Topic: Grounded

Lirssa Sarengrave

Date: 2013-04-06 16:46 EST
Just because Lirssa was reconciled with the result of the hearing did not mean she was happy about it. No sense in causing a ruckus, though. In this case, she broke the rules outright. No matter the outcome, sometimes you have to take the consequences of doing the right wrong thing. Of course, the notes, credit chip, and open invitation to travel on the Sam Hellion to wherever it was going from Ensign Olian?s family were a nice offset from the curt verdict of the Academy Board.

Everything in balance, Lirssa thought with a twisted smile as she walked the roof rail of a dilapidated grain silo. Bubber never really applied it much to life when he said it, or if he did she didn?t catch it then. It was always about learning to do a new trick, climb a little higher, or her not going with him to jail. It wasn?t often she thought of Bubber anymore. A little guilt always knotted at her back when she realized it.

Having time on her hands was also a new sensation that formed a similar knot at her back. High Spires House was still doing business, unfortunate but fortunate. One of those things that she is glad has worked so well, and wish it didn?t have cause to. Most of the children cared for there now she did not know. The ones she had brought to it had all found families. Good ones, for as much Lirssa could tell. She had spent no few hours in the past week hunting down the families for a little unmandated surveillance.

The question was, though, what she would have done if she had not seen the good care of the children? Likely gotten herself into a big stew again, gone in temper blazing, and let the outcome shake itself out. It was her way. It was always her way. Follow her gut, act ? don?t think.

Lirssa stopped her walk at the edge and looked out over the patch of city. Her toes curled to hug the roof, free of the thick soles of the boots looped around her shoulders. From below, no one looked at her for long. The sight of a person on an old roof had long since been accepted as city scenery. A city where it took your own sense of life to judge right and wrong.

Damn, she had to be lucky to still be alive. Not just alive, but where she was now. From Bubber?s little forest foundling to starship pilot and claimed daughter of two-time elected governor. Never would have seen that. Always imagined herself dying young.

Guess there was always time for that, yet.

Lirssa Sarengrave

Date: 2013-05-13 15:54 EST
?And you understand why you are standing here?? Admiral Pellan sounded bored going through the required opening questions of the disciplinary tribunal. Her fingers lay relaxed on the semi-circular table she sat behind. The other two officers, Admiral J?Rrosh, and Admiral Yusi were similarly bland in expression.

Lirssa wanted to say something snide, but that was not what she had returned to the Academy for. This part was routine, the conclusion of her disciplinary stage. This was what was going to change it all.

She stood with her hands folded behind her. The uniform was pressed, fresh off the hanger. Boots shone like they never did usually with all her mucking about in her orbiter?s mechanics. ?Yes, ma?am.?

The room was small, not the major court room used when offenses reached criminal. This was for the slap on the wrist, the kick in the pants type reprimands. Lirssa?s place was only five steps away from the table of the seated tribunal, and five steps back more to the door. The lights were soft, plentiful, and part of the walls and ceiling to reduce glare or harshness against the metal and plastic constructed walls and ceiling.

?Cadet Sarengrave,? Admiral J?Rrosh began followed by a slow inhale past the bushy, red mustache beneath his hooked nose, ?The restrictions placed on your flight schedule and duties within the Academy are lifted on the confirmation that you will follow the structure and requirements of the Academy. Do you so confirm??

It was here. Josiah had said they would ask it. She would not get away with the grounding and then get back to the way things were. They would want her word, confirmed, that she would not do what she had done again. That she would follow their rules no matter what.

Last night before the dueling, she had walked and walked trying to find out what it was she was really wanting to do, what she wanted to get to after it was done. Was there another way to it? The Academy wasn?t the only place she could learn to fly among the stars. Did she belong there or had she convinced herself that was where she was supposed to go.

Then the duels. The actions taken. The risks. The rules.

Lirssa looked from one admiral to the next, all along the row. ?I understand the requirements of the rules of engagement. I appreciate their purpose.? Like a horse trying to jump a gap in a bridge, she plowed ahead. ?But I will not promise to not save another person?s life if it is in my ability to do so. I will break those rules every time.?

Admiral Pellan?s lips shrank into a line. ?At the risk of your ship, your life, and the lives of others??

?The lives of others? No. My ship, yeah. Myself? Probably. If nothing else, Admiral, you have to admit I have something of a knack for survival. Either by luck or by plan, and I?m not going to stop now. I may not be material for the Academy. I am not saying you need to bend the rules for me, but I am asking that you trust me to use reason to get the right thing done.?

The three did not even exchange glances. Maybe they knew she was going to say this. Maybe that was why they had looked so bored, that it was just a routine they were going to have to do. Rules they had to follow even if they knew the outcome.

?Cadet Sarengrave, that will be all for now. We will contact you in your dormitory when our verdict has been reached.?

Now that was surprising. Lirssa was not sure she liked the idea of delay, but there it was. Either the ax was going to fall or not. And she would just have to wait.

Lirssa Sarengrave

Date: 2013-05-17 18:30 EST
Admiral J?Rrosh stood just outside the door of Lirssa?s dormitory room. They had not sent word. One had come to her.

That sent all sorts of dark thoughts brewing in her mind. She wanted to ask him if it was time for her to pack up, but she could not bring herself to do it. He had to say it. She would not say it for him.

?Cadet, the tribunal decided to answer you less formally, but you will receive a formal, honorary release from the Academy, and your parents will be notified.? He stepped into the room and stopped just a meter from the end of her bunk.

Lirssa remained standing between the set of beds; two on her left and two on her right. At the moment they felt like support beams, keeping her standing straight. ?Sir, may I ask if the notification has already been sent to my parents??

His lips pursed as if he fought a smile. ?No, not yet.?

?Thank you.? She wanted to tell them herself. There were things she would never let slide, and she was going to own up to what had happened without the Academy doing it for her.

A look around her part of the room, there was not much there for her to pack up. ?I won?t need my uniforms, sir. Would you like me to leave them??

Admiral J?Rrosh sighed and shook his head, the trail of his audials rocked across his medaled jacket where they draped from behind his ears. ?Lirssa, sit down a moment.? He took his own seat on her trunk. She joined him there, perched on the edge. ?I,? he paused and made sure he held her gaze as he emphasized, ?the entire tribunal, understand and appreciate your meaning, but I think you knew that we could not permit it to continue. Not because we don?t trust you, though you do scare the injalis out of us at times, but because some other new pilot who does not have your training or your skill will want to know why she can't do what you can. We have the rules because we have to look out for the greater good ? all of the students here. You did right, but you just did it within the wrong rules.

"I don?t think you would have been happy continuing at the Academy with the restrictions we would have required placing on you.? His voice had softened. For his severe appearance, so sharp featured and fire in the blue eyes, he cared about the students there.

?Yes, sir.? She agreed. It had been the new dream, the new ambition. It was what she worked so hard to accomplish, to fit in and be part of the new team. It had been an amazing feeling, and it had felt right. But in the end she had been afraid to let it go.

She had been afraid.

Forget that.