Battleship book1: A new beginning

New dawn

Sitting in a ship going at a few hundred or should I say a few thousand miles an hour is exhilarating. Most say they threw up in their mouths, cried to a god or in some extreme cases soiled themselves but not me. This is something I'm grasping with both hands and making the most out of it. Me and 49 other recruits were on this trip to the new and improved battleship training academy. Sounds corny and something out of a sci-fi movie from the 21st century but in the year 2446 technology has advanced so much that space is now a viable place to go and stay for extended periods of time which allowed the human race to colonize distant planets build star fleets consisting of the most powerful weapons in human history or so I was taught as a child. The view from where I'm sat is basically none existent, there's a small circular window right next to me but there's a girl sitting next to me with her face glued to it going "ooooo" "ahhhh". She seems to be the only person besides me and the crew that doesn't seem to mind the extreme speeds but I guess the view is worth it. A ding echoed over the speaker and the commanders voice came through " get in gear and grab your shit cadets, we have eta in two minutes". Those who quickly unbuckled their harnesses and stood up were immediately thrown I the floor and after the first few none of us dared try it. The speaker beeped again "did I tell you you could stand maggots! Now get back in your seats and buckle up and those who remained in their seats good job disobeying me and not getting your belongings, your punishment will be given on the Orion (battleship academy). I heard the commander was vicious but I didn't expect him to be this bad and as I looked around the faces of my fellow cadets I saw the realization on there faces also... This is going to be one if the hardest things we will ever have the pleasure of doing. I knew this was going to be a challenge that will push me to my limits and then some. For the third time in a matter of minutes the speaker beeped again " attention maggots were docking in t minus 10 seconds 9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1" than a slight thud and we were docked. However the commander still wasn't finished " okay get up an get to it cadets grab your stuff and report to the conference hall and don't make a fool out of me or I will make your life hell, got that now move it newbies". Nearest to the back of this 30 meter long ship I had to wait a couple of minutes for those in front of me to get there stuff and get off. But the wait was worth it as was the 2 hour journey because as soon as I stepped out those doors my jaw dropped not just to the floor but straight through it and into the vastness of space. The walls seemed endless in height but in reality I knew they were only 2 km high and 6 km in length and all in all it was the biggest space fearing thing ever built by humanity. I knew it had to be this size as the endless hours of research I did in preparation seemed to pay off as not only was this a academy it was also a shipyard capable of building a full fleet of older class b-24 battle cruisers and there counterparts the p-12 capable of shooting 3000 targets at once with it's revolving weapons like platform it calls a hull. The Orion had it's own defenses in case of an attack. These consisted of dm rail guns capable of shooting huge lumps of rock, metal or dark matter as the name suggests at near light speed capable of turning any battleship before the arms race in 2378 into a paper sieve. But it didn't stop there I thought to myself excitedly as I continued to look around, the Orion also had a computer AI so smart it could evolve and adapt separately from programming so over time it learns from mistakes. In addition to the dm rail guns it also had a couple hundred micro lasers but in reality those deadly lasers could cut down 10,000 enemy fighters in seconds without breaking a sweat and if those didn't do the trick than the automated fighters would which could be launched for the Orion a thousand a minute with energy to material conversion rate being at max could continue to make these ships as fast as the Orion could send them out. But if the fighters some how did manage to get destroyed and the entire laser system cut off than maybe the bolt would serve a purpose. The bolt was a name which didn't do any justice to this weapon, which was capable of destroying suns, planets even other dockyard ships, but if the invaders managed to land a hit the shields powered by antimatter explosions constantly going on in the engine room would easily absorb it. Lost in thought I didn't hear the people behind me getting a move on and only until I was shoved to the ground, did I realize I was blocking the way. Apparently the lesson from the commander did little to these a they snickered at me while I tried to collect myself of the floor. Even though I was big for an 18 year old boy thanks to working with my dad in construction all my life I was constantly being told I'm soft and let everyone tread all over me but I've never been a fighter more of a thinker or the brains of an operation so to say and maybe one day if I'm lucky the captain of my own ship. About to stand and brush myself of a hand was thrust in my face.