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Before his knuckles even touched the door it flew open, an aristocratic face topped with the high peaked cap of a commissar filling the void where the flaking paint had been a moment before.

Jhonus immediately straightened to attention as a pair of hard eyes flicked over his uniform before fixing on his eyes like a pair of targeting auspexes "Ah, you must be Jhonus - grab your gear and head down to the motor pool; I'm afraid the introductions will have to wait - the regiment has been called on to serve the Emperor."

Jhonus managed a slight nod as he snapped an immediate response as the door slammed closed again "Yes Commissar!"

Shaking his head slightly he turned on his heel and jogged off back to the barracks, encountering increasing activity as the regiment began to stir itself for combat. He even caught the distinctive blue trim on black of a fellow commissar cadet as he rushed through the corridors with his worn but well serviced lasgun now slung comfortably over his shoulder, extra power packs and ration bars packed into pockets and webbing.

Entering the motor pool Jhonus searched for any sign of the black uniforms and peaked caps of his fellow squadmates, whoever they may happen to be.

With the prospect of combat getting ever closer, the first since he had been wounded, his scar had started tingling. He didn't have a good feeling about this...

Commissar Cadet Barbary swaggered into the barracks like a victor returned in glory and dumped his clatter of combat gear unceremoniously on the end of his bunk and stood there grinning like a fool; His head freshly bandaged from the med-bay and his boots still flaking dried battlefield mud. 

"Well that went as well as could be expected." he announced roundly, inviting comment and criticism from his already tired audience. He lifted the bandage and proudly displayed the aurora of blossoming bruises around his left eye socket.
"Those Astartes might throw punches like sledge hammers but they're none too smart." He gingerly replaced his worn leather eye patch over his long-since-lost eye and slid the bandages back down over it.
"If a fella with one eye runs at me with a power fist I'm gonna aim for his good eye."

"Shut up Babs, you'd probably hit him square in the dead eye just the same, we all know you can't aim a piss let alone a lasgun." Felix's comment, though made through his augmented vocal processor carried enough human warmth to spur a mixture of groans and chuckles from the dejected cadets. "Anyway," he continued, fine tuning the tone from his voice box  "the guy that put you down just exploited your blind spot, or maybe he thought he'd leave your good eye intact, it being only an exercise. He probably thought he was doing you a favour."

Barbary took the neatly packaged advice from the other one eyed cadet in his stride. "Well, I reckon when you hit harder than a meteor it don't matter which eye you aim for."

"That's sound strategy for someone with as much personal wargear on the field as a small army. I didn't see too many well aimed meteors raining outa your skies!" Acosta was reading an Astartes tactical report on his data-slate, trying to find where exactly it had all gone wrong. "If you'd spend more time drilling your skills and less time in the officers lounge you might have more success in the field."

"But the Med-bay girls would be so disappointed if I didn't make a call with them."Barbary rejoined easily. He shoved aside his clutter and deposited his rear on the end of his rack. His combat Knife clattered noisily from the sheath as it hit the floor. Barbary did not retrieve it but instead set about untying his boot laces. Ardo looked away disgusted and made no comment.

"Well, By-the-book-Marv," Barbary continued against his latest commentator "any great insights from your learned volume to impart to us illiterate dolts?"

Hadj turned a page noisily in the corner where he brooded behind a volume of something Barbary considered most likely dross and no doubt tiresome.
 
"I dare say we were simply outmatched today."Marvin responded, laying his data-slate in his  lap. "A standard close order drill might have scored us a small victory before we were assaulted but Commissar Yorke chose offence as the better form of..."

"Yorke chose to lead us into a slaughter" Barabary interjected "and he died just the same."

"Yorke fought well. He was standing long after any of us." Alenko chipped in from somewhere behind Barabary's left shoulder. The one eyed man had to turn nearly full circle to see who was speaking. More of his gear was disturbed, a canteen hit the floor beside the knife followed by a belt. Ardo flinched visibly and shifted uncomfortably in his rack.

