“I guess I’ll see you guys at the assembly hall,” Xaleyp said, turning around to head to the lifts. “Try to save a spot for me.”

“See you there,” Lina said.

Mian said nothing, but kept walking silently with Lina.

While he was walking, Xaleyp got a better view out of one of the many windows he passed. There were definitely more ships around the station than usual. Several Badanov cruisers, some frigates, corvettes, a few lighter cruisers, and something else. Was that the Royal Carrier, the flagship of the Royal Fleet? The ship that never left Hyperia except under the explicit direction of the Emperor? Its presence here could only mean that the Emperor of Hyperia himself was at Vertyn.

It was a large ship, several kilometers long, in the shape of a vee. Ridges ran along the top of the ship of different missile and laser batteries, sensors, shield generators, and other equipment. It almost looked like a city from the distance, with a giant Hyperion flag hanging from either side of the ship. Colossal engines flared at the back, propelling it closer to the space station.

When Xaleyp arrived in the lift area, it was deserted, not a single person there waiting. He took the lift to the officer’s level, getting off after the several second trip.

Even this floor was mostly devoid of people. He passed some low-level officers moving back and forth between the offices, but nowhere near the amount that was normally up there. Xaleyp supposed they were all attending the meeting Ire had planned. Within minutes, Xaleyp found himself at the familiar door of Ire’s reception. It hissed open as he approached, revealing the same secretary after seven years. The man waved Xaleyp in.

“Yes, come in, cadet.” He sounded tired and gestured to the door on his left. “Go on in and hurry it up.”

Xaleyp approached the door to the office and knocked twice before opening the door. Colonel Ire’s office had not changed since Xaleyp’s first visit seven years ago, except for the fact that more books had been added to the shelves at the side of the room. The colonel himself was sitting in his chair, facing the window to watch the fleet moving in.

“Xaleyp, it’s good to see you again.” Ire’s voice was almost jovial, to the point where Xaleyp immediately wondered what he was getting himself into. The man spun the chair around to face the boy. Around his neck was Xaleyp’s father’s pendant. The metal sparkled in the light. “Please, have a seat. We don’t have time for delays.”

Xaleyp followed the direction given, sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk. He barely heard the words, instead wondering where Ire had gotten the necklace from. It was supposed to be passed down to him once he became Commander. How did Ire end up with it?

“I’m sure you saw the fleet outside the station on your way here. I’m also sure that you guessed it belonged to our great Emperor. He is coming here for one reason.” Ire held up his index finger to illustrate the point, as if Xaleyp needed help counting. “Well, technically, two reasons, but one main one. And that is, that he wants to meet you.”

“Meet me, sir?” Xaleyp shook his head. He tried to keep his voice steady and sincere but felt himself lapsing into sarcasm. “But what I have done to deserve such a high honor?”

“Do not sass me, boy.” Ire’s voice lost its previous pleasantness, instead turning to its usual venom. “It is a great honor to be meeting our Emperor, especially at such a young age, regardless of how you personally feel about it. To answer your ill-advised question, apparently you’ve somehow drawn the attention of some of the High Command. It’s partly for show for the citizens back on Hyperia and throughout the empire, and partly because you’ve proven that you’re a good soldier.”

“Did they not talk to you, sir? Wouldn’t you have told them they’re wrong and I still have a lot of training ahead of me? I wouldn’t want a premature assessment of my abilities.”

“I never said you were not a good soldier.” Ire took a deep breath, attempting to control his rage. He put his hands together in front of his mouth and closed his eyes. “Merely that you lacked the restraint that I felt is appropriate for our military. You impressed High General Hades during his last visit, despite your lack of restraint. He said so himself. That’s besides the point anyway. The fact remains that he is coming here to meet you, despite how I feel about it, and I want you to be on your absolute best behavior. No shenanigans, no talking back, you just look him in the eye, bow, and say ‘Yes, sir,’ to anything he asks you. Got it?”

“What if he asks me if I get into trouble, sir? Should I answer ‘No, sir,’ to that one?”

“No, whelp, I think ‘Yes, sir’ is completely appropriate for that as well.” Ire’s face turned red, and Xaleyp regretted his sass, thinking that he may have finally pushed the Colonel too far. “If you do not take this seriously, I will make the rest of your time here miserably. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Get out of my sight and down to the assembly hall.”

“Yes, sir.” Xaleyp stood and turned around. As he faced the fireplace, he hesitated and looked back at Ire. “Sir, if I may ask, how did you come by that necklace?”

“Oh, this?” Ire held up the pendant with the eagle, crown, spade, and stars. A malicious grin curved his lips. “I relieved its previous owner of it. He no longer needed it, you see, as he was no longer breathing. Now, begone.”

Xaleyp bowed to the colonel before walking to the door. It opened as he reached it, and he continued walking.

Not only did Ire have his parents killed, he was stealing from them? Collecting trophies? Xaleyp’s hands curled into fists. Part of him wanted to go back into the office and hit Ire. Hit anything in that room. How dare he?

On autopilot, Xaleyp found himself in the assembly hall much sooner than he expected. The room was full of people, more than he had seen at Vertyn in one place since they kidnapped him. There were hundreds of cadets ranging from seven or eight to eighteen. A general buzz of conversation filled the area. He moved through the crowd, trying to find Lina and Mian.

“Hey!” a voice from behind Xaleyp shouted.

It was deeper than he expected, not from either of the girls. When he turned to look to see who it was, it had been so long since he last saw them, he almost didn’t recognize the two young men standing in front of him. Even though years had been since they were last together, their features, while grown, were unmistakable.

