Changeable as the Sea

It'd taken them three months since Mullen had picked them, four since Keren had arrived at the complex in Rome, but now it was finally time. After weeks of training hard on the practice range, in the classroom, and even in their own minds, the Seven were going Aven-side. Keren, in her straight, snug uniform, wearing her massive military backpack and with her camo duffel bag at her feet, stood in the modified hanger, staring hungrily at the arch and platform in the center of the room that made up the portal. She was ready, she knew she was.

The tall cadet stood beside the only other girl on the team, the only other girl even going to Avengaea, Adara Demes. Adara was a good head shorter than she was, heavy and curved, with dark hair and eyes, contrasting to her friend Keren, tall and bony with thick, bushy red-gold hair and energetic, pale green eyes. Even Adara's olive skin contrasted Keren's ruddy, freckled complexion. Adara's steadiness and general seriousness countered Keren's mood swings and general lack of seriousness. Keren enjoyed being opposites; it made their friendship that much more interesting.

Anderson stood on Adara's other side, looking as excited as he ever got. The other boys displayed various levels of excitement and nervousness; Michael looked like he was going to wet himself if anything too frightening happened, but Franco was grinning like the big idiot he was. Keren smirked at him, but he ignored her. Her eyes fell on the braided twerp Mullen has insisted on bringing with them, but only briefly. The kid annoyed her, as he did all the others, so she did her best to ignore him. Right now, that was hardly difficult. The portal stole her attention back before she could do more than register his thankfully-silent presence. When would it open? When would they go through to Avengaea? She was getting impatient.

Finally, Captain Mullen strode back to the group. She snapped to attention the same moment he barked, "All right, at attention." Her hand leapt up into a quick salute, but she couldn't quite erase the grin from the corners of her mouth, which twitched against the mask of seriousness she tried to impose on it. "You too, Riya Keth," Mullen continued as the cadets' hands went back down to their sides. "I don't care if you're part of this outfit to fight or not, either you go by my rules or you're not going." Served him right to get snapped at, the little twerp.

A claxon went off, and Keren nearly jumped in surprise and general nerves. She wanted to be doing something, not just standing there waiting-- and that sound meant that they would get to start doing things again very soon.

"Power up in one, pull it together, captain."

Mullen looked at each of the cadets in turn, and Keren tried to look reliable and capable and otherwise like a good cadet when his eyes fell on her. "Realize," he began, "that once we're on the other side, you won't be coming back, at least not for a while. Realize that once you are Aven-side you will be in the hands of Trainer Fidelites!" Keren hardly minded, she liked the big guy. For an alien and a dragon, he was pretty cool. "You will answer to him, and for God's sakes, you won't cause trouble!" Keren had to clear her throat softly to keep from snickering at the look he gave Anderson and the twerp. Those two were always going at it, picking at each other... they would need reminding to behave themselves.

"Portal launch in thirty seconds," the intercom warned loudly.

Mullen continued. "Once you are on the other side, you won't be on safe ground anymore. You will be among men, you will be among dragons, and you may even have to defeat demons." Bring 'em on, Keren thought fiercely, feeling ready for a battle right that instant, heavy backpack or no. "You will have to use your intelligence, your training, and your team work to survive, and you will have to use your common sense if you hope to make this operation successful."

"Ten seconds," boomed the intercom.

"You are Earth's and UNIS's future," Mullen said, coming to the apex of his speech. "You will represent our planet and you'll do a damn good job of it! Have I made myself clear?" Keren joined the other cadets in a loud, "yes, sir!" and Mullen barked, "Are you ready to roll, cadets?" Another firm "yes, sir!" from Keren, Adara, Anderson, and the rest, and Mullen stepped back.

"Three... two... one... portal launch."

For a second there was silence, then a deep, rich humming filled the hanger. Keren could feel it in her bones, throbbing like the ceaseless rumbling of the ocean, and she shut her eyes with a smile to better enjoy the sensation. The room was alight with electricity, making her normally bushy hair feel even more fuzzy and thick, and as the thrumming sound-sensation swelled to a climax, there came a flash of light so bright that it dazzled her even through her closed eyelids.

As the light faded, Keren opened her eyes and found that the portal arms were lit with a gentle golden glow, and between them, rising from the portal platform, was emptiness. She blinked a few times at it, wondering if that meant it had malfunctioned somehow. Mullen's shout, however, indicated otherwise: "Move move move! We don't have all day!"

Jason, at the far right of the group, gulped, steeled himself visibly, and jogged forward and through first. He disappeared, as if the emptiness had swallowed him up. It was kind of creepy-looking, and Keren smoothed down her hair a bit nervously. Anderson was the second to charge through, stony-faced and determined, Adara followed right on his heels, like usual. Not about to be outdone, or left behind, Keren launched herself after her friends.

It was a strange, and strangely familiar, sensation, to be yanked across thousands of millions of light years to a planet beyond the galaxy, halfway across the universe. It was like being warped, forced into a shape not your own that could travel faster than light, then spat out, suddenly yourself again, at the end of your instantaneous journey. Keren blinked bemusedly in the bright light of the open air. Her own speed entering the portal carried her several long strides beyond it, coming out, before she slowed to a stop and looked around. They were in some sort of courtyard, enclosed by walls, but much, much larger than the compliment of this Aven-side fort would have called for. And the reason why stood before the cadets, in all his massive height and bulk.

