Welcome To The Academy

[VildarnTentoria]

[From Humble Beginnings at a Space Port]

[Admiral Trench Naval Academy]

The shuttle approached a massive space station, Vildarn had learned it was named after a Harch Admiral who served the first Confederay during a civil war that occurred just before the formation of the Galactic Empire. Such history fascinated him but the weight of just what he was getting himself into was only just starting to sink in. This Confederacy wanted to rule the galaxy, and he didn’t even really know much about its leadership except they had a thing for pre Galactic Empire history.

“It’s beautiful.” said Rin shoving his face against the window.

“It’s unarmed.” said the Gand in the back. “But it does possess a great defensive system.”

“Do you know who Trench was?” Vildarn asked wondering if the Gand knew anything more.

“He was brilliant, he fought against the Old Republic during the years of its transition into the Galactic Empire, this Academy only expects the best.”

“No pressure then.” Vildarn replied as the shuttle slipped toward the waiting hangar bay.

The shuttle touched down as the two battle droids exited the ship via the ramp to again stand guard. Vildarn and his fellow cadets stepped past the third battle droid and exited the ramp as well to find a single being waiting for them.

The Nikto looked them over with an expression of curiosity. “Welcome all, this way please.”

Moving with the other two he began following the Nikto through the station, it seemed quite full of many different individuals and he spotted a number of classes underway. He couldn’t deny the station was quite majestic and had no shortage of places to explore.

They entered a small amphitheatre full of comfortable seating surrounding a screen and a holoprojector in the middle. Seated around the room was a few more individuals. One was an alien with a white furry coat, another with two horns and another human.

Vildarn sat down on the second level slightly to the left of the centre. The Gand sat behind him and Rin again sat down next to him on his right.

A one eyed being stepped into the room moving to the centre and placing his arms behind his back, he wore a blue uniform with the Confederate hexagon on his shoulder. “Welcome cadets to the Admiral Trench Academy, each of you are here to join our navy and represent our Confederacy.” “Let us begin by learning each other’s names and homeworlds starting with my own,” “I am Captain Selkor and I come from Byss.”

“Isn’t that in the core?” Rin asked

“Actually that is a different world, my Byss is in the outer rim, I trust you are all at least somewhat familiar with the galaxy, if not you should become so as if you are to become this navies best you must make the galaxy your home.”

They went through each mentioning their name, species and homeworld until only Rin and himself remained. “Hi, I’m Rin, I’m from Druckenwell.”

“I’m Vildarn, I come from Iskalon.” judging by the glances he guessed only the Captain knew where his world was.

Selkor’s single eye also surveyed them all as he tapped in a few commands to the holoprojector that changed into a map of the galaxy except it highlighted territory of the Old Republic and the old Confederacy.

“This is a period of history known as The Clone Wars, a civil war orchestrated by the original Emperor of the Galactic Empire to gain galactic power.”

“Sadly the Emperor only took advantage of an evermore greedy and corrupt senate, the event has changed our galaxy, as I’m sure you are all aware the governments of the galaxy collapsed leading to where we are now.” the map changed to the present showing the current territory of the Confederacy. “Due to the hard work of all who stand under our banner we have been given a second chance, it is you who are to step up to the challenge of defending our citizens from those that would threaten our freedom.” the map changed to show the other factions that exist throughout the galaxy.

“So, how about we run through the ships of our Confederacy.” the screen changed to stars as the holoprojector displayed outlines of the standard CIS vessels. “These ships have been reclaimed from history but as you will learn each of our vessels have their own history and they themselves have legacies of fighting for the freedoms of trillions of galactic citizens.”

“You will learn about historic battles from the Clone Wars and even battles involving Confederate holdouts who resisted the Empire in the following years, follow me now and we will make our way to the simulators where you will begin your experiences.”


[Simulators]

A room full of silver pods and a monitoring station filled up the room. Each of them made their way to a simulation pod as it opened up. Vildarn climbed into the pod lay back as the room went dark and the pod sealed up locking him inside.

