First trip

The days became short, and finally there was an agreement between my partner and the lieutenant who was in charge of organizing the trip. From the place where I stayed at night I could see the ship in which we would travel, it was quite large, perhaps much larger than any of this academy. I was quite nervous, it was the first time I would be away from earth. The bad thing was that it was with my brother, and he was captain of the crew, I just hoped I wouldn't have any problems with him.

I was given a dark blue uniform, something thick, gloves and a helmet for the trip, what had me a little insecure was the little knowledge about the ships of that size were very precarious. I had to learn about them. The only chance I had was the ship that was in the place where I slept, but I had not yet been able to open it.

I stopped thinking about it and walked out of there to the airstrip. I saw that many first level cadets. They were all doing physical activities with a very strong sun. I was spared from that, but I felt sorry for them. 

They were in some kind of competition where only a few would be left. In the hallway I saw my brother who came up next to me and started talking to me.

"You will only be in charge of the gun shields. No going to the kitchen, no going to the command."

"Why?"

"I heard you're having trouble with Jhon.

What did you do to him?"

"Nothing, he's crazy, he's envious because I was moving up to second level cadet."

"He's dangerous. He comes from a military family, avoid him, ah... The ones who put you in the bathroom, they will leave the academy, you don't have to worry about that."

I was surprised they got them out in a week. I wanted to know what they had done to them, but my brother walked a little faster and left me behind. I didn't want anyone to see us talking.

I noticed several lieutenants looking at me, maybe because I was weird to many, plus seeing me talking to someone a level above me was too suspicious. I kept walking until I reached the runway. There was the ship in which we would travel through space. I was very excited, I just wanted to get in there and see what it was like inside. 

A group of lieutenants were making a street of honor. With a red carpet that led to the stairs that took us to the door of the ship. The general was not there, so it was obvious that it was not important to him. Just another protocol that anyone could do. I was carrying a suitcase with the clothes they gave us at the academy.

I passed through the street of honor, obviously without greeting anyone, and silence. The stairs of the ship were made of metal, quite firm, and each one of the steps had lights that were turned off. When I reached the door, I saw a rather lonely and dark hallway. Only at the end was a white light leading to some kind of room.

Most of my companions had already entered, and I was one of the last ones. I looked around and noticed that the structure of the ship was very different from the others. It was all metal, with some areas made of plastic.

I could feel that dry sound and the echo of the metal when it touches the floor. There I saw the rest of my companions.

I stood in a corner and, like all of them, I also waited for the rest of them. My brother apparently still would not go up to the ship, so I sat down on one of the metal chairs to rest.

All my companions looked at me a little surprised, for how little I could stand in that place. Jhon was at that moment there and gave me a dirty look. He was still bitter about what happened a few weeks ago. I tried to avoid looking at him and concentrated my gaze on my shoes. I watched as that cadet without hesitation approached me. He tried to intimidate me with his presence, but I ignored him completely. Although I had to watch out that he didn't try to do anything weird to me.

[...]

After a while, those who were missing arrived. I was a little nervous, they all looked quite mature and experienced, I was the most experienced one. 

Without telling us anything, they assigned us a detective to accompany us. Tall and serious, he also had short black hair, brown eyes, a black beard and somewhat dark skin, by the way he spoke to us, he was quite experienced. He approached us and spoke to us.

"Good morning, how in every trip the government sends someone to analyze the future commanders. I was assigned to keep an eye on you guys, while you make the tour and get to the station, to keep you from getting into trouble. I requested that no lieutenant or any superiors come. Who is your commander?"

"Me, sir."

My brother stood at the front and spoke.

"A rather nervous blond. Well, assign the positions to the crewmen and their navigational equipment."

"I've already assigned them to the pilots, everyone knows what to do on this trip. The cadets will only be in charge of the cleanliness and order of the ship."

"I see, let's start the trip then."

That man generated some fear in me. He was too serious, plus he started to write things down in a notebook. My brother didn't look very happy, he had the pressure, he was observed by someone from the government. He was trying to stay calm, he didn't like to be like that. 

We all went to different parts of the ship. The detective went to the command room. We second level cadets were in the main room. There were several corridors there. Arturo, the guy who had talked to me days ago, started to tell us some things.

"Well, I already talked to Miguel. He told me that he had talked to most of them, and he already told them what place they would occupy, please everyone must go to their positions."

