EXOSKELETON IV: REVENANT by Stadler Shane

Author:Stadler, Shane [Stadler, Shane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shane Stader Enterprises
Published: 2022-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Will awakened to a vibration on his wrist. He had a message.

He leaned over the couch and tapped the coffee table, bringing up the display on its surface. His soccer performance rating was in. He got a C-minus.

“What the hell?” he said aloud. He thought he’d had a good game. He made a note to research the grading criteria, but then thought twice about it. Although he wanted to improve, he wasn’t sure he wanted to adjust his play in order to increase some statistics – such as “touches” – in order to increase his grade. He was playing for fun.

He was curious, so he looked up the grades of his teammates. The lowest, other than his, was a B-plus. There were two grades of A-minus, and no A’s. He was clearly the weakest link on the team.

The first “lab” for his Navigation II course was in half an hour. He ate breakfast, showered, made his way to campus, and was standing outside the door to the lab with five other students a few minutes before the official start time. One of those students was Tracey, the girl from his first navigation course who he’d met at Squidly’s.

She was about to say something to him when the door opened, and a man dressed in a sleek, black uniform invited them in.

The lab was a replica of the bridge of the Exodus 9 . Five other men and women stood side-by-side behind the instructor with their hands behind their backs. They were dressed in similar attire, younger than the man who had brought in the students, and seemed be of lower rank, although it was hard to tell by their uniforms.

“Welcome to navigation lab,” said the man who had led them inside. “I’m Professor Bourne, and I was the captain of an Exodus -class ship for 15 years after 10 years as a beamer pilot.”

“What’s a beamer?” Will whispered to Tracey.

“It’s a small military craft designed for high-maneuverability combat and near-surface deployments,” Bourne said, looking directly at Will. “They’re good for flying in an atmosphere, which is a bit different than piloting in the vacuum of space.”

Will nodded and felt his face warm with mild embarrassment for interrupting.

“Together, you are a crew, and each of you will operate one station during a three-hour lab session,” the instructor explained. “During each subsequent session, you will be assigned to another station, and you’ll rotate through all of them by the end of the course.”

The instructor then assigned people to stations. Will was assigned to the captain’s chair. A lab instructor followed each of the students to their respective positions, and Captain Bourne followed Will to the captain’s post.

“Nervous?” Bourne asked as he sat in a chair to Will’s right.

“A little,” Will admitted. But it was an enjoyable nervousness.

The instructor showed him all the displays and controls around the chair and explained their functions.

“The key is to remain calm,” the instructor explained. “The ship can make all kinds of decisions so, no matter what happens, a well-reasoned action will usually take place.

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