Brinus was in uniform with the head training officer after he failed to appear promptly at the ship’s naval academy. He flicked a lighter while waiting for the commander. On the commander’s desk was an ashtray with twenty butts, which were of a different brand from what Brinus smoked. Next to the computer terminal, there was a naval gun for a non-earth battleship. The desk was a solid oak wood desk with bass gilding.

  The room smelled of unflavored Tarken Tea smoke, which smelled like burnt tea, charcoal, and burning paper. It had a chemical smell like burning black tea with chemcials in it. Even to Brinus, the smell was unpleasant. The main lamp was damaged in both battles, so it flickered due to faulty electrical wiring. Overall, the office had a similar creepy lighting as Commander Theodore with a grungy feel to it.

  The commander entered the room. He was an elderly man, almost at the age of retirement. The truth, this post was his last. Brinus stood and saluted.

  “At ease, Stinkball. Sit back down.” Brinus sat, and the commander began speaking. “So you expressed interest in grad school?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The commander looked at Brinus’s information and said, “You certainly have the grades for it. You made a ninety-six on your Warp Bubble Calculus One final last week. For the screen ship’s systems and schematics, you made a ninety-nine. I believe you made a spelling error on your essay question about escort frigates. You made a ninety-eight on your gravity physics theory exam. On your sublight geometry with proofs test last week, you made a 95. It looks like one of your proofs was riddled with spelling errors. There is just one problem.”

  Brinus blinked and crossed his arms.

  “You were recruited out of a jail. You also had three run-ins with discipline issues in the last seven months. You’re also on restricted movement, no shore leave, and half-pay. It looks like you were running an unlicensed business as well, which is a Class-D misdemeanor. I am afraid you don’t have the moral fiber for grad school at the current time.”

  “Sir, with respect...”

  “See! You’re trying to interrupt me right now! In the name of the temple spirits! Fuck, Stinkball! If you wish to advance in your fucking career, you must control your mouth.”

  “Sir, how do I get into command track?”

  The training officer looked up from Brinus’s file and smiled. “You must go one full year without a write-up or a criminal offense; oh and your commanding officer recommended you for mentorship. If you’re serious about being accepted into grad school through the command track for your officer training, you need to find a mentor. Your mentor will decide if you’re ready for the personality test. Each one has a different test.”

  Brinus shifted in his seat and looked the commandant in the eyes. “What does that entail, sir?”

  “I need you to complete a medical exam later today for starters, after failing your PT test last week.”

  “My physical fitness is at minimum standards, sir.”

  “You failed you’re CPR exam and you failed the cardio portion of the six-month physical assessment. You also weld shirtless and pull 24-hour shifts with minimal fatigue. You aren’t normal. You will do the exam, or I will discharge you from this academy under failure to pass your physical test. Understand, midshipman?”

  Brinus stood and saluted.

  Outside of the office, he looked at one of the mirrors inside the oak wood paneling in the halls. He stared at himself thinking,

  Brinus shadow-boxed for a moment or two and then left to get ready for CPR class.

  A group of 21 cadets and midshipmen were fatigued in the medic lab. They surrounded Brinus, who was with a medical corpsman performing hands-only CPR on a dummy; the smell of one hundred percent ethanol alcohol and carbolic acid filled the room. It was dark with low lighting, and the ship’s warp bubble light came through the window. It was gorgeous with rainbow colors and light prisoms.

  Brinus struggled with the test because he’d already taken it with his syndicate training. Therefore, he had to unlearn what he had learned.

  “Stinkball, you’re doing it wrong. You don’t breathe into their mouths. That’s the old way of doing it. You do it like this.”

  The instructor began pushing on the dummy’s chest at the breastbone. “You need to do a hundred compressions a minute at a rhythm like this.”

  Brinus copied the instructor, who began playing his favorite heavy metal song. It was a band from Saffron. It was at the rhythm he needed to keep.

  “This should set the tone. You seem to play them a lot in your playlist. You need to do this for ten minutes to the rhythm of your playlist. Go.”

  Brinus was exhausted at the end of the CPR session. The heavy smoking caused him to become fatigued a lot quicker than most of the other cadets and midshipmen. . Even the other cadets and midshipmen who smoked less than him didn’t get as fatigued.

