08:30 Navy Stadium

John and Alice walked down the stairwell to the stadium floor. Its artificial turf had been pulled back and replaced with a hard rubber floor. John found it downright unpleasant to walk on with his dress shoes. Nevertheless, he looked like a stoic and grizzled veteran, unphased by the things going on around him.

Alice caught that and smiled. When push comes to shove, he was a rock, and anyone with half a mind would do well with tying their fate with his. She squeezed his hand as they walked toward the line of cadets.

“Ugh, they separate us, don’t they?” Alice sighed as she already knew the answer to the very question she asked.

“Sure do, and we find out what position we ended up in too,” John smiled as he looked at his wife, “You should be front row too.”

“Yours truly was top of the mental health category but third overall in the medical division. Hey, did Kristin get third?”

John shrugged, “Not a clue. I know she said she nailed the last couple of finals. Hadn’t heard about how Terry wrapped things up.”

“Poorly,” Patrice said to John.

“Morning and congratulations Patrice,” John said, “He bombed a test?”

“Not so much bombed it, but he ran out of time with ten questions left,” Patrice grinned, “He still ended up with an A, but it wasn’t as good as Kristin’s.”

John chuckled, “Well how about that. What fleet and ship did he end up on?”

“He’s on the CNS Spartan. I forgot what division he got assigned to though,” Patrice sounded very disinterested.

“Where’d you end up?”

Patrice smiled, “The Fleetwood.”

John nodded his head, “The flagship of our fleet. Hell of a ship. Congrats.”

“I still think you’re making a mistake by wanting to captain a smaller ship.”

Their conversation got interrupted when it was their turn to speak to the officers at the table. They scanned John, Alice, Patrice, and the silent Richard. Both of them looked down at the terminal to see where the cadets would be sitting.

“Well, this is an easy one,” the female officer said, “Cadets Lief and Vernon, seats one and two respectively in the command section. Cadet Lief," the female officer looked confused until she looked at the cadets in front of her once more, "oh duh, you are married, you’re in seat three of medical. Cadet Parks take seat thirty-five in command.”

Alice pulled John’s head down and gave him a quick kiss, “Don’t do anything stupid.”

As they parted John waved back at his wife, “You know me,” John then looked back at Richard, “Nice job scoring that high Dick.”

“Goddammit Lief, for the last time my name is Richard.”

Patrice laughed, “Your dad calls you Dick.”

“He’s an asshole like him,” Richard was pointing at John as the trio walked to their seats.

Alice saw and overheard the exchange and shook her head. She was rethinking the emotional rock John could be. Now he was acting like a troll. This was even more proof that he needed to be close to her at all times.

John and Patrice walked to their seats in the front row. Patrice pointed at the third and fourth seats next to them. The two shared a quick laugh. Not only did Kristin move up into the top three, but Terry fell to fifth.

“Couldn't happen to a nicer person. I bet he’s going to be in a foul mood,” John said without a hint of empathy.

“Hey, back in those wargames how well would we have done with him in charge?”

John grinned as he looked at Patrice, “Also presuming we’d toe the line?”

Patrice nodded.

“I think we still would have won, but it’d be one bloody affair after another.”

John and Patrice heard a voice back at the table shout, ‘fuck yeah’ and turned to look at who it was. John sighed and rubbed his eyes. Patrice looked confused and then asked the obvious question.

“Why the hell is the class jester so excited?”

John continued to sigh, “Pay increase probably.”

“That idiot made the top thirty percent?”

“Sure did. Waited until last week to try too.”

“Why is that not surprising?” Patrice rolled his eyes.

Kristin then interrupted them, “Holy shitballs.”

“Congrats, damn nice work,” John fist-bumped Kristin.

“Do we know who got the overall top spots?” Kristin asked.

“I got a pretty good idea on one of the two,” John said plainly.

“If you are saying that, then I’m pretty sure I know who came in second,” Patrice said looking at the stage in front of them.

“Well, you heard it here first Kristin. Did dumbass succeed in his last-second mission?”

“Obviously. He was being that especially annoying version of himself this morning. I’m sure now he’s on cloud nine and just wants this party to get done now.”

Family members began entering the lower ring of seating. John looked at his watch and figured it was at least forty minutes from starting the festivities. And that was only if they were lucky. He was on Andern’s side with this starting as soon as possible. It continued to grow warmer and more humid, a bad combo for the cadets.

