Chapter 5: Chapter 5

I could feel the iron vice that gripped my body slacken as our vessel tore itself from Earth's gravity. Now that I could finally breathe, I greedily sucked in the stale recycled air. My whole body felt like I got hit by a truck. I could feel twinges of nausea in the pits of my stomach as my heart tried to calm itself. This was my first time leaving orbit, and I have to say, I didn't appreciate it in the slightest.

Sergeant Valentine unstrapped himself from his harness and quickly smoothed out his uniform before affixing us with his fiery gaze. The door swung open, and three more knights flooded into the bay behind him. Each was wearing their class two uniforms. Which was composed of a slate gray button-up short, long sleeve shirt, with the symbol of the Order stitched onto the surface of the right shoulder, and the name of the wearer was inscribed into a small metal tag that hung on their right breast. The pants they wore were freshly ironed and hung from their forms. Not even the drafts that were pushing through the bay seemed to ruffle them.

"This is Staff Sergeant Martinez. She will be my immediate second. Anything she tells you to do, you do without question." He gestured towards the shorter Hispanic knight. She gazed at us with a set of brown eyes that looked as if there was a fire raging just behind its surface. Her vibrant brown hair reached down to her shoulders but went no further.

"This is Sergeant Thomson. He will oversee your education for the next four years. Everything from your teachers to your class times. He will know everything that happens in your classes or in your academic life." He gestured to the tall man that stood next to the Staff Sergeant. He was a hulking man whose muscles threatened to tear his uniform. His head was freshly shaven, and his face was severe, with a pair of eyes that seemed like they would turn you to stone.

"And finally, this is specialist Ember. She will oversee all your medical procedures, including your transition into a knight." Next to him stood a woman with platinum blonde hair tied into a tight bun. Her blue eyes looked like I was staring into a boundless, wrathful sea. She was by far the shortest of the group and but at the same time, she also looked to be the kindest.

"We will all be your commanding officers for the next four years of your life. With our guidance, you will become the best soldiers that we have to offer. But you will not only be soldiers but scholars. You will become nothing less than the best in your selected fields. That said, we all expect nothing less than your all moving forward. Am I clear?" He barked his words at us, hammering in the severity.

"Yes, sir!" We all yelled back at him. The process was already well ingrained in me, but the others, not so much.

"Bullshit. Sound off like you mean it!"

"Yes, sir," I yelled even louder than before, trying to outshout the others. He eyed us all for a moment before he switched gears.

"Now. Some of you have given up a life you could have had, while others had nothing to return to. All for a chance to join the Order, and we applaud your courage. All of you know well that there is no turning back now. You all belong to the Order now. Even if you fail, you will be recycled into the next training class. If you fail a year, you will repeat it. The only way out now is through discharge or death. Am I clear?" His hands were crossed behind his back, pacing down the isles.

"Yes, sir!" We all yelled back in unison towards him. It was well known that enlisting in the Order was permanent, and everyone on this shuttle knew it. None of us would be here if it wasn't something we didn't want.

"Good. The training and education for the next few months will prepare you for each conversion phase into a knight. You will wake up at oh five hundred hours every weekday. You will P.T until oh eight hundred hours. From there, you will eat breakfast, square away your dorms, and be in class from oh nine hundred until seventeen hundred hours. From seventeen hundred to twenty-one hundred hours, we afford you free time to work, study, P.T, or anything else you may find pertinent to your training. Questions so far?" He stopped walking once he reached the front of the isles and spun around to look at us.

Everyone in the bay seemed a tad bit too terrified to speak up. Besides, there weren't any questions to ask at the moment. It was crystal clear. He stood quietly for a few seconds until he walked and talked again. "Your Saturday until thirteen hundred hours is free time to study and prepare. From thirteen hundred hours to twenty-one hundred hours is drill. Sundays are free and are used for religious observance. This is not your average basic or boot camp. We will grant you adequate free time, as needed, so you can study and train. We expect you to use it to its maximum potential."

He stopped talking once more and looked us all over. "Throughout your time here, there will be tests, field maneuvers, and war games. We will do everything we can to prepare you for your deployments across our territory. From protection detail to full-scale engagements, you will learn everything. Questions?"

Again, deafening silence was his answer. He was absolutely clear. "Once we arrive at mars, you will register your squad and proceed through processing. There you will get your rules and regulations as knights. With all of that out of the way, I can now inform you about your rights and purpose as soldiers of the Order."

