My Kingdom Come book 1: The Saints We See
Chapter 11: Frenemies

661 standard years after the signing of the Alliance treaty

Hathu woke up with a start and reached out with a searching hand to quickly turn off the vibrating alarm on his datapad. He slowly sat up, his body screaming with aches and pains. He had fallen asleep at his desk, which hadn’t helped. He groaned softly and climbed to his feet. He tried to stretch out the stiffness, but it seemed to have made itself a permanent home in his body. It probably didn’t help that he wasn’t getting enough sleep.

Hathu walked over to the window and looked out. The sky was just beginning to lighten along the horizon. His gaze moved down to the field. He reached up and touched the window with one finger for a moment, then lifted his finger again and let out a deep sigh.

He went back to his desk and double checked that he had all the notes he needed for the day in his datapad. He put his notebook away in his desk drawer and shoved his datapad into his pocket. He found himself some fresh clothes, shoved them into his school bag and let himself out of his bedroom.

He found Gemma kneeling to the side at the foot of the stairs.

“Gemma?”

She got to her feet. “Master Hathu, I made you breakfast.” She held a small cloth bundle out to him.

He blinked and took it from her.

“I prepared it last night so I wouldn’t wake anyone this morning, master.”

Hathu swallowed. “Thank you, Gemma. You’re a lifesaver.”

She smiled. “Have a good day, master Hathu.”

Hathu realized that she had to look up at him now. “You have a good day too, Gemma.”

He slipped out the front door and walked across the field, out to the edge of the woods where he’d hidden two more sackfuls of rocks last night. He sat down on a nearby boulder and unwrapped the cloth bundle Gemma had given him. There were biscuits, some meat leftover from last night’s supper and a few dried fruits from last summer. “Bless you Gemma,” he said quietly then he quickly ate the food. He’d gone without breakfast for the last few days.

When he had finished eating he carried his two sacks of rocks to the bunker and carried out more plasma rifles and recharge packs. He eyed the empty cages on his way off his father’s property.

The sun came up as he hiked up to the cave. The warmth seeped into his aching bones giving him some comfort. He thought over his plans for practice today. Yesterday he had added both Novina and Arvah to his leadership team.

Arvah was an odd boy. He saw a lot of things that no one else noticed and said whatever came to his mind, but he meant no offense. Once Hathu realized that Arvah was not trying to cause trouble and had a unique view on things, he asked him to help make recommendations on where students would be best used on the team. Arvah had happily accepted and had immediately started to take notes on each member of blue team. He had sent his notes to Hathu at the end of practice yesterday and Hathu had found the notes surprisingly insightful.

Hathu arrived early at school and took a quick shower in the physical combat gymnasium and changed into the clothes he’d brought with him.

He found it difficult to stay awake in his classes. To keep himself from falling asleep he jotted down ideas for tomorrow’s practice on his datapad. When he finally was released from classes for the day he found himself eager to go out and practice with his team.

When he arrived at the field they had been training in for the last few days, he found a few members of his team already there. They were doing the warm ups he had them do at the beginning of every practice. Hathu dropped his bag along with the others near the log that Korish was sitting on. He was grading papers as usual. Another Ir’Klahn, the astronomy and navigation teacher, was sitting stiffly on the other end of the log watching blue team warm up.

“Hello, sirs.” Hathu said to the teachers before jogging off to warm up with his team.

It didn’t take long for the rest of blue team to arrive and then red team arrived. They came all together. Narish marching at the head.

“Tanahsa, you and the other leaders get blue team ready to greet our allies.” Hathu instructed as he jogged out to meet Narish.

“Welcome.” Hathu said with a little wave as he reached them. He turned and began walking beside Narish as they moved towards the center of the field where blue team was forming a large half circle. “Do they know the plan yet?”

Narish shook his head. “Only very generally. Aren’t you worried about leaks?”

Hathu shook his head. “No.”

Narish glanced over at him with a slightly incredulous look on his face.

“Of course I don’t want any leaks,” Hathu explained. “But if someone is going to leak the plan we can’t stop it, we’ll just have to adjust.”

Narish let out a little growl. “This was a terrible idea.” He muttered under his breath.

Hathu laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “I will admit, the plan is a bit crazy. But success goes to the bold, right?”

The corner of Narish’s mouth pulled up. “I suppose.”

They reached where blue team was waiting for them, all standing shoulder to shoulder. Hathu smiled and turned to stand in front of his team, facing red team. “Blue team welcomes each of you. We are excited to be working with you. This move is going to bring glory to us all.

“If you’ll take a seat, Narish will go over the plan and then we’ll sort you into your groups and we’ll run a few practice engagements. Half of red team and half of blue team will play with me, and the other halves of blue team and red team will play with Narish.”

Hathu turned to Ishmakah. “Did you bring those ribbons?” She nodded.

The two teams were now seated in a rough circle with Hathu and Narish standing in the center.

“Narish and I have come up with a plan to eliminate both orange and purple teams within the first few minutes of our first engagement. After that, we will be enemies on the field again. Worthy enemies.” He smiled at Narish then turned back to the two teams sitting in the grass. “But I hope you all remember that what we’re preparing for is just a game. It’s supposed to help prepare us for bigger battles, real enemies. We might be opponents in the game, but we are allies in real life.”

Hathu turned to Narish and gave him a little bow. “Narish?” Hathu sat down with the other students to listen to Narish go over the plan.

* * *

After Narish and Hathu dismissed their teams for the day, Hathu had his usual conference with his little leadership group. Narish stood with them listening as each one of Hathu’s lieutenants reported on their groups and observations. Hathu gave his report then looked questioningly at Narish.

Narish cleared his throat uncomfortably. “I don’t have anything to add.”

Hathu nodded. “I’m going to propose a few changes.” He went through his ideas and between himself, his leadership team and Narish they worked out a few adjustments to their plan. Hathu thanked his team leaders and dismissed them. Narish hung back.

“I think that went really well.” Hathu swung his bag over his shoulder.

Narish nodded. “Hathu, why did you pick so many of the younger students for blue team?”

Hathu grinned. “Two reasons. Because everyone underestimates them and they are easier to teach, they have less bad habits, less ideas of how things should be run.”

“Hm.” Narish had chosen as many of the older students as he could, as did the other two team members. Hathu had chosen a majority of the younger students that were eligible to play that year.

Narish looked up at Hathu. “Did you have someone watching my team today, taking notes on threats to your team?”

Hathu grinned. “Of course.”

Narish smiled. “I was disappointed when I found out that you were a team leader this year. I was looking forward to working with you again. I’m glad I got to work with you after all.