“Comms, send an identification request to that ship.”

  “Aye, captain.” A few seconds later, he said, “Message sent, sir. Awaiting response.”

  It was a tense fifteen seconds before we received a response. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a response we wanted.

  “Sir!” exclaimed the sensors officer. “They’re firing on us!”

  “Navigation, identify routes around the ship. Pilot, begin evasive maneuvers. Weapons, ready to fire. I really hope this is a simulation.” That last line was muttered but still loud enough for us to hear.

  I dove into my work, taking the readings from the aether sensors and computing various paths to feed to the pilot. All the while, there was a frantic air on the bridge as everyone put their training into practice.

  As we neared, the enemy shots got more accurate, and the engineering officer called out, “We took a hit to the lower forward starboard shields, captain.”

  “Keep going. Gunners, fire when ready.”

  The weapons officer relayed the order to the officers in the weapons bay, and soon the sensors officer spoke up.

  “Captain, I’m reading successful hits on the enemy shields.”

  “Good,” they said. “Everyone! Just because this is a simulation does not mean we can slack off. Practice how you want to act in a real situation.”

  The battle continued on, both sides firing their force projectors and hoping to whittle down the shields. We didn’t deploy any fighters, and neither did the opponent, both on account of limitations to what was clearly a simulation. Nevertheless, we were actually flying the ship, so there was some reality to the exercise.

  The entire time, I focused on my job. Normally, the minor variations in aether currents don’t matter much for the overall movement, but during a battle, that changes. When fighting, even small changes could mean the difference between outlasting your opponent or failing, so having up-to-date routes available was vital to a pilot’s ability to act during a fight.

  No one really understand what aether was. The invisible energy seemed to be similar to mana, but opposite in many ways. While mana promoted life, aether opposed it. It flowed in currents through the void, and somehow, sailing through stronger currents could allow you to seemingly travel faster than the normal speed of causality. Even having a doctoral degree in astrophysics and having studied aether currents, I didn’t have any idea how that worked, but it did.

  “Captain!” called the sensors officer. “Enemy shields are down in the lower central port region!”

  “Weapons, fire first missile salvo.”

  “Aye, captain.”

  A short while later, the sensors officer spoke up again. “Two missiles hit, but two were blocked by remaining shields.”

  “Gunners, target damaged portion. Pilot and nav, prepare for a broadside.”

  ““Aye, captain,”” we all replied. I quickly plotted a course that would give us a brief period of steady motion to fire before assisting us in accelerating again to get away. Then the pilot took over and guided us along my route.

  “Fire all projectors!” called the captain right before the perfect moment to give the order time to pass through.

  A few seconds later, sensors exclaimed, “Success! The ship seems to be losing atmo in that section.”

  “Resume normal firing patterns,” ordered the captain.

  I continued plotting routes as we whittled away the opposing ship. There was a brief scare when one of our shields went out, but the captain had ordered us to rotate before that, so we took very little damage in the brief moments we were exposed, our thick outer walls protecting the ship from the force projectors.

  After a long, drawn-out battle, we managed to damage the ships engines.

  “Comms, request their surrender.”

  “Sent, sir.”

  We waited a few moments before receiving a response indicating their surrender. Everyone cheered in response to this, and the commander stepped out of the captain’s office.

  “Congratulations on your victory, crew,” he said, speaking over the intercom. “As you are no doubt aware, that was a simulation, but it was as realistic as we could make it. Now, it is almost time for the last shift to take over and bring us home. Once back in orbit, we will depart on the shuttle and return to the academy. You will receive your individual performance reports to your tablets in the next few days.” With that, he gave those of us on the bridge a nod before returning to his office.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  I plotted the route home while waiting to be relieved. The next person would have to get us into orbit.

  I spent the next two hours gathering my things and relaxing with my classmates. Everyone was excited for their first mock battle in an actual ship, and it was energizing. Those who were on their long rest period, like Yuli, bemoaned missing out—though they still had had places to report to for general quarters, they weren’t really actively involved in the battle.

  Soon enough, though, we loaded up onto the shuttle and returned to the academy. On the way, the commander did indeed suggest that we not inform our classmates of what happened, leaving it a mystery. Despite my urge to talk about everything, I knew I would keep the secret.