Cadet Alenko was seated in the corner at a small table where he and Khan were playing chess. His opponent was fully absorbed in the game paying no heed to the conversation. Alenko made his move then continued. "Had any of us been more prepared, more focused on working as a team and less concerned about our individual performances we might have stood longer beside Yorke and Delano and not have made such a poor show of ourselves." Khan nodded his assent before making a decisive move to end their game. He stood and offered his hand to his vanquished opponent. Alenko was at first surprised but then realised that his lapse in concentration had cost him the game. In lecturing the group on effective teamwork his individual performance had suffered. The irony did not escape him.
"Good game, Gaelos." Alenko shook the man's hand and sat down without further comment.

Barbary without much to say in response to Alenko's general scolding had been picking flakes of mud off his boots. He spotted his knife on the floor and leaned down to retrieve it obviously intending to use the blade to clean his boots. Ardo had seen enough. With a barely perceivable flick of the wrist he launched a blade at the floor impaling Barbary's water canteen not inches from his outstretched hand. The brown liquid forming a puddle beneath was not water. Ardo smirked, he'd thought as much.

"What the feth, Savage!" Barbary wasn't sure how much of a fuss he should make. Booze wasn't allowed in the barracks and he didn't need the reprimand on his already less than exemplary  record, but he wasn't happy about being so rudely called out. "keep your toys to yourself you scalping feth-wit!" 

"Or what? You'll go crying to mama Delano over your spilt gak?"

"I was saving that for Jhonus when he gets out of med-bay. They really took him down hard."

"Talk Gak!" Ardo wasn't convinced by Barbary's sudden burst of altruism. "As if you would only break the regs with someone else's best interests in mind. You're a lying feth, Barbary." Ardo punctuated his insult with a well aimed spit on Barbary's filthy boot. "and don't use your blade to clean your boots." 

"I'll use it to clean your clock in a minute!"
Within seconds both men were on their feet and squaring off.

"Peace, gentlemen!" Felix was up too and pushing his way between them. His voice was a hoarse rattle, his bionics not yet engaged in his haste to part the men. His metal arm outstretched against Ardo's steel glare, he pulled Barbary roughly by the collar out of the other man's reach. Barbary shrugged him off fiercely but stayed behind.

"United in Brotherhood sings the Song of Saint..."

"Aw, can it Hadj!" Barbary spat at his well-meaning comrade, cutting him off before the champion orator could hit his stride. "If you were half as good at shooting grenades as you are at shooting your mouth off we'd maybe have something to sing about." It was harsh but Barbary was in a foul mood now and he didn't care. Hadj closed his book meaningfully and rose to his feet with all the intent of a loaded pistol.

"Go take a walk, Babs." Felix suggested. "It's starting to get a little hot in here and I think you need some air."

"I'm going to visit Jhonus." Barbary announced shoving past Felix toward the door.

"Say Hi to the girls in med-bay from me." called Marvin Acosta from behind his data-slate.

"Say Hi to the barman, more like." Ardo scoffed.

Barbary didn't turn, he just made for the door.

"You forgot your boots, cadet." Hadj uttered through still clenched teeth.

"Then call it a bare-foot-fething-pilgrimage you sanctimonious prick!" and with that Barbary swept out into the night angry, miserable and alone.

Jhonus flexed his arm as far as the synth-cast would allow, wincing slightly as the abused tendons and ligaments protested. Going hand to hand with a 7ft, power armoured superhuman defender of humanity had perhaps not been the best thing he had ever had to do... good job they were on the side of the Imperium... and the Space Marine had pulled the counter attack following Jhonus' bayonet thrust. Such a move had worked against any number of xeno and traitors but the superhuman speed of the marine had taken him by surprise... and his elbow, and pride, had taken a beating.

