Gehlot and Major Nair were seated with a fair distance in between for legal reasons. The other minister who was convicted had suddenly 'caught a serious type of flu'. Everyone was waiting restlessly for the session to begin properly. Soon, the plaintiff listed the claims and charges on the convicted and briefed case no. 495660.
"Do the convicted plead guilty to the charges?" the judge asked Captain Smriti Salve, a woman with very pointed and sharp features, quite clearly showing her personality. She stood up to answer.

"No Sir. How could they, when they were convicted from a mere misconception which some people" she looked at Colonel Shakti Chandra, "have created."

"Objection Sir! Leading and biased statement to a very clear 'yes' or 'no' answer." said the public prosecuter [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040509/spectrum/tv1.jpg].

"Objection sustained. Captain Salve, see that you keep your statements on the straight point." the judge looked sternly at everyone else present. "And so will everyone else who is to be a part of this trial."

Captain Salve [http://www.modelbuzz.in/photos/10119/sonal1.jpg] [I added a pic because I made a huuuge mistake by not introducing her; I forgot that there was no trial for Raj which she opposed in ALRL!] looked distressed for a moment, but regained her composure after receiving an encouraging nod from Major Bhargav.

"My apologies Sir." she said curtly before taking her seat and pouring water for herself.

"Proceed, Major Samar."

Major Samar (the public prosecuter) stood up and stepped forward. But before doing so, he briefly glanced at the three Majors' direction and then at Gehlot. Although it didn't show on their faces, their eyes revealed how pleased they were at seeing him.

~*~*~

"Cadets, all of you have an assembly in fifteen minutes. Don't be late!" Suriji ordered sternly, very out of his character, somewhat like Lolita Ma'am.

"Suriji, what happened to you? Since when are you like Tau?" Huda asked in his loose style. Suriji glared at him and crossed his arms.

"Cadet Amardeep Huda, behave yourself or you will be punished!"

"Looks like being with Lolita Ma'am officially has really rubben off on him..." Yudi muttered to the others (excluding Ali & Aalekh, who were running an errand Suriji had given them) when Suriji was busy with some cadets who created a mess.

"He's now an almost totally out of range caller... I hope he doesn't really jam our networks, like some people around!" Pooja commented, openly giving Koel a hard look, who held the gaze steadily. The calmness in her eyes, almost as if dead, seemed to have an effect on Pooja, who looked away angrily after a while.

"Pooja!" Naina warned. Koel briefly glanced at her before starting to walk away.

"Leave it Naina... don't try to back up that unwanted caller." Koel stopped on her tracks, but Pooja ignored it. "She's been creating problems in out connections since she got here!" We see Koel's hands knuckles turning white from the tightness of her muscles. Slowly, her fist relaxed and she walked out of the mess calmly.

Soon, all the cadets assembled on the grounds. Dr. Shalini, Lolita Ma'am and Suriji were standing there with strict no-nonsense faces. Koel made sure that she stood as far away as possible from the other first year cadets, which was nearly impossible.

"Cadets, since we are missing all of our drill instructors, we'll have very different types of activities today, mostly indoors. The senior cadets already know your jobs, so you may start working on it immediately." Dr. Shalini waited for the senior cadets to leave. "Now, there are nine of you, so you will be divided into groups of three. Cadets Kamran, Huda and Aalekh will be working under the intructions of Lolita." Huda's groans were a bit too clear for everyone, which earned him three glares.

After Lolita Ma'am led the three towards the hostels, Dr. Shalini continued. "Cadets Ali, Sai and Sherry will be with Suriji." Pooja's anger was evident on her face. Her eyes were up on flames from fury as the three followed Suriji towards the canteen. Now, she, Yudi and Naina were left with Dr. Shalini, who led them towards the infirmary.

~*~*~

"The court is adjourned till 2:00 PM tomorrow." the judge declared. Everyone stood up and started to leave. Rajveer didn't bother to look or stay back; he knew they'd meet Major Samar outside. And he was right. Major Samar was standing outside, discussing something with an intern who came along to assist him and gain some knowledge of real cases.

