The X Pathogen

Chapter Three

    Next up were the piloting exams; Ash's worst nightmare. They were at best a decent pilot, and these tests were designed to be passed only by the best.
    When they entered the hangar, the first thing Ash saw was the avritian boy from the lift. He glanced at them with a condescending smirk.
    Ash rolled their eyes and forced themself to listen to the moderator for this portion of the exam.
    "The pilot's exam consists of two portions, both of which will be taken in highly advanced simulators. The first is a test of your ability to control a spacecraft, the second is a test of in-flight combat ability and crisis response. The first section will take you through an obstacle course designed by some of the GSA's best pilots. Once you make it through the first section, you will be presented with a randomly generated emergency situation and be asked to deal with it accordingly. This can be anything from a pirate attack to a ship on the verge of explosion, so be ready for any scenario. You'll be assigned a partner based on when you finish the first section for the second portion of the exam. Any questions?"
    No one raised their hand, so the moderator gave a quick nod and began reading off names.
    "Applicant 826, Saji Avrel,"
A young tradillian girl limped past Ash, her bright, royal blue eyes wide, a nervous smile flickered across her face.
Ash gave her a quick thumbs up. Her shoulders relaxed a bit, but she still looked terrified. Saji was directed to a simulator and the moderator continued reading off names. Ash didn't know most of the people there. The GSA tried to keep sanctuary residents in different groups during the exams to prevent them from working together or planning ahead of time.
The moderator finally got to Ash's name and they climbed into the flight simulator pod. Glowing buttons flickered all around them then settled into a steady glow. They grasped the controls as the simulation booted up. Orange text began to appear on the screen, "Navigate the course without damaging or crashing your vessel. Damage or mistakes will result in a major points deduction. Crashing will result in immediate failure."
Ash grimaced, making no mistakes was improbable, even on their best day. With no other options, they pressed the start button and hoped today would be the day they did the very highly improbable.
At first, the course was relatively easy. Only a few stray meteors and space junk. Within a few minutes, though, the scattered meteors turned to an asteroid belt.
"Oh c'mon! We're teenagers, did it have to be an asteroid field?" Ash grumbled in protest just as an asteroid nearly crashed into their ship. "Okay, okay, fine."
A large asteroid came barrelling towards Ash, which they managed to evade, but only just barely. Unfortunately, their efforts put them right on a collision course with another one.
Ash jerked the controls to the left as hard as they could, scraping the side of the rock as they went by, but avoiding a fatal crash.
"If this was real, I would be so dead right now," Ash muttered as they studied the navigation system. A blinking orange dot had appeared a few hundred feet away from their location on the map indicating the finish line for the course.
Ash let out a sigh of relief, and began working their way towards the dot. Unfortunately for them, the exam had other plans.
The ship shuddered briefly before Ash was flung forward as one of the engines disappeared into a ball of fire and smoke.
Alarms started blaring and every display in the cockpit was clamoring for their attention. Ash groaned but forced themself to remain calm. Or at least, relatively calm, given the circumstances. They gripped the controls and cut off fuel to the missing engine. If nothing else, they at least prevented fuel from continuing to leak.
The ship complained loudly the rest of the way, but Ash barely managed to make it to the finish line.
The stars and asteroids vanished, replaced by another glowing orange message.
"Waiting for an exam partner."
"Exam partner ready; begin phase two"
Ash leaned forward as the environment materialized around them. They'd managed the first half much faster than they'd expected, though Ash had no idea if that was a good or bad thing.
Their partner's voice came over the radio, "GSA fighter, what is your applicant number and name?"
It was definitely a bad thing they'd finished when they did. Ash's partner was the avaritian boy.
Ash pressed the talk button and grumbled, "applicant 257, Ash Dantier."
Silence.
"Wanna tell me your name and number, you piece of grick?" Ash muttered the last bit under their breath.
"Nadil Ronette, Applicant 109."
"No snide comments?"
"No. I'm just surprised you got here at all."
"Mhm. Any idea what we're supposed to do now?"
"Were you not listening earlier?! We're supposed to respond to whatever scenario is given," Nadil scoffed.
"Yeah, duh," Ash rolled their eyes, "but in case you haven't noticed, there isn't much of a scenario."
Just then, a large freighter ship appeared in front of them, closely followed by a small group of fighters. Within seconds, the fighters began to fire on the freighter.
Nadil's voice came over the radio again, "this a good enough scenario for you?"
"Yeah, yeah, let's just get this over with."
"My thoughts exactly. Wait here, I'll handle this," Nadil's radio clicked off and his ship darted towards the freighter abruptly. He immediately began to fire on the fighters, drawing them away from the freighter.