Not exactly the best first day. Especially given he seemed to have some of the most extensive combat experience amongst the cadet commissars. At least the rest of the squad had fallen in short order - excepting the commissars of course (although who had ever heard of two commissars being in charge of a cadet squad before?). Watching them through a haze of pain after the umpire had marked him a casualty he couldn't help be impressed at how the pair of them had fought.

He had just slipped his tunic and cap back on when one of the other cadets came in through the clinic door. Jhonus struggled to keep his expression neutral as he took in the lack of boots and generally half-dressed state of... and here his ready memory for faces and names whirred into action... Barbary; who was also sporting a bandaged head.

Funnily enough after been pummelled in the face by grey Knights, Felix ended up apparently moderating between two cadets.

NOTE: I like what theCrowe did

Cadet Ardo was disgusted. How could a lazy, sloppy, insubordinate slob like Barbary make it to a cadet squad? He couldn't even take care of his gear, much less the discipline of a squad. It was 0300 hours, and he was in the exercise yard by himself, attacking a training dummy viciously with his knives. As he lay there "dead" he was forced to watch his failure as Yorke and Delano took on the Astartes by themselves. Each time he hit the dummy, two faces appeared. First it was the Pathfinder who took his parents, then it was Barbary, who's smug face made him even more angry. Suddenly, the dummy snapped off it's stand with a loud crack, and he cried out in pain as a piece of the dummy slammed into his head. Raillin hit the ground hard, frustrated, and stood slowly, blood flowing from the small cut above his eye. It followed his scar and dripped off his chin onto his bare chest. As he turned to grab his towel, he saw Yorke watching him.
"Cadet, do you require assistance? You are bleeding," Yorke offered from across the yard.
Raillin wiped the blood from his face and shrugged his undershirt back on, "No thanks sir, this is what I deserve."
Commissar Yorke crossed the yard and offered up "I heard what happened in the barracks."
"And?"
"Good throw Cadet." He offered with a slight smile. As he turned to walk away he called over his shoulder.
"Remember, wake up is in three hours, go get some sleep."

Alenko watched Ardo in the training yard. The other cadet was really going at the training dummy, as if he had a vendetta against it. Alenko could understand that, they all had some frustrations to work out, the scene in the barracks earlier was a painful reminder of that. They still weren't an effective team. Not yet at least. Alenko sat there and pondered on how he could get through to the other cadet, ever since the Schola he had tried to always form a bond with those he fought alongside. He was never quite sure why. Maybe it was a side effect of his parents being so distant when he was growing up on Severus Prime. But every attempt he had made so far to become friends with Ardo had been repulsed. Ardo had some serious demons by the looks of thing, "As do I" Alenko softly chuckled to himself, thinking of all the nightmares he still had on occasion about the death of his world, and the treason of his father As he turned around to walk back into the barracks he began to wonder what he could do to get through to the other cadet.

Note: I really liked what he did too, he depicted Alenko pretty well, Chess is the kind of thing he probably would do.

Fantastic sections.

I will try and give some seeds of how the fights went over the weekend. Sadly they were absolutely flattened in every game, though Delano and Alenko did superbly. Yorke also died last or hand in hand with acting sgt Delano, as Look Out Sir worked every time.

Saddest match for the squad was being hit by a Knight's Gatling gun.

(Battle end: Training Exercise)

Delano’s psuedo plasma pistol hit a marine square in the chest plate, scoring what would have been a kill, knocking him out of the fray as his suit deactivated.
It wasn’t enough, as the rest of the Astartes squad launched themselves at the cadets ahead of her, and bulldozed them left and right into the earth. The brutal efficiency swept through the squad in moments. At her side, she heard Yorke calling encouragement and praising the cadets’ resolve before he too was cut short. The last thing she was was the Astartes’ sergeant charging toward her with the butt of his sword about to impact into her cuirass. She didn’t allow her frustration to take over, and met her attacker with dignified indifference, despite the near instantaneous KO. This was Astartes playing gentle, although she had no time to appreciate it. Precise, efficient, but with only enough force to knock out and at worst break bones. A full powered strike could easily have killed any of the humans around them.

