Elias stood in front of the spaceport trying to ignore his pounding headache. Completely self-inflicted. After he had read his next contract was for a company not even based on his current planet he called in every drink he was owed, and bought many more as a farewell gift. He had started and ended the night with a nominal 100 credits and could only use that after selling his shard, which was probably a good thing. Instead of spending a couple of days in Greenway consolidating his skills and planning for his next mission he was in line waiting to be admitted to the drop ship that would take him up to the orbital station, originally named Orbital.

He had been warned before not to travel while hungover and was currently paying the price of not listening to that advice. If he hadn't found the small medpen in his pocket that eased his nausea and headache then he definitely would have thrown up as they took off. It was a nice parting gift from Sammy, the medpen wrapped in a small note telling him to stay safe. Elias looked down through the thin clouds to the yellow-brown landmasses covered in Crust. Small patches of green; grey and white faded into dots as the distance increased. It didn't take long for the gravitational pressure of acceleration to be replaced with the weightlessness as they left the planet and approached Orbital.

The artificial gravity of Orbital kicked in as Elias left the drop ship. He had little with him for the journey as the majority of his equipment was under an outstanding loan to his company. The only thing he owned outright was his energy weapon which was taken from him at check in planetside and would be automatically transferred to the interplanetary vessel that was his final destination. He ignored the concession stores lining the exit from the transit zone and made his way over to the interplanetary booths, looking for the name of his ship - The Intrepid.

He approached a console and his neural link located the ship along with details of its next destination, Carus. A brief check of the details the night before had revealed that it was a relatively new Crust planet that had moderate Swarm activity. There was one key feature that had made it more interesting than others and was attracting expeditions from plenty of companies. Across it's surface were deep canyons and valleys that had resisted the Crust and still held native vegetation. There was normally little worth to alien flora and fauna but the only way to confirm that was to explore and catalogue what was present. Compared to other planets this was the first that had Crust and anything other than Swarm present, so the companies speculated that there would be something of worth.

Seeing the name again something clicked that Elias had been first too angry and then too drunk to recognise before. About six months ago his uncle Jed had volunteered to lead a team to Carus for a company called Prevail Inc. He normally had regular correspondence from his uncle but the last month things had been quiet otherwise he would have remembered the name straight away. The last he heard was that Prevail had managed to secure a Crystal and set up a base. Then his uncle who was independent, meaning he only took short term contracts or 'complete and finish' work, had set out on his own to continue exploring. He was excited about the prospect of earning a small fortune and settling down. With the connection made it suddenly made sense why a random company he had never heard of was buying his contract. His uncle had to be involved somehow. Even the name of the company, Nidus, had the ring of ancient language that his uncle would have found attractive.

It was a short walk from a central terminal area to where a line leading to the ship could be found. Even though it could all be conjecture Elias felt a lot better about the situation now that he had a reason for the sudden purchase of his contract. If his uncle was at the other end, it was likely he would land on his feet after all. He ignored the salesmen and managers trying to attract buyers for the remaining contracts of those held in cryo and tried even harder to ignore the bartering of cryo-pods between the ships so they could either fill or empty their manifest depending on the direction they were travelling. The discussions of the people within as simple commodities did nothing to help his hungover mood.

What did pick up his mood was discovering that he was not booked on in a standard cryo-pod. It would take about two months to travel into a hyperspace corridor and make the journey across to Carus. Rather than having to waste this time asleep he had been booked into cryo-sim. The reason for the improved mood was that the cryo-sim that his new company had paid for was time-dilated meaning he could spend four months learning new skills in the two months travelling. Obviously this had the limitations he had mentioned to the recruits, it would not activate any skills but it would allow him to learn them in more depth. He could also replay old memories with his neural link to look at how he might apply his skills more effectively and consolidate any gains he had made so far.

The procedure to prepare for cryo was relatively simple. Strip and enter the nearest pod. Elias had always thought it would be more exciting before he first travelled between the stars but actually the travel itself was quite mundane and boring. He would enter a pod one end which would then be filled with an aerosol that sedated and sterilised. The next he would know in the physical world would be waking at the other end after he had arrived at the orbital station for Carus.