Despite the advances in clothing throughout the years, the Navy had managed to keep their dress clothing heavy and uncomfortable for wear. Even in climate-controlled areas, they were just barely wearable. Thank God they weren’t used often.

John looked around, more or less ignoring the conversation going around him. More and more cadets began filing into the stadium. He looked at his watch again and was reminded how painfully slow things can be when you're aware of the time. He sighed and then tried to get back into the conversation.

“Sorry what? I wasn’t paying attention.”

Kristin rolled her eyes, “How long of a speech do you have?”

“It’s pretty short and to the point. The commandant laughed when he skimmed through it.”

Terry walked by the trio. An angry scowl was being worn on his face, obviously, his failure to achieve his desired position in the class triggered that reaction. He said nothing to the group, sat down, and stared at the stage.

John couldn’t help but grin when Terry’s back was to him, “You know, the only thing that I feel like we missed out on was our moon rover trip being cut short.”

“I’d be lying to you if I said I wanted to bunk with you and dumbass for a week,” Patrice said plainly.

“My fiancé can be a bit abrasive,” Kristin shrugged.

“A bit?” John laughed, “I did get to kill someone, so I suppose that made up for it.”

“In a weird serial killer way,” Patrice pinched the bridge of his nose, “Though I suppose it was us or them. Kinda have to side with you on that one.”

“See Kristin, even Patrice is on my side on that one,” John said with a smile.

“Normal people don’t even think that way. But you’ve never been normal, so why start now?” Kristin shook her head.

“Are they transferring your gear to your new ship?” Patrice asked.

“Yes, assuming it isn’t lost or misdirected I can continue to tweak that new suit and expense it out to the Navy. Score one for the bureaucracy.”

“How close is it for the shock troops to get it?”

John laughed, “Those armor plates are hilariously expensive. Need the military to ramp up that alloy in other uses or to have the civvies find some use for it.”

“Spec Ops wants it though, don’t they?” Kristin asked.

“The elite groups can buy whatever the hell they want,” Patrice said, “I’m sure the Seals and Force Recon teams are already using it.”

“There’s no such thing as a budget for those groups,” John smiled as he remembered some run-ins he had with that crowd when he was younger, “It was always fun to run into that crowd in the gun ranges.”

The conversation continued as more and more people filed into the stadium. It continued to get warmer which annoyed John more as the morning wore on. Looking at his watch did nothing to speed up things either.

10:45 Navy Stadium – Commencement

After several long and relatively boring speeches by the administrators, it was finally time for the cadets to march. The special forces went first, none so much as reacted to receiving their diplomas. Next up were the medical cadets, who were an entirely different sort.

Unlike the special forces, there were many that were overjoyed and expressed it accordingly. That was no different for the engineers and operations cadets that followed them. Much to John’s annoyance, his best friend didn’t react.

“That motherfucker,” John said quietly as he slipped Kristin a credit chit, “Out of all of us I swore he’d be the one to act like a fool up there.”

“John, honestly I took the bet because I didn’t think you’d make me pay if I lost.”

“Nice, very nice,” John shook his head.

He didn’t care about the bet if he was being honest. John just hated losing or being wrong. Andern never passed up the opportunity to play the fool. John sighed, Andern actually thought ahead for a change. Since he got that special performance ribbon, he was acting as the focused and together cadet. Or technically Ensign Andern now.

“Why are we last?” Kristin whispered.

“They save the best for last,” Patrice answered confidently.

John broke from his stoic look and let out a chuckle, “You are god damned right.”

The command cadets that preceded John were more subdued but many of them couldn’t contain their excitement. After what felt like an age and a half the last and final row of cadets stood up and walked to the edge of the platform. All that waited for the first step in their journey was to walk up the steps and accept their diplomas when their names were called.

Eventually, it got to Kristin, who couldn’t stop smiling. John was let down again because he was certain she was going to bounce around the stage in happiness. But once again he was wrong.

“Cadet Patrice Vernon, please step forward,” the commandant said in his booming baritone voice, “Congratulations on your graduation and being the salutatorian of your class.”

The commandant smiled as he handed Patrice his diploma and shook his handed. He directed the newly christened ensign to the podium. He then gestured for John to join them but didn’t announce his name.

