001. Tired - Nuikr - 100_situations
It had been a long day of packing, just as the whole week beforehand had been a long week of packing. It seemed a never ending task, there were always things she needed at the last minute so there was always packing and then unpacking, frantic searches for what was in which box, etc...even though she wasn't taking that much. True, she was moving away to live in a place that she could remain in for the rest of her life, but she didn't care for much anyway so all she was taking was her backpack and four boxes, no point in taking a suitcase away from her family if she wasn't planning to return.
There would be visits of course, and once she was fully qualified and passed every exam she could be re-located back home (but her father doubted that, there were always need for more people in NUIKR after all) but she wasn't thinking that far ahead, not yet. After all she was only 11, and she wouldn't be up to the stage where she would have a job in that profession until she was almost 20. She had a hard few years ahead of her.
Keladryie Altec, daughter of the infamous Seth Altec was moving from the quiet and boring life of Darwin to attend NUIKR facility of Elitists - based in Jabiru of the same state as her home town, only about five hours out into the middle of the bush. Hidden away in a place which had lacked electricity until only a year ago, she would learn how to handle weapons and how to fight, kill and win. Or at least, she would learn how to do these more efficiently, since she was already quite skilled in using the set of well worn Sais she had received for her eighth birthday and she could fire a gun with ease. This may sound quite strange for a young girl, but she was after all an Altec.
Altec Senior, Seth Altec had attended NUIKR himself, and yet had been thrown out in disgrace at the age of eighteen after he had been responsible for the deaths of 48 cadets. He was of course, quite hated for this act and yet Keladryie looked up to him like no other, and any bad word said about him within her hearing distance would receive a hard punch or worse before they could even blink.
Yes, Seth had been a killer, yet he wasn't exactly a bad man. He had a temper, he had a bit of an attitude problem and also an issue with authority but he was a fantastic father, husband and worker. He just...didn't know how to deal sometimes.
Keladryie had wished to attend NUIKR ever since she had been a young child, not put off by her fathers stories at all. She didn't want to go there to prove she could become an Elitist while her father couldn't - instead she wanted to go there to live his dream for him, because although he muttered dark things about them, scoffed whenever there was an article on the TV or newspaper about them or whatever else, she knew just as well as her mother did that there was nothing else Seth wanted more in the world than to be allowed to graduate from there and become a fully qualified Elitist. It was his romantic dream.
She seemed a little too young to go, most students joined at the age of 13 but she had proved she had been more than able to qualify and had passed the entrance exams with flying colours, just like her father had in his time. So she was off, a mini bus would be at their front gate within minutes and then she would be loaded off and wouldn't return for a full nine months - she would have one week of holidays for Christmas - before she was thrown headfirst back into her studies and training once more. Her mother - although she knew she would miss her daughter - was glad to see her finally so happy and knew it was the right choice to make. After all, all Keladryie did at the moment was get in trouble for kicking and punching at school daily, perhaps with strict discipline and set times and areas to let off steam she would become a more controlled person...perhaps that had been the trouble with Seth's upbringing, since he had been an orphan along with the other 90 or so children who had first started NUIKR off, they hadn't been hard enough on him and just look at how he still was today.
Seth was proud that his daughter would be one of the youngest to have ever attended and still one of the highest ranked on the entrance exams, but he would miss his daughter the most. Family life had taken a turn for the worst when Mikola (his wife and Keladryie's mother) had miscarried and they had lost the little boy who had been steadily growing. Keladryie had let them forget all that, she was a handful and hard to keep up with, and Seth liked nothing more than to pass his time with training her in their back garden.
Keladryie on the other hand couldn't wait, couldn't be quiet and had counted down the full three months until it had been time for her to go. She'd miss her parents but she'd love living in NUIKR more, there was nothing more she craved then to be an Elitist and she wanted to show them all that Aletc's weren't bad - weren't killers! She wanted to somehow earn her fathers right back for him so he could return to NUIKR as well, and also the fact that normal schools were boring and stupid came into it a little as well...
