School Days

December 6^th, 3042
Outreach

Ivan let out a low sigh as he sat outside the administrator’s office.  He had an intense dislike of this school, and he had made that point very clear every time the planetary council on education attempted to get him involved.  The building was too small, the classes were too big, and most of the teachers weren’t up to his standards.  The last one wasn’t their fault, his standards were extremely high and most of his issues came with the school’s administration. 

“Administrator Wright will see you now.”  The secretary said quietly.  He nodded his acceptance and stepped through the doorway into the well appointed office.  That was another thing he didn’t like.  This administrator wasted money on the adornments in his office. 

“Good afternoon Dr. Kirov, I am sorry we have to meet under these circumstances again.”  The man reached out to shake hands, but Ivan didn’t return the gesture.  His eyes looked down at the desk he’d left a handprint in the last time he’d been summoned to this office in the middle of the day. 

“Where is she?”

“She’s currently being treated by our nurse, she got into another fight.”

“How badly injured is she?”

“Scrapes and bruises.  However, this is the fourth fight this month.  She’s going to be suspended during the winter break, and the first two weeks of the next semester.  If this happens again, she may end up being expelled from the school.”

“I understand that.  I will have a conversation with her about her proclivities.”

“Now, Dr. Kirov, I am sure we can work something out…” the administrator started his spiel again.

“There is nothing to work out, I will speak with her.  Bring her out front, I will not wait long before I go find her myself.”

The administrator nodded quickly and two glorified security guards appeared a few minutes later with the object of his attention.  He shook his head at her.  She had a black eye, swelling around the right side of her nose and a split lip.  Her pink hair was matted down from exertion and she looked like she had been through hell. 

She looked up into his eyes for a moment and he saw a spark of anger waiting for him.  His eyes narrowed at her and that anger disappeared in a moment.  Ivan wasn’t sure what emotion replaced it, but it was something that required more attention later, when they were at home.  They left the school building together, and Ivan sighed again as he tossed her the keys to the car.

“What?”  She looked up at him.  “I can’t drive, I’m fourteen?”

“If you are old enough to learn to drive a battlemech, you can drive a car.”  He said firmly and took the passenger seat.  She spent a few minutes fiddling with the pedals and adjusting the seat so she could drive, but the engine turned over and she slid the truck into drive.  They pulled into the street and she tried to pay attention to the road.  The traffic was light, and she was a natural.  

“So, why did you get into a fight this time, Mackenzie?” 

“They..”  She hesitated.  “It was stupid.”

“There are many reasons to get into a fight.  Explain this one to me.” 

“I was kind of hoping Aunt Amelia would pick me up.”  She tried to change the subject.

“Like the last three times?”

“Oh…yeah I was going to tell you about that.”

“Do I strike you as a simple man, Mackenzie?”

“What?”

“You are having an extremely hard time with the absence of your parents,  I know you are.”

“I have it under control.”  Her knuckles whitened as she gripped the steering wheel harder.

“Respectfully, you do not.  Why did you get into this fight, Mackenzie?”

“They were talking shit about my dad.”

“Who?”

“Some of the older boys.  They were talking about how if dad had been a real warrior he would have stayed.” 

“So you were defending your father’s honor?”

“Exactly.”  She turned the car a little faster than she meant to and it fishtailed for a moment.

“Had you considered that your father’s honor does not need protection from children who will likely never set foot on the battlefield?”

“What?”

“They are likely the children of merchants, laborers, and scientists.  Their words should not have value for you.”

“They just make me so angry…why…why did they have to go?  Why couldn’t they take us with them?”  The tears streaked down her cheeks and she pulled the truck over.  He put his good hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. 

“I had this same argument with both of your parents.” 

“You did?”  She looked up at him and wiped the tears from her eyes.  He nodded down at her with a smile. “Did they tell you why we weren’t good enough to go with them?”

“It has never been a question of your worth as a person, Mackenzie Sokolov.”

“Then why?”

“Your mother had often spoken of her desire to see you and your brother have the freedom to choose what to do with your lives.  Where they went that would be very hard.”

“Why?”

“Because our society is very different from this one, and your parents both worried that you and your brother would not be able to live the lives you wanted to live.” 