*

Yorke awoke, spitting out a shattered tooth and gently rubbing his head with one hand. His jaw ached excruciatingly, and he could feel at least one fractured rib, but he was otherwise unharmed. Sitting up, he shook the rubble and earth from his greatcoat and watched as the medics around him started to revive the crumpled cadets. He wiped the blood streaming from his mouth onto his sleeve, and staggered to his feet.
The senior medic looked up from stitching Khan’s forehead, and opened her mouth to protest Yorke’s sudden movement, but he cut her off, “I’m fine, Shell.”
“You’re lunatics, leading these children against Astartes.” she scolded him, knowing it wasn’t truly his fault.
He coughed, regretting it as pain coursed through his side, but shook his head, “It’s a damn gentler intro to field combat than most will get. We’re lucky to have had this chance.”
She shook her head and sighed, returning to her patient.
Khan looked up groggily with half closed eyes, “M’ I gonna have a scar?”
“You’re lucky you still have a head.” Yorke grinned.
“You’ll have a small one.” Michelle frowned at the older commissar’s flippancy, but she knew that making light of the mess was all the defence they really had.

Any idea when the next section might be put up?

Jump in WK. You're as much a contributor to the story as anyone. I had a notion about Alenko and his secret the other day but it might be tricky to work out. I'll PM you.

Judging by BC's recent suggestions it sounds like none of our characters have much to say about anything any more beyond "Aw gak, I'm toast.... again."
Are these games just Lots of hard training sessions? Lessons learned the hard way. Or the easier-than-actually-dying way?
I'm just waiting for a bit more info to work with.

I am too. I'm not that great of a writer, but I already put up a bit about the training exercise and how Alenko felt about it. It's either that or have him worry about people discovering his secret.

Apologies. I've not been home since the tourney, so I'm a bit on the fly at the moment.

I'll have a skim through what was done over those games, and who you faced, who you took down, etc., with them being "attrition" games, the cadets returned after each kicking.
We did face Tau and whip them mightily, and renegade guard, so they're not all training, no.

In the last game, something interesting happened that does allow for a bit of drama rather than just smacking.
There's basically a chance to permanently out one of the commissars, if you think your cadet would be against them.

"Good news," Commissar Delano stepped through the door to the Cadet's sleeping quarters, "your first real deployment is at hand."
It had been six weeks since the training exercise, and rigorous drill and practise had soothed spirits and smoothed over some of the wounded pride of the squad.
Commissar Yorke ambled through after his younger colleague, "Try not to look so exited." he scanned the room, silently catching several of the cadets' expressions before they had chance to prepare. The air of the room was quiet surprise. Six weeks was less time than expected.

"Who are we facing, sirs?" Alenko asked the pair, breaking the silence.
"Xenos and their traitor sympathisers," Delano gave a wry grin, "Tau, we believe. An opportunity for you to let yourselves shine."
The cadets looked to one another with interest, their first encounter with the 183rd. They had expected corrupted humans, but if the chaos variety.
Leaning on the doorpost, Yorke added, "Just remember to hold yourselves with some dignity. We all hate the xenos, some of us more than others," he cast a meaningful look around the group, "and it is hard to believe anyone would give up their humanity and ally with them. But we are not savages ourselves. Carry yourselves like children of the Commissariat, and don't lower yourselves to their level."
Delano rolled her eyes, unseen by her comrade, "Deployment is in three days. Make your equipment requests to the quartermaster. Frant, if you wish to drive the Tauros, it's been repaired; Hadj, if you wish to man the gun, let us know." With that, she stepped out of the room, leaving Yorke to field the questions and glances from the cadets.

