Codename: Freedom - Book 4 - Chapter 33

“He-w—what?” I stammered.

Victoria stepped between us, placing her hand on mine to get me to slowly lower my sword. “He is Krato,” she explained, “or what we call an elite. The Ekseliksi’s special forces.”

I glanced to the alien to see him bow his head in response to the title. Even after I’d attacked him, he was showing nothing but self-control—almost reverence. Only one thing made sense. He knew who she was. I calmed down almost immediately.

“Earth has very few soldiers that even draw near to his level. I was able to procure his help during Vanguard. Lucius, I want him to train you personally. No one will glean as much from his lessons as you will. Then I want you to pass on what you learn to your Captains and closest friends. You will focus on Kline, Barrell, Mel, and a few others of your choosing while continuing to oversee your battalion’s expansion efforts. However, I want you to focus on looking for unique ways to approach the problems we run into. You can rely on your Captains to lead their own operations in most cases.”

I studied her face for any last signs of doubt before relaxing completely and sheathing my sword. Straightening to my full height, I looked the Ekseliksi, this Aeneus Raptis, in the eye. He certainly looked much more intimidating than I did with the numerous scar lines covering his face and neck. It looked like each was drawn with a razor.

He stared back at me. A tinge of humor returned to his face.

Returning my gaze to her, I replied. “Okay.”

“Good,” she said, lighting up. “I know asking you to go with him isn’t easy.”

“If it was then it wouldn’t be training.”

She rolled her eyes. “Get going, then.”

I didn’t move.

She approached her seat and was already reaching for her headset when I called. “Victoria.”

Turning back, she gave me a questioning look.

“How are you holding up?”

She looked like she was going to draw near to me but thought better of it. She didn’t look to Aeneus, but I knew the Ekseliksi was the reason.

“I’m doing well enough. My mind is on a thousand things at once, but other than that,” she cracked a grin. “This is the fun part.”

I’d known her long enough to know the difference between her real and false expressions. She wasn’t telling the whole truth. Considering our company, I didn’t push her any further.

“We’ll get going then,” I replied jovially. “Things are coming together amazingly well. We all see it.”

“Thank you, Lucius. Farewell.”

At least she seemed genuinely pleased with the compliment.

Giving the Ekseliksi my full attention, I found the humor had left his face.

Peter said, taking charge. “We have installed a portal directly to the training hall here in the command center so that Krato Aeneus Raptis won’t have to move outside of the command center—for your convenience. This way, gentlemen.”

I followed close behind the Ekseliksi. Now that he wasn’t trying to kill me, I measured him up. If I was honest, I had no idea what to expect. Was he just going to kill me repeatedly until I improved, or would he actually try teaching me something?

The portal wasn’t inside the main command room, but down the hall in a small room by itself. There was a biometric scanner on a side panel, so only those with access would be able to enter. I made a point of walking up and placing my hand on the scanner before the Ekseliksi or Peter could take the lead. I ported in.

***

I appeared on a grey and barren landscape. It didn’t seem barren because it lacked fertility or had undergone some kind of calamity. There were no cracks in the group, or soil, so it didn’t seem dead, and its surface was perfectly flat almost to the point of looking artificial, but there was something about it that kept me from believing so.

“Lucius,” Destiny voice sounded, but not from my headset. Reaching up, I felt around my brow and temple to find it missing. “In this space my physical representation isn’t necessary, so I’ll hide myself from this Ekseliksi when we’re here. It’s almost identical to the training

As Krato Aeneus Raptis ported in behind me followed by Peter, I noticed immediately and turned. When the large purple tinted man found me with his gaze, I was already glaring up at him. My squint wasn’t precisely hostile, but I made it obvious that I still didn’t trust him.

His aura shot up rapidly as if rising to a challenge.

I summoned my internal walls and held firm without dropping my gaze.

He just watched me without much change in emotion. After a few long moments he tilted his head to the side and inclined his head. He spoke in a slow, sure tempo. “I’ve seen your courage young warrior, and felt it, but you are néos, a boy new to manhood. Your use of psionics lack any trace of refinement, and your control is like that of a drunkard. I will excuse this since you’ve only practiced a year, but under my tutelage this will change. If I am dissatisfied with your rate of improvement, you will feel my disapproval. If satisfied, you will only know it from the lack of discipline. The only reward you will receive from me is further advancement down the path of the Teleios. I have been called on to train you, and I will achieve this whether you desire it or not. This is my duty.”

His words didn’t come off as a threat as much as him wanting to measure my response. There was only one possible retort. “I desire it.”

He straightened. It seemed my reply met his approval.