“I wanted to stay with my parents!”

“And I wanted you to stay with them as well.  I pled with both of your parents to take you along. When I realized that that was an impossibility, I promised to take care of the two of you until you reached your majority.”

“Are things really so different, between there and here?”

“They are.  I understand what my childhood turned me into, but I look at that in the context of how hard it was, and how few of us tested out.”

“Tested out?”

“Earned my status as a warrior.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You remember that I am what is called a Trueborn warrior like your father.  We were both products of a eugenics program designed to create the best warriors using the best genetic material available.  I had no mother or father of my own.”

“I remember that, I still don’t understand exactly what it means.”

“What it means in this context is that from about the age I could walk and talk, I was put into a high pressure environment to prove that I was better than everyone else.  I learned quickly and I grew fast.  I was getting into scraps like yours every day of my life from about the age of eight until I graduated as a warrior at sixteen.”

“That sounds horrible.”

“Out of my starting sibko of thirty, six of us made it to graduation.”

“What happened to the rest?”

“Three died in training accidents, but the rest tested down into civilian castes.  Their capabilities were deemed more useful to the clan in other areas.  Our personal needs, wants, and desires were secondary at best to the needs of the clan.”

“So if I were deemed to be better as a merchant, I would study business things?”

“Or you would learn to make a specific object and that would be your assigned job for the majority of your life.”

“What if I wanted to do something else?”

“If you wanted to be a warrior, you could test into the ranks of the clan’s touman, but you would be a second class citizen at best.  Transition between other castes is harder, but can be done.”

“That definitely sounds awful.”

“That is why your parents did not want to take you with them.  

They did not want you to be damaged by our society.” 

“Why couldn’t they tell me that?”

“Words have never been your father’s strongest suit, and your mother was absolutely shattered by the decision.  She was nearly despondent the week before they left, and it took every bit of her resolve to get on that ship with your father and Anatoly.”

“Why did he get to go?”

“Because he is young enough that he can probably adapt to our society without it destroying him.  Kade also was not sure that Amelia and I could handle a young child of his age.”

“If it was so bad, how did you get through it?”

“I never said it was bad, just very different.  I took to warrior training very well, and my instructors had high expectations for me.  I excelled at just about every task that was put in front of me, and I reaped some of the benefits of that.  I also had my sib, Vara”

“Like what?” 

“Oh, I was popular with the older girls.  I also got exposed to Necrosia at a young age, and that shaped my path.”

“That green stuff in your medicine cabinet?”

“That green stuff that will stay in my medicine cabinet unless you want to go twelve rounds in the practice cage.”

“Understood, Sir.”

“There are times and places for battles and fights, but the schoolyard is not an appropriate option.”

“But they always try to start shit.”

“So what.”

“So, what?”

“They try to start shit, you respond, get yourself into a fight and then get suspended from school.  By the way, you are suspended for the first two weeks of next semester.”

“Extra long winter break?”  She looked over at him and the wheel moved where her head turned.  She corrected immediately, but the expression on Ivan’s face was not a sympathetic one. 

“In the time you have known me, have you ever once considered that I would be a person that believes punishment is a vacation?”

“No, but a girl can dream?”  she let out a nervous laugh. 

“The other thing to consider is that in order to qualify for a Mechwarrior Academy berth, you are going to have to work your ass off in order to show people that you are not a child that loses her temper at the drop of a hat.”

“Mechwarrior Academy?”

“I have seen that look on the faces of many people your age.  You want to be a mechwarrior, do you not?”

“More than anything in the world.”

“Then you have to earn it.”

“can’t you just tell them to let me in?”

“What do you think you are earning?” He smiled at her.  “No more fights, understood?”

“Yes, Sir.” 

“good.”

“What about other things?”

“Like what?”

“Boys, sex, alcohol?”

“Do not get pregnant, but have fun.”

“What?”

“High pressure circumstances can turn coal into diamonds, or it can leave tiny little bits of coal dust.  You are going to need to find some way of dealing with your stress.  I would prefer you find other means of relieving stress, but you will ultimately make the best decision for you.”

“You are like the weirdest parent ever.”