"I mean it; we are not butchers. We are here to inspire and lead those around us." Yorke looked pensive as he turned to leave.
"Anyone would think you were some kind of sympathiser."
The commissar span, unable to catch who made the remark, uncertainty and something akin to worry briefly passing across his face.
"It does us no favours to lower ourselves. That's all." he shook his head and departed.

"Couldn't get away fast enough." Barbary mused.
"Can you blame him? You've got your boots off again." Jhonus wrinkled up his nose theatrically.
"Oh stow it."

Ardo had been grinning since he had learned the enemy he was fighting. Tau, now he could definitely get excited for them. He was sitting on his bunk, sharpening one of his combat knives carefully, the blade moving methodically across the stone. Beside him, his other combat knife was sharpened, as was the Bonding knife he owned. When he heard Barbary talking, he grimaced slightly.
"Tau? Pffft, those guys will drop like flies. Once they see us coming, they are gonna run for the hills," Raillin could tell he was drinking again, but this time he couldn't prove it with a knife as the canteen was on his hip.
"Hey 'Savage'," called Barbary, "Don't those Tau just get your shorts in a-"
Ardo slammed his newly sharpened knife into the wall next to Cadet Barbary's head, his fist latched around the handle. He couldn't remember getting up, just that he was now staring the one-eyed cadet in the face, totally still.
"They destroyed everything I loved!" He shouted "They took away EVERYTHING! So now I must do the same."
Raillin wrenched the knife from the wall, and sheathed it with a loud snap.
"What do you mean?" Questioned Barbary.
"I want their scalps," growled Ardo, a smile beginning to form, "I want all of their scalps."

Alenko allowed himself a smile as he learned the foe he would get to fight. Tau. He had originally hope that it would be Renegades, as that would enable him to purge some of the shame from his soul over his family's connection to the Ruinous Powers. But he would take the chance to bring the Imperial Truth to the Xenos, even if it was at the business end of a flamer. He sat down on his bunk and began sharpening his power axe, it was not standard issue weaponry, but Delano and Yorke had yet to comment on it, so Alenko figured they were at least ok with it. Suddenly he heard a commotion coming from Adro and Barbary's side of the room as Ardo slammed his combat knife into the wall next to Barbary's head. Alenko sighed as the two began shouting at each other, every day was the same with those two, Barbary would act like a drunken idiot until Ardo got sick of it and would threaten him with his knife. He was a little too fond of that knife Alenko mused, shuddering as the memory of a different knife plunging into his sister's throat floated to the top of his conscious. He shoved the memory away forcibly, now wasn't the time to get lost in memories, he had to keep the other cadets from killing each other. As he stood to go to Yorke's office Alenko heard Ardo express his desire to take the scalps of the Tau, and he had to wonder if the other cadet was all there mentally.

Striding down the corridor, Commissar Delano turned her head quizzically at the loud slamming sound from the cadets' room.
A few paces behind her, Yorke shambled to a halt and turned similarly, "Should we-"
She shook her head, "They're bound to be excited, their first real chance to perform the Emperor's will as a group, and against Xenos no less." a thin smile crept in again.
Her comrade looked doubtful, but didn't move in either direction.

"The question is whether you're ready, Ray." Delano cocked an eyebrow.
"Ready?"
"I heard one of them barb you, and you didn't even try and argue."
"High spirits." he shrugged.
She kept the brow raised, but turned away and began walking away to her office.

Xenos-lover. Traitor. Yorke shivered as he remembered the accusations and the years it took to finally shed them. All because of a single mistake in hiring Xenos mercenaries.
Had he really come across so badly again, just by asking the cadets to remain dignified?
Gazing after Delano, the commissar returned to his own office and sat silently running their conversation through his head on an endless loop.

Gaelos stared at the hololith, thinking of possible advantages he could find to use against the Tau. He knew he'd have to get up close, while dodging their dreadnoughts. Battle suits, as the xenos called them. Gaelos recognized their firepower, but knew they couldn't match an Imperial charge in hand to hand combat. The cadet moved several items around on the display, including figures that represented their forces.

