Xaleyp took a deep breath. When they started training earlier in the day, that was not how he was expecting it to go. It had always been the same: he leads the way, destroys some fighters, completes the objective and becomes the ‘hero.’ Either that, or he would have gotten blow up a few minutes into the simulation because he bit off more than he could chew, ending in the mission being failed and them having to start over, much to the dismay of the two other cadets, who groaned as they had to begin from the top. The fact they stopped the simulation before he even had a chance to win or lose was different.

“That was some cool flying, Xaleyp,” Keith said, beaming, after several silent seconds passed. He was a few years younger than Xaleyp and idolized him. It was one of the boy’s first days of simulation training, and because he was too young for a CAM, he had to use a headset and motion capture gloves to control his ship in the mock battles. He was in the process of taking them off to put them on a table at the side of his chair as he spoke. “You need to teach me some of those moves.”

“Maybe some other time, Keith.” Sweat that formed at his brow was racing down his cheeks. He grabbed a towel from a nearby shelf and wiped it away. “Right now, I just want to relax.”

“They’re right, you know,” Lina said, grabbing a towel of her own and running it across her forehead. “You can be pretty reckless sometimes.”

“I admit I take some risks every now and then.”

“Always,” she corrected. “It’s just a matter of time before you get yourself killed for real.”

“It’s just because I want to push myself to be better. Rather get blown up in a simulation life than get blown up in actual life.”

“It’s because you want to show off, and your encouragement doesn’t help, Keith.” She pointed her finger at the younger boy, who tried to shrink away. She scoffed and folded her arms and turned back to Xaleyp. A smile touched the corner of her lips, no matter how hard she tried to push it away. “How many years have I known you, Xaleyp? I think I know how you work by now.”

“Too many,” Xaleyp muttered, just loud enough for Keith to hear. The boy laughed, quickly covering his mouth to try to hide it. Lina threw her towel at Xaleyp, letting her smile break through. In one fluid movement, he caught it, balled it up, and threw it into a chute on the other side of the room.

“You’re such an ass, Xaleyp,” Lina said, chuckling. She picked up two datapads off the table and handed Xaleyp his.

“Yeah, but that’s why you love me.” He made a show of giving her a low bow with a flourish of his arm, much to the further delight of Keith.

“All Tier One Cadets, report to Classroom H-217 immediately,” a voice blared through the space station speakers.

“That’s you, Keith,” Lina said, ruffling his hair as she headed for the door herself. “Better get going.”

“That’s for my history test.” Keith groaned. He picked up his own datapad off the table next to his chair. “I hate history.”

“As long as you remember glory to Hyperia,” Xaleyp said, mocking a salute by bringing his right fist to his left shoulder then raising it to the air, “I don’t see how you could fail. Always seemed to work for me, at least”

“Stop that!” Lina hit him in the arm and shook her head. “You’re going to fill his head with useless garbage.”

“Isn’t that my job as squad leader?” This elicited a strong punch to the shoulder. “Sorry, only joking.”

The door hissed open again, and all three of them walked out. The said their goodbyes, with Keith going one way while Xaleyp and Lina the other. They walked for several moments in silence, and Lina took the opportunity to remove the band that was holding her hair up, letting it fall down.

The hallway was mostly empty with only a few other cadets walking back and forth, some slower than the pair of them, others much faster. The banners that adorned the halls had come to be a somewhat welcoming sight. They at least broke up the monotony of gray behind them.

“What do we have next?” Xaleyp asked her. Training in the simulations, as much fun as he had, was always mentally draining after several hours straight of it.

“Hour and a half break, then some more simulation training.”

“When do you think they’ll let us into the actual ships?” Xaleyp sighed. One of the physical V-19 ships shot past the window on patrol, ejecting a thin particle stream behind from the engines as it went. The sparkling material lingered for a moment before dispersing. “I’ve been training in the simulators long enough. I’m ready for something more.”

“I guess once they think we’re ready.” She turned the corner to the lifts. “Or if something horrible happens that they have no choice.”

There were already several other cadets waiting for the lifts, all four currently in use. A couple of them Xaleyp knew by sight, not name, and the rest he didn’t even recognize.

“Wanna get something to eat?” Lina asked him. “I’m starving.”

“Sure, might as well.” He shrugged. “I didn’t have time to eat breakfast this morning.”

After a few minutes, they were able to get on a lift and take it up to the next level. Three other cadets got off with them, walking ahead of them. The hallway was bustling with people walking back and forth between the quarters and mess hall. Some walked in pairs, others in groups, and more walked alone, keeping their eyes down.

Xaleyp and Lina entered the mess hall, the door hissing open in front of them. Several circular tables were spread out around the room. A few people already eating and talking and laughing occupied most and two were completely empty.

One table, however, caught Xaleyp’s attention. It was to his right, about ten meters away from him and in the corner of the room furthest away from the food line. Sitting at it was a girl that he had never seen before. Her brown hair reached down past her shoulders, disappearing behind her body from where he could see her. She kept her eyes down, making sure to only be looking at two places: either her tray of food, or the door to see who was coming in. As she did this, her eyes locked with Xaleyp’s. She glanced away hurriedly, going back to her tray, to try to pretend that she hadn’t noticed him.

