Ashes to Empire by Raymond Jennings

Author:Raymond Jennings
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure, military, science fiction
Publisher: Raymond Jennings

Over the next few days, Crineal spent all of his spare time pulling records of Leilana’s combat training flights at the academy. He studied them for weaknesses he might be able to exploit. Meantime, the juniors talked non-stop about the forthcoming fight and were placing bets amongst themselves and the other classes. When Tonepear got back to their room on Sixday evening, he found Crineal still studying Leilana’s flight logs.

“How’s it going, bud?” he asked, flopping into his chair to pull his boots off.

“Not bad,” replied Crineal. “She has a tendency to jink the same way whenever she’s evading fire. I think I can use that.” He was silent for a moment. “So what’s the current betting?”

Tonepear grimaced. “Most people don’t think you’ll last five minutes. The rest of the class is trying to be optimistic and go for five to ten minutes and they’re getting good odds on that,” he confessed reluctantly, unsealing his jacket.

The news didn’t surprise Crineal. “What are the odds on me winning?” he asked, not looking up from his screen.

“No one’s betting on that,” Tonepear said. “You’d probably get a hundred to one.”

Crineal nodded. “Think you can find someone to take fifty creds for those odds?”

Tonepear stared up at him in amazement. “Are you serious?”

“Sure,” Crineal responded calmly. “If I’m not prepared to believe in myself, then why should anyone else?”

Sitting still for a moment, Tonepear finally laughed. “Alright, bud, I’m sure I can find someone from one of the two middle classes to take it. I’ll match your bet, too. We can celebrate or commiserate together.”

Crineal turned his head to give Tonepear a grin. “That’s the spirit.” He paused for a minute. “What’s the senior class saying?”

“Not much,” Tonepear admitted. “I cornered Iwyiel and asked him. He said their honor cadet had ordered everyone to stay out of it because they need to concentrate on their finals.” Crineal nodded thoughtfully. The seniors were due to begin their last exams in a few weeks, so that made sense. “But he did say that he thought it would be closer than Leilana expects. He’d taken a look at your scores.”

“Interesting,” said Crineal thoughtfully. So the seniors weren’t counting him out, he mused.

“Well, I’ll find some suckers tomorrow morning to take our bet and you’d better get some sleep, bud,” Tonepear cautioned him, getting undressed himself.

Crineal merely nodded and returned to his studying, determined to be as prepared as he could be.

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