Esuro Fidelites stood towering above them, as completely still as any mortal being could manage, watching them all. He seemed to be more interested in Anderson than the rest of them, and Keren pushed down a surge of resentment. He wasn't any better than the rest of them, but there wasn't anything she could do about where a dragon superior wanted to focus his attention. Irritated by it, anyway, she looked away from him, to see a man half-hidden in Fidelites' shadow-- middle-aged, black-skinned, and a formal Colonel's uniform. Keren half-instinctively mirrored Anderson's salute, and got a half-smile from the colonel in return.

It didn't take long for the other three cadets, the twerp, and the captain to follow them through the portal, and the insistent thrumming that signaled the portal's activity died down to nothing. The colonel took that moment to step out of Fidelites' shadow and clear his throat to introduce himself. The cadets all jumped into an attentive line to listen.

"Welcome to Avengaea, cadets!" he began. "I am Colonel Roset, and I'm in charge of this little shindig." Keren could have laughed, if not for discipline; a colonel, calling an operation like this a shindig? "I trust you have all met Fidalites? Good. Now, due to time constraints," he looked meaningfully at Mullen, not even waiting for their own answers to his question, "you will be leaving for Sanctuary tonight. The dragon there will set you up with some living space, I've been assured." Esuro nodded simply, and Roset looked like he was about to say something else when Mullen interrupted him.

"Actually, colonel," he said politely but insistently, "there's been a small change of plans." Roset looked stunned, but before he could protest, Mullen held up a hand and assured him, "No, nothing serious! I'd like to discuss this matter with you two briefly...." He led Roset a little ways off and Fidelites bend his head over them to listen.

Unable to stand all the silence among the cadets, Keren whispered to Adara, "What in thae world dyou think they're talkin aboot?" She only really bothered to smooth out her faint Irish brogue when in front of superiors; with her friends, she spoke however she pleased.

Adara shrugged, and took her cue from Keren not speaking silently; Keren never did, unless she was forced to, since she was the worst of all of them at sending. "No idea," Adara whispered back. "Andy doesn't know either." Anderson glanced at them at the noise, but said nothing, merely looked disapproving. Keren shot him a glare, right back, then focused hard on the trio murmuring just out of earshot. How such a big creature as Fidelites could speak so softly, Keren had no idea.

When the hushed conversation finished and the two UNIS officers walked back to the cadets, Roset looked regretful and Mullen looked like a cat who'd just found an unattended dish of cream. "Right," Roset said, sounding slightly apologetic, "Well, for the sake of testing this operation, the captain has suggested an experiment. So. We will require a military and a non-military representative from Earth." Keren felt a little jolt of shock. What did that mean? Did they do something wrong? What was Mullen thinking? Keren didn't want to have come this far only to be told, now, that she couldn't continue after having worked so hard.

Roset gestured at Riya, indicating he was to go on, and Keren felt a surge of hot anger as she glared at him. Was this his doing? Something he'd managed to convince Mullen to do, to make sure he looked better than the rest of the cadets? That wasn't fair! This whole thing wasn't fair! Keren knew she wouldn't be picked-- she was the least talented of them all in psionics, and her temper was still horrible-- though she couldn't help a hope....

The second choice came all too quickly, killing that small hope, and Keren watched Anderson step forward like Riya had, smiling with such pride and excitement that it was all Keren could do to keep from hooking out a foot and tripping him. Even worse, the smugly pleased expression on Mullen's face made her want to give him a good slug to the jaw, but luckily, military discipline kept the action part of her temper in check. It couldn't keep her expression from going mutinous, though, or keep her from thinking some very dark thoughts about Mullen, Anderson, and the twerp Riya.

Roset was speaking. Keren forced herself to pay attention instead of contemplating terrible fates for those three. "The rest of you, don't be upset. The success, or failure, of these two will determine your future here." Like hell, it would. The temptation to leave gouges in Roset's apologetic face with her fingernails was very strong. As they were ushered off to their dormitory-style rooms, Keren was muttering angrily under her breath in Gaelic. Even with that small outlet, it wasn't until she and Adara were alone in the room they had to themselves, being the only females on the team, that she could really express how angry she felt.

As soon Adara shut the door, Keren landed a furious punch on the pillow of one of the beds, sending feathers flying as the force of her fist squeezed them through the fabric.

"You get that one," Adara said gruffly, eying the somewhat-reduced pillow, claiming the other bed by collapsing onto her back on it.

"Thoose. Fecking. Bastaerds!" Keren snarled, her accent coming out further in her fury. "Playing feckin faevoorites! Paefrect lettle Riyeh Keth, paerfect lettle Andaerson! They'd jest baetter laet us goo, too. They'd feckin baetter! They caennae maeke us stay beh'ind! Noot after we've worked sae hard tae get this far!"

Adara seemed of similar sentiments, but she wasn't as vocal as Keren about them. For a moment Keren glared in fuming silence at the pillow she nearly de-stuffed, then the energy drained out of her in a great rush, leaving her to slump down onto the bed, rage turning abruptly into despair. "What if they daenna laet us goo?" she wailed softly, putting her head in her hands, her mind racing over all the things she'd done wrong, failed at, messed up since she met Mullen.

"They will," Adara said firmly, determinedly, staring fiercely up at the ceiling. "They will."

Keren just hoped she was right.