“And what did you do with the Moneymaker?” Airah asked, after I finished the recounting of the horror-story. It was a story I didn’t even need to exaggerate much, at least from the recollections of Grace, to create a seriously disturbing tale.

“Left it at the supply-depot, obviously. I mean, just from the amount of radiation Lieutenant Nural picked up in the time it took us to jump one system, he had to spend some time in the infirmary, just to make sure he wouldn’t father funny looking kids one day. Not that I had anything to do with it at that point, I think Commodore Ryker was happily leading us against another one of his impossible-odds scenarios. I think he wanted us to test every crazy idea that might work in such a situation, just in case we ever got into an impossible situation. I mean, when I was cross-training to fly frigates using the simulator, the maneuvers I used physically broke my ship.” I chuckled, before taking another sip of my drink.

“That’s… impressive.” she chuckled before continuing in a serious tone, “But really, I’m glad that you had such a competent trainings-officer. That incident you described in, what was the Star-System, F-347? Anyway, it sounded as if you almost died that day, which would suck. I mean, I’d have to train up a new roommate, who knows what they’d do before they were housebroken.”

She managed to keep her voice deadpan serious but when I raised an eyebrow at the idea that the biggest problem with my death would be her, needing a new roommate. After a moment, she started to chuckle again, making me smile.

“Yeah, I can agree with that. I might do better now, after the masterclass I had the last two months. It’ll be interesting to see how I’m stacking up with the rest of my class now.” I said, trying not to sound smug.

“You’ll have to see, but remember, everyone has been out there and been trained. Pride cometh before the fall and all that, it would be a little embarrassing if you go in there, all blustery, and get the rug pulled out from underneath you.” Airah warned, before suggesting to get some food.

On the way to the mess, we speculated on the meaning of the strange ship I had seen and what interest the Federation-Security might have. Neither of us had a good idea but Airah suggested that it had to be important or they wouldn’t have made an inquiry. In addition, she pointed out that two veterans who had served the Federation for decades had pushed their unit to the limit. She reasoned that such veterans often had excellent intuition and it would be risky to underestimate them. Partially because overall increased training would only cost money, an expense that was negligible in her opinion, especially if a war were to break out.

It was an interesting idea, one that segwayed into a question of a possible collective racial subconsciousness, which might be expressed through psionic abilities. Obviously, that left the question open why psionics worked across racial borders and ultimately, neither of us had any real knowledge of psionics, the subject creeped me out a great deal and Airah seemed to share the sentiment.

For the rest of the day, we shared stories and gossip, until we went to bed. Somehow, I was feeling strange, as if there was something missing, maybe my subconsciousness knowing that i was no longer on a ship and moving around. Whatever it was, I needed quite a bit until I managed to fall asleep but once I did, I slept good before being woken up the next morning.

“Hey, Leo, you want to go to breakfast with me?” Airah asked, her hand gently shaking me awake, as we had talked about the night before.

“Morning, Airah. Sure, give me a couple of minutes.” I told her, before pushing myself up and stripping off my ship-suit, taking a quick shower while considering for a moment what to wear. I was planning to go shopping during the day, so, once I was back out, I grabbed a pair of jeans and a blouse to go with. Out of habit, I strapped on the small ankle-holster and slipped my needle-pistol into it, prompting Airah to give a low whistle while complimenting me on my nice piece. As a result, I was required to tell the story of Commander Siloh giving it to me as a present and that every member of Carmine_Squadron had been walking around with a small arm on their body. Curiously, Airah seemed to be highly approving of the practise, making me wonder where she had picked up the idea.

Breakfast in the mess was an interesting experience, I noticed that the various groups had changed. Before the summer-cruise, most groups had been composed of class-mates, people that aimed at similar specialities sitting together and sharing their meals. Now, I was reasonably sure that the groups were a lot more mixed, it was hard to say with almost everyone wearing civilian dress.

“What are your plans for the day?” Airah asked, once we were seated.

“I think I’ll go into the city, I want to get some shopping done before the new semester starts.” I told her and could see her face twist a little. She didn’t like shopping, something she had told me quite a few times and it was a dislike I shared. Sadly, it was a necessity if I wanted to look good for the celebration the next day.

“I wish you all the best on this harrowing mission and will pray for your safe return. Take a gun with a single bullet with you, just in case they capture you.” Airah deadpanned, sounding like an officer sending their soldiers into a desperate struggle.

“Yes, Ma’am. I ate a hearty breakfast, for tonight we will dine in hell.” I replied, just as solemn and using a quote I had heard somewhere.

Both of us managed to keep the serious expressions on our faces before we broke, almost at the same time, and started to laugh.

“It’ll be okay. What are you up to?” I asked, once I had my giggles under control.

“I just need to run some errands, nothing special.” she said quickly, still chuckling under her breath.

“Guess that means I’ll see you tonight. Take care.” I said, once we were done eating. After a quick hug, we both went our separate ways, with me taking the public transport from the Academy into the city-center. The Academy had been built at the edge of town, with a generous land-allowance that made the city develop into the other direction, making the city quite interesting as the social center, the oldest and still most important part was on the edge of town. For us students, it was quite pleasant, the transport only taking ten minutes before I was able to disembark, right in the middle of the main shopping-mile. Here, I’d be able to find everything I wanted and a whole lot of things I did not want.

My first objective was to do something about my pasty complexion so I went into a popular tanning-studio, mainly catering to the many people from off-world who wouldn’t get the tan they liked under the strongly filtered radiation of Celraph-4. Here, I was able to pick a spectrum from almost any planet in the Federation, as long as it was a medically safe one, and tan for some time.

After roasting under specialised lamps for fifteen minutes, I looked a lot less like some sort of cave-fungus that had taken human form and more like an actual human. It was a great, and greatly necessary, improvement but I still needed something more. So, my next stop was in the same building, right next to the tanning-studio, visiting a hairdresser. Luckily, they weren’t busy and I could get seated right away. After a short discussion, mainly the hairdresser convincing me to give something new a try and assuring me that it was well within Academy regulations, he went to work, with me closing my eyes, wanting to directly see the full effect.

Another thirty minutes later, I had to admit that the hairstyle was a good one. The hairdresser called it a pixie-cut and it added a little something to my normally plain features, a hint of mischievousness. I would have to keep that one in mind.

My next, and final, goal was to get some new clothes. Sadly, I had no real idea what and started to aimlessly wander the various clothing-shops, looking for something to frame my slightly disapointing physical features in the best light.

After four hours of wandering, with a short break at the food-court to get a quick lunch, I finally managed to find it. It was a simple ensemble, but it went quite well with the pixie-cut. Up top, I had on a white sailor-top with dark-blue accents, cut short to show off the definition of my stomach-muscles and the freshly tanned skin underneath. My bottom-half was covered in similarly dark-blue sailor-pants, quite tight ones, presenting my backside in the best possible light with flared legs that allowed me to wear sensible shoes in case the celebration turned into dancing.

It had taken a lot longer than I had hoped but I had an outfit for the celebration on the next day, one that made me feel confident and secure. I could hardly wait.