Commander Farley paced in front of the two cadets, and then faced them. "At ease."

Both young men moved with precision timing and stood with their legs apart and hands behind their backs. If the situation wasn't so serious, Farley might have laughed. Both stood bedraggled in ripped blood stained shirts. One's knuckles were torn and shredded and the other's face was swollen and dripping blood all over his standard air force linoleum. The sight of the mess angered him and pulled him back to the situation at hand. "Jarvis. You're already on notice for fighting so this had better be good."

"It's all may fault," Cadet Calvin Drum blurted.

"No it's not, sir," Cadet Rob Jarvis countered. "I started it."

"Not true, sir," Drum insisted.

"He's just trying to protect me, sir!" Jarvis yelled as he glared at Drum, and then back at the commander. "He knows I'm on notice and is trying to take the blame, sir."

"Huh!" Calvin scoffed. "I wouldn't piss on you if you were on fi..."

"Enough!" Farley yelled before Calvin could finish what he was saying. "So... we both want to play the hero and take the blame, do we?"

"Yes, sir!" Both cadets cried as they stood to attention and saluted.

"At ease!" Commander Farley snuffed out a breath and pinned both with his gaze. "Cadet Drum. Speak."

"I hit him first, sir. He didn't know it was coming."

"Why?" From what Commander Farley knew of the two young men, he felt Drum hitting Jarvis was unlikely but, evidence was evidence. Drum's knuckles proved he'd done most of the hitting while Jarvis's face wore the result.

"Private matter, sir, and I'd rather not say."

The little punk needed to do better than that. Farley growled, "You'd better speak, son, or you're going to get twenty-four hours in the hole."

Calvin lifted his head a little higher, looked straight ahead and said, "I'll take the twenty-four, sir."

Farley rumbled his displeasure in the back of his throat. So, the little shit was going to take the twenty-four. He turned to Rob. "Your turn, Jarvis. Speak."

"Yes, sir." Rob saluted, and then stood at ease. "The truth is, sir, there's a girl involved."

"I'm not stupid, Jarvis." Commander Farley smirked and added, "At your age it usually is a girl. Which one of the three? Cole, Peron or Connelly."

"Liar!" Calvin twisted his head to look at Rob and yelled again, "It wasn't one of them, you liar!"

"Shut up, Cal! I never said it was!" Rob thrust his face at Calvin so they were inches apart and growled, "Just shut up and let me handle this."

"Enough!" Farley stepped forward, stood between them and shoved them away from each other. "Drum. That's another six in the hole."

"Sir!" Again both cadets stood at attention and saluted.

"Another outburst like that and I'll have you both in front of the disciplinary board."

"Yes, sir!"

The room went silent. Commander Farley stepped back in thought, and then said, "At ease." He waited until both cadets stood at ease and, then said, "Jarvis continue."

"The girl lives in Sale, sir. She's a civilian. Cal likes her. I knew it so, like the dog that I am, sir, I went after her. I used her, sir, and broke her heart. She told Cal, knowing we were friends. He told me off, I didn't like it so I punched him. He was just trying to defend himself, sir."

Farley put his hand to his mouth to hide a grin, and then focused on his feet to try and rid the smirk but it was still present when he lifted his head and peered at Rob. "You expect me to believe that, son?"

"Yes, sir. It's the truth, sir." Rob glanced at his commander, and then stared at the wall in front of him. Photo's adorned it. One caught Rob's attention more than the others. A boxing ring with two men standing in the middle with their fists held up.

"Here's the thing, Jarvis," Farley scoffed. "You're the one with his face all smashed in. Calvin here hasn't got a mark on him except for his knuckles being busted up. That tells me he was the one doing the hitting."

"He's a better boxer than me, sir."

"Wow." Commander Farley let out a chuckle. "Do you disrespect my intelligence that much, Jarvis." His voice raised an octave, "I'm your commander you idiot. I know everything there is to know about each and every one of my cadets' abilities." He shook his head and jeered, "I take particular interest in those on the boxing team. If you'd have hit Cadet Drum, just once, you'd have dropped him like a building wired to blow." He took another breath, looked from one to the other, and then focused back on Rob. "I should discharge you just for treating me like I'm a blind old imbecile."

"I think you should discharge me, sir," Rob said. "It's all my fault and the air force doesn't need an aggressive prick like me in its ranks."

"You want to be discharged?" Farley looked at him in sheer disbelief.

"Yes, sir. I'm an arsehole, sir. I've been disloyal to my fellow cadets, selfish and undeserving of anyone's allegiance. I fear I would turn my back on my comrades if it came to the crunch, sir. I should be sent packing now, sir."

Commander Farley laughed and shook his head. He looked from Rob to Calvin and said, "You see what he's doing here, Drum. His level of disloyalty means he'd give up his career to save your sorry arse."

"He's lying, sir." Calvin glanced at Rob, and then added, "I'm not sure why but..."

"Because I'm a cunt!" Rob yelled. He lunged forward and head butted Commander Farley fair on the nose. The commander staggered backwards as blood spurted everywhere.

"What the!" Calvin grabbed his squadron leader to steady him. Farley clutched his nose, as they both looked back at Rob.

He stood at attention, saluted and said, "I think I've just earned a dishonourable discharge, sir."

Dedicated to @CFarley982 I'm so sorry Rob did that.

Looks like there is no turning back for Rob :(

Image copyright - Noun Project.