"Ah... three ex-cadets from the worst bunch I taught!" he said warmly, hugging Abhimanyu and Rajveer and patting Nandini on the head. "And now, all three of you are in the same status as me. What a shame..." whatever he said, he said with conviction, but the twinkle never left his eye.

"Worst bunch? If I were you, I'd say I was the luckiest teacher to have the honour of teaching the most outstanding batch KMA has seen; if not all of the Military Academies around!" Nandini said proudly.

"'Teach'... that's one word I hope I achieved with you lot. You were the worst batch for a teacher because there was nothing major to teach; all of you excelled at almost everything you laid your heart to!"

"Of course you have Sir. If we're in this position, able to teach others, most of the credit goes to you." Abhimanyu told him with a genuine smile.

"Stop the flattery, our dear Prince. Or is it King?" he teased. He continued with a sigh, "I haven't kept track of anything but my cases since I left KMA..." he glanced at Rajveer, who had been a silent participant in this conversation. "Still dwelling over your hurt and guilty soul? Get over it Major; you're a soldier. Soldiers can't afford to let things like feelings overcome them." Rajveer grinned when he heard the last sentence.

"And you thought you couldn't teach us anything!" he said. He sobered up soon though, when he noticed the media heading towards them. They were hidden by pillars till now, but it seemed like the spy-like press had found them. He quickly excused himself, not wanting to go through any unnecessary trauma anymore and got into a taxi that was about to leave.

~*~*~

Rajveer sat at the bench outside on the KMA grounds, staring into space as he thought back to the earlier happenings in court. Both sides had presented their views. Major Bhargav had somehow managed to twist the story for his own liking: Gehlot was present at the jungle to help Rajveer when he found out they were in trouble through Major Nair at KMA, and a misunderstanding was created. Of course, whoever was present at the jungle scoffed at this explanation, but those who weren't gave it some chances of possibility.

He rested his head on his hands. It all seemed somewhat fake now, as most of the teachings had come from Gehlot himself. Was it fake though? It couldn't be... what he felt for his country, what he wanted to do for it, they were completely real. All he had learnt and knew was to fight for the truth and his country; and he would do it at any cost. Even if it tore him apart emotionally.

~*~*~

"No Cadet! Don't apply too much pressure; it might cause the artery to implode!" Dr. Shalini explained to Yudi, adjusting his shaky hands holding the injection. They were going into more details about the medical care; and none of them had their minds on the task set.

"Pooja... the pyaari mobile ki dukan... she was now distressed about the new number that had somehow forced itself into their contact lists." says Naveen's voiceover as we see a completely spaced out Pooja, and flashes of her and Koel argueing and Koel and Ali.

"And Naina, the tension filled Phoolan. Though her temper was in check, her worries weren't." Naina is shown impatient and restless, not paying attention to the work she's doing. "The effect Raj had on her truly is amazing; I know my sister and my best friend both are tremendously lucky to have each other, in any way at all."

SUddenly, Pooja's attention diverted towards outside the infirmary where Koel, Ali and Sai passed by, laughing heartily. She stood up, ignoring Dr. Shalini and Naina's calls, leaving her work and went outside. Koel was laughing really hard, and had to balance herself by clutching Ali's arm, to which he didn't complain.

Pooja spun a completely clueless Koel around forcefully and raised her and aggressively to slap her; but a hand clutched Pooja's wrist before she could do so. Koel's laughter died down immediately, both from her face and eyes, as she stood frozen in shock. Pooja looked up at who had stopped her and lowered her eyes suddenly in guilt; it was Rajveer.

Precap - "Jumping to conclusions doesn't get you anything except for trouble Pooja!" says an upset Ali.

"Don't you dare say anything to me when you know NOTHING about my life!" Koel shouts at an astounded Rajveer.