“I hear that a lot.  Pull over at that liquor store.  I need to get some wine for dinner.” 

December 8^th 3042
Outreach

Jaxun let out a soft whistle as he finished the last touch on his science project.  It was going to be perfect.  He had scaled down a mech sized ECM generator for a personal scale operator.  All of his tests had come back with positive results and now he was going to flip the switch and test the prototype for the first time.  This was going to be awesome.

The switch flipped and everything went sideways.  The power flickered in the garage and he saw the electricity surge into the power pack before everything flashed white.  He tried to pull the connecting wires to separate the power supply from the generator but the last thing he remembered was a sharp discharge of electricity and the sensation of flying through the air. 

He woke up later in a hospital bed trying to figure out what exactly he had done wrong.  The soft hum of machines were a constant companion and his arm was in a cast.  He shook his head and tried to figure out what had happened. 

“The next time you want to set the garage on fire, there are easier ways.”  Ivan was sitting in an oversized chair, watching him.

“What did I do wrong?”  Jaxun asked him.

“For starters, you should have probably informed the adults in the house you were building a portable ECM generator in the garage.” Ivan shook his head.  “Further, you should probably have told me you were getting ready to test it by yourself.” 

“That’s not what I mean.”  Jaxun tried to shake the cobwebs out of his peripheral vision. 

“Oh, you are trying to figure out what exactly you screwed up when you tried to blow up the house?”

“I wasn’t trying to blow up the fucking house.”

“Language.”

“Sorry.  I was not trying to blow up the fucking house.  That was more of an unintended side effect of something I screwed up.” 

“Better.  Since your experiment destroyed your prototype and most of the equipment you were using, I was unable to reconstruct the exact mistake you made.  I do have theories though.”

“Like what?”

“Like you should probably tell me ahead of time the next time you build something that can explode in my garage.” 

“Yes, Sir.  I am sorry about blowing up the garage.”

“You are still desperately trying to figure out what you did, quiaff?”

“What?  Yes, of course I am.”

“My suspicion is that you dropped a decimal point when you were calculating the power requirements for your stealth field generator.” 

“What, no.  I checked those calculations six different times.”

“When you recover, I will show you the actual specs of a camo suit used by professional agents, and the power packs they use.  Judging by the crater you made, I think you used at least ten times the power you were supposed to.”

“What, no way.” 

“We shall see the next time.  However, your science teacher was nice enough to give you until the middle of January to finish your science project.” 

“Oh…I have to start all over again.”

“That is one way of looking at things.’

“What is the other way?”

“Your first prototype stealth generator makes a spectacular grenade.” 

“Mom wouldn’t have screwed up the math…”

“No, but she probably would not have tried to build one of those.”

“That’s not what I meant.” 

“Your mother is an amazing woman who has an almost instinctive understanding of mechanical and electrical systems.  I have never seen anyone who is as capable as she is in her chosen fields.” 

“But you  know Dr. Banzai.”

“My statement stands.  Your mother is one of a kind.”

“I wish she was still here.”

“I do too.” 

“Why did she have to leave with dad?”

“Because they love each other.  They have for as long as I have 

known the two of them.”

“Why couldn’t they take us?”

“You would not have fit in where they are going, Shorty.”

“You keep saying that, I still don’t understand why.”

“I hope you understand someday.  Finding a person to share your life with is an unexpected joy in life.” 

“There is so much to see, so many things to do.” 

“I know, and I felt the way you do until I met Amelia.”

“You met Aunt Amelia about the same time you met Mom, didn’t you?”

“Yes, on Zathras, a few years before you and your sister were born.” 

“What were they like back then?”

“Your parents?”

“Yeah, what were they like…”

“Your father was a lot like he was when I met him.  Hot headed, with a thirst for life.  Your mother hated the situation on Zathras.  The conflict had just ended, and she was trying to figure out what to do with life, with your father.  Still the smartest person in the room.” 

“How about Aunt Amelia?”

“She was still angry at the universe back then.  Her adopted father had been killed during the conflict on Zathras.”

“How did you two connect?”

“We were both angry at the universe and spent too much time soaked on booze and other things.” 

“Why were you so angry?”  The painkillers were starting to kick in and he was starting to slip in sleep.

