While Jonathan had been reborn into a kingdom that spanned across multiple star systems, he'd never set foot on any planet other than his homeworld, Matoug. He had that in common with most of the people of Matoug. Very few of the planet's citizens could afford the massive expense of interstellar travel.

Out of the many planets in the kingdom, Matoug was considered to be in the third tier. The first tier was reserved for planets at the core of the Orion Star Kingdom. They were extensively developed and linked into a thriving trade market, with even the average citizen possessing unimaginable wealth compared to normal people from Jonathan's previous life. Or to normal people on Matoug, for that matter.

The second tier comprised planets on the border of the Orion Star Kingdom. They weren't nearly as wealthy or well-developed as first tier planets, but they were bolstered by a heavy military presence. It was a dangerous universe out there, after all. A disproportionate number of mech pilots, especially the strongest ones, came from those second tier planets.

The third tier was made up of what was left over. The planets that fell within the Orion Star Kingdom's borders but that didn't have anything in particular to offer. They didn't occupy important locations, they didn't have important resources. They were just there.

They were still reasonably well populated. If you set aside the possibility of death descending from outer space, the overall standard of living wasn't that different from what Jonathan remembered from life on Earth. The entertainment devices were better, even. Really, they only suffered by comparison to the rest of the Orion Star Kingdom.

Jonathan had only made those comparisons from what he'd seen on the holovids, before. Now he'd be getting a chance to compare for himself.

After all, the Royal Academy was located on Orion, the capital of the kingdom. A planet that merited a top tier all of its own.

He closed his suitcase and took one last look around his room. He'd been assigned his own room back when he'd turned thirteen. For three years, it had been the one place he could call his own. Now, after a day's work, the place had been stripped bare of anything that marked it as his. He'd always known he'd leave this place someday, but it still felt strange to leave it behind.

He cleared his throat. "System? Status? Store?"

The words echoed back to him off the bare walls. There was no other response. The interface to the Divine Mech Pilot System had vanished as soon as he had desynced from the mech. He'd tried all sorts of things once he'd had a private moment, but nothing he'd done had made the system reappear.

He was going to keep checking every once in a while, but Jonathan was pretty sure that the system wouldn't show up again until he was synced up to a mech. After all, it hadn't shown itself for sixteen years, had appeared immediately the first time he'd synced, and vanished the instant he'd desynced.

It was too bad that the first two years of training at the mech academy took place almost entirely in a virtual environment. Jonathan was going to have to hold his own at the Royal Academy without the system's help. At least the welcome package had been good enough to earn his admission. He could only hope that the basic piloting proficiency that he had been given would see him in good standing once classes started.

He shook his head and picked up his suitcase. Stronger strands of nostalgia crept over him as he made his way downstairs. His room had been his home for three years. Morgenstern's Home for Wayward Youths had housed him for sixteen. He'd never fit in well with the other kids, thanks to his memories of his past life, but still, it was only natural to form an attachment after so much time.

He opened the front door, took a step outside, and stopped. Every orphan who was even close to his own age was lined up in the front courtyard. Standing there with them was the director of the orphanage himself. Jonathan stared at him, not quite sure what to say.

The director stepped forward, extending his hand. Jonathan accepted it, surprised at the strength of the old man's grip.

"Congratulations on your admission to the Royal Academy," the director said. "You're an inspiration to your fellows. They insisted on coming to see you off."

The director's words opened the floodgates. The rest of the orphans rushed forward, and Jonathan soon found himself surrounded and submerged in a sea of congratulatory babble.

He was shocked, and more than a little touched. He'd never considered himself close to the other orphans, but it seemed he hadn't been nearly as estranged from them as he'd feared. At the very least, they still considered him to be one of them. He felt the tips of his ears heat up as he stood there, not sure what to say at finding himself the target of so much admiration.

After a moment, he started to feel a knot of frustration in his gut. Everybody was excited for the glamorous life ahead of him and envious of the opportunity he'd have to rub shoulders with such illustrious classmates. Nobody seemed concerned about the fact that he'd be competing with those illustrious classmates for grades and resources.

"All right, all right, that's enough," the director said. His natural air of authority made the simple words into a solemn command, and the crowd around them fell silent. "Jonathan has a ship to catch."

