Minutes later, they were alone in a simulation room, just their two chairs occupied. Xaleyp started the simulation and sent the encryption code to her CAM to invite her to it. When he closed his eyes, it was like he was right there in the cockpit of the V-19 fighter.

To his left was a brown and blue gas giant, slowly turning in place. Though he couldn’t see them with the naked eye, his CAM marked where over twenty moons were orbiting the planet in different arcing, elliptical patterns. Behind him was an exoplanet supposed to be the site of a large Hyperion settlement with millions of people. The mission profile was simple: Protect the colony at all costs.

“This is Astral,” Xaleyp said in a message to her, making sure everything was working.

“Celestial reading you loud and clear.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

With a thought, the ship rocketed forward, propelled by its twin engines. Three computer generated ships fell into formation behind them, with another five on either side. Each group formed a vee formation. Ahead of them was the enemy battle group, two cruisers and a frigate. From the bellies of the ships shot four full squadrons of fighters, twenty in total by his count from the grid.

“Spirit Squadron, we got incoming,” Xaleyp said through his CAM. “Bancroft spear formation and get ready.”

The squadrons on either side of him moved into place, flying beneath him in a triangle pattern. Moving closer, the enemy ships spread out in more of a mass than any sort of organization. Xaleyp smiled, knowing this would be an easily exploitable mistake.

“Pick your targets and fire when in range.”

He chose three of the fighters, locking his missiles onto them. His CAM lit up those he picked as well as those the rest of his squad chose. Sooner than he expected, they were close enough. A barrage of missiles launched from his fighter and those around him. Each found its mark. Eighteen of the ships erupted in small, bright explosions, leaving nothing but molten slag and metal behind. The last two were damaged and limped away but easily finished off before they got too far. Pockets of debris hit his viewport as he flew through the wreckages.

They were within range of the larger ships now, and their laser and missile batteries started firing. Explosions rocked the small fighter squadrons. A warning blared in the corner of his vision as the missiles locked onto him. Countermeasures launched from his ship and caused the rockets to erupt in small bursts.

“Stay in formation,” he said as he himself started flying ahead. “I’m going to try to draw their fire. Celestial, move up and fill the gap. Aim for the cruiser first.”

“Astral, didn’t we talk about this?” the voice of Lina said in his head, even as she moved forward to take his place. “No unnecessary risks.”

“It’s a calculated risk,” he said. He smiled to himself. It felt right to be back in the cockpit again. “Big difference, Celestial.”

The ship responded to his thoughts, moving some of the power from his weapons to the shields and engines. He shot forward towards the closest frigate. Lasers skimmed the surface of his shields. Some were deflected off into space, others absorbed by the energy. His CAM warned him that shield integrity was dropping fast. Even with the boosted power, they wouldn’t last too much longer against the onslaught against him. That just meant he would have to work a little quicker than he originally intended, which was much better practice for him.

As he neared the frigate, he fired off a salvo of missiles at its underside. The missiles erupted on the surface of the shields, dissipating and having no apparent effect. Being this close, the other frigate and cruiser stopped focusing on him, not wanting to risk hitting their own ship.

He circled over the top, his ship skating along the larger one, as the laser batteries turned to track him. His CAM lit up arcs of the invisible beams as they skirted the surface of his shields. If one of those hit him, it would spell disaster faster than he could react. He fired missiles at each as he passed, but each attempt.

“Astral, we could use some help over here whenever you’re done playing.”

Celestial was panting now. He looked at his grid just as two of the blue dots disappeared, one behind Lina and the other from the squadron that had been to his right.

“I’m working on it,” he replied. Damn it, why couldn’t hey handle themselves for more than a couple minutes?

His ship danced and spun over the ship, missiles flying anywhere they could lock onto the frigate. Finally, a laser battery exploded creating a weakness in the shield, just what he needed. The ship responded to his thought and turned him towards the now exposed portion of hull. A flurry of missiles erupted from either side of him, burrowing themselves into the metal.

Xaleyp barely had time to bring his ship into a steep climb before the frigate began to ignite from the inside. After several seconds, it lurched and exploded, sending debris in every direction. The other frigate’s shields held through the barrage of wreckage. His own shields lit up as they vaporized debris, and his CAM warned of the severely depleted shields. Twenty percent. It had to be enough.

“On my way, Celestial,” he said, forcing the ship hard towards the cruiser. Two more blue dots had disappeared. Several red dots started appearing near the other frigate. “We’ve got more company.”

He swung the ship around to meet the incoming fighters. Missiles shot out around him, slowly thinning them out. A laser from the cruiser lanced out. It was a direct hit on his starboard engine. It exploded and sent his ship into a spiral that the onboard AI couldn’t fix. Before he could correct it himself, a missile impacted the cockpit.

With a jerk, his eyes opened, and he was in the simulation room again. A few moments later, Lina’s eyes flung wide, and she gasped. Standing at the door was Colonel Ire, a devious grin curling his lips.

