Upon reaching the floor, she made her way over to Arion. Even in the higher gravity her footing remained sure, and her walk alluring. Arion admired the view as she sat down on the bench beside him, smiling the whole time. Arion realized how he must look by comparison, the sweat glistening off his rough skin, while her flawless complexion remained dry. No one who saw us now would ever think we were together. They sat there a long moment in silence then Alieha leaned in close, wiped the sweat from his cheek, and kissed him. “Have you been avoiding me?”

  Arion shook his head, lying. “No, I just have a lot to think about.” This was the last cycle of their break. Anticipation of the exploration exercise ate at them all. For the next semester and a half, they would venture out in modified survey transports to explore a trio of nearby solar systems. Though they’d trained to be combat officers, the exercise served as a reminder of the space force’s original charter to explore the stars.

  Alieha slid closer to Arion and kneaded his shoulders. “I’ve barely seen you this break, and we haven’t made love since the concert.”

  Arion shifted under her hands as they worked his tired muscles, smiling at the memory. “I know and I’m sorry. I’ve just been busy and … I’ve had a lot to think about.”

  Alieha looked out of the dome past the radiators at the asteroid shell beyond. “The transports should be arriving soon, shouldn’t they?”

  Arion nodded. “Yeah, in the next hect or so. It’s kind of why I chose now to work out.”

  The academy kept the cadets in the dark on the transports’ scheduled arrival time. When not in use, they would wait in parking orbit near one of the outer planets. There, technicians would repair and modify them between the cadet excursions. Every annura the transports would come back configured differently. Sometimes they’d feature the latest upgrades, and at other times they would be refitted with older systems. It was the academy’s way of preparing the cadets for the multitude of ships making up the fleet, from the oldest to the latest in design.

  Alieha pointed out a gap opening in the shell. “Look, they must be coming in now.”

  Arion turned to see unobstructed starlight shine through the gap, something he hadn’t seen since the TS-11 disaster which had brought Marda onto his team. He spotted running lights beyond the gap. “We’ll probably see the first one come through after this next rotation.”

  She reached up, turned his face toward hers as the station took them out of view. “Arion, I’ve been talking to some people. It turns out we’ll be on the same transport together.”

  Arion couldn’t believe it and felt his cheesiest grin split his face. The fear that they’d be on different transports had kept him from spending much time with her this break. As much as he cared for her, and loved being with her he knew that once they’d graduated, their careers were sure to take them apart forever. He agonized over how he’d deal with the loss.

  Arion gazed back into those beautiful eyes, leaned in and kissed her, long and hard. He’d denied his passion for too long of late. Like it or not Arion, you’re falling hard for this woman. Could I be lucky enough to have her be the love of my life? Someone this smart and beautiful? The station’s rotation brought the gap back into view and they pulled apart to watch the first transport glide through.

  The design of the ships was an old one but still in production. While the ships might look antique, most were only a few annura old. A massive boxy cargo module dominated the front of the transports. It sported weapons mounts, multiple docking ports for small shuttles and a pair of fighter docking bays along the sides. The bridge of the ship made up the bow of module, and like most exo-atmospheric Confed ships, it had the decks arranged so that ‘down’ ran towards the rear of the ship. This arrangement would ease the load on the acceleration compensators considerably.

  Behind the cargo module, a pair of counter-rotating, eight-segmented habitation rings, linked to the main hub by a series of lift tubes, spun in the darkness. By Arion’s estimate, the spin of the rings would produce a little over half a standard gravity. While cumbersome, the design was still cheaper than gravity plating. Under thrust however, the bank of engines behind would accelerate them much faster, and the ring segments would rotate to align their floor level with the thrust vector. At that point, the acceleration compensators would engage to protect the crew.

  The ships were simple in design. Many found them ugly, but Arion liked them. They harkened back to a simpler time in the Confederation’s history. That had been a time before the discovery of acceleration compensators, grav-plating or graviton spinners; a time when a ship’s acceleration was limited only by the strength of her crew. He’d traveled on a few ships like that when younger. They were considered a novelty now as they drifted along the space lanes with their spin habitats. Small point to point transports like these didn’t waste money on expensive grav-plating.