He woke in sim. The grey box warning from his neural link and a feeling that things weren't quite right being the two main ways of telling this was not real. That and the simulated environment being a typical spaceship deck from a novel rather than what they looked like in real life. Elias had not been enlisted straight into a training sim like the new recruits would have been so instead had time to experience for the first time what luxury travel was like. He walked out of the simulated cabin that resembled a posh hotel suite more than what he would expect on a ship. Leaving the room brought him out into an open decked area with a huge window making up most the ceiling and giving a view of the stars. He saw several other passengers emerging from their rooms too and they all headed in a similar direction to what looked like a bar.

The bar was fully stocked with any drink Elias could imagine. So he felt a little boring to have ordered a coffee before finding a quiet corner to plan his time on board. The simulated bartender had been very informative that the only other passengers in this area would have also paid for the time dilation package. There were a limited number of time dilation packages aboard due to the cumulative drain on the ship's power core. However he could upgrade to one of the more exclusive packages with cutting edge one in four time dilation. Elias stopped the sales pitch after he found out what an hour of the upgrade would cost out of interest, way out of his budget. It did seem that his current package was out of his price range in normal circumstances. The additional information about off ship communications and time dilated meetings was obviously aimed at company managers and executives; not a squad leader for company security.

After the third pleasant but distracting conversation with a company manager who praised Elias for his work ethic of wanting to rise from the bottom before leaving with a wink Elias found out that he could switch to a closed simulated environment of his choice in the settings. None of the managers believed that he was just a squad leader and all insinuated that he was waiting to take a greater role in some large family company. He now basked in the sun on a simulated ranch with a field of grass swaying gently in front of him. Finally able to concentrate he opened his skill list to plan his time aboard.

Elias Thompson First Class: Support Second Class: Squad Leader Augments: Skills: Skills: Nil Energy Weapon: Leadership (d) - Blade (b); Shield (C); Pistol (B); Rifle (B); Heavy weapons (c); Sniper rifle (c) Teaching (D) Unarmed Combat (c) Command (e) Battle Armour (B) Tactics (e) Support (B) Planning (-) Salvage (C) Logistics (-) Field medic (D) Scouting (D) Camouflage (d) Light Vehicles (E) Heavy Vehicles (e) Drone (e) Explosives (e) Building (D) Survival (E)

When he looked at his skill list like this he always felt a little embarrassed. Every time he came up against a new skill he had an urge to learn it. He couldn't say how many credits he had wasted on branching out to new skills rather than focus in and develop in one area. Most support class would focus on a couple of key skills like Sniper rifle and Camouflage and get a second class in Sniper once skilled enough. Perhaps focus on Tactics and Field Medic to become a Combat Medic. Maybe save more and pay for an augment to enhance yourself to further improve in one area.

His aim had always been to instruct or train. Set up after leaving to teach others his skills at a lower rate than the exorbitant cost of the company owned sim suites. It was how he had learnt the primary grade in most of his skills, find others that had them and watch; barter or pay to be taught the skill. He soon realised he could only teach once he reached a skill level of C or above. His neural link showed enough detail now to distinguish between a skill he could perform and one he had mastered and was ready for the next level. A capital meant he had mastered the skill at that level. Each new level of knowledge took dedicated practice and training or further time and money spent in the sim-suite.

The turning point of his career was not knowing he would only ever be able to teach a limited number of skills but the deeper realisation of why he enjoyed doing it. He saw it in his last mission. Using skills effectively meant more survived; more recruits could improve more and get even better. He had watched too often as a recruit he had taught how to use a sniper rifle was set in the front line to be carved in two by the Swarm; or a recruit learning to tank damage sent out as a scout. That was when he switched paths from teaching to command. He had never seen a commander who looked deeper than the class of their troops. Once a second class was earned you would be safe, a scout would be sent scouting not to man the defensive line. Until then it was best to play safe, learn the core skills. In Elias' opinion that hampered diversity and led to the same tactics causing the same mistakes. The worst part was that he felt the system was designed that way on purpose.

Elias finished his coffee and changed the area around him to fit with his next training needs: Improve his command skills. It only counted as command when he was directly able to manage over twenty troops so the last mission had been just enough for it to activate. Now he could practice the with the manuals he had downloaded months ago, unable to pay for the easier route of training by a simulated tutor. The ranch faded away and was replaced by a command tent and twenty-five simulated recruits. In front of them a level one ziggurat. It was time to learn; to train; to put his knowledge into action.