"Don't forget about the Kroot" Gaelos nearly jumped as he heard the voice behind him. Yorke allowed himself a small smile at startling the cadet. So focused on his display, Khan hadn't even heard the commisar come up behind him.

"What of them? Surely they would be like any other Tau, and die in a charge?" Khan asked, intrigued at the prospect of more information regarding their adversary.

"Kroot aren't Tau, but fight for them. They live for hand to hand combat, and are experts in ambushes. Not only that, but their vision is partially thermal based, so they're nearly impossible to sneak up on." Yorke said, and added several new images to the display, representing the Kroot Gaelos had neglected to think about.

Khan thought of a solution, and felt a smile come to his face. "We could burn them out. Plenty of woodlands, and the fire would disorient them if they see through heat, and we could pick them off while they're confused. Then we move on to the Tau."

Yorke was impressed at how quick the cadet had devised the plan. "Now you'd have to find a way to get flamer squads into the forest without being eaten or gunned down."

Before Gaelos could think of a reply, Yorke added "Now come, I think the rest of your squad might be interested in hearing some of this. Besides, you'll rot your eyes out by staring at the hololith all day."

Hi folks. This one has been a while in the writing, sorry it's a bit long again. It's set some time after The big Astartes bust up and before the Tau announcement. and it's kind of part 1 of a larger plot I've been thinking of but I'm happy if any of you want to take it and run with it. This is all one big collaboration afterall. The main character here isn't even one of my own, sorry 2BJ1 hope you don't mind. It just made more sense for it to be your guy. 

Commissar cadet Khan stepped out of the blistering winter wind, under the high gothic archway leading into the Librarium. The night watchman started to attention as he approached the doorway. 

"Burning the midnight oil, Sir?" the man asked, trying not to sound stiff and uncomfortable.

"I'm a cadet" Khan glanced at the man's immaculate Mordian uniform catching a glint from a lapel insignia "Sergeant."

"You're a Commissar, Sir."

"But you need not call me sir."

"Very good, Sir." the man stood to attention, eyes front and parade like.

"I'll leave you to your duty, Sergeant. Good evening." 

Khan turned and entered the vast atrium and leaned on a balcony railing searching the faces of the hundred scurrying administrators below for 
 the man he was looking for.

The Senior Bibliotech glanced up casually from his screen to address the shadowy figure, newly arrived at his work station. He met the man's stone face gaze with a frown. 

"Records is it? More snooping in other people's business?" 

"I simply exercise the privileges afforded one in my position." 

"hmmm, exploit more like." the man was clearly not happy with the cadet's choice use of his time and expertise but he was doing nothing illegal, and he could not be denied. As a commissar Khan had privileges to inspect the reading records of any man up to his own rank. He could and often did, access the records of his fellow cadets, see what they were reading, and when, and all he had to do was present himself to the head Bibliotech in the Librarium building and ask. 

"Your card."
Khan gave the man his card; he received it as one might a used handkerchief. 

"Your friends won't appreciate this kind of thing. And you do know it works both ways?"

Of course his own records would record such activity for any other cadet to see if they looked but he cared little. Hadj was the only other cadet who ever ventured out to the Librarium building itself; the rest preferring to download reading material direct to their slates. Even Acosta's voracious appetite for reading could  not exceed the capacity of his device, but Hadj had a thing for paper and ink. Luckily for Khan, Hadj was a man of strict order and his visits to the Librarium were regular as clockwork; and judging by his tastes in obscure literature he bothered the basement storage clerks far more than the Senior Bibliotech.

The information retrieved from the data-core's memory Khan took the card without a word and retired to a private booth to view its contents.