  The medic then looked at Brinus. “Now, do you think you can do that without music?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good for five minutes.”

  Brinus lost his rhythm for a couple of seconds, three minutes in, as he became lightheaded from shortness of breath. However, he managed to regain control of his breathing. His arms burned with fatigue as his muscles were tired. Five minutes in, the medical instructor called time.

  “You failed and are out of my program. To pass, you need to make an eighty. My recommendation is that you cut the smoking and retake my course next semester. I can tell you smoke more than most cadets, to the point that it affects your performance.”

  Brinus realized he was busted. “Sir?” he tried to save face.

  The medic sighed and rolled his eyes. He then moved the dummy to replace the sensor. As he was working, he yelled, “First of all, Sinkball, you have a nic stain under your nose, and that only appears if you smoke more than two fucking packs a day! Next!”

  Several cadets and midshipmen laughed at Brinus as he just failed the easiest first aid test to take in the first aid course. He felt humiliated and knew, at this moment, it was his time to quit smoking.

  As Brinus was in the sonic shower of the locker room, he just soaked in the sound waves.

  After twenty minutes, he got out of the shower and headed for the changing room with a towel around his waist. The room smelled like sweaty young men, men’s deodorant, and sonic shower soap. Although smoke was absent since it was a non-smoking section, the smell was still there. In the center of the room, there were rows of lockers and changing rooms, along with changing benches in the center of the room. The floor had a ceramic tile with blue and white procline tiles in a checkerboard pattern. The men’s showers in the back were made of white tile with a sonic shower head.

  A sonic shower uses high-frequency sound waves to knock off dirt and grime off of people. Sonic shower soap was used, along with a rag or a sponge to make the skin smell better. It was usually a dry powder with a scent that would be pushed into the dermis by the sound.

  He was putting on his uniform after changing out of gym clothes when his friend, Tango, from first aid class, came into the male locker room and slapped him on the butt. Brinus turned and yelled, “Only Simmie slaps me on the ass!”

  “Relax, dude. I’m just playin’.” He made a nervous laugh and then looked at Brinus worriedly. “I heard you failed the CPR test. Another cadet failed this morning ‘cuz of smoking. The other cadet was apparently an ex-con too.”

  An officer came into the trainee’s locker room. He was at the rank of lieutenant commander and was the ship’s weapons officer. He saw Brinus and announced himself.

  “Officer on Deck!” He yelled in a military voice in the locker room after no one acknowledged him.

  Everyone in the locker room stood at attention and saluted the weapons officer. He approached Brinus, dressed in his steel-toed boots and pants but shirtless.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “So you’re Midshipman Stinkball. Your commander was telling me about you.”

  Brinus looked straight ahead and then yelled. “Sir, yes, sir!”

  The commander went into Brinus’s face and screamed at the top of his lungs, “Sir, yes, sir... Drop down and give me twenty push-ups!”

  Brinus dropped to the ground and began doing push-ups. People around him laughed.

  The weapons officer laughed. “Tell me, Stinkball, why should I take you on as a mentee?”

  “I don’t know, sir!” Brinus was confused as to why he was being smoked.

  The commander sat on top of Brinus. He then looked and saw the no-smoking sign. “Do you see that no smoking sign?”

  “Yes, sir, I do, sir!”

  The commander yelled in a military voice in Brinus’s ear. It was loud and gruff and assaulted his ears. “I heard you have a taste for smokes! Light a cigarette and smoke! That’s an order!”

  “Sir, No, sir.” Brinus realized he was being tested. Even if he wasn’t being tested, he still wouldn’t smoke just to spite this entitled prick of an officer.

  The commander yelled even louder. “You must follow all orders, no matter what! A good soldier follows orders! Obey me now!!”

  “Sir, no, sir! That is an illegal order, sir!” Brinus was determined to stick it to this asshole now. No one sits on top of him, screams at him, and humiliates him in public after he already is at a low point.

  “Do forty push-ups now or smoke!”

  Brinus was becoming breathless. “Sir, no, sir. I will not smoke, sir.”

  The commander was impressed. Most cadets would crack by now. Brinus was probably not smoking out of spite. He sat on top of Brinus, screaming at him how much of a failure he was. He screamed insults at him the entire time, which made Brinus even more determined to stick to him.

