contain my embarrassment. She tries to correct me a few more times, but all it does is waste our energies more.

“WA↑HA↑WA↓, maybe you should just stick to calling her Kiki then. It’s a lot cuter.” We spend the rest of the downpour in silence as it begins to drown out our voices and makes conversations exceedingly difficult. Eventually, exhaustion gets the best of us and we both fall asleep.

I jolt awake to the sounds of rocks falling and find myself alone in the small den. “A-Alex?!” I utter groggily, getting up and peeking out to look around—not a soul in sight. It seems like we’re rather still ahead of the others. I call out to Alexandra again with no response. The ground is still a little slippery from the mud, so I have to be careful in walking along the mountainous wall. I peer ahead at the narrow mountain path and don’t see the redhead in the vicinity. Did she get a head-start on me? That’s rather scummy of her to do… is she that bent on winning this race as much as I am?

But looking down the side of the trail, it could be possible the rock-slide I heard earlier was her falling? In that case…

I feel a sense of numbness. Do I go on ahead for the sake of saying I won, or do I head down and rescue her? It could be just a coincidence… maybe she could be enjoying a brisk walk to the finish line by now.

“A-Alex?!” I shout, a little louder this time down the side of the mountain. The slope is not particularly steep so it’s possible to make my down to investigate. But if I’m not careful, it could be lethal with the ground still wet, and I’m not sure what’s at the bottom because of mist and forestry obscure vision. Do I chance it? Should I chance it? I could just be overthinking what I heard earlier. I make a glance at my wristwatch; it’s still a little before midday. All this would do is set me back a few hours at most. I can catch up without a sweat before the time-limit— probably. This detour may set me back to the beginning depending on where this heads. Even with my stamina, there’s likely no chance I could make it back before sunset.

It might just have been a wild animal or something. I don’t think Alexandra would be that much of a dolt to succumb to a slip that easily, but still…

With deep exhales, I slowly lower myself down the slope and carefully make my way down the rocky slide past the uncertainty that awaits underneath the canopy of misty trees. After enough maneuvering through the green shrubbery, I eventually catch sight of a familiar red-headed seagull in blue uniform and green jacket sprawled out on her back on what seems to be parts of a rockslide.

“Alex…?” I call out worried since she doesn’t seem to be conscious—but thankfully, my fears were cut short when she wearily opens her eyes and shoots me a bleak razor smile.

“Ha↓…Ha↓…Haaa, oh…” Alexandra mumbles after a dry laugh, “deary me indeed.”

“Are you hurt at all?” I crouch down next to her, giving her a brief inspection of injuries. I don’t see any broken bones or anything. She should probably be fine.

“I… don’t think so. My right ankle might be a bit sprained, but I’ll live,” she deflates with an exhausted sigh, “laugh all you want, I deserve it. I got a bit greedy and paid for it.” She mutters rather bitterly.

“Don’t say that, it could be worse, you could’ve suffered a concussion and died. Maybe spend the rest of your life in a coma…” I reply hoping to be upbeat, but I might’ve dampened the mood further. Alexandra doesn’t say anything in response, and we spend a little in silence as the rain finally seems to peter off to light sprinkles.

“You know…” Alexandra breaks the silence somberly, “—I expected you to leave me behind.” I set down my stuff and gave Alexandra a gentle kick in the shin.

“I’ll also be frank—I thought about it—” Alexandra’s only response is a small scoff “I wasn’t even too sure you fell in the first place… I risked the chance of failing the march for your stake. And if I didn’t find you, who knows who would? It could be hours before a rescue party might even find you.”

“And you did it anyway, why?”

“That’s… the right thing to do, isn’t it? Sure, I might win, but it doesn’t matter one bit if you’re in danger, right? I’m the king’s consort and you’re the bloody damsel queen in distress,” I reach over and give Alexandra a nasty rustle of her hair, “that’s what friends are for, right? To help each other out of trouble.” I give her another rustle of her hair, “besides, as long as we make it to the end regardless of the goal, that’s what counts, right?”

“…Friends, huh,” Alexandra muses, looking up at the sky—or rather the mist dividing us from the Lepanto’s other land surface. “We’re friends, huh?”

“…Why does it sound like you’re surprised at the revelation?”

“Ha↓…Ha↓ I always figured we were… rivals, I suppose?” Alexandra looks a little happier now, at least.

“You know, if Kiki and Vinnie saw us now, you think they’d die of jealousy?” And the two of us break out in regular and seagull laughter.

After some time had passed I gathered a tent and a pole out of my backpack and proceeded to set it up for Alexandra. Since we are at an odd slope still, it is rather difficult to get it pitched by myself so I have to use some rocks and makeshift gear to hold it down in place. It’s not easy when Alexandra can’t risk moving around in light of her ankle. We weren’t sure if the rain was going to intensify again, so it’s a simple precaution not to get too wet.

“Say… Victoria…”

“What’s up?” After inspecting that the tent is indeed sturdy enough in the event we need to huddle in it, I crouch down next to Alexandra who manages to sit upright. I reach behind me for my canteen—largely untouched until now— and flip off the lid for a quick drink—but then stop, “say, you want a drink from my canteen? Since you lost yours, I mean… I imagine you must be thirsty.”

