First Morning

[Kalen image]

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Location: Tarsonis City

Planet: Tarsonis

Year:2524

Place: Confederate ??? Academy

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0450 military time - Youth dormitory, room TGA1-BA802 -next day

*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Attention recruits, the time is now 0450. Please exit your beds and prepare for exercise 1. Your preceptor will be here in 10 min.*

The system's automated alarm blazed across the room, awaking the kids from their slumber. Caesar rose to the sight of 39 other kids. To his left was a metallic box, the staff dubbed "the welcome kit." Within it held 14 white skin-tight academy jumpsuits, 1 all-black academy datapad, 3 toothbrushes, 7 onesie pajamas, 14 pairs of socks, 14 grey skin-tight boxers, and 1 psi-screen.

Caesar grabbed a toothbrush, boxers, and training suit before walking towards the exit alongside Kai and a light-skinned boy with natural blond hair. Like himself, he stood a head above the rest of the kids at 4 foot 8 inches. The boy was Jonathan Samir, a child of middle eastern/Caucasian descent.

The trio entered a hallway, packed with children walking alongside the left and right side of the hallway. They looked upon the kids, whose sunken eyes shined bright with terror and fear, while they walked through a hallway packed with guards who stood at every corner within the dormitory.

Kai paused, taking one hard look at his surroundings. He looked upon Samir, pulling away while feigning terror and fear. His eyes were drawn to Caesar whose unnaturally calm demeanor attracted the attention of all those around.

The children turned towards Caesar, whose eyes caused curiosity to emerge from theirs. See this, the guards stepped to him in their all-black infiltration gear. Their metal-plated half-mask and its piano-black visors reflected his light-grey eyes for all to see. [Insert picture here]

'TGA1-G0017, TGA1-G5901, TGA1-G7913...Tarsonis...Academy 1, Guard0017?' Thought Caesar, looking closely at the all-black mask.

Guard0017 kicked him to the side, as guard5901 and 7913 stepped forward with their disabled electric batons drawn, the kids heard Guard0017 laugh. "Keep it light, and make sure the kiddies watch."

The children shuddered, watching guard7913's baton crash into Caesar's skull. Caesar hit the floor gripping his head, blood spilled from his forehead as guard7913 winded back for another attack.

Caesar covered his head and went into a fetal position, guard5901 swung down on his hands causing his knuckles to bleed. The guards paused, smiling at Caesar. He looked at the oncoming boot and clenched his jaw.

The guards laughed as his body went skidding across the floor. Caesar's body came to a stop in front of a skinny long black-haired Latino/Japanese girl. She looked into his eyes and noticed the same uncaring expression. Before looking up at the guards who continued to beat on him.

Blood spattered across her shoes and feet, yet the girl did not flinch. Her eyes were lifeless.

"Time." said Guard0017, his voice caused the others to come to an abrupt stop and step away from Caesar.

"Who's the freak?" Asked guard7913. His visor remained trained on Caesar while his partner said "Caesar Augustus, says in his file we're not supposed to call him Octavian."

He turned to Guard5901 who repeated, "Octavian, Octavian, Octavian, Octavian!" The guard laughed out "HAHA HAHAHA, HE AIN'T GOING TO DO SHIT!!"

As they watched the boy stand with his busted lip, swollen cheeks, bruised up body, and bloodied forehead. The two laughed and jeered "Octavian! Octavian! OCTAVIANNN!" over and over.

While Caesar stood up. "Octavian, Octavian!" The guards continued.

The girl looked into his eyes, noticing a faint flashing green light. The boy looked into her eyes noticing the same uncaring expression, he donned every day.

She smiled in fascination as the boy walked away, but when she glanced around the hallway, she noticed a number of the children shivering with his every step.

Watching this sight made her release a smile, which radiated the hallway, but faded within moments after falling on the guards.

further down the hallway, their peers were using their mask's visor to stream a live feed for all the staff to see this scene.

"There's nothing there?" Said Guard5901. His eyes remained on Caesar, who entered the boy's change room with the same uncaring expression.

"Their all freaks remember, who knows what they sensed." Laughed Guard5901, his visor fell to the neighboring kids, who shrieked and ran.

"Hey, did you read the rest of that kid's file?" Asked Guard0017.

"Of course not, we don't have access to it. Why?" Asked Guard7913.

'I guess they haven't heard the rumors yet. Oh well! That's not my problem.' Guard0017.

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Caesar stepped into the change room with all eyes on him. He looked past the boys and girls, whose eyes were filled with curiosity, pity, contempt, and fear to study the plain white, which covered the massive room.