  After Brinus did all 40 push-ups with the commander on top of him, he collapsed on the ground — completely out of energy. Most cadets would follow the order or would give out after fifteen push-ups. The weapons officer didn’t like cadets who mindlessly followed orders. He knew Brinus refused out of spite. He saw the look in his eyes. However, it was a rebellious spirit he could work with and hone into something useful. The other cadets and midshipmen cheered Brinus on as he came up from the ground

  The mysterious commander smiled as he approached Brinus. he patted him on the shoulder and shook his hand. “I want you to report to my quarters at 0600 hours tomorrow for your first lesson. That’s an order.”

  After catching his breath, he came up and looked at the commander. “What’s your name, sir?”

  “Commander Thomo. You can call me Commander Tom.” The commander smiled and patted Brinus on the back. “I think I will look forward to working with you.”

  Brinus saluted the commander and returned his smile. “Yes, sir. I will be there at 0600 hours tomorrow.”

  “Be there or be square! Dismissed!”

  The other cadets and midshipmen began slapping Brinus on the back and shoulders. They congratulated him and told him how impressive he was.

  Commander Tom knocked on Commander Theodore’s office door ten minutes after issuing his test. “Enter!” Yelled Command Theodore.

  Commander Tom entered the office. “Nice! I see the war has been good to you. I see you got oak wood floors!”

  The office looked the same, mostly, except it was now the floor was gunstock oak wood floors, a large silk rug with a red and gold lion surrounded by gold flowery embroidery, and a flintlock musket from another planet.

  Commander Theodore sighed then laughed. “Did you meet Brinus?”

  “Yes, I’m having him come to quarters at 6 am tomorrow. He’ll be fun to train. I can tell we have a lot in common.”

  The commander wolf-whistled. “Damn, that says a lot.”

  Commander Tom crossed his legs and relaxed in the armchair. “Birds of a feather flock together, so they say.” They both laughed for a moment. “I can tell Brinus is going to great officer someday. He just needs to temper that fire.”

  “What’s your plan for Stinkball?”

  Commander Tom leaned forward and uncrossed his legs. “I want to teach him malicious compliance to channel his rebellious energy. I also want to hammer home the lesson that not all orders are to be followed. I want to teach him about illegal orders and when not to follow an order. He also needs to know when he is obligated to follow orders.”

  Commander Tom resumed typing on his computer terminal. “I want a lesson plan by the end of the week. You’ll get a lesson plan by Friday.” He exited the office.

  He received a ping on his Triquarter. He was wanted for a surprise medical exam in twenty minutes at the med bay.

  Brinus sat in the doctor’s office. Next to him was an ashtray with four cigarette butts. He tapped his lighter against his leg and sighed as he had been waiting for an hour in the ship’s clinic.

  The waiting room was mostly empty as it was close to lunch. It was quiet with a TV running on a loop about health habits and how smoking relaxes the nerves, about how the withdrawals are not that severe despite the rumors.

  Brinus thought to himself.

  “Midshipman Helios!” yelled the nurse at the door

  He walked into the intake station and sat in the chair. The nurse took his heart rate, which was at 112 bpm, and his blood pressure, which was at 131/92.

  “How much have you had to smoke?”

  Brinus shrugged. “About three packs today?”

  “I see. Do you take any meds?”

  “No.”

  She put the thermostat to his forehead; it read 201 degrees celsius. “That can’t be right.” she took it again. She left for a moment and came back with the doctor. “I think the thermostat is broken. It says his core temp is 201 degrees.”

  The doctor smiled. “No, just write that down. We’re doing an exam for the Magi.”

  The doctor left, and the nurse snorted. She wrote down her findings. “Room three.”

  Brinus sat in room three and sat on the exam table. The paper began smoking and burnt but didn’t catch fire.

  The doctor came into the room. “Right, you must be Midshipman Helios. Sorry for the wait. I am Dr. Finnie, and I am with the magi. Have you been smoking in here?”

  “No, sir.”

  Brinus stood and showed the charcoal black paper he sat on.

  “Interesting. I am going to perform a few physical exams today. I want you to take off your uniform shirt.

  Brinus removed his shirt to shirt to show a V-shaped chest, six-pack abs, and a rock-hard chest.

  The doctor put her stethoscope to Brinus’s chest. “Take a deep breath.”

  The doctor activated the holoscan mode and looked into Brinus’s lungs.

  “You told the nurse you smoked three packs today, and your blood pressure is high. Yet you’re lungs have no heat damage. Yes, they have damage from the smoke and the tar but not from the heat in the smoke.”

  “I thought Tarken Tea had no tar?”

  Dr. Finnie rolled her eyes and laughed. “Sure, sweetie.” She then put her stethoscope to Brinus’s arm. “Your arm bones have three times the density of a normal person. That could just be because of the nature of your job. You could lift in theory up to 1000 pounds based on your muscle and bone density, but your cardiac and pulmonary heath is severely limited. In actuality, you could lift up to 400 pounds.” She pulled out her triquarter and took a blood sample. It tested negative for magic. “You smoke so much I expected it to test negative. AA nictontine obstructs the results because it binds to the same receptors responsable for magic.”

  Brinus crossed his ankles as he felt something warm and ticklish on his left arm. He looked and saw the Doctor putting a 2,000 degree celsius plasma torch to his arm. “What the fuck? That tickles!”

  Doctor Finnie said nothing and put it off to the side. His bare elbow was still pink and unharmed. “I heard you could weld shirtless for hours, but I had to see it myself. I think that’s all. You can go now.”

  Brinus buttoned up his uniform and left. She began a texting conversation with Captain Plato.

  Simmie was in bed with Brinus. Simmie was on top of him, and they were both in black military boxers on top of the sheets. Brinus smiled with his hands behind his head. Simmie was on top of him, eating chocolates and feeding them to Brinus one at a time. He put one in Brinus’s mouth and started chewing with his hands behind his head.

  The bedroom had paneled walls and a blue carpet. The bed was a simple metal frame with a box spring and a foam mattress. In his room was a closet with Simmie’s and Brinus’s clothes. They really only had a few outfits, each meant for comfort, and three sets of uniforms. The dresser was a simple oak wood dresser with eight drawers. It had a mirror, and on top were clothes strewn on it.

  The room was smoky and smelled like burning coffee and chocolate tea incense. A low night light projected a soft yellow glow throughout the room, which mixed with the smoke and created the ambiance of a tea house in a bedroom.

  “I heard what happened in first aid today,” Simmie's lips caressed Brinus's left ear and the side of his neck.

  Brinus tilted his neck to the side for easier access and wrapped his legs around Simmie's waist. “Why are people gossiping about it?”

  Simmie put another chocolate into Brinus’s mouth. He started chewing. Simmie said with a slight purr in his voice, “You’re the ship’s badass. No wonder why people are shocked. Do you know how many people came to me wondering if it was true you failed CPR?”

  He moved his lips, caressing them down Brinus's jaw and neck. Brinus moaned as soon as he hit his vagus nerve.

  Simmie decided to change the subject. He twirled the tip of his finger on Brinus’s chest as he said and moved his lips across his right ear and the side of his neck, “I really want to help you. You know, I had the same issue last year.”

  Simmie put a third piece of chocolate into Brinus’s mouth, and he swallowed. Brinus shuddered after Simmie's teeth grazed his left nipple. “This is why I love you. You know just how to cheer me up.”

  Simmie put a fourth chocolate in Brinus’s mouth. “You know, if I can do it, so can you. It won’t be easy, and I can help.”

  Brinus put his hands on Simmie's hips and flipped him over where he was on top. “I wonna do it on my own.” Brinus moved his lips down Simmie's jaw to his neck to his chest.

  Simmie ran a finger down Brinus’s chest, his abs, and then into his underwear. “You don’t have to. How can I help?”

  Brinus smiled, removing his hands from his boxers. He said with a smile, “Not tonight, hon. I just ain't feelin' it.”

  Simmie ran his finger down his chest and kissed him. “You are my priority, and I understand.”

  “I am going to bed. It has been a long day, and I need to be at Commander Thomo’s quarters by 0545 hours.”

  Brinus's lips caressed Simmie's for a few moments as they interlocked, and then he said, “Computer-cut lights.”

  The room went pitch black. Brinus and Simmie went under the covers, and then silence.