  They watched the transport until the spin of the academy took it out of view again and Arion turned back to Alieha. Her excitement radiated off her as she sat there. “I love watching the transports arrive.”

  Arion slid his arm around her. “Me too, except for when they come back early from the exercise.”

  Alieha elbowed him. “Why did you have to remind me of that?” Arion was there when a transport from the last senior class had come back ahead of schedule. It had run afoul of an asteroid. The massive chunk of ice and rock had smashed one of its rings to bits, killing eight cadets. Half of the remaining crew dropped out after that, the harsh reality of space travel hitting them hard.

  Arion went to pull Alieha close again, but stopped. He didn’t want to risk blemishing her flawless skin with his sweat. Alieha smiled back at him. With more nimbleness then he believed possible in the higher gravity, she swiveled up and onto his lap. Straddling him, she kissed him with a passionate intensity that made her intentions quite clear. As she pulled away, they stared into each other’s eyes for a long moment. “What brought that on?”

  She gave him a wicked smile. “We’re going to be on a transport together, in close quarters for almost the rest of our time as cadets. What do you think brought it on?”

  Arion looked up as the gap came back into view again, and more transports glided towards the station. He kissed her again, their bodies grinding against the other, and each motion exciting them further. Arion worked Alieha’s shirt off, exposing her perfect breasts before he leaned in close and kissed them.

  Her breath heavy with lust, Alieha pulled Arion’s head in between her breasts. “Have we ever done it here before?”

  Arion shook his head. Working their clothes off, he lay on the mats next to the weight bench.

  Alieha giggled as he kissed his way down her flawless abs. “Just don’t fall on me.”

  Arion tore off her shorts and panties. “I won’t,” he panted. He buried his face between her legs and they made noisy, passionate love under the spinning starscape.

  UCSB DATE: 1003.011

  Drop Shuttle-27413-D, UCSBA-13 Parking Orbit, Star System: Classified

  Admiral Sares’ words still rang in Zithe’s ears as his drop-shuttle rose to dock with their transport. He looked through the porthole behind him as Mikle and Acknit guided the butcher knife profiled shuttle towards the vessel. Drop-shuttles rose to meet each of the twenty transports arrayed around the academy; the craft carried a quarter of each transport’s forty member crew. Eight hundred fifteen cadets: that’s all that remain of the two thousand that we started with not even three annura ago. It humbled even him to consider that they’d made it this far, though he always knew he would. He’d lost friends, and classmates in that time, even a lover. Now, depending on how the crews performed in the upcoming shipboard trials, they would either pass or fail together.

  The whine of the engine position motors rang through the shuttle, Zithe feeling the vector change while the shuttle rotated to dock. Seated behind Mikle and Acknit, he looked down through the silica-steel floor at their transport. The design was familiar to him, as the Zithe Clan owned a civilian model of the transport. He’d had multiple occasions to command that ship; had taken it into battle once. That was a good cycle.

  Zithe sat back in his seat as Mikle and Acknit aligned the shuttle with the recessed dock. Flying the craft in manual instead of using the grapplers; show-offs. The whole shuttle shuddered for a moment as the engines rotated into their stowed position, angling up above the fuselage of the shuttle. Once docked, they’d project beyond the hull line, the only indication that the shuttle wasn’t part of the ship.

  The thrum of the ventral thrusters ran up Zithe’s legs. Then the outside light cut off sharply, to be replaced by the glow of panels and the instrument consoles. Zithe braced himself as the shuttle thumped against its docking cradle and the docking latches took hold. The shuttle vibrated as the cradle retracted and the craft stilled.