There was a beep at the front gate and Keladryie was in the door in a flash - she'd been waiting on the balcony for them to come - and was caught in her mothers hug for a long moment. She didn't push her away, even though she wanted more to pick up her boxes and go already - because she knew how tender her mother still was at the miscarriage and now losing her other child as well. Seth was at her shoulder then though, a hand on her shoulder as he carried her backpack and a box in the other.
"Ready?" he asked, his voice proud as he handed her the backpack and then the heavy box filled with uniforms. Mikola took the box of personal things, pens and a small photo album, bed sheets and other linen they had been told to bring, while Seth took up the last two boxes, mostly filled with textbooks and course study and then they were down the stairs and meeting the two qualified Elitists in full uniform - badges and sewn patched on their shoulders and arms in proud display.
“Be good.” Mikola instructed, hugging her daughter once more once everything had been loaded into the van.
“Knock ‘em dead.” Seth grinned proudly, ignoring a comment from one of the qualified Elitists who obviously knew him. “Don’t let anyone stand in your way, don’t let anything beat you down…don’t stop until you master it.”
Keladryie nodded once before she saluted her father, making him grin proudly. Only 11 and yet she saluted just as strongly as anyone who had been in a training camp for years.
Her parents watched as she got into the van and one of the Elitist’s slammed the door behind her, only to turn and bump into Seth who had moved to stand right behind him.
“Don’t let anyone treat her differently just because she’s my daughter.” He growled softly under his breath, keeping eye contact with Elitist Stone who he had grown up with, not that Keladryie knew this. “If I hear she’s treated badly…or if she’s made to pay for my mistakes…”
Stone looked at Seth with a half bored expression before he nodded with a sigh. “…I’ll see what I can do…”
Keladryie didn’t hear any of this, nor did she notice it as she moved down to the back of the minivan, ignoring the ‘Hi!’ from a slightly older boy sitting in the front seat. She was off to learn how to be an Elitist. Her mother had told her to sleep during the drive as it would be late by the time they reached the base, and Keladryie knew she would be as tired as all hell the next day but she couldn’t just lie down and sleep now! She wanted to see the whole trip! She didn’t want to miss a thing.
It was finally happening. In less than 10 short years, she would be an Elitist.
There would be visits of course, and once she was fully qualified and passed every exam she could be re-located back home (but her father doubted that, there were always need for more people in NUIKR after all) but she wasn't thinking that far ahead, not yet. After all she was only 11, and she wouldn't be up to the stage where she would have a job in that profession until she was almost 20. She had a hard few years ahead of her.
Keladryie Altec, daughter of the infamous Seth Altec was moving from the quiet and boring life of Darwin to attend NUIKR facility of Elitists - based in Jabiru of the same state as her home town, only about five hours out into the middle of the bush. Hidden away in a place which had lacked electricity until only a year ago, she would learn how to handle weapons and how to fight, kill and win. Or at least, she would learn how to do these more efficiently, since she was already quite skilled in using the set of well worn Sais she had received for her eighth birthday and she could fire a gun with ease. This may sound quite strange for a young girl, but she was after all an Altec.
Altec Senior, Seth Altec had attended NUIKR himself, and yet had been thrown out in disgrace at the age of eighteen after he had been responsible for the deaths of 48 cadets. He was of course, quite hated for this act and yet Keladryie looked up to him like no other, and any bad word said about him within her hearing distance would receive a hard punch or worse before they could even blink.
Yes, Seth had been a killer, yet he wasn't exactly a bad man. He had a temper, he had a bit of an attitude problem and also an issue with authority but he was a fantastic father, husband and worker. He just...didn't know how to deal sometimes.
Keladryie had wished to attend NUIKR ever since she had been a young child, not put off by her fathers stories at all. She didn't want to go there to prove she could become an Elitist while her father couldn't - instead she wanted to go there to live his dream for him, because although he muttered dark things about them, scoffed whenever there was an article on the TV or newspaper about them or whatever else, she knew just as well as her mother did that there was nothing else Seth wanted more in the world than to be allowed to graduate from there and become a fully qualified Elitist. It was his romantic dream.