“Krato. Lucius,” Peter interrupted.

Aeneus Raptis’s head snapped sideways, and he scowled downward. “Speak migás.”

“He’s calling him a mutt, or a half breed,” Destiny whispered in my ear.

Peter ignored the Ekseliksi’s scorn. “During your sessions you are safe to speak. This is a simulation within a simulation which allows us to keep what happens here to ourselves. Lucius, I still recommend that you keep any discussion of Victoria and the Ekseliksi to a minimum so that you don’t grow lax in keeping it secret.”

“Krato, you remember the limits placed on you, yes?”

When there was no answer other than a constant glower, Peter continued. “Victoria has instructed me to remind you, but also asks that you freely answer any questions Lucius might have about Ekseliksi culture. When the time is appropriate, of course.”

The Ekseliksi grumbled out an affirmative.

“Then I will leave you now.” Peter ported out.

The scarred giant strolled past me without a word. He was interacting with the training hall’s menu. After a moment, two round platforms rose about a foot off the ground. He stepped up onto one of them.

He gave no direction, but his silence was enough.

I took a few quick steps and hopped onto the opposing platform.

“What do I call you?” I asked.

“Krato is the title of my rank. You will use it.”

I felt a sudden rush of pressure and energy surged. The man across from me slowly rose from the platform until he was hovering a few inches off the ground.

“I believe you use the term ‘push’ when referring to this use of psionics. Only Ekseliksi children refer to it with such basic terms. We will refer to it by what it actually is—to hover or levitate. Not everyone can use it, not even all Kratos, but it is common enough that this is considered a basic exercise for new soldiers. Propelling yourself off the ground to gain speed and distance is easy. Even toddlers learn to hop. Using energy with the necessary precision and no fluctuation to hold yourself aloft is far more difficult. It requires exactly what you lack—refinement and control. We will start here. Begin.”

I was left temporarily confused. Even after all he’d said, I was still expecting to fight, or at least to spar with him, but this?

“I will not ask again, néos. I know you have unlocked the full range of psionic abilities. That is exceptionally rare even amongst the Ekseliksi, especially in one so young. You will not squander your gifts. Begin.”

“Yes, Krato,” I replied, making clear that I had every intention of doing as he asked. But how?

Pushing energy down my legs and out my feet wasn’t as simple as it sounded. Most people hadn’t even unlocked Bios type psionic energy. The average user might be able to push energy out his feet, but it would come out as the more natural Fotia type. In other words, psionic bolts would shoot out their feet instead of a propelling force. Bolts might get you off the ground, but they might also leave holes in the ground and damage your feet in the process.

Because of how I was seriously injured during my psionic awakening process, I had the opposite problem. Changing Fotia energy into Bios came so naturally to me that I had to focus in order to use Fotia.

I already knew how I’d fail the first couple tries, so I decided to just get it out of the way. Energy surged downward and Othisi pushed against the ground. I immediately found myself feeling weightless and more than three feet off the ground. I told myself to keep pushing, and I did, but because the initial push was more intense than it should’ve been, I found myself falling back towards the ground.

Reinforcing the intensity of Othisi, I rebounded upward, only to find myself tipping backward. I widened my stance and shifted my back foot back even further. It stabilized me momentarily, but I still felt like I was trying to balance on two partially deflated balloons.

I ended up having to send out corrective spurts of energy to try to stabilize which left me bouncing up and down on a cloud of nothing between one and two feet off the ground. It was going far better than I thought it would. I had yet to crash and burn.

Krato gave no advice on how to fix it or said anything at all for that matter. It seemed he just wanted to give me the time to figure it out myself.

It was going well until I neared the edge of the platform. All the corrections I was making wasn’t just keeping me in the air, but nudging me in every possible direction so I had to correct for that too.

I’d been hovering, if you could call it that, for close to a minute, when I couldn’t correct in time and my front foot arrived over the ground outside the platform. It wasn’t more than a decent sized step to reach it, but what I didn’t expect was for the ground to be made of a different material. As soon as my energy pushed against it, I nearly took a dive. The platform responded far better to Othisi than the ground did.

I let loose a great surge of energy through my front foot to keep me from falling. It worked. It was a bit of an overcorrection, so I pushed through my back foot only to find myself face first in the ground beneath the platform an instant later.

Picking myself up, I grit my teeth at making such an obvious mistake. When I’d had to increate my energy flow with my front foot because of the difference in material, I used the same level of push when correcting with my back foot that was still on the platform, which sent me cartwheeling.

I climbed back onto the platform and without giving Krato a chance to say something, I tried it again.