  The clatter of the umbilicals snapping into place and the soft hiss of air drew Zithe’s attention to the rear of the drop-shuttle. The main hatch cracked open beneath the beaver-like tail. He waited with forced patience as the hatch cycled down and the inner hatch to the transport’s cargo bay rose to admit them, the amber glow of the lights shining into the dim interior a welcome sight. Rudjick gave Zithe a knowing wink as the other seven passengers debarked. He pushed off from his seat and flitted out into the null gravity cargo bay.

  Mikle waved to get Zithe’s attention. “We need to stay and finish shutting down, might as well go on without us.”

  Zithe nodded and released his harness. “Will do. Just be sure and make it to the forward galley before voting begins.”

  Acknit gave him a quick thumbs up as Zithe pushed off into the cargo bay.

  He looked around to familiarize himself with the differences between this, and his pack’s ship. Drifting through the bay, he looked at shelves of probes, munitions and fuel reserves for the two docked fighters and quartet of shuttles. On his family’s transport those same shelves carried grain and farming equipment. Twisting about, he gazed at the hatch to the bridge. He intended to call that area home soon.

  He flipped about to land against the rear bulkhead as he neared it. The other passengers were gathered there waiting with Commander Tadeh Qudas. They waited for Zithe, the ranking cadet in the group. He snapped to attention and issued an Anulian salute to the commander.

  “Sir. Permission to come aboard?”

  “Granted. Everyone is waiting in the forward galley. I’m assuming you know the way?” Tadeh Qudas asked.

  An orb flitted past towards the engines at the rear of the ship. Zithe eyed it and nodded. “Yes sir. Is there some kind of problem?”

  Tadeh Qudas looked back at the orb. “No. They’re just performing final checks.”

  “Thank you sir. It is good to see you aboard as our faculty advisor.”

  “And that alone, don’t forget.”

  Zithe nodded, then motioned the others to follow. He led them into the transfer tunnel linking the cargo pod to the engines and the rotating habitats. He demonstrated how to make the transition into the lift platform taking them to the habitat ring. It required him to walk along the circumference of the tunnel until he matched the speed of rotation before he stepped onto the rotating floor and the lift platform.

  Rudjick did him one better and launched himself down the tunnel. Like a circus acrobat, he grabbed the raised handhold of the rotating platform pulling himself onto it. The rest took their own paths, most copying Zithe Once in place they rode the lift outspin to meet the rest of their crew.

  Forward Galley, UCSBTS-27413

  Zithe surveyed the room like a hunter would size up his prey. He knew most of the cadets gathered there. Their squadron made up over half of their number. Only two of the remaining seventeen were a mystery to him. He made small talk with all of them as they mingled and waited for the pilots of the other shuttles to arrive.

  Many of the assembled cadets griped about the workload and time constraints. They were still required to attend virtual classes in addition to their shipboard duties. It would be a serious time-management challenge. Others discussed what they expected to find on the exploration mission; some quoting what previous seniors had told them before. Only a few seemed to have put serious thought into what their crew positions would be. With forty-one of them aboard this small ship and over fifty jobs to fill, many of them would have to wear multiple hats.

  Zithe took particular interest in the two other men working the crowded room. Their actions identified them as his competition for command. For most crews, selection of their transport’s captain was a foregone conclusion. The commander of the squadron onboard would take that slot unless ceding it to someone else in the command program. For the Monstero Nach’s transport, that was not the case. Their commander was also their onboard faculty advisor, Tadeh Qudas, so the crew would decide who would lead them.

  Tadeh Qudas strode into the galley and everyone jumped to attention. “As you were!”

  All eyes were on him as he stood just inside the doorway.

  “We’re scheduled to get underway next cycle. Each one of you was picked by the cadre to fulfill specific crew duties. Suggested assignments were sent to me and your team leaders. Still, it is the prerogative of the ship’s captain to sign off on the assignment of those duties.”

  The cadets exchanged nervous glances. Their majors, training, and previous duty assignments made some positions obvious. However, they all knew that there were more jobs to do than cadets.

  “As of now this ship does not have a captain,” Tadeh Qudas reminded them.