The voice of his instructor could be heard over the comm. “welcome to your first time in the pod, for our first simulation we’re going to be placing you into a simple skirmish separately, each of you will have to defeat the Old Republic fleets, after that you will be all linked to the same simulations from then on, hopefully this teaches you the difference between working with droids and sentients.”

Vildarn found himself in the chair of what he had been shown was the command bridge of a Providence, the ship had been donated to the original Confederacy by the Quarren and had quickly become one of its mainline capital ships. A full simulated bridge with pilot droids tending to their stations was shown to him and a moment later everything went into motion coming to life as if it was all real. He looked to the sensor readout and he saw the readouts of three Old Republic ships exiting hyperspace, two Acclamators and a single Venator, it was three v three and he had to win.

Torpedoes, turbolasers and ion cannons tore through space and came right for him barraging his shields, he allowed his fleet to return fire as he considered his options. His ships returned fire but by now it was too late, the Republic ships fired upon his ships with everything they had and the simulation ended as fire over took his bridge.

“Vildarn, don’t let the enemy fleet get so close, try again.”

The simulation repeated as he was again thrust into the standard skirmish. If he couldn’t pass this first test he’d probably be kicked out the Academy on his first day but he had no experience in this sort of thing.
The Republic ships were again heading straight for him and he had to come up with some means of victory or else these simulated opponents would be the death of his career.

He commanded his Providence to launch droid fighters and bombers and they quickly took positions around the capital ship. The Republic Venator began launching fighters and bombers also, so it seemed he had no advantage there. His Munificent’s main cannons opened up on the left Acclamator tearing into its shields, while it remained out of range. His fighters and bombers all flew to the left where he chose to keep them in reserve for a bit longer. The Acclamator was already falling apart as its sister ship and the leading Venator began moving into range.

Vildarn switched fire onto the other Acclamator and ordered his attack craft to launch their attack. The enemies fighters and bombers swarmed toward his own as they began a climatic clash. He turned his providence to the left so that his long line of weapons along his ship could also fire and to his surprise the shields of the Venator began to falter as explosions began appearing at the daggered head of the vessel.

One of his Munificent’s was quickly moved upon by the remaining undamaged Acclamator, its torpedoes plowed into his ships prow cannons almost gutting it completely. Very few fighters and bombers remained but the battle continued as his ships took out the enemy torpedoe launchers before targeting the Venator’s command bridge. The cannons of the Munificent fired into the Venator bridge causing it to snap off the rest of the ships superstructure. With that all three ships opened fire on the last Acclamator.

“Congratulations cadet, mission successful, for the future however don’t feel the need to lose all of your fighter complement.” “You’ll be shown your dormitory and tomorrow you will have another lesson, we will make an officer of the Confederate navy out of you yet.

 

[VildarnTentoria]

He found the more he entered the simulator the easier it became to defeat the Republic simulated opponent. His allies were quite good as well, the only issue he had was Rin’s cockiness and inability to trust him to handle himself. For only a short war the Clone Wars had no shortage of historical battles to test them. From the night world of Umbara to the cold of Rhen Var it had also served to experience him with some of the more important worlds in the galaxy.

“Today we are putting you into a battle known as the Battle of Simocadia.” “Prince Yojan joined the Confederacy and did his best to stop the Republic from conquering the planet, sadly due to the efforts of a Jedi Master the planet was seized by the Republic, Prince Yojan did not survive, this however will be your chance to all work together and achieve victory.”

Vildarn found himself aboard the bridge of a massive vessel referred to as a Lucrehulk, the large vessel had originally been a freighter of the Trade Federation but had since become a massive battleship with enough shielding to hold back an entire fleet of Republic capital ships.
His fighters and bombers would be controlled by Rin and Jalok his Gand friend. The other three would be in control of the Munificent Star Frigates as they made their stand against four Venator Star Destroyers.

His allies deployed the fighters and bombers as he moved the ship up escorted by their frigates. The Republic was launching Torrent starfighters and Y wings which was at least better than ARC one seventies. The Munificent’s wouldn’t last long against one or two capital ships never mind four of them but their long range cannons had to be made use of before they entered their range. His fellow cadets knew the enemies weapons and the free shots at their enemies shields would be essential to a swift victory.