He kept pacing as he talked, his shoes echoing each time as they impacted the ground. "You are now outside of the standard judicial system. A military tribunal will judge all major crimes. However, you are afforded a jury of peers to oversee your case and ensure that we afford you a fair trial. However, in cases of crimes too minor to take to a tribunal, we will punish you with an article 32. Which is where you will receive docked pay, demotion, and or confinement based on the severity of your crimes. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!" Everything he was telling me wasn't anything new. I was already well aware of this. With a quick glance to my left, I saw my companions staring at the man, wide-eyed, as they tried to process the information. They looked like they were struggling to absorb the information bombarding them, but that was alright. I would help them the best that I could.

"As members of the Order, you are outside of alliance control, as we are a separate entity. You do not answer to any commanding officer of any other forces outside our own unless you are assigned to them. Is that clear?"

You are reading story Etheric Knight at novel35.com

"Yes, sir!" I barked my response to him. The Order was not affiliated with the rest of the alliance, as we are considered a non-state entity; however, that isn't to say there isn't criticism for it. Some say that the Order should be dissolved and folded into the armed forces, but their critics were few and few. It has often proven itself as a valuable ally and something that many civilians see as synonymous with the armed forces. In reality, the Order needs the alliance as much as the alliance needs the Order.

"Good. We enter the arcanum in approximately three minutes. Once there, we will arrive at the academy in just under an hour. You have that time to discuss with your squad what your name will be, along with your roles. Remember that everything is permanent and can not be changed once it is submitted. Dismissed." I relaxed in my seat as the First sergeant spun and walked towards the door the others came from, with the rest of his squad following behind him.

I released my held breath and looked at my new squad. Raven's head was tilted as she was processing the new information. Marcus looked to be calm, while Ahmya seemed to be a little freaked out.

"So we are a squad now. It makes sense why the first sergeant said to sit next to a senior neophyte." Marcus mused to himself.

Raven quickly bobbed her head, totally happy to be surrounded by new friends. "Yes, yes. This one's family grows. Good to have a new family."

"Yeah, so we better grow familiar with each other if we want to get ahead. So first things first then, what should we name our squad?" The bay grew louder with the drone of a handful of conversations going on at once. I crossed my legs and positioned myself better so I could hear them.

"I'm not quite good with naming things. So at most, I can only be used for input." Marcus chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the nape of his neck. I nodded my head and looked at the other two. 'Raven? Ahmya, what do you think?"

"Raven thinks the name Cloud Walkers is good. Reminds Raven of her family home." She bobbed her head and chirped matter-of-factly

"So Cloud Walkers is a potential then." I brought up my smartwatch, activated a quick note screen, and typed the name in. "Anyone else?"
"Doom Bringers?" Marcus sounded off, and I found myself cringing at the name. It was all edge and no point.

"That is a little tacky, don't you think?" I asked as I typed it into the notepad. Even if I didn't like it, I would still write it down out of respect.

He chuckled and gave me a quick shrug. "Yeah, I told you I wasn't good. I just wanted to give it a shot."

"Fair enough." I glanced over at the quietest person on the squad. "What do you think?"

She looked over at me and quietly whispered, "Eclipse." Before she turned away once more. I made a mental note to talk to her and break her habits. Otherwise, she would be easy pickings for the drill masters. I wrote the name down on my notes and pondered over it for a moment. It was a good start. It was just a matter of figuring it out.

"All hands, brace for transition into Arcanum space." A male voice from the intercom tore through all the ambient conversations in the bay, causing us to fall silent. I reached out for my belt, made sure I was fastened in, and quickly informed my squad to do the same.

"Transition occurs in fifteen seconds." The voice sounded once more, and I gripped the arm bars. A vibrant blue hue, unlike anything I had ever seen before, shone through the windows, blinding me for a split second before the light was dampened down by the automatic tinters that slid into place. A strange hum filled my head, making it feel like it was about to explode. I gripped my seat as my body felt weightless, which was odd considering the artificial gravity on board the shuttle.

"Commencing transition. All hands brace." The voice sounded once more before my vision blacked out from the sheer amount of stress that suddenly bombarded my body.

You can find story with these keywords: Etheric Knight, Read Etheric Knight, Etheric Knight novel, Etheric Knight book, Etheric Knight story, Etheric Knight full, Etheric Knight Latest Chapter