John was curious why they didn’t just finish commencement, but it was time for their speeches. Patrice got to give his speech first. He stood next to the commandant and watched out at the crowd. Alice was grinning, he knew she was enjoying watching him squirm. And be delayed by a long-winded and moderately pompous sounding speech from Patrice.

Eventually, after nine painfully long minutes, Patrice was done and the commandant spoke once more, “And our valedictorian for the class of 2261, Cadet John Lief. Why don’t you say a few words to your peers before we wrap things up?”

John pulled his speech from his coat pocket, looked down, and then threw the cards behind his back, “Well Ensign Vernon spoke a lot about honor and duty. I won’t bore anyone with rehashing a subject that we all know very well.”

He paused and looked out at the crowd, “Four years ago we all began this journey together. Most of us didn’t have a clue what challenges we’d face, what hurdles there were to climb, or even how we could succeed with everything that was being thrown at us.”

“Ironically we are now in a very similar position as we were then,” John smiled, “Maybe it’s not so ironic though, maybe this is the best way. Can any among us today say that we haven’t grown? That we haven’t gotten so much stronger and wiser than we were back then?”

“We are so much more worldly now. We've been to space, been on starships, and worked in the harshest environments. There's so much more to learn, and right now we're ready for that challenge. We’ll say goodbye to friends and family and spread forth throughout the void. They say parting is such sweet sorrow, and it's true, but we should look to the future with joy and excitement. It’s now on us to grab hold of the opportunities before us. God speed to us all!”

Commandant Melnyk stepped forward with John’s diploma, “Thank you and congratulations are in order to all of you. It is my pleasure to give you this.”

John accepted the Diploma and was surprised when Melnyk winked at him, “It’s rare for me to do this, but it’s happened only eight other times due either to exceptional circumstances or overall performance. But I’m pleased to announce that Cadet John Lief is receiving the commission of Third Lieutenant.”

Most of the class stood and cheered. Some, chief among that crowd were Terry and Patrice, who was stunned that anyone could leap forward in rank so quickly. Many were cheering simply because the commencement was now done and their parties could start.

John was shaking the commandant’s hand in disbelief at what he heard. Something like that wasn’t supposed to happen. Sure, in his dreams he thought of pressing the fast forward on his career but that wasn’t supposed to happen.

To no one’s surprise, Andern was the first one to crack a joke about having to salute him. And then refusing to salute him because of ‘reasons.’ Kristin pinched him in the ribs to the laughter of the rest of the group. They began walking out of the arena and headed to their reception.

11:35 Four Seasons Bayfront

John had reserved most of the reception space for him and his friends to celebrate there. He also negotiated a sweet deal for their families to stay there. Alice was more than a bit annoyed when she found out John leaned hard on the manager, effectively putting the poor man’s balls to a flame.

In any case, John won out and scored the deal. They prepared to have a fully catered meal and nothing but top-shelf alcohol for everyone to imbibe and enjoy. Then there were the Cuban cigars he had passed out.

Kevin, knowing his friend’s overly extravagant tastes, correctly surmised that these cigars were the real deal. He also could tell they were very unique. In fact, the box they were stored in looked like it was part of a rather elaborate humidor he was staring at. A humidor that was a piece unique and had no price.

“John, where did you get these again?”

John’s answer was only a grin.

“Yeah, that’s code for shut up and enjoy,” Nathan said as he sat down on the patio and puffed on his cigar, “Fucking brilliant.”

Andern was all smiles as he came in from the reception room, “Nice speech. Better booze though.”

“You didn’t pay attention to Patrice’s speech. I’ve seen that look on you before,” Brian was leaning against the railing.

“Guilty as charged,” John shrugged, “But there was an uncomfortable amount of overlap, so I opted to call an audible.”

Alice then popped her head out of the doorway, “Honey, come in. My parents want to speak to you.”

John groaned as he stood up. He tapped the cigar on the railing to ash it before sticking it back in his mouth for a puff. Then he followed his wife indoors to speak with his in-laws.

“Katelyn, how good to see you again,” John said as she walked over to give him a hug.

“Congratulations to both of you. We are so happy for you,” Katelyn was clearly proud, but she was also a bit apprehensive about how her only daughter was going to be sent away.

“I knew the two of you would succeed. And did you ever,” Aaron said as he shook John’s hand firmly.

“Oh hell, you need one of these,” John grabbed the box from the table and opened it.