They remained bunched up as they awaited their opponents first attack. Fighters and bombers came at them heading straight for the Lucrehulk however Vildarn and the others were already in position to repel. The Munificent’s point defence lasers opened up shredding the Republic craft. As the four Venator’s approached the Munificent’s wisely fell back, the torpedoes and laser fire pounded upon the mighty shield of the droid control ship. Continuing to move the massive command ship closer to the enemy with the frigates in tow the opportunity had come to eradicate the Republic forces. Rin and Jalok flew their squadrons in targetting only the two shield generators of the Venator’s furthest to the sides.

The shields flared before collapsing as the Confederacy fleet made quick work of the unshielded capital ships, the other two Venator’s attempted to draw their fighters back Tom cover their escape but it was already too late as the combined weapons of the CIS navy took out their shields and disabled their engines. The two remaining ships were dead in space and had issued their surrender.

The Abyssin instructors voice could once again be heard guiding them. “Well done all of you, you’ve all done well in the Clone Wars scenarios, however the Republic was never truly our greatest challenge, the declaration of a new order came without any warning and quickly the Confederacy faced an enemy that no longer had any shred of morality or conscience the Republic once had.”

The planet of Simocadia was replaced by a lava world in the distance, the stars switched around taking them to another more well known system.

“Is this where I think it is?” asked Rin sounding overly excited.

“Welcome to Mustafar, yes by now you all know the history but years later a Geonosian known as Gizor Dellso returned to the world and reactivated the droid factories in an attempt to take the fight back to the Galactic Empire.” “All over the galaxy our fellow Confederates were hunted down and exterminated but many chose to resist their oppressors, eventually they were forced to join the Rebellion that would become the New Republic but they never stopped fighting for the freedom that we continue to stand for today.”

The 1,137 meters long Venator had now been replaced by a 1,600 meter long Imperial Star Destroyer. Looking he saw they only had access to a single Providence and two Munificent’s as escort.

“Man this looks tough.” said Rin

“We have been split into two teams, it’s just the three of us.” Jalok said taking command of one of the Munificents

“I take it that leaves me with the Providence?” Vildarn asked happily.

“Well you do seem to have a knack for em.” Rin replied picking the other frigate.

“Alright, let’s see if we can’t impress the Geonosians and our instructor at once.” Vildarn said scanning the oncoming Imperial capital and beginning the simulation.

The massive capital ship had made the Imperial navy feared throughout the galaxy and now they had to challenge one with old Confederacy tech. The ship was large and quite amazing in its own right but the eerie grey reminded them of the evils the Empire had committed in the name of power and control.

“We’ve got tie fighters and tie bombers being deployed, they don’t have shields but advise not to underestimate them.” Jalok informed.

“Doesn’t have torpedoes but its bristling with turbolasers.” Rin said sounding less enthused than he was a few moments ago.

Vildarn noticed they needed a confidence boost. “Hey if the Rebel Alliance could do this with reconfigured civilian ships then we can do this with military vessels, these ships are what the CIS holdouts used so let’s do this!”

Vildarn began considering vulnerabilities in the Imperial design and immediately noticed some glaring weaknesses, the Star Destroyer lacked anti fighter defence apart from its completent of ties, the massive amount of turbolasers would annihilate even their Providence quickly if they weren’t smart about this.


Vildarn split his fighters and bombers and sent them both left and to the right and ordered his fleet in reverse. The Providence was only just faster than the Star Destroyer but it’s all he needed as the many ties approached. At the command of his classmates the Munificent’s fired their point defence cannons, the extra thrust backward giving them just enough extra time to thin out the Imperial squadrons of which they already outnumbered.

The droid bombers escorted by the many vulture droids and droid tri fighters approached the Star Destroyer from behind as it made its way toward them. The Star Destroyer fired its turbolasers at the oncomimg bombing runs but the larger cannons were far too inaccurate and their targets too fast. Vildarn changed course moving forward toward the behemoth ahead. The payloads slammed the two bulbous shield generators on either side of the bridge before going upside down and doing a quick one eighty degree turn to head back the way they had come.

