Once we had all learned Shield, we began incorporating it into our spars, which greatly reduced the number of bruises I took. While the spell was simple in concept, it was fairly complicated in practice. Knowing how much mana to put into it was crucial, and we also practiced tying it to our cores and sensing when to cut it off so we didn’t pass out.

  As for shooting, I found myself quickly approaching the top of the class. While there were still people better than me, there weren’t many, especially when we graduated to moving targets. I had no idea why I was doing so well, but it came easy to me.

  Soon enough, we were halfway through the term, and it was time for midterm exams. Everyone seemed a bit more on edge, including me. The Polday before exams, we studied all day instead of playing games or relaxing.

  Come Sanday, we had our first exams, starting with PTT. We skipped endurance and strength training and went straight to the shooting range, where each of us was tested on both safety and shooting. I managed to score third in the class with my best score yet, and my friends all passed with room to spare.

  After lunch came Military History and its exam. This was a traditional exam on our tablets, which were locked-down for the period. It started with a comprehensive multiple-choice section, which then moved on to a variety of short answer questions and ending with an essay comparing and contrasting military doctrine from a specific period pre-space travel with modern doctrine. I finished with only about ten minutes to spare, but since grading would require the professor to examine our short answer and essay responses, I wasn’t sure how well I did.

  Introduction to Naval Law was next, and it was a doozy. The entire test was short answer and required knowing the law, including being able to cite the specific laws or judicial rulings in question. I was fairly confident in most of my answers, but I was certain I had made some mistakes.

  We had been warned not to talk specifics about our exams with students who had not taken it yet, though we were also told that students in different sections of the same course would receive different exams. Still, the five of us met up and grumbled about our exhaustion.

  “They should really spread these out more,” Gathrok mused.

  “Ugh, I don’t know if that would be better or worse,” admitted Delroy.

  As usual, Valissa’s thoughts were well-refined. “It is hard to say for certain, though I imagine it would be better in some ways and worse in others. The stress would stretch out longer, but it would be less tiring each of those days.”

  “All I know is I can’t wait for Polday.”

  Everyone expressed their agreement with Kolo, and the topic moved on to what we should do for our upcoming rest day.

  “No!” Delroy exclaimed. “I love playing games as much as the next guy, but we do that most weeks. We need to do something special to celebrate making through exams.”

  “What would we do?” asked Valissa. “We can’t leave campus on Poldays until our third term, so there aren’t many options.”

  I was secretly glad we were restricted to campus since it made it a bit less likely someone would recognize me. I was fairly confident even if we did leave to visit the nearby city, no one would recognize me, but I didn’t mind reducing that chance even further. Regardless, we couldn’t leave, and no one seemed to have a better idea, so we tentatively agreed to play sports and games as normal.

  That evening, I crammed for my next exams right up until lights-out, skipping cultivating, the same as the previous few days.

  In the morning, we had another PTT exam, this time focused on sparring and the use of Shield. I didn’t do as well sparring as I did with pistols, though I still maintained a position near the middle of the group. As for Shield, I wasn’t third, but I still did quite well, bringing it up quickly and accurately judging the amount of mana to put into it.

  The exam for Principles of Starships was probably the most straightforward exam I had taken. It was largely multiple choice questions, and I was confident I did well on it. Introduction to Conflict Resolution, however, was challenging, consisting entirely of essay questions about how we would handle certain circumstances and why. We were required to reference techniques and psychological information we had learned in class and in our readings in order to justify our decisions. By the end, my brain was fried, and I was ready to rest.

  That night, I spent a bit of time studying for our practicum exam, but I ended up taking some time to cultivate before going to bed early, unable to cram any more information into my tired mind.

  The sergeant went easy on us for PTT the next morning, which was greatly appreciated by everyone, and soon it was time for our practicum exam.

  This exam proved to be different than the rest, albeit similar to our PTT exam given that it required actually doing instead of just writing about it. We each took a station and were assigned one of the three stations we had learned about so far. We were assigned two partners, and our stations were linked. From there, our instructor acted as captain, giving us orders that we had to fulfill. Based on what our partners did, we sometimes had to react to that as well.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  This went on for the entire practicum, with each of us rotating through the three stations. In the end, my group did well, but I would have to wait for the next week to learn what my score would be exactly.

  After the practicum, Valissa and I headed back to our room to rest for a bit before dinner. Meeting up with everyone, it was clear the others were exhausted as well. Thankfully, they all seemed confident they did well overall.

  “Even though it was hard, I actually liked the practicum,” admitted Kolo. “It almost felt real, like it was a taste of what actually working on a bridge would be like.”

  “Yeah, totally! It was awesome!” Delroy agreed.

  Valissa just nodded, and Gathrok looked pensive. “It was fine, though I’m looking forward to later terms when we move into more focused roles.”

  “Definitely,” I said. “Even if it was interesting, though, I’m glad it’s over for now.”

  “Hear, hear!” Delroy raised his glass for a toast, and the rest of us matched him. “So, about tomorrow…”

  “I thought we settled that, unless you have a new idea?”

  “Why, Kolo, dear, I’m glad you asked!”

  “Don’t call me ‘dear,’ dork.”

  He just chuckled. “I was talking with my practicum instructor after class today, and he let slip that we’re actually allowed access to the flight simulators. I’ve heard they have a fighter program that you can link between them. Who wants to fly pretend fighters and shoot each other?”

  We all agreed, though our excitement levels varied. Valissa was the most hesitant, while Kolo was excited, and Gathrok and I were somewhere in the middle.

  Not wanting to study after our intense week, we actually decided to play some cards before bed. Kolo introduced us to a new game called “Trolls vs Crowns,” and we all had a good time. I made sure to get some cultivation time in before going to sleep, curious about how the next day would go.

  “Okay, everyone,” Delroy began the next morning, turning around to face us like a tour guide as we walked to our destination. “I booked us time in the simulation lab. Since we won’t be trained in piloting until later, I suggest we all go through the basic fighter tutorial, which should take around a half hour. Make sure you’re doing the voidfighter tutorial, not the skyfighter one. It won’t cover everything, but it should be enough that we understand the basics. After that, I’ll set up the simulation. All you’ll need to do is select Join Linked Simulation, and you should be able to see my session and join.”

  “Are you sure this is going to be fun and not more work?” asked Gathrok skeptically.

  “Of course! It’s practically a game. I mean, sure, it’s also training, but it’s all about how you approach it. When you’re studying, you’re focused on making improvements and doing things methodically. This will be more like playing around as long as you go into it with the right attitude.”

  “Well-put,” Valissa noted, seeming to warm up to the idea a little.

  Shortly after, we reached the lab and signed in. Inside, we found an array of individual simulators, and we each took one. Once I was seated, I fiddled with the only lit display until I found the appropriate tutorial.

  The tutorial was straightforward, though somewhat complex. It did an excellent job of incrementally introducing concepts and controls, and by the end, I felt confident that I could at least avoid crashing a voidfighter in most circumstances.

  With the introductory tutorial over, I opened up the linked simulation list and saw that Delroy had already created the session. It came as no surprise that the future pilot finished before me. Upon joining the session, I noticed that Kolo had also already joined, but neither of the others. I felt satisfied with third place, though it didn’t take long for the rest of them to join us.

  Delroy’s voice came over the comms. “Okay, everyone. The first scenario we’re doing is pretty straightforward—we’re pilots on a destroyer protecting a frigate carrying critical food supplies for a colony exhibiting a famine. Our ships are under fire by a pair of pirate cruisers. For those of you who aren’t that familiar with ship classes, that means we have them beat on force projectors, but they have more missile bays than we do. We also have eight fighter craft to their four. Our goal is to prevent the destruction of our ships while disabling or destroying theirs. Get ready!”

  The simulation began seconds later as our fighters shot out of the destroyer’s hanger. From my position, I could see two other fighters on either side of mine—each was in the shape of a dodecahedron, making efficient use of the space protected from the aether.

  As we flew away from our mothership, I checked my sensors to locate the enemy ships, seeing them to be off to the side and some distance away. I flew my ship in an arc that was probably larger than it needed to be, but it worked, making it so I was facing our targets. They were close enough that I could see them with my eyes, but far enough that they were tiny and only visible because I knew where to look.

  I upped my acceleration, feeling the simulated force on my body, albeit less than it would otherwise be thanks to the inertial dampeners. Well, I suspected they just simulated a lower force rather than a higher force counteracted by inertial dampeners, but still. Within a minute, I was getting closer to the enemy ships, but then I realized that I couldn’t see any of our other fighters.

  “Slow down, Dax! You’re gonna overshoot!”

  “Shit,” I mumbled, not turning on my mic. I reversed the acceleration, though since I had been accelerating a while, I was still traveling quite fast after a few seconds.

  I finally started to noticeably slow down just around the time that I was closing on the enemy fighters.

  Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough to aim my weapons, too focused on controlling my acceleration. Within moments of getting in range, my shields started throwing up warnings, and by the time I got my weapons aimed, my shields were failing. Ten seconds later, and I was dead, having only fired a few blasts from my force projectors.

  It didn’t take more than another ten minutes for the others to lose, too.

  “Ha! Tell me that wasn’t fun.”

  I groaned into the mic. “I was terrible.”

  “You really were,” Kolo said.

  “Ready to go again?”

  A surge of competitiveness flowed into me. “You’re on.”