Chương 73: Ch 40b – Ranks

"So, he actually made you do the 19-19 burnout level one, huh? I thought he was joking when I made the bet." Erro says as they step outside.

"Only a version of it apparently," Cara replies. She pulls the collar of her coat up. The wind is blowing harder now, churning the sea into a frenzy of choppy waves. With undiscussed agreement they both turn away from the shore, putting the wind at their backs.

"What is a 19-19 burnout?" Erro's hands find his pockets, the only sign that he feels the cold of the wind dressed in his thin black jumper.

"It's a series of workouts, well nineteen workouts actually. You have to run them back to back, completing each one for nineteen minutes. Hence the 19-19."

"And it's a cadet thing?" she asks, thinking back to Draig's annoyance.

"Cadets have to complete it to graduate or something?" Erro lets out a soft chuckle.

"Not complete all nineteen, no, that would be too tough. Cadets have to complete up to level nine. That's 171 minutes of non-stop burnout. That's tough enough. Any levels you manage to complete beyond that is for bragging rights. And, to help with unit allocation."

"Oh." She hunches her shoulders as a strong gust pushes at her back. Her shoulder muscles are already beginning to stiffen and ache from the workout. Crathsun had given her an easier level which she'd barely started. She can't imagine doing it for nineteen minutes, let alone the real thing.

"And what level did you get to?"

"Thirteen," he says proudly. They are walking close together, her shoulder brushing his upper arm, so that they can hear each other in the wind.

"And then you joined Wyndeer's team?" she prompts.

"No, then I joined a border patrol unit. That was dull. Then I got deployed to cover some separatist skirmishes." He trails off, uncharacteristically slowing down his speech to prepare his response.

"And after that I joined Wyndeer's team."

"What sort of work does the team normally do?" He pauses to look at her as he flashes an apologetic grimace.

"I know I'm not great at keeping to the rules. And I think it's a stupid rule that they don't want us discussing more things about Feilan. But discussing missions and security detail is definitely a Wyndeer hard line. I've crossed it once before and I never will again. Sorry," he shrugs.

"Jeez that man and his rules," she complains.

"Jeez?" he laughs.

"No idea what that means but I like the sound. Is it the same as saying fuck?"

"No," she says quickly, alarmed at his interpretation of her thoughts of Wyndeer.

"It's a much softer expression," she pauses to think about how to explain it.

"It's a bit like an eye roll."

"Jeez," he repeats to himself with a chuckle.

"He's not that bad you know, once you get used to him." They reach the back of the main building and turn into the lot away from the wind.

"Who? Wyndeer?" Stolen novel; please report.

"Yes. He gets grumpy about his rules, but they are usually reasonable. He doesn't get fixated on up-rank, down-rank politics. And he's a good mentor. He got me my triple." He taps a finger on the righthand side of his chest.

"Your what?" she asks, confused.

"My Triple Blue," he says again, stroking a finger over the same area of his chest. Seeing the bewilderment on her face, he stops walking and smacks his hand lightly on his forehead.

"I forgot, you don't have optics. Here, give me your hand." He takes the hand she pulls reluctantly from her warm pocket. Holding her fingers he steps in front of her so that her arm can reach his chest. He strokes her fingers across his right pec.

"Feel that?" he asks.

"It's a rougher texture. Feel it?" As her fingertips graze across his chest she feels the texture of the fabric change from a looser weave to a stiff rectangle, as if a layer has been ironed on top.

"It's a rank and information patch. If you had optics you'd see my rank displayed, my unit, my name, some other details depending on mission and location," he explains.

"On base we have to wear uniform, but off base Wyndeer doesn't care so much as long as we have patches."

"Do I have a patch?" Cara asks, looking down at her chest. The black coat Magse had given her was done up tightly.

"Yes, but it's not active because you're wearing Trisec clothing. It won't register a Cadet."

"But if I gave this coat back to Magse, it would appear?"

"Yes, here." His fingers press lightly on an area just above her right breast. She looks from his hand back to hers, still feeling the patch on his chest.

"Jeez, there goes your bodyguard," Erro says quietly, looking over to the orange buildings. She turns to see Draig striding across the lot, scowling at them. She whips her hand down, thrusting it back into her pocket. Erro takes a slower, more casual approach to removing his hand from her chest.

"Draig," Erro greets Draig as he passes behind her. She hears him grunt and keep walking.

"Jeez," Erro rolls his eyes at her to emphasise his use of the word again.

"That guy is never interested in a casual conversation," he complains, his attention returning to watch Draig as he disappears behind the main building.

"You talk to him. What's he like?"

"Confusing," she shrugs, saying the first word that comes to mind.

"Confusing, yeah, maybe," he mutters, speaking more to himself than her.

"I wish I could find out more about him."

"Can't you goo-," she corrects herself, "look up his profile or something?" Her hand had reflexively felt for her phone in her pocket. No phone, no Google, her mind reminds her. No internet, no books, no TV. She takes a deep breath and tries to see if she can detect the patch on Erro's top by sight only.

"Body contractor records are sealed. No way to know what he has worked on or what job he'll do next." he replies, his attention returning to her.

"You look pale. We should go inside if you're cold."

"I'm ok," she says dismissively, wishing she could dismiss her thoughts in the same way.

"We should just keep moving." She starts walking, desperate to avoid the dangerous silence of sitting inside alone.

"You still haven't told me what Triple Blue is." She manages to keep him walking and talking for a loop and a half of the main building. Erro explains that each colour ranking had three levels. An individual couldn't be promoted to the next rank colour without achieving a triple level in the rank before. He was a Triple Blue, he tells her proudly, his next promotion will raise him to a First Violet, the same as Magse.

When she asks how she hasn't noticed the levels before he explains that most of the time the levels are left out of rank titles. They only tend to be used between members of the same colour rank to define seniority or at formal events. He gives her the example of First Blue Joss, but when she presses him for more information on Joss he becomes uncharacteristically vague.

He divulges only that Wyndeer hadn't been pleased to have Joss join his team, and that Crathsun had let slip that it was the first time someone had been allocated to the team rather than selected. She is about to ask him who would have allocated Joss when Crathsun interrupts them. The weather tomorrow is forecast as stormy, Crathsun wants to conduct another shard training session today.

Feeling tired and emotional, Cara's instinct is to object, but she has promised Wyndeer her co-operation and Draig that she will curb her voice. She hunches her shoulders and follows Crathsun to the garage.