“Now!” Vildarn yelled as the two Munificent’s prow cannons opened fire at the enemy vessels fore tractor beam projectors.

Moving back into reverse Vildarn ordered a second payload be released on the Star Destroyer’s engines. The droid bombers flew back toward the engines and with the missiles of the fighters hit their targets causing the massive ship to fall to a simple lurch.

“Careful guys its shields and engines might be down but its weapons are still entirely active. Though the ship possessed no real anti fighter ability the amount of guns would still tear his fighters apart if he wasted them, he had learned better since not to do that.

The Providence and Munificent’s together got just in range of the enemy and though the fore turbolasers of the Star Destroyer began targetting them all one hundred and two proton torpedoe tubes were already underway. The command bridge of the Star Destroyer being further to the back of the vessel meant yet another successful bombing run was critical and with that the battle over Mustafar was a success.

The pods opened as their instructor and the accompanying advisors clapped at their victory. “Both teams did extremely well, I could barely expect more, rest now and tomorrow bright and early report to the amphitheater.” Selkor’s toothy grin was pleasing to Vildarn as he and the others left for their rooms.


The next day they piled once more into the amphitheatre, this time though they sat as friends and congratulated each other on their talents. Selkor walked into the room with a hint of a grin still on his face despite the tough facade he was still trying to somewhat maintain.

“It is true you all should be proud, however understand the Confederacy didn’t bring you here to teach you all this just to protect freighters from pirates, the galaxy is a big and scary place and even the most knowledgeable of scientists and historians don’t know even close to what’s out there.” “I am hoping to make sure you all learn that to win and to survive you must adapt to whatever the CIS has to face, who knows when another empire may rise up and decide it doesn’t like our existence, it will be up to each of you to carry the Confederate banner and spark of freedom wherever you go, and you will be challenged and tested by whatever the galaxy throws at you, but you must remain strong and you must fight to keep the spark alive.”

 

[VildarnTentoria]

[Dormitory]

Vildarn had arrived as a simple young man hoping to find some way to help and experience the galaxy, he had been tried and tested and he had to admit the academy had to have been one of the best in the galaxy. His nights were spent usually in his bed looking over historical battles. He reread the Noolian Crisis, Harch and Aqualish Confederates had attempted a final push against the Empire. Mandalorians had joined forces with Confederate armed forces at the Siege of Binquaros as well but despite all the dying they were barely able to make a true cut into the Empire’s thick armour. He knew though from reading the history on the Imperial Remnant around the time of the New Republic that resistance against a greater foe was powerful but could only be done with precise strategies and knowing your enemy was a massive factor that played into things as well.

Though a small class he and his fellow cadets had passed the tests to satisfactions, he had not expected however the massive access to the knowledge of races and galactic history and also the thought that he was stepping into some rather large shoes. The thought of having to be even half the officer Admiral Trench had been was almost enough to overpower his calm and collected mind but still he knew he wouldn’t be here if they didn’t have some belief in his potential and he certainly wouldn’t have come this far if he hadn’t managed to prove that faith was well placed.

[Hallway.]

“Today you are receiving a special treat, a Confederate naval vessel is pulling into the station and you are going to go aboard.” Selkor said looking out the window as a 200 meter long ship approached the docking clamp.

“Hey that’s a Reaper Corvette.” Rin said recognising the small ship that was being mass produced at his homeworld.

“A newer vessel.” Jalok said sounding slightly disappointed.

“History is history because time moves forward, as time moves forward new ships are developed and make their own legacies, you will all get to know this ship in the next three hours and then you will return for an exam.”

“Yes Sir.” Vildarn replied moving toward the docking door.


[Inside the Corvette]

The ship was fairly small but its size was still accomodating for him, droids and sentients roamed the small warship ignoring Vildarn as he went on his lone unguided tour. It took around eighty crew to keep this ship functioning in and out of battle but he personally couldn’t help but question if the vessel would last long once ensnared in a tractor beam. Certainly the Reaper class was fifty meters bigger and was certainly more than a match for the Galactic Empire’s Raider class, still he didn’t find it within his personal tastes not to say he didn’t appreciate the vessels speed.