Aaron grinned, “So, now I know who ended up with these cigars.”

Alice rolled her eyes, “Who did you steal them from?”

“Remember that backpack I had with me when we left Ricci’s headquarters downtown?”

Alice sighed as she shook her head, “Payment to make you whole again?”

“Yup, and I knew it’d burn him up knowing someone walked out with the best cigars of the batch and rendering that priceless humidor near worthless. Fuck him and his high horse for what he did to us.”

“You know I love you, but oh my lord you can be a petty asshole,” Alice laughed as she hugged him.

“John, come over here,” Kristin said from across the room.

He smiled and puffed on his cigar as he made his way over to their guests. He would bounce from person to person for the next hour and a half. John was happy to meet everyone. He encouraged them to eat and drink as much as they want to and enjoy their time there.

Eventually, he worked his way through enough people that he could grab a plate of food and walk out onto the patio. He took one more puff of the cigar before he let it rest on the ashtray. It didn’t take long for him to devour the food on his plate.

Bacon-wrapped scallops, tuna tartare, and cheesy broccoli were the first things he targeted. The main course, filet mignon was next. The desert was a simple chocolate cheesecake that was to die for. When he was done, he took a drink of bourbon and a puff on his cigar.

“We did a hell of a job,” John said to his friends.

“Yes, we did,” Andern said.

“No, you didn’t. You held onto the coattails,” Thomas laughed.

“He’s kinda right,” Nathan said as he pointed his fork at him, “But man, it feels like just yesterday we were at basic watching some drill instructor lose his mind at John.”

John laughed, “I didn’t even talk back to him either. He clearly thought I wouldn’t be able to physically do what he wanted me to do.”

“What was it that he was so damned confident that you couldn’t do?” Kevin asked.

“I had to do proper up-downs in under ten seconds.”

“If I recall,” Jessica said as she walked outside with a plate of cheesecake, “John did them for ten minutes and could have practically set your watch to it.”

“He pulled my record that night. He wanted so bad to catch me fucking up. The funny thing is he missed this guy shit damn near every time,” John grabbed Andern’s right shoulder and shook him a bit.

“He still made me do laps once,” Andern shook his head.

John laughed, “Wasn’t that when…”

“Don’t want to talk about it. It’s over and done with,” Andern looked at John sternly.

“You were taking a shit, ran out of time, then the DI came in and chewed you out as your just violating the toilet,” Kevin howled with laughter, “The whole damn barracks couldn’t keep their faces straight.”

John stood up and pointed Thomas to move over near him, “Did you hear me maggot, what gives you the right to be sitting down while the rest of your platoon are cleaning their bunks.”

Kevin put his hands to his face to make a farting sound.

“I’m sorry sir,” Thomas paused as more farting noises were made, “But I really had to shit sir.”

“What was that maggot?”

“Ok, enough. I don’t want to hear that ever again,” Andern sighed.

John took a long drag on his cigar, “How he kept a straight face without choking on that horrific gas of yours I will not know. That was vile.”

“I think that’s why the DI let him off. It was clear that bowel movement was necessary,” Kevin was giggling like a fifth-grader.

Theresa interrupted their poop conversation in a panicked tone, “You guys need to come in and see this.”

The boys walked in to see a crowd watching an urgent news notice. It was interrupting the baseball game. That was usually not a good sign of things. John was in the back puffing on his cigar while the others were leaning in focused on the anchor.

“Reports are coming in that the massing of Alliance ships was neither a weapons test nor a fleet exercise. At 11:35 Earth Standard Time, the Alliance of Planets sent two fleets of warships into the Piscium system. The Dawnbringer station has fallen into enemy hands.”

The other newscaster then spoke up, “The squadron of Naval vessels, from the Seventh Fleet, fought ferociously but there were simply too many ships. The captain of the Dawnbringer station ordered them to retreat. Eight corvettes, two frigates, and three cruisers were confirmed to be destroyed in the attack. We are getting disputed reports about the damage inflicted upon the enemy fleet, but numerous fighters and several escort class ships were destroyed in the fighting retreat.”

“The Navy has not commented on its own fleet movements but did confirm the attack and that due action would be taken in the near future.”

The mood of the room soured. All of their tablets beeped at the same time. The message was short and sweet, simply letting the new officers that their orders are set, and no changes are being made to them.

John broke the silence in the room, “Well, fuck.”