9781618852014TheSpaceCougarsCadetPierce Read Online Free PDF Page B

their
worries. They would be girding themselves for battle. Layla drew out of sight behind the side of the building until he and his friends had
walked on. She was about to continue on her own way when someone loomed up
behind her, startling her.
    “I’m
glad to see you, Layla .” She whirled to find the
Chancellor watching her, his hands clasped behind his back, his uniform crisp
and buttoned up to the throat, as always. “I have been hoping we might speak
privately. Will you accompany me to my office?”
    “Of
course,” she said, struggling not to betray the dread she felt. Had the news of
her affair with Jaret somehow reached the
administration? Surely Xath wouldn’t have shared his
suspicions, but rumors had a way of gaining momentum in such an insular
community as theirs. Anyone might have let the wrong word slip—someone in the travelcraft bay, perhaps, or one of Jaret’s friends? The chancellor said nothing until they reached his office, where he
motioned her into a seat opposite his desk. He sat twisting his fingers for a
few moments.
    “This
new wrinkle, with the brigand invasions….” he began. “To call it a worrisome
situation is, I am sure you can appreciate, a serious understatement.”
    So
this wasn’t about Jaret , after all. Layla was so relieved she almost wept.
    “Oh,
yes,” she blurted. “Yes, I quite see that.”
    “We
will need everyone to pull together in this time of great stress.”
    Layla nodded, wondering where in the galaxy this
conversation could be going. “I suppose that’s true enough.”
    The
chancellor’s eyes narrowed, jolting her pulse rate again. “It’s no secret you
have opposed some of my policies with respect to the Institute taking a new
direction in the face of this crisis.”
    “I
don’t think we should become a training ground for warriors and mercenaries,
no. This Institute has always promoted peaceful exploration and diplomacy
first. I understand the need for a strong defense of our colonists, but what
you’re proposing seems to go further.”
    “I’m
sorry you feel that way.” A muscle in the chancellor’s clean-shaven jaw
twitched and the veins throbbed visibly in his wide forehead. “I am doing what
must be done to save lives, nothing more and nothing less. Sometimes, drastic
measures prevent greater tragedies. The men and women who train with us
understand that. I would hope our instructors do, too.”
    She
sighed, wanting nothing more than to leave his office and forget about the
whole depressing topic for a while. “I am loyal to the Institute and the
Institute must follow the dictates of Central Command. Whatever my personal
misgivings, I will go along with what is asked of me.”
    “I’m
glad to hear it.” The chancellor looked relieved. “I also want to advise you
that this new direction for the Institute will necessitate some curriculum
changes.”
    “Curriculum
changes? You mean, as in my classes on diplomacy?”
    “Some
adjustments must be made, of course, to ensure that all the courses at the
Institute present a unified philosophy.”
    Meaning a militaristic one , she thought
grimly. The very thing she’d fought against since she’d given her first
Institute lecture nearly twenty Earth years earlier. Though she felt as though
the chancellor had leaned over and punched her square in the gut, she knew
better than to betray anything beyond a resigned half-smile.
    “I
suppose some changes are inevitable. We’ll have to do our best to both advance
a practical approach and maintain our individual integrity.”
    The
moment she said it, she felt shocked at her own hypocrisy. Over the last few
days, her own definition of ‘integrity,’ at least as far as students were
concerned, had undergone a few adjustments. Luckily, the Chancellor remained
oblivious to her inner distress. His expression grew smug.
    “I’m
glad you’re beginning to see things my way,” he said.

     
    * * * *

     
    Later
that night, after she’d changed into a