He came to believe that learning the ships weapons and other internal systems was enough, that somehow all he needed to know was right at his finger tips and yet it dawned on him that he was missing the point of why he was here. Selkor hadn’t sent him here to learn about the ships specs, he could have reread any data file on the ships technical readouts. No, he could see it so much more clearly now, the one thing the reading and the simulations could have never taught him, he was here to understand his ship had a living breathing crew.


[Exam Room]

He placed the pad down having finished the exam and had even been sure to include what he had learned at the end. Selkor began collecting the exam readouts glancing at them quickly and giving a firm nod as he continued down the row. Finally Selkor was in front of him and glanced at his exam answers, Selkor didn’t give him a nod but simply moved on which left Vildarn concerned about what he had done wrong.

“Everyone return to the dormitory, Vildarn come to my desk.” Vildarn could tell from Selkor’s voice that he had done something to bring out the Abyssian’s urgency.

“Was there an issue with my exam Sir?” Vildarn asked not knowing where he could have gone wrong.

“You passed the ship specs, the simulations, the history and at the very end you proved to me you had even learned the importance of your crew.” The Abyssian placed the pad down and slid it over to where Vildarn could look down at it himself. “I dare say that you should be proud of yourself, report to the amphitheatre tomorrow and I’ll have a new challenge for you.”

“Thank you sir.” Vildarn said knowing he now had to get some rest for tomorrow.

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

Paperwork?! They were sending her to the academy to deliver paperwork?! Did someone miss out entirely on the fact that they were in 853ABY? Or something like that? Most people didn’t even know what paper felt like anymore, not to mention the gazillion or so ways one could safely transfer information using state of the art technology.

The folder in her hands, Madalena, clad in her armor, walked down the halls of the academy. She’d asked five different people by now where she was supposed to go, who she was supposed to find, and everyone sent her in a different direction. It was maddening. There was a reason she’d promised herself to never attend academy again after that fiasco that shall not be named in which she was a part of on Coruscant.

Turn after turn, and suddenly the Sithling found herself shoved… To the amphitheater? Wait, Podium?! What the-

People were sitting behind her, encouraging her. Why? Madalena looked at the crowd, blinking. What the-

“Open the folder you’re holding!” someone from the back whispered to her.

Madalena obliged. And blinked. And blinked again.

Emerald eyes looked up at the crowd, and blinked a third time.

“Uhhh,” she mumbled into the mic. Couldn’t they have prepared her for that? “You guys passed! Congrats!” and with that she gave the crowd a big smile, and raised both thumbs up. She was just about to leave the podium when she spotted the last comment on the file. “And uh,” she added, “Vildarn Tentoria? Is there a Vildarn Tentoria in here? Please come see me.” She was definitely under prepared. With a little bit of luck she could use the next 30 seconds to catch up.

Madalena walked off stage and half ran back inside, her eyes never leaving the papers as she read through them. She was going to decapitate whoever was responsible for this.



[member="VildarnTentoria"] [member="Muad Dib"]

 

[Muad Dib]

On the bridge of Charlie the Unicorn, Muad was sitting in the command chair sipping Whyren's Reserve from a crystal tumbler. Watching the simulations from the cadets he frowned slightly as he watched the tactical maneuvering of the fleets. Tapping the control built into the armrest he motioned for Captain Hrakness to join him. As the grizzled, bearded man joined him, Miad hit play once more.

On the hologram the Confederate capital ships went in reverse as their fighters headed for the destroyer in a pincer move. As it continued to play out Muad glanced at Hrakness.

"What would you have done cap?"

Hrakness flicked the hologram looking at the forces assigned. As he spoke his voice came out gravelly. " I would have coordinated my ships into a triangle with my fighters as a screen before us. Going in reverse as the cadet. The destroyer would have sent their fighters after us and would have closed before the destroyer did. Using combined tactics I would have used our capital ships heavy cannons to pick off star fighters while using our fighters to route their counterparts. By the time the destroyer would have closed we would have wiped out the majority of the enemy starfighters. Then from three angles out capital ships would have hammered the destroyer who would only be able to bring some of their guns to bear while our starfighters and bombers circled around for runs on the engine of the destroyer while making sure the enemy captain had to keep the shields leveled out."