The list was alphabetical beginning with Acosta. Khan quickly scanned the twenty nine titles, personnel reports, scholla regulations, titles on military law, The Commissariat, Military law as pertaining to the Commissariat. They joked and called him "By the Book" but there was more to Acosta, Khan suspected, than the man's blemish-less  record might suggest. A man so focused on the law was a man aware of his boundaries; a man who knew well the limits and loopholes of his own agency. He was a man to watch and to keep close as one could be sure the law would side with him on any argument he chose to pursue.

Leaving Acosta aside, Khan opened the next cadet's file. 

"Barbary's been trawling the old family archi..."  no wait. He hadn't reached Barbary yet. Khan checked back on the name on the file. It was Alenko's record. Why was Alenko checking into Barbary's family history? Khan skimmed the files, surprised at the sheer volume of information Alenko had uncovered. This was more than a casual background check, the man was looking deep and hard. The date stamps on some of these files spanned weeks.

"Noble House of Barbary Crumbles", "Eboracum in Turmoil", "Lord Barbary Killed by Rebel Government" The list of local news headlines went on and on, interspersed with snatches of heavily redacted Inquisitorial reports and the occasional gruesome image.

Then something caught Khan's attention. One title alone had received Alenko's attention more so than any other; the date stamps attached indicated long and carefully study. The transcript of the trial. "The House of Barbary Vs. Ordo Maleus" Khan scanned the Glossary of contents and stopped short on the list of witnesses for the prosecution. Governor [redacted] of Severus Prime.

It was all starting to fall into place now. The Governor of Severus Prime, Alenko's home planet, had been a key witness in the trial that saw the last remnant of Barbary's family sentenced to death. Alenko must be worried that Barbary 
might still hold a grudge. He'd known Alenko was concerned about the man since his lapse of concentration during their game that night when Barbary went on his pilgrimage. But this... He had no idea.

 As for Barbary, there was no indication he cared in the slightest. If he harboured any secret resentments against the man from Severus Prime he certainly hid it well. Still, Alenko wasn't taking it for granted, it seemed. 

The list went on and on, an exhaustive search into all things related to Eboracum and The Noble House of Barbary. Alenko had been reading, viewing, and researching nothing else for almost a month. The last entry date stamped only a few hours ago was an image, labelled "SP delegation" Khan opened the file and sat back in his chair as the image loaded up on his viewer. A small image, overblown and pixelated flashed up. A group of Imperial Noblemen posing for posterity at some formal event. Khan leaned in and strained to make out the features of two men in particular. Both undoubted strangers yet somehow strangely familiar. There before his eyes, if he did not know better he might well have thought, there stood Alenko and Barbary dressed in their finest, drinks in hand and in genteel company. Their fathers, no doubt, but no names were attached to the image, no further clues to help unravel this most intriguing of mysteries. 

Khan sat back in his seat still staring at the screen mulling it all over in his mind and considering his next move.

Ah crap. Khan's on to me, might be time for Alenko to try and "convince" Khan to leave well alone. Collaboration is fun!

Ha, this is superb.

Though I think you may have flipped a name early on accidentally. I may be reading incorrectly, though.

I've just had an idea or two to make this a little more fun, from a "stir the pot" direction.

The unclaimed cadet is now named Frant by the way, and if I get time, I'll do him a bio. Fairly orthodox and inexperienced (unlike most here).

Of course, don't you just love that your cadets are spending more of their time conspiring to threaten each other than killing the enemy?

I encourage it.

In fact after the Tau fight, there's a fight against chaos IG that ended rather divisively.
It may cause the cadets to have to choose between being by the book or supporting their leader(s).

Thought I'd post up my cadet's reaction to theCrowe's snooping. Alenko is on to you, be wary of him...