  Several cadets cringed away from Tadeh Qudas’ cruel visage, not wanting those cold impassive eyes to fall upon them. These cadets were not used to being around Tadeh Qudas. Zithe pitied them. They would spend the next semester and a half in close quarters with the Telshin, and had better get used to his presence.

  “As I am the Monstero Nach’s squadron commander, and your attached command officer, I am forbidden from taking the position. Therefore, I open the floor to nominations.”

  Zithe stood tall and proud next to his commander. His regal stature and bearing was a marked contrast to the fearsome visage beside him. He regarded the room with a sort of aloof calm that he always saw in other ship’s captains. He didn’t have to wait long before a familiar hand stabbed into the air, and waved about.

  Rudjick jumped up, landing on Porc’s foot due to the ring’s spin. “I nominate Zithe!”

  Zithe nodded and gave a wry smile as two more hands slid into the air. The hands belonged to the two other men he’d watched earlier. They nominated themselves.

  Zithe knew the first of them well. Doldine Shewnert was an older Anulian engineer in the command program. He’d proved competent in the command simulators, in fact he’d even defeated Zithe in one of the six exercises pitting them against each other. His training flight had garnered several awards for efficiency, an honor Zithe had received only once. He’ll be my biggest rival for command.

  Zithe was not familiar with the other cadet, so had to access his micomm to pull up his file. Kaim Barger, astronomy major. He’d washed out of the command program, despite having a strong desire for a command position. He came from a line of ship’s captains, but had showed no aptitude for it. His path now led him towards a career in stellar cartography. He’ll never command a ship.

  Zithe turned a surprised eye towards Alieha when she made her way into the small open area ahead of Tadeh Qudas. Zithe didn’t believe that Alieha would be interested in a command position. She wasn’t in the command program, and from what he understood, had no interest in it. “I second Zithe’s nomination,” she called out to the room.

  Zithe remained impassive. What is she planning? The nominations required no seconds.

  Doldine stepped towards her, his gaze hardening. “Why, because your boyfriend is on the team?”

  Alieha crossed her arms, fixing him with a hard look that Arion matched, flexing his muscles until they were visible through his uniform. Alieha smiled at Arion’s display and allowed her face to soften before she proceeded. “It has nothing to do with that. I’ve seen Zithe’s record. All of you should know that Zithe not only has a strong aptitude for ship’s command, but he has experience on a ship of this type.”

  Many members of the Monstero Nach nodded. They were aware of Zithe’s exploits on the Zithe Clan’s transport. Gavit had had to gag Rudjick once to keep him from going into too much detail.

  Doldine and Kaim looked taken aback by the news. Doldine shot a look to Zithe to confirm. Zithe nodded respectfully, and Doldine returned the gesture. “My apologies,” he said to Alieha.

  Alieha sent a command to the holo-projector in the ceiling with her macomm. An article appeared before them; many cadets had to crane their necks to get a look. “In addition, according to this article, prior to entering the academy, Zithe successfully used his family’s lightly armed transport to hold off a pirate assault.”

  Several low whistles echoed though the room in response.

  “I believe, given the task ahead of us aboard these transports, that Zithe is the clear choice.”

  Zithe held back a smile as he listened, and saw many a cadet outside of their squadron nod approval.

  Tadeh Qudas took another step into the room and held up a hand, drawing all eyes back to him. “Unless the other nominees have something to say, let it be put to a vote.”

  Doldine and Kaim said nothing.

  “All cadets in favor of Cadet Zithe as captain raise your hand.”

  The whole of the Monstero Nach raised their hands in support of Zithe, as did Alieha and eight others. Rudjick raised both of his.

  Tadeh Qudas regarded the two other nominees. “There is no further point in continued voting. Enerian Zithe is your captain.”

  Kaim cursed under his breath. This had been his last hope to reenter the command program.

  Doldine approached Zithe and offered his hand to him. Zithe took the hand and gave it a firm shake. “I would have you as my first officer. Your record is impressive and I would appreciate your counsel.”