Muad nodded as the warship dropped from hyperspace. Waving the captain to the turbolift he paused before heading to the hangar where he would take a shuttle to the station.

"By the book captain. You would have been successful just as the cadet was. But while you have a very technical aspect to your thinking, why do you believe we were so well together?"

Captain Hrakness scratched his beard in thought before answering. "I'm methodical. But you Commander, you are unorthodox and unpredictable."

Muad grinned.

"True captain. What I would have done differently is I would have used my surroundings to help. Mustafar sits between two gas giants that disrupts readings. If you had used this you could have hidden several squadrons in the wake of your retreat. Could have got an unanswered missle salvo off on either the fighters or the destroyer. Also, the gravity forces are tremendous. It would have played havoc with the much larger destroyer. Never forget about your surroundings captain."

As Hrakness nodded in thought Muad descended to the hangar bay to climb into a shuttle. As it left the Unicorn Class War Cruiser he leaned back and sighed. He wasn't part of the Knights Obsidian not Storm Fleet. Neither was he Viceroyalty nor a member of the Confederate army. Yet here he was goin to a station of graduating cadets. Life was funny sometimes.

With the shuttle docking with the station he made his way to the amphitheatre and entered to see the cadets listening to [member="Scherezade deWinter"] who singled out one of the masses, a [member="VildarnTentoria"] . Curious he made to follow.

 

[VildarnTentoria]

A crowd had gathered in the amphitheatre, the cadets nervously waited out the opening. Selkor gave them some extra words that seemed mostly to stall time but he left the podium and motioned for a woman to step forward to speak. Listening intently all the cadets heard the words they were so eager to hear. He heard the words from the woman that they had all passed and smiles and glances of glee told him his fellow cadets were extremely happy and proud but he couldn’t help but think what was in store for them in such a fierce and ever changing galaxy. They had officially passed the Admiral Trench Naval Academy, after all the hard work they had put in it was really happening, Vildarn would however always think of this Academy as a kind of home. Before the woman stepped off the podium she called for Vildarn personally, this was not something he had been expecting.

He calmly walked across the room as quietly as he could as the ceremony continued. The woman seemed to be somewhat impatient as she was hurrying everywhere. Whatever she wanted to speak to him about it was clear she didn’t want anybody else to hear. He came to a stop near her not failing to notice she didn’t look like a naval officer at all. Despite this she clearly held some authority in the Confederacy and that was really enough for him.

He chose to salute her as a form of respect. “Cadet Tentoria here as you asked, Ma’am.”

 

[Scherezade deWinter]

She was flipping through the pages like mad, trying to get all the information in. Thirty seconds, give or take, before the guy would show up. She didn’t even know what he’d look like since they hadn’t thought to attach an image. This was so screwed up. She had nothing to do with the fleet, Madalena was just a Pathfinder for the Knights Obsidian, and a new one at that.

Suddenly someone was talking to her. Madalena shot up, emerald eyes glowing with confusion and then… Well, she did he best not to show disdain. “I’m way not old enough to be referred to as ma’am,” she said, and then sighed to let the tension go. Next came a smile. “Walk with me, Cadet,” she ordered, and began to walk towards where the hoped the exit was.

“So it’s like this,” she tried to explain as she walked, “you’ve been noticed by the Knights Obsidian. Good enough grades, yadda yadda yadda. You know how it goes. I hope you know how it goes, because I sure don’t.” She wasn’t trying to confuse him or demean anything. Madalena was… Just seriously, seriously, out of her element. “So you’re also part of the Confederacy now, and the Confederacy stands for expansionism and unity, faith in the Viceroyalty, and planetary independence. And they’re totally against slavery, so don’t even consider that.”

Madalena sighed again, and stopped walking. “So the deal is, you’re going to be sent off on a mission for the CIS. I don’t have the deets yet, you’ll get them directly. But you should be ready to leave at a moment’s time.”