Alenko was walking toward the Librarium when he noticed Khan also making his way towards the building. For weeks now Alenko had been visiting the Librarium in order to dig up some information on Cadet Barbary. It had been a few weeks ago when Barbary had been talking to some of the other cadets and he had mentioned the trial that had seen the last of his family sentenced to death. At first Alenko had paid no attention to the conversation, preferring to read the next novel in the series he had been reading. He had been jerked out of his concentration when Barbary had mentioned Severus Prime. Apparently the governor of that planet had served as the key witness, and had been critical in the condemnation of the accused to death. From the way Barbary was talking he still held a grudge, and he had been wondering about what had happened to the man and his family. After some time he had given up his musings and gone and starting reading some action novel, but his comments had hit a little too close to home for Alenko. Did Barbary know something? For a few days he had been in a silent panic as he waited for Barbary to confront him, when he hadn't Alenko had decided to do a little research and see what Barbary might know. So far it appeared that Barbary knew next to nothing beyond what the official record stated, Alenko's father's name had been redacted from the file before it had been placed into the Archives, and so it appeared his secret was safe. Just to be sure he had decided to visit the Librarium one last time to make sure that there was no other evidence linking him to the governor of Severus Prime. The guard on duty had become so accustomed to him that he barely even bothered to look up at him anymore, staring down at the magazine that he had brought with him to read. Such laziness was against several Guard regulations, but in this case since it benefited Alenko for the Sergeant to be lazy, he ignored it.

Alenko followed Khan silently as he sat down at a private booth and began to review some files, files on what the cadet's had been requesting for the last few weeks. Alenko's blood went cold as he watched Khan pull up his file and start in surprise. He watched as the expression on Khan's face slowly morphed from surprise to confusion. Alenko knew that Khan was a smart man, he had excelled in the Schola according to his records, and he would soon try to corner Alenko and question why he had been looking so hard into Barbary's past. Alenko knew that he had to do something. By all appearances Khan had no intentions of moving for a while, so Alenko would be unable to delete the records of what he had been accessing, so only one option was left to him. He had to avoid being alone with the cadet for as long as possible while he waited for an opening to get back to the Librarium and delete the history. Once that was deleted Khan could spin his wheels all he wanted and try to question him, but he would have no way to pin Alenko down, as there would be no record of what he had done. Alenko hated to do this to Khan, as he genuinely liked the other cadet, but he could not allow Khan to get too suspicious as to what he was up to. Silently he returned to the cadet's now dark barracks already planning his next move.

Would one/both of you like to give a timescale between this and the Tau announcement?

I was assuming it was shortly after the Tau announcement. The research Alenko's been doing has been going on for a little while, but the stuff I just posted happened shortly after the announcement itself. I'm trying to collaborate with theCrowe a little bit, so I'll need to get a hold of him when I can to make sure our facts stay straight.

I had something coincidentally planned for shortly after, but it may throw a spanner in your works, considering.
I also need to double check how long I had Delano say until deployment. Whups.

Sorry about that. I'm really bad with continuity, I'm just trying to expand on a discussion I had with Crowe about some potential things for the cadets to do. Spying on each other, threatening each other, all that good stuff. If it messes with your plans then let us know so we can start working around it.

Haha, not at all! It's more that Yorke had another "cooperative" idea (to get the cadets unifying better). Basically by pissing them all off at him so badly that they end up talking together again. But it does screw with your trips, so just give me a timescale.
TheCrowe stated Khan's trip was pre-announcement FWIW.

Ok then. All of Alenko's research (which I actually just found out about in theCrowe's post), took place a few weeks before the announcement. I'm basing this off of some of what Crowe had in his blurb about when Alenko did some of his research. My blurb occurs at the same time as Khan's trip, as Alenko followed Khan to the Librarium.

Name flip fixed. Thanks.

Yeah, I had it that this happened very shortly before they found out they're being shipped out for Tau-bashing duties. So there's not much time for anyone to act on anything right now.

Is funny the way the story changes with each new interpretation of events. I had no idea Barbary even cared, I thought it was all just Alenko's paranoia getting the best of him.