We all looked at some kind of map that was taped on the wall. There I knew where I had to go, but I bumped into Jhon, I tried to walk and avoid talking to him. However, he spoke to me.

"Watch where you're walking, you fucking asshole."

I didn't respond to the offense. I could keep quiet, since we were on a mission and fighting with him would only bring me more trouble. 

I kept walking in the middle of that deafening sound. The pressure of the pipes in that place were quite difficult. There was a moment when I felt like I was getting dazed, but I was able to get to the place I was supposed to monitor. There was some kind of valve there and some kind of condensed energy that turned into laser beams. Everything was fine, so I had to try to communicate with my companions. I looked around that narrow place for some kind of communicator and found a microphone where I could talk to the command center and the rest of their team.

I touched it and spoke to them.

"Cadet Nick in position. Nothing new on this site."

"Cadet you may return, for now we don't need lasers to eliminate anything. Return to your initial position."

The task was not difficult, it seemed like a waste of time, I could do something more productive in this place. The only good thing was that I saw the ship's attack system, and it was pretty cool.

[...]

I went back to the main room where we met the first time, however, we got some bad news.

"Good afternoon. We already took off, but we found a fuel failure, the cadets tried to fix it, but we won't have enough fuel to go to the station, we can only make the run and return to earth."

"Was it sabotage?" asked Lucia.

"I don't know, but we'll be able to under investigation, for now everyone is free to see space, there are windows to observe this whole place."

Hearing that left me a little depressed. Going to the station was something very interesting, it was a pity I couldn't go there.

I sat down on one of the chairs in the living room to rest a bit. I saw the rest of my classmates, they were all just as annoyed as I was. I just got up from the chair and looked at one of the windows. 

I saw that the lights were flickering quite a bit. It wasn't normal on a ship, as you needed to have all the power up and running. I didn't hesitate and asked about the areas.

"Who does the ship's power go to?"

"To me" Answered a slightly strange cadet. He had green eyes and black hair, he also hid his face a bit and had somewhat uneven hands, maybe he was a mix with an alien.

"What did you see there?"

"Well, there's a power failure, so more lights will be flashing, but the ship will function normally."

I wasn't convinced by his answer, but there was nothing I could do. Because of the orders Miguel gave us, we couldn't disobey him. 

[...]

Eight hours into the flight, the decision was made that we should go to sleep, and give the ship a round, just as a precaution. Again I went back to the area where the energy containing the power source of the laser beams was. Everything was the same, but I had to give the same report again.

"Cadet Nick in position, nothing new."

"Ok, cadet, you may rest."

I just waited a little longer to walk to where the power source of the energy was. I needed the other cadet to give his report and I could analyze that site right away. I slowly walked there, but someone saw me.

My brother was in front of me.

"What are you doing, cadet?"

"Ah... Captain, I think there's a problem with the electricity, and it might shut down the ship."

"Please stop meddling where you don't belong. I've already fixed that, we have enough power to come back tomorrow. Don't worry about it."

"But the lights in some areas go out."

"Cadet, desist in your eagerness to be recognized. I know you love taking objects apart and analyzing them."

He was complaining to me about what happened the first day with the bomb, I thought I was doing this to be the center of attention, but I decided to speak to him honestly as if he was just another person 

"For a captain, you are very naive. It's really weird what's going on."

"Nick, shut up, that's why you lost your fingers and use a glove with artificial fingers."

That was the rudest thing he had ever said to me in the time I had in this place, I got a little angry, but I assumed there was nothing I could do. He was right, maybe it was paranoia on my part.

[...]

I went to my room, I knew what it was, I had to share it with a roommate, she was in room 12, so I went there, but I met Lucia, she had some strange devices, I was surprised to see her, for a moment I thought she was the person who had done all this. 

However, I heard some kind of communication sound, but she turned it off.

I looked at her and so did the girl.

"What are you doing?"

"I can't follow you, cadet, please continue to your room and avoid asking questions."

"Do you know what happened here?"

She averted her gaze, she looked like she didn't want to answer me, as if she was hiding something. I didn't hesitate to grab her arm and stop her. I had to prevent us from ending up dead from the crash of this ship.

It was the first time I doubted Lucia like that, but the circumstances were very complicated. Everyone was a suspect to me.