The director turned his attention from the crowd back to Jonathan himself. "Remember, wherever you go, we're still standing behind you. If nothing else, I'm just a vidcall away."

Jonathan was surprised at the sincere concern he saw in the man's eyes. He'd been expecting to see pride and ambition. Not that the director had ever shown any such thoughts before, but because it was so rare for anyone from Matoug to be admitted to the Royal Academy, let alone somebody from their orphanage.

Without any access to the system that had made his admission profile worthy of the Royal Academy, Jonathan was going to be working hard just to keep his head above water. It was nice to hear that somebody had his back, even if just a minor functionary on a backwater planet.

He nodded in response to the director's statement. He wasn't sure how much the man would be able to help him when it came to political infighting on the capital planet, but at the very least it would be nice to have access to a sympathetic ear.

He left the orphanage on one last wave of congratulations and well-wishes before boarding the waiting taxi. From there, it was only a half an hour before he reached the spaceport.

Jonathan was feeling excited and a little apprehensive about his first trip to outer space. Space travel was both dangerous and expensive. Not something to be done lightly if you weren't traveling with your own squad of mech soldiers for protection.

The spaceport was a small, luxuriously appointed building. Jonathan's feet sank into the carpet just enough that he had to focus on his footing as he approached the front desk. An intimidatingly attractive blonde accepted his id card and spent a moment focusing on the display in front of her. A moment later she gave him a professional smile and handed back his card.

"You're all set," she said. "Please continue inside. The next shuttle will be leaving soon."

Jonathan nodded. Now that he had registered, everything would be linked to his id card for the rest of the trip. The Royal Academy had made the arrangement for the journey almost as soon as he'd left the admissions test. Usually, people traveling to another planet on business would have to book weeks or months in advance. To be able to ship Jonathan off on two days' notice was yet more proof of the power of the Royal Academy.

Passing through the doors, up a lift, and through another set of doors let Jonathan enter the last waiting area bordering on the launch pad. There was none of the complicated and dangerous machinery Jonathan remembered from rocket launches in his previous life. The only sign of his coming journey into space was the gleaming shuttle parked in the middle of the open area. It was about twice the size of a passenger bus, not that the smooth lines and gleaming chrome would let it be mistaken for such a mundane vehicle.

Jonathan boarded the shuttle and buckled himself in. As promised, it lifted off shortly thereafter. There were a few other passengers, but the shuttle was far from full and they seemed content to keep to themselves. Jonathan was the same, focusing his attention on the view out the window.

If he hadn't been looking outside, he wouldn't have known that they had lifted off the ground. The shuttle rose into the air as smoothly as any elevator Jonathan had ever been on. Soon he was looking down on his home city. The buildings looked like models, then like matchboxes, then blurred into an indistinguishable mass. Only the glowing lights below betrayed the presence of human habitation.

For all that his new world was far more technologically advanced than the old, poverty had limited Jonathan's options. He'd only left the city once before, on a field trip organized by the orphanage. Now he was leaving the bounds of the planetary gravity well.

The smooth, barely perceptible acceleration of the shuttle belied its tremendous speed. Over the next half hour Jonathan watched the sun set in reverse as they circled half the globe to reach the orbiting space station.

There were only two interplanetary ships per week connecting Matoug to the rest of the Orion Star Kingdom, not counting military transports or private trips arranged by the super rich. Although, anybody who could participate in interplanetary travel at all had to be at least a little bit rich. After all, the entire planet of Matoug was barely able to fill those two ships per week.

Travelers from all over the planet assembled at the orbiting space station to board the starship. Jonathan felt a momentary flutter in his stomach as he stepped from the artificial gravity provided by the shuttle to the artificial gravity provided by the station. The more experienced travelers around him hardly missed a beat, streaming off the shuttle with the ease of long practice. Jonathan followed in their wake, taking the time to look around and take in the sights.

He probably looked like a rube from the countryside, but he didn't care. This was outer space. Outer space! The trip might just be one small step from the Royal Academy's expense account, but it was a giant leap for Jonathan himself. He could already call himself an astronaut, more or less. Soon he'd be a veteran interplanetary traveler, at least compared to everybody he'd grown up with.