She seemed a little too young to go, most students joined at the age of 13 but she had proved she had been more than able to qualify and had passed the entrance exams with flying colours, just like her father had in his time. So she was off, a mini bus would be at their front gate within minutes and then she would be loaded off and wouldn't return for a full nine months - she would have one week of holidays for Christmas - before she was thrown headfirst back into her studies and training once more. Her mother - although she knew she would miss her daughter - was glad to see her finally so happy and knew it was the right choice to make. After all, all Keladryie did at the moment was get in trouble for kicking and punching at school daily, perhaps with strict discipline and set times and areas to let off steam she would become a more controlled person...perhaps that had been the trouble with Seth's upbringing, since he had been an orphan along with the other 90 or so children who had first started NUIKR off, they hadn't been hard enough on him and just look at how he still was today.
Seth was proud that his daughter would be one of the youngest to have ever attended and still one of the highest ranked on the entrance exams, but he would miss his daughter the most. Family life had taken a turn for the worst when Mikola (his wife and Keladryie's mother) had miscarried and they had lost the little boy who had been steadily growing. Keladryie had let them forget all that, she was a handful and hard to keep up with, and Seth liked nothing more than to pass his time with training her in their back garden.
Keladryie on the other hand couldn't wait, couldn't be quiet and had counted down the full three months until it had been time for her to go. She'd miss her parents but she'd love living in NUIKR more, there was nothing more she craved then to be an Elitist and she wanted to show them all that Aletc's weren't bad - weren't killers! She wanted to somehow earn her fathers right back for him so he could return to NUIKR as well, and also the fact that normal schools were boring and stupid came into it a little as well...
There was a beep at the front gate and Keladryie was in the door in a flash - she'd been waiting on the balcony for them to come - and was caught in her mothers hug for a long moment. She didn't push her away, even though she wanted more to pick up her boxes and go already - because she knew how tender her mother still was at the miscarriage and now losing her other child as well. Seth was at her shoulder then though, a hand on her shoulder as he carried her backpack and a box in the other.
"Ready?" he asked, his voice proud as he handed her the backpack and then the heavy box filled with uniforms. Mikola took the box of personal things, pens and a small photo album, bed sheets and other linen they had been told to bring, while Seth took up the last two boxes, mostly filled with textbooks and course study and then they were down the stairs and meeting the two qualified Elitists in full uniform - badges and sewn patched on their shoulders and arms in proud display.
“Be good.” Mikola instructed, hugging her daughter once more once everything had been loaded into the van.
“Knock ‘em dead.” Seth grinned proudly, ignoring a comment from one of the qualified Elitists who obviously knew him. “Don’t let anyone stand in your way, don’t let anything beat you down…don’t stop until you master it.”
Keladryie nodded once before she saluted her father, making him grin proudly. Only 11 and yet she saluted just as strongly as anyone who had been in a training camp for years.
Her parents watched as she got into the van and one of the Elitist’s slammed the door behind her, only to turn and bump into Seth who had moved to stand right behind him.
“Don’t let anyone treat her differently just because she’s my daughter.” He growled softly under his breath, keeping eye contact with Elitist Stone who he had grown up with, not that Keladryie knew this. “If I hear she’s treated badly…or if she’s made to pay for my mistakes…”
Stone looked at Seth with a half bored expression before he nodded with a sigh. “…I’ll see what I can do…”
Keladryie didn’t hear any of this, nor did she notice it as she moved down to the back of the minivan, ignoring the ‘Hi!’ from a slightly older boy sitting in the front seat. She was off to learn how to be an Elitist. Her mother had told her to sleep during the drive as it would be late by the time they reached the base, and Keladryie knew she would be as tired as all hell the next day but she couldn’t just lie down and sleep now! She wanted to see the whole trip! She didn’t want to miss a thing.
It was finally happening. In less than 10 short years, she would be an Elitist.