Alexandra looks a little bewildered but scoffs “hoo…~ if you don’t mind sharing your first kiss with me then I’ll take you on your kind offer,” before I realize what she means Alexandra reaches out for it and purses her lips around the head of the bottle and chugs from it. After finishing Alexandra licks her lips and hands the canteen back to me. It weighs a whole lot less now. “Your hospitality is greatly appreciated,” she says delightfully. I only roll my eyes in response and drink the remainder of it myself.

“But getting back on point…” she starts again, “do you think… there will come a day when we have to fight?”

“Fight? Fight whom?” I hang the canteen over my mouth to get the last dribbles of water out—maybe we should’ve saved it for the way back? Oh well. I look back at Alexandra expecting clarification, but she remains silent for a while, looking into the distance at the hilly trees further down the mountain.

“…Why does the Federation go to such lengths to develop and train a military…” she squints and trails off, “…why do we go to such efforts after supposedly several generations of peace and prosperity? Why now of all times?”

Sitting the canteen down I scoot myself closer to Alexandra and rest my head against hers. The gerbils in my head spin frantically to spit out the best idea they can muster, “…it’s for the stake of suppressing pirate havens throughout the colonial regions, no? To keep the lanes safe and clear and… maintain that peace—so that…” I trail off with a weak sigh. I don’t think I’ve ever been the one to sound all wise all of a sudden.

“One day, those pirates will be gone, and then what? We demobilize and live out the rest of our lives in harmony?” Alexandra sounds a bit angrier, she clenches her leggings as she continues, “one day my brethren —the Ruthenians—will…” she shakes her head, “one day there will be a conflict to divide the Federation. One day I will have to return home, and…”

“Alex, do you resent the Federation? Do you resent people… like me?” I ask quietly while clasping her hand. She shakes her head, “I could never bring myself to hate you, Vick. You’re a good person—I like you—it’s just…” she moves her head a bit resulting in our foreheads touching, “Vick, what compelled you to enlist in the Metropolitan Force?”

“Well… it’s nothing romantic… I just wanted to follow in my father’s footsteps—and his pops and so on… after my old man served in the Space Navy he was rather adamant against it before he gave in to my wishes… what about you?” Alexandra closes her eyes for a few seconds before staring into my eyes again.

“Do the two of you get along?” I give a gentle nod, “that’s good… I… don’t particularly get along with mine. He always wanted a son but had me instead, and that kinda stings as an only child… haha…

“Just being here in Terra gives him the impression that I’m a hostage. He… doesn’t particularly like the Federation—doesn’t like how they conduct things and trample all over colonial autonomy or some bullshit like that…”

“Do you feel like a prisoner here, Alex?”

  She pauses for a second before shaking her head, “I felt like an alien at first—everyone here speaks a funny accent and I had no friends except timid little Vinnie by my side. But it felt different with you, I felt something I never did with my friendship with Vinnie.” Feeling my face burn up I shift myself just a wee bit away from Alex’s face, “hoo…~ you getting a little flustered?”

“S-speak for yourself, you’re as red as your hair,” I reply rather embarrassingly, trying to cover myself with my poncho.

“…I came here to experience life in the mother world—to see a glimpse into another reality—there’s a lot of tension back home, Vick, trust me—it’s practically night and day in the colonies compared to the heartland.”

I rest my head back on Alexandra’s shoulder, “why not apply for citizenship here when you graduate if it’s so dangerous in the Ruthenian colonies?” She looks a bit sad.

“I want to… but I don’t think it’s right. I want to do whatever I can to make life better in the colonies. Rather that be politically or through peacekeeping missions… I want to— I have to return home and prevent bloodshed from ever happening… to keep Horatio’s legacy a reality.” The legacy of a Federation in strength and unity. Indeed, if Horatio was still alive… Our Federation is a far cry from his time.

“I… I want to do what it takes to protect and preserve the ideals of the Federation too,” I quietly add to her sentiment, “but if it were up to me… I hope to never have to fire a shot in anger. A navy serving democracy should do for its people what it’s people should do for it.” Alexandra nods, and we enjoy a few moments of our intimacy before the rain gets worse again, forcing us to take shelter in our tent that’s even tighter than the small cave we were in before. A part of me is relieved I’m not claustrophobic. “When this rain settles down, I think we should get moving, you think you can move around now?”

“Yeah,” Alexandra says laconically but then quickly adds, “by the way, your tent sucks. Never make tents ever again.”

When the rain settled I packed up what I could and helped Alexandra with walking. Since it was nearing dusk already, we both decided to just head for the first checkpoint and let them know what happened. The instructors were understandably worried since we didn’t show up at the next checkpoint and sent a search party for us, but luckily we didn’t get into too much trouble. They were relieved more than anything that the daughter of Vincent and the daughter of a renowned colonial officer were safe and sound and were willing to keep it off record to avoid any trouble.

Both Vinnie and Friederika volunteered for the search parties and were greatly relieved we were safe. Friederika got a little emotional as I expected, but she calmed down and returned to her cheerful self.

And with that, our time at Side Lepanto had more or less ended. We boarded our shuttle transports and returned home, taking with us fond memories and experiences to remember.