Ash started to follow but before they got too close they noticed something strange. The fighters attacking the freighter were a model frequently used by the GSA to stop smugglers.
"Nadil! The fighters aren't our target!"
"What are you talking about? Of course they are, that's a civilian freighter!"
"Trust me! The GSA uses fighters like these to stop smugglers all the time, and that freighter has guns. What 'civilian' freighter needs guns?!"
Nadil was quiet for a moment, then said, "plenty of ships are armed, that doesn't mean anything!"
"Fine, but shouldn't we contact both groups and figure out the real situation before you start shooting?" Ash hissed.
"Fine, do what you want." Nadil muttered back.
Ash flicked a switch on their control panel then said, "attention freighter and fighters, this is GSA controlled space. Identify yourselves."
A few moments later, one of the fighters responded, "acknowledged, GSA craft, This is Commander Reith Gundar, GSA anti-smuggling squad 98. Please cease fire immediately."
There was about a minute of radio silence. Nadil stopped shooting, to Ash's relief.
"Fine. You were right, GSA brat." Nadil's frustrated voice came over the radio again.
The fighters resumed their attack on the freighter, with Nadil and Ash simply following Commander Gundar's orders. Ten minutes later, the freighter was captured and the exam was over.
    The simulator finally went dark, the orange text spelled out the words,
    "Pilot's exam complete. Please exit your simulator and await further instruction."
    Ash groaned. They'd definitely just failed the pilot's exam. Nothing could be done about it now though, so they climbed out of the simulator pod and jumped to the ground.
    Nadil made eye contact with them from across the facility and began storming over. His single wing twitched as he walked.
    Ash winced, there was no way this would be good.
    "Hey! Little GSA princess, you just got lucky in there, you know that!?"
    Ash clenched their fist and muttered, "it wasn't luck, you grick."
    "Yeah right," Nadil jabbed a finger at their chest, "I bet you've gotten lucky your whole life."
    "You don't know what you're talking about," Ash's eyes narrowed. Their life before the GSA was painful, and Nadil was creeping ever closer to that line that really shouldn't be crossed.
    "Oh really? I got my wing cut off and had to work as a slave for two years," Nadil glared at them, "What's been so hard about your perfect little life at the Chairman's Academy?"
    A timid voice came from behind them, "being a slave doesn't mean you get to be so mean."
Nadil whirled around, finding himself face-to-face with the     tradillian girl Ash had waved to earlier.
"You have no idea what it was like, you little brat, so just stay out of it," Nadil growled.
"It's just... well, I've been a slave my whole life until now," the girl's voice shook.
Nadil went quiet for a moment then rolled his eyes, "look this isn't about you, this is about people like her."
Ash's fist moved before they had time to think, landing a blow squarely between Nadil's yellow eyes. He stumbled backwards, eyes wide with surprise.
"Okay listen you absolute piece of garbage," Ash took a step towards Nadil, "I'm not a girl, and as far as me having had a perfect little life..." they rolled up their sleeve revealing scars that crisscrossed along their skin, "call this lucky?"
Nadil stared at the scars running along their arm, "yeah, well, you're still lucky you went to the academy."
Ash raised their fist again, "Well, to make it up to you, I'll gladly give you a demonstration of the academy's combat training."
Nadil rolled his eyes and started to respond. He noticed the moderator was staring at them just in time, so he turned away, "fine, good luck in the combat exams... ladies."
Ash forced themself to stay quiet until he was gone, even though every fiber of their being wanted to chase him down and pummel the life out of him.
The tradillian girl hobbled over to them and whispered, "I'm sorry, I should have done something."
Ash blinked, "like what? Honestly I appreciate you saying something at all!"
The girl looked a little embarrassed but smiled and nodded.
"I'm Ash, what was your name again?"
"Oh, I- Saji," she smiled again, though this one seemed to come more easily than the last.
Ash glanced down at her foot and gasped, "woah, Saji, what happened to your foot?!"
"Oh... well, I broke it, that's why my master left me behind. I heard if I became a cadet I would be freed, even if he came back, so..."
"Oh wow. I thought slavery was outlawed in all GSA territories!"
"It is, but my master doesn't live in one of those territories, so they can't do anything about it unless I work for the agency."
Ash nodded, "Well, when we're agents, we'll change that rule so no one can hurt people like you ever again."
Saji giggled, "thanks, Ash."
"Now c'mon," Ash grabbed her arm, "we don't want to be late for the next portion of the exam."
Saji winced a little as they walked, and Ash asked, "Are you sure you can do the combat section with your leg like that?"
Saji nodded emphatically, "I'm sure.
"Alright, I'll be rooting for you!" Ash beamed at her