I got to flight-country early and it was surprisingly quiet, compared to the madhouse it had been over the last few days. The technicians were working on our Starfighters and a quick count told me that all fifteen remaining Starfighters were accounted for. That meant nobody was out there or in the tubes, so we were most likely in hyperspace and mostly safe.

“Cadet Horn, if you would step into my office?” Commodore Ryker asked. Not that it was really a question, he was my direct superior after all.

“Yes, Sir.” I answered, walking over and walking into his office after him.

“If you are still interested, I’ve talked to the Captain and there is an observer-position on the bridge you can take, if we are put on alert during your off-shift. You will have to go through a short orientation but you can do that during your shift tomorrow, it shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes.” he explained after gesturing for me to sit.

“Thank you, Sir. I appreciate the offer but would like to ask for advice before accepting.” I began and he nodded, waving for me to go on.

“I heard through the rumour-mill that the allocation of Starfighters is based on the pilot-ranking within the Squadron and the duty-schedule, is that correct, Sir?” I continued and he had a wry smile on his face.

“The rumour-mill, eh? Well, in this case Wildcat was right, that’s how we do it.” he said, amusement clear in his voice.

“How likely is it that I manage to achieve the next higher spot in the ranking and thus get to fly my Starfighter? I don’t want to know how Commodore Ming and you calculate the rating, what parameters have what weight, I merely ask your opinion, as both a superior officer and a more experienced pilot about the possibility.” I asked and even as I asked, I had a feeling I knew the answer already.

“Oh, the process for the pilot-ranking is easy, Liling and I get sufficiently drunk and throw darts at a board. Whichever area the dart sticks in, that’s your rank. If a tiebreaker is needed, we flip a coin.” he explained, his voice completely deadpan, making me, for just a moment, wonder if he truly was serious, at least until he started to laugh.

“The look on your face…” he shook his head, shoulders heaving with laughter, before he continued, “In all honesty, if you had the time, I don’t doubt you’d make your way up the ranking. But right now, you started at a lower point than the others, just as Cadet Trezt did and you don’t rank high enough in the simulations to quickly make up that difference. So, no, I don’t think you will be able to achieve that ranking, not in the next few weeks at least.

“In addition, I think seeing the bridge of a capital ship in action would be a good thing for you to see and understand. It is experience that will go into your file and will be a unique point in your favour, when promotions come up.” he finished, before hesitating for a moment and pressing the button that put his office into secure mode.

“In all honesty, I lobbied hard with the Captain for that opportunity because, quite frankly, the way the ranking works is stacked against you from the start but it’s in the regulations. You can’t reach a any ranking other than second-to-last in the time you have with us, mostly because it would be devastating to unit-morale if someone who didn’t even finish the Academy yet beat out a serving pilot. Otherwise, you might manage but if asked, I will deny I ever said that.” he told me, sounding not too happy about the regulations he was working under.

“Thank you, Sir. I appreciate your advice and will take the opportunity you arranged for me.” I thanked the Commodore, as I had a feeling that he was going a bit further than normal, in order to help me out. But then, he had been quite invested in training and helping me ever since I became his wingman. Maybe it was just the way he was, a born instructor that seemed to enjoy seeing his students thrive.

“Additionally, I heard that there might be a way to get training at simulated Fleet-Vessels, something that might be useful in the future, or so I have been told.” I continued, causing his earlier grin to return.

“Again, Wildcat told you the truth. Starfleet likes to put Starfighter-pilots at the helm of their ships, all of them actually, if there’s a serious battle on the horizon. It has proven useful in the past and there are a few recollections of that on the Legacy I gave you, but I doubt you read them already, I know how busy you’ve been.” he paused for a moment, rubbing the bridge of his nose, as if he was feeling tired himself.

“And yes, I will approve of you requesting them from the computer-center. Or rather, I will put in the request as you are not formally a member of the Merathorn’s crew, merely detached here from the Academy. The difference is just bureaucratic but that doesn’t mean it can’t trip you up.” he continued, causing me to raise an eyebrow in question.

“Well, you have yet to graduate, so you are not an officer, yet. And you never enlisted, so you are not an enlisted spacer, either. You are a cadet and, in theory, your commanding officer is still the Commander of Starfleet Academy, you are just detached here. As I said, bureaucracy.” he explained, while typing on his computer for a moment.

“There, I put in the request.” he paused again, interrupted by a chime from his tablet, “And it’s been, not that they actually have the authority to deny it.” he shook his head for a moment, before typing some more and looking back at me.

“Once you are in the simulator, you’ll have access to the training-simulations for Frigate-, Corvette- and Destroyer-piloting. But that doesn’t mean you’ll get out of the normal training-schedule and I expect good performance from you.” he stood and I did the same.

“There’s a briefing scheduled in a few minutes, so I suggest you get into the briefing-room. Dismissed.” he unsealed the room and, after saluting him, I left.

The briefing went over a short after-action report on the fight against the pirates and the continued operation of the Squadron. The fact that we were one Starfighter down was mentioned and that Cadet Trezt and I would, in effect, share a Starfighter, with the one not on duty, drawing the short stick, being left on the Merathorn. It was a little annoying but at the end of the day, it was what it was.

In addition, we were told that the simulator-training was reduced for the day, so we could recover from the heavier than normal schedule the day before. It was a nice gesture, even if I planned to use the simulators on my own time, to go through the simulation training for the larger Spacecrafts. That sounded like a good, relaxing way to spend my time.

But before I could even begin to play around with those simulations, Commodore Ryker had another fun-filled simulation for us, this one based on escort-duty. The first thing I thought when looking at the scenario was that, whoever had thought it up was an evil, evil being. We were supposed to protect a formation of freighters as their hyperspace-coils were damaged and needed maintenance. In other words, we were protecting sitting ducks The second thing that went through my head was, hey, I know this shit.

We were launching from the Thermopylae and, from a short glimpse at the sensors, I was reasonably certain that it was the scenario they had run us through in the Academy. And, just as back then, we were ordered to take on an attacking force coming at the Thermopylae, which was where the simulation took a different course. Instead of sending everything against the attacking fighters, Commodore Ryker sent Group 4 and a simulated Group 1 towards them, taking a slow approach so they would be able to quickly decelerate and come at the enemy Starfighters from behind, unless it broke off before reaching the Thermopylae where Groups 2 and 3 were waiting.

The enemy Starfighters went into a short but vicious battle against Groups 1 and 4 and here, the differences were even more pronounced, the Carmine-Pilots managed to destroy seven of them, without losing a single pilot.

Not that it really helped when suddenly the second Tellurian Heavy Cruiser came out of hyperspace, right when we went into a dogfight with the attacking Starfighters but we were in a lot better position compared to the run at the Academy. But the simulation wasn’t finished with us, followed by that second Tellurian Heavy Cruiser, that had launched fighters while we were occupied, a small Tellurian patrol-group emerged from hyperspace, adding a cruiser, two destroyers and four frigates to the mix, just so we didn’t get bored. There was no danger of that but it seemed that whoever had made the simulation was taking no risks.

We managed to set up a torpedo-run on the near Tellurian Heavy Cruiser,destroying it but as we tried to get to the patrol-group, the frigates demonstrated why they were known as Starfighter-killers, filling the void with enough plasma that I wondered if it still qualified as vacuum. There was no getting through that but before we perished, another Tellurian battle-group came from hyperspace, even larger.