“Misery was a fresh memory for me, and I was not my best self in those days.  Sleep now, you need your rest.”  Jaxun nodded quietly and rolled over in the bed. 

December 13^th, 3042
Outreach

Ivan pinched the bridge of his nose and let out an exasperated sigh.  Both of the children were home again finally, but Jaxun would be in that cast for nearly a month.  He shook his head and finally uttered the words that had been hiding in his mind.  “Why did I think that I could do this?”

“What’s wrong, honey?”  Amelia was sitting next to him on their couch, and she had her feet propped up on the end of it, laying into his side.  He smiled over at her and wrapped his good arm around her. 

“What possessed me to think that I was capable of taking care of a pair of teenagers?  Further, I dragged you into this without even asking you about it beforehand.”

“I’m sorry, is taking care of children more complicated than planning a planetary assault from the shoulder of a battlemech?”  She tossed the words back at him.  He’d been so supremely confident, he just knew he could handle this.

“Significantly so.  I have no frame of reference for this…I did not grow up with parents.  This entire concept was a quaint holdover from the times before the founding of the clans.  I am an arrogant fool.”

“Well, I am impressed, Ivan.  I thought it would take you another six months to realize that you were in over your head.”

“What?”

“Being a parent is almost as hard as being a kid, Ivan.  We have a harder time because they aren’t our biological children.  As much as I love Kade and Nikolai, they did this wrong.  They should have taken Jaxun and Mackenzie with them.” 

“But they did not, and I promised Kade that I would take care of them until their majority.” 

“And that is one of the many reasons I love you.  This is a team sport, Ivan.  We are doing this together, remember?”

“Aff, and that is one of the things that makes this possible.  I could not succeed without you.  What am I doing wrong?  Mackenzie is probably still going to get into fights, Jaxun may burn down the house down with his next experiment.  How do we do this?”

“Mackenzie is her own person, and even if we were to send her to a private school where she could excel in everything the way you envision her doing so, she would probably still get into fights.  She has a lot of her father in her.  Some things are worth fighting over, and some are not.  If you want to help her, you need to show her that, of all things.”

“I want her to succeed so badly that it keeps me up at night.”

“I know you do, we both do, and her mother and father do as well.” 

“I can see the day coming when she graduates from school and then decides what she wants to do with her life.  I have jealousy for that.”

“Ivan, you were a trueborn elemental ristar who passed his trial of position with three kills, on your way to five when you were finally brought down.  I would say that you succeeded at life admirably.”

“My jealousy is for that freedom to choose, Amelia.” 

“I do understand that our lives didn’t give us a lot of choices to where we could go.  Giving Mackenzie and Jaxun those choices is something that all parents aspire to.” 

“I wonder at times, what I would have become if I had been given the choice to pursue other interests.”

“How many garages would you have blown up?”

“We have talked about that, and I will assemble a more secure structure for him to use as a lab.  This one will not be a risk to the house.”

“Jaxun is a smart kid, smarter than me.  He takes so much after Kade, it’s scary.”

“He has the soul of a scientist.  I wonder what he will turn out to be with his life.”

“That is the other thing that is going to be hard for you, husband  We have to watch them grow up and learn to do things on their own.  We can support them, help them make the decisions that they need to make, but ultimately it is their life that they are deciding the course of. We have to respect that.” 

“I know, I just want them to be happy and successful.  I do not think I could deal with that if they had to live unhappy lives.”

“You big softy.  Remember, we define our own happiness.” 

“What did I do to deserve you in my life?”  he ran his fingers gently through her hair.

“You rescued me from that Taurian prison.  Then we got hammered on that Taurian whiskey and had sex on the Warden’s desk.”

Ivan chuckled.  “Ah, yes the first time I drank you under the 

table.” 

“I let you win that one.”

“I am sure you did.” 

“I like how you think I couldn’t drink your ass under the table right now.”

“Well, if it is going to be one of those nights, I will get the shot glasses.”

“Ivan, there are children in the house.”

“Do you think they will want to participate?”

“Ivan, go get the shot glasses.  We will leave the children out of this.”

“Bargained well, and done.” He leaned over and kissed his wife.