He walked through the crowded change room, dripping blood all over his old raggedy clothing. A group of boys watched on as he entered the doorless washroom and removed his shirt. "Holy shit," said one of the boys alerting the many other boys and girls.

They looked upon Caesar whose back and legs were bare for them to see. His child-sized back was defined with muscle, which they never knew existed. His legs...his arms, a full size bigger than the next recruit, his height. A daunting 4'8 or 9, they couldn't tell. They just knew tall...taller than them.

But what shocked them were the cuts and needle insertions that ran across his body. When he turned around the boys began to compare themselves to him, while most of the girls looked upon him with pity.

*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Attention recruits! You have 5 minutes remaining.*

An artificial voice sounded off, causing most of the kids to leave the room with haste. While the more experienced kids marched outside to await orders. One girl hid in the far back watching him with a newfound fascination.

---Caesar Pov---

God, that was so frustrating. I mean, the beating itself wasn't even that big of a deal. But the O.

GOD! The O name, it's like I can't be the ride of it. And what's worse is the fact that I have to take it.

I mean a week ago, I would've blown their heads out, drove them insane, or even ripped them limb from limb, and yet here I am... taking it. And what's worse is that my control may be slipping.

I lost control, I should never lose control. Was it...puberty? Or could it be a side effect of his experiment? ...Both?

Does the reason even matter? No, It doesn't, just the result matters. And the result is, I lost control.

Some of the other recruits sensed my psionic outburst, and from what I can tell the guard's visors recorded everything they saw. So it's safe to assume I'm high on their radar now, but how would I fix that?

… …I need a martyr, more specifically. I need an influential idiot to gather the masses and incite a silent rebellion while I work in the background.

*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Attention recruits! You have 2 minutes remaining.*

I'd better get changed, no sense standing around after applying first aid-Wait! is that a camera? Of course, they'd have cameras in here too. And you, if you're going to watch me can you reel in your thoughts a bit?

???: 's-s-s-sorry.'

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Some time had passed, and the recruits found themselves within a dimly lit room just over 820meters! Four 250inch virtual display hubs hung above the center of the room. To the right of them was an observation deck which was built into the roof.

Most of the kids looked upon its reinforced bulletproof glass with terror and dread as preceptor Lisa's visage came into view alongside four scientists.

"All systems on, connect interior observation deck to TGA1 - YGDbhubs." Lisa's voice caused the gymnasium to light up while displaying her face on the gym's 3d display hub.

Below Lisa's face was an 800m track that circled a lightweight free-weight gym. Complete with numerous free weights along with a few small parkour sets. And in the center of all this, a 30ft caged octagon ring.

Glancing to the side Caesar noticed small writing within the bottom corner of the gymnasium wall. 'TGA1-YDGP001. Tarsonis Academy 1- Youth Dormitory Gym panel1?' guessed looking at the panel code, his eyes lingered on the G in TGA1 before returning to Lisa. Whose was displayed on all four monitors.

A short pregnant pause washed over the room while her eyes stayed on Caesar. Within the observation deck, a video of his previous outburst played on one of its interior monitors.

"You may begin your morning warmup." Said Lisa, returning her focus to all 120 8-9-year-old kids on the track below.

"THANK YOU! MADAM!" yelled most of the kids, giving Lisa their best military salute. She frowned seeing the kids who didn't salute.

But before she could open her mouth, another voice sounded across the room. "ARE YOU DISRESPECTING THE MADAM!" Yelled a young brown-skinned boy with naturally white hair.

The kids who didn't salute looked over in confusion while he repeated "ARE! YOU! DIS-RE-SPEC-TING! THE MADAM!" once more. This time a group of kids formed in support of Rishul, who seemed ready to attack.

"Rishul, enough. You do not need to speak for this superior." Said Lisa with her nose raised towards the sky.

"Once more. And if one makes a mistake, all of you will receive a stage 1 punishment. Now, from the top." Demanded Lisa with a massive sneer on her face.

"WE ARE UNWORTHY! WE DESERVE PUNISHMENT! WE WILL STRIVE TO SERVE OUR GLORIOUS CONFEDERACY! IN EVERY! WAY! POSSIBLE!!!! THANK YOU! MADAM!"

Their disjointed voices caused Lisa to scoff before saying. "I agree, you do deserve punishment. So, from now until the end of the week. No meals at all, only the nutrient bars. Now get to running."

"THANK YOU! MADAM!" this time all 120 kids were in unison, and Lisa was pleased. So pleased she yelled. "RAZE THE ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY TO 1.10G! DIRECTOR'S ORDERS!"

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AUTHOR NOTE: You'll understand more about the planet's gravity any gravity tech later.

AN: If any part of this chapter is choppy I apologize. There was an error, which rendered the original document unrecoverable :/