Jason E Mohler

Isla Cole joined the rest of her soon-to-be classmates exiting the shuttle, not looking forward to her next few years. Unlike her father who embraced his differences, all she wanted to do was fit in. She always had, and she’d always failed. It was bad enough growing up on the family estate where she’d “only” been Lady Cole.

 

The spitting image of her father.

 

Her father, the Admiral.

 

Her father, the hero.

 

Her father, the madman.

 

Her father, the traitor.

 

Basic had been hell. With her father’s pale ice blue hair, her mother’s green eyes and barely a hint of a point to her ears, there was no hiding she was mutt. Claiming her stepmother’s family helped, some, but too many knew the truth.

 

She was the daughter of a traitor and the human who seduced him.

 

And now she was starting her first day at the academy.

 

She followed her classmates, pausing at security long enough for the legionnaires to scan her meager belongings for any contraband. She didn’t have anything, of course; she’d learned the hard way that when you were a six-foot half-breed albino, drawing more attention to yourself than you absolutely had to was the last thing you wanted.

 

There was no more following her companions once she was through the checkpoint as scowling petty officers separated the cadets into groups. There were twelve in hers, a mixture of half-breeds and the houseless. In some places, that might have made them the elite - the ones whose promise was enough to overcome prejudice - but this was the Imperial Regency, where status meant everything.

 

They were the lowest of the low, little better than slaves in this world of legacies and nobles.

 

She had a feeling she was going to miss the good old days of her levy. At least there they were all scum. Well, most of them. There were always some who rose to the top, no matter where they were.

 

Isla really shouldn’t complain, though. That was how she got in, after all; while her father might have been a traitor, her stepmother was anything but. Olivia Cole was no hero, but she was a Commander in the Imperial Navy. And the fact that she was assigned to BUPERS didn’t hurt, either - a favor promised here, another returned there, and Isla’s appointment was all but guaranteed.

 

She was still a mutt, though.

 

The petty officer who’d pulled them away from the rest of the cadets led them to an empty cargo hold. He stepped out and one wall of the large room began to open.

 

It was true, Isla thought as she was sucked out of the room, the stars really didn’t twinkle in space.

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