[member="VildarnTentoria"] [member="Muad Dib"]

 

[VildarnTentoria]

[Academy Hallway]

Unbelievable, he was being picked for a mission already, that was something he supposed meant he had done really well but the pressure at such a short notice really gave him some jitters. “Thank you, uh, Madam.”

He needed to talk to his classmates and then clear out his dormitory, not to mention speak to Selkor about all this. He gave the woman another salute before rushing back to the Amphitheatre.

“Seriously you already got a mission, we still have to wait another week.” Rin said trying to keep their conversation low enough for the speeches on the podium to continue.

“I for one wish you good luck.” Jalok said giving him a friendly nod.


“I’ll write to you guys, I want to hear where you end up.” Vildarn said shaking both of their hands.

“I think Selkor wants to talk to you, his doing that thing with his eye again.” Of course Rin meant that he was being eyed, a terrible joke.

“Thanks, I’ll stay in touch as much as possible.” just like that he was off to see his instructor for hopefully all the extra details he needed.

Both beings moved out of the amphitheatre again into the quiet hallway. The Abyssian instructor pulled some things from his uniform. “This is a datacard with your mission on it, this is an identichip which you’ll need working out there trust me, and this is a personal datadisk I made personally from me to you, you’ll find a new uniform waiting in your dorm, good luck and I hope to hear from you again.”

“Thank you Sir, I won’t forget all you’ve done for me.” The two shook hands before forming into a salute, Vildarn then knew the time had come to attend to the clearing of his dorm.

[Dormitory]

Vildarn had arrived with very little and he would surely leave with very little however the few items he did have would now become quite dear to him. He placed in both the Datacard and the Datadisc to review them while he changed from his more simple flight suit into a new and shiny black and blue navy uniform which even came with a cap and gloves. He sat on the bed and twisted the cap into place as he read the terminal information.

Commander Tentoria,

From behalf of the Confederate Navy and the Knights Obsidian we bid you congratulations, you have successfully shown yourself to be quite the officer. It is our wish that your services were put to use as quickly as possible, as such you will be leaving today aboard a shuttle toward the planet of Ando where the Navy will be granting you your first ship as well as a hand picked crew of which you will find pleasing.
Please remember that the galaxy is forever moving and time is of the essence, I trust you will take this to heart.

Vildarn certainly felt privelaged to be going to Ando, the Aqualish to him as long as he’d read about them had always been filled with a spirit that he hoped to one day match. The Datadisk held some key information he needed such as advice on getting to know ones crew as well as some information on the tactics employed in the simulators but the first audio file titled Play Before You Leave caught his attention.

“Tentoria, I know it hasn’t been easy for you leaving your homeworld and you don’t have many contacts, I left you a small gift in your top drawer, I hope it reminds you of how far you’ve come and what you’re fighting for.” the audio file ended there.

Sliding out his drawer he looked inside, a small beautiful ornate glass decoration lay inside. He gripped it with his hand turning it around as he saw something written on it. Waters of Iskalon was carved into its back. It was a vial containing water from his homeworld, It was on a slim silver chain, he slipped it over his white hair and over his neck where it slid down to rest on his chest.

He had to travel to Ando to get his ship, that meant taking his few bags with him and making his way to the hangar.
Turning back to look at the dormitory he had spent his time in reading about strategy, tactics and galactic history he felt like he truly was moving onto a new chapter of his life.

[Hangar]

The large dual dorsal finned shuttle known as a Maxillipede awaited him guarded by a squad of battle droids. A meter long Squib sat in the pilots seat reading the holonet.

“You the one headed for Ando?” he asked in a gruff voice.

“Yeh, expecting any other passengers?” Vildarn looked back to see the ship empty.

“Just the battle droids, apparently, I’ve been informed you’ve just graduated and are some kind of big shot now that needs a lift, I can do that.” Vildarn made his way into the back hearing the squad of battle droids step inside to join them.

The Maxillipede shuttle lifted off and exited the hangar entering the void of space. It had been some time since he had arrived at the Academy and it almost felt the same as when he had left his homeworld,

“Setting route for Ando.” the Squib pilot said as the ship entered into hyperspace.

[To Acquisition of Duty]