The pair continued walking forward, going to the far end of the room where the food was served. A line steadily moved along the counter. Three robots doled out the food to each of the cadets. A tray of mass prepared nutritional but unappetizing gray glop with a piece of unevenly toasted bread. Xaleyp couldn’t help but scowl at it when he received his. No matter how many times they served it to him, no matter how many times they told him how nutritious it was, he would never get used to its look.

“Do you know that girl sitting by herself?” Xaleyp asked Lina as they walked to one of the empty tables.

“What girl?” She glanced around the room. “In the corner?”

Xaleyp nodded as they sat down next to each other, placing their trays down.

“Never seen her before.” Lina was already beginning to fork the glop into her mouth between words. “They did just send another batch, though. Maybe she came in on that ship?”

“Maybe.” Something about the way she looked at him told him it wasn’t true. He picked up his fork and ate some of the goop. It did not taste nearly as bad as it looked. “You know, I used to eat a lot better than this before they sent me here.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Lina shoveled a few forkfuls into her mouth. As she talked, some spattered onto the table, but Xaleyp was quick to wipe it away. “Commander’s son, so important.”

She rolled her eyes and laughed, and Xaleyp smiled back.

“I remember when we first met, and you thought that was the coolest thing you’d ever heard.”

“Well, that was then.” She made a waving motion with her hand. “Now that we’ve been here awhile, it’s not that neat.”

When Xaleyp looked around the room, the girl in the corner hastily tried to look anywhere but at him. Was she watching him? Before he could find out, she got up, threw her tray into a recycler bin, and left the room. Her strange behavior left just two questions in his mind: Who was she, and what did she want with him?

A memory came to him, as if drifting from a distant dream. The dark machine, the serrated arm, the syringe, and a voice.

“When you meet her, you must trust her.”

Could this mysterious girl be the one he was going to meet, the one the voice told him to trust? He shook his head slightly to clear it of the thought. It was absolutely ridiculous to have what was like a dream seven years before you even knew what was going to happen.

“After eating this for so long, it’s really not so bad,” Lina was saying in between mouthfuls of food. She was apparently oblivious to the other girl. “It kind of grows on you.”

“Easy for you to say.” Xaleyp shuddered as he shoved some into his mouth.. “It’s not exactly what I’m used to, even after seven years.”

“Ooh, Commander’s son,” she teased again. “Must’ve gotten served caviar for lunch and fillet mignon for dinner every day.”

“Ha ha.” He smiled at her. “We weren’t that fancy, but it at least tasted a lot better.”

“What was it really like living like that?” she asked with another mouthful of food.

“Like what?” Xaleyp stopped eating, his fork halfway to his mouth, and looked at her.

“As the kid of someone important. I grew up in some rundown apartment complex with my mom. Other kids and teenagers were always getting into trouble, running drugs, starting their little gang wars, whatever. What was it like for you?”

Xaleyp hesitated. He hadn’t known that about Lina, how she grew up. His dad never told him anything about crime or anything in the city. It seemed too strange to believe. Part of him didn’t want to tell her that the hardest part his childhood was having no time to make a lot of friends with all the meetings and events his father hosted or attended. The look of determination on her face told him he wasn’t getting out of this without an answer though.

“Well,” he started, trying to tiptoe around the subject, “it definitely wasn’t as rough as yours. The most trouble I got into was sneaking into my dad’s workshop in the city, but he was never really mad. He was just joking around. Whenever he caught me—and, trust me, he’d catch me—he’d pretend to reprimand me then give me some little trinket he was working on.”

“I can’t say I’m surprised. You rich brats are always sheltered.” She smiled to let him know she was joking. “Not that it matters now. We’re all here, kids and teenagers preparing for war.”

“Do you really think there’s gonna be a war?” Xaleyp asked. The thought formed a knot in his stomach. If they were sent off to some war, there was no guarantee they would stay together. How could he protect her from thousands of light years away?

“Technically, the galaxy is always at war one way or another. Haven’t you been paying attention in history class?” She stuffed another forkful of the gray goo into her mouth, savoring it. “But why else would they have us training so much?”

“But we’re just kids.”

“I’m sixteen, not exactly a kid anymore. Don’t forget my birthday’s next week.” She had a serious expression and pointed a finger at him before laughing at the shocked look on his face. “And you’ll be eighteen, what, next month?”

“Two months, actually, but that’s not the point,” Xaleyp said, biting into his toast. “Why wouldn’t they just send their own soldiers? If what they’ve been teaching us is true, then they have millions, even billions, of soldiers just waiting for combat.”

“I don’t know, but they’re preparing for something. I just wish I knew what it was.”

There were still people slowly filtering in as Xaleyp and Lina finished their food, but the mess hall was mostly empty now. A dull buzz of chatter and the gentle scraping of metal on metal filled the air. Finally, Xaleyp stood and grabbed both of their trays, bringing them over to the bin.

“How much time we got left?” Xaleyp asked her, more out of habit than anything, when he walked back.

“About half an hour.”

“In that case, wanna see if we can sneak in an extra round of simulation?” Xaleyp smirked at her. Even though he tended to showboat much more often than she did, her flying skills were nothing to scoff at. “We’d at least be a little more ready for this war you think is coming.”

“What do you got in mind?” she asked, gently nudging him and smiling back.

“Nothing too intense, maybe just a simple Bancroft Spear.”

“Let’s do it, squad leader.”