“Caster?” Xaleyp asked. “Oliver?”

Caster Dane was standing on the left, his head covered with a bushy mess of brown hair and striking green eyes. The slight stubble of a beard covered his chin and cheeks. There was a prominent scar just above his right eye from a snowboarding accident he had when younger, which was partially Xaleyp’s fault. He was tall and muscular, a physique that could only come from an intensive workout regimen. His parents were accomplished space marines of Stariek and expected Caster to follow in their footsteps.

Oliver Sudden was a bookworm, something of a child prodigy. He had jet black hair and a smooth face, except for the rather large mole just in front of his left ear. Short and somewhat round, he wasn’t the strongest, nor the fastest, but he didn’t usually get involved in physical activity often enough for it to make a difference. His mother was the Science Admiral for Stariek, one of Xaleyp’s father’s trusted advisors.

“It’s good to see you again, Xaleyp,” Caster said, clasping hands and pulling him in. “Seven years is an awfully long time.”

“How long have you guys been here?” Xaleyp asked, shaking Oliver’s hand. “Have you seen Rach at all?”

“They brought both of us at the same time, approximately one month and six days ago,” Oliver said, his chest puffing out and his hand pushing his glasses closer to his face. “But who’s counting? They must’ve wanted more people out of the concentration camps they erected and captured half of us.”

“Concentration camps?” It didn’t surprise Xaleyp they would still be kidnapping people. They could never have too many cadets for training, especially if Lina was right and they were going to war. What did surprise him was that there would be concentration camps on Stariek.

“We discovered firsthand that it is not enjoyable living under an authoritarian regime.” Oliver looked to Caster as if for confirmation. “It’s been bearable, however.”

“I’m sorry,” Xaleyp said, averting his gaze from his friends. “If I had known that you had to live like that, if I knew what they did, I would have helped, I swear.”

“It’s fine.” Caster held up a hand to stop him. “There’s nothing you could have done, so don’t beat yourself up about it. I haven’t seen Rach’El though. Are you sure they took her?”

“Positive.” Xaleyp frowned and stared at Caster. “They took her the same time they took me.”

“The probability of her being somewhere on the space station is high,” Oliver said. “Unless they’re taking people from Stariek and sending them to some other facility, she has to be here.”

“What was it like being one of the first ones taken?” Caster asked, a grin coming to his face. “Did you give them hell for me?”

“Haven’t really had the chance for that, sorry.” Xaleyp smiled himself. “Though, you were usually the one that started all the trouble, and I just happened to be there to smooth everything over.”

“Hey, Old Lady Ethyl had it out for me.” He held up his hands defensively and pointed a finger at Xaleyp. “You’re just lucky that she liked you so much, but I’m pretty sure that was just because your dad was Commander. Always coming back with those fresh baked cookies—”

“You would have been able to come back with cookies too,” Xaleyp interrupted, “if you weren’t always throwing those stink pellets at her apartment door.”

“She never saw me do that, okay?” Caster’s face turned red. “She just didn’t like the looks of me or something. If she had just gotten to know me instead of what she thought she knew…”

“Maybe if you did not act like a juvenile delinquent when we were younger, she would have adored you as much as her precious Xaleyp,” Oliver said, an air of stuffiness exuding from him. “You did not give her much to like.”

At that moment, the echoing thud of marching footsteps pierced the air. Dozens of soldiers started entering the room from the far side. These ones were not robotic, but human, an unusual sight at Vertyn. They wore a sort of metal armor that resembled a nervous system, the different parts blending together and seeming to have been directly connected to their body like an extension of it. At the head of the group was Colonel Ire with the lieutenant that sent Xaleyp up to the office, as well as Lieutenant General Syndicate, at his sides.

“Attention!” the lieutenant called out. Every eye in the room was on the man. “Officers on deck. Form up.”

Some of the younger children panicking somewhat, the crowd of cadets formed into neat lines. There was no sense of order to where the rows started and ended, but they were at least straight. Xaleyp spotted Mian and Lina standing together near the front.

The three men walked up onto the pillar at the front of the room. Behind it, the soldiers lined up according to rank, with the higher ranked ones further to the right. Ire stepped forward, looking over the assortment of cadets with just the hint of a smug smile on his face.

“Cadets, it is with both honor and regret that I am speaking here before you. A lot of you have lived a significant portion of your lives in this space station, and you may have come to call it home. It is not our intention for this to feel like a prison, and we do allow you a certain amount of leniency and freedom. But with that freedom comes restrictions and uncertainties. When we enter a period of peace and prosperity, we must always be prepared for an enemy to destroy it. The galaxy is becoming increasingly unstable by the day as external forces threaten our way of life. It is up to us to assess those threats, determine an appropriate course of action, and enact a plan that ensures our continued existence, as well as keeping those under our protection as safe as possible.”

Lina sent a message to Xaleyp as Ire finished the sentence.

Xaleyp didn’t respond. Instead, he kept his eyes on Ire, waiting to see where he was going with his speech.

“Whether those are human or alien in nature changes by the day,” Ire continued. “We must repeatedly evaluate and reevaluate those changes to help protect our citizens, on this station and otherwise to help keep all of you safe. Some of you may have noticed that we have been putting more and more pressure on ensuring training within the simulations. This was not by accident. We have been planning and preparing for years for the inevitable. To tell you more, I introduce you to our great Emperor, Seth Drake.”