“Interesting choice, cadets,” he said. His words leaked malice. “A Bancroft spear, unless I’m mistaken, is supposed to be an offensive formation wherein the fighters form a vee and destroy each target one by one, focusing all fire at one location before moving onto the next. Not whatever it is you were trying to do with that shit.”

“Sir, I was trying to protect my squad,” Xaleyp said, standing. Sweat made its way down his face, and he resisted the urge to grab the towel next to him. “I was just trying to fulfill my duty as squad leader.”

“What you did put your squad in danger, not protect them.” Ire was in Xaleyp’s face again. “Your arrogance is what will be your downfall. You must learn to follow orders, or you will be culled. Your actions, just the ones from today, have no place in our military.”

“Sir, I can follow orders just fine.” Xaleyp felt his face heating up and a well of anger formed in his chest. “It’s when those orders are directly contradictory.”

“You follow the orders you’re given, regardless of how contradictory they are, Cadet. I expect your next round of simulations to be a major improvement.” Ire started walking back to the door, his hands behind his back. “Otherwise, we will have no choice but to get rid of you both.”

“Both?” Xaleyp and Lina said at the same time. They looked to each other, trying their best not to panic.

“Yes, Cadet Guezal, both.” Ire turned back to them, keeping his hands clasped together. “While you are not directly responsible for Cadet Vah’Aris’ actions, your inaction has permitted and encourage him.”

“Sir, with all due respect—” which, to Xaleyp, was not much “—she is not permitting or encouraging me to do anything. Everything I do is my own choice. You can’t punish her for it.”

“I can do whatever I want, boy. Unless you want to meet the same fate as your parents, I’d suggest you fall in line. Now, next official simulation runs are in five minutes. Get ready.”

With the last words, the door hissed open and shut again. Xaleyp kicked the chair he was sitting in and yelled out. A bang reverberated in the small room. He didn’t know which hurt more, the fact that a wave of pain shot through his toe and up his leg, or that Ire would so nonchalantly talk about his parents like that. Tears came to his eyes, and he sat down in the chair, facing away from Lina.

“Xaleyp?” she asked. Her voice was quieter than he had ever heard it. “Are you alright?”

“Fine,” he said. He sniffed and rubbed at his eyes. “Just fine.”

“It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.”

She placed her hand on his shoulder. He brushed it away.

“Let’s just get this over with.”

Xaleyp sat back in the chair and waited for the next simulation to start. He flicked through his CAM, trying to find something, anything, to read to pass the time. A history textbook popped up, and he began flicking through some pages, hardly retaining anything he read. After a minute, Keith came back into the room with a smile plastered on his face.

“That went a lot better than I expected,” he said, not paying attention to the atmosphere left by the Colonel. “I think I passed.”

“That’s great,” Lina said after Xaleyp said nothing. She glanced sideways at him, as if trying to will him to say anything. “I told you it’d be fine.”

Without missing a beat, the boy put on the headset and gloves still sitting on the table. He sat back in the chair, the smile still on his face.

When the simulation finally started, Xaleyp was a perfect squadron leader. He gave commands, led them in formation, called out targets, did everything the Hyperions taught him to do. But it wasn’t him. It was a chore to fly the starfighter as if he were just some cog in a machine rather than an individual. It was no longer fun.

After three simulations, each more lifeless and monotonous than the last, Colonel Ire reappeared in the room. General Hades and Lieutenant General Syndicate were not with him this time. His eyes shot daggers into each of them in turn.

“Now, was that so hard?” he said, a smirk on his face. “Three perfect simulations. Well, almost perfect. A few maneuvers with just a hair out of place. Why couldn’t you have done that from the start?”

“Yes, sir,” Xaleyp said. He felt his face blush and resisted the urge to talk back. It was one thing to get himself in trouble. It was something else entirely if he got others in trouble. He couldn’t do that to Lina or Keith or anyone else. “I suppose I lacked the proper motivation.”

“Well, let’s see if you can keep this up.”

Ire turned on his heel and walked out. Xaleyp sat on the edge of the chair, facing away from the door. Lina grabbed another towel for herself, but there was not a single bead of sweat on his face.

“Are you okay, Xaleyp?” Keith asked. “You didn’t fly like you did this morning. I miss your cool moves.”

“Leave it, Keith.” Lina’s voice was stern. She shuffled the boy out of the room before Xaleyp had the chance to lash out. She hesitated for a moment and turned to him. “If you need to talk, I’m here whenever.”

He wanted to say something, to stop her from leaving, to keep her there by his side. No words came to him. Instead, he just sat there as the door hissed shut. He looked at the ceiling, trying to remember what his parents even looked like. Seven years was a long time. Would he even recognize them if they were alive?

After what felt like an eternity being alone in the simulation room, he stood feeling like a pair of heavy lead weights were attached to his feet. At the door, he looked back into the room. His one solace, the one place he truly felt like himself, turned to a place of hatred like the rest of the fucking space station.

The light turned itself off, and he walked away from the empty room. At least he still had Lina.