ENSIGN (A Starship Hope Prequel)

CHAPTER 2

Two weeks later, Dana and her two closest friends, giddy with excitement, walked three-deep through the quad toward the main auditorium. They all wore their red formals, along with the rest of the graduating class. The day of their commission ceremony had arrived. They would receive their first assignments, setting the tone for the rest of their careers.

Dana took in the steady stream of cadets bounding alongside them. The white-clad first-years dominated the quad, bright, fresh-faced babes. She remembered being one herself, back when the Space Fleet and all it entailed was still an unknown mystery.

The second-year cadets wore blue uniforms and smug expressions. They thought they knew everything. And then there were the weary third-year students in their diminished numbers. No doubt they knew now they didn't understand half as much as they thought they would, and couldn't imagine that they'd be graduating in over a year.

Bonnie drew Dana's attention back to the story she'd been telling, grabbing her arm.

"You didn't."

"I did," Dana said, her lips curling into a sheepish grin.

"He should have failed you on the spot," Kristoff said, shaking his mop of blond hair.

"I thought he had. He didn't say a word. Until last night, I figured I wouldn't be up for a commission at all." Dana grinned down at her pilot's pin, a thin silver bar that rested on her uniform above her collarbone. Dana would fly whatever starship they put her on. Regardless of the delay, sharing this day with her closest friends had been worth the wait.

Bonnie braided her auburn hair and coiled it into a low bun. Her bright blue eyes were squinting tight with her laughter. "That's so ballsy!"

Kristoff rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "It's bad enough you're the youngest in our class. But it's no surprise, you're starship royalty. You can afford to pull stunts like that."

Dana struggled to keep her smile in place. "Are you this jealous often?" She got enough of that from the other cadets. Kristoff had always stood up for her before.

"Yes, I am," he said, smiling back at her. He threw an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. "Doesn't mean I can't be happy for you. As long as we're together, nothing else matters."

Dana let her shoulders relax against him as he threw his other arm around Bonnie. He was like an older brother to her these past few years and the last thing she wanted was for anything to come between them. The three continued arm in arm to the main hall. Bonnie leaned forward and whispered, loud enough for Kristoff to hear, "He's just nervous about our ship assignments."

Dana didn't respond. Her own belly quaked with nerves.

Anxious cadets filled the auditorium. The graduating class received their assignments today, a reminder to the rest what waited for them if they made it to the finish line. Each year, as cadets washed out, the numbers grew smaller. Dana's own class had gone from almost three hundred down to sixty-two.

Dana pulled at the hem of her red jacket, letting the buzzing, energy of the room rush over her. They made their way down to the auditorium's front rows, where her graduating class sat organized by last name. She took her seat between her two best friends, grateful that Pinet fit between Kristoff McCrowe and Bonnie Porter, listening as they speculated on their futures.

Dana had passed her flight exam, but not by much. Though Lieutenant Washington had feigned fear for his life, he'd stated in her awards letter that he, and the other instructors, were impressed Dana had landed the shuttle, all while managing to keep it intact. That score combined with the rest put her in the top ten percentile with her two closest friends. She was sure they'd all get a posting on board a starship.

The instructors sat in the front row, facing the stage, so they could bestow honorifics on their favorite graduating students. A hush fell over the room, and Dana looked up to see three ship captains and four ground crew leaders enter, standing on the stage in a single file line. They kept their eyes level with the back row, not making eye contact with any of the graduates. Bonnie reached for Dana's left hand, and Dana reached her right hand over to grab Kristoff's as the Star Fleet Academy Headmaster in military formals took center stage.

"Welcome, Cadets, to the 4323 Assignment Ceremonies."

His booming voice and enthusiasm eliciting a thunder of sustained applause, filling the edges of the room. He held up both hands, and the auditorium quieted again.

"Due to the size of our space program, there are limited placements on our available starships. As the program expands, we intend to build more ships capable of orbiting and exploring deep space, so we need your help in these early stages. Don't be too disappointed if you receive a posting on land for a few more years. Your time will come."

"Your time will come," the cadets repeated back to him in a thunderous boom, then a scattering of nervous laughter broke out through the auditorium. They had every right to be nervous. Despite the rigorous training of the last four years, not everyone would get to travel through space. Though their people had arrived on Zelenia centuries ago in a starship, the replication of that technology using the materials found on the planet had taken decades. Even now, they were still only on the cusp of creating spacecraft capable of sustaining the rigors of deep space travel.

As a new pilot, Dana would be up against dozens of other cadets just for a place on a starship. And that wasn't a guarantee she'd be placed in a seat at the helm of a vessel. There'd be months of training and observation. A starship pilot needed a completely different set of skills from piloting a two-person shuttlecraft. The path of a starship pilot fell into the category of one of the most challenging ways to get on a vessel—but there were other options, too. Each year, the cadets chosen for scientific research studies always got assigned to a ship. A handful who made it got opportunities like exploring other planets, collecting samples to support their research.

The dock crew leaders announced their new recruits first. They read off the names of the cadets who wouldn't be going into space, leaving the rest hoping their names wouldn't be called. Dana avoided the eyes of the land crew leaders, as if that would help her name remain uncalled. She was so engrossed in her distraction, she didn't notice they had called Kristoff's name until he stiffened beside her.

His eyes on the stage, he stood up to receive his handshake from the ground crew's captain. Bonnie's hand tightened around Dana's, and she matched the intensity of her grip, neither of them wanting to say anything as Kristoff stood stoically in front of his new commanding officer. He even managed a smile as one of their academic instructors rose to shake his hand.

Kristoff returned to sit beside Dana, but he couldn't meet her anxious eyes. Instead, he kept his face neutral, and focused on the proceedings down front. Dana supposed he needed some time. Bonnie, however, was desperate to come to his aide, and reached across Dana's lap to place her hand on top of his. He turned then, giving them both half a smile and a weak nod, but he didn't reach out.

Dana's stomach sank as their trifold bond withered to dust. Being assigned to the ground crew was worse than receiving no assignment at all. It meant that Kristoff wouldn't be on a waitlist or alt assignment list with the potential of a post on a starship in his future. Dana had always imagined the three of them being assigned to different departments on the same vessel. She wondered now if she and Bonnie would also be separated.

Bonnie must have been thinking the same thing, her hand tightening in Dana's.

The starship captains were next, and Dana took in a deep breath. General Hughes read off the names. Dana stole a glance at Kristoff when he read Bonnie's name for the starship Atlantis. Bonnie let out an excited squeak, bouncing off down to the stage. Dana caught the slight smile on the lips of the ship's captain as Bonnie half bowed in front of him.

The last name called was her own.

"Dana Pinet, the Atlantis."

She descended the stairs, heart pounding in her ears, to the ground level, where she shook hands first with General Hughes, and then the captain of the Atlantis.

"Excellent job, Cadet," he said, holding her hand a second longer than the others.

"Thanks, Dad."