Keep Your Friends Close by ND Roberts & Michael Anderle

Author:ND Roberts & Michael Anderle [Roberts, ND & Anderle, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781642024463
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2019-09-11T06:00:00+00:00

Breakfast turned out to be an odorless blob of pale-brown paste dropped into their mess tins by a catering officer with a dour expression.

The unfamiliar culinary experience was no barrier to K’aia’s appetite. She marched over to the nearest table with the intent of filling her stomachs before the meal was sidetracked by the beginning of the day’s training.

Alexis eyed the contents of her mess tin warily as she and Gabriel made their way over to sit with the rest of their unit. “Mmmm, nutritional substitutes. Because chewing is so time-consuming, right?”

Gabriel snickered, accidentally getting the full flavor experience. “Mercy. What do you think we have lined up?” he asked while they waited for Trey to extract himself from the line.

Alexis shook her head, contemplating the purposes of the various buildings and training areas they’d seen around the valley. “Could be anything, but my instinct tells me this “selection process” is going to start with eliminating the weakest.”

“That would make sense,” Gabriel concurred, doing his best to swallow his next mouthful without tasting it.

Trey joined them at the table, his opinion on the nutritional substitute clearly on par with the twins’ reaction, going by the expression of revulsion he wore. “What is this stuff? It smells about as tasty as wet cardboard.”

K’aia waved her spoon at him between bites. “We’ll go with ‘mush’ and leave the questions there, huh?” She shook her head. “It’s not that bad. We could be responsible for our own food.”

Trey continued to contemplate the gelatinous paste in his mess tin for a moment longer before tasting the mush. “It tastes of sadness.”

Gabriel shrugged. “Eh, I’ve had worse. Have you ever tasted overdone dinosaur meat?”

Alexis’ eyes widened. “Please don’t remind me about Dad’s grilling obsession. Seriously.”

More of the NPCs from their unit wandered over to the long table. The main course for breakfast was complaints about rough treatment, with a generous side-serving of bitching about the slop they’d been given to eat.

K’aia poked at her food with her spoon. She found herself wishing she didn’t know better than to turn down a meal when the next one was uncertain, despite her earlier assertion. “Maybe that elite squad the general mentioned gets real food.”

Trey tilted his head at K’aia’s suggestion. “Zenith squad?” he asked in a low voice, glancing around to make sure none of the NPCs were in earshot. “I thought the point was to take out the people running the pressgangs?”

Alexis swallowed a mouthful of the thick paste without tasting it. We missed that chance. We’ve got to play this through now. This program is designed to prepare us for leadership, right? You have— She looked away when the mess tent was bathed in light from the entrance. “Oh, look. It’s the wake-up crew.”

K’aia followed Alexis’ look of mild disgust over to the three SIs who had burst so rudely into their barracks earlier.

The SIs swaggered straight over to the food line and pushed in at the front with no regard for the recruits who had been waiting.

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