  Sure enough, when I met up with my friends for dinner, they peppered me with questions I refused to answer. Delroy was the most vocal about his desire to learn more, while the others were more circumspect. Valissa actually tried to trick me into revealing information a few times, but I saw through her attempts—it wasn’t hard when I was already on guard from Delroy’s direct questioning.

  Even though classes were more overall more intense time-wise than being on the ship, I was eager to return. I knew that eventually the day-to-day life would become normal, but for now, it was new and exciting, even the boring parts. The opportunity to work on a ship, even just for training purposes, had really invigorated me to pour my all into my studies—I didn’t want to risk a land-bound posting through poor performance.

  The next few weeks passed like before, with the others getting to go out on the training ship as well. When Gathrok finally returned, the last of our group to get the opportunity, we could finally discuss our experiences.

  Turned out everyone had a similar experience with a simulated attack, though it didn’t always happen at the same time. Delroy practically exploded when he could finally complain to us about being on-duty during the attack but being assigned to cleaning. We laughed at his antics while reassuring him that there would be plenty of later opportunities to pilot a ship in a tense situation.

  Valissa was off-duty during her attack, though her general quarters duty was the bridge as a backup sensors officer, so she at least got to see the events up close. Gathrok was actually the lead engineering officer at the time, so he participated, same as me. Kolo was on-duty in the infirmary, so she had tasks to do to prepare for injuries, even if in the simulation that was highly unlikely.

  Soon enough, finals arrived. I did well, as did my friends, though I found out that Yuli was actually the top engineering track cadet as far as the discipline-specific testing went.

  Kolo and I joined Valissa’s family for the break, as had become our routine, and I enjoyed getting to sleep as a dragon. Even after a cycle and a half, I still found sleeping as an elf awkward—between arms getting in the way and needing exactly the right pillow to support your head and neck, it was weird. Curling up as a dragon was so much more natural.

  Autumn term continued the trend of summer term. We had another training flight, though while we all expected an attack, that didn’t happen. Instead, we had another simulated event—a ship sending out a distress signal. I was off-duty that time, so I didn’t get to participate, but I heard it went well. I later found out though that the captain for one of the cadres was overly eager and upon sensing the ship, didn’t wait to hear what was happening and ordered an attack. Needless to say, I didn’t expect he’d be on a ship anytime soon.

  Before I knew it, it was winter term of our senior cycle. Things got more intense, both academically and socially. We all knew we’d be separated soon, though I expected that I’d likely encounter them again if we all stayed in the service long enough. We also knew that our performance would determine whether we got a placement we were happy with, and while that hadn’t changed, the impending nature of the event made it more real.

  By that point, Yuli had become a friend despite us no longer being in the same cadre. She still had other friends she hung out with, but I actually met them on occasion as well. I enjoyed their company, and I also figured it was a good idea to have a variety of relationships with other people my age—as our careers continued, having support from our peers would be vital.

  Our last set of finals were the most intense of the entire program. They lasted a full two weeks and covered a wide range of materials that we had learned starting from our very first term and reaching to the last weeks of our final term. Those results, along with our performance during the shipboard exercises, would be the biggest factor in our overall rating to determine whether we got a placement we wanted or not. It was intense, but I thought I did well, though I wouldn’t find out until later.

  Upon finishing finals, we had one last assembly, and the headmaster stepped out.

  “Cadets, this is the last time I will address you as such. From here, you will have two weeks leave before needing to report for duty. At that point, you will be sworn in as a junior ensign, a true officer of the Imperial Navy.

  “Being an officer is about leadership, yes, but it is also about service. Not just service to the empire, but service to those around you. A ship is only as strong as the people who work in it, whether captain or enlisted, officer or marine. Your shipmates will depend on you, just as you will depend on them. Do good by them, and make your empire proud.

  “Whether pirates, foreign enemies, or just bad maintenance, our crews protect the empire and its citizens against all threats that may come. It doesn’t matter whether you’re protecting a planet on a destroyer, identifying future threats on a scout, carrying vital supplies on a frigate, or ensuring that our bureaucracy can function on land. Every role in our navy is vital.

  “As I bid you goodbye for the last time, I want thank each of you for the service you are committing to. It is through your actions that our empire can prosper. Go forth and serve.”

  Each of us stood and saluted the headmaster, our right hands over our hearts, before filing out of the auditorium to leave.

  As before, Kolo and I traveled to Valissa’s one last time, staying as long as we could. We then left for the base that we were to report to, and I would finally find out what my position would be.