War Games

Chapter 2 - Checkers

His name wasn't Checkers. Not really. It used to be an affectionate pet name his mother had for him. Back when he had a mother. And brothers. And freedom.

Anthony Falco, known as Tony by his best friends, was the son of a war hero. Giovanni Falco had been a pilot of one of the small bomber planes used in the bombing of Berlin during the last war. Giovanni Falco dropped the bomb that finished off the city. Giovanni Falco never made it home.

Checkers had been docile since then. No fights, no violence. He kept the peace. Yet, he had to be tested at age 10 like all the others. His older brother had lucked out. Not Checkers. He had gotten one of the highest scores the Western Hegemony had ever seen. He was a Falco child through and through.

Ever since he entered the Fort Protz Military School under the Command branch, there have been rumors going around about him. "He's the one," they'd whisper, "He's the Falco kid. Checkers. They say that if it comes to war, he'll end it." He felt like that guy, Ender, from the old novel Ender's Game. It was a novel that his grandmother's grandmother read as a teenager, and a first edition copy had been passed down throughout the generations of his family. Now in the hands of his little brother, sometimes Checkers wished that he had it on him. Just to remind him of where he came from.

"Tony, you listening to me?" Checkers looked up to see his best friend, Zak Romar.

Zak had dark brown eyes and black hair. He was handsome and strong in all the ways that Checkers knew he could never be. Many people thought that Zak was dumb. In reality, he was one of the smartest people along the Combat branch of study. Most people said that the girl called Kennie was going to be the greatest general the Hegemony had seen in a long time, but Checkers knew better. Zak was the genius. In fact, the only reason he wasn't along the Command branch was his failure to see the big picture. Zak was not a multitasker.

"Sorry, buddy. I zoned out. What were you saying?" Zak sighed in exasperation.

"I was able to hack into Professor Munsley's lesson plans."

"You know, one of these days you're going to get caught." Said Checkers. Zak rolled his eyes.

"Please. The firewall is so simple, it's like they want us to hack into their records. Are you going to come see what project the professor has in store for us this semester?"

Checkers smirked. "No thanks, Captain Genius, I like to prove I'm smart by actually using my brain."

"Suit yourself, but that big brain of yours will be your downfall. You're going to spend the rest of your life wondering what I saw in these files."

Checkers rolled his eyes and buried his face in his pillow. He heard Zak typing away on his Holocom. "Woah, cool!" Checkers eye twitched. "No way!" It twitched again. "Holy shit!" Another twitch. After Zak's fourth outburst Checkers was out of his bed and looking over his shoulder. "I told you, Tony." Zak said, "You can't resist the temptation."

Checkers' eyes scanned the screen but didn't find anything of importance. "What did you find?"

"Nothing. That's what's so interesting. He has nothing in his lesson plan for this semester."

Checkers scrunched his eyebrows. "What does that mean?" But even before Zak answered, he knew.

"Either Professor Munsley hasn't decided on a project yet, or it's too top secret to keep on electronics." Zak started bouncing up and down. "And you know what that means." He said with an excited smile on his face.

Checkers glared at him. "NO. Sorry, CG. I'm not going on another of your late night journies into a teacher's files. We almost got caught last time."

Zak cocked his eyebrow. "Bad planning on my part. Could have easily been avoided. But Dr. Soto still isn't any the wiser. Come on, Checkers, we got this. This will be a piece of cake."

Checkers shook his head. "Zak, this is Professor Munsley. Less than 10 years ago, he was us. And he's one of the smartest people in the Western Hegemony."

"Yeah," replied Zak, "and he's out of town." He typed in a line of code on his Holocom and Tony heard their dorm room door unlock. Zak closed down his Holocom, put it into his pocket, and stood up. "Now I'm going to see how top secret our project is. You can come with me. Or you can stay here and wonder for the rest of your life what incredible knowledge I discovered in Professor Munsley's office. Your choice." With that, Zak walked out of the room. Checkers watched him leave. Should he go? Technically, Zak was right. They stood little chance of getting caught. Checkers debated with himself